Time for Q & A

You'd never guess it but this little family blog site drives some pretty good traffic. So, as a special favor to our loyal readship I have decided to take this space to answer all of your questions and comments that have come pouring in while I have been non-blogging for the past month. ( By your questions and e-mails I mean, Stuff I just made up so I could put it in this highly entertaining and easy to write format.)

Let's get to the mailbag!

Q: We really enjoy the Christmas Decorations in the front of your house, however the decortations in the back yard leave something to be desired. While from the street your house says, " Merry Christmas" from the backyard it says, " abandoned trailer park". Can you please tell us the meaning of these Christmas cardboard boxes in your back yard and when can we expect them to be removed? Thanks!

- your Backyard neighbors.

A: Thanks Backyard neighbors! Always good to hear from you. It's funny you mention the boxes ( which were removed this weekend incidently), about two weeks ago I piled a large amount of household trash into our garage in preparation for garbage day. That very same day a perfect stranger was coming over to buy our old dryer ( Thank you Craigslist!). In order that this potential customer might not see our garage and reconsider his purchase I decided to hide our mountain of trash in the backyard while the purchase was made. Well, I was so excited to get rid of the dryer I had forgotten about the trash, and a few wet and windy days later our entire backyard was decorated in cardboard and filth. No commentary was being made except one on my own laziness and stupidity. Thanks for the question!!


Q: We've heard you purchased a video camera. When is Cami video going to hit the blog.

A: As soon as we figure out how to post, right now we're still fiddling, ans still filming. Right now we've almost completed principal filming of the documentary Cami Diggins: My life toddling around and around in the living room. We can't decide on posting video of her singing jingle bells ( you heard me), hiding under the computer, or doing the pat,pat,pat Blast off routine from Little Einstiens. Leave a comment and let us know what you want to see. We'll put it up.

Q: Is there going to be a Diggins family Christmas Card?

A: We're in the process of procrastinating that decision right now! If we don't get it together this week it's not going to happen. It's actually much harder than it looks, finding just the right cheesey family photo and coming up with a whole letter's worth of information that won't bore all of you to tears. Actually, at this point I'm thinking of doing a fake Christmas card. Wouldn't it be much better for to get one of those long year-in-review letters full of fantastic lies rather than the standard updates? If you're even reading this you know all that stuff anyway, and in much better detail than I'll put in a letter. I'm completely sold on it, but Carrie is not. Stay tuned.

Q: No recent political or sports commentary. What gives?

A: Okay, here's my lists of one sentence comments on everything in sports and politics that matters.

1. Will someone remind the President-Elect that he should not hold more press conferences than the actual President.
2. I want a bailout too!
3. Why is my 11-1 College Football team so much worse than your 11-1 College Football team?
4. I truly could care less who wins the Heisman
5. If you never thought you were doing anything wrong why are you spending the last three months or your presidency apologizing?
6. The last 4 weeks of the NFL season: Leave it , the last 4 weeks of the Fantasy Football season: Take it!!
7. CC Sabathia will be the most hated man ever to squeeze into a Yankee uniform after he shows up to never year's spring training pushing 340 lbs.
8. Goodbye Fox News! It was while it lasted, but everything is much too depressing now. If you need me I'll be downstairs organizing my food storage and ammunition.

Cami's 1st Birthday

On Saturday Cami turned 1, so being the incredible parents we are we threw her a birthday party that she won't remember and where she didn't really know what was going on. Basically a weeks worth of work for a 3 hour photo op, but what a great photo op! We had a small party with just family (If you can consider a Rowe family gathering small) Her cousins came over and we had games, and cake, and presents, and a good time. I've decided that kids parties are a lot like fireworks, lots of time and expense in making it happen for about 15 seconds of pay off. Still, she seemed happy and we hope all the kids enjoyed themselves. Here's Cami on her Birthday morning. One year older and wiser too!

Her Birthday party theme was " A Bookworm Birthday" Carrie made the book with the worm cake herself ( very good) and I frosted the cupcakes ( Very bad)

Cami, just figuring out what this Brithday Cake and singing thing is all about.

Here she is enjoying a well smashed cupcake.

We cleaned up the basement and had games downstairs. This is my niece Ashlyn taking her turn on "Pin the Bowtie on the Bookworm" With Claire, Aubrianna, and Ethan looking on.

Story time during the party. BTW, we asked the kids to dress up as their favorite character from a book. Nice outfit Mom Rowe!!

Blog Therapy

A few hours ago I just watched Penn State's football season go down in flames. I'm trying to look on the bright side, because they will still probably win at least a share of the Big Ten title and go to a BCS game, most likely the Rose Bowl, which has a great time slot on New Year's Day. But, mostly I'm completely depressed and I'm thinking I might not see them win another National Championship in my lifetime. No matter how hard I root, or how much stuff I buy, no matter how good recruiting or what ever is...it's just not ever going to happen. I get a few highlight films from the eighties and that's it...I love my Lions, but It's hopeless, I just can't think about it anymore.

So in an attempt to lift my spirits I'm trying a little blog therapy, just a few short bursts on anything not related to football, just to remind me there is more to life. So here it goes.

1. I've lived in a lot of different places and been fortunate enough to travel all over this country during my lifetime. I mention this because I'm sure that I can say without a doubt the state of Kansas has more vanity plates per capita than any other state in the union. I don't know if it's cheaper here, or if it's a weird cultural thing that I haven't realized yet, but every other car in this flippin place has a vanity plate. They aren't even significant things like last names or college affiliation, mostly it's stupid stuff like , "IGOT12" or "2Fst4U" . It really is crazy, has anyone else picked up on this.

2. If that's Eggland's best then Eggland really has to step its game up.

3. I know that Barack Obama's daughter is allergic to dogs. I still don't know what he means by Change.

4. If Crusoe doesn't figure out that he has everything he needs to build a raft and get out of there within the next 3 episodes I'm out. If he gets caught in a storm, or they come up with some other similarly stupid reason to keep him on the island, whatever, just make the attempt or I walk. This is my final offer.

