Missing Money

Matt's brother, Brendon (or Bep), has been staying with us off and on this summer while he's out of college. He did some work for one of the guys Matt works with to earn a little extra money. He got paid $60 (three $20 bills) to dig some holes in Greg's backyard. When he came home, he put the money on the coffee table, under a coaster, and went out to eat with Matt. (Any normal human being would have put that money in their wallet, but not Bep. I think he thought if he didn't have it with him he wouldn't have to pay for dinner.....)

When he and Matt returned from eating out, the money was nowhere to be found. Now, for Matt and I, there was no question what happened to that money. You see, Daisy is notorious for eating money. We have learned that lesson before. You NEVER leave money out in this house. Apparently bep was not aware of such a rule. They looked for the money but, of course didn't find it.

That is, until a few days later..... Matt found it in the yard....shredded....hopefully you can figure out how it got there.

For those of you that need picture evidence:

Andrew had a rough couple of days....

HOT DEAL ALERT!!!

I'm so excited about this one!!

There's a deal at Target this week for the Venus Embrace Razor. (On a side note, I've tried TONS of razors, these venus ones are hands-down the best to me. But, they are expensive....at regular price anyway.)

At Target, the razors are on sale this week for $7.99 and when you buy two ($15.98 total) you earn a Target gift card for $10.

In this weeks (June 7) P&G coupon insert, there will be a venus coupon for $4 off any razor. Using two coupons on your two razors will bring your total to $7.98 and you'll still get your $10 gift card!!

So, you'll get two great razors and they'll pay you to take them!

HERE'S THE CATCH!!!!

The deal is only good THIS week (May 31st - June 6th) at Target. You'll have to get the early edition paper on Saturday and purchase the razors then. By Sunday, when the regular paper comes out, the deal will be over. It's SATURDAY only!

And, as a side note, these same razors will be free after extra bucks at CVS with the same coupon. So, if target is a no-go you can still stop in at CVS any day next week. :)

Hair Dryer

This morning as I was drying my hair, my hair dryer freaked out and nearly exploded in my hand (I think!). So, I was in the market for a new one and, luckily for me, this was the perfect week to get it!



Here's the deal:

In this weeks walgreen's ad, there's a revlon hair dryer for $19.99 and when you buy it you earn a register reward coupon for $10. So, in essence, $9.99 for the hair dryer.




Now, for the good part. The hair dryer doesn't actually ring up for $19.99. It rings up for $12.99!!! And, you still get the $10 Register Reward. So, all in all, only $2.99 for it! Not bad if you actually need it. :)

How NOT to spend a Saturday

Matt's brother, Brendon, spent a couple nights with us this week. He and Matt got up and went to the movies today at 11am to see Terminator. I wasn't invited. :) So, I was at home, with the dogs, having a lazy Saturday morning. I took a shower, got some cleaning done, had a little internet time.... When I went downstairs, I stepped off the stairs into WATER. I freaked for a second, as anyone would when expecting dry floor, and then started trying to figure out where it came from.

Long story short, it had come from the downstairs bathroom. Daisy's kennel is in the hallway that leads to the bathroom, so we keep the door closed and her bed sits against the door. The bathroom had flooded, but because her dog bed was in front of the door it had kept most of it in. I assumed whoever used the bathroom this morning hadn't realized the toilet overflowed. So, I started moving all of her stuff out of the way so I could clean up the water. I got out my nifty little wet-vac and started cleaning up the water. I did NOT mess with the toilet. I only looked at it to see that it was completely empty.

As I'm vacuuming the water up, the toilet starts to overflow again. Out of nowhere. Now there's twice as much water. I call Matt (apparently making him miss the last scene of the movie...) to find out how to turn off the water to the toilet. I wade into the BROWN water to turn it off.....and start vacuuming again. Then, with the water off, it starts overflowing again. I'm at my wits end at this point because the water is coming out faster than I can clean it up. I call Matt again. He tells me to do things like plunge it, or take the lid off and check something....I try to explain the house is flooding. He says he's on his way to "save the day." I start putting towels down to keep it from wetting the entire house.

