Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Provoking Question

So, as I was driving to the vet this afternoon (the VERY long way since google maps was WAY wrong) with my two precious puppies in their crate in the back of my car, I started thinking. I thought about how horrible it would be if I was rear ended with the dogs back there. Would they be ok? Would their crate be demolished?

And then I wondered what I would do first after an accident like that. Would I jump out and check on the driver of the other car? Or would I climb into the backseat to check on my darlings...the dogs, that is.

And I can tell you FOR SURE that I would check on my dogs first. They're part of my family, I've loved them for 7 years, and I have no clue who the yay-hoo is in the car behind me who just messed everything up.

What would you do?

Friday, March 13, 2009

Cupcakes

As if I need another distraction or bullet point on my TO DO list. But, I've found another obsession...besides deal shopping...in recent days. Do you guys read Pioneer Woman?? If you don't, you're SO missing out. I LOVE her blog! And recently she had a contest for people to come to her ranch (to the Lodge which has just been redone) in OK to watch another awesome blogger (who's I've just discovered), Bakerella, make cake pops and cupcakes. Do you know that OK is JUST DOWN THE ROAD from me??? I signed up immediately...but I didn't win. Luckily, there will be more contests coming soon, and I will definitely be signing up for those, too!

Anyway, Bakerella (who posted all about her trip to the Ranch here) makes these AMAZING cupcakes and cake pops...and maybe, just maybe, I could actually do it, too. And I do have a little boy with a birthday coming up, and birthdays every year...and I love to bake.

Of course, it's Lent, so I can't EAT anything that I bake right now. But, that's probably a good thing.

Yesterday, Mom and I were wandering around Sam's Club. I had 2 things on my list to buy. Which is bad, because I walked out with about 5 items. And one of them was this:

It is FULL of amazing looking cupcakes. They seem to be VERY time consuming, but totally doable by a normal average baker, like me. Check this out!!

Yes, they're all cupcakes. And I wish I could take some artistic looking picture of my book, but I'm not so talented in that area, either. What AM I talented in?? Oh, deal shopping. Ok, pity party over.

Here's a cupcake that looks EXACTLY like my dog. How cool is that??

And here's one that has ME written all over it. I will definitely be making this set.


I really had no idea you could do so much w/ cupcakes...but I'm going to be trying to learn in the coming months!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Is there a 12 step program for this???

I'm totally addicted! Totally! I wait anxiously for the paper on Wednesday morning so I can scour the Dillon's ad for deals. And don't get me started on the Sunday paper. Do you know what gems are in there?? The Walgreen's ad is a diamond in the rough. Ok, enough with the stupid cliches. But, seriously, there are deals to be found out there.

I used to hate Walgreens. The selection seemed small, I could never find the advertised products, and it just seemed more expensive. I reserved my trips there for last minute items that I just had to have and it was the closest store around. AND THEN. I learned how to shop there. How to use the weekly ad as well as the Easy Saver book, rebates, manufacturer's coupons...and I started saving money, big time!!

Here's my latest find. All of the items in the picture below SHOULD have been purchased with NO out of pocket money. But, I screwed up (hey, I'm still learning, too) and whipped out my credit card to pay for one item before I remembered I had a WG gift card. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Check out the photo, and then I'll give you the rundown.


Ignore the half eaten Zone bar, I got hungry on the way home. =)

Ok, let me start off by telling you that I had a gift card to Walgreens with $26+ on it -- that gift card is from rebates at Walgreens using the Easy Saver booklet you can find in the store. If you redeem the rebates on a WG gift card instead of a check, you get a 10% bonus.

I purchased the above in 2 transactions. The reason for that is because I got Register Rewards (RR) on the first transaction, which is just like cash, that you can use on your very next transaction...and I wanted to use it before I forgot I had it.

Transaction #1:
Gillette Fusion Gamer Razor - on sale for $8.99 and I used a $4.00 off coupon from the paper, THEN I got a $4 RR to use on transaction #2. Note: this is where I screwed up and used my credit card for the $5.56 total - I SHOULD have used my gift card.

Transaction #2:
4 Zone Bars - on sale 2 for $3, so $6 total. I had a coupon for buy one get THREE free = $1.59 (seems like it should be $1.50, but it's the way the "2 for" deal rang up. Go get that coupon HERE!!

Huggies Natural Care Wipes (216 ct) - on sale for $6 and I used a $5 off coupon I found on coupons.com (not sure if it's still available, but go look anyway!) There's a special at WG this week that if you spend $25 on huggies products (BEFORE COUPONS), you get a $10 RR - I decided not to do it.


