Friday, May 28, 2010

CVS Clearance Shop 5/27

So I was reading on here about some awesome CVS clearance deals and since I had some of the coupons I figured I drop in and check it out. So me and the kids loaded up and went out (the power being out all day at our house and lack of AC was also a huge motivator to go and do SOMETHING!) And luck was on my side because I was able to find a few 75% off Revlon Cosmetics and 75% off Nailene Products.


What I bought:
5 Revlon Lip Gloss--$1.99 (from $7.99)
1 Revlon Eye Pencil--$1.99 (from $7.99)
2 Dove deodorant--$1.49
2 Nailene Nails--$1.62 (from $6.49)

Coupons I used:
6 $2/1 Revlon Cosmetics from 4/25 SS
2 $1.50/1 Dove Deodorant IP (from H2S, did not exclude trial sizes)
2 $2.00/1 Nailene Peelies found right on front of package
Subtotal: 0.00
Tax: $1.27
Total OOP: $1.27

No ECB's earned but no ECB's burned so I am happy!!! Retail this stuff was $65!!! And I felt ecstatic that I was able to get it all for $1.27!!!

My Mailbox 5/27

Another good mail day!!!

Today I got:
*Earthbound Organic Reusable Bag (YAY!!! This bag is HUGE!)
*Earthbound Organic coupons (came with the bag!)
*2 Free Product coupons for Butterfingers from Butterfinger's FB page
(one for me and one for Jet Pilot!)

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Houston we have BLOOMS!!!



The Red Daylilies have arrived and they are more beautiful than I imagined!!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

After all, what good are puddles if you can't jump in them??


He likes to jump.
In Puddles.
Without Mama and Jet Pilot knowing.
Then he acts cute when he gets busted for doing it.
I love little boys. They are lots of fun!

I hope he always takes the opportunity to jump in puddles- it will keep him silly. And I sure do love me some silly little boy!!

Monday, May 24, 2010

My Mailbox 5/24


Very Good Mail Day!! Its days like today that make me love my mailman (although I am sure that he hates me...lol)

Today I got:
*Free Fusion ProGlide Razor with coupons (from Gillette YouTube Channel giveaway)
*$100 Year Of Savings P&G Coupon Booklet
*Home Made Simple Booklet from coupon trade I made here
*Free Product Coupon from Genesis Acai Juice (from Facebook?)
*Read and Share Bible DVD that I have to review from this site
*Burpee Gardens Pamphlet (gives some basic garden how-to info, which you know from here we need all the help we can get!)

Great Mail Day!!! What didya get?

Sunday, May 23, 2010

CVS Shop for the week of 5/23-5/29


I was able to go to CVS to do my weekly shop today minus the rest of the Pickles (it was oddly quiet- I didn't like it, I am going to force the family to go with me next time..) but since I went on a Sunday night everything I was looking for was in stock and the cashier was friendly.

What I bought:
4 Gillette Body Washes--$4.00 each
2 trial size Dove Deodorants--$1.49 each
4 boxes of Fig Newtons--.98 each

Coupons I used:
$4/2 Gillette Body Wash from 5/2 P&G
2 B1G1 Gillette Body Wash from 5/2 P&G
2 $1.50/1 Dove Deodorant IP (It did not exclude trial sizes and I found it on Hip2Save I think)
4 $1/1 Fig Newtons (Facebook IP from becoming a fan of Nabisco I think)
$4.00 ECB's
Subtotal: 0.00
Tax:$1.60
Total OOP:$1.60

Earned $8.00 in ECB's from the Gillette Body Wash for next time

Not a bad shop at all!!

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Jet Pilot's Job and How Much I love it



In the spirit of being the patriotic and supportive military wife to a Jet Pilot there are certain things I feel I should do. And one of them is to try to volunteer at some of his command functions. It makes me feel like I am being helpful, and getting his name out there. I have made chili for lunch cookouts, offered my stockpile as a gift basket for Command Parties and today I volunteered to work the VT-7 Strike Eagles Officer Spouses Club T-shirt booth at the Key Field Airshow.

The Mission: Sell VT-7 Strike Eagles Tee Shirts for Men, Ladies and Kids, and some random military knick knacks

What I did: Sweat, swelter and try to peddle these shirts off onto the unsuspecting public here in the sprawling metropolis of Meridian, MS. It was hot, humid and totally not enough shade to go around. But that's ok. I enjoyed myself and made the best of it, plus Jet Pilot and kids were there- and he wasn't supposed to be. He was supposed to be in Pensacola for a Jet Pilot Gala thing. So it was family fun for all.

But my thoughts and words drift from their original purpose of this post. I love my husband's dream.

To be a Jet Pilot.

To fly like a scary crazy maniac in the sky doing maneuvers and tricks I wouldn't dream about actually wanting to do because they are FUN.

