Living My Life

Flooded

2010-05-04T23:13:00.001-04:00

Pictures I took of my daughter on stage at the Grand Ole Opry in October of 2007.

Picture taken on Monday, May 3, 2010. Grand Ole Opry Underwater.
Devastating and heartbreaking.

MY kids are great!

2010-02-05T01:01:00.007-05:00

I am so sorry to have such a lapse in posts.

What's new with us? Not too terribly much. The kiddos are getting big.

Natalya can tie her shoes and has read her first sentence all on her own "Sam is a big dog". She read the wrods all by herself. I was so proud! She also is having some trouble with her shoulders- luckily no pain. She has been diagnosed with Snapping Scapula Syndrome, and we have a follow-up appt with a specialist on Monday afternoon to figure out what to do next. Luckily she is not in any pain. We are hoping it will be nothing big and she can continue her gymnastics. She would be sooo unhappy to have to give that up.

Zachary could care less about walking and can crawl almost faster than I can walk! He is quite the comedian. He loves to make people laugh and once he discovers something he does makes you laugh? He will keep doing it. Like in the pics above- he tips his head down and frowns down while looking up at you- and then starts cackling like crazy! He has a few words- Daddy, uh-oh, night-night and he tries to say dog and piggy ("duh" and "diddie"). Occasionally I will get a "mama" but those are very rare. He signs milk (also meaning water) and more, all done, bird, thank you, and he tries to do cat, dog and please.
It's very sweet because he has gotten "thank you" all figured out and will do it whenever you give him something. A few days ago natalya gave him a kiss and he signed "thank you" to her. AWWWWWWW

Doug is still at Pepsi and I'm still doing the coupon thing. Saving money and trying to help others do the same! We're super thrilled that we are actually going to be able to take a family vacation this year and are planning a trip to Florida, the beach and Orlando for Disneyworld, Animal Kingdom and Islands of Adventure (hoping Harry Potter World will be open!). We are finding some pretty good deals and also discovered the "Give a day Get a day" deal with Disney, where if you donate a day of your time to an approved organization, you get a free ticket for a day to a Disney themepark! Awesome!

She's growing up

2009-12-11T23:59:00.001-05:00

My four year old has recently learned to write her name. I am a proud mommy for sure. She came up to me a couple of weeks ago and said, look Mommy, I wrote Natalya.

(It's a tough one to spell. lots of letters.)

*sniff* My baby's growing up on me.

Zachary is ONE!!

2009-11-15T22:44:00.009-05:00

I mean, seriously. Can you believe it?? Time has FLOWN by!!

He turned one a week+ ago, but we had his birthday party yesterday. He was so funny. He loved everyone singing to him but didn't know what to make of his own cake (we got a "smash" cake with the big cake) he bit his fingers in it and I finally cut a piece out and put it up to his mouth and he took a nibble, but that was it. I think he was shy to eat in front of everyone. :)

He just started pointing to things he wants. He is still signing milk, but now he signs it for everything! LOL! If I have shown him a sign for a work, he uses the sign for milk. So he understands and remembers that I showed him a sign, he just can't remember it or figure out how to do it, so he signs milk (like for dog, more, thank you, bird) he just signs milk. hehe.

He is a crawling madman. He is fast too! He isn't showing interest in walking yet, which is fine by me. He is saying Mama, Dada and Nana (natalya) ocassoinally and Uh-oh. Not talking nearly as much as Natalya was but he does like to squeal. Oh boy can he squeal. I guess he wants to make sure he is heard because he is LOUD and high-pitched. !!

He loves balls. Any ball he is obsessed with. He got lots of ball toys for his birthday and he is in ball-hog-heaven. He carries them everywhere, although it's pretty funny to watch him try to figure out how to carry the balls and crawl simultaneously. He has also suddenly become obsessed with balloons! He had one we got at Publix last week and he would NOT let go of the string. I mean, I had to pry it loose to get him to go to sleep. When I take it out of one hand, he sticks the other out and grabs it with the other hand. Smart kid. lol. So for his birthday party, my grandmother went to dollar tree and got like 12 helium balloons and the strings were long enough to reach the floor- he was loving it- crawling around and grabbing all the strings. He would crawl past you with them all trailing behind him! hahahaha! I have all these pics of him clutching onto the balloon strings.

He is a pretty smart cookie too. He was in the bathroom with me the other day and picked up a roll of toilet paper that had not made it onto the actual roll yet and he looked at me and pointed to the roll like, Mommy, this goes over there.

He also loves putting things in and taking things out. Especiall balls. hehe. Anything he can put in and out makes him happy. To occupy him, I will sometimes give him a plastic cup and a couple of small-ish balls. In out, in, out.

I can't believe he's already one!! He's my baby! He's not supposed to be this old!

A few new pics of the kids

2009-10-23T01:14:00.012-04:00

I snapped a few pics today of the kids. I have been lax on the picture taking. I am still pretty bummed about my camera, and have been using mom's old camera (thanks!). And it needs the battery to be recharged a LOT. We went to the pumpkin patch last weekend and had a LOT of fun- when we got there... battery died on the camera. I think I took one picture. They had fun though- and Natalya picked out a pumpkin that needs to be carved, so perhaps that will be the plan for this weekend. We always carve a big one and paint some small ones. (Speaking of which...I need to find the paint!).

Kids are getting big. I can barely even lift Natalya anymore and Zachary is no tiny thing himself. :) Natalya is doing great at gymnastics. She's in a pre-competition class and loves it. She can do bunny hops on the balance beam now by herself without holding onto a coach! She is also doing simple math. She'll say something like, "Mommy, I have four crayons!" And I'll say, "If I take one, how many do you have?" And she'll say "THREE!!" And she can do it quickly too, with very little hesitation.

Zachary is out of his "dada" kick and into "Mama" kick. Everything is "Mama". My new favorite? He will say "uh-oh Mama" when something falls. :) His top two teeth are in, barely poking through- finally! He was working on those forever it seems like. He is crawling everywhere- and he's FAST! If he knows you're after him, he'll hit high ghear and laugh the whole time he's beelining away at top speed. Very cute. He also started "kissing". He does the sweet open-mouth baby kisses, but also, if you say "Zachary, kisses!" He will make a kissy sound by sucking his tongue through his lips. It makes the same sound you'd make if you were puckering and making the "kissing" noise. It is REALLY stinking cute!

Both kids are balls of energy and I can't wear them out fast enough!

Without further ado, here's some pics... Not great, but better than nothing, right?
These are from a few weeks ago at the park

And here is one from earlier this week

And then some from today

Zachary's first sign!

2009-10-16T01:30:00.001-04:00

I've been signing with Z just like with N. We started with him at around 3 months, just like with N. She picked up her first sign, "milk" at 7 months. I haven't given up on Z yet, but it's taking a lot longer! (That boy thing and communication thing).

He tried to sign dog once a bit ago, but hasn't really attempted anything since.

Today he signed milk to his sister, then has been signing it all day! He is so excited to have put it together he is very exuberant with his signing. He gets the biggest smile when he signs it and you say, you want "milk"?

Of course, I've been nursing him a lot more today than in the past few weeks as a result since I want him to appreciate that asking for milk will actually result in him getting milk. kwim?
LOL

Communication begins! I love it!

Awww- poor Zachary

2009-10-14T11:09:00.002-04:00

He is finally getting the top two front teeth in and it is taking forever! Poor baby- the front right one is protruding down, but the gums haven't popped over it yet, so it looks like the tooth is "in" but it's the gum poking down. You can tell it hurts. I was trying to let him chew on my finger, and rub the gum to help it pop through, but he was resisting. The gum was bleeding some too. I have tried giving him cold things to chew on, wet/cold washcloth, etc, and he's having none of it.

I guess time will be the only thing to help. I don't remember Natalya having any trouble cutting her teeth.

Another reason to breastfeed

2009-09-17T23:52:00.003-04:00

We're sick. It started with natalya. She has a cough that has been lingering for ages. I finally took her to the dr last week and they diagnosed her with bronchitis and gave her an inhaler and albuterol. Meanwhile, Doug picked up a cough, but he seems to be better now.
Then Zachary started with the runny nose, but no cough.

Now I have a horrible cough and congestion. I feel like i am coughing up junk from my lungs, not just out of my sinuses.

I am thrilled that Zachary has only got a runny nose. I am so thankful for breastfeeding, as I know he would have gotten all this other crap if he wasn't getting the immunities from me.

*whew*

We're crawling and sick

2009-09-07T22:31:00.002-04:00

Well, it was bound to happen. Once he started crawling he wants down. Everywhere. Trying to keep him off of nasty, filthy, germ-covered floors is just about nearly impossible. So we've been sick a bit.
Actually, Natalya is the one sick right now. She's got a horrid cough that is just really hanging in there- now it's congestion-filled. Poor kid.

Zachary is a crawling fiend. He is FAST too!! When he puts something in his mouth he's not supposed to (which would be ANYTHING he finds on the floor), he will crawl as fast as he can (picture warp speed) in the opposite direction, laughing the whole time you're after him.
He loves balls. Any balls. And he can throw pretty well already! He will throw you the ball if you ask him to. He is getting pretty big. He was at the dr a few weeks ago for his 9 month well baby (had to be postponed b/c he had a fever and rash- random kid bug). And he was 20.5lb and 28" long! My tall kiddos.

(How a 5'3" woman and 5'9" man had two such tall kids is beyond me).

Overall we're doing great. Sorry for the delay in posting. I'll try to have some pics up soon. :)

Almost crawling.

2009-07-31T14:21:00.002-04:00

Almost. he's at the ... get up on my hands and knees and rock back and forth then flop on my belly stage.

Of course, my kids don't do anything normally, and he has to add his own twist. Which is, he gets on his knees then puts his head on the floor for support and scoots across the floor with his forehead on the floor.

Let's see, what else- he is sitting up on his own- he will lay on his back, lean up and to one side, then stick an arm out and sort of push himself up. He has also figured out how not to fall on his face when he is sitting and wants to be on his belly. Previously, he would stick one leg out, with one bent in front of him and lean forward until- smack- on his face on the floor. Now he sort of leans up and pulls his foot from under him and lands on his belly. This is a huge improvement and happened literally overnight several days ago.

He also calls everything "dada". He will say "mama" when he is in his crib and is really mad but that's the only time so far. The other night, we got into bed and Doug was already asleep and I swear he said "HEY DADA!" and started saying "dadadadada" and smacking Doug in his back. He hasn't really picked up any signs yet. He will sometimes do dog, and sometimes milk, but nothing consistently.
Oh, he was watching a Baby Einstein the other night and the screen came up and said "dog" and he said "duh". and started laughing and jumping all over. This boy loves dogs. And balls. When he sees a ball, he gets so excited! In fact, right now Natalya and he are playing with a ball and he is bouncing all over the place. :)

Fun in the water and Zachary's first words

2009-07-23T22:02:00.010-04:00

Awwww- I love the talking stage! Zachary has been saying "dadadadadada" for a while, and we suspected he was putting it together with "daddy", but we weren't sure. Same with Mama. Then this week, it seems to be clicking. He can't wuite get "Mama" out, but if someone else is holding him and he wants me, or if he's in his crib and wants me, etc, he will start going "MMMMmmmmmmmm" "mmmmmmmm" :D
Today we went swimming with my brother at a friend's house I was housesitting, and Doug decided to come over after work. He came up to the gate and Zachary saw him and starting going "DADADADADA DADA!" And he hadn't made that noise/sound until he saw Doug. It was so sweet! It's official. His first word is Dada.

He also has picked up the game "where's the baby" from somewhere. We were atthe pool on Sunday with some friends and he was sitting with a towel next to him - he picked it up and was hiding behind it. We said, "OH! Where's Zachary?" and he would lower the towel grinning and laughing like crazy.

And Natalya! Oh my gosh! This child is crazy! All the gymnastics has hern doing some wild things. My brother was showing her how to go down the slide on her back, and then he did a cannonball off the diving board. She runs up to the board and goes off the end, doing a perfect cannonball! It was so cute! She was trying to be just like Uncle Tony. Then she says, "Hey Uncle Tony, watch what I can do!" and goes running to the end of the board and does a front flip off the board into the water! HOLY COW! Tony and I just looked at each other like, did she just do a flip? After picking our jaws up off the ground, we yelled and clapped for her. It was kind of funny though, this little kid with arm floaties doing front flips off the board!

