Following my coupon advertures...

So, due to a lot of you guys wanting to know more about couponing, I have decided I will start a new blog. It's sole purpose will be to follow my "Coupon Adverntures"! I am in the process of of trying to get it up and running and as soon as I do, I'll be sure to let you all know!  I had a really good trip to CVS and Walgreens this weekend and I'll post more about that later with pictures.  I am feeling incredibly guilty that while I type, Ryan is outside mowing the grass!  So, I suppose I should get off my rear and find something to do. Hope eveyrone is having a great Sunday!

CVS 5-Apr-10

CVS, 5-Apr-10

(5) bottles of Pedialyte

(2) Pantene

(2) Head & Shoulders

(1) J&J Baby shampoo

(1) Lady Speedstick

(1) Clairol hair color

(1) Mach 3 razor refills 5 pk.

(1) Gilette body wash

(2) Nescafe instant coffee sticks, 7ct.

(1) Complete multi-solution for contacts

(1) Stride gum

(3) 12 packs of Pepsi products (not shown)



Total shelf value: $118.31

Total OOP: $24.50

Total saved: $93.81

Percent saved: 79.29%!

$6 ECB for next week!


Sooo close to my target of 80% savings BUT I had to have some Diet Mt Dew and those were 3 for $11. Had I not bought those I would have made my goal by saving 85.68%

My coupon adventure!

I decided I wanted to start couponing a little over 8 months ago.  I have done really well and enjoy doing it.  There have been a few months here and there, especially the holiday months, that I just haven't had the time to really hunt for the good deals but I have decided to make it a neccesity from here on out. I have set goals for myself to help keep myself on track, and most recently have been neck deep in coupons and searching for good deals!  I swear, sometimes I even dream of coupons! LOL.  Sometimes I get discouraged b/c as I am sure some of you know, shopping with coupons and a 2 1/2 year old is sometimes nearly impossible!  I can't always depend on my husband to be home at a decent hour for me to go without my son so I have to make do.  I just try to remember that there is a cycle to the sales, and more than likely I'll be able to get them when they come back around. Once you've been couponing long enough, you learn to recognize these types of things.  Anyway, I hope that by keeping up with this blog, it will help me keep up the committment to coupon by sharing how much it does for me, and how much it can do for you too!

A few sites I love:

Southern Savers

The Coupon Project

Hot Coupon World

The Coupon Clippers

Coupons and Things by Dede

Hip2Save

Animal Puppets

I went to Big Lots the other day, and they had these Martha Stewart animal puppet kits (5 animals) for $2!! So we made them today and they turned out super cute!

Ryley turned 2!

I am going to blog Ryley's 2nd birthday that was Aug 31st. We had a blast at the party and most all of the family was able to come. We rented a monster truck bounce house and had hot dogs and cake with ice cream. It was a construction theme because he so loves construction equipment or anything with wheels really!

My birthday was 2 days prior, on the 29th. I turned 26! I guess you'd day this was more of a joint party for the both of us. It'll be that way from now on, and I'm o.k. with that.

Mmmm! Hot Dogs :) This boy loves some hot dogs!

Monster Truck bounce house was a blast! All the kids loved it.

His Tonka truck cake. It was yummy!

All the presents!

If you want to view ALL of the pictures from the party, go here!

Oh, boy!

So I am extremely, extremely slack. I know! I don't know why I have such a hard time getting around to blogging. It's now that I am always too busy, but I am gonna try...once more ;)

We are all settled into life back here in South Carolina. Easley, to be exact. We are very much enjoying being closer to family again. We have already made a few trips up around Asheville and have visited Biltmore Estate. I am really looking forward to the fall and going to the mountains to see the leaves change.

Ryan is a recruiter in Clemson and he hates every minute of it. His hours are horrible. At the very least, working 16 hour days, and sometimes longer. A few nights he hasn't been home till after midnight. I was told this was a hard job and to expect these things, but knowing that really doesn't make it any easier for me. It isn't supposed to be like this, and there are regulations stating such, but no one from his Battalion seems to really care about that. I hope things will get better and that the hours will slack up some, but I ain't holdin my breath! I hope for Ryan's sake we can make it through these 3-4 years. I keep trying to remind myself that he could be deployed and in harms way. At least he isn't in harms way, but it's almost worse knowing he's so close and yet just can't get the time he needs to spend with Ryley. He mostly sees Ryley on the weekends b/c he leaves before dawn and comes home very, very late during the week.

Me and Ryley just joined a local playgroup here in the Upstate area. We go to our first playdate tomorrow. It's story time at a Library. They'll be learning about fire safety b/c it's fire prevention month or something of the sorts. The real reason I am taking him, is because at the end there will be a fireman and fire truck that they'll get to check out. We were very involved in a playgroup back in San Antonio, and very much enjoyed the outlet it gave us. I am looking forward to getting back in to the swing of things.

Welcome to Holland

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very, very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

© Emily Perl Kingsley 1987