My Southern Living at Home...»

Friday, December 10, 2010

CVS makes it ALL better

It's already been a morning here. If it was only Monday you'd probably find me in the corner curled up rocking back & forth. Between a child who was being the least cooperative & another with a possible stomach bug who needed a surprise bath before trying to get the other 2 out the door for school... thank goodness it's Friday!

After a quick bath & getting the other 2 to school I needed to run to CVS. I have a box to mail the Mr & I ran out of tape! I also had $20 ECB burning a hole in my pocket. Don't want to let something like that expire!!

My CVS also has a machine that you scan your card under & it spits out coupons. I scored a $5 off $25 coupon.

All of the above (2 boxes of tissues, 2 Gatorades, dog treats, Christmas cards & scotch tape) plus the packaging tape I just noticed is MIA I got for $3.50 before tax. Between sales, ECBs & a coupon I save $28.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

TURKEY Time!!!!


Got the last of my turkey points at Food Lion today & turned them in for this 24.64lb sucker for FREE! It'll feed us for a while even with having Thanksgiving guests. Mmmm!!

Transaction 1 (#6/final for turkey points - Spend $45/per transaction, once a week, get points.)
French's Fried Onions: $3.99x4 = $15.96; $1/ea for sale, -0.50/ea q = -$6 ($2.49/ea)
Ritz Crackers: $3.79x2 = $7.58; BOGO sale -$3.79, -$1/2 = -$4.79 ($1.39/ea)
Duncan Hines mix: $1.39x2 = $$2.79; BOGO sale -$1.39= $1.39 (0.69)
FL gallon milk: $3.99, FL q Free gallon milk
Roasting pan: $3.49 sale $2.99
Wisk: $6.99x2 = $13.98, sale $3.99/ea, $1qx2 = $5.98 ($2.99ea)
Marcal paper towels: $1.19, -$1q = 0.19

Total before discounts & tax: $48.98
Total after discounts (pre-tax): $23.28
Received FL q for $15 (aka free turkey & what ever else)

Transaction #2 (to get that turkey. Also, FL has some turkeys 0.39/lb if in the same transaction you spend $35.)

Oreos: $3.49, sale $2.99
Turkey: $36.71, sale 0.39/lb ($9.61)
Cesar wet dog food: 0.99x30 = $29.70, sale 10/$7.50x3 = 22.50 (0.75/ea)
Breyers ice cream: $5.19x2 = $10.38, sale BOGO = $5.19 ($2.59/ea)
Philly cream cheese block: 3/$5.65x2 = $11.30, sale 3/$4x2 = $8 ($1.33/ea)
**FL -$15q**

Total before discounts & tax = $91.58
After discounts (pre-tax) = $33.29

GRAND TOTALS!!!!!!!!!

Before discounts: $140.56
After discounts: $56.57
Savings of about 60%

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

More cheese!!! Literally

Cinnamon Toast Crunch: $3.26 x 3 = $9.78 (BOGO -> -$3.26, -$1.63; Q -> -0.65, -0.65, -0.55 = -$6.74)..... $3.04 (~$1.02 each)

Shredded cheese: $2.79 x 2 = $5.58 (BOGO -> -$2.79)..... $2.79

Block cheese: $2.79 x 4 = $11.16 (BOGO -> -$5.58)..... $5.58

Sliced cheese: $2.19 x 4 = $8.76 (BOGO -> -$4.38)..... $4.38

TOTAL FOR KRAFT Products: $12.75 - $10 (2 - $5/5 q's) = $2.75 (~0.27 each)

TOTAL before BOGO & coupons: $35.28 (pre-tax)
AFTER: $5.79
SAVINGS: $84% savings

Monday, October 4, 2010

Freebies and cheapies

I have not been inspired at all with coupons & sales since moving out here. The local grocery store is over priced, imo. California is over-rated & over-priced but at least I could get a good deal on what I needed, fresh fruit that lasted long & wasn't over priced & there was no food tax (except fast food type food). I could get a gallon of milk for $2.50 or less (aimed for $1.99). It's just under $4.00 here. I had at least 6 different grocery stores in a 10 minute radius out there but here it's 1 then the commissary but that is our choice in location so I can't complain too much there. The commissary does have food cheaper & no sales tax (but a surcharge which usually comes out to about the same) but you can't get some of the same "stock pile worthy deals". Also, I wasn't going to really touch this blog until after Christmas to post deals I got. Today I was inspired & motivated. This is why...
(not pictured - bag of dog food)

Food Lion has started their free turkey promo (last week, I think?) & they are have BOGO right now on certain items (until tomorrow). It's an 8 week window for the turkey promo. You need to shop at least 6 of those 8 weeks & spend $45 (pre-deals & coupons). My total pre-deals & coupons was $$48.54 plus tax (2% for food, 8% for non-food, so $51-ish). After deals & coupons (pre-tax) total was $21.xx ($22.xx after tax). So a $20+ savings.