Matt comes home with his brand new shoes on and heads to the bathroom. I told him he probably didn't want to go in there in those shoes. He clearly did NOT get the gravity of the situation. There was INCHES of brown water standing in there. He changes shoes. He plunges....nothing. He gets tools from Lowes....nothing. I vacuum up literally tens of gallons of water. He calls plumber.

The plumber arrives with some nifty tools to assess the situation. He finds clog....46 feet into the pipe. He clears the clog and sends a camera (one of the nifty tools) down the pipe to take a look around. His diagnosis? 46 feet into the pipe, the adjoining pipe doesn't line up properly. The solution? Dig it up, reset it. The cost? $1700. Yes, seventeen HUNDRED dollars.

Happy Memorial Day.

We did not let this little adventure ruin our plans for the day though. It just delayed them by five hours. The original plan for the day was to trade in the bimmer and get a new car! We got to the dealership one hour before they closed and I got my new car.

I'll post pics soon! (of the car....not the brown water)

Kroger Deals

I made a quick trip to Kroger today to take advantage of some freebies! Here's what I got:



2 Kraft BBQ Sauce ($1 minus $1 coupon....FREE)

2 Country Time Lemonade ($1 each minus $1.50 off two coupon)

3 Dial Hand soaps ($1 minus 35 cent coupon, tripled....FREE)

2 Velveeta Shells and Cheese ($1.61 minus $1 coupon on each)

1 Vitamin water ($1 minus $1 coupon....FREE)

1 Heinz Ketchup ($1.69 minus 75 cent coupon)





The total was $2.66. I had a "$2 off your next purchase" coupon from the BBQ sauce last trip, so that took off $2 plus 5 cents tax. So, I paid 61 cents.

Lemonade

I came across a great deal on Country Time Lemonade & Kool-aid at Kroger this week. The canisters (usually $2.99) are on sale for $1 each.






At www.coupons.com you will find printable coupons for $1.50 off when you buy two of either the lemonade or the kool-aid.

So, $2 for two canisters minus the $1.50 coupon leaves only 50 cents. That mean 25 cents per canister!

Holiday

I just wanted to make a quick post to remind everyone that, because it's a holiday weekend, there won't be any coupons in this week's paper. Save your dollar and prepare to stock up next week!

Thanks Kathrine!

Kraft BBQ Sauce

Here's a great deal on Kraft BBQ Sauce going on at kroger between now and May 24th. Depending on the number you buy, you get a coupon good on your next purchase (of anything) at Kroger. If you buy four, its a $2 coupon. Five, $2.50. Six, $3.00. Combine that with the great coupons that happen to be available and you've got a great deal. Here's what I did:



Four BBQ sauces: $1.09 each.






I had $1 coupons printed onine (http://www.kraft.com/ and http://www.coupons.com/ if they're still available) for each bottle. So, I paid nine cents each, or $0.36 total. And, for buying four bottles, I received a coupon for $2 off my next purchase.







There are also $0.75 coupons from the May 3rd Smartsource. If you have four of those it would look like this.



Four sauces @ $1.09 each = $4.36. Minus 4 x $0.75 = $3.00


$4.36 - $3 = $1.36 for four bottles and receive a coupon for $2 off your next purchase.



Also, keep your eyes peeled for the BIG bottles with 55% more.


Since I used the online printed coupons for this order, I will probably go back, get four more, use the 75 cent coupons and the $2 coupon I received for this order, and get MORE. Since its free and all.......

Happy Shopping!

Dog Pictures

I've taken some pretty cute pictures of the dogs lately, so I thought I'd share.







Who says big dogs can't be lap dogs?










This is Daisy's favorite place to hang out!










Maybe the best picture of Daisy ever!

