There shall be showers of blessings

When my mom was a kid, she and her sisters (and many nieces of the same age) took piano from the same teacher. It was an older woman whose house, apparently, was overrun by cats (and smelled that way). She must have been a bang-up teacher, though, because everyone in my family who took lessons from her is a pretty superb piano player.

One of my uncles, who has now "moved away to be with God" (as my mom says) was know for his wit in our family. Maybe he was just jealous because my Papaw didn't think the boys needed piano lessons, but he never thought the girls were learning anything at theirs.

"All y'all ever do is learn another chord to 'There Shall Be Showers of Blessings' each week," he'd say.

Jealous much?

***

That bit of fun family trivia is NOT what this post is about. But the title does mean something!

Yesterday, Jason FINALLY received a couple of checks he'd been waiting on for some work he'd done. (And none too soon, let me tell you!) I came home from work a little early, and he was (frustratedly) trying to light the 1/3 of our pre-lit tree which has now gone dark.

The same tree he'd spent three hours working on LAST Friday. Yeah, I think this is it's last Christmas at the Turner house.

He suggested we go to Southaven, a town about half an hour from here (just south of Memphis) where there is all manner of things to do - Target, restaurants, Sam's Club, that sort of thing.

I was driving, and asking him where we were eating dinner. Of course, he had no input, but since it was freezing outside I wanted something that would stick to my ribs (and maybe dinner by a nice fireplace?)

Cracker Barrel it was.

It was pretty early in the evening, so we didn't have to wait for a table. We were seated right by the fireplace, and next to the checkers table, so after our orders were taken Anna Marie and I had ourselves a little game.

(She won. Obviously. My dad taught her everything about that game that she knows.)

We waited for our food (and for the biscuits and cornbread which Jason had requested). We waited. And we waited. And we waited.

And seriously, because of our checkers game, I hadn't really noticed the time. Plus, Anna Marie had ordered a hamburger, which always takes a little longer.

Finally, our waitress, Ursula (a middle-aged German lady with a neat accent), came by to say that the hamburger was holding up production and our food would be out momentarily. And also, would we like some biscuits while we were waiting?

Jason had to stifle his laughter at that last question.

A few more minutes pass (yes, she brought the biscuits this time) and the manager comes by. Seems our ticket had gotten lost in the back, and our food had not been made!

"We're very sorry, but we're working on it now, and dinner will be on me."

Now, our dinner probably wouldn't have been more than $15 anyway - Jason also ordered a kids meal, and I just had a bowl of pinto beans - but WOHOO!

As we left, Anna Marie said, "Doesn't dad have to pay for our food?"

Obviously, she wasn't listening.

Still high on our dinner blessing, we went to the nearby Target. Jason had told me that he wanted a new wireless keyboard/mouse for Christmas, because the one we currently have is so old that it isn't working with the Windows 7 upgrade on the desktop.

"I miss my volume button on the keyboard!" he lamented.

Well, Anna Marie and I were in a different part of the store, and met up with him. He was carrying a wireless keyboard/mouse combination.

"You are going to wrap this and put this under the tree," he said. "It's normally $30, but it's on sale for $15 until tomorrow."

Hooray for checking one more present off my list!

After the week I've had - Anna Marie isn't too keen on wearing long sleeved shirts, and she's been pretty vocal about it, so we've had a bit of a rough time, plus my sinuses are giving me fits and I haven't slept much - those two little gems really made my night.

There shall be showers of blessings . . .

Walgreens Shakedown

I really kinda feel like I robbed these guys today. I know I didn't get off as cheaply as maybe I could have, but I still feel pretty good about my trip!

2 Littlest Petshop playsets (with two pets each, plus LOTS of accessories)
1 Littlest Petshop activity set (all of this is for Anna Marie's birthday)
1 stainless steel bottle (Anna Marie's birthday - she's been asking for one.)
1 package of Swiffer Wetjet pads
2 bags of Brach's Candy Corn
3 (10 oz) bags of Pirate Booty
1 bag of Halls cough drops
3 cans of Hunts Tomato Sauce
2 cans of Blue Diamond almonds
2 cans of Pringles

Grand total (after tax, coupons, and $4 Register Rewards from my last trip): $26.15

Plus, I got $2 in Register Rewards to use next time!

