triples, fall decor

as you can see...i did another triples run. this one was really only meant for a few things - and, i didn't end up with nearly as good of a savings percentage as the first round, but i was happy with it nonetheless! i actually did a 3rd round - one quick trip to bloom, but i only bought 3 or 4 triples items, the rest of the trip was intended to be meat & produce for the week. so, it ended up being our usual $60 trip. here's the deals on the above....

Texas Toast Garlic Bread $2.99, $0.85 oop
Scott 4 pack Toilet Paper $4.15, $1.99 oop
Betty Crocker Warm Delights (2 of them) $1.95ea, $0.38 for both ($.19ea)
Ziploc Quart Zipper Bags $3.25, $1.00 oop
Renuzit Pearl Scents Air Freshener $3.79, $1.14 oop
Spray 'n Wash Max $2.95, $0.70 oop
Shout Liquid Stain Remover $3.15, $0.90 oop
Dawn Original Dish Soap $1.65, $0.90 oop
Jet Dry Liquid Rinse $4.75, $1.17 oop
Arnold 100% Natural Bread $2.79, $0.54 oop
Soft Scrub Deep Clean Foaming Spray $3.35, $1.49 oop
Pillsbury Ready to Bake Cookies $3.65, $2.15 oop
Comet Long Grain Rice $2.69, $1.04 oop

Total Retail: $41.11
Total oop: $14.25

so, during triples we bought $100 worth of groceries & cleaning products, and spent about $32. i'm happy with that! now i'm happy to relax for about a month til the next triples comes around. it gets really tiring!

this weekend was really nice. friday the sabres won their home opener (WHOO HOO!). we got a pizza from taste of buffalo to celebrate. i tried really really hard to stay awake through the whole thing, but crazy hyper-active baby was having none of that. i made it through the 1st period, and half of the second before i passed out. but, husband woke me up for the shootout and i watched us win. YAY sabres!!
saturday morning husband & i finished up the puzzle we've been working on all week. it was a hard one! 5 trees whose pieces all looked the same. water pieces that were virtually impossible to tell apart, about a million rocks. we've only had 1 puzzle in the past that's defeated us - it sat out on our kitchen table for 3 weeks before we were sick of looking at it and put it away. for a while i thought this one might be #2, but we pulled it off. yes, we are dorky...and this is the kind of thing we do together. puzzles, crosswords, sudoku.

husband said something cute during our puzzle-ing. he was like "last night when i was trying to hold you, i had my hand on your belly and the baby was kicking so much it kept waking me up every 2 minutes. how do you sleep through the night with that?!". so cute. i love that he can realize what some of the challenges are. honestly though, i'm always SO tired at night, and i'm just SO used to him moving 24/7 at this point - that i sleep right through it. unless....he's kicking my bladder, or right behind my belly button - because both hurt.

after the puzzle, we did some shopping. we went to birkdale for starters so i could get some wallflower refills. i ended up with a set of pumpkin, spiced cider, and creamy nutmeg. all fall-y and yummy. after that we went to kirklands, and i got the cute little sign you see above (that's found it's home ontop of the tv). it was only $7! or...$8? either way, you'd pay like $20 for something like that from target. anyway, we walked around a bit more, checked out a little baby boutique (and husband actually gets excited to look in those places now!), and then set out for home depot. we were in search of shelving for the garage to get it cleaned up in there, and we bumped into one of the owners from my work. he was getting shelving for his closets. we ended up finding two $25 shelves, plus a huge orange mum for $6 - and only paid $25 for all of it because of an old gift card we had. not bad.

finally we stopped at the ATM, and then a little corner produce stand down the street from our house. we were the only ones there, and we both love fall so much - we went a little overboard with what we got. 2 good sized pumpkins for us, a pie pumpkin for odin (we debated over getting another for goopy, but decided it would be more fun to get his first pumpkin once he was outside of the womb), and a handful of mini pumpkins. aand then we got 2 small yellow mums, a hay bale, a bunch of indian corn, and some homegrown tomatoes. we almost topped it all off with a corn stalk, but decided against it mostly because of room in the car. however...i think we may be going back to get one to put behind the display we created on the porch. i suggested getting a scarecrow (they have adorable ones right now at michael's for only $6!), but husband said they look too much like clowns and he hates clowns lol.