5. In the Cook vs. Archuleta "who has the better career" contest I am awarding round 1 to Mr. Archuleta. His song , "Crush" isn't in my wheelhouse, but it is very catchy and the sort of thing he should be doing. David Cook's new song sucks. It sounds like he found a guitar riff he liked and then made up some words as he went along. It's truly garbage, but his voice sounds great recorded and I have high hopes that he'll get a better song to work with in the future.

6. This Christmas, "High School Musical 3" is holding the handgun and parents everywhere are emptying their pockets and putting their hands in the air.

7. I live within 2 miles of the best Red Robin in the United States. On a Friday night they were properly staffed. We got our food fast and fries Red Robin hot, "If you've been then you know Red Robin fires have their own level of hot, with the crispy outside and the insides the just about to burn your mouth, but they don't quite burn your mouth so you talk yourself into eating a few more with some Campfire/ Fry Sauce thinking they will soon cool down but they never do and you wonder if they are too hot or not for the first 15 minutes of your meal." Good service, and they even let us take a few cups of the campfire sauce home because we like it so much and we were willing to embarrass ourselves slightly by asking. Great experience, and I'm glad we've got them so close by.

Halloween Facts

Cami's first Halloween was a great time, made better because it fell on the same night as the Rowe family fall festival. Here are a few pictures, followed by a list of things I've determined are facts.During the Rowe family fall festival Carrie's Dad gives hay rides around the yard with his tractor. Cami was a little worried at first, but once the hayride started she absolutely loved it. She stood and clapped for the last few minutes so you could tell she was really impressed. ( For those who don't know our sweetheart, standing and clapping really isn't as dramatic as it seems. Those are two of the four or five things she does when she gets really excited, so she wasn't so much moved as she was very joyful and trying to find a way to let it out. She also stands and claps for "When you're happy and you know it." )So after the hay ride was over we had to snap a few family photos because she was in SUCH a good mood after being in SUCH a bad mood the hour before. Who knew a cart full of hay could bring someone so much happiness.

Here Cami is trick or treating in her stroller. She rolled along with her cousins as we went around in grandma and grandpa's neighborhood. Which brings me to my list of random and unrelated facts.

Fact: I have absolutely no problem going up to a house to trick or treat when my daughter is less than one and both myself and the owner of the house know the candy is really for me. At the first few houses we went to this sense of slight awkwardness / shame didn't come into play because we hit the door at the same time as the 13 other cousins, so it was mass panic and we were able to "smash and grab" without the homeowner thinking twice. However as the older kids pushed ahead at a faster pace, and we were left with the younger children in the back of the pack, we would have to go to door individually, and caught and evil eye here and there. I will endure that evil eye and any snide remark they may share with their spouse for a piece of candy. Everyone has their price and now at least I know mine.

Fact: BBQ is a right not a privilege. On Wednesday night I had a sudden thought that grew into a mild obsession ," I need a rack of ribs." Needless to say within 24 hours I had my ribs. Maybe it was that I was trying to eat a little less and the forces of BBQ would not let me go on a pseudo/secret diet for one second longer. Maybe it was the great deals we got on Soup and Hot Dogs that causes me to choose to have Soup and/or Hot Dogs one to many times. Either way, I haven't had a fix'n like that in some time. In the end we ended up getting some of " Big Bubba BBQ" a smoke shack 3 blocks from our house because We've wanted to try it and Gates was too far away at the time of said BBQ attack. Overall a quality rib, not quite as juicy as gates but with a nice smokey flavor. Their pulled pork and smoked sides were good as well. Overall a solid meal that took care of the craving.

Fact: You should never blog about food on fast Sunday

Fact: Obama is going to win. I've moved past the ," Oh please don't let this happen" stage of the election and moved on to the ," I wonder if I should take out my 401k to invest in guns and food storage" stage. You know you've got some great candidates for office when your biggest concerns stop being the economy and abortion and start being " Is my tent big enough" and "How much generator do I really need". What makes this year's election so tough is how the media has just out and out stopped serving the people. There has alway been bias...but this bad? They have gone out of their way to make Sarah Palin seem stupid and underqualified. They have drooled over Obama because of his good looks and his ability to speak. Getting a report on how the election is going from any media outlet is like asking a Ford dealer which Chevy to buy. I usually end up choosing Fox news because if the media has deciding to be bias then I might as well choose the bias that I like right? It's a dangerous road we're on, an unquestioned dictator, media that serves only as propaganda, and culture that doesn't allow the questioning of leadership. Prop 8 loses in California and we're heading for really tough times. Just Saying.

Fact: Penn State is playing for the national championship if it wins out. Look, it's a bad system. However it is working out for my team for once so I don't care. Yup there are some really good teams that have one loss in the Big 12 and SEC, but they will not leapfrog and undefeated PSU team no matter what the computer polls do because the human polls will never deny Joe Pa one last chance. There are some people out there that think this is a point to be argued, it's just a fact and if you don't like it it's too darn bad. Folks that argue that it should be th BIG 12 champe vs. the SEC champ no matter what Penn State does are like little kids at bedtime. They may complain, scream, try to bargain , but at the end of the night they're in their room at eight. Sorry Ohio State ruined you on the Big Ten, but that's just too bad because you're going to get the Big Ten in the championship game again. Argue all you want, Facts are Facts.

For the record: Penn State, Florida, Alabama, Texas, USC, and Oklahoma are all probably good enough to win the title this year, but on any given day any one can beat any of the others. Too bad we don't have a playoff to sort that out for us. At the end of the day, Texas beat Oklahoma and Florida plays Alabama, so that takes that out of the mix. If the system was tweaked even a little bit we'd have a four team playoff that included the Big 12 champ, the SEC champ, Penn State, and USC. That's all the playoff I'd need, that's a true national champion. I don't ask for much.

A Day at the Pumpkin Patch

This Saturday, we took a family trip to Shaake's pumpkin patch in Lawrence to pick out some pumpkins. We had a blast and took some really cute pictures. They took us out on a hayride into the patch, where Cami had her first pumpkin encounter.Here is Cami with Mommy after getting comfortable at the patch. When first introduced to the pumpkin, Cami wasn't so sure she wanted to touch it, so Daddy helped her out a bit...

Then she patted it on her own, and finally, she plopped right down amongst the pumpkins, happy as a clam.

As we are planning on making a return trip next year, we thought it necessary to document how tall Cami was this time around, measuring just over 2 ft.

