Walgreens

I looooove my Walgreens. I drive 8 miles further than any other Wags to shop here. :) I had placed a special order for 15 Contour meters, and when I got there today the mgr went to get them for me (Wednesday truck). She said you know you have to ring these up in separate transactions. I said yep. :) So turns out the warehouse only sent 12 of the 15. And my regular cashier asked me if I would give up two of them for her. :) It was worth it to me to keep my Wags cashier happy!! (She gives me overage) So I got 10, but have 6 more q's. We are going to try a raincheck, and see if they can do it for me when they get in. fingers crossed.

oh, I'll be donating the meters. :) Since even were I diabetic, which I am not, I wouldn't need ten of them.


10 Contour monitors
2 bags Planters Trail mix
1 Wind chime
2 Ecotrin
2 Bayer Quick release crystals
3 Nivea body wash
1 Burt's chapstick (my favorite!)
1 Coffeemaker (ask Doug)
5 Hallmark Gift Wrap

Total oop: $27.42
Total savings: $848.12
and... rr's left: $45

Soccer, take...five

Natalya had her second practice tonight- they have mini-games. It's very, VERY loosely organized. They have fun, but try to introduce the rules. Natalya is such a rule-follower. She's one of the youngest on her team, but the most focused. She doesn't wander off the field in the middle of the game like some of the others.

She also has never touched the ball with her hands- unlike most of the other kids. Tonight they were playing and a kid picked up the ball to move it where he had a better angle at the goal and the ref (college soccer player) said hand ball. Then N went up to him and said "NO HANDS!" and flashed both her palms at him. lol!! He said, that's right! and high-fived her ;)
She is really enjoying it- I just wish the Saturdays didn't start so early! (we have to get up at 6ish)

Tonight she was really getting into it- following the ball more and getting her feet into the mix of kids. She fell a few times and got back up and right back in. . . and at one point she totally body-checked a girl and stole the ball! (Doug was so proud ;) ) She is really having fun with it!

Publix , Food Lion, and Target

Due to the Advantage Buy being in-between specials, I didn't really have any mm's, no time to look around, so I didn't do as great as normal, and I had to buy a bottle of infant tylenol (not on sale, no coupons! *gasp*) for my sick baby, but still did pretty decent. :) Decent enough to have the guy behind me asking me all kinds of questions and saying he was going to have to talk to his wife about coupons! lol. oh and made sure to get in my fave cashier, Ben's, lane. Hi Ben! luv ya!

1 Glucerna cereal
1 Horizon half-gallon milk
3 Michelina pasta al dente
3 Muir Glen tomato sauce
4 Suave hair product
2 Blue Diamond Almonds
1 Tylenol Infant drops
2 Silk Soy milk
2 cans Black Beans
1 pack carrots
1 bag romaine mix
2 Sargento sliced cheese
1 5lb bag red potatoes
Total oop: $20.39
Total savings: $47.40 (60% savings)

Then a quick stop today for a few items I found new coupons for

4 Blue Diamond Almonds
1 Juicy Juice Immunity
total oop: $5.38
Total savings: $13.75 (61% savings)

Three separate trips to Food Lion (two for me and one for Doug, who was very proud of himself for getting the free reusable bag (I didn't ask him about it because I didn't want to overwhelm him :) )
3 Scott Naturals toilet paper
3 Entemenn's Salt&Pepper Pistachios (clearanced, Doug's favorite)
2 reusable Food Lion bags
total oop: $6.86
Total savings: $15.85 (57% savings); my savings on the tp, the item I went in for: 83%

And...at Target, a Special K overdose! :)
20 boxes Special K (various flavors)
total oop: 9.96
Total savings: $74.80 (87% savings)

Waitress, we'll have four rounds of antibiotics please

Hello, my name is Dr. X, how can I help you today?

Well, let's see, today we're feeling a bit like something the truck ran over, so ... let's take a look at the menu.

mmmhmmm

Allright, I believe I'll have one of the azithromax, since penicillin doesn't sit well and some flonase on the side.
Doug'll be having the classic penicillin
Natalya will try the Doxycycline, although we'd like to trade the side of possible gray teeth for nothing on the side
and for Zachary? How about the Omnicef, the one that smells like fruit punch- that way when he spits half of it back on me it will at least smell good, okay?

Great! Four rounds of antibiotics coming up.

And.... hopefully we'll all be well in a week! ACk!

