This & That...My Silly Life

We ended up with about 7 inches of snow when it was all said and done. I was so excited when I woke up Saturday morning! Country folks love snow, it gives us an excuse to do random dumb things. Anyway, we started off the day by taking a trip to town on Marks truck to see what the roads looked like.

This is a main highway...covered!

Then we decided to venture out on the 4 wheelers for a little while. No one was really on the roads so we just rode around on the roads and in the woods. We met up with some of our friends and had a great time. I love country living! I just couldn't imagine living in the city. It's so nice to be able to hop on the 4 wheeler and go to our friends houses, you cant beat it! So after a few hours we decided to head back home to get something to eat and relax for a little while.

Getting ready for our day ride, Me and my Grizzly :)

Later on...back on the 4 wheelers to have a ton of fun! This time about 8 of us decided we were going to ride to town. How many chances do you get to take your 4 wheelers out in the snow and ride all the way to town? Only our little crew...we are all so crazy! So we hit the road and once we get into town we decided to make a stop at our local gas station :) There was a guy on a snow mobile filling up with gas...LOL I never thought I would see the day where someone was out on a snowmobile in NC!!! The cops where there too, they told us to be careful and not to cause any accidents...LOL


Making a stop at the local gas station in our little town.

Jamie and me at the Tasty Snack. Yes that is a cop car behind us :0

Riding through town.

The "Shackleys" taking a break at Will's produce stand The Cabbage Patch!

So we all had a great time. The boys ended up pulling a car out of the ditch with the 4 wheelers. So we managed to have a ton of fun and help someone at the same time! My fun was cut a little short... On the way home the rear end of my 4 wheeler was smoking and when I stopped I realized that my seals had blown out and my practically BRAND NEW 4 wheeler was in terrible shape :( We had rode to our friends house so I had no way to get home. I didn't want to chance riding it all the way home, so Mark had to go back to the house and get a trailer. So my poor little 4 wheeler was escorted home on a trailer and I was a little upset. We have all this wonderful snow and I can't play in it any longer...BOOO!

So I have been stressing over my situation, since the 4 wheeler is practically new and has only 21 hours I feel there is no excuse for this to happen. Of course the warranty is out so I know this is going to cost a boat load of money to fix :( Against all odds I talked with Yamaha's corporate office today to vent my flustration (NICELY) and they were very nice...YAY! At this point they have offered to pay the dealership to tear my 4 wheeler apart and find the problem at no charge to me. So far so good! We will be dropping it off on Thursday. I hope that once the problem is found that Yamaha will do everything possible to fix this at NO charge to me. I know I take good care of this machine and with the ride time on it we shouldn't be experiencing these problems!!! I will keep you posted on how this unfolds. If Yamaha would like to stay in my good graces and say nice things about them they will stand behind their product. We will see, my fingers are crossed!

I have been trying to post this for 3 days...dial up Internet really makes it hard to post pictures on here! Maybe one day I will break down and pay the extra money for high speed, but not today :) Hope everyone enjoyed the snow days!

The day is over! Work wasn't too bad, we got off around 8 this evening. I am very tired though. We have had a little snow off and on since around dark. I would say we probably have at least an inch right now. Snow is sneaky... I will go to sleep with a little snow and when I wake up there is no telling what could be waiting for me :)

This is what we have so far!

