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Triples & a comparison...

This past week Harris Teeter tripled coupon values up to 98cents (x3). Here's what I got...
(item, pre-price, sale price, coupon tripled, final cost)

1) Skintimate Shave Gell - $2.99, $2.36 - $1.65 = 0.71
2) Luigi's Italian Ice (x2) - $3.49, $3.49/BOGO - $1.50 = $1.99/2 = 0.99ea
3) Betty Crocker Supreme Brownie mix - $2.79, $2.00 - $1.50 = 0.50
4) Colgate Wisp 4ct - $2.39, $2.39 - $2.25 = 0.14
5) Orville Redenbacher pop up bowl popcorn 6ct - $5.25, $4.89 - $2.25 = $2.64
6) Finish Powerball - $5.79, $4.99 - $2.25 = $2.74
7) Kleenex 200ct (x2) - $2.49, 0.97+$1.47 = $2.44 - 1.50 = 0.94/2 = 0.47ea
8) Reynolds foil wrap 55' - $4.19, $4.19 - $2.25 = $1.94
9) Country Crock Spread (x2) - $2.59, $2.59 - $1.20 = $1.39 (x2)
10) Kraft BBQ sauce - $1.55, $1.55 - $1.35 = 0.20
11) Yo Crunch Fruit Parfait 4pk - $2.99, $2.99 - $2.25 = 0.74
12) Dole Fruit Crisp - $2.75, $2.75 - $2.25 = 0.50
13) Tropicana 50 (x2) - $1.99, $1.99 - $1.50 = 0.49 (x2)
14) Tetley Tea (x2) - $3.65, $2.99 - $1.50 = $1.49 (x2)
15) Pint of blueberries (x2) - $4.99, $4.99/BOGO - $3.00 = $1.99/2 = 0.99ea
16) Lysol wipes (x4) - $3.39, $2.99/BOGO - $1.00 = $1.99/2 = 0.99ea (x2)
17) Pepsi products 12pk - Buy 2 get 3 FREE - $5.99 x 2 = $11.98/5 = $2.39ea
**PLUS I had a HT $10 off $40 or more purchase. :)

Presale & coupons cost: $112.60
After sales & coupons: ~$28.00

Ok now onto the commissary comparison. For those who are not military the commissary is a military grocery store. I do the bulk of my shopping there because the prices are lower. In between I will shop ads & match up my coupons. It has to be a good deal or something I really need to go to the grocery stores around here. Of course if I only need a gallon of milk or just a few things between time & distance it's "cheaper" just to go up the road. I start twitching if I have to buy meat at the grocery store because it's so much more expensive. The only time I will get meat is if frozen chicken breasts are BOGO at the grocery store. With that said, I took my list from above & wrote down prices at the commissary today.

(HT price/commissary price, what I paid with triple coupons/what I would have paid at the commissary which does not double or triple.) *Note: this would be neater looking if I knew how to insert a table.

1) ) Skintimate Shave Gell - $2.99/$1.59, 0.71/$1.04
2) Luigi's Italian Ice - $3.49/$1.25, 0.99/0.75
3) Betty Crocker Supreme Brownie mix - $2.79/$1.85, 0.50/$1.35
4) Colgate Wisp 4ct - $2.39/$1.63, 0.14/0.88
5) Orville Redenbacher pop up bowl popcorn 6ct - $5.25/$2.69, $2.64/$2.14
6) Finish Powerball - $5.79/$5.29, $2.74/$$4.54
7) Kleenex 200ct (x2) - $2.49/$1.49, 0.47ea/$1.24ea
8) Reynolds foil wrap - $4.19 (55')/$4.23 (75'), $1.94/$3.48
9) Country Crock Spread (x2) - $2.59/$1.99, $1.39/$1.59
10) Kraft BBQ sauce - $1.55/0.88, 0.20/0.43
11) Yo Crunch Fruit Parfait 4pk - was not in stock
12) Dole Fruit Crisp - $2.75/$1.50, 0.50/0.75
13) Tropicana 50 (x2) - $1.99/$2.30, 0.49/$1.55
14) Tetley Tea (x2) - $3.65/$2.69, $1.49/$2.19
15) Pint of blueberries (x2) - $4.99/$2.50, 0.99ea/$2.50 (coupons would not have matched up here.)
16) Lysol wipes (x4) - missed this on my list to price.
17) Pepsi products 12pk - $5.99/$3.98, $2.39ea/$19.90

My total if I bought these products at the commissary using the same coupons but not tripled would have been: $50.97+
(I'll have to add in the missed & not stocked products at a later time)

While the commissary is cheaper it still pays to shop sales & match up coupons. I think I did pretty well this round! Later this week or early next week I have a sale & some good coupons I am working on for a trip to the commissary. Stay tuned!

