Grocery Spending: August Round-Up

So, here we are at the end of August. Oy! This past Sunday was my 3rd week of couponing to help reduce our monthly grocery budget.  Since it was the last week in the month, I had planned for this week to be the "freezer week."  Meaning, mainly eating meals that I had froze earlier in the month, or using ingredients (mostly meats) that were previously froze.  I did want to get one fresh meal this week, so this is our meal plan:

Monday: Shrimp rolls (think Lobster Rolls, but with shrimp) with chips - Fresh
Tuesday: Spaghetti with meat sauce (meat was frozen, sauce and noodles from pantry), garlic bread (bought, frozen) and salad (fresh)
Wednesday: Chicken enchiladas. Chicken is coming from the freezer, just had to buy some sauce, cheese and tortillas.  This will yield one batch for dinner and another for a future freezer meal
Thursday: South of the Border Quiche (freezer) with salad (fresh).

For this week's shopping trip I had a whole stack of coupons ready to use, but it turned out that the generic brand prices beat my coupon prices so I think I only used 1 coupon this week.  Since so many of the meals were already in the freezer, this was a very light week - as was the plan. 

This week's deals:

Safeway Brand Mexican Cheese: Original Price = $2.99
E-coupon: -$1
Total Cost: $1.99, Savings of $1


Mama Bella Brand Frozen Garlic Bread (2 loaves): Original Price = $4.29
On sale for: $2.99
Manuf. coupon: -.50
Doubled: -.50
Total Cost: $1.99, Savings of $2.30

Shrimp: Original Price = $5.06
On sale for: $3.22
Savings of $1.84

Told ya there was nothing exciting this week...


Total Cost Before Coupons: $54.41
Total amount of coupons and e-coupons: $2.00 (ha!)
Loyalty card savings: $13.70
Total Savings: $15.70


Total Cost: $38.71

Total Savings: 30%

AUGUST TOTALS:

Week 1 (hadn't started couponing yet) = $85.34
Week 2 (couponing begins!) = $64.21
Week 3 = $56.08
Incidental (Tide was on sale Friday only for $5, I had a $1 off coupon, so I made a special trip) = $4.00
Week 4 = $38.71

GRAND TOTAL FOR AUGUST: $248.34

Compared to July ($430.84): Reduced our grocery spending by $182.50!!
42% Reduction thanks to couponing and freezer meals!

Let's hope September brings some great deals and we can keep this up. And for fun, here is a picture of what it looks like when I plan for the week.  Surrounded by grocery ads, my coupon stack, my grocery list, a cookbook and my computer to look up e-coupons. Takes about 2 hours to complete my list.

Week 2 of Couponing

Alrighty, so week 2 wasn't as good as the previous week, but still a good amount of savings nonetheless.  One thing I forgot about last week was to give you my meal plans so you can see what we're eating compared to what it cost.  So this bill was for the week that just past, and here is the meal plan:

Monday: Homemade (well, mostly) pepperoni and mushroom pizza
Tuesday: Steak (cheap ones!) with fried zucchini and oven fries
Wednesday: Hot dogs with tomato and cucumber salad
Thursday: Typically, I would make a 4th meal here, but we had a dress rehearsal and just had to pick something up on the way.

Freezer Meal: South of the Border Quiche with mainly left over ingredients from the previous week.

Note: I was given the largest zucchini known to man by a coworker that we ate some of on Tuesday and the rest is now transformed into 3 (!!) zucchini breads which are in the oven as I type this.

Ok, on to the deals!


Orbit Gum: One pack was on sale for .69 and another was 1.39 = 2.08
Manuf. Coupon: -.50 off of 2 packs
Doubled: -.50
Total Cost: $1.08, Savings of $1.00

Wishbone Dressing: Original Price =  $3.39 each, $6.78 for 2
Sale: Buy one get one free
E-Coupon: -$2.00 when you buy 2
Manuf. Coupon: -.50
Doubled: -.50
Total Cost: $.39, or just .19 each! Savings of $6.39!