To wrap up the day, Chris launched a couple of pumpkins 100 yrds into the air... or so he says! As you see, he had perfect technique. Cami actually enjoyed watching him quite a bit.

You might have noticed his Penn State hat, which leads us into our next topic, where Chris will take over...

Thanks Carrie, actually there isn't much to report on the Penn State front other than that win was huge and if we hang on to these last three games we're playing for the national title. However, I would like to make an appeal to everyone reading who doesn't have a college football team or is perhaps a disaffected Cougar fan and doesn't have much to cheer for the rest of the year. ( Quick tangent. When they finally publish the long awaited book ," How to suck at your job" I'm positive that KC Cheifs GM Carl Peterson and Mountain West Commisioner Craig Thompson will be the co-authors. The worst BYU can possibly finish is 10-2 again and what will be their reward? Another fine trip to the ALPO Dog Food bowl, or something with even less prestige. If the Mtn. West is really almost a BCS league you've gotta have better bowl tie ins. Period.) I think you should start rooting for Penn State, if for no other reason than Joe Paterno. at 81 years old he's given his whole life to Penn State, given practically all the money he's made back to the university, has a hard time walking and getting from place to place but can still find the energy to coach a Major college football program. Now at the end of his career and probably near the end of his life he has a shot to win one last title. This isn't a season, it's a major motion picture..."Something for JoePA" I can see it now ( Those familiar with PSU or old movies probably get the movie title, if not then don't worry about it and just move on.) Anyway, I just wanted to put it out there that the PSU bandwagon is big enough for everyone and if you're waiting for an invitation then please hop aboard!

Other than that, Carrie and I Tivo'ed two episodes of the NBC show Crusoe..We watched them both this last friday after an exhausting night for shopping for Cami. Anyway, The point is I have never seen a show jump the shark so quickly. The Premier was alright, medicore action show, but the second show made no sense and was about finding somebody bones and putting them out to sea..crazy. Anyway, after two shows too much has happened to make me take this show seriously anymore. If Crusoe can build a sweet house and booby trap the whole isle you're telling me he can't build a ship can just sail off? Anyway, waste of time and I'm looking for a new action/drama to watch if you know of any good ones.

Chris posts again

I wanted to share some thoughts with everyone after my extended blogging hiatus. For starters I never wanted to stop writing, I feel a bit like a balloon that is so full or air that it either needs to let a little out or pop at any minute. I just had to stop blogging because if I was going to write it was going to be about sports, and if I wrote about sports I would be going on public record many, many times bragging about how good I thought my various football teams were, and if I did that then every self respecting sports fan knows I would be jinxing what I was considering the greatest start to a football season of my lifetime.

Let's think back to a week ago my friends...(Sorry, I've been watching too much politics and I've inadvertantly picked up several McCainism's in my everyday life. I've even started to catch on to the things I do everyday that might classify me as a Maverick. Taking a swig straight from the milk jug...Maverick! Sliding right behind a car that just pulled out to take a prime spot at the supermarket...Maverick!!) The Giants, BYU and Penn State were all undefeated and everytime I watched the TV, radio, newspaper, internet, podcasts ( I have a little bit of a football addication. I'm sure I consume between 3-6 hours of football related media on a weekday with much more on saturday. Some would say I need to re-prioritize my life and I would then tell some to JUST BACK OFF, I'M FINE!!! ) Needless to say it was a a month of perfect football bliss where I walked around with a bright inner smile and made a conscious attempt to not talk up my teams too much. Saying things like ," We're alright" or "there's a lot of season left, let's not go too far." When inside I'm thinking "We're going to win the national title." or " My team would likely smoke your team by 30 points if they played right now, I'm not even kidding." That's something you do when you're team is good, you try not to talk them up too much and do everything you can not to jinx them, like going on a brag-a-thon or writing a post that makes it seem like you're too confident.

Then this week happened. The Giants got blown out of the building by a sub-par Browns team that played like the '89 49ers. BYU didn't even act like it belonged on the field against TCU, and Penn State had a first half scare against Michigan that caused me to have some minor heart trouble before blowing them away in the second half. Needless to say, I don't have to worry about jinxing my season anymore, So I figured I could get back to writing and doing things I otherwise enjoy. (Quick note on the PSU vs. Michigan game. I actually watched this game on TiVo delay because Carrie and I went to the St. Louis Temple on Saturday. We already scheduled this trip in advance of knowing when the game would be on, but considering how terribly the football week was already going for me I figured there was no stronger anti-jinx action I could take to help PSU than to pretend football didn't matter for a saturday and go to the temple. I'm not sure if this is the type of attitude that causes me to lose all the blessings I gain from the trip or just proves I am mildly insane. The point is, on the way home I asked Carrie to look up the score on her phone and when she told me it was 17 - 7 Michigan in the middle of the 2nd I went into a state of shock. Carrie then spent the rest of the 4 hour ride updating me play by play as it was updated on her phone. I have a sweet wife and I would like publicly thank her for getting me through that tough time.)


Anyway, Since the unwritten laws of jinx offically allow me to write again here are a couple of things I've been thinking about lately.

1. Facebook - Some of you already know I started a Facebook account a couple weeks ago. This makes me one of the last 15 people my age to have one, but I figured better late then never. Anyway, totally different experience then I thought it would be. I figured it would be a nice little waste of 30 minutes on a day when I was feeling particularly under the weather. It's actually been like attending a huge reunion of almost everyone from your life and only having to talk to the people you actually want to talk to. I'm quite hooked.

2. Politics - You know, being a Republican right now is like being a fan of Nebraska football. Follow me on this one, about a decade or so we had a great thing going, great tradition , an old fashoned scheme we played to perfection, titles, everything you could want. Then we saw ourselves slipping a bit so we brought in new leadership to blow the whole thing up and start going about things a new way. The new way causes us to lose our identity, and now our leadership is so poor and our record is so bad we basically need to start over from nothing all while watching folks we used to beat easily destroy us. Confused yet? Me Too. the point is I am a conservative and the republicans have not governed like conservatives. When I think of What Bush has accomplished in the last 8 years, this is what comes to my mind. The Tax Cuts, The war in Iraq, Creation of the Dept. of Homeland Security, No Child Left Behind, The Wall Street Bailout. I only support 2 of those 5 things, and that's just not good enough. Republicans need to regroup, find new, promising, conservative leaders, and try to get back into the game in a couple of years.