Crest Pro-Health toothpaste - on sale for $2.49 and I had a $1 off manufacturer coupon pluse I got a $1 RR, so the total was $0.49. (I should have done this in the first transaction so I could use the $1 RR on this trans)


Aquafresh toothpaste - on sale for $0.99 with a Walgreens coupon from the weekly ad PLUS I had a $0.75 off coupon. Total was $0.24.

Colgate Total Advanced toothpaste - regular price $3.49 and I used a $2.50 store coupon from Easy Saver book plus a $1.50 manufacturer's coupon from the March All You magazine. Total was a MONEY MAKER! That's right...I made $0.51 on this deal.

I also purchased those bra things, y'know, so your straps don't show. My mom wanted them. They were on sale for $9.99, and I had no coupons for them.

I used the $4 RR from my first transaction, so the total was $10.03. This time I remembered my gift card, so there was NO out of pocket. plus, I got the $1 RR from the Crest to use on my next visit to the store. If I wouldn't have bought the bra things, I would have had to throw something else in my basket (gum, candy, whatever) or else my total would have been negative! Crazy, eh??

AND (yes, there's more), while I was there, I transferred a prescription so when I pick it up this afternoon, I'll use this coupon and get a $25 gift card. Not bad, huh?

It's a little daunting and frustrated when you first start, but it's SO worth it. And of course, I have 3 different brands of toothpaste that we didn't always buy before, but they'll work just fine!

Friday, March 06, 2009

$12 Deal

One of my favorite deal blogs tipped me off to some sales at Target that worked great with some online coupons.

I got 6 pounds of beef (steaks and roast) and 30 snack sized applesauce containers for $12. Not bad, eh?

Seriously??

It's been a week since I last posted?? Seriously?? I really do make an effort to post more regularly than that. Of course, if you're on Facebook, you see much more of me these days.

Anyway, it has been a full week. Until yesterday afternoon, I was ready to pull my hair out. The boy is teething...again...and he's fussy...all the time...unless I hold him. It's not a full out scream, it's just some whining. I know I'm being paid back for how whiny I am...er, was.

But, yesterday, I saw the little culprit that has been causing us so much grief. Tooth #7 made an appearance on the bottom of Lil Major's mouth. And then it was 80 degrees yesterday (I'm afraid it's just a tease, I don't think spring is here to stay, yet!), so we bee-lined it to the zoo with Mema and Papa. And because I figured it was the first of many trips (Mema and Papa bought us a membership for Lil Major's upcoming birthday), I didn't take any photos.

It was so much fun to walk around and enjoy the sunshine and watch the people...I mean, animals. Although there were some interesting people out yesterday, too. I should have taken photos of them!

In addition to all of this, the boy turned 11 months old yesterday! I can NOT believe it. 11 months ago I was getting ready for my trip to CA, thinking that I had WEEKS until he would show up...when I really only had a few. So crazy! I'm working on a small family party for his big day - which happens to fall on Palm Sunday this year, and a video/slideshow (thanks to the help from Jenn) of his first year.

We've been seeing a lot of Daddy this week. He forgot his cell phone one day and then he forgot his mp3 player yesterday (he sits at a desk all day and NEEDS his talk radio/podcasts to get him through), so we've been taking his stuff to him in the morning. For the first time, I saw where he has worked for the last 2 years. He showed us around and showed off his "offspring," as he calls the boy. I think Daddy really enjoyed it, so I teased him last night about what he was going to forget today. =) I'm LOVING our family time together.

Our church had a STAGE night this week - it was a chance to show off your talents and hobbies. We thought it was a great idea and expected to see the auditorium packed with all kinds of stuff. Well, there was ONE great display. The Colonel took his portable train set. I've talked about his hobby a little before, but since the boy was born, The Colonel made another train display that can be taken apart and fit in the back of the Hummer. It was the hit of the night! A lot of our friends were there with their kids, and most of them had seen the train before, so they were excited to have another up close shot. Here are a few pictures. The first one didn't turn out well, but I'm posting it so you can see the signs that The Colonel made.



One more thing happened this week, something BIG. Something that we've been waiting for for a while. Something that I'm scared and excited and unsure about.

Lil Major started walking!!! Walking, I say. Unassisted, upright, walking on his own!

Now, he didn't just get up and run across the room like his cousin did, but he did take 4 steps to walk from me to Papa. And he's done that several times since. But, usually just if we encourage him. He knows that he can crawl MUCH faster than he can walk, so he usually drops down to his knees and crawls away. Here's my attempt to capture his mad new skills. I was a little too close, but I promise you, he took 3 steps from Daddy to me without our help. =) My boy is growing up!