Saving and Sharing

Record your Yourth - what happened after high school...

2010-09-16T22:48:00.001-04:00

So after I got into the college of my dreams, I spent that summer working as many hours as I could and saving as many pennies as I could. I left for Franklin in the fall with much anticipation and excitement!!!

I met one of my best friends that first week at FC. Like the first night or two she sat outside of her dorm room SOBBING on the phone to her boyfriend...who was like 20 minutes away. I know I walked passed her, rolled my eyes and thought not nice thoughts. Within just days though I got to know her much better and we became very close!

The rest of the year was filled with friends and classes and working - I worked all the way through college and still left with loan debt! I worked part-time in the campus bookstore and did some volunteer work with the theater department (and after that year - ended up being the theater house manager for the next three years).

I didn't make it home often - the drive was only about an hour and fifteen minutes but I didn't have a car of my own. If I wanted to get home, I had to have my parents come get me or hitch a ride with someone else headed that way. I was lucky that there were a few other people from my area that were at FC and could hitch a ride if needed.

I've often told people (and still do say) that you couldn't have paid me to go to another school. Purdue University is just 1/2 hour from my house...a nice large state school that probably would have left me with a bit less loan debt at graduation but not my cup of tea! My graduating class at FC was actually smaller than my graduating class from high school - it was perfect! I knew most of my classmates and many of the upperclassmen in just a few weeks time. It was such a "family" to me and I really enjoyed that aspect of school.

I graduated from FC with a BA in Journalism... I left FC and didn't go into the field though. It is something that no one can take away from me and an experience that totally shaped my life and I wouldn't change any of that for any reason.

This is my fifteenth (and final!) post with Mommy's Piggy Tales recording my memories in just 15 weeks. If you're interested in doing the same for yourself, swing by her place to check it out! She will be starting a new session soon!

Click here to read my post from last week, where my twelfth grade finished up my high school years quite nicely.

Marsh ad highlights - 9/16 through 9/22

2010-09-15T20:59:00.000-04:00

The Mega Sale is STILL on (make sure you get the right amount of items!) and there's a four-day Tailgate Sale too!

Tailgate Sale (Thursday through Sunday, 9/16 through 9/19)
Food Club brats - $2.99 ($1.50)
Ruffles potato chips - $1.98 (save $2.01)
2lb Fried chicken strips - $3.99 (save $1.00)
6-pack Coke products - 4/$9.88 (save $8.88 or more on four) - limit one

Mega Sale items - Buy any 10, get $5 off instantly!
(final price listed - see the ad for specifics!)
Food Club or Sargento cheese - $1.49
Dean's cottage cheese or Breakstone's sour cream - $.99
California Pizza Kitchen or DiGiorno pizzas - $4.49
Kraft Mac & Cheese dinner - $.99
Oscar Mayer bologna or Food Club ketchup - $.98
Gatorade - $.58
Tropicana or Dole juice - $2.49
Swiss Tea or Green Giant Steamers - $.99
Jell-O pudding or Gelatin - $.49
Nature Valley granola bars - $3.49
Bull's-Eye bbq sauce, Red Gold salsa or Tuttorosso pasta sauce - $.99
Progresso soups or Pillsbury Grands! - $.99
Pillsbury Grands! cinnamon rolls or Oreo cookies - $1.99
Mids, Planters or Totino's - $2.49
Red Gold Sloppy Joe, tomatoes or sauce - $.49
Crystal Light or Yoplait yogurt - $1.49
Wanchai Ferry Asian meals or Macaroni Grill meals - $5.49
Marie Callendar's Bakes - $3.99
Herbal Essences or Aussie - $2.00
Old El Paso dinner kit - $1.99
Betty Crocker mix or Pillsbury Toaster Strudel - $1.49
Edy's Eskimo Pie or Nestle frozen novelties - $2.49
Kellogg's cereals, Nutri-Grain bars or Nature Valley granola thins - $1.99
Jell-O, Yoplait Smoothies or Dannon yogurt - $1.99
Keebler, Kellogg's or Betty Crocker - $1.99

For the entire week enjoy sale items like:
Boneless rump or round roast - $1.98/lb (save $2.21/lb)
Center cut pork chops - $1.98/lb (save $2.01/lb)
Eckrich franks or sliced bologna - B1G1 FREE (save $3.29 on two) (mix and match!)
Marsh bread or buns - $.99
Red Glob or Seedless red, black or green grapes - $.99/lb (save $1/lb)
Hostess snacks - B1G1 FREE
Libby's canned veggies - 10/$5
Libby's canned fruit - 10/$10
Perdue chicken thighs or drumsticks - $.98/lb (save $1.01/lb)
El Monterey Tornados - 2/$4 (match with recent $1 for a $1 final price!)
Pop-Tarts - 3/$4.98
Food Club singles - 2/$3
Aunt Millie's bread or buns - B1G1 FREE (free item must be same kind as purchased item)
Quaker oatmeal - $1.88
Act II popcorn - 10/$10
Quaker rice cakes - 10/$10 (recent coupon matches maybe!?)
Campbell's condensed soups - 10/$10
Ortega taco seasoning mix, dinner kit, shells or sauce - 20% off
Nature's Own bagels - B1G1 FREE (finally - some bagels on sale!!!)
Q-tips - $2.48
Dole salads - 20% off

I'm thinking there are probably some good coupon match-ups in here too. I'll try to keep an eye out for Bargain Briana to post her match-ups - she does an amazing job!

Got another good blog to share...Stuff Christians Like

2010-09-14T20:47:00.000-04:00

I just found this blog at the end of last week and definitely haven't searched it for all it's worth (I'm sure!) but I wanted to go ahead and get this out there!

Stuff Christians Like was

Started on March 21, 2008 as a reaction to the wildly popular blog Stuff White People Like which was created by Christian Lander, Stuff Christians Like is a blog about the funny things we Christians do. And what they just might reveal about our faith.

The site is written by Jonathan Acuff, a preacher’s kid/copywriter who lives in Atlanta with his wife and two kids.

I just found this last week when I read that Jon joined Dave Ramsey's staff and he posted a short article about "7 Ways Working for Dave Ramsey is Like Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory". It was hilarious! So of course I had to go find his blog and I wasn't disappointed. I hope you enjoy it too.

Weekly shopping - we barely eeked it out!

2010-09-14T20:40:00.001-04:00

1 Deans cottage cheese was $1.89 for .99
3 Shamrock milks was $4.17 for FREE
2 Breyers ice cream was $10.98 for $4.98
2 Mission tortilla 8" shells was $5.18 for $3.18 (should have been $1.58)
3 El Monterey Tornadoes was $8.37 for $3.00
5 Kraft Velveeta Shells was $9.35 for $4.95
1 Double Stuf Oreo was $4.19 for $1.99
4 packages (appx 8lbs) split breasts was $24.84 for $7.40

Okay - so the highlighted items are what prices SHOULD HAVE BEEN with the Mega Sale Marsh had going on. I'm going to have to look at the ad but I'm thinking we should have had $5.00 off our bill for purchasing 10 Mega Sale items (the seven listed above plus a pizza and I'm not sure what the other two items where). I tried to call Marsh just now about it but no one answered. I'll be going there tomorrow!

We also bought things like sour cream, milk, OJ, rice, yogurt, black beans, bread, eggs, and some fresh fruits.

All totaled we spent $78.30 (had $2 from my mom for her gallon of milk) and saved $54.48 which was 41% - which if I'm right about our Mega Sale items should be a bit different!

So, only $1.30 over budget as of right now - I'm hoping that will change after tomorrow.

Unsure...

2010-09-13T20:27:00.000-04:00

So. I hadn't planned to take a week plus off from blogging. I normally try to post Monday through Thursday for sure and if something good comes up over the weekend, make a post about that as well. But here lately I've just not been feeling the blog. I'm really struggling with what my purpose is and why I do this.

I LOVE writing. I love sharing my thoughts and processes but sometimes feel like I'm writing to myself (which with tracking my grocery store purchases is great because it's become short of like a price book for me). I'm just not sure where I want to go with this.

I don't think I'll ever be a FishMama or Money Saving Mom but I would like to be! I'd love to have a spot where I can share my thoughts and ideas about life in general, money, deals/bargains and our Total Money Makeover journey that could be a great spot for other women (moms or not) to utilize. But I think that both FishMama and Crystal at MSM do that so I'm not sure where I fit in.

I've thoroughly enjoyed linking up to Record Your Youth with Janna at Mommy's Piggy Tales for the last 14 weeks and look forward to wrapping it all up this coming Thursday. But again - I don't see that side of what I've blogged becoming anything permanent.

So I guess I'm looking for any ideas or suggestions. I don't even know if there is anyone out there who reads my blog on a regular basis. I know there are girls from the Record Your Youth group that follow through those posts and I know that if I've linked up to FishMama's Ultimate Recipe Swap that someone might click through but that's about it. I don't know if me putting more out here would be a benefit to anyone or not.

When I originally started this - I wanted to share deals/bargains but so many other people do that (and do it way better than I do and much more quickly as I only access my blog in the evenings). I still do share if I find something really good but once again - I don't think I have much traffic so I don't share like I should (or could).

If you read this, why do you visit my blog? Do you visit regularly? If you don't visit regularly, how often do you stop by? What else would you be interested in seeing in this spot? If you could leave me a comment or email me at kcbonly@hotmail.com I'd very much appreciate it.

At this point, I'm going to continue to do what I've done in the past (Monday is my shopping from the weekend, Tuesday a blog to share, Wednesday the Marsh ad highlights, Thursday is Record Your Youth (for one more week at least) and sometimes I even share the Kroger ad highlights and coupon previews).

If you do stop by regularly, thank you - I hope to make this a better place for me and for you.

Record your Life - 12th grade tied it all up nicely.

2010-09-09T22:33:00.000-04:00

Last week's post was short and sweet - I didn't want to get to far ahead of myself and sharing more than that would have done so. My 12th grade year was an awesome year for me. I had decided in the spring of my junior year to apply to Franklin College so I could major in journalism. I had never set foot on the campus but knew it was the right spot for me. And then for my 18th birthday - my acceptance letter from Franklin! It was absolutely awesome. It wasn't until that spring that I finally set foot on campus but I knew deep down that I wouldn't want to be at any other school. Getting into Franklin (and the journalism school) was awesome!

That Christmas break I spent 10 days in Mexico - Mexico City and close areas on a Girl Scout trip. I've mentioned before that Girl Scouts was a big part of my life (and it still is - even today). Girl Scouts truly helped shape who I am and this trip did so more than any other trip I had been on. Not only did I get to meet so many new people, get a sunburn on New Years Day and experience the first snow in Mexico in like 15 years, I also met a little boy who changed the way I looked at everything.

Let me back up some... I had "senioritis" - bad. That's when you're a senior in high school and you want nothing more than to get O.U.T. I seriously considered dropping out of high school after first semester because I was so done with school. I had my acceptance to Franklin, I had all of the credits I needed (so I wouldn't have technically been quitting...just finishing early) and was ready to be done.

But part of our trip to Mexico was to go to a small village - think dirt floors and thatch roofs - and just spend some time playing with the kids. We taught them songs and played games. We took little trinkets and gifts and this one little boy. Ohmy... His eyes when I gave him a small box of crayons was just mind blowing. Here he was...had never seen a crayon before and I was ready to throw away half of my senior year of high school.

I graduated with the rest of my class that year. And I did my senior speech on "senioritis" and how that little boy totally changed it all for me (I got an A+ on that speech too!). I'm so thankful I was able to experience that trip and will never forget those big brown eyes...

This is my fourteenth post with Mommy's Piggy Tales recording my memories in just 15 weeks. If you're interested in doing the same for yourself, swing by her place to check it out! She will be starting a new session soon!

Click here to read my post from last week, where my eleventh grade changed my career path.

Record your Life - 11th grade changed my career path.

2010-09-02T23:22:00.000-04:00

When I began 11th grade I wanted to be a librarian. Still. And I had wanted to be a librarian since like 1983 - when I was six. I love to bury my nose in a book and I even love to physically bury my nose in a book and smell the paper, ink and glue that binds the pages into a story that will take me away.

But 11th grade made me realize that I wanted to be a journalist. And a photojournalist. I wanted to write! I wanted to travel the world behind a camera and share stories of everything I found.

I had spent the previous two years on our local high school's newspaper staff but that year really grabbed me as the turning point in the "what I wanted to be when I grew up" situation. I knew I needed to be thinking about my future career because the next year was going to begin the process of thinking about college.

So I spent a lot of time that year writing. Whatever my newspaper advisor would give me, I'd write. I'd take the camera with me and go see what I could find.

You'll hear next week about where I decided to go to college and why and I'll even share where I'm at now with it all but this year...this was the year that I wanted to grow up and be a journalist.

This is my thirteenth post with Mommy's Piggy Tales recording my memories in just 15 weeks. If you're interested in doing the same for yourself, swing by her place to check it out!

Click here to read my post from last week, where my ninth grade memories are all about a boy.

Marsh ad highlights - 9/2 through 9/8

2010-09-01T21:30:00.000-04:00

Marsh has a Labor Day sale going on - all seven days of their ad!

Ground beef - $1.48/lb (save $1.01/lb) limit 10lbs
Ground chuck - $1.68/lb (save $1.61/lb) limit 10lbs
Ball Park franks - $.99 (save $2.40) limit four
12-pack 7-Up, Coke or Pepsi - 4/$10 limit one
Aunt Millie's Honey hamburger or hot dog buns - $.99 (save $1.70) - match with recent $.55 coupons for $.44 final price!
Lay's - 2/$4 (save $3.98 on two)
Perdue chicken leg quarters - $.68/lb (save $.81/lb)
Nabisco snack crackers - 2/$4 (save $1.50 or more on two)
Kraft cheese (singles, 100-Calorie packs, cubes, chunk or shredded) - $1.99 (save $.50 or more)
Marsh ice cream - $1.88 (save $1.61 or more)
Honeydew melons - B1G1 FREE
In-husk bi-color corn - 10/$2 (save $3.00 on ten)
Sunbeam bread - $.99 (save $1.40)
Eckrich smoke sausage - 2/$4 (save $4.98 on two)
Eckrich sliced bologna - B1G1 FREE
Sara Lee turkey breast - $5.99/lb (save $1.70/lb)
Eckrich ham - $4.99/lb (save $1.00/lb)
Kellogg's Poptarts - 3/$4.98
Sweet Baby Ray's sauces - B1G1 FREE
Lawry's marinade - $1.98
40oz Heinz ketchup - $1.78 (not as cheap as Walmart had it earlier this summer but a good price!)
Chi-Chi's salsa - B1G1 FREE
Kraft mayo or Miracle Whip - $2.49 - match with recent $1.50 off two for $1.75 final price
Kellogg's cereals - $1.99 when you buy three
Kool-Aid FunFizz - B1G1 FREE
Rice a Roni or Pasta Roni - 10/$10
Marzetti dressing - B1G1 FREE
Mission tortillas - $1.79 - match with recent $1.00 blinkies (coupons from the machine hanging on the shelf) for a $.79 final price
Bounty or Charmin - $5.99 - match with recent $.25 P&G coupons for $5.49 final price
Dixie napkins, cups, plates or bowls - 2/$4 (there had been coupons out there...if there are again - you can get cheap paper products!)

I see some good coupon match-ups out there! I'll try to find Bargain Briana's Marsh ad match-up and post it here too - she always has great match-ups!

New blog to share... The Prudent Homemaker

2010-08-31T22:36:00.000-04:00

As always, I click and click and click and have no clue how I got to where I go to but tonight I found this post about stockpiling. Wow. What an awesome story!

And she shares what a well-stocked pantry looks like.

This one is going on the favorites list - there is so much information here and not enough time to tonight to read it all. There is a LOT of information here - I hope you can find some good out of it. I know I will.

Week of 7/30 through week of 8/20 grocery budget

2010-08-31T22:16:00.000-04:00

So I actually should have shared this sometime last week but I'm a bit behind on this. I hadn't printed out my current budget sheet (which I keep in my checkbook) which means I hadn't taken last months out and gathered all my receipts together to share. And I feel like I'm missing a trip - this just doesn't seem right for some reason. I've gone through the history on the blog here though and looked through all of my receipts. As far as I can tell - this is right. Go us!

7/31 Kroger - 18.47, saved 32.74 (66%)
8/1 Marsh - 30.45, saved 13.03 (30%)
8/7 Walmart - 7.49, saved 6.00 (in coupons, clearance saved me 6.00 also) (?)
8/8 Marsh - 50.13, saved 14.80 (23%)
8/14 Walmart - 6.94, saved 6.04, (50%)
8/14 Marsh - 14.48, saved 1.89 (12%)
8/14 Walmart - 12.36, saved 1.01 (?)
8/15 Marsh - 62.25, saved 40.72 (40%)
8/22 Marsh - 84.14, saved 23.00 (22%)

Total spent for the month: 286.71
Total saved for the month: 145.49
Appx savings for the month: 34%

So - under budget (as far as I can tell) and pathetic savings - not a bad combo I guess! Here's hoping for a better month this time around.

Weekly shopping at Marsh - not bad but not exactly good either.

2010-08-30T20:26:00.000-04:00

We shopped kidless yesterday! She's such a good shopper though, I actually kind of missed her. She doesn't make us buy anymore (or spend any less). Here's what we got:

2 Doritos was $7.98 for $3.99 (B1G1 FREE)
2 Wavy Lays was $7.98 for $4.00 (2/$4.00)
4 Food Club shredded cheese was $11.56 for $6.68
2 Lipton Rice and Beans was $2.60 for $1.98

We also bought garlic toast, taco season, sour cream, biscuits, lunch meat, yogurt, milk, buns, Coke Zero and fresh fruits and veggies.

Total spent: 52.28
Total saved: 25.98
Percent saved: 34%

And the Coke Zero killed us! It was on sale three 12pks for $10.98 which is something I'd NEVER pay. But on the end of each 12pk was a coupon that said $1.00 off Coke Zero. I read it and reread it... It seemed to good to be true. So I was going to get three 12pks for $7.98 which is pretty much my goal price ($2.50 or less per 12pk). BUT only one coupon worked (of the three) so I paid $9.98 for three 12pks which is normally what I'd pay for FOUR 12pks. Grrrrr. Next time I'm reading the coupon better!

Not to Baby Step 7 yet, but I still enjoy giving.

2010-08-26T20:24:00.001-04:00

So, one day last week at work a co-worker stopped by my desk and we got to talking about coupons (which is a joy for me!). She had questions about doubling and which stores in our town double and using multiple coupons (for multiple items). I tried to explain the P&G $.50 Crest coupons and how those coupons got me FREE Crest at Kroger in the week or two prior. She was pretty much shocked (and excited) that such transactions could be done and wanted to know more and about my Dave Ramsey journey but had to leave for an appointment.

Tuesday I found her in a work room loading a cart and decided to stop and ask her how she was doing. We got to talking again about coupons and then about Dave Ramsey and Brian and I's 12 months of working the "Dave Ramsey diet". I found out that she's had a rough go of things lately. I had heard bits and pieces here and there but had no clue all that she was facing (and still don't - but she did share a bit more with me than I had heard prior).

At that point I knew that one of the sets of books I had recently purchased from the Dave Ramsey Store was meant for her. When I purchase extra books I never have a set person in mind. I keep them in the basement until I hear someone's story and it lays on my heart that this one person is the person I should be helping.

And that is exactly how I felt after speaking with her Tuesday morning. I felt pressed to give her both a Total Money Makeover book and the TMMO workbook so that she too can know what peace and freedom Brian and I are experiencing (even with another year to go on our debt snowball).

When I went back to work after lunch, I took her these two books. I told her, "I buy these and keep them until I hear someone speak that needs them and I want to give these to you." She tried to say she'd give them back but I told her I wanted her to mark in them...to USE the workbook and make it her own...to read it at her pace and refer back to it again and again as needed on this journey.

It isn't an easy journey. It's hard. And it takes a lot of work. But you know what? The weight that has been lifted off Brian and I (in just the last 12 months, with another 12 months to go) has been exhilarating. We can breathe.

I had an email this morning from my co-worker. She said,

"I can’t begin to thank you enough. Your thoughts, kind words and compassion are amazing and an inspiration. I can’t wait to finally start that book tonight – this is one book I’m going to really take my time in reading and studying. I’m so encouraged and can’t wait to start seeing some changes. Once again... thank you."

And THAT is why I give these books away and share everything (openly and honestly) about what we've gone through, what we are doing and how we've done it. If you have any questions about how we've faced this journey, please ask. Comment here with your email address and I'll email you back or email me straight up at kcbonly@hotmail.com - I want to be able to help everyone feel the same sense of peace that Brian and I feel.

Record your Life - 10th grade was all about a PARTY!

2010-08-26T20:03:00.003-04:00

Ahhhhh...10th grade. That was the year I turned 16 - and I got to have a P.A.R.T.Y! Now, don't get me wrong - I had always had birthday parties but this one...this year stands out.

