Papa John's Pizza offer

Even if you are not a football fan you can get in on a possible sweet deal from Papa John's. Click here for details and to register for a twenty five cent pizza. If one of the teams score a touchdown on the opening kick off of the Super Bowl...you win. Odds are HUGE but if it happens and you didn't register, won't you feel sad?

Thanks to Coupon Cravings for the tip.

Til later.......

Help a local Veteran

We learned about this at work today. Read below and cast your vote if you wish...There is a home in Tampa and I'd love you to vote for that one but if you are reading in another state and you have a house listed, feel free to vote for that one.

The New Beginnings Veteran Women Shelter has been created to provide a safe haven to female veterans with children who are struggling to adjust to civilian life. The shelter and transitional program can house four women and their children in a remodeled duplex. Once remodeled, the house will have four bedrooms, two baths, a kitchen and a large living-dining area. The duplex is located near existing New Beginnings transitional housing, which provides a home to 80 adult males and 14 females. Services include meals, education, job training and placement, and case management.

Click on the link below to vote:
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/home/text/0,,HGTV_32656_82769,00.html

Til later.....................

The new CVS opened today

WOW. I'm so excited. I now have three CVS's within a 5 mile radius. Sweet! The new store opened at 7am. I didn't go then, I waited until 8:30AM. I met the new manager and one of the cashiers. A girl needs friends at the home of the ECB deals. My new friend, the cashier, told me she'd hold stuff back for me when I needed her to. WAHOOOOOO!!

I had several great shopping trips this weekend thanks to BOGO's and coupons. I had two cashiers shaking their heads at my .51 & .58 totals for buggies full of stuff. I then went to Winn Dixie and bought meat & chicken that was on special. I actually COOKED this weekend for a change. The $59 I spent at WD was the most I've spent at a grocery store in quite awhile. So far my Grocery bill for the month is only $100...counting the $59 from WD. We have quite a stockpile of pantry items.

What deals did you find lately?

Til later..............

Power of Prayer

Without going into to much detail, my family has been rocked with news that would appear grim. Cancer has returned to a family member that thought she had overcome the beast. It has returned in areas that make it hard to fight. But she will. We all will fight with her the only way we know how. Prayer. Belief in a purpose we can't understand. Hope, but most importantly faith in our God.

If you do not believe in the power of prayer, I feel more sorry for you than I do for my dear SIL. If you have never seen the power of prayer up close, I suggest you read this and this.

If you do believe in prayer, I ask you to join us in the fight ahead. Please ask everyone you know to join us. There can not be to many people involved in this uphill climb.

While you are praying, please pray for her husband of 35 years and her daughter. They are her rocks.

Loretta, we love you.

Til later..............

How can it be?

My DD is officially OFFICIAL.

21 years old as of 7:07 AM.

WOW.

I sent her a text but haven't heard from her yet. She is suppose to be in class but after reading some of her Facebook posts...she may be in bed!

I was going to embarrass her with a baby picture but decided to save my torture for another time. Instead I borrowed a picture from another birthday post. It perfectly reflects her personality.

LOVE YOU MY DD. Please becareful tomorrow when you go out for your big celebration. I really need you around for a long, long time!!

Til later....................

What a day

Yesterday was an amazing day. I felt like I was a part of history. I know that sounds corny but if you know me, you know that Corny is my middle name...

Well actually it's not but you know what I mean

So, I'm sitting in our work conference room watching the Swearing in ceremony and the speech and the Benediction and I was fighting back tears. I was doing good until I got a text from my DD and she said she was watching too and "He is awesome" and I lost it!

Brought to tears by the sharing of events with my daughter that will shape her life in ways I can't even imagine. I've always raised her to believe that people are people and you can become anything you set your mind to..but watching the turn of events yesterday really brought that into greater focus. She allowed me to go with her with she cast her first vote for President and then to share yesterday with her, watching "our president" take his place in history...it was "Awesome".

The next greatest thing to happen was that I got to share the evening with my DD, taking her to an event that she requested for her birthday....RIVERDANCE.