Beneful dog food (14lb bag ?): $15.49 on sale for $13.99 - $2q = $11.99
Campbells kids healthy soup: $1.69x5 = $8.45 (need 3 for Beauty & the Beast or Toy Story 3 rebate of $5.), -$1 off 3q, -0.40 off 2q, -$1 off 5 FL coupon = $6.05 ($1.21 each)
Kraft cheese BOGO (limit 2 free of each, You don't need to buy 2 at FL. They ring up at half price):
Shredded cheese: $2.79 x 4 = $11.16/2 (BOGO) = $5.58
Block cheese: $2.79 x 3 = $8.37/1.5 (BOGO) = $4.18
Sliced cheese: $2.19 x 3 = $6.57/1.5 (BOGO) = $3.28
________
$13.04
Kraft q $5/5 x 2 - $10.00
_________
$3.04 (~0.30/each)

Here's a picture of freebies I got Friday & today in the mail. Just a little sample of my free magazine subscriptions. Spin, Maxim (for the Mr.), Soap Opera weekly, OK, & Kleenex tissues.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Target finds

(Picture later)

Connect 4 -> on sale for $7 (regular $10.xx), -$4q = $3
Monopoly -> on sale for $7 (regular ? - lets say it was $10.xx, too), -$5q = $2
Toy Story 1 & Toy Story 2 (both Blu-ray combo packs) -> $22.99 each, buy both at the same time there is an automatic $10 off, plus -$10q for TS1, -$10q for TS2 (total -$30) = $15.98 total ($7.99 each)

Total before savings = $65.98 (before tax & possibly more.)
Total after savings = $20.98
Total savings of = at least 68%

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Current thoughts...

Tired of numbers being fudged...
Tired of the flip flops...
Tired of the secrecy... (Didn't Obama say he wanted everything out in the open & nothing done behind closed doors??)...
Tired of sketchy business deals being done...

When will it stop? When will we, as Americans, stand up & say enough is enough??!!!

Sunday, March 14, 2010

"Formula fed America"

I have more to write on this subject later but just wanted to post this link.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Arrrrrrrrrgh Matey

The theme fer L`s dance this tides be seafarin' heartys. Each tides be a different theme. Sometimes th' studio provides th' outfit. This tides we be on our own. L wore th' lass' skull & crossbones baby legs, a piece o' fabric tied around th' lass' hade & th' lass' skull barrette.

It tookst th' lass' some time t' warm up & participate but less time th' previous week. I be hopin' next tides she will jump starboard in. They do tap & ballet in this class.
Gentleman o' fortune speak be brought t' by THIS website.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Is tomorrow really Monday already?

Not something I have ever caught myself saying until today. Yesterday I had to convince that it was Saturday & not Sunday.

Here is something we haven't see in our neighborhood in a while... a house with a sold sign on it!! We've had a ton of foreclosures over the last year or so. Not sure how much the house sold for.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Touch N Brush

R saw the infomercial for the Touch N Brush yesterday & immediately asked... begged... for it. Meant to include this in the previous entry. Our conversation went something like this:

R: I want that!
Me: Huh?
R: I want to get that.
Me:Do you have $30?
R: Can we buy that?
Me: Do you have $30?
R: No, do you?

I'm... errr, we are still alive.

I do have stuff to write about, but I struggle with if it's of interest to anyone else. I mean, I guess if I wrote something that bored you, you could easily skip over. Time has also been an issue here. By night time I have been too pooped to pop & am usually catching up on folding laundry. I started classes last fall towards a paralegal certificate. I came across some funding for military spouses. Fabulous program until it was recently pulled - but that's another post for another day because it could get lengthy. Maybe tomorrow... Back to the classes. The program was divided up into 2 sections. Section 2 kicked my butt. Sucked my brain dry. I barely made it out alive. At least that's the way I feel, but I did it. I stuck to it & passed. The course work took up a lot of my time because it involved a ton of research.

Mr also came home from his work trip in January. Did I mention that already in an earlier post? Probably did. Glad to have him home but it threw a wrench in the routine I finally settled into with the kids. Some people get this and many don't. Having him home also means back to house projects (& another blog to update). He also has orders. Back to the east coast we go! Also - hurry up & get the house finished so we can find some renters.

