Happy Birthday To Me! (in 30 days!)

There are two more days in March and then we will be in my "birth" month. So, I had this idea for something fun to do...and I hope you will all cooperate!

I want to answer 28 questions in the 28 days leading up to my birthday. Ask me anything! I will try my best to answer, one question each day until April 28th, which will be my 28th birthday!
You can submit more than one question in your comment and if it happens that I actually get 28 different people to comment (ha!) then I will choose a question from each person. The questions can be random, silly, crazy, serious, etc....

EVERYONE who comments with at least one question will be entered in a special BIRTHDAY GIVEAWAY! WOO HOO! The prize will be something incredible awesome as an unbirthday gift for you! The winner will be announced on my birthday with the last question, won't that be a *TREAT?!*

So, get going! Just click that little "comments" link below and leave your comment, and be sure to include your name if you comment as "anonymous." You have from now until tomorrow at midnight. GO!

God Stop Sunday

".....so that your faith would not be based on human wisdom,
but on God's power."
1 Corinthians 2:5

Hello friends. Welcome to God Stop Sunday where we look back at how God has been showing up in our lives this week.....through sharing our stories and testimonies we can strengthen one another and

Savor
The
Observable
Presence

Feel free to join me by just leaving a link to your post in the comments and I will add you to our post! I would love to read how God has STOPPED by in your life in an OBSERVABLE way.

Participants:

Karen, at Hallelujah Anyhow!

My STOP for this week:

I can't believe I have only posted twice this week. Wow! I guess my God Stop this week is related to my last post. My cousin, the one who gave birth to the beautiful baby boy pictured below was in a car accident last Friday, just a few days before she delivered. Not only was she hit on HER (driver's) side of the car and it was totally crushed (as in the car was totaled), she was completely unscathed except for some bruises! Isn't God GREAT?! That is the thing that comes to mind when I think about how God stopped by this week and how I can SAVOR the fact that his protection and purpose always prevail! She was monitored and SENT HOME from the emergency room, to wait out a little longer before bringing Matthew into the world. That is GOD!

Welcome Baby Matthew!

My cousins welcomed their baby, Matthew Dillard Taylor (8 lbs, 13 oz, 21 in), into the world last night around 8pm. This handsome baby is a living testimony of God's faithfulness.... almost 12 years coming! Dewayne and Carla adopted their older son, Jacob, about 8 years ago, and now God has blessed them with another beautiful son! Carla had a fantastic pregnancy (wasn't sick a day), no complications in the delivery, and when I visited them today she was up walking around a lot and eager to go home! WOW! Amazing! It made me feel like I was such a baby when I had mine! ha ha! I wanted lots of pain meds and sitting! ha ha!

I am beyond thrilled for them! God is so good!

Still Believing God

Romans 9:33 "The one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."

"Beloved, if you pray that God will move a mountain and He doesn't, or you have the faith to tell a mountain to move and it won't, assume Christ wants you to climb it instead and see Him transfigured. Either way the mountain is under your feet."

-Beth Moore, "Believing God."

Just a tidbit of the material we discussed tonight at our girls' book club. What a convicting, yet encouraging book!

God Stop Sunday

".....so that your faith would not be based on human wisdom,
but on God's power."
1 Corinthians 2:5

Hello friends. Welcome to God Stop Sunday where we look back at how God has been showing up in our lives this week.....through sharing our stories and testimonies we can strengthen one another and

Savor
The
Observable
Presence

Feel free to join me by just leaving a link to your post in the comments and I will add you to our post! I would love to read how God has STOPPED by in your life in an OBSERVABLE way.

Participants:

Karen, at Hallelujah Anyhow!

