Huntsville Botanical Gardens

I took Finley to the Huntsville Botanical Gardens the other day to take some pictures of her in her Halloween costume. She had fun walking all over the place. The little stinker does not like having her picture taken and will NOT look at the camera, so we mainly take pictures of the side of Finley's face for now. Thanks Julie for the Halloween costume! It is so cute!

Our chairs are back!

I had my dining room chairs recovered and it was tough having them gone. They were only gone a week, but we missed them! I LOVE the way they turned out! The set was my grandmother's and it was passed down to me. I wish I had taken a before picture. I bought some fabric at this great discount fabric store in Tennessee, but I really wasn't crazy about it. I decided (on the day the chairs were picked up) that I would run in Hancock and see if they had anything else. On the way to the store I was thinking that a big red and white floral would be pretty. What did I find when I walked in??? Exactly 5 yards (just how much they needed to recover) of red and white floral fabric for $20. It was fate!

HAPPY!

An awesome day!

We are having a great day! We got up bright and early this morning and headed to Publix where I had great success! I know I can do better, but I was so happy to have saved more than I spent! Here's what I got...

2 boxes of Ronzoni Quick Cook Penne pasta
2 canisters of Clorox wipes
4 cans of Hunt's Petite Diced tomatoes
6 cans of Chef Boyardee pasta
2 cans of Progresso bread crumbs
4 packages of Pillsbury Ready to Bake cookies
2 1/2 gallons of Organic Valley milk
2 bottles of Hidden Valley ranch dressing
3 lbs. of bananas
2 packages of Oscar Meyer Oven Roasted turkey breast
2 packages of Ball Park turkey franks
2 packages of Huggies baby wipes
2 boxes of Finish dishwasher detergent
1 box of Huggies Snug and Dry diapers

I spent $40.34 and saved $64.61. Yay!!! This was just the motivation I needed to keep couponing!

After Publix we went to storytime at the library and then the playground with some new friends. I returned some shoes to DSW and then we came home, had lunch and now Finley is watching Yo Gabba Gabba. I plan on putting her down for a nap and then putting myself down for a little tv/laptop time in the bed.

Happy Hump Day!!!

HELP! A question for CVS shoppers.

Okay, I am .06 away from $5 ECB and $9.00 away from another $10 ECB. Tell me if this is correct. The way people save so much money at CVS is that they save up these ECB and use them when something goes on sale and they basically get it for free. I'm trying to figure out if I should go back to CVS and buy another thing of paper towels or toilet paper and another shampoo or conditioner to reach the goals for my ECB. Then I would have a total of $22 ECB. So I could go right back to the aisle and stock up on whatever was on sale and/or gave me more ECB and go back again and again as many times as they would let me. Or I guess I could just wait and see what's on sale next week. Is that the way to do it???

Also, if I want to go back and use the $7 ECB I have right now to buy something to help me reach my goals for the ECB I'm close to, can I do that? Can you use ECB to get more ECB or no because you're not actually paying cash for it. Does that make sense? I'm starting to confuse myself...

Getting better...

I read on a couple couponing blogs that Rite Aid was having a great diaper deal and I needed diapers so I headed out once Joey got home from work. I went to a Rite Aid right by my house and as soon as I walked in the door I could see that the diaper aisle had been cleaned out. Ugh! Lesson learned. All day I kept telling myself I better go or they would sell out, but Finley has had a really bad runny nose so I didn't want to get her out. I drove to another Rite Aid about 15 minutes from home and they had plenty. They had diapers on sale for $7.99 for the 31 and 27 ct. packs. I got 4 of them. I had a manufacturer's coupon for $3.50 off 2 and another one for $3.00 off the other 2. Then I had a Rite Aid coupon for another $2.00 off one pack and a $5.00 off a $25 purchase. The total was originally $34.52 and after coupons it was $20.62. So I got 116 diapers for $20.62.



I also went to CVS. I got everything pictured for $45.19 (except the diapers). I saved $33.02 so I'm getting closer to my goal of saving more than I spend. When I went in to scan my CVS card I had a coupon for $5 off Halloween stuff so I got Finley a little sippy cup which she would not let go of for the picture and a bowl for Halloween candy for free. Probably the best deal was on Colgate toothpaste. They were B1G1 and I had two .75 off so they were .58 each! I am trying to keep in mind that I am still stockpiling and that as time goes on I will save more and more. If any of your coupon queens see anything in my posts that I'm doing wrong in my shopping PLEASE let me know! I appreciate any and all advice!

Tomorrow I'm headed to Publix!

Madison Street Festival

Last Saturday we went to the Madison Street Festival. We went with a friend of Joey's and her husband and little girl. We had a great time! The weather was PERFECT!!! We walked around and visited the booths, ate some yummy Greek food, visited the petting zoo and went through an inflatable obstacle course in high heeled boots. Cool, huh? They also had pony rides and I was so excited that there was no height requirement. The parents were allowed to walk alongside the kids. Finley loved it! She recently learned to say yee haw, so she said "Yee Haw" and "Weeee" the entire time. Finley had fun and she was exhausted afterwards. It was a nice little Saturday!

Yee Haw!



Joey gets out of everything because he's "too tall". I can't believe I didn't pop this thing with my shoes. Finley loved the obstacle course. She's very adventurous :)



Finley had a group of kids crowded around her blowing bubbles at her. Here she is telling one of them to blow more!



Watching the parade.



The petting zoo. I wish petting zoos would step it up a bit. Llamas, miniature horses, goats and pigs get old after a while. I'd like to see a duck-billed platypus or a koala bear or something.