Why I am home and the beginnings of my grocery stockpile.

So, if you remember we were going to go on the road with Chris and stay with him in the motel?
Well, we didn't make it there and this is why...

We all packed up our clothes, ect. and were getting everything in order to leave with him.
Now, that particular day it was raining like mad. As we were going down the interstate all of a sudden Chris can't keep the car in the road.
It was hydroplaning so bad that it almost got us all killed. Even when he put on the hazard lights and slowed down to 40mph the car was still skidding all over the interstate. Sounds funny to say this but we were literally like a stick of butter on a hot skillet. I swear it was THAT bad.
So, We had to get off the road and call for help. Luckily a coworker came and got Chris and took him to work.

Then the dealership looked the car over and said it had come out of alignment. "Bring it back tomorrow at 1:00 and we'll get it fixed." Long story shortened, I went back the next day and was told they couldn't do it, "call tomorrow." Well I called yesterday and they said, "Call Monday." I'm really starting to feel like I am getting the runaround!

So as it stands I am still without water, I have a car that I can't drive in any amount of rain or I'll be killed. It's just nuts!

I am so glad today is the last day of Jan. and hope Feb. is better.
Strangely enough I am not in a bad mood. I'm not giddy but I'm not depressed about it either. I'm just looking forward to moving on.

Instead of sulking I've been focusing on the grocery stockpile since it has been sunny and dry here the past couple of days. I went through every coupon insert I have and cutting out anything and everything food related that we normally use. I made one fairly big trip to a chain grocery store I haven't been to in ages and they doubled my coupons. I saved over $50 in my first trip. I know I will do even better than that as time goes on and I learn the ropes.

Here is what I have gotten so far. This is 3 different trips to different stores that were having sales that I could match up most of my coupons with. Sorry the picture is a bit blurry.
More later...

Gillette, Gillette, Gillette

All this for 32 CENTS at CVS yesterday!

5 of the new "Gamer" razors. 4 bodywashes, 1 shampoo. Total before coupons $80.95. My total after coupons was $0.32. I also rolled $20 in ExtraBucks and got back $20 in ExtraBucks, so I did GREAT. And the only reason I had any out of pocket expense at all was because I went in the negative and had to grab a filler, so I grabbed a candy bar real quick. lol (Candy bar not picture because my DS ate it) lol.

And yes, I am back home but that's a post for another time.

Also, my grocery stockpile is coming along quite well! Wanna see a picture of it so far? :)

Total Chaos!

UPDATE: As you can see we got very little accomplished. Things were just too chaotic, what with him on the phone with the office MOST of the day trying to decide if he was going to be sent here, or there, or there, or NOW, or tomorrow, or next week! It ruined everything! One minute he needed to be packed ASAP, the next minute someone else offered to fill in for him. I tell ya that company relies on him too doggone much. They need to just clone him already.

Besides that it rained ALL day.

Status: All the pipes are bought but none installed. Still no running water.

Chris leaves out tomorrow and we are going with him. I've hired someone to stay here at the house while we're gone to keep an eye on things, and make sure the animals are fed, and watered- water they are bringing in jugs! LOL
I can't take another week of this and the company was kind enough to allow us to accompany him and stay at the motel. Thank goodness.
I'll have Caleb's laptop with me so I will still be accessible. And, I'll be CLEAN, clean, clean, I tell ya.

I will be so happy to get back home and get those lines dug, pipes installed, and have this bad beginning of 2009 behind us.
----------------------------------------------------------
I'm typing this to do list mainly to help myself remember. We've got a very busy day ahead of ourselves. Feel free to read it if you're really that bored. lol

Tuesday:
Pick up refund check. DONE
Go to Lowe's and buy all new water pipes/insulation, and shelving for grocery stockpiling, etc. DONE
Get the guy with the backhoe out here to get started re-digging the water lines and fix driveway. reschedule
Call and order two truckloads of rock to be delivered for new driveway. reschedule
Replace ALL the water lines and pipes under the whole house and yard! reschedule
Spread rock evenly over driveway, fill in any low areas. reschedule
Move garage, cut out stump, put down rock, put garage back in place positioned better. reschedule
More insulation under house. reschedule
Hook the washing machine back up. DONE but still no water!
Go to laundromat, wash up all the clothes. DONE


