Snowy Saturday

Its funny, I've been sitting here at work for 3 hours and the minute I stop reading and start typing my blog for the day, a customer pulls up.

Ok now that that's done.

Whole family has a nasty runny nose and I suspect the headaches and sore throat has got the kids as well as Brent and I though they can't really tell me as well as Brent can. I've got a nice thick cough that I expect Brent will have tomorrow (because he's about one day behind me in this sickness). The OB okayed me on Robitussin DM and I've been taking that pretty regularly because I can't take any more time off work and the first night I was sick I couldn't sleep at all and that just won't work for me when I've only got a few weeks til Judah shows up.

My sister called this morning to tell me they got snow in Charleston. I'm really happy for them because I don't think Alisha or Tim have ever really seen snow at all... The way I understand it they got "a few inches" though from the pictures I think I'd say they got about an inch, since it's not even stuck to the trees. David said people are calling in to work because it's not safe to drive and places are staying closed... haha.

Well, okay, last year here would've been the same. The beginning of the winter this year, maybe then as well. But today we have about 3 inches on the ground -- the good fluffy kind, too. This is about our 4th or 5th snow this winter, each time we've gotten between 2 and 5 inches. I'm glad Charleston finally got some but it's funny how we southerners react when we get snow and ice on the ground.... as if the little patches of white on the grass would impact our ability to drive. In Charleston, its more difficult to drive when it rains since all the water sits on the road and drains to nowhere. Haha. Well, they'll live through it I'm sure. Clint lives in Minnesota (Brent's brother) and keeps picking on me for complaining about the cold and the snow on Facebook. He thinks its funny when we talk about the 3 inches we got like it was significant or worth noting on FB.


I'm looking forward to Brent having tomorrow off. His new schedule is officially in effect. He works Tues-Saturday 9-6 and is off on Sundays and Mondays. It's REALLY good. And, he's been really encouraged lately by a few things.

#1) the boss (coop)that he has a hate/hate relationship with that got that promotion/move thing called him up this morning because there was a position open along with the one Coop got traveling around and working visual sets for other stores. It'd be a bit of a raise for Brent but he'd be traveling 5 days of the week. Anyway, Coop called to ask Brent if he wanted the job because Coop was asked if there was anyone he'd like to have work with him and Brent was the only one he'd want to bring from the shop he worked in Dalton. Brent was very flattered, though he had to decline due to the travel thing.

#2) There's a girl that's been working with Brent for some time named Sam. Brent and Sam have always been complete polar anomilties. One day they get along great, laugh, talk about crazy things they're both into (she's an EMT and Brent studies alot of health stuff being a CPT). The next day they both hate eachother's guts and try to get eachother fired. Don't know why. Brent has always tried on the bad days to be encouraging and sweet and all to Sam but there are days nothing worked to make the day better. I could tell you all kinds of horror stories about their days working together... Anyways, it'd been more bad than good for a long time, and Sam got a job offer working on an ambulance (what she went to school for, just hadn't landed a job yet). Friday was her last day. Sam didn't make it a point to say goodbye to anyone, she didn't even say it to most people she worked with, she just left. But, she made it a point to say goodbye to Brent and give him a hug and she cried! (what?!) Anyway, it was funny and in a strange way encouraging because Brent had always tried so hard to be kind to her and she apparently felt that he cared about her enough to realize he'd miss her.... (in a totally plutonic way).