Yes, the RIVERDANCE.

She said that the only thing she wanted for her 21 st birthday was to go see RIVERDANCE for their farewell tour.

I met her at her apartment, watched alittle of the parade and then we headed out to have dinner before the show. We had a lovely dinner, she let us get our picture taken by the waitress, I didn't embarrass her with "singing" (didn't have time or believe me I would have made a bigger fuss!!) and then we scooted downtown to the Performing Arts Center.

The show was fabulous and my DD seemed to enjoy it. We did the entire "theater" experience; bought a program and had our picture taken with one of the dancers (she autographed the book).

Our seats were great. The show was great. The company was more than great. The weather--not so much. The ride home, singing along to the radio...great fun.

DD promised to email me the pictures from last night so "You can blog them, Mom" but I haven't gotten them yet. If I don't get them by tomorrow I will be posting a picture of her when she was a baby...J are you there??

All in all, a super special day.

Til later................

Today

Today is a very exciting day for many reasons. I'm to excited to blog so will wait and share tomorrow.

Til later.............

Movie review**EDITED

We may be the last people in the world to see "Benjamin Button" but....YOU MUST go see the film! It is 3 hours long but you will not feel like it is that long. Fabulous movie, great acting, great emotion...take tissues...GREAT movie.

Have you seen it? What movie have you seen lately?

Til later.............

1/22/09..the Oscar community agrees!

Weekend shopping

I did several CVS deals this weekend but I thought I'd share todays.

Here is my trip to use my $10 off $50:

Diabetic Meter-on sale from $85 to $29.99--Free with Q
Diabetic meter-on sale $19.99-Free with Q
(I will be donating these to the Food bank)

That made my $50 so then I added:

5 packs Pepsi products-$10
4 bags Lays Potato Chips- $2/$6 times 2
2 Loreal Lipsticks-50% off- (down to $2.49) used 2- $2Q
6 pack Gold Emblem Water -had $1 Q
2- Excedrin -on sale $1.99--used 2-$2 Q
Tide-on sale $5.99--used $1Q
Soap

Total- $93.89
ECBs used 11.98
CVS coupon $10/$50
CVS Machine Q- $1
Q- 59.00

OOP--12.28 (tax .35)

ECBs earned $10.00 (pepsi)
2.00 (GE-water)

Will get $15.00 Pepsi/Frito Lay coupons once I exchange Dr. Pepper items

SWEET!!!!

Did you do any "savings/coupon deals" this weekend.? Share your stories. BTW, if you haven't already, click on my link for Sweet Savings to the left under Saving sites. My friend CARI is doing a super job documenting deals for most of the stores you shop. Check it out and let her know I sent you.

Til later..........

Free donuts & .20 Taco's

As always, your location may not be participating. Maybe you can check today so you won't be disappointed on Tuesday. So far I've seen or heard about these deals:

On Inauguration Day, get a free donut compliments of Krispy Kreme. Just head on in to any Krispy Kreme location for the donut of your choice on Tuesday. No coupon required.

I've heard radio commercials for TACO BELL saying they will be offering Taco's for .20 on Tuesday. I think the limit is 10 (maybe 20). Again, not sure if all locations will be participating.

Have you heard of any other great deals coming up?

Til later...................

Sharebuilders

I've been reading all kind of sites about earning FREE money for little effort. One site directed me to SHAREBUILDERS. It's a site to purchase stock and earn free money, just for signing up. Use this link to read about how easy you can start investing and earning your free money.

The latest promotion I signed up for used Promotional Code CASH50

I'm not sure if you can use the link and another code but it's worth a try. Once you sign up for your original account, I believe you can open other accounts and use the code for one of those.

I'm waiting for my first bonus' to hit in a couple more weeks. My stocks aren't doing to well but I only invested $1 on each. LOL!

Til later..............

Blog award

I've never received a blog award and quite honestly think I may have gotten this one because my friend Melissa needed a 7th person. No matter, I accept the honor.