In the meantime, I hope what republicans are left take a page out of the democratic playbook and whine, moan, complain, and generally make a pest of themselves for at least the next 2 - 4 years while the party reloads. That's how the Democrats treated the republican majority and that's how they need to be treated. What makes me more more mad than anything else it is the double standard in Washington. A corrupt Republican is quickly swept out of office, a corrupt democrat is put into party leadership. We should print calendars, articles, T-shirts and do everything we can to let everyone know how incompetant we think Barack Obama is ( and make no mistake, he is less qualified than Sarah Palin, He's just more ethnic so we look past it) Let's see how they like dealing with opposition that has not interest in doing anything constructive but being a pain in the rear. It will be a sad two years for public discourse but a fun one for those of us looking to have stupid fun at the democratic party's expense.

Our Little Lady(bug) & I LOVE this Country!

First off, I have to post a few pics of Cami and I at our ward Halloween Carnival. This was our first chance to dress our kid up for Halloween, and we can't help but think she's cute!

Next, I was listening to country music as I drove home yesterday, and I while I know it makes you – or at least me – more naturally nostalgic and emotional, or at least makes me wish I lived on a farm and went to county fairs, it got me thinking. I really love the USA. I mean I really, really do. This is a great place we live in – we have freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and the ability to provide and care for our families. We can be happy because our government doesn’t control our lives and we can choose our own destiny, for better or worse.

Well, as far as I can see, as we (the government, which is collectively using all of the money that WE pay in taxes) buy up shares in banks, mortgages and the stock market, things are changing pretty fast. I just want to yell, “LEAVE US ALONE! PLEASE DON’T HELP ANYMORE, REALLY!” Now maybe I am overreacting, as I’ve always been pretty passionate about politics. But part of me can’t see any outcome to this mess that makes us better off than we were before. My greatest fear is that we will be left in such a place/situation that people will start thinking socialized medicine could be a good idea too. What ever happened to freedom of choice and accountability for our actions? I know way, way more people called their leaders and asked them not to pass that bailout. I know they did anyway. I hope I am very wrong about what this will do to our free market capitalism system. All I am seeing is corruption, corruption, corruption.

I could go on and on, but here, in a nutshell, is why I am sad. I LOVE this country. I know that many people aren’t making positive choices, but there are still a lot of good people out there. But have we crossed that threshold? Are we to the point that the evil, or the confused, are going to get their way? I speak to so many who don’t even know what they believe – at least politically, and don’t know if the leader they favor represents their views. In my mind, you can’t trust most of our news outlets to tell it straight, so I don’t even know that the voice of the people could be heard if they wanted it to.

Okay, I’m not that great at articulating my feelings sometimes, and maybe this didn’t make any sense, but it does to me. I want freedom. I want to make my own decisions. I want accountability, even if it seems hard sometimes. I want assistance to be fair and moderate. I want human life and family values to be respected. Does anyone in Washington hear me? I used think we all wanted the same thing -Democrats, Republicans, Liberals, Conservatives – we just disagreed on the right way to go about it, but lately I am starting to wonder. I don’t think we can afford to be cynical in these times, but I do think we can afford to prepare. We don’t have to be afraid, and we definitely should never give up, but maybe we have to stand apart a little bit more. I’ve never respected the political views of celebrities, but their petty hate-speech of late has made me realize even more that we have to be strong on our own, and let our friends and children know how we feel. That is not why I am writing this, more I just need to vent, but we can’t let the powerful make us feel powerless – and how funny that I don’t mean that in the traditional political sense. Okay, I need to clean my house now. If you think I’m crazy, you don’t have to let me know :).

How to Get Free Stuff & Some Great Deals

Okay, so a few of you asked how to get the free stuff. This is basically how it works by store. As to time, I would say it takes me at least 2-3 hours a week between clipping and filing coupons, planning purchases, and the actual shopping. Some of this stuff can be done by multi-tasking, like clipping coupons when you’re watching TV, but there is definitely time involved. Also, you need to get the paper – sometimes getting the neighborhood paper is cheaper , but just make sure it gets all the coupon inserts (Smart Source, Red Plum, & once a month P&G ). You will also need to get organized – I’ll post a pic of my coupon book at the end here.

If you decide to do it, it is great getting lots of free stuff, but you do have to discipline yourself as to how much time you will put into it, as you could get deals almost indefinitely. Last disclaimer is that some of the girls on these sites I will reference do things that I wouldn’t do and in my opinion abuse the couponing policies or try to scam stores (ex: copying and printing coupons sent to others and using them yourself, using more than one coupon when it states one per customer or getting more than one deal card at stores like CVS). I’m sure none of you would try to do this, but I figure if you’re going to put your eternal salvation on the line for some free stuff, you might be on the wrong track.

Here are the benefits:
- Save 90% or more on your toiletries and cleaning supplies. You will never have to purchase toothpaste or makeup or deodorant or shampoo again.
- Save about 50% on your grocery budget. If you still purchase fresh stuff, it’s hard to save much more than 60% total, because you can almost never get that stuff completely free. But paying half it still much better than full price.

Here are the basic ways to get stuff free:
1. Use the store special programs that usually advertise free stuff anyway, especially at CVS and Walgreens. Using a coupon on these items, you can actually make “money” some of the time.
2. Use a buy one get one free coupon on a buy one get one free sale. The store pays for one item, the manufacturer pays for the other. Most stores allow this.
3. Use a high value coupon on a sale item. Example: Toilet paper is on sale for 0.99 a pack. You use a .50/off coupon and the store doubles it. Your TP is free.

Store to Store
This is the way the stores work. Most of the obvious free stuff comes from the drug stores. Careful examining of grocery ads can get you great deals.

