Hi Carol!

Archive for May, 2010

Talking of being thankful, Greg was listening to KSLR yesterday and heard this little girl (apparently stood on her mom’s granite counter) listing all the things she was thankful for, ie. “I like my hair, I like my fingers, I like my Mom and Dad……………” on and on. How wonderful is that!! I can always use a reminder to be thankful can’t you? Being grateful has been important to me since coming into recovery in 1985 and when our kids were little, if they had bad attitudes, we’d make ‘em do a gratitude list. Sooooo today I’m focusing on being thankful and one of the things I’m grateful for is my friend Jeannie who I met for coffee this morning; she is such a sweet person and she’s super funny, always brings a smile to my face.

Last night, I got a great headsup on a free photo magnet from Kodak (just .99c for shipping) and so of course I had to have one with l’il Cec in it, so Greg helped me upload a photo (one of these days I’ll be able to do it all by myself) and I should get it in a couple of days. Let Melody know right away and now she has one of lee Cec on the way too.

I received an invite from Kraft First Taste to host a Bulls-eye Bold BBQ House Party – wow, that would be terrific; it would be on June 26th and Matt’s schedule leaving date for the Marines is the 28th. And then……. I had another email from Kraft asking me to join Chat Threads and report on Oscar Mayer Turkey Bacon so we’ll see how that goes – I don’t think my menfolk will convert to Turkey bacon from regular bacon.

I had ordered some earings and bracelet from Catherine’s when they were running their $15 off of $20 special a week ago and one of the earings was broken, so on the way to my Thursday meeting, I took them back to my local store and they were kind enough to let me swap them for a different pair. I actually like these much more so I’m very thankful about that!! Got to the meeting a tad late but no-one seemed to mind.

Pictsweet – 3 coupons for free item
Oscar Mayer – 1 coupon for free turkey bacon
Frito-Lay – 3 x 55c coupons
On-Cor – $1 coupon
Kraft First Taste Pak – wheat thins, GFIC lattes, coupon free Olive Oil Mayo, 4 Pack Philly Cheese
Wishbone – 50c coupon

AT THE MALL
Victoria Secret – free panties
Sephora Makeup
Macy’s Jockey Panty

Hmmmmmm, I’ve been out of pocket for a week or so, but here I am again!! I’ve got to be careful not to spend all my time at the computer checking my other fellow blogger sites, looking for deals and coupons. I’ve got to manage my time a little better. I did have a VERY good morning at Target however; there were a couple of sock items on an end rack and each one had only one pair of socks in them (where do those other socks go – probably the same place ours go when they find their way into the washing machine and dryer). The merona socks were dark grey with pink flowers (how cute) $1.75 and the C9 socks were the ankle socks Matt wears $2.41 – annyyyway, I had a $3 coupon off Merona footwear and a $2.50 coupon off a C9 item, so two pairs of socks for free plus $1.34 (think that’s righ) in my pocket. Be sure to look out for those Gilette Fusion razors on sale for $4.24 cos you can buy 2, use 2 x $4 coupons (P&G sampler) AND get a $5 Target gift card. More detils in Shopping.

Greg and I went out to McDonalds for a latte at noon only to find they were cleaning the machine and it would take about 15 mins before they’d be ready – WHAT – Greg said “it’d be a good idea to clean the machine at 4am rather than at lunchtime don’t ya think?” So I made one at home instead – I like saving money, but I would sooner have had my McD Latte.

Had a call from David in England and I got a scolding “Mom, I’ve asked you before – please don’t use my computer for coupons!!” True he had asked me before but it’s just so tempting; anyway I promised not to use it anymore and he went on to tell me all about taking his Grandad Glyn and Grandma Jacky out to dinner at Wetherspoons. Apparently the Spag Bol wasn’t up to snuff, much smaller than he rememebered so he ordered a fish n chips as well – I bet that boy has put on a few pounds when he gets home. Back to the Ezekiel bread and lots of fruits and veggies!!

We had a great meeting last night – our friend Joe took the lead and did an excellent job; Dr. Bill was sadly missed but sent his regards from Colorado Springs. I decided not to make cookies etc. as I had some mini pecan pies in the freezer and they went down a treat. After everyone left and I’d had a walk with Matt, we settled down to watch How I met Your Mother – all about doppelgangers!!

Had a very productive trip to Target and Walgreens this morning – if you want details of my super savings, go to Shopping Trips but I will tell you I got $150 dollars worth of groceries for $41.  Bargains included a pair of Merona flip flops for .24c and a pair of G9 flip flops for .75c and a few fee items too.   Oh yeah, and I got another 3 coupons for future Targetting at the register!!