Pillsbury Pizza Refrigerated Pizza Crust: Original Price = $3.29
E-coupon: -$1.30
Manuf. Coupon: -.40
Doubled: -.40
Total Cost: $1.19, Savings of $2.10

Precious Brand String Cheese Sticks Pack of 16: Original Price = 5.99
E-coupons: -$3.00
Total Price: $2.99, Savings of $3.00

5lb Bag of Russet Potatoes: Original Price = $2.99
Safeway Mailer Coupon: .49 ea!
Total Cost: .49, Savings of $2.50!

Safeway Brand Wheat Bread: Original Price = $1.79
Coupon: -$1.00
Total Cost: .79, Savings of $1.00

Safeway Brand Hot Dog Buns: Original Price = 1.49
Coupon: -$1.00 (this was the same coupon as above for $1 off any safeway bread. 1 coupon that applied to multiple items)
Total Cost: .49, Savings of  $1.00

Athenos Feta: Original Price = $4.49
E-coupon: -$1
Total Cost: $3.49, Savings of $1.00

I also had a coupon on some cereal this week, but it was nothing spectacular.  Then I also had another $10 off Safeway mailer coupon which are always awesome.  Then we got the usual stuff: milk, stuff for lunches, fruit, some toiletries, etc. Here's what it boiled down to:


Total Cost Before Coupons: $93.68
Total amount of coupons and e-coupons: $26.40
Loyalty Card Savings: $11.20
Total Savings: $37.60

TOTAL COST: $56.08
TOTAL SAVINGS: 42%

Not So Extreme Couponing

Recently, I have been examining our budgets and spending, and realized that we spend a butt-ton of money on groceries.  For instance, in July, we spent $430 at the grocery store! We are only 2 people and I only cook 4 meals a week, what the heck is going on?  Now, this does also include toiletries and household items, so it's not just food, but it still seems like a lot.  I meal plan every week, almost always buy generic and rarely buy things that aren't on sale, but still can't seem to save enough money.

So I decided to try to make some changes.  I checked out a few books at the library that included topics like: Freezer meals, $5 dollar dinner ideas, strategic grocery shopping and 600 ways to reduce your grocery budget.  For the most part, all of the "tips" were either things I already did or were aware of, so nothing groundbreaking.  However, it did motivate me to try harder. My plan for the next few months will be this:

• Try to make one freezer meal a week or freeze an extra package of meat, etc. (by doing this, I am hoping that 1 week per month we can simply eat out of the freezer and only buy a few fresh things at the store)
• Try harder to match coupons with weekly sales
• Strive to use ingredients in more than one meal a week (if one meal uses cilantro, try to use that cilantro on at least one other meal to reduce waste and avoid buying more ingredients)
• Seek out different stores (Walgreens and Target) for toiletries and such because they tend to be cheaper than at our grocery store.

So this past weekend was my first shot at my new plan.  Some things to note: I had a BOGO coupon for some meat that my grocery store didn't carry (ANNOYING!), so I wasn't able to put something in the freezer this week.  Other than that, I had $5 dinner recipe on my list and was manned with some special store coupons from a Safeway mailer. Here are the highlights from my grocery bill:

Honey Nut Cheerios (big box): Original Price: 4.79 
-On sale for: 3.33.
-E-coupon my store loyalty card (will be referenced as "J4U" (just for you) from here forth) -.34
-Manufacturer coupon: -.75, "doubled" up to a dollar, so an additional -.25
Total Cost: $1.99, Savings of $2.80

Crunchy Nut Cereal: Original Price: 3.99
-Manu. coupon -.75, doubled for an additional -.25
Total Cost: 2.99 (ok, that wasn't that cool), Savings of $1.00


Soda: Coke was Buy 2, Get 2 free - and yes, we drink that much soda
Original Price for 4 = $24
Total Price: $12, Savings of $12

Freezer Sale: Buy $15 worth of frozen items and get $5 off
So we got 4 Lean Cuisines for lunches at $10
We got some 2 personal pizzas, again for lunches, $3
So, you're thinking, you didn't spend the $15. True, but we also bought ice cream (see below) that qualified us for the deal.  So, we really got all this for only $8. 