I had a group of really, really close friends in high school. There were about 20 of us who hung out at school, after school, at work and on the weekends. Our parents all knew each other (well, everyone knew my parents - my dad is a teacher and my mom has worked for the schools for 20+ years) so many times you could come to our house and find a whole gaggle of teenagers hanging around. My parents always preferred us (my brother and I) to hang at home with our friends than be out running around.

So this year in particular, I was able to have an evening party at our house and everyone got to come over. By the end of the night there was a broken picture, blood (but not from the broken picture), trampled plants and newspaper EVERYWHERE. We also had some tears, a fight and a break-up/make-up too (we were 16 - remember!?).

The night started off innocently enough. I don't remember it really. I'm sure we ordered pizzas and had them delivered and ate cake and opened presents. I remember getting a leather jacket that I had been dying for from my parents. I still have many of the birthday cards my friends gave me from that year - a girl only turns 16 once you know! The excitement really began when my two girlfriends B and T showed up.

B has two little brothers. Apparently they had spent the whole week prior to my party tearing the daily newspaper up into tiny, itty-bitty confetti type pieces. There was a whole black trashbag FULL of newspaper confetti. I swear - it took both B and T to carry that bag into the house (and T was no wimp - she was a shot put and discus throwin' mama!). It was FULL. Like - if you moved it just a smidge the bag opened a bit and a little piece would flutter to the floor. FULL.

So these two girls showing up with this big bag of confetti made the party go from laid back and calm to crazy in about 10 minutes. L (a guy friend who I started school with in kingergarten) grabbed a handful of confetti and stuffed it down B's shirt. Then another friend grab another handful and put it down another friend's shirt. Well before too long there were piles of confetti on the blades of the ceiling fan and the fan got turned on. Those pieces landed in the food and drinks and in people's hair and just about everywhere else. At one point D picked up a handful to put down S's shirt and she took off sprinting for my bedroom. Well, my door was shut so she kept running down the hallway. She ended up in my parents room (hiding by the bed...which my dad was sprawled out on watching TV) and D just threw that handful towards S. My parent's bed, their floor and their dresser was covered in confetti. It ended up in the toilet. It ended up IN the floor vents. It ended up in my bedroom and my brother's bedroom (both doors closed). It was outside. It was inside. It was in our clothes, our hair, our mouths. It was a mess!!! It was so much fun though!

Later that night, L and D decided to have a wrestling match. It was all cool until L threw D over the back of the couch (which was a "wall" between the living room and dining room) and D's foot hit the wall as he fell over it and a picture fell off the wall, breaking the glass and causing a bunch of us to just about die laughing because just 10 seconds before everyone was all loud and rambunctious but in that second you could have heard a pin drop.

Also at the end of our street is a creek (the road ended in a cul-de-sac) and there was a pipe that crossed the creek. Several of the guys crossed it and a few of the girls too - one girl fell though on the little path to get there and split her knee open. I was thinking the worst and expecting a trip to the ER but my mom fixed her up with a butterfly Band-Aid and she was good to go.

After we got back to my house from crossing the creek pipe some of the guys were being dumb and kept trying to moon those of us inside the house from outside (through the big picture window). Little did they know they were trampling my dad's hostas under that window. Needless to say - that was probably the thing that upset my dad the most about everything!

And then of course there was the drama that always involved 16-year-olds. A break-up and a make-up. To be honest...I was excited about the break-up 'cause that boy was CUTE. But M and N made up before the night was over and I was happy really because N was a good friend and I hated to see her cry.

For the next ten years, if my parents moved furniture (or when they bought new furniture and moved the old out) there would be itty-bitty pieces of newspaper confetti hidden away somewhere that fluttered to the floor and reminded them of the craziest birthday party I ever had.

This is my twelfth post with Mommy's Piggy Tales recording my memories in just 15 weeks. If you're interested in doing the same for yourself, swing by her place to check it out!

Click here to read my post from last week, where my ninth grade memories are all about a boy.

Marsh ad highlights - 8/26 through 9/1

2010-08-25T22:25:00.000-04:00

Marsh has got their Under a Dollar Event going on! Lots and lots of items for $.99 (or less!).

Marsh hamburger or hot dog buns
Bar-S jumbo or bun length franks
Armour LunchMakers
Eckrich Loaf or sliced pepperoni
Betty Crocker potatoes or Suddenly Salad
Kraft Mac & Cheese - $.58
Bush's beans - $.79
Tommy Atkins mangoes
Food Club canned veggies - $.68
Lipton Sides
Hamburger Helper
Kool-Aid Bursts
Buddig chipped meats
El Monterey burritos or chimichangas
MaMa Rosa's deluxe or pepperoni pizzas
Fresh limes - 3/$.99
Red Roma tomatoes
Nestle or Skinny Cow - 1ct items
Propel Fitness water - $.79
Cousin Willie's microwave popcorn
Dole Pineapple or Tropical Fruit salad
Food Club marshmallows
Food Club pudding snacks - $.88
Food Club relish - $.98
Easy Mac or Velveeta
Frusion smoothies - $.88
V05 hair care - $.98
2-liter Pepsi

What else can you watch for?
40% off all Fresh Perdue chicken
Food Club cheese (slices, chunks or shredded) - $1.67
Hormel cooked ham (deli meat) - $3.99
Marsh milk - 2/$4
red or green seedless grapes - $.99/lb
Doritos - B1G1 FREE
6-pack Pepsi - 4/$8.88
Powerade - 10/$10
Aunt Millie's bread or buns - B1G1 FREE (free item must be same kind as purchased item)
Thomas' English Muffins - B1G1 FREE
Crystal Light mix - B1G1 FREE
Bounty and Charmin - $5.99

And that's about it for me. Just like last week - I'm thinking there isn't too much exciting stuff going on this week but with my luck - I'll blow the budget. Again.

Shout out for Mommy's Piggy Tales!

2010-08-24T21:56:00.001-04:00

So, if you visit me regularly you've seen my posts on Thursdays recording my life with Mommy's Piggy Tales. Well, each week she also features some of us who link up to her and this week - I was included! What a rush.

So what is this Record your Youth thing that Janna's got going on? Check out this info here and if you're interested, get started on the next session which begins on October 7th.

For now though, you can keep checking back here to see how the last four weeks of my life unfold as I remember it. For me it is getting easier and easier to remember things to share! Remembering things from pre-school and kindergarten was a little difficult!

Thanks again Janna for the shout out!

Weekly Marsh shopping trip...it was bad.

2010-08-23T22:57:00.000-04:00

We completely blew the budget. Completely! And I thought for sure that we were going to be under budget. Ugh. We bought several items that weren't on sale (but we bought Food Club brand - we needed things like butter, sour cream, cheese slices, OJ, yogurt, cream cheese, and eggs). We bought one item that had the tag listed as $1.77 but rang $2.99 (and I didn't go back because I was too tired to fight over $1.22). And then I only had three coupons...

1 each Charmin and Bounty - $5.49 for each (used two coupons for these two items)
1 Aunt Millie's Slimwiches was $2.99 for $1.34 (this was the other item I had a coupon for)

And along with other items like cottage cheese, Pillsbury dough items (for two different meals this week), milk, western ribs, black beans, fresh fruits and veggies, lunch meat from the deli, some pasta salad and some Lipton soup onion mix (for meatloaf this week) and we spent $84.14 - almost $10 over budget! Our savings were $23.00 or a measly 22% - sad, huh?

Here's hoping for a better week next week!

Record your life - ninth grade was all about a boy...

2010-08-19T22:50:00.001-04:00

Who at the time I thought I was gonna marry.

I know, right!?

Oddly enough - I saw that boy tonight, at a viewing for his aunt who had passed away this past Monday. I hadn't actually seen him in at least five years. It's probably even been more - I just know the last time I saw him I was at my previous job and I've been where I'm at now almost five years.

Anyways, this boy in ninth grade actually happened in the summer between eighth and ninth grade. I was a band nerd (yep!) and started playing trumpet in sixth grade. Every four years our high school band group went to Disney World at Christmas break to march in the New Years Day Parade (it was amazing!). In order to save money up for that trip, we worked at our local newspaper stuffing the "guts" of the paper in (the ads and inserts). We never actually received any money - we just tracked our time and the newspaper paid the money directly to the band director (well, probably a secretary but we never saw the cash). We did this starting June that summer...because my class was going to get to go that Christmas! So my freshman year of high school, I was able to go to Disney World with my fellow band mates (mostly my best friends!) and had an absolute blast.

So while working at the newspaper, I got to know some of the upperclassmen (they had to work too - I'm sure there was a certain requirement but then I think you could also go above and beyond to not have to pay any out of pocket). One of the upperclassmen was a guy - C. He was going to be a SENIOR. Yeah, I thought I was hot stuff.

We got to know each other pretty well and by August that year (my freshman year, his senior) he asked me to be his girlfriend and gave me his class ring (which I think I wore more than he ever did!). My parents weren't SUPER excited about it...he was 2 1/2 years older than me (I was an old one in my class and he was a young one) and he d.r.o.v.e. A car. Mmmhmmm. It wasn't until I turned 15-years-old in November that they would let me ride with him...and then it wasn't to be outside of the town limits (which isn't very far).

We spent a lot of time together that year. Because we were so involved with band - we spent the whole summer together (band camp you know...like six hours a day - preparing for State Fair competition) and then into the fall was football games and then pep band through the winter for basketball. Then spring rolled around and it was time for him to graduate.

I'm sure at the time I was devastated. I loved him (as much as a 15-year-old can love someone) and didn't want him to go away. I don't remember now when we broke up for sure... I know we dated through is first semester at ISU and maybe even that whole year and maybe even after that. I think I'd have to go find my old diary to remember for sure.

Anyways - he was a great guy and today when I saw him...I didn't say a word to him. See, he married this girl (sometime in the spring of 1995, which I only remember because when I went to his sister's graduation open house he "wasn't allowed" to talk to me) and well, she doesn't like me. Not sure why but she doesn't. So today at the funeral home I gave hugs to his sister (who was like a sister to me!) and his parents (whom I still love to pieces and even told them so) and kinda walked right past him. It pretty much sucked. We spent the better part of two years...probably even closer to three together.

So ninth grade was all about C. He meant the world to me!

This is my eleventh post with Mommy's Piggy Tales recording my memories in just 15 weeks. If you're interested in doing the same for yourself, swing by her place to check it out!

Click here to read my post from last week, where my eighth grade memories are about nothing! Okay, so maybe nothing but it certainly wasn't much in the memory department!

Marsh ad highlights - 8/19 to 8/25

2010-08-18T20:59:00.001-04:00

Need some frozen stuff? Check out Marsh's Frozen Food Sale! Three days only...Thursday, Friday and Saturday you can get some great deals on frozen items like:

Marsh ice cream - $1.59
Food Club veggies - $.89
Tony's Original pizzas - $1.69 (use the in-ad coupon to get these for only $.99!) - read the details for more info!
Healthy Choice entrees - $1.79 (use the in-ad coupon to get these for only $.99!) - read the details for more info!
Ocean Eclipse seafood portions - $.89
Food Club garlic bread - $1.39
Hot or Lean Pockets - $1.69
Toaster Strudels - $1.49

Now - I'll admit I'm not sure if some of these prices are decent or not. And there is a Limit 10 on each of the above items!
For the rest of the ad you can find things like:

Boneless English roast - $1.98/lb (save $2.51/lb)
5lb box Michigan Red Haven peaches - $3.99 (save $3.00)
Perdue whole chicken - $.87/lb (save $1.12/lb)
Libby's canned veggies - 2/$1
Nabisco Chips Ahoy! cookies - 2/$4
Bounty or Charmin - $5.99 (match with recent $.25 coupons from the August P&G insert for $5.49 final price)
Hershey's or Nesquik milk (look for Shamrock Farms too!) - 5/$5 (if you find the Shamrock Farms, match with recent $.50 coupons for FREE milk!)
Get a $10 Rebate Check by mail when you purchase any 10 Kelloggs, Keebler, Sunshine, Morningstar or Eggo products - see the ad for details.
Aunt Millie's bread or buns - $1.29
Aunt Millie's Slimwiches - $1.89 (yay! LOVE these - match with recent $.55 coupons for $1.34 final price)
Orville Redenbacher popcorn - B1G1 FREE
Hostess Donettes - B1G1 FREE
Uncle Ben's Ready Rice - $1.99
Creamette pasta - 10/$10

Did I miss anything good!?

I was looking for a blog topic tonight...

2010-08-17T21:09:00.002-04:00

and so I asked LeeAnn about money (and saving it). Here's what she had to say:

What is money?
I don't know.
How do Mommy and Daddy spend money?
By saving.
What is a coupon?
Well, a coupon is some stuff that we cut that we buy stuff that we show on the list that is on sale.
Where is Mommy's favorite store to shop?
Grocery store.
What do you do when you get money?
Save.
Do you ever spend your money?
To buy toys and candy.
What else should I know about money?
Money is great to save.
Why?
Because so we can save them so we can buy groceries and cars and trucks and toys and games and movies and coloring books and back packs and markers and crayons and pencils and paper doll toys. That was a lot I said!Anything else I should know?
Um. If something, or your house gets on fire - you just buy a new one.
Anything else?
I want you to think about some stuff.

Ahhhhh - the brain workings of a four-and-a-half-year old! I'd like to think that Brian and I do a pretty good job of talking about money with LeeAnn, but maybe there are some things we need to change.

She is right that a coupon is something we cut and then use to make a list...sometimes, in order to get her excited about shopping (although she normally does just fine), I will take pictures (from an ad or from the coupon) and tape them to a paper and then list how many we need of each (she's been working on learning her numbers) and then she is in charge of those items at the store. It does take us a little bit longer (she thinks she has to get EXACTLY what is on the pictures) but she thoroughly enjoys being in charge of the shopping for those items!

And she does save her money - every penny she gets goes into her piggy bank. We do take some out on occasion to hit up the store with (or the garage sales). And she's right - she usually buys a toy (but rarely candy...not sure where that came from!). And she is certainly right that money is great to save! As you can see - she is also on a school supply kick (although she got no new school supplies this year - she's just going to preschool).

As for the buy a new house after a fire... We were just discussing this evening that we need to go through her toy room and weed out what she doesn't use. Last fall - there was a fire at the home of a young girl we do Girl Scouts with and so we went through LeeAnn's clothes to give them some. So now - whenever we discuss giving to someone in need, she correlates that to giving to someone who has had a fire. I don't know exactly where she came up with buying a new house though.

So - I think for being 4 1/2 it's a good thing she doesn't think money grows on trees. And saving money is good!

And we can't forget about Marsh - a quick trip and regular weekly shopping!

2010-08-16T21:01:00.000-04:00

Saturday after work I swung by Marsh to see what meat was on sale, but after Brian working until 5am (Friday night shift...ended Saturday morning) and getting next to no sleep, he decided fried chicken from the deli was just as good. I got fried chicken, pasta salad and a chef salad from the deli and a gallon of milk for $14.48, saving $1.89 or 12%. This is just another reason to make me really want to try out e-mealz!

Our regular weekly shopping on Sunday went pretty well.

6 Mentos gum was $9.54 for $2.94
3 Barilla pastas was $4.29 for $3.00
9 Kellogg's cereal (Frosted Mini Wheats and Frosted Flakes) was $35.37 for $13.41 (plus am getting a $10 mail in rebate for purchasing 10 Kellogg's items)
2 Kellogg's Eggo waffles was $5.10 for $2.55 (B1G1 FREE)
2 Frank's hot sauce was $2.50 for -$1.00 (yep, got paid $.50 for each bottle)

And of course we got things like canned tuna, canned tomatoes (Red Gold 10/$10), yogurt, lunch meat, frozen corn, mac 'n' cheese, black beans, jelly, Food Club jalapeno dressing, taco seasoning, fresh fruits and veggies and more milk too.

Of course, after so many trips to Walmart and Marsh already (and having had extra money from the last two weeks) we were down to just $62 in the grocery envelope. I was actually kinda sweatin' it when we were checking out. Our total?

$62.25

Yep, we had to dig a quarter out of Brian's pocket to finish out trip.

We saved: $40.72 or 40% - not the best but honestly, better than I was expecting.

So I'm planning on setting back $15 from the next budget and getting a three-month subscription to e-mealz. I'll let you know how it goes!

When there is pricing matching involved we head to Walmart

2010-08-16T20:49:00.000-04:00

or Brian does for me. Meijer had Post cereals - Cocoa Pebbles (and probably the other Pebbles cereals as well) for only $.99 for the 11oz boxes Saturday only this past weekend. So Brian (being the awesome husband he is) hit up Walmart at 5:43am on Saturday morning (after working Friday night/Saturday morning) and got:

krab salad (?) for $2.98
4 Cocoa Pebbles was $10.00 (at Walmart price) for $3.96

Total spent: 6.94
Total saved (price matching): $6.04
Percentage: almost 50%

Second trip was me and three kids (I know...not my brightest moment) to get some more cereal, sadly they were out. So we picked up dinner and dessert instead - popcorn chicken, General Tso's chicken, chicken strips and some mozzarella sticks from the deli and Edy's (price matched for $1.99 from Mejier) all for $12.36 - not our cheapest meal ever that's for sure but it saved me time and effort in the kitchen.

Usually I hate Walmart but sometimes it just fill the spot.

So many trips to the store this weekend!

2010-08-16T20:44:00.002-04:00

Meijer had a one-day sale that I wanted to price match a few items on and we had regularly weekly shopping too... Here come two posts (that include four trips) from just Saturday and Sunday!

Record your life...eighth grade - must have been boring

2010-08-12T19:28:00.002-04:00

because I've got NOTHING exciting. There are a bunch of small things but nothing that really stands out. The one memory that does stick actually happened the summer prior to eighth grade.

I was still very involved in Girl Scouts and that summer was able to take my first bus trip. Juliette Low founded Girl Scouts in 1912 in Savannah, GA so as a Girl Scout the best place to go visit is where it all started. When you fill a travel bus with a bunch of pre-teen and teen girls...you get a lot of noise and a lot of fun.

On this trip, we actually went to Space Camp in Alabama first (well, a shortened version of Space Camp) and then went over to Savannah.

We were able to see the home where Juliette Low lived (and is now a museum) and visit places like Tybee Island and all the parks/cemeteries in Savannah that are just beautiful.

I made this trip a few more times and one of those trips sticks in my mind even more than this one does...but for eighth grade (or almost eighth grade) this is my big memory of that time. Now...I've got some stories of the summer after my eighth grade year but I think I'll save those for next week!

This is my tenth post with Mommy's Piggy Tales recording my memories in just 15 weeks. If you're interested in doing the same for yourself, swing by her place to check it out!

Click here to read my post from last week, where my seventh grade memories are about becoming a teenager, being asthmatic and losing my grandpa to lung cancer.

Marsh ad highlights - 8/12 through 8/18

2010-08-11T23:35:00.000-04:00

I'm looking forward to a few things at Marsh this week!
Whole seedless watermelons - $2.99
In-husk bi-color corn - 8/$2
Vine ripe or red roma tomatoes - $.99/lb (save up to $1.50/lb) - yay for pico!
Jumbo green bell peppers - $.69
Green beans - $.99/lb
Purple eggplant - $.99/lb

Center cut pork chops - $1.98/lb (save $2.01/lb)
Perdue split breasts - $.98/lb (save $2.31/lb) - limit three
Boneless chuck steak - $1.98/lb (save $2.41/lb)
Green or black seedless grapes - $.99/lb
Marsh 18ct large eggs - $1.48
Marsh gallon milk - 2/$4
Hostess snacks - $1.99 (save $2.00)
Sara Lee deli lunch meat - $5.99/lb (save $1.70/lb)
Sargento shredded cheese - 50% off
Red Gold tomatoes - 10/$10
Barilla pasta - 10/$10
Manwich - 10/$10
Betty Crocker cake mixes - 10/$10
Chef Boyardee pasta - 10/$10
Hunt's Snack Pack - 10/$10
Quaker rice cakes - 10/$10

Kelloggs, Keebler, Sunshine, MorningStar and Eggo products are ON SALE and you can get a $10 rebate check by mail when you purchase any ten items. This usually nets me FREE Kellogg's cereals so make sure you read the details and purchase all 10 items in one transaction.

Peter Pan peanut butter - $1.49
Home Pride wheat bread - B1G1 FREE
Pampers baby wipes - $1.99 (and if there are any $2.00 coupons left out there - this would mean more FREE wipes!)
Del Monte Gold pineapple - $2.99

And that's it for me. Happy shopping!

So the blog world is buzzing about Swagbucks right now...

2010-08-10T20:19:00.000-04:00

Or at least the blog world I'm in is! Money Saving Mom, Life as Mom and Bargain Briana have all blogged in the last few days about the Back to School promo Swag Bucks is pushing right now.

Right now if you join Swag Bucks you'll earn 70 Swag Bucks right off the bat (instead of the normal 30). What is Swag Bucks? It is a search engine that "pays" you in Swag Bucks for doing searches, taking surveys, answering daily polls and sometimes just because. These bucks can be saved to purchase things like Amazon.com gift cards or an iTunes gift card (along with a WHOLE LOTTA other stuff).