i love the way the porch looks now. with our little display, and my little scarecrow man wreath, and the welcome mat, and the orange lights. cuuuute. just out of frame to the left is our flag, which right now is a sabres flag (whoo go buffalo!), and on sundays is our bills flag. but...i'd really like to get a fall one to tie it all in. we'll see.

later that night we decided to go out for dinner. it was really cool out, and i just felt like being out in the nice weather. i made a stop at michael's to check out their discounted fall fake foliage (ha) and got a few things. which, i decorated my mantel with.

while we were out during that trip, an employee asked me how far along i was. i told her 6 months, and she says, "and you're still wearing heels? damn, you go girl, do your thing!" (thing sounding more like thaaang). you know - that's the 3rd or 4th time i've heard that! i think it's a sweet compliment, don't get me wrong, but i'm not exactly stomping around in stilettos. i just happen to have a little heel on my fall/winter boots. and so far i haven't lost any balance, nor have i started to "waddle", so i haven't really seen the problem in wearing them. i guess that's one victory i have this pregnancy!

i cheese-ified my kitchen window. more mini pumpkins, and window stickies! remember me wondering where all the window stickies of the world went? my lovely friend shmoe sent some in her package. the funny thing is - they were made in charlotte. so they were shipped up there, where she purchased them, and shipped them back to me. yet....i can't find any here! also, it's kind of hard to see because of the reflection of my fridge in the window...but the trees in my backyard are starting to turn and it looks so pretty!


my halloween note pad made it to the fridge recently. i'm totally dorky and have one for every single season. that's last week's menu on it.....which reminds me, it's menu planning monday....iii should do that.

monday:
tuesday:
wednesday:
thursday:
friday:

yeah....i'll fill that in later as my mind catches up with me. it's still way-too-early on monday morning to be doing things like, thinking! and with that...i will shut up now, because i've given you far too much boringness for one day :)

ps - the high today is 87, and tomorrow is 89! what the heck!!! we've been steady in the 70s and i've been LOVING it! i don't want this heat crap. luckily, mother nature is making up for it this weekend with 60s and rain, whoo hoo!

yay for triples!

warning: i'm about to bore you with couponing babble :)

guess how much that lovely collection of yummies cost me. go on, guess. it's a pretty good load of stuff, right? i mean....i didn't even compare to some of the ladies i saw with absolute mountains of stuff in their carts. i have no idea how they work that out - especially with the 20 coupon limit rule. but i was pretty pleased with my collection. there are only 3 things from my list i didn't get. two of them were out of stock, and the third - i'd already reached my 20 coupon limit. so, i'm going back friday morning to pick those things up. and perhaps a few other things, depending on what other deals i uncover & have coupons for.

this is my first hard core triples experience. i did participate in harris teeter's recently, but that was my very first week of couponing ever - and....well, i wasn't very good. i still saved 40% off my bill, but i'd acquired zero skill at that point so i'm counting this as my first real triples.

i broke it down for you in quite a bit of detail. the starting price of each item, minus bonus card savings, minus store coupons, minus manufacturer coupons tripled, equals total. but you know...it was a lot of numbers, and a lot of senseless abbreviations so, here's just the original starting price (as stated on my receipt), and the price i paid out of pocket.