Breyers Ice Cream: Original Price = $5.99
On Sale for $2.99
E-coupon for $3 Off
Total Price: FREE! Woohoo!

Store Mailer Coupon: Every month or so, Safeway mails out these coupons that feature 1 item for 3 different meals.  This month it was bacon, so there were coupons for breakfast items, BLT items and loaded baked potato items.  Well, I'm only making the breakfast meal, but I can use some of the same ingredients of the other meals:

Safeway Eggs, 1 dozen: $1.24 with a -.75 coupon
Safeway Shredded Cheese: $.99 with a -1.50 coupon
Safeway Orange Juice: $1.50 with a -.50 coupon
Safeway Sour Cream, 16oz: $.88 with -.67 (??) coupon

Blueberries: BOGO
2 pints of blueberries, original price: $10
Total cost: $5, savings of $5

Catalina (printed at register) coupon from a previous shopping trip: $10 OFF

Then we got a bunch of other stuff, mostly produce, canned goods and some toiletries, but the above were the best savings.  Here's the grand total:

Total Cost Before Coupons: $116.34
Total amount of Coupons and E-coupons: $24.76
Loyalty Card Savings: $27.37
Total Savings: $52.13

TOTAL COST: $64.21

TOTAL SAVINGS: 46%

Certainly not the crazy 96% savings you see on Extreme Couponing, but this is a personal best for me! Almost half off my grocery bill is pretty dang good! Assuming I can keep this up for a month, I can reduce my monthly grocery bill by $200 a month.  Let's see if I can actually do it...stay posted!

CitySolve Urban Race Denver

This past Saturday, Evan, his sister, Megan and I participated in the CitySolve Denver Urban Race...along with about 700 other people!  The Urban Race is kind of like a scavenger hunt/Amazing Race all around Denver.  Teams of 2 to 3 people race around Denver solving clues in hopes of being one of the first teams to cross the finish line. You could only walk or use public transportation.

Our team name was the Flux Capacitors  - it's from the Back to the Future movies if you don't have a clue what that is. We had t-shirts made with a picture of a flux capacitor with the words "Go Flux Yourself".  In addition to the shirts, we each had on some accessories from different eras from the Back to the Future movies.  I was 50s, Evan was from the "future" 2015 and Megan was from the 80s.

The day started off at about 11am at Stoney's Bar and Grill on 11th and Lincoln.  This was where we had to check in...then wait for an hour...and then get our first clue of the day.  At noon, they unfurled large pieces of paper with the first clue on it:

The answer was B, so we headed to 14th and Grant to get our set of 10 clues to solve and get the race started.  Our strategy was to sit down and solve all the clues, map out our destinations and then take the most efficient route around the city.  You're given 10 clues, most of which are mandatory, but there are others that are not and you are given on free skip. You may solve the clues and hit the destinations in any order. We quickly realized our team was extremely complementary.  I would work out the puzzles to solve the clues, Evan would look things up online and Megan's vast knowledge of Denver's restaurants and bars made solving the clues super easy and fast. It took us about 30 minutes to solve the clues and off we went!

Here is the order that we solved the clues:

Clue 5: Who shot 'em? Start just outside of Boston, in the town of Brookline, MA.  Follow this town's most prominent native to the city of his untimely end.  Now, recall the name of a television patriarch from this city to find your checkpoint.  You'll find this checkpoint in Uptown between streets with the surnames of the first U.S. President and the  first American Idol winner.

