oh purple!

purple is my faaavorite for fall & winter. i love it. just, LOVE it.

(don't mind the kitty - he always sneaks into pictures when the camera is out)

last october, when the weather started getting cooler - i loved it so much i painted my bathroom purple. i prettied it up with a nicole miller damask shower curtain, white pillar candles, white shabby chic accessories, and new black & white fingertip towels. i've since added a few things, and i have just recently picked some black & white flower photos i've taken & put in black frames. they haven't made it to the wall yet, but they're waiting patiently for my motivation.

this year...i want to cover my ever-expanding body in it. i wish i could. but, i'm conserving money. i did buy a long sleeved maternity shirt in my favorite cool weather shade, but being that my belly is growing so insanely large i can classify it as a necessity.

really though? i really want a purple purse. bad. i almost dropped $17 on a purple wallet at kohl's yesterday. i still...may go back and get it, or order it online, if i'm taunted enough. but i thought, save the $17 and get a purse so i can see the purpliciousness more than just when i need to pay for something. i've been drooling this morning. which one would you splurge your monies on?

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confessions of a bitter pregnant lady.

i am seriously about to explode if people don't stop irritating me. yes, i know, the hormones and such have run me a little ragged...and the inability to breathe normally has left my brain a little deprived & frustrated. but, how much can a girl take?! if i had zero respect for people, and a little more confidence, i would love to say these things flat out....


dear mr. XXXXXL shirt open-door-door-knocker,

how do i put this nicely? you're annoying. you talk way too quiet and way too slow, and i seriously get bored waiting around for you to get to your point. SPIT IT OUT! the truth is, i could handle your slow explanations if you didn't smell like you soaked in rancid 30 year old cologne. STOP BATHING IN IT! the smell lingers for 10 minutes after you walk out, and with my super-sonic pregnancy nose, i gag until it clears out. and while you're quitting bad habits, how about walking in my office instead of knocking on my OPEN door? ps, you could probably fit in Medium clothes, what's with the shirts 4 sizes too big?

sincerely,
bitter pregnant lady

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dear grossest hands in the entire world,

i don't know if anyone has ever told you this before, but you have the most disgusting hands on the planet. for being a slim guy, your fingers are thicker than hot dogs, and your skin feels like extra coarse sandpaper. ever hear of lotion? i wouldn't give a crap what your hands felt like if you didn't PUT THEM ON ME ALL THE TIME! it would be sweet if you just, stopped touching me. i'm getting sick of dodging corners when i see you coming just so you can't reach me. and whoever told you it was kosher to put your sandpaper hands in a random girl's head of hair? well here's some news. IT'S NOT! it's also extremely annoying when you try to copy my tone of voice, or repeat things i say often. i don't care if you think you're cute, it's freaking annoying. and when i get quiet & standoffish - that means KNOCK IT OFF! how about just, leaving me alone altogether?

sincerely,
BPL

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dear weird skiddish guy,

you, too, take an eternity to get to the point. i freaking hate when you walk in my office - i almost want to get up and leave you standing in here alone, just so i can avoid your stupid conversations. the part that gets me, is you're almost always confused about your point, and someone else has to fix it. if you're gonna suck so badly, could you just let someone else come to me please? it would save me a lot of frustration and irritation. and you know, saying things like "so, you're busy? well, i'll only be a minute..." and then breaking into what YOU need, regardless of my current work situation - is NOT cool. pointing out that i'm busy doesn't mean it's okay to make me busier, just because you recognized i was already slammed. especially when your issue is never correct to begin with. ps, saying things like "wow you just keep growing!" is a really, really, really....stupid thing to say to a bitter pregnant lady.

sincerely,
you know who

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dear douche bag,

i have been annoyed by you for the last year and a half, and you only continue to make it worse. you smell like a bar. your chester the molester laugh makes me sick. and you need to stop picking your nose and ears while using other people's computers. it's freaking disgusting. i'm sick of soaking everything i own in antibacterial spray after you get near it. also, popping your dentures in and out of place is really, really sick. no one wants to hear that. you also need to shave your ears, because not only are they the size of my hands, and more red than a tomato, they look like they are covered in pubes. and since we very unfortunately have to see you so often, it'd be nice not to see such horrible sights. but most of all, you starting to do your job would just be FANTASTIC. i know you've enjoyed milking a nice paycheck from the owners while doing nothing but chain smoking and spouting off computer jargon to try and confuse people while making yourself sound like you know what you're saying. but it's time to do your damn job.

sincerely,
i hate your guts. hardcore.

