Thanksgiving 2009

It is just after 8:00 am as I type this.  My family, dog, and cat are all sleeping peacefully.  The house is quiet.  Soon we will all be awake, eating our canned cinnamon rolls (family tradition from way back) and awaiting the feast.  I will put together my broccoli-rice casserole, and we will prepare to fry the turkeys.  Somewhere, though in all of this preparation, we must remember the reason for this day.

Giving thanks.  

I do not have to think long to realize what I am thankful for.  I am thankful for my God, His son Jesus, and His Spirit.  What a wonderful trio to have on your side. I cannot imagine my life without them.  I am thankful for my family, both immediate and extended.  I think that many of us would say that. I am thankful for my health.  Very thankful. 

Please take a few minutes this year, and seriously give thanks. 

This post is short, but I wanted to at least remind myself to give thanks. 

Weekend Wrap Up

This has been a pretty good weekend. Believe it or not, it did not involve shopping!  On Friday husband took me to the spine clinic to be evaluated by a specialist.  She agreed that my SI joint is more than likely the source of my problems, although she did look at my X-rays and say, "That's arthritis, that's arthritis, that's arthritis, and that's arthritis."   Gettin' old, I tell ya.  

She gave me an arsenal of drugs to get me through until about 3 weeks from now when I will get an injection in the joint.  One drug was a muscle relaxer.  It relaxed me alright, I went to bed at about 10:00 Friday evening and did not wake up until 10:30 Saturday morning! 

Friday evening husband and I spent a quiet night at home eating leftovers and watching a movie.

On Saturday, after I finally got up, I spent the morning piddling around my house doing odd jobs and catching up on some paperwork.  Saturday evening we took husband's folks along as we went to pick up our youngest.  He was visiting our oldest.  Youngest will be home for a week-long break from school.  We had a nice dinner at Cracker Barrel before returning home. 

Sunday after church we rested a bit, then took husband's parents to another town for a family get together.  It was nice seeing this side of husband's family.   

We had a pretty full week-end, and I am getting anxious now for Thursday to spend time with even more family.  

Life is good,

Kudos to Target and Kohl's

Good customer service will mean a lot this holiday season.  Let me give shout outs to both Target and Kohl's!  

Husband and I had a quick date night tonight and took advantage of a quick trip out to eat and to two of my favorite stores. We made such great time and were back home by 7:15!  Plus, the deals were sweet!

Target:  

I purchased everything in the picture for just $16.53.  Without coupons, and using just Target's sale prices,  I would have paid $37.49.  Because of being able to stack Target coupons with manufacturer coupons, I was able to get the Del Monte vegetables for just .20 per can. The fruit came in at .57 per can, but would have cost .95 each.  The Reynold's Wrap cost just $1.00 each due the sale price and manufacturer's coupons. The Ritz Crackers were just .50 per box, thanks to both Target and Manufacturer's coupons.  The Pledge Fabric Sweeper was free with a free item coupon.  The cheese was on sale and I used one of the $1.50 off of 2 lbs of any brand cheese coupons. 

Now, this is why I am impressed with Target. 

On our way home I realized that the cashier accidently rang up 2 Pledge Fabric Sweepers.  I called the store from my cell phone and explained the situation.  After giving the customer service girl the receipt numbers, she was able to credit back $5.00 to my debit card right then and there.  No return trip to the store for a refund!  That was quite impressive!

Now on to Kohl's--

See my nice new kitchen rugs?  I have needed new rugs for a very long time.  I have actually been hanging on to one for quite a while that our dog got hold of a long time ago.  Let me say that a rug with fringe on the ends is not good for dogs or for Dysons.   

Anyway.  

Last week I did major Christmas shopping at Kohl's.  I had received a 30% discount and I take advantage of those when I get them.  I charge what I want and then pay it off.  Because of this I also earned a lot of Kohl's Cash.  I planned on using the Kohl's Cash for new kitchen rugs.  The rugs I wanted go on sale TOMORROW.  However, the kind man at customer service let me have the sale price tonight!  After the sale price,  I had an additional 15% off due to my "pick a day", and then I used my Kohl's Cash.  I was able to purchase rugs that would have cost $140.00  for a total of $11.85!   Now, I am sure I would not have ever paid $140.00 for these rugs.  But I would have probably been willing to pay  more than $11.85.   (click on receipt to enlarge) 

So, there you have it.  Two really good experiences at two of my favorite stores, plus our night out turned out to be a very frugal one! 

(I just noticed that if Kohl's had given me my 15% discount BEFORE using my Kohl's Cash, that my balance would have been much less.  I am not going to complain though.  I still only paid $11.85.)

House Party Rocks!

Remember the free chocolate delivered to my door?  That was courtesy of House Party, a word-of-mouth group that sends merchandise for you to share with your friends or tell them about.  Well, I hit the gold mine again, because I just found out I have been selected to host a Rowenta Project Style House Party.  While I will not be able to hand out Rowenta irons, I do get a FREE Rowenta Pressure Iron and Steamer!  I am really excited about this.  I do get some cool freebies for my friends and I will be letting them in on my plan soon.  The premise of this party is really cool.  You are to get your friends together, each are to bring 2-3 articles of clothing that they do not want and you then press and share!  Sounds fun to me, and I have tons of clothes that I am not wearing.    

If you have not joined House Party, then you need to soon.  My first few events were pretty simple, but since then I have been able to get some great things! 

I Smell Christmas...

Ahhh, I love me a bargain. 

Today I hit (husband says, "Robbed") Walgreens.  Thanks to making money there last week (Lubriderm and Almay) I had a  very nice stash of Register Rewards.   Between those, manufacturer's coupons, and store coupons, I was able to snag all of this for only $5.12 out of our pocket.  Without any deals, this would have cost $67.68.   Now, that is a high price compared to Wal-Mart, but the deals were not at Wal-Mart.  I still have $23.00 in Register Rewards in my purse. 

If it wasn't so pretty out today I would go bake something. 

Pain of the Month Club

I would like to officially welcome you to The Pain of the Month Club!  Membership is free, all you have to do is be over 50 years old and seriously out of shape.  You may NOT cancel at any time.  Well you could, but if you cancel this membership, then  ALL of your benefits will expire. (and I do mean EXPIRE)  So, once you join, you are in for life and you might as well get used to it!  

You will love this club, because everyday is a new adventure.  A different body part quits working, hurts, or rebels every day.  At times you get the satisfaction of a prolonged visit of a certain ailment, but for the most part your misery is made new every day. 

You will meet friends you once only dreamed of and you will really get the "gist" of it when you get to know them. Yeah, I do mean the "gist" of it :  cardioloGIST,  endocrinoloGIST, gastroenteroloGIST, and many more new friends. 

 Then,  if you are really lucky you get to know physical therapists.  Otherwise known as physical TERRORISTS!   They are meant to do good, but I think they forgot about that oath that says, "First, do no harm."   

So, if you are not a sissy, and can take it, welcome to my club!

Day 2 on the treadmill

I am on a roll!  If you can call 2 days "a roll".  I made it for another 30 minutes tonight and upped my speed to 3 mph.  

I will "blog" again soon, but tonight is pretty full.

A Date with the Treamill

I am happy to report tonight that the treadmill and I had a sweet reunion.  After dusting it off (literally) I managed to walk a full 20 minutes .  Now, I realize I was only going 2.7 mph, but it has been a while.  At least I did not fly off the back again.  My sister and I are holding each other accountable in making a few wise choices. I feel pretty good.