Just over the weekend I replaced the search bar on our Internet Explorer window with the Swag Bucks search bar and have earned 100 Swag Bucks just like that!

C'mon - what are you waiting for!? Click here to get in on a great thing! Any questions about it? Let me know and I'll try to answer them for you. The best way to find out about it is to just go and look it over. Good luck!

I have NOT been feeling Marsh here lately.

2010-08-09T21:56:00.001-04:00

Heck. Who am I kidding? I haven't been feeling any deals here lately. No CVS, no Kroger (well on occasion). I did hit up Walgreens last week but that's been about it. We've got to Marsh with no plan, no coupons pulled, no nothing. And it shows...

I didn't even get anything to really "brag" about. Ugh. We bought Marsh shredded cheese, fresh fruit and veggies, deli lunch meat, Cheddar Pasta salad (for the girl!), Mentos, pizza crust (and then remembered when we got home that our oven DOESN'T work), yogurt, baking potatoes, Kellogg's cereals, eggs, sour cream, milk and pork loin.

All said we spent $50.13 and saved $14.80 - a measly 23%. See - there is something wrong with me! e-mealz is looking better and better all the time - a menu plan already made up with the shopping list included? Yeah - sounds like my kinda plan right now.

Quick trip to Walmart...

2010-08-09T21:51:00.000-04:00

I had to get Brian some socks and weed killer (which came from different envelopes and there was no savings there, so no sharing on them).

I went for one other specific thing though - Crystal Light Pure Fitness flavored-water packets. I had some $2.00 coupons from VocalPoint (thanks Jillian!!!) and wanted to use them before they expired on the 15th.

3 Pure Fit lemonade was $7.41 for $1.41

I also found some Take A Longs from Rubbermaid in the clearance section - five count bowls (and lids) for only $.50 - I think the original price was $2.24 (I don't remember). But $.10 each for both that could be pitched at work (if needed) is a great deal. I usually buy the cheapies at the $1 store and am happy to get them for $.25 each.

So my total spent was $7.49 (also got buns and Kraft cheese - no coupons or match ups) and I saved $6.00 in coupons, plus the discount on the bowls (I'm guessing $1.75 each or $5.25).

Got a quick deal to share from Walgreens...

2010-08-09T21:39:00.000-04:00

So I read this post about these awesome ideas for index card cases at Money Saving Mom last week and immediately ran to Walgreens to scoop up some of them!

10 index card cases @ $.39 = $3.90

I saved $8.00 and so far have only used three of them. I turned one into my cash envelope for my purse. I was going through a standard paper envelope in just a few weeks. This thing is way better and I can separate my store cards and receipts and cash out! Love it.

The other two I've started on some back-to-school emergency kits for LeeAnn's preschool teachers. So far I have mini hand sanitizers (free from Bath and Body Works), some floss and a Blistex raspberry lemonade. I plan on adding a small pack of gum, container of TicTacs, a finger nail file, some coins (for the Coke machine) and a flavored-water packet.

I think I'm going to turn another into a mini first aid kit for my car (and one for Brian's truck) and the rest (for now) are going to hang until a brilliant idea strikes!

Record your life - seventh grade...I was a teenager!

2010-08-05T17:42:00.004-04:00

Seventh grade. When I first started thinking about what I was going to share about seventh grade my mind was blank. I couldn't think of anything worth sharing. Then I remembered that was the year I turned 13 and the year I lost my grandpa to lung cancer and the year that I hyperventilated at a church camp outing. What a year!

The year started like any other. I was 12-years-old and liked a boy (which just so happened to be the boy from the prior year...my best friend and the boy I "dated" off and on for the next eight years). I don't remember who asked who but we finally ended up being boyfriend and girlfriend again. And of course...how much can you really be boyfriend and girlfriend in 7th grade? We held hands at football games and smooched behind closed doors (shhhh - don't tell my mom!). When I turned 13 on November 15th I didn't expect anything from my boyfriend. But when I unwrapped a gold bracelet with 13 C's and 13 hearts on it - I was so surprised! I still have that bracelet. It hangs in my jewelry box with the necklace he got me the next year (after we'd broken up and gotten back together).

He is one of those guys that will always have a little special place in my heart...when we went out for dinner last week we even reminisced some about things like meeting at the park between our two houses and going to the waterfall - we'd sit for hours on a stone wall and talk about school and our parents and our siblings (his older sister and my younger brother). The fact that I have known him all of his life (he's a month and four days younger than me) has created a very special bond between us.

In January of that year our youth group went on weekend camping trip. I wanted to go but then again I didn't. My mom and brother and I had been spending every weekend with my grandparents. My grandpa was battling lung cancer and we went every weekend to see him and to stay the night. I didn't want to miss a weekend with my grandpa but then again I didn't want to miss the camping trip either.

So I'm at this camping trip... I don't remember many details really - other than the fact that I thought I was going to die. As an asthmatic, I could come up tight-chested and wheezing just because. I could be watching TV and suddenly, I couldn't breathe. I remember the youth group leader (or maybe he was just a parent along for the trip) giving me a paper bag and breathing into it. I'm sure I had my inhaler with me (I still don't leave the house without it) but it just wasn't cutting it that night. I finally was able to get calmed down and breathe again. It was a bit scary there for a while though.

Shortly after that camping trip, we lost my grandpa to lung cancer. It was February 15, 1991 and it is a day I'll never forget. There at the end, my mom wouldn't allow my brother or I to go to the hospital. She wouldn't let us go into the funeral parlor for the family open casket time either. She wanted us to remember him how he was before he got sick. Sometimes now I forget how he looks...I have to find a picture to see him better. I don't remember how he smelled anymore either. He is one of the reasons I'm so involved with Relay for Life.

And the afternoon of the burial service...I just about had a heart attack. My grandpa was one of 14 kids - a huge family and the boys all looked the same. There were no twins, but they could all pass for each other. Actually, one of the stories goes that my grandpa and family went "home" to Kentucky (they moved to northern Indiana when my mom was in elementary school) and one of the brothers had moved and my grandpa didn't know the new address. So he stopped at the old neighbor's house, asking for his brother's new house. The people in the house gave him the information and as he turned to walk away, he could hear through the screen door, "Well that Belt is so drunk he doesn't even know where his new house is." My grandpa said it was the funniest thing ever...he didn't even go back to set them straight either.

Anyways, after the burial service and family dinner, all of the family went back to the house and were just spending time together. I walked into my grandparent's bedroom and there my grandpa sat at the end of the bed. I gasped out loud, turned white as a sheet and slowly turned to walk out (my brain was all fuzzy I couldn't think to even move my feet hardly). He said, "Casie, it's okay...it's me, Alton."

Whoa. Relief. It was my great-uncle Alton, one of my grandpa's "twin" brothers. That was one ghost-like experience I'll never forget.

This is my ninth post with Mommy's Piggy Tales recording my memories in just 15 weeks. If you're interested in doing the same for yourself, swing by her place to check it out!

Click here to read my post from last week, where my sixth grade memories are about growing up, Girl Scouts and puppy love.

Kroger ad highlights - 8/5 through 8/9

2010-08-05T17:36:00.001-04:00

Well, I'm thinking the four-day sale at Kroger is going to be a GOOD one when coupon match-ups are figured out. Thursday, August 5th through Sunday, August 8th select General Mills and Quaker products are on sale for 50% off. That's my goal price a lot of times...matched up with coupons - this could be a real nice deal.

They also have some good Back to School savings.
Crayola crayons - $.25
Office Works pencils (10ct) - $.50
Top Flight filler paper (150ct) - $.75
Crayola Classic markers (10ct) - $1.00
Top Flight notebook (70 sheets) - $.15
Oxford Portfolio (two pocket) - $.15
Top Flight (80ct) - 10/$10
Bic Cristal pens - $.79
Crayola colored pencils (12ct) - $1.50

I'm not sure how it compares to other stores sales but Kerri over at Save at Home Mommy has a comparison chart to make it easier to find the best savings!
As for the rest of the ad (and the rest of the week):
California seedless grapes - $.88/lb
Pork spareribs - $1.47/lb
Lay's - $1.98
Kraft singles - $1.79
Kroger cheese - 2/$3
Kroger frozen veggies - 10/$10
P&G items - mix and match and four items and save $4.00 - you can get FREE Gillette body wash with this sale!
Boneless pork sirloin chops or roasts - $1.79/lb
Oscar Mayer wieners or franks - B1G1 FREE

If you get any good General Mills or Quaker deals - do share!

Marsh ad highlights - 8/5 through 8/9

2010-08-04T21:04:00.000-04:00

I was so excited to see pork loin on sale at Marsh I sent Brian a message as soon as I saw it! He's just as pumped as I am. What else can you look for this week?

Whole boneless center cut pork loin - $1.77/lb (save $2.22/lb)
Tyson frozen boneless/skinless chicken breasts - B1G1 FREE (save $8.99 on two)
5lb box peaches - $2.99 (save $4.00)
In-husk bi-color corn - $.25/ear (save $.25/ear)
Eckrich smoked sausage - $1.88 (save $2.01)Tennessee Pride roll sausage - $1.98 (save $2.01)
Red, yellow or orange bell peppers - 5/$5 (save $4.95 on five)
Boneless rump or round roast - $1.98/lb (save $2.21/lb)
T-bone steaks - $5.98/lb (save $6.01/lb)
2lb strawberries - $2.98 (save $2.91)
Aunt Millie's - 10/$10 (save $14.90 or more on ten)
Jumbo bunch broccoli - $1.48 (save $.71)
General Mills cereals - $1.99 (when you buy four)
Food Club cheese - $1.68
Oscar Mayer truckload sale - lots of Oscar Mayer products on sale
Land O' Frost lunch meats - B1G1 FREE
Kellogg's Mega Sale - buy six items, save $3 (Keebler Zesta saltines or Cheez-Its - $1.49 final price; Kellogg's or Keebler's treats - $1.99 final price)
Kraft salad dressing - $1.79
Taco Bell or Don Pancho - 25% off
Crystal Light - B1G1 FREE
Rice A Roni - 10/$10
Hunt's pasta sauce - 10/$10
Ken's marinades or salad dressings - B1G1 FREE
2-liter Pepsi - $.86 (buy four get two FREE)
Red seedless or globe grapes - $1.69/lb

LOTS of good stuff...lots of stuff that will match up with coupons. This could be a really, really good week for some of us!

Found another blog I like! I had to share...

2010-08-03T22:59:00.000-04:00

As always, I will click through and click through and click through on blogs and then suddenly I land on one I really like and I have no idea how I got there.

Budgets are the New Black is another website just like that. The blog says they are, "striving to live a debt-free, credit-free, clutter-free life. (One day at a time.)

They have a great page that is quotes and verses about money.

They also have a great page that links to others on the debt-free journey through life.

All-in-all, Budgets are the New Black is a good blog I think!

Booking It update - my last couple of weeks...

2010-08-03T22:41:00.003-04:00

So I put down The Stormchasers in a matter of days. Mmmm...maybe more like a few hours (spread over three days). If I could have just sat down and read it...it is one that would have gone down in just one day's time. It was GOOD.

The Stormchasers was written by Jenna Blum. The reviews of her other books were glowing and this book deserves just as many positive accolades! A book about twins, the incredible bond between them and what happens when life separates them - this book was amazing. I know some twins (well, went to school with some twins) but don't KNOW know any twins. I've always imagined that the "twindar" that Karena experiences with Charles is a real knowledge and that having that built in best friend would lead to an amazing relationship between two siblings.

If you're looking for a good read, I'd highly recommend this. If you're interested in Mother Nature, storms and weather then this will be a definite treat for you.

Another book I picked up is Good Grief by Lolly Winston. Part of my current job requires me to visit competitor's websites, gather some information and then send that information out to others I work with. In the process of sending this info out, I like to include a quote or "didyaknow" fact or something and last week I shared a quote about reading, "Charlie "Tremendous" Jones said, "You are the same today as you'll be in five years except for two things: the books you read and the people you meet" (from Dave Ramsey's website).

So anyways, in this process one of my co-workers said, if you like reading then you need to read the book Good Grief. So I picked it up that night. It has been a very good read. When thirty-six-year-old Sophie Stanton finds herself widowed, she realizes she is more losing it than being a graceful widow (like Jackie Kennedy was and like she wants to be).

Some of the scenes hurt my heart. I sit and think...how could I function if I lost Brian? How could I get up and make it to work (which Sophie does one day...in her robe!) or take care of myself (which Sophie does...eating ice cream for breakfast and over-medicating on tranquilizers) or any of that. I think about my cousin who, with a one-week-old daughter, lost her husband while he was playing softball. He was 32-years-old. And she was alone...a widow at a young age with a newborn daughter too. How does one function? How does one get by?

Part funny and part solemn, this book has made me laugh and cry. I haven't quite finished it yet but will probably do so tonight or tomorrow and I can't wait to see how Sophie gets herself pulled together (if she even does!).

And next on my list...the very personal Captivating by John and Stasi Edwards. This will not be an easy read for me, I'm sure. This one is going to involve some soul searching. I hope to be back next week with a good report on it.

For now...happy reading!

And our regular weekly Marsh trip

2010-08-02T20:45:00.000-04:00

was almost a bust. Brian still isn't feeling well (going on day 11 now) and there just wasn't much that I even wanted sale wise. I was going to buy some boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pound them thinner (because they are so thick) and then freeze in baggies with marinade but Brian thought that'd be a bad idea. I didn't want to tell him, "the girls on the Internet do it" because then he'd just roll his eyes at me. So we got some basics and few other things...

2 gallons Marsh milk was $5.38 for $4.00
4 Knorr rice products was $5.20 for $3.00
1 Vlasic dill pickle for $2.50
2 Ragu pasta sauces was $5.56 for $3.70
1 Aunt Millie bread was $2.99 for $1.70

Along with orange juice, sour cream, canned pineapple, bananas, canned veggies, 2ct Sharpie marker (1/2 price) and some Bounty paper towel (used rain check and coupon to get 8roll pack for only $4.99) and spent a total of $30.45. We saved $13.03 or 30% all together - this does not include the savings on the paper towel though because Marsh rings rain checks funky).

And once again - it is times like these I am SO thankful for our stockpile.

A quick trip into Kroger on Saturday

2010-08-02T19:21:00.000-04:00

saved me a bundle of money!
4 40ct Tampax was $29.36 for $15.96
4 Gillette body wash was $17.16 for $-.04 (yep, got paid $.04 to buy the Gillette)
1 Crest toothpaste was $2.39 for $.25

Total paid: $18.47
Total saved: $32.74
Percentage saved: 66%

And the body wash and toothpaste are going into the 'giveaway' box. You can't beat giving away free things!

The final budget update - 12 months of hard work!

2010-08-01T16:18:00.002-04:00

A few days ago I posted about how far we'd come in getting our debt paid down.

So here is the final listing of balances for the last twelve months (and this is just consumer debt...no mortgage in these figures):
09/09: $22058.63
10/09: $26704.15
11/09: $25712.43
12/09: $24485.66
01/10: $24658.07
02/10: $23569.55
03/10: $22456.59
04/10: $21101.42
05/10: $19588.84
06/10: $18856.25
07/10: $17591.38
08/10: $17077.91
09/10: $16202.50

So from high point to low point, we've paid off $10501.65 - a LOT of debt (and a lot of worry and angst gone too). BUT just one month prior to tracking all this - we still owned a motorcycle. It was Brian's "other woman" and he loved that bike. It was a Suzuki Boulevard M109R and we owed probably $10K on it. In a matter of a few hours, Brian decided to put it on Craigslist, listed it, got some interested buyers and it was sold less than 24 hours later. Brian has said that if he hadn't gone so quickly he might have never sold it. But that huge step for him lopped $10K off our debt almost immediately. So, let's look at that as more like $20K that's GONE forever.

Plus...we've paid CASH for things like:
Dr Johnson - $1000.00
St Vincent - $521.48
Arnett - $389.40
LeeAnn's dance lessons - $285.00
Clarian Arnett - $782.04
roof repair - $800 (appx)
Brian's short term disability (had to use some extra cash to "make up" his paychecks) - $200.00
Giving to someone who really needed it - $162.80
Witham Hospital - $212.77
Burgett Eye Care - $90.00
St Vincent Physicians - $50
St Vincent - $73.14
Anesthesia of Indy - $91.83
Johnson and Deitch - $247.39
Creekside OB/GYN - $25.60

Which totals up to $4931.85 - another LARGE chunk of cash. Depending on how you look at it (I look at it without the motorcycle debt - it was gone before I started tracking), we've paid off and paid in cash $15433.50- plus we saved (and still have) the $1000 baby emergency fund when we first started.

Now, there could be some miscalculations - I could have added one thing too many (although I tried very hard not too) or not added enough (which I don't think I've missed anything) but really? Really!? Just over $15K in 12 months? That's like 1/4 of our income!

It couldn't have been done without the knowledge we learned in our Financial Peace University class (if you haven't taken one - do it!), the committment that we made to each other and ourselves and a lot of hard work (both actually at work and at home).

Want to know how we did it? Let me know - I'd be glad to share our story!

Week of 7/2 through week of 7/23 grocery budget

2010-07-31T16:41:00.001-04:00

We had done really well early in the month when it comes to the budget! And then right at the end any of the extra money I had - I blew it. It's been 12 months we've been doing this and I think only twice have we not blown the monthly budget. Ugh. I've GOT to quit that or we're going to need to raise the monthly grocery budget to reflect the fact that we are spending more than what we say. Here it is for this month:

7/3 Marsh - 1.59, saved 0.00
7/3 Marsh - 70.71, saved 63.34 (47%)
7/11 Marsh - 53.05, saved 36.18 (41%)
7/11 Walmart - 3.18, saved 0.00
7/13 Walmart - 13.31, saved 0.00
7/18 Walmart - 30.98, saved 13.30 (?)
7/18 Marsh - 50.91, saved 41.30(45%)
7/24 Kroger - 16.64, saved 44.79 (72%)
7/24 Marsh - 15.14, saved 12.59 (45%)
7/25 Marsh - 82.72, saved 46.16 (36%)

Our total spent was $338.23 and the total saved was $257.66, which is about 46% savings total for the month. So yes, spending $338 is better than the $595 it could have been but really...if the budget is $300 for the month then I REALLY need to stick to it. And it's me! I know it's me. There are some deals that I think I just can't pass up (like the $16.64 @ Kroger last Saturday - we could have gotten away with none of that). Or the fact that I decided (on a whim) to host Christmas in July and spent an extra $19.22 - so just those two things together would have been enough to take it down to $300 (well almost...just $3 shy of that mark). But the stuff I'm giving away from Kroger (which was actually the FREE stuff) and hosting Christmas dinner was very worth it to me...so once again, we blew budget (by $38.23) and I'm okay with (well, mostly).

Overdraft protection...my (not so pretty) opinion.

2010-07-30T23:34:00.002-04:00

As a bank employee I've heard a LOT about the opt-in/opt-out regulation change that is happening at banks and credit unions across the county. Now I don't claim to know it all and when I find an article online about the whole thing I like to read it.

So I was reading this article on MSNBC today and agreed with a lot of what the writer put. I do think some of the ads and notices are confusing but this is a confusing regulation. I also agree that people are paying CRAZY amounts of money (overdraft fees) for a small purchase (that $1.50 Coke might end up costing you $31.50 if you don't have the money).

All in all, the article (I thought) was a good article that had good points and made the issues a little more clearer than mud. The part that really got me was one of the comments. Jei from Ohio posts,

"... Having linked savings accounts is probably the safest (less expensive) way to protect your debit account, but you have to have money in savings for it to be effective --- that means being responsible and actually saving a bit of money every so often. There is no easy or direct solution to this debacle...unless you're wealth or just simply have the funds to cover all your purchases. Hopefully, this mess will convince more people to be a lot more aware of their daily account balances and be more active in balancing their account based on the expenses they know they have."

Really? No easy solution? You don't have to be wealthy to avoid this issue. SIMPLY HAVE THE FUNDS TO COVER ALL YOUR PURCHASES. It's THAT easy. Seriously. If you don't have the money in your account, why spend it? And what if you don't know what is in your account? KEEP TRACK. I see so many people who spend hundreds of dollars each month in fees and then complain that they don't have any money. If they would just quit spending what they don't have - they would have that much more! I don't understand how that is so hard to see.

Maybe it's harder than I think to keep money in an account. But I've done it for YEARS and never had an issue. I do have my savings account linked to my checking (in case of an addition or subtraction error or an error on the part of the bank or a business) but that's for emergencies. I don't depend on that to keep me afloat - which is seems is what a lot of people seem to do with overdraft protection. And I did this all before I learned everything I know now from Dave Ramsey.

So what's my suggestion? Don't spend more than you've got. And if you do (accidentally or intentionally) - use a savings tied to your checking (and keep money in the savings!) to keep yourself from being hit with huge fees from the bank.

