What a lovely spring day it is!

“God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone,

but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars.”

~Martin Luther

Great Buy This Week . . .

Today's Rite Aid purchases turned out to be better than I had planned.  Out of pocket, I spent $10.78 after coupons for my first transaction (4 Nivea body washes and 2 Little Colds) and received $11.00 in UP rewards, and will get $2 in single check rebates.  Then my second transaction (2 pkgs. Scott Toilet Paper, 3 Dixie plate pkgs., 2 Lysol wipes and 2 boxes Mr. Clean erasers) totaled $6.46 after coupons and rolling over the UP rewards from the first transaction, and I received a $10 UP rewards to use next time.  

So, after spending $17.24 out of pocket, I have $10 in UP rewards and expecting $2 in SCR.  That equates to $5.24 for everything!  (And we really needed toilet paper!)

All items were on sale.  Here are the coupons I used:

1st transaction:
$3 off $15 purchase (from bottom of last weeks receipt)
(4) $3 Nivea manf. coupons
(2) $1 Little Remedies manf. coupons

2nd transaction:
 $3 off $15 purchase (from bottom of another receipt)
$5 off 3 Dixie plates - a Rite Aid Video Values from last month
(2) $.75 Magic Eraser manf. coupons
(2) $1.00 Scott tp manf. coupons
(2) $1.50 Lysol printables (like it on facebook)
$1.00 Lyson - a Rite Aid VV from this month
$11 in UP rewards from 1st transaction

Thankful

Today was a very good day.  It is my birthday!  My husband bought me a very nice piece of pottery and filled it with roses.  One of my daughters woke up early to bake me my very favorite recipe - super easy chocolate cake (with honey crystals - yum).  Another worked diligently on finishing up the laundry for the week and vacuuming and mopping weeks worth of dust from the floors.  My little one made me a sweet card - inside a line of colorful smiley-face stickers, outside cat stickers with some peeled off so she could "gaw a wivewr."  "Bon appetit" adorns a beautiful linen towel with embroidered fork and spoon.  I can't wait to use my new potholder, made from the same linen and dressed with gathers of blue.  Very soft.  The girls had been secretly working on them a little at a time for days.  My mother in law gave me three beautiful fashion prints framed in gold with pretty blue mats - ladies from the 1800's.  I love them.  She also gave me a check for "one for each year."  I think I'll trade it in for a watch - I want to be careful to redeem the time.  My sweet mother bought me the corner cabinet I had seen at an estate sale.  My friend treated me to a white chocolate mocha.  A crowd secretly gathered together to sing the happy birthday song.

Today was a very good day.  But it's not all that pretty stuff that matters.  It's the love that went into every thought and deed, every loving act of service.  Yes, I recognize all the MEs and MYs preceeding.  That's why I am most grateful to Him who saved me from myself!  I don't deny that I would have many happy returns of the day.  Yet I am one day closer to standing in the presence of the Creator of the Universe!  What can compare?

Christmas 2010

Shimmering Snowflake Christmas 5x7 folded card

Make a statement with custom Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Greetings from the Coast

Happy Thanksgiving to you!

(All 9 of you! Maybe you won't see this ~

it's been so long since I've posted anything that you've probably lost interest!)

Our family is enjoying several days at the coast.  The weather has been beautiful.  I've actually been able to catch up on some reading and mending.  I'm working on a new smocked dress for Melissa Anne and hope to have it finished before the year ends.  Can you believe it's almost Christmas?  The days pass so quickly. 

We also hit a few goodwills nearby and the girls found some nice tops.

Lillian and I hit CVS for several freebies.  I went in with $10 in extra bucks, spent $5 out of pocket, and left with $14.20 in extra bucks, plus everything pictured.  (Not to discourage anyone, but it did take 5 transactions.)  I was trying to avoid spending anything out of pocket, other than tax of course.  Coupons used were $0.30 for the Carmax, $1.00/2 for Herbal Essence, $1.00 for the Eucerin and $1.00 for one Colgate.  So basically, I spent $0.80 for $65.00 worth of goods!  (That is the "on sale" price.)

Several of these items will make great stocking stuffers!

What great deals have you found recently?

Here are two . . .

. . . of my favorite photos from our recent mountain trip. Daddy raised her up on his shoulders so she could be near the beautiful maple leaves.