(OOP = out of pocket)

Cottonelle 4 Pack Toilet Paper $4.15, $1.00 oop
Thomas' Plain Bagels $3.99, $1.34 oop
Windex Antibacterial $3.65, $0.74 oop
Country Crock $2.19, $1.44 oop
Betty Crocker Frosting $1.85, FREE
Betty Crocker Cake Mix $1.85, $1.00 oop
Betty Crocker Cookie Mix $1.99, FREE
Knorr Sides (2 of them) $2.15 x 2 = $4.30, $2.05 oop for both ($1.02ish ea)
Lipton Tea 24ct Tea Bags $3.69, $1.00 oop
Betty Crocker Flavored Potatoes (2 of them) $1.75ea, $0.60 oop for both ($.30ea)
Total Cinnamon Crunch Cereal $3.99, $1.74 oop
Lucky Charms Cereal $3.55, $0.35 oop
Dial Foaming Hand Wash $2.45, $0.60 oop
Cascade Gel Dishwasher Detergent $5.65, $3.24 oop
Renuzit Adjustables (3 of them) $1.49ea, $2.10 oop for all 3 ($.70ea)
Softsoap Antibacterial $1.95, FREE
Progresso Soup (2 of them) $2.69ea, $1.50 oop for both ($.75ea)
Ronzoni Pasta $1.89, $0.25 oop

Total after everything was scanned = $61.63
Total paid OOP after coupons = $18.63 (!!!!)

70% savings! i'm no pro just yet, but i'm so excited about this! one thing that messed with my numbers was the cascade. it was still a deal, but had i left it out it would have made my percentage better. however, we needed it. we only have like 2 loads of dishes left on our current bottle....so better to get it during triples than not.

also, husband came with me. this is good, and bad. it was good because he helped me juggle the coupons, and he kept tabs on the store coupons we collected as we walked in (matching them up with my coupon list, tearing them out and such). however - a few of the things he wanted (though reasonable) also messed with my numbers. but, i'm not complaining - i'm totally happy with this.

you should have seen his face as we were walking out. he had this HUGE smile that would not fade. he couldn't believe how much he saw the numbers drop. when we got home he kept saying "baby, i'm SO glad you got into this". so him coming along was worth it, just to see how happy it made him.

oooh this is addicting :)

wanna see my bowling ball?

i just realized i never introduced you to my goop, at least via my belly. so, today is your lucky day. as you can see....the child is large. im only 25 weeks...and look at that belly! gah. i am convinced he will come out 6 foot 11. my sister kept saying that while she was shopping for him, she skipped over newborn sizes because she's positive he'll be born way too big for them. funny, how she thought so already seeing as i haven't seen my sister since july & she hasn't seen the belly. oh, right....did i ever mention...i don't live in my hometown? yeah. long story short (i'll make it longer some other day...) i moved to charlotte, nc with husband over 4 years ago and happily ever after. we're both from buffalo, ny - aaand, we will be again in a few years.

here's the fully-clothed belly. everyone tells me it looks like i'm literally carrying a bowling ball under my shirt. sweet. thanks guys.

last night hubs and i rocked dinner. he finished up work right when i got home, and came downstairs to get the grill fired up. it was a sick 80-some degrees (we're so ready for full-blown fall it's not even funny), so we figured we'd do the grill thing. when he opened the door to the deck, however - a hilarious 20 minute battle with the spider from hell ensued. i love husband, and despite what i'm going to say he is plenty macho. he is terrified of spiders. as am i - to the point where i can't even get close enough to kill them, so in his defense...he at least has the courage to murder the bastards. this thing was unnaturally enormous, and exceptionally disgusting. he armed himself with a can of raid and a broom....and switched between spraying at it, swatting it, and squirting it with water. by the time he finished attacking this thing (to the point he felt safe being anywhere on the deck in order to grill), i had already made the applesauce for the next night's (now tonight's) dinner. i don't know why i've never made my own applesauce before. it was seriously easy, and seriously DELISH!

my bff, the queen of homemade baby food told me how to make it. her daughter loves it (and since husband's taste buds resemble those of a 5 year old) i knew he'd love it too. i wanted to make it last night so it had plenty of time to chill for tonight's dinner. and, to free up some time considering i've never made homemade mac & cheese before and im going to venture into that world tonight.