Kroger ad highlights - well, a couple things at least - 7/29 to 8/4

2010-07-29T12:32:00.001-04:00

You can get free Crest and Suave deodorant at Kroger again this week!

Crest toothpaste (select varieties, 6.4oz) - 10/$10
Suave deodorant (select varieties, 1.4 - 2.45oz) - 10/$10

There were recent coupons out for both of these items which will make them free. If I can find which inserts they were in, I'll edit to add that info.

And I *think* you might be able to get free Gillette body wash too. I think I saw a $4 off two coupon (I'll have to look through my coupons again) and if you have two of those coupons, buy four body wash - FREE body wash for you!

There were some other 10/$10 items and P&G items in the buy four items, save $4 sale but nothing that really jumped out and grabbed me as a great deal. Oh wait - Kraft cheese slices are $1.79...not the best price ever but better than full price.

Happy shopping!

Record your life - sixth grade growing up

2010-07-29T07:36:00.004-04:00

So in sixth grade I became a woman. HA! I still consider myself a kid sometimes. But lovely Mother Nature did bless me with monthly visits beginning in October of sixth grade. It was mortifying! I knew it was coming. My parents were very good about the whole birds and the bees thing so it wasn't the shock of it actually happening. It just so happened that my mom never needed feminine type products (she'd had a hysterectomy when I was in second grade) so there was nothing in the house for me to use. And on top of all that - my mom wasn't even home! So I sat crying in the bathroom, waiting for my dad to get me something from the store. Ahhhhh... Nice huh? Oh well. I suppose it could have been worse.

Sixth grade is also the first year that I got to go to the Mall Lock-In for Girl Scouts. I had joined Girl Scouts in first grade and was still going strong in sixth grade. Our troop was very active and our council hosted a lot of events to keep us busy as well. In the last two years we had dreamed about being able to go to the Mall Lock-In! It is exactly what is sounds like...we were locked in the mall - overnight! Several stores stayed open late (or opened very early) and food places like Luca Pizza di Roma and Burger King stayed open all night and Cinnabon opened extra early (mmmmm...cinnamon rolls!).

We did crazy things like a lip syncing contest (which in 80's was awesome!) and had makeovers at the make-up counters. There was music and games and shopping. We ran around all night in our socked feet visiting other troops (this was a council wide event...we're talking 500+ girls!) and meeting new people.

I don't remember any specifics of that first Mall Lock-In. I'm sure we had a great time and slept very little (if at all). I do know that for the next four years we went every October to be locked in the mall and one year I even had the winning design for the t-shirt (which if you were ever a Girl Scout - you know you get a t-shirt for every trip/event you attend). That t-shirt, well the front of it at least, is now on my Girl Scout T-shirt Quilt that my mom made for me when I graduated from high school.

And the best part of sixth grade - I got my first boyfriend. *swoon* Puppy love at its finest. We had been friends for many, many years and thought it sounded like a good idea (and it was). We decided though that we were better off friends...after just a few weeks...and my heart was broken. I think we were boyfriend and girlfriend at least once a year for the next six years though. We still talk today and I've often told people that I think when we're old and grayed and I'm widowed and he's a widower we'll find each other again and finally make it work out.

This is my eighth post with Mommy's Piggy Tales recording my memories in just 15 weeks. If you're interested in doing the same for yourself, swing by her place to check it out!

Click here to read my post from last week, where my fifth grade memories are about some drama.

Marsh ad highlights - 7/29 to 8/4

2010-07-28T20:04:00.000-04:00

Marsh is getting on the Back to School bandwagon! They've got a few school supplies on sale as well as some lunchbox type food items. I don't think any of them are spectacular prices. They are also pushing their Fresh Ideas for Education though! If you don't know about FIE or don't participate - you should! All you have to do is use your Fresh Idea card and money goes to your school (you do have to sign-up at Marsh and click on the Fresh Ideas for Education link and follow the steps there). Once you've done that though - your school (or a local school of your choice) will start benefiting.

On sale this week:
Perdue boneless/skinless chicken breasts - $1.98/lb (save $2.51/lb)
Assorted pork chops - $.98/lb (save $1.51/lb)
Vine ripe tomatoes - $.98/lb (save $2.01/lb)
Seedless green or black grapes - $.98/lb (save $1.01/lb)
Marsh gallon milk - 2/$4
Marsh or Breyers ice cream - $2.48 (save $2.41 or more)
2-Liter Pepsi - $.86 (buy four, get 2 free)
Eckrich honey, olive, pickle & pimento or old-fashioned loaf - $.98 (save $2.01)
Oscar Mayer bologna - B1G1 FREE
Sara Lee chicken breast - $5.99/lb (save $1.70/lb)
Eckrich ham - $3.99/lb (save $2.00/lb)
Dean's chug - 10/$10
Aunt Millie's Hearth buns - B1G1 FREE
Brownberry wide pan bread - B1G1 FREE
General Mills cereals - $1.99 (when you buy two)
Powerade - 10/$10 and get five free when you buy 10
Wonder buns - 10/$10
Dole fruit - 10/$10
Wish-Bone dressing - $1.79 (match with recent $.40 coupons for $.99 final price)
Blistex Fruit Smoothies 3-ct lip balm - 10/$10 (save $1.99 each) - and these might be good for Operation Christmas Child boxes too

Another Booking It 2010 update...

2010-07-27T22:15:00.004-04:00

I went to my books read Excel spreadsheet last night (yes I keep a spreadsheet of books I read) to record The Contemplative Mom and realized I hadn't shared about the previous five books I read. So here's an update on those books (which I read end of June'ish through mid-July'ish)...

Moment of Weakness by Karen Kingsbury and Halfway to Forever by Karen Kingsbury
These two books follow up the mini-series Forever Faithful. The first of the three books was Waiting for Morning which I had read (and reviewed) just a few weeks prior. These two books included the same characters that we saw in the first book, well the first book introduced new characters and then the third book tied the couple from Waiting for Morning and Moment of Weakness together as friends who are all working towards the same cause - religious freedom. These three books were quick, easy and enjoyable reads. If you're a Karen Kingsbury fan - be sure to pick these up!

Roses are Red by James Patterson
In the 6th book in the Alex Cross series, James Patterson does NOT let you down. The Mastermind, a crazy intelligent fellow, is robbing banks around the East coast. As always, edge of your seat is the best way to describe a Patterson novel. I've read every one of these books before and still - I'm biting my nails and can't put the book down until the very last page. And this one...this one made me want to curse at the end! I was so frustrated with the very last sentence. I can't wait to get into the next one...Violets are Blue.

The $5 Dinner Mom by Erin Chase
This is the book I was looking for when I found The Contemplative Mom by Ann Kroeker. I knew that there was some "mom" cookbook out there and couldn't remember the full title so I just searched "mom" on the online card catalog. I found it! This book was an easy read and after couponing and bargain shopping for over two years now - this one didn't really teach me any new tricks. Once I got to the recipes I just flipped through to read the frugal facts - still nothing shocking. It was an okay read - if someone is just starting out...this would probably be a great book to check out!

Not My Daughter by Barbara Delinsky
At the suggestion of a co-worker, I picked this book up one day. And I finished it that night. Yeah - I tend to do that sometimes. Once again - I stayed up WAY TOO LATE reading a good book. It was well worth it. This one is about a mom who is a principal at the local (small town, everyone knows everyone's business) high school who happened to have her daughter at 17-years-old. And then a pregnancy pact happens. Three girls (the principals daughter and her two best friends...who just happen to be daughters of the mom's best friends) get pregnant on purpose - not realizing the impact that choice will have on not only their lives but their mom's lives as well. A very good read, it was quick and I didn't want to stop - I had to know how it ended.

And tonight I hit the library up and got Stormchasers by Jenna Blum, Captivating (both the book and workbook) by John and Stasi Eldridge (same guy who wrote Wild at Heart - from the Dave Ramsey recommended reading list) and Good Grief by Lolly Winston on the suggestion of another co-worker who said it was a good fluff summer read.

I'll be back soon to share these new books I've grabbed. I'm sure I'll have something good to share!

Booking It 2010 update - The Contemplative Mom by Ann Kroeker

2010-07-26T22:33:00.001-04:00

So, this book crossed my path when I was looking for the $5 Dinner Mom book on the public library's online card catalogue. I couldn't remember the name of the other book so I just searched "mom" and a whole list of books came up. I'm not sure where The Contemplative Mom was in the list but I decided to get it the next time I was in. This is written by Ann Kroeker and she's an Indiana girl too.

The first page that really struck me was page four...page four! Kroeker is talking about how having a relationship with God is lacking - if it happens it isn't what you're looking for or maybe it gets passed by completely. "Or perhaps we want to be closer to God - we really want to - and just can't figure out how." Yeah - that's me. I WANT something more - I'm not sure how to get there. This book though has set me on a path to change that.

And then she listed my favorite verse...

"Be still, and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10)

A few weeks ago the leader of our praise team sang a song, "Still" by Hillsong and it struck a cord with me that was amazing. The song brought me to tears (and does every time I hear it). So with that song still in my heart, I read that verse and knew that this book was speaking to me! I struggle daily, hourly to have the relationship that I want with God. I want more than what I have and this book has set me on the path to make it better.

It took me two weeks to read this book. I could only read a few pages at a time as I had to sit and let what Kroeker said soak in and really mean something to me. She gave me so many ideas though - I'm putting that verse into a frame to set beside my bed so every morning when I wake up, that is what I see. I'm going to start a journal - that I can write it daily wherever I am to God to tell him what I'm thinking and feeling. I'm going to create an Ebenezer jar as a memorial to God's work in my life and my family's life.

And for now - that is all I'm doing. These few things are what Kroeker suggested trying in just the first half of the book. I can't do it all at once and if I try to, I know I'll fail. This is another one of those books that I want to buy so I can mark it up and takes notes and refer back to it as often as I want. This is going on my "list of books I want to buy" so when my birthday or Christmas rolls around, I can give a list to Brian so he has it easy.

With a lot of determination and dedication I'm going to walk more closely with God throughout my life.

And just to keep what I track up to date...

2010-07-26T18:46:00.000-04:00

Walmart (from a couple weeks ago - Brian had the receipt)

3 California Kitchen pizzas for $6.00
trashbags for $2.47
potatoes for $3.08
And two items that I'm not sure what they are... for $.82 and $.68 - nothing fancy that's for sure!

Total spent was $13.31

Weekly shopping at Marsh (plus a quick trip on Saturday too)

2010-07-26T18:44:00.000-04:00

Saturday I stopped by Marsh on my way home to get some ground chuck. We had some at home in the freezer but I was hungry, Brian wasn't feeling well and I didn't want to take the time to thaw what we had. Since it was on sale (at my ideal price) I went ahead and stopped to get some fresh. I also had to grab a few limes for our homemade pico de gallo (yum!).

4 pkgs ground chuck at $1.68/lb - $13.14
limes - $2.00

Total spent was $15.14 and I saved $12.59 or 45%.

And then on Sunday after church, I went with LeeAnn (Brian still wasn't feel well!) to get our regular groceries plus a few things we needed for our Christmas in July dinner.

4 12pks Mt Dew Code Red was $20.36 for $10.00
2 Wavy Lays was $7.98 for $3.99
4 Creamette pastas was $6.76 for $4.00
6 pkgs ground chuck at $1.68/lb - $10.95
2 pkgs chuck steak at $1.98/lb - $5.56
1 Hormel pork roast was $5.99 for $2.99

sugar - $3.15
bag of ice - $1.89
rice - $ 2.19
minced onions - $4.29
french fried onions - $4.39
Jiffy corn mix - $.44
red bell pepper - $1.88
Marsh bread - $.99
(all for the Christmas dinner I prepared yesterday - $19.22)

Fresh fruits and veggies, bread, buns, milk, eggs, cheddar pasta salad (of course!) and lunch meat made up the rest of the trip. Total spent was $82.72 and I saved $46.16 or 36%.

If you add up these two trips, plus my Kroger trip from Saturday - you'll see I went over budget. Part of that was because I'd had leftover money from the last two weeks but then after yesterday's trip to Marsh - I still went over by about $10. Not exactly what I wanted to do to myself but we had such a good dinner last night - I'm way okay with it.

I hadn't planned on hitting up Kroger this week...

2010-07-26T18:40:00.000-04:00

and then I saw the vlog that Money Saving Mom shared about her trip to her Kroger affiliated store (Dillion's maybe?). When I saw she got free toothpaste and deodorant I decided I'd better check my coupons!

So here is what I was able to get:
3 StarKist tuna pouches was $4.77 for $2.00
2 Suave deodorants was $4.12 for FREE (thanks to MoneySavingMom for the tip on this!)
4 Kraft mayo was $16.36 for $3.76
3 Crest toothpaste was $7.17 for $.50 (thanks to MSM for this tip too!)
1 Welch's juice was $4.99 for $1.74
1 Mentos gum was $1.59 for -$.05 (yep - got paid to buy the Mentos - yay!)
2 Pasta Roni was $3.24 for $1.58
3 Eckrich sausage was $14.97 for $3.39

And I grabbed a can of mushroom soup and pie crusts for our Christmas in July dinner. I spent $16.64 and saved $44.79 or 72% - not too shabby in my opinion! And I use neither Crest nor Suave so I'm taking those to church next week to be given to someone who needs it. Everything else has been put away in the pantry for another day.

Oh and I completely spaced the foil pans! I was so mad at myself when I got home and realized I had missed them. BUT I work in Lebanon on Wednesday (which is where the closest Kroger is) and I might just head over there to see what I can find in the foil pans.

Struggling...

2010-07-26T18:26:00.000-04:00

So I mentioned earlier that Life as Mom is hosting Christmas in July over at her place... She is sharing all sorts of great ideas on how to save for Christmas, gift ideas and is hosting daily giveaways. I stopped in just a bit ago to see what she had up today - budgeting tools from Dave Ramsey.

We are die hard Dave fans at our house. I read his Total Money Makeover book last summer and then together Brian and I went through Financial Peace University last fall. Making a budget and paying cash has TOTALLY changed the way we work. Brian and I have never been fighters...but talking about money was never easy. I hated to pay bills - there was never enough money to get it done. The money ran out way before the end of the month did.

Anyways, as I'm reading through the comments on this budget tools giveaway - so many people are commenting on the fact that they are struggling and want to get straight. It makes me hurt to see so many people be where we were just 12 months ago. I want to send every single one of these people a free copy of Total Money Makeover. I actually tried to follow through to one girl's blog but the link wasn't right and it said it wasn't a valid blog. I was really going to approach her about sending her a copy of the book.

I don't currently have any here...but have purchased some before to give away - to friends who I've heard mention of money struggles. Some people are still struggling...some though have jumped on board just as gung-ho about it as we are.

If you're reading this and you're struggling to make ends meet...your money is never enough and you wish you had more - please read Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. It will seriously revolutionize your life and your finances. It is a very easy read and very easy steps. If you have questions, please ask me. I don't claim to know it all but I sure don't mind sharing what I've learned along the way. I'll even send you a copy of the Excel spreadsheet I use to plan my monthly budget. I would love to help everyone get some peace when it comes to money.

Christmas in July 2010 was a SUCCESS!

2010-07-25T21:16:00.000-04:00

I *love* Christmas. I love winter. I love snow. And I love to spend time with my family over a good meal. So, Christmas in July seemed like a no-brainer to me.

When I first told Brian about it he seemed a little wary. But he's a go with the flow kinda guy so we set a budget (which I blew...I'm good at that it seems) and decided to make today - July 25 our Christmas in July.

After some shopping in Lafayette on Saturday evening, LeeAnn and I set up our small fiber optic tree and wrapped one strand of lights around the front door. She hung two pictures that she had made in pre-school and we even put snowflake window clings on the back door. When it was all done, I turned on the tree and strand of lights and turned off the lights in the house and she says, "Mommy, it is gorgeous in here."

THAT made it all completely worth it.

So we wrapped Daddy's presents and after she went to bed I wrapped hers (just one from the present pile we keep in the basement) and I set out some of the things I was going to fix for dinner tonight.

After church, we had lunch and LeeAnn was so excited to open her present! Shortly after that I went to Marsh to get some items needed for cook and then I started on the dinner preparations. My mom came over to help (she's awesome like that!) and after prepping the pies (Kentucky Derby and pecan) I went to slide the pies into the pre-heated oven...but the oven wasn't even hot! After some inspection, the heating element was broken and so the pies were whisked away to my parent's oven to bake (thanks to my dad for baking the pies!).

Then it was back to my house to prep the dressing and corn casserole and those went to my grandma's house with my mom and into her oven (thanks to my mom for doing that and my granny for heating her house...just to use her A/C to cool it down again).

I stayed home to devil the eggs, bake the rolls and make my green bean casserole in the toaster oven (which actually started out in a pan on the stove). Add in some mashed potatoes and gravy (from the turkey that had been in the roaster all day) and some pea salad (contributed by my grandma) and pasta salad (made by Brian) and we had a regular feast!

The kids had a great time playing together and every time I told them Merry Christmas my nephew looked at me like I had three heads. It was fabulous though. The insanity of trying to cook one meal at three different houses was so well worth it.

Brian said I was going to create a monster (you know, Christmas in July and all) but I say I'm creating memories...memories that she won't soon forget. So now it's time to go take down the tree and that one strand of lights and pack away the pictures and snowflake window clings. It was totally worth it though.

Merry Christmas in July!

And if you want more Christmas in July, head over to Life as Mom for her annual Christmas in July celebration. She'll have giveaways daily and some great ideas to make life easier for us MOMs.

Thanks to FishMama and a friend who baked Christmas cookies earlier this week for my ideas for my own Christmas in July!

A budget plus!

2010-07-23T22:51:00.000-04:00

Brian's employer always has a two-week mandatory shutdown in July. He gets paid weekly and of those two weeks, his employer forces him (and others who have enough vacation accumulated) to use 40 hours of vacation for one of the two weeks (which also means he can't file for unemployment for the second week...because that second week he gets $0 pay).

We know this two weeks is coming. It's like Christmas - it happens every year like clockwork. We had plenty of money in our savings account to "pay" us the week that he didn't get paid and then MURPHY happened (and if you've ever read Dave Ramsey you know who Murphy is). Murphy is that unexpected life happening that comes along when you least can afford it.

This Murphy wasn't TOO bad of a Murphy - we didn't have to access our emergency fund but we did deplete our savings account (that we had planned to use to "pay" us). And we could have accessed our emergency fund to get the money we needed for his paycheck last week but we are ahead in paying bills (the mortgage payment I just made today is for September 1) so I knew we had a two or three weeks that we could make it up.

Well, as soon as the roof job was done (the Murphy that visited us was a leaky roof) Brian listed the extra shingles (the guy doing the job miscalculated) on Craigslist and returned everything that they didn't use to the stores it came from (Lowe's and Kramer's mostly). Those returns and the sale of the shingles brought us $298 - we only needed $227 more to make up Brian's paycheck.

In my job I travel between bank branches and when I do so, I am paid mileage. Those mileage checks go directly into my savings account. There was already some money in there and with my most recent check - it was up to $114 - so then we only needed $184 to get to what we needed.

Well today, my check and Brian's check BOTH had "extra" (money over what we budget that normally goes to the debt snowball) on it and I quickly swept that to the savings account and it gave us $661 - $136 MORE than what we needed! So in just one week's time we were able to make up the check that he missed!

Now...his check had four hours of OT from the week before shutdown (they pay them two checks in one Friday...the one they'd normally get and then another for 40 hours...if they work OT that second week...they don't get it until today), 40 hours of vacation (which was what he was forced to take) and eight hours of holiday pay. I'm SO thankful that it worked out like it did!!!

So I was able to pay everything today and we're all done for the month. Within just a few days I'll be able to tell what all we've paid off in one year's time. I can't wait to see the final number!

I am really frustrated right now...

2010-07-22T20:39:00.000-04:00

I am so meticulous about tracking some things but I've been looking at our September 2009 versus our September 2010 budget. While today is only July 22 the budget I'm working on is labeled September (even though we're going into August) because what I'm paying in August is actually for September. Don't ask me how I got on it that way...I just did. So I'm trying to figure out how much we've paid off in the past 12 months. And while I track our balances each month...that balance has gone down (yay!) and up (boo!) because new debt has been added to it.

And I know, Dave Ramsey would keel over if he heard new debt but really...it wasn't new debt, just bills that came due that we didn't have money put away for yet (we're still working on building up our medical/dental envelope and when insurance doesn't cover $1600 of surgery...we've got to add that into our debt snowball). And one part of it was taking back the student loan payment that my parents had been making for me. That was part of the deal when I went to school...they were going to help me (and they have helped my brother) but they actually got to the point where things were tight (due to some choices my brother made and they needed to help with) so I decided to take that loan balance back and add it to our debt snowball.

