All posts by Anne Younger

Anne is a 30-something full-time SAHM mom of 5 ranging from 3 to 17 and grandma of 1 who resides in Ashwaubenon (Green Bay) Wisconsin. She started blogging in 2008 as a way to regain her sanity. She enjoys coffee, chocolate, cheeseburgers and vodka along with spending time with her husband and kids.

Christmas in July

This weekend. while I am in Chicago, my husband’s family will be having their annual Christmas in July get together.
Yes, this is something that happens every year.
No joke.
Since there are so many people on my mother-in-law’s side of the family they choose to do Christmas in July instead of the traditional Christmas so there is less juggling of schedules to be done.
The nice thing about having a Christmas in July get together is there are always photos ops and you can usually get some pretty candid shots that make for a unique Christmas card in the winter. Since our family likes to send out photo Christmas cards, which means we can pretty much guarantee that there will be a nice shot of the kids to use.
I like to start shopping for my Christmas cards early in the year so I can get a good deal. This year I think I have found the perfect card at Storkie
(no, those are not my children, these are much cleaner than mine!)
Now that I have found the perfect card, I just need to be creative and come up with the perfect picture, and since we won’t be attending the annual Christmas in July party, I have to really think about this one!

I think we should go with a very Christmas-y theme this year and dress them up as reindeer to match the card.
I mean seriously, how cute would this picture be on that card?
Okay, maybe not that intense, but you get the general idea!

I don’t know, maybe I am crazy for trying to prepare for Christmas already but it’s not going to get any easier since I know this little Baby Ellie of ours will be making my life harder and harder as we get closer to Christmas and the end of this pregnancy.

What kind of holiday greeting do you send out? Do you like to start early and get things done before the Christmas rush?

Mommy Needs a Spa Day!

As a mom of 3 and pregnant with number 4 due this winter and a husband who works 3rd shift and sleeps for a majority of the day, I find myself under a lot of stress to keep up with the kids, the house and everything else.
The stress has NOT been good to me over the years and I’m pretty sure that since the little Alexander joined our family 3 years ago I have racked up my fair share of well deserved pamper weekends and I’m not talking about the diaper! This mommy is in DIRE need of a spa day.

Imagine a day of being pampered sans children and husband.
Enjoying the peace and quiet in a tranquil setting…..
Ahhhhh…..doesn’t that sound amazing?

I of course, like many other stay at home moms with multiple children cannot really afford to spend the extra money on a trip to the spa.
At least that’s what I thought!

Then I learned about Wahanda and their 2 for 1 spa deals!  Now I am on the hunt to find the perfect deal for me!  Wahanda also offers MobDeals where you can say up to 80% on beauty products,spa, salon and well-being deals!  As a mommy who likes to save money this is a great deal in my book!

 

Nature’s Prime Organic Foods lacks professionalism and customer service

In March, I purchased a Groupon for $35 which entitled me to make a $75 purchase from Nature’s Prime Organic Foods. In my mind, this was a good deal.
On April 21st, I placed an order with Nature’s Prime Organic Foods online via their Groupon store.
You can see the purchase I made in the invoice I received below.

Now, as you can see I spent an extra $30.50 on top of my Groupon.

I received that invoice on May 4th.
That was the first time I had heard from NPO since placing my order on the 21st.
A week after receiving the invoice, I called NPO and was told that my order was on backorder due to the large demand caused by the Groupon.
I let it slide.

Since then, I have emailed them multiple times with no response.

On July 1st, I contacted Groupon in regard to my issue and they gladly refunded my initial $35 investment for the Groupon.
That same day, I read a post on Nature’s Prime Organic Foods Facebook page stating that the “Harsh Midwest winter delays Grass-Fed Meat production”.
This was their excuse as to why orders hadn’t been filled yet.

I left a comment on that post stating that I was still waiting for an order that I had placed on April 21st.
Shortly after posting my comment, the administrator of the NPO Facebook page promptly deleted it.

Yesterday, July 12th, I posted another comment on their Facebook page in regard to my order having not been filled yet and that no one would respond to me in addition to updating my Facebook status to read:

Annie Guldan Younger will never recommend Natures Prime Organic Foods Inc. to anyone! I bought a Groupon for there in March and used it to make a purchase on April 21st that I spent an additional $30 on and still have not received it. The customer service is awful & no one ever has a response. At least Groupon refunded my money!!

Shortly after having posted both my status and comment on their page, NPO’s Facebook administrator promptly removed my post once again, removed me as a fan from their page and blocked me from being able to comment should I “Like” their page again. Not to mention that the post that I did comment on shows that there are 10 comments on it however 4 of them have been deleted, 2 of which were mine.

I personally would NEVER recommend Nature’s Prime Organic Foods to anyone unless they feel like wasting their money and never getting anything in return other then AWFUL customer service and a serious LACK OF PROFESSIONALISM.

Oh, and did I mention I am not alone?
If you pay a visit to PissedConsumer.com or Google NPO Food Complaints, there a a ton of them out there.
Someday, maybe NPO will refund my money or maybe I will get the stuff I ordered.
I just know that I will not be holding my breath waiting for either to happen!

Sibling Rivalry

Sibling rivalry is an ugly, ugly thing.
I see it in my house everyday.
The Libby and Zack are CONSTANTLY at each others throats.
I don’t know if it’s because they are brother and little sister or if it’s because they are so close in age (only 17 months apart) or if it’s because the dislike each other most days.
What I do know is that I am getting real sick of it and now,
now it’s getting VERY expensive!

Yes, that’s my Zack in a wheelchair….AGAIN.

Needless to say, they had a little “misunderstanding” and we ended up in the ER once again.
This was in April.
I was hoping that things would get better over the past 3 months but they haven’t.
Now with school out they are at each others throats even more.

Don’t get me wrong, they have their moments throughout the day when they are freakishly nice to each other.
Take yesterday for example.
The day started with them yelling and screaming at each other.
Then they hit each other a few times.
Then I separated them and handed them their chores to keep them apart.
Then 2 hours later, they are sitting at the table together giggling and talking and being the best of friends.
Fast forward a few hours later when I hear how much they each hate the other one.

My latest threat to help them learn to get along is that I am going to move them into the smallest bedroom in the house together with bunk beds until they learn to get along and appreciate one another.

How do you deal with fights between your children??

Planning Ahead

For the last year, we have been repairing our credit so we can finally become home owners.  Since last Christmas, I have slowly been packing up our current home into storage boxes to set aside those items that we do not need on a regular basis.  Right now, the finished room in our basement has one corner stacked from floor to ceiling.  Boxes of toys, clothes, movies, and so much more.  The amount of stuff we have accumulated since we moved into this rental home almost 4 years ago is crazy!

Now that we are expecting another child this winter, we have put off purchasing a house until after the baby is born so I can be of more help.  Although we are waiting to move, I still continue to pack things up.  Every time we go to the store, I find myself purchasing more storage boxes and filling the up the minute we get home.

One thing I am looking forward to is finally storing all of our Christmas decor properly after the holiday this year with some storage boxes for ornaments and such like these and any other storage box I can find to fit our needs.

How do you keep your home organized or prepare for a big move?