Coupons, Coupons, Coupons!!!

So something some of you may not know about me is I like to coupon....I love a sale.....and I am frugal most of the time or so I think I am.....I guess Hubby would be the real judge of that one:).....anyway, during tax season I always get behind on my couponing and have to catch up. I have been caught up for a month or so now and getting back in the groove. Two weeks ago when I went to get a double paper (so I would have 2 sets of coupons) I almost fell out to see that they went up to $5.....ok, our double papers have only been $3.....so normally I get a double paper and then cut my coupons.....organize them in my 3 ring binder, go through my sale papers and then shopping....I have decided that once Jr. is here that she/he and I will let couponing be one of our outings each week....and we can just go up and down the isles (in the morning hours when the store is not as busy) and find all the in store specials that were not in the sale paper.....anyway....today I went couponing and saved 56%! Ok, I really like the percentage of savings to be higher than that but 56% is ok especially when I had to buy meat, bread, etc...things that I did not have coupons for and just was able to take advantage in the store sales... Some of the great deals I got today using my coupons.....

Free Toothbrushes
Ketchup for .39
Free Pump Soap
Rice for .09 per bag
Mustard for .50/bottle
Spaghetti Sauce for .68 jar
Paper Towels for .39/roll
Brownie Mix for .50/box
Free Seasoning Packages
Salad Dressing for .19/bottle
Crotons for .84/bag

Anyway, that is just some of my savings today! There were also some great meat sales today!

In My Fathers House Are Many Mansions......

Last Friday we attended a friends step-dads funeral. Since January I have attended three funeral and in the past year I have been to quite a few. I was talking to my friends cousin before the service started and she reminded me that at our age we will begin attending more and more funerals. The things said about this mans life were awesome. I just hope one day that my friends can stand and say wonderful things about me like were said about him and that my life will have touched so many people. Sometimes we do not know what God is doing at the time but I hope that God uses me to minister to others and that they can see Him shining through me in all I do. Although I did not really know Al that well I felt like that day I got to know a little more about him. One of the speakers read John 14:2 (NIV)

"In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."

Now I know so many of us have heard this scripture all of our lives but the speaker said something and I just thought "WOW", that is a great way to put it. He said Al had already made his reservation...and I started thinking what an awesome way to describe this. You know there are plenty of rooms available....and all you have to do is make your reservation by accepting Christ into your life and letting Him be Lord of your life. Have you made your reservation yet? I pray that if you have not that you will today....why would you want to spend eternity anywhere else?

I am still here!!!

I know it seems as if it has been forever since I last updated our blog. We both have had so much going on between work and our volunteer work at church and just life. Hopefully, I will get quite a few things posted this weekend. I am actually home sick today - I went to the doctor and found out that I do not have Strep Throat - that is a blessing! I have been around way too many people the past few days and would have felt horrible if I had spread the germ to them. It was just my Eustachian tubes stopped up - so I guess that explains the sore throat along with the earache....so they gave me a shot (OUCH!!) and told me that I should be feeling better by this evening - and he said even in a couple of hours.....we are approaching the "couple of hours" and I do seem to feel a little better - not ready to run a marathon but feeling better. So if you are wondering what all I am going to be posting over the weekend here is a little preview.

1) Last Friday night and Saturday morning was our Women's Retreat at church.....this year's title was "If Wall's Could Talk" - the retreat was great and the speaker was phenomenal.

2) Saturday night we celabrated Sadies 2nd birthday! Sadie had 3 of her "pals" over that you read about on the blog already and they all seemed to have a great time......I will post more about that later to with pictures of the party along with pictures of the invitations, and doggie treats, etc.....

3) Last night, we had our Early Angels Mother's Day Dessert - this is the 2nd year EA has hosted the dessert at our church and just like last year it turned out wonderful. This year, Bryan Doyle spoke on "God's Plan"....I will post more on that later as well......

I am sure I am forgetting a few things that I do plan on posting but as you can tell, I have a lot of pictures on my camera I need to go download so I can post them to the blog....... It is a beautiful day here.....no rain although I think we had tornado warnings last night.....since I have been sick today I really have not watched the weather but as we all know it can change at any given second......

Tax Season Is Over!!