So here are the balances for the last twelve months (and this is just consumer debt...no mortgage in these figures):
09/09: $22058.63
10/09: $26704.15
11/09: $25712.43
12/09: $24485.66
01/10: $24658.07
02/10: $23569.55
03/10: $22456.59
04/10: $21101.42
05/10: $19588.84
06/10: $18856.25
07/10: $17591.38
08/10: $17077.91
09/10: not quite ready to be calculated

So from high point to low point, we're looking at just under $10,000 but there have been things we've paid for in cash, in full that never hit the budget spreadsheet (things like LeeAnn's dance class in full last semester and the roof job that we just had done that came in at just under $1k).

Which is where I'm frustrated. I don't remember exactly what all we have paid for out of pocket like that. I know I can go back through my checkbook to see what else I can remember but really? Why didn't I track that stuff better!? I'm going to start doing that now! Or at least I plan to...and actually I might start with that recent roof job. I guess I better ask Brian about costs and such.

I'll update again in a few days when (if) I get it all figured out.

I'm linking up to Ultimate Recipe Swap again today!

2010-07-22T17:32:00.001-04:00

As you can see from the above image - Life as Mom hosts the Ultimate Recipe Swap on Thursdays and today's swap is picnic recipes. I have the ultimate picnic recipe!

It has very few steps:

1. grab a blanket or sheet (we prefer a sheet - easier to wash!)
2. head to Subway and get sandwiches and drinks (and cookies if you're gonna be a Yes Mom that day) for everyone
3. head to your nearest picnic place - ours is the local park where we can watch the petting zoo animals while we eat
4. enjoy your meal and when you're done - just put the sheet into the car and throw away dinner trash and be done with the dinner part...spend the rest of the evening enjoying your time with family

And that's it! Who doesn't love ease of cooking and cleaning!?

Record your Life... Fifth grade drama.

2010-07-22T17:07:00.001-04:00

Fifth grade memories to me are full of drama! It was the last year in our elementary school (and the first year that 5th grade was the end...a new middle school had just been built) and we though we were it!

One stand-out memory for me in fifth grade was learning my BFF had diabetes. And the incident that started it all (well, not the diabetes but the appointments that led to the diagnosis) was something we all always got in trouble for. During certain subjects (this day it was reading) we broke into groups and gathered in different spots in the room. This day S. and myself and four others were around the table discussing a book we had been reading and S. had her chair tipped up on it's back legs. We were always being told "four on the floor" (meaning all four chair legs on the floor) but she wasn't obeying and suddenly her chair tipped on backwards and she busted her head into the chalk tray as she went all the way down to the floor. She ended up in the nurse's office and eventually at the doctor's (she had a concussion). In the midst of her doctor's appointment her mom raised some other concerns and after testing, S. learned she was diabetic. Her dad is severely diabetic and so I think she wasn't too surprised and I don't remember it ever affecting anything else...I just remember that she was diagnosed.

Another memory that jumps out for me is S. giving me my first diary for Christmas that year. I still have it. It has a black cover with lime green hearts on it. And it had a lock and key and everything. Every so often (when I'm cleaning or the times I've moved and moved it too) I get it out and read a few pages. It's amazing how my fifth-grade brain worked. It's mostly about boys and boys and oh yeah, boys.

One entry in that diary talks about A. and the time she purposely tried to break her leg by wrapping her leg around the desk chair leg. I do remember that we were incredibly mean to this poor girl (looking back now...we were major bullies) but I do not remember why she tried to break her leg. And my diary is oh so descriptive (*insert sarcasm here*). It says, "A. tried to break her leg in class today. She stuck her foot around the chair leg and fell." That's it. Nice huh? I wish now that I wasn't so mean back then.

And the biggest memory from fifth grade? Our teacher. He was the only male teacher in the entire school. Every morning before school started we said the Pledge of Allegiance (which I think is standard) and said a prayer (one we all had to memorize and said daily). I don't remember the prayer anymore and while I know he is still teaching, I'm sure he can't teach that anymore (this was at a public school). Anyways. One day in class he was upset with us (and I don't remember what we were doing) but he SLAMMED his fist down on his desk top and completely cracked the plastic desk protector that he had over his desk calendar. It wasn't glass but it cracked right down the middle like glass. We were all so shocked that no one said a single word. He grab that desk protector, went out the door, down the hall and came back without it and carried on like nothing had happened. It was crazy. I still can remember the sound of his fist hitting and the cracking sound that plastic made.

This is my seventh posting at Mommy's Piggy TALES recording my memories in just 15 weeks. If you're interested in doing the same for yourself, swing by her place to check it out!

Click here to read my post from last week, where my second grade memories aren't very good memories.

Marsh ad highlights - 7/22 through 7/28

2010-07-21T17:59:00.000-04:00

4-day only sale! Thursday through Sunday only!
Ground chuck - $1.68/lb (save $1.61/lb) limit 10lbs
In-husk bi-color corn - 10/$2 (save $3.00 on ten ears)
Lay's chips - 2/$4 (save $3.98 on two)
12-pack Coke, Pepsi or 7-Up - 4/$10 limit one
Rib Fest!

On sale all week:
Boneless chuck steak - $1.98/lb (save $2.41/lb)
Perdue thighs or drumsticks - $.98/lb (save $1.01/lb)
Bone-in Ribeye or New York Strip Steaks - $5.98/lb (save $4.01/lb)
Del Monte Gold pineapple - $2.99 (save $1.00)
Sargento shredded cheese - 50% off
Marsh bread or buns - $.99
2-liter Pepsi - $.86 (and if you buy four, you can get two free)
Buy 10, save $5 when you use your Fresh Idea card on select Kellogg's cereals ($1.99 final price) or Keebler cookies or crackers or Sunshine Krispy Crackers ($2.49 final price)
Sara Lee deli meats - $5.99/lb (save $1.70/lb)
Aunt Millie's Hearth bread or buns - B1G1 FREE
Wonder white bread - B1G1 FREE
Gatorade - 10/$10
Lipton sides - 10/$10
Quaker rice cakes - 10/$10
Creamette pasta - 5/$5
Bounty and Charmin - $5.99
grapes - $1.69/lb

And of course - for my husband...

2010-07-19T20:08:00.000-04:00

It seems strange that it's been just over seven years since I met the man I married! I'd known who Brian was for a long time...since middle school. And one mutual friend swears he tried to set us up years ago. But alas, we had to find each other on our own and I'm so glad we did.

But today...TODAY is his birthday! It is the day I look forward to ALL YEAR LONG because (for a few months at least) we are the same age and he can't give me crap! I love my husband, I do, I do, I do but he loves to make sure that everyone knows (and reminds me often) that I'm older than him. Not by much...just nine months and four days but it's enough for him to be younger than me for a while and to rub in it.

So, to my wonderful husband, amazing father and best friend - Happy Birthday!

Weekly shopping - at Marsh of course!

2010-07-19T20:01:00.000-04:00

As always - I love Marsh! I walk in there and it feels like walking into the bar on the old show "Cheers". LeeAnn goes and gives her favorite cashiers hugs and we're on our way! This week we got:

3 California Kitchen personal pizzas for $4.50 (used those $1.00 coupons that Walmart wouldn't take because our Marsh takes expired coupons)
2 Edy's ice cream for $4.49 (on sale B1G1 FREE and had a $1.00 coupon)
2 large Marsh eggs for $1.98
2 Heluva Good dips (used our last two coupons) for $1.50
4 Food Club cream cheeses for $5.00
3 appx pounds vine ripe tomatoes for $3.11
1 Aunt Millie's bread for $1.45
4lb strawberries for $4.97

Along with sour cream, yogurt, pasta, lunch meat, fresh fruits and veggies, slice cheese, milk and some Chef Boyardee for LeeAnn and we spent $50.91, saving $41.30 or 45%.

Weekly shopping trip - Walmart first

2010-07-19T19:51:00.000-04:00

I don't hit up Walmart very often. I am not a big fan of the store (which I've said more than once!). I searched through old posts and found I was just there at the end of June, so it's only been about two weeks but I had a few coupons that were going to get me items at half price - so I went!
3 California Kitchen personal pizzas for $6.00 (had $1.00 coupons but they were expired...got the pizzas anyways - they are good and easy for work lunches)
2 30oz light Kraft Mayo for $3.50 ($2.50 each and had a $1.50 off two coupon)
2 3-way light bulbs for $2.84
4 TicTac mints for $2.08 (used two B1G1 FREE coupons)
1 pack heavy duty paper plate for $4.87
2 18ct Tampon Pearl for $3.92 ($3.96 each and used two $2.00 coupons)
2 Head and Shoulder shampoos for $4.72 ($4.72 each and used one B1G1 FREE coupon)
1 Kraft Bleu Cheese dressing for $1.00 ($2.00 each and used a $1.00 coupon)

Total spent: $30.98
Total saved: $13.30
Percent saved: appx 31%

Record your Life - Fourth grade

2010-07-15T23:33:00.000-04:00

Fourth grade felt like second grade all over to me! Our elementary school would often switch teachers around and I had the same teacher that I had in second grade for fourth grade. So while it really didn't feel the same as second grade, it was kinda strange to have the same teacher!

My stand-out memory from fourth grade was having the lead in our Christmas children's musical at church. Sadly, I can no longer remember the name of the play, the songs we sang or what it was about really (I mean...it was about the spirit of Christmas but remember very few details) but I do remember that I beat out a girl like six years older than me for the lead! I felt amazing! And the male lead was my best friend from church - he and I were very close and spent many a weekend at his aunt's house (who kinda "adopted me" as a niece) sharing the bunk bed and playing with her dolls.

Another vague memory from fourth grade is of playing a game at recess called kiss 'em and ditch 'em. I'm not sure if anyone else ever played this game but it was basically tag and there was a boy "it" and a girl "it" and when you tagged someone you had to kiss 'em and then ditch 'em. We had so much fun with that game! We had to be careful the recess monitor didn't see us though - Jeff would get all over our tails for playing that game!
And while this memory may not be specific to fourth grade, I just remembered the house beside our school had llamas and goats in the pasture that ran along the playground. I remember spitting at that llama trying to get him to spit back. And one day the goats got out and ran wild all over the playground, on the equipment - even down the slides! What a crazy recess that was. After that the neighbor fixed his fence to be taller so the goats couldn't get out anymore.

What a crazy bunch of random memories!

This is my sixth posting at Mommy's Piggy TALES recording my memories in just 15 weeks. If you're interested in doing the same for yourself, swing by her place to check it out!

Click here to read my post from last week, where my second grade memories aren't very good memories.

Marsh ad highlights - 7/15 through 7/21

2010-07-14T22:14:00.000-04:00

It's Strawberry Fest at Marsh! Hope there are some strawberry fans out there...there's a lot to be had this week!
Strawberry Fest:
4lb pkg strawberries - $4.97 (best price!)
4pk Aunt Millie's dessert pastry shells (mmmm...shortcake!) - $.99
Food Club whipped cream - $2.49
Marsh ice cream - B1G1 FREE
10oz Angel Food cake (in the bakery) - $1.97
2lb pkg strawberries - $2.97
1lb pkg strawberries - $1.97
5lb box blueberries - $9.99 (save $10.00)
pint blueberries - 2/$5
Ocean Spray blueberry drink - 2/$5 (free pint blueberries when you purchase two)
6oz pkg red raspberries or blackberries - $2.99

Also look for:
Boneless rump or round roast - $1.98/lb (save $2.21/lb)
Western style pork ribs - $1.28/lb (save $1.01/lb)
Marsh dozen large eggs - $.99
Aunt Millie's bread or buns - B1G1 FREE
Vine ripe tomatoes - $.99
Edy's ice cream - B1G1 FREE
Food Club cheese - $1.68
General Mills cereal - $1.49 (when you buy six in one transaction with Fresh Idea card)
Fiber One, Nature Valley or General Mills bars - $1.99 (when you buy six in one transaction with Fresh Idea card)
Hostess Donettes or Entenmann's Little Bites - B1G1 FREE
Pop Secret - B1G1 FREE
Charmin and Bounty - $5.99

And that's it for me. Happy shopping!

It's been a long time - a blog recommendation

2010-07-13T21:12:00.000-04:00

Every so often I go out in search of a new blog to read and learn from. I stumbled upon Couple Money a few months ago and sometimes I forget about it (I have two I visit daily, maybe I need to move my favorite link for this to between those two, huh?) but when I do remember to read it, I really enjoy what is shared.

Some of it doesn't apply to me or appeal to me but like all blogs, I just skip that post and go onto the next. Check it out, there just might be something that appeals to you!

I mentioned below we spent under our grocery budget...

2010-07-12T19:28:00.000-04:00

I forgot until I was just looking at receipts that I spent $3.18 at Walmart yesterday for some wasp/hornet spray. Apparently Brian and his buddy were battling more than the sun and heat yesterday - some unfriendly flying insects had to invade the party as well. While I'm not one for killing animals (even an ant or spider) I'm glad they were able to use this spray to protect themselves while working yesterday!

Weekly grocery shopping - Marsh

2010-07-12T19:26:00.000-04:00

It was a quick trip this weekend. Brian and a co-worker spent approximately 26 hours in two days (and this morning) working on re-roofing a section of our house. It was a long, hot, drawn out process but it's done and for that we are thankful! Because Brian was so tired after working all day (he got burnt at an auction Friday trying to buy materials for this job on top of the physical work) we went for just the basics. Here is what we came home with:

3 StarKist tuna pouches was $4.77 for $2.00
6 Pasta Roni's was $9.72 for $6.00 (thought we had coupons but I misread them...)
3 Food Club shredded cheese was $8.37 for $5.04
2 Mission tortillas was $6.38 for $2.00 (used my last two coupons too...bummer)
2 packs Perdue split breasts was $14.74 for $4.39 (@ $.88/lb)
1 9-roll Charmin was $9.18 for $5.49
1 8-roll Bounty was $10.28 for $5.49

And of course we got the standard milk, lunch meat, bread, fresh fruit and veggies, LeeAnn's fave pasta salad and a treat (gallon of green tea) for Brian and spent all of $53.05 and saved $36.18 or 41%. This leaves us $22 for next week's groceries (if we decide to use it) and just might keep us under budget this month!

Every so often I link up to Ultimate Recipe Swap

2010-07-08T19:06:00.003-04:00

at Life as Mom and today is one of those days!

Today's recipe swap is for cool recipes - those you can fix on the hottest days of summer and not heat the house anymore than it already is. I found this recipe just a couple weeks ago in the June/July 2010 issue of Taste of Home's Simple & Delicious magazine. As soon as I read this recipe, I knew I had to add it to our list of recipes we use.

Sweet Cucumber Salad
3 cups thinly sliced, quartered cucumber
2 tsp minced fresh cilantro

Dressing:
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp water
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tbsp lime juice (we squeeze a fresh lime for ours)
1 green onion, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp salt

In a salad bowl, combine cucumber and cilantro. In a small bowl, whisk the dressing ingredients. Drizzle over salad and toss to coat. Serve with a slotted spoon.

And that's it! So easy. So fresh and cool. And just the right tang between the lime juice and cilantro. Yum! We also found that preparing it the day before and letting it sit overnight is better than making it and serving it, but that could just be us. Try it both ways and see what you prefer for you. Enjoy!

Nutrition facts: 3/4 cup equals 64 calories, trace fat (trace saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 297 mg sodium, 16g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 1 g protein. Diabetic Exchange: 1 starch.

Record your Life - Third grade pen-pals

2010-07-08T17:44:00.002-04:00

Why is it that last week I struggled so much to remember even a small inkling of second grade but I've known since I first heard about this project that I was going to share about pen-pals and our Tennessee trip when it came to talking about third grade? Isn't it strange what the mind holds and what it doesn't?

Third grade was the year that everyone looked forward to in our school. That was the year you got a pen-pal AND you go to visit them too. I don't remember my pen-pal's name or anything about writing her specifically. The writing part was actually part of our school work, we were graded on the letters and whether we sent one or not and Miss Carter always gathered all the letters and sent one big package of them to the teacher of the students we were writing. And then when we got our letters, we all got letters on the same day.

The BEST part of having a pen-pal was the field trip that we took to Tennessee that spring to visit our pen-pals. When you load up an Imperial Travel bus (a travel bus) with a whole load of third graders and their chaperones for a week long trip to Tennessee, you're bound to have fun (and mishaps) along the way.

I don't remember much of the bus ride really. I do remember the librarian's son being with us (which was strange because he was a year older than us and even went to a different elementary school than us...same town/school corporation, different school) and singing Rocky Top (a song we had to learn in music class about Tennessee).

And I don't even remember meeting my pen-pal. Well, I take that back. I do remember meeting her (we all met each other on their playground) but don't remember anything we talked about. I do remember that we slept in the school gymnasium (girls and boys! - a big deal when your a third grader) and that the bathroom stall doors were SHORT. I could see over the tops of the doors when standing up. It was so strange to me because our stall doors were normal height (like what you'd find at a store or something). Strange, strange, strange.

The most memorable part of the trip - we went to Cades Cove and hiked to the waterfall. On the way back my best friend tripped and broke her ankle. I remember our teacher and another parent (not sure if it was a mom or dad) putting their hands together between them and Shari sitting on top of their hands so they could get her back to the parking lot and then to a hospital for a cast (they had to call for an ambulance so the rest of the class didn't have to leave in the bus as well).

I don't remember the ride home or anything else about the trip - just going and Shari falling and breaking ankle (which means for once it was someone other than me who was a klutz!).

This is my fifth posting at Mommy's Piggy TALES recording my memories in just 15 weeks. If you're interested in doing the same for yourself, swing by her place to check it out!

Click here to read my post from last week, where my second grade memories aren't very good memories.

Kroger ad highlights - 7/8 to 7/14

2010-07-08T17:34:00.001-04:00

It looks like Kroger is having a 10/$10 sale - a lot of the same items that Marsh has on sale...nothing that really jumps out and grabs me. Other things that did grab my attention are:

Kraft singles - $1.49
6pk Coke, Pepsi or 7-Up 24oz bottles - 4/$10
Kellogg's cereal - $1.99
California peaches or nectarines - $.88/lb
Driscoll's strawberries (1lb) - 2/$3
Post cereals - 2/$3

Exciting, huh? Yeah, I didn't think so either.

Marsh ad highlights - 7/8 to 7/14

2010-07-08T17:32:00.000-04:00

There are a LOT of 10/$10 items in this weeks ad! The website advertises that there are over 50 10/$10 items so here are those listed first:

2-Liter Coke, Pepsi and 7-Up products
Marsh bread
Eckrich loaf or sliced pepperoni
Louis Kemp imitation crabmeat (save $19.90 on ten)
Emge roll sausage (save $1.59 each)
Parkay, Fleischmann's or Land O Lakes butter/margarine
Assorted ice cream
Pillsburry rolls or biscuits (select)
Banquet meals
Hamburger Helper
Tony's pizzas
Food Club or Reser's dip
King's Hawaiian rolls
Jose Ole burritos or chimichangas
Gatorade Thirst Quencher
Dole fruit
StarKist tuna
Food Club marshmellows
Sunny Delight or Tropicana fruit drinks
Rice a Roni or Pasta Roni
Quaker rice cakes
Aim toothpaste
Dial hand soap
Food Club softener sheets
GE Light Bults
Right Guard or Soft & Dri deodorant
Betty Crocker Suddenly Salad
Betty Crocker brownie mix
Red Gold tomatoes
Bar-S franks or bologna
Tennessee Pride sausage gravy
Mildford Valley Farms kiev
SoBe Life, Glaceau Vitamin Water, Gold Peak, Fuze or Snapple
David sunflower seeds
Assorted movie candy
Bush's baked beans
Dean's or Shamrock Farms milk
Food Club potatoes
Simply Juice or Minute Maid
Food Club dill spears
Food Club ketchup or marinade
Act II popcorn
Food Club singles
Food Club soft cookies
Bisquick pancake mix
Domino sugar
Red, yellow or orange bell peppers
Large seedless cucumbers
Butter, romaine, green or red leaf lettuce

As for the rest of the week:
Hostess snacks - $1.99 (save $2.00)
Eckrich smoked sausage - 2/$5 (save $3.38 on two) match with recent $.75 coupons for $1.75 final price
Combo pork chops, ribs and roast sale - $.98/lb (save $1.51/lb)
Food Club cheese - $1.68
Perdue split breasts - $.98/lb (save $2.31/lb) limit three
Marsh or Breyers ice cream - 50% off
Washington State Bing cherries - $1.99/lb (save $3.00/lb)
select grapes - $1.28/lb (save $.71/lb)
Bob Evans roll sausage - 2/$6 (save $1.98 on two)
Cyrstal Light - B1G1 FREE
Aunt Millie's bread or buns - $1.19 (match with recent $.55 coupons for $.64 final price)
Charmin and Bounty - $5.99 (match with recent P&G coupons to save $.25 - doubled to $.50 - on each)
Vine Ripe or Red Roma tomatoes - $1.88/lb (save $.61/lb)

And that's it for me. Anything catch your eye?

Family fun trip became a bargain trip!

2010-07-08T17:28:00.001-04:00

When we left for Indiana Beach on Tuesday morning I had no intentions of sharing about the trip but it became a bargain for us so I had to share about our experience.

Indiana Beach is an amusement park about an hour north of us. I hadn't been in years - probably 15 or so and neither had Brian but he decided we needed to take LeeAnn. So we did.

