Windy City here we come!

This momma is getting a bit anxious (family, you know me and how I get). Chris and I and 3 other couples from Church as well as a mom and grandma of one of the men, are all heading to Chicago bright and early (4:30) tomorrow morning. We are going to Moody Bible Institute for their Founders Week. We will be catching the last day of speakers and staying overnight. I am personally very excited for a chance to get to hear Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham speak.
I am also very excited to get to spend some time with Chris, without kids. But at the same time, very anxious because other than being in the hospital having a baby, I havent been away from them overnight since before we were even expecting Gabi, and she will be 5 soon. That is 3 little ones that I have not been away from overnight, so right now, my emotions are a bit on the up and down. I know me, and I will be sappy probably until we get to Mechanicsville, maybe not since we are riding with the Schusters, I am sure that they will be able to liven it up even at that time of day. And I will do good until bedtime, that is when I will start to really miss those hugs and kisses I get during the day from them and holding onto the chubby fingers. Ahhhh.....sniff sniff. Enough of that. I am very much looking forward to spending this time with Chris, and I know he is looking forward to spending this time with me as well. He and I could use a mini vacation. It will be fun to see what things Tour Guide Vanessa has found to check out while in Chicago before we head home Saturday. WEll, off to get stuff done since I will have to be getting up in about 12 hours, YIKES!!!!!!

My hubby ROCKS!!

Apparently the savings game is rubbing off on Chris, Sunday he ran to the store to get milk and pick up some Subs from Subway. I sent him off with the Supersaver and a couple of Q's for milk. He comes home all happy and pretty much bragging about how he didnt use the supersaver for the subs b/c with the deal they were running, it was cheaper to not use it. SWEET!!!! Saved a couple bucks gotta love that. Then he runs to Gary's to get milk, he did use the supersaver which was .99 a gallon plus I had sent him with 2 .50 off q's for Roberts milk. He also grabbed some chips (Sterzings of course) total bill 7.98. Cant beat that for 1 gallon and 1 1/2 gallon of milk and 2 bags of overpriced (but a yummy, salty walk down memory lane)chips. I told him I was going to have to brag him up a bit.

Let me tell you, it just seems so unreal that after all the years we have been together and all the trials, I love my husband more and more everyday!

Out with the old, in with the older?

The skid mark is gone. Of course as I type, Jeni has not noticed yet, or has not said anything. No, the skid mark is not something left behind on a pair of underwear that I triumphantly got clean. No, it is what we nicknamed Jeni's car, if any of you have ever seen it, you will understand. We sold that baby tonight to some kids, oddly enough, from Burlington. It was yet again in need of some costly work and we were done paying to have it fixed over and over, we have put over 1400.00 into that car in the last 2 years. So, we started doing some searching and found a nice older car for her. She frowned at the Crown Vic's that we would show her (geez who doesnt want a land barge?) What we did find was a 1988 Chrysler LeBaron. It has spent all of its life up until June in Arizona, so no body rust. It does have some minor body flaws, but what doesnt after 20 years? It's red, a bit pimped out for my liking, and a CONVERTIBLE! Yikes! But, the price was great, Jeni is going to pay us for it and we will sign it over to her when she does. Until then, Chris and I have researved the right to take off in it on any given nice evening with the top down :) I'll post a pic, I know Jeni has some in her camera, she couldnt wait to show people.

Dawn, you're gonna love this!

This week we have some guys working here at our house doing some weatherizing (ahhh insulation is a mighty fine thing to have). This morning one of the guys is in the dining room doing some work and in comes Gretchen, with a whoopie cushion. She procedes to explain to him: "This is a whoopie cushion and it makes you fart." Yea, not sure if he was even listening to her, but I was a tad bit embarassed and amused all the same. Then, later she starts heading upstairs, I told her to stay down here and let the men work, she looks at me and declares: " I wanted to give him a high five." apparently she is happy about the insluation too.

An interesting observation

Took the kiddos to town today, needed to show Jeni how to get to a friends house that she will be doing some sitting for. Made quite the jaunt through town. Here's a run down of the savings. 1st stop(not counting lunch) Sara Lee Bakery (sorry mom, hope you still don't have loyalty to Dolly)I had a punch card that I filled so was able to get 4 loaves of bread for 4.00! Sweet! Next stop was Aldi, nothing too exciting there, just usual stuff. Next was walmart #1 they didn't have what I was trying to search for, but picked up a few things that we were needing, like Q tips and a small yummy gift for a friend. Then off to Target to see if they had any of the clearanced diapers I had read about, no go. BUT I did leave there with a 1.00 coupon organizer, some wipes for the diaper bag, that I used a .50 coupon for, taking them to 1.89 and some Reeses Pices (I love peanut butter) paid nothing for any of it as I used a 5.00 gift card I got for purchasing some pop back in November, so 3.77 savings! I then drove across town to a different walmart to see if I could find the razors again. Scored 3 that looked like maybe someone had tried to hide (sorry to that person) but I got a sweet deal. The gift pack of razors at xmas time were 9.97 and are marked down to 5.00, I had 4.00 coupons for them (thanks mom!) I loved when the lady at the register told me it was 15.xx and I gave her 12.00 in coupons. 3.90 was the total! wooo hoo

