Sometimes I am a Dingbat

According to Urban Dictionary a Dingbat is...
A weird thing, person or situation, a person considered stupid or foolish.
A set of fonts showing pictures instead of letters.
Someone who attempts to provide a definition of the word "Dingbat" and misspells the word "retarded" in his or her definition.
A term used to describe a person (often a woman) who does not think before acting and most times acts on pure impulse.
Yes there are a few others there too, but...we need to recognize other websites.

According to Wikipedia a Dingbat is...
An ornament, character or spacer used in typesetting, sometimes more formally known as a "printer's ornament" or "printer's character".

And, last but not least...
Merriam Webster says that a Dingbat is...
a typographical symbol or ornament (as *, ¶, or X) nitwit or kook

I drove all the way to Gainesville today to buy Almond milk.  Not just any Almond milk.  It had to be Silk Almond Milk (unsweetened).  I choose Gainesville because I needed some Whey Protein too.  So...I gather up my money and my coupons.  Get it - coupons.  I bet you have guessed it by now.  LOL  I stopped at the first Publix along the way and discovered that they did NOT have what I needed or wanted.  Grrr....now I have to drive more into the city.  Did I say Grrr....!  So through traffic.  Ok, not just traffic, it was Gator game day traffic.  Yeah!  I check out happily with my Unsweetened Silk Almond milk and head home.  Secretly there is a half gallon of Publix Pumpkin Pie ice cream in the cooler too.  Shhh....  I finally get home and empty my pockets and find....Yes, Dingbat me, finds the coupons for the milk in my pocket.  Have I said Grrrr....yet?!

I think my "best friend", Webster, figured me out again!

My Savings Today

I have a few grocery shopping trips that I need to post but I wanted to tell you about the trip I made today. I'll post pictures a little later. My savings was a little more than 50%. I feel really good when the total I pay is 50% or less of what I buy.

The total of my order before coupons was $217.50

Savings = $111.51

Grand Total = $105.99 = this is what I paid

One of the neatest things to me was the fact that I bought 3 Bottom Round Roast. Ok - actually I bought 1 and got 2 free. Albertsons had a coupon for buy 1 get 2 free and yes, Publix takes their competitors coupons. Awesome deal!

I know, I know

I still have to post pictures. I haven't forgot! Today I had some errands to run. Yes, again! Last week I had to go here and go there and blah, blah, blah. This week is turning out the same way. Tomorrow...I'm taking it easy! Bible study in the am and a picnic with the boys at the springs and then swimming! Yeah!!!

I know, I know! I will get to it. I have a few extra pictures to share because today I stopped by Wal-Mart and I used over $40 worth of coupons. Thank you Lisa!

My second trip to Publix

When I first really started figuring out this coupon thing, I was able to buy Campbell's soup for 9 cents a can. I was just all wooohooo about it and had to post about it and brag about it and so on. I am to the point right now that I just want to clip coupons, print coupons and buy all this BOGO (buy one get one free) stuff and show off all the coupons that I printed and the minus sign on my register receipts. Yes, I am fully aware that was a run on sentence. LOL

My second trip to Publix...today. Yes, I went with Lisa. She helps me so much! I need to get all the info I can from her. I'm gonna jump out of the nest one day and do something better than 9 cent soup. LOL

I promise to show the proof later. I have the pictures to prove it and I intend to do just that.

Oh yeah! Today we had dinner on the grounds at church. We do that every 5th Sunday of the month. One of our friends said that they saved lots of money on the coupons too. They went on their own but they did a great job.

My first shopping trip was the best all around. Maybe because I saved the most money. Ha ha ha... But then again - maybe because me and the boys were so excited!

Yes, I'm planning another one!

Grocery Shopping

What a day! Yes - Grocery Shopping! I have put it off all week and finally today I had to do it. Grocery shopping really isn't that bad, it's just all the people. It always amazes me, no matter what time of day I go grocery shopping, it seems like everyone from everywhere is there.

My boys sure are a big help. They are always so willing to just jump in and do things at the grocery store. They pretty much know everything we buy and they just ask how many cans or bags or what have you.

This month they each have to fine a recipe and fix it. WW and JD has already found their recipe and yesterday they helped me with the grocery list. They made sure to have their recipes with them so they could add what they need to the grocery list. MJ just can't figure out what he wants to make. With WW and JD they have to make theirs from scratch. I think I will just have MJ do a box recipe such as a cake or cupcakes. I did buy a cake mix today that I want to use to make cupcakes for St. Patty's day. I think I will help MJ do that. I know that he will enjoy it and shoot, so will I.

I'm off to do a few things and enjoy the quiet of the house while everyone is asleep.

Black Friday

Were you out shopping on Black Friday? I wasn't! No way - no how! I refuse to subject myself to all the pushing and shoving, crowds and waiting in line. I generally don't even leave my property on Black Friday. However, there were a few things that we preplanned and we attended. Ha - and I didn't have to spend any money. With the exception of gas that was already in my car.

We went to the Hart Springs Pow Wow. It was free to get in. This was our first Pow Wow and it was my scouts first adventure. It was fun and a learning adventure. I am impressed that the scout leader arranged this for his troop.
After the Pow Wow we went to a birthday party for one of our friends from our homeschool group. We really enjoyed that too. Wow - our friendship is growing in our homeschool group.