I keep sweeping the deck every hour or so. I know it sounds crazy but I am so clumsy, and I feel like it is a good idea to keep the deck and side walk as clear as possible. I know I will probably have to shovel in the morning, but every little bit helps :) I hope when I wake up tomorrow I can look out my window and see a winter wonderland and piles of snow. More pictures to come tomrrow.

~~~~~Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow~~~~~

I will go ahead and apologize to any reading this right now. This will be a post of random ramblings and stuff that I have on my mind. Maybe you will at least get a laugh out of my incoherent craziness :)

Topic 1 ~ Work
To say it has been a busy week would be a complete understatement. I have been chasing my tail all week! You must know my personality to understand... I am the type of person who wants everyone to be happy. My darling customers have been very demanding this week, which is not unusual. For some reason everyone thinks I know the answer to everything. I think this too...LOL Not really, but they know if they need something I will search the world over just to answer their question or help them. I have been stressed to the point of pulling my hair out, and when someone wants something right now I have to find a way to make it happen. Otherwise I feel like a complete failure, which I know must be some type of personality defect. I guess that is why I enjoy work so much, people think I am smart and they depend on me...I secretly love that ;) With all that being said, today was the greatest! I finally somehow managed to get caught up today. I was so happy I could have danced all around the office...don't worry I managed to contain my enthusiasm. So tomorrow is Friday and I hope I can wrap up the week with everyone happy and taken care of, we will have to see what tomorrow brings. Tomorrow we have to do inventory. Not so much looking forward to this since we will have to work very late tomorrow. Usually I wouldn't mind, but it is possible that we may get a blizzard tomorrow night. Not really a blizzard, but they are calling for lots of winter weather. I can't say the exact amount right now since they seem to change it every hour. Lets just say today it has been anywhere from 3-11 inches of snow...woo hoo! Your guess is as good as mine on this one. Either way I am leaving my car at home and making Mark come pick me up because I am sacred the roads will be bad when we get finished.

Snow, Snow, Snow
Like I was saying we are unsure how much "SNOW" we will get this weekend. I am wishing for at least 6 inches, more would be great. Are you wondering why I am so excited? I can't wait to take my 4 wheeler out in a big snow and play!!! I can't wait to get together with all of our friends and go ride and do random dangerous stuff. Sledding on car hoods across the pasture and other child like things. Nothing brings the kid out of you like a big fluffy white snow. I can not contain my excitement on this one!!! Endless possibilities... The way things go we will probably get nothing, I guess we will have to wait and see. Either way I am prepared. There is a chance of ice too. Since we could experience power outages I have been working my butt off at the house this evening. I have been washing clothes like my life depended on it! You just never know. If we lose power I want to make sure the laundry is done. I am not cleaning the house, I know if we get snow our house will be a mess from going in and out, so I will wait on that one. I went to the grocery store and bought water and junk food. I am READY...bring it on!!!

Itchy & Scratchy
I have had places on both of my arms for about a week now. I have been itching like crazy! I don't really think much of stuff like this. I have sensitive skin and I break out in small patches that look like hives often. I really thought it was maybe dry skin, but not the case. Finally after all this time Mark figured out what it was. I have poison oak!!! Yes, I know it is winter but there is a very logical explanation to how this happened. Mark and I are both avid hunters. I hunt deer, doves and occasionally squirrels. Mark does a lot more hunting than I do. I have not been hunting lately since deer season ended at the 1st of the year. Still here is the story of my poison oak. Mark has beagles that he rabbit hunts with. Rabbits live in thick underbrush which is where you would find poison oak. The rabbits and dogs get poison oak on their coats which transfers to Mark when he picks up the dogs. Mark ask me to wash his hunting coat, no problem... I scoop up his coat and head to the washing machine with it...thus poison oak on my arms. Nice, huh? Now not only do I have it on my arms but it has spread where I have scratched for the past week. So I guess I will be soaking in a bath tub of Clorox this weekend to try to dry it up. Then I am sure that the Clorox bath will break me out so it will probably be a never ending process...LOL Thank you hunny that was so sweet of you :) Note to self:never touch Marks hunting clothes again!

Random News Stories
ahh how I love the news...

Toyota: Oh how all the truths have come to light. Was I not right a few post ago? Go ahead and stick a fork in them, Toyota is done! I can guarantee you this is no where near over with. The halo that once hung over Toyota has now turned to horns. I feel for everyone who owns these cars including my sister. Can I just say that I bought my Accord new in 2003 and have only had 1 recall on it in the seven years i have owned it :) I can't wait to see how the Toyota story unfolds.

John Edwards: Shame on you as well! I use to really like John Edwards, now he makes me sick. Why oh why do I think there are decent politicians? I try to like them, but they let us down every time. You never know the details of what goes on in a family, but this just makes me sad :( All the lies and deceit. Really...they always get caught so why don't they just fess up in the first place? IDIOTS!!!!

Last but not least