Chris get his stuff together to go back to work Wednesday. DONE

Thursday:Me:
Clip coupons and go get started on the groceries for the stockpile. DONE

More later, as if that wasn't enough! lol

Stockpiling Food

There are so many awesome grocery stockpiling pictures over at Hot Coupon World. I admit that I get envious when I look at them because I want to stockpile non perishable foods. I have one little problem though. No place to put it!
When we built our kitchen we didn't include a pantry in the plans and honestly no real storage spaces at all. Most of you have heard that all before.

BUT, lately I've been dying to get started and really considering what I could do for storage. There is one wall here in my "office" where I could potentially put up a deep shelf, say 10ft. high and 10 ft. wide. The problem is that wall already has a large table butted up to it that is loaded down with stuff already.

I'm thinking I'll box it all up and put it- who knows where?! (I really have no idea!) and take the table out and put in that shelf, and finally get started stockpiling food. I detest clutter so I am hoping I can figure it out.

I'm also thinking I will start out with a budget of $500 and a load of coupons and see what I can do.


So here is what I need for you to do. I need you to hold me to my commitment! I'm serious. Make sure I get started and post pictures to be accountable. Can you do that? I know you can. ;)

First things first though. I need to totally clean out the cabinet area under my sink. That is where I put canned goods but it is all jumbled up right now and needs a good bleaching in there. How is it that cabinet bottoms get so grungy???

CVS Sat. Jan. 24th

What it was: $100.97 retail.
What I paid:$3.27 - Only because they did NOT have the Fusion razors in stock for the sale and it threw my plan off and I had to improvise by getting a bottle of Sambucol! Oh well, still not bad!

6 bottles Gillette shampoo
5 bars Reese Whipps candy bars- I had planned on getting 16 more to use up the last of my coupons but 5 was all they had left.
4 bottles Pantene sham/cond
4 packs Mentos gum
2 bottles Head & Shoulders
2 Listerine Smart Rinse
1 bottle Sambucol immunity boosting liquid
--------------------------------------------
24 items total

That's what... less than .14 cents per item, including taxes.

Heck y'all! Just heck!

If you read my previous post then you know the computers went down as we were doing our taxes yesterday. You'll also know that we are supposed to be back there today to finish them up so that we can get our refund check and rent the backhoe to redo our water lines.

Well, Chris called to make sure everything was a go, and guess what happened now. Their printer has quit working so they can't print the checks!
They think they may have the issue fixed by noon. Noon! We can't wait until noon! We're burning daylight here and the equipment we have to rent to fix the water line is $260/DAY.

Ah well. It will be dark by 5:30, so by the time we get the check there won't be time to rent the backhoe today. :(
So, we wait and hope that Chris is still home come Monday.

At least I was able to take a real shower at the motel.

A whole week without posting.

Bad, bad me! I do have a good excuse though.
As you all know our water pipes froze, so I've been keeping a little busy finding creative ways to clean house. You never know how far you can make a gallon of water stretch if you have to. Also, microwaving your dishcloth sanitizes it. :)

I had all I could stand of sponge bathing, so I called Chris to ask him if he would mind too much if the kids and I got a motel room for the night? Just so we could all take a real shower and then go to the laundromat after wards.
His answer sent me into a joyous screaming frenzy as his answer was this: "Sure sweetie I think that's a good idea, why don't you meet me in Knoxville this evening and we will all get a room together!"
WHAT? You are on your way HOME?!?
"Yep! I have to do some work at the office in the morning, so getting a room down there tonight will work out great for all of us."

