Wednesday, July 6, 2011

So What! Wednesday 07-06-11

Go link up!
This week I'm saying So What!

  • If I sometimes work in the strangest environments
  • If I put myself through the uproarious din of lunch at Chick-fil-a again. Not so many kids, but still very busy and hardly any seats to be had. We really need another location in Pensacola. Please Mr. Cathy!
  • If the house closing got pushed back...and now we have to push back the fridge delivery another week and lose a weekend that we could be moving things. Grrr. The mortgage company has known for at least a month when the house would be finished! 
  • If I only made it to the gym once last week. I've already decided this month is going to be busy and I'll just have to deal with it. 
  • If I could go to the gym more but I only go when there's a group class. So I'm limited to the time I am off work, which is weeknights and weekends. And there are hardly any classes Friday-Sunday.
  • If I lit off sparklers on the 4th like a 4 year old. I've had them forever and they needed to be used. But I did feel a little silly twirling them around. I think next time I need to be with a kid so I'll have an excuse.
  • If the other night I had multiple dreams that seemed very real, then dreamt about the dreams I had and realized they were dreams and was embarrassed (because I'd told everyone at work- my old work- I was pregnant and then realized I only dreamt that, only to wake up and realize that ALL of it was a dream) and I woke up kinda upset that it was all a dream. It felt so real. I don't like those kind.
  • If today I started a new book with my mentee and the first chapter was the account of a dog being abused, having all his siblings killed, his mother dying of depression and his abusive owner cutting off his ears and tail. Thankfully he barely pays attention to me. It made me want to run home and cuddle my puppies. But I made sure to read into Chapter 2 which begins with him being rescued.
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Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Weekend Update, Happy 4th!

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday and hopefully an extra day off work!

Friday I did the walk-through on mom's house. The superintendent was very friendly and helpful. There are only a few minor cosmetic things they need to fix. Then the blinds installer met me to take window measurements. Oh my word! This guy was a trip! VERY friendly, corny, enthusiastic and maybe a little too personal. It's hard to describe, but if this gives you any idea, when I got the paper with the measurements he faxed to Lowes, he had drawn a picture on the bottom. Fireworks, a firecracker, some flames and had written "Happy 4th Everyone". Just a little odd for a professional mock-up. Anyway. Friday later afternoon you can read about here.

Saturday we were able to go to a few yard sales. There usually aren't many on a holiday weekend and this one was no exception. I got a purse I like for $1. I got it from a home that I was shocked the owners let people in. Dirty, gross, yuck. Even walking up it was one of those houses you are afraid of what is on the other side of the door. Especially when as we got near the garage door that was slightly ajar, we hear whistling. But you couldn't see in the garage. Kinda creepy. Anyway, even though it's leather-like that puppy went through the washing machine!
It's kind of cranberry/deep pink colored
The shoes I got last week but forgot to photograph
The rest of Saturday was spent running errands. We also stopped into this local Mexican dive. Never once in the 22 years I've lived here have I considered going in this place. But, randomly a stranger told me about it in conversation months ago. Raving about how authentic and tasty it was. We happened to be near it at lunch time and John pulled in the parking lot saying "This is as close as we'll ever come, might as well". Well, the place was very authentic. As in run down, brightly colored but heavily askew hand-painted menu, no air conditioning save a fan and a portable AC which was NOT sufficient and lots of photos and things on the wall. The temperature in the very minuscule dining area was bearable, but I could feel the oppressive heat from the kitchen as we stood at the counter to order. It was literally like I'd stepped across the border. Anyway, the prices weren't particularly cheap, so I had an "El Pastor" (sp?) taco and John had the same plus a Carnitas taco. It was a pretty large portion so we were full. The flavor was also good, but not to "die for". Not sure we'll be running back, but now we don't have to wonder if we're missing some hidden Mexican food nirvana. We ran some errands to Lowes to check plantation blind prices and to WalMart to get that porch swing. In the end mom decided on green and that was the only color available anyway. Unless you want to pay $40 extra for red! I am so excited to get that setup and in use! Just a couple more weeks hopefully! After our long day out poor John got a pretty bad migraine. Like vomiting multiple times, sweating, miserable, sleeping it off for a few hours migraine. Poor hubby. So I took Ernie myself to get his shots. We tried out this mobile clinic that comes to Walgreens, Pet Caravan because they were about 1/2 the price for the Rabies vaccine. Well I pull up and they are just setting up the tables. I don't see another dog in sight and smile at my good fortune. Then they tell me the registration table is on the other side of the store, along with a "very long line". Oh no. I round the corner and the line is down the store all the way into the back parking lot. Literally 75-100 dogs. But I decided to stick it out. It was a very entertaining venue for people and pet watching. Had we been in WalMart I feel sure someone would be taking photos of some owners for People of WalMart. And it would've been very convenient if Cesar were there to "train humans and rehabilitate dogs". Especially for one anxious Lab mix. But my little Ernie did so very well. No barking, pulling or other inappropriate behaviors. Didn't flinch at the shot. Even sat on command. I was a proud "Dogma" (Dog momma) as my dad calls it. When I came home John was still napping, so I joined him for a bit. Nothing much else exciting to report for that day.

