Such an easy life

I have such an easy life.  Oh yeah, I get frustrated and things don't go the way I want them to and oh yeah, I get behind in my work and oh yeah, I want to have more time with my kids then I do, but man, do I have an easy life...

This realization took on new meaning when I was in Cambodia recently.  They often don't even know when their next meal will be.  I just got back from WalMart...for the 3rd time this week.

I have watched people around me in a new way since I've been back, most of us are not very thankful for what we have.  Almost as if we deserve what we have ...SO not true. I too act this way.

Today yet another experience changed me just a little - moved me toward thankful even more.

I watched as several handicapped people tried to make their way through the grocery store.  One guy was very crippled and was in a wheel chair pushing himself around with one foot.  He couldn't even use his hands.  He struggled to turn the chair and sometimes pushed himself backward instead of forward just because that was the direction his chair took him in.  I walked just a little slower as I continued to watch.  The second guy used a walker and seemed to have great difficulty communicating, just shuffling along.

They were accompanied by a lady who struggled slightly herself due to her weight - she leaned heavily against her cart allowing it to propel her forward slowly.  The three slowly but surely made their way across the store.  I wasn't sure whether they were shopping or just out to move around a little while.

The gentleman in the wheel chair seemed to be in his own world, but as I watched he became a little panicked trying desperately to communicate with the lady walking with them.  He had lost sight of his friend and was very upset!  She assured him he must just be around the next corner and so the struggle to turn his chair continued this time driven by the desire to see his friend once again.

As they moved out of view I wondered if there was anything at all in my life that in anyway compared to a handicap.

I am sure my friends and family could list a few things!  I feel until this year perhaps my greatest handicap was my safe little American box.  And now that is gone  -I can move outside myself a little further causing me to look at everything differently.  And that's a good thing.

I do have such an easy life and I remembered that again tonight as I watched the young men struggle to do the most basic things.  God teaches when I pay attention - and I left that store with far more than groceries.

Meijer catalinas = free money?

I LOVE to coupon! I am highly inspired by savings - I cannot pay full price for anything.

We needed to purchase about 90 bottles of salad dressing for our daughters wedding. Michelle, a good friend, gave us a tip about Meijer's sale on Kraft salad dressing.

The following is a true story.

If you could have seen me last night... The salad dressing sale was buy 4 Kraft dressings for the sale price of $1.59 each, I had run copies of or been given $1.00 off coupons for every bottle. and as if that wasn't good enough, 59 cents each, I received a Meijer catalina worth $3.00 off of my next grocery purchase. In other words, Meijer paid ME to buy dressings!

I didn't have time to buy just 4 at one time so I thought, I'm just taking 20 bottles of dressing up at a time and do 5 separate orders at the self checkout line. So I stepped to the center self check out surrounded by other shoppers at about 9:30 last night. Next thing I know, after completing one order and beginning the next. Everyone was gone - except the managers and people taking money out of every machine but mine.

They pulled the divider across the entire self check out area - not allowing any more customers to enter. There I stood - trying to work the system to get my $3.00 catalinas by checking thru just 4 bottles of dressing at a time - as the Big Top Manager person stood watching me outside the dividers - and as my coupons required the clerks assistance - I caved in to the pressure and just ran the last 16 through as one order.....so heart breaking, but they were so intimidating! I was preventing an entire shift from going home!

This morning while Ron was at the Elders meeting - I headed back to Meijer with determination and coupons in hand I went back in. This time I decided I would try one of my old Kraft catalinas to see if they would roll. They did! So for 26 cents - I headed back to my car with 4 salad dressings and a $3.00 catalina with the intention of grabbing more coupons and going right back in.

What I found was that I had left the parking lights on in my euphoria to get a deal, and my battery was dead! I called my husband and he and Deering came to the rescue. I somehow talked Ron into going in for one group of 4 dressings before heading to church. We took turns sitting in the car with the motor running to get the battery built back up - while the other bought salad dressings - ridiculous!

We then agreed to come back after work and buy more, even if we had to go in one at a time and just by 4 dressings. So we did! By Ron's 3rd trip to the car I could tell I was losing him - his eyes had that far away 'I'd rather be anywhere in the world but here' look - so as he returned once more to the car with the goods I reached a dead-run pace with my cart racing to get the rest of what we needed in my cart before he returned. He didn't.

I called and he said he was done! I asked him to just bring back in the final $3.00 catalina and promised I would just buy the remaining 27 bottles in one transaction. He agreed...

As we checked out with not only our remaining dressing purchases but additional groceries, our clerk was extremely patient as she took coupon after coupon off of our bill - our $75.00 bill dropped to just $17.00 and produced another $3.00 catalina!

It grieved me greatly to give up the additional 6 catalinas I could have earned - but, it wasn't worth losing a husband!

Couponing is a good thing I suppose, but, it is so much easier NOT to know about the deals out there!

my day off

Coupons everywhere! Oh my goodness my girl friends are doing great things with coupons, so of course I have to be involved too!

I'm not very good at it...

I see the glory adds, $145.00 worth of groceries for $37.99...HOW??? I want to save money, I really, really do! Michelle, Stephanie, Penny and Maureen seem to breeze right through coupon-ing with spectacular results. I am very competitive and I am determined to master this!!

Determined to succeed I surrounded myself with coupons today. The were all still inside newspapers, which were still inside grocery bags, which were all still inside the closet...well, I had good intentions. So I pulled everything out, cut everything out, spread it all over the place and tried, really tried to organize them. I think I had 500 at least.

I went to Meijer and bought $17.95 worth for 7.50...sort of good...I tried!. The best news was, I ONLY bought sale items that I had coupons for, very disiplined! (First time for everything)

Ater returning home with my prizes I began to realize that the hours I invested to save 10 bucks probably cost me $75.00 worth of time. Oh well, I'll get it figured out as soon as possible, but, for now...back to the closet with the coupons hopefully remembering to get back to it before they all expire.

PS Let me know if you have any coupon secrets!