So here is what I am suppose to do:
Honorees are to list 10 honest things about themselves - and make it interesting, even if we have to dig deep! Second, we are to pass the award on to 7 bloggers we feel embody the spirit of the Honest Scrap.

1. I spend way to much time on the computer when I should be doing other things.

2. I am 50 years old but still feel like a little kid. People my age intimidate me-still.

3. I am terrified of anything with a blade. Even the sound freaks me out!

4. I wanted to be a teacher when I was growing up until I realized I had NO PATIENCE.

5. Because of #4, I didn't really ever see myself having children. I'm so glad I got over THAT.

6. Speaking of #5, I'm very sad I never had children with my DH but I'd never trade the ones I have. They are wonderful kids and I love them desperately.

7. I was in Concert Chorus in High School but I'd never try out for AI. I know I don't sing well enough, unlike the tens of thousands of folks we see on the show. Seriously, people-go home!

8. I do not remember large pieces of my childhood. Apparently I have alot of crap to remember and can barely remember the day to day stuff.

What was I talking about?

I kid!

9. I was a victim of Domestic violence in my 20's and it shaped who I am today.

10. I wish I could be a "stay at home" person. I'd never run out of things to do.

Now for my list of people to receive this award. I have many people that I think deserve it because of the honest, straightforward way they write. Unfortunately, they are also so busy I don't want to bother them. Since this is my blog and I can do what I want, I'm only going to nominate one person.

She is the hardest working person I know. She is the best mother EVER; despite overwhelming odds against her, she is a Christian that isn't afraid to admit she isn't perfect, she is the sweetest-most honest person I know.....

My niece Jennifer.

Jenna, thank you for continuing to show me what kind of person I should be. I hope I can be like you when I finally grow up. Love you!

If you read this and would like to use the "List" idea for a post, go for it. You probably deserve the award anyway but don't need the ego stroking like I do. (did you read #2?)

Til later..............

Free Suave

Quick post to remind you that SUAVE is giving coupons away today for a free bottle. It is a limited offer. This is the link most sites are using. I had trouble with it and ended up going here.

Good luck!!

Til later........

Happy Birthday DAD in Law

He doesn't read my blog but my SIL does. I sent a card last week so he knows we are thinking of him. HAPPY BIRTHDAY EH.

Til later.......

TV overdrive

A quick post to see if you are excited to have NEW TV back? We loved getting our DVR cleared out during the re-run season during the holidays. Now we are ramping up to fill BOTH up again with all the new episodes and new shows starting.

What are you watching? What new shows are you looking forward to?

We watched the 24 two night season opener. Great as always. AMERICAN IDOL is back tonight. Our guilty pleasure is back and we are looking forward to seeing how the new judge works out. Nip Tuck started last week with a bang as always. Anyone else watching this? DAMAGES is back. If you didn't jump on the band wagon last season like I suggested, you should get in NOW. You really need to see season one to fully understand what is happening but you can still enjoy the show without it. Glenn Close is great, scary great!

I have a confession to make. My DH loves the BIG BANG THEORY but I had not been watching it. I've seen the last couple of episodes and I must admit it is kind of cute. Anyone else??

Til later...........

75 Free Prints from Kodak

A friend asked me this morning if I had any links to free pictures. I opened my email and my friend Kim from STLmommy had this link. If you still have Holiday pictures to print and do not have a membership yet...enjoy!

Til later..........

Kmart-double coupons**Updated

in some areas. I've even read of some places TRIPLING the value of coupons up to the face value of .75. NOT all stores are playing so call your store to verify before heading out. The "rules" appear to be as follow:

Kmart is doubling manufacturer coupons up to $2 this week! Limitations apply so be sure you understand them:
Amount of credit cannot exceed the price of the item
Limit 1 coupon for each item purchased
One 1 coupon doubled per item
Limit 4 of the same items purchased using double coupons
Excludes BOGO offers
Limit 25 coupons per customer per day
No internet printables accepted

I've seen this news on several of my fellow blogger sites. Buyer beware! I will add to be careful of using $$$/2 items The last time they doubled coupons I tried to use $1/2. The item was $1.29 each so they SHOULD have doubled the dollar and I would pay the difference of .29 on each. It didn't work. They actually only gave me credit for $1.00 then .29 so I ended up paying for the second item, per coupon.