Oh, my Walgreens deal of the week. OK so me and Tamara were watching the sales, waiting for a good diaper deal. We've been watching Walgreens for a few weeks because they've been running a $9.99 Huggies sale and you get $3 register rewards (a voucher off your next purchase) and we had a $2 off cupon from the manufacture. This would leave the diapers at $5 a pack (for 30-something diapers). Well, you had to buy like 3 packs to get this deal and it just wasn't quite good enough to really justify the purchase... It was a good deal, sure, but it netted out to be about the same as buying Luv's in bulk at Walmart. This week, they went down to $8.99 and we were thrilled because that was a good deal. THEN -- Friday, Walgreens ran a 15%off sale on all products. So, the diapers were actually $7.65 a pack. Plus, the $2 off cupon and $3 register rewards, they netted out at $2.65 a pack. BUT - there is also another sale at Walgreens for Men's Dove Body wash (which we also had a cupon for) to get a $6 and get $6 in RR when you bought it... Here's what we did:
1) Buy Men's body wash for $5.99 & a 99c box of kleenex (which i needed, coulda picked some cheap candy though) ($6.98)
-- Save 15% making it $5.94
-- use a $1.50 manufacture's cupon
-- use a $3 RR from a previous transaction (counts as a cupon, which is why you needed the candy)
-- Pay $1.44 plus tax (about $2)
-- Recieve $6 RR back!!
2) Buy Huggies for $8.99 & a 39c piece of candy ($9.38)
-- Save 15% making it $7.54
-- use a $2 manufacture cupon
-- use the $6 RR from last purchase
(which idk why they took this because then my total is actually -6c)
-- but yeah, I paid around 93c
-- Recieve $3 RR back!! (which I just used on the dove LOL)
Repeat steps one and two as many times as they have packs of diapers in the size you need. In my case, that would be 3 packs of diapers. I did something similar at another 2 stores and included a money-making deal on Wet Ones wipes (they were on sale for 2/$2 ($1.70 each with 15% off) with a $1 RR, I had a 75c cupon per pack, so I made money on the deal really...) instead of using kleenex

So my net total for the weekend is about $15 and here's what I got:
5 packs of Huggies (2 newborns and 3 size 4's)
5 bottles of Men's dove's body wash
5 boxes of Kleenex
4 bottles of Wet Ones
3 boxes of conversational hearts
a bottle of robitussin -- lol which I needed.


Well I absolutely have to clean my kitchen this week. And I have to find some good uses for Evaporated milk, canned beans, and other canned veggies. We cleaned out our regular cabinet because there was too much stuffed in there and I have realized that we have ALOT of food behind there!! WIC has started giving us all sorts of extra food, if you remember me talking about it in December. Anyway, one thing they give us in excess is Evaporated Milk. We get 8 cans a month. What do I do with it? I have about 20 cans and need to start doing something with it. And then, of course, they've bumped up our cereal to 9 boxes a month (too much) so I'm taking like 10 boxes to church tomorrow because we just can't keep up. And with the cuponing I've got Hunts sauce backstocked and I've got plenty of canned veggies because I can only go through the fresh produce so quickly and we get $20/month for it and I'd hate to just waste it when I can buy canned and put it back for future use cuz that stuff takes like 4 years to expire....

Basically Brent and I have decided we need to start using all the WIC food more and stop using WIC for primarily milk & cheese. So, we comitted to spending little-no money on food this month. I spent $40 at the store to buy sauces and mixes and spices and things to basically supplement it, but between wic and the meats I've backstocked and frozen, we have plenty to eat if we just EAT it. So, that's really good, its just going to take a bit extra work and a bit less "honey it's late, let's just grab a pizza." We might have to buy little things to go with every now and then to give us variety with all our food, but making a can of green beans or spinach with a meal is VERY easy (given the pots are clean.......... )

which brings me back to point 1 of this part of my blog and that was that I need to wash dishes. Really, I'd love to buy a new dishwasher with our taxes this year but we have debts we need to resolve and money we need to invest in our movie and spending a few hundred on it because I'm lazy and don't want to wash the dishes just isn't on the top of the to-do list. It's been hard enough to convince Brent to let us pay off debts instead of planning to pay them off through the year (which is always the plan and never happens).

Really, I just need to get off my lazy butt and wash the dishes more often. It's just never the top of my priority list... I get the trash out, the kids rooms cleans, bathrooms clean, floors swept, laundry cleaned and put away... and then I look at the kitchen and realize I'm out of time.

Well, that's life I guess. Being a grown up and taking care of your own crap. LOL. I'm gonna go shop target.com and see about finding a carseat... maybe I'll stumble across a cupon for one too!!