STRIKE

As most of my good friends already know, this is day 3 of a strike between our teacher's union and our school district. I would much rather be in class than on the picket line, so I am praying tonight for an agreement to be reached. My mind is pretty consumed with this right now.

Much ado about everything!

What a busy weekend. On Friday as soon as I got home from school we headed off to take youngest to his college town... without an apartment. We were glad that he has a friend whose mom was willing to take him in until an apartment opens up, and hopefully that will happen this week. We were also glad that he has an art studio that can hold some extra things.

Saturday I dove into things around here and re-claimed my house! I tackled youngest's room first and brought it up to my standards. Then I went through room by room putting things away and finding places for more of the things we brought home from husband's folk's house. Problem is, we are still bringing things home and trying to find room for them. I am almost paranoid about finding places right away, lest my home looks like one featured on a popular TV show about people with extreme clutter.

Saturday evening I was struck by some strange bug that threw my tummy for a loop which altered our plans a bit. It finally settled down around midnight.

Today was a full day, beginning with church. We then went to the folk's for Sunday brunch at the apartment complex. After that we went to their old house to do more cleanup and to bring a car load of things home. (most of those have already found their place) I also put 12 quarts of diced tomatoes up for the freezer. We were honored today to attend a 100th birthday party of the oldest and longest member of our church. What a great celebration!

Our oldest son popped in later this afternoon for a brief visit on his way through town, so he, husband and I and our friend all went out to get a bite to eat. It was a short visit, but it was good to spend a little time with him.

I think I am ready for school tomorrow, to greet and meet our new class, and to get the year underway.
After this weekend, I might even relax a bit at school!

So Long Summer

Tomorrow is the first day of school. I am never ready for the first day of school, but once I get there, I am okay. I am fighting a back to school headache tonight though, so I will be more ready when that goes away.

It was a busy summer, I did not check a lot off of my own list, but I was able to help a lot with the important job of moving the in-laws. I am grateful to have been able to help as I did. My own stuff will get done in time. Things will actually slow down now that the folks are moved, school is starting and youngest will be moving back to his school.

Funny, I will go back to school to relax!

OY Vey

Will things ever slow down? We have husband's folks mostly settled in, we have had the big sale, and more family is coming in tomorrow to help with the cleanup of what is left before closing on the house. I should be able to breathe easier, right. Not yet, because school starts the day after tomorrow for me, and youngest has to pack in the next two days for his return to school. We have a major prayer request in that department, so all of you prayer warriors, start praying that his placement on the list for an apartment on campus advances by leaps and bounds in the next 3 days. There was a mix up with his application for fall, and as of yet, he has no apartment. We are praying really hard around here for this to fall into place.

My house needs attention, but may not get all the attention it deserves until Saturday. I can live with that.

So, since my time is precious right now, I will keep this short and sweet, and request prayers from all of my friends that an apartment opens up. Soon.

Welcome Coupon Class!

If you are here for the first time from my coupon class, welcome! You were all so gracious and loving as I shared my crazy lifestyle. Thanks for your encouragement and attention. Look around, look for my "frugal" posts and have fun checking out my shopping adventures!

And life goes on...

Remember the Bee Gees song, "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?"

Right now I am thinking that if you replace the word heart with the word home, that is what this family is feeling. The family homestead is breaking. Not by the means by which one might think, but just breaking up, piece by piece. Husband's folks are moving to an assisted living apartment, and this week the task falls on the children to divide, distribute, and pack a lifetime of possessions. The task is physically exhausting, and emotionally devastating. How do you go about doing that right in front of parent's eyes and remain undisturbed? The memories attached to even the simplest object are real and precious.

I emphasize, these are not my birth parents. I lost mine to illnesses long ago. We split up their possessions as well, just not in front of their eyes. These are my parents now. They have been in my life longer than my own were, so I feel that I am not just a daughter-in-law, but I am an adopted daughter.