1. CVS: Roll your extra bucks (“extra credit bucks” or ECB for short) to get free stuff every week. You will have to put out $10-20 dollars to get started, but from there will rarely have to pay more than tax. For instance, they have deodorant on sale for 4.99, and will give you back $4 “extra credit bucks (ECB)” at the end of your purchase. You use a $1 dollar off coupon for the deodorant, and so it is free. These links explain it further:
http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2008/03/cvs-101.html OR
http://forums.families.com/cvs-101-everything-from-eb-to-clearance-to-overage,t33611

A good site that matches up deals for you is www.iheartcvs.com. Again, practice honestly when referencing these sites. You can also match most deals up just by looking at the weekly ad (they also have a monthly ECB booklet).

2. Walgreens: Walgreens is a little more complicated, but uses these three things to help you save money.
Register Rewards (RR) - Like ECB, but with restrictions. Register Rewards print out of a little machine next to the receipt printer after your purchase. You can get them on certain promotional items. For instance, this week they had Reach toothbrushes 2/$5, and then $5 RR if you buy 2. So the 2 toothbrushes are free, and if you use $1 off coupons off each one, you can actually make $2 on the transaction. As to RR limitations, you can’t use your RR to purchase the same items over again, and you can’t have more coupons and RR combined than number of items you are purchasing. Also, ECB expire in one month and most RR expire in two weeks (though the Reach ones don’t expire until Dec. – odd.)
Easy Saver Coupons – Each month Walgreens puts out an Easy Saver Booklet, divided in half. The first half is coupons, the second half is rebates. These coupons can usually be stacked with manufacturer coupons for even greater savings. The booklet is at the front of the store next to the ad.
Easy Saver Rebates – This is where you make the most money at Walgreens. The second half of the booklet is where they list all the rebates. These can be mailed in, but the most efficient way to do this is online. You simply register on the Walgreens web site, and after you purchase a rebate item, you check what you bought off of a list, and enter the receipt number. They will give you back what you paid plus 10% if you choose to put in on a Walgreens gift card. The first time you do this, they will mail the gift card to you. After that, you can have the money loaded on your card each month. By doing this, you just spend your rebate money from the previous month each month, along with rolling RR, to get your free stuff. You don’t even have to pay tax out of pocket.

For deal matching at Walgreens, try www.iheartwags.com.

3. Target: Target is much more hit and miss, so I only end up there a couple of times a month. What you’re looking for in their ads is when they give $5 back gift cards on items. For instance, cereal may be 4/$11, but you get $5 back. So then it is 4/$6, and if you use coupons on each box, you can get it down to 4/$4, and a dollar a box isn’t bad for cereal. Given the right deal and coupons, I’ve gotten stuff free this way too. The key is to save those gift cards and “roll” them for the next deal (though if you’re already going to spend money at Target, you might as well use them).

4. Grocery Stores: I’m going to clump all of these together, because these are usually regional. Basically, all you can do is carefully examine the ads, match up your coupons with the best deals, and stockpile. For this reason, I get three sets of coupons each week (by subscribing to our local paper, this doubles my coupons – they drop an insert in Sat. & deliver the big Sunday paper too – at half the cost). So when salad dressing is really cheap, I can get three instead of one. I buy a lot of meat at the cheapest price (under $2/lb. for lean ground beef and fresh boneless skinless chicken breast) and freeze it, etc. The idea is to buy what you need at the price you deem reasonable. When you are forced to convenience buy, you are forced to pay higher prices.

Check to see if any of the stores in your area double coupons. I know that Hen House and Dillons do. This really adds up and often leads to the free items more easily. Never buy anything just because you have a coupon though, unless you really need it, because if it’s not on sale, you might end up paying more than at Walmart. Oh yes, how do you know you’re getting a good deal? If you can beat the Walmart & Sam’s Club’s prices, then you are. When I started out, I made a short list of items I buy a lot, and calculated their price per item (cost per diaper, roll of TP, oz. of Tide, etc.) and that is what I try to beat.

So, hopefully that wasn’t too confusing. Feel free to post any questions. Once you start doing it, it makes a lot more sense and requires much less thought. If you like getting good deals, it can also be great fun! Last thing, here is my coupon book:
(This is not a great pic - it is from the early days - and makes it look a little messy - but it gives you the basic idea. This is a zippered 3-ring binder.)
The first section deals with stores (I store ECB, RR, and gift cards by store, with a spot on top for the weekly lists). These are 4x6 photo pages I got at Office Depot. The sections after that are color-coded by area (toiletries, other non-foods, fresh, boxed/canned, etc.) and use baseball-card pages.

If you don’t have a lot of time, I have heard of some people who don’t clip and file, they just save them by date and match them up with posted deals online. This said, there are countless blogs and sites dedicated to this purpose. Here are a few:

http://www.hotcouponworld.com/
http://www.slickdeals.net/
http://www.moneysavingmom.com/

Well, good luck saving some cash. This is a great way to build a storage, especially for those who thought maybe they didn’t have the $ right now. Just find what works for you based on your time and desire. Let me know of any great deals that come your way!

Pennsylvania Visit, Fantasy Football

Sorry for the lag in posting, but here's what we've been up to. Last week, we visited Chris's family in Lewisburg, PA. Cami had many firsts, including:


- her first plane ride: a perfect darling on the trip there, a little challenging on the return flight.
- her first trip to the hunting lodge: while she didnt' shoot any clay birds, Daddy had a pretty good go of it and Cami got to wear her camo shirt, so Mommy was happy.
- her first tailgate: always a winner when food is involved, followed by...
- her first Penn State football game: a solid victory, they were playing "Sweet Caroline" by the middle of the second quarter. Cami spent most of the game strapped to the front of Chris, who had a huge X of sweat on his back from the baby bjourn (a great visual, I know).
- her first long-term interaction with a dog: Sadie, Chris's parents year-old puppy, loved Cami. Cami had mixed feelings on the subject, but did pretty well.

Here are some visuals from the trip:

We had a great time & genuinely, Cami was a really good baby. Shelly & Warren (Nanee & Pop-pop) fed us well, as always, and were excellent hosts (as was Chris's brother Brian, who picked us up from the airport in Baltimore - Lewisburg is at least 2 1/2 hours from any major airport, so this is a big deal :)). So vacation with a baby is a little more complicated than flying solo was, but I think we will adjust to that over time. Now it is back to the old grind, and as Chris is outside mowing our extremely overgrown lawn, Cami is taking a very overdue nap.