We packed a picnic lunch (because the food and drinks there are outrageous) and ate in the car when we got there. Because we could go in and out of the park as often as we wanted, we left the bag with the swimming gear in the car. Tuesday and Thursday at Indiana Beach are Coke product days - take any Coke product and get $10 off. So we grabbed a couple Coke product cans and paid $43.10 for Brian and LeeAnn to ride and swim as much as they wanted. General admission is free (so I didn't have to pay anything).

After a couple hours of rides (in Kiddyland and some bigger rides that Brian and LeeAnn went on together), LeeAnn decided it was water park time. We went back to the car, had a quick snack and drank some water (it was hot out!) and headed back into the park. As we were walking in, two others couples were walking out and told us they were closing the park due to power issues.

We went back into the park to the Guest Relations desk and yep, the park was closing temporarily due to power issues. They gave us two free passes to come back another day and mentioned that if we wanted to hang out for a while to see if the power issues would be resolved, we could and we could still keep the free passes. Brian decided to go to the pool area to ask if the pool was closing (we figured the slides and Lazy River would - no power to run the water through them) and sure enough - the pool WAS open! So Brian and LeeAnn were able to spend the next two hours swimming and within 45 minutes the power was back up, so they were able to enjoy the Lazy River and water slides as well. After swimming were more rides and games and we ended the day at Treece's - a small-town restaurant that is "famous" in our area.

So - our trip for three that cost us $43.10 plus gas (and eating out at Treece's - $30.00) because a half price trip because of those free passes. I don't have another day off anytime soon so the next trip will be just Brian and LeeAnn (I went more for the dressing room changes than anything...well to spend time with my family but I neither ride nor swim). He decided that he can do it himself (the showers in the men's changing room were closed stalls - that was his biggest concern). So hooray for half price amusement park trips!

Weekly shopping trip - should have been posted Monday.

2010-07-08T17:25:00.001-04:00

Went to Marsh on Saturday this past week instead of Sunday. With the holiday on Sunday, we knew we were cooking out and going to the fireworks and didn't want to try to throw grocery shopping into the mix. Here's what we got:

4 Kraft shredded cheese was $14.36 for $6.76
2 Heluva Good dips was $4.98 for $1.50
2 Mt Dew Code Red 12pks was $10.18 for $3.98
2 Mission flour tortillas was $6.38 for $2.00
2 Wavy Lays was $7.98 for $3.99
3 Aunt Millies bread/buns was $9.57 for $1.54
2 Pampers wipes was $5.98 for FREE

Along with lots of ground chuck (@ $1.68/lb), lunch meat, meatballs and hotdogs, canned beans, milk and fresh fruits and veggies and we spent $70.71, saving $63.34 or 47%. Yay for under budget!

I so hadn't planned on being MIA for the last week

2010-07-08T08:04:00.000-04:00

but that's how it happens sometimes! I've been on vacation since Saturday and am headed back to work today (just a short vacation!). I had full intentions of keeping up with my posting schedule but that just didn't work out for me. I spent a lot of time with my family and friends - which is exactly why I took the vacation to begin with. I did sit down at the computer a few times but mostly to research things - like prices for a close-by amusement park and to see the TV my husband thought my granny should get (when she's looking for new electronics, Brian does all the research beforehand).

So, I'm back and this afternoon/evening there should be a LOT of catch up posts here.

I finally found my CVS receipt from last week...

2010-07-03T19:29:00.000-04:00

I had some ECBs that had just expired (the 21st) and one of our CVSs in town takes them within a week or so. I had no idea what was on sale or what was generating more ECBs and since I haven't been following CVS anyways, I just decided to spend them to get rid of them while still getting a good deal. Here's what I got:

2 Soft Soap body was $9.98 for $4.79 ($.20 off and B1G1 FREE)
1 Dove candy bar was $.89 for -$1.11 (coupon for free candy bar or $2.00 off a bag, and it still took $2.00 off)
1 Dentyne gum $1.29

Subtotal -$.03 (yep, before tax they owed me money)
Tax $.49
Total $.46
Saved $12.19 (like 99% savings)

And I didn't take money from the grocery envelope or use my CVS card - I just dug $.46 in change from the bottom of my purse and paid with that. Woohoo!

Week of 6/4 through week of 6/25 grocery budget

2010-07-03T19:26:00.000-04:00

6/6 Marsh - 95.35, saved 69.60 (42%)
6/12 Marsh - 59.25, saved 61.38 (51%)
6/20 Marsh - 55.06, saved 25.51 (32%)
6/21 Marsh - 3.53, saved 1.01 (22%)
6/21 Marsh - .99, saved .50 (34%)
6/22 Meijer - 13.98, saved 15.72 (53%)
6/23 Kroger - 40.28, saved 46.83 (53%)
6/24 CVS - .46, saved 12.19 (99%) and didn't use grocery budget monies
6/27 Walmart - 30.77, saved 18.76 (30%)
6/27 Walmart - 3.00, saved 5.00 (62%)
6/27 Marsh - 49.41, saved 32.05 (39%)
6/28 Marsh - .75, saved 1.74 (70%)

Total spent: 352.37
Total saved: 290.29
Percentage saved: 45% or so...

Over budget by 52.37 - BOO. We knew a couple of those weeks though that we were pushing it. And as always, we're okay with that.

Booking It 2010 update

2010-07-02T21:35:00.002-04:00

It has taken me almost two weeks to read just two books! This is the reason I didn't dedicate myself to one book a week. Although, the book I'm working on now might be finished tonight (which would be one book in one day).

I read Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss on the recommendation of another Booking It participant. What a great read! I have a BA in Journalism and for a long time thought I'd be a copy editor so I love things like words, word use and punctuation. This was a funny book and while I've always said I'm a punctuation nerd, maybe I'm not as bad as others. And I like to make smilies with my keys. :)

After that I picked up Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters - 10 Secrets Every Father Should Know by Meg Meeker MD. This book really, really, really affected me. I don't normally share such long reviews of one book but this one was really good and really touched me.

Even though this was written by a woman (who is a daughter) to dads, this book really hit home for me. I think because I saw a lot of my dad and I in her stories and descriptions. And I see the starts of what Brian is doing for LeeAnn. I read this book for several reason. It was on Dave Ramsey's list of recommended reads (so I probably never would have heard of it if it hadn't been for that), my dad and I have a great relationship and I want LeeAnn to have that with her dad and Brian's not a reader...I wanted to check it out to see if it was worth trying to get him to read (and it is!).

Dave says, “This is the best book available on being a father to daughters. I have two daughters, and this book inspired me. I liked it so much that I provided a copy for every dad on my team who has a daughter. If you are a dad with a daughter, you must read this book TODAY.”

From the back of the book,
"Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters is a sobering reminder of the awesome responsibilities of fatherhood. It strongly reinforces just how important (and unavoidable) a father's influence is on his daughter's life – for good or ill – and how dangerous this world can be for girls whose fathers aren't there to protect them, guide them, and even fight for them. It shows, in the face of the popular culture, that strong dads are essential for strong daughters. Dads, you owe it to your daughters – and to yourselves – to read this book.

– David Limbaugh, nationally syndicated columnist and bestselling author

From the inside flap,

Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters reveals:

The essential characteristics and virtues of strong fathers – and how to develop them
How daughters take cues from their fathers on everything from drug use, drinking, smoking, and having sex, to self-esteem, moodiness, and seeking attention from boys
Why girls want you to place restrictions on them (even though they'll complain when you do)
How to become a hero to your daughter – and why she needs that more than anything
The one mistake fathers make that is the primary cause of girls "hooking up"
Why girls depend on the guidance of fathers through, and even beyond, their college years
Recipe for disaster: the notion that girls "need to make their own decisions and mistakes"
Why girls need God – and how your faith or lack thereof, will influence her
How to communicate with your daughter – and how not to
True stories of "prodigal daughters" – and how their fathers helped bring them back

A couple areas that really spoke to me where:
pg 163
Dr Meeker is sharing the story of Alicia and her dad and how her dad asked her to not marry Jack, the man that Alicia believed was the man of her dreams. Her dad asked her several times to not marry him, that something just didn't feel right. An anonymous call lead Alicia to hire a private investigator and come to find out, Alicia's dad was right. Jack had four other names, three wives, had never been to law school (told Alicia he had), had two children by two different women and had a warrant out for his arrest in another state. Alicia said her dad never rubbed it in that he was right. "He just came and helped me take care of things." The part that touched me most, she said, "You know, even while my dad was warning me during that time, something really bothered me about Jack: he was so different from my dad. Of course I didn't want to tell anyone. I mean, he talked differently and I caught him in a few white lies. My dad never did that. My father was quiet and honest. It never dawned on me that I couldn't trust him, but I wasn't ever quite sure whether or not I could trust Jack. ... I knew, I knew, deep in my heart that I could never marry someone so different from my dad, but I don't know, I guess I was just totally blinded by infatuation. How could I have been so stupid?"

WOW. This is me. Well, kinda. I got engaged to a boy (and he was a boy) my senior year of college. I thought for sure he was the one. Up until this point, my dad and I emailed each other daily. We told my parents about the engagement on a Sunday. I never got another daily email from my dad. I think he was so disappointed in me. My dad never told me not to marry him but I know he didn't want me to. Finally, the drugs and lying and the unfaithfulness were too much and I left. It was actually my mom who came to save me but my dad was there when I got home. And now? Brian? He is just like my dad.

And another:

pg 225
Since you are competing with e-conversations, e-songs and e-relationships, steal her away from the screen as often as you can. Remember, when all is said and experienced, you are a better communicator than cell phones, e-mail or chat rooms. They can't comfort her when she's in the hospital. They can't walker her down the aisle toward her future husband. You will.

In the afterword I read this that I really liked, "Many days we are disappointed. We find ourselves grasping for that elusive "something" that will make us feel complete. But the more we search for it, the more distant it becomes, because what we're searching for is sitting right there. It's not your job or your hobbies. It's not more money or more sex. It's your family - your children, your spouse - and God. They are the real center of our lives."

Realize who you are to her.
Open your eyes to her world (it's different from yours).
Fight for her body (error on the side of being overprotective and you'll hit is just right).
Fight for her mind.
Fight for her soul.
Fight for your relationship with her (the bottom line is she needs more time with you than she does with her friends. So be with her).

Last page - last paragraph: "One day, when she is grown, something between the two of you will shift. If you have done your job well, she will choose another good man to love her, fight for her and be intimately connected to her. But he will never replace you in her heart, because you were there first. And that's the ultimate reward for being a good dad."

So. This book has touched me in so many ways. Even though I'm the mom in the equation, I'm going to employ some of these tactics. And this book? I'm going to buy it. I want to mark it up, refer to it and use it as we raise our baby girl into a woman.

Now that I've finished that amazing book I'm back to Karen Kingsbury's A Moment of Weakness that I had to take back to the library a couple weeks ago. It has been REALLY good and I've read over 100 pages of it already today. I'm thinking I'll need to hit up the library tomorrow to get me through the next few days - I don't go back to work until Thursday now...

Kroger ad highlights - 7/1 to 7/7

2010-07-02T21:20:00.001-04:00

Not much on sale at Kroger that caught my eye...and there were a few things at Kroger that were a smidge cheaper at Marsh anyways.

Ground chuck - $1.77/lb ($.09 cheaper/lb at Marsh)
Seedless watermelon - $2.77 ($.78 cheaper at Marsh w/ $15 purchase and in-ad coupon)
Lay's - $1.98 (same as Marsh)
Kroger cheese - 2/$3
Betty Crocker Hamburger Helper - 10/$10
Betty Crocker cake mix - 10/$10
Hunt's Snack Packs - 10/$10
Kroger sugar (4lb bag) - 5/$10
Breyers ice cream - $1.97 each (when you buy any 10 participating items) - the only item that caught my eye in that sale!

So I think I might hit up Kroger for Breyers ice cream and that'll be it for me!

Record your Life... Was I a second grader?

2010-07-01T18:38:00.004-04:00

If I was, I don't remember it! Is it bad that nothing sticks out from second grade? I mean, I remember little things - like that was the year my brother started kindergarten and the year my mom started working for the school system. That was the year we were introduced to a reading program where we read a book and then took a test and I was the first student to read through every level and pass all the tests. Our Girl Scout troop took a field trip to the Indianapolis Zoo that year - I even have pictures of my and my best friend in our Brownie uniforms and pigtails. And my favorite part of the school day was when I got to go to school early with my mom and brother and was able to visit the other second grade teacher and play with her ticky-tack stuff that she used to put posters on the wall (I was easily amused - what can I say!?).

Why is it I can't remember anything big from that year? Did nothing exciting happen that year? Was second grade really so boring that nothing sticks in my mind?

So, what happened in 1983, the year I would have started 2nd grade?

Pet Sematary and Christine by Stephen King were two of the top five fiction books for the year (and I've read neither!).

The last Delorean (the car from Back to the Future) was produced.

The final episode of M.A.S.H. aired with more than 125 million viewers (which I know I watched!).

Rubik's Cube and Cabbage Patch Kids were popular (although I probably had neither at that time...).

The 1983 Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress are all for the movie "Terms of Endearment" (which I've never heard of).

In 1983, the 26th Grammy Awards granted Michael Jackson four awards (for "Thriller", "Beat It" and "Billie Jean").

The Washington Redskins beat the Miami Dolphins 27 - 17 in the 1983 Super Bowl and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Philadelphia Phillies (4-1) in the World Series Championship.

Of the top 19 shows in 1983, I don't remember really watching any of them. I recognize the names of shows ("Dallas", "60 Minutes" and "Dynasty" top the list). I know I watched others in reruns ("The Jeffersons", "The Love Boat" and "Kate and Allie").

And in 1983 Reagan was President, the unemployment rates was 9.6%, you could buy a new Ford Escort for $6900 and a loaf of bread was $.66 (with coupons I can beat that!).

So maybe second grade didn't happen? It almost feels that way. But really, I KNOW I went through second grade. My teacher was Mrs Borges and we called her Gorgeous Borges (although she wasn't gorgeous...it was just what rhymed!). And I do remember my mom starting work and walking to school with my brother and reading through that whole reading system. But nothing big must have happened for me that year. That's okay though, I have plenty of other memories to reflect on!

This is my fourth posting at Mommy's Piggy TALES recording my memories in just 15 weeks. If you're interested in doing the same for yourself, swing by her place to check it out!

Click here to read my post from last week, where in first grade I really (truly) lost a tooth.

Marsh ad highlights - 7/1 through 7/7

2010-06-30T17:38:00.000-04:00

I'm LOVING the Marsh 4th of July sale! Sometimes they make a special four-day only sale (Thursday through Sunday) near a holiday but this sale lasts the whole week!

Ground beef - $1.38/lb (save $1.11/lb) limit 10lbs
Ground chuck - $1.68/lb (save $1.61/lb) limit 10lbs
Aunt Millie's bread or buns - B1G2 (yes TWO!) FREE - grillin' dogs and weiners for the 4th? What a great way to get free buns!
Whole seedless watermelon - $1.99 (with in ad coupon and additional $15 purchase, limit one)
12pack 7-up, Coke or Pepsi - $1.99 (when you buy two with in ad coupon and additional $15 purchase, limit one)
Johnsonville brats - 2/$7 (save $2.98 on two)
Perdue chicken leg quarters - $.68/lb (save $.61/lb) limit three
Lay's potato chips - 2/$4 (save $3.98 on two)
Kraft cheese - $1.69 (save $.80 or more)
Western style pork ribs - $1.68 (save $.71/lb)
Spareribs - $1.98/lb (save $1.01/lb)
St Louis style spareribs - $2.98 (save $.51/lb)
Indiana Kitchen pork baby backribs - $3.98/lb (save $1.01/lb)
Country style ribs - $2.48/lb (save $.51/lb)
New York strip (bone-in) or Boneless Top Blade Flat Iron steaks - $5.98/lb (NY strip - save $4.01/lb, Flat Iron - save $1.01/lb)
Perdue boneless, skinless chicken breasts - B1G1 FREE (save $4.49/lb) limit four
In-husk bi-color corn - 10/$2 (save $4.70 on ten)
Oscar Mayer bologna or weiners - B1G1 FREE
Nabisco crackers - 2/$4 (save $2.56 or more on two)
10lb Russet potatoes - B1G1 FREE
Blue Bunny or Weight Watchers ice cream novelties - 50% off
Sara Lee turkey breast - $5.99/lb (save $1.70/lb)
Eckrich ham - $3.99/lb (save $2.00/lb)
Propel Fitness water - 10/$10
Sweet Baby Ray's bbq and dipping sauces - B1G1 FREE
Kraft Mayo or Miracle Whip - $2.49
Country Time lemonade - B1G1 FREE
Kraft bbq sauce - 10/$10
Betty Crocker brownie mix - 10/$10
Food Club sauce or McCormick marinades - 10/$10
Mission tortillas - 2/$4
Hershey's candy bars - 2/$1
Del Monte Gold pineapple - $2.99
Red Cluster tomatoes - $1.99

And I'm sure there is more than would catch your eye...these are the items that caught my eye or might match up with current coupons. Happy shopping!

We're not homeschoolers but I had to share...

2010-06-29T21:45:00.000-04:00

Our kiddo isn't in kindergarten so no homeschooling for us but we do know that she'll be attending a public school when the time comes. This summer though, she is attending School de Mamaw and Papaw! My parents have worked for the school systems for a combined 55 years (my dad teaches 7th grade Earth Science and my mom works in an elementary school as a paraprofessional...many years in the library) and have dedicated their summer to helping my niece and nephew and LeeAnn with their learning.

The three kids are seven-, five- and four-years-old (entering second, kindergarten and preschool this fall) and love to learn. They all have things they struggle in and things they excel in and my parents are working hard to help them excel even more.

Since my niece and nephew are at my parents daily (in the mornings) they get to play "school" all the time. C works on learning her letters and number. L reads outloud to Papaw and is working his math too. And when Mamaw is home (she also works part-time at the public library) she does the same work with them. LeeAnn is so jealous that they get to play school so often (she only goes in the afternoon for an hour or two) so this evening we went over so she could show me what she was able to do this afternoon.

Enter pudding. Yep. Plain ol' pudding is used at my parent's house as a teaching device. And LeeAnn LOVES it.

Mamaw spoons a cup of pudding onto a plate and then also sets another plate, a spoon and a napkin on the table. As LeeAnn is going through her flash cards, she is writing the letters she doesn't recognize right away into her pudding and then when she's done she'll lick the pudding off, use the spoon to smooth the pudding and go on to the next card.

While using your finger to write isn't the same as using a pencil to write, it gives her the same basic concept and she loves that she is playing in the pudding. And when she's done, she'll eat what's left of the pudding and get cleaned up.

Another game LeeAnn was able to play tonight involved her letter flash cards and a fly swatter (and a quick, or sometimes not so quick, Mamaw). Mamaw sets several (four to six) flash cards on the table and then calls off a letter. LeeAnn is supposed to try to swat the right letter with her fly swatter (a brand new clean one, by the way) before Mamaw reaches up there and swipes the card she called off away. This is supposed to get her going with quick recognition of the letters.

The time that my parents have spent working with other kids is amazing. The fact that they are spending multiple hours per day helping their grandkids is even more amazing. My dad often teases me during the summer that he's just going to lay around and read a book while I work (because I work year-round). This summer though, between teaching the kids and carting them around to various swim lessons and library classes, I'm not sure he (or my mom) have had any time to read just for the joy of it. And I had to share these because I thought they were fun, easy and cheap ways to maybe show your kids another way to learn.

So the Heluva Good dip we bought last night?

2010-06-28T21:55:00.001-04:00

Yeah. The whole container got decimated. Brian and I put a good hurtin' on it and then he took it to his brother's and that was the end of the that. BUT I had another coupon so I stopped by Marsh again tonight.

1 jalepeno cheddar Heluva Good dip was $2.49 for $.75 (on sale 2/$3.00 and then used a $.75 coupon)

Total spent: $.75
Total saved: $1.74 (70%)

Woohoo!

Oh and I got more of those coupons from a friend today. I think I might be going back for more before this sale ends on Wednesday!

Regular weekly shopping at Marsh

2010-06-28T21:53:00.003-04:00

And our regular weekly trip to Marsh involved Brian running out to the car for a $5 (from my blow money!) because we didn't have enough in the envelope to cover what I had bought.

1 Dixie plate was $3.75 for $1.00 (for my granny)
3 Frosted Flakes was $8.55 for $4.47
1 No Yolk noodles was $2.29 for $1.54
2 Marsh large 12ct eggs was $2.98 for $1.76
1 Aunt Millie bread was $2.99 for $1.44
2 Heluva Good dips was $4.98 for $1.50 (and these are GOOD - ohmygosh...if I had known before how good these were, I'd a been buying them a LONG time ago.)
2 Edy's ice cream was $10.98 for $4.49
4 Uncle Ben's Ready Rice was $10.20 for $7.96 (not the best price, but better than full price)
2 YoPlus 4ct yogurts was $5.00 for $2.00
2 Bar-S bologna was $1.98 for $.98
1 Lawry's marinade was $3.29 for $.99

All that along with milk, marked-down pork tenderloin (saved more than 50%), a yogurt for shorty (an M&M one), lasagna, fresh fruits and veggies and Shorty's favorite pasta salad from the deli and we spent $49.41, saving 39% or $32.05 for the day.