I have for the most part remained focused, and set to the task of just "doing this". I am a "Daughter-in-Law" I could do this, I could be unemotional and be the one to take care of business. The "real" family will be sad, but I would be fine. Who was I kidding? This morning, I am crying like a baby, and grieving over the smallest object. Each day I feel like I am toting part of their life home with me in the back of my car. Granted, if you inspected the contents a lot of these items are of little material worth. Paper plate holders, a blender (void of all the current bells and whistles), a wicker basket, on old wooden stool. Thing is, these are THEIR paper plate holders, their blender, their basket, their stool. Today I want so much to take it all back, put it back where it goes and forget the plan.

I know the reasons are valid for them to move. I even encouraged it. I just had no idea this would hit ME like this. I did not grow up in this family. Many of their memories are just interesting stories to me. I cannot hang my heart on most of these items. However, I LOVE these people. They became a real part of my family when I lost my own parents. Their memories are precious to me, even if I do not share all of them.

We will plow through, even today, with sorting and packing. We will pick up an object, and pause to learn the story behind. If there is no story, we might even resort to comic relief and make one up. Like the little mottled yellow pitcher that belonged to Aunt Irma. Thing is, there is no Aunt Irma.

Too bad really, if there was, I would let her do this task.

I am certain though, that throughout this day, I will look at every object in a very special way. And there will be tears.

Random Thoughts in bullett form

• Our dog hates fireworks. She also hates thunderstorms and getting her feet in wet grass. Yeah, we have spoiled her I guess.
• CIY is an amazing teen convention. Pretend you are a teenager and go some year, we did.
• My desktop computer may be fried. Well, probably the hard drive is shot. We could lose a lot of pictures. Back up your photo libraries . Today.
  
• My tomato plants are humongous. We bought new stakes today because the old ones are not keeping them up. I picked the first tomato tonight. I cheated, it is not fully ripe. Couldn't wait.
• I really really want to teach my coupon class again. Anyone want a class? I have it on PowerPoint and am ready to go. ( Glad I had that on a flash drive, it would be a lot of work to do all over again!)
• I am slowing down on my shopping trips. There are lots of bargains out there, but my stockpile is so full that I can pass them up. That is the benefit of a good stockpile.
  

That is about it for tonight.

A time for work...

This has been a busy weekend. Husband and youngest son laid a new section of patio. We have been using 16 inch square patio blocks and decided to make a new section of 24 blocks. They completed that last night and today they installed a fence beyond the patio to keep our dog out of the garden. I will try to take pictures tomorrow and post them. I should have taken before pictures, because then you would really see how much this improved this area.

I just finished spray painting my old metal glider. Paprika. It is a bit more orange than I wanted, I was hoping for a more reddish-paprika. Maybe it will dry the color I want. it still looks better than it did before though.

Tomorrow night my amazing girlfriends are coming over here for our monthly GNO. I am preparing a baked potato bar and all the fixins. I must get up early though and give the house a good cleaning.

Sorry for the lack of posting. Will try to do better.

Crazy Love

Go buy this book. Francis Chan is the author. It will rock your world and make you come face to face with God. I am not very far into it yet, but so far all I can say is, "Whoa!" Buy it.

$6.22 out of pocket

I hit up Walgreens again. Husband will say I robed them. When people call he tells them I am out robbing Walgreens. He is so funny.

All pictured for $6.22, plus I came home with $8.00 in new Register Rewards with the ice cream deals. Would have cost $66.70 without any coupons or Register Rewards. I am thinking about going back for more ice cream treats. My family will love me. Gee, I will love me. Notice, I did get some of the Skinny Cow variety. I do not eat this much candy, but I had to buy it to keep my coupon to item ratio in check. There are always little ones at ball games that "need" it. Actually, youngest son will say that he needs it.

Summertime and the Shoppin' is Easy

First week off of school and what do I do? Hit Walgreens and CVS at 7:00 am. Good deals to be had and I couldn't wait. Actually I wanted to go before I started working in the garden and got all sweaty.

