Saturday Super Savings at Walgreens

Okay, so I went to Walgreens today and did the whole "coupon" thing for the first time. Before I give the rundown, let me explain Register Rewards real quick. Walgreens Register Rewards are Catalina coupons which print up separately from your register receipt after you purchase qualifying items. The RR can be used like cash on your next purchase.

Here's the rundown of what I purchased:

Schick Quattro razor on sale for $8.99 and I had a coupon for $4 off of one ($4/1). This produced a $3 RR. So I basically paid $1.99 for the razor.

Listerine was on sale 2 for $8 and it produced a $4 RR. So the Listerine worked out to be $2 each.

Dove deodorant was $1.99 with a Walgreen's coupon out of the weekly flyer.I was desperate for deodorant so I was okay with spending $2 for it. I should be able to get better deals later.

Rimmel Mascara ($7.49 each) was on sale Buy One Get One Free (BOGO) and I had a coupon for one free mascara so I got both for free. Now this one did involve talking to the Manager. When I first bought them, they both rang up full price and she took my manufacturer's coupon to take the price off of one. After I left the store, I noticed this and went back in. The manager said they weren't supposed to stack a coupon with a BOGO like that but he'd give me the refund anyway. I thanked him but I also pointed out that the mascara didn't appear to ring up correctly and it was after everything was totaled up that she used the coupon to take the price off of one. If it wasn't to be stacked, she should not have accepted the coupon. Either way, I ended up getting what I wanted. I knew I wore a low shirt for a reason. :)

Starbucks Ice Cream was on sale 2 pints for $6 and I had 6 $1/1 coupons so I bought 6 pints for $2 each. We bought 3 pints of Caramel Macchiato and 3 pints of Java Chip Frappucino.

CJ found a remote control outlet on the clearance rack for $2.49. I don't know what the original price was.

The total came to $29.47 after coupons and I had a $5 check for Walgreens to use on the purchase of $20 or more. I got it in the mail for having changed my address. After the $5 check, my total came to $24.47. And I got $7 in Register Rewards to use later so it's like I spent $17.47 for all of it.

$17.47 for 6 pints of ice cream, a Schick Quattro razor, 2 liters of Listerine, 2 mascaras, 1 deodorant, and one remote control outlet.

Albertson's Deals

Let's see if I can post a superfast post about the deals I got at Albertson's tonight. Basically, I bought $51.42 worth of stuff and paid $16.93. I screwed up and was only able to use 3 Double coupons. Otherwise, I could have saved another $3. Best deal? 16oz bottle of Darigold chocolate milk that normally sells for $1.39 and I paid $0.39. They were on a Bonus Buy for $.89 a bottle and I had coupons for $1 off 2 bottles. I actually had 5 of those coupons so I bought 10 bottles for $3.90. I also bought 4 boxes of Life cereal for $1 each, and they normally sell for $4.29. They were on sale 2 for $4 and I had a coupon for $1 off of 2 boxes, and doubled it for $2 off of 2 boxes. So I bought 4 boxes of that. Oh wait, the best deal was the Frosted Flakes. Instead of paying $4.98, I paid $.79 for the box. It was on sale for $2.29 and I had a coupon for $1.50 off. I also got a bottle of Vitamin Water for free and just paid $.05 for the deposit. They're on sale 10 for $10 and I had a $1 off coupon. :) So there are my deals. Oh, and below is a picture of what I bought for $16.93.

wonderful weekend

Mmmmm... we had a really good weekend. Why? One reason is because we didn't go to the Springfield house. It was a really nice, relaxing weekend. I came home from work Friday night to find out that Kyle was at a local pool with a friend. CJ & I took the opportunity for an impromptu date night. We headed to a placed called Wyatt's in downtown Albany for dinner and drinks. The only other time we were there together was on our first date so it brought back some interesting memories. CJ had a yummy looking mushroom burger and I had a really tasty Philly Sandwich. After that, we headed to Carino's for coffee and dessert. Carino's is a kind of Olive Garden in Albany and I've been wanting to try their Tiramisu to see if it is as good as Olive Garden's. The size was HUGE but I'm not sure it was as good. But still pretty good. Best for 2 people to split it. So that was Friday night.