Now...the reason I don't usually leave my property on Black Friday is because people seem to act stupider than they usually act. They pay absolutely no attention to stop signs, traffic lights, people walking or any darn thing else. It's dangerous enough to be out on the roads when everything is pretty much normal - but darn - throw in stores opening early, sales and gotta get it before anyone else does - and then it's just one big circus.
One thing about it - I am certainly not part of anyone's circus.

Patience

About 2 weeks ago, the boys and I were running an errand. I was driving in the parking lot of Walmart in search of a parking space. I was driving down one of the parking aisles and driving slow because that's what is proper to do and there were people walking to their cars or walking toward the store. I generally park pretty far away from the building because I think we all need just a little more exercise. I passed up about 4 or 5 empty spaces and started to pull into the parking space. The space was on my right side. I looked in my right mirror (as I always do) and out the window at the same time. I stopped quickly. There was a car that was about to pass me on the right side, in the parking spaces. I guess I just wasn't driving fast enough for the driver and they wanted to go around me.
Let me think for a minute here...
It's a parking lot, not a race track.
You don't pass on the right.
It's illegal and dangerous to drive through the parking spaces.
There were people walking around.

In my personal opinion, it just isn't worth it. It took the driver longer to almost hit me than it would have to just wait patiently behind me.

Saturday in St. Louis

Friday night found us in a motel in Houston, Missouri. The boys told me that they have never stayed in a motel or hotel before. They have traveled but the slept in the vehicle. What an experience for a kid. Never again for our 3 boys!
WW, JD and MJ thought the motel was top notch. They wanted to know how much it cost and if we had enough money and so on and so on...They just needed reassurance because of their past.

Saturday morning we all woke up rested and ready to go again. We drove to St. Louis and talked and played games in the car. Superman and I had talked and thought about what to do. Saturday was the boys day since they were so good when we had to do business on Friday for the property. We decided that we would take the boys to a really nice breakfast, then to Cabela's, then to a really nice supper and in between we would just play it by ear.
When we walked into Cabela's the boys couldn't move. They stood inside the main entrance with their jaws dropped open. They were amazed! We walked around and looked at all the animals and talked about each of them. I took the boys to the aquarium area and we talked about all the fish. Beautiful fish and HUGE!

Shopping! I am not a shopper. I don't do the mall! Nope - not me! We stayed in Cabela's for about 5 hours. Yeah - I know! I was fine though, watching the boys and Superman with amazement and having the time of their lives. The boys actually got to touch things that they had seen in the catalog that we get every month. Needless to say, because of the amount of time that we spent in Cabela's were weren't able to do anything else that day. I had wanted to go to the zoo and maybe take the tram into the down town area and maybe do a few other things. As it turned out, everyone had a great time and that is what counts.

Hotel - oh boy! I thought the boys were gonna fall on the floor when we checked into our hotel in St. Louis. It was fancy! Or so said the boys. LOL WW and JD were able to walk around inside the hotel a little bit (as long as they stayed together). They were in the lobby area just checking things out and they found a wallet. The front desk called our room to tell us that we should be extremely proud of them because they turned the wallet in to the front desk (it had lots of cash in it). They did a wonderful thing. When they came back to the room we ask them what all they did and if they had fun. Funny thing is - they didn't tell us about the wallet. We ask them if they found anything. "Oh yeah" was their reply, and then they told us about it.

We talked about the last couple of days, about what the boys thought of their plane ride, the property, the Osage Indians, Lewis and Clark, the animals in Cabela's and a few more things. I was pretty amazed at how much the boys actually remembered about all the history that we had seen.

Sunday morning we packed the car and headed for the airport. The boys remembered the routine from the Jacksonville airport and they were directing us on what we needed to do. We ate at a wonderful bagel place in the airport. I had to help the boys with their decision on what to eat. I think sometimes we take things for granted and expect the boys to know about such things that are common to us. They have never ate at such a place before.

Of course JD ask for me to sit beside him on the plane again. For some reason he just couldn't sit still. I think it may have been all the excitement of coming home. He was asking me how much longer we had and if it would be bumpy again. We made it back to Jacksonville safely and we made it back home safely. We all had a wonderful time and we were all ready to come home.

Birthday Shopping

What a fun experience! This was actually our second birthday shopping experience for the boys. The first one was all organized, by that I mean WW had written everything out exactly how he wanted it and so on. He is our organized one, right down to measuring his room and all of his furniture in his room before he re-arranges it. And to the point that he will drive me crazy with his measurements. LOL

JD is the one having the birthday this Saturday. He is the one that flys by the seat of his pants at 90 miles an hour. He kept telling us some things that he wants for his birthday but he didn't make a list. Finally today he made a list. Why? Because Superman told him we were birthday shopping tonight when he got home from work. So there JD went flying by the seat of his pants at 90 mph again. LOL

So off on the shopping trip we went. WW was allowed to go with us because he wanted to buy something for JD and WW knew what JD wanted. So he was given the responsibility of keeping a secret and playing an adult by keeping the secret. He really likes feeling important like that.

Superman was a real trooper while we were shopping. He followed the list that JD had given us and started thinking about filling the buggy up. Oh the wheels were turning in his head. We started in the toy section and finished in the sporting goods - That's were Superman really came to life, he was in his element. With JD being so much like his dad and having camo as his favorite color, there was no way that Superman could go wrong.

Saturday we will get to see JD's face light up as if it were Christmas. He has made the comment that he has never had a good birthday or a good Christmas. We intend to change all of that for all 3 of our boys.

Oh yeah - another early morning in the morning and once again into the city and into the "Not NASCAR" traffic.