2 posts in one day!
So we went by the house today, O my goodness! We go almost daily now because we love to see how it's coming along. The builder is incredible. He's got it together. The house is always bustling with contractors. It is almost finished. Yesterday the driveway and sidewalks were completed, today they were laying sod, and clearing out the surrounding lots (he's building other houses on the culdesac). I almost cried walking up to the house. I'm so happy I can hardly stand it. I may be crazy, but this is the most calm I've ever felt about anything in my life and it's one of the biggest purchases we'll ever make. I just feel like God has lead us here. There have been so many things that have just seemed to "fall into place." It's really a blessing and we pray with this house as we always do that it will be a place where God is praised and glorified by all who enter.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Coupon Mama
So I kind of have fetish or an obsession with saving money! I love to get our everyday items and groceries cheaper than the retail value... a lot cheaper! I did some coupon-ing in Marietta because it was easy. My favorite stores, Kroger & Publix were less than a mile from our house and we had the awesome coupon-packed ajc available every Sunday, as well as 2 separate newspapers thrown in our yard each week.
I thought those days were over when I moved to Troy. Not many good coupons and not as easy to get them, but I wasn't looking in the right places. Thanks to some coupon-fanatics online, I have found lots of good deals lately.
Yesterday, I went to CVS, coupons and their weekly ad in hand. I signed up for a CVS card and took it to their little coupon center in the store to scan it and out pops a $5 off $15 purchase. That sure came in handy. The trick is to buy ONLY the things on sale and ONLY when you have a coupon and STOCK UP! You won't be able to do this all the time, but most of the time you can. I have decided to set a budget for each week and hit the stores for the deals. Back to CVS, I ended up with:
4 boxes of cereal (2 lg. cherrios & 2 cinnamon toast crunch)
2 boxes of puffs tissues
1 tube of colgate toothpaste
1 olay body wash
2 olay facial cleansers
for free, yes FREE!
My total was $17 (I have a $15 rebate for the olay & $2 ECbucks to use at CVS next time)
I had a coupon on every item, the $15 rebate from olay, my coupon from CVS and the ECbucks.
This was my best trip yet. I've had some good days at the grocery store, but none like this. I think my total should have been somewhere around $40.
This does take a lot of time, but there are blogs out there that can save a lot of that for you. They do all the work. Here are some of my favorites:
http://www.southernsavers.com/
http://thekrazycouponlady.com/
http://www.coupontom.com/
http://www.afullcup.com/
Happy coupon-ing!
Lauren
I thought those days were over when I moved to Troy. Not many good coupons and not as easy to get them, but I wasn't looking in the right places. Thanks to some coupon-fanatics online, I have found lots of good deals lately.
Yesterday, I went to CVS, coupons and their weekly ad in hand. I signed up for a CVS card and took it to their little coupon center in the store to scan it and out pops a $5 off $15 purchase. That sure came in handy. The trick is to buy ONLY the things on sale and ONLY when you have a coupon and STOCK UP! You won't be able to do this all the time, but most of the time you can. I have decided to set a budget for each week and hit the stores for the deals. Back to CVS, I ended up with:
4 boxes of cereal (2 lg. cherrios & 2 cinnamon toast crunch)
2 boxes of puffs tissues
1 tube of colgate toothpaste
1 olay body wash
2 olay facial cleansers
for free, yes FREE!
My total was $17 (I have a $15 rebate for the olay & $2 ECbucks to use at CVS next time)
I had a coupon on every item, the $15 rebate from olay, my coupon from CVS and the ECbucks.
This was my best trip yet. I've had some good days at the grocery store, but none like this. I think my total should have been somewhere around $40.
This does take a lot of time, but there are blogs out there that can save a lot of that for you. They do all the work. Here are some of my favorites:
http://www.southernsavers.com/
http://thekrazycouponlady.com/
http://www.coupontom.com/
http://www.afullcup.com/
Happy coupon-ing!
Lauren
Monday, February 22, 2010
Wow! What a weekend!
This past weekend was really awesome, but crazy at the same time. Friday am we left for Marietta to deliver some supplies for a container East Cobb is shipping to Haiti. We had a car FULL of stuff Collegedale had collected (and all we took was a duffle bag.) We got to see the youth from EC as they were pulling out for winterfest. It seems like it's been forever since we've seen them. It was bitter sweet once again. We then went to unload. EC was using an apartment to house this incredible operation. They had a place for everything...and it was overflowing. They were on the second container and looking for a third. I think God surprised us all with the response.