Hit up Walmart this weekend...

2010-06-28T21:52:00.002-04:00

I was hoping for some FREE (or at least cheap) items with coupons but a $4.00 Oil of Olay Total Effects body wash coupon made the product 1/2 price and the $2.00 Secret whateverkinditwas coupon made the product just over 1/2 price and that wasn't enough for me. We still purchased a few things and we had two transactions. Our store had a recent remodel and we had two of those $5 gift cards that our whole town received in the mail (my granny dislikes Walmart more than I do so she just gave me her $5 card).

First transaction:
4 California personal pizzas for $8.00

Total: $8.00
Saved: $5.00 - free gift card (62%)
Spent: $3.00

Second transaction:
2 Gillette body wash was $5.94 for $2.97 (B1G1 free coupon)
2 Kraft ranch dressing was $3.00 for $1.00 (two $1.00 off coupons)
3 Crystal Light PureFit was $5.91 for -$.09 (three $2.00 off coupons - $.03 overage on each)
2 bags softener salt for $10.88
1 scrub pouf for $2.00
1 furnace filter for $4.58
1 18ct Tampax Pearl was $3.96 for $1.96 (one $2.00 off coupon)
1 8ct Poptart for $1.81
2 M&Ms was $1.74 for $1.00 (one B1G1 free coupon)
1 itty-bitty "very cute and soft" stuffed animal for a special girl - $2.50

Total: $44.53
Saved: $5.00 - free gift card plus $13.76 (appx 30%)
Spent: $25.77

And that's it. I'll be staying out of Walmart again for a while.

So it's been a while... Sunday coupon preview

2010-06-24T21:06:00.000-04:00

It has been so long since I've gone and purchased a newspaper for the sole purpose of getting the coupons from it. I even searched my posts of what I've purchased at the stores (I track almost everything I buy!) and since November of last year don't have any record of purchasing a paper for coupons. I've really come to count on getting inserts from my granny and from a lady I work with and if there are some really good coupons that I want a lot of - I phone my friend Stacey who can easily get me between six and eight inserts (between herself, her mom and her nana). She's my go-to when there's a GOOD coupon and a deal in the same week.

Anyways, just because I don't purchase coupons doesn't mean I can't share the love with anyone else. So check it out below - the links to both inserts for this Sunday.

Thanks to The Coupon Clippers for posting these coupons every week!

Valassis (Red Plum)

Smart Source

I hit up Kroger last night to grab a few bargains before the sale ended...

2010-06-24T20:27:00.003-04:00

10 Eckrich pepperoni was $21.90 for $10.00
15 Kroger bacon bits was $34.35 for $15.00
8 Cocoa Pebbles was $20.72 for $10.00
6 Creamette pastas was $10.14 for $5.28

Total spent $40.28
Total saved $46.83 (53%)
Total saved at Kroger for 2010 $261.71 (which is just Kroger Plus card savings)

It is trips like this that make me LOVE self-scan checkout. Can you imagine the look I would have gotten when I threw a combo of 25 packages of bacon and pepperoni up on the belt!? Yeah... It would have been interesting. Instead I scanned it all myself and no one knew what I purchased. Love it.

Record your Life - How I lost lost a tooth.

2010-06-24T20:20:00.002-04:00

Is it strange that I only have one vivid memory of first grade? I know I spent an entire school year in Mrs. Morris's classroom but really there is only one day that sticks in my mind and it wasn't even a full day - it was just one particular recess.

I live in Central Indiana, always have and I'm guessing always will, and this particular memory must have been during the winter because we were having indoor recess (which meant it was too cold to be outside playing even). I don't remember if I was playing a game with someone or if I was just reading by myself (which is highly likely) but I was sitting by the windows on the heat vent.

The heat vent was the best place to sit and read or chat with friends. These vents were right on the floor, raised maybe just an inch above the standard tile school floor. The top of the vent was a shiny silver and there were small square holes that the air came through. These holes were big enough to get our fingers into but not big enough to get a hand into. And I don't know how far down the vent went but it was far enough that if you dropped something in there, you couldn't see it any longer. And when the heat kicked on you were just wrapped in this warm blanket of heat.

So in this memory I'm sitting on this heat vent - alone or with someone, I'm not sure. But I know I had been playing with a loose tooth and the next thing I remember I'm crying because my tooth is down in the vent, I've got some blood on my lips and chin and all the kids in my class are just watching me.

Because recess time was when the teacher's had prep, our teacher wasn't in the classroom. The person who was in charge of recess though roamed the hallways and he came into the room (did someone get him? did he hear my cries?). He took me to the nurse and she helped me clean up and rinse my mouth out. She sent me back to my classroom and the custodian was trying to see my tooth in the vent with a flashlight but he couldn't even see it.

So that recess is forever stuck in my mind as the recess that I lost, really truly lost, my tooth.

This is my third posting at Mommy's Piggy TALES recording my memories in just 15 weeks. If you're interested in doing the same for yourself, swing by her place to check it out!

Click here to read about my preschool and kindergarten memories.

Marsh ad highlights - 6/24 to 6/30

2010-06-23T17:37:00.002-04:00

Saturday Only!!!
33% off Lay's, Fritos, Cheetos or Doritos - final price $1.67/item

Win FREE groceries for a year!!! Up to $5200 value - two weeks to enter: June 24th to July 7th, 2010!
Be sure to read all the fine print - it looks like you don't have to make a purchase to enter even. Good luck!!!

Boneless chuck steak - $1.98/lb (save $2.41/lb)
6-pack Pepsi products - 4/$9.88 (save $9.28 on four)
Boneless Top Sirloin steaks - $3.88/lb (save $3.11/lb)
Bing cherries - $2.99/lb (save $2.00/lb)
Green or Red seedless grapes - $.99/lb (save $1.00/lb)
Marsh dozen large eggs - $.88 (save $.61)
Van Camp's pork and beans - $.48 (save $.41 or more)
Sargento shredded cheese - 50%
Edy's ice cream - B1G1 FREE (and when you purchase $12 worth of any participating Edy's item in one transaction with your Marsh card - get $4.00 off your next grocery purchase)
Breyers or Yoplait yogurt - 2/$4
Breakstone's or Heluva Good! dip - 2/$3 (match recent $.75 coupon for Heluva Good! for a final price of $.75 each)
Nature's Pride bread - B1G1 FREE
Montgomery Inn bbq sauce - B1G1 FREE
Kellogg's cereals - $1.99
2-litere 7-up - 10/$10
Assorted drinks - 10/$10
Powerade - 10/$10 (get five free when you pruchase 10 in one transaction)
Allen's, Popeye or Veg-All canned vegetables - 5/$5
Lawry's marinades - $1.98 (match recent $.50 coupon for a final price of $.98 each)
Sunbeam bread or Aunt Millie's buns - $1.19
Keebler snacks - $1.99
Wet Ones towelettes - B1G1 FREE

And that is what I consider the good stuff!

Some quick trips... Marsh and Meijer.

2010-06-22T20:46:00.001-04:00

So Sunday when we hit Marsh, the deli was already closed. Since I worked at our bank branch inside the store on Monday there were two items I picked up (one before lunch, for lunch and the after work for dinner that I'd forgotten about).

Trip #1:
.58lbs Sara Lee oven roasted turkey breast was $4.54 for $3.53

Spent: $3.53
Saved: $1.01 (22%)

Trip #2:
1 Aunt Millie's dessert shells (for strawberry shortcakes) was $1.49 for $.99

Spent: $.99
Saved: $.50 (34%)

And for Meijer - I wasn't going to do the Skippy deal but after looking at the prices, I decided to go ahead.

6 Skippy crunchy peanut butter was $13.74 for $6.00
4 Tositos was $15.96 for $7.98

Spent: $13.98
Saved: $15.72 (53%)

We hit up Marsh for our normal weekly shopping...

2010-06-21T20:57:00.003-04:00

We didn't get much really, or at least it didn't seem like we did.

5 Eckrich smoked sausage was $20.95 for $7.25
2 Armor meatballs was $7.58 for $5.00
2 Wavy Lays was $7.98 for $4.00
1 Aunt Millie's Slimwiches was $2.99 for $1.70
2lbs strawberries was $5.89 for $2.98

Along with ricotta cheese, yogurt, sour cream, frozen corn, lunch meat, fresh fruits and veggies, black beans, ranch seasoning, roasted red peppers and milk and we spent $55.06, saving 32% or $25.51, a measly amount in my eyes.

But there were a few things we bought that weren't on sale and I didn't have a coupon for (which is highly unusual). Items like the frozen corn, sour cream, black beans, roasted red peppers and ranch seasoning were all full price with no coupons. I knew though that we weren't going to spend our full budget (just because the sale was lacking in my opinion) and decided to get a few things we wouldn't normally.

I used the black beans and roasted red peppers to make a parmesan black bean dip (I had the rest of the ingredients in my pantry - only needed parmesan cheese, italian dressing and green onions (which we left out)). We hadn't had it for a long time but had a bag of Lime tortilla chips open and it sounded good so that's what we did!

We've saved $1300.86 at Marsh alone this year.

Record your Life...Posting on Thursdays now have purpose!

2010-06-20T16:21:00.003-04:00

I have joined up with Mommy's Piggy Tales to share the stories of my youth - or at least what stands out to me in my memories. So be watching on Thursdays for the next 13 weeks (the first two weeks are done...you can find them in prior postings) for the story of my life as I remember.

I was thinking earlier today though about my dad (duh, it's Father's Day - of course I'm going to think about him!). I've been blessed when it comes to my dad and the dad-like figures in my life. I wanted to record for myself (and for my baby girl when she's older) my first memories of my dad and even my grandpas, both my mom's dad and my dad's dad.

There are two distinct memories of my dad that I keep in my head. I'm not sure how old I am in either one but I think I'm a bit older in the second memory, maybe five- or six-years-old.

In my first memory we are out in the yard behind Mrs. Bailey's house and we are just playing around. I know there were dandelions out, so it must have been spring and probably the weekend as well since he was at home with us and not at school. I don't remember my brother being there, so I'm thinking I was very young - two-years-old or just older than that and he wasn't outside with us. In this memory I'm plucking dandelions and he grabs one and swipes it under my chin to make it yellow. And that's about it to the memory. I think we even have pictures of this day, so maybe I just remember the pictures but it is in my mind as something I really remember taking part of.

The second memory of my dad isn't such a good one... My mom babysat for other kids and it involves Tammy, one of the girls who was at our house a lot and the only one I still to this day consider my "sister". I don't remember exactly what was going on or if it was early morning or late afternoon but I do know that my dad was leaving the house (he walked from our house to the school where he taught if the weather allowed...so it was morning when he was leaving or afternoon when he was going back for a sport practice or game) and I had yelled at my dad that I hated him. I honestly don't remember why I said it or what had happened to make me say it but I remember Tammy and I both got sent to separate rooms (she to mine and I to my parents) and I cried and cried and cried because I felt so horrible for even saying it.

To this day it makes me sick to my stomach to think I yelled that at my dad. And I'm guessing that he probably doesn't even remember this happening (although, as far as I can remember this is the only and only time I ever told my dad that). The comment also had no truth behind it. I love my daddy...he'll always be my one and only daddy.

As for my grandpas - for my maternal grandma, my earliest memory is standing between him and my grandma in their big 15-passenger van as we were headed to Kentucky. I don't remember puking in his pocket but apparently I did! I've heard the story a hundred times too. And I remember him playing his guitar too. Man could he sing! My earliest memory of my paternal grandpa is when I was older...probably seven- or eight-years-old and he kept calling me Windy because I did such a good job at blowing up the beach toys at the beach! He actually called me Windy for many, many years - every time we went to the beach!

And now...the daddy that is in my life daily is my husband. He is an *amazing* daddy to our baby girl. He is patient and nurturing and has a teaching way about him. Every little thing they do becomes a learning experience for her. He is her protector and comforter. I couldn't ask for a better daddy for her.

Who is your dad to you or your dad-like figures?

Booking It 2010 update - again!

2010-06-19T10:32:00.001-04:00

So I finished up the Carson Springs novels series by Eileen Goudge. They were such a good set of books! When I last shared about my reading progress I had some others to read still: James Patterson's Pop Goes the Weasel and two Karen Kingsbury books - Waiting for Morning and the next one in that series. Sadly, I took the second one back to the library without reading it because it was due, I'd already renewed it once and had other books I needed to read first (an inter-library loan book that can't be renewed). I also received The Help by Kathryn Stockett in between the Carson Springs novels and the two listed here so that kinda threw me for a loop. But Patterson's and Kingsbury's books are done and I'm to something new. Here's what I've read in the last couple of weeks and what I've got going on now...

James Patterson's Pop Goes the Weasel is the next book in the Alex Cross series. And while these books aren't listed as Book #1, Book #2, etc it truly helps to read them in the order he wrote them because each progressing book might refer back to a case in a previous book.

As with other Alex Cross novels, there is a search for a killer. A cold-blooded killer. There is always a lot of suspense and plenty of action. This one is about a killer who is playing a fantasy game online, a game called The Four Horsemen. But this killer has decided to take the fantasy game into reality. A synopsis on James Patterson's website says,

Detective Alex Cross is back- and he's in love. But his happiness is threatened by a series of chilling murders in Washington, D.C., murders with a pattern so twisted they leave investigators reeling. Cross's pursuit of the killer produces a suspect, a British diplomat named Geoffrey Shafer. But proving he's the murderer becomes a potentially deadly task. As Shafer engages in a brilliant series of surprising countermoves, Alex and his fiance become hopelessly entangled with the most memorable nemesis Cross has ever faced.

A great book (as always when it is coming from James Patterson!) that I couldn't put down - I'd recommend James Patterson's Alex Cross novels to anyone who enjoys a good mystery.

Once I finished up that one I picked up Karen Kingsbury's Waiting for Morning. I really enjoy Karen Kingsbury's books and this one was no different. When I pulled it off the shelf at the library I thought I had read it before but didn't remember how it ended. As I started reading, I knew it sounded familiar but a few chapters in I was completely blank. So I'm guessing I must have picked it up before and for whatever reason, never finished it. I'm glad I did now.

In this novel, Hannah Ryan seems to have the perfect life - a wonderful husband and two daughters who are the best of friends until a tragic accident tears it all apart. In the aftermath of the accident and then ensuing court battle against the drunk driver who caused the accident Hannah loses her faith in God and becomes a bitter, angry woman. With the help of a MADD advocate, the prosecutor on the case and the book of Lamentations from the Bible, Hannah finally finds the peace that she was so desperately looking for.

This was another quick read for me and I'm looking forward to getting the next book in this series (the one I had to take back).

And when we went to the library this past week I picked up Lynne Truss's Eat, Shoots & Leaves and a book called Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters by Meg Meeker which came from Dave Ramsey's recommended reading list. Dave says, “This is the best book available on being a father to daughters. I have two daughters, and this book inspired me. I liked it so much that I provided a copy for every dad on my team who has a daughter. If you are a dad with a daughter, you must read this book TODAY.” So while I'm the mom in the equation, I'm excited to read this book.

And finishing these two books will get me to 34 books read this year. When I first started Booking It 2010 I was scared to set a goal of one book a week because I didn't want to overwhelm myself. So I decided that reading 52 books in a year would be my goal. At this point we are 24 weeks into the year so I think I'm doing pretty well on my goal!

Kroger ad highlights - 6/17 to 6/23

2010-06-17T22:49:00.003-04:00

Not too much going on at Kroger this week either but there are a couple things I'm excited about!

Ground chuck - $1.79/lb (when you buy 3lbs or more)
Creamette pasta - $.88
Post cereals (Cocoa Pebbles - woohoo!) - 4/$5
Ronzoni pasta - 10/$10 (and if there have been any recent coupons this could be cheap or FREE pasta!)
Dial and Softsoap pumps - 10/$10 (match with $.35 or $.30 coupons for cheap soap)
Philly cream cheese - 4/$5 (match with recent $1 printable for cheap cream cheese)
Eckrich pepperoni - 10/$10
Kroger Meals Made Simple bacon pieces (woohoo!) - 10/$10

And that's it for me. Told you it was kinda boring...

Record your Life...My vague memories of being in preschool and kindergarten.

2010-06-17T22:28:00.002-04:00

Is it strange that when I think of preschool/kindergarten all I remember are boys? I don't remember a lot of those days but I do remember the boys. I've always had more male friends than female friends and it looks like that started as far back as when I was just five-years-old.

My only memory of preschool is Tom jumping out of the swing during play time and breaking his arms. Yes - that is plural. He broke both of his arms in that one jump. Now I'm sure he had jumped plenty of times from the swings at his house (where I spent some time in kindergarten playing, so I know he had swings) but for some reason when he look that leap on that particular day he landed just right and broke them both. I don't remember if an ambulance came (I'm sure it did) or if he had casts (I'm sure he did) or what happened after that. I just remember that he broke both arms.

And maybe I don't so much remember the actual act of him jumping but just remember hearing the stories...but I always associate preschool and Tom together.

When it comes to kindergarten I remember two boys...Joe and Matt. Joe is still in town, we see him at church every Sunday (at the same church where we all went to preschool together) and the thing I remember from kindergarten is only a memory to Joe as well. Matt though...well, I see his family around town but not Matt.

Joe had to wear leg braces in kindergarten (I don't remember him having them in preschool...although he could have). These leg braces prevented Joe from standing up straight and walking or even bending his knees. When he walked (only short distances) his legs were spread pretty far apart and he had to kind of rotate his hips to move one leg forward and then the other.

Because of these braces and the fact that our classroom was as far away from the playground as you could be (and still be in the school) Joe had to ride in a wagon to recess. Each student was able to take turns pulling Joe to the playground and it was quite the privilege to be able to do so. There is even a picture of a few of us (myself, Joe, Cherish, Tom and maybe Ky?) on the indoor slide and Joe was right in front on the slide with his legs and braces spread out in front of him...a memory forever saved in our kindergarten yearbook.

And why don't I see Matt? He was killed in a freak accident at a pumpkin patch in the fall of our kindergarten year. He was six. Brown eyes, brown hair - just a small kid still. He and his family had gone to a pumpkin patch one weekend and back then the wagons were pulled to the pumpkin fields by horse (they are now pulled by tractor).

No one is 100% sure what happened but the wagon driver recalled seeing some bees and there was a possibility that one of the horses got stung, causing it to bolt and the wagon flipped. Several people in the wagon and a couple standing nearby were hurt but Matt...he didn't make it.

To this day, I can still go to the elementary school and show you which tree we planted in Matt's memory that next spring. This all happened many years ago so that tree is now a huge shade tree that is a great place to sit under and remember and reminisce. I don't think of Matt nearly as much as I used to. I'll pass the school and see the tree and think of him or will see his younger sister (born after he was gone) and will remember. But he does cross my mind every so often and especially when I remember my kindergarten year.

Matt, Joe and Tom are a very delicate part of my early memories...

Click here to read why I love (and hate) my name.

Marsh ad highlights - 6/17 through 6/23

2010-06-16T18:59:00.002-04:00

Well - it looks like a boring week at Marsh (at least to me). There wasn't anything that really jumped out and grabbed me. Here's what you can check out though:

Thursday through Sunday only:
USDA Choice T-bone steaks - $5.98/lb (save $6.01/lb) - half price but too pricey for me still!
In-husk Bi-color corn - 8/$2 (save $3.36 on eight)
Wonder hot dog or hamburger buns - B1G1 FREE
Lay's potato chips - 2/$4 (save $3.98 on two)

For all sale dates:
Kellogg's - $1.99 (select types)
Marsh buns or bread - 10/$10 (save $4.90 on ten)
Boneless English roast - $1.98/lb (save $2.51/lb)
Kraft cheese (cubes, chunk or shredded) - 2/$4
Eckrich smoked sausage - 2/$5 (save $2.98 on two)
2lb strawberries - $2.98 (save $2.91)
Georgia peaches - $.99/lb (save $1.00/lb)
Morton salt pellets (yellow bag) - $3.99 (save $1.60 or more)
6-pack Coke 24oz bottles - 4/$9.88 (save $10.88 on four) - limit one offer, when you buy four in one transaction
Sara Lee deli lunch meat - $5.99/lb (save $1.70/lb)
Food Club sour cream, dip or Reser's dip - 10/$10
Prego - $1.89
La Choy - 25% off
Aunt Millie's bread or buns - B1G1 FREE
Thomas' english muffins - B1G1 FREE
Pop Secret - B1G1 FREE
Manwich - 10/$10
Betty Crocker cake mix - 10/$10
Campbell's pasta - 10/$10

And that's it. About the only thing I'm interested in is the Eckrich and the Lay's. I just might stick to that leftover $15 from last week!