Reposting... trouble with my blog posts for some reason

So here's the latest Publix visit . . . And, we're all on the mend, although my headache just came back and my throat is killing me. DH's throat is still hurting too. Natalya is actually taking a nap today and Z is also sleeping. I may go join them.

"Dave Says it's ok!" Ah the first time I got to use that phrase. Thank you so much Starbucksgirl! (Kelly) lol. I went to Publix today, and after almost having a heart attack because Natalya dropped one of my coupon envelopes (worth about $100 to me, might as well have dropped a hundred dollar bill, but someone turned it in to customer service intact. whew! I must have good coupon karma), had fun waiting while the cashier/asst manager looked over all my coupons. fun stuff. Then said, "we can't take this, it's over $5" talking about the grill coupon, I informed him that a friend of mine spoke with Tim (I was at the Nippers Corners store) and Dave (regional csm) and both said it was ok. He said, oh, ok. And then he wasn't sure about my 10/100 competitor coupon, but Tim came over and okayed it. :)

It has been a long week, two sick children, a sick husband, and while checking out, I started getting dizzy and suddenly got hot and felt like I was going to pass out. I grabbed a card off the cashier's stand and started fanning myself with it, and put Z down, since his body temp of 103 was making it worse. Finally started feeling better.

But here's what I got...(the lady behind me was in awe of my coupon/discount total.)
12 bags Birdseye frozen veggies (with a raincheck)
1 bag charcoal
2 Revlon emery board packs
2 Revlon nail clippers
2 Teddy Grahams
6 Michelina pasta al dente
2 Juicy Juice Immunity apple juice
1 Glad sandwich bags
2 Hunt's ketchup
2 Yoplait GoGurt
1 Del Monte Orchard Select fruit
2 Muir Glen tomato sauce
2 Silk Soymilk
6 Rice-a-Roni whole grains
4 Sundown vitamins
4 Suave hair product
12 Skippy natural peanut butter
1 bag red potatoes
1 lb shrimp
1 pack pork cutlets

Total oop: $18.18 (could've done better, but a few things I wanted were gone and I started feeling bad and didn't get a few mm's)
Total saved: $143.60 (87% savings)

My stockpile goes the way of $144

Mom was involved in a massive yardsale yesterday at her company- and I gave her my two+ bins of stockpiled health and beauty items, most of which I only paid tax for, some I paid $.25 for, and some were moneymakers, so I didn't pay anything for them. I had been using these things in gift bags/baskets, but I am running out of room! I know I will be getting more deals and I thught I'd pass along these deals at 1/4 of retail price, making a little profit, and helping other people get good deals on new brand name products at the same time.

Result: $143.85

The illness continues

Well, now I have it. Woke up with a 100.4 fever and horrid headache that still won't go away. Z was up all night screaming in my ear, and Doug left to go sleep on the couch around 1am, with no luck. Now Z doesn't want to sleep. He is happy as long as I don't lay down with him. As soon as he lays down he starts screaming (and this kid can SCREAM...in my ear...and me with a headache)- what's up with that???

Now that all four of us have had some variation of this same thing, and Natalya has been confirmed as having something bacterial...and she's feeling much better (and on antibiotics) I am wondering if we all were exposed to the same bacteria somewhere over the last week. Since Z likes to stick everything in his mouth, it's very possible. Which means we all need antibiotics. I will call the dr on Monday to ask his opinion. Doug still has a lingering headache, I have a fever of 99.6 (even with all the tylenol I've been taking all day) and Z is really unhappy, especially when his fever flares up (I've been trying to keep the motrin in him because he is miserable and makes me miserable when his temp goes up).

Please send healing vibes our way!

Tick-related disease

N had a tick embedded in her back on Saturday evening - we had been visiting family and we saw it when we stopped for dinner. Luckily I keep a nail kit in the car and I had a pair of tweezers and alcohol pads. I pulled it out and rubbed her bite with an alcohol pad.

Fast-forward to yesterday. She said her legs were hurting. Not too terribly unusual since she often says they hurt- growing pains and such. Then today she wakes up and is really lethargic. Kept complaining about being cold (very unusual!!) Said her legs and back were hurting and she had a fever of almost 101. I remembered the stupid tick and called the dr. The nurse said, "It is URGENT that you get her in here right away". Unfortunately when I talked to her, N had just laid down for a nap, willingly, I might add (so I knew she was sick). So I woke her up and put her in the car. We headed to the dr, and after talking with him, he examined her and ruled out everything else, strep, ear infections, etc. He said we should treat her as if she has lyme disease/rocky mountain spotted fever/various other tick related diseases. The ironic thing is that a positive blood test for lymes, etc, won't usually show up until 5-7 days after symptom onset. We went ahead and drew blood to see if there was a positive for any of these, but if it comes back negative, it doesn't necessarily mean she didn't/doesn't have it. (make sense?)

