Couponing

So I have a new hobby and its "Couponing" :) My dear friend Andrea has been teaching me the ropes and its very addicting! Thank you Andrea! I thought that since I haven't posted a blog in almost a year this could be something to add to it.

RiteAid 11/3/2010 - RiteAid offers weekly sales as well as RiteAid rewards (you earn RiteAid dollars on certain items each week and they print out at the end of your transaction and you spend them just like cash at RiteAid for your next transaction) ok now this one was pretty cool... retail value was $67.75 and I paid $11.69 BUT got $10 UP-Reward RiteAid dollars for my next trip... so really I got it for $1.69!
(Yes it looks like a small amount for a pre-coupon total of $67 but those two little blue boxes are $20 each and we got them for FREE + $5 RiteAid bucks... (they are OneTouch Delica devices that we don't use but I can now donate them to CareNet and someone who needs them gets them for FREE!)

And this transaction was at Super Wal-Mart.

Should have been: $64.40 for $33.52

Body Wash @ 5.00 x3 (I'm using one)

Secret Clinical Deodorant @7.94 x2

Shaving Cream @ 1.48

Venus Razor Cartridge @ 14.47

Venus Razor Cartridge @ 11.97

Well I had 3 coupons that gave me an Olay Body Wash FREE with purchase of any Secret Deodorant Purchase AND I had 2 coupons that said you got a FREE Secret deodorant with purchase of any Venus Razor Blades.... SO I got the Olay for FREE and the Secret for FREE... I spent 33.52 and that was only paying for the razor blades, shaving cream and tax :)

Did you know that Ingles doubles any manufacturer coupons under .50 cents?? And that Bi-Lo will double them under .65 cents?? And I never new thought to use manufacturer coupons on items that are on a store-ran sale. And even deeper that I didn't know if something was on a buy one get one free (B1G1) store sale that you can use 2 manufacturer coupons and sometimes get the item for FREE or close to it! .... all this is just the tip of the iceberg... I still have so much to learn and I thought that I could start sharing some of my recent coupon trip finds on here.

Here are some great coupon sites (some to learn the art and some to print coupons)

www.SouthernSavers.com is an awesome site where she teaches the art as well as takes the time to post all the weeks steals for different stores.

www.Coupons.com is a great place to print off manufacturer coupons and they change regularly.

I now find myself looking online at Ingles, Bi-Los, RiteAid and CVS at the weekly sale inserts and making my "plan of attack." Its a pretty good feeling to leave a store and think wow my bill WOULD have been $67 bucks but I really got everything for $1.69... YES that happened this week!

Jurassic Park 2

Ok so I know this is SO late! I'm sorry......

So here is a little story.... from our lil' life.....

Once apon a time in a far away land it rained for days and days and days..... oh ok so it was Franklin, NC and it rained for 3 days pretty much non-stop. Much more than our ground could hold. Well there was this lil' train that lives close to a River and it was just minding its own business and the water kept creeping up and up.

We were having fun watching it rise... until we realized that "hmmmm..... this is about to come over the driveway and land lock the train" And sure enough it did.

Above Videos: This was how Chris had to get to work the next day.

So this next video is something that I would have expected to see on National Geographic.... there were quite a few of these mounds just floating around on top of the marshy water. Under closer inspection these are actually mounds of ants. The top layer is just moving all about like crazy and I guess the ones of the bottom have given their lives to save the rest. The have everything that would have been in there "hill" eggs included. Pretty crazy and made me SO glad that I didn't "bump" into one when I just thought it was a pile of grass.....

So all in all a pretty crazy lil evening. Oh and Chris had to canoe to work for the first time ever... lets hope it is also the last :) But a cool story. We are very thankful that the water never actually made it up to the train. And I feel very sorry for the homes and families that this amount of water did make it to the properties.

Just a random day in "my lil' life"....

Were we in Jurassic Park????

So the water was rising and rising...

And it wasn't showing signs of stopping...
It just kept coming up and up....

It got so high that we had to take measures to get back to the house....

It was a night like no other for sure....

More to come..... Videos are giving us trouble at the moment....

A new friend....

While showing homes in Franklin there is really no telling what you might run into or see.... I have some interesting moments over the last 4 years.

But just the other day I met a lil' critter that decided to be my friend....