pregnancy suck of the day: last night, i peed right before bed (hot right). and as much as i searched my brain, i couldn't recall drinking much in the evening. yet, around 3am i had to pee SO BAD my entire body hurt (i have this weird pregnancy thing, that instead of getting the urge to pee like normal, i just get pain. lovelyyy). my whole belly was cramped, yet i was fighting with myself since my alarm was due to go off in not long anyway. i finally got up and went, the pain decreased - but never went away completely. it STILL hurts! and i'm afraid it might have shifted my tumor (yeah, another story for another day...) because it hurts the most right where the tumor is. im walking like an old lady with a brand new hip replacement.

ps - bloom is doing triples this weekend! what the heck, grocery stores! are you trying to kill me!! i'm going to plan on skipping that one...unless, i don't make out as well as i plan to at lowe's this week. they'll be my weekend back up plan.

monday menu garbage

i keep seeing those menu planning monday banners all over the place. i cannot plan every single meal & snack husband and i will eat, because i'm way too lazy to think that far ahead. but, this whole grocery shopping pimpness that has become my hobby lately is saving us money. and planning dinners ahead of time will do the same, seeing as it cuts down on those pesky $20 trips.

this week i was able to make my menu post-shopping (well, shopping round 1, because triples is still to come) with things i have on hand. before this new style of shopping? i never had things "on hand". i always thought rachel ray and her "ya know, whatever kind i have on hand" comments were bull. but it's incredible, the things you stock up on when you get them for nearly-free.

yesterday, i got my first free item. granted...it was sort of "cheating", because it wasn't that i mixed a sale & a coupon....it was that i had a coupon that literally said "free". i decided to go ahead and get it now, because i figured with triples coming it would be cleared out of there. it was...a bottle of french's worcestershire sauce (did i spell that right?). there are so many recipes that call for a dash of that stuff, and i've always just skipped it because i never thought to buy it.

i have yet to enter the world of overages. and i hear lowe's doesn't honor them during triples. so, possibly during the november HT triples.

oh, oh! another deal. have you heard of those febreze candles? they were on the shelf at lowe's originally priced around $7.50 if i remember correctly, and it was closeout priced at $5.00. i had a $.75 coupon (that doubled, taking it to $1.50 off)...so i got it for $3.50 - not bad. i thought about waiting until wednesday or friday, because the coupon would triple instead and then cost me $2.75 - but i figured there will be a lot of couponing ladies in the area that hung onto that coupon & would scoop up the closeout priced candles. soo, i took a chance. if i could find that coupon again, though...i'd get another. i got the apple spicey whatever it's called candle, and we lit it last night - it smelled like an apple pie was baking. sooo yummy!

oh, right, the menu...

monday: steak, baked potato, green beans
tuesday: pork chops, homemade mac & cheese, broccoli, homemade applesauce
wednesday: ham steaks, mashed potatoes, corn
thursday: spaghetti, meatballs, garlic bread
friday: pierogies, fries, corn (subject to change based on triples trips)

i'm not thrilled about the steak tonight, because you know...me and beef = enemies. but, it was freaking $3.50 for a huge one at the store yesterday (and i eat such a small portion, that i just hack a chunk off and it still sufficiently fills husband's belly). plus...ya know, the whole iron thing. boo.

further proof of my lameness.

as a kid, i never really cared about halloween the way i did christmas, thanksgiving, or easter. i just didn't have that spooky creativity. i did have some excitement about it. you know, endless free candy...the stupid little parties my elementary school put on. but i just never really got into it, the way i see so many people do.

i remember starting out as a witch around 5 years old. i had some strange obsession with the wizard of oz, and i always wanted to be the witch. i pulled that off every year til i was about 8 or 9, which is when i became a pilgrim. boy did i test the limits of that home-sewn costume each october 31st. somewhere around age 12 or 13 i wanted to do the more popular thing, and dress like my friends - you know, as a hooker, stripper, or britney spears. i pulled off the britney spears costume one year, and my mom wouldn't let me leave the house. my senior year in high school, i was a pink fairy. that was the thing to do back then. groups of friends would get together & plot what they'd be - so you'd see 10 or 15 of the same thing in the halls each halloween. it was kind of gang-like. my friends & i wore glittery wings, plastic tiaras, and carried kid's princess wands.