I love saving money.

I really, truly do.

I love that I walked into Walmart this morning and bought the following:

1 six-pack of Orville Reddenbacher's 94% Fat Free Popcorn (the full-sized bags, not minis)
1 two-pack of Weight Watchers ice cream cups
1 bag of Tyson grilled chicken strips
2 bottles of Rimmel nail polish

And paid $6.32 out of my pocket.

How did I do it? Well, our Walmart just renovated, and they're putting stuff on clearance like CRAZY. Yesterday, I bought four pints of Ben and Jerry's for $1 each! Two boxes of Mollicools (little beads of ice cream) four-packs for $1 each! Two 2-packs of Weight Watchers ice cream for $1 each!

I stocked up on ice cream, and bought another box of that popcorn, and bought an All You magazine, and spent about $12.

And, in that magazine, there were coupons - $1 off the popcorn (so it was free!), BOGO free nail polish ($3.16 for both bottles), $0.55 off the chicken strips (the most expensive thing I bought, but worth it for the convenience) and $0.55 off the WW ice cream (making the 2-pack cost just $0.45, instead of the $2.54 it would have been normally.)

In the past couple of weeks, I've gotten Nestle Fat Free Hot Cocoa (25 calories, and normally $2.44 a box) for $1, and that popcorn - I've been stocking up, because the dates will be good for many months and I know it's stuff we'll use. I've got two stashes - one at work and one at home. I'm covered!

It should be criminal how good I felt walking into that store this morning, knowing what good deals I was getting. When all this clearance is gone, I don't know what I'm going to do!

I (heart) Walgreens

Did I tell you, we finally got a Walgreens here in town?

That might not sound like much, but it's been a real Godsend. I know what you're thinking - "Drugstores are crazy expensive, Mel. You'll lose your shirt shopping in a place like that."

To this I say: "nu uh."

You just have to be smart about shopping there like you would any other place.

For instance: today, I spent about $18. (Actually, I spent about $20, but more on that later.) I brought home:

• Three 12-packs of Coke products
• Six gift bags
• Six candy bars (not for me - for the Two Redheads - if they're going to eat them, I might as well pay 39 cents instead of 75 cents for them)
• Four cans of Campbell's Tomato Soup
• A writing tablet and envelopes for Anna Marie for Christmas, since she did ask for a tablet.
• A roll of Reynold's Wrap aluminum foil
• A box of Frosted Flakes.

Now - after my in-store coupons, and my manufacturers' coupons, and the sales, the total was $20. I was supposed to have gotten a $2 Register Reward coupon to use off my next purchase, but we're having awful storms today and the lights went out this morning. Therefore, the Register Rewards computer was not working. Therefore, the manager just gave me $2 cash out of the register!

(Therefore, I took that cash across the street to the Wonder Bread store, and got a loaf of light wheat bread with 40 calories per slice for $1.29, as opposed to nearly $3 in the Big Box Store here in town.)

Jason did my Kroger shopping this week, so I haven't seen the receipt and have no idea how much we spent/saved there. I did make a HUGE haul at Walmart for next-to-nothing today too, but there is a Christmas present for someone in that list that actually reads this blog so I won't spill the beans.

I will tell you that it included a bag of Weight Watchers shredded cheese for just over $2, and two *somethings* which should have cost me $50 but combined only cost me $3.

Tonight, we feast on our bounty - tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Perfect for a rainy day like today!

Sigh I love the smell of savings in the afternoon!

An update! (of sorts)

Ok, so you've read about my not-so-excellent adventure of this morning.

Well . . .

Later today, I read that Kelloggs was caving to consumer pressure being really nice and honoring the rebate on the purchases from Sunday!

Sunday! When I bought more than enough qualifying products!