Now, onto treatment. Antibiotics. There are two that are recommended for these, one is doxycycline (fairly common) and then another (I can't remember). Both have side effects. For children under 9 (90lb), doxy has the side effect of possibly turning the teeth gray, with a short course (7-10 days), it's very unlikely, but possible. The other has a side effect that 1 in 20,000 to 1 in 45,000 will have the bone marrow wiped from their body- it is fatal. Guess which med we're doing?

Overall she is doing better. She was so brave when they drew blood. She cried a little, but recovered quickly. She hasn't had any sort of appetite today, but she was rewarded with a huge cookie from the nurse and I took her to get her favorite burrito afterward, which she nibbled on.

Hopefully she'll be back to herself soon!! I hate these weird sicknesses!

Reminiscing

Natalya




Zachary

Beautiful children

Last week, I was telling Zachary how cute he was and so forth. I walked into Natalya's room and said, somewhat rhetorically, "Natalya, how did I get so lucky to have 2 such beautiful babies?" She said (without missing a beat) "by marrying Daddy".

I laughed so hard I was crying.

Yesterday was her first official soccer game. It was hysterical. Two teams of three each on the field, attempting to learn the concept- kick ball-don't touch with hands-toward the goal-on the correct end of the field-and stay in the lines.

Natalya is pretty good at staying focused (especially compared to the other kids! Holy Cow!) but doesn't get the whole, kick the ball and run after it, kick it some more. She will kick it, then watch the other kids run around kicking it until someone tells her to kick it again. And then, when she does kick it, she looks at the nearest coach and jumps up and down saying "I did it! I did it!"





Then after her game we went to visit Papa Kincaid, Kris, Lily and Jasmine. It was a LOOOONG day, but well worth it.

Here she is on the drive down being funny with her library books...

It was great to see them and the girls were so cute together, especially Jasmine and Natalya. They were thick as thieves the two of them, and got along pretty well. I'll post some pics when I get them uploaded. Unfortunately my battery died and I only got a few, instead of a whole bunch! I got a few cute ones though.

They were "going to the store" and somehow they squeezed themselves into this car meant for one:


Zachary is getting big. He can now find and re-insert his pacifier in his mouth when he drops it. Yay! And he is starting to take naps by himself, sort of. :) He really is interested in food, and I know he'd love to start solids, but I'm in denial! I'm not ready for my baby to be ready for real food! :(

The new Publix

I went to the new Bellemeade store today and it was awesome! I handed the cashier my stack of q's and he said "oh wow" lol!! He did get a bit confused b/c he scanned my items, then as he was scanning my q's I realized I picked up the wrong Egglands. The bagger went to get the right ones and he took the wrong ones off...making my total -$3xx LOL!! She came back and said there was only one left and rang it, making my total -$.06 plus tax. I reminded the casdhier to take off 2 of the egglands coupons, which added back $2 to my total. He was thoroughly confused- but I assured him it was right! heh.
oh, sidenote- the cooking spray was cheaper here! $2.93 bogo, with my All You q's and pxq's, made them free+ overage!

So- here's what I got:
3 Stonyfield yogurt
2 One-a-day men's
2 Yoplait Trix 6-packs
2 Kellog's Smart Start cereal
3 Mueller pasta
1 Pam Cooking Spray
2 Marzetti croutons
2 Sundown Vitamins
1 dz Egglands
Total oop: $5.60 and will get back approximately $4 for the Smart Start "Try Me" rebates... so $1.60!
Total saved before rebate: $45.78 or 88%
Total saved after rebate: $47.73 or 96%

Showing some Kroger love

Kroger...
6 Softsoap pumps
1.5lb bananas
2 Huggies 40ct soft packs
2 Green Giant frozen vegetables
total oop: 3.15
total saved: 17.86 (87%)

Publix and my new favorite cashier

His name is Ben. I went in at 4:10ish and N had soccer at 5. We were in and out and in a rush, it was a little busy, and I chose the friendliest-looking and most easy-going looking cashier I saw. His name...Ben. He didn't bat an eye at my coupons and scanned them all no comments. Awesome! That is the first time I have ever had that happen. Too bad I didn't get to finish my shopping because we ran out of time. I will have to go back and get the rest of the things on my list later this week.