What deals are you hoping to find?

Til later...........

I called my local store last night and they said that since they just had the $1 doubles last week, they are not participating until possibly February. Not sure how true that is since not everyone seems to know what is going on. I'll check again and see if a different person gives a different answer.

Free Ice Cream

Check this out!


Taste new BRight Choices™ flavors absolutely free!** Stop by your neighborhood Baskin-Robbins next Thursday, January 15th and show your gym membership card to get a free 2.5 oz scoop of any BRight Choices™ flavor. With our Premium Churned Light Ice Cream, you can get all the rich, tempting flavors you crave and still spend less time on the treadmill! These new scoops are delicious with 50% less fat than our regular ice cream.

Sweet. Makes me wish I had a gym membership. LOL.

Remember, not all stores participate so check with your local store.

Till later..........

I can almost see clearly now

Several days out from my eye "redo" and I'm finally starting to see clearly. Not as crisp as I'd hoped but better than Friday. The day after the surgery I couldn't read worth a flip. The doctors office said it was normal and suggested I take the rest of the day off and by my next follow up appointment I should be much better. I didn't take the rest of the day off since I was already so behind but I did try and rest my eye when I could.

Yesterday, Saturday, was a great yard sale day. First thing, I found the 4 drawer file cabinet I wanted. It was at a local community sale and it was even the second day.

Lucky retired people that can have & attend yard sales on Fridays.

Anyway, I paid $10 and then went inside to scope out the other treasures. I found a few things and then headed down the road to look for more sales. I was looking for a church that had advertised a flea market. I never found it but ran across an Estate sale. It ended up being at a house that I had been to months ago. Apparently they finally got down to the "STUFF". You know, the stuff that poeple collect that really isn't worth anything but to them or other collectors of stuf. I ended up buying a box full of stuff for $10. Lots of crap but some cool stuff. Most of it dating from the 50's. I did some research on ebay and most of what I bought had at least one listing. I'm still going to try and sell most of it. Someone should want it. I found a bag full of Vintage valentines from Germany. They are really cool.

When I got home I had the boy go with me in the truck to pick up my new "to me" file cabinet. We brought it home and it fit exactly where I wanted it to and I put all my coupons in-by date. I'm so organized now. Yeah me!

We put the Christmas stuff away in the garage and now it is beautiful. It's so organized that the boy & I sat out there this morning pulling coupon inserts so I could file them and then sat reading the paper. My neighbor saw us and said she liked our new "extra family room". LOL.

Spent the afternoon watching the playoffs and working on my rebates. I have several to mail off tomorrow. I'm working on making spread sheets for my savings & another for my rebates/refunds. Currently I have approximately $75 coming and another $120 worth of coupons from P & G. Sweet.

I was selected to hold a " VELVEETA Game Day House Party ". You are supposed to hold it on the 1st of February to go along with the Super Bowl. They said you could have it on other days so I'm going to combine it with the SLAH customer/Hostess appreciation party I wanted to have this month. They are sending free stuff to use and give away for the party. If you are in the area and interested in seeing some of the new products in our Spring catalog while enjoying tasty Velvetta treats, email me for details.

Watching 24 and need to get done with my spreadsheets so will sign off now. How was your weekend?

Til later...........

Birthdays-work-gas and stuff

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my favorite SIL. Ok, she's my ONLY sister in law but she would still be my favorite. We've been sisters even before the official ceremony. Hey L....hope you have a super day. Prayers for good news from the doctors.

I've been back to work since Monday and it is not getting any easier. My sleeping/non-sleeping pattern continues and the alarm clock doesn't care how much shut eye I've gotten. Thankfully DH is getting back in his routine so maybe I can get back on track soon.