Taxes: So our taxes are done and we get our Federal refund back Tuesday. I was excited to have a little chunk of money to put into savings. How come every time you have a little money coming something soaks it all up? Our escrow account was short because of property tax increases so between that and some dental work I need..tax money will pretty much get here and be gone :( Oh well at least we are getting new cell phones :)

I hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend. Hopefully I will have some great snow pictures for everyone to check out!

So I have been talking about the mega 10 sale at Kroger. I love this sale! I will say the sale was not quite as good as the last, but I still got some really good deals. I am going to post some pictures below of all the items I bought. Keep in mind I had to buy several items that were not part of this deal, so my total was not as great as usual but I managed to save 61% so I guess it was ok. Usually I can come out of a store with at least 75% savings, but some items were needed. Only someone like myself would complain about saving 61%...LOL So here are the pictures :) YAY!

Just in case you cant see everything this picture includes the following:
2 bags of Tyson Chicken Nuggets
3 bags of Tyson Chicken Patties
8 packs of Kraft Singles (16 count)
1 box of Ritz crackers
4 boxes of Krusteaz Muffin Mix
2 boxes of Toaster Strudles
4 cans of Rotel tomaotoes
1 Gal of Milk
4 rolls of Sausage


4 bags of Dortios
4 bags of Lays potatoe chips
3 bags of Quaker Rice Cake snacks


4 packs of Deer Park water (each pack has 24 bottles)


4 jars of Chi-Chi's Salsa
8 bags of Birds Eye Steamfresh pasta
3 bags of Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers


And now to the good stuff. The total for this shopping trip was $183.07. After the Mega 10 savings and coupons (I used 30) I only paid $72.17!!! I also received a coupon for $5.00 off my next purchase. It was a decent trip. I am pretty happy with my result :)

Sorry it has taken me so long to get this together! It is really hard to make a list for everyone and try to get my shopping trip together. I am keeping my fingers crossed we don't have snow this weekend...b/c if I miss this sale I will cry! On another note, I was trying to print some coupons and of course my printer runs out of ink...go figue. So here is my list, there are several other items on sale and some items I am unsure of the prices, but hopefully this will help you :)

KROGER MEGA 10

**You must purchase 10 participating items to get the prices I am listing. You can mitch and match any items as long as they are part of the promotion. All items will have a special self tag :)

- Ritz Crackers $1.99
$1/2 nabisco crackers SS 12/13 or $1/1 nabisco crackers SS 1/24

- Chex Mix $1.49
$.50/2 chex mix SS 12/13 or 1/24
~also if you have e coupons you can load another .50/2 from cellfire or shortcuts, you can use the e coupon and paper coupon together!!!

-Zesta Saltines $1.19

-Quaker Rice Snacks $0.49
$.75/1 RP 1/10 (Free)

-Goldfish Crackers $0.88 (6.6oz)

-Lay's Chips $1.78 (GREAT price)

- Deer Park Water 24 pack $2.99
will trigger a catalina buy 2 get $2 OYNO, 3 get $3 OYNOB, 4 get $5 OYNO

- Krusteaz muffins, cake and cookie mix $1.49
$1/2 SS 12/6

- Rotel $0.49
$.30/1 SS 1/24 (FREE)

- Chi-Chis Salsa $1.49
$1/2 Chi-Chis Salsa SS 12/6

- Frenchs mustard $1.19
$.35/1 SS 1/24 (makes it .49)

- Frank's Red Hot Sause $1.19
$.50/1 SS 1/24 (makes it .19)

- Kraft Cheese Bars or Shreds 8oz or Singles $0.99
$1/2 SS 1/24 (makes it .98 for 2)

- I Can't Believe its Not Butter Tub or Stick $0.99
$1/1 sticks RP 11/15 (FREE)
$.50/1 any RP 11/15 (FREE)

- Daisy Sour Cream $1.49
$.50/1 SS 12/13 (makes it .49)

- Tyson Bagged Frozen Chicken (select varities) $3.99

- Finish Diswasher Tabs $2.99
$2.50/1 SS 1/3 (makes it .49)

- Solo Cups $1.49
$1/1 SS 12/6 (makes it .49) or $.75/1 SS 1/24 (makes it .74)

Thats my list. Like I said there are other deals, but I think these are the best. Happy Shopping!!! Other grocery store deals to come tomorrow!

It's Sunday, and we are looking ahead to a new week. It has been a very uneventfull weekend for us, which is out of the ordinary. I have really enjoyed the time at home. Usually our weekends consist of being gone Friday & Saturday night, it is rare for us to be at home. Also I usually have several stops to make on the weekend with my grocery and coupon deals. It has been slow in the coupon world lately. Not any earth shaking deals. Usually I am out shopping most of the day on Saturday, but this weekend I only left to take the trash to the dump. So I managed to get a ton of cleaning done, and even mangaged to watch 4 movies. I needed the down time this weekend. Everything has been so hetic and just being able to relax and not have to worry about what we have going on was nice!!!

So now a new week is starting, and it is going to be a long one. We have inventory at work which means I will have to work late on Friday night :( I am keeping my fingers crossed that I don't have to go in on Saturday. It is too hard to get everything done at home when you have to work on the weekend. Oh and of corse it is a good coupon week comming up...go figure! Kroger is starting their Mega 10 sale, which is one of my favorites! So many good deals to be had :) I will only be able to go Saturday because Kroger is just too far out of my way to go durring the week. So I hope I don't have to work Saturday because I want to get up early and go before everything gets picked over!!!!

So for everyone that checks out the coupon match ups I will be working on a Kroger list tomorrow or Tuesday...So Fun! It will be a ton of stuff this week :)

How about this weather tonight??? Whoa...I am a little worried. I hate it when bad storms come through at night when we are sleeping, it makes me nervous. The wind is whipping I can hear it in the house with the TV on. They are saying heavy rain, maybe some thrunder and wind gust up to 40 mph. That is what worries me, the ground is already wet and these winds are not good with all these trees. I just hope we have power in the morning! Everyone stay safe and have a great week :)