Where's Zachary?

July and all is well

2009-07-17T23:45:00.007-04:00

Both kids went in for a check up today. Natalya had her 4 year well check and Z just had one booster vax. (we separate all vaxes so they're not given in one lump).
Natalya is doing great! She's 44" tall and 40lb, 82nd% for weight and <97% for height! (I knew she was tall...). She had a finger prick to test her iron, and it was fine. They also tested her urine to make sure there was no infection or yeast (since she has a history of it) and all was good. She had two vaccine boosters, IPV and DTaP, and she took them like a trooper, with no tears. :) She earned a sucker AND a cookie for that, lol. Although I told her it was ok to cry.

The doctor asked about other vaccines and I denied them. He nodded. We also talked a little about the MMR and I mentioned that we were waiting until Merck re-released them separately and he agreed. I told him I had heard they were doing it soon, and he hadn't heard that, so he was thrilled. His has a high percentage of autistic children as patients (his specialty), so he has a high demand for those separate. He asked if she was going to school this year, and I said no. He wanted to know if we needed the "yellow form" lol. (to exempt them from "required" vaccinations) I told him not now, but if it comes up, I will let him know.

He is so awesome.

Zachary had a DTaP booster and he didn't cry either! The nurse was loving us today.

We also had pictures made. Here are some of my favorites...

Please help support new Stillbirth legislation!

2009-07-15T12:39:00.002-04:00

Legislative Action Alert | Your help is needed!

Newly Introduced Legislation will Support Education and Prevention Efforts for Stillbirth, SIDS and other Sudden, Unexpected Infant Deaths (SUID)

First Candle is pleased to announce that the Stillbirth and SUID Prevention, Education and Awareness Act of 2009 was filed July 14 by Senator Frank Lautenberg, D-NJ. A companion bill was filed in the House by Frank Pallone, Jr., D-NJ-6. This bill would improve the collection of critical data to determine the causes of stillbirth SIDS and SUID, increase education and awareness about how to prevent these tragedies in the future and expand support services for families who have experienced a stillbirth, SIDS or SUID loss.

Every year there are more than 25,000 stillbirths in the United States. For more than half these deaths there is no known cause, leaving parents with more questions than answers as to why the baby died. The bill would expand activities to identify the causes of stillbirth, identify ways to prevent it in the future and increase education and awareness about the issue among healthcare providers and parents.

In addition, there are more than 4,600 sudden unexpected infant deaths each year (including SIDS) and 200 sudden unexpected deaths of children between the ages of one and four. This bill encourages states to complete scene investigations to better understand why these children died, establishes a national database to track these deaths and identify risk factors to prevent them in the future, supports more comprehensive reviews and creates a national public awareness campaign to educate parents and caregivers.

Please help by contacting your representative in the House and two Senators within the next week, urging them to co-sponsor this important bill.

The more co-sponsors the bill gets, the more likely it is to pass quickly through the House and Senate.

Participating in First Candle's letter-writing campaign is easy!

Visit www.house.gov to get contact information for the Congressman in your District. You will need your 9-digit zip code. You will then be able link directly to your Representative's website.

Visit www.senate.gov to get contact information for your states two Senators. Simply select your state from the drop down menu to connect to your Senators' websites.

We encourage you to call your representatives directly, or set up an appointment to meet with them face-to-face. Writing a letter or sending an email can be effective as well. Emails can be sent directly through your representatives' websites.

We have provided a Fact Sheet about the bill, as well as a sample letter to help guide you.

First Candle would love to receive a copy of your letter or an email detailing your conversation with your representatives for our files.

Members of Congress rely on input from their constituents to help them better understand what issues are important to those they serve. Help give our babies a voice!

Please feel free to contact Laura Reno, 800.221.7437 or laura.reno@firstcandle.org with any questions you may have.

OR CONTACT

RICHARD K. OLSEN, FOUNDER
NATIONAL STILLBIRTH SOCIETY
NSS@COX.NET
602-216-6600

Natalya's train of thought

2009-07-11T01:31:00.001-04:00

I am both amazed and amused at her thought processes. She constantly says and does things that crack me up and blow me away.

Today we were in the car and I asked her what she wanted for her birthday. She started going on and on about this swing she wanted. (???) I had no clue what she was talking about so I asked her to describe it. Didn't help. Asked her was it inside or outside? what color? Then I said, where did you see the swing? She said, "well, you go up here and turn right, then you turn left, then you go straight. Then you go to Rotary Hills Court [this is our street]. Then you go right and left."

LOL!!!

Here I was expecting her to tell me she saw it at the store, or on tv. But she gives me directions! hahahaha!

My little guy is barely a baby any more

2009-07-10T00:40:00.002-04:00

I really can't believe it. Up until the end of last week he was only nursing and turning away all baby foods. (both store bought and homemade)

A couple of days ago, I decided to try small bits of soft foods and he LOVED IT! He is now eating little bits of soft foods, mashing it between his gums and eating a TON! When Natalya was this age, she was eating some baby foods but that's it. She didn't start eating bits of things until she was a lot older.
Today he ate two meals, pretty big meals too. The first was scrambled eggs, toast and pears...the second was salmon (Loves it!), black beans, rice and eggs. He kept grabbing my hand and pushing it in his mouth to put the food in there. Once he was done, he turned his head and that was that.

I'm not ready for him to grow up. He's the baby!

My baby is almost 4 years old!!

2009-07-09T02:02:00.009-04:00

*bawling*

I just can't believe it. She is getting so big. I can't believe how fast it goes.

The ONLY time she was in the isolette

several hours old

One year old. 7/12/2006

Second birthday party with Mamu Jimmie

Third birthday party

Several weeks ago painting.

Easter Egg hunting

First experience with soccer! She loved it!

What's new

2009-07-08T10:52:00.002-04:00

Lots of things apparently! :)

Zachary is signing milk and it also apparently means Mama. When we went swimming yesterday, Stephanie was holding him while I went to put some things in the car and he got upset (he was tired) and looked her right in the eye and started doing the sign for milk (his version). I was coming back up the stairs and she said, hey Brandy, what does this mean, and she did the sign. awwww. My baby boy is getting so big!

He and Natalya were actually playing with each other the other night. He was sitting on the floor with the boppy behind him and he was so excited about the ball Natalya was playing with he was hopping up and down on his legs and actually hopping forward! It was so funny. Natalya sat across from him and was rolling the ball back and forth with him and he was having so much fun with her.

Natalya's birthday party is on Saturday. She is so excited about her Spiderman party! We are hoping that Mady can make it but her brother's birthday is that day so they are having a party too. We'll keep our fingers crossed for that.

I'll try to take some more pics and post later!

Happy Birthday sweet girl

2009-07-02T01:34:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday my sweet baby. You are missed and loved.
Natalya and I when I was approximately 5 months pregnant, April 2007

Pregnant with Margaret May 5, 2007

Margaret's hand

Margaret's feet. This image was photoshopped by a wonderful company that volunteers in conjunction with Stillnomore.org. The company donates time to photoshop images of stillborn babies, making the pictures more palatable. They photoshop two pictures and then send hard copies to you. It is a wonderful gift and we were, and still are, very appreciative.
If you'd like to donate to Stillnomore.org you can click HERE. This site works tirelessly to research stillbirth and fight for rights of parents who have lost children.

Feeling a bit sad today

2009-06-30T23:39:00.002-04:00

I am so thankful and grateful for the two beautiful children I have, but I have to say I am thinking of the one that is gone today. Today marks the second year anniversary of the last day I felt her move. July 1 ...in labor all day and she was born at 1ish am July 2nd.

We miss you baby girl.

Some recent pics

2009-06-30T22:58:00.005-04:00

Here are some more recent pics. The "garden" is coming along fairly well. We have a few zucchinis and a teensy little watermelon. Natalya got a bit of a sunburn last week after 5 hours swimming at Nana's house, but it didn't seem to phase her.

The watermelon

One of the zucchini

the tomato plants

Family reunion

2009-06-30T22:07:00.006-04:00

Doug's family had a reunion this past weekend and we were able to go and see everyone. It was awesome to see everyone and Natalya has a lot of fun. The get-together was at a lake north of Atlanta and one of Doug's uncles had his boat and the kids got to go on the boat. Natalya was smiling so hard, I thought her cheeks were going to be sore the next day! And the look on Zachary's face was hysterical. His eyes were so wide I thought he'd have bugs flying in them. They both had a blast. Natalya said her favorite part of the trip was playing in the water with Lily and Jasmine. She liked talking all about how Jasmine was afraid and how Doug held her on his knee in the water so she could enjoy the water with Lily and Natalya.

Zachary was so tired - poor guy. While Kris was holding him, he fell asleep and she was kind enough to hold him for the entirety of his nap- over an hour and a half- with him sweating the whole time. (It's like holding a 20+ lb portable heater in your arms). Here's a few pics from the day.

Kris holding a sleeping Zachary

Natalya and Jasmine

Papa and his grandkids

Logan J and Zachary

What do you think this means?

2009-06-21T18:35:00.000-04:00

Z was sitting on the changing table while I was wiping off his back (yuk. don't ask. you don't want to know), and he leaned over, put both hands on the front of my nursing tank and pulled it out as hard as he could...then proceeded to sick his head down my shirt.

HAHAHAHAHA!!!

I was laughing so hard I could hardly breathe.

Think he was hungry??

Zachary's communication

2009-06-18T00:12:00.002-04:00

Well he has picked up two signs- sort of. ;)
He tries to sign "dog" every time he sees one of them and he LOVES the dogs. He gets so excited and he tries to touch his fingers together, but he doesn't quite do the sign. You can tell he is trying to though. He also tried to sign milk once or twice. He's on the way with his signing!

He does love to talk though. It goes something like this: "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh AAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

or so. And He's LOUD!

I have been telling him to say "mama" and he will watch my mouth and open and close his mouth like he's saying it, but nothing comes out. :) Hey, it's a start!

I'm moving my deals.

2009-06-16T00:19:00.002-04:00

I am moving my deals over to a new site. I can't keep up with both in one place- I'm getting a wee bit confused. Not to mention I am not posting as much about the kids and I know my family is a teensy bit annoyed.

So...head on over to I Prefer Publix for my deals! Check in often and I'll try to keep you posted of the best things in our area.

A few pictures

2009-06-14T22:44:00.010-04:00

A pic from our "camping" trip. In the bed in the hotel. LOL.

He's not crawling yet, but he gets up on those knees and scoots...backwards. Which makes him really mad when he's trying to reach something in front of him.

How can you resist that smile??

(please excuse his serious case of mismatching. It was laundry day. ;) )

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!! I have no idea, but it cracks me up every time I look at this picture.

He LOVES his sister. And she is so proud of being a big sister.

She is endless entertainment to him. Here she is playing peek-a-boo out of her carseat box. He is cracking up hysterically.

Free Huggies Wipes

2009-06-14T22:38:00.002-04:00

There may still be some people, like I was, who don't know about this- the $1/1 "Huggies Bath and Body product" coupons work on baby wipes.
The small soft packs of Huggies wipes are $1 at Kroger this week, so free after coupon! I've stocked up in the past, and now that I have more coupons... stocking up again. I use cloth wipes mostly, since they're cheaper, easier, better for baby's bottom and work a LOT better, but if I can get them free, disposable wipes are easier for going out of the house.

Heads-up Nashville shoppers

2009-06-14T13:40:00.001-04:00

There's a coupon on page 6A of the Tennessean for $1/1 Tyson product. Random coupon in the first section. :)

My babies are growing up on me.

2009-06-13T23:32:00.002-04:00

Zachary had a mini-appointment yesterday to get an IPV booster vaccine. He is 19.35lb. We moved him to the convertible carseat since infant carriers only go to 20lb. I put him in it for the first time tonight and I almost shed a tear for him growing up and getting so big! He is cutting tooth number two (bottom front right), already has the first one, the front bottom left. He enjoys chewing on me with his teeth. fun! :)

He is sitting up pretty well, when he begins to tip over, he'll shoot one arm out to right himself. He still does fall over a lot, but he's getting there.