Rick had Benjamin duty all day Sunday (which is the most difficult day). He has class, leads worship and just lots to do anyway, so he was quite the super daddy.
Today has been my day to recoup. I have rested, sat on the couch and painted with Benjamin. I bought some paint and canvases because it was on sale at Michael's last week and I thought it would be a fun project for us. I hadn't planned on doing that today, but he found it in the bag, so we did. He had so much fun. He would get so excited every time we opened up a new color of paint. I'm thinking that it's a good way to teach him colors too, later on. He was trying to say the names of them. Doubt he's getting the entire concept, but he was enjoying it.
I'm LOVING the weather today! It's gorgeous and feels great outside. I'm hoping to get all my laundry done today, b/c the machines are in the carport. Not a big fan of freezing every time we do a load, but I hate to complain. People in some parts of the world have neither washing machines or clothes, so we're quite blessed.
Our house! For those who don't know....We are buying a house. It's totally been a God thing! We found a great one being built. We got to pick out much of the colors, etc. We go almost everyday to check on the progress. I'll post some pics. It's really coming together quickly so hopefully we'll be in soon.
We're counting our blessings!
Love to all,
Lauren
Friday night we went to eat with friends at one of our favorite restaurants and had a great time catching up. We had to hustle back Saturday to set up for my bridal show the next day. I went all out on the show. We built a fence for my backdrop because I wanted it to have a rustic feel. It turned out just like I had hoped thanks to my handy husband, Anna Lauson (one of our students and my savior over the past week), and my mom who always bails me out. I hope it was successful. The show didn't generate quite the crowd I thought it would, but I still got some great photography contacts and talked with a lot of brides.
Rick had Benjamin duty all day Sunday (which is the most difficult day). He has class, leads worship and just lots to do anyway, so he was quite the super daddy.
Today has been my day to recoup. I have rested, sat on the couch and painted with Benjamin. I bought some paint and canvases because it was on sale at Michael's last week and I thought it would be a fun project for us. I hadn't planned on doing that today, but he found it in the bag, so we did. He had so much fun. He would get so excited every time we opened up a new color of paint. I'm thinking that it's a good way to teach him colors too, later on. He was trying to say the names of them. Doubt he's getting the entire concept, but he was enjoying it.
I'm LOVING the weather today! It's gorgeous and feels great outside. I'm hoping to get all my laundry done today, b/c the machines are in the carport. Not a big fan of freezing every time we do a load, but I hate to complain. People in some parts of the world have neither washing machines or clothes, so we're quite blessed.
Our house! For those who don't know....We are buying a house. It's totally been a God thing! We found a great one being built. We got to pick out much of the colors, etc. We go almost everyday to check on the progress. I'll post some pics. It's really coming together quickly so hopefully we'll be in soon.
We're counting our blessings!
Love to all,
Lauren
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Long time no see!
Ok, my last post was nearly 3 months ago. I really thought I could stay with this whole blogging thing but I guess not. I'm going to try to do better though.
The last week has been crazy fun. We had about 6, yes 6 inches of snow on Friday! Maybe a little sad, but that's the most snow I've seen in my life. It was so much fun. Benjamin thought it was pretty when he was being held, but in it, he wasn't a fan. You would have thought his feet were glued to the ground. He wouldn't move. It was funny.
Benjamin's not been feeling so hot these days which has worn us all out. He had a double ear infection and a tooth coming in. I feel bad that he's a little under the weather, but he's super dramatic. Everything is the end of the world. Yesterday he screamed and cried for 20 min.+ because it was time to put the toothbrush up. Today he wanted the sugar cookies I was making for the Heart Assoc. Bake Sale. Really bad. It was another break down. His crankiness is multiplied by the fact that he's not sleeping well. He wakes up an hour and a half earlier than usual and isn't napping. So I have resided to keep him on tylenol (every 4 hours) till he's better. Hopefully we will be over it soon.
I am stressfully preparing for a bridal show this Sunday afternoon. It's my first and I'm kind of going all out with my booth. Hopefully brides will be so blown away they'll immediately sign up for me to photograph their weddings. :) We'll see. I'm really getting excited. Maybe I can chill and enjoy it.
That's all for now, gotta watch Lost! Enjoy the pics. Check out the flakes on Benjamin's eye lashes!
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