While I know Chris will go into greater detail about this at another time, I have to mention we have a family fantaty football league. And a certain someone's team is 2-0...

One other note - I have become a couponing maniac! I never knew how much free stuff you can get if you will take the time to do it (and I mean time - clipping, planning, shopping...). Still, I was pretty proud of my Friday trip, which brought in this haul - $120 worth - 100% free!

Baseball, Cucumbers, Pioneers, and The Dark Knight

Big week this week, and fortunately lots of pictures. Starting at the beginning Carrie and I went to the Royals game on Monday and had some great seats. My company rented the Dugout suit and it felt like we we right on the field. Sadly, that was the nice the Royals were blown out 19-4. Still, I we had a great time. Now the pictures. view from the suit.
another suite view
File this one under ," I never win anything so when I win something no matter how small I make a big deal of it." The Royals had folks throw out T-shirts and I caught the one that was thrown into our dugout. I like to think it was because I completely charmed the girl throwing out T-shirts, Carrie thinks otherwise and since she isn't writing this post her viewpoint will remain silent.

On to the next subject and that's Cucumbers. I was out picking them from our garden the other day and I had noticed that one cucumber had escaped my usual harvest for several weeks, and got just huge.

Yup, that's 12 inches of home-grown cucumber.
And there goes 12 inches of home-grown cucumber.
Those were the three cucumbers I harvested that day and how large they are in relation to Cami...who wasn't really certain what Daddy was trying to do.

No general Cuteness. We celebrated Pioneer Day with the family this week by eating hot soup and walking in the blazing heat. What better way to commemorate those who suffered so much for the gospel to go out and voluntarily suffer a little ourselves. Seriously, we did have a good time and some good pictures.

This has nothing to do with Pioneer day, but Cami has started playing with her Doll House and it's really cute.
Cami's first taste of Watermelon...she's a big fan.
Cami with cousins Ethan, Madison,Spencer, and Peyton. This is about 1/3 of the actual Cousin photo but it's the only one on our camera so here it is. We have tons more pictures from Pioneer Day because Cami was in a particularly good mood. I'm sure those will be posted as soon as we get them off the other camera.

So that about wraps up the week, but before I wrap this up I want to say a few words about, "The Dark Knight". I have some minor spoilers in here, very minor, so if you want to go in with a fresh take don't read further. I went on Friday and It's now Saturday and I'm not sure what to think. In a sense I loved it, it was a perfect action movie, the pace was quick and it moved rapidly from one awesome scene to the next. It had me sucked in from the first minute.

If I have a problem it's that the acting was almost too good. The Joker is perfect, everything you've read is true and more. The only question I have is is the Joker a character worthy of a perfect depiction? Comic book villains are one thing, but I believe that this Joker was actually a twisted mass murderer with no personal motivations other than fulfilling his own twisted sense of fun through murder and general chaos. It bordered on disturbing, so I am left conflicted as I am in awe of how "real" they made this otherwise cliche villain but horrified that someone could even think of an individual so twisted.

What really surprised me about the movie was how much I liked Harvey Dent, and how much his fall to become Two-Face was disheartening. I thought his performance was on par with the Joker's. Couple that with Christian Bale turning in the same sort of performance as in the first move and this movie was really well acted, but almost too well acted because of the subject matter. Even though this is a movie about a comic book the subject is fighting crime in a city riddled with corruption, and how that fight can escalate to incredible levels that it only reaches in comic books.

This is not one for the kiddos, but it's not a bad movie. Just go expecting an action/suspense/horror movie because this movie contains elements of all three. If you're not in the mood to watch all three than go see something else, If you're looking for a traditional Superhero movie go see Iron Man. But if you are in the mood for a triple threat movie that is as well done as it gets, even if you are not into Superhero movies than this is the one to see.

Family update

We have been a little short on Cami pictures that don't involve swimming. Here is a small sampling of what we've taken lately following by a breif family update. Cami has been growing so fast, we figured driving was the next logcal step.
Cami and Mommy, awww.
Cami with her friend Tommy. Sleepy babies.

During one of her many attempted jail breaks.
Daddy does try to feed me sometimes.
go ahead, hide behind the flower. I see the mess you made.

Fourth of July, sometimes you realize that either Mom or Dad is taking all the pictures and you need a decent family photo.

Cami loves her freedom.

Whew. That makes me feel better. Most of the time I feel pretty bad about filling our blog with line upon line of text when we have perfectly good Cami pictures to post which of infinately more interesting. Anyway, Here's the quick hit update on what the Diggins Family is upto

What We're doing: Clipping Coupons and Square Dancing

Carrie has been learning how to clip coupons like a champ! I've kind of gotten into it myself, there are all kinds of blogs and Web Sites on how to do crazy things like feed your family of four for under $1000 for the year. I love the concept, although I'm pretty sure that that family of four LOVES Raman noodles. Still I'm pretty impressed with the deals so far, $3.25 for a case of paper at Office Depot ( a whole 10 ream case) and then $30 coupons redeemed at our last Target trip. It's not bad for starters and most importantly it's been kind of fun to try and see where you can find savings.Square Dancing was a brief moment at our ward Pioneer Day party where we were able to have someone watch Cami for a few minutes while we enjoyed some good country fun! Not much to report on here except it's nice to have a moment to dance with my wife uninterrupted, even if the dancing is mildly ridiculous.

What we're reading: Various

I finished The Foundation this week and started in on Foundation and Empire by Isacc Asimov. Halfway through the book it is not quite as clever as the first book. The Foundation series deals with events over a long period of time so it comes off as more of a collection of short stories around a theme than a series of novels. The first book had some really clever twists that I never saw coming but the second book hasn't matched the first , even though I am enjoying it. Concurrently I am also reading "The Ten Day MBA" by Steven Silbiger. It's a nice overview of the sorts of things they teach you in buisiness school, the kind of book where you have to check how many pages are left in the chapter while you are reading it and reminding yourself that ,"I really want to read this book". It's more of an exercise in self improvement than a pleasure read. It is a ton of information to digest but I am getting some good things out of it like thinking more critically about my business, realizing that I don't want an MBA, and probably never again trying to read an glorified text book for fun. For all of that I am grateful. This week Carrie started a book called "The purrfect murder." a book about a cat that solves crime. Carrie only picked this up because the books by the mystery auther she wanted were out and I handed this to her as a quick ssubstitute. It soon both dawned on us that this is the kind of book crazy people read just before the cops bust in and arrest them for keeping 100 cats in there 600 square foot apartment. Needless to say she put it down about 25 pages in and went on to more worthwhile purrrrsuits ( get it...crazy book about cats, purrrsuits...I am so awesome).