I came home, found the receipt from Sunday (with the help of Jason) and that bad boy is already in an envelope, with the rebate form, stamped, and addressed.

And tomorrow, it shall be bound for Battle Creek!

Anna Marie and I have already said a word of prayer over the whole operation.

HAHAHAHAHA

Get ready for your daily dose of laughter, at my expense!

Sigh.

So, I'm a real coupon fiend, if you didn't know. Anna Marie thinks I'm obsessed with getting every coupon I can, and that's partly true - and I've tried to explain to her that it's part of my job in this family, to try to help be a good steward of the resources which God has blessed us with.

And a few months ago, I joined The Grocery Game, and my grocery bill averages $20-$30 per week.

I'm not kidding!

(And if, in spite of what I'm about to tell you about my foolishness, you decide to join, please use me as a reference! If enough of you do, I get, I don't know, a free month or something.)

So Kroger has been having this deal, that if you buy 10 of the items on their list, you automatically get $5 off your bill. The stuff is already on sale, and Sunday's paper had a BUNCH of coupons for the stuff that was on sale!

I had my game plan on Sunday, when we do our normal shopping (on the way home from church, so as to not use extra gas.)

(Remember the part about the gas. It's important later.)

I picked out the stuff on my list, went to the register, and used my coupons. And on the way out of the store, Jason said, "Weren't they supposed to take $5 off the bill?" And I said, "I thought they did." And we looked at the receipt, and they had not. So, I double checked the receipt against the list of eligible products, and guess what - I'd only bought 8 of the things, not 10!

(The four boxes of Pop Tarts I'd scored, which ended up costing just $1.50 each, were apparently not eligible.)

Oh, I was upset, again, at having spent $5 more than I'd planned. But, I had a Plan B! Included in that coupon insert was a rebate form - if you bought 10 things on that list, you could get a $10 rebate!

I was so excited, thinking I could get my money back, plus some! Enter the "Fine Print" - the items must be purchased after August 5.

The date, on that day, was August 3.

Dang it!

Well, I got up this morning with a plan.

It was my last day of being in the house by myself in the morning, because Anna Marie would be with mom going to the auction, and school starts this week so that scenario will end. And today was also the last day of the sale, and I had enough coupons left over from that insert to buy different stuff and get not only the good deals, but, with the rebate, they'd be FREE!

So, this morning before work, I drove to the nearest Kroger, 12 miles away.

Remember what I said about "no extra gas?" I figure that part of my day has cost me about $3.50, right off the bat, for gas.

I run through the store, getting not only my carefully-counted-out 10 items, but also a couple of other really good deals. And I check out. And they take the $5 off! And I use my coupons! And I get the following things for $14.95, including tax:

• Four boxes of cereal
• Two boxes of cereal straws
• Two packages of cookies
• A box of drink pouches (for Anna Marie's lunchbox)
• A big honkin' thing of ketchup
• A package of lunch meat
• A package of burrito-size tortillas

All in all, not bad for less than $15, and I thought I was getting $10 back, so I'd only be paying $5.

But - as I was checking out, I realized that while I had met the requirements for getting $5 off, two of the things I'd bought were not on the rebate list.

Just like I'd missed the discount by two items on Sunday, I missed the rebate by two items this morning.

And I'd spent extra gas money.

And now I'm going to have to tell this whole story to Jason when he gets home.

And when you're done laughing, and wiping the tears from your eyes, you can take this as a lesson - about the best laid plans of mice, men, and moms.

So I've been asked for a hair dryer review

And I'm throwing in this picture, gratis. You're welcome.

It was taken at Relay for Life on Friday, and Anna Marie posed for it - as in, she saw me with my camera, and held that exact position, and I said, "Oh, you're waiting for me to take a picture, aren't you?"

She is her Aunt Manda's niece.



Oh, the hair dryer is fine. Not too big, not too small. And, let me tell you what a ginormous dork I am. (Like you needed me to reiterate that!) Usually, I stand in the (small, not-well-ventilated) bathroom, in front of the mirror, and dry my hair. I dry it most of the way, and then use a big round brush with the dryer to smooth it out and give it "bounce," "volume," and, hopefully, "a semblance of style."