It is that time a year again...TAX time. Some will cringe and some will be jumping with joy. I like tax time for the most part. I get to put my brain to work. In the past I would be flooded with tax returns to prepare, but over the past couple of years I have slacked off to only doing a select few. I love preparing taxes and pretty much did them for free, but its a lot of work and time and I was just overwhelmed. We received our W-2's at work today so I came home and got to work. I am still missing a few things, but for the most part our taxes are done...whew! I had already planned on what I wanted to do with our refund, but it was not quite what I expected (go figure) so I think I will just put it in our savings account and sit on it for a bit :)

Speaking of taxes... I got a piece of information at work today and of course my wheels got to turning. Why do I get myself worked up over random stuff? It bothers me so I have to talk about it. So this year here in NC we experienced a sales tax increase, in our county a property tax increase...errr I have always had a love for politics, at one time I thought it was something that I would like to be a part of :) So here comes the rant... Our Governor Bev Perdue has spoken several times about keeping jobs here in NC. So my customer called me and we were talking about the new Wake County Sheriff office. They were going to buy the mirrors from us...awesome I thought :) I asked him about the rest of the glass and he tells me that they used Viracon for the job. Really!?! Come on now, this is a company that is based in MN. Out of all the glass manufacturing facilities here in NC you use a company in MN??? Does not make me happy, especially since my tax money is paying for it! Our unemployment rate is the 8th highest in the nation so I say...way to keep those jobs here in NC. I am seriously thinking about writting a letter, not that it will matter but at least I will feel better. I think government needs a little bit of common sense. You would think with all the random jobs they have in our state government they could have some type of committee or something to try to make sure state jobs stay in the state...my two cents :) I did get that mirror order... At least when people go to pee and wash their hands they can think of a NC manufacturer...LOL

Random Thoughts:
* I won't lie, I use to watch The Hills all the time. Have you guys seen these interviews with Hedi Montag? I am so sorry, but that 10 hours of plastic surgery did nothing for her! I thought she was such a pretty girl, but at the age of 23 she has decided to rearrange her face and body...BOO Heidi BOO I really think she looks worse than before! What was she thinking???
All the plastic surgery in the world wont change the way you see yourself. so sad :(

* People need to start looking at the way they treat others. I can not stand people who harp on others just because they don't like them. We all have people that we don't care for, but we should still treat them with respect.

* I have decided that the saying "life is not fair" is the most honest thing anyone ever told me. They were right! Believe me I experience it each day :)

Being Nice...is it over rated?

So I have an internal battle with myself over being nice. I am nice to the point that people think they can walk all over me...in most aspects of my life. When someone gets ugly toward me or says something out of the way I usually just shrug it off. I never ever say anything. The only thing this doesn't apply to is my husband... I have no problem getting ugly with him when I am mad...LOL So I have gotten to the point where it is just eating me up inside. So I decided this year that I was going to put a stop to it. I am going to stand up for myself and let people know that even though I am a nice person it doesn't give you the right to be rude or disrespectful to me. I say this now, but when a situation occurs I will probably do nothing and then cry about it later...LOL I think I worry too much what people will think if I say something back. I notice people who do take up for themselves and it does seem like people are less likely to treat them badly. My observation is that when someone is mad about something or at someone they always take it out on the person they know will not take up for themselves. I guess it makes them feel powerful to prey on the "weak". Not to mention that Mark probably gets tired of me being a wimp and then telling him what I should have done...LOL I am going to try it out when a situation arises, I will let you know how that works out.

I found myself in an exchange today after making a comment about Toyota on my facebook page. So sorry to offend, well actually I am not sorry. I am entitled to an opinion this is America right? So I will stand firm on how I feel about this. I feel that Toyota has put millions of their consumers at risk, not only their consumers but everyone else who shares the road with their vehicles. I am outraged about the "runaway" car situation. I first herd about this story back in November when it was televised on ABC news. I felt at that time that Toyota was trying to down play the whole issue as being minor and that it was being taken care of. Today Toyota has recalled an estimated 2.4 million vehicles. Note that this is the second recall and it is unclear the total number of vehicles that have been recalled together but some are saying it could be around 4 million. Do you hear this 4 MILLION vehicles!!! In the first recall Toyota blamed floor mats and the gas pedal getting caught on them for the problem so they decided to trim down the pedals. However alot of people and myself were skeptical about this. It seems this may not be the issue. Now for the second recall Toyota is saying the problem is the "accelerator pedal mechanism" and here the recalls go again. How long will this keep up before someone puts their foot down? How many people have to be hurt or seriously injured before someone wakes up???