So...here's my haul:
24 20oz Vitamin waters
6 Stonyfield yogurts
2 Stonyfield smoothies
1 Banana Nut Cheerios
1 Multigrain Cheerios
1 Publix Bleach (penny item)
3 Mueller Pastas
2 Pam Cooking Sprays
2 Spice Islands Grinders
2 Sundown Vitamins
2 packs Toufayan wraps
1 Knox Gelatin
2 Juicy Juices
Total oop: $3.88
Total Savings: $87.89

Publix last week

Publix

1 McCormick Pure Vanilla Extract (reg price 8.49)
12 bags Goodlife catfood (reg price 4.49/ea)
8 boxes Morningstar Farms items (reg price 3.99/ea)
9 bags Birdseye frozen veggies (reg price 1.79-2.39/ea)
1 bag Family size Tostitos (reg price 4.99)
1 bag Tostitos natural yellow corn tortilla chips (reg price 3.99)
1 bag Publix Greenwise tortila chips (reg price 4.99)
1 French Onion dip (reg price 2.79)
1 Revlon Emory Board (reg price 1.89)
1 Kraft dressing (reg price 2.69)
1 half gallon Horizon milk (reg price 3.85)
4 Ronzoni pasta (reg price 1.39)

total oop: $14.82
total saved: $85.27

Coupons used
1 $1/1 McCormick spice (bogo sale)
12 $3/1 Goodlife catfood (raincheck on a bogo sale)
7 $2/1 Morningstar Farms items (raincheck on a 50% off sale)
9 $.35/1 bags Birdseye frozen veggies (50% off sale)
1 $3/2 Frito-Lay products
1 $2/1 Dip wyb 2 Frito-Lay chips
1 $2/1 Revlon Publix q
1 $1.50/1 Kraft dressing (bogo sale)
1 $.55/1 Horizon mq
1 $1/1 Horizon Publix q

Grocery budget

Before I started couponing, we probably spent $150/week on groceries. Now, we're averaging $150-$175 a month!! For brand-name products, including produce and organic dairy. Wheee!!

Zachary at 5 months

We went to the doctor on Friday for his HiB and IPV boosters. We weighed him while we were there and he is 17.8 lb!! He did great and didn't cry when he got his shots- I credit the nurse though- she is soooo good with kids :)

He can roll both ways, but doesn't often go back to front since he prefers being on his back- but put him on his tummy and he will flip right over. He still sleeps great although he hates to nap.

He is just growing and getting so big!

Warning: Do NOT buy this product for your kids.

Doug and I enjoy Boost products for ourselves when we have days where we are lax about eating our vegetables. They are great for my grandparents as well for added nutrition and energy. So when I saw that Boost came out with a similar drink aimed toward children, and I had some coupons, I picked some up. I especially thought the "probiotic straw" was a neat idea.

I neglected to read the ingredients. My Mistake.

After drinking one of these, Natalya was bouncing off the walls ALL day like she'd eaten three pounds of sugar. I then read the ingredients, there is an added 244kcal of Energy! Energy! Like kids need extra energy!! Are these people insane?? Natalya was still hyper today. Perhaps it is because we have always limited the amount of junk and candy/sugar she eats, but it sure was something.

Doug will be drinking the remainder of the pack I bought and I will not be buying any more. I also sent a letter to Boost. We will see what they say. I am very curious if they will respond.

Awesome Walgreens trip!

Also hit up Target for some cheap All.

Walgreens:
4 Colgate Total
3 Skintimate Shave Gel
4 Easter Cups
2 bags potting Soil
1 Oust

Total oop: $4.77
RR's left: $3.50
rebates earned: $1
Total oop after rebates and rr's: $.27

Zachary

Rolled over bact to tummy. Then I put him back on his back and he rolled onto his tummy- then right back onto his back. He then laughed like a maniac while Natalya and I clapped and cheered!!

CVS, Target and Publix

Today's Awesome deals!!
:)

CVS
2 Natural Dentist Oral Rinse (reg price 6.99/ea)
2 Easter Baskets (reg price 1.99/ea)
2 Easter grasses (reg price .79/ea)
Total oop: $1.58
and will get back $10 for Natural Dentist rebate
Total saved: $22.57
Total: Profit $8.42

Target:
4 20 oz. Vitamin Water 10 (reg price 1.39/ea)
2 Snack-size Cheetos (reg price 1.29/ea)
3 Johnson's Buddies Bars (reg price .97/ea)
Total oop: $.92 (on a gift card, $2.21 left on card)
Total Savings: $12.00

