Mark Quote - Mankind

My brother, Mark, finds the best quotes EVER.
Here's his latest...
(he's probably trying to decide how cool (or not) it is that I steal his quotes every time he posts them - HAHA).


"To understand mankind we need to look at the word itself. Basically it's made up of two separate words, "mank" and "ind." What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why mankind is as well."
~Jack Handey

Albies and I

I admit...
I went to Albertsons at 7am this morning to take advantage of their smashing doublers that came in the mail yesterday.

7am for 2 reasons:

1. To ensure the 'smashiest' deals were in stock...
2. and to go kidless and crowdless.

Let me say it was a most pleasant experience.

Regular Price according to Albies: $129.70
I paid: $26.76

New Moon

CAN
NOT
WAIT

Last Day

Watch Me Grow Preschool with Miss Julie & Grandma Smith

See the shyness? Bowen does a lot of observing instead of participating.
But he LOVES this preschool.
He loves going to see Grandma Smith.
And today was his last day and you know what that did to me?
Crying. I'm sad.
Because they've been so great in helping him to see that it just MIGHT be possible to survive in this miserable, wicked world.

I'm mourning.
But I suppose we'll survive until summer school starts. ( :

Dresser

Before...

After...

Total Cost: $68

It pretty much went from feminine to masculine which is usually quite the opposite of what I try to accomplish. hm.
I'm not as in love with it as I wish but it still turned out pretty great.
Can't wait to show you my huge chunky picture frames.

Sandwhich Cookie Cake Pan

I SOOOOO WANT TO BUY THIS...

REALLY

REALLY

BAD!

Williams-Sonoma Goldtouch Sandwhich-Cookie Cake Pan $29.95

As showcased on The Picky Palate.

AI

SERIOUSLY!

WHO is gonna win?

I was weak knee'd with Gokey's "You Are So Beautiful"

And Kris' "Heartless" was better than the ORIG!

I wouldn't mind if Lambert got the boot but that's not gonna happen.

I secretly want this guy to win...

Mothers Day Special Meal

We were excited to have G. Grandma Rula, Grandma Jill, & Aunt Cheryl with us for Mother's Day. (well, Pappa Fred and Uncle Ron were there, too, as well as little Benny (dog). We were excited to have them, too, of course.) ( :

Mothers Day was a fabulous excuse for me to buy produce that may or may not have been on sale, make exotic Caribbean dishes, and bake rolls from scratch (the thrill)...

On the Menu:
Caribbean Rice with mangoes
Baja Citrus Chicken Skewers
Spinach Salad
Exotic Fruit Bowl
Best Ever Potato Puff Rolls
Mini Heart petite foursThat was truly fun!
If I wasn't so busy couponing and neglecting my kids I'd post the recipes for ya (sorry Cheryl).
Perhaps I will get around to it someday.

Screamin' Deals

In case you were curious, here are some screamin' deals I've gotten lately...

A1 Steak Sauce (10 oz)
Regularly $5.59
I paid $.99 (bought 6)

Bar S Jumbo Franks (16 oz.)
Regularly $2.29
I paid $.14 each (bought 6)

Glad Force Flex Trash Bags (38 count)
Regularly $7.49
I paid $2.82 (bought 3)

Colgate Max Fresh Toothpaste (6 oz.)
Regularly $3.49
I paid $0 - Free bomb (got 3)

Reach Prevent Toothbrush
Regularly $2.99
I paid $.52 (bought 3)

Walgreens Brand Diapers (30 pack)
Regularly $8.99
I paid $2.50 (bought 2)

Finish Quantum Tabs (15 pack)
Regularly $5.99
I paid $.49 (bought 1)
(bought 3 others at $2.49 ea.)

Fiber One Honey Clusters Cereal (14.25 oz.)
Regularly $4.41
I paid $.55 (bought 4)

This morning I WOULD'VE got a Quattro Schick Razor and 3 packages of refills...
Regularly $11.49 each ($45.96 total)
I WOULD'VE paid $1...
...if the CQ's (Coupon Queens) hadn't cleared them out Sunday morning. I hope they're not breaking the Sabbath (jk).
I did get a raincheck, though, so I will have my practically free razors in no time. ( :

mini explanation: (these are on buy one get one free with a manuf. coupon of $4 off each and a rebate of $1 off each combined with a $5 off of $25 Rite Aid coupon, etc. Go here for all the nitty gritty.)

I am too lazy to...

• explain exactly how I got all these deals.
• take a picture of them to make this post look cooler.

I will say that it was a combination of Albertsons, Target, Rite Aid, and Walgreens promos, coupon doublers, rebates, register rewards, Manufacterer coupons, etc.

I think the reason I'm not burning out (from going coupon crazy) is because the savings is EXHILIRATING! It's like a cheap little thrill (and I'm all about cheap). So I'll go and go and go until I have the baby and then all the discount promos will pass me by while I secretly curse the skies. jk. But I will only be on maternity leave for a time.

One of these days I'll have to show you my coupon book. 3 inches of ooey goodness.

Brian Regan

We saw Brian Regan LIVE last night at the Tuacahn!

WORTH EVERY PENNY!!!!!!!!!!!!
My favorite joke... "Well, where'd you last have it?"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Guess you had to be there.Why is Alyssa ALWAYS taking pictures of my face in the weirdest contortions?...
Although I do think that expression sums up the night quite nicely.