Don't tell me that there has not been an attempt to sweep this under the rug. ABC news report aired on November 4, after that report Toyota makes their first recall. Now after news reports of the accident in Texas another recall rolls out. Why? The floor mats of the car from Texas were found in the trunk. Why in the trunk? Isn't it Toyota that said worried consumers should remove floor mats from their vehicles. Here you have people who done what they were told and still a "runaway" Toyota. Now they have to have recall again b/c they were wrong the first time. Let me state again...this is my personal opinion!!! So here is the next thing that really makes me mad about this whole situation. It is reported that claims about these problems began as early as 2006. Makes sense since they are recalling models that were made in 2005. So you tell me that a company starts receiving complaints of this magnitude in 2006 and it takes you 3 years to do something about it? A car that is accelerating out of control is not a minor problem. When you hit the breaks in your car and it doesn't stop is a BIG problem. Why does it take you 3 years and a national news story to do something about it? Yet it continues... Now Toyota is working on making a new pedal they hope to have ready by April of this year. I am laughing at this statement! Ummm how about you should be working around the clock and have it ready RIGHT NOW! April is NOT good enough Toyota.

Is it too late for Toyota? I say yes. Not only do I believe their reputation is krap now, but all of this mess shows how much they care for their loyal customers. It doesn't seem like they care much at all in my opinion. If this story was never brought to national attention would these cars have even been recalled? All I can say is Shame on them. I have never owned a Toyota myself. My Mom has a Corolla. Mark has a 1980 truck, no issue to worry about on that clunker! I always thought I would never purchase anything but a Honda or Toyota. My future car would have been a Honda Pilot or a Toyota Highlander, but I think I will stick with my Honda. Toyota is forever ruined in my eyes... Not to mention that in some of the cases they have gone as far as to blame the driver for the accidents. This comment came from ABC news. "Toyota says the accident was caused by Ezal mistakenly pushing the gas pedal. Ezal strongly denies this and says his foot was "absolutely, positively on the brake." (ABC News)"

I wanted to post some pictures from the news websites, but I am not sure if that is ok... If you would like to see the pictures you can go to ABC news website. You can also read more information on the recall and timeline of events.

A new year has plopped itself at my feet...ugh! I think every new year we feel the need to get motivated about something. Usually we all seem to jump on the diet and exercise train. I have, yet again, and a lot of others I know as well. Minus the diet part, I am not eating lettuce, fruits or veggies every day :) I don't feel like changing my diet, if I exercise 4-5 times a week then life will be good. I am not slack at working out. When I leave the gym I am dripping with sweat, so if I want a few cookies I will have them. Really whats the point if you can't enjoy junk food? I have promised myself that I will have good work outs and not stress about the number that pops up on the scales. Mark and I don't own a set of scales, I don't need scales to tell me I have added a few pounds...I can see it! Now, I know that I am 27 these days and that fit little body I had at 20 is way past gone :( I could spend my whole life in the gym and never get back to that! As we get older our shape just changes extra weight or not. I have accepted it. Just in case people reading think I am crazy for thinking I am "fat", don't think that. I know in my mind that I am not "fat", I am an average 8, well almost. I can't fit comfortable in 5 and the 8 is a little big, but if you asked I would say I am a size 8. I weight a whopping 147 lbs, but I am 5'9" so it's ok. So we all have our "magic" number for weight. I think I am happy and skinny at 135 lbs. That's just me...but I promise I will not be killing myself to get there. If I lose weight by going to the gym that's great, if not oh well I need the exercise to stay healthy.

Being back in the gym several days a week makes me happy. I dread it all day long, but after I go I feel so great. Its me time in some way. I crank up my ipod and just work off my day. When I leave I feel less stressed and relaxed...kinda strange(LOL) So now my crazy side note...when I get back in the gym I feel suddenly slimmer. I know this is not possible, but I think it just makes me feel that much better about myself. When I look in the mirror I swear I see a difference, I hope every woman feels this way when she works out :) Truthfully I know we all want to see results, but if we can FEEL like we see them even if they are not there, now that is empowering!!! So much love to all my girlfriends working that rump, I am right there with ya. Keep it up ;) Even though we are all already FABULOUS!!!!!

Nothing really great this week...sorry guys :( This is my short list.

Harris Teeter (best this week)

E vic item: 12 double rolls for $4.77 limit 1

Korr Sides B1G1 for $1.54 (.77 each) you don't have to buy two to get the deal, but this is a decent stock up price.

Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers B1G1 for $2.59
use .40 coupon from SS 1/13 makes them .90 each

Kraft Singles $1.97
use $1/2 from SS 1/3 makes them $1.47 each

International Delight Creamer 16 oz for $1.66 each
use $1/2 from SS 11/18 makes them $1.16 each

Birds Eye Steamfresh (select variety) $1.00 each
use .50 coupon from SS 1/10 makes them FREE

Kraft Mac & Cheese $.50 each (limit 8)
use B3G1 coupon from SS 12/13 makes them .38 each

Mission Flour Tortias $1.50
use $1 coupon from SS 1/10 makes them $.50 or there were some .75 coupons out there which would make them FREE

Lowes Foods

Dawn dish soap $1.99
use .25 coupon from 12/27 P&G makes it $1.49

Food Lion

Campbell's Chicken Noodle or Tomato Soup .50 each
use $.40/4 coupon from SS 1/3 makes them .40 each

That's it this week...pretty depressing! If I see anything when I go to the stores I will post it for you.