>>Ok, so we didn't even search that Boston crap, I just read the title of the clue and thought, J.R. (from Dallas)? Then Megan quickly thought of the bar, J.R's, and sure enough it was between the streets of Washington and Clarkson. And ta da! Here was our first check point:

(Ok so the we meant to go to clue 2 next, but we couldn't find it right away so we went to clue 9 next)

Clue 9:  You're so thematic...This California Street Cafe will reveal its name in the circled letters of the following clues:
     1. Temperature taker: ----(-)------  >>Ther(m)ometer
     2. Dispute that Pluto is this: ----(-)- >>Plan(e)t
     3. Introduced the Model T: ---(-)-  ---- >>Hen(r)y Ford
     4. Name of this clothing company (it showed a logo): >>Qui(c)ksilver
     5. Phoenix Suns home court: (-)-  --(-)--(-)-  ------ >>(U)S Ai(r)wa(y)s Center

The circled numbers spelled: MERCURY.  >>Mecury Cafe on California St.
There was a butt-ton of racers out front trying to get a photo, so we took one from the middle of the street:

We finally figured out clue 2, and after some backtracking (about 10-15 minutes worth, ouch) we found it.

Clue 2.  Watch out for the hand grenades...This one has 2 parts. Part 1: What recreational game is being described below?
An outdoor game played between two people (or two teams of two people) using four of what a filly might wear for protection and two throwing targets (stakes) set in a sandbox area. The game is played by the players alternating turns tossing the four "protective objects" at stakes in the ground, which are traditionally placed 40 feet apart.

Part 2: When you figure it out, head to a lounge located within 1/4 mile of Lawson Park where you need to go inside and look for the Odell Staff and play a game of chance. 

>>Ok, so while we knew pretty quickly that the game was horseshoes, we didn't know the lounge they were describing.  Also, Lawson Park is a really dinky park and really shouldn't have been used as an identifier in my opinion.  And that 1/4 mile distance was questionable.  Finally, we did a search on "horseshoe lounge" and found the right place.  The game of chance was Yahtzee.  You had 5 chances to throw a yahtzee or a full house to get 5 minutes deducted from your score.  Well, we sucked and didn't get either.  So we just took our picture and off we went.

Clue 8:  DETOUR: Purple Mountains or Majesty...choose one of these options below - you will NOT get extra for doing both)
Purple Mountains: Take 1 photo of three people wearing  Rockies caps. CAPS ONLY! People in photo cannot be participating in CitySolve.
OR
Majesty: Take photo(s) of 2 different items with Will and Kate.

>>So as we were headed to another clue, I saw a picture on a newspaper dispenser (is that what they are called?) with an ad for Rockies on it.  I re-read the clue and no where in it does it say that the people have to be REAL people.  So we all scrunched in and here is what we got:

Clue 3: Watch your mouth! This one has 2 parts. Part 1: This four letter word isn't a swear word at all, but rather a place that Bono and Sinead O'Connor might go to grab a pint and talk about The Emerald Isle. Part 2: Once there you must find the Yelp Staff who will instruct you on what to do next.  You'll find it within 3 blocks of Coors Field.

>>Megan almost immediately knew this one was Fado's right by Coors Field.  When we got there, there was a clue having to do with something about finding a county in Ireland that share's it's name with something you put on a hamburger. I didn't even finish reading the clue before Evan and Megan ran inside.  Megan went straight for the Ireland map on the wall in the bar and found a county called "Mayo" that was the answer.  Personally, I'm not a weirdo (like my sister in law, Amy) who puts mayo on cheeseburgers, but whatever. :)

Clue 1: Take that Will Shortz...Solve the 7 clues below to find the checkpoint in LoDo. Hint: One of the clues is not part of the check point. Hint: Tow of the clues must be combined to form one word.