CVS: I was so glad to get the Windex. I was out of that on the stockpile. The shave cream was on clearance for .29 cents each, and I received a $2.00 coupon on the Dove chocolate at "the magic coupon machine", making the whole bag just .50 cents. Just yesterday the cash register receipt kicked out a $5.00 off of $15.00 coupon, so that helped a lot. I had coupons for almost everything else, and I used $7.00 in Extra Care Bucks. I spent a mere .78 cents out of pocket on everything and earned another $5.00 in ECBs. Nice.

Walgreens: I used coupons for everything pictured except for the candy, which I bought as fillers. I also used a few Register Rewards. Everything pictured cost me a total of $7.08 out of pocket and earned another $7.00 in Register Rewards. Not bad.

In all I spent $7.86 and came home with $12.00 in a combination of CVs and Walgreens "cash"

Winner Winner Pasta Dinner!

I have a winner! I numbered my entries according to the entry where the email address showed up (because some left them out). So even if you commented, the entry that counted was the one that had your email address.

The random number generator (random.org) picked number 2 which, would be be Reta, who had her email address included.

I have emailed the winner.

You never know folks when another contest will pop up!

Cupcakes!

I have decided that I love making cupcakes.

I have really gotten into making them since the first of the year, and in the last 6 weeks I have made them for 7 occasions. I buy cake mixes when the are .88 cents or less then I buy several, and put them into the freezer. I also have been shopping at WalMart after each holiday since Christmas and I am buying various sprinkles and cupcake liners after they are marked down. I keep all of my supplies in a covered plastic tub, and I am gaining a nice collection of items to work with. Most of my cake recipes come from The CakemixDoctor

cookbooks that I have collected as well. I love her recipes. You start with a basic cake mix and then jazz it up. I always make homemade frosting and I do not use a recipe for that. I do not know how to do professional decorating, but I purchased a large pastry bag, a large tip and coupler, and after a lesson from my sister I do okay.

These are for an event after church tomorrow, and some will be for our small group which meets tomorrow night.

Note about the Give-Away

I need email addresses from all who enter.

Give-Away # 3 / CLOSED NOW

I am lovin' give-a-ways.

I have something really cool to share.

Betty Crocker, through MyBlogSpark has provided me with a great package which includes: a box of Betty Crocker's Suddenly Salad, a Pyrex dish, a serving bowl, and an insulated tote. These products are really nice and I was super excited to get them. I will use the tote to carry all of my cool dishes to our next picnic.

I have tried Suddenly Salad in the past and I have really liked it. The Greek salad would not be my first choice, but I know my son will enjoy it. I like the convenience and the taste of the ones I have tried. I also like how you can toss in anything you like and create a pasta salad just the way you want it. I have tossed in broccoli, carrots, red onion, and cauliflower pieces. Bacon pieces sound good to me also. These come together really fast, and makes fixing a yummy side dish really easy.

There are several other varieties of Suddenly Salad that sound great. You can check them all out at SuddenlySalad.com

The great news is that I am also able to give a package just like the one pictured to one of my readers! To enter you must do the following:

Post a comment to this post with the following information:

• What ingredient would you toss into a box of Suddenly Salad ? Specifically, tell me which variety you would pick and how you would change it up.
• Your email address or link to your blog so that I can contact you.

I will pick a winner using the random.org number generator from all eligible submissions on Sunday, June 6th.

The opinions of this product are my own, but I need to disclose that the package of Suddenly Salad, the prize pack, and the give-away were all provided to my by Betty Crocker, through MyBlogSpark.

Mail Call

Today was a very good day at the mailbox!

