Got my 50%!

I guess 50% isn't too shabby...next week will be harder with only one guy and one girl going home.

Today I'm spending the day at the hospital while my grandmom gets her chemo and then we have community group tonight.

This weekend is more low-key than previous weekends, so it should be fun and somewhat (we do have two kids!) relaxing.

Have a great weekend!!

Random Fact of the Day: Jon and I met, dated, and were engaged within 6 months!

AI Predictions

Going Home Thursday Night:

GUYS:

Luke and Jason

I really like Jason but he didn't do it for me Tuesday night.

GIRLS:

Kristy Lee and Kady (please, please, please, please!!!!)

CVS Trip #2 (and other great finds...)

Okay, so they were out of the razors I wanted (darn!), but I still got some good deals. Here they are:

Colgate Toothpaste: Bought 5 for $2.99 = $14.95
Had $4.50 in coupons for them, so my total was $10.45
BUT I got back $14.95 in ECB's so they paid me to take these off their hands!!

I should've stopped there, and if I had then I would've had them take my $5 off $15 also and I would have made out like a bandit (I would've needed to buy a candy bar or something, though, to take my total before tax over $15), but I had a few other coupons and there were some other ECB deals, so all-in-all I did pretty well. I now have $31 in ECB's for future use, I used $24 to buy all the stuff in the last two days, plus about $4.00 cash.

Other great deals:

SAFEWAY:
LOVE the price on the 93/7 ground beef this week.....$2.00 a pound! Yup! So, I scarfed up on that (12 pounds!) as well as Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Life Cereal. They had a super saver coupon that said you could get 5 for $5 (!!!) PLUS I had a total of $4.50 in coupons. So, $22 of cereal for $.50. Not too shabby....they also had a SS coupon for cheese and pizza, so I got that. Plus their strawberries were looking good and cheaper than Martins, so I got a pack of those as well. Oh, and two donuts for the kids. So, my total was $44.

Then I bought 20 more pounds of the ground beef for the Make-n-Take thing I'm doing for MOPS. I'm buying and prepping for four sessions with five moms each. That's 100 meals!! We are doing five meals for each one. I needed the ground beef for the spaghetti pie. I also need 20ish pounds of pork chops and about 80-90 pounds of bl/sl chicken. Yikes!

I also got a few bags of free soft pretzels from Martins today. They had them 10/$10 and I had a few $.50 coupons that they then doubled.

Plus I got Crest Whitestrips from Walgreens. I've been eyeing them and price checking and they had a $5 coupon plus I stacked it with a manufactures coupon for $5 off. So, I got the strips for $11!!

Great savings day!! WOO HOO!!

Random Fact of the Day: I was drum major of my marching band my senior year of high school. Anyone care to guess what year that was?

CVS Trip #1

I have to take two trips to CVS this week because I have two $5 off $15 coupons to use in seperate transactions. Here is what I did tonight...

Gilette Mach 3 3-pk razor: Original Price: $8.99
Sale Price: $7.99
Coupon: $3.00
ECB received: $5.00
Net money: Free

Garnier Nutriesse Cleansing Wipes and Soap: Original Price: $11.98 (for both)
Sale Price: $11.98 (really, none....)
Coupon's: $2.00
ECB received: $5.00
Net money: $4.98 (for both)

Hershey's Easter Candy: BP Eggs ($1.50)
Kisses ($.99)
Cherry Kisses ($.99)
Cadbury Mini-Eggs ($.99)
Large bag Spring Assortment ($3.99)
Pure Chocolate Eggs ($1.50)
One Cadbuy Caramel Egg ($.69) (to take total before tax over $10):
Original Price: $21.63 (for all)
Sale Price: $10.65
Coupons: $3.00 (two $1.50 off three bags)
ECB received: $5.00 (for spending $10)
Net Money: $2.65


Add in $5 off $15 coupon for total spent: $21.49
Used $19.48 in ECB to pay and $2.00 OOP (Out Of Pocket)
Received $15 in ECB

Egh...not too bad. Tomorrow should be better.....IF they have the women's razor and Colgate toothpaste.....

Random Fact of the Day: I played the flute for ten years.

Good Day

I had a really good day today. It started out well with getting the kids ready to go. Then I had MOPS. I love helping in the nursery. It gives me "grandmom" time as I like to call it. Get my baby fix, hand them back! I also got to go up and talk to the moms about the four "Make-n-Take" sessions I'm doing for them.