First of all, yesterday there were two great moments that I know God must have intervened. Beginning Thursday night I had a terrible pain in my lower back. I laid on pillows, the floor, everywhere, and it wouldn't go! On Friday I had to help my mom with a doctor's appointment where I was having to help her after being "drugged." My back was still hurting in the waiting room even to the point where I was shifting in the chair sitting on my fist trying to get it to budge. (I had missed my chiropractor appointment to help that morning.) Well, later on as I was driving her home I realized that my back had stopped hurting completely!!! In the time I had to help her and get her in and out of the car in her drugged state (which was pretty funny but that's another story that I won't tell) my back had stopped and I was able to go the rest of the day with no pain and still today as well! Definitely a God Thing!

Later, on our way home I was going to pick up my grandmother. She was going to visit with me and the kids for a while since we don't get to see her as much any more. When I called she said that she had just been up to my parents house (they live out in the country next door to each other but a good bit apart still). She had walked up the road to their house and then back to her house through the woods when she saw no one was home yet! She is 80-something years old!!! It is a miracle that she didn't fall on that pretty long walk or get too exhausted or hurt! It has been a long habit of hers in our time of living out there to walk from house to house because she enjoys the walk and exercise. BUT, like most older people she is too stubborn to admit that she just shouldn't be doing that anymore! God certainly had His hand on her yesterday!

Weak stomachs stop reading here :) Skip down to "Now,"

The other thing is something that seemed just terrible at the time, but a few moments later I realized how perfect it was. On our way in the house last night Katie got sick outside. As in, she needed to throw up and did not make it in the house. Here is the perfect timing: We had just been at the grocery store, and she did not make it into the house yet. I was thinking how horrible for her to not make it inside, but where else is easier to clean up that out on the grass?!?!? Granted, the sidewalk needed some water thrown on it, but at least it wasn't in the car, or all on the rug that is right inside the front door, or all over the couch, or her bed with a book where she usually goes as soon as we come home from anywhere! So, I am thankful for the timing that we didn't have to be the sick people at the grocery store because it was BAD!

Now, for you to share....leave your link in the comments and I will add you to our post. I love sharing how God is making Himself SEEN in our lives, we just have to notice and acknowledge Him for it!

The Rush!

I had an absolute blast shopping at Kroger tonight. It is currently 11:49pm and I just finished eating a grilled cheese that Corey so graciously prepared for me for a late night snack...I really worked up an appetite hunting down the deals!!! Bethany went with me just for the fun of it...is that sick or what?! ha ha! JK! I would totally go with her too! Except..she is currently banned from grocery shopping since she brought her enormous stockpile to join with her mom's stockpile and still bought more stuff this week for their pantry!!
So, she got her "shopping high" with me tonight! It was great! We left about 9pm, it's only a 15 minute drive, and we were on our way home at 11pm. An hour and a half of leisurely, uninterrupted, bargain hunting!
I was pretty nervous when I got up to the register because I had a very full cart! But, it was great again! Here's the breakdown:

Total: $154.90
Store sales : $ 47.00
Coupons: $ 24.40
Total Savings: $71.40
Final Total: $83.50
Savings: 47%

Grand Total for the week:
Total regular price groceries: $221.88
Total Store Sales: $77.48
Coupons Used: $32.50
Total Savings: $109.98
Total Spent: $111.90

My savings were pretty much at about 50%. I know there are people who do way better.....but....I am pretty proud! And, I am pretty sure that with 3 gallons of milk in my fridge, 2 dozen eggs, and lots of other stuff, we may can even skip next week altogether! (Though I am not sure I can pass up the weekly thrill! ha ha!)

Finally!!!

I bought: 4 boxes of Betty Crocker cake mix, 4 bags of Almond Accents salad toppers, 2 bags of Fresh Express salad, 2 bags of frozen chicken nuggets, 2 boxes of Post Selects cereal, 2 containers of grape tomatoes, and 2 packs of Dole diced apples in light syrup. Not pictured: 2 recyclable grocery bags


I finally SAVED more than I spent today at the grocery store! YAY! I got some amazing deals at Publix! And, who says you can't eat healthy foods if you only use coupons to shop! I know, I do have some *unhealthy* things in my photo here, but, hey, I will be using cake mix, so I might as well get a good deal on it! The only things not pictured here are the two recyclable shopping bags I got for buying my buy one get one free cake mixes!