(So this was actually a crossword puzzle, that I won't draw out, but below are the clues)
-Conjunction used to connect words and phrases >> AND
-If a pinball player moves the cabinet too violently this happens >> TILT
-Where the Nuggets and Avalanche play >> PEPSI CENTER (this was the first hint, not part of the check point)
-A restaurant or other commercial establishment serving food >> EATERY
-Any short pleated skirt worn by men in the Scottish Highlands >> KILT
-Short for public house >> PUB
-First name of the actor who played the character "Al Bundy" >> ED

>>With the words "TILT" and "KILT" Megan immediately thought of the place on 16th st. called the Tilted Kilt.  Here, we had to take a picture with a Denver Fireman. Yes, please!

>>While on our way to the Tilted Kilt, we were worried they wouldn't count our Rockies picture, so we found a 7-11 and took these two pictures with Will and Kate just in case.  (Oh and I had to buy more water, it was HOT!)

After the Tilted Kilt, we took the 16th street shuttle all the way down to Civic Center Park to complete the checkpoints on the other side of town. 

Clue 4: Anyone know of a good doula? From the synopsis below, figure out the hit movie which was released on Jesus's birthday in 2007:
A tale told over four seasons about a 16 year old high school junior in Minnesota who discovers she's pregnant after on event in a chair with her best friend. She finds one in the PennySaver personals, contacts them, tells her dad and step-mother, and carries on with school. The chosen parents, upscale yuppies meet the pregnant teen, sign papers and year unfolds.
You'll find this salon on East 8th Ave.

>>I've seen this movie a bunch of times and knew from the first few words it was Juno.  Juno Salon on 8th ave was pretty easy to find.

Clue 7: Hope you're not a dumb jock...Solve the equation below to find this checkpoint located on Logan St. This one's a 2 parter.

Part 1: The inaugural season of the rockies - the distance in feet from home plate to second base (rounding first base) + Jason Giambi's Rockies jersey number (divided by) the number associated in baseball with the SS position + number of days in a leap year = ???

Part 2: When you find the checkpoint go inside to find the iX MiXer staff for your next challenge.

>>Ok, this one kinda slowed us down, it was a lot to look up.  I almost called my brother, who is a Rockies freak, because I knew he would know some of these things off the top of his head.  Luckily, after some google searching we solved the equation: 1993 - 180 + 23 (divided by) 6 + 366 = 672

Located at 672 Logan Street is the restaurant, Govn'rs (sp?) Park. Here, we had to play that game where you try to bounce quarters into a shot glass for time off your final score.  Again, we sucked and got none. But we did get a free sample of some weird beverage. 

Clue 6: Mural, mural on the wall...find this awesome art piece between 9th and 7th avenues and the famed street in NYC that runs through Times Square and a street that shares the same name as a US President who fought in the Civil War. (they showed us a picture of the mural in question)

>>The NYC street was Broadway and the US President was Lincoln.  So we went to the right area and kinda just followed some folks to find this mural on the side of Le Central.

Clue 10: We skipped! I still don't know how to get the right answer on this one, but turns out it was Wahoo's Fish Tacos. Meh, whatever...

Ok, at this point we were done and joyfully headed towards the finish line.  It's important to note that by now, my legs and feet were so sore I wanted to cut them off.  I was tired and hot and so ready to be done.  Evan's poor feet had blisters, but Megan was still spry as ever. Pft. It was VERY tiring running/walking all around Denver! But it was a TON of fun and I really liked solving the clues and getting to see parts of Denver that were new to me.  I would definitely do it again next year...assuming I do some physical conditioning before hand.  And here is how we did...

Out of 310 (!!) teams, we placed.....57th!! With a time of 2 hours and 23 minutes!  We didn't qualify for the national race in Vegas (only the top 25 teams did), but I think that's pretty damn good! Especially because it was our first time and we certainly didn't run that much.  The first place team had a time of 53 minutes! Now, they could have gotten some bonus questions (There were 2 bonues - like find 3 people wearing tiaras, someone with a bucket of kentucky fried chicken and some other weird stuff that would give you time off your score, we didn't get any) and they could have gotten the challenges that we did not to reduce their time, but my gosh, they must have been running the entire time.  Anyway, all in all it was a blast and look for the Flux Capacitors to dominate next year!