Then, we headed up to Westminster to pick up Ella's friend for the night. They played all afternoon outside while I opened up the house, lit some candles, finished laundry, and cleaned the first floor. Then when they came inside I tackled the basement. So, all in all a productive afternoon. When Coby got home I played outside with him for awhile pitching some balls to him. Then we did some DDR together. Then we had reading time. I started dinner for them and got myself ready for my MNO (or Moms Night Out - Kathi....making Kaitlin proud!!). We went to The Melting Pot for ladies night and I enjoyed a great meal with great friends and a great raspberry martini! Now I'm home and going to cuddle with Jon and read some more of my latest Karen Kingsbury novel. LOVE her!!

I'll leave you with a Coby funny. So, while we were doing our reading time today Ella and Julianna had come downstairs and Ella was asking (aka whining) about having nothing to do (you get to add your own dramatic tone to this...). So, I suggested they go clean up whatever they had gotten out before they did anything else, anyway. She politely whined that she didn't feel like it and I politely explained that that was our rule and she needed to go take care of it. Then Coby took the reins and said to her, "Now, Ella, do you want to play monster with dad tonight?" (FYI - "Monster" is a fun game around here involving someone being the monster and tagging everyone else who then end up on our bed to be "saved." Really, an inside version of tag!) And of course she replies with a big, "YES!" "So, " Coby says, "You should probably go upstairs and clean up so you have time tonight to do that with dad." To which Ella replies:"Yeah, you're right......Comeon, Julianna, lets go clean up upstairs...." And as they are ascending she is telling Julie the ins and outs of "monster." Coby turns to me and says, knowingly, "That's how you do it."

Silly me.

Okay, so I was wrong...

Like, really wrong. Maybe I'll get at least a 50% next week......

So, I've been very zombie-like this week. So much so, that I am constantly forgetting what day of the week it even is. I guess you could call it a good thing, but I've got so much going on that's it's keeping me very busy. The bad part about that is I'm extremely tired. Everything started last Wednesday night (I had Worship Team practice and always get to bed late) and hasn't slown (is that a word?!) down. After this weekend things should finally start to even back out. My girlfriend stopped by this morning to drop off her son for a pre-preschool play date and was taken by how much I had gotten accomplished already this morning. Then she took that back and decided that it didn't surprise her because she knows how I am. I would list everything I'm doing right now but have decided that would tire me out even more, so you'll have to just take a guess....

Even though I've been incredibly busy, I've found more time than normal to be with God. It pains me to admit this, but maybe it does takes a tragedy like this to shake us all up a little. I know that's what it has done for me. I've always known that God is real and there and in control, but it's hard for me to be aware of that on a day-to-day basis. Now it's as if I'm clinging to Him and never want to let go.

Sorry to be such a downer. My hope was to come and post something light-hearted but it didn't end up that way.

I hope everyone out there has a good weekend. Please be praying for me and my level of stress!

Random Fact of the Day: I was once an "alter girl" at the Catholic Church I attended while in grade-school. I now consider myself a "recovering Catholic!"

AI Girls

Sorry this is kind of late. I just now finished watching last nights show. Here's my take:

Going home tonight:

Kady and Amanda

My Top 2:

Brooke (she surprised me!) and Carly

AI Guys

The guys just finished performing and I thought I'd throw in my $.02:

Leaving this week:

David and Jason

My top two of the night:

David and David (lol!)

Chikezie did surprisingly well, I thought. And Danny gets on my nerves. I think he has GOT to go, but he won't be voted off yet.....unfortunately....

CALLING ALL V-LAND TEACHERS!!

Help! Ella is walking around singing a song she learned in church and I think she has the words wrong but I cannot figure out what the right one's would be. It's sung to the tune "The B-I-B-L-E." This is how she's singing it:

The B-L-O-O-D
I'll take it along with me
I'll read and pray and disobey (????)
The B-L-O-O-D

Is she really supposed to disobey? Should it be "this obey"? This is cracking me up!!

Lives are changed now...

And Kevin is up there rejoicing because of it. The service last night was absolutely incredible and I cannot even begin to fathom the difference Kevin's death has made in so many lives. Suzie is amazing and so very strong in her faith and it showed when she spoke last night.

I have to focus on the good now, to keep my mind off of the bad and I must say that I wouldn't have changed anything about the service last night.