Building from Scratch

Matt never ceases to amaze me. Here is a man that, at best, can make some cheese nachos or a bowl of cereal in the kitchen. But, he can put a computer together from nothing.

After Christmas, Matt decided he needed a new computer. His was five years old and not fast enough to run the new photo editting software for his new camera. He decided to build his own.

He went to the computer store and got all kinds of things that I don't know the names of. Cards, boards, fans, and random other things all the best and fastest he could find. Then he spent his weekend putting it all together. In the empty computer "case" he bought, he screwed in and put together somehow all these random pieces, hooked up a monitor and keyboard, installed Windows 7, and, poof, new computer.

I cannot imagine all the things that one must know to be able to do that. I can't tell you all the random computer hardware and software and even firmware terms I've heard him recite over the past week. But, he knows them all, and what they mean. And, he's got a super-nice computer now, that he built, from scratch.

Diapers

Yes, I know its too early to worry about diapers, but if its a good deal.....

I found a good deal at walgreens that happened to include diapers. So, I bit the bullet and bought our offical first package of diapers for baby greenfield. (Size two....is that good?)

Here's how it worked out:

Huggies diapers $9
3 Tomato sauces 3/$1
2 Lucky Charms $2 each
Cinnamon Toast Crunch $2
Fusion Razor $9

I had coupons for everything as well as $14 in Walgreens Register Rewards. After I had handed all that over, I only owed $2.12!!!! PLUS, I got back $11 in Register Rewards to use next time.

So, basically I paid $2 for some Huggies Diapers and got some free cereal and a razor in the process. :)

Yay for coupons!

More Baby News

Today I had my second doctor's appointment. It lasted a total of five minutes.... But, on the bright side, I got to hear little baby greenfield's heartbeat. The doctor confirmed that I haven't gained any weight (!) and she was okay with that. Hopefully we can stay on that track for a little while longer. I have another appointment in early January and then I am scheduled to find out the sex of the baby on January 25th. Fun times!

Baby Greenfield

That's right, I said Baby Greenfield. After an interesting couple of years and a little medicine, Matt and I are finally pregnant!

I had my first doctor's appointment today and everything looked great. We saw the heart-beat and even a little movement. And, the doctor pointed out the arm and leg "buds."

I am officially 9 weeks now. And, so far, I must brag that its been pretty uneventful. I haven't been sick once. Not once. How lucky is that? I'm hoping it will continue to be easy. My mom informed me that neither she nor my sister ever were sick so it looks like I'm predisposed to NOT being sick.

And, without further ado, here's a picture of the one we affectionately call "Bean."

Bagels

So, lately I have renewed my love for Bagels. Plain, with strawberry cream cheese. I had bought a package and made a plan to have one bagel every morning before work. There were just enough in the package for one week. My plan was working well and I was enjoying eating my bagel each morning while driving to school. All that changed when I came home from work on Wednesday. You see, when I left for work that morning, I had left the two remaining bagels (one for Thursday and one for Friday) on the counter in their little bagel bag. But, when I came in the back door Wednesday afternoon, the bagel bag was not where I had left it. Instead, it was in the middle of the living room...without any bagels in it. I knew right away what had happened to them: Daisy also has a love for bagels. (or anything of the food variety really). I cannot explain how sad my bagel-less drive to work was on Thursday and Friday.



New week: new bagel story:



Of course while at Kroger this past Sunday, I picked up some more bagels. This time, I opted for the mini bagels instead of the regular size ones. (Because the mini ones were free!) There were 12 mini ones in the bag, so I decided to eat one before I went to the gym, knowing that I would still have 11 left. That way, I would have enough to eat 2 (Mini!) on the way to work for the rest of the week. And, there would be one left over to snack on sometime later. What an excellent plan!

