Things are rolling so smoothly
this morning because I planned
ahead. And it's a good thing too
because I did not get a good night's
sleep. I got to bed around midnight.
Then I hear a sound and got back up
around 12:30am.
We had gated off the kitchen and
put the dog in there before bed.
She had knocked over one of the
gates and got out.
She is gated off when she goes pee
in the house. She was in the backyard
yesterday for most of the afternoon
but the moment we went to the store
to get a pop she peed in the house!
GRRRRR! Then ate a pack of Jonathan's
bubblegum. So anyway I get the gate
set back up. 1:00am I am up again
hearing noises. The dog tried once
again to knock over the gate.
She didn't knock it over.
Didn't hear a peep since then.
Then at 3:30am I must have had a
bad dream and woke up.
So yeah I feel like I only
had a couple hours sleep. That
alarm went off too early at 6:30am.
I felt like I could have slept til
noon. But I got too much running to
do today. I got to call the mortgage
company to see what to do with the
escrow thing, then go to my car insurance
place, post office to drop off bills,
maybe Meijers, then Dewaine is supposed
to come back over and put up the remaining
fence panel and maybe add another
latch on our gate. I still have laundry
to take off the line and put away.
Then figure out what we're having for
supper.
I keep thinking about my grocery list
for Meijer. I may tweak it back some
and remove uneccessary items from my list.
My new list should look something like
this.
$44.09 before
$17.59 after
$26.50 savings
So my weekly grocery spendings
added along with Kroger's list should
be $28.63.
That's $16.37 under my regular
budget of $45.
If I can do this for the next
month or so I can save $65.48
in one months time.
Or $131.00 in 2 months time.
When there is a will there is a
way. Even though I have high
bills at the moment I still
am finding ways to cut back
and save money. This is one
way of getting the bank account
back up where it should be.
I mean I have a cushion and
all to fall back upon but just
because I have used part
of that cushion doesn't mean
I shouldn't try to find ways
to build it back up.
8:00AM
Well I have to get the kiddos
dressed and ready to take them
to the bus stop. Then all the
fun starts.
________________________________
Well this morning I called the
mortgage company. Boy was that
a joke and I'll tell ya why.
My name is not on our home
loan and me being the wife
cannot ask questions about paying
the bill!! This is the stupidest
thing if you ask me. All I wanted
to know was how to go about paying
the freaking escrow shortage bill
and what to pay for our monthly
home loan! I think if you are married
you should be able to access all your
bills no matter if they are in
the husbands or wife's name!
Because if you think about it, should
the loan or other bills become delinquent,
I'm sure
they would not hesitate to come
after me for money owed on the loan
being the wife.
I think they should authorize your
spouse to be able access your monthly
bills, especially if the wife is the
one making the payments.
So I just did my better judgement
of how to pay the bills this month
for the house.
------------------------
I got the rest of my errands run
and bills paid. Then me and mom
went to Meijers to do some shopping.
Which by the way I had to go over
what I said I was spending earlier because
I realized we were out of dog food
this morning. GRRRR. But that dog
food is not a weekly expense so
it won't hurt too bad. That should
last about 3 weeks or so.
Still got her brand of dog food
and it had a $1.00 coupon
on it so it was all good.
Some things people do in the grocery
store bothers me. And here is one
example that pisses me off.
A person will leave their cart
or basket in line and run around
the store to shop thinking
their basket is holding their
place in line. Me and mom get in
line and wonder why this basket
of groceries was left on the
floor of the checkout lane.
We pushed it out of the way so
mom could go around it and put
her groceries on the conveyor
belt. I'm about to put my
groceries up when this lady
mysteriously appears out of nowhere,
after I don't know how many people
have walked around her basket,
and just pops back into line
like it was nothing, separating
me and mom at the checkout.
I just bit my lip! I really
wanted to tell her off!!
----------------------
When I returned home from the store
I found that Kendra had stopped
by and left me some Depends on
my back step.
Check out all these she got
for me FREE off Freecycle!
I can only imagine what
the neighbors are thinking
seeing all these on my doorstep,
LMAO!
