Coupons, Savings and Rebates...Oh My!

I ran across a blog of one of my mom's friends. She mentioned the CVS savings "game".

I searched her website and found a ton of FANTASTIC websites for coupons, rebates, saving money. Alot of the bloggers talked about pretty coupons and then basically getting the item for nothing.

All of this sounds interesting! Yay, I know cutting coupons, printing coupons, researching the best deals....but I am way excited! I promise you I will follow through on it! Hey I will have to if I want to fund my Gymboree buying habit!

I will be back tomorrow to share all of my great website finds to you!

Sea World

We went to San Antonio this weekend and hit up Sea World. We had purchased season passes back in the Fall 2007 which covered us throughout the entire year of 2008. It was way crowded, but really not that bad. The weather was great: overcast and not extremely hot!

Mom, Holly, Rolando and Christian also hung around all weekend. It was nice to get away from BCS, but boy was I tired! The hotel was nice and literally about two miles from Sea World...can't get any better than that!

We got to stop at the outlet mall in San Marcos, but really didn't find anything good at all. Need to hit those places up when they have sales. I think the girls had a great weekend! Now we are back home and it's pack to finishing up packing.

Let me leave you with some pictures from this weekend!

Rain, Rain Go Away....

It has rained everyday for the past few days especially at night. I hate laying in bed and then hear a loud crack of thunder and hear the lighting! At least the grass is green during mid May, but it also makes for humid, humid days.

I don't know if I am ready for the HOT months ahead of us. It makes for expensive utilities bills and shirts sticking to your body! Uggg!

Update about the house:
Student loan info has been received! Still working on getting copies of the tax return forms that were requested. Luckily that is not something that will hold up finishing up documents! Appraisal has been signed off on as well! Less than 3 weeks and we will be in our new house! (I am just ready for it to be OVER with)

More Paperwork Needed.....

Trying to get all the paperwork needed to purchase a home is a pain in the butt!

Once you think you have gathered all the paperwork, more is needed! Agggg! Tax forms, student loan info, etc. etc. Plus I get to the point where I am like...didn't I give this to you already? Apparently I did not. Trying to get this information or find it is like pulling teeth because of course you put it in a spot where you will not forget where it is and then you do!

Less than 2 weeks until we close on our house and then less than 3 weeks until we close on our new house! I will be so excited to be done and over with this! Off to hunt down tax forms.

Fibromyalgia

The topic says it all. Do you know anyone who suffers with fibromyalgia? Do you know what fibromyalgia is?

The definition of fibromyalgia is: Fibromyalgia is an increasingly recognized chronic pain illness which is characterized by widespread musculoskeletal aches, pain and stiffness, soft tissue tenderness, general fatigue and sleep disturbances. The most common sites of pain include the neck, back, shoulders, pelvic girdle and hands, but any body part can be involved.


I was officially 'diagnosed' with FM in the Fall of 2006 after thinking I actually had carpel tunnel for 10 years. I had all sorts of test run and everything came back fine, well that is when they said, "You have Fibromyalgia." I had never heard of it or knew anyone that has had it. When I have flare ups the pain is unbearable. I would rather give birth ten times in a row without drugs then deal with the pain from FM. Pain medications rarely work for me so I usually just suffer through the pain.

If you still don't get it imagine you have a headache and take some Tylenol and feel better. I get a headache and no medications work and the pain is unbearable. This is something that I will have to leave with for the rest of my life. Exercise and being without stress are the best things to help prevent flareups.

I hope that after reading this you might have a better understanding of how someone feels who has fibromyalgia.

Just Chillin....

That is about what I have been doing! I rest the ankle as much as possible. I have been able to catch up on my tv shows, so that is always a plus!

I have been doing Shared Reviews. Basically you write a review about anything in your home or services you subscribe to (i.e. computer, cell phone, infant swing). Then people that are registered with the site will vote on your reviews and you vote on their reviews. The way you earn money is by voting and having your reviews voted on. So check them out at Shared Reviews! Look me up, my screen name is: BrookeTx.

I am ready to get out of the house! Tomorrow I have my post-op appointment and then hopefully we can maybe walk the mall or something!

Until then....

Vote for the Girls!

I entered the girls picture into a contest! Please vote! Pass it along to whomever will listen! LOL!

Vote Here!

The day as come!

I had my ankle surgery today! All went very well! They took me in the operating room and I fell asleep pretty fast and then woke up in the recovery room. They have my ankle in a soft cast and I cannot put any weigh on it at all! Walking in crutches is very interesting, to say the least!

Robert has been such great husband! I feel so bad because he is doing everything while I am sitting here watching tv, on the computer and drinking my starbucks! He says for me to rest. Gosh I married a great man!

Tomorrow Kaylee has her Awards Ceremony and Robert will get to go! Woohoo! No big plans for the weekend!

Thank you for all of your prayers, support and phone calls! Love ya!

Stress x 1000000

So the contract on our house was accepted! Woohoo! We close on May 27, 2008.