Here's the breakdown:

Total: $66.98
Coupons: $ 8.10
Sales: $30.48
Total Saved:$38.58

Final Total: $28.40
I think that amounts to approximately 58% savings!!!!!!

Can't wait to go to Kroger tonight!!!!

Homeschool Group!

We started a new homeschool group today!!!! Bethany (Canaan and Zion), PJ (Kaitlyn), and Christi (Harrison and Maccoy) came over this morning for our first get-together. We have one more friend who will join us when she can, but one of her little boys had strep throat so they couldn't come. All of us live in Adairsville, so it is just a fun quick to go to kind of get-together time!

St. Patrick's Day was the theme for today. Bethany read a book and she told us all about St. Patrick's Day. Then, we sorted, tallied, and graphed Lucky Charms, an activity brought by Christi. After that we painted shamrocks on paper using potato stamps made by me, and then we all enjoyed delicious green grapes and green cupcakes brought by PJ. I just noticed that I forgot to take pictures during the painting...oh well.

The kids had so much fun...it was great to have just a day of "fun" stuff. Each of the kids told us somthing they would like to learn about so we have a list of ideas for our future fun days. Next week is "SPACE!"

I am thrilled to have these play days to look forward to. Noah especially loved the boy time!

V-I-C-T-O-R-Y-!!!!!

(if I sent you a message on your blog about an award, please scroll down to the "Friendship Award post! thanks!)

(this is not a photo of our actual dish, but our's was pretty identical to this one, without the fancy garnish)

I have to share the awesome dinner experience we had tonight!!!! It all started yesterday...around 1:30pm..I decided I finally wanted to try making the dried lentils I had in the cabinet. It was a bag with a seasoning packet included...but called something like "confetti lentils" or something like that. Anyway, I threw them in the crockpot but of course by 6pm they were no where near done and tasting not very good at all! I had added some frozen carrots, vegetable broth, dried onions, and turned it on high. Well, we went out out to eat instead and by the time we got home after running by Kroger, they were smelling pretty good!

Today, I got them back out, put them on the oven and added some frozen spinach, ground beef, as well as some more spices (savory, garlic salt, onion powder). When it was all said and done, the stew was DELICIOUS! It had the flavor sort of like a beef stew but more like a bean/minestrone twist. I also made buttermilk biscuits to go with it which actually turned out to be GREAT! My first success with homemade biscuits!!!

AND....the BEST IS YET TO COME!!! GUESS WHO ate SIX bites of the lentil and spinach stew!!!????

NOAH CARTER THOMPSON!!!!!

We have a new initiative around here where he is required to eat six bites of whatever vegetables we are having for dinner. We discussed it with him and he knows it is just expected...I told him it is now his job to eat bites of vegetables because we are his parents and we have to make sure he is eating healthy foods and he just doesn't have a choice. The first night was BAD! It took a very long time for him to eat his 6 bites of chicken pot pie with vegetables it it.

Tonight, he was awesome! He came in while I was cooking the stew, and as you can see from the photo above the stuff doesn't look very appetizing. It actually doesn't have a super pleasant smell either. But he did it, though he got very sluggish with the last 3 bites, he actually said that "the last two bites were easier than the first bite." No tears or complaining. It may have helped that he lost his games for an entire day last time because he pitched such a fit and he also ended up having to eat about 12 bites because every time it was a major ordeal of talking back over a bite we added another bite to the requirement....but ....ANYWAY.....

We were all so proud of him! No tears and no feeding it to him, he did it all by himself and I do believe that is probably the most of any green vegetable his body has ever had in it at once!!! His stomach may go into shock!!!

Verse Memorization

(If I sent you a message about receiving an award, read down to the last post! Congrats!)