Premier Pet Products Review - Part One

This is only going to be a partial review of Premier dog toys that were mailed to me. More or less a description of each item. Part two will be in a few days after the dogs have had time to check out & abuse... I mean, play with the toys. Part one - human review, part two - canine review.

How these toys were mailed to me started a few weeks ago. A fellow sorority sister works for Premier & posted a favor on Facebook. I just happened to be stalking Facebook at that time & could answer her question. A review for one of their cat products was done in the February issue of Martha Stewart. She needed to know the page number it was on. I did one better - emailed her a scanned copy of the review. Hey, I was overly pregnant & had no motivation or energy at that time to do anything I needed to get done. She insisted on sending me something in return for helping her out. I honestly didn't expect anything in return. It got me out of the chair I was glued to & into another chair in the next room, lol. A few days later a box arrived. A box FULL of dog toys. I only thought maybe one toy would come. Nope, this was a box full of awesome looking toys for my monsters to enjoy!! So onto what was in the box...

Tennis Tug
The Tennis Tug is great for either 2 dogs or a dog & his/her owner to play tug-a-war. Inside the yellow tag are "The Rules of Tug" by Dr. Ian Dunbar. Suggestions on what your dog should know/understand before playing (like "off" & "drop it" & boundaries).

Pogo Plush Original & Raccoon
This should be interesting. Raider likes to take out the squeakers out of every.single.toy he gets. Fuzz EVERY WHERE & a dead squeaker... ugh!! What's nice is that there is a bouncy frame inside the toy & the squeaker is inside that. No stuffing!! YAY! Now will he figure out how to remove the squeaker?? The bouncy frame also allows for the toy to bounce (hence "bouncy"). All the Pogo Plush toys are machine washable.

Busy Buddy Treat Holding Bouncy Bone & treat refills
This toy looks pretty cool. You have the purple bouncy ball in the center sandwiched by rawhide treats & capped off with bone ends. I'm should time how quickly it takes my dogs to inhale the treats.

Here is a picture of the lucky canine testers of this review. They put themselves to bed for the night when I pulled out the toys. Raider is a 4.5 year old reverse brindle Boxer & Sampson is a 7.5 year old brindle Boxer.

You can read more about the Premier company here.

The birth of Baby C

**Here's your warning... it's a birth story. Obviously there might be some TMI stuff.**

First off let me just say if you live in the Jacksonville/Camp Lejeune, NC area and are looking for a doula I HIGHLY recommend that you check out Heather who owns In Bloom Birth Services & Life In Bloom Photography. She's a fellow Marine wife. I came across her in a search for doulas in the area. I tried to go through Operation Special Delivery at first but ended up just contacting her when I came across her site. I hooked up with her fairly late on so we only had our initial meeting and another meeting to discuss my birth plan before Baby C arrived. I knew instantly at the first meeting that I wanted her support. I had many reasons for wanting a doula - 1) Mr Pilot is gone... AGAIN (hey, I consider myself very lucky that he's been here for 3 out of 4 births.), 2) Not knowing who would be around & how things would go (got lucky & my parents were able to be in town), & 3) I had some goals (re: birth plan/as natural as possible, but I reserve the right to change my mind at any point - which no one really let me - how dare them! LOL).

Ok, onto your bed time story my dear reader(s)...

Some of you already know that all my kids came around 38 weeks (none sooner, just during that week). There were a couple times I swear Baby C was going to come this past week, but I eventually gave up trying to read "signs". I was losing hope he'd come anytime soon. We had a stormy Saturday about a week ago & I was almost positive that he was coming. At that point I was dilated to about 3cms & 80% effaced. I just couldn't keep the contractions coming. That night they stayed the duration of the storm & then poof, gone. That Monday I had my 38 week appointment. My midwife was a little shocked that I hadn't delivered yet. I was 4cms by then, but still, no constant contractions to get excited over. I think it was Tuesday that I got a massage. My back was in knots. Maybe I was too stressed to let my body do it's thing? The massage was fabulous & gave me some more "signs" (I'll spare you all the details). By Wednesday I gave up. Thursday I woke up not feeling great. Kinda flu-ish. Again, afraid to read into it too much. Went about the day. Just wanted to crawl in bed & sleep but that wasn't going to happen. Oh, yes, Thursday was another stormy day. I was not so secretly hoping a miracle would happen. Fast forward to night time. Usual routine, go up at a decent time, get ready for bed & watch a little tv (exciting, right? LOL). I was still feeling blah, but a little crampy. Instead of staying up to watch my Thursday night train wreck show (I like my drama on tv, not in my life) I went to sleep instead.

