Grasshoppers and Butterflies

Tragedy Strikes!

Yesterday evening I went to the Women's Retreat at our church and when I returned in the wee hours of the morning I found a box on my porch.  I was devastated to find my dog of thirteen years was wrapped up inside.  I guess he had ran out in the street and got hit by a car and someone was kind enough to return him to us.  I didn't sleep much last night to say the least.  It still doesn't seem real that he is gone.  We all said our good bye's this morning and then my husband took him to the vet so the could take care of his "funeral".  He was an awesome dog and got me through some really tough times in my life before I got married.  I will miss him dearly!

On a much different and lighter note.....WE INSTALLED OUR BATHTUB TODAY!!!  It seems like it has been forever since we started the "quick" remodel of our bathroom.  We still have a long road ahead but at least there is some definite progress taking place.  We also discovered that our linen cabinet in our hallway was actually a linen closet that is twice the size of the cabinet that they built into it when they built the house.  I have no idea why they would do that but I had a wonderful time ripping it all out.  Now I have a nice closet in my hallway.  It was totally finished out and everything but for some reason they made it into a tiny linen cabinet?!  The only thing I can figure is that the door opening is an odd size so they just thought they would slap a cabinet in there.  Forgive me, I ramble.

So I guess there was a good ending to a horrible day!  I will take some pictures of the bathroom tomorrow so you can see the little bit of progress that we have made.  Have a good weekend.

Jennifer

Homeland Deals and Coupon Match-Up 2/25/09 thru 3/3/09

Here are the deals and coupon match-ups that I have found Download Homeland Deals 2.25.  Homeland's brand of milk is on sale for $2.59 this coming week for the 3 day sale (Sunday, Monday and Tuesday).  If you see anything I left out let me know and I will update the spreadsheet!

The bathroom remodel has been super slow going until today.  My brother-in-law came over and did the plumbing which was a major hurdle we needed to get over.  Now the tub can be set in and the reconstruction can begin.  My parents are coming this weekend and hopefully we will be putting up the sheet rock and starting to tile.  If all goes well I will actually get to take a picture of the progress and post it on Sunday!

Have a good week!

Jennifer

A Word About Aldi

It has been awhile since I have been to Aldi grocery store so yesterday after dropping my youngest off at school I decided to make a trip.  I have forgotten how much I love going to Aldi.  They have great prices and the produce is great.  Don't get me wrong, I still love the Homeland deals but if you combine the two stores you can come up with some serious monthly grocery savings.

Most of their chips range from $.99 to $1.29.  Aldi's cheese puffs are $.99 a bag and they are delicious.  Another thing I like about Aldi is that they don't have 30 different brands of each item so it is less overwhelming.  But if you are brand loyal then Aldi is probably not for you.  Plus they do not accept coupons but with their prices you really don't need them.

If you haven't ever been to Aldi you should definitely check it out.  I think you will be pleasantly surprised with their prices and the quality of their food.

Jennifer

Homeland Deals and Coupon Match-Up 2/18/09 thru 2/24/09

Here are the deals and coupon match-ups for this week.  If you see anything I need to add let me know! Download Homeland-deals-2.18.

Sorry I have been so absent from blogging lately.  I have been busy with my decluttering mission and haven't really been doing anything else.  The bathroom remodel is slow going.  Once we get the tub back and the plumbing redone it should go much quicker.....I hope!

I will post again tomorrow.  I PROMISE!

Jennifer

Homeland Deals and Coupon Match-Up 2/11/09 thru 2/17/09

With all of the tornadoes and everything else yesterday I did not get a chance to get the deal match-ups from our local (OKC/Edmond) area so I will just link to jenny_hic from A Full Cup.  I am not sure if all the coupons listed are the same ones we get in The Oklahoman but I think that the majority of them are valid.  It is always nice to have someone else that does the match-ups too in case I miss something!  I will try to put it in the spreadsheet for you later today if you want to print it out and take it with you to the store.

