Things I [Almost] Never Pay For

I've had this post draft saved for a while and thought since I've been a little MIA around here, I would go ahead and share:

I haven't talked about couponing/saving in a while, but I've realized that there are a few everyday sort of things that I can always get for free or pay very little for.  So I thought I would pass along some tips.

(Here goes a list. I love lists.  I knew that before blogging. But I didn't realize most of my posts would wind up being lists. Maybe I should have named our blog Our Lists As We Know Them! Moving on....)

1.  Dental floss.  I am a Plain Jane sort of girl when it comes to floss (and many other things, actually).  It doesn't have to be fancy threads woven together to get the job done, so Johnson and Johnson's Reach Waxed Floss is what I've always bought.  But guess what? It is often priced at $0.97 (Walmart, sometimes Target), and quiet often there will be a printable manufacturer's coupon for $1.00.  When this happens, I print as many possible (2 can be printed per computer) and stock up, that way I never pay for floss!

2.  Cereal.  I love cereal. I don't believe cereal is a cop-out breakfast.  We eat it nearly every morning (not as much during the winter, but it still makes plenty of appearances).  At that rate, we go through lots of boxes!  Now, this one is not free but I do set a target price max of $2.00 per box (preferably less).  But have you seen cereal prices lately?! Four bucks or so a pop.  I realize this still works out to yield very cheap breakfasts, but I don't like paying that much when I can get it for way cheaper. Now, this takes a little more planning - watching grocery adds for BOGO or 2/$5 deals and combining these deals with coupons (usually printable ones).  But it's worth the little effort... and the strange glances when I roll up to the register with 6 boxes of cereal. :)

3.  Printer paper.  This deal is fairly new for me and I am so glad I've taken advantage of it a couple of times to stock up for school because I have to print a lot of class notes every day.  Staples frequently runs various deals on their multi-use paper where you pay for the paper up front and file a (seriously, Quick and Easy) rebate form online and just wait for your check to come in the mail for reimbursement!  I have purchased 4 (maybe 6) packs of printer paper and only paid maybe $3 total!  Definite score!  I think other office supply stores (Max, Depot) may run similar deals, just not as frequently as Staples lately.

4. Toothpaste. This deal is similar to that of the dental floss. I usually combine a BOGO sale with coupons to yield super cheap clean teeth!  These BOGO's are usually found at Publix or Winn-Dixie, and they often alternately between Crest and Colgate.  Again, I'm not picky.

5. Men's Deodorant. See, I keep Jesse in my deal-seeking thoughts, too.  RightGuard happens to be the brand that I ran across a couple of deals in a row for.  Which resulted in possibly a lifetime supply of deodorant for the hubs. I've gotten them as cheap as $1.25 each, which is pretty good considering regular price is around $4.00.  Again, this is a combination of store deals and coupons.

Do you set price points for items? Like meats or produce?  (Those are things I should really pay more attention to.)  Are there some things you're not willing to pay more for?

A new year

Hello 2013.

I know, I'm a little behind (as usual), but to my defense, we had quite the long Christmas celebration this year. We Christmased from Birmingham to Panama City Beach and enjoyed every moment (except the sick ones...).  Then there was New Years which we rang in with new Birmingham friends that we didn't even know a year ago, which we thought was neat. While waiting for the ball to drop we saw this commercial from Google which summed up the year of 2012.

It was so intriguing to watch as clips flashed by.  Then I though... I'm pretty sure I missed most of that during the year?  Where was I?
And if you didn't watch Felix jump from the stratosphere, you should watch it.  All 14 minutes of it. Yep. Do that now.

Now that you are blown away that someone has the guts to jump from 24 miles above the earth (and lived), I would like to say that overall we had a really great year this last year.  So much happened in 2012! It seems like so long ago that we were excited that Jesse was starting his last semester at Auburn, and our future (which is now our present) seemed like so far away.  Now we are settled into a new place, have made lots of new and wonderful friends, found an awesome church to be a part of, marked some things off of the Birmingham "to-do list", and I've just started my second semester of optometry school (I'll be outta here before we know it....maybe...).  Of course, our year hasn't been perfect.  There's been flat tires, ER visits (well, really that one is singular), tears of frustration over school work, and many more. But we enjoyed 2012, and I'm excited for the journey through 2013.

To begin the year, Jesse gave me this book for Christmas:

It poses a question for you to answer everyday.  Sometimes funny, sometimes serious, but it makes you stop and think through your day and how it went to reveal your answer to whatever random question is asked. And the best part is that each page allows you to answer each question 5 times - once for five years.  So next year when I start the book over, I will get to read through the past years answers!  It's a fun way to journal when you don't have time to journal. Of course the first question was related to the new year: "what is your mission?" So here are my thoughts on my mission this year:

1. more God. (more daily focusing on Him and his Word. for some reason my mind cued the song "i just can't get enough" by depeche mode...just those words repeated..not the whole song.)

2. more husband. (quality time really lacks when one is in professional school)

3. more enjoying the moment.  (i began to realize more and more this last semester.  time is of the very essence in my world, so making the most of each moment is important.  and I haven't always (and still don't always) known how to do that. because I am usually focused on what needs to be done in the future, what I haven't finished, etc., when I really just need to be productive in these moments and enjoy those moments while they are happening.)