We went "camping" this week. I call it our non-camping camping trip. LOL. The plan was to tent camp at Rock Island State Park, or, if it looked like bad weather, rent a cabin for the night. When we got there, we discovered that Bonnaroo was this week/end and the tent campsites were all booked up. There were two cabins, but they had a two-night minimum stay and we didn't want to pay two nights for one night of stay. So we went over to the river and played on the beach and N and Doug played in the water. Z did not care for the river. He loves the bath, but he sort of looked at me like, 'woman? what are you thinking putting me in here. Gross.' hehe. Natalya loved it though. I had to bribe her to get her to leave.

We were flying by the seat of our pants and didn't really want to drive home so we drove over to Cookevill for dinner and pulled up to the Days Inn and stayed there for the night. I whipped out my (free- Thanks Kelly!) Entertainment Book and found a 15% off discount at Days Inn, so we got the discount too. :) Natalya was really excited about staying in the hotel and wasn't too upset about not being able to stay in the tent. I sort of played it up- "Natalya! We're going to stay in a hotel! You can sleep on the floor in your sleeping bag! It'll be just like camping!" She bought it. :)

And thank goodness! Because it STORMED that night. I was so happy to not be in a tent.

We had a good trip and then when we got home Doug took N to gymnastics for her new class. She moved up to Mighty Mites from the Preschool class and she is having an absolute ball. She has learned all kinds of new things and is loving every second of it.

I'll try to post some pics in a bit. :)

Morningstar sale!

2009-06-13T23:25:00.002-04:00

WOOOHOOO!!!

I am so excited! Morningstar is bogo next week at Publix and I found an EBay listing for some organic coupons- a variety of q's, including 10 $2/1 Morningstar coupons. Unfortunately the listing doesn't end until the end of next week, and once the listing ended, I paid, it shipped, etc, it would be too late for me to use them (unless I got a raincheck).
Well, I sent a message to the seller asking if it would be possible to end the auction early if I bought them at her asking price (no bids were placed yet). She said she actually had enough for another set, and if I wanted to buy them, she'd do a private auction for me. Her asking price? $2.50 for 10 Morningstar q's and 2 $2/1 7th Generation coupons. WOOOHOOO!!!! These are going for an insane amount on EBay! I figured she would ask at least $9 for them. I snatched them up and she put them in the mail today- she's in GA, so I will have these by early next week- plenty of time for the sale. And, with the Target q's, this will give me overage. ON MORNINGSTAR!!! WOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!!!!

Can you tell how thrilled I am??

I also told her about the deal and she is going to go to Publix to stock up herself (since she saved some q's for herself)

A few Kroger and Rite Aid Deals

2009-06-13T23:07:00.004-04:00

I picked up some deals at Kroger and Rite Aid. Strangely, the Sure deodorant was $.30 more expensive at the RA that had them in stock, so I am going to attempt to exchange them at the cheap Rite Aid for the difference. We'll see if they let me.

Kroger
22 Propel Water 20oz ($.50/1 mq, $B4G1 BHecoupon =Free+)
2 Sobe Lifewater ($.50/1 BHecoupon, BOGO Kroger cat= $.25/ea)
2 Santa Cruz organic juice ($.75/1= $.75/ea)
3 Horizon single serve organic chocolate milk ($1/3 mq= $.66/ea)
1 Barbara Shredded oats cereal ($1/1mq= $1.09)
1 Tortilla scoops (no q= $2.75/ea)
3 cans black beans (no q= $.84/ea)
(also had $3.25 shortcuts cash come off the total)
Total oop: $8.22
Total savings: 41.76 (80% savings)

Total KrogerPlus savings for the year: $537.11 (not including coupons)

Rite Aid
4 Sure Men's deodorant
1 Propel Water
3 Colgate kids toothbrushes
2 Orajel kids Plaque rinse
2 Colgate adult toothbrushes
6 M&Ms singles
2 AirWick Freshmatic air fresheners
2 Contact solution w/free case
Total oop: $33.81 (hoping to get back $1 for Sure deo+tax for $32.81oop)
Total to receive in rebates: $37.98
Total oop after rebates: -$4.17 profit

Publix

2009-06-12T22:13:00.004-04:00

I had to use up the rest of my rr's before they expired next week, since I wasn't sure if I'd be back down in Nashville before next Thursday, so I bought a few things I normally don't buy- like the BIG jug of maple syrup ($17.98) and two containers of spin/artichoke dip. Yum. I also had a great talk with the store manager at the Maryland Farms store. He is super nice and we talked about coupons and service and he said that his view is people are going to use coupons, he prefers they use them at HIS store, so he will pretty much let anything fly. Awesome. Then when I was leaving, he saw me coming up to the front, and told the cashier I was complimenting (she was on uscan) to open up a register so she could check me out. :) Some people think you should "fly under the radar" as a couponer, but I think that you should get to know the management and cashiers because then they know you and know you are trying to do things properly and not screw them over, so they are more likely to let you do things like (use two coupons that expired yesterday! ack!) the mgr saying it was ok to use my coupons that just expired. :)

Anyway...
Here's the deal:

2 Publix Spinach/Artichoke dip ($3/$10 flip)
6 Chex Mix ($1/2 Targetq and $.50/1 mq)
2 Cheerios ($1/1 mq)
2 Kashi honey Sunshine ($1.50/2 Whole Foods q and $1/2 mq)
6 Sundown Vitamins ($6/2 Publix q and $1/1 mq)
2 Clorox GreenWorks all-purpose cleaner ($1/1 Food Lion q and $.50/1 mq)
1 half gallon Stonyfield milk (no coupon- forgot it)
2lb Driscoll strawberries ($1/1 Target q)
1 12-pk Kleenex Cottonelle tp ($1/1 Target q and $1/1 mq)
1/4 seedless watermelon (no q)
1 dishwashing scrubber (my grandmother picked up and it accidentally ended up in my cart) (no q)
-$40 rr's
Total oop: $11.09 (total before tax was $4.33- would have been under a dollar without the dishwashing thingee)
Total savings: $109.86 (90%)

However... two of the vitamins I picked up were clearance priced at 3.07, but rang up at 3.99. So I got one for free and then got the difference back on the second. So I got back $5.38, making my total oop: $5.71, savings: $115.24 (95%)

I also forgot to give her my Stonyfield coupon, so that would have been another dollar off. Oh well. It doesn't expire until Dec, so I can still use it.

I am excited about the Morningstar on sale next week! If only I had coupons that didn't expire two days prior to the sale!!! Argh!!

Shame on you CVS

2009-06-08T12:59:00.002-04:00

As was suspected- What a fiasco!! I am SO glad I was in Nashville yesterday to go to CVS. I just called and told them my ecb's didn't print and my card was credited (so the next time I go in, it will print the ecbs). She was very nice, but when I asked about the deal, she said that as of this morning, the pampers are still on sale for 8.99, but the ecb's will not print. (They changed the ad on the website to reflect this as well.)

Wow. talk about bad business! They should honor anyone who printed the ad but couldn't get into the store at the limit 3 as stated in the weekly ad. I live 45 minutes from the nearest CVS and it just happens I was in Nashville where the CVS is yesterday. If I had not been, I wasn't planning on being there until Friday when I normally shop. If I had gone in Friday with my printout and they said they would not honor it I would be very angry indeed because it says right on it "promotion 6-7 - 6-13".

Yes, there are some people who were able to get a whole bunch because there was no limit placed on the online ad. But this is not their fault. It is not our responsibility as consumers to "guess" what a company wants you to do. The online ad did not have a limit. The in-store ad said "$8.99 limit 3" with no mention of bucks. What did they intend? Who knows. I suspect the intent was a limit 3 at that price with the bucks, but at this point, there's no telling.

This is the fault of CVS for poor planning. You CANNOT advertise a deal that good and not expect people to come in for it. If their computer system was not set up properly, it is entirely their fault.

You cannot blame people for taking advantage of a good deal. If they had set it up in the system properly with a "limit 3" or a "limit one" or whatnot, then people couldn't have gotten more than the limit.

You cannot blame people for getting items they need at a good deal if the store is incompetent.

CVS is at fault here. Plain and simple. And now they are just practicing poor business by pulling the ad and expecting the whole thing to go away.

CVS and Publix

2009-06-07T22:23:00.003-04:00

I tried the pampers deal at CVS and nope- not printing. The first CVS gave me a hard time and said there's "No way we can print ecb's if it's not working". Bahooey. I know you can force them. I finally got the mgr to agree to give me $5 coupon on my next purchase, since I was using them right away, but he said I could only do one because the limit was one. (although he couldn't find that written anywhere to prove that point. He made it up. nice. this is the CVS I don't like).
So I went to the GOOD CVS and the mgr there forced the ecb's on three packs for me. :) I will be calling Customer Service tomorrow (along with everyone else! They're going to be inundated!!) to get my $10ecb for the two packs I didn't get them on.
Both CVS stores were aware of the deal and the problem with them not printing.

Here's what I got
CVS
6 packs Pampers jumbo pack diapers
2 Fusion Razors
2 Bayer Contour Monitors
1 Birthday card (for Natalya's friend's b-day party)
2 Sunday papers (on sale for $1)
2 6-packs Kleenex Viva paper towels
Total oop: $24.79 (CS should give me $10 back in ecb's for Pampers deal problem)
ecb's left: $9 (plus $10 I should receive- makes them $19 left, so $5.79 oop after ecb's)

Publix
2 boxes Lansinoh Nursing Pads
1/4 Watermelon
1 Vlasic pickles
2 blocks Kraft Monterey jack cheese
3 Wholly Guacamole
1 Reddi-whip topping
1 Publix sub
Total oop: $4.38
Total savings: $42.77

Pampers are practically being given away at CVS this week!

2009-06-07T00:58:00.004-04:00

Seems there's a hidden deal at CVS starting tomorrow. It is unkown if this deal will be working because it's sooooo good, it can't possibly be real!

At CVS's website, there's a clip-free coupon that says "Buy Pampers at 8.99, get $5ecb" ok, really?? What's the catch? Because if you use the $1 coupon in tomorrow's paper, that makes it $2.99 after ecb's and coupon. If you have a P&G book with the $2 coupon, that makes them $1.99 after coupon and ecb! Coupon on cvs.com shows all diapers and Easy-Ups, Jumbo packs.

I will be trying this deal tomorrow and we'll see what happens. I have three P&G books thanks to my mom and grandmother, so 9 $2/1 coupons. CVS may be seeing a lot of me tomorrow.

As other sites have recommended, if you are going to hit CVS to give this a go, I also recommend printing a copy of the clip-free coupon from the website HERE to show the cashier in case your ecbs don't print. The cashier should be able to force the ecbs.

Remember...rainchecks at CVS do not expire, and do print ecbs...they are our friends. Just in case. Just sayin'.

Kroger, Rite Aid, Walgreens

2009-06-06T22:56:00.003-04:00

I went to Wags again hoping to find more Ecotrin since LAGirl sent me a bunch of coupons I hadn't been able to use yet, and almost everyone in my family is on aspirin therapy and takes baby aspirin one-a-day, but alas, no Ecotrin. (Also still looking for more meters- but no more of those either). I did get a few more insect repellants that had to be price-adjusted b/c the signage hadn't been updated from a sale price, so I got them at the sale price even though they were no longer on sale. Whee!
Then a few things from Kroger that were cheap/free and I can't find one receipt, but when I do, I'll add those to my totals. And Rite Aid for the cheap sunscreen b/c we go through a ton of that in the summer with our northern-European white skin. :)

Walgreens
4 Cutter Insect Repellant
Total oop: $.76 (tax only, items were free after coupons)
Total saved $8.00 (91% savings)

Rite Aid
8 Aveeno Sunscreen
Total oop: $46.54
*savings: $45.46
Rebates to receive: $30 cash plus two totes with coupons/samples
Total oop after rebates: $16.54 (after rebate makes these a little over $2/ea including tax- AWESOME!!)
Total savings after rebates: $75.46 (78%)

Kroger
Went to Kroger the first time and saw Organic Valley chocolate milk on clearance, and I knew I had a bunch of coupons at home, so I went home for the coupons and came back to get those and some a few other clearance items and some mac and cheese for my Mom. Wouldn't you know it, on the second trip I discovered the Eggland's eggs were marked down to $1.59/dozen. And I have coupons for those...at home! ugh. So I am hoping those will still be on sale tomorrow even though it's a new ad-week because we eat a TON of eggs and that's an awesome deal!
8 Organic Valley 1 liter chocolate milks
4 Santa Cruz lemonade/strawberry lemonade
4 Velveeta Shells and cheese
Total oop: $9.07
Total savings: $27.44 (67%)

Publix and CVS- my Nashville stops

2009-06-05T22:18:00.005-04:00

I made 5 transactions to cut down on the amount of coupons per transaction. This helps keep the manager from having to stand there for an hour typing in his/her code to approve all the coupons over $50. It works pretty well. I got several "great jobs!" from the managers and the cashier said she loves when I go through her line because I always inspire her! Yay!

