Why I Coupon...

I am really lucky to have a local grocery store that doubles coupons. Giant Eagle doubles coupons up to .99. (They also have a gas promotion where for every 50.00 you spend you get .20 off every gallon of gas. )

So I collect coupons. A LOT of coupons. Every couple weeks I get a sackful of coupons from the inlaws who gather them from friends- Grandfather in law finds it interesting that I get so excited about coupons. Here is an example of WHY I get giddy when presented with coupons.

Marcal/Small Steps is a paper product brand that is more organic b/c it is recycled and environment friendly. They also are way overpriced. IMHO! But they put out pretty good coupons. Not good enough to use regularly but I cut and save them Just.In.Case. and I waited.. patiently...

Last week the new sale ad came out and I flipped when I saw that this brand of TP/PT/Napkins was on sale 2 for $4.00. I grabbed my coupons and planned my attack. I ran out and bought everything I could. Then over the weekend I received my much coveted sack of coupons and my Sunday paper had 4 fliers in it... I set to work after dinner. MORE COUPONS!!!

When all is said and done I used coupons that were for 2.00 each item, 1.50 off each item and 1.00 each item.

On my 2 shopping trips I purchased.

6- 2 packs of paper towels
9-4packs (double roll) toilet paper
2-250ct pack of napkins.

Total cost.....$ 9.00!

That saves me a run to BJ's to stock up on my paper goods!

I have found a positive to cold weather

Kids are all at school/preschool. I come home and shower. While I let my hair partially dry I fold and put away 4 loads of laundry. Pull out the hair dryer and dry the mane.. put some simple make up on and go to grab some clothing... I grab a pair of jeans. Cannot figure out which shirt I will be most comfortable in. Which is the most flattering... long enough to cover the *bulge*.. Then it hits me.. It is FREEZING outside. Who the hell cares what shirt I am wearing? I will have my long coat on and will likely not be anywhere long enough to unbutton it anyway! SWEET!!!! I grab the first white t shirt I see and a pair of random socks b/c who will look under my pants anyway?

ready to go..

So I have come to the conclusion that as long as my face and hair are presentable and my pants are long enough... The rest is FINE! Thanks Ohio weather! You made my day!

Kicking off the new year...

The year ended with a great aunt of mine passing away. Which means the new year starts with a funeral...Mom flew in from FL for the service which worked out as Michael had decided to take the 3 kids out for Daddy/Kiddie day..

Mom and I started the day out on the most altruistic way.. We donated blood.. Okay SHE donated the blood. My blood retrieval did not go as planned. Initially I started a good strong flow then it trickled out. Three different nurses and techs checked and could not figure it out. I was set up for a double red cell donation and they could not even get a full single donation out of me. The decided that it was not going to happen and stopped it. When they were unhooking me and tearing the tubing apart they figured it out.. Blood Clots. They tech must have jarred my needle when she was trying to get it in proper position b/c it started to prematurely clot and there was a clot in the needle and a HUGE one stuck in the beginning of the tubing. I was bummed. I was donating like I do a few times a year.. but this time there was a gas card promotion and since I was doing a double donation I was due to get 2 $25.00 gas cards... In the end I got them b/c I was there to donate and it was totally out of my control. THEN b/c mom went to donate with me she got a card too.. She tossed it my way so that is $75.00 in gas cards.. AWESOME!!!!!

Then we continued on.. Took her to get her glasses adjusted, grabbed a quick lunch and off to the memorial service. After the service we ran to Chapel Hill and I managed to buy 3 pairs of jeans/pants at LB. This is amazing for me b/c I now pretty much double my pants supply.. Sad.. I know...
I attempted to buy some boots... Boots are pretty important in Ohio. My zipper busted the first real snow we had. Nice....No luck with that little task.. Thank you Payless, Famous Footwear and Target for NOT stocking a full selection of super huge footwear...

After returning home we go to listen to all the stories the kids told, how they ate at Cici's pizza, shopped at the Dollar Tree and went to the Planetarium and Discovery Museam at McKinley Monument.

The day ended with mom entertaining the kids with Perfection and Scrabble. Now as long as Maddie doesn't really have a sore ear.. ALL will stay good...

Happy New Year 2010!

I can honestly say that this was the first time since before we had kids that I managed to stay up until/past midnight( at least that did not have someone attatched to my chest.) We spent the evening hanging out with friends and watching the *ball drop*

New Years day was spent doing laundry. Lots and Lots of laundry. But all of our bedding is fresh and clean.

Dinner was chinese buffett. YUM! and my house doesn't smell like pork and sourkraut.