Publix:
Today's Publix trip was better. I got overage on some items, and not others. The oh-so very interesting thing was that the cashier, who is visually impaired, but extremely friendly (whenever I go to this store, I try to get in his lane if he's working)needed the manager to help on marking down a couple of the overage coupons. The first transaction, one manager came over and helped him out. For the second transaction, the first mgr had disappeared and another manager came over. This one said, "go ahead and run it". He said "but it's over the amount" she said "it's ok, we'll get it back, I'll explain it later". HUH! So based on this conversation- they DO get reimbursed the full face value of the coupon!! REALLY good to know!
1 Kashi Frozen meal (reg price 3.79/ea)
4 Breyers ice Cream (reg price 4.99/ea)
4 Cool Whip (reg price 1.49/ea)
2 Cedar Lane Wraps (reg price 2.99/ea)
2 Orville Redenbacher Popcorns (reg price 4.89/ea)
2 5lb bags Domino Sugar (reg price 1.99/ea)
2 Knox Gelatin (reg price 1.39/ea)
4 Sundown Vitamins (reg price 2.99/ea)
1 Sundown Vitamins (reg price 3.29/ea)
1 Sundown Vitamins (reg price 3.59/ea)
3 Pace Salsa
4 Birdseye Frozen veggies (reg price 1.79/ea)
2 Birdseye Frozen veggies (reg price 2.39/ea)
5 I Can't Believe it's Not Butter (reg price 2.39/ea)
5 Duncan Hines Cake Mix (reg price 1.59/ea)
10 Chex Mix (reg price 2.79/ea)
1 Kraft Dressing (reg. price 2.69/ea)
1 Gerber Fruit Puffs (reg price 2.19/ea)
2 Kraft Miracle Whip (reg price 3.99/ea)
1 Horizon Organic Milk (reg price 3.99/ea)
4 Ronzoni Angel Hair (reg price 1.39/ea)
1 McCormick Vanilla Extract (reg price 8.49/ea)
3 Jello Cook-n-Serve puddings (reg price 1.09/ea)
5 Bayer Aspirin (reg price 2.69/ea)
1 Pineapple (reg price 4.99/ea)
Total oop: 34.07
Total Savings: $172.74

coupons used: (all $.50 and less are doubled)
1 Free Kashi Frozen meal
4 $.75/1 Breyers ice Cream (+bogo deal)
2 $.65/2 Cool Whip (+bogo deal)
2 $.55/1 Orville Reddenbacher Popcorns (+bogo deal)
2 $.35/1 5lb bags Domino Sugar
2 $4/1 Knox Gelatin (got overage on one of two)
6 $1/1 Sundown Vitamins
3 $6/2 (Publix)Sundown Vitamins
3 $4/1 Pace Salsa (got overage on 2 of 3)
6 $.35/1 Birdseye Frozen veggies (+ 50% off deal)
5 $.50/1 I Can't Believe it's Not Butter (+bogo deal)
5 $.35/1 Duncan Hines Cake Mix (+bogo deal)
10 Chex Mix (+bogo deal)
1 $1.50/1 Kraft Dressing (+bogo deal)
1 $3/1 Gerber Baby food Item
1 $1/2 Kraft Miracle Whip (+bogo deal)
1 $1/1 Horizon Organic Milk
1 $1/1 Horizon Organic Milk Publix store q
1 $1/1 McCormick Spice or Extract (+bogo deal)
1 $1 off 3 Jello puddings wyb 1/2 gallon or larger milk
5 $2/1 Bayer Aspirin Publix store q
1 $2/1 Bayer Aspirin Kroger catalina/mq
4 $1/1 Bayer Aspirin mq
1 $.75/1 Pineapple


SO! Grand total spent today oop (not including $ on Target gift card): $35.65, and got $243.88 worth of items.
And will get $10 back for the Mail-in-Rebate on Natural Dentist products.

Sweet deals at Food Lion and Kroger

Food Lion
4 Blue Bunny ice creams (reg price $4.99/ea)
1 box Nilla Wafers (reg price $3.99/ea)
1 avocado (reg price $1.29/ea)
Total oop: $7.06

Kroger
6 French's Mustard (reg price $1.69/ea)
4 French's Spicy Mustard (reg price $1.69/ea)
1 Maple Syrup (reg price $7.49/ea)
1 dozen eggs (reg price $1.39/ea)
2 4-packs Hunt's pudding (reg price $1.39/ea)
Total oop: $10.28 (plus I picked up about 25 Go Organic coupon booklets!)