I was looking through some old pictures today, and I found one of our little gang in our shop before heading out on our 4 wheelers one freezing night. We have some awesome friends, and I would say we are a pretty close group. We hang out pretty much every weekend at the good ol' Shack. Yes it's a place back in the woods where we do everything and anything. Listen to music, eat, dance, sit around the fire barrel and have our adventures. We all ride 4 wheelers together and we have had some fun times! Most of us live in the same little block and we can ride 4 wheelers over to the shack if we don't feel like driving. Actually we haven't rode lately and it is about time to put some mud on the tires :)



A few are missing, but this is most of our little gang...we call ourselves "Shackleys" since we hang out at the shack :)



And this is what happens when we go riding, at least we all help each other!

We have a good time no matter what we are doing. Seriously we live in the country what else is there to do other than to sit around and listen to music... We make our own fun! I think we are all kids at heart :) Great friends just make life that much better. I always look forward to our weekends at the shack. You just never know what the night will bring. I will say this...to me the shack and the shackleys mean good food, good times and memories that I know I will be sharing with my children one day. I will take my big redneck life over city life any day!!! If you don't have 4 wheel drive, 4 wheelers, guns, hunting dogs and country music...your surely don't belong in this neck of the woods!

I like to think I am a pretty simple person. Here in our house we have been debating on getting new phones. Right now we have Nextel's and they suck! My calls are dropped constantly and most of the time I can't even have a phone conversation because every other second the phone is cutting in and out. Our contracts are finally fixing to expire and I am JUMPING for joy...bye bye Nextel, you have been nothing more than a waste of money. So we are going back to Verizon, which is what I had before my lovely husband talked me into adding a Nextel on his plan. (this is why men should not be able to make decisions..LOL j/k) So now my internal battle begins... Mark and I would like to get a Blackberry, but I am fighting myself over the extra $30 a month per phone for Blackberry service...UGH! I am a total cheapskate, and I hate to waste a dollar. I still have dial up Internet if that tells you anything. Not all my choice, we live in the country and don't have a DSL option and I refuse to pay $60 a month to play on the web. Kinda funny when I am considering a Blackberry, right? So I have one more month to make my mind up. I have been running the math and I figure it will cost an extra $50 bucks a month. I know this doesn't sound like much, but I can stretch $50 a long way. Mark says "you only live once April, you have to splurge every now and then." I know, I know...but really this ends up being an extra $600 a year. That right there is almost enough for me to say no!!! I am such a loser. So this battle will rage on in my head at least for the next 30 days :(

Sometimes I wish I wasn't so obsessive. I don't even know where I get it from, no one in my family is quite like me. I obsessive over everything and I want everything to be perfect and I constantly feel bad because I just don't think I do enough of anything. I can't sleep at night. When I go to bed I think of all the things I should have done through out the day...surely this can not be healthy! Some people may call me strange...I am what I am. You will surely see how obsessive I am if you walk into my house. People joke about all the groceries in my house. I have a walk in pantry that is overflowing and not because it's not organized just because I have that much food in there. That's not the half of it! I have 3 deep freezers full of food, and I have a whole walk in closest in my house that is full of cleaning and personal care items. It is almost comical being that it is just Mark and me :) I have a small accordion file where all the bills are located by due date, then I have a separate book where I write all that information again, I have no idea why. I have gotten better about some things. I use to check our eclectic meter every day to see how much energy we were using. I stopped that awhile back, probably because as much as I tried to control our energy consumption, I could never get it as low as I wanted so with every daily check of that meter I was disappointed. I know someone is reading this and thinking I am crazy and maybe in need of help. I don't need help, really its just me...I have accepted it! I guess we all have our issues. I am glad that I am obsessive over saving money, having plenty of food and just trying to be super girl :) It could be worse...I think!


just a small idea of what my closest looks like.


One of the walls in my pantry.

CVS
**Please note that for these deals to work in your best interest you must have a CVS card and keep rolling your Extra Care Bucks (ECBS= money you earn for buying certain products at CVS, they print at the bottom of your receipt and you use them for future purchases, basically free money)

$5.00 off $20 purchase here http://shopping.fresnobee.com/ROP/ads.aspx?advid=1185844&adid=8820549&subid=28092329&type=

-$3 ECB when you buy special marked cans of Oust Air Sanitizer(limit 3)
BOGO coupon from 1/3 insert
**Buy 2 use BOGO coupon get back $6ECB a profit of $2.01
-$10 ECB when you buy 6 12 pack pepsi products $20
**Makes each 12 pack $1.67
-$5 ECB when you buy $15 in Dove products (deodorant stock up!!!)
$1.50/2 printable here http://content.dove.us/dimensions/offers.aspx (must register)
**Buy 6 deodorants use 3 printable coupons makes them $0.91 each
-$6 ECB when you buy Soy Joy 6 pack bars for $6.00 makes them FREE

Walgreen's
**Note Walgreen's money is called Register Rewards, however you can use Register Reward money to buy the same item again if so your next RR will not print. Also Walgreen's count RR as coupons and you can not have more coupons than items so occasionally you will have to buy a filler item to make these deals work.

-$3 RR when you buy 2 Neosporin Lip Heath products at $4 each