that was the last time i dressed up. which, is...ya know, reasonable. i was 17. it's not like i was trick or treating anymore. it's just that i was never invited to those crazy halloween college parties or anything. so, what little excitement i did have for the holiday definitely died off.

this year, though? i can't stop thinking about it! i'm not exactly sure why. part of it is that i'm carrying a little one, and the gears are already turning for his first round of holidays next year. i already looked through all the infant costumes at target (and find the chili pepper, bag-o-cash, and woopie cushion particularly amusing). and i already can't wait to see what kinds of things charlotte mommies puts together so i can get an idea of what we can do as a family next year. but i also think, it has something to do with my current surroundings...and my experience from last year.

last year's halloween, was one of the nicest, most relaxing nights i can remember. my house wasn't exactly sparkling, so after work i went to town on the living room & kitchen, in hopes that any trick or treaters wouldn't see my clutter. i did such a fantastic job of it, in such a short time, and it left me feeling relaxed. so, in the name of relaxing...i slipped on my fuzzy black slippers, lit a pumpkin scented candle, and poured myself a glass of wine. i settled in on the couch (closest to the front door), and just soaked up the night. trick or treaters came like a steady flow (husband was upstairs "hiding" - he says he doesn't "do" trick or treaters). i'd get up and answer the door with my big bowl of candy, awwing and oohing at every little one dressed up as something adorable. between knocks i'd sit on the couch with my wine & watch tv. it was a warm-ish night, with a slight crisp breeze - and the smell of my pumpkin candle and the warmth of my yummy wine just sent me into lala land. it was wonderful.

it was somewhat exciting, to participate in a "real" halloween experience. we'd lived in an apartment for the previous 2 or 3 halloweens, and never got 1 knock on the door. i suspect it was because we were on the 4th floor, and you know how "active" kids are these days. now, however, we live in a suburban development with a plethora of little ones. it gets me excited to celebrate. maybe i'll even "dress up" as something this year? probably not. or, i'll just be a pregnant chick.

today, in an attempt to get ready for the holiday....i pulled weeds, swept up random dirt, power washed my front porch & everything on it, power washed the sidewalk leading up to my front door, and hung orange halloween lights around my porch railing. the fall welcome mat also made it's 2008 debut. i'm thinking next weekend, we will get a hay bale or two, a corn stalk, a mum plant or two, and pumpkins - and i'll create a little display in the corner of our porch. then i will feel sufficiently decorated, and not like one of the lame houses people pass over. i'd love to find some window stickies too - but it seems like everywhere only has those gel things nowadays. whatever happened to the window stickies? they were the best part of decorating when i was a kid!

i'm kind of exhausted from doing all of that. i also did 2 (about to be 3) loads of laundry, transferred pages into a new scrapbook, made lunch, cut coupons, updated my coupon spreadsheet, researched sales, and made a temporary shopping list (saving the big one for triples later this week). now i must shower, do the shopping, finish up laundry, straighten up the kitchen, straighten up my bathroom, and make dinner before desperate housewives tonight. i'm thinking meatball parm subs tonight, mmm. husband made his famous spaghetti sauce & meatballs last night, and a nice cheesy gooey sub with the leftovers sounds absolutely delish.

24 weeks, chex mix partayyy

warning: i am an ABC prime time addict, and while every one of my fabulous shows are re-starting another wonderful season, i cannot be held responsible for the amount of tv babble that may spew out of me at any moment.

so, desperate housewives anyone?
you know, i feel a little bad. this show was the show that started it all for me. it's what ignited my love of grey's (when they were on back-to-back), and opened up a new genre of the sexy sleazy scandalous soap-opera-on-crack type of show that i've come to love. and yet, last night, at 9:20 i sat on the couch and realized - the season premier is on, and i'm not watching it!

well thank heavens for DVR because it was waiting for me, only by 20 minutes, which allowed ample time to FF through boring commercials. i have to say, last year when the show ended the way it did...i was a little outraged. i wanted to see what happened! but after last night, i am really glad they traveled 5 years in the future. it's refreshing. the show needed a new beginning, a re-vamping...and i'm all excited about seeing where it will lead again. it's like reading a book that becomes your favorite, and then a sequel comes out with promises of good story lines & a glimpse of who your beloved characters have become. i love it. just, love it.