I hope your year is already off to a great start!

Tis the Season

Hello there.

Remember me?

The girl who used to write nice things for you to read.

School really had the best of my time for the past several weeks as my first semester of optometry school came to a close.  Let me just say that you should probably appreciate all of your doctors a little more than you may, because professional school is intense....like no other schooling we've been through before; like no amount of studying we've ever studied before; like no amount of late-nighters we've pulled before.  Intense.  But my classmates and I made it through one semester with about 10 more to go!

Enough about that, you guys, it's Christmas time!  I admit I had a Scrooge-like moment due to putting Christmas shopping off until after finals then having to rush gift-finding.  I'm not the best gift-giver ever, but I do like to really put thought into gifts in hopes that who I'm gifting will love and appreciate it.  But the rush made me think what we do with Christmas is a little ridiculous - when it's focused around stuff and making sure everyone gets a lot of it.  Please remember Jesus this time of year and focus on Him for a while in the midst of it all.  Our church presented perhaps the best Christmas play I've ever seen, called Fruitcake.  It summed up Christmas just right, and how Jesus just gets thrown in the fruitcake mix of Christmas.  But of course, (not to sound cliched) He is the reason for the season - the ultimate gift that we should continue to be joyous over.  A little baby with the most enormous impact on the world - to save us.  This we should not forget. Any day of the year really, but let's take the time at Christmas to focus on Him with our families.
(If you want more conviction in your heart about what Christmas has become read the wonderful words of Jamie Nato, who I've referenced before: here.)

We tried to stay simple this year with our Christmas decorations.  One because we don't already own that much, two because we're too cheap to buy a lot at one time, and three because I was just too darn busy to pull it all together!  But, nonetheless we had a tree (however nontraditional) and I spruced up the mantle (oh, yes the mantel - I haven't even taken the time to express my excitement of the mantel that is now hanging on our wall!)

How to cheaply decorate you mantel: borrow garland from your mother-in-law; find cute trees at a yard sale; pick up some tealight candle holders from the Dollar Tree (for real!); and reuse ornaments from last years tree as accent toppers. 

How to make a cheap Christmas tree:  make your husband get out of the car at 10:00 at night to quickly snag branches from a neighbors stick pile and throw them into your trunk as you direct him as to which branches will be the best branches to make your "perfect" shabby tree; make circles with a circle punch and tape back to back around some string; lights optional 

Then we did a little bit of present opening between the two of us. Rather, I did some present opening. A couple of weeks before Christmas, Jesse ordered himself a new phone, which became his big gift.

Maggie helped.

Two person hammock.

Some of my digs.

Oh, and did I mention it was all done by fireside?

MERRY CHRISTMAS, everyone!

A Pennsylvanian Thanksgiving

On Wednesday of last week we made a wild dash to rearrange our Thanksgiving plans.  We made a last minute decision to travel to Pennsylvania to visit Jesse's grandfather.  He recently had a stroke at the ripe age of 95.  Jesse had not seen his Grandpa is ~8 years! (Can you believe that?!  Having all my family so close makes this a little unbelievable to me.  But it just hasn't worked out for him to be able to go through the past years.)  This also means that I had never met Grandpa!  So we decided to load up and make the trek northward in case anything happened.
Grandpa was so excited to see Jesse when we got there.  It was too sweet.  He greatly appreciated us coming so far just for him.  Grandpa amazes me.  Until this point he still lived by himself (in a retirement-like home) and got around pretty well.  (Although he made sure we knew that having his driver's license taken away was a very sad day for him.)  Anyway, he has black lung from years of working in the coal mines and clogged up arteries, but he keeps on ticking, and with a good memory too!  He recognized Jesse even waking him up from his rest when we arrived, and asked Jesse about his job and remembered that I was in school.  He was tickled that there will be a Dr. B one day.  He laughed and said, "Boy, we sure have come a long way!"  He slept for most of our visit, but by Saturday he had perked up and talked with us for nearly 45 minutes before we left.  It was a great ending to our trip!
There's not a whole lot to see near Girardville, PA except rows of row houses...

This one was the prettiest:

...but we did pull off and inspect a coal power plant that was located on an old strip mine:

We also went to the nearby town of Centralia, which literally caught on fire back in the 60's from a boot-leg coal mine.  The entire town was burning underground because of all the coal.  It was evacuated, except for the few stubborn people who refused to move and endure the coal fumes and risk of the ground caving in.  There is still underground burning today, and you can see smoke coming up in places. Pretty cool!

One highlight of the trip was our late night outing for hot hamburgers from Tony's.  I've heard about these hamburgers, known as Screamers, since Jesse and I started dating... 9 years ago!  Tony's is a local place that has been serving up hamburgers and hotdogs covered in spicy sauce for many, many years.  I found this online review and loved the guys description:

"Screamers are a legendary hamburger with Tony's hot sauce and onions with a buttered bun, just as described.  They are hot, no question about it.... The other Tony's staple is the Growler, which is a hot dog prepared in the same fashion.... The typical happy meal at Tony's is 2 Screamers chased by a guers Iced Tea or a Chocolate Milk. The milk seem to cool the bite of the hot sauce a little better than the tea.  The place is open from about 8:30 PM til about 2:30 or 3 AM. Despite the name Tony's Lunch, it is not open for lunch.... The sauce cannot be purchased to take home. The recipe is more secret than launch codes."