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dear stupidest guy to ever exist,

how do you get to be your age, and not know how to make a copy of something? it's not even like you're over the hill and beyond the technology generation (though even my grandma could make a simple copy!). you're probably only 5 - 10 years older than me. and following simple instructions like, put paper in tray, hit Go - shouldn't be so hard to follow that i have to repeat them 3 times. and even worse, that you still can't get it after 3 times and i have to physically walk my big pregnant ass to the machine and do it for you. yes, the paper DOES need to get sucked into the machine. simply placing it on top does not tell it what you need a copy of. and before bringing me what you think is your copy, look at it. is it exactly like the thing you copied? no? then guess what. it's not your copy. HELLO!

sincerely,
get a clue

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dear every truck driver & dispatcher in the greater charlotte-piedmont region,

you people......are the most annoying, frustrating, aggravating people to deal with. DON'T just show up without an appointment, DON'T expect an appointment without giving me a PO number, and DON'T deliver crap on fridays since i've told you 147, 680 times WE ARE CLOSED ON FRIDAYS! if you don't follow the rules, you'll be pushed to the end of the line - pretty damn simple.

sincerely,
about to loose her cool receiving lady

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dear everyone who feels the need to make comments about my pregnancy,

yes, i am pregnant. yes, that means my stomach is growing. you may say things like "oh you look cute", or "congratulations", or "how far along are you?", or "when are you due?", or "how are you feeling?". all perfectly acceptable and reasonable. however, saying anything in regards to my size - totally uncool. some examples of phrases you may want to avoid:

"wow you look like you swallowed a watermelon this weekend!"
"geez you're starting to look like the broad side of a barn"
"damn, you're getting big girl!"
" you're only 6 months?! by the time you make it to 9 months you're gonna need bed rest!"

and yes, all of these things have been said to me - along with many more. i also get physical mocking, where people will pretend to waddle in front of me (and for the record, i have not started to waddle). oh, and...everyone at work now calls me "big mama" (insert not amused face here). so make note of these examples, remember common courtesy, and take a social etiquette course if you still can't find it in you to keep the comments to yourself.

sincerely,
REALLY bitter pregnant lady.

houston, we have a crib.

this is quite a milestone, wouldn't you say? over the past couple months i've collected lots of things - baby clothes, bibs, toys, books, bottles. not in any mass quantities, but a nice starter collection of hand-me-downs and gifts. they've all been sitting in boxes, awaiting a home in my son's will-be nursery. and no, at 6 months pregnant - one has not even been started. not because i'm procrastinating - because a little company i like to call service douche bags has control over a room in my house and will not finish up their stupid job. this may be a good time to fill you in on the mold epidemic. but first, the crib.

though all the little baby nick-knacks i've collected so far will certainly help me with my growing baby, a crib is the first piece of useful "equipment", if you will. being that i needed a crib to get the nursery going, i made it my goal to acquire it before anything else. husband's sister was insisting that we find one on craigslist - that it was the "cheapest possible way", and our baby will probably only use it for 6 months - a year, so don't spend a ton, blah blah blah.

well, i humored her (and husband, since he always takes her advice to heart) and searched craigslist. the only criteria it had to have, was be white. that's it. nothing fancy. iiii found nothing. every single white crib was listed at $200 - $300. not to mention, i had to pick it up - and since my choices of moving vehicle were hybrid-whose-back-seat-doesn't-fold-down, and mazda-3-with-even-less-cabin-room, it wasn't gonna happen.

so then i found this lovely white crib at babies r us. brand new, as in no other rugrats have gnawed on the railings. as in, meeting all current safety standards. it transforms into a toddler bed, and can morph all the way into a double-sized kid's bed. and, the best part of all, it was only $160-some! even with tax & shipping included, it was only $200 - and there was no personal picking up, shipping, moving to be done on my part. so naturally, i had to have it.

so did every other pregnant mom to be. i first had to battle husband to let me order it, because he was stressed about the costs of the mold and didn't want to spend more. but as i told him, baby is coming....we need a crib, with or without mold, and $200 is going to leave one of our accounts between now and january. might as well be now in case it takes a decade to ship and we have time to get a back up. so, he scoured reviews on the crib (he researches every single purchase to death, and really, i'm not complaining - i take comfort in that he's making sure we make safe & valuable purchases). once he was satisfied - he gave me the okay. i tried to order it at work that day, the website crashed, so i decided to wait until i was home to try again. i get home, and it was out of stock.

i was shocked that it sold out so quickly. this "online only" item was suddenly saying "not available online". hmmm. so i signed up to be emailed when it was back in stock, and waited. a few days later it was in, i ordered it, received my confirmation, the end. right? no. 2 days later i received another email saying they canceled my order. i was confused as to why this happened, so i called. she told me it's their policy for when things run out of stock. ever hear of back ordering?? so she advises me to sign up for an email again, i do - and what do you know, it's back in stock at 6am the very next day. you couldn't back order it for 12 hours?! GAH! soo i ordered it again, by some miracle it shipped the next day, and yesterday....the 60 pound box arrived.

