Couponing Thrill sure can make a rough day better!

I haven't been to Walgreens much since they dropped the Easy Saver Rebate program.
It doesn't help that the Walgreens that works into my regular route, the people are really grouchy and dislike coupons. I just dread going in there. I do try my best to smile and be cheerful, but it is a real downer and decreases the thrill of a deal when you have to work with people who are not pleased to see the stack of coupons.

But in spite of all that I did dare to venture to Walgreens. I needed a prescription 2 days ago and well, it was time to just get it done. I didn't take a picture. I would have had chaos on my hand. My kiddos would have seen all the goodies and begged, pleaded and bugged me for the next couple of days for the treats I bought. But I will do a quick a run down.

I spent out of pocket $94.57! I stocked up on a bunch of allergy medicine and pain reliever, which means I get reimbursed by flexible spending account. That total is $64.92. So in all I spent $30.65.
First I picked up my waiting prescription (more on that later) and the Walgreens coloring book. Lots of good children's products coupons in there. Best part you don't have to surrender these coupons when making the purchase. They are Walgreen's coupons so you can hold onto them till they expire. You can pair them up with manufacturer coupons and sales for some pretty awesome deals. (Right now that includes the children's Listerine rinses and Benadryl).

Like I said I stocked up on allergy medicine.
I have to keep Benadryl on hand in multiple places for my food allergic child.
My daughter will be switching to Zyrtec later when she finishes up the other stuff she has. So that will make two of us taking Zyrtec. Gotta stock up when there are deals. This time around I got $7 Register Rewards for each purchase. Woohoo! Plus I had a Manufacturer Coupon for $4 off. I like to go to this website to look for medicine coupons. There I found $2 off of Zyrtec as well.
I also stocked up on the Tylenol buy one get one free. Paired up with coupons, a good deal there.
I also did the kids Listerine deal. I had a buy one get one free Q plus after the fact I got RR as well.
Dental floss was on sale and if you used the in-ad coupon to make it 99 cents and paired that up with Manufacturer coupon even better. Buy 3 and you get a Register Reward as well.
I gobbled up some of the Rimmel makeup with my coupons from All You magazine. I am finding makeup, nail polish and the like make really good "tween"/early teenager gifts. With Fun Mom being 13 as well as her friends, they are all experimenting with makeup goodies. So when I get them for free or almost free, I get really excited.
I stocked up on the scotch tape deal. Christmas is just around the corner. My kids like to wrap presents and tape is used up real quick. So this was a great time to stock up.
I also snagged a bunch of the scotch envelopes. They are great for various mailings, but I also use them sometimes for stuff I sale on ebay, so this helps keep my shipping costs down.
I also am trying to make good of the Goody Ouchless hair products. These are great for Operation Christmas Child, Christmas stockings and birthday gift fillers. Also helps to replace what my hubby vaccuums up, as he won't pick them up when the girls (rolling my eyes) "unknowningly" drop them on the floor.
I also snagged a bunch of Orbit gum and misc. candy that was clearanced. About now I start thinking ahead to Christmas stockings. Cause the kids behaved while I was gone and showered as well, I grabbed some sweets for my sweets to say thank you. All bought with register rewards. I also picked up a few goodies for Fun Mom's friends, who have birthdays lined up between now and eternity.
So that is what I got for $30.65 after all the coupons and register rewards I spent and my flexible spending account.
What I also didn't mention is I bounce my prescriptions around to whoever is offering the best deal if you transfer your scipt. So I did that this week with Walgreens and they gave me a $25 check to spend in the store. So if I add that into my savings that total is $173.72.
Best part is I still have $11.00 in Register Rewards to spend!!

Ah the thrill. Sure turns a bumpy evening into a little happier place of mind. The day went well, but on Thursdays it seems I have two that must fall apart for 2 hours in the evening. It drives my NUTS! At the end of the two hours they are fine.

It has been a Bitter ~ Sweet Week!

I am having more of those "they are growing up moments".
This summer was the start of teens for us.
I enjoy each stage. Cause what is not to enjoy. They are constantly giving me reasons to laugh and reflect. They have their moments, but so do I.
Some days, weeks, seasons you are hit with the fact they are growing up even more than other times.
This past Sunday it came to my attention that after 13 1/2 years this December we will no longer be a part of a church nursery. My youngest will have outgrown those days! 13 1/2 years is a long time! That is how long I have been a Mommy.

Then this week we started working on Little Princess' thank you notes from her birthday. Since they were wee little we have always done thank you notes. I would put a marker or crayon in their hands and let them scribble. I would put a few words on the paper to say thanks. When they were a little bit older I would take dictation and they would color. Now Little Princess is writing her thank yous all on her own. I suggested drawing a picture and she looked at me like I was from some other family and just kept doing her thing as if I had said nothing of the sort. When Fun Mom switched to just words it didn't catch me off guard cause that was just her. Hockey Player was never much for coloring. He actually told me he didn't want to do Kindergarten school work cause he didn't want to color. So his switch to just writing a not was definitely not suprising. Little Princess loves to color. She just loves it and still does when she has a chance.
Now I do still have 2 youngers to do thank yous with. They are not too much into coloring either. Maybe a few stickers. Daddy's Buddy just prefers dictation. He would prefer to forget the whole process but I won't let him. Flutter Nutter, he just grins and goes off on wild crazy stories for me to dictate. He also just doesn't seem to get it. I have actually resorted to creating cards using Print Shop and when I select printing preferences I have them printed as "coloring sheets". I force them to sit and color just a bit. Voila, they are done. So much for the fun days of making thank you cards.
Some doors are shutting...but lots more are opening up. So much to look forward. I am just also trying to make mental snapshots to remember these days. Cause the camera rarely comes out anymore. Or I am just not there when the moments happen.

