Requesting Coupons

Every so often I go through recent grocery receipts and request coupons from companies. I compliment a product and ask if they have any coupons available. This last week I've received a lot of coupons in the mail:

Schweigert, 2-$1 off

Nature Sweet tomatoes, Free package and 2 55 cent coupons

Gold'n Plump, 3-$1 off

John Morrell, 2-$1 off

Smuckers jam, 55 cent coupon

Cottonelle, 2 50 cent coupons

Klement's sausage, 4-$2 coupons

Frito Lay, 3 55 cent coupons

Land O' Lakes 3 55 cents off on butter, margarine, and cheese, plus recipes

Mann's fresh cut veggies, 3-$1 coupons and 3 55 cent coupons, plus recipes

Skintimate, free product plus coupon book of SC Johnson products

A bonus about these coupons is that often they have longer expiration dates than coupons in the Sunday paper inserts. Several of these even had no expiration date.

Nap Time

Oh, the bliss that is nap time!

$1 or less at Super One

Super One had out some big coupons this week, and everything in the picture was $1 or less.

Things that were $1:
Ragu sauce
Loaf of bread
Pudding
5 lb. potatoes
Orange juice
Eggs

Things that were less than $1:
Marzetti dressing (1st was $1, 2nd was $1.66, had $1/2 coupon, so $0.83 each)
Dole pineapple ($1 each, had 2-$0.55/2 coupons, so $2.90 for 4 cans, or $0.73 each)
Campbell's soup ($0.50 each, had $0.40/3 coupon, so $0.37 each)
Ramen noodles were $0.10 each
Pizza dough mix was $0.25 each
Cake mix was $0.50
Hot dogs were $0.50
Lunch meat was $0.25 each
Carrots (1 lb.) were $0.50
Kemps 100 yogurt was $0.05 (yes, 5 cents not 50, but a limit of 1 at that price)

It's always good to stretch the grocery budget!

The Mystery of the Missing Hamburger

Yesterday I took some browned hamburger out of the freezer to thaw for supper tonight. When I went to the fridge to take it out today, I could not find it anywhere. I looked through both refrigerators and freezers at least three times each, called Barry to see if he knew where it could be, and started to think I was losing my mind and had already used it. I kept looking, though, because I didn't want to find it, rotting and smelly, days or even weeks later.

Finally I found it in the cupboard with the pots and pans. Who knows which kid put it there (I suspect Remy), but since it had been there overnight, I couldn't use it. Good thing I had more hamburger in the freezer!

Remy Turns 2

Yesterday was Remy's 2nd birthday. It was a pretty low-key day, but he did get chocolate cake and a new Diego DVD, among other things. Here he is not keeping his hands off the cake, and getting a birthday hug from Raina.

Turkey Dinner

Well, I finally feel like I'm starting to come out of the fog that is late pregnancy/life with a newborn. Ollie is settling into a bit of a sleeping routine at night, sleeping from about 9 p.m. to midnight and then until around 4 a.m. again. He also takes a good long late morning nap, allowing me to get some things done around the house. I bought a turkey (on sale, of course) recently, and decided yesterday would be a good day to have turkey dinner.
We had turkey, homemade stuffing, mashed potatoes and corn, with cherry crisp for dessert. It all turned out great, and now we have some awesome leftovers, too!


Now I have to go make Remy's birthday cake. Two years old already!

Bath Time

Ollie loves taking a bath:

Deals of the Day

Jackson didn't have school today, so I decided to be brave and take all 4 kids grocery shopping with me. I knew Jackson could push the cart for the groceries while I pushed a cart with Remy and Ollie in it. I had my detailed list and coupons all ready, and we were out the door by 10 a.m.
First we went to Pamida because they had double coupons again this week. I ended up getting free Huggies wipes (on sale for $1.99, $1 coupon doubled made them free), Trident gum ($1.17 with $0.75 coupon, meaning they paid me $0.33 for the gum) and cheap Old Spice deoderent (on sale 2/$5 with $1 coupon, so they ended up being $1.50 each). I also got $2 off Advil, razors and Cover Girl makeup.

Then we went to Super One. I had coupons from a Kraft Foods internet game for a free box of Nabisco crackers, free Kraft cheese, and free Planters product. By shopping sales and using other coupons, I saved a total of $75, or 28% of my grocery bill. The kids were surprisingly well-behaved: Ollie slept the whole time, Remy didn't try to get out of the cart, Raina didn't dawdle, and Jackson did a great job keeping up and pushing the heavy cart around.

We went to Subway for lunch because Jackson had a certificate from school for a free kid's meal, and I knew Ollie would want to eat before we made it home. Ollie was sleeping when we got home, so I got the groceries put away with Raina's help, laundry sorted, and dishes done. All in all, a pretty productive day.

Smiling

Ollie has been smiling for a couple of weeks now, but these first smiles are tough to capture on camera. They're so cute and just melt my heart. This is the best I've captured so far. He's growing so fast! He's already starting to wear size 3-6 months clothes.

Six Weeks

It's hard to believe that Ollie is six weeks old already! Time flies when you're sleep deprived. He's starting to smile and coo, and is awake for longer periods during the day. Anyway, someone wanted to see a picture of him, so here's the 12+ pounder: