Feel Like I'm Stealing!

     After spending MUCH time last night preparing for my Walgreens trip this morning I was looking SO forward to my STEALS, I mean deals. Going over and over all 8 of my transactions. Making sure they were all separate and had all my coupons in order. Calculating tax and recalculating tax, I was pretty positive on how things would go today.
     Ready and out the door by stores open; so I could make it to service, itinerary in hand, started to sweat because it was already 70 and was dehydrated from the day before. Sucked down a cup of Joe instead of H2o.

     My friend Kim met me there to see how this "Coupon Thing" works in action and for some moral support. Love you Kimmy! Anyways I put everything in my cart, following my list, when I got to my last item finding out from the manager that they dont even carry the item advertised?! Hmmm. Now I know that sometimes things aren't going to work out as planned (as much as I planned) and to learn how to work around it. This time was not the time. All the planning and transactions had to match for it to all work. Even with an Accounting degree this stuff still can be hard!
     We called another store up the road and they did not have the item in stock either. Long story short we ended up at the Walgreens by Kim's house, had THE best and helpful checker and EVERYTHING on my list was well stocked! Happy day!

     After all 8 Transactions I ended up with all this minus a treat for Kim, XO!

 

6 Magic Tapes

2 Pack Glue Sticks

3 Composition Books

7 Skintimate Cream Shave

6 Scunci Pony Tails

3 50 pk Den Tek Flossers

2 Irish Spring DO4BO

1 Tampons

4 Paper Towels

 4 Twizzlers for JJ xoxo

4 M&Ms for Angelina xoxo

3 Makeup Liners

Paid $7.34 OP

Received $11 RR!

=

FREE + $4 RR

That Lady

     You know the one who has multiple transactions on top of multiple coupons. Waiting what seems like eternity and wishing you would have gone to the next isle over with your 2 item purchase.
Yup that's me! I am That Lady. Putting a glitch in your day but a smile in mine :)

     I am still new to this and there is much to learn. Wanting to keep track of my progress and hopefully share ideas for savings, this will be my first entry.

     My  first stop was at Walgreens bright and early at 8am

Yummy chocolate, 2 DO4BO, 3 Hlighters & Pencils for BTS supplies

I paid $1.84 OP (Outta Pocket)

Received a $4 RR OMNP

=

FREE + $2.16  

Next stop was RITE AID

Sammy Fat Foam, Toothpaste, 3 U pantyliners & New Revlon Mascara

I paid $6.37 OOP

Received a $5 +UP 

=

$1.37 After +UP

Looking at my clock I saw I had just enough time to hit the 9:20 service at Eastlake 

Amazing sermon, as always :)

Afterwards went to Target for more School Supplies

3 Scotch tapes, 6 Glue sticks, 40 BiC pens &  folder

I paid $2.16 OOP

I saved $5.96!

Last stop was Albertsons

I ended up having to do a total of 6 transactions but it was so worth it! Love my peeps at Albys!

(L-R)
3 WhoNu cookies

1 Veggie Kraft Mac n Cheese

3 BiC 4pack Soleil razors

2 Schick Xtreme3 4pack razors

3 10ct. Mission tortillas

1 Harvest Healthy pasta(my fav)

3 Webber marinades

1 Oscar Meyer sandwich Ham

1 Spinach and feta Ravioli

6 Lbs Chicken Breasts

5 Bananas

2 Kraft Cheese

1 Smart Balance cooking oil

1 Darigold French Vanilla creamer

1 Albys Half/Half

2 Bunch of Lettuce

I paid $34.92 OOP!!!

Many of the items I received for free and only had to cover the tax. 

The Chicken and produce alone was $18 (no coupons)

So the grand total of all of my purchases today .........

...................

  $36.29

If you want to minus the $18 non coupons

=

$18.29

'CYCLING SISTAS'

You ever wake up and want to just do something WAY out of the norm, but feel extremely immature if you do it alone?! Lucky enough I have a a sister, Megan, who doesn't mind having a little wacky fun! The sun was coming out so we decided a 2 hour bike ride! 

Here's where the fun starts. We decide to dig through the Halloween chest and dress in costumes. The lovers in us bought fake flowers and gave them away to kids on our riding adventure.

We did get some strange looks but for the most part the masses enjoyed us!  

Megan wore her Hawks in support of the draft today

We stopped for a picnic lunch. Then fed the ducks.

 

Thank You Sis

XO

VINEGAR

     I absolutely hate the smell of vinegar and sustain myself from the nauseating smell till once a year Easter Egg coloring comes around. For those who haven't heard about the smelly trick, consider yourself lucky. The vinegar is supposed to brighten the color of the dyed eggs and bring them to full pop art potential.

   

  On a side note Preparation H not only helps with...well we all know...but also assists (yes I said also) in puffiness of skin around your eyes. Now there have been some mornings I wake up with bee stung eyes but you don't see me applying ass cream to my face! So, Vinegar is not necessary.

 

   In the meantime I grin and bear it because I truly love this fun tradition! With or with out a child of my own I still enjoy coloring eggs as much as making baked goods at Christmas. But everything is always good with friends! So this year, Angelina's other mother, Kim, joined in! 

Living in the the PNW we are blessed with so many beautiful colors in late Spring and Summer. Winter has drug on too long this year and the gray rainy days have been getting to me. Looking at all these beautiful colors makes me feel like I'm in another world ; maybe even somewhere inside a Dr. Seuss book!

"Green Days.
Deep deep in the sea.
Cool and quiet fish. That's me.

On Purple Days
I'm sad. I groan.
I drag my tail.
I walk alone.

But when my days
are Happy Pink  

it's great to jump

and not just think."