Anyways, about yesterday....I hope that everyone is okay after yesterdays tornadoes.  I know a few homes were destroyed in OakTree.  It was crazy!  I told the girls I would pick them up from school today because I knew storms were coming in and I didn't want them on the bus.  About 20 minutes before I needed to leave and pick them up the power went out and my car was in the garage.  This is not a big deal within itself because I know how to pull the chord and release the door so you can manually raise and lower it.  The problem was that I could not locate a flashlight (my oldest is afraid of the dark right now so she has been hoarding all of them) to see the pull chord.  Plus we have been remodeling so there is a ton of junk in the garage and I really didn't want to wind up head first in the new bath tub!  Finally I found a flashlight, got the door up and backed the car out.  Then I couldn't figure out how to get it back on track.  By this time the tornado sirens had started going off again and my irritation level was about maxed out.  Pretty much all of the neighbors were outside looking up at the sky (tornado sirens around here mean run outside and check it out) and seeing if we really need to take cover or not.  We could all see that although the tornado was close it was north and east of us by a couple of miles so I yelled at the neighbor across the street and together got the door back on track. 

I get in the car and head to school to pick the girls up.  When I got there I was amazed and a little appalled.  Cars were parked everywhere and when I say everywhere I mean in parking spaces, on the grass and in the middle of the driving and pick-up lanes.  There were also 5 or 6 emergency vehicles right past the school (found out later there was a power line down so they had to block the road off).  I find somewhere to park and head inside.  The school had lost power at some point so it was dark and you could barely see anything at all.  You could see lots of bodies running around and several crying children (I'm sure they were terrified) and that was about it.  Delaney's teacher saw me and told me she was in the cafeteria in the bus line.  I went to retrieve her and then was on a mission to locate Brooklyn.  When I found her she was one of the children that was crying.  Not only is she afraid of the dark right now but she also hates thunderstorms.  Finally we get back to the car and head home.  There were a few more tears after we got home but they were quickly squashed by popping the Garfield series in the DVD player.  That's it!  Drama over.  But I was too mentally worn out to worry about what deals there were at Homeland this week!

Have a good day!!

Jennifer

Renovations "STILL" Underway

Remodeling is hard work!!  This is what our bathroom looks like now (except the toilet is on the back porch now) and as I type this my husband is chipping out the rest of the tile.

 

 

 

The bathtub is in the backyard too along with cabinets and a counter top.  I have no idea how we are going to haul it off!!  Tomorrow we will grind the floor so it is smooth and then hopefully install the new cabinets.  It is overwhelming and always more work than I anticipate.  I just have to keep my eyes on the finished product and know that I am going to love it when it is all said and done......I hope!  Have a wonderful evening.

Jennifer

Homeland Deals and Coupon Match-Up 2/4/09 thru 2/10/09

Here are just a few deals I have found for the coming week.  Coupons will vary from region to region even just from OKC to Tulsa.  Click on the link to download the spreadsheet Download Homeland-deals-worksheet-2.4.  I also found a site that lists the coupon match-ups here.  Some of the coupons listed were not in the inserts from the papers that I got but it is still good info.

I went to Homeland this evening and saved over 50% of my grocery bill.  There are always other items on sale that are not listed in the weekly ad so I can't stress enough how important it is to take ALL of your coupons with you.

That's all for now.  I am still on my massive de-cluttering mission and it is coming along quite nicely.  By the end of the week I should be able to post pictures of my progress!  Have a good one!

Jennifer   

Craft Room Organization

Since the ice storm came through last week and the kids were out of school for 3 days I got the itch to clean and organize my craft room.  I had so much junk in there you could barely even see the floor.  Here is a picture of my desk before I started:

 

 

 

Here is what it looks like now:

 

 

 

It is so nice to have clean space.  It is so nice that I have been cleaning and organizing all week and all weekend.  I am all caught up on my laundry and did I mention we ripped the bathtub out along with half the wall?  It's been super busy around here!  I will post pictures of the bathroom tomorrow because  right now I am just too tired.  That's it for now!  Homeland deals will be coming on Tuesday.