Won't You Be My Neighbor?

So, I'll come right out and say it.  "I'm not very neighborly."  I don't really know why, but I'm just not.  Perhaps it's because we're surrounded by folks who are a lot older than Evan and I or perhaps it's because they are all kinda weirdos.  Let me break it down for ya.

Our Neighbor to the East:  He used to be, or maybe still is, the president of the Neighborhood Watch.  I don't think they've done anything organized in years, but he certainly still likes to be in everyone's business.  I actually like this neighbor...when they aren't being nosy. They are friendly, they keep a nicely maintained yard and house, bring us sugary treats every Christmas and very rarely do anything annoying.  When they are being nosy, however, it's a bit off-putting.  When we first moved in, one of our fence posts in the back yard broke.   Well, before we even had time to notice it, our neighbor (it wasn't on the side that bordered their yard) let himself in to our backyard and braced it.  Then, once we got home and noticed this odd handy work in our backyard, he came over to explain what he did...by ringing the door bell, and walking in and through our house the moment we opened the door.  Now, he did save us a lot of time, money and hard work because if the fence wasn't braced, more posts would have broke, but still....at least let us know before you take the liberty of trespassing on our property.  

Our Neighbor to the West:  These guys are odd birds.  They moved in about a year or so after we first moved into our house. It's just a middle aged to older man and his wife.  Oh and his big ass truck that is parked in front of their house everyday.  These guys mainly keep to themselves...especially whenever we wave, or say hello, they never respond or even acknowledge us.  The guy is out and about his yard and garage quite a bit, but I have only seen the woman maybe a total of 10 times in the 5 years that we've lived here.  The only times I do, she is always shaking out the rugs. 

In our neighborhood, the houses are very, very close together.  There is probably less than 8 feet of separation between houses.  So, needless to say, it's very easy to see in certain windows of our neighbors' house.  We have 2 stories and this particular neighbor only has one.  So from our upstairs bedroom we can look down into their kitchen window.  Well, one evening I went to draw the shade in our bedroom and just happened to glance into our neighbors kitchen....where the guy was walking around buck naked! Yeah, that's a view that will never help my property value.  Also because the houses are so close together, it feels like anything that's in this neighbors side yard is actually in my front yard.  And this particular neighbor has a ton of crap just laying about and it drives me CRAZY!! It looks so junky and hey, it's actually a city code violation...so, yup, you guessed it.  I reported him to the city so he'd have to clean up his shit.  He did, a few weeks ago, but now new crap has taken it's place.  I'd turn him in again, but they just put their house up for sale! Woohoo! Let's just hope some less junky...and less nude neighbors move in.

Our Neighbors Across the Street:  The three houses across the street from us are more normal, but I see too much of them than I ever should. One neighbor is constantly working on his piece of junk car in his garage. No biggie, but he can't work on it unless his stereo is loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear.  The other 2 neighbors seem to be pretty good friends because they are constantly hanging out with each other...in their front yards.

The folks on that side of the street don't really have backyards because they slope down into a ditch or something, so I get that their only outdoor space is in front.  The issue I have with both families is that they let their dogs (2-3 of them) and their VERY young children roam free and wild.  Dogs chase each other or things across the busy street all the time and it's a miracle they haven't been run over yet.  They are never on leashes, nor are they every picked up after.  The children roam from yard to yard with the nearest parent a yard or 2 away.  One of these kids can barely walk, but manages to run down the street. The kids also play baseball, golf, soccer, or just anything with a ball all the time in the front yard.  Just like the dogs, the balls go into the busy street, often with a small child following after.  We always hold our breath whenever they are all out there.  Ugh.  But hey, one of these neighbors is moving as well! Let's hope some more responsible people move in. 

