Ten on Tuesday

1. Yup. I cheated this week. Along with Karissa, I have to start my Ten on Tuesday posts early. I just don't have that much to say all on one day. So it is 9:55 on Sunday morning and I am starting my Tuesday post. (I should be cleaning instead...but so not in the mood)

2. Paul has FINALLY gotten the actual plants for this salsa garden so maybe in 4 months we can actually have this salsa to eat. Would have been better if we could have had some of this yummy salsa on Cinco de Mayo.

3. It is Cinco de Mayo today. YAY!! I was planning on making a whole Mexican Fiesta for dinner but realized I had a doctors appointment at 4 and I need a little more time to make the whole dinner. So Thursday will be our Fiesta night at the Casa de Thomson.

4. Yes I ate out at Olive Garden on Saturday night but as listed in a previous post, I was aware of this but how do you say no to your Grandma's Eightieth Birthday Party?! I couldn't! (And yes, I ate lunch out at Costco on Saturday afternoon)

5. This whole not eating out thing didn't come from seeing if I could make dinner every night for my family. It actually came from an Oprah episode where this lady(Suze Orman) gave the top three tips on how to save money.

1. Do not spend any money one day a week.
2. Do not charge for a month
3. Do not eat out for a month

I thought that number 1 was pretty easy since now all I want to do is come home right after work and not stop anywhere on the way home. I should challenge myself to that one for a weekend day!
The second one is pretty easy since we don't charge a whole lot in our lives.
And the third one is the real challenge for me. We don't eat out a whole lot but it is more a convenience thing for us. As in, we both get home from work, feed and bathe Rylee, and by the time that is all done....either one of us wants to cook. Who DOES?

But my question really is....Is it cheaper to cook at home? These days my real mailbox and email mailbox is FILLED with deals on eating out. I can find many places that Paul and I could both eat for about $10.00. (And be full!) And if you have children that eat at restaurants, oh the restaurants that are doing "Kids eat Free"!! Even if your kids don't eat the whole meal...just think of the left overs that you could take for lunch the next day and save yourself 10 minutes in the morning of making lunches!

6. I thought getting Rylee's hospital bill "reduced" would be easy. I would just call the hospital, cry on the phone about how I cannot possibly pay this amount and cannot afford it. (which is not a lie) Well not with St. Joe's. Such a great hospital and we had an awesome experience there (not just the cafeteria) and we are supposedly going back in about 2 months. (We find out May 13th what the next step is.) But St. Joe's does not just want your tears...OH NO....they want all of the following...

1. Proof of identity. (Copy of SS, licence, other photo ID)
2. Proof of Monetary Assets. (If I had any I wouldn't be filling this paper out!)
This includes stocks, bonds, etc. (Do people have any money in stocks anymore?)
3. A rent receipt or your utility bill.
4. An application with two sides filled out.
5. Proof of income.
This includes a copy of prior year tax return, including W-2 and check copies or check stubs from each of the prior three months.

(That's just for us. There are six other things they want but do not apply to us.)

Now this wouldn't be as hard as I thought, but I don't save my pay stubs. I usually just rip them up and throw them out. So now this will bring me to June until I can mail all this in. People must just see the process and say "Forget it, I will just pay the bill." But not me! I am hoping they will see my efforts and give me some type of break. But you can bet I will be saving all this information for Surgery #2. I believe I should get some type of break! I think they are going see that I have proof of income and turn me down. But a girl can try...right?

7. I bet if I had broken #5 and #6 into two posts each I would be so much further to number 10 then I am now. :o(

8. I eventually got into the cleaning mood on Sunday and transformed half of our Arizona Room into a play room for Rylee.

9. I spent Sunday morning (prior to starting this post) organizing my coupons. I have been wanting to do this for SO long but never had the right method. I am going to try this method out and see if it helps. I used to just keep them in an envelope and then would have to search through it until I found the coupon I was looking for.....NO MORE! I transformed it into this well organized system. YAY ME!! Well so much for "YAY me." I left for the grocery store about 3:30 on Sunday afternoon, about 8 hours after finishing my great project, and FORGOT the coupons on the counter! So much for my plan of saving us millions of dollars a year with coupons! Ugh!!

10. I believe that Gerber has discontinued the Biter Biscuits and the Zwieback Toast that is helpful for children when they are teething. Now why would they do such a silly thing!?! What is this mom of a teething child supposed to do now? Gerber? Anyone?