~Dr. Seuss 

 

 

True Mom Confessions

     Years ago when my child was a wee one, mornings were our favorite time. It was a beginning of a new day and she would wake up with the biggest most sincere smile I'd had ever seen. Snuggling up and (with the worse morning breath because she sucked her thumb then but I still LOVED it) drenching me with kisses. Life couldn't be any sweeter!

 

   Flash forward 8 years.....We have come up with a timed schedule that she must hit each morning or her and I will be late to our classes at school.

AM 6:55  Wake Angelina up

AM 7:00  Angelina must be up from bed

AM 7:10  Bodies will be in the kitchen eating a homemade breakfast; 

                none of this pop-tart cereal crap!

AM 7:30  Must be done with breakfast and in transition to get dressed for school

AM 7:45  Brush teeth, brush hair, accessorize (optional)

AM 8:00  Complete anything we missed the night before or do morning chore

AM 8:15  Pack lunch (again homemade because school lunch is...

                no need to explain) in backpack

Am I crossing a line of crazed control freak?! Nope! 

     Now on this particular morning It is my third time going into the room to wake her up for school and she is just as resistant as the first time. What?! No smiles and sweet kisses?! Honey that ship has long gone come and sailed away! So I physically pick her up and set her on a chair at the kitchen table. Setting her wonderful breakfast in front of her she stares at it like its some slop served in a corrections facility. At this point I don't even have time to comment because I am now in process of making our lunches for the day.
  
  Out of the distance I hear my young lady pronounce her disgust with her meal, and then conclude with how lucky the 'other kids' are for getting just cereal in the morning. Well let me tell you my daughter met the best celebrity impersonator that morning because Joan Crawford herself came out and gave the finest Mommy Dearest appearance! Saying 'how dare she' and how lucky she is because some children don't even get breakfast.

Needless to say that morning is on the Top 10 list I never want to repeat. She left without saying goodbye (in due respect) and walked sadly to school. 

     My heart sank and I started to cry in my car driving to my class.
What an awful mother I was. Long story short I ended up cutting my day in half and went to her school for lunch period. Was she ever surprised to see me. Ahhh the guilt. I excused us from the class and gave her the biggest hug. I looked into her eyes and began to sob asking her for forgiveness.

     Moms, we may not have experienced this same morning but we have all had that, pushed past the point of return, adult tantrum. We have all felt that guilt at some time. What are we supposed to do with that? Who are we supposed to tell? Do we tell anyone?  Pray about it? Absolutely! But then feel ashamed and never to speak of your I should've been detained moment.

     Take a sigh of relief ladies because this may become one of your favorite books True Mom Confessions. Recently, when we were at the library, I discovered this book. Reading the first couple pages, as I usually do to see if its even interesting, I found myself unable to put down till I finished the first chapter! Yes it was that good! And Yes 3/4 of the pages are a couple sentences of confessions from mothers...JUST LIKE ME! 

Not only do they have a book but there is a fantastic website as well! I  highly suggest taking a gander! I also recommend that you purchase this book, read it...then pass it on!

Touristing Locals

April 8th 2011 marks a day in history. Sun in Seattle! On such a rare of an occasion this is when the whole city comes out of hibernation.  Let the pale nation rise and soak in some rays!

     Being Angelina's last day of Spring Break it was up to her to plan our afternoon. Of course it was to be an outside adventure, she suggested Pike Place Market and complained that she had never been there. "What?! I'm sure you have Honey...maybe you don't remember. We go downtown quite often for the Pacific Science Center [IMAX mostly], EMP..."

      Well this was the time when Angelina had been so right and myself so ashamed of what tourists we were in our own backyard. We realized that we both have NEVER ridden The Duck, she hasn't been to the Aquarium, and the list goes on....Not like we're sitting on the pot of self pity because Angelina has been places and has had some of the most coolest experiences of most kids her age, so that's not where I'm going. 

We did decide that there is some Future Adventures to be had over the bridge. Washington is the perfect place to live and explore! What awesome and natural scenery we have within an hour drive for some killer hikes to a 10 min drive Downtown to admire architecture and diversity. So we strapped on our sneaks and hit the streets.

With it being so beautiful out and Seattlelites/Tourists every inch, Oh and did I mention it was opening game day for our (wishing I had $ for tickets) Mariners, parking was like finding a {Space}needle in a haystack. NO biggie we LOVE to walk under the sun!

Did I mention how beautiful it was outside?!

 Needless to say we hit up all the

photo ops ~ tourists spots! 

Got some flowers for Grandma J 

Watched some magic tricks

Drooled over fresh fruit

Flung the fish

Visited the Gum Wall

Awed over graffiti

 To think the day couldn't end on a better note...there was 

no traffic! With the time saved we hooped up a game of  Around the World and ate some BBQ 

courtesy of TiTi Megan!

SLAP JACK

Well, it's Spring Break yet again! The Johnson family loves to travel but this week we will be relaxing on a StayCation! With fun events planned for the week, we spent yesterday afternoon playing games. Electronics were off limits so we took it back to the old school and had some serious
one on one competition with...

BATTLESHIP!

 

 Ready for some lighthearted laughs and intense slappin' skills we  jumped into Slap Jack! You know the game where you end up slapping every Queen and King just in case it may be a "J"! God I love that game! 

Just to up the ante, we are playing with our giant deck of playing cards (saying in the voice of Mr. Pee Wee Herman)!!!

Let me tell you, the game went on forever. At one point Angelina's stack was MUCH thicker than mine. 

There were times where perseverance had peaked...

And times where it was at an all time low...

Of course the best player won. Angelina had bragging rights all afternoon and into the night!