I'm sorry for not posting lately!

In case you happen by Harris Teeter, you can pick up some FREE rice this week during Super Doubles. Frozen Minute Rice has $1.00 peelies on the package and the price is $2.00 per bag. In town here you can find them on the bottom shelf between the bagged veggies and the pasta. Look for either broccoli and cheese, brown or regular white rice. You know what? I didn't even check the ingredients, can you believe it? I hope there aren't any hydrogenated oils on that list! Quick, let me run downstairs to see . . . oh good. Just whole grain brown rice and water. I can't vouch for the broccoli and cheese variety though, although I'm sure it tastes good! (Don't let your taste buds fool you.)

My savings this morning were pretty good. Total before coupons was around $75.00 and after coupons came to $33.50. Twelve dollars was spent on bathroom tissue. There haven't been any great deals on TP lately. Today I used a rain check and combined that with $1.00 peelies found on Quilted Northern 9 Mega Rolls. Bought 3 at $4.00 each. There have been better deals.

One more thing, check to see if the 32 oz. Kefir probiotic yogurt drink is an evic special FREEBIE for your household. The strawberry flavor is yummy!

Our Friendly Rite Aid Store

Today we used coupons to purchase the following at Rite Aid. Total cost was $2.35, but you might could do better with additional coupons! Some items, like the men's Nivea body wash, cereal and toothpaste, printed out Up Rewards which were used for two of the three transactions. Two packages of rite aid brand invisible tape (three in each pkg.) didn't make it into the photo. We really needed some tape, so I was happy for these. These last three tubes of toothpaste were moneymakers and helped me to qualify for a $10.00 RA gift card that I should get in the mail soon (Oral Care Rebate #560 which runs through 09/25/10).

It's great to get free stuff from RA,
and it's even better when they pay you extra
for taking home enough of it!

If you would like to purchase any of these, here's what I did:

Note: You must scan your Wellness Card at the beginning of each transaction!
These deals are good through Saturday ~ exception ~ the oral care rebate runs till 9/25. I began with $3.00 in UP rewards.

1st transaction:

1 Ace athletic tape $3.99
1 Total Advanced tpaste $3.00
1 RA Tugaboo Trial size diapers $0.89
2 Kell Corn Flakes $4.00
2 RA 3pk invs. tape BOGO free $3.49
Total before q's $15.37

LESS Coupons used:
Weekly RA flyer in-ad q for Ace $4.00
Colgate manf. q $1.00
RA Tugaboo q found in trial size package $1.00
Kell cereal when you buy 2 manf. q (Food Lion printout) $1.00
RA video values q on 2 pkgs tape $1.00
UP rewards $3.00

Total OOP (out of pocket) incl. tax $5.04

Up Rewards Received for use on next purchase:
for Colgate $3.00
for cereal $1.00




2nd transaction:

1 Ace athletic tape $3.99
1 Total Advanced tpaste $3.00
1 RA Tugaboo Trial size diapers $0.89
2 Kell Raisin Bran $4.00
Total before q's $11.88

LESS Coupons used:
Weekly RA flyer in-ad q for Ace $4.00
Colgate manf. q $0.50
RA Tugaboo q found in trial size package $1.00
Kell cereal when you buy 2 manf. q (Food Lion printout) $1.00
UP rewards applied $4.00

Total OOP incl. tax $1.77

Up Rewards Received:
for Colgate $3.00
(It should have given me an additional $1.00 for the cereal,
but this RA didn't actually carry the 15 oz. in Raisin Bran)




3rd Transaction:

2 Nivea men's bwash at $1.99 each $3.98
1 Total Advanced tpaste $3.00
Total before q's $6.98

Coupons used:
Nivea manf. q wyb 2 (online printable) $4.00

*Total OOP incl. tax $3.54

Up Rewards Received:
for Colgate $3.00
for Nivea $2.00
*I didn't use my $3.00 upr because total before tax was $2.98 so I still have another $3.00

Several weeks ago, I bought one trial size Tugaboo diapers for 99 cents. It had a $1.00 q inside.
Each time I visit RA, I purchase one with the old q, then take out the new q for next time. After I receive the $3.00 SCR for the invisible tape, my total w/ tax will amount to $2.35! Plus, I now qualify for the $10.00 Oral Care Gift Card!