Averting Disaster!

I was grocery shopping a couple of weeks ago and got to the peanut butter (aka our main staple) section. I went to grab my usual 2kg (aka 2 week supply) and jerked my hand back aghast as I saw the sticker. $10.99?!?!?!? TELL me that's a typo!!!!!! I dragged a bottle around til I found someone to price check it, and correct it! But alas, it was not to be. PB really did go from $6.99 to $10.99 recently, or at least Kraft PB did. I put it back and bought the Skippy since it was "only" 8.79 but it still hurt.Then it hurt more when they wouldn't even deign to EAT my $8.79 PB. After a couple of days of PBlessness, Lovey cracked and ate it. It definitely tastes different and I also prefer the Kraft but at $10.99, we're just going to have to suck it up and get used to a different brand.

Or are we??? Coupon Kelly is very resourceful! and I've banded together with other cheapskates thrifty moms who are on the lookout for deals and great coupon finds. Someone alerted me to a sale at the grocery store that started today. I made sure to stop in today as once this news gets out, the store will get swarmed and the shelves will be emptied! So, usually I pay $6.99 for 2kg but due to the peanut shortage, prices have soared to $10.99.  In the midst of this international emergency state of affairs, I managed to get the brand I wanted at LESS than the usual price. Oh yeah, I DID!!!!!!!!! That's how I roll :)))

ok, drumroll please................................. $2.99/KG

Thank you. Thank you very much. :)))

so we should be set for a couple months at least and hope peanut stocks rebound by then!

Another Day, Another Scrape!

Yesterday, Honey walked into a pole at dance class and banged up her eye and got a small cut. Very painful to say the least. So far, no shiner but you can see the cuts on the eyebrow and just below the eye. 

Today Lovey came home sporting this mess! She was playing "hockey" with another girl and they were sitting on the snow, sliding an ice chunk back and forth when the other girl forgot she was  holding it and turned suddenly when someone called her name. Lovey was just in the right range to catch it between the eyes. 

We can't wait to see what Sweetie comes home with tomorrow!

The other day, the gym manager told me she had a business proposition for me! She asked if I'd head up a cross country skiing group twice a week over the winter. There are awesome trails near the club that we can get on and a few of us did this last year. This year they want to promote it more to take advantage of their location. I am featured on the newest poster!!! (ok, well, it's just my name & email address but ya gotta start somewhere right?) I'm not sure what she meant by business proposition as I have yet to be asked for personal details required for payroll.... hmmm another job that doesn't pay anything, just what I needed!!!! LOL at least this one has the benefit of fresh air & exercise and other adult company!

 

Sweetie helped me practice setting my white balance in camera today using my new gray card! I can imagine your excitement at seeing how I've mastered yet another photography gadget/tool/overpriced piece of cardboard. :))) Well it's fun for me so that's the main thing!

Oh and guess who got their first cavity filled today? She might be directly above this line but I really can't say as she doesn't want ANYONE to know about this development. This morning I was writing the note for her to be excused so I could pick her up and she said "DON'T tell her I'm going to the dentist!!!!" Luckily our dentist only uses white fillings so there's no obvious evidence. It was very small and didn't require any freezing so she was in & out of the chair 10 minutes and $100 later. But you didn't hear this from me....

Coupon Kelly Hits the Bigtime!

Some people get hooked on the weather network, some get excited about cooking shows. Know what shows fascinate me? Extreme couponing. They also tend to annoy me because they're all based in the states so the offers, prices and deals are unheard of around here. 

Then, last week, bestill my heart, I saw these magic words on the flyer! "Double Coupon Days". They had my attention. It's a small pharmacy that I don't shop at often as I can usually get what I need at the grocery store. But for double coupon day, I was willing to make an exception. I had some great product coupons too!

$10 off Tylenol Back Pain

$2.50 off Sensodyne

$3.00 off Children's Tylenol

$2.00 off Systane Eye Drops

So at dance class last week, Teena and I snuck out to experience life in the extreme lane. (deal shopping is greatly enhanced with the right teammate!)

We scanned the shelves looking for the right products and I found almost everything I had a coupon for. We got to the cash and my total didn't sound as impressive as I'd hoped. She had rung all the coupons in as $4 by mistake. Then she took them all off, then she double scanned one product. Then she put in a $0.12 coupon. Then she put in the right coupons. Still seemed too high but I'd already made her check and re total it so I was probably just confused. I paid and while Teena was getting rung through, I checked my receipt. Aha! The $10.00 coupon wasn't $20. it was only $12 and none of the others had been doubled properly either.

I pointed it out and she explained that there was a maximum on the doubling. It could only be double up to an extra $2.00 off. A coworker in the background piped up "there ARE rules you know!!!!". Well obviously I didn't know but thank you for that helpful input. The fact that I questioned my total at least TWICE during the transaction may have been a good indicator that I was unaware how the promotion worked. That probably would have been a good time to throw in "just so you know, the coupon doesn't double if it's over $2.00, did you still want to buy xyz?". Nah, ring it all through and hope nobody notices. Oh I don't think so Ms. Pharmasave! Instead of saving time by skipping the helpful tip, now we've got to do a refund. So I returned the back pain meds (Murray said he'll just chug a couple beer if he has any more on ice collisions) and got cash back instead of crediting my credit card back. So they had to pay the full amount in whatever the fees are for credit card processing, they gave me airmiles on the full purchase and spent the extra time doing the refund. Apparently they weren't enjoying double coupon day as much as I was!  I used to work at a grocery store when I was in university and the manager always got cranky when shoppers came in and only bought the sale items. *(&%$^ cherry pickers!!!! he'd call t hem. LOL

Oh well, I saved quite a bit and got the stuff I wanted! Hopefully the grocery stores will start doing this too! (although I'm not holding my breath!)

We've got one dog-less week under our belts and there is still sadness and missing him like crazy but not nearly as intense and raw. I can get through most days without a crying bender so I guess that's progress... The girls don't mention him much during they day but still talk about him and pray for him at night.  Sweetie asked the other day if we could get a 2nd kitten now. Since our first cat is crazy enough to eat himself, I doubt it would be wise to bring in a small, defenceless kitten!