YAY! quite a hassle. and, as of the moment it's only a step in the right direction. considering even if i squatted this baby out today and had matt put the thing together, there's still no mattress or box spring. but, it is a start! and it frees up a $200 item from the massive list of things i still need on my registry.

so, the mold epidemic.

august 29th, a friday - i decided to start clearing out the closet of what would be my baby's room. i was, 4 months pregnant at the time, and decided it was high time i get started on a nursery. my house, unfortunately, has very little storage - so all of our seasonal things, wedding gifts, and the few memory-like things we allowed ourselves to keep, resides within our closets. being that goop needs use of his closet, my goal was to consolidate down to the one in the guest room. so. i got to work, and i figured one of the first things i should do is free up space in the guest room closet for the incoming junk. only....upon moving the first box, i found mold. and that was only the start of it.

i quickly left the room, washed my hands, told husband, and he came home from work immediately. we called our insurance company & some plumbers, and the chaos that has become my life for the last month and a half, began. we have had so many visits from insurance adjusters, plumbers, contractors - ugh. and they are taking their sweet time getting the room fixed. the good news is, the mold has since been removed. the bad news is, my guest room is missing important things like - carpet, and drywall. we have been waiting for WEEKS for the work to be completed, and still....it sits.

i started making nasty calls last week, using my 6 months of pregnancy as a weapon. usually that either earns me some sympathy or fear, and either one tends to at least get things moving a little. we received a call yesterday that the contractors would be coming out on thursday. only, this morning, husband was on his way to work and they called to say they were on their way to our house. um, it's tuesday?

soo, now they are coming tomorrow, apparently - but there have been many occasions where they say such things and never show. and we never heard anything about our carpet being ordered, or being ready to install anytime soon. so, really....i have no idea at all, when this room will be complete. and you may be wondering, where did the contents of this mold room go during the construction? oh yes. they are all in my baby's room. taking up so much space, it's difficult to even set foot in there. so my attempts at putting a nursery together were pushed back about 10 steps, and sits there in non-production land.

and my new, un-assembled crib, will probably sit in it's box in the dining room for another month, at which time nursery will be husband's responsibility. because, i will be a house.

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!

"this shall be a love day"

i don't know how this much time has passed, but 2 years and 2 months ago - i sat in the living room of my apartment (obviously pre-house), making a -1 anniversary card for my soon-to-be (obviously pre-marriage) husband. it was august 11th, 2006. and one year from that day, i knew i'd be walking down the isle to marry my best friend. i still remember the card - it was pink & orange, just like our wedding colors - and i'd rigged it up like a pop up book somehow. on the front, i used a quote sticker from a set of scrapbooking stuff i had that said, "this shall be a love day". i could have sworn it was by shakespeare - but in an attempt to be completely accurate, i tried googling it and haven't come up with anything. so....i suppose...take my word for it? :)

anyway, i surprised husband with the card when he got home from work that day, and we went out for dinner at chili's to celebrate. most people called me dorky for celebrating a -1 anniversary (and, yeah, it was dorky...oh well). but i loved it. i loved that we were pre-celebrating a day that would remain special to us for all of our future days.

the quote stuck with me. i think about it every 11th of every month. because, to me, the 11th is a love day. it's some minute anniversary of the day i promised everything i am, to one wonderful person. a day that i remember fondly - for all of it's beautiful chaotic moments. and so, i've decided to pay homage to my special love day. every 11th of every month, i'll post a love day entry. i'm expecting it to include a wedding picture (or 2, or 3...) and a memory (or a few). it's not only nice to remember those special little moments - but to document them now, while the whole thing is still just a year in my past. instead of trying to come up with the details 10 years from now and just finding foggy snippets.

i decided to kick this off with my favorite part of the wedding vows. it holds an extra special meaning for husband & i. right after eating dinner at our reception, husband's 92 year old grandmother wanted us to open her present. so we made our way to her table, and did just that. it was a cross-stitched picture, in such beautiful detail - it was incredible that her 92 year old fingers could create something so beautiful. it ended up being our absolute favorite gift.