The breakdown:

• Kraft First Taste free product coupons. I LOVE Kraft! There are coupons for 6 free items! (Kool-Aid Fizz Drink Drops, Homestyle Deluxe Macaroni and Cheese, Digiorno Deep Dish Pizza, 100 Calorie Packs Cheese Bites, Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh Shaved Meat, and Ritz Crackerfuls) If you are not a member then you should go to here and sign up. I have gotten lots of free product coupons from Kraft this way.
• A full size eye shadow quad from Loreal. I signed up a while back for Loreal product testing and I did a survey on mascara. This was my gift for doing the survey.
• A sample of Secret Clinical Deodorant from WalMart (great source for samples)
• Samples of Dove shampoo and conditioner, also from WalMart
• 2 free samples of Purex 3-in-1 laundry sheets. ( I LOVE these)
• Home Made Simple coupon book (great coupons)

Pretty good haul for one day! Cheap is good, but free is better!

Brave or Stupid ? You Decide.

Most of the people who know me well, know that I love my Diet Pepsi. IF you know me really well, you would know that what really excites me, is FOUNTAIN Diet Pepsi. Last night I was suffering through my addiction, wanting one in the worst way. I called husband and told him that God wanted him to get me a fountain Diet Pepsi. Now, we both knew that was not true, but at least husband took me seriously. A few minutes later, husband and youngest come in the door. Youngest is carrying a one half gallon fountain Diet Pepsi. Seriously. Now, it is nearly 8:30 p.m. (late for that much caffeine) , and even I would have a hard time polishing that off, but I do my best and manage to suck down quite a bit before I have to make a run to Walgreens.

I often make runs to Walgreens, but this was really a necessity. I needed to pick up a prescription and some photos. So, at about 8:45 I drive over to my neighborhood Walgreens. I am walking through the store, on my way to the pharmacy when it happened. I round the corner and there in plain sight, right before my eyes, is an ADULT male stuffing 5-hour energy shots down his pants. DOWN HIS PANTS!! His eyes meet mine, and I froze for a moment, then turned to walk away, then something bizarre came over me. I turn around, and go back to him, look him square in the eye, and say " Do you think you should be doing that? "

Geez, did that sound stupid or what? That was either caffeine induced bravery, a "teacher moment" or sheer stupidity. He mumbles something like, "Do what? I didn't do nothin" Then what do I do? I fire back, " Yes you did , you just put something down your pants". The next moment must have been when someone else inhabited my body, because then I saw an employee and put my hand in the air , pointed over the top of my head to the adult male, and shouted, "Shoplifter!"

This is so unlike me. The employee then proceeds to run the guy out of the building, telling him that he knows he is not supposed to be in there. (perhaps this was not the first event)

Now I am feeling quite proud of myself until it hits me that I came alone. What if "adult male" is lurking at the side of the building when I go out? What if he is waiting on me? I then come to my senses, call my husband and ask that he drive over, come inside, and walk me to the car.

I still cannot believe that I did that. This was not a 3rd grader or a student, it was an adult male. If the adult male thinks nothing of shoplifting, he probably would not think much of harming me in the parking lot. I guess I watched too much of Barney Fife when I was younger, he and I seemed to act before thinking.

Laptop

I have been wanting a laptop, but we have just not had extra money for that. I started Swagbucks and decided I would save the "bucks" I earned and possibly get a netbook instead. I had a total of $50.00 that I had used to purchase "digital" Amazon gift cards, and I was just letting them stack up. Well, good things come to those who wait. Youngest son has a friend at school that did not want her laptop any longer. It needed parts and she did not wish to invest in it. Ah Ha! Youngest paid $50.00 and bought his momma a broken laptop. Don't laugh, guess what the needed parts cost? Yep, roughly $50.00. Actually, $63.00 with part of that being shipping. Remember those "Swagbucks" I mentioned? I cashed in $50.00 that I have earned by mostly searching the web, and I used all of my Amazon gift cards for the parts. My out of pocket spending for the parts came to $13.00. Youngest son added some extra RAM that he had on hand, and I have a sweet Toshiba laptop! I am posting from it now.