I want to give a little update on my scripture memorization.

It is going pretty well! Last month I had to repeat my verse for the entire month of February....so..I was a little disappointed with that, but I didn't want to move forward until I had accomplished memorizing the verse. It has truly been empowering to have these verses in my mind. I have my little spiral index card set in my purse so I can take them out and read over them if I am even sitting somewhere like dance class or something. I invite you to try this too....I think anyone who makes this effort and actively repeats the scriptures will be blessed so much by God.

Recently there was a post on the "Siesta Scripture Memorization" about a get-together they are planning for next January. It is for all the ladies who have participated in the challenge online. Beth Moore will speak, of course, and everyone will have an opportunity to recite their verses to each other, with special recognition for those who memorized all 24 verses. I think that is a fun idea and a way to motivate someone to keep on going with this! The problem is that it will be in Houston, TX at Mrs. Moore's home church, so I doubt I will be able to head out, but that won't stop me from participating anyway.

Each month on the Living Proof Ministries website Mrs. Beth Moore posts her verse for the month and she says if you feel that it applies to you then you can choose it for your's as well. I haven't done that so far, because it has proven SO true to me that if you don't "need it" then you won't be able to memorize it as affectively.
But, this month the verse she chose really spoke to me, so I decided to take it on for my own. Here it is:

1 Peter 3:9 NIV
"Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing."

WOW! That is difficult and challenging. I am excited to see how repeating this verse over and over in the next few weeks changes me!!!!

Friendship Award!

I got my second ever blog award today! How exciting! I am thrilled to be picked by for this Friendship Award! It's not many blessed people in the world who would have such an award bestowed upon them by their mother-in-law! Please visit her at Hallelujah Anyhow. She has just started blogging in the past few months but you would think she had been at it for years. She always has something great to share!

So, my job now is to pass this award along to eight other bloggy friends who I think deserve the award, along with these words describing the "reasons why."

These blogs are exceedingly charming and the kind of bloggers that aim to be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of the prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly written text into the body of their award.

I am now honored to pass this award along to:

1. Alicia, at "Growing in Alicia's Heart." I love reading her posts where she pours her heart out concerning her personal journey toward adoption. And, we have been real life friends since 1st grade, so this goes to her.

2. Jill, at "The McCrory Crew." This is my newest bloggy friend who won my Disney giveaway and came to find out that she lives pretty much a mile away from my house! Big Web, small world! She shares everyday life with a positive attitude!

3.Valerie, at "Homeschooling with Encouragement." This lady is an inspirational homeschool mom and runs an incredible online homeschool support group. I have become friends with her online and feel like if I met her we would be able to talk as though we had been friends for life!

4. Bethany, at "Living Learning Laughing Loving," because she is my awesome close friend and incredible and dedicated blogger!

5 & 6. Kelsey, at "Travis and Kelsey" (read about her first year of marriage life while living in Africa) and Emily, at "Another Binkley Sister Blog" (read about her hilarious take on everyday life!). Yes, Bethany, I stole your sisters for my award this time because I don't have any sisters and they have great blogs!

7 & 8. Krista, at "Adam, Krista, and Kip Mayfield" a new friend from church, and Jessica at "Dewberry Daze" another new friend from church. They both had beautiful babies this past year and keep lovely blogs about their lives!

Congratulations friends! Steal the picture of the award for your blog and pass it on! How lovely blogland is for making friends! Thank you for this award Karen!

God Stop Sunday

".....so that your faith would not be based on human wisdom but on God's power."
1 Corinthians 2:5

Hello friends. Welcome to God Stop Sunday where we look back at how God has been showing up in our lives this week.....through sharing our stories and testimonies we can strengthen one another and

Savor
The
Observable
Presence

Feel free to join me by just leaving a link to your post in the comments and I will add you to our post! I would love to read how God has STOPPED by in your life in an OBSERVABLE way.