She also gave me 3 Mums
(which will come back yearly)
and a houseplant she made
for me!
---------------------
My Meijer trip
Before price $112.11
Price I paid $26.11
And these are the Catalina
coupons I got today:
FREE box of Idahoan potoatoes
$4.00 off purchase of $40
$1.00 off $5.00 salty snack
$5.00 off next shopping trip
$1.00 off Raisin Bran
plus about 3-4 other ones
And here's everything I got
for $26.11, it even includes
the dog food and 2 brand new pairs
of shorts. I NEVER buy new clothes!
They are having a clothing clearance.
Take an additional 25% off the marked
down items. PLUS I have a Meijer
discount card since Damien works at
Meijer for an additional 10% off
non food items!!
pink pair shorts
regular $13
marked down to $3.00
additional 25% off $2.25
additional 10% off $2.03
black pair of shorts
regular $11.00
marked down to $2.00
additional 25% off $1.50
additional 10% off $1.35
These I found in the maternity
section of the store.
They do not look maternity at all!
I saw other maternity clothes
with the elastic band pants
and shirts marked down to
$2-$3 so take an additional
25% off that for those needing
maternity clothes!
So $3.38 for 2 new pairs of shorts
that would have cost me $24!!!
A savings of $20.62!!
I was just looking over my receipt
and found a mistake. The dole
salad mix was supposed to be
buy 1 get 1 free and they charged
me for both. Will take my receipt
back tomorrow to get reimbursed.
So my new total spendings for
today at Meijer is
$24.11
______________________________
I have yet to turn the air conditioner
back on. The Weather Channel says it's
92 degrees out. Thermostat says it
is 83 degrees in here. I've got
fans blowing full speed and some
windows open.
While everyone is at work and school
I am comfortable with these temps
and are saving money by not turning
the AC on!
We are supposed to get storms
or rain this evening. Then once those
roll through the temps in the 10 day
forecast are in the 70's.
_____________________________
2:30PM
As much as I would have liked,
it doesn't look like I am getting
a nap in today. Eyes are about
to fall outta my head!
The boys get home in a little
over an hour. So in the meantime
I started working on a food pantry
inventory. Once I get that done
along with freezer inventories
then the fun begins of trying
to put together meals with those
items.
Not sure what we are having tonight.
Maybe something simple since I am
so tired and we have a backyard
to still tidy up from yesterday.
Got some hot dogs today so might
do those with some mac n cheese.
I think for tomorrow, since I don't
have plans of going anywhere I'm gonna
do this for supper:
Mix some dry onion soup mix with
some cream cheese. Stuff that into
some boneless chicken breasts.
Pour a can of Campbells Select
caramelized onion soup into a crock
and then add the chicken.
Let those babies cook 4-6 hours.
Make up some mashed potatoes
and some carrots. Thicken the
remaining soup in crock and make
into a gravy.
______________________________
You know when it's really windy
out when a pair of shorts on
your clothes line flies of the
line, clears the top of the shed
and makes it into the front part
of the driveway on the other side
of the fence!
_______________________________
Here's a tip of how to enhance your
yard with flowers at little or no
cost. Look around your neighborhood
or at your neighbor and friends yards.
Sometimes their perennials need thinning
out and they might be willing
to give you some extras they may have.
Perennials are flowers or plants
that come back every year.
My across the driveway neighbor lady
was talking about these flowers
she planted last year and how they
took off so fast in her small flower
bed and spread. She said I could
dig up some of her flowers
to start my own collection.
I don't know what kind they are
but I think they are pretty.
So for only the labor to dig
those flowers I can have flowers
for free!
Your yard won't be a gardener's dream
overnight but at least you'll
have a little curb appeal for
very cheap!
_______________________________
3:20PM
Got a few more minutes before walking
to the bus stop so I thought I would
share a couple of the deals I got
today.