Use $3.00/1 printable here http://bricks.coupons.com/Start.asp?tqnm=qjalfgr5237947&bt=vi&o=58843&c=LH&p=fKqxGeu4
**Buy 2 and use 2 $3 coupons and make $1 profit!
-Bayer Aspirin 24-36 count $1.50 with in ad coupon
$1 coupon from RP 10/25 insert
**Makes it .50 cents!

Kroger

-Chicken Leg Quarters $0.49LB buy a 10lb bag for $4.90
-Tony's Pizza's $1
$0.50 coupon from SS 12/13 makes it FREE
-Birds Eye frozen veggies $1
$0.50 coupon from SS 12/14 makes it FREE
-Manwhich $1 each
$.50/3 coupon from SS 1/10, buy 3 makes them $0.67 each
-3 lb bag of onions $1 each
-1 lb bag on mini peeled carrots $1
-Aleve 24 count $1.99
$1 coupon on box makes it $0.99

~~ I will post the rest of the grocery store deals when the new ads come out on Wednesday ~~

I am a big do it yourself person. Every year I tackle 1 project over the holiday vacation. Sometimes I will do small projects during the year, but the holiday project is always something I look forward to. The project I choose this year was to repaint one of our spare bedrooms. When we moved into our home it was a hideous yellow color and I just couldn't deal with it any longer. The closest in this room is where I pile all my great deals from couponing. So I also wanted to do some organizing in that closet.

This is a before picture...yuck!


So here is the after picture :) I also installed the new flush mount light fixture. I am planning to do more work in this room. When we get a new bedroom suite I am going to refinish our old one and put it in this room. It is lacking furniture right now :(

So over the summer I had decided to do some work in our guest bath. It was so blah! I wanted to spruce it up a bit with paint and new fixtures. I wish I had a before picture, but I forgot to take one. So I decided to do a few small things in there. I painted the walls, added new hardware to the cabinets, got new oil rubbed bronze fixtures, and painted the wall mirror. Before it had that ugly gold stuff which is so dated! Also the bathroom had carpet which really aggravated me. So while I was painting that bedroom I got the bright idea to redo the guest bathroom floors. I know you are probably thinking I am crazy. Most women have their husbands do these things or just pay someone to come and take care of it...not me! I feel like I can do anything that I put my mind to, and I take great joy in seeing a great transformation and knowing I did it myself :) I do these projects over the holiday because Mark hunts all day during that week and he HATES my projects!!! He likes the finished result, but he gets aggravated easily so I try to do it all by myself and involve him as little as possible =0

So this is the carpet that was in the bathroom.


This picture is after I took all the carpet and padding up. Once the carpet and padding was gone I realized we had a leaky toilet. So I had to take the toilet up and put it in the tub (had Mom help me pick it up). Then I had to clean the floor there and put a heater in the room to dry it out. After I took up all the staples I cleaned the sub floor and pre-treated it with a adhesive.


The finished product! I think I did a great job :) I cut and painted the new molding, and the new threshold for the carpet to tile transition. I also had to replace the wax ring on the toilet (that's why it was leaking). So after a little help from Mom again to lift the toilet and get it installed my project was complete. A new 100% floor renovation, and I did it all by myself :)

With all that being said I took on way to much over my break. However, every time I walk by I am so proud of what I accomplished all by myself. I am waiting for HGTV to call any day to offer me my own television show...LOL
So the next time you want to do some work around the house, think about trying it yourself. It is so rewarding. True it can be a headache and backache for that matter, but you get so much more joy out of it. I know I saved a ton of money and when I get compliments or someone ask who I hired to do this I say no one! You would be amazed what you can do when you put your mind to it. I know not everyone is savvy in this department, and I am no expert myself. I promise it's not as hard as it looks, but it was hard work! I know there are some things I can not do, but I look at it this way...why not do the ones I can? I hope this gives you the push to try something you have been wanting to do, but think it may be too hard. Just give it a try and see how it goes. If I can wire a light fixture, replace a wax ring in a toilet, paint, cut molding, and put down a new floor by myself I am sure there is something that you can do that you never dreamed possible!!!

As I do every Saturday I ventured out to get some items we needed. When I started couponing I pretty much cut out trips to Wal-Mart. The only thing I really buy there is dog food and a few other things. So today I needed to buy the dog food. No problem I would just run in grab the dog food a loaf a bread and be on my way...WRONG! When I buy dog food I always park and go in at lawn and garden since the dog food is in that area. I buy a 50lb bag and don't feel like wheeling it all through the store! Usually the line is pretty short at those registers. I waited in line 20 minutes to buy 3 items, I was so ill when I left. I despise going to Wal-Mart for many reasons. The cashiers are slow and rude, the lines are a mile long, the store is always packed, not to mention that it is a meet and greet for the whole world. I mean really, I get so tired of trying to go down an aisle and there are people blocking the entire aisle so they can have a conversation. I don't mind people talking in stores I just wish they would go to an area with less traffic and not block the whole bread aisle...LOL
So that's my rant for the day. I am so glad that I found coupons and I don't have to make many trips to Wal-Mart any longer. After my trip today I am already dreading the next time I have to go :(