Well, tax season has ended and I now have my life back, for a few months anyway.....I have really missed getting to blog lately but have several things I plan on blogging so now I have to find the time to blog in addition to all the other things I seem to have to put on hold during busy season. I have spent a good portion of today cleaning and will do that probalby most of the evening. I even MOWED the backyard yesterday and got up and mowed the front yard today....I could not wait to see what Keith thought yesterday after I did the backyard...so keep checking back becuase hopefully I will get back on schedule now.

Hello Everyone.....

I know it has been a while since I posted....so I thought I would post tonight. I have been busy with work as always this time of the year and then I have been flat on my back since Friday night! My back was hurting on Friday and then by Friday night I could barly walk. You would have thought that would have given me plenty of time to post but I have not even felt like using my computer (I know that is really suprising to some of you)! Having back issues this time of the year really does not fit into my schedule. Besides just being able to go to work I am suppose to be training for a 5K with a friend of mine - we are planning on running the 5K Memorial Day weekend. Also, this is not helping my weight loss program since I was eating whatever was brought to me....remember, I could hardly get out of the bed much less try and figure out what to cook. We do not have a lot going on here....we did have "Spring Storms" today....hopefully they are gone for a few days.

SNOW, SNOW AND MORE SNOW....

Ok, I told ya'll we were getting snow last Monday night so the pictures I am posting are from Monday night and Tuesday morning. We did not get an actual "snow day" but I did not get to work until around 10:00.....lots of accidents on the highway so I stayed home until it started warming up. You would not begin to imagine how much snow I had to shovel off my car on Tuesday morning just to drive to work....there was so much on there that I drove from our house almost to downtown and there was still enough on my car that a lady who saw me get out of my car ask how far north I lived to have that much still on my car....I had driven 35 - 40 miles at that point....and then we got more snow on Thursday....I left work early because the sleet had started sticking up here and the snow was falling and covering the ice....my neighbor told me the snowflakes that were falling earlier that day were as big as a half dollar!!! When I drove into my neighborhood, I could not believe it! There was even someone out "shoveling snow"....I am assuming they are not originally from the South since they had the actual tools to shovel snow! I am assuming it was a snow shovel....it did look like what I think one looks like. The only pictures I have from Thursday are on my phone....I will get those downloaded also and let you all see them....so here are the pictures from Monday night and Tuesday morning!

JUST CATCHING UP AND GUESS WHAT - WE FINALLY HAVE SNOW!!!!

Seems like it has been forever since I have posted. I have been so busy the past week or so. So much is going on right now not to mention busy season is here for both of us. Little Sadie is not too crazy about busy season as it means not as much play time for her...poor little pup. Luckily, she had a playdate with Elvis this past Saturday night and as always, they had a blast. Alexia (Elvis' mommy) took a picture of them playing together, as soon as she sends that to me I will post the picture of 2 way too cute little labs!

Believe it or not, it is FINALLY snowing here...only thing is they do not expect it to really accumulate on the roads....so I don't think we will be getting a snow day tomorrow but you never know...I guess I will have to wait till morning to know for sure!!!!

PICTURES OF SATURDAY'S HAIL STORM

I thought I would post a couple of pictures I took after the hail storm. These pictures were taken about 3 hours or so afterwards. Both of these are from the flower beds in the front yard.

SADIE HAS AN ALL DAY PLAY DATE

Today, Holly & Noel stayed with Sadie.....they got here around 10:00 this morning and they will be here for a while longer tonight. It has been a very interesting day because they could not go outside. It rained last night and today. Actually we woke up around 6 something this morning to golf ball size hail falling outside. I wanted to take a picture of the hail coming down and then Keith reminded me that it was lightning outside...maybe not such a great idea. Anyway, I did take some pictures aroudn 9:30 this morning, so 3 hours or so after the hail storm.....Sadie went outside and was in "Ice Heaven"....she absolutley loves ice!! Anyway, Sadie, Holly and Noel have had fun playing in the house today. Each time one of them needed to go outside we would put the collar and leash on them and take them out front. Earlier this morning, I had let Sadie and Holly out and looked outside and they were having fun in a mud puddle....anyway, both of them were covered in mud, (Keith was not too happy) so both Sadie and Holly ended up getting a bath!

Sadie and Holly are playing together right now as I am typing this. It looks like they are playing tug of war with a rawhide bone.