Saturday morning was lazy and we did go grocery shopping in Corvallis and came home so I could make something yummy for a wine party that night. I decided to make Oatmeal Carmelitas. We drove down to Springfield and dropped Kyle off at my Grandma's house. My mom was in town for Easter weekend so Kyle was able to hang out with them. We went to the wine party and had a great time, even thought we ended up bringing the wine that came in last. Ah well. We did get home super late Saturday night.

Easter morning, I got up and made an orange coffee cake recipe I saw on Food Network a couple weeks ago. We took that and the leftover Carmelita bars to Grandma's house. We had a bunch of delicious food at Grandma's house. We had cold salmon, baked chicken, veggie salads, potato salad, deviled eggs and some miscellaneous yummies. Kyle got some Easter goodies from my Mom and Grandma and from me and CJ too. We all sat around and ate and watched golf on TV (thrilling!). We came home this evening and now we're just hanging out. Such a good weekend!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend.

This made me chuckle

So CJ called me at work today to brag how he went to Albertsons and he saved $22.69 and only spent $3.35! He was so proud of himself, it was SO cute. He went to get a free gallon of milk with one of the coupons we had and he noticed that there was another killer deal on cereal. Going off of his receipt, it looks like he bought 3 boxes of Post Cereal that were normally priced $4.59 and were on sale for $2.07 each. He bought another 2 boxes of Post Cereal that were normally priced $4.89 and they were also on sale for $2.07 each. Then the receipt shows 2 entries of $1 off of Post Cereal and then another scanned coupon of $5 off (as well as the $2.49 off for the milk). Not sure what he did but he bought $26.04 worth of cereal and milk for $3.35. When he called to brag, I asked him "it's pretty fun, huh?" and he totally agreed. He's hooked. Oh, and we have a TON of cereal. :)

super awesome deals at Albertsons

Okay, here is another shopping brag. And this one was done without a single coupon! Albertsons has some Taco Bell products on sale 10 for $10. They also have a deal that if you buy $10 worth of items, you get an automatic $3 off. So they work out to be $.70 each. Tonight, I bought 6 jars of Taco Bell Medium Salsa, normal price of $3.29, rung up as $1. I bought 2 boxes of Taco Bell taco shells, normal price of $2.19, rung up as $1. I bought 2 packets of Taco Bell taco seasoning, normal price of $1.39, rung up as $1 (wish I had bought 2 more jars of salsa instead). They also have a sale going where you can buy 3 boxes of Kellogg's cereals Frosted Mini Wheats, Rice Krispies, Corn Pops, or Crispix for $5 and when you buy 3 boxes, you get a coupon for a free gallon of milk on your next purchase. Last week, I bought 3 boxes of my favorite, Strawberry Delight Frosted Mini-wheats, and got my free milk coupon. A couple days ago, CJ went to the store with $5 and wanted to buy 3 boxes of Crispix with the free gallon of milk coupon I had but they didn't have Crispix. He bought some Rice Krispies, Corn Pops, and Cinnamon Struesel Mini Wheats. Tonight, I was at a different Albertsons and sure enough, they had Crispix. So I picked up 3 boxes of Crispix cereal for $5, when they normally sell for $4.79 each.

Okay, recap. I bought $41.27 worth of stuff which rang up as $15 (10 for $10 and then 3 for $5). I got $3 off because I bought the $10 worth and that brought my total down to $12. Oh and I got a coupon back for a free gallon of milk on my next purchase AND I got something I wasn't expecting. I got a coupon that printed saying I get $1 off my next purchase. I think it was because of the taco shells. Awesome deal!! I'm going to go back tomorrow and stock up on more salsa and maybe even more cereal. I'm also going to buy some Bounty papertowels because I saw in the Albertsons ad that Bounty rolls are on sale for $10 for 10 and I have 3 coupons for $.25 off of a roll of Bounty. $.75 a roll for Bounty is pretty good! And if you count my $1 off coupon, I'm actually only paying $1.25 for 3 rolls. Nice!!