Just keep saying Thank you Lord!

This has been an interesting past 7 days. A week ago, I discovered one of Little Princess's friends broke her hand and was going to have surgery. Tonight at Awana registration, I heard of two more little girls who broke a finger this year. What is with the hands and fingers this month. I am just about to bring out the hockey gloves for the kids to wear. This week has been a lot about the fingers.
Little Princess went for a follow up on her finger early in the week.
We learned then, she was very fortunate. The break stopped just short of the growth plate. He showed me the xray, any further and she would have been in the operating room. He suggested another 2 weeks in a splint. Radiologist didn't recommend that, but he doesn't know Little Princess. In the first week she broke two splints. We made it about 5 days with the 3rd splint when it became covered with chocolate. How does that happen? Who knows? Unless of course, you know our Little Princess then you completely understand. So we tossed it cause she was playing piano with out it typing, etc.
So now for 2 weeks, no hand washing! Antibacterial gel, baby wipes only for her. Doc told her to leave it and the tape on. He also recommended she avoid getting it covered in chocolate. :) He did give us two extra splints, cause he knows Little Princess and these children of mine all too well. Hopefully, this little finger will have more time to heal before it is released back into the wild of this crazy life of ours.

Ice Skating Fun

The kids earned free ice skating thanks to the summer reading program. Flutter Nutter gets in free so he gave his pass to Fun Mom! 2 hours of fun for the kids, a little down time for mom! A summer off from the ice rink and well, a little more okay with spending an afternoon there. So okay, we went back the next day as well.

My laundry belongs in a comic strip!

Somedays I feel like I live the Sunday Comics.

Flutter Nutter's Jesus blankie got dirty. So I had to step on it and get the laundry started.

I have been ignoring the laundry for 2 or 3 days now. But I do want Flutter Nutter to go to bed tonight at a decent hour.

So Little Princess gets excited. Cause she has cleaned her room and has lots of laundry for me.
I can't help but roll my eyes as I type. I start sorting the laundry. Little Princess when did you wear this last? I don't know...but I know I wore it! Okay, well I'll wash it....

Little Princess WHEN did you wear this? (I happen to know it was an option for her birthday but she chose something else. How do I know this? Cause I had the pleasure of listening to a looooong explanation about outfit selection, but not by Little Princess, but by the Fun Mom. So, back to when did you wear this? "OH! Sorry!" off to the clean laundry pile.

Little Princess is adorable. She is sweet. She is Miss Bubbles around here. But she would rather not put away laundry. Let it be on the floor and just throw it back into the dirty laundry when she wants a clean room! ARGH!

So I am still sorting and I holler to Hockey Player, "do you have any dirty laundry?"
Hockey Player, "Yes". "Do you like clean underwear?" (my very subtle hint to him to get up and go get the laundry) Very quietly, I am sure he was hoping I wouldn't hear he answered my rhetorical question, "No!" I just wanted to fall over laughing. But I can't, I just can't give in. This is from the same kid, I once upon time had to ask him, why it seemed I never had the opportunity to fold his clean underwear. His response, "I was trying to make less laundry for you by wearing them for a week." AIY ! ! ! To which, I had to respond, please make laundry for me to do. I don't mind washing your laundry. (Total opposite response to Little Princess!)

Not that the other 3 don't have laundry conversations.
Flutter Nutter produces the most laundry of them all. He changes 3-5 times a day. He would jsut assume be naked. Since, half the time we can't find the original outfit cause he has tossed and hid it somewhere we have to pick out yet another one. Or we do find the original outfit and it was wet cause he played in the sink or "something".

Daddy's Buddy.... he is giving me some quiet in this arena for now. He just likes certain clothes. They have to feel a certain way, "cozy" as he calls it. He used to change more than any of the others. Now he is fine with just one outfit a day. But his one outfit serves multiple purposes. Got a shirt? Don't need napkins or tissues.... Need I say more?

Fun Mom well she is 13. 13, need I say more? New outfit for running to the gas station. Another outfit cause she sneezed, oh, my mistake brother sneezed in her direction. Packing for Ireland will be an adventure with her.

Ahhh, Ireland. I will get 9 days of no laundry. I won't get to chuckle and imagine the bubble forming overhead like in the cartoons. On a side note, nothing might be left of the closets and dressers when I get back. Since Big-O-Daddy-O doesn't have any hair to pull out, he just might start throwing away clothes instead of washing them! I do hope he doesn't resort to that option. Shopping with the 5 of them is a whole other cartoon strip. One in which I get carted off to the Happy House!