New Life, Shopping Spree & the Dallas Cowboys

The last 72ish hours have seemed like a crazy whirlwind with Hubby & I running from one thing to another. I'll be back later this week with full recaps of all events, but here's a quick rundown.

Thursday evening I went with my bestie Andrea for pedicures, her birthday present from me that she used in order to make sure she would have cute toes when she went into labor with baby #3. Little did we know that pedicures apparently induce labor! At 2:30 Friday morning I got a phone call that "It's baby time!" Hubby & I were in charge of coming over to stay with the other two kids as Derek & Andrea went on to the hospital. So...at 3:00 am we arrived, said a quick prayer, & watched our best friends leave the house for the last time as parents of 2.

I was a little distraught as we were scheduled to leave for Dallas, TX at noon on Friday for a family weekend of shopping and a Dallas Cowboys game. I was hoping for a quick delivery, but that's just not Andrea. We decided to head on to Dallas, knowing that Derek & Andrea would understand. Baby Cohen Jay was born on Friday evening about 7:30. I've only seen a couple of pictures, but he's beautiful! We're headed to their house tonight for our first introduction---I Can't Wait!

This made the second baby boy arrival this week as my close friends Jennifer & Justin welcomed Baby Beckham on Monday of last week! Babies everywhere!

Back to the Dallas trip....we arrived mid-evening on Friday and spent some time relaxing in the hotel bar. Hubby & I, my parents, & my mom's parents travelled by car & then my brother & his wife met up with us on Saturday after their plane arrived. Saturday was a designated shopping day & I'd been saving my cash for a few months so I'd have plenty of spending money! We had a great time and definitely shopped till we dropped! I'll recap my shopping spree later this week! We capped off the evening with a fabulous meal at a local steakhouse.

Yesterday, was the main event....Dallas Cowboys vs. Jacksonville Jaguars. Unfortunately, it was a pretty crappy day for Cowboys' fans but we still had a great time & the Cowboys Stadium is seriously just unbelieveable. After the game we loaded up and headed home...Hubby & I finally pulled into our driveway at midnight...LONG DAY!!!

I took plenty of pictures so I'll be back with a recap later this week once I'm able to make sure my head is still attached!

Bed for Bogey

I'm a softy. Yes, it's true---and most of all I'm a huge pushover when it comes to my precious, loveable Bogey. For some reason when it comes to my furry son, I manage to push all the previous destruction to the back of my mind...for the good of Bogey.

It's starting to get a little chilly during the nights now, which also means it's time for Bogey to have a new bed. Bogey is an outdoor dog, only coming in for short visits during the winter months. He really seems to be happiest outside and there's no way he could ever be a house-dog...can we say fur?

Anyways, during the summer months we just lay some old towels down for him as that seems to be his preference for sleeping so he can stay cool. He also loves to just lay on the cold concrete which is crazy to me...but Bogey, whatever you want.

So last night we went to our local farm supply store to buy him the 1st bed of the season. This will be the 3rd fall season for us to have Bogey and he hasn't let us down yet. Every year from around November to March or April, waking up each morning and hoping not to find....

Yup, that's Bogey in the early spring of 2009...those are pieces of his bed all over the yard!

Every year I hope that he's outgrown the shredding of the bed, but he seems to be holding onto his puppy stage in that regard. We've tried almost EVERYTHING...except for spending $100s on a bed that is supposedly chew proof! Seriously, have they met my dog? It's not even worth it to experiment with something so expensive!

Last night we gave him his bed, and this morning it appeared he had left it alone for at least 12 hours; but when I went out to feed him before heading to work I noticed a bit of orange stuffing near one of the corners. Yup, he's done it again...a hole about the size of an orange on the underside of the bed. Guess we'll be fighting this fight again this year...any suggestions would be vrey welcome!

Another photo from Spring 2009~I took these through the window before he realize I was home from work. And I mean come on, how am I supposed to be mad at that face?

Thrifty Tuesday

Ok, first of all...yes, I realize it's Wednesday and Thrifty Tuesday is a little delayed this week. However, I did actually complete my shopping trip yesterday so that has to count for something right?

This week was another successful trip to Walgreen's---6 rolls of Charmin toilet paper, 2 tubes Colgate Total Toothpaste, 2 tubes Colgate Sensitive Toothpaste, 1 12 oz. bottle Axe Shampoo, 2 rolls Scotch Tape, 1 box Old El Paso taco shells, & a bag of peanut M & M's for filler....

$9.74

With my total of $9.74, I saved over $21.00!! There were several other great deals at Walgreens this week; however, I've already stocked up on most of the other stuff so I decided to leave it there for now & wait for the next sale. My weekly grocery bill was under $40 again this week which is my main goal for this entire couponing experiment. I'm really pleased with my success so far.

After this week, I will have been playing the coupon game for a little over a month and I've already learned some very valuable lessons.