Participants this week:

Karen @ Hallelujah Anyhow!

My God Stop this week isn't as "concrete" as the others I have shared. It is more of an assurance. A peace. Sometimes I doubt myself...that I am doing a good job as a homeschooling mom because we weren't as "on" as we have been, or the house will get into a state of complete CHAOS and I feel like a failure. When we first decided that I would quit working at be a "SAHM" (stay at home mom), I thought how easy my life would be now, that with so many hours of NOT working outside the home I would have PLENTY of time to keep everything in perfect working organized order.

And every single day I fail.

I must fail. I am human.

And this week I had to give myself a break.

I thank God that he allowed me that privilege.
Some people are not able to give themselves a break. The people around them do not allow it or try their best to "kick them while they are down" so to say.
I am surrounded by people who love me and who support me and God was gracious enough to give me a husband who cares not one iota about the clean laundry being piled on the couch or the dishes being left in the sink.
I am thankful today for a supportive and loving family and for a house that is just the right size when it comes to those times it has been let go and must be cleaned top to bottom!
I am not trying to say we are total slobs by any means...it is just lived in and sometimes let go for the higher purpose of relaxing at night with my family instead.
I am so thankful. Thankful that I have a family that I would prefer to spend time with over cleaning. Some actually don't.
So, my God Stop: I am SAVORING THE OBSERVABLE PRESENCE of GOD in our family. Only HE could be responsible for the happiness we share and enjoy together every day.

Candids!

I had the four musketeers today while Bethany's mom went to play practice. This was as close to a photo of the four of them smiling as I could get. We had so much fun!

This is what happens when you let the kids have the camera to take photos. I have no idea how they did this, this was yesterday with no other kids around....

Here are some more photos. Katie took the one on the bottom in the mirror. Any guesses on what the one on the top right is? It took me a few moments to figure it out. Winner gets a big hearty congratulations!
You don't have long to guess though, because "God Stop Sunday" is coming bright and early tomorrow!

Baking Banana Bread

We baked some delicious banana bread today! Katie and Noah each made a recipe of it, so one was made into bread and one was made into muffins. (I like making muffins from my bread because you get to eat it SOONER! ha!)
Here is the recipe we used:

Banana Bread
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 C buttermilk
1/2 C vegetable oil
1 C mashed bananas
1 1/2 C sugar
1 3/4 C all-purpose flour (1 C whole wheat, 3/4 C white)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
(I always put a smidge less of both of those because I despise overly salty baked goods)
1/2 C chopped pecans (we used walnuts)

Basically you just mix the flour and soda and salt together well in a bowl. Then mix all the "wet" stuff together in a separate bowl (eggs first, then oil, milk, sugar, bananas), then add the dry to the wet and then mix in the walnuts. Pour into greased pans of your choice. Bake at 325 degrees until done, about 20 minutes for the muffins.
OH YEAH, about that topping! I made that up myself because I love a good topping on a muffin! I mixed up "some walnuts, some brown sugar, some oatmeal, and some wheat germ for extra nutrition." I did not measure the amounts at all, just made it how I thought it looked good. I put it on the muffins after about 12 minutes of baking and on the bread after about 30 minutes of baking though I think it was too soon for the bread. I think it would have been better to add it to the bread about 40 minutes to 45 minutes in. It took about an hour and a half for the bread to finish baking. You just have to watch it though, so many things influence how long it will take. And, it does continue to bake a little after you take it out, so keep that in mind as well. Hope you enjoy!

Shopping Updates and more!

But, first things first! I have to share with you about my "twin's" giveaway in honor of her

Just head on over, leave a comment, and you will be entered for a drawing for a $50 gift certificate to Uppercase Living! Click on the picture above to visit her and enter the giveaway!