Publix
4 Seapak popcorn shrimp (on sale bogo, used 2 $1/2 ip coupons)
3 2lb frozen medium shrimp (no coupons, no sale)
5 Ritz Crackers (on sale bogo, used 5 $1/1 Food Lion coupons)
5 boxes Wheat Thins (used 5 "get wheat thins free when you buy Ritz crackers")
5 8pk coke bottles (used 5 Publix advatage buy flyer $1/1 coupons and 5 "save $2 wyb two nabisco cracker and 1 8 pk coke" tearpad coupons)
10 Bertolli pasta sauce (on sale bogo, used 5 $1/2 coupons from Publix booklet)
1 bag ice (had to keep all that frozen food cold on the way home!) (no coupons)
2 Morningstar Chicken Nuggets (used 2 Publix $1/1 store coupons and 2 $1.50/1 ip mq's)
7 Planters cocktail peanuts (used 7 Food Lion $2/1 Planters coupons and 7 $1/1 Planters printable mq's)
8 packs Klondike bars (on sale bogo, used 5 $1.25/1 mq's and 8 $1/1 Food Lion coupons)
19 bags Mahatma rice (used 19 $.50/1 mq's)
4 bags Orange Roughy (no coupons, on sale for $6.99)
3 boxes Planters Trail Mix Daybreak Blend (used 3 Food Lion $2/1 q's)
1 Tic Tacs (to keep the baby happy- the box rattles!)
3 Hunts ketchup (used 1 $1/2 mq and 1 "free" coupon)
2 Mt Dew 20 oz (no q's- filler)
3 lb bananas (no q's)
2 avocados (used 1 $1/2 coupon)
4 boxes Hefty trash bags (on adv. buy and used 4 $1/1 mq and 4 $1/1 Target printable q)

*used $96 rr's earned from Bayer meters at Wags (I have apporximately $96 in rr's left to spend in the next two weeks before they expire so I am stocking up on frozen seafood and other things we don't normally buy b/c of cost factors)

Total oop: $13.53
Total saved (including rr's): $303.78 (96%)

CVS
3 Aveeno Shower Gel/Bath oil
1 Aveeno cream cleanser
*used $5 ecbs
Total oop: $10.24
Total savings: $25.97
Total ecbs earned: $10

Organic Amazon Deal: Silver Palate Oatmeal

2009-06-05T00:15:00.001-04:00

I stole this from The Thrifty Mama.

A great deal on organic rolled oats. Yummy!!

Add two of the 4 box sets of Silver Palate Oatmeal HERE Organic Amazon Deal: Silver Palate Oatmeal to your cart. Since you reach $25, you qualify for free shipping. Don’t forget to select the free shipping from shipping options when you check out. Then use code OATME333 and you will get it all for $15.07 Shipped! That’s 8 boxes! And don’t think this is like the regular oatmeal you get at the grocery store. This is the really good stuff.

Adult Eco-Friendly Shoes Under $10 Shipped!

2009-06-03T21:04:00.001-04:00

Simple Shoes is having some great deals on Eco-friendly shoes. Prices are down to $9.60!! With regular prices on some being over $100, this is a fabulous deal. And they all ship for FREE!

It gets better! Cashbaq is offering 7% back when you shop through them, and Cashbaq shoppers can use code ECODAD for an extra 10% off!! Sign up with Cashbaq using the link on the right of my blog. You’ll get $5 for signing up, and it is free to use.

Some good new printable coupons

2009-06-03T19:04:00.002-04:00

Here's some new printables that I am excited about!

$2 off A1 HERE

$.50 off 1 Dole canned fruit HERE (or for Firefox users: HERE

$3.00 off 1 Kroger Comforts brand diapers HERE - these are only $6.49 a pack this week, so cheap diapers for you disposable users out there. :)

$1 off Keebler Sandies HERE

I have also discovered the loadable coupon love. You can load coupons to your Kroger card (or others where available) and they come off automatically at the checkout. These can be combined with paper coupons.
Shortcuts
Cellfire
P&G eSaver (for Proctor and Gamble products)
Bringing Hope (this one has some glitches right now b/c it's new, but there are some great coupons available when they get it working! LOL!- it's Kroger only)

and then UPromise. UPromise is a different kind of coupon site. You can load coupons to all sorts of cards, Kroger, CVS, Harris Teeter, even Publix has a special UPromise card specifically for this. Basically, you load the "coupons" and when you buy the product at any of the stores where you use a card, the money goes into a UPromise account set up for your child's college fund. Since this is basically free money from the manufacturer, ALWAYS TAKE FREE MONEY!!!

Well- hmmm. Babies' foreskin used to make cosmetics.

2009-06-03T16:25:00.002-04:00

I for one, am glad my son's foreskin is where it belongs and not being used in some human body-part underground sale.

Check it out here: Babies' foreskin used to make cosmetics- Is this ethical?

I have also read that placentas are bought and sold on the black market for similar use. My three placentas are in my possession still, and will one day be buried under trees in my children's honor.

Free Root Beer Float at Sonic Wednesday only!

2009-06-02T15:08:00.003-04:00

Head to Sonic tomorrow night for your free ten ounce Root Beer Float from 8pm-midnight! The sign at my local Sonic doesn't state that any purchase is needed- just free. I don't know if there's a one-per-car limit or anything, but I'll be going tomorrow night after N and Daddy are in bed as a treat to myself.

Zachary has a tooth!

2009-06-02T03:29:00.002-04:00

It popped through yesterday while he was chewing on my finger- OUCH! I can feel it now when he chews on my fingers, but it's hard to see. And...it's keeping him awake, which is why we haven't gone to bed yet, and it's nearing 2:30 a.m.
Good thing Publix has had coffee bogo lately.

awww- a little tooth! Bottom left.

TN Home School Diploma Bill Becomes Law

2009-06-01T23:29:00.000-04:00

Way to go Bredesen!!

Tenn. Home School Diploma Bill Becomes Law

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A proposal to give home school diplomas the same weight as those given by public schools has been signed into law by Gov. Phil Bredesen.

The law requires all state and local governmental entities to recognize diplomas issued by home schools and church-related schools as having the same rights and privileges of diplomas issued by public school systems.

The law exempts home-schooled students from having to obtain an accredited diploma from local school directors or take the General Educational Development test.

GREAT deal on Aveeno sunscreen at Rite Aid this week

2009-06-01T23:11:00.004-04:00

Aveeno is Buy-one-Get-one-50%off, priced around $10/ea.
Buy four for approximately $30 and use the $5/$25 Here for the link.
Then use 4 $2/1 Aveeno printables HERE. This brings the total to $17. With this purchase, you are eligible for SCR#40 (spend $25 in participating j&j, get $10) and SCR#47 (Aveeno skincare- purchase 1 get $1, purchase 2 get $3, purchase 3 get $5)
You will get back $15.
This also puts $17 toward SCR#500 (spend $20-after all coupons- in participating skincare, get free tote filled with samples and coupons, worth $40)

Looks like this:
1 Aveeno sunscreen $10.00
1 Aveeno sunscreen $10.00 @ 50% off- $5.00
1 Aveeno sunscreen $10.00
1 Aveeno sunscreen $10.00 @ 50% off- $5.00
--$30.00

Use:
$5/$25 purchase ip
$2 Aveeno sunscreen ip
$2 Aveeno sunscreen ip
$2 Aveeno sunscreen ip
$2 Aveeno sunscreen ip
--($13.00)

Total oop: $17+tax

earn:
$5 SCR#47
$10 SCR#40

-spend $3 more in participating skin care and earn

Free tote and samples SCR#500

Walgreens, Walgreens, Walgreens and Kroger

2009-06-01T19:26:00.002-04:00

Had to go check in with my favorite Wags manager to see if my monitors were in, and then Doug called me and said that the Wags he was just at had two of them- so we headed up that direction.

I bought two Monitors at the Wags he saw, then my Wags had ten monitors for me. I asked them to try to get 15 more in. I have 17 coupons left. Surely I can find 17 more in the next week, even if I have to go to every Wags in Nashville. Ok. Maybe not. That's a lot of Wags. There's practically one on every corner. I also had to buy a birthday gift for a girl in N's soccer team, whose party she is going to on Saturday, so we used one of our $10rrs for that.

12 Bayer Contour Monitors
1 Sidewalk chalk kit
1 Disney Princess card game set
Total oop: $13.42 (mostly tax)
earned: $110 rr's

Kroger:
6 Velveeta shells and cheese
2 Lysol toilet cling
2 dz medium eggs (mgr special)
Total oop: $3.96

A great week at Walgreens

2009-05-31T15:47:00.003-04:00

Great moneymakers at Walgreens this week! Ecotrin (aspirin) is on sale for $2, printing a $2rr. There's a $2 coupon out there making these $.19 each (tax) and get a $2rr back. Bayer meters (Breeze 2 and Contour) are $10 and printing a $10rr. With the coupon out- this makes them free plus rr. Here in lovely Tennessee, the tax is $.95 on $10, so I paid $.95/each and got $10 back. Thanks to a good friend who had a ton of these coupons, I was able to get ten meters so far (they didn't get my special order in, so I will go back tomorrow to ask the manager about them, maybe he can get more in on Wednesday- I have 29 coupons left!)

So here's what I got
10 Bayer Contour meters
4 Starbucks Doubleshots
4 Tennesseean newspapers (the Chronicle didn't have any inserts! no coupons!)
13 Ecotrin
1 pack ballpoint pens (clearance, filler)
1 bottle Vitamin C (clearance, filler)
1 Scotch mailer (clearance filler)
4 Cutter to go insect repellent (free after coupon)
Total oop: $17.98
Total rr's earned: $116 ($16 Ecotrin and $100 Bayer)

I will be giving half the $10rr's to Kelly for giving me the coupons

Zachary

2009-05-30T00:35:00.005-04:00

My big boy. He is getting so big. I can't believe it. He is sitting up pretty well on his own, but still tips over to one side ocassionally, so I try to prop him up (like with the boppy in these pics) to help him gain strength. He is almost too big for his infant carrier, so this weekend we'll be cleaning Natalya's old carseat really well, washing the cover and so forth to put him in it. waaahhhhh!!! I am not ready for him to grow up. It goes too fast!

He has the best smile. This week he started doing something funny- I think he got it from natalya. When natalya laughs and smiles really big, her eyes squint, almost together, and this week, Zachary started doing it- when you laugh or smile at him, he will squeeze his eyes shut and smile really big. It is SO CUTE!!!

HT triples and a slow week at Publix

2009-05-29T22:22:00.003-04:00

Crazy HT trip. Everyone was couponing! It was so funny. Last time they tripled, when I went (twice, once Friday and once early Sunday to get the things that were sold out) I didn't see anyone else with coupons. This time, everyone had their little coupon envelopes, binders and stashes out. :) I even overheard one DH comment to his wife, "I don't know honey, you're the coupon expert". LOL! Could be because our local Ms. Cheap did a segment on the news a couple of days ago about HT triples.
Not too terribly much excited me, and a few not free things, but decent deals on items I needed...