We are pretty patriotic in this house and we love America and more importantly we appreciate the sacrifice that Jet Pilot makes for us each day to make sure we all stay safe. And sometimes his job necessitates that he is away from us for long periods of time, the family that loves and needs him everyday. But that's okay. We met and grew up in this military lifestyle and are raising our family in it. And we love it.

But I think it was just today as I was watching a variant of Jet Pilot's dream plane (F/A-18C is the dream plane, F/A-18F is what we saw today at the airshow) fly by doing seriously sick aerobatics and climbing to fearful heights that I realized it in my core-His dream IS MY dream.
I want him to fly those planes.

And I love Jet Noise. The sound of it brings tears to my eyes and makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Is that weird?? I don't think so.

I want him to be that guy. I am proud of Jet Pilot for working hard daily towards becoming that guy.

And I give thanks everyday to Our Most High for blessing us with this wonderful life. May His blessings continue to shower upon us and guide us to be the best Pickle family that we can be.

Happy Saturday and enjoy the random post!

My Mailbox Today

I didn't get a picture of it but I got:
*P&G Sampler with coupons and a trial pack of Cascade Action Pacs
*Coupons from recent trades
*2 Awesome CVS coupons for $25 GC when you transfer or get a new prescription!!! (This is perfect because Bonnie has a prescription that needs to be filled!)

I am going to see if my online gals want the other $25 GC CVS coupon and if not I know I will be able to trade it in a flash on my coupon trading forum.

It was a good day!!


Friday, May 21, 2010

My Mailbox Today


Kinda slow mail day but still not bad.

I received:
*Free Product Coupon from Sunsweet (Facebook Freebie)
*Free Pair of Hue socks (Facebook Freebie as well?)
*Home Made Simple Booklet

Not bad, coulda just got bills :P

Is that thumb actually a little bit green??


So maybe the thumbs of Jet Pilot and I are not completely BLACK, we have some spots of Green on them. When Jet Pilot was out of town on cross country a few weeks back I took it upon myself to tear up the sad excuse for a flower bed in our front yard and make plans to plant one of my own. And it has been a success so far!! Everything is alive and flourishing. (Well minus one sad lavender plant, I was sooo hoping this plant would make it because I wanted some different smells in my No Poo and Homemade Laundry Detergent but alas, I think its dying. I am however, talking to it daily in attempts to motivate it back to life.)

This is one of freshly bloomed Daylilies. (Fresh after the scary Mississippi thunderstorms we had here last night.)
Beautiful right??
This is a "Luscious Citrus Blend" flower
(no kidding thats the name, random I know!!)

My red Daylilies that are going to be blooming in the next few days!!
I have no idea what type of flower this is-but its soo PRETTY!!
(we must lost the garden spike thingy with all the info on it,
lol...I would bet Clyde or the dogs had a hand in its disappearance)

And our flower bed is an organically raised, planted and fertilized one. The bed was planted and fertilized with Organic planting and topsoil and the only thing we have done to keep bugs away is spray a bit of all natural dish soap and water on the flowers to keep the gross variety garden bugs away. And water like a maniac.
It is nice to see the little ones getting involved with the flowers as well. They love to water and help me prune (or "deadhead" in green thumb lingo) all the flowers. All in all I like the flower bed, I am trying to get Jet Pilot on board to enhance the other "flower bed" (and I use that term VERY LOOSELY) into some front yard beauty but he is not there yet. But hey, I have all summer!! I recommend everyone do a little gardening, its therapeutic and allows me (all of us really!) some time to recenter while beautifying my front yard and enhancing my curb appeal!!

FYI: If you plan on creating a floral masterpiece in your front yard do it with a budget in mind-I did not and was VERY surprised with how much some front yard eye candy was.

And oh yeah, don't start the project at 3:30pm in the afternoon--start in the morning-nobody wants to be clearing out flower beds while its getting dark outside. Trust me. Bugs are something fierce once the sun goes down.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

My Mailbox Today


All this awesome stuff was in my mailbox today!!! I received:

* FREE Reusable bag from Kellogg's (all you needed to do was send in 2 UPC's and pay small S&H fee)

*$1/1 Synder's coupon from Facebook (I think the first 500 or something got a free product coupon but hey, I will take a $1/1!!)

*All You June edition

*TV Guide (free from freebizmags.com or something)

*Yahoo Sports bobble head (I think this was intended for Jet Pilot- he was the Fantasy Football League Champion but whatevs, its going in my picture!!)

*ALL my coupons from the recent trades I did!!! YAY!! So many awesome coupons and all I traded were coupons that I was not going to need or ones I had too many of!! (P.S. I trade my coupons through this site!! And I love that the group is smallish but they are friendly and always trying to help give you the best trade experience possible!!)

I love checking my mail and finding all kinds of goodies in there!!! What did you get in your mailbox today??