I was walking around the outside of a home, while waiting on a repair to be completed for a client and out of the corner of my eye I saw a lil' lizard. Now when I was a young girl, well at moments "tom-boy", I would love to play with lizards... so I had to try and catch him.

Well, to my surprise, it wasn't hard. He was just about as curious about me as I was him. He hopped in my hand and as I would turn my hand from left to right he would just crank his neck around to keep his eyes on my face all the time. He was pretty cute... so I thought I'd share my new lil' friend.

Yes, I let him go back free and didn't try to "keep" him as a pet... which I did many times as a youngin = )

Cool days make me think of fall recipes....

So with these cold mornings I've been craving all my favorite "fall" foods... so since I have been REALLY bad and have not posted anything in WAY too long... I thought I'd post one of my favorite fall meals.

A good white chicken chili with either home-made cornbread or just some good tortilla chips.

White Chicken Chili

· 2 cans of Northern White Beans (15oz)
· 1 medium onion (finely chopped)
· 1 can whole kernel corn, drained
· 1 can diced tomatoes, drained
· 1 & ½ cups instant rice
· 1 ½ tsp garlic, chopped
· 2 cans chopped green chilis (4.5 oz)
· 2 tsp cumin
· 1 tsp oregano
· 1 & ½ tsp cayenne pepper
· 1 tsp salt
· 1 tsp pepper (or to taste)
· 1 lb boneless chicken (cut into small pieces) **Or 2 cans all white chicken meat to cut down on cooking time**
· 1 can chicken broth (14.5 oz)
· 1 cup half and half
· 12 oz. Sour cream
Cook chicken with onion and garlic. Mix in everything but the creams (heavy and sour). Bring to a rolling boil for a couple min. (to cook the rice). Reduce heat and add sour cream and heavy cream, stirring until mixed. Serve hot topped with grated cheese. Serves about 8.

.................Ok and I'll try to be better about posting!

Fireworks

I hope that everyone had a wonderful and safe Holiday weekend!

Ahhhh the 4th of July always brings up wonderful childhood memories...watermelon....hamburgers & hot dogs.... time in the sun & fun at the lake... and this year fit right in. I spent the day at the lake with wonderful family and friends, ate too much great food, some watermelon pie and then came back to Franklin and watched the fireworks. I did have a new experience this year though as I got to watch them from a roof top!
Thought I'd share a bit from our Franklin, NC July 4th Fireworks show....

(let me warn you its LOUD... might turn down the speakers a bit.....)

An addiction to time and numbers???

For those that know me, you already know about my little addiction to certain times and numbers... But for those of you that don't, let me explain:

Its not that I'm like chicken little and think that the sky is going to fall when the clock reads 3:33 or anything... actually it is just that it makes me very happy inside to randomly glance at a clock, the odometer or a receipt that shows an interesting display of numbers... be it 5:55... 11:11... 12:12... you get the idea. Well let me tell you that I don't just sit around waiting for these lil moments to happen... that wouldn't give me any joy... its when I just happen to randomly glance and "catch" one. I can't help but feel that God is smiling down on me, thinking "Oh my silly lil girl, you are so easy to entertain but I love you" So needless to say the moments always make me smile.

Ok, now for the extra exciting part..... I ran across my birth certificate a few years ago and I was born at 1:11 pm.... no joke, now no I don't think it means a thing in the world other than to give me something to smile about... but very interesting none the less.

well here are just a few random moments that I've been able to catch on camera lately.

Just happened to glance at the oven while cleaning the kitchen yesterday (and then almost broke my neck trying to get to the camera and take the picture fast enough...)

Ok so yesterday when I randomly glanced down it did read 111.1 but in order not to cause an accident I did continue to drive safely down the road and it hit 111.2 before I could snap the shot

Then this morning while showing houses I glanced down at how much gas I had left and lookie there at how many miles worth I have left. (no the client didn't see me "catching" the shot...)

Gotta know that this day made me smile and I hadn't looked at it anytime recently

Oh also after lunch I thought oh I wonder what time it is...... NO JOKE it was 2:22.................... Just kinda interesting.......

So this is just one of the lil things that makes me, me... and that keeps my lil life rather interesting.

I wanted to share a favorite verse: 'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'
And its found at Jeremiah 33:3 ; )