1. If you decide to never play the coupon game, or pay attention to sales flyers, in my area the cheapest place to buy most anything is still Walmart. As much as I prefer to shop at local grocery stores & drug stores, Walmart still has the best prices when it comes to buying something without a coupon or a store sale. There have been a few times when I'll buy things simply because I don't want to visit Walmart for 2 or 3 easy items, convincing myself I'm not spending that much more. However, this is normally not the case...so off to Walmart I will go.

2. Once you've stocked up your essentials, it's really not necessary to keep stockpiling unless it's just an unbelievably, great deal. For Hubby's hygiene products (shaving cream, razors, body wash, deodorant, contact solution, etc.) he has at least 2 extra already stored away in his drawer. I'll probably be avoiding these items unless I can get them for free or close to it. Now, this idea might change if you were counting on donating these items to a local food pantry. I'm sure we'll also do that soon; because you only need so many tubes of toothpaste & bottles of body wash for yourself!

3. Don't use coupons just because their about to expire. I've already had a few coupons expire since I began cutting them out & I tend to have the desire to go out and buy an item simply because I have a coupon. However, I have refrained because I've become so conscious about my weekly grocery totals. If you use the coupon as justification for a purchase this will not save you money over all; you'll simply be buying things you don't need at a price that you don't need to pay if you'll simply wait for a coupon or better yet a coupon and a store sale.

4. Finally, contrary to #3 above, there will be some weeks when you simply have to buy things that are on sale and that's ok. Once you start coupining the likelihood of this happening with household goods is less likely than it might be with essential grocery items; but it will still happen. You might need frozen chicken tenders, or lunchmeat, or cereal, or ingredients for a meal that you hadn't planned on. I've realized that making these purchases is OK--even if you don't have a coupon.

I don't have the exact numbers, but I think that with my coupon shopping & ad searching, I've managed to save at least somewhere between $30-40 this month. I've been stockpiling some items which skews this number but I also won't have to buy those items for a long time. $30-40 may not seem like a huge amount of savings, but it's probably close to 10% of our monthly grocery bill. And you know what, $30 over the course of a year is $360...that's a pretty substantial addition to my fun money!

Weekend Rewind

It's been a lazy, cloudy weekend for me. I honestly haven't done a whole lot of anything & what's even better is that I don't even feel all that guilty about it.

Friday night was girls' night & while I had good intentions of taking a bunch of pictures, it turned into a casual night with pizza for dinner, Orange Leaf for dessert, and lots and lots of laughter. It was a great evening, I honestly couldn't ask for a better group of girlfriends. Maybe I'll get some pictures next time...

Saturday I had to work, and then I spent Saturday afternoon relaxing around the house. Hubby had his CPA exam (he felt fairly good about most of it) so I laid around for the both of us; complete with a nice nap. It was a cloudy, kinda rainy afternoon so it was perfect. After Hubby's exam we went to dinner & treated ourselves to Andy's Frozen Custard for dessert. Yum!!!

We finished up the night watching the big Mizzou vs. OU game. We're really not Mizzou fans, but we were certainly routing for them! They ended up with a huge win...arguably the biggest win in the history of the program!

Today has been another lazy, relaxing Sunday. Church, followed by lunch, some coupon-cutting, a little bit of yardwork, chili-making, and another weekend nap. It was wonderful. Hubby also finished up another flower-bed which we had started a few weeks ago. We seriously love working in our yard & really take pride in making it look really good!

We finished up tonight with a great small group that really convicted Hubby & I in a few areas; we'll be praying in the near future for God to use us and speak to us in incredible ways.

It's gonna be a great week...Hubby's taking this week off from studying so we'll have some great quality time & next weekend promises to be incredibly busy!

Thursday Evening Tidbits

So normally I try not to include days of the week in the title of my posts, especially not 2 posts in a row...but it's almost the end of the week and my creativity is lacking. It's been a fairly quiet week for me which has been nice, but I've also felt very productive!

~Even thought I hate it, last night was filled with cleaning my bathroom and master bedroom. I sincerely HATE cleaning the bathroom, but I do love how a clean house smells once it's all done!

~Today was a full day of continuing education, an E & O seminar to be exact. Ughhh...it's nice to be out of the office, but I'd much rather be doing something fun than sitting in a room full of professionals listening to all the ways I might be sued because of my errors or omissions...fun, fun, fun.

~On the bright side I made Pioneer Woman's Tequila Lime Chicken for dinner. This was the second time I've made this and it is sooo yummy! I served it with homemade Spanish rice tonight; but last time I just served it with a simple baked potato. It's a chicken dish with a great dash of flair!

~Last night I had dinner with one of my great friends from college. We hadn't gotten together in quite awhile and it was so nice to reconnect about life & everything that happens in our daily lives. I just love catching up with great friends, there's just something so refreshing about it!