Green coffee? What in the world? Let me explain. I am a BIG fan of coffee, I promise I can not live with out a million cups a day. Not the 5 buck Starbucks coffee, just normal classic roast coffee. I do enjoy a latte from Starbucks every now and then, but I don't live for that. Every night before my tv shows start at 8:00 I make me a whole pot of coffee then I spend the rest of my evening relaxing and sipping...YUM! Coffee doesn't really phase me, I don't get wired from a pot of coffee. To me its soothing. So now the "green" part.

Green is the new cool kid on the block. No I am not talking about coffee, but recycling and being kind to our environment. I will get to how this is related in just a bit. I am not a "green" freak nor an avid recycler, please don't judge! I like most find ways to blame something or someone for my laziness. I live in the country and don't get cool recycling containers like those of you that live in the city. I have to load up trash and drive to the dump each Saturday, not the most pleasant thing to do on the weekend. Most of the time the recycling bins are overflowing and that is my excuse! However, I did buy some reusable grocery bags with good intentions :) Oh no...I go into the store and leave them in my car almost every time. I do use them some which is better than never. So I started thinking about the things I do that could be looked at as being friendly to the environment. I reuse my plastic water bottles mostly because I am cheap and don't want to pay $3.99 for a pack of water, but that's recycling! When I print coupons online I use the left over pieces of paper to write list on or to print something else. I save the plastic containers that my butter and lunch meat come in, they are always handy around the house for something. I have energy efficient light bulbs :) I put those plastic shopping bags to use too... I use them as trash bags in my bathroom trash cans and Mark always totes his lunch in them, so we don't just throw them away. Well they do go in the trash eventually, but hey I try! So I guess I do something which keeps me from feeling like a total loser.

So how does this relate to coffee you may ask. Over my little vacation from work I was walking around Wal-Mart one day and saw reusable coffee filters. Please understand I make at least two pots of coffee a day at home, and on the weekend there is no telling how many. These filters just sit in the coffee pot, you dump the grinds, rinse it out and put it back to use. They cost about $5 so I bought one. I have been using it for a month now and it is awesome. Maybe a little extra work since you have to rinse it out, but it will save me money in the long run and it will keep those filters out of the landfill. I feel good about this! As you can tell most of my "green" decisions are based solely on me saving a little bit of green...LOL So what if it saves me money, still in some small way I am attempting to do my part which counts for something. So try out these filters and with each cup of coffee you will be doing your part to save the environment!

On to other things:

So it is cold here in North Carolina! I mean REALLY cold :( Cold weather just gives me a case of the blahs. I can not get motivated to get stuff done at home. I feel like my house is a mess and every day when I get home from work I just want to wrap up in a blanket and lay on the couch. I get so mad at myself. Usually I have coupon deals to work on during the week, but this week there is nothing going on. Last week was super doubles at Harris Teeter and I was hot in pursuit of those deals :) I totaled up my receipts the other day and I ended up saving 83%....amazing! Normal retail for the items I bought was $383.25 and I only paid $72.49. For those who think coupons are stupid...what do you think now? This year I am going to make the effort to actually track my savings over the whole year. I can't wait to see how much I save! I am going to start posting my weekly shops on here too, but this week I have none so we will have to start that when some good sales call my name. Maybe it will help someone :-)

So today I am starting this blog... I don't know how this will go or what I will talk about, but I think it will be fun. I don't really know how to navigate this yet, but I am sure I will learn with a little time :)

So it's a new year, I am unsure how I feel about that... Every year I make a list of goals I want to accomplish for the year. However this year I decided to ditch that idea and just go with the flow. I am a perfectionist so that is really hard for me!!! Of course there are things I want to accomplish, but mostly I just hope that I keep my job and pay my bills. I am currently employed by Arch Aluminum and Glass in Youngsville North Carolina and I LOVE my job. I have been there for a little over 6 years and every day is a challenge. I need the challenge in my life, I get bord doing the same thing every single day so its a perfect fit for me. Our company like most is dealing with hard times due to the economy. I guess this is on my mind because I read blogs, comments, and articles and everyone has something to say which is fine. Some say good things some bad... Of course I am on the defense :) I love Arch, our customers, my co-workers and the industry too! Well enough about that...

I am sure I will probably talk about coupons on my blog. I love getting stuff for really cheap. I guess it comes from my love of numbers. I have two associates degrees one which is in accounting and trust me I put it to good use all day every day! At work, home, the store and wherever else I can. If you see a girl walking around a store with a calculator it's probably me...LOL I have dedicated a whole walk in closet to my coupon deals. Now it is full and I am starting to take over a bedroom. Good thing I don't have any kids...they would have to share their room with bottles of Windex, shampoo and everything else you can think of. I could probably go almost a year without buying anything, but instead I will just keep shopping. Whats wrong with stocking up at a low price? This girl says "Nothing"!

Well I think that is pretty much it for now. I will find stuff to talk about and get this thing going before too long. Hope everyone has a great day :)