In other news:

I spent $20 at Publix on Tuesday (four boxes of Cheerios, 5 pounds of ground chuck, and an 8 pack of paper towels!!!!) and SAVED $19! That's almost 50% savings!!!! AND that's all I really needed from the store this week, although I DID buy some super marked down band-aids with a coupon for 50 cents today and some Kix for Noah, and some pull-ups. So..anyway, that amounts to about $40 worth of groceries for the week! MUCH better than $130!!! We are pretty stocked up now! I am so happy!

I know I could have spent more on some good deals at Kroger, but sometime you just need a $40 grocery week! Especially when you have to take both kids to the dentist with no insurance and it costs $318!!!!!!! I may have to install a paypal button on my blog for anonymous donations! :)

DIY Weekend

I was very busy over the weekend working on projects while Corey was out of town. The photo above is the result of a makeover on my coupon binder. Isn't it cute? I know....spending money making over my "savings" method...oh well. It looks so much better! It was very boring before....
And...I made message boards for the kids. I inherited a couple of corkboard bulletin boards and decided to make one into a cute message board for Katie's room for her to put her cards and photos and notes on. Well, Noah wanted one too...so we went to Walmart and picked out some supplies. Here's what we started with:
And here is Noah's final product. The lighting on this picture is bad...sorry...the colors look much darker and rich in person. Sometimes it is difficult for me to really see how the photos look anyway because I use a laptop and the screen can sometimes be different depending on the angle.... ANYWAY...He wanted "army" material. So, I picked out brown ribbon and used gold thumbtacks to hold the ribbon down. It is all pulled and stapled on the back of the board.
Here's an up close which shows the color a little better. I know, my squares aren't perfect, but I don't like taking HOURS to do a project, that takes all the fun out for me and I think it looks great to me...gives it personality! ha. It's for a boy anyway, so who's to say I wasn't going for a "rough" look.
Here's a close up of Katie's board. Her's is "supergirl" material. I got black "girly" ribbon and used white thumbtacks for her's. I even got out some cards to make sure it would work okay.
Here are Katie and Noah wearing headbands they wanted to make out of the scraps.
For some reason the headband inspired Noah to skate. He took quite a fall shortly after this photo.
So, those were my projects for the weekend. What did you do?

God Stop Sunday

God Stop Sunday participants:
Bethany, at Living, Learning, Laughing, Loving
Karen, at Hallelujah Anyhow!

Well, I only got one participant last week, but hopefully more will join us! The idea is Savoring The Observable Presence of God... God STOP. How has God Stopped by in your life this week? I find it to be such a faith builder to hear testimonies of how God is showing up to help people...all the time, right on time...every time! If you want to join, please leave a link to your God Stop Sunday post and I will add it to THIS BLOG so we can all lift each other up today! Feel free to take the photo and use it too!

For me....something very specific comes to mind. I was leaving the McDonald's drive through...trying to turn left across in a four lane very odd pull out....the lanes shift at the particular point where I was pulling out...anyway, it is hard to explain. There was a truck behind me and the driver honked their horn because I guess I sat there for more than 10 seconds and so as soon as I could go across the on coming traffic from the left I pulled on out, and misjudged the traffic coming from the right and skipped a lane or something anyway, there was a car RIGHT THERE and if I had pulled one millimeter further over we would have totally collided. God saved us right in that second from a major accident because there were cars everywhere. It really took my breath away and all I could say was "THANK YOU GOD" for timing all of this traffic so that no one got hurt!

Today as I was coming home from Cartersville I saw a terrible accident. Well, it was the aftermath of an accident. I couldn't even see the cars, but what first got my attention was a helicopter that had landed right on the interstate! There were police cars, firetrucks, but you couldn't see the actual cars from the accident they were all off the road I assume. The helicopter was from Children's Healthcare. I don't know what happened or who was involved in that accident, but it just really got to me and I started praying for them. I know it sounds crazy for this to be a "God Stop" but for me, God was truly stopping by to tell me to pray for them. Someone's child or baby was in that accident and hurt badly enough to require an airlift. Maybe those people didn't have someone to pray for them. Maybe the people who would pray for them just hadn't heard, or were in too much shock.
Isn't it good to know that God is watching out for you, even if you aren't the one who is spared from the accident as we were yesterday, but that He is stopping people, even strangers....and listening to their prayers for you and you may never even know!