Anyway, that's all I got. Work is still insanely busy but the overtime paychecks will be awesome. CJ and I went to the Springfield house yesterday and got SO much done. The house is like 98% empty. One closet of clothes and under my bathroom sink is all that is left. All the food is gone and every cupboard is empty. We should have a cleaning crew in there by this weekend and hopefully carpets shampooed next week. Then we'll just need to worry about getting everything out of the garage. w00t! Wedding plans are coming along. My wedding dress has been ordered, thanks to my stepmom, Peggy. She knew I was putting off ordering it because all our extra money is going into getting my house rented and she wanted to do something for the wedding. The dress is pretty inexpensive as far as wedding dresses go ($110) but it still meant a lot for her to offer to get it ordered for me. I was kinda starting to worry about it.

I'll end the blog with a cute picture I took tonight of all the critters, CJ included! There are actually 5 pets and 1 sweet man pictured. See if you can spot the 2 dogs, 2 cats, 1 bearded lizard (look for the red heatlamp). :)

last weekend was busy... this one, not so much

What a great weekend we had. We headed to Seaside Friday night after work. After a late start and stopping for dinner in Hillsboro, we rolled into Seaside about 10pm. We unloaded the car and the dogs and Mom asked if we (CJ & I) felt like meeting my Aunt and Uncle at a wine bar in Seaside. We did feel up to it and I knew that Mom was wanting me to check out the wine bar. So we left Kyle home with the dogs and went over to "Yummy" wine bar. We stayed for a little over an hour and did some wine tasting while Honey & Kevin (aunt and uncle) had beer and Mom had a glass of wine. It was a nice visit and the wine bar was cool. By the time we came home, Kyle was sound asleep in front of the TV.

On Saturday morning, Mom made us yummy pancakes for breakfast and then CJ & I headed into Gearhart to the Bridal Show. It was nice and I came away with a HUGE bag of goodies and flyers and business cards and such. They had the usual raffles and stuff. There was a fabulous bakery with a booth that had samples and a book of different cake designs. We liked what we saw and tasted so we asked if they were open the next day (Sunday) and the lady said yes but she'd be in closer to Noon. There was a florist right next to them that was also from Cannon Beach that had the perfect boutonniere that even CJ really liked. So we asked if they were open the next day and the lady said yes but she wouldn't be in until 1pm. So we figured we'd check out both the bakery and the florist the next day. We left the bridal show and called my Mom's cell phone to see where she and Kyle were. They were at the beach with the dogs. We met them down there and hung out for a while and then headed to Broadway in Seaside. We wandered down the main drag and back. We headed back to Mom's house, where I crashed into a nap. After I woke up, we got ready for dinner. My uncle is the head chef at a restaurant in Gearhart called Pacific Way Cafe (P-way). My aunt said she wanted to take us out for dinner that night. So we headed over to their house a little early to have some wine and get the dogs acquainted. Honey and Kevin have a chocolate lab named Mocha and he took an instant liking to Punky, CJ's dog. So we had some wine before heading over to the restaurant. The food was so awesome. Kyle had his first taste of Coconut Prawns, which he really liked. Even CJ liked them. So we split a couple of appetizers, grilled veggies with polenta and also an order of Coconut Prawns. I ordered the chicken marsala, CJ had the beef tenderloin and Kyle had fish & chips. The food was SOO good, of course. Then all 5 of us shared a creme brule. We went back to Honey and Kevin's house for coffee and basically hung out until Kevin came home from the restaurant.

Sunday morning, we headed to the P-way bakery and got coffee and pastries for breakfast. We went back to Mom’s house to hang out for a while (CJ discovered Sudoku this weekend). CJ & I did go to a florist in Seaside to pick up a wedding planner that I had won at the bridal show. I already have one but this was much nicer than what I had so I think I’ll swap stuff over. CJ & I headed to Cannon Beach to talk to the bakery first and then the florist. We got the cake ordered and then went to the florist. We looked through books and gave our thoughts on what we liked. I did get a very interesting bouquet idea but I’ll keep that a secret for now. :)