I really enjoyed being off those two weeks for so many reasons but saving gas was one of them. Just my luck that the DAY I return to work, with fumes in my tank, the prices would start to soar. CRAP. The gas station nearest my work was supposed to close over the holidays to make way for a WAGS. (Happy about that but sad for the CHEAP-nearby gas they usually had). When I came to work on Monday they were still open and the price was the same ($1.55) as when I went on vac. I planned to get gas but decided to wait until Tuesday when I had more time. Yesterday morning I drove to the station and it had gone up to $1.63 overnight. Poop. I decided to wait until after work and get alittle to get me home and to a cheaper station nearby. By after work, the price was $1.69. DOUBLE Poop! I went to the gas station down the street from the work one and they were at $1.65. I ended up getting $5 in cash, just to get me back home. When I got back near the house, our local station had jumped to $1.80. OMGoodness! I drove past my house to go to the station that was $1.53 last week. (when I didn't need gas) and it had gone to $1.63. I filled up since it looks like it is only going to continue to go up. MAN, I was really enjoying filling my tank for $20 instead of $50-60. This is going to put a ding into my budget.

Speaking of budgets, I've been working on making an official one for 2009. I finally found a spread sheet program on line. My laptop doesn't have Excel so I needed one I could load off the computer. It found one through this site. I loaded the program and created a 12 month budget spreadsheet. I entered my basic income/expense information, created formulas to automatically add & subtract the figures and am now ready to go! I think I'm going to finally be able to make a spreadsheet to track my Publix/CVS/WAGS purchases-savings-RR/ECBs earned. SWEET.

Missed Epithany yesterday. Again. One year I'm going to get to actually attend the ceremony.

Didn't get a chance to pick up my newspaper stash yesterday. They are calling for rain today. I'm hoping it holds off until I can get them picked up as they are sitting in the back of a pickup truck at my coupon buddies house. I still need a file cabinet to put them in but I need to at least get them picked up.

How is your New Year going? Made any/sticking to any resolutions? I'm still sorting through mine. I'm hoping to have my base plan completed by the end of this weekend.

Still taking orders for ALL YOU to support the Mental Health Assoc. through my cyber-friend Kim's blog. Contact me if you haven't had a chance to jump on this great deal. $19.95 for 24 issues. Not even ALL YOU can offer that amazing price. Believe me. People have contacted them directly when hearing about my offer and they have been told the publisher will not match the price. The best I can figure is that Southern Living at Home has worked out a great deal with them or that SLAH is eating some of the costs to make the offer to their customers. Regardless, contact me ASAP. It takes about 8 weeks for your subscription to start arriving and you don't want to miss out on ANY upcoming issues.

Sorry this is so late but....
Kmart Double Days are Back, January 4-9th!
Here are the rules:
This event is for all Kmart stores excluding those that are off shore for example: Puerto Rico.
Stores will be able to double coupons up to and including a $1 value, this has changed from the $2 value.
The limit for this event is 25 coupons per day per customer.
Internet Printables are not valid.

I need to get up dated on my SIS and her son. He was supposed to move out this past weekend. Not sure how that is going to go over. For any of them. It's going to be a big shock to their systems since he's lived at home all of his 21 years (except for one). Wonder if they have turned his former room into a craft room yet? LOL.

Speaking of 21 year olds.......we are at T-minus 2 weeks from tomorrow until the DD becomes officially legal. Not sure how I feel about that. We have BIG plans on how we are going to celebrate. I'll share those with you later. Hopefully I'll have pictures to go with it. DD..if you are reading this, prepare to have pictures taken as your geeky mom WILL BE documenting this momentous occasion. Any grief from you and I will be putting some certain tickets on Ebay!

Getting my left eye re-done tomorrow. Little nervous. Surgery always freaks me out but my eyes REALLY freak me out. My DH will take me and then I may sleep a good part of the day after we return home. The last few times I had the procedure I got home late in the afternoon and I just went to sleep for the night. Not sure how it will work to get home Mid day. I'm always afraid to open my eye(s) until the next day to avoid the sandy-gritty feeling. Guess we will cross that bridge tomorrow.