Harris Teeter
3 Viva paper towels ($.60/1 mq)
3 Skintimate shave gels ($.75/1 mq= free)
3 McCormick Garlic Salt with Parsley, Cali style spices ($.75/1 mq= free)
3 Nestle Flipz ($.50/1 mq)
3 Bumblebee tuna pouches ($.55/1 mq)
3 Tabasco sauce ($.50/1 mq= free)
1 Bisquick ($.60/1 mq)
Total oop: $9.68 - $2.42 for a q that didn't get scanned, had to go to CS desk= $7.26
Total saved: $36.29 (80% savings)

Publix was not a huge trip this week. Got some good deals on the things I wanted, but not too many moneymakers, so more oop than usual. Who would have thought there would be a day when $11.62 would be "a lot out of pocket" for a ton of groceries. :)
Saw our favorite manager (who LOVES Zachary and Natalya) and offered to babysit Z for me next time I come in if she's on her lunch break. :)

Publix
20 Kraft Mac&Cheese
2 Crystal Light To Go
2 Crystal Light Skin Essentials
4 Chips Ahoy
1 Taco Bell Home Originals Kit
2 Purina Beneful dog food
10 French's Mustard
4 Covergirl Lipstick
2 J&J first aid items
1 Del Monte Fruit Chillers
1 Morningstar hot dogs
Total oop: $11.62
Total savings: $95.xx (88% savings)

I think we're set on mustard for the next...two years or so. I have already given a bunch away and donated a bunch from the mm at Kroger the last go around with French's mustard. I have 15 containers of it in my cabinet now!

Love Morningstar?

2009-05-29T21:47:00.002-04:00

Great deals available on Morningstar right now!

Target has a $2/2 printable coupon which can be stacked with a manufacturer coupon. Like this one for $1.50 off one Morningstar: HERE

There is also a coupon in the Publix "Summer Savings" book for $1/1 Morningstar. Whether this is to be used as a store coupon or a manufacturer coupon is up for grabs right now. The coupon states "store coupon" but has a barcode that can be scanned at any store. So I guess this will be a YMMV thing.

Yet more free stuff!

2009-05-28T15:29:00.002-04:00

Printable Coupon for Free Burt's Bees Lip Balm!

I am absolutely addicted to this stuff! I have about 5 tubes scattered around my house, diaper bag and car. To celebrate their 25th anniversary, Burt's is giving away 1,000 free coupons for its lip balm each day starting at 9am EDT for 25 days. If they're all out of printable coupons for the free lip balm today, set your cell phone alarm for 9am tomorrow and click, click, click! Get Your Lip Balm!

Mark Your Calendar: Free Ice Cream at Walmart on May 30
May 30 Wal-Mart will be showing off their ice cream selection, giving away free ice cream to customers just for coming in. Free Ice Cream Day runs from 11am to 4pm and will feature confections like Dibs Snack Bags, Blue Bunny Aspen Frozen Yogurt Granola Bars and Ben & Jerry's Flipped Out Cups. Give your local store a ring to be sure they're participating, then head on down.

Free Coffee
NESCAFE is taking on coffee giant Starbucks with their instant coffee. They're giving away a six-pack of their Taster's Choice flavored stick-packs for those who sign up online. I just signed up for mine- if you need a quick pick-me-up, go HERE to sign up for yours.

Free Cold Stone Ice Cream!
For people like my daughter, this is a great gift, since her birthday is in July...for me, with a birthday in December, not as exciting, but it's still FREE ICE CREAM! Sign up for the birthday club at Cold Stone Creamery for a free Cold Stone Creation on your birthday Go HERE to sign up.

Free burger at Red Robin
Another birthday club, and more free food (we're all going to be set when our birthdays roll around ;) ) Sign up for Red Robin's eClub, which entitles you to a free birthday burger every year. A coupon for afree burger will arrive in your inbox a few days before your birthday, entitling you to one of Red Robin's delectable gourmet burgers. Get Your Free Burger HERE

More free food

2009-05-27T23:06:00.002-04:00

Baskin Robbins - BOGO coupon HERE. Free soft serve for Do Something members July 13-17th. Sign up to be a member HERE and get coupons.

Krispy Kreme - Free doughnut for national Doughnut Day Friday, June 5th. One per customer, and no coupon is necessary.

On The Border - enter your cell phone number HERE and you will get a coupon text message for a free queso dip or sopapillas at On The Border. Join their rewards program HERE and you will get a printable coupon for a free queso dip or empanada.

Sonic - free Root Beer floats on June 3rd 8PM-CLOSE. Sign up for their club HERE and also get free food coupons.

Another Publix trip

2009-05-25T20:44:00.004-04:00

I couldn't resist the new Target printable deals, so we went to Publix again today. I also swung by Kroger and CVS while in the area. CVS didn't have anything I was looking for so I just got some Boost for my grandmother to use a coupon before it expired and got two of the Sobe lifewaters as fillers (since they were bogo. No coupons). Spent $.86 there after a $5 ecb (my grandmother gave me $ for her Boost and I earned one ecb for it).

Publix
I should point out here that the cashier totally messed up my coupons. She got way confused because I had so many competitor coupons that looked alike and I can't figure out what she did, but she entered toooo many coupons! (my printables never want to scan so they have to be manually entered). Once my total was down to around 5-ish dollars, and she still had 11 $1 coupons to scan, I knew something was wrong. I tried to figure it out with no luck, so she just scanned three more q's and I paid $2.40 and she handed me 8 coupons back. I dunno what happened, but I tried to help her figure it out! She wasn't too worried about it.
1 Dixie 160ct Napkin
3 Dixie bowls
6 Dixie Plates
2 Glad straws
2lb shrimp
2lb cherries
1 cucumber
1.17lb zucchini
.5lb squash
10 Kraft dressings
1 Kraft bbq sauce
1 Kraft mayo
1 pack pork ribs
1 Kingsford charcoal
Total oop: $2.40 (total before tax: -$.11)
Total savings: $109.33 (98%)

Kroger
10 Vitaminwater
3 tomatoes on a vine
1 Hellman's Mayo
Total oop: $.40 (total before tax: -$.25)
Total savings: $22.13 (98%)

Total oop today: $3.66
(plus about $6 in gas to drive the 90 miles round trip to Nashville...totally worth it, as you can see!)

Great deals at Arby's

2009-05-24T14:43:00.004-04:00

If you like Arby's there are some great deals this summer for free food! (Thank you Thrifty Mama)

Here are the dates and the respective freebies:

May 27th - Free Regular Roast Beef sandwich with any soft drink purchase
June 3rd - Free FruiTea with any sandwich purchase
June 10th - Free Roast Chicken club with any soft drink purchase
June 17th - Free Regular Sidekicker with any sandwich purchase
June 24th -Free Regular Roast Beef with any soft drink purchase
July 1st - Free Regular Beef ‘n Cheddar with any soft drink purchase
July 8th - Free Orange Cream Swirl shake with any sandwich purchase
July 15th - Free Regular Roast Beef with any soft drink purchase
July 22nd - Free Roastburger with any soft drink purchase
July 29th - Free FruiTea with any sandwich purchase
August 5th - Free Regular Roast Beef with any soft drink purchase
August 12th - Free Roast Chicken Club with any soft drink purchase
August 19th - Free FruiTea with any sandwich purchase
August 26th - Free Regular Beef ‘n Cheddar with any soft drink purchase

I recommend calling ahead to make sure your local Arby’s is participating. No coupon is required. Also, if you are a texter, you can regularly get coupons sent to your phone. Text "ROASTBURGER" to 27297, and when you will receive a coupon for a free roastburger. Once you receive your coupon reply back with your zip code and they will then regularly send coupons to your phone.

Free food at Moe's

2009-05-24T14:25:00.003-04:00

Who doesn't love a good Moe's burrito? It's our favorite place to eat, Natalya's absolute favorite "fast food" place. (she doesn't even know what McDonald's, Burger King, etc are). We love their food because they do not use lard and all their food is fresh. Perfect for our vegetarian lifestyle. Yummy too!

Moe's has a birthday club program- sign up on their website HERE to join. On your birthday, they'll send you a coupon for a free burrito. They will also immediately send you a coupon for a free cup of queso (mine expires in one week, so don't join unless you plan on visiting soon).

THEN if you text "Moes" to 46786 (standard messaging rates apply) you'll get a coupon for $2/1 Phil E. burrito or quesadilla. This will enter you in their eprogram, but you can turn right around and reply "Stop" to the coupon email to unsubscribe so you don't receive any more messages.

Food Lion today- FREE CANDY!

2009-05-24T13:48:00.003-04:00

Found out about a deal on Mars candy today at Food Lion so I HAD to go take advantage of that ;) (especially since the FL is about a mile from my house). I took Natalya with me and we left Daddy and Zachary at home. It was a good little outing for the two of us. I know that she doesn't get enough Mommy&Me time, so I am trying to work on that now that Z is getting older and not quite so dependent on me. He didn't cry the whole time I was gone, so that's an improvement. ;)

Anyway, here's what we got:
2 packs hot dog buns (Food Lion printable q $1/2)
2 cans black beans (no q's)
7 Twix bars (BOGO mq) used with bogo sale= free candy bars
7 Peanut M&Ms (BOGO mq) used with bogo sale= free candy bars
4 Plain M&Ms (BOGO mq) used with bogo sale= free candy bars
Total oop: $2.09
Total savings: $18.12 (88%)

I was looking at my receipt and I think she accidentally entered one bogo coupon twice, so I think I saved an extra $.89.

A quick CVS trip

2009-05-23T16:17:00.002-04:00

We were running early for soccer this morning so I zipped into CVS for some moneymakers.

4 bags David sunflower seeds
2 boxes Orville Reddenbacher popcorn
4 Dry Idea roll-on deo (gave to Mamu, they use this)

Total oop: $6.33
saved: $29.50
earned: $9 ecb's

More fun with publix

2009-05-23T15:42:00.005-04:00

Here's my deals for today. :) We went to the Publix in Bellevue (a little past West End) since it's by Amanda's house and she said they are coupon friendly. It was also nice because apparently a lot of couponers don't shop there, all the good moneymakers were in stock. ;) Amanda went with me to help me out and learn a little about how to work Publix. (Thanks Amanda for your help!!) I had some large items and needed two carts. Doug took N to lunch at Moe's and they went for a walk while we shopped. Then they came in and he took Z after he woke up and Amanda read some stories to N while I checked out. It was a long process, but got some AWESOME deals. :)

I did five transactions.(sorry no pictures, I didn't have the energy to lay it all out and photograph it.)

I am pretty excited because we NEEDED dog food and I don't have the money in the budget to buy a $20-30 bag of dog food, so I worked it in (and I had a coupon for the one on sale anyway- woohoo!) And I got 2 pounds each of cherries (which we love) and shrimp (which I never splurge on), and about 5 pounds of bananas, which my child is going to eat us out of house and home on.

4 Lay's potato chips
3 boxes Orville Redenbacher popcorn
2 Sara Lee bread
14 Pedigree Dentastix
8 Kraft singles
8 Kraft barbque sauce
4 New England coffee
1 Extra gum
2 Bush's baked beans
10 Kraft dressing
1 Freschetta frozen pizza
2 Heluva Good French Onion Dip
2 Philadelphia Spinach/Artichoke Cream Cheese spread
1 1/2 gallon Horizon milk
5 Pork chops/ribs (for Mamu/Papa)
4 J&J Red Cross items
5.5 lb bananas
1 KC Masterpiece bbq sauce
2 Covergirl lipstick
2 lb shrimp
4 Glad Cling wrap
2 Kraft Miracle Whip dressing (for Mom)
2lb cherries
3 Kingsford charcoal
6 Smart Taste Ronzoni pasta
7 Mahatma rice
2 Carefree pantiliners
9 A1 Steak Sauce
2 Schick razors (raincheck)
1 Huggies Megapack diapers
1 Huggies wipes
1 16lb bag Iams dog food

I used individual and/or competitor coupons on everything but the produce and meat, and I used a $5/25 Whole Foods meat/produce coupon, 2 $5/50 purchase competitor coupons, and a few rr's. This left me a grand total of...

