Farewell Address

Well, folks. It's been great fun. I've gotten some writing in and some deals up. I've enjoyed my first blogging experience.

But it's time to move on. I mean, literally move on--to Mexico, to be precise. We'd like to be there by the end of next month. I'll link you to the details on the whole thing later, but this post is about this blog.

There will be lots of traveling, packing, insurance shopping (probably the hardest thing ever invented), and good-bye-saying between now and departure. And somewhere in there I have to spend $36.46 in CVS cash. 

Since I expect to be more busy as a missionary and there aren't any Walgreenses in Mexico (I checked), I'm going to call it quits here. But before I do, let me inform those of you who have been here a while or personally know me that the toddler has added "Wahgeens" to his vocabulary just in time.

Of course, shopping wasn't the only thing to be written about here. It was actually ancillary in my mind to what gives me more enjoyment--writing about Christ and His kingdom. The conserving resources theme included monetary resources, but I especially wanted any readers I had to be concerned with conserving lessons from preaching or reading.

That's the writing I hope to improve throughout my life. So I am glad my husband has agreed to give me some air time on his blog every now and then. He set it up only recently, and (since we're not there yet) there isn't much information up at this point, but here's the link if you want to keep up with us. 

Thank you so much for coming!

Walgreens Battle Plan 03.10.09

Okay, if this works, it'll be a great deal.

$30- 3 Huggies diapers
$12.99- 1 Sambucol (never used it; buying it for the overage; comes recommended by Deborah)
$3.99- 1 Wal-Zyr
$2.99- 1 Walgreens Headache medicine

Subtract my coupons:
$10 Register Reward (from the last time I did the Huggies thing yesterday) By the way, I'm going to try using it though I've been warned against it. The cashier yesterday was UP on the Walgreens' policies and programs. She warned the lady in front of me not to use her $1 RR on the same product that generated it because it might not print another one. But when I asked her after mine printed, she looked at it and said, "If it doesn't say the product name on it, it will be fine. If it's a Walgreens coupon, it shouldn't make a difference." Now that she mentions it, it does seem like some RR's do say something like, "Thank you for buying [whatever]. Here's a dollar." Makes sense then.
2 $5 Huggies coupons
$3 Huggies coupon
$4 Sambucol coupon
$10 Sambucol ESQ

That's 6 items, 6 coupons. There's another urban legend I found to be true yesterday. I had always thought, "Walgreens never cares if I have more coupons than items." But it did yesterday, and my cashier understood the message she received whereas previous cahsiers haven't. It all made sense why I've had cashiers just bumfuzzled when the register tells them, "Coupon exceeds amount of items." They (and I) have just looked back and forth at the screen and the coupon. We were thinking "amount" means "amount." What "amount" means is "number." "Number of coupons exceeds number of items" would be a clearer error message, but my cashier knew what it was talking about. She made a few suggestions about which coupon I may want to eliminate, but I had been around enough blogs to be a step ahead of her. "I'll just buy these three gums for $.99. That adds one coupon and three items, right?" I think I may have impressed her. Especially when I whipped out the ol' Easy Saver Gift Card. She realized that, though she may be a pro, she wasn't dealing with a rookie.

At any rate, today I'll be better prepared. I'm using the Sambucol as overage, but that gives me another 2 coupons and 1 item. Hence, the monthly freebies today.

So, my total after coupons should be $15.97 (with tax).
And I should get back $7.67 on the gift card and $10 in RR's.
Which means, that if all goes as planned I get 3 packs of diapers (all I'm really going for) for $8.30 (I don't count RR's twice; if I pay with them, I can't count the ones I get back, right?)

We'll see if they have any size 4 Huggies left.

A Whole New Way to Think

"Things aren't always what they seem" is a pretty worn-out cliche, but the concept still intrigues. Much of fictional literature relies on the revelation at the end of the story that what the reader assumed was completely incorrect. Sidney Carton was capable of selfless sacrifice, Mr. Darcy had a great personality, Hester Prynne's lover was the minister, and on and on.

Yet even with our confidence that appearance isn't everything, we are consistently shocked to find that our powers of observation failed . . . again. Here is an example that has captured my thoughts for a few days.

Several years ago, I looked into an open coffin. Inside was the body of young man. In so many ways, he was just starting life. He had just graduated from high school. He never knew college, marriage, fatherhood, retirement . . . His life was swallowed up. By death.

That was the appearance. Here's the truth. He was (and all of us are) mortal. That means "killable." Without meaning to be morbid, I'll remind us that there are thousands of substances, objects, and events that could potentially end our lives. We're killable. But that young man isn't.

I didn't come up with this. In 2 Corinthians 5:4 the apostle Paul says, "For while we are still in this tent, we groan . . . so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life." It's talking about dying. The tent is our body. While we're in it, we're mortal. When we're not, when we've put it off, we aren't.

Wait. Who's "we?" Who groans? Paul's audience. Unquestionably they are assumed to be followers of Christ. Four verses later Paul refers to being "away from the body" as being "at home with the Lord." He is quite clear that not everyone's future home is with the Lord. But it could be. His aim in all this is to "persuade others." Persuade them of what? Persuade them to "be reconciled to God."