I had no clue he was on his way in from--where ever it was he had been! All I know is (up north), some COLD, cold place with lots of snow. lol I didn't care where he had been. I was just thrilled that he was headed this way and we could be together.

So that's what we did. Today we went to file our taxes and just as the lady hit the submit button, the computers crashed! All of them in the whole place. So, we have to go back in the morning.

After that we are renting a backhoe to redo our water lines. We've needed to do it for a long time now so the freezing pipes was something we knew was going to happen, eventually. This just solidified the fact that we need to get it fixed now. So tomorrow will be another busy day around here. I'm just tickled to have Chris back home again for a few more days. :)

Have a great weekend my bloggy buddies.

CVS 1/17 and other stuff.

I hit 3 different stores tonight based on the coupons I had that matched up with the best sales and the bottom line is this: Everything here came to $139.37 before coupons and $20.34 after coupons. The CVS deal alone was $99.37 of that and was $3.53 out of pocket. *I did not get the Electrasol or the Beggin' Strips at CVS.
And the best part is, I will use everything I got tonight except the Nutra-Trim gum. That stuff was just a freebie and a way to roll some Extra Bucks that were about to expire. lol

So thats:
15 Reese Whipps candy bars- Which I will NOT eat! I promised myself. lol
10 bags Beggin' Strips dog treats- Faith's fave.
5 boxes Electrasol dishwasher tabs. -I hope my water unfreezes SOON!
4 boxes Nutri-Trim gum- to give away.
4 boxes CVS generic Claritin - love this stuff!
2 4ct. packs Duracell batteries.- Can you ever have too many batteries?
2 bottles St. Ives Collagen Elasten lotion.
2 bottles of the New Herbal Essences shampoo/conditioner. - Love!
2 bottles Naso-Gel spray. - Never tried it but for free I sure will.
1 Infusium 23 shampoo. - Cause it was on clearance and my coupon made it a money maker!
1 Nuprin sore muscle cream rub. - Hubby goes through this stuff like crazy and it was on clearance.

I think that's everything. I'm pretty happy getting so much stuff we will actually use, and for less than I'd normally have paid just for the Beggin' Strips alone.



Now for the (other stuff) part of this post. I'm sorry to expose you to my ugly mug but a few have asked how I'm doing now, 17 days post OP for my oral surgery. My face is no longer purple, black, and blue. It is however still a bit swollen. It doesn't help that I had to take the picture of myself and got it at a bad closeup angle but, oh well, right? I'm a chunky girl anyway. Love me love my fluff. ;)

That's all for now. I hope everyone is staying warm and that your pipes aren't frozen.

Frozen Pipes

It was a frigid 1 degree here last night and it's supposed to be the same again tonight.

I left the water dripping just as I always do when ever the temp drops below 30* and our water still froze up solid.
Chris is gone back to work and I ask myself why? Why does everything wait until he has left to go all to heck?
I know nothing about water pipes. What if some busted? I'm just out of luck if they did.
Cross your fingers that there are no leaks once they thaw out. Pretty please.
In the meantime, no dishwasher, no cooking, no flushing the toilet!, no washing clothes, and no fresh sweet tea can be made. I guess we will order din-din from the store around the corner tonight and "wash" our hands with the free Purell hand sanitizer I got from CVS. That or see if the (one neighbor we even speak to) still has running water. I hate to bother them though, because they are all sick with the flu right now.

And speaking of Chris, I miss him so sorely. He is headed to Connecticut, I think? It's hard to remember because they changed where he was going at least a dozen times over the past 3 days.

I think I am just going to go sew something and try to relax. It could be much, much worse. And thankfully, this too shall pass. :)

This Just In...

Today I got my last pieces of published jewelry back from Bead Trends and thought I'd share them now that I'm allowed to. Along with my books, gift certificate, and my jewelry was a lovely hand written note from one of the publishers.
She says:
Kristie, I had a go at making fabric beads cause I love this bracelet you made- and I learned they are hard! I appreciate your beautiful bracelet even more now!