unfortunately, she passed away this january. just 5 months after our wedding. during our last visit with her, she told us that we were such a good couple and she was so thrilled to be able to make it to our wedding. it meant so much to me to hear that. we have her picture hung at the base of our stairs, easily viewable from the living room - and the first thing you see when going up the stairs. i often pause and study it. paying attention to the detail, and reading the words to myself. "to have and to hold, from this day forward." it's such a simple statement, with such profound meaning. beginning on our wedding day, august 11 2007, we will always have each other. we will always be there to hold each other - in good times & bad. i am so thankful that his grandma made us something to remind us of that.

ode to buffalo hockey

this is...the best day, ever. okay no...not ever. it's the best day since.......it's just a really good day! and why? because, at 7:30pm, my boys are coming back to the ice!!! WHOO HOO!!!!!

my goodness how i've missed my sabres. you see, i'm not that big of a sports girl. i know squat about football, find baseball boring, won't even give basketball the time of day - but hockey? oooh hockey. the day my child is born i'm going to start saving up for equipment in hopes he will be my little sabres wanna be. i LOVE buffalo hockey!

my obsession started shortly after exiting the womb. in fact, my very first memory EVER is of watching the sabres play. i was being held by my dad, in our old recliner, drinking milk (i'm assuming from a bottle - all i remember is the taste of milk) and watching the sabres play on tv at night, with no other lights on in the room. til this day, when i watch sabres games at night - in this same way, i crave milk. conditioned much?

growing up i could take it or leave it, really. i was more interested in dolls. i had like 20 of them, and i'd pray to God every night to make them come alive. but as time went on, i was pulled back in. somewhere in the 90's, i became interested again. and when i was in 7th grade (hmm, roughly 11 or 12 years old), i became obsessed. aaand that's about where it stands today.

some of my very best memories are of sabres games. house parties during playoffs. i, of course, was one of the many who stayed up all night watching the multiple overtimes & no goal mishap many seasons ago. the whole neighborhood was awake & would step outside for a drink between overtimes. i remember going to multiple home openers (which, i'm sad about not being there for this year, but give me a couple more years and i won't miss another one!).

husband & i went to this game in december of 06, rockin the old school jerseys. my love was drunk, and hilarious. it was SUCH a good game. we had 6 consecutive goals only 9 minutes into the 1st period! it pissed off the opposing goalie so badly, he broke his stick over the net in a hissy fit. it was amazing.

my lovely friend shmoe came to this game as well. this is one of my faaavorite pictures of us everrr.

speaking of shmoe! her birthday was yesterday, and ironically enough - a packaged arrived for ME on HER birthday (from her, duh). shmoe, if you are reading this, THANK YOU!!!! you totally read my mind with the window stickies (it's that twin thing), and the clothes for goop are ADORABLE! i am so so in love with the tigger one. there are few people in this world who know how excited i get over tigger!!

i'll post pictures of that loot later on, but....i saw her face and had to mention it. back to sabres praise!!


one of my very favorite memories of the sabres is from this year's new years day ice bowl! so, yeah....we lost. boo. we lost in typical buffalo fashion (losing in typical buffalo fashion = there's no reason we should have lost, and it was one of those games we needed to win, but buffalo can find a way to loose). but i'll tell you what. if i knew we'd loose ahead of time, i'd still do it all over again! it was such a fantastic day. and i say that, even though i was sick & outside in 30 degree weather all day long. it was really that great of an experience. (the picture above is husband & i all decked out in our sabres gear, shortly before tailgating. below is the whole fam, tailgating our hearts out. notice the snooow.)


if you have no idea what i'm talking about, here's a quick run down. basically...they took our football stadium (the bills) and plopped an ice rink down right in the middle of the field. it was a totally outdoor NHL hockey game (the first one in american history - they did do this in canada before). there were over 71,000 people in attendance. do you know how insane that is for a hockey game?! it was just so so so amazing to be there, in the middle of making history. it snowed steadily all day and it was just absolutely gorgeous in only-a-buffalonian-can-get-it way.

you see? beauty. gosh that was such a great day. i wish we could have the opportunity to host another ice bowl (or as the NHL calls it, "winter classic"). but...we probably won't be so lucky. i hear the only reason we "won" the first one, is because we had the most merchandise sales the year before. but - i think that's to be expected, because we changed jerseys that year & everyone had to re-buy them.

well. here is to, hopefully, a wonderful season. though our team's been tested with the loss of briere and drury (waaaahhh i still miss them), we have a brand spakin' new captain this year - and maybe he'll bring us back to #1. yay for hockey!

GO SABRES!!!!

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 :)