Obviously a local favorite- people line up down the street for these hot hamburgers, so we had to get one while we were in town.  Since Jesse or his parents were last there, they added marshmallow fluff to the burgers. Now, I know this sounds weird, but it was surprisingly good, and I couldn't have made it through the spiciness without it!

I got to meet more of his dad's side of the family, and we had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with them.  They had a few things unfamiliar dishes in their spread, like Mashed Potato Filling and Jewish Apple Cake. The filling is their version of stuffing, which as most of you know is really called dressing. :)  And the apple cake was incredibly moist! I need to get these recipes and share them with you fellow southerners because we are missing out!

Jesse's great grandfather owned a store front on the front side of their house many years ago, and it has their (our) last name across the front in beautiful stained glass.  So of course, we had to stop and take pictures!

Oh, and we had pizza at another local stop.  It was too delicious not to mention. (We are food people. In case you haven't noticed.)

High Five for Friday!

1.  We tested the effects of some ocular drugs (drops that would either dilate or constrict the pupil) on accommodation (which allows you to change your focus from distance to near objects) in physiology lab this week.  Erika was a trooper with her Pilocarpine, then could barely see to read the lensometer in the following optics lab. :)

2.  A much awaited package arrived at our door this week.  Halo 4.  Much awaited by Jesse, less so by yours truly.

3.  I snagged some AWESOME deals at Hobby Lobby this week on fall decor.  80% off before Thanksgiving has even passed!  I guess the 12 aisles of Christmas stuff they put out in July is not enough room.

4.  I read a post on a blog I recently started following, written by an awesome woman about her journey through this life God has given her and how He has helped their family through hard times- adultery and special needs children.  She's very inspiring and I love her writing.  Her post made me smile, you should read it here.

5.  We started a very eye-opening/encouraging/humbling video in our community group this week on discipleship and sharing Jesus- why we don't and why we should.  We've only made it through 1/3 of it (because it's 3 hours long), but I'm looking forward to the rest.  You can check it out here.

Christmas Card List Printable

From time to time I get really inspired and crafty, and I stir up my inner "graphic designer" and decide to create printable documents for various needs or occasions. Some of you have seen my "work" first hand through a few invitations I've created along the way (including my own wedding invitations).  I would like to start sharing those that could benefit others (making them good enough to share gives me practice at these creations).  I often get ideas from printables I find on Pinterest (see my whole board dedicated to printable things here), but they are not always specific to my needs, so I make my own!

And, since it is time to start thinking of sending all those merry wishes, I thought some of you may like a copy of my latest "printable" - the Christmas Card List!  I decided to make this to house not only addresses, but to check off who I sent one to, and who I received one from.  (Now, this is not to keep tabs on you all who don't send us a Christmas card.  I thought it would be interesting to see who does send one our way, and I can add to our list if we receive an unexpected card.)

(click here to download the PDF)

It is a 4-page document that goes up to #66 because that was what would fit on 4 pages, which I thought was plenty.  If you find that you have more than 66 loved ones you would like to wish a Merry Christmas, please let me know and I can email you a document with additional pages!

Enjoy!

High Five for Friday

Wooo hoooo!  It's Friday!   Some weeks Fridays are worth celebrating more than others, and for me, this week is one of those weeks.  Not because we have any big plans for the weekend, in fact the lack of plans is what has me celebrating.  School overload has occurred this week, and I'm just ready to relax!

1.  This past Saturday we had Thanksgiving with Jesse's side of the family.  I know, it was early, but it was really nice!  Those that cooked didn't have to fight the grocery crowds and we went shopping afterward without chaos.  We all loaded up and went to the Peanut Festival in the evening.  It was my first Peanut Festival and was directed to all the right vendors to get the best food from:  corn dogs from the corn dog man, roasted corn from the roasted corn man, kettle corn from the kettle corn man, and funnel cakes from the local band boosters.  The festival was complete with an exotic petting zoo and a sea lion show which was pretty impressive!

2.  We moved our voter registration not too long after we moved here, and finally got to really vote (in comparison to absentee voting).  Although the election didn't go quite like we hoped, we were still able to express our voice.

3.  More fall food inspiration: squash!  Spaghetti squash and butternut squash!  The spaghetti squash made it onto our plates last night, but I'm not sure yet where the butternut will wind up.  So many wonderful ways to cook it.

4.  On the way back home from our "holiday" weekend we were able to swing by and visit with a few friends along the way:  good ole Chase (and his critters), and the newly weds Jarrod and Jennifer who were even kind enough to prepare a lunch feast for us. :)

5.  Not such a great highlight, but Jesse was able to repair a couple of things on my car after having it serviced, which saved a lot of $$$ and now my dash is no longer flashing at me.  (He's so handy... when he wants to be.)