If this one of Roxanne doesn't make you laugh, I don't know what will. It's the background on my new phone and I giggle everytime I see it. :)

Great Deal On Charmin

I read online that the 12 pack double roll charmin, in the red package, was being clearanced at all Texas walgreens. So, I had to check it out. The first walgreens I went to had a clearance sign up, but they were all sold out. :( At the second walgreens, there was no clearance tag, but there were tons of packages. I had read that some stores didn't have signs posted, but that it SHOULD be on sale. So, I had the pharmacy girl price-check it. Sure enough, it was on clearance from $9.49 to $2.39! The little pharmacy girls got even more excited than I did! Between the two of them and me, we bought ALL the charmin. Here's how it worked out.



I bought:


3 Charmin 12-packs ($2.39 each)

2 Scotch paper cutters $1.50 each)

1 Clearance folder (25 cents)






I had $1 coupons for all the charmins and the two paper cutters. My total was $5.81. I paid with a $5 register reward from a previous purchase. The balance was 45 cents!


The pharmacy girl ringing up my order got so excited about my total that she announced it to all the other pharmacy people!

Starbucks Frappuccinos

I found out about a great deal at CVS on the starbucks frappuccinos in a bottle. Now I do not like ANYTHING coffee, but Matt loves these things.

They are regularly $2.69 EACH, but they were on sale for $1.50.

AND, when you bought two of them, you got back $1 Extra Buck.

AND, I found a coupon for a dollar off. So, here's how it worked out.

I bought four:




So, $1.50 each times four = $6.

Minus $2 in coupons (all you can print.) = $4

And for each pair you buy receive $1 in extra bucks.

So, I paid $4 (in extrabucks) and got back $2 in extra bucks.

Total cost: $2 for four frappucinos. 50 cents each!


I'm not sure how long this deal is good for. There's a possibility it will end tonight since today is the last day of the sales week at CVS. It's an unadvertised deal, so there's no way to know until someone reports it no longer works.

Matt says we're going back later tonight to get more. :)

More Nivea

I stopped at walgreens again today to get another free bodywash. Here's what I got.

1 Nivea $4.99 minus $1 coupon

1 Campbell's Soup 59 cents with in-ad coupon

5 highlighters clearanced to ten cents each







I paid with my $5 RR from the blood monitor mentioned previously and had a balance of 8 cents left. I paid that with my walgreens gift card.


Received a $5 RR for purchasing Nivea.


Total Cost: $0.08

Happy Birthday To Me

For my birthday, I told Matt I wanted a new stove. He wasn't so sure, saying he couldn't see anything wrong with our current stove. (Of course he couldn't.....he doesn't cook.....) He agreed and we went to look at a few models. We found some we like and came home to make a decision. That was last weekend.....

On Thursday night as I was cooking dinner, long story short, our current stove freaked out. There was a loud popping sound and then the light was on saying the stove was on....but the stove was NOT on. It couldn't be turned off....even though it wasn't heating. About an hour later, the top was still warm even though it was off. I was afraid it might burn down the house or something, so we had to just unplug it.

So much for nothing being wrong with the stove.....

This added the needed motivation to actually BUY the new stove...

Without further ado....

Walgreens

There are some nice deals to be had at walgreens this week. Here is one trip I made today.

I walked in the store with a $2 RR (register rewards coupon) and a $5 RR. I left with:

3 12-packs of pepsi

1 Nivea Body wash

1 Rembrandt toothpaste

1 Double sided tape (for Matt)

2 Pens

1 Contour Blood Glucose Monitor

I paid $2.54 in actual cash because I forgot my giftcard and walked out with a $3 RR and a $5 RR.

Considering Matt's double sided tape was $3, I thought I did pretty well.

And for those wondering: No, I'm not diabetic. I had a coupon to get the monitor for free, and when you buy one, a $5 RR prints. So, I let them PAY ME to take the thing. My dad is diabetic, so he'll use it!

99%

More deals....