/tv show babble.

so, i think i've hit the nesting phase of my pregnancy. how did i put it earlier? "it goes beyond normal cleaning. it's like full fleged, scrub the spots i never look at, organize the pantry twice, husband has to say "go to bed" before i stop....cleaning ". yeah, that pretty much sums it up. for the first time in...hmm...well....ever, i sat wide awake in bed, thinking that maaaybe i should just get up and do a thing or two instead of sleeping. i feel like an addict or something. i'm sitting here daydreaming about the things i can do around the house when i get home.

husband said this is one of the coolest pregnancy side effects he's seen yet. only being topped by my massive boobs.

i'm 24 weeks today. let's seee....(traveling to what to expect dot com)...baby is about 1.5 pounds right now (holy crap, he's only .7lbs away from being the weight my niece was when she was born! granted, she was a preemie, but i can visualize that size). he's about 8.5" (aw, my little piece of paper). wow. i only have 4 weeks left of the 2nd trimester! this is really flying. am i 6 months now? i never know how that works with the weeks thing. i guess, if you take 24 weeks divided by 4, that gives you 6 months....but that logic is kind of stupid since no one ever says "i'm 10 months" when they're 40 weeks pregnant. who knows. maybe i'm 5 months, maybe i'm 6. either way, holy crap!

bold flavor chex mix = so yum.

martha "mrsLicky" stewart.

i'm not ready for it to be 6pm on sunday. i'm just....not.

i want to start my SAHM gig and be done with the next 3 months of 40 hour work weeks, gir!

i feel very domestic. let's see. friday i scrapbooked & organized my scrapbooking, in true martha stewart fashion. saturday i detail-scrubbed my kitchen. i love my husband (i do i do i do) and he has picked up all of my "pregnancy-makes-me-lethargic" slack, but it's incredible how good this house can look when i do the cleaning instead. for reeeeal. this morning i clipped coupons, researched deals at every grocery & drug store in the area, made a spreadsheet of all my coupons, and went shopping. we stocked up on tons of supplies at BJ's, and they'll probably last us well through goop's birth. when we came home...i had a quick snack, updated my spreadsheet, and went to lowe's to get the rest of what we needed. and when i got home? i read the paper. and then...i updated my coupon spreadsheet, again, as well as made a new spreadsheet to track my savings every week.

am i, a nerd, or what.

you know what i'm most excited about? i got a bottle of franks hot sauce (aka, the best stuff everrrr) for $.16! can you believe that crap? i have yet to experience the wonderful world of overages when it comes to couponing (i'm such a newbie)...so this $.16 excites me. last weekend i got taco seasonings for $.15 each. small accomplishments! BUT, they are the motivations that make me do things like...spend 2 hours researching the best deals. it's freakin' addicting!

i'm about to sound even lamer. i'm going to spend the next 2-3 hours doing laundry, cleaning up the bedroom, making sure the kitchen is still in order...and scrapbooking until bed time.

i so have this SAHM thing in the bag :)

accomplishments of the day:
1. i bought husband a 6 pack of sam adams octoberfest (he's totally in love) because i knew he only had 2 bottles left...and being football day i thought he might need more. he was SO excited when i got home (you would have thought it was christmas or something), and he wouldn't stop saying, "now THAT is a good wife" and giving me kisses :)
2. i didn't get ID'ed for the beer, for the first time in....hmm, ever? i look young for my age as it is, and it's just a given. i always have my license out & at the ready. what i find hilarious, is that it's probably my preggo belly that pushes me over the "she looks too young" threshold...aaand i can't even drink the stuff.
3. $.16 for franks, whoo hoo!