~And, for even more girl time...tomorrow night is girls' night! I have no idea what our plans are, but we're meeting up for dinner and it's guaranteed to be a great time full of lots of laughter!

The weekend will mostly include some relaxation for me as Hubby takes another section of the CPA exam on Saturday afternoon. God-willing he'll be able to knock this section out! Prayers would definitely be appreciated! Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday!

Thrifty Tuesday

My couponing adventure continues on this week with the search for the best coupons paired with the best advertised deals. I've decided that part of the value in couponing comes from stocking up on certain, often used items in an effort to never pay full price. I'm still in the "hoarding" stage so I allow myself a little room if my purchases aren't quite as impressive as others out there in couponing world.

This week I'll highlight my trip to Walgreens once again. Overall, I honestly felt like their ad was a bit disappointing this week; however, they had a few really good deals that made up for it. Now, before I go through it...let me just say that my total is no where near what it was last week. But--some of the items I purchased were great deals to me and right now, that's what's important!

So..without further adieu...

One full-sized canister of Morton salt, 2 boxes Kellog's Fiber Plus granola bars, 2 boxes Kraft Mac & Cheese, 2 12 oz. boxes Kellog's Special K with Red Berries, 3 cans Campbell soup (2 Cream of Mushroom & 1 Cream of Chicken), 1 Blistex Medicated Lip Ointment, 2 bottles Clear Care Contact Solution, and 2 16.9 oz bottles of Nivea body wash (1 for me, 1 for Hubby); all for...

!!! $17.55 !!!

Now, as I said...this was certainly not the cheapest trip to Walgreens so far, but with my total of $17.55 I experience savings of $37.54. Still a pretty good trip if you ask me. In addition, when you add my Walgreens visit to my trip to the grocery store I kept my weekly grocery/household spending to under $45. This is another big step for me!

Oh and anyone out there wear contacts?!? I am incredibly blessed with quite perfect vision, but Hubby makes up for both of us with his poor eyesight. When I saw Clear Care on sale & I had a coupon I was ecstatic! Normally $8 a bottle, with coupons and advertised sales I was able to basically get BOGO...definitely too good of a deal to pass up.

It's become quite the game for me....scouring the Internet for great coupons and waiting anxiously for the local grocery ads to be released for a fun little game of matching! Love it!

Fall...where are you?

We had a fabulous weekend, but man, where are the fall temps? It's still upper 70s, low 80s and we're entering into late October. I'm definitely ready for the cool nights which are perfect for curling up in sweats and a blanket; as we took Bogey for a walk tonight, we almost broke a sweat!

Friday night we had dinner with one of our pastor's & his wife. They are basically in the same stage of life as Hubby & I and we just have such a good time with them. We normally try to visit a new restaurant when we get together. This time we headed to a new local place, Nicola's, which is actually owned & operated by the same chef who has a very successful restaurant in another part of town. The service was lacking a little, but the food was excellent and I was very pleased with the atmosphere. I would say we'll definitely go back, but we may wait a bit as the menu is quite limited and Hubby & I are both prone to being picky!


Saturday was incredibly laid back with the only commitment being a baby shower for my best friend Andrea. She's expecting her 3rd little one practically any day and it was so fun to get together with her friends & family to celebrate!

There was quite the crowd...and she got some adorable stuff for her baby boy!

She's seriously so gorgeous and such a glowing mom-to-be!

I bought her some adorable little outfits including this one...Love the gingham pocket on the bottom!

This blanket was so fabulous...one of the other girls' in our small group had her mom make this rag quilt!

Love this girl...she is simply amazing!

The rest of Saturday was kind of a blah day...we just hung around the house doing little things and then we headed down to my parents' house for a bit. Bogey got to go along and even enjoyed some time at my grandparent's pond. I swear, that dog would LIVE in the water if we'd let him!

The two most important men in my life...Hubby & Dad.

The weather was just beautiful...I always love riding the four-wheelers up to the pond and taking a few minutes to enjoy the peace and quiet of the country.

Bogey & Dallas had plenty of time to play tug-of-war with the stick...Josie wanted to join in but was trying to avoid getting trampled by the big dogs!

Can we go home now? I need a bath!

We grabbed a quick dinner at Qdoba and then settled in on the couch with a Redbox movie. We chose It's Complicated with Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin, and others. We both really enjoyed it! I highly recommend it for a mindless, entertaining romantic comedy!

Today was church--another wonderful sermon about listening for the whispers of God and how I am normally the biggest obstacle when trying to hear His voice. The rest of the day included a whole lot of relaxation; we did work out in the yard for a bit...Hubby weed-eating & edging while I started on the mowing. Who knows when we'll stop mowing if the weather keeps this up!?!? Small group finished up the weekend with some great conversations that went along with this morning's sermon.

Guess it's time for another week...I've managed to fill it up pretty fast but it should be fun!