Total oop: $33.41
Total savings: $392.83 (91% savings)

Now I have to figure out what I am going to do with the charcoal. Everyone I know has a gas grill. I already pawned one off on Amanda for her vacation. Maybe she needs another one?

Please be thinking of me!

2009-05-22T19:28:00.001-04:00

I have to do my weekly Publix trip tomorrow, and I'm really psyching myself up for it because it's Memorial Day weekend and they're going to be BUSY. And I have almost $300 in coupons to use. I have to go tomorrow because all the good Target match-up q's expire tomorrow.
Hopefully all will go smoothly. (and Doug won't complain too much about being there forever)

My weekly Publix trip

2009-05-19T22:24:00.004-04:00

Hit up Publix today (almost could be considered held up, since I made off like a bandit ;) )

The cashier was telling me about another person who saved a whole bunch who shopped last night and we discovered it was my fellow couponer Kelly. LOL. Then the manager had to come over to approve my q's (because I hit the $50 mark, darnit, forgot to split up the purchases) and she was saying how she was in the office, closing and couldn't believe the amount of q's in one of the registers. hehehe. This was the manager that doesn't like to give overage, so luckily I had a convo with the other manager when I came in about some of the coupons and I told her the other manager said it was ok. *whew* I also had a great conversation with the couple in line behind me who wanted to know where I got my coupons, how I got such great deals, and if they could go shopping with me next time. (people always say that!)

Here's what I got
2 Purina Friskies Cat Food [anyone have a cat??]
6 Reach Floss
1 Covergirl
6 Ritz Crackers
6 Wheat Thins
16 McCormick Spices
7 Fiber One yogurt
10 Kraft Cheese
4 Tombstone pizzas
2 Schick 4ct razors
2 Knox gelatin
8 ears corn
1 1/2 gallon Horizon milk
2 Dole cans pineapple
1 Kellog's Strawberry Frosted mini-wheats
8 tubs Country Crock butter
3 dozen eggs
2 Pompeii Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Wesson Vegetable Oil
Total oop: $26.18
Total saved: $206.89 (87%)

A side note- I cannot wait for next week!! It's going to be a really good week at Publix!!!

Great Huggies deal at Kroger

2009-05-18T22:48:00.003-04:00

If you're a Kroger shopper and in need of diapers, they have a good deal on diapers this week- made even better by e-coupons. You have to register your card with ecoupons and cellfire to get the great deal. If you're unfamiliar with how these work, they are coupons you load to your shopper's card and can stack with paper coupons.

Here's the details:
Kroger is offering an instant savings of $3 when you buy $15 in Huggies Products with your Kroger Card
Huggies Jumbo Pack Diapers are priced at $8.99 ea

Buy 2 packs of Huggies Pure & Natural Diapers @ $8.99 each (Total: $17.98)
Use: 2 - $3/1 Natural Coupons
Use: 1 - $3/2 Cellfire coupon
Use: 1 - $1.50/1 Huggies Shortcuts coupon
Receive instant $3 off for purchasing $15 worth
Total oop: $4.48 plus tax
*This will work if the Pure & Natural diapers are included. If they are not you will need to replace the 2 - $3/1 coupons with 2 - $1.50/1 coupons and your new total will be $7.48 plus tax (which is still a pretty good deal!)

I love the mail!

2009-05-18T20:53:00.002-04:00

Some days I love getting the mail. Today I got

2 coupons for a free drink at Starbucks (I complained about some seriously terrible drinks I got a wilie back)
1 coupon for a free mega-pack of Huggies (up to $18 value) and 2 $1/1 Huggies dipes q's. (got these for complaining about the last pack of Huggies I had- several dipes were totally missing tabs. weird)
A flyer of coupons for Unilever products I got as a thank you for complimenting Shedd's Spread Country Crock. (oddly, on this flyer, there weren't any q's for Country Crock.) That's irony at its best. ;)
a whole slew of coupons I either traded for, giving away some q's I didn't need for some I really DID, or were a gift. :) Some coupons included were $1.50/1 Hellman's mayo q's, $1/1 Hidden Valley Ranch q's, $1.25/1 Klondike bar q's. These were from coupon books released in Florida and Ga Publix stores but haven't been found in TN yet.

It's like Christmas in my mailbox! :)

Win a wetbag!

2009-05-17T22:36:00.003-04:00

A must for every cloth-diapering mommy, and truly, a very good item to have stashed away in your car for any parent. Not only are these great for wet diapers, but wet clothes, wet swimsuits, dirty clothes, etc. :) The possibilities are endless.

Check out the giveaway here at the Frugal Girls to enter!

Several great blog giveaways going on right now

2009-05-17T22:22:00.004-04:00

Coming up are a few great blogger giveaways going on right now- Jolly Mom has a free eyeglasses giveaway! (compliments of EyeBuyDirect.com) You can win $100 toward any prescription eyeglasses purchase (not including designer frames or sunglasses)

This is one I could use! I need new glasses soooo bad!

Food Lion, Target and Walgreens

2009-05-15T17:42:00.011-04:00

oh my!

:) I've watched the Wizard of Oz too much lately. We ran some errands today and hit up some of our fave spots and one occassional (Food Lion)

Food Lion
5 12-pack Mt Dew (used 5 $2/1 mq's)
5 Chinet lunch plates (used 5 $2/1 mq's)
Total oop: $2.83
Total saved: $29.13 (90%)
(I should insert here that there was a Scott's natural tp flip stuck to one of my other q's that I didn't see. The cashier scanned it and it went through. When I looked up and saw it, I said- oh, I didn't get that, it snuck in my stack. He said, oh, well the register accepted it so don't worry. I said, ok, I won't complain then. :) So I got an additional $1 off that i didn't plan)
Oh, and I also scored a whole slew of $.50/1 VitaminWater tearpad q's. I got a few when I was there a month+ ago, and when I looked today they were still there! I figured, no one is using/taking these, they've been here over a MONTH! so I took a whole bunch. (but not all!)

Target
8 Banana Boat trial size sunscreens (used 8 $1/1 mq's)
2 Swiffer cloth refills (used 1 $1/1 Target q)
1 Target brand diapers (used 1 $1/1 Target q)
[earned $5gc for the swiffer purchase and used it in trans.2 to buy other items]
Total oop: $5.93
Total saved: $15.90 (63%)
with this purchase I copmpleted the Swiffer refill items needed for my gift card, so I will also earn a $10 Visa Debit card from Swiffer

Walgreens
4 Joint Juice 6-packs (used 2 bogo mq's and 2 $2/1 mq's)
2 Iceland Fish Oil capsules (no q's)
2 Puffs Plus (no q's)
3 Starbucks Vanilla Frappuchino (used 3 $1/1 mq's)
3 Contour meters (used 3 $30/1 mq's, adjusted to price- raincheck price of $14.99)
1 Jiffy Pancake mix (should've been two, but they ran out, so I was charged $.22 for one, but didn't get it - I was able to use a $5rr with that charge, so I let the $.22 go)
Total oop: $0
Total put on gift card from esr program: $12.89
RR's earned: $16
Total saved: $80.81 (84%)

Grand Total:
Total cash spent: $8.76
Total rr's earned: $16
Total gift cards to get back: $10

Look-a-like

2009-05-14T00:07:00.007-04:00

Our children are nearly identical- it's a little crazy!
Check this out
Natalya at 4 months two weeks and Zachary at 6 months one week

For those that have asked

2009-05-13T23:39:00.012-04:00

What I do with all my extra/stockpile items, I took some pictures. :) And yes, I am almost out of freezer space! Time to figure out some casseroles or something. lol
I also have one of my uppermost cabinets full of condiment extras- mustard, mayo, ketchup, salad dressing and peanut butter.
Stand-up freezer, in our garage
(yes- that is a package of pork chops- they were part of a deal and got them free+, they're going to my grandparents when I remember to take them over)

Newly created "pantry"- I had to convert a hall closet (where we had the vacuum and broom/mop, now located in the coat closet) into a pantry for storage

Freezer that's in the kitchen (with the fridge)

Random bin full of cereal stuffed under my kitchen table

And...a few things I haven't put up yet. :)

Some pics and How does your garden grow?

2009-05-13T22:18:00.009-04:00

We planted a few seeds leftover from several years ago to see if they would grow, and what do you know?? They sure did (well, most of them). We have now transplanted some to pots since an in-ground garden would be difficult due to the neighborhood deer, raccoons and opossums. :)

Here's some recent pics of the kiddos:
Zachary enjoying the excersaucer

Doing a little painting

Being silly

Having some yummy roasted corn at the Ren Fest

Zachary is 6 months old

2009-05-12T23:53:00.003-04:00

Actually he was 6 months old last Wednesday... waaaaaahhhhhh
It's gone by so fast!!

He had his well baby today and he is 18.55lb and 27.5" long- 67%ile for weight and 87%ile for height. How did Doug and I get such tall kids???

Dr says he looks great. He was thrilled and pleased when I told him he was 100% breastfed with no formula. He got one vax today- HiB, and took it great- cried a little, but nursing calmed him down. The doctor also commented on what a great temperament he has. I agreed and said he is so laid back I can hardly believe it. We are so very lucky.

I learned from the master

2009-05-12T21:53:00.008-04:00

My best Publix deal yet!! Mainly because I learned that my fave Publix, at least at this trip (I suspect it depends on the manager) takes Wags rr's!!! :) And I had about $40 in them!!
The cashier was flabbergasted. He said I taught him several new things and wanted to know if he could go shopping with me. lol. He said I deserved a trophy. I learned my tricks from the master! (Thanks Kelly!!)

I did this in two transactions to take advantage of two $5/$50 coupons I had.
Without further ado...

3 boxes Electrasol tab
1 8 o'clock coffee
3 Covergirl makeup remover pads
4 V8 Splash
30 jars Earth's Best organic baby food (my favorite!! when I don't make it, this is what I prefer to buy)
1 Hellman's mayo
4 Johnson & Johnson first aid items
3 Reach floss
1 Glucerna
2 Green Giant frozen veggies
5lb bananas
2 zucchini squash
2 bags baby carrots
1 package mushrooms
1 5lb bag Florida oranges
2 Schick Quattro razors (I had a raincheck for 6, and they had 2, so I have a raincheck for four still)
1 6-pack Jello pudding
3 boxes Eggo blueberry waffles
1 Cascade rinse aid
2 Silk light Chocolate milk
3 Gortons premium salmon filets
2 Gorton's butterfly shrimp
2 Suave shampoo/conditioner
4 boxes Back to Nature cookies
1 Mentos gum (to get over $40 on my first trans...oops!)

Total oop: $1.60 (!!!!!!!!!!!!) (Yes, that was one dollar and sixty cents. No numbers are missing. I actually paid these with change from my wallet.)

I used Wags rr's: $23 (these were earned for items I only paid tax for, so practically free rr's)

Total savings (including rr's): $189.28; or 99% !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOLY SHEEP!!!

It took two pictures to fit it all in!!

Walgreens

2009-05-11T22:20:00.002-04:00

Last 2 trips

4 Sunday papers
2 Iceland Fish Oil capsules
Total oop: $2.52
earned $16 rr's

Back to Nature cookies

2009-05-11T02:14:00.001-04:00

I got these for $.49 a box at Publix and oh boy- YUM!!! I think I'll have to get some more while they are still on sale!!

I love that they are free of high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils. blech.

A great deal at Rite Aid

2009-05-10T22:34:00.008-04:00

I discovered a great deal at Rite Aid today if you need Zyrtec (or even if you don't) 35ct bottles of Zyrtec are on sale for $18.99, and there's an in-ad coupon for $5. In the paper last week, there were coupons for $4/1 Zyrtec. Combine these for $9 off one, paying $9.99 for one bottle.
Then...there's the following scr's:
#15 scr for $2 wyb one zyrtec
#50 scr for $10 wyb $25 of J&J products (of which zyrtec is one)
$500 scr for $25 gift card wyb $50 of allergy products (of which zyrtec is included)

So, buy three at $56.97 before coupons and use the $5 and $4 coupons. Then use a $5/$25 purchase printable coupon: pay $24.97+ taxoop and get back
$12 rebate and $25 gift card.