What we're watching: Picture This! the made for TV Movie on ABC Family starring Ashley Tisdale of High School Musical fame. I think I just lost most of you after that sentence. Every couple has some querkie things that they do and we watch bad made for TV movies, primary the ones that involve high school related plots. It must stem from our mutual love for Saved By The Bell, but needless to say we were expecting a bad movie and were not disappointed. I weep for today's youth. A mostly good bunch of kids that has to endure this type of crap from the media telling them that this is what they should act like. Here's the plot summary, every bad high school related movie you've ever watched on this one centers around camera phones. It's like some producer at ABC family came up with the bright idea that if they actually wrote the plot around enough LG phones then the company would pick up the tab for the movie and they wouldn't even have to pay the Tisdale girl the insane money she's asking for. As an informertial the movie worked ( I actually liked the phones) but as a movie please do not approach unless you are out to make your kids noticably dumber or you share that same complusion we have to watch bad High School movies.

Stuff Chris Likes....

Right now Carrie is taking a nap and I am watching the baby in our computer room thinking," gosh I haven't blogged in a while." Since It's critical that Cami stay in this room and away from our poor recovering Peaches* I figure I'll let everyone know a few things that I've really been liking lately.

*Important Side note - Peaches was hit by a car this week. For those of you who are not familiar with our cat Peaches his life has been all sorts of complicated over the past year. After the move and the birth of Cami, Peaches has been living in our garage as an outdoor-only cat with access to the garage via a little kitty door. He has adapted well for the most part, he's become friendly with the neighbors and only sits outside our door and meows for attention on occasion. Regardless, this Wednesday we came back from Dinner at Carrie's folks to our neighbors letting us know Peaches was hit by a car. Carrie found him in some bushes fairly bloody and dragging his left leg behind him. So I collect Peaches, put him in his kitty carrier, and drive him to the emergency pet clinic thinking he's about to be put down. Well, a couple of hours go by and apparently Peaches has no broken bones or vi sable organ damage, so we decide to leave him overnight as see where he's at in the morning. Long story short - three days with the vet and he's really bruised up and limping but has no broken bones or damage that won't heal on it's own. So Peaches is back inside and looking better everyday, just as long as we keep a certain very mobile very curious 8 month old as a safe distance. Anyway...slightly sad story with a little bit better ending, not the best way to start a post about things I like...oh well.

1. Science Fiction - Yup that sound coming through your computer is the nerd alert. Don't be alarmed, it went off for me for a few days when I started this crazy science fiction habit but I've since learned to ignore it. Carrie and I have recently discovered the wonders of the public library and have had a blast taking Cami and getting new books. I started out by renting a Golf book, Tales from Q Schools, a fairly manly topic. But then my eyes caught a glimpse of Ender's Game and I realized I had not read that one and I had been meaning to. So I started reading that one and it began a chain reaction that is still going. In the last three weeks I've plowed through Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow ( Brad Fellows, If you're reading this I still have your book buddy! Give me a call.) ,Dune, A Brave New World, and I'm half way through The Foundation. This may not be many books for some, but for me this is practically a new record. Right now I'm just sucked into reading Science Fiction classics, I don't know how far this addiction will carry me, but I will let you know how it ends. (BTW here are 3 second opinions - Ender's Series - LOVED Them, will read sequels to both books, Dune - Amazing, stunned by the level of detail,will read sequel, A Brave New World - Horrible, I don't like any of the characters and WAY too preachy/pseudo-intellectual. The Foundation - So far so good.)

2. Cucumbers - Our Cucumber plant is the first in our garden to really start churning out the Veggies. Our Garden is doing about 100 times better then I thought it would. Still, after harvesting the first couple of cucumbers and eating them with some Ranch ( ohhhh yeeeaaaahh) It occurred to me that I don't regularly buy cucumbers and I might have too many for our purposes. That was until I found the best cucumber recipe ever. They call it Hungarian Cucumber Salad, but if I had to rename that sucker, and I will, I will call it Quick Pickles!

Here's what you do, take two medium cucumbers, skin them, and slice into rounds as thin as you can get them. Place rounds evenly over a plate, sprinkle with salt ( If you have to layer then sprinkle each layer with salt) Then take another plate and place it on top of your plate of cucumbers, put a 5 lb weight on top of the new plate. Set for 40 minutes ( This is to drain as much water as you can) Before removing the top plate drain the water. Then pat your cucumber slices dry with paper towels.

In the Meantime, prepare in a bowl 1/2 Cup water, 1/4 cup Vinegar (white), a pinch of sugar and a pinch or garlic powder. mix briefly. Put your dry cucumber slices in the vinegar mix quickly and refrigerate for 2 hours.

This is very simple but VERY tasty and takes our excess cucumbers and turns them into a nice snack that tastes like a light pickle. It's also a nice side dish for a BBQ or ward pot-luck if you have a ton of cucumber.

That's about all for now, I also really like the new American Gladiators, Our Ice Cream Gun, and Swimming but I will spare your the blog on those. I hope everyone is having a great summer. leave us a comment and let us know how you're doing. Take care!

More Swimming Pics

This week, Chris took a couple of days off and we went swimming at Grandpa & Grandma Rowe's house. Cami LOVED splashing around in the water & we thought it was very cute. She also like playing peek-a-boo with Dada as he went under the water and popped out. Here they are! In the second one, you can see her little teeth really well.

At the pool...

I realize we haven't posted in a while, but Cami is just having to much fun outside to upload her photos to the blog! She went to the pool for the first time about a week ago, and had a blast splashing the water. In the above photo, that is actually slobber on her suit, not water. She's cut her first two teeth already, and the safe bet is that there are more to come...
Cami loves to squeal like this! While it makes sitting though church challenging, it's pretty fun most of the time. She can also say da da, and make a myriad of babbling noises. Just yesterday she started making a clicking noise, which I thought was fun addition to her baby sound-book.
This is her crazy, spunky face. She sticks out her tongue and kind of crinkles her nose, and looks very intent. It is often accompanied by rapid moving up and down of the arms, legs, and often entire body.