I just checked Totallytarget.com (my fave site) and Kerry is running a giveaway on a Shrek-tacular Savings Gift Pack valued at $25.  Head on over there and have a look.  I would love to get this.  As you know, I went gaga last week because I won a $5 coupon from Rose at Roseknowscoupons.com.  

We heard from David today in England, and he said he went to bed at 9:30 last night and slept til noon today so hopefully he’ll be full of beans today and be trekking around my beautiful hometown of Chard, Somerset.

Melody and Cecil came over for dinner – Greg, Matt and I had steaks but Melody (vegan) had one of the Kashi frozen meals I got this morning for next to nothing; blueberry pie and ice cream for dessert.  I don’t now what was up with Cecil but he didn’t want any ice cream.  After Melody left, Cecil andI played outside and watered the plants – he loved getting sprinkled but became very annoyed with his little car door that won’t close just right.  He reminds me of Matt when he was little, everything had to be just right, his socks had to be folded evenly and one day he was really upset with his T shirt that was supposed to have short sleeves, but they were longer than usual.  He whined “Mommy, mine sleeves come down to mine shoulders!!”

Greg went on a trek to find another doorhandle cover as our spare one went strangely missing.  Sometimes he seems to think it’s a conspiracy, but things just go missing, what can I say??   After Cecil and I went for one last walk, I tried without success to read him a book – he’d sooner carry it around with him than sit and look at the pictures with me.  Then off to bed, he is always such a good boy to go to bed once he’s played this game of running away from me chasing him with a diaper and jammies.  Once he’s submitted, got his nice clean diaper and jammies on, he knows it’s time for bed and makes for the stairs; he loves to play with Melody’s toy horses for a couple of minutes and then into bed he goes and I don’t hear a peep til morning.

Ahhhh, now it’s time for me to have a decaf and watch the latest episode of The Tudors.

I bought $100 worth of groceries etc. for $41 today.  Here’s a list of the hightlights:

Merona Flip flops clearance $3.24, $3 coupon – 24c
C9 Flip Flops $3.24, $2.50 coupon – 74c
3 Jars Classico Pasta Sauce $1.94, 3 x $1.50 coupons - $1.32 for 3
2 Post Cereals, @ $2.69 and $2.06 ($4.75); 2x$2 coupons, $1 Target coupon -  FREE + 25c money maker
Gold n Plump whole chicken on sale $1.99; $1 coupon – 99c
Gold n Plump chicken drumstix 99c; $1 coupon.  FREE
2 x El Monterey Tornados $1.99; B1G1 free coupon and $1 coupon – 99c for 2
Kashi $5 gift card deal:
3 boxes of Kashi cereal, 2 Kashi frozen meals $14.40; 3x$1.50 coupons/cereal, 2x$1 coupons meals, $7.90
                                             PLUS $5 gift card – $2.90 for 5 Kashi items
Green Giant Snap peas 1lb – 50c!!!  Always check the produce aisle for markdowns
KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce $1.42; $1 coupon – 42c
French’s Mustard (w/free Dipping Sauce) $1.02, $1 coupon – 2c
2 x Michelina Entrees 86c; 2 x 50c coupons – 36c ea.
Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls $1.39; 95c coupon – 44c
2 x Dannon Yogurt $1.99 ea ($3.98); B1Go coupon, $1 coupon – 99c for 2
Wonka Fruit Marvels 98c; $1 coupon – FREE
TOTAL COST:  $9.44

WALGREENS
2 Quaker Life Cereal $1.75 ea; 2 x $1 coupons – $1.50 for 2 (75c ea)
2 Post Cereals $1.75 ea; 2 c $2 coupons – 50c money maker
2 Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaners (B1G1); 2 x $1 coupons – $1 for 2 (50c ea)
Infusium Leave in Treatment $5.99; 3 coupon, $2 Walgreens coupon) – 99c
Final Cost: 2.99

And today was a particularly sweet Sunday after hearing from my son David that he had arrived safely in my hometown of Chard, England.  He had a nightmare trip, starting yesterday morning from San Antonio!!   After cancelling his flight to Houston, Continental Airlines did little to help him get to Newark and told him to come back the next day; he insisted he was to leave yesterday and they re-routed thru Amsterdam, transferring to KLM and arriving 6 hours later than orinally scheduled.  Once he was on the plane to Houston, we had no way to keep in touch with him and I have to confess to being very uncomfortable about that. 