How then are we "reconciled to God?" We've got to exchange with Christ. We need what He has, and He took what hinders us. "For our sake [God] made [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

If you trade with Christ, you are reconciled to God. Your home is with the Lord. It's not here. So while you appear to be at home, you're away. And when you're gone, you're home.

So the young man in the coffin. We were heartbroken that he was no longer with us. But many who knew him felt sure he had traded his sin for Christ's righteousness. He was a follower of Christ. So, although it appeared that life was swallowed up in death, in reality what was killable was swallowed up by never-ending life.

Walgreens Battle Plan 03.05.09

Okay, Mama. This would be a good week to make it to Walgreens.

Here's my plan (in no particular order):

Ritz Crackers (on sale B1G1 free for $1.99)
-$2/2 Nabisco coupon
Blink eye drops $7.99
-$2 coupon in Sunday's paper
Colgate toothpaste $3.49
-$.75 coupon
Vaseline Intensive Rescue Something Lotion (supposedly) $2.69
-$1.50 coupon
Revlon tweezers (if they're $2)
-$1 ESQ
-$1 Revlon coupon
2 Sunsilk shampoo (allegedly) $1 clearance
-$2/2 coupon
And, if I get the nerve to plop 8 trial-sized deodorants on the counter, 8 Dove deodorants $7.91
-$1.50/2 coupon

I should recieve:
$7.99 for the Blink
$3.49 for the toothpaste
$2 for the lotion
$10 for the Dove

If all goes as planned, I'll pay $16.33 for the above and receive back in Register Rewards $23.48. Now, if I'm smart, I won't buy everything at once. I'll use my Rewards from the Blink to buy the deodorant, and so on. Since I'll probably need some stuff to bring me up to the amount of the Reward, I just might be persuaded to throw in. . .

2 Starbucks chocolates (if they have any left) $4 each
-$6/2 ESQ

Maybe (:-)

It Doesn't Seem Right

To be so attached to a grocery store just seems abnormal. But I LOVE the place. I mean, lots of stores have cheesy mottos, but at Publix, "shopping IS a pleasure."

Paul got a cookie, got to drive a cart. It went well. Now for my trophy. I wish I would have taken a picture, but well, it's a long story. Oh, you want to hear it? Well, this a blog, after all. What better place to share every detail of my life? Okay. It snowed today, and my husband got to go to work late since the bank didn't open until 11:00 on account of the icy roads. After playing in the snow with the kid, we had a late breakfast. But still I knew that was a long time ago, not getting a lunch break and all. So when I got home from Publix, it was like 4:55, and I knew I had to get started on the fried chicken right away since it would take like 45 minutes to cook. So, I turned on the grease, powdered up the chicken, and then put the groceries away. Meanwhile serving Paul a small snack since he hadn't had much since breakfast either. Can you imagine taking time right then to pose my groceries? Anyway, I'm no Keren. She's the queen, but here are the highlights:

Getting paid nine cents to buy tomatoes
70-cent bread
Two and a half pounds of bananas for $.67
The penny item was WELCH'S GRAPE JUICE! Not to totally rub it in to those of you who ended up with organic toilet paper, but this was the coolest penny item ever.

I got a rain check on the yogurt, so I'm looking forward to letting that purchase supplement another trip.

Check it out:
Actual retail price: $47.58
My cost: $13.81
My "savings": 71%

As always, thanks go out to Sarah at Fiddledeedee without whose help I never would have discovered how much a person can enjoy a grocery store.

Absolutely Never Again. Perhaps.

All the way through Bloom, I told Paul, "We're never doing this again." I admit, I may have said it partially for the benefit of some workers stocking shelves. But then I realized that I had a bad attitude, and it's not their fault really.

But duh. The second day of Triple Coupon Weekend after I had seen it promoted on like four blogs. What coupons do you think EVERYONE in the store had? What was I thinking dragging my poor little toddler out and expecting him to be good when I was having a hard time being good? No sour cream, no cottage cheese, no peanut butter, TWO Knorrs sides, ONLY turkey pot pie Campbells Chunky Fully Loaded, no Betty Crocker Supreme brownie mix. Okay. You see why I was chiding myself for driving all the way to Greer to triple my coupons. I felt like they had just announced a hurricane watch.

At the height of my resolve NEVER to enter another Bloom during Triple Coupon Weekend, I ring up a $16.46 purchase for $4.78.

Well. Maybe I'll try to go on Friday next time.

YardFest 2009 Anecdotes, Part 3

This was just wild. Guy comes up, starts looking at the seminary-level books Ben (as I mentioned, he's my sister's brother-in-law) has available. This reminds him of a study in astronomy he's been doing lately. So he and Ben strike up a conversation. Afterwords Ben (who was great about trying to pitch his stuff to potential buyers) encouraged the man to look around at the rest of the products offered. So the guy goes over to the electronics department and takes a look at the printers. (I believe I've alluded previously to the fact that there were five available.) He then produces from the inside of a printer a genuine one-hundred dollar bill.

"Whose printer was this one?" was the incredulous question of one of the day's employees.

"Ben's," was the reply.

So the dude was about to sell off for like five bucks a printer in which was stashed a hundred dollars. Not even kidding. He still doesn't remember putting it there.

So Honest Abe left the yard sale, not having purchased anything, but with a spotlessly clean conscience . . . You know. I should have at least offered him a Rice Krispy treat.