These were taken at the John's apartment complex during a recent trip to Springfield, MO (they were excellent hosts :)). As I mentioned, Cami is having a blast outside, and she is also learning to destroy things inside! Since she began army crawling a few weeks ago, she pulls down our DVD's almost every day. We are starting to babyproof things, but still have a long way to go (feel free to leave any tips on this). It is really cute to see her scooting all around the house though, banging on the floors and moving rapidly towards desired objects (remote controls, pieces of paper, etc.) I also have zoo pics to post & pictures of our backyard garden, but we'll save that for later. I hope everyone is enjoying their summers!

Last Idol Post: The Triumph of Now

I'll make this short and sweet because David Cook won and there isn't much else to say that hasn't been said.

First, a word about David Archuleta. He's a prodigy and and best pure singer in the last 3 seasons of American Idol. He's 17. He still has to finish High School, he's thinking about a mission, his Dad is way too involved in his business. He really should have waited at least two more years to give this a go. It's not because he's not good enough, or because the chips fell this year so that he would only finish second. I think there is a very good chance he might look back and wish he could be just another kid for a little longer in his life.

Career wise he doesn't get a recording contract from the show so he's now a free agent, free to sign with whomever his Dad makes him sign with. I hope he signs with Disney, develops some acting chops, and does a few Disney channel movies and records. He'll me producing wholesome entertainment and be targeted toward the perfect market for him.

As for Cook, He won because of this:

Track 1: Hello
Track 2 Billy Jean
Track 3: World I Know
Track 4: Always Be My Baby
Track 5: Elanor Rigby
Track 6: Time of my Life
Track 7: I Still haven't found what I'm looking for
Track 8: Music of the Night

He's got a pretty good CD ready to go already. Archuleta is all potential but Cook is ready now. That's why I'm alright with tonight, because it's the best choice for right now and that's how the contest should be judged. Who did the best all season long, who is ready to be famous right now, and this year it's David Cook.

The Idol Final: Quick recap

So I feel like I was wrong and I was right about the show tonight. Probably the biggest wrong of all was when I ended my last Idol post saying that the show would be average and that nothing lives up to the hype. Not only was that the best final I can remember but it was my favorite show of the season and that never happens. If anything put a damper on the evening it's that Simon decided before the show began that barring major catastrophe David Archuleta would be the winner. More on that to come, since I spent time breaking down what might happen last time here's a quick rundown of what actually did happen

Round 1: Archie gets the coin toss and an enormous advantage. When the show's this close getting the chance to leave the last impression is huge. New wrinkle this year, Clive Davis picks the songs for a Round 1, with Andrew Lloyd Weber helping the contestants find their inner child before they perform ( Sidebar: I'm pretty sure that if Mr. Weber wasn't a world famous composer he would be be the creepiest dude on anyone's block. I have a recurring nightmare where Lord Andrew shows up on my doorstep holding Peaches and saying ,"Pardon, but I seem to have found your kitty. He's a naughty one that kitty. Are you alone? Mind if I come in?" Needless to say seeing him again gave me the willies.)

This round was a whole lot better than expected. I thought Cook would crash and burn on the U2 song, because there is only one Bono and he's not coming on stage unless some sort of African relief is involved. However, Cook was great. He choose the perfect arrangement ( not the standard recording but one U2 often does at live shows) and nailed it. Equally as impressive was young David. Don't let the Sun Go down on Me is an Idol standard, not less than 10 idols have already sang it, but surprisingly that didn't hurt him. He really go into the song and did himself proud. I thought this round was a dead heat and I'm more than a little ticked that Simon gave it to the kid. At this point I felt like the singing order and the judges were on Achuleta's side, Cook has a HUGE mountain to climb, even if he does well.

Round 2: They moved the sappy Idol song to round 2 for some reason and gave them a selection of 10 to choose from. This played right into Cook's hands and he made the most of it, taking a horrible ballad and making it an average rock song. It sounded like Track 8 on a CD where I really like Track 4 and 9, so I accidentally hear a portion of it everyday on my way to my favorite song. This may sound like a criticism, but it was a best case scenario for him. Idol isn't set up to reward rockers. Predictably, Archie gave his horrible ballad all he had and made it sound as good as it possibly could. He won the round easily, but we all knew he'd have an advantage here. I'm still ticked that Simon has it 2-0 Archuleta when I have it 2-1 and a close race.

Round 3: Sing whatever you want round went an interesting direction. Archuleta went to his money song, while Cook when with something from one of his favorite 90's bands. If you want to scroll down and look this exact song choice plays out in David Archuleta's perfect scenario. So at this point I'm ready to close up shop and hand the prize to the mighty Mormon midget. However, I was completely wrong about how good Cook would be. Just a beautiful take on a great Collective Soul song. He didn't what he wasn't able to do all year by picking a new, contemporary song for himself and then knocking it out of the park. It wasn't is absolute best but I really enjoyed it and I think he deserves bonus points for guts on this one. Still. Archie did what he does and sang the heck out of his money song. It's really hard to vote against that. I have this round tied up, with maybe an ever so slight edge to Archuleta.


I couldn't vote tonight. Personally, I'll be fine with either of them winning. Archuleta has the better voice, Cook is the better performer. Archuleta has a huge tween following and is ready to light up that market, Cook is better than Chris Daughtry and we'll here his music on the radio even more ( If that's even possible.). Both win in the end, but tomorrow night Archuleta gets the confetti shower and the chance to sing a horrible song. I'm just glad it was an enjoyable show and that one time Idol lived up to it's hype.

Just messing around.

Digital cameras are fantastic. Sometimes I find myself just clicking away for no good reason, Take shots of the baby, photograph stuff around the house in artisitc ways, e-mail the Doc with a shot of exactly what that spot under my arm looks like...just a lot of great fun. Anyway, Carrie tried to take a nap this afternoon and I came away with these gems. Cami gets more and more excited with less and less supervision.

Cami is just able to have a bite of her favortie meal...coat hanger.