Grocery Shopping for $50

I went to Bi-Lo and CVS last night to get the things we'll need for the week. I did pretty well.

I spent $42.88, saved $59.76, have a $10 rebate to submit and still have 5ECB.

You'll notice that I put that I shopped for $50 because I still have to buy 2 gallons of milk at Walgreens which will be about $6, so that will put me at $50. I've got some meat in the freezer that I'm cooking for dinner this week.

Overall, I think that's a pretty good haul!

One Up; One Down

Most of you have realized by now that I'm becoming fairly obsessed with finding good deals, and one of the best things I've discovered (come on, humor me here) is that companies will send you samples of their products FOR FREE! It's been fun to go out to the mailbox and find little packages with samples of things in them. It's also nice to try out products before you sink a fortune into them.

That being said, I tried two new things today, and one of them was fantastic, the other left something lacking.


The first was Garnier Nutriste Triple Protection shampoo and conditioner. The conditioner was thin and the shampoo too heavy. When I dried my hair it left them a strange texture. Now that my hair's been dry a while, the texture is back to normal, but initially it was coarse and hard to brush. **And just as a side note, opening those pesky packages while your fingers are wet is super duper frustrating. I think I may need to ask forgiveness for my anger.**

Now, the second Biore's Skin Preservation Dual Fusion mosturizer with SPF 30. I normally HATE any kind of lotion that has SPF because it smells and is thick and ultimately burns my fair skin, but THIS was FANTASTIC! It was light and smelled nice and I almost can't tell that it's on. It also did the job of mostrurizing my skin. The package wasn't the easiest to open, but at least my hands were dry.

So to sum it up, Biore = two thumbs up and Garnier = one thumb up and one thumb down.

What products have you tried that you love or hate?

Jakesaurous!

I think it's time to give the Jakester some love on the ole blog.

Abby had her birthday last weekend, as I'm sure you've noticed in the previous post, so sweet Jake has missed out on a lot of blog time.

He's growing, growing and he really wants to be a big boy and sit up and crawl and such, but he's just not.


Yesterday his first tooth popped through on the bottom. There's another trying to come in right beside it. I found it while he was chewing on my hand. Those suckers are sharp!

He's also learned to roll over and he loves to coo and chew on the cool teethers we bought him.

We lugged out the exersaucer this weekend, and that's a huge hit too! I think it's because he can sit up and see everything and it makes him feel like a big kid.

He naps in the morning and the afternoon and he's not a fan of rice cereal or solid foods, but we're working on it.

His six month checkup is next week, so I'll give you stats then.

Christmas Shopping in July!

Last year I was a little obsessive about getting my Christmas shopping and wrapping done early because I was certain (and right I might add) that Jake would be born right at Christmastime. This year I don't have a good excuse for my obsession except that we're watching our pennies and dollars and I'm trying to make every dollar stretch as far as it will.

That being said, I use one website in particular to help alert me to great internet buys. I probably shouldn't even tell you my source because you'll probably start using it too and all the great clearance items will be snatched away even faster, but I'm too generous not to share, so here it is - Hip2Save.

The author, Colin, is my age, the mother of 3 young children, and she shares awesome deals with her readers.

I'll tell you, I've already bought Christmas presents/birthday presents (depending on when I need to use them) for Abby and Jake, my nephews, my sister-in-law and my sister. I can't tell you what I got my sister-in-law or my sister because they occasionally look at this site, and I'd hate to ruin the surprise, but for my nephews I got a sweet deal on t-shirts at American Eagle (each shirt was $5 and there was free shipping) and for the Abster and Jakester, I got a few things at Disney.com and some cute, cute leggings for Abby in the fall.

All in all, I've spent about $50 for these presents. Not to bad if you think about it, AND there's some shopping over with and I didn't even have to drag my two monster...I mean angels...out with me to do it!

Yay for Christmas in July. You won't hear that much, so you better enjoy it now!

The Weekly Trip to CVS

This was a really great week of shopping at CVS because I was able to get some things that I really need - to answer the unasked question, no, we didn't NEED all the candy, but it does make great bribes for potty training, so I pick them up when I can.

I did need laundry detergent, toilet paper and most importantly makeup, so the trip was a success.

I spent $18.46 and saved $57.66. I still have 4ECB for next week, so I'd call that good shopping.

Oh, I should probably note here (since I got a few comments about it) I plan to donate about half of the Stayfree pads that I got a few weeks ago to a local women's shelter. They're not all for me! ;-)

How did you do this week.

Three!

At 1:14 a.m. on July 3, 2007, everything changed. Abby Elizabeth Looper came screaming into the world 6 weeks early at 2lbs 15oz. She was whisked away to the NICU where she stayed for 10 days, but she stole her mommy and daddy's hearts the first time they looked into her sweet, blue eyes, and now she's THREE!

What a difference 3 years makes.


I love you, baby girl.

Jason's Week Off

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that we had quite the week last week while Jason was on vacation. I'll dedicate this post to Abby since she was the one with the biggest experience, but you'll also see another post with sweet Jake.

First, we went to the dentist where Abby got her teeth "tickled" and "glitter" put on them for her birthday this weekend. I must say she was great. She wouldn't let us finish applying the flouride at the end, but I was just impressed she got them cleaned and let the dentist actually look in her mouth. I guess everything's better when you're sitting on Daddy's lap.


Next we went to the zoo.

Here's a picture of our zoo trip right after Abby turned 1:

And here's one from this trip:


I look back at these and can't believe how much she's changed in two years. I was thinking yesterday that I no longer parent a toddler. Now she's a preschooler.

Let me mention here that it was HOT at the zoo that day. Of course, it seems that it's been HOT around here for the past month!

On Wednesday we made a stop at Clemson to eat lunch with Aunt Heidi and of course to see the stadium. We convinced Abby to have her picture made with the tiger statue. I don't know that she's actually convinced.

Lastly, we got Abby's hair cut. She's had it cut before, but this was the first time she actually got any significant length cut off, and it looks pretty good. It's kind of funny because this was more traumatic than the dentist! You'll notice, she's on Jason's lap again - see what I mean - better.




There is one final accomplishment that I should probably mention. I think we're finally POTTY TRAINED! This didn't happen last week; it actually has been ongoing for the past month, but Abby seems to have gotten it, and that's a relief. She's still in diapers at night and naptime, and occasionally when we're on a long car ride or if we're going to be, I don't know, say, at the ZOO where the bathrooms are disgusting, but other than that she understands the concept.

So that's our stay-cation. It was a fun one.