This week at Kroger is full of freebies! I had my best-ever trip today. Here's what I got:

1 Suave Deodorant

3 Angel Soft 4-packs

1 Steamfresh rice (not pictured)

1 Special K Cereal

1 Sierra Mist 2 liter

3 Pillsbury brownie mixes

I had expected my total to be about $1.50 because the only thing I was actually paying for was the cereal. Everything else was free with my coupons. But, for some reason, the cashier scanned some other coupon at the end for an additional $1 off (I don't know why) and then he told me that my total was FOUR CENTS! Can you believe that?? Four cents! At the end of my receipt it says "Total savings, 99%." That's clearly my highest ever!!!

Kroger has a limit of three like coupons (per transaction) that will double or triple and since I had more than three of most of those freebie coupons, I did make a couple different trips. Total, I got 4 deodorants, 4 brownie mixes, 4 steamfresh rice bags, and I'm up to 8 of the angel soft. I have a few coupons for the toilet paper left so I'll still be getting more of those.

Isn't free stuff fun!?!?

My First Trip to Randalls

I heard that Randalls had some hot deals for the GG this week, so I decided I would go ahead and sign up for a Randalls list in addition to my Kroger list. In the grand scheme of things its only an extra $2.50 a month....why not? And, if there are many weeks like this one it'll be more than worth it.

Here's what I got today. I'm so excited!!

4 Kraft Salad Dressing

3 Pudding 4-packs

4 Hall's cough drops

1 softsoap

1 Duncan Hines cake mix

1 Suave body wash

1 Vanity Fair paper plates

My total was $3.53 and I was a little confused because I thought it was going to be less than that. All the way to the car I was doing math in my head trying to figure out how I had messed it up, but I still couldn't come up with three dollars worth of stuff. So, after a careful look at my receipt I realized that only three of my FOUR $1.50 coupons for the salad dressing had come off. So, I went back in to customer service to have it fixed. Now, I realize most people might not go to that trouble for a dollar fifty, especially since I only had to pay three fifty for the whole thing. (and, that's probably what the CS lady was thinking too...) But, the dollar fifty was nearly HALF of what I was charged. If it was a fifty dollar order and you got charged $90, you'd go back, right?

So, long story short, she found my coupon that hadn't been scanned and rang it up for me. Ironically, I got back $1.62 for that $1.50 coupon. I guess tax or something? So, after that, my real total was $1.91!!!

Yay Randalls! I'll be back!

More Great Deals!!

Today has been a great day for shopping at CVS, Walgreens, AND Kroger. Its so great, in fact, that on my way to or from (or maybe both) a baby shower today I will be going by walgreens AGAIN. I'll explain why at the end.

Here what I've gotten SO FAR today between those three stores.

3 softsoap body washes

2 Quaker rice cake snacks

3 softsoap hand soaps (these weren't on the GG list, but they are free this week at kroger)

1 yogurt

1 juicy fruit gum

1 snickers candy bar

1 easter pencil

1 skintimate shave gel

2 chapsticks

1 bounty paper towel

1 johnson's travel size lotion

1 20ft reynolds wrap

1 sense and spray

2 softsoap ensemble refills

2 easter egg coloring kits

Total spent after coupons: 32 cents in real money. 72 cents on my walgreens gift card.

If you like softsoap body wash, now is the time to get it. There's a deal at walgreens this week: if you buy one (with a $1 coupon of course...so $2.99), you get a coupon for a free one after you pay. So, essentially buy one get one free. However, when you redeem your coupon for your free one, ANOTHER coupon for a free one prints. So, buy one get MANY free. :) It's not supposed to work that way, but for some reason it is.....so far. It may be stopped at any point, but I'm going to keep redeeming my free coupon until I don't get another one. :)

3 so far.....and counting.

HURRY.

EDITED TO ADD: As expected, the problem with the Softsoap promotion has been fixed. It is no longer printing the extra coupons. So, if you do this deal now, be aware, you'll only get ONE free one. You've gotta be fast to get the good stuff!!!!!!