Which leads me to what my day was like today - as if Friday's aren't already busy enough. Got up, get the kids up, get us all dressed & fed. Take R & L to school, come back & try to get J to finish his breakfast & nap (no such luck with either). My friend K came over & we performed bathroom demolition. Some how the downstairs remodel became my project. Ok, my project - means I do it with out help from Mr (or minimal because there were a few bolts I couldn't get out) so I can say I did it. We took out the toilet (NAAAAAHSTY! Never again, I am officially retired from toilet removals.), ripped out 3 layers of laminate flooring, broke apart horrible tile counters & ripped out a vanity. Oh, Mr did take out the shower. That was a little too dangerous. Yes, shower removals can be dangerous. We had one of those all in 1 piece things. I hated removing the tile counter but if the shower was tiled, it might have been a bit easier to remove. Mr got the kids from school & grabbed everyone lunch. (Today at our Chick-Fil-A, keep your reciept from today's order & bring it back any day this month & get the same order free.) While he was doing that K & I broke up the tile in the kids bathroom vanity. We are only changing out the vanity in their bathroom. Inhale lunch & go about the rest of the day of taking R to his other school, come home, quiet time for about an hour & then off to take R to karate, come home & dinner time.

R got his green belt in karate today.

He's been in karate for about 2 months now. Really enjoying it. It's not all kung-fu kicking & breaking boards. More about discipline. I enrolled L into a dance class yesterday. For her age group it's called Fairytale Princess dance. They do ballet & tap. Each week it's a different theme. I didn't get a picture yesterday. That was Tinkerbell & next week is pirates. J is doing his best to keep up with his brother & sister. Tuesday we went to the indoor park where he showed me how he can pull himself up to a standing position. He's been trying it at home but with the hardwood floors it's a bit slippery.
Since I have recent pictures of the boys, here is one of L. I love how big her eyes look. Almost cartoon-ish.
All three pictures were taken with a camera phone. The ones of the boys were taken with my new HTC Hero. I now no longer have to call my brother (who received the majority of these types of calls from me) or anyone else to looks something up on the computer for me because I was out driving around wanting to know when a store opened or where something was. Went with the Hero over an iPhone because Sprint's plans are a lot & I mean A LOT cheaper than AT&T's. (You hear that AT&T? You are loosing out on business because your plans cost an arm, a leg & a kidney.)

Oooh!! Before I nod completely off... I won a contest! Wooohooo! I don't usually have a winning streak. I won a set of family decals from My Military Hero. The owner, Tina, used to live a few houses down from us when we lived in base housing. She babysat R from about 8.5 months around 18 months when I went back to work to complete my student teaching requirements. She started off small but her business has really taken off. Pretty cool! Her products are in 6 different exchanges.

Dear Taylor Swift...

To you, from the Purple Foxes!

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Super Bowl Sunday

We had a few couples over this afternoon for the Super Bowl. Tons of food. I refuse to cook for the next 3 or 4 day, maybe 5 since Friday's are pizza night. I'll be posting recipes on my other blog sometime this week. I need to catch up on schoolwork first.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Getting desperate for pictures

Here are a few of the books I am using for my current class.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Friday nights


Are pizza, movie & popcorn nights. A little tradition the kids & I started this last deployment. We have dinner (pizza) & then the kids get their pj's on & bring down their sleeping bags & pillows. The we pop in a movie & I pop them some popcorn. Good way to wind down from the week.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Ahead of her time?

Will she be a fashion trend setter?

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Coming to you from my Mac


This is what I type away on. :) I'm slowly figuring out how it works. Wish I had a lot of time in one chunk to play around.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Picture emailed to me #2

Here is a picture from the trip the kids & I took. It's of my father & R. My father is getting fancy with his photo editing program.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Picture emailed to me #1

Happy February!

This is picture taken of the kids & I on our trip.

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Time to mix it up some!!

Hard to tell from this picture but I have gone red. Not the "wow" red I wanted but it's not bad.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Something I have been putting off for a while now.



I don't get why rugs have to be so darn expensive. I have been having trouble bringing myself to spend that kind of money on a rug. I got one for the living room (picture) & another for the den (waiting it's arrival).

Friday, January 29, 2010

As if Friday's aren't busy enough for me...