Upon returning from the gym, I find an empty bagel bag in the kitchen floor! I screamed at Matt, who had been home the entire time, "Were you not watching Daisy!?!" He asks why and I proceed to tell him that there is an empty bagel bag in the floor and 11 missing bagels. Daisy arrives on the scene before Matt and looks so pitiful. She's always so sorry AFTER the fact. I scolded Matt for not watching her and pointed out that she'd probably be sick after eating 11 bagels. And, reminded him how I already had my bagel-week planned out and now it was ruined!!

Then, he busts out laughing. He had rigged the whole thing!! He emptied the bag of the 11 bagels, re-bagged them, and stuck them in the fridge to hide from me. Then tore the original back and rigged it up in the floor, with some other dog items to make it look like Daisy had eaten the bag. All at my expense.

So, I'm happy to report that my bagels are fine. Well, 9 of them were fine. He had gotten his brilliant idea as he was eating two of them. And, that totally ruins my plan too! :)

Finally, a new post!!!

Things have been pretty uneventful around here lately. And, with going back to work, I've been super lazy. All excuses aside, I have decided to come back to the world of blogging....atleast for today. Hopefully it won't be another two months before my next post, but I can't promise anything.

I haven't been doing a lot of couponing lately, especially at CVS or walgreens. I still get the grocery game list for kroger and go there once every weekend, but I haven't been to CVS much lately and haven't been to walgreens in probably months....UNTIL TODAY. :)

I got the walgreen's ad yesterday when I bought my papers and I was excited to see lots of good deals this week! One I was particularly interested in was the A&W root beer deal. Four 12-packs for $10.92. Matt loves root beer, and that was a great price. They also had lots of FARR (free after register rewards) items that I was interested in. I decided with a little bit of effort I could get the four 12-packs of soda along with all the good FARR stuff for LESS than the $10.92....at least that was my goal. Here's how it turned out:

Walgreen's #1: 1st transaction: Vaseline Lotion $6.99 - $1.50 coupon = $5.89 after tax. Earned $7 register reward.

2nd transaction: Tooth flossers $2, Herbal Essence shampoo $2.99 - $1 coupon, Chapstick $2.99, tomato sauce $.99 (forgot to use the coupon to make it $.39). Paid with $7 RR from previous transaction, $.97 cash. Earned $3 RR, and two $2RR

walgreen's #2: 1st transaction: Gillette fusion razor $8.99 - $4 coupon, two tomato sauces $.39 each. (didn't forget the coupon that time!) Paid with $3RR and $2RR. $.77 cash. Earned $6RR

2nd transaction: Herbal Essence conditioner $2.99 - $1 coupon, Vaseline lotion $6.99 - $1.50 coupon, two tomato sauces $.39 each. Paid with $2RR and $6 RR. $.26 cash. Earned $2RR and $7RR

3rd transaction: Finally, the four 12-packs of root beer. $10.92 plus tax. Paid with $2RR and $7RR and $2.07 cash.

Total spent: $9.96

So, I got the four 12-packs along with two vaseline lotions, five tomato sauces, a gillette fusion razor, tooth flossers, a chapstick, and an herbal essence shampoo and conditioner for LESS than the price of the 12-packs alone.

:)

July 23, 2005

I just wanted to write a quick note to say Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband, Matt. The last four years have been great and I'm looking forward to MANY more!

Almost Free

I had an excellent trip to Kroger today that was blog-worthy so I thought I would share. Starting today, Kroger is doing their mega-event where when you buy any ten participating items, you receive $5 off your order. I bought the following items:

1 Dixie Paper plates 24 pack

2 Softsoap Hand soaps

1 large A1 steak sauce

1 Daisy Sour cream

1 Jif Peanut Butter

4 Sobe Life waters

3 Kleenex

2 Speedstick Deodorants

2 Chex Mix

3 Cat treats (no, I don't have cats, but free is free. I'm sure someone will take them!)

For those twenty items I received $10 off my order. I had coupons for everything except the Jif and the sour cream.