Will & Alyssa.
In greatest appreciation for introducing us to the great Brian Regan I brought W & A each a Laffy Taffy.
Just the name of the candy reminds me of my favorite BR skit...

"The Wammy Kablammy!"
"Now you walkie and talkie..."
HAHAHAHAHAHA!

The Hailee Marie

You remember this guy...

Mr. Chair

I almost gave up on him.
He was hard... esoteric... and obscure.
(I just looked those words up on thesaurus.com)
Too byzantine for my life right now.
That is... until Nat showed up (my besty from HS).Nice sketch, eh? We were in AP Art. I didn't pass.

Anyway, just her presence instilled in me a sense of creative percipience.
So Bowen and I got out our tools and just started rippin'.
Notice the concentration.After hours and hours of total reconstructive surgery Mr. Chair became and utterly glorious and fabulous splendor of femininity.
A 'pretty' if you will. (I just read the Uglies)I therefore dedicate this chair to Hailee Marie (Nat's 2nd born).
The Hailee Marie will shine as a beacon of effeminateness in a house full of machismos.

Let it be said that I will NEVER do that again.
(most definitely a lie).
It was operose, to say the least.

Sick to death...

I know you're sick to death about me talking about my 'Grocery Smarts' adventures but I really can't help myself.

Today I went and bought my Hunts Ketchup, PAM, RoTel Tomatoes, Enchilada Sauce, BBQ sauce, Flour, frozen veggies, etc.

I bought $188.14 worth of food.

Paid $87.91.

EXHILARATING!!!

Now if I could just get 55% off of something like THIS.....

Couponing Nitty Gritty

For all of you who are interested in couponing here's some nitty gritty...

• It takes A LOT of planning to get the kind of savings I got last night. I probably spent a good 3 hours figuring it all out. Of course, I'm still a newbie. I still experience confusion, frustration and delay (just being dramatic, here). ( : I predict I'm gonna get awesome at it and just start sailing through it.

• Fine Print: It's all about learning how all their little promotions work. For instance, this week most of my savings came from the Albertson's promotion where you "spend $10 on these items and get $4 off". So basically everything I bought was 40% off BEFORE I used the manufacturer's coupon. I also did their "spend $25 on these items and get a $10 voucher" promotion. And then I also did their "buy 10 of these items and get 2 free movie tickets" promotion. All of these items I had coupons for.
  
• Fine Fine print: all of their promotions have little 'rules' attached to them. For the $25 promotion you could only do one per transaction. For the 'spend $10 get $4 off' promotion you had to make sure your $10 worth of food were in their specified little groups (I know that doesn't make any sense but that's why it takes a litttle while to learn). Anyway, the movie tickets thing really worked. Yay for "X-Men Origins". ( :

• This is pretty much what I bought... Betty Crocker Cookie pouches, frosting, muffin mixes, Kraft frozen bagul-Fuls, Ritz, Wheat Thins, Triscuit, Pillsbury biscuits, Trix, Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Raisin Bran, Crystal Light, Healthy Choice frozen meals, Microwave popcorn, Hunt's spaghetti sauce, Pop Tarts, Keebler Cookies, marshmallows.... ... All processed, some very high sugar, box dinner, pantry stock type items. I'm just excited to fill up my shelves. Normally I would never buy pop tarts or keebler cookies or frozen bagul-fuls but for that price... I'll take it. These foods are definitely not conducive to gourmet cooking but I'm learning more and more that when you have 2 kids (going on 3), just getting something on the table is more important. ( :
  

• I still have plans to go back and get Ketchup, Jell-O, Enchilada sauce, taco sauce, flour, frozen veggies, frozen pizzas, Pam, sloppy joe sauce.... All 40%off, most with coupons.
  

• One last thing... today I went to get Bisquick, ketchup, and the frozen veggie steamers and they were all cleared out. There were probably 4 or 5 items that were completely cleaned. Apparently the 'die hard' couponers clear them out by 8am Wednesday mornings sometimes. Luckily we have 2 Albertsons in this city, one of which is much less popular and more likely to have everything.

• Also, once your newspapers start coming it takes a few weeks to start having coupons that match the sales. For instance, last night I was using coupons that I got in my newspapers back in the beginning of March.
  

• Any other questions?
  

Busy Busy

I've been busy..... COUPONING!

Last night...

I bought $284 worth of food at Albertsons

Guess how much I paid...

...$71.00!!!

( :

Check Me Out

Vitamin Water
Regular Price: $1.49
On sale for $1 (Albertsons)
Manufacturer Coupon: $1 off
What I paid? TOTALLY FREE
That's a savings of.... 100%!

Quaker Quakes
Regular Price: $2.49
On sale for $1 (Smiths)
Manufacturer Coupon: $1 off
What I paid? ABSOLUTELY FREE

I also got these items...

Sobe Life Water
Regularly $1.49
I paid .40 cents

Berio Olive Oil
Regularly $8.59
I paid $3.99

Pasta Roni's
Regularly $1.99 (well, $1.50 at Walmart)
I paid .67 cents

Michelene Frozen Entrees
Regularly $1.79
I paid .59 cents

I'm totally hooked!!!

My friend, Micah, also told me about a website that looks TOTALLY AWESOME!
I added it to my google reader.
It's krazycouponlady.blogspot.com.