Today, I was at home alone (Jason was at the auction, and Anna Marie was with mom) and I was having Golden Girls withdrawals. And they're recorded on the DVR in our bedroom. So I decided to take my dryer in there (where, by the way, there is no mirror) and watch TV while I did my hair.

What? You never did that? OF COURSE YOU HAVE.

Except, I couldn't figure out how to turn the closed captioning on, so I missed part of the dialogue while the dryer was running!

Anyway, because I didn't have the mirror, I just flipped my head upside down, and dried it, and used the brush to give it a little shape as I did. When I was finished, I went into the bathroom (during a commercial break, of course) and flipped my hair back over, and used the brush to smooth it out.

Guess what - I've gotten lots of compliments on my hair today. So, apparently, I do better not being able to see what I'm doing.

(What's that? Yes, I know I can pause stuff with the DVR, but I had exactly enough time to watch one episode before I had to leave for work. I had my plan all worked out, and nothing was going to interrupt that.)

So, I can recommend the dryer. I noticed after I got home that it was also dual-voltage, so if I have need to go to Europe I can take it along!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to mosey back to the Conair site, where I "borrowed" this picture, and enter to win some money by submitting a review. It could happen!

It's serendipity!

So, I didn't make it to Target after church on Wednesday. Did I tell you? My cousin was there at church, and we talked for a bit, so it was a little later than usual when I left.

So, I've been using the wee tiny travel dryer (bless it's heart) since mine caught on fire a few days ago.

So, this morning, it died too! Not such a dramatic death as its larger, better predecessor, but dead nonetheless.

So, today after Anna Marie's rehearsal, and lunch, we went to Target (I'd had an ahem emergency need for a store that sold certain items) and I wandered over to the hair dryer aisle.

Know what I love about Target? They have the dryers out, so you can play with them! A few years ago for Christmas I asked for an ionic dryer, and Jason got me one that was like the mother of all hair dryers - five ceramic heaters! The thing weighed a ton! Ergo, holding a dryer before I commit is a big deal for me.

I didn't want to get another one just like the last - what if the problem I'd experienced was a design flaw? And I knew I wanted an ionic dryer - they're usually quieter and better for your hair. And I knew I wanted a cord keeper, because I don't have much cabinet space and that helps bunches with storage. (And my husband INSISTS that I put away all makeup, hair appliances, etc., every.single.day.)

Then I saw the folding dryers and thought, gee, it'd be nice to have one of those when I travel, or for storage in general. But there wasn't one that was ionic, and a cord keeper, and a folder.

I was about to give up (and in the middle of a cramp) when I saw one in the wrong spot on the shelf. It was the only one, but it was ionic, and a cord keeper, and a folder! I was about to walk to the scanner to see how much it was, when Jason came from the endcap with - wait for it - the same exact one!

How's that for serendipity?

Wait - it gets better - it was priced a full $5 less than the other ones I'd looked at! Score!

I can't wait to use my new dryer tomorrow - it was meant to be, so I bet it'll give me the best styling experience ever!

Or at least, just dry my hair - I guess that will be enough for now.

Why did no one tell me?

Hmm?

Why did no one tell me how completely overwhelming that Archiver's can be?

Maybe it's no big deal to those of you who have scrapbook stores in your area, but we have none at all in our county. We're relegated to Walmart and Dollar Tree, and occasionally Dollar General.

But today - man, today was a different story.

We went to visit Amanda, and mom wanted to try Ross because she'd been given a Visa gift card. As we pulled into the parking lot, there it was.

Archivers.

Right next door was a Justice store (clothing for girls) so I took Anna Marie in there first. We picked up a few little trinkets, and I thought that would keep her appeased so I could shop the scrapbook store.

Wrong, wrong, wrong, as my uncle is known to say.

