Life is Never Dull!

If you haven’t heard, Larisa, my 16-year-old daughter and I decided to “go” organic.  It’s been two weeks now and I must say, either I’m forgetting what chemically engineered food tastes like, OR organic food really does taste better!  We’ve had pizza, quesadillas, Southwestern Black Bean Soup, Beef & brocoli with Coconut Basmati rice, Newman-Os (Oreos), plus mint chocolate bars.  We have not been suffering.  We keep looking at each other and saying, “This is the best ___________ I’ve ever had!”  And we’re still amazed every time it happens.  It happened tonight with white cheddar and green onion quesadillas.  Totally delicious.

After an exhausting day, Rick and I were home alone at dinner and I decided to go easy and make homemade apple/cinnamon/flax seed oatmeal with blue agave syrup.  Again, fabulous.  However, while I was cooking, Rick asked for my driver’s license number whilst I was stirring the pot on the stove.  No, I do not have it memorized.  Being a homeschool mom, I do know my library card number by heart 1110003116554… but not my driver’s license number.  So, being the kind wife that I am, I retrieved my wallet from the front room and delivered it to him in the back room… while the oatmeal simmered.  “Please put it back in my purse when you are done,” was my single request.

Not long after the totally delicious oatmeal was consumed, some of our children returned home.  Larisa asked if we could go to the grocery store because we were out of quite a few organic mainstays… like bread and cheese and butter.  So we made a list, checked it twice and were out the door.  Can you already see it coming????

We shopped for about 40 minutes, taking our time reading labels and comparing prices.  Finally we arrived at the check out stand and as the kind checker was flinging our food hither and yon, I realized (out loud, of course) that I didn’t have my wallet.  Then I realized (out loud, again) that I didn’t even have my cell phone.  So the kind flinger handed me his personal cell phone and I called my dear husband at home.  “Remember when I asked you to put my wallet back in my purse?”  Yes, he did indeed remember.

They have these two black leather livingroom sitting chairs across from the check-out lanes at Safeway with a cozy table between them and a vase full of live roses on it… for sale, of course.  I’ve always thought it was odd that the chairs were there.  Well, I didn’t think it odd tonight as we sat in them for a half hour.  Even though I did not have pertinent purse particulars (wallet and phone) I DID have my electronic Sudoku game!  Yes! 

I did figure out that this was the third time in my life that this has happened.  Once in Blumenort, Alberta… the owner let me take home $126 of groceries and return the next day with the money!!!!  Once in Safeway in Phoenix… they rolled my whole cart into their freezer and I returned later that day with the money.  And tonight, while I sat in the leather chair playing Sudoku until Rick showed up.  Three times isn’t that bad…. in 23 years of marriage… and he’s only had to save me once!

My knight in shining armor did arrive and save the day and we all lived happily ever after.

This episode brought on a meaningful mother/daughter (generation gap) conversation that I will save for another blog.  Too much excitement for one night could be hazardous to your health. (I was tired BEFORE we went to the store!!!)

Bonus Points for Kid #3

My third child should write a book titled “How to Score BIG Points with your Mom.”  He has perfected this task as seen in the above photo.  Keeve was in the produce section at Walmart one day, and instead of making a necklace out of the twist-ties like usual, he happened upon the large, rotating, wire rack of recipe cards.  Keep in mind that he is ten years old…. and a boy.  To his delight, he found one for a Fruit Smoothie and removed it from the rack.  He carefully read the ingredients and looked in my grocery cart to verify that I had inadvertently gathered all the necessary items…. without telling me.  He’s so sneaky.  Strawberries… check.  Bananas… check.  Milk… check.  Yogurt… check.  Then he asked, “Mom, what is ar-ta-fish-ul sweetener?”  He’s so cute.

Since that fateful day at Wally World, Keeve has perfected every type of fruit smoothie imaginable.  And being that he gets excited and keeps adding fruitful goodness and ice cubes, the smoothie never fits in one tall glass.  There are always left-overs…. for mom.  Who else?  I think I’m his favorite person… right after the group Kutless.  (Goodness, the misssspelling drives me knuts.)

Every night after we pray together, I kiss each of the kids and whisper in all of their ears, “You’re my favorite.  Don’t tell the others.”  :^}  And they know full well that I do it to each one of their siblings, but it still brings a smile to their darling, freckled faces.

Affordable {FREE} Groceries

Another unbelievable week of coupons is upon us.  For those who don’t participate in Coupon $ense, please bear with me as I shamelessly brag about my grocery store savings.  It’s just too good not to share the diligence by which I’m saving my husband’s hard earned money.  It’s testimony time!

Today the store that sucked me in was Fry’s.  They have a Buy 10 Get $5 Off deal going on, with a maximum of 3 per transaction.  So here’s what I got:

8 bottles Powerade, 3 boxes Scalloped Potatoes, 3 Quaker Oats, 4 Mashed potato pouches, 6 cans evap milk, 3 xL liquid hand soap, 1 Hefty sandwich bags, 3 Colgate toothpaste, 3 Shick 10-count (cute pink) razors and 2 boxes Macky-Cheese.   THIRTY-SIX items should have cost $73.50 …………. drum roll please ……………. and I paid …………….. $5.31.  That’s a 93% savings.

You just gotta love a system that can save you this much money.  If you’re curious, you can check it out at www.CouponSense.com.  It is not available in all areas, but if it is in your town……. needless to say, I highly recommend it.  I get 3 Sunday papers each week + the C$ fee so I pay $30 per month for the whole schpeel.  I saved that twice over just with one trip to the store. 

I have cut my grocery bill in more-than-half from $570 to $250 per month for a family of five (plus a dog).  My pantry has never been this full.  I started C$ in January and I have tracked my savings all along on the site.  In coupons ALONE I have saved more than $1,065 and received more than $89 in rebates.  The other deal is knowing when the stores have their super sales.  Totally worth it!

I know you’re thinking I spend hours per week cutting coupons and filing them alpha-chronologically, but NO.  The site tells me where the best deals are.  I pick one or two stores every other week.  I clip the ones I need (3 at a time) and it maybe takes me 20 minutes every other week.  Well worth it, in my humble opinion.  And no, I don’t get paid to advertise for Coupon $ense, but I should.

I’m done preaching now.  (I didn’t think about the election for a whole 15 minutes just now!)