John and Holly came to visit and we had such a great time visiting-and actually got things accomplished! While the men worked on installing electricity into Matt's workshop, Holly and I worked on reupolstering one of my chairs. I only need to get some trim for it, and I will post some pictures! It looks SO nice! And it was nice having someone who has done it BEFORE to walk me through it. We got the materials to do another chair I wanted to refinish but I may wait for her to come visit again before I attempt that one-as it is a much more difficult chair. It all depends on how brave I am! :-)
The best part of the weekend was DEFINATELY thanks to Holly's ambition. She suggested we go pick up our patio set. They had brought their car (a pretty small little thing too!) but that did not deter her. I KNOW that if it had not been for her insistency, Matt wouldn't have been up for it. We drove seperately and we were able to fold the seats down in their car to fit it. The guys went to Lowes for electrical supplies and we headed to JoAnns. When we got home, the 'girls' set up the patio set while the guys did some 'construction'. We had dinner, which consisted of london broil and spiedies on the GRILL!!!! Potato skins, fruit salsa and cinnamon sugared tortillas, and pasta salad. For dessert: the best ice cream cake ever! I made it using a recipe out of cookbook my mom got me for my birthday-I will post the recipe some time this week. It was DELICIOUS if I do say so myself! You HAVE to try it-it is VERY easy to make.
After dinner, we moved on to our respective projects. And then a movie- Just Friends. It is hilarious. REALLY funny stuff. The whole visit was great-they left around 3:30 Sunday afternoon.
I am SO excited about my patio set. It is SO pretty and so COMFY and just so relaxing! We 'upgraded' with a different umbrella that I liked more. It was just $20.00 more but SO much nicer-and it really matches well the rest of the set. It has very pretty scallopped edges and uses more pinks than browns. Our patio set breaks up the brick corner perfectly and maybe if I can butter him up, Matt will let me get this beautiful blooming habiscus plant from walmart. It matches PERFECTLY and would create a real 'living space' on the patio. It was the best going away present the church could have EVER given us. TRULY. More than we could have ever wished for. You will see me out there sipping my homemade peppermint iced tea on a daily basis, for sure!
Before I end this post to get my day going, I wanted to tell you about my grocery endeavors. Ruth taught me how to use coupons to get things for FREE. No strings attached. Below is a picture of my first SUCCESSES! Giant has triple coupons every now and again. You can TRIPLE coupons up to $1.00 value (only seven times though). That means, that it will increase in value to $3.00. So anything UNDER three dollars-you get FREE. After the first seven, all other coupons will DOUBLE. Below is a picture of all the 'freebies' from last week's shopping trip. I also got really GREAT deals on other things. When I went, I had my seven coupons to be tripled plus two more of things I needed. I have never DONE the coupon thing before so I was so proud of myself for being so efficient and organized. Then I took a look around. Women were EVERYWHERE with huge coupon filers and other coupon holders. I even saw one woman with a binder open on the seat part of the cart-in the binder were clear page protectors on which she had made pockets to hold all the different kinds of coupons. These women are professionals! I never knew couponing could be such an 'extreme sport'. I doubt I will ever get to THAT point, but I will definately have a handful when it is triple coupon time. I can't resist freebies!
Now-for that iced tea...
5 comments:
That is really Awesome! Are they just regular coupons you cut...or are they store specific that say "double or Triple" coupons? Did that make sense?
Rebecca,
So glad you had a wonderful time with John and Holly! And I LOVE your new patio set!!!
You've got to give us a detailed post just about how to get grocery items free with coupons! :) I like to use coupons when I can but haven't done much with doubling and tripling. I'd love to hear more!
Also, we don't have your new email address! Could you email it to us at trryscott3@... I think you know the rest? If not, let me know.
Hip, hip! If you have any Tops down there, they often have double and triple coupon weeks, too. Some stores even double coupons without advertising it, and you can only find out through asking.
Also, if you have any Rite-Aids nearby, every month, they have several items that are free with a mail-in rebate. I haven't paid for toothbrushes, toothpaste, or lightbulbs in ages! (Don't know why they always give those away free more frequently than other things, but they do...)
Wendy: short answer...BOTH!
Here is the what's what of it. Giant had an insert with seven store coupons that were good for TRIPLING any manufacturers coupons up to a $1.00 value. So-I looked in the newspaper inserts for manufacturers coupons for $1.00 value. (I stuck with the highest available dollar amount, instead of worrying about .50 coupons. ) Now for some examples: The skintimate shave gel was a $1.00 off coupon. I stapled the GIANT Triple coupon to the $1.00 coupon and so it was worth $3.00. The shavel gel cost $2.29 so I got it for free. The OUST air sanitizer was a dollar off-making it $3.00 off. Since it only cost $2.89 I got THAT for free. Some stores will actually REIMBURSE you the extra amount (mine doesn't though). Like I said before-you take full advantage of the seven tripling coupons by getting the HIGHEST amount possible. After you use up the seven tripling coupons (with the manufacturers coupons) all other coupons are doubled automatically. (You don't need seperate coupons for that.)
You have to be careful with coupons that you don't buy things you wouldn't normally just because you have a coupon for it. Also-often it is STILL cheaper to get the generic brand than the name brand with a coupon. You just have to be careful. I hope that helps a little bit. Since I am still new to it all, that is about all I know.
Thanks Abby for that info! We DO have a rite aid and I will DEFINATELTY be taking full advantage of that. The only question I have it-how do you know WHEN that time of the month IS? By a flyer or just by stopping in? I just CAN'T miss freebies.
As far as the Rite Aid, Rebecca, the store flyers/sales ads have the rebate/"freebate" items in them. I just went to www.riteaid.com also, and they do have access there to sales flyers, although they do say that your local area may have some specials not represented in the online "flyer". I would think the "freebates" would be in the online one though. What is nice too, is that you can submit the Rite Aid rebates online on their website, making it super easy! You can only apply for an online rebate check once a month though, so it is best to wait til the end of the rebate cycle to submit online to be sure you get to take advantage of all the deals.
Glad Abby let you in on the birth of the babies! I have been "laying low" and nursing and changing diapers all day, so have not had much computer time since arriving home Sunday afternoon after my Thursday AM C-section. I have yet to email the "birth announcement" to all my email friends to let them know of the babies' safe arrival--I feel bad! Hopefully by this weekend sometime at least!
You can at least go to http://www.uhs.net/ohbaby/wilsonbabies.asp . Once there, scroll down to 5/18/06--there are three pics you can pull up--individual ones of both Amanda and Audra and one of the 2 of them together (that's the best of the 3). None of the pics are that great, but they are better than nothing, right?!
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