Finally - An Update!

It's been a busy couple of weeks for me. I had to hurry up and get my May challenge cards completed, think of some ideas on how to do June's, last days of school, graduations, a family bar-b-que...a couple of big cases at work...LIFE.
I hope all is well with you. Summer heat is here in California - we have had streaks of triple digit weather! The pool is nice, the grass is green, I got a great deal on popsickles at Wal-Mart, LIFE is GOOD.
Since it's near the end of the month, don't forget to check out your coupon sites and print off whatever you can, new coupons come out on the first. Also, Stampin' Up! has only two more days (today and tomorrow) of the Buy 3 Get 1 Free offer for their Designer Paper and Textured Cardstock. I am now taking preorders for the new catalog, so hurry up and make sure I get your order before they run out and are on backorder! Also, Monday is the first day of the Last Chance list - make sure you check it out and get what you wanted before it's no longer available. SU! is running some a great deal in June and I cannot wait to share it with you!
I had a great shopping trip at Wal-Mart on Monday. Should have taken a picture of everything I bought, but got busy with rushing to put it all away and get the kids in the pool before it got dark was a major priority. The deal? $54.16 was my original total. After a FAT STACK of coupons...$19.87!!!! I had so many $1.00 off coupons, so many price matching ads, IT WAS GREAT!! Now, I know I upset the cashier, and the manager that I made her call in to assist her. I would apologize but really, it was an instructional moment and the family behind me DIDN'T KNOW YOU COULD USE COUPONS AT WAL-MART!!! Now they know. Apparently, when you price match, the cashier has to manually enter the price rather than just quickly scan an item. What should have been a quick and easy 3 minute ring up for her, turned into 15 minutes. And she glared, mouthed words worthy of Palmolive, even the manager grit her teeth and objected - lucky for me I ALWAYS carry a copy of the store's coupon policy. So, the Nair Shower product (I found it too time consuming and razors would be cheaper -great for a person that does not have kids that poke their fingers under the bathroom door and ask every 30 seconds if you're sure you cleaned your bootie...) that was originally $5.69 - I got it price matched at $3.99 (thanks Longs/CVS!) and I had a $1.00 off coupon...actually, three. So that worked. Kraft had $1.00 off coupons for their bar-b-que sauce, and since it was $.98, I got an extra $.02 to carry over to whatever else I bought...and I had 4 of those (LOL - FREE BAR-B-QUE SAUCE!!) Kool-Aid was at $.20 a packet, and I had a local grocery ad that showed 10/$1.00 sale - and I had the $.50 off coupon for 10, so I bought 20...and used 2 coupons. The list goes on...Vaseline Cocoa butter lotion price matched and $1.00 off coupon, Tylenol, sugar, Oreos, Hot Dogs...we haven't eaten "junk food" for a few weeks because of our grocery budget, but let me tell you...the deals were worth it. And my kids were happy. I told my husband about it. He laughed. When he finally got home on Thursday and he seen all the Kool-Aid, bar-b-que sauce, chips, cookies, and sodas, he was amazed.
Lastly, I must share with you Dave Ramsey's Town Hall for Hope. It's available on Hulu.com (FREE TV!) right now and I highly recommend it. There are so many doomsday people out there right now, the media, for sure, is certainly keeping people lost and depressed. Maybe you have a friend or family member being effected. Maybe you. I know I have friends and family that are falling into the media's frenzy about what is currently going on in this world. But, I am choosing not to listen. I have decided to not to participate in the negativity around me. I choose to live a positive life, and hopefully to help others see a light, if even through a pinhole. That is why I choose to clip coupons and scour papers for ads that are relevant to my family. It is why I choose to listen to Dave, and it is why I recommend watching Town Hall for Hope. You will see and hear the facts that he has to share, and hopefully, get a glimpse at a different version of today. It is almost two hours, but you can turn it on and do the dishes while you listen; I cleaned out my purse and folded laundry. And I learned from it.
If anything you take from my blog - I hope that you find hope, peace, silliness, maybe a smile. I choose to make cards to try and put a glimpse of happiness into someone's life. And it's a therapy for me, time where I can create and inspire myself. Yes, I promote Stampin' Up!, and yes, I sell it. But if you ask me, I will tell you if there is a better deal out there. Stampin' Up! is about inspiring, creating, and helping. All things I believe in. I choose to promote Dave Ramsey because I know what his teachings have done for me. I choose to clip coupons, scour ads, participate in pay-to-clicks, surveys and mystery shopping because I want to make sure that I'm doing right by my family...paying off debt, saving, and teaching how to be prepared for a future.
"This is the only chance you will ever have on earth with this exciting adventure called life. So why not plan it, and try to live it as richly, as happily as possible?" Dale Carnegie