Stay tuned......

I have to go get myself ready for the day. Gotta go pick up my little man from school, get ready to go shake it at ZUMBA, but then watch out 'cause I have a giveway that I'm ready to post AND details on my 2nd Annual Secret Santa Mission! Yes, we are going it again friends!!! This time we have two families were are seeking items for.

I can't wait to share all this news with you. So, I will be back in a bit and share!

Thanks!

Cheryl

P.S. Any of you locals coming to FREE Zumba this afternoon? You should come! It is soooooo much fun! Nothing but ladies! It is in the valley, off of Broadway and McDonald, from 1:30 to 2:30. They EVEN have FREE childcare!!! The childcare girls are AWESOME!!! Seriously, they volunteer their time JUST to come and watch the kiddos so the mommas can get a little time to have fun and workout at the same time!

Update

Things went REALLY good tonight. We REALLY made somebody's Christmas. SANTA'S COMING...... Thanks to all of you and your support, we were able to pull this off. My kids, husband, and I hid around the corner to watch them open the door. I'm thinkin' they were pretty happy, but we had to leave quickly as I think we may have been spotted.....Here is my team in action.....



This is early on and Trent (my son) in the background chillin'



My momma loading stuff up



Donations before unpacking

And more....

And more...............



Organizing donations



Organizing



And more organizing......



Secret Santa Helpers....Mom, Ryan, Faithy, Blakey, Dad, and Trent wayyyyyy in the back.



Last, but not least.......Yes, that is yours truly sending many thanks and hugs to all of you for helping me/us make this happen. THANK YOU!!!!


Sooooo, here are some more details. This is how you guys/gals ROCK!!! We not only made Christmas happen for my original family of the mommy, the daddy, the 2-year-old, and the 9-month-old baby boy. We brought Christmas to TWO other families. I didn't think you all would mind. Yes, the kiddos from our first family got the toys and clothes and other misc gifts, but we had soooooooo much food and toiletries that we shared.

Family #1 the original family....
Here is some more info that I found out. They are 21. He has been laid off from work (not good). She works part-time. They are actually homeless right now. They had a flood in their apartment a little while back and they are having trouble getting it fixed. They actually went back recently to try to live there again, but found out that their apartment is STILL flooded. So, that was a no-go there. So, they are actually living with her mom and 15-year-old son/little brother in an apartment. I can only imagine how cramped they must be.

Family #2
Well, we found out, through the grapevine, that she is not doing too hot financially either. She is actually trying to get on disability as she has some health problems. We found out that Christmas wasn't looking to bright for her or her son either.  Sooooo, we stepped in and took care of that too. Yep, mom and I pooled a couple of things together and got presents for the grandma and son too.

Family #3
While doing our Secret Santa Drive today, we had gotten the word from a fellow couponer (thanks Wendi) that there is a family that she knows of that is in need. This is actually REALLY sad. It is a husband and wife who are from out of town, but are here for a while. They have many children (I'm not sure how many), but they also have an 8-9 month old and are here because they are getting treatment for their baby WHO HAS CANCER!!! WHAT?! I mean I know this stuff happens, but REALLY?! Well, all she asked for was if we were too overwhelmed with "stuff" that maybe we consider giving our leftovers to this family. Well, it actually turns out that I have a family coming to donate MORE stuff tomorrow and we did have a "few" extra food items. We had some pasta, brownies, hot chocolate, and a couple of cereals. Now, from what I am told we have a whole bunch of stuff coming tomorrow! Boy, you guys/gals REALLY helped out.


THANK YOU OVER AND OVER AND OVER FOR MAKING THIS HAPPEN, NOT ONLY FOR ONE FAMILY BUT FOR THREE!!!! My family and I THANK YOU!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Cheryl

P.S. It was so nice meeting all of you today and seeing familar faces. Thanks EVERYONE for coming out.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!

A MILLION TIMES OVER!!!!!! Wow, you guys really rock!!! My mom and I have been putting stuff together since we left at 2 o'clock! We just finished up and we are going to deliver around 5:30 or so. I have pictures to share with you so I will do that later today. We got soooooo much stuff!

I really couldn't have done this without your help, so thanks. Special thanks to ........

The Coupon Posse'
Happy Money Saver
Frugal Chic Living
Confessions of a Couponaholic

for helping me to put the word out there! These bloggers really rock!

Thanks EVERYONE and I will give you an update soon. :)

Cheryl

Giving Back For Christmas

Update:  I just wanted to take the time and thank everyone who has contacted me and who is helping to support my decision to do this and helping me to get the word out there! I REALLY appreciate it! I'm sure the family will appreciate it too. I went to Fred Meyer yesterday and picked up FOUR bottles of laundry detergent for JUST $0.50 a bottle. It was that Xtra laundry detergent. There was a Fred Meyer coupon in Wednesday's paper making it 2 for $3 and there is a $1/1 coupon on their (Xtra) website, making them only $0.50! Wow, that will come in real handy for the donation.

I know that it is last minute, but this is something that I have been thinking about for a while and... well...quite frankly, I was a bit scared to do something like this. I mean I don't mind "helping" to put together something like this, but for me to be the one "in charge" is quite scary. Anyway, this has been laying quite heavily on my heart lately, and I know I waited until late, but I'm going to take the plunge and DO IT. And, one of the first people that I am coming to is you. I NEED HELP!! AND, I NEED HELP REAL BAD! Do you think you help me pull this off?

I have found a family (thanks mom) that needs some uplifting this year for Christmas. This family is local. This family consists of a mom, a dad, a little girl (2 years old), and a baby boy (8 months old, although I am told he is a little big for his age, more like 12 months). Well, it looks like Santa may NOT be headed their way this year AND I am going to do EVERYTHING in my power to see that Santa DOES come. This family IS in need and they need our help.

With all of our coupons and "coupon talent" that we have I'm thinking that some of you may have a pretty good stockpile. Do you think that maybe you could share some of that with this family? I HAVE BROWNIES! :)

I'm thinking it would be pretty nice if we could gather up some stuff for Christmas dinner or even just plain food. It sounds like this family is in real need. Maybe some diapers, wipes, just neccesities, or even just stuff that you may have "extra" of and you don't know what to do with. How 'bout some Christmas toys? They don't even have a Christmas tree! I thought I had one, but I don't so if you have maybe an artificial one that you were thinking of getting rid of, we could use that. I have plenty of decorations and lights. Anything, you think you could donate to make their Christmas a little less stressful would be AWESOME.

I just found all of this information out about 45 minutes ago, while I was in the middle of Rite Aid. Needless to say, I left the store and came home to do some inventory of what I have, so I can get the appropriate items. So, I have not arranged a day yet for drop off or a location. Whatever the location, it will be in the valley. I'm thinking maybe next Wednesday for a drop off. Unless I hear anything different, the drop off location will be in the parking lot of West Valley High School, off Buckeye and Vista area, next Wednesday, 12/22/10, from 12 noon to 2 pm.

If you have something you would like to donate, and maybe you have a question or you need me to pick it up. PLEASE, let me know. I will see what I can do.

ANY help is appreciated! Thank you all and Merry Christmas!

You can always e-mail me at frugal mom 1 @ live . com.

Thanks again!

Cheryl