We left Cannon Beach and headed to Astoria to the Hotel Elliott, where we’re getting married. We were given a key to the Presidential Suite, where the reception will be, so CJ could check it out. We also went to the roof so CJ could see where the ceremony will be held. CJ said he really liked the hotel and both areas. We left there and headed back to Mom’s house. We hung out for a while before heading to the Shilo Inn in Seaside, on the beachfront. CJ has had a $100 gift certificate for the Shilo Inn for as long as I’ve known him and we never got around to using it yet. So we decided we’d use it and take Mom and Kyle out for a nice dinner. So we sat at a table, overlooking the ocean, and watched the sunset while we ate a wonderful dinner. After dinner, we came back to Mom’s and Mom & I watched some funny little home movies. There were some really cute ones of me and my little brother. Very fun to watch. Then it was bedtime.

Monday morning, Mom had to get ready for work and we needed to head out. CJ had an appointment to get his hair cut in Eugene at 3:30pm by my hair stylist and we were going to drive all the way down the coast to Florence and then cut over to Eugene. That’s a pretty long drive so I wanted to leave kinda early. Mom went to work and we managed to leave her house around 9:30am. We stopped by Bagels by the Sea, a local bagel shop in Seaside. I actually won $1 because I knew the trivia question of the day and it hadn’t been answered yet. That was fun. So we headed south along the Pacific Coast Hwy. Kyle was following along on the map and was letting us know what town was coming up next and such. At one point, he said there was a boat dropoff coming up. Then he started referring to them as boat droppings. He was talking about the boat landings that was marked on the map but I was laughing and saying “I don’t want to clean up any boat droppings!”. We all had a good laugh about that one. We drove by Tillamook Country Smokers, a mail order jerky place we like to order from. We also drove by Tillamook Cheese Factory and I kinda wish we had stopped. But we didn’t. We did stop at one beach place to let the dogs out and chase tennis balls. Then we stopped in Newport for lunch at Arctic Circle. Love it! I always get a Lime Rickey, of course. Then we continued south to Florence. I was starting to worry about if we would make it to Eugene by 3:30pm. I called the salon to ask Shawna how much wiggle room we had for the appt. She wasn’t available but I was talking to the receptionist and mentioned we were running late. That’s when my phone lost signal and died. I wasn’t paying attention to how many bars I had and I was going between 0 and 1 bar. We kept driving along and Shawna ended up calling me back when we were about 40 miles from Eugene. We were running about 10min late but she said that would be okay. We showed up in Eugene and CJ got his hair cut. Then we headed to Eugene Toy & Hobby to see if they had a part for CJ’s RC copter (they did not). We decided to stop by my grandma’s house, to say hi, to let the dogs out, and to use her bathroom. We visited with her for a bit and then went to Ron’s Island Grill for some Mauna Loa chicken. CJ had Kaluha Pork but liked Kyle’s Mauna Loa chicken better. Then we took the dogs to the dog park at Armitage Park. After that, we headed home to Albany. We got home about 7pm. CJ & I both commented that it felt like we were gone for a week but it was really just 3 days. Oh, and I forgot to mention that when we were driving down the coast, I received a call from the book store at the Seaside Outlet Stores to tell me that I had won a $15 gift certificate to the Outlet Stores. It was from the Bridal Show. We had already left town but I called my Mom and she picked up the gift certificate for me. So I won 3 different times over the weekend.

We had such a great time and it was awesome to spend time with both Mom and Honey & Kevin. I wish they all lived closer. I did see Honey again just this last Friday because it was my Aunt Regina’s birthday and she came down for the weekend. We met at Sizzler for dinner on Friday night and after that, some of us went back to Grandma’s for a game of Scrabble. After that, I headed to my friend Jay’s house where I knew he was doing a Newbie Poker Night. I just wanted to swing by and see how the lesson was going. I ended up staying until the game ended, which was after 11pm. I bought a growler of Jay’s homebrew as a surprise for CJ and headed home.

Yesterday was mega lazy. We just lounged around and watched TV and napped. Today, we’re going to go to Springfield to work on the house. And that’s all I have!

I added my Twitter Feed on the right hand margin. I have a feeling that will get updated a lot more often. It’s easy to text to Twitter from my phone and even send pictures from my phone. So even if there isn’t a new blog post, make sure to check out the Twitter Updates to the right.

updates

I guess it's been a while since I last posted. I've been super busy but I don't feel like I have much to share. What have I been doing? Let's see...