I had $1.00 off $4.00 of produce coupon
For $3.00 in produce I got
1 pound grapes
3 pounds carrots
and a buy 1 get 1 free Dole salads
Ballpark Franks
regular $2.50
I paid .17 cents each
Danimals yogurt smoothies,
coolisions and crush cups
regular price $2.29
I paid .79 cents each
Uncle Bens Whole Grain Rice
regular $1.98
I paid .17 cents
Campbell's Select Harvest Soups
regular $1.96
I paid .65 cents each
Spaghettios
regular .99 cents each
I paid .50 cents each
Lysol Pourables
regular $2.78
I got them FREE
Dad's Dog Food
regular $7.99
I paid $6.99
Kraft cheese slices
sale price $1.88 x's 10 is $18.80
I had 2 coupons
save $5.00 off 5 pkgs cheese
It made 10 pkgs $8.80
or .88 cents each.
PLUS when you bought $15 worth
of cheese you got a $5.00 catalina
coupon to use on your next shipping
trip to Meijer.
So how, when I only spent $8.80
on that cheese, did I still
qualify for the coupon for $5.00
off when I had to purchase $15
worth?
The price before my coupons for
the cheese was $18.80
which qualified for me to get the
$5.00 coupon. It didn't matter
if I used coupons to get this deal
or not. Always look at the before
price!
Here's another situation.
If you have a coupon like I did
for $4.00 off your $40 or more
purchase remember to ALWAYS make
sure that is the first coupon
you hand the cashier when checking
out.
You don't want your total to
be $40 some dollars then hand over
your other coupons dropping that
total under $40 and then trying to
use that coupon. It won't work
because now your grocery bill is
no longer $40!
_______________________________
Well I hate to burst anyone's bubble
about this gate but the bottom
latches aren't working at all.
Actually the top one also finally
broke loose this afternoon
with all the wind. The gates
were swinging in the breeze.
You can lock them in place and
with the wind blowing the gate
around they just come undone.
Tonight we might go to Lowes
and price one of those gate
poles to help hold it in place.
---------------------------
It's 4:30Pm and I finally broke
down and turned the air on.
Probably just for this evening
and tonight since the temps
are supposed to drop in the 70's.
Hey I saved on electric by not
using it all day today til now!
Then figure I will only run it
for about the next 14 hours and
turn it off again for the remainder
of the week.
Looks like rain is moving into
the area. Time to run out
and remove clothes from the line.
_______________________________
Kendra & Dewaine
Remember yesterday when I asked
you if you knew about predicting
the upcoming Winter by the band
stripes on the black and reddish
orange caterpillar and you both
said you never heard of that before.
Here's an article I found about
the Wooly Worms...
http://www.ehow.com/how_2143194_predict-winter-wooly-worms.html
the Wooly Worm we saw had longer
reddish brown bands and narrower
black bands on the ends.
Like the middle one below.
Did you know that when the leaves on
trees turn over to show their
backside that means rain is coming?
Cows lay down when rain is near.
Other folklore about weather:
It Will Be a Bad Winter:
If squirrels accumulate huge stores of nuts and have thick bushy tails.
If there are lots of berries on trees.
If the black stripe is wider than the brown stripes on the back of a Woolly Bear caterpillar, the winter will be long and harsh.
If ant hills are high in July, winter will be snowy.
According to farmers in Ohio, the higher a hornet's nest is from the ground, then the more snowfall is to be expected in the coming winter.
If the first week in August is unusually warm, the coming winter will be snowy and long.
For every fog in August, there will be a snowfall in winter.
A warm October means a cold February.
A warm November is the sign of a bad winter.
If the first snow falls on unfrozen ground, expect a mild winter.
The nearer the New Moon to Christmas Day, the harder the winter.
The first frost in autumn will be exactly six months after the first thunderstorm of the spring.
Worms plug the entrances to their holes when it gets cold.
______________________________
And the story goes on...
TRUCK DRIVER NEIGHBOR
Today truck driver neighbor comes
over to gab with me and Tony.
I see his littlest kid following
behind him and he is wearing a
Winter coat that looked to have
one of those sheep like fuzzy
linings. It was 93 degrees out!!
______________________________
Well y'all it's 9:30pm and it's
been a long and tiring day.
It will feel good to be home
tomorrow with no errands to run!
Nighty night!