Or maybe you're looking for a new home! Well there are 2 right be me so come move on in. But buyer beware, I will be judging you from my front window.

My Quick Oscar Picks

The Oscars are this weekend and once again I think I'm smart enough to guess the winners. :) Here is who  I'm rooting for:

Actor in a Supporting Role: Christian Bale, The Fighter ("It's a fine life, carrying the banner..." :) )

Actress in a Supporting Role: Melissa Leo, The Fighter (The girl from True Grit is my second choice)

Actor in a Leading Role: Colin Firth, The King's Speech 

Actress in a Leading Role: Natalie Portman, Black Swan (She's come a long way since giving birth in a Wal-Mart)

Animated Feature Film: Toy Story 3

Best Director: David Fincher, The Social Network

Best Film: The Social Network (Like!)

The Wonderment of "Uncle Evan"

My lovely husband's birthday is tomorrow and in honor of that festive event, I've decided to dedicate this blog post to him.  Now, if you've ever met Evan, you probably have a pretty good idea of just how cool he is.  If you haven't had that pleasure, let me fill you in quickly.  Evan is a truly kind, intelligent, handsome, creative, talented, fun, witty and humorous man.  He also has a far superior vocabulary, so he probably could have described himself much better. Anyway...what some of you aren't aware of is the all powerful and magical UNCLE Evan.

We currently have 2 nephews (ages 6 and 9 months) and 1 niece (almost 3).  We also have a few other kids in our lives that we love and consider pseudo nephews and nieces.  However, I should note, that just about any young kid, related or not, that is introduced to Evan immediately understands the Uncle Evan Effect (UEE).  Kids are quickly drawn into the UEE as soon as they enter in a 10 foot radius of Uncle Evan.  They come to him with toys, with legos to build, video games to play, to hear his stories and sometimes they just come to him in order to soak up his awesomeness. :) Perhaps it is the kid in Evan that allows him so easily to play with kids of all ages for hours at a time.  He will conjure up various scenarios of make-believe, find interesting ways to play with toys that the kids would usually call boring and he will entertain the child for hours.  Naturally, all this playtime enables children to fall in love with Uncle Evan right away.  They will ignore everyone else in the room, other kids and yes, sometimes, even candy can't capture their attention. 

Sometimes the UEE makes Evan the babysitter at family functions.  While after a few hours Uncle Evan needs a break, he doesn't rest long before he's entertaining the kids again.  I think that the UEE is wonderful and Evan certainly deserves all the love and adoration from these kids, but I can't help but be a little jealous.  Here are some things that make me wish the UEE was able to be bottled and sold for consumption:

-On Sunday evenings, Evan goes to his family's house for dinner and I (along with my siblings, nephews and niece) go to my dad's for dinner.  Not a Sunday goes by when I'm not asked multiple times by both my niece and nephew, "Where is Uncle Evan?"  And then when I tell them he's with his family, they reply, "Well, why?"  And often the follow up is "Will he come over next time?" or "When will I see him again?".  Forget that I'm awesome and want to play with them just as much, I just simply can't compete with the UEE.

-On a recent shopping trip with my sister, niece and of course, Uncle Evan, my niece was only concerned with Uncle Evan's attention.  Us girls were shopping for shoes when Evan went off to look at video games.  The second my niece noticed that he was gone, she was searching the aisles for him and constantly asking "Where is Evan?"  Even though I answered her question a few times, she would not be satisfied until she actually saw him.  When we finally left the shoe store and went to meet up with Evan, she took my hand and was walking with a mission in order to find Evan again! Thank goodness he wasn't far. :)

We are all so very lucky to have Evan in our lives and the kids are even luckier.  They have a great uncle who absolutely loves them and can't get enough of them.  If you are ever able to see the magic between Evan and the kids you will truly understand the wonderment of the Uncle Evan Effect. 

Happy Birthday, Uncle Evan!