I had my card out all ready to pay when the cashier informed me my total was ONE CENT. So, I put the card back in my wallet, handed over my penny, and walked out with my loot. :)

Happy Shopping!

Vacation

Matt and I went on vacation this year to Orlando and Key Largo, Florida. While in Orlando, we stayed at the Universal Resort just walking distance from Universal Studios.

Our first day there we went to the Islands of Adventure theme park. They had two great rollercoasters, the Hulk and Dueling Dragons, and some other fun rides. We also went to see a movie, "the hangover," and had dinner at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville.

The second day there it RAINED...all day. This was the day we went to Universal Studios, but we had to do it in the rain. Luckily, most of their attractions were in-doors so we did get some reprieve from the rain at times. They had a nice indoor rollercoaster, the Mummy. They also had some cool 4-D attractions based on the Terminator and some animated movied that I can't remember now. We also went through the Jurrasic Park water ride that was fun and I managed to stay mostly dry. (that was before the rain....)

Matt arm-wrestling Captain America!

Our last night in Orlando we had tickets to see Blue Man Group. This was one of the highlights of the trip. They were hysterical! I didn't realize it was going to be a comedy show....I was only expecting the musical stuff. It was a two hour show and Matt and I enjoyed all of it. I even got some light-up drum sticks that I know my kids at school are going to love!

From Orlando, we flew to Miami and drove to Key Largo. The one whole day we had there we spent at "Theatre of the Sea." They had all kids of "shows" to watch as well as informational tours. We first went on the bottomless boat ride where two dolphins came up and performed in the boat. Then we went on a nature tour around the park. They had lots of lagoons full of various types of fish, turtles, and sharks. I got to pet one of the baby sharks. They also had a "Parot Theatre" where they had about 10 trained parots that put on a show. It was interesting to hear that most of the birds were in their twenties in age!

I got to hold one!



Matt and me on the nature trail.

After that we went to the Dolphin show, which was so cool. They had two male dolphins, ages 11 and 12, that did tons of cool tricks.

On a side note, one dolphin trainer's name was Tessa AND one of the child volunteers from the audience was also Tessa....so there were three Tessas there for that show!

After the dolphin show, we headed to the sea lion show. We learned the differences between sea lions and seals (mainly the ears) and Wilbur the four year old sea lion was SO cute! He weighs over 350 pounds and is expected to be around 800 when he's full grown!

Some audience members got to throw rings for him to catch. Look at that face!

Wilbur showing us how strong his front arms were... (If you enlarge this picture you can see his "ear." Only sea lions have the little ear flap. Seals don't have outside ears...)

He loves to slide!

The main attraction was later in they day. I have ALWAYS wanted to get to swim with a dolphin but have always backed out because of the price. I told Matt I was doing it this year, no matter what. So, I got to swim with Nikki, a 25 year old female dolphin. It was worth every penny! I got to do lots of tricks with her including a dance, a hug, a kiss, and a few swimming tricks. I highly recommend it! I can now cross it off my list of things to do in life!!

All in all, this year's vacation was one of my favorites!

Free Hefty Freezer Bags

Here's a great deal everyone should be able to do. Wal-Mart has their Hefty Freezer bags priced for $1. There was a $1 coupon in the 5/17 Red Plum insert. So, if you have the coupon, free freezer bags!

You can get the 22 count quart size bags or the 17 count gallon size bags. Both are $1. The good news is that there's no particular rush on this deal. The $1 price seems to be the new "regular" price, not a sale, and the coupon is good through July 31st!

I went out and got mine today!!! Happy Shopping.

Ketchup

Anyone who knows me knows that I love ketchup and eat it on most things. While in alabama, I stumbled across something that intrigued even me.












Yes, my friends, that says "ketchup flavored potato chips." And yes, I tried them. I can now say potato chips are one thing I do NOT eat ketchup on. Ha ha!

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. :)