Profit: $12.03

A quick Publix trip

2009-05-09T23:12:00.003-04:00

I made a quick trip in today to pick up a few things. We were doing some driving around, so no refrigerated items on my list, and they were out of the electrasol, darn it all! I need dishwashing detergent- and FREE is always a plus! I realized in the car I forgot to give him one of my competitor coupons, so I should have been a dollar less (I hate that!), but I had Doug, N, Z and my Dad in the car waiting on me, so I was rushing.

Anyway, here's what I got...
2 Lay's potato chips
2 Sunchips
2 loaves wheat bread
2 boxes Back to Nature cookies
4 Jello pudding 6-packs
1 Glucerna cereal
1 Post Trail Mix cereal
2 Suave shampoo
3 Dole pineapple chunks
6 Johnsons and Johnsons first aid items
1 Muir Glen tomato sauce
Total oop: $7.69 (should have been $6.69)
Total savings: $57.67 (should have been $58.67), percent saved: 87%

My Dad was very impressed. I also forgot to see if they would take the Wags rr's, so I'll have to try that next time since I have $40 in rr's that I have to spend before next week!

April showers

2009-05-09T11:15:00.004-04:00

may bring May flowers, but May thunderstorms bring nothing but cancelled soccer games and trips to the Renaissance Festival. Boo!

Natalya: the triple threat!

2009-05-08T21:05:00.002-04:00

Holy crow!

Natalya had a make-up gymnastics class today from when we were all sick last week (ugh). She was the only pre-schooler there, so they had her in the age 5-8 class. She did everything those bigger kids did and sometimes did it better than them! I was floored. I can't believe how athletic she is. Doug says she's a triple-threat, athletic, smart and beautiful. Hooo boy are we in trouble!

Publix giving a $3 Mother's Day coupon

2009-05-08T15:29:00.000-04:00

If you are hitting Publix this weekend and you're a Mommy, look for the Mother's Day Coupon booklet- there's a $3/$25 coupon on the back. If they don't have them, ask about the $3 Mother's Day discount. Someone said she got it today and it showed up on her receipt as "mother's day coupon" and the cashier entered it manually, without having the coupon present.

Good Luck!

Some more Walgreens love

2009-05-06T18:25:00.002-04:00

I had to go to Walgreens today to see if they had my Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. Nope. I got a raincheck, but I hate doing that for the rr deals b/c it's a real pain in the butt. They did have three more Bayer meters in, so I got three of the six for the raincheck I had. :)

3 Bayer Contour meters
1 Right Guard Fast Break deo
1 Bayer Aspirin Quick Release
2 Listerine Total
2 walgreens Ibuprofen

Total oop: $6.73 ($2.74 wags gc+ $3.99 cash)
Total savings: $67.32, savings of 90%
RR's earned: $24.00 (plus remaining rr's, $15 = $39rr's left, I am going to try to use these at Publix)

CVS, Harris Teeter and Publix...again! :)

2009-05-05T23:34:00.003-04:00

Had a few more deals to pick up tonight

Harris Teeter:
3 Frank's Hot Sauce
3 Swansons veg broth
3 Eggland's Eggs
3 Halls Cough Drops
Total oop: $4.69
Total saved: $15.72, percent saved: 70%

Publix:
2 Tropicana Orange Juice
2 Ziploc quart Freezer bags
3 Ziploc gallon storage bags
4 Eggo blueberry waffles
6 J&J first aid items
6 bags shredded Fresh Express lettuce
1 bag Tostitos
1 jar Tostitos queso dip
2 bags shredded cheese
2 bags Quaker Caramel Corn rice cakes
Total oop: $13.87
Total savings: $53.76, percent saved: 75%

CVS:
2 12-pack Charmin
3 Adidas deodorant
2 Colgate toothpaste
Total oop: $1.57
Total saved: $35.71, percent saved: 96%
ecb's left: $6

A quick zip through Target

2009-05-04T18:37:00.002-04:00

A few things at Target:

4 boxes Fiber One bars
1 ream 500ct paper
1 box animal cookies
Total oop: $.24
Total on gift cards: $9.52

Walgreens loves me and I love them

2009-05-04T16:16:00.003-04:00

1 2 pack Thermacare back heat wraps
15 24-ct Walgreens Ibuprofen (marked $.80 clearance, most rang up $.25/ea)
1 Listerine total care
1 Listerine cool blue
4 Pert Plus Men's
3 One-A-Day powder
3 Right Guard
1 Little Mermaid ball
1 Men's Zone Shave gel
1 Swiffer Wet Jet Starter kit
2 Swiffer clean refills
3 Arizona Tea bottles
2 Colgate Sensitive
5 Poppycock cashew lover's
Total oop: $25.54 (could've been a lot less but a lot of what I wanted was gone and I had to re-evaluate on the fly, which always throws me off.)
Total saved: $111.29
rr's left for next purchase(s): $21.50

Publix and Harris Teeter

2009-05-03T17:36:00.004-04:00

Hit up Publix today with my Mom in tow and Harris Teeter triples again, using Mom and Doug to up the amount of coupons we could use :) I don't have Mom's receipt from HT, but here's what we did with the others: pretty decent. :)

Publix
4 Northland Cran-grape/raspberry juice
5 Daisy sour cream
1 Knox gelatin
16 Kashi frozen meal
2 Orville Redenbacher natural popcorn
1.71 lb grapes
4 Danimals smoothies
1 Stonyfield Smoothie
2 Tostitos
16 ears corn
2 puppuroni dog treats
1 half gallon Stonyfield milk
6 J&J first aid items
2 Fresh Express lettuce
1 5lb bag apples
6 Suave shampoo/conditioner
2 Marzetti croutons
Total oop: $34.90
Total savings: $146.22 or 76%

Harris Teeter
3 Breyers ice cream
1 Grande tortilla chips
3 McCormick spices
5 Bertolli pasta sauce
1 Amy's hot cereal
6 Dannon's yogurt
6 Texas Toast croutons
1 Frank's hot sauce
1 Tabasco

A few pics from Easter

2009-05-01T18:53:00.004-04:00

Here's a few pics from Easter. :) I think I emailed them out via snapfish, but just because there's some good ones...

Free money in the mail

2009-05-01T18:47:00.002-04:00

Over the past week, I hae been getting free money in the mail. :)

Here's some things I've received
$2 rebate from Rite Aid
$6.99 rebate from Ensure
$15 rebate from Michelob

2 $1 coupons for Dole Orchard Select fruits
1 $2 coupon for Spot Shot - the ONLY carpet cleaner I buy (free ones from deals are sold)
a TON of Amy's coupons. I'm taking them to HT on Sunday to see if I can get some good deals with them, some ore $.55/1 and some are $.75/1

These all have super long expiration dates, earliest ones are Dec 31 2009, some go to the end of 2011. :)

Where did these coupons come from you ask? I sent some glowing praises to the companies saying how much I loved their products. That was it. Coupons in the mail.

Harris Teeter

2009-05-01T18:38:00.002-04:00

I made my way to Harris Teeter today to try my hand at triple coupon week. Many of the things i had on my list were cleaned out (no Nestle Flipz ... NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!) :( But the cashier said they will be getting a truck Saturday and they usually restock Saturday evening for Sunday, so I'll be going again Sunday morning before the post-church crowd hits. Sweet. This was an awesome trip. The cashier and bagger were super nice and helpful. AND they took my Rite Aid $5/$25 coupon! Awesome!

Here's what I got
2 Reynolds Wrap recycled
3 Bertolli organic pasta sauce
1 Planters Big Nut bars
2 Dole All Natural fruit jars peaches
2 McCormick Chili Powder
1 McCormick Red Chili flakes
2 Speed Stick 24/7
12 Dannon yogurts (they had pineapple!!! SCORE!)
2 Egglands Eggs
Total oop: $9.63
Total Savings: $47.02 (80% savings) and will get back the cost of one Reynolds Wrap for mail-in-rebate I printed on Earth Day, $2.99 making total after mir: $6.64 for a savings of... 87%

Walgreens

2009-04-29T16:47:00.004-04:00

I looooove my Walgreens. I drive 8 miles further than any other Wags to shop here. :) I had placed a special order for 15 Contour meters, and when I got there today the mgr went to get them for me (Wednesday truck). She said you know you have to ring these up in separate transactions. I said yep. :) So turns out the warehouse only sent 12 of the 15. And my regular cashier asked me if I would give up two of them for her. :) It was worth it to me to keep my Wags cashier happy!! (She gives me overage) So I got 10, but have 6 more q's. We are going to try a raincheck, and see if they can do it for me when they get in. fingers crossed.

oh, I'll be donating the meters. :) Since even were I diabetic, which I am not, I wouldn't need ten of them.

10 Contour monitors
2 bags Planters Trail mix
1 Wind chime
2 Ecotrin
2 Bayer Quick release crystals
3 Nivea body wash
1 Burt's chapstick (my favorite!)
1 Coffeemaker (ask Doug)
5 Hallmark Gift Wrap

Total oop: $27.42
Total savings: $848.12
and... rr's left: $45

Soccer, take...five

2009-04-29T00:58:00.002-04:00

Natalya had her second practice tonight- they have mini-games. It's very, VERY loosely organized. They have fun, but try to introduce the rules. Natalya is such a rule-follower. She's one of the youngest on her team, but the most focused. She doesn't wander off the field in the middle of the game like some of the others.

She also has never touched the ball with her hands- unlike most of the other kids. Tonight they were playing and a kid picked up the ball to move it where he had a better angle at the goal and the ref (college soccer player) said hand ball. Then N went up to him and said "NO HANDS!" and flashed both her palms at him. lol!! He said, that's right! and high-fived her ;)
She is really enjoying it- I just wish the Saturdays didn't start so early! (we have to get up at 6ish)

Tonight she was really getting into it- following the ball more and getting her feet into the mix of kids. She fell a few times and got back up and right back in. . . and at one point she totally body-checked a girl and stole the ball! (Doug was so proud ;) ) She is really having fun with it!

Publix , Food Lion, and Target

2009-04-29T00:14:00.006-04:00

Due to the Advantage Buy being in-between specials, I didn't really have any mm's, no time to look around, so I didn't do as great as normal, and I had to buy a bottle of infant tylenol (not on sale, no coupons! *gasp*) for my sick baby, but still did pretty decent. :) Decent enough to have the guy behind me asking me all kinds of questions and saying he was going to have to talk to his wife about coupons! lol. oh and made sure to get in my fave cashier, Ben's, lane. Hi Ben! luv ya!

1 Glucerna cereal
1 Horizon half-gallon milk
3 Michelina pasta al dente
3 Muir Glen tomato sauce
4 Suave hair product
2 Blue Diamond Almonds
1 Tylenol Infant drops
2 Silk Soy milk
2 cans Black Beans
1 pack carrots
1 bag romaine mix
2 Sargento sliced cheese
1 5lb bag red potatoes
Total oop: $20.39
Total savings: $47.40 (60% savings)

Then a quick stop today for a few items I found new coupons for

4 Blue Diamond Almonds
1 Juicy Juice Immunity
total oop: $5.38
Total savings: $13.75 (61% savings)

Three separate trips to Food Lion (two for me and one for Doug, who was very proud of himself for getting the free reusable bag (I didn't ask him about it because I didn't want to overwhelm him :) )
3 Scott Naturals toilet paper
3 Entemenn's Salt&Pepper Pistachios (clearanced, Doug's favorite)
2 reusable Food Lion bags
total oop: $6.86
Total savings: $15.85 (57% savings); my savings on the tp, the item I went in for: 83%

And...at Target, a Special K overdose! :)
20 boxes Special K (various flavors)
total oop: 9.96
Total savings: $74.80 (87% savings)

Waitress, we'll have four rounds of antibiotics please

2009-04-27T21:44:00.004-04:00

Hello, my name is Dr. X, how can I help you today?

Well, let's see, today we're feeling a bit like something the truck ran over, so ... let's take a look at the menu.

mmmhmmm

Allright, I believe I'll have one of the azithromax, since penicillin doesn't sit well and some flonase on the side.
Doug'll be having the classic penicillin
Natalya will try the Doxycycline, although we'd like to trade the side of possible gray teeth for nothing on the side
and for Zachary? How about the Omnicef, the one that smells like fruit punch- that way when he spits half of it back on me it will at least smell good, okay?