Sunday after church two members of the congregation had a short simple wedding ceremony. They are both gray-headed with their own grown children so it wasn't a huge affair. We were all invited to the bride's home after for heavy hors d'oeuvres and cake. It was very tasty. I spent the evening cleaning and packing (with John's help) in preparation for holiday dinner guests and for our move.

Monday we slept in! Lovely. I got up and made breakfast quiche (sans onions this time so hubby love it!) and did some more cleaning. Then I hauled the kiddos out to the dog park for some Independence Day fun.



Ernie running around

And policing the bid dogs as usual

The Mastiffs were there again. So huge!

Eby was hot and mostly laid under the bench I was sitting on

Are you done taking my picture yet mom? I wanna go play!

I'm really glad this little white terrier

rolling in the sand is not mine!
But Eby did betray me! I hosed off her chin and belly as we were leaving because she was sandy from laying in the dirt. Then after she was wet she went and rolled in the sand! So angry. She got rinsed again. So take that Eby!

In the afternoon we had another pair of newlyweds over for a 4th of July meal- which meant grilling of course! We had grilled chicken, steak, baked beans, corn on the cob, shells and cheese, salad and watermelon. A quintessential summer meal. Then we drove a little ways to a neighboring town to watch fireworks over the river. Our seats were great! Unfortunately we had to endure listening to the nearby Karaoke booth for about 2 hours.

There are far too many people eager to share their lack of talent! But it is pretty funny. When it got dark we pulled out these-

 and watched these-



and of course we had to get our "couple" shots


And now for a short work week! Yay!

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Friday, July 1, 2011

This week's grocery haul

So I now spend my Friday afternoons grocery shopping and then figuring out the savings and blogging about it. Yeah, that's what's exciting these days :) And it really does put me in a good mood!


So with about 2 . 5 hours of shopping and 4 different stores this is what I got! We won't talk about how long it took me to browse ads and print and clip coupons. Being new at this combined with having a very old and slow computer and printer... it was a tad frustrating. But anyway, that will hopefully get better as I get more experience.

The listing from the picture:

2 14oz Hillshire Farm smoked sausages
2 gallons 2% milk
4 lbs Oscar Meyer lunch meat
4 Wanchai Express dinner for 2 frozen bagged meals
4 Macaroni Grill dinner for 2 frozen bagged meals
4 8oz packages Kraft shredded cheese
2 10 count boxes Aunt Jemima frozen waffles
2 bags Fresh Express bagged lettuce
2 10oz tubs Sabra hummus
1 16 oz tubs fat free sour cream
2 roma tomatoes
1 pkg hot dog buns
16 oz Ajax dish soap
4 boxes Mueller's pasta- Free!
6 24oz jars Bertolli pasta sauce
3 16oz bottles Kraft dressing
3 cans Campbell's condensed chicken noodle soup
4 cans Emeril's "Bam" meals (mini ravioli cans)- Free!
2 cans Butterball chicken broth
4 28oz cans Bush's baked beans
2 10oz bottles A1 sauce
2 10oz cans Rotel tomatoes
2 McCormick grill mates seasoning
3 3oz spices (garlic powder, chili powder, minced onion)
6 boxes Quaker chewy granola bars
4 rolls paper towels

Original total without sales or coupons- 228.93
Value of sale items (BOGO, on sale etc)- 113.01
Dollars off with coupons- 52.46
Total spent 83.19
Total saved off retail 145.74
A 64% overall savings!

Also Publix was running a promotion to get a $50 gas card for $40 with a purchase of $25 in groceries. So I got that also! So I also saved $10 in gas!

Happy Friday!