I had discovered last night that there were no less than three other Continental flights from San Antonio to Houston that would’ve got David to Newark in time to make his connection and yet “they” did not even try to get him on any of those flights.  I intend to write a letter to Continental expressing my deep displeasure at the way they treated David yesterday – they were unhelpful and very inconsiderate.  Had he been travelling within the US, I could understand him being bumped back, but they knew he had a connecting international flight and should have done more to accommodate him.  KLM, on the other hand, went out of their way to be helpful to Dave and gave him a certificate to buy whatever food he wished at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam.

I couldn’t wait to get up this morning and call “home” and talked to my sister who told me they had cancelled 3 flights from Amsterdam to Bristol due to the volcanic ash - but miraculously David’s flight was still scheduled to leave at 12:30pm.  Boy did we pray and God heard our prayer because the flight did indeed take off and David’s long lost luggage was there waiting for him.    We talked to him once he got to Grandad’s house and he’s exhausted but very happy to begin his well deserved holiday.

I have been working diligently on my new coupon folder – this will help tremendously and there won’t be the concern that I’ll drop my coupon box and have my coupons fly everywhere.  That happened back in 1988 when I was very pregnant with Melody – I dropped it outside HEB; I’m sure it raised a few laughs to watch a pregnant woman on her hands and knees grasping for coupons underneath the cars in the parking lot.   

I heard from Melody that there was an “incident” with Cecil yesterday – he somehow poked his finger thru the top of his sippy cup and it got stuck.  He screamed bloody murder and Anthony had to cut his finger out; he said that had that happened in the night, he could’ve lost his finger as it cut off his circulation.  That Cecil!!!  Whatever next!!!

We set off early to take David to the airport this morning to find it filled with wall to wall people, I guess because so many flights were cancelled yesterday due to the bad weather.  We hugged David (me holding back tears – I know it’s only for 2 weeks but I still see him as that blonde little boy with rosy cheeks); he called after we got home saying he was finally at the gate and the flight to Houston was delayed for an hour.  Looooooong story short – it went downhill from there!!   It was actually delayed til 3pm due to mechanical difficulties and David had to make his connection in Newark so Greg suggested he go to the check in desk and explain to them he had to make an international flight.  Maybe the clerk didn’t explain fully, maybe David didn’t understand fully we’ll never know, but she said to go back to the gate and they would sort it out there; by the time he talked to someone there, they informed him he should’ve gone to another gate and he had missed his flight.

Sooooooo, back to the drawing board.  In our next call from David, he said they had put him on a flight to Amsterdam via Houston and he would arrive in Bristol at 2:15pm (instead of 8:40am on his original flight from Newark).  He was delighted but then discovered his suitcase was on the flight he should’ve taken bound for Newark.  Are you following me thus far???  Hopefully, as it was checked straight through to Bristol, it will be awaiting him when he sets foot in Merry Olde England, but we shall have to see – when I told Keith, he said “yeah, right….” in his broad Cockney accent.  Dear God, please let Dave’s luggage arrive at Bristol safe n sound – all the birthday presents are in there!!!

In the meantime………… Cecil and I were trying to have fun outside in the yard – why do little boys love to play in the dirt???  I must’ve washed his hands 10 times!!!   He was very interested in my tomato plant, I can’t wait to see his face when it starts to grow bright red tommies.  When I took him home to Melody, she said he always arrives dirty – I thought I cleaned him up pretty good but he’s a boy, what can I say and he gets so sweaty!! 

Went to Luciano’s for dinner – my brother in law who’s from Italy, says their pizza is really authentic but I opted for a salad; I love the complimentary bruschetta they have when you walk in the door and I like piling the chopped tomatoes onto my salad.  Next to Lane Bryant to pick up my free pair of panties – I got a free camisole earlier in the week; they’re not for me, I’m gonna give them to my stepmom and I think she’ll be delighted.   Stopped at Office Max to look at coupon binders – I had just intended to get something simple but some really cool accordian folders caught my eye.  They were red!!!  Well, they had other colors, but red always catches my eye, and these looked like purses, how cool; if I worked outside the home, I’d have got one fer sure.  But, no, I needed something more practical to meet my needs and Greg pointed out a beautiful snazzy one – guess what – yep in red!!  I had to have it, it’ll match my suitcase perfectly.  I’m not sure when I’ll be using my suitcase and coupon folder at the same time but you never know.  I can even put my money, cards – everything in fact – in there. 