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Bandwagon meets Me

Alright so I am going to get on the bandwagon. I am going to post pictures of all (or the ones I am most proud of) my coupon shops. I stalk enough coupon bloggers to see what kind of deals they are getting and I am a truly fascinated when others post pictures, so I am going to share the love and do the same. It's probably not going to be pretty until I get the formatting down but meh, I'll get there. Ok so CVS this morning. Went in there with a plan, (that I got from this girl) a plan not executed very well because they were OOS on the razor I was hoping to buy. But oh well.

What I bought:
2 Puff Plus w/ Vicks--.84 and .83 each
2 Speed Stick Stainguard--$2.99 each
1 Dawn Hand Renewal--.83
1 CVS Nail Polish Remover--.99
2 CVS Tissue Packs--.50 each
1 CVS Shampoo--.99
2 Herbal Essences Shampoos

Coupons I used:
$1/1 Puffs (from vocalpoint)
.50/1 (from vocalpoint)
$1/1 Speed Stick any (from junk mail insert)
.50/1 Speed Stick any (from same junk mail)
$1/1 CVS Cosmetics any CRT
$1/2 CVS Paper Products CRT
$1/1 CVS Hair Care CRT
2 $1/1 Herbal Essences
.50/1 Dawn Hand Renewal any 5/2 P&G
$4.99 ECB
$4.00 ECB adjusted down to $3.94
Subtotal: 0.00
Tax: $1.01
Total OOP: $1.01


UPDATE: I found the razor I was IDSO at the other CVS!!! Yay!! $6.99 in ECB's OOP with $6.99 BACK!!! I HEART ME SOME FREE!!!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Bonnie


She can ride a bike without training wheels. And she is six, that feels young to me.
Without training wheels.
And she is six.
Where o where does all that time go??


Now Clyde will want his training wheels off in the coming days and I swear I can feel a field triage nightmare coming along in my future.

I love kids, I hope we have at least 2 more.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Book Review: I am Hutterite by Mary Ann Kirby



I am fortunate enough to have great online friends and this
gal introduced me to this very cool site that allows you to pick a book, review it and keep it. Uhh can we say love at first (web)site?? Anyways here is a review of the book I read.


"I am Hutterite" is a vivid and enthralling memoir of Mary Ann Kirby's early life on a Hutterite colony. Hutterite colonies are somewhat reclusive, devoutly religious and nearly 100% self sustainable. Mary Ann tells the story of her years on the Hutterite colony- how the colony worked, school was run and the gossipy politics of everything else in between. She is able to draw you in right from the first page.

As a person who has never heard of a "Hutterite colony" I was completely fascinated with all the daily working of Hutterite life and what it entailed. Through Mary Ann's words you are able to feel the whole spectrum of emotions- from the love she felt to the anguish she experienced; you name it and it was expressed through the clear and colorful words on each page. Hutterite lifestyle sounds tough, fulfilling and yet distinctly detached from modern day "English" households, and this book made me want to experience it first hand. Mary Ann wrote this book after talking to her son about her upbringing and as a result you can just feel the emotions that each story brought to the surface. "I am Hutterite" is a very easy read and completely 100% compelling, once I started the book I could not put it down. I recommend this book to anyone and everyone--I promise you will not be disappointed with what you read.!!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Independence

I need to talk about this...I have been thinking about it alot lately. Jet Pilot and I met young, fell in love and got married all well before we turned 21. And its an amazing, wonderful, enriching and God led life we are striving to lead.

But lets be honest. Sometimes we get lonely. We have been on our own and away from home for a long time now.

When we brought our new babies home from the hospital, they came home to little fanfare, no family, no streamers, no "Oh we just brought this by for dinner to help you guys out" stuff. And I am proud of that, it makes me feel confident in my mothering, household, wife duties all more knowing that WE did it. Just the 2 of us. We do get the obligatory congrats and praises for all the wonderful things we have accomplished in our lives but they are all second hand telephone calls, emails, text messages, and msgs on Facebook (I know electronic social networking, its going to be the death of us all), you get the idea.

And in light of my sister's new career I think about all this. I hope she doesn't feel too alone at times. Its a lonely road we are on sometimes and no one know your strife unless they walk that same road with you. In the past few months I have awoken from my "Christian coma" and I have learned to lean on the Lord and less on myself because it is only with His hand and love in my life that I will be the grace filled, patient, loving helpmate He knows that I can be.

I pray for my sister, her path is just being laid out before her and while it is a wonderful, amazing and positively life changing experience I hope she leans on the Lord so much more than I did over those tumultuous 4 years. And as her old sister I worry about her, I know she's 20 but in my head she is still that fluffy haired, little 5 year old I remember always bugging me.

Families are great, Military life is second to none and independence is a thing to be cherished. But it is only with God's help are all things possible!!!