Isn't that just so sweet of her?! I appreciate her little note even more than being published. How nice of her to take the time to be personable and write that.
I will be keeping the note in the book on the page with the picture of the bracelet.
Adorned in Amethyst is in Bead Trends magazine Feb. '09 issue on page 31.

It is made of thirty one genuine Amethyst gemstones that are tear drop shape and multifaceted. They are a gorgeous deep purple shade. Length is 17" long with lobster clasp.

Eternal Roses is my newly published bracelet and you can see it in Bead Trends magazine Feb. '09 issue on page 47.

What makes this bracelet so unique are the focal beads that are hand made (by me) from fabric.
Each strip of fabric is meticulously measured for uniformity, cut, rolled, adhered, and sealed to ensure strength and durability. It is a very time consuming project indeed, but the end result is very lovely.

For a closer look, or to purchase go HERE.

Candles, Candles, Candles, and Electrasol!

I had come across a thread at Hot Coupon World that CVS had vanilla, evergreen, and apple spice scented Febreze candles on clearance marked from $7.99 down to $1.99.
This was an un-advertised mark down mind you, and there are $2 off coupons for these in an insert from a couple of weeks ago. So, FREE 30 hour burning candles.

I looked through my coupon stash and had several of the coupons. I tried not to get too excited because I figured they'd be sold out. To my surprise they had 12 candles left but it still said $7.99 on the shelf tag. When I asked the cashier to scan them they rang up for seventy nine cents! I was like, HELLO!
I put all of them on the counter and gave her my coupons and I paid something like $0.96 tax for the whole shebang. Happy girl, I was.



Then, I went to DG and got a BUNCH of Electrasol, too. It sells for $2.75 a box here and the coupons were for $2.50 off. So, how can I pass up a quarter a box? Well, I couldn't! This is just one of my Electrasol stockpile drawers. Thirty six boxes to a drawer. It's a sickness I tell ya, but how am I supposed to say no when they are practically giving them away? Seriously.

I also scored 4- 6oz. bags of Beggin' Strips for my puggy girl for $3. I don't know if I had such a good time becuase I was saving so much money everywhere I went, or because Chris was with me and was stunned by how much stuff we got for so little money. Probably both.

So, that was my day. :)

Just sighing over here right now.

Well here it is Friday night, actually in less than 10 minutes it will be Saturday, and I do not have a plan worked up for CVS tonight. (gasp!)

Usually I have my plans worked up, coupons pulled and ready at least 2, sometimes 3 weeks in advance. I don't know whether to panic and try to throw a plan together in a mad rush, or just pass on it this week.

It's no big deal really. I just wanted to do a deal or two while Chris was actually home to see the plans in action. You can tell someone how it is done until you're blue in the face but showing is way better, helps it "click" easier. lol So anyway, little by little he is understanding exactly how getting all the stuff for (basically) free works. So, I sort of feel obligated not to miss tonight's CVS run. I feel like the tutor that doesn't want to go teach her class. LOL For some reason I can't get in the mood to work up a plan. It takes more planning and preparing than most people want to put into it. I think that is why more folks don't do it. It can take anywhere from 1-2 hours to several days to get a precise plan of action on paper. Even now, a year and half into working the Extra Care program, I still take a long time in my planning. Maybe that's just me though.

I don't know what to do except sigh and procrastinate.
I've glanced over the ad and it's not a great one this week. I think that is part of why I can't get motivated. I could probably do the medicine deal but, we are medicine "poor" here as it is. I've got about every over the counter med that is made. If you've got a cough, the sniffles, diareaha, dry eyes, need fiber, need energy, have a headache, have a toothache, allergies, or if your back is hurting, your breath stinks, or a boo-boo, I've probably got something I could give you for it.

OK, so I got a little carried away there, didn't I. Sorry. I guess that just proves what I said about procrastinating.
By this time tomorrow you'll know the outcome. I always try to post a picture of what I get. So here's hoping I get my mojo up soon and am able to get in a plan making groove quick, before I need to go to bed! Ha, ha, ha.

