Saving money and a Justin story

I love saving money! I have been using more and more coupons lately. We need to save, save, save. : )

Yesterday Justin and I headed over to Kohl's during Power Hours. We desperately needed a couple of new suitcases as our old ones seem to keep breaking! (So do our cars, but that's a story for another day.) I found a set of 4 Dockers suitcases, sturdy yet lightweight. Justin and I checked all of the suitcases over thoroughly before deciding on the Dockers set. People though we were crazy- we were taking all of the suitcases out, checking out the zippers, checking out the lining and trying to figure out how much they weighed. The Dockers set was originally priced $ 249.99. It was marked down to $89.99, a savings of $160. I had a coupon for 20% off so we saved an additional $17.99, total savings $177.99. Did I mention that I love saving money?

After we left Kohl's we headed over to Costco to eat samples. Wait- what I meant to say was that we headed over to Costco to pick up some salmon for dinner. (But the samples were fabulous yesterday.) We were on our way to our car when I saw a man with Down Syndrome. He had his back to me but I could tell. Justin said, "Mom" and motioned his head in the man's direction. I smiled, letting Justin know that I'd already seen him. He was standing with his parents, who were probably about the age of my parents. Justin and I guestimated that the man with DS was probably in his forties. It was easy to watch him when we walked by as their little family unit was standing together, the parents looking over their receipt and the man with DS waiting patiently with his hands over his ears. (It was crazy busy in Costco so he was probably a bit over-stimulated.) I rarely pass up the opportunity to talk to parents of a child with DS but they were lookng at the receipt so intently I decided not to interrupt them. As we walked away, I felt a tear slide down my cheek. I told Justin that there is absolutely no way I'm going to get through my presentation next weekend without crying. I wanted to go over and hug him, and tell his parents that I, too, have a child with Down Syndrome. I wanted to ask them questions, show them pictures of Lila, get to know them. It just wasn't the time. Justin said that when he looked at them, he felt like crying too because it reminded him of Nick and me when Lila gets older. The good thing is, he said, that we'll always be happy. Lila just has a way of doing that.

Speaking of Justin, he is getting ready to head back to school. Change is in the air and I'm not liking it very much. Thankfully when Justin leaves Tiffani will come home, school will start for both Tiffani and Lila, and life goes on. But pretty soon the big kids won't call this their home anymore and that makes me sad. But for now, they still do so I'm going to try and make the most of every day with them.

My silly boy.... um, I mean man

My precious big kids earlier this summer

Hugs~

Linda