Total, I managed to get eight before they stopped printing.

Hail Storm

This Friday afternoon the weather was so strange. It went from being sunny and cool to sunny and raining to HAILING. Matt was driving home and called me to tell me it was hailing and it was only a few minutes before it was coming down at the house. I watched in amazement! I've never seen hail like that before. It was hitting the ground and bouncing back up. Huge splashes were coming from the pool everytime one of those ice cubes would hit it. In just a matter of minutes, the entire yard was spotted with white dots of ice.

Here's a picture of two really big ones we found in the yard. My hands were FREEZING while Matt was trying to get the perfect shot! LOL

Spring Break

In past years, my mom has flown to Houston for spring break. This year it was me who did the flying. I flew to New Orleans where my mom, aunt and uncle picked me up and drove me back to my aunt's house in Gulfport, Mississippi. My mom had driven there to meet me. We treat it sort of like a half-way point, even though its not even close to being "half-way." My mom and aunt (dad's sister) LOVE to shop, and since I do as well, it works out pretty good!

I flew in Monday afternoon so we could shop Tuesday and Wednesday, and then I flew back home on Thursday.

We went to the gulfport outlet mall on tuesday as well as some stand-alone stores. I bought some clothes (for Matt, too) and some household items. On Wednesday, we went to the Biloxi mall and a few more stand-alone stores. I found some great rugs for my kitchen!!

I had packed up a suitcase FULL of "freebies" to take to my sister. And, since you can't take liquids on planes, I had to pay the $15 fee to check my bag!! I hated that, but I decided that my free stuff was worth well over $15 AND I had saved way more than $15 by "buying" it. So, all in all, I guess it wasn't too bad of a deal. Then, upon arriving in gulfport, I gave the freebies to my mom to take home to my sister which freed up a lot of space in my suitcase to bring home stuff that I was going to buy! I thought it was a great plan!

So, Wednesday night when I was packing up to come home I realized that I had bought so much I could barely fit it in, even in the place of all that free stuff. And, to top that off, my new rugs were the foam kind, so I had to be careful not to bend them because they could break. Clearly, they weren't going to fit in the suitcase. I had to roll them and carry them on the plane in a shopping bag. Haha! I was carrying my suitcase, stuffed FULL, the rugs rolled up in a plastic bag, and my purse. But I was determined to carry-0n all of it so I didn't have to pay that $15 again. It worked. After an hour delay at the New Orleans aiport and another half-hour delay ON THE PLANE due to fog in houston, I made it home. It was 2 hours late, but I made it.

Fun was had by all. :)

This Week's Deals

Both CVS and Walgreens had some good deals this week. Here's what I got:

2 small packages of Ritz

1 small Bleach

1 Bounce fabric softener

1 downy fabric softener

1 travel size Act mouthwash

1 Slimquick energy shot 2-pack (tried one of these --- GROSS!!!!)

2 Carnation Instant breakfast

2 Colgate toothpastes

2 Blink eye drops

2 Vaseline intensive rescue lotions

2 easter candy-eggs

Total after coupons: $2.01. Of course, that's not two dollars of REAL money...that came from my Walgreens rebate gift card! :)

I bought the candy eggs for matt. As I was writing this entry I realized Daisy was not here with me. When I called her she came SLOWLY up the stairs with her ears down, which tells me that she's been doing something bad. My mind immediately goes to the candy eggs that I left sitting on the counter. I rush down stairs and what do I see? ONE candy egg on the counter.....not TWO. I still haven't found any evidence of that missing egg. I guess she ate the wrapper too! I guess its a good thing she's a huge dog, otherwise I'd be worried about the chocolate intake. Hopefully one chocolate egg won't have an adverse effect on an 80-pound dog! And if it does, hopefully that package of peppermint antacids that she ate yesterday will keep her stomach calm.

Disclaimer: This photo was taken BEFORE daisy ate antacids OR the chocolate egg. She's not sick, just TIRED. She's never been one to sleep comfortably.