Night all!

New Goodies

Come have a look. I added three new items to the shop today.

Stop.Go. Stop. Go

The company my hubby works for really makes me irate! Why? Because it takes forever to get any time to come home and then once he gets here they play these "mind games" with his time.
It's not intentional on their part, but I do believe it is because they are not as structured as they need to be. It's like the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

Case in point:
4 days ago he got a call from the office. "We're going to need you to leave out tomorrow to take J's place." "His kid has strep and he has to get home."

OK. Get things ready to leave out.

The next day... Not a word from the office? What's up? Am I going to CA or not?
Office has no clue.

The next day after that he is called by the main super who says his grandfather is having bypass surgery and has requested he be with him before he goes in for it. So, "be ready to fly out tomorrow to take my place."

OK, can do.

Today...Not a word from anyone. So, Chris called the office. They told him that he won't be leaving out for about a week or so. WTHeck?

Now, tomorrow I guarantee you he will get a call from the office to be ready to fly out the next day.

This is how it ALWAYS is when he comes home. We never know for sure how long he will be home. Making plans to do anything is beyond frustrating.
Sometimes we just wanna take an overnight trip, a day trip, or in warmer weather go in the mountains for a picnic, fishing, etc. But what happens in reality is that they keep us so confused that the only thing we ever end up doing is staying put at the house bored out of our minds!

When he first got home on Dec 24th we had the hardest time making them understand that he could NOT leave out before Dec. 31st as he HAD to be home when I went for my oral surgery on the 31st. They said that was fine but that he absolutely would have to leave out on Jan. 1st!

Well, as you can see it is now Jan. 8th and he is as of yet, still home. If we'd have known he would have been home this long we would have rented a cabin or - something! Anything!

OK, rant over...for now.

Hot Coupon, Batman!

In this past Sunday's paper there were a lot of coupon inserts. One of the Smart Source inserts had the ever popular Electrasol coupon in it for $2.50 off. Couple that coupon with a sale and you can get a box in the .25 cents or less range!

So, out of curiosity I went looking to see how much these coupons were going for on ebay. It's insane! They are going for upwards of .50- $1.00 or more PER coupon. Why would someone pay $1.00 for a $2.50 off coupon? Talk about defeating the purpose. Personally a dime a piece is all I'd pay and not a cent more.
I'd love to have 20 or 30 of them, but it ain't gonna happen at those prices!

OK, off of that topic and on to my face. LOL Basically it is killing me. I'm still purple with bruising, still swollen, still throbbing. Motrin, nor Excedrin, or anything else I've taken even comes close to stopping the pain. I just cry and bear it, and pray that tomorrow will be the day I don't wake up hurting.
It really rots to wake up, just barely have my eyes open and BAM there's the pain telling me I won't feel better today. Oh no, not today.

Redneck Neighborhood

Time: 2-4:30 AM
Place: Oak Hills Rd.
Occasion: Redneck Bonfire

It started at 2AM sharp. The neighbors that live directly in front of us decided to have a bonfire. As I lay in bed I can see the blaze out my bedroom window. The blaze is located where their back yard ends and our wooded yard begins.
Breathe, pray they aren't intoxicated and don't catch the woods on fire, and burn my house down.
Try to relax and go back to sleep. Try to ignore that my pain meds aren't working and just...sleep.

2:30 I am awakened by a POP sound. Not real loud, but pop there it is again. Peer out window. The redneck neighbors are still standing around their bonfire having a good ole time. That was the source of the pop sound.
Breathe, at least they haven't left the fire unattended. Maybe they won't burn the woods down! Try again to ignore that my swollen, bruised face is killing me, and...sleep.

3Am, 3:30AM, 3:45AM POP, BANG, POW, EXPLODE!
Peer out window again. Rednecks still standing around an ever growing bonfire. The pops, and bangs are getting louder, and louder still.
All I can picture is someone tossing an airesol (sp) can on the fire and sending said can through my bedroom window straight into my cranium. It's a huge window, you know. Like 10ft. X 12ft. Floor to ceiling, wall to wall.