We had an emergency trip to the vet today. Sampson has been cutting himself on something in the back yard. We've checked the fence for nails & found nothing. At one point we were thinking maybe it was Raider. After today's trip the vet said it looked like he was trying to squeeze through something. Well there is nothing to squeeze through... BUT there is this raised part with this super annoying apple tree (over produces). Sampson is the jumper, not Raider (explains why this never happens to Raider). We're now thinking he's catching himself on branches when he jumps. Poor guy. He has about 8" of stitches & a tube.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Hidden talents

Get you new chores. I caught L folding pieces of her clothing that she had taken from the laundry basket. She did pretty good for a 2 year old! In the picture she folded a sweater dress & a pair of pants. She didn't fold the sweater yet when I took the picture.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

This is the aircraft Mr fly's. I did not take this picture but it came today in a newsletter. They are taking the helos apart to bring them back from Iraq. Mr's squadron was the first of it's kind there & the last in the rotation. They just recently flew their last mission over there. I like to call it the 'air yacht'.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Empty frames wall...


I took this picture because someone didn't believe me that I had a bunch of empty frames hanging. I really need to get around to ordering pictures to fill them up.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Easily distracted by all things shiny...


Including pots & pans. These better last a life time. I have faith in you All-Clad that you won't fail me like Caphalon did. Just started out with a small set since a few pieces (just the pots) from my old set are still usable. The oven pot came free with the set. Used it tonight to reheat a beer-can chicken. We used the grill pan a few nights ago when our ghetto grill ran out of gas. I refuse to use the grill when Mr isn't here. That's his job. So this pan will get lots of use by me.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

If I were a comic book character...


Nothing much going on here today. Just catching up around the house. I need to out-source the laundry or get it some kind of birth control. Seems to never end...

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Ebelskiver Filled-Pancake Pan

Ebelskiver Filled-Pancake Pan
This is my new pan from Williams Sonoma. I luff my new kitchen toy. The picture is actually from the WS website. I forgot to take a picture this morning when I used it. I made stuffed pancakes for breakfast. I used strawberries, blueberries, & bananas.

Friday, January 22, 2010

My little fashionista

Yes, those are shorts over jeans. She likes to pick out her own outfits everyday. Sometimes multiple times a day. This is her first outfit of the day. Below is her second outfit which she wore to the mall with me.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Where's my canoe??!


This is day 4 of rain. We haven't see this much rain in about 5 years.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

3 days of rain...

The dogs have gotten creative in finding ways around the multiple mini-lakes we have in the back yard. The waaaay back doesn't have puddles, so when there is a break from the rain they like to go hang out there.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Another rainy day

And lazy, too!!

Don't really have a picture to post.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Rain!!!


The kids have been waiting for what seems to have been ages for this day! We are suppose to get rain everyday this week.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

SoCal sunset

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Past my bedtime


Things have been busy here between returning from our trip to Mr returning from his "trip". This is why you see a bunch of posts with "coming soon" or just a picture & nothing much more than a line or 2 - if that. Not really how I wanted to start the 365 challenge off. Hopefully I can get in the grove of something more worth your time when you visit my blog.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Prince of the castle

This is our other Boxer, Raider. He's 3.5 years old.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

The king of the castle

This isn't a recent a recent picture but it's one of my favorite of him. This is our oldest boxer - Sampson. He's 6 years old & a mass of muscle.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

A few of my boys...

The males out number the females in this house. Including the dogs (2) there are 5 males. Here are 2 sleepy heads.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

The best part of a deployment...



is homecoming. <3

Monday, January 11, 2010

Happy birthday Mr!


See you soon!
<3 The wifey

(When I win the lottery I will have a live in hair-dresser.)

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Potty training fail

She's into hats... even if the hat is really her big girl undies. She's my Miss Fashionista.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Wine tasting


Today we (the wives in Mr's squadron) went wine tasting. It's always a great time out with these ladies. We took a limo and visited three different wineries for tastings.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Our view


From the backyard.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Suitcases galore to unpack

Ugh... guess this is bound to happen when you come back from a trip. Picture to come soon...

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Dear East Coast...


It was fun, good-bye for now.

<3 Me, R, L, & J!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

No, they aren't twins!

I've been asked several times if they are twins. I might just start saying yes & that L has some sort of rare growth issue. /sarcasm Like her hair do? No clue what's going on there. LOL

Monday, January 4, 2010

Shoes!

Shoes!!!!!!!!!!!! I love shoes. :) I'm going to wear these for homecoming. Probably with a pair of black pants or jeans & this cute purple ruffle shirt I found (for a steal, too!). No clue will be done to the mop on my head called hair.

(I didn't do a picture of myself. I had an allergy attack. Far from looking decent or in the mood to attempt a picture.)