Great! Four rounds of antibiotics coming up.

And.... hopefully we'll all be well in a week! ACk!

Reposting... trouble with my blog posts for some reason

2009-04-26T15:05:00.001-04:00

So here's the latest Publix visit . . . And, we're all on the mend, although my headache just came back and my throat is killing me. DH's throat is still hurting too. Natalya is actually taking a nap today and Z is also sleeping. I may go join them.

"Dave Says it's ok!" Ah the first time I got to use that phrase. Thank you so much Starbucksgirl! (Kelly) lol. I went to Publix today, and after almost having a heart attack because Natalya dropped one of my coupon envelopes (worth about $100 to me, might as well have dropped a hundred dollar bill, but someone turned it in to customer service intact. whew! I must have good coupon karma), had fun waiting while the cashier/asst manager looked over all my coupons. fun stuff. Then said, "we can't take this, it's over $5" talking about the grill coupon, I informed him that a friend of mine spoke with Tim (I was at the Nippers Corners store) and Dave (regional csm) and both said it was ok. He said, oh, ok. And then he wasn't sure about my 10/100 competitor coupon, but Tim came over and okayed it. :)

It has been a long week, two sick children, a sick husband, and while checking out, I started getting dizzy and suddenly got hot and felt like I was going to pass out. I grabbed a card off the cashier's stand and started fanning myself with it, and put Z down, since his body temp of 103 was making it worse. Finally started feeling better.

But here's what I got...(the lady behind me was in awe of my coupon/discount total.)
12 bags Birdseye frozen veggies (with a raincheck)
1 bag charcoal
2 Revlon emery board packs
2 Revlon nail clippers
2 Teddy Grahams
6 Michelina pasta al dente
2 Juicy Juice Immunity apple juice
1 Glad sandwich bags
2 Hunt's ketchup
2 Yoplait GoGurt
1 Del Monte Orchard Select fruit
2 Muir Glen tomato sauce
2 Silk Soymilk
6 Rice-a-Roni whole grains
4 Sundown vitamins
4 Suave hair product
12 Skippy natural peanut butter
1 bag red potatoes
1 lb shrimp
1 pack pork cutlets

Total oop: $18.18 (could've done better, but a few things I wanted were gone and I started feeling bad and didn't get a few mm's)
Total saved: $143.60 (87% savings)

My stockpile goes the way of $144

2009-04-25T15:08:00.002-04:00

Mom was involved in a massive yardsale yesterday at her company- and I gave her my two+ bins of stockpiled health and beauty items, most of which I only paid tax for, some I paid $.25 for, and some were moneymakers, so I didn't pay anything for them. I had been using these things in gift bags/baskets, but I am running out of room! I know I will be getting more deals and I thught I'd pass along these deals at 1/4 of retail price, making a little profit, and helping other people get good deals on new brand name products at the same time.

Result: $143.85

The illness continues

2009-04-24T23:29:00.004-04:00

Well, now I have it. Woke up with a 100.4 fever and horrid headache that still won't go away. Z was up all night screaming in my ear, and Doug left to go sleep on the couch around 1am, with no luck. Now Z doesn't want to sleep. He is happy as long as I don't lay down with him. As soon as he lays down he starts screaming (and this kid can SCREAM...in my ear...and me with a headache)- what's up with that???

Now that all four of us have had some variation of this same thing, and Natalya has been confirmed as having something bacterial...and she's feeling much better (and on antibiotics) I am wondering if we all were exposed to the same bacteria somewhere over the last week. Since Z likes to stick everything in his mouth, it's very possible. Which means we all need antibiotics. I will call the dr on Monday to ask his opinion. Doug still has a lingering headache, I have a fever of 99.6 (even with all the tylenol I've been taking all day) and Z is really unhappy, especially when his fever flares up (I've been trying to keep the motrin in him because he is miserable and makes me miserable when his temp goes up).

Please send healing vibes our way!

Tick-related disease

2009-04-21T21:14:00.002-04:00

N had a tick embedded in her back on Saturday evening - we had been visiting family and we saw it when we stopped for dinner. Luckily I keep a nail kit in the car and I had a pair of tweezers and alcohol pads. I pulled it out and rubbed her bite with an alcohol pad.

Fast-forward to yesterday. She said her legs were hurting. Not too terribly unusual since she often says they hurt- growing pains and such. Then today she wakes up and is really lethargic. Kept complaining about being cold (very unusual!!) Said her legs and back were hurting and she had a fever of almost 101. I remembered the stupid tick and called the dr. The nurse said, "It is URGENT that you get her in here right away". Unfortunately when I talked to her, N had just laid down for a nap, willingly, I might add (so I knew she was sick). So I woke her up and put her in the car. We headed to the dr, and after talking with him, he examined her and ruled out everything else, strep, ear infections, etc. He said we should treat her as if she has lyme disease/rocky mountain spotted fever/various other tick related diseases. The ironic thing is that a positive blood test for lymes, etc, won't usually show up until 5-7 days after symptom onset. We went ahead and drew blood to see if there was a positive for any of these, but if it comes back negative, it doesn't necessarily mean she didn't/doesn't have it. (make sense?)

Now, onto treatment. Antibiotics. There are two that are recommended for these, one is doxycycline (fairly common) and then another (I can't remember). Both have side effects. For children under 9 (90lb), doxy has the side effect of possibly turning the teeth gray, with a short course (7-10 days), it's very unlikely, but possible. The other has a side effect that 1 in 20,000 to 1 in 45,000 will have the bone marrow wiped from their body- it is fatal. Guess which med we're doing?

Overall she is doing better. She was so brave when they drew blood. She cried a little, but recovered quickly. She hasn't had any sort of appetite today, but she was rewarded with a huge cookie from the nurse and I took her to get her favorite burrito afterward, which she nibbled on.

Hopefully she'll be back to herself soon!! I hate these weird sicknesses!

Reminiscing

2009-04-20T02:11:00.006-04:00

Natalya

Zachary

Beautiful children

2009-04-19T17:26:00.006-04:00

Last week, I was telling Zachary how cute he was and so forth. I walked into Natalya's room and said, somewhat rhetorically, "Natalya, how did I get so lucky to have 2 such beautiful babies?" She said (without missing a beat) "by marrying Daddy".

I laughed so hard I was crying.

Yesterday was her first official soccer game. It was hysterical. Two teams of three each on the field, attempting to learn the concept- kick ball-don't touch with hands-toward the goal-on the correct end of the field-and stay in the lines.

Natalya is pretty good at staying focused (especially compared to the other kids! Holy Cow!) but doesn't get the whole, kick the ball and run after it, kick it some more. She will kick it, then watch the other kids run around kicking it until someone tells her to kick it again. And then, when she does kick it, she looks at the nearest coach and jumps up and down saying "I did it! I did it!"

Then after her game we went to visit Papa Kincaid, Kris, Lily and Jasmine. It was a LOOOONG day, but well worth it.

Here she is on the drive down being funny with her library books...

It was great to see them and the girls were so cute together, especially Jasmine and Natalya. They were thick as thieves the two of them, and got along pretty well. I'll post some pics when I get them uploaded. Unfortunately my battery died and I only got a few, instead of a whole bunch! I got a few cute ones though.

They were "going to the store" and somehow they squeezed themselves into this car meant for one:

Zachary is getting big. He can now find and re-insert his pacifier in his mouth when he drops it. Yay! And he is starting to take naps by himself, sort of. :) He really is interested in food, and I know he'd love to start solids, but I'm in denial! I'm not ready for my baby to be ready for real food! :(

The new Publix

2009-04-16T21:20:00.003-04:00

I went to the new Bellemeade store today and it was awesome! I handed the cashier my stack of q's and he said "oh wow" lol!! He did get a bit confused b/c he scanned my items, then as he was scanning my q's I realized I picked up the wrong Egglands. The bagger went to get the right ones and he took the wrong ones off...making my total -$3xx LOL!! She came back and said there was only one left and rang it, making my total -$.06 plus tax. I reminded the casdhier to take off 2 of the egglands coupons, which added back $2 to my total. He was thoroughly confused- but I assured him it was right! heh.
oh, sidenote- the cooking spray was cheaper here! $2.93 bogo, with my All You q's and pxq's, made them free+ overage!

So- here's what I got:
3 Stonyfield yogurt
2 One-a-day men's
2 Yoplait Trix 6-packs
2 Kellog's Smart Start cereal
3 Mueller pasta
1 Pam Cooking Spray
2 Marzetti croutons
2 Sundown Vitamins
1 dz Egglands
Total oop: $5.60 and will get back approximately $4 for the Smart Start "Try Me" rebates... so $1.60!
Total saved before rebate: $45.78 or 88%
Total saved after rebate: $47.73 or 96%

Showing some Kroger love

2009-04-15T22:23:00.001-04:00

Kroger...
6 Softsoap pumps
1.5lb bananas
2 Huggies 40ct soft packs
2 Green Giant frozen vegetables
total oop: 3.15
total saved: 17.86 (87%)

Publix and my new favorite cashier

2009-04-14T21:51:00.002-04:00

His name is Ben. I went in at 4:10ish and N had soccer at 5. We were in and out and in a rush, it was a little busy, and I chose the friendliest-looking and most easy-going looking cashier I saw. His name...Ben. He didn't bat an eye at my coupons and scanned them all no comments. Awesome! That is the first time I have ever had that happen. Too bad I didn't get to finish my shopping because we ran out of time. I will have to go back and get the rest of the things on my list later this week.

So...here's my haul:
24 20oz Vitamin waters
6 Stonyfield yogurts
2 Stonyfield smoothies
1 Banana Nut Cheerios
1 Multigrain Cheerios
1 Publix Bleach (penny item)
3 Mueller Pastas
2 Pam Cooking Sprays
2 Spice Islands Grinders
2 Sundown Vitamins
2 packs Toufayan wraps
1 Knox Gelatin
2 Juicy Juices
Total oop: $3.88
Total Savings: $87.89

Publix last week

2009-04-13T15:43:00.003-04:00

Publix

1 McCormick Pure Vanilla Extract (reg price 8.49)
12 bags Goodlife catfood (reg price 4.49/ea)
8 boxes Morningstar Farms items (reg price 3.99/ea)
9 bags Birdseye frozen veggies (reg price 1.79-2.39/ea)
1 bag Family size Tostitos (reg price 4.99)
1 bag Tostitos natural yellow corn tortilla chips (reg price 3.99)
1 bag Publix Greenwise tortila chips (reg price 4.99)
1 French Onion dip (reg price 2.79)
1 Revlon Emory Board (reg price 1.89)
1 Kraft dressing (reg price 2.69)
1 half gallon Horizon milk (reg price 3.85)
4 Ronzoni pasta (reg price 1.39)

total oop: $14.82
total saved: $85.27

Coupons used
1 $1/1 McCormick spice (bogo sale)
12 $3/1 Goodlife catfood (raincheck on a bogo sale)
7 $2/1 Morningstar Farms items (raincheck on a 50% off sale)
9 $.35/1 bags Birdseye frozen veggies (50% off sale)
1 $3/2 Frito-Lay products
1 $2/1 Dip wyb 2 Frito-Lay chips
1 $2/1 Revlon Publix q
1 $1.50/1 Kraft dressing (bogo sale)
1 $.55/1 Horizon mq
1 $1/1 Horizon Publix q

Grocery budget

2009-04-13T01:46:00.001-04:00

Before I started couponing, we probably spent $150/week on groceries. Now, we're averaging $150-$175 a month!! For brand-name products, including produce and organic dairy. Wheee!!

Zachary at 5 months

2009-04-13T01:14:00.003-04:00

We went to the doctor on Friday for his HiB and IPV boosters. We weighed him while we were there and he is 17.8 lb!! He did great and didn't cry when he got his shots- I credit the nurse though- she is soooo good with kids :)

He can roll both ways, but doesn't often go back to front since he prefers being on his back- but put him on his tummy and he will flip right over. He still sleeps great although he hates to nap.

He is just growing and getting so big!