At this point we're all aggravated so we get out of bed and assemble on the couch. Groggy headed and wondering why Saturday night = redneck bonfire in this neighborhood?

4AM Redneck neighbor comes knocking on the door to ask if the noise is bothering us.
Now, why on earth would you think that it would bother us? I mean, it's only 4AM, and it's only been going on for a few wee hours. What's the bother?

He says, "We're sorry if we woke you, we are just trying to use up some leftover fireworks from THE FOURTH OF JULY!" Yep, you read that right.

Chris says, "Well... We're all ALREADY awake now!"
Which is his not so subtle way of saying no it's not ok, and apology not accepted because what good does this do come tell us this hours AFTER the fact. We're up now as you can see. My wife is in pain from surgery and can't get any rest! Gee, thanks for coming to tell us and see if it's ok. (NOT!)

Guy apologizes and says he'll go tell "them" to stop it with the fireworks.

Oh wow. How nice, how thoughtful of you to put a stop to it only 3 hours later. You're just the neatest neighbor ever! If only all of our nighbors came for 4am visits more often!

CVS Jan 1st. 2009, post OP, and other news.

You didn't think I'd miss out on the first trip of the year to CVS to get the monthly goodies just because I had major oral surgery yesterday or because today is my birthday, did you? lol

I confess that Chris went with me to help. I had to stop taking the codeine for the pain as it was just making me sick as a dog! I am taking Motrin IB instead and so far it is doing the job just fine.
My face however is bruised pretty badly, as expected. Oh, and yes, uber swollen! The right lower jaw looks like I have a golf ball in my mouth at a certain angle. The left isn't much better but not quite as extreme. There is no gauze in my mouth either. All of that cheeky action and double chin is pure swelling. ICK. I look tired, so tired, but actually am feeling quite well. I except the brusing to be even worse tomorrow. But, ya gotta look bad before you can look better, right?

Anywho, back to the CVS trip. We got $147.08 in product for only $0.60 out of pocket. I rolled something like $60 in ECBs and got back $10.85 more than I spent. So, another money maker thanks to some great coupons.


I almost forgot! If you remember Chris bought me a Ford Focus last year for my birthday, well that bugger head went to town this morning and traded in the Focus for the new 2009 Ford Fusion! It is what I originally wanted last year. It's bigger, V6, cruise, all the controls are on the steering wheel, the radio shows the name of the song and the artist! It is THE color I was dying for- moss green! Which doesn't look quite as dark as the one in this picture does. It's more subtle. I just love it and it's going to work way better for our family.

The day before that he got up early, left, and came back home with a king size Serta bed for me so that I'd be comfortable after my surgery! Can you believe this guy? Does he love me or what?!
Our old bed was a queen size and we were rolling toward each other and it was causing us both to have bad back aches. I just don't know what to think but I know this much, I better not fuss on him any at all this year! We've never spent that kind of money all at once before. Not to mention the $2K I had to drop for my oral surgery. I hope they keep him in work this year and we don't live to regret getting all this stuff.

Well, I guess that's all for now. As if that wasn't enough, eh?

A quick post op update.

The oral surgery went fine.
I'm feeling a bit dizzy. Just got up to take my next does of meds before I head back to bed. The codeine for the pain makes me so very sick. I hope I don't need to take much more of that nasty stuff. It makes me feel flu-like. Headache, dizzy, nausea, not pretty!
The right side of my face looks like I have a golf ball in my cheek. But the ice is helping with that.

I expect the next two days to be the worst. Per my past experience and per what my Dr. told me to expect. So, if I don't get to blog more later you'll know I am in bed feeling like a sickie. lol

Prayers still very much appreciated and welcomed. Thank you, my dear friends, for thinking of me.

Happy New Year everyone. I hope it is good for one and all!! Love you.