The Credit Union where I work converted to new software on March 1st. The term 'computer conversion' seems pretty simple and harmless. This is my first computer conversion and I had *NO* idea what was involved with such a project. The crazy thing is I thought things were busy leading up to the conversion but things are even crazier after. Mostly because things are taking so much longer to do because I'm not used to the new system. I've been racking up some overtime and I'm really trying to tell myself how lucky I am that not only do I have a job, I have overtime. Some people are losing their jobs or getting their hours cut. So each day is a constant struggle to see the shining side of this particular coin.

The house in Springfield is still in the process of being emptied. But it is SO close, I can almost taste it. There are only 2 pieces of furniture left in the house and they're both things I want to just give away. My old bed and a desk. A couple weekends ago, we came down and the 2 guys did such an AWESOME job of clearing out the backyard. they got all the leaves raked up and nearly bagged (until they ran out of bags) and all the junk back there gathered up and ready to be tossed out. I think if we just lay down some bark, it'll be good to go. While the guys toiled in the backyard, I got my entire bedroom and closet emptied out... something I was *not* looking forward to. Honestly, I have a few more cupboards in the kitchen to clean out; my guest room closet; laundry room; and the downstairs bathroom. After that, we're just looking at the garage. Yes, the garage is going to be a pretty big task but my goal is to get the actual house empty so I can schedule a cleaning service to scrub the place from top to bottom and then get the carpets shampooed. But we can work on the garage while those 2 things are being done. And it will be easy to back up to the garage and just load things into the truck or into the garbage. Unfortunately, we didn't get to the house this last weekend and we can't go this upcoming weekend. But I think we're going to go to the house tomorrow evening. The sooner I can get my house rented, the better.

So the reason we didn't get to the house this last weekend? I was completely laid up all weekend with the nastiest flu ever. It started in the middle of the night Friday night and finally let up Monday night. Couldn't keep anything down, fever, and had the WORST body pains ever. Seriously, it felt like someone was stabbing me all over my body and I couldn't even take anything for it since everything was coming right back up. So I just had to lie in bed and ride out the storm. Today was my first day back to work and of course I had ZERO energy. The first couple of hours were not good. I felt weak and shaky and just walking down to the fax machine would tire me out and make me feel winded. It did get better by the afternoon though.

The reason we can't go to the house this upcoming weekend is because we're going to Seaside to visit my Mom. I'm so excited. CJ hasn't been to Mom's house yet. And we're going to check out the Hotel Elliott so CJ can see where we're getting married and see the Presidential Suite. Oh, and there is a bridal show in Gearhart on Saturday. That's the biggest reason we're going. We're gonna check out florists, bakeries/caterers, and officiants. And I found out the other night that my Aunt Honey is taking us out to dinner on Saturday night to the restaurant where my uncle Kevin is the head chef. Pacific Way Restaurant in Gearhart. Oooh, the food is so good there. I am definitely looking forward to that. And we're staying until Monday since Kyle has no school next week, CJ has Monday off and so do I! It's going to be a nice long weekend.

So just before drifting off to sleep last night, I realized in a panic that we're getting married in less than 4 months. I don't know why but it kinda freaked me out and got my mind racing and made it difficult to fall asleep. I have things I want to get done and can't get done until we scrape some more money together (another reason I'm embracing the overtime I mentioned earlier). It'll come together but I always like to have things taken care of well in advance so I just want it over and done with!

One last thing I did want to make special mention that today is the 3 year anniversary of my Papa's death. I wasn't able to get out to his grave today, unfortunately. And it still pains me that he never met CJ and CJ never met him. But the more I think about it, the more I believe that Papa was the one who sent CJ to find me. I know that I prayed about it a lot, especially after Papa died and my prayers were definitely answered. I mentioned it to CJ the other day and I think he thought it was kinda silly but I don't care. It's what I believe deep in my heart and that's that. Another example that things happen for a reason, even if it doesn't make sense at the time. So, anyway, here's to Papa. I love you and miss you more than ever.