More couponing!

Here is a picture of todays haul!


That is a 12 pack of toilet paper, a 6 pack of paper towels, 3 deodorants (1 free), 2 bottles of dawn dish soap, a bottle of Excedrin, face wash, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, two tubes of toothpaste, eye drops, two boxes of Bandaids, and a bottle of Listerine. All this for $47.00 and a savings of $49.00!

Traveling, babies, couponing, OH MY!

Hello friends and family! This past few weeks have been very interesting. I made a trip to see my mama and sister in Tennessee, my friend and his wife had their first baby, and I have been a very busy couponer!

First, introducing the newest baby in my life, Kenlyn :)



She is cute as a button!

Second, I finally got the chance to travel back to Tennessee and see my mommy! Yay! This is the first time I've been back home in over a year and a half and I have to say I was very relieved to be home.

My airport experience on this particular trip was not the best. I almost missed my first flight due to a delay at the security check point, we had no gate when landing in Denver, I had to walk 40 gates to get to my next flight, had no gate AGAIN when I landed in Tennessee, and had a scare that they lost my bag (they didn't though). Again, not the best time. My mommy and I had a nice lunch together in the city before driving out to her house in the country. I was very happy to see my dogs, Nick and Sassy, and even more relieved that they remembered me!

My Sassy

My Nicky

Then the evening got interesting. While driving to meet my mom and I in Tennessee my sister was hit by a deer. Yes, I wrote that correctly. She was hit by the deer, not the other way around. The not so smart deer ran straight into her driver side and decapitated itself. I'm thinking it was suicide. That was an adventure in itself. After driving in the wrong direction for several miles my mom and I finally arrived to rescue my sister and have her car towed to the dealership. Unfortunately it was the middle of the night so we had to just leave it there until the morning. When we went back the next day, this is what it looked like...




*Sigh* Poor deer, poor car, poor sister.

The rest of the visit was very fun! There was lunches, shopping, resting, and laughing!




Yes, we're weird.

And finally.....COUPONING!!!!

My mama is a professional couponer so she shared some of her tips and tricks with me. She also made me my own binder to keep my coupons in. Today was my first day off since getting back from Tennessee so I went out and tried out my new skills. I think I did pretty good for being a newbie!



I got all of this stuff for under 40 bucks! I was able to get 2 bottles of bleach (which I will be donating to the Humane Society), 4 rolls of paper towels, 2 cans of shaving cream, a tube of toothpaste, two packaged of Sharpies, 4 things of tape, 3 cans of tomato sauce, 2 bottles of dish soap, 2 things of deodorant, 4 boxes of ziplock bags, 2 packages of pens (which I got for free), a bottle of conditioner, 2 bottles of body soap, foil, wax paper, and finally, two packages of hair bands (also free). My mom does way better, but I'm getting there!

So thats the latest scoop. More couponing updates to come!!

Extreme-ish Couponing!

I have a new goal. Save as much money on food as possible! I am following in the footsteps of the extreme couponers from TLC...kind of. I don't have a large family to feed or a large home to store a "stockpile". But what I do have, is time to do the best I can to save as much money as I can! And if I happen to get way too much to be able to keep at my place, I will donate it to the local food bank or other community charities. There! Problem solved :) I have started a new email address specifically for this purpose and signed up with all of the big couponing websites. So far I have only found a few online coupons that apply to my needs. But come this Sunday the weekly inserts will be out and I can start clipping! I even have a neighbor that is interested in doing it too, so I have a built in support system! I can't wait until I have enough coupons to go on my first mini-haul. I think I will do ok, but practice makes perfect! So, all you couponers out there...any good advice?
(Thanks for the image grocerycouponfree.net!)

Happy Birthday!

The day he was born.


One of my best friends celebrated her son's first birthday today! I was at the hospital the day he was born and I have loved watching him grow up. He is such a smiley and silly little boy and I just adore him! Happy birthday little bug! Auntie loves you lots!


One year later!

A boy named Wink...

This is Wink the Wonder Dog! The vet hospital I work for took him in after a woman found him starved and abandoned in a parking lot. He appeared to have several bite marks on his muzzle and neck and his left eye was infected and swollen shut. He was half dead when he came to our office but quickly started to show some improvement. After some standard tests to rule out life-threatening diseases we determined that this little puppy had a fighting chance! Because of his eye I lovingly named him Wink.



Sunday consisted of me making several trips to the hospital to take care of baby Wink. He got stronger every hour and was eating like a little piglet! He seemed to be partly potty trained and had very good manners. He had obviously been neglected and was in desperate need of a bath a some tlc. He was a very good boy during his bath, though he wasn't thrilled with the process. After cleaning him up and trimming his nails he looked (and smelled) like a whole new dog! He is extremely emaciated and has a long way to go before he is a healthy pup, but he is already making huge improvements and putting on weight!



Thankfully, a very good client of the hospital's decided to adopt baby Wink. And tonight he left our facility and joined his new family for good. While I am so happy that he found a forever home, I became very attached to him. I will miss him terribly and can't help but shed a few tears at his departure. I am so proud of my baby boy and wish him a lifetime of love and happiness with his new mom and dad. Though they may change his name and make him their own, I will always think of him as my little baby Wink ;-)

So this is what happened...

I recently broke up with the man that was my boyfriend for two and a half years. We had different ideas of where our relationship was going. I thought it was heading to the altar, and he didn't. We'll leave it at that. Thankfully it turned out to be one of the best decisions I've ever made. Even though I miss what we had, I know that things were never going to change. After all, you really can't change someone, can you?

I recently moved into a new place and I am loving it! And more importantly, I have some really exciting things planned over the next few months. For example, in September I will be embarking on my very first trip with Habitat for Humanity! I have wanted to work with the organization since I was a kid. Up until now life hasn't permitted such an adventure, but now that I'm done with school and working a lot I can finally find the time to go! I will spend 10 days on the island of Kauai in Hawaii with a team of other volunteers building a new home for a local family that has been living in poor conditions. Most of the damage to these homes is related to natural disasters. However, sometimes it is just a matter of an old home no longer meeting the needs of the family.

The majority of the time I am there is spent building the home. But there is also time set aside to enjoy the island! The organization has arranged several cultural activities such as a luau for us volunteers to attend. Having been to Kauai a few times already I am looking forward to seeing another side of the island and doing something more productive with my "vacation". I am also very much looking forward to the chance to go zip lining! Silly, I know, but its something I've always wanted to do!

In short, I am really looking forward to this trip and making a difference for the family I will be building for. Though it is an expensive endeavor ($1380 for the fee to the organization and another $750 for the flight) I think it will be more than worth It! I hope that this will be just one of many trips with Habitat for Humanity. Perhaps next year I will venture out of the country to South America, or even Africa (Sorry Mom!) The possibilities are endless!

To pass time before my trip I have been doing a lot of reading, exercising, working, writing, and spending time with great people. It's amazing how invested you get in a relationship and how much you lose certain things about yourself. I don't regret my time with my ex. But I am so thankful for the time I have with this new chapter in my life. I know that only good things are to come, with maybe a few speed bumps along the way!

Check back for updates on my new single girl adventures! And please visit my Habitat for Humanity volunteer website to learn more about my trip! A tax deductible donation to my trip is also very much appreciated! Even the smallest contribution make a huge difference in my efforts. Just click on the link below to see my page!

GV Team Member Page -- Habitat for Humanity, Int'l

Thats all for now friends! Thanks for reading!