Regular weekly shopping...

2010-06-14T20:09:00.000-04:00

was a GOOD trip - we stayed under budget for the week. Woohoo! Brian hates when I get a stockpiling bee in my bonnet but it makes so much sense. Really, it does. Here's what we got:

8 Cheez-Its (the smaller boxes) was $23.92 for $3.92
2 Keebler sticks was $7.98 for $1.99
2 Keebler NutCrisps was $7.58 for $1.79
(so 12 boxes of crackers for $7.70 - only $.64/box!)

1 Charmin Ultra 9roll was $9.18 for $5.99
3 OreIda fries was $11.34 for $5.00
2 pork loins was $21.17 for $12.16

And of course the staples like fresh fruits and veggies, lunch meat, deli salad (Shorty's FAVE!), pickle spears (Claussen's - 'cause they were on sale), yogurt, eggs, bread and milk and we spent only $59.25 - saving 51% or $61.38 for the week!

I had guesstimated our cart before picking up the toilet paper at $50 and the TP was $6 so I didn't do too bad on the guess. Now we've got $15 extra dollars to use for next week if we decide to do so. I wonder if we should try to spend only the $15? Hmmmm...that might be quite the challenge!

Record your Life...Why I love (and hate) my name.

2010-06-10T22:05:00.014-04:00

So...1977 was an interesting year for my parents. They found out they were going to have ME - their first born child...twins and boys at that! Or at least that was the story I've heard. I guess my mom was told by her doctor that she was carrying twins (the doctor thought he heard two heartbeats) and that it was boys (because of the slowness of the beats).

That was early in the pregnancy though and my parents later learned I was a girl...just one of me. By the time I was just about done baking, my parents decided to name me Dora Lynn (after my mom's older sister who had passed away a few years earlier, Doris, and my mom's middle name Lynn). Dora Lynn. They were going to call me Dori. And I would have been called Dorky Dori for all of my life. Or - been an airhead like Dori from Finding Nemo. Although, my dad swears if I had been twin boys he was going to name me Bozo and Zeke. I think Dorky Dori would have been better than that!

My mom went into labor and got to the hospital and had me within just a few hours (I guess women on her side of the family have quick births - even first-borns!). She called her younger sister and was sharing the excitement and all the details...how long I was, how much I weighed and that my parents were going to call me Casie.

Now - I was hours old at this point and couldn't know what my aunt said but I'm sure it went something like this:

Sandy: You're calling her what!?
Peggy: We're going to call her Casie. C-A-S-I-E, pronounced like Casey.
Sandy: Why in the heck are you doing that!?
Peggy: Well, we didn't want to call her Sandy and I don't like Cassie so we picked Casie.
Sandy: How in the world did you shorten Dora to Casie!?
Peggy: We didn't. We named her Cassandra Jean - after you.
Sandy: *sobbing, blubbery mess of tears*

Yep! Instead of being named after my mom's older sister, I was named after her younger one. Sandra Jean became Cassandra Jean, shortened to Casie for ease (and plenty of confusion in pronunciation).

Why do I love my name? It's a family name and while I might make fun of my aunt (she is truly an airhead!) I love her to pieces and there is no one else I'd rather be named after. Why do I hate my name? Most people look at it and immediately think Cassie - there is only ONE 'S' people! That makes it CASIE. Like Casey. Like the boys name. I often wish my mom had spelled it the boys way too... But I love my name. It's unique but not totally off the wall either.

Cassandra Jean - that's me.

Why I Relay...

2010-06-10T21:59:00.001-04:00

In my daily life I don’t think about cancer. I don’t wake up and think about it, I don’t think about it during the day and I don’t go to sleep thinking about it yet it affects me and my family every day. As much as I do not think about it (and as morbid as the thought is), I’m pretty sure I will have some form of cancer in my lifetime.

Cancer is a disease that touches EVERYONE you know in some way. I’d be willing to bet a lot of money that there isn’t a single person out there who doesn’t know someone who has been touched by this disease.

I have lost three of my four grandparents to cancer. My mom’s dad (Barney Belt) smoked for many years and spent just as many years working in the coal mines in Kentucky and the steel mills in Indiana. Lung cancer took him from us on February 15th, 1991 after a seven month battle with cancer.

My dad’s parents (Gerald John and Joan Bachman) passed within six weeks of each other in 1999. My grandpa had been fighting leukemia for two years and passed June 27. My grandma was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March and she lost her battle just two months later on May 22.

My brother spent four months in Florida the beginning of that year. He went to help take care of our grandpa and then ended up taking care of our grandma too. At the end, she didn’t know who he was or who she was but at 20-years-old he was there taking daily care of her while my grandpa struggled to take care of himself.

No child should have to take care of their grandparent like that. No parent should have to take care of their child like that. No one should have to face the devastating effects of cancer and the pain and hurt that it causes everyone involved.

I am walking in the Frankfort Relay for Life in hopes that one day a cure will be found, so that when LeeAnn is 13-years-old that she won’t lose her first grandparent to this disease. I’m walking so that when she is 40-years-old that she won’t have to watch her dad or I succumb to the disease. I’m walking so that there is no chance that her children will be affected by the disease. I’m walking so no one I know will have to fight for themselves or for their family members against this disease. I’m walking so that one day no one will have to fight this disease.

If you have any questions about Relay for Life in general, you can contact 1-800-ACS-2345 or visit www.relayforlife.org for more information. If you're interested in learning more about Clinton County's Relay (for 2010 or in the future), please let me know - I'd be glad to answer any questions you have.

A quick Booking It update...

2010-06-10T07:20:00.004-04:00

I got The Help! I got The Help! And it was A.MAZING.

First recommended by another Booking It participant, I thought this book sounded great from the first mention. I quickly put myself on the waiting list at our local library. I took my kiddo and niece into the library for Story Hour last Thursday and renewed a couple other books and then found a quiet corner to read. As I was leaving a little while later - the girls from the front desk hollered at me and said a book I had requested was ready (in the 45 minutes between renewing my books and leaving) and it was The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited!

If you've read any Jodi Picoult then you've seen this style of writing...several people (in this case three women) telling the story every few chapters...each woman's story intertwining with the other stories. A #1 New York Times bestseller - this book is extremely well written and for me...is so hard to even wrap my mind around.

Three women, Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny are living in Jackson, Mississippi in 1962...not all that extraordinary until you realize Skeeter is white and Aibileen and Minny are black and are maids for Skeeter's friends. And Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960's was not a friendly place to be for blacks or anyone who supported the movement of equality between blacks and whites.

Now...I don't claim to be a genius or to hide away from things that happened in the past or even currently but I sometimes have a hard time wrapping my mind around things. Events like 9/11 or Katrina hit me but I can't totally comprehend what happened in these places. I know about them because I'm a big news hound and will stay glued to the TV, newspapers and news websites for hours on end but really...unless you are there and experiencing it - how can one truly understand?

This book is the same thing...I know the history of the United States and slavery and how poorly blacks were treated but really? In 1962? This was happening? Really!? My mom was 10-years-old in 1962 and for some reason I just can't see my family having a maid (well, for one they were poor and for two they lived in Northern Indiana) and maybe if they had lived in Mississippi they would have but to me 1962 doesn't seem that long ago and it seems like the kind of treatment that happened in this book should have been long over...but I also know that it still happens - even today in 2010. It is just hard for me to even understand.

The flap says, "Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed."

An incredibly moving story...this is one book you shouldn't miss and one book you won't be able to put down until you've read every single page.

Want a great way to tell your life story to your kids?

2010-06-09T21:14:00.001-04:00

Check out Mommy's Piggy Tales new series!

Visit her today and plan on linking up weekly to share about your life! I'll be working on my post for tomorrow throughout the day and linking up in the evening... This is a great (and easy) way to get your life story on paper (or on the computer) for your children to enjoy at a later date. And who knows - you just might enjoy your trips down memory lane as well!

Marsh ad highlights - 6/10 to 6/16

2010-06-09T21:07:00.001-04:00

Bummed you missed some great deals with Marsh's Mega Sale? Don't be! It looks like the sale is on again this week - with all of the exact same items!

Click here to see the Mega Sale items from last week!

Perdue thighs and drumsticks - $.98/lb (save at least $.81/lb)
Keebler or Kellogg's crackers/snacks/cookies - B1G1 FREE (save $3.18 or more on two...free item must be the same kind as purchased item)
Ore-Ida potatoes - 3/$5 (save $4.89 or more on three...when you buy three in one transaction, more or less than three will be $2.50 each)
Emge roll sausage - B1G1 FREE
Butterball turkey (patties/burgers/links) - B1G1 FREE
Oscar Mayer wieners/bologna - B1G1 FREE (free item must be same kind as purchased item)
Eckrich loaf or variety pack - B1G1 FREE (free item must be same kind as purchased item)
Tom's snacks - B1G1 FREE
Krispy crackers - B1G1 FREE
Kool-Aid drink mix - B1G1 FREE
Ore-Ida Bagel Bites - B1G1 FREE
Sunbeam bread - B1G1 FREE
Home Pride bread - B1G1 FREE
Smart Balance sour cream - B1G1 FREE
Reser's potatoes - B1G1 FREE
Aunt Millie's buns - B1G1 FREE
White bread (from the deli) - B1G1 FREE
Garden Fresh salads (in the deli area) - B1G1 FREE
Hostess Donettes - B1G1 FREE
Food Club stuffed manzanilla olives - B1G1 FREE
Emeralds snack nuts - B1G1 FREE
Orville Redenbacher's popcorn - B1G1 FREE
Kozy Shack pudding - B1G1 FREE
Famous Amos cookies - B1G1 FREE
Food Club seasoning or gravy mix - B1G1 FREE
Miceli's ricotta cheese - B1G1 FREE
Kellogg's cereals - 3/$4.98
Sunny Delight - 10/$10
Charmin or Bounty - $6.49
Red or Green seedless grapes - $1.48/lb (save $1.51/lb)
Del Monte Gold whole pineapples - $2.99
5lb bag of Idaho Russet potatoes - B1G1 FREE
Yogurt or chocolate pretzels (in the produce section) - B1G1 FREE
Concord Foods smoothie mix (in the produce section) - B1G1 FREE

And so what do you do with all those things where you B1G1 FREE? If you don't plan on using the second item, give it to a friend or donate it to Salvation Army or a shelter. Or go with a friend and split the cost of the one item so you're paying just half price for the one item you get. You could even just approach another shopper and say, "Hey - I'm buying this item but don't need the second, would you use it?" And just give it to them...doing this after you check out (so maybe to another shopper as they are leaving) so you're sure the items are scanned and paid for properly. I'll be doing one of these things with the two bags of potatoes I end up with - I'll only need one!

Regular weekly grocery shopping... Ugh.

2010-06-07T20:59:00.003-04:00

If we don't quit blowing budget, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with myself! This is the second week in a row that we have WAY blown the budget. I even had to use the debit card...I had no other cash with me. Dang it. Well - here's what we got!

Bounty was $10.28 for $5.99
Charmin was $9.18 for $5.99
11 cans Stokely's veggies was $11.55 for $5.50 (eight being donated to church)
4 cans Libby's fruit was $7.40 for $4.00 (donated to church)
1 Food Club black pepper was $3.59 for $1.80 (closeout - marked 50% off)
2 Ken's marinades was $5.98 for $2.99 (B1G1 FREE)
10 Kraft Velveeta shells and cheese was $18.70 for $9.90
2 Shamrock Farms milk was $2.78 for $0.00 (FREE!)
2 Edy's ice cream was $10.98 for $2.98
3 Tombstone pizzas was $17.34 for $8.97
2 Dean's gallon milk was $5.98 for $3.98
2 Lawry's marinades was $6.58 for 3.29 (closeout - marked 50% off)

Along with slice cheese, lunch meat, yogurt, cottage cheese, cream cheese, bread and fresh fruits and veggies we spent $95.35 and saved $69.60 or 42%. Not spectacular but not too bad either...at least the savings part of it. The spending part is killing me though. We have GOT to behave these next few weeks!

Week of 5/7 through 5/28 grocery budget

2010-06-05T16:58:00.000-04:00

Okay, I know straight up I blew budget this month! We went into last weekend knowing that with all the Coke and Pepsi products we were buying, that there was no hope of not going over. But we decide together that it's wise for us to do that every so often to get a deal that we don't want to pass up. I'm actually going to break down my listings below...so I can see how close my regular shopping did in comparision to the budget.

5/7 Kroger - 3.41, saved .84 (21%)
5/7 Kroger - 16.00, saved 28.00 (63%)
5/8 Marsh - 5.38, saved 9.40 (65%)
5/8 Marsh - 51.19, saved 68.84 (58%)
5/15 Marsh - 1.39, saved 1.30 (48%)
5/16 Marsh - 56.84, saved 25.62 (31%)
5/16 Walmart - 17.53, saved 5.94 (appx - based on Walmart's "regular" price versus the rollback price) (25%)
5/22 Marsh - 60.47, saved 78.19 (56%)
5/22 CVS - 2.01, saved 17.00 (appx 90%) - used gift card
5/22 CVS - 5.19, saved 19.97 (appx 80%) - used gift card and left with $5 in ECBs too
5/23 Marsh - 68.64, saved 57.20 (46%)

5/28 Walmart - 27.01, saved 6.04 (appx - based on Walmart's "regular" price versus the rollback price)
5/28 Walmart - 40.30, saved 18.08 (appx - based on Walmart's "regular" price versus the rollback price)
5/29 Walmart - 12.00, saved 17.76 (appx - based on Walmart's "regular" price versus the rollback price)
5/29 Walmart - 24.08, saved 8.12 (appx - based on Walmart's "regular" price versus the rollback price)

5/30 Marsh - 93.37, saved 73.54 (45%) - and about $20 of this was stockpiling pop and razors

Total spent (EVERYTHING): 484.81
Total spent (subracting CVS (gift cards) and stockpiling): 354.22 (bummer dude...over budget by $54.22!)

Total saved (EVERYTHING): 435.84
Total saved (subtracting CVS (gift cards) and stockpiling): 328.87

Percentage saved (EVERYTHING): appx. 47%
Percentage saved (subtracting CVS (gift cards) and stockpiling): 48%

So... For sure not the best month but there have been some months were it was worse! I just have to keep working on it and see where we get to. I'm thinking this next month will be better because we got a LOT of stuff in the last few weeks!

Marsh ad highlights - June 3rd to June 9th

2010-06-02T19:26:00.000-04:00

Ready for another Mega Sale? You better be because Marsh has one starting tomorrow! As always, save $5 instantly when you buy 10 specially marked items. There is no limit on these - so you can buy 50 of the specially marked items and save $25! Match these sale prices with coupons and you've got even better deals!

Mega Sale items (price after final reduction of $.50 per item)
Kraft, Food Club or Sargento cheese (select varieties) - $1.49
Dean's milk (gallon) - $1.99
Kellogg's cereals or Nutri-Grain bars - $1.99
TombStone 12-inch pizzas - $2.99
Kraft Velveeta shells and cheese - $.99
Gatorade Thirst Quencher - $.58
Minute Maid or Simply Orange - $2.49
Keebler or Nabisco snacks - $1.99
Keebler Cheez-It snacks - $1.49
Kellogg's bars or fruit snacks - $1.49
CapriSun or Kool-Aid Jammers - $1.29
Kraft cheese - $2.49 (includes Deluxe - which has had recent coupons and string - which is a fave at our house)
Dean's cottage cheese - $1.49
Bull's-Eye BBQ sauce - $.99
Edy's or Dean's ice cream - $2.49
Jell-O, Yoplait yogurt or frozen smoothies - $1.99
Pillsbury strudel, scrambles or pancakes - $1.49
Marie Callender's pot pies or dinners - $1.99
Swiss sweet tea - $.99
Wanchai Ferry - $5.49
Welch's grape juice - $2.99
Palmolive - $1.99
Olay or Gillette - $3.19
Juicy Juice - $1.99
Food Club ketchup - $.69
Food Club dressing - $1.39
Yoplait fridge pack - $3.49
Yoplait greek yogurt - $.49

Perdue boneless, skinless breasts - $1.87/lb (save $2.62/lb)
Vine ripe or Red Roma tomatoes - $.99/lb (save up to $1.50/lb)
Stokely's vegetables - 2/$1 (save $.98 on two)
Food Club butter quarters - $1.88
Center Cut boneless pork loin - $2.28/lb (save $1.71/lb)
Hershey's or Dean's milk - 10/$10
Libby's fruit cocktail, peaches or pears - 10/$10
Brownberry wide pan bread - B1G1 FREE
Ken's salad dressings or marinades - B1G1 FREE
Mission tortillas - $1.79 (match with recent $1.00 of blinkies for cheap shells!)
Aunt Millie's breads or buns - $1.29
Snapple teas and juice drinks - 10/$10
Bounty or Charmin - $6.49 (match either with recent $.25 coupons for $5.99 prices)
Handi-foil pans - B1G1 FREE (great if you plan on a bake sale or taking meals to a shut-in or new mom, etc)
Secret - $3.48 (not the best price by any means but probably as about as cheap as I'll find it right now when I match with a $.50 coupon)

And that's it for me! Well - that's more than enough for me - that's what I see as the good (or better) bargains in this next week's ad.

Made a quick trip to Marsh for my granny and had to share!

2010-06-02T18:58:00.001-04:00

Since she's gotten older, my grandma has gotten to the point where 99.7% of her meals are eaten on paper plates. She loves Dixie plates (not sure why those are just what she buys) and they were on sale at Marsh this week - add in the fact that there were coupons in a recent Red Plum insert and I had a deal on my hands!

8 Dixie paper plates (four big/four small) was $30.00 for $8.00

By the time you add in tax I spent $8.84 but I saved $22.00 - that's 73%! That's probably one of my higher percentages for recent trips - too bad it was for her (meaning I used the debit card for her account) rather than mine (which would greatly help my percentages for the month)! I'm glad I was able to get a good deal for her though - now instead of buying them at the store when she needs plates, she'll just have to let me know she needs them and I'll be over to stock her up (she's not got the space to keep them really).

Booking It 2010 update

2010-06-01T21:29:00.002-04:00

I went to the library recently in search of something to read - I had nothing in mind and nothing was really jumping out at me. I remembered though that I'd read an Eileen Goudge book called Woman in Red some time ago and decided to pick up a couple of her novels.

Well - I picked up just one at first...Stranger in Paradise - the first of three books in a mini-series called "A Carson Springs Novel." I read 20 pages of it last Thursday night before I fell asleep...Friday I finished the other 301 pages (at 1:30am Saturday technically - I couldn't put it down!). The story of a mom, Sam, who in her late 40's falls in love with a man (who just so happens to be more than 15 years younger than her and her youngest daughter's step-son - yeah, did you catch that?) and ends up pregnant (while her oldest daughter has been trying for years to conceive and is now divorced because her husband left her when she couldn't provide children). The story that folds is one of love, family and learning that life isn't what it seemed to be. A fabulous story that makes you feel like you're in Carson Springs - you won't want the story to end.

Because I finished the first one so quickly I HAD to get my hands on the other two (I knew there were more but only got the first one because I had also picked up two Karen Kingsbury novels which I have yet to touch) and so I went to the library that Saturday afternoon!

It actually took me almost another week to finish the next book, Taste of Honey. It wasn't that it wasn't just as smashing as the first - I had meetings and/or prior engagements Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights this past week and just didn't have the time to sit down and read like I like to. It was the story of Gerry (the best friend of Sam in the first book), a middle-aged divorced mom of two (well, three) who gave up a daughter for adoption and the trials she faces when she reaches out to that older daughter - and how it affects her family at home as well as the life of the adopted daughter. Throw in a love interest who is famous and mourning the death of his wife and you have another novel that was splendidly written with clear details and a great story line. When I read the front cover and there was a quote from Kristin Hannah (Firefly Lane and Between Sisters) that said, "This wonderful novel is filled with characters as real and honest as your own best friends," I knew this was going to be a good one!

So I finished that one up on Saturday morning and started the third one, Wish Come True, that morning as well. I'm not quite halfway though it yet but it is just as good as the first two! The story is about another Carson Springs resident, Anna Vincent who is employed by her sister, Monica, and whose life comes crashing down on her when Monica is found dead, floating in her pool at her house, LoreiLinda. I've just gotten to the part where Anna meets the man the flap describes as "an ally" who becomes her partner in the hunt for the real murderer. You'll see Sam and Gerry again, along with other characters mentioned in the other Carson Springs novels...it'll be just like being home again!

If you're looking for some good reads, I would highly recommend these books! There were a few love scenes that surprised me (while I was reading at work!) and a tiny bit of foul language but everything else that is amazing about these books way outweighs the tiny bit of bad.

Now, I still have to finish Wish Come True plus the two Karen Kingsbury novels I picked up almost two weeks ago AND the James Patterson novel (Cat and Mouse maybe? Pop Goes the Weasel? I can't remember which) that I picked up before the long weekend (just in case I needed it!). I'm gonna be busy these next two weeks or so!