My In-laws anniversary is Friday. They don't read my blog so I sent them an actual CARD. Unfortunately it was not one I had made. Shocking, right? Sorry. My craft crap/desk is still under the desk top Christmas tree.

Hey, it's the only decoration I haven't had time to take down. The lights and decorations are off of it. I just haven't taken it out to the garage. I usually don't even take ANY of my stuff down until after Epithany so I'm actually ahead of the game.

My story.

Sticking to it.

Ok, my peeps and readers...I really should do my real/healthplan offering/expenses covering JOB. Goodness knows after 2 weeks off, I have a desk piled high. Bleah.

Speaking of blogs, check out my friend Cari's new-improved blog. She is going to be offering freebies and tips you won't want to miss. I may even have a little something in the works there.

Til later.....................

I'm very sad

My two weeks off is coming to a close. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. I'm going to miss spending time with my DH, not to mention the million things I still have to do.

Saturday I tried to find a four drawer file cabinet at yard sales/thrift stores. I decided I needed one to store my coupon inserts like the "experts" do. I knew there were 5 inserts coming in today's paper and wanted to be ready.

No luck.

Guess I will store them in a pile like always until I can find one. I really wanted to get organized and stay that way.

Denied.

Speaking of coupons & savings, I had a super couple trips to Publix, WAGS and CVS the last couple of days. LOTS of free/almost free hair products, 12 bottles of FREE Worcheshire Sauce and 20 boxes of Poptarts that were BOGO and then .55 off EACH BOX. Sweet.

BTW, I took alot of that stuff to the Food Bank. Well, except the Pop tarts. My DH goes through a lot of Poptarts.

I spent most of yesterday afternoon cleaning, organizing, filing, discarding stuff from the scrapper room and the all the crap I had drug into the Boys room. Done!

Working on bills, budgets, getting cards ready to mail....etc today. Great way to spend the day while watching Football with my DH.

I found a deal I wanted to share for teachers/homeschoolers I know. I got the following from the Keeping the Kingdom blog....

Scholastic Annual Dollar Days for Teachers and Homeschoolers

Are you a teacher or a homeschooler? Or perhaps you know one. Scholastic is having their annual Dollar Days sale and they will not want to miss it.Now through 1/31/09, over 400 items are priced at only $1.00! Items are selling out quickly, so don't delay.This is a great time to stock up on books and instructional materials for the year. The best part is, shipping is only $2.25, no matter how large your order!*Note: you must be a teacher or a homeschooler to take advantage of this sale. I am not certain how exactly this is verified, but feel free to clarify in comments if you know. Thanks!

Check it out but remember, I don't know anything more than what she posted. Buyer beware.

I'm going to go make some dinner for DH and myself so we can later enjoy the FREE Ben & Jerry Ice Cream I got at WAGS today.

Til later....

New Year, Old Crap

That's how I've spent my first day of 2009...cleaning. I had several projects planned but ended up cleaning out my master closet which wasn't even on my to do list. I decided to straighten up a couple things in the closet and the next thing I knew it was hours later and I had rearranged/straightened the entire closet, including rearranging all of my clothes.

I did take down a few Christmas items (the SLAH ones) so I could put the boxes out in the newly straightened out garage. I put regular stuff back into the niche and then gave up on the holiday stuff. I did pull out all of the spare crap piled up in my scrap room and dragged it into the boys room. That will make it easier to go through before putting it back into the room. I separated the stuff to make it easier to go through & file.

I don't usually take down my tree until Jan 6th but may get it all put away early this year. Since I only used a table top tree it won't be to hard to get taken apart and put up. I really need to get the outside decorations put up so the garage cleaning can get finished.

Did anyone watch the crazy motorcycle guy that jumped up onto the top of the Arc in Vegas and then jump back down onto a ramp? CRAZY.

How did you spend your New Years? Resolutions?

Til later............