I basically had to run through the store, because she kept trying to pull me away from what I needed to be looking at - namely, supplies for a zoo page - and ask me for totally unecessary stuff.

(Stickers? Really? If I'm buying her stickers, they WON'T be Jolee's. They'll be from the Dollar Tree.)

Finally, I just gave up.

I did, however, talk my mom out of skipping the trip to the mall, and get to visit Sephora!

I didn't buy anything, but I did try bunches of stuff on while Anna Marie "made over" her Gramma. So fun!

And I deserved a bit of fun, because I'd just spent way, way too much of my time with The Kid in Build-A-Bear trying to teach her the importance of budgeting as she tried to get the most out of a $10 gift certificate we'd earned.

I am so not used to having a kid when I shop! Well, I take that back. We do our main grocery shopping on Sunday, but Jason is with me and generally keeps her occupied so I can concentrate.

Otherwise, it takes me three times as long to go through my list.

I told her yesterday, as we walked through Walmart and I'd heard about the 1,000th request for junk, that I wasn't going back to the store until she started back to school.

"I won't have anything to eat!" she protested.

Well, maybe not, but at least I can shop in peace again!

I want my L.L. Bean

Rather, I want the L.L. Bean lifestyle.

I want to like to be outdoorsy.

I want to like to go camping.

I want it to snow so I can buy some snow boots! And a parka!

It's hard to go camping here - in the summer, there are the heat and the bugs, and in the winter, it's too dang cold, without the benefit of the snow.

And I want a weekend, preferably lakefront, cabin, that I can decorate with all sorts of outdoorsy materials. Candle holders out of pinecones? No problem!

Maybe that's part of the reason I got Anna Marie's backpack from there. Not only are they well-made, but they give that certain "air" of sporty sophistocation.

I want to be one of "those" people, with North Face jackets and caribiner clips that they really use for rock climbing and bike racks on the tops of their vehicles.

And the disposable income to finance that lifestyle and the free time it requires.

I want to like being outside - I really do!

Maybe if I had the acoutrements, I would like it more. Sort of like making yourself exercise because you paid for a gym membership.

I want my L.L. Bean.

Oh, Sephora

(You have to say that like the opening notes of the title song from the musical "Oklahoma." Doesn't that sound neat?)

I fell in love with a store a few months ago.

An online store.

An online store called Sephora.

It was a long-distance relationship. The nearest Sephora store to my home was over an hour away, so I had to make do with occasional web encounters.

But not any more.

They've opened a brand spanking new location at the Wolfchase Mall, just a stone's throw from Amanda's new digs.

(Too bad it'll be completely lost on her, since she DOESN'T WEAR MAKEUP!)

(As the British slang goes, that's well shameful)

Anyway, we (mom, AM, and I) went to Amanda's last night to take her some more stuff.

And eat at Moe's.

And visit Super Target.

(Man, I have SO got to find a way to move to that area. And have a good job, so I can hang with the Starbucks crowd.)

And I convinced mom to take us to Wolfchase so I could take the new Sephora store for a spin.

Mom really wasn't sure what this Sephora was that I was going on and on about.

And then she saw for herself.

And it was love at first sight.

Ever been in a Sephora store? No? Let me bring you up to speed.

It's like the Health and Beauty Aids section of your favorite store, except much much bigger. Or, like the cosmetics section of a department store, except the sales staff is knowledgable about all the products, and they don't try to push any particular line.

And you can try everything.

Did you hear that? Say it with me now. EVERYTHING.

Guess what little red head walked out of there with blue eyeshadow and gold lips, and a wee little bottle of orange nail polish?

(No, it wasn't Jason, although one of the male sales associates was wearing more makeup than I was. He looked better in it too. Great cheekbones!)

I got some Rosebud Salve and AM got the aforementioned nail polish.

And mom? She walked out with about $50 in various skincare products. She's a junkie. I remember her using Oil of Olay when I was about three years old, which would've made her about 25 at the time.

The woman is serious about her skincare.

And I got to introduce my young daughter to the joys of beauty products.

And the joys of sampling all those products free of charge.