How often does God Stop for us and we never even know it? That's what I am enjoying about the whole sharing thing I hope to start here. Building your faith daily and weekly, to draw on in those times when we think we have been overlooked....we haven't...we just don't know it yet!

Song for March...

Turn up the sound and enjoy the song for March chosen by the comment contest winner: Heathcliff.
He chose "Promentory from The Last Of The Mohicans Original Motion Picture Score."
I have actually never watched this movie (okay, maybe I saw parts of it at school one time), but I have listened to parts of the soundtrack from Corey's Ipod. I really like this one, it is a great choice and I will enjoy listening to it.
What about you? Like the song? What about the movie...is it worth watching?

Enjoy and Happy weekend!

Winners all around!

First of all, I would like to say thank you to the FIVE people out of approximately 130 hits since Monday who actually commented after my pathetic plea for comments.....
I have listed everyone in order of comment on a piece of paper and used random.org to generate my winner....
and the winner is........integer (entry) # 4:

HEATHCLIFF! Also known as: Chris, my brother.

Chris, your prize is.......a song! In honor of Chris being the winner of the comment contest, there will be a song playing for the rest of the month on my blog and HE gets to pick the song! So, Chris, leave a comment with your choice of song and/or group and I will get it going ASAP.

Now, on to the other winner of the day: ME!

I recently have organized my coupons in a binder. This truly made it much easier to find my coupons when making my grocery list using www.thegrocerygame.com and www.couponmom.com. I made my list, checked it twice, and headed to Kroger early this morning. I am quite proud of my savings this week. Although my TOTAL bill isn't getting lower YET, I AM saving more, which means I am getting more "stuff" for my money.
My super low price this week was on vitamins. I get the kids the Disney gummies vitamins and they were on sale this week buy one get one free ($6.99 each). Kroger had also printed me coupons for $4 off 3 bottles, and $2.50 off one bottle. SO....if my math is correct, I ended up getting the vitamins for $1.87 each! AWESOME!

Here's the weekly breakdown:

Total: $235.50 (this is approximate, I know tax would be different)
Kroger Sale Savings: $ 73.19
Coupons: $ 30.39
Total Savings: $ 103.58
Final Total: $131.92

According to the bottom of the receipt, that amounts to 45% savings!

I have to say I am pretty happy about that! Hopefully that total bill will be going down eventually.....somehow... I've got to be stocking up on something right?! ha ha!

Lurk No More!

I know you are out there.....you .......LURKERS!!!!
Those of you out there....reading this blog.... contemplating its many mysteries....laughing over the little stories I relate about the kids or life or just whatever is on my mind.

You come...and you read....and I have to install a map to trace your comings and goings....have to install a visit tracker...because if I had not done those things...for all I know Bethany, my mother in law...and every once in a blue moon another single person will comment and those would be all I know of regular readers :(

Ha ha....yeah. I am kidding....sort of.
No, really...why don't you regular readers leave me a comment today (and other days too, don't be shy)?
I wonder how many I can get. Just for my own reference...out of curiosity.

What if I did like the public television station and once a quarter I interrupt all my regularly scheduled posts with begging and pleading for donations? Would that help? Well...instead of "donations" I will only humbly ask for a comment. How about that?

Would a prize help? I might could dig one up...let's go for it!

Everyone who comments will be entered to win. For your comment, give me your best excuse for not commenting more often :) If you do comment often, then good for you I am sure you will be able to think of your own comment obviously.

The prize? Intangible, but very special!
Intrigued? Leave a comment and take a chance! YOU COULD BE A WINNER!

Stop HIDING behind your COMPUTER!!!!

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