Ok, so to the observation I made. While I was in the checkout lane at Target a woman came behind me and put her items down. TP, kleenex, make up. Nothing spectacular, but I couldn't help but notice that the TP had Aloe and Vit E in it, I got to wondering why exactly you would need to have those added to toilet paper? I can understand the kleenex having them (hers did) that would be good for sore noses. But toilet paper? Hmmmmmmm so what do you think? I know sometimes it gets used to blow noses, but still Aloe and vit E for the intended purpose?

GO FISH!

I forgot to mention in the previous post the great deal I got on some Cd's and a DVD for my kids. In December the band GO Fish was in concert in Cedar Rapids. Our kids LOVE THEM!!! It was not a hard decision to decide to take them. They had a BLAST, so did we, even Jeni. Those guys can really do a show to appeal to all ages. Well, at their show they had buy one cd for 15.00 and all others were 5.00/ea no limit. I didnt hve the funds with me then so had to pass it up. Two weeks ago I went to their website: http://www.gofishguys.com they were still running that same deal! Woo hoo, so I bought one for 15 (they only give 3 choices but we had two of them) and then went shopping. They do not charge shipping and we got them in a couple days time. I think we have listened to them at least once a day and the DVD has had some serious miles put on it, but it is funny, no violence, great message and fun songs, plus the kids reinact it. They also refer to the guys by name like they see them everyday and are great pals (technically on DVD they do see them) Anyway, back to the savings, by taking up that deal, I saved 50.00 in the cost of the cd's. Not bad.

It all started with the cottonballs...

So, about a month ago I was in Walmart, and every trip to Walmart MUST include a trip down the clearance isle, it is a habit of mine. You never know what sort of deal you may find there. So, I am driving on down the isle when I notice cotton balls on the shelf and thought, well, that is an odd item to be on clearance, not like it expires or is not a usable item. Then I notice that they are selling for .82/ for a bag of 225. Wow, that is a deal! A 1.00 off the normal price. So, I grab two. The next day I am at my sisters house and was joking about the cottonballs being on clearance, she said, she would have bought alot since it is an item that would get used. SOOOOO a few days later I am back at Wally World taking a spin down the clearance isle and there is still quite a few bags left, so I grabbed 10.00. I couldn't get myself to take them all so I left a couple bags. Then I got to thinking about wow, between that visit and the previous I had saved 12.00 on an item we frequently run out of. Hmmmm.
THEN, my sister and my mom start telling me about all these great deals they have been getting using coupons and sales at Walgreens and CVS. I was getting a tad jealous of this (guilty admission). So, I started asking some questions and clippin' the Q's. A couple weeks ago the sis and I headed into town for me to get a "tutorial" of sorts on the in's and outs of getting a good deal and stockpiling items that we generally use. First stop, CVS, now I will admit that their card thing was/is really intimidating to me but w/ some coaching (thanks Dawn) I walked out of there spending 2.30 for two tubes of toothpaste and earning 2.00 in CVS Bucks for another trip! Not bad! Next trip was to Walgreens (aka WAGS) we scored some good deals there too, I walked out of there spending 27.88 and saving 44.67! Not to be forgotten was the 13.xx in rebates that I had coming too! Woo Hooooooo!!!!! Needless to say that was quite the rush from saving that much and getting items my family would need to use AND stretching out the income. I could hardly sleep that night.
So, needless to say the clipping of the Q's has become an obsession of mine and finding good deals. Today I was going through my receipts to send in for some free stuff and started totaling up what I have saved since the first cottonball purchase, ok, are you sitting? (Yeah, like who stands to read blogs?) drumroll please..........$180.24! That is in a months time! I did not tally how much spent b/c some of the receipts included Christmas gifts and I didn't want to break it all down. And to copy my sis on her blog http://www.thehappelfamily.blogspot.com/ I will be posting my savings as well. I will however, NOT be putting my pedometer readings on this. Seriously, only 39 steps to cross my house, that is alot of pacing.