This is a very nice computer, plenty of space in the hard drive, and one of the parts we bought is a new battery. I upgraded to a higher cell battery and have tons of battery life. It also has a memory card reader, which just happens to accept my strange memory card, and all is great in the computing world!

This will aid me in my future coupon class, and should make it very easy to show my presentation.

Youngest has a knack for finding deals on electronics, I feel I have raised him well in the art of bargain hunting. You better get your requests in soon though, because my sister has already made hers and they are lining up.

Thank you baby boy for thinking of your momma!

Oldest....I want a pony!

What a week

This has been an interesting week to say the least. I was home from school all weekdue to the remainder of my pneumonia, but still woke up yesterday with a heaviness in my chest. The thing is that with my heart history, the doctors will not mess with chest heaviness. Long story shortened, I spent yesterday in the walk in clinic, followed by a trip to the local ER, followed by a trip to my hospital of choice, followed by an all night stay. Heart issues were soon ruled out, but they won't risk dismissing them without the battery of tests. Pressure was attributed to the pneumonia, which according to x-rays, is still lingering just a bit.

The worst part about my entire day was my time at the local ER. Now, it was not due to treatment, but yet due to something else entirely unrelated to me. While I was in my bed with the curtains drawn, a patient was brought in that had in fact, "coded" on her way by ambulance. The area next to me filled with nurses, doctors, and technicians, all doing everything humanly possible to save her. Even though I could not see anything, I heard every word, every order, and every attempt at CPR. I just laid helpless, while this woman's life slipped away. I could tell that this staff was trying desperately to save her. Their words were all spoken in deep respect, and I could hear a nurse pleading in the sweetest voice possible for this woman to make it. I do not think I can explain exactly how I felt at that time to anyone. I did not know this woman, I did not hear a name, but I felt so much sadness to know that a life was ending as I laid there. I sobbed for quite a while, and soon, my curtain slipped open and the son of a good friend (a paramedic) who was there to transport me to the other hospital came in and stood silently by me. Just having someone present with me right then helped.

I have been at the bedside when death occurred. I was with both of my parents, and my grandma, I have felt that feeling of personal loss. I just did not know that I would be so overwhelmed at the loss of a stranger. I prayed hard for a few moments, and quite honestly, it took me a while to recover. I am still praying. I still don't even know who this woman was, or anything about her or her family. I will watch the newspaper closely for a few days, hoping to match a name to the details of when and where.

I just know that all life is precious. I prayed, hoping that she was a believer, and that she inhaled one last breath on this earth and exhaled in the presence of Jesus. I prayed for her family, and for the sadness they will feel. Please help me and pray for them as well.

Updates

The Good:

• Still good.  The boys are still home, and they have been a huge blessing to me today.  I could not have dealt with a broken freezer and transporting all of our coolers filled with food with the way was feeling. 
  

The Bad:

• Freezer was repaired.  This was a big debate, but we decided to see what the repair man had to say.  He was the one who fixed it in December and he cut us a break. No service fee, and he replaced 2 parts, but only charged us for the cheapest of the two.  Our bill was only $48.00.  It is working very well tonight, and I will let it run till tomorrow afternoon to fill it.    I will just have to check this daily from now on , just to be safe.  
•  A funny thing happened today  when the boys were transporting all of our frozen food to the folks' house.  One of them called to report in and I told them I couldn't talk because the freezer guys were here, and I was tied up in the basement...I guess I should be careful about what I say. 
• Laundry has been drastically been reduced, and I am seeing an end to all of the piles.  This has  been an entire family affair, and I am glad to get it done. 
• I am still coughing my head off.  I just took a dose of my codeine cough syrup, so we will see how that goes. Since  I am on steroids and codeine, I sure hope I do not need a drug test. 

The Ugly:

• We are working on that, husband and boys are doing some chores for me, and before the night is out we should have a decent house again. 

I always need to remember that stressful moments have a way of working out.  I will admit that this morning I felt very overwhelmed.  I am doing much better with that right now.