I woke up just after 10pm with pretty consistent cramps & started timing them with a handy dandy app I put on my phone. 10-15 minutes apart. I laid there & timed is for about another hour & half. Then I started to play the great "Do I go to the hospital or not" game for about 15 minutes. I sent my doula a text letting her know what was going on & another to my mother, who was only downstairs, not to get to comfortable. Sent Mr Pilot an email telling him I was seriously considering going to the hospital. I decided that I didn't want to go & get sent home. So instead I showered to see if I could get any relief. Had a contraction, hoped in & had about 2 more... A LOT quicker. So that shower lasted about 10 minutes. Oh, yes, insert my grand plan of laboring at home in the bath tub. That was my plan for months & I actually looked forward to it. Obviously that went out the window. Threw on some clothes & my mom drove me to the hospital. I continued to use that app in the car. Yep, getting closer. 5 minutes apart. Crossed my fingers we'd make it to the hospital on time. (Little side note funny... with out fail, labors #2-4, there has ALWAYS been a sharp curve in the drive in which I would have a contraction - NOT fun!)
(Taking pictures of woman in labor is NOT cool!!)

We made it to the hospital & up to labor & delivery. I was put in the triage room to get checked out. 7cms... I'm a keeper!!! WOOHOO!! I would have had a serious meltdown if they sent me home. Off to the L&D room I go! (Official admittance time - 12:50am) The contractions were still pretty manageable at this point. I get settled in & a midwife comes in to introduce herself. It's a midwife night... SCORE!! I start telling her my wishes... heplock, no iv, freedom to move, did not want constant monitoring, no drugs (again I reserve the right to change my mind... she laughed). Pretty much the same birth plan I had with each birth. The same birth plan that was always tossed out the window. She ok'd the heplock based on my uneventful pregnancy, but I needed to be monitored for 20 minutes first before I could do as I pleased. So I hop in the bed, still hooked up to the belts for monitoring from triage (who did a horrible job strapping them on) to let the nurse/corpsman heplock me (he needs to go back for some training). By now Heather, the doula, has arrived. The midwife decided she didn't like the way Baby C was reacting to contractions. Instead of his heart rate spiking & going back down it was staying at a constant rate. (Maybe a sign of his future demeanor??!) She laid some options out & we discussed what would be best. My water would need to be broken & an internal monitor (which would still allow me to move) placed on the baby's head with iv fluids. Ok, so not really going with what I had plan but the name of the game is to be flexible. I can do that.

Contractions after your water breaks... SUCK! Made it through a few & so wanted to cave for that dreamy epidural to take all the pain away. Between my mother & Heather (& her bag of tricks) we tried a few things to help me out.... warm sack on my back, rubbing my back & holding a come in each hand. I asked the midwife to bring me something to take the edge off. I ended up with a low dose of phenergan & stadol & warned that I might feel.... looooooooooooopy. Um, yeh, had a total out of body experience. At this point in time I have no clue how long I had been there for & how far along I was. The narcotics hardly took the edge off & I still really wanted that epidural. In fact I remember asking for it SEVERAL times because I.just.couldn't.do.it. Everyone ignored me. At the time I was glad they were (very much still do) & a little peeved (not at all anymore). Next I just remember having that "feeling". Everything is a blur from there. Back to the out of body experience... I truly do not know how Scientoligists have silent births. I think that's a bunch of do-hickie. I remember hearing myself scream... over & over & over & it felt good (the screaming not the pain, lol)! It was like I was watching myself. I screamed. Baby C came out screaming at 0305 on 3.11.11. AND you know what??!! We are both not traumatized. I think my eyeballs would have popped out of my head if I had to hold that in.

So that's the story of how Baby C FINALLY arrived. He weighed in at 6lbs 15.5oz & 19".

Oh, Mr Pilot got to call. He called to see how I was feeling & had no clue that Baby C was here. He called just shortly after he was born. :) Can't wait for them to meet each other!

Under $5 Valentine's craft

That's under $5 total for everything. Not sure what it would break down to per craft. I'm sure I could figure it out. Give me a minute & I will... Ok, so less than $1.25/craft. I had the kids make them to send to the Mr in his Valentine's Day box.

Valentine's Day themed paper - Found a pack of 8 sheets for $1 @ Target (~13cents/sheet)
Foam hearts - $1 @ Michaels
Small tube of white paint - <$1 @ Michaels