We found another home! It's super cute and has lots of potential. Robert is not too crazy about it, but I think it will grow on him! Anyways negotiating has been hell as the lady selling will not budge very much at all. (Can we say $500). PLUS she has some other crazy requests. I am going to be super upset if we comply and get the inspection and then loose the house because we can't take the contingency off. Now adays though people want a bargain and let me tell you...she is not bargaining! She is pretty set in what she wants! Oh did I mention that if everything goes through, we will be homeless for about a week b/c she can't close until a week later!

PLUS we have to provide more paperwork to the loan company which is like pulling teeth to get!

Plus I have surgery in 2 days and am STILL waiting to hear back to see if I am eligible for sick leave pool. I know it can take 10 business days per policy, but sometimes they have an answer sooner.

So can we say stressed! Yep that is me! Aggggg!!!

Let me leave you with some pictures that I LOVE!

It's Gymbuck Time!

Woohoo! It's time to redeem Gymbucks! I have been obsessed with Gymboree ever since my good friend introduced me! (Thanks Girl!) Basically you can spend like $100 and only pay $50. I think they have the cutest clothes! Most of the stuff I pick up is on clearance, but part of me wants to splurge on their new "Cherry Baby" line, but I might have to wait until I can find a coupon!

I did end getting quite a few pieces though with my gymbucks. The clothes hold up so well and have good resell value! ;)

Anyways....I started some antibodics and am feeling much better! I can't believe my surgery is in 8 days. My sick leave pool request form was faxed in today....please pray they approve me for leave! I would hate to pull out of savings for 6 weeks! Agggg!

House selling is going good...it's a pain to get the house clean! Well I better get back to what I was doing! Have a great day!

It came out of no where....

my sore throat that is! I was fine up until about 9pm (last night) and I could tell my sinuses were acting up. Well what do you know? I woke up with sinus drainage and a swollen glands. Of course we don't have any meds at home, so off to the store Robert will go this evening. I better get better for my surgery next week.

I can't believe it's only 9 days away! For those of you who don't know, I am having arthoscopic surgery on my left ankle on Thursday, 4/17. Apparently from when I sprained it in October 2006, I have kept re-injurying the ankle. I now have an Osteochondral Defect Lesion on the Talus bone of the ankle. I have to be non-weight bearing for 6-8 weeks, therefore will be off work until the begining of June. Just praying and crossing my fingers that they approve me for sick leave pool so that I do not go unpaid. (So please say a little prayer it gets approved.) I turned in all my paperwork to my supervisor, just waiting for her to fax it in.

As you can see, I was not bestowed with the virtue of patience. So back to the waiting game.....

Weekend Shopping Trip!

I wanted to get one last shopping spree done before I have surgery. So we headed to the new outlet mall in Houston. It's about 1 hour away from Bryan, so not that bad of a drive! We got there fairly early, but by the time we left they were hunting for parking spots.

Some of the stores, still were not open. However we did shop at Lane Bryant, Casual Male, Tommy Hilfiger and Gymboree Oulet. I got the girls some cute stuff! Subsequently I had to come home and clean out their dressers to be able to put the new clothes in!

I wanted to hit the Coach Outlet for a new wallet, but the line was out the door and around the corner. Apparently they only let a certain number of people in at a time.

Nothing else really going on this weekend, we cleaned the house some more! We had a person come back and look at the house for a 2nd time; keeping my fingers crossed for an offer soon!

Anyone Want to Buy a House?

So we put our house back up on the market! :) We had it up last fall, but that is just such a slow time of year. We have had it up for 2 days and 4 people look so far. I think that is more than we had in the entire time last fall! LOL!

So here is what you get:

3 bedroom
2 bath
1 car garage

On a cul-de-sac
Big back yard
Tile in bathrooms and kitchen
Indoor laundry room
Security System
Wired for Surround Sound
Zoned for Bowen Elementary (excellent school)
Close to Blinn and Shopping!

Here is the listing to check out more info...Pass it along!

http://www.bcsrealtor.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=2108
MLS#: 48229
Visual Tour: http://www.visualtour.com/offline_download.asp?t=1213239&fp=%2Foffline%2Fvt%2D1213239%2Drad43513%2FVisualTour%5F1213239%2Eexe&fs=1838657&sc=False&idx=True

My First Blog

I hope I am able to get this thing updated often!

Let me introduce The Cortez'........

We are Robert, Brooke, Kaylee and Camryn.

Robert: Full time worker for the State of Texas, Dad to 2 beautiful girls, Loves the Texas Longhorns, Football, Poker, Great Husband and Father

Brooke: Full time social worker for the State of Texas, Mom to 2 beautiful girls, Loves to shop and surf the internet, obsession with Disney Boutique Clothes

Kaylee: Loves to read, color, read, Is a fantastic dancer, Is a great peace keeper and lover of animals

Camryn: Loves to play baby dolls and dance, Is our fiesty child and always getting into things!

So there is my first post, it's short but sweet! It took me 3 days to write it! Hopefully my other ones won't take as long!