When we got home, we watched State of Play while I diligently attempted to transfer all my coupons into the new folder.  I got about one-third of the way done and my arms hurt and I was so tired but it took me for ever to get to sleep and then I woke up at 4am and couldn’t get back to sleep.  I wasn’t worrying about David – well maybe a tad, but I did want to know what was going on so at 5am I got up and checked online to find out his plane had arrived in Amsterdam at about 8:45am – I wondered what he was up to, was he having fun etc. etc.  The good thing about getting up early here is that it’s not early in England (they’re 6 hours ahead of us) so decided to give my sister a holler and she was online seeing what was going on with flights from Amsterdam to Bristol and it wasn’t good news!!!

In my Mailbox:
1 Nettie Pot
Sample Pack 4 piece U Kotex
Coupon Free Any Sunsweet Product
Coupon Free Kraft Mac n Cheese
Picked up at Store:
Lane Bryant Cami
Travel size Bath and Body Works body wash

At Grocery Store
Two Schick Hydro Razors
Nivea Body Wash
10 Travel Size toiletries

And I only just got started!!

Friday:
Litehouse cilantro dressing markdown $1.99; $1 coupon
Marie’s dressing markdown $1.90; $1 coupon
Wholly Salsa markdown $1.50; $1 coupon
Borden Half and Half $1.54; $1 coupon
Borden heavy cream $1.59; $1 coupon
Izzie 4 pack; markdown $2.71
Total $7.33

I woke up yesterday morning with a pulled muscle in my chest – again.  What did I do this time – I don’t know.  This happened at the beginning of December and just as it was getting much better, I caught the flu (and what a flu it was) and had a terrible cough and my chest hurt so badly I didn’t know what to do with myself.  I was hoping I’d seen the last of it!!   I drove out to see my friend Rachel today who is sort of “laid up” with her ankle in a cast.  Rachel is a true survivor – she had a horrible accident over a year go with her little baby Abby; Rachel has had multiple surgeries on her ankle and knee and  I think this was the 8th.  It was really touch and go with Abby who suffered head trauma but we have a great God and there were so many people praying for her – She’s 18 months old and as precious as can be.   I was glad to find coffee all ready prepared by her husband and we sat and visited about how terrible last night’s episode of The Real Housewives of New York was.   I know, I know, it’s sort of mindless entertainment!!  There was a really bad storm and every time there was a clap of thunder, Abby who was on my lap, would raise her little arms in the air and fall flat on my chest.  It was so cute!!  I am so proud of Rachel, she has endured incredible pain and discomfort and she has often felt imprisoned in her own home, but she continues to be grateful and take it one day at a time.  At a girl!!!

On the way home I talked to Melody and she had a girlfriend over yesterday with her little boy who is 3; apparently, Cecil had a lot of fun with his new found friend but we are both convinced he thinks that small children and soft toys are one and the same.  He would fling himself onto his little friend just like he does on “Bear”, and “Valentine Doggie”  and I don’t think he notices that the stuffed animals don’t talk – to him they are very real.  Came home to find out my printer wouldn’t work – for a coupon crazy person like me, that’s a major, major catastrophe and I’m afraid I was less than                                                 .  I explained to Greg and David “coupons are my life” and I had lost a  B1G1 trip to the petting zoo and a Boston Meat Market coupon already.  They persistently worked on the problem and finally fixed it but I was about to pull my hair out and was lying on the couch moaning about the pulled muscle in my rib and muttering………..  I was finally able to get back online and surf my favorite sites – thank you God.

Went to our usual Friday night meeting; we weren’t meeting in the usual room so got an email to say “no coffee, if you want it, bring your own”.  Well, I like coffee when I’m at a meeting, so toted my little kettle, instant coffee and a couple of flavored creamers with me; I guess almost everyone felt the same way because our friend Joel headed over to Mcdonalds to bring back lattes and Dave brought a jug – a huge carton actually – of Starbucks.  We’re not going to be defeated, we’ll find a way……………  Picked up li’l Cecil but he was kinda grumpy, wasn’t feeling too good, poor little guy – I gave him a dose of baby Tylenol before he went to bed.

Dalton came by and gleefully chomped back a couple of the leftover choccy/peanut butter chip cookie bars from Wednesday night - I hope they vanish overnight so I won’t be tempted by them anymore.  I keep breaking off little bits, kidding myself that I’m really not eating much!!!  Checked that David had everything for his trip, passport, flight plan, money, plenty of underwear and socks!!!  He also needs plenty of warm hoodies as it’s colder than usual there.  I shall sure miss that boy!!  We take him to the airport at 8am and he’s bound for Bristol, UK.  Ahhh, I think it’s time for some nice herbal tea.  Nighty night…..