Celebrate Wimpy Kid Month

We introduced our son to the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book and movie series just the other day on his 10th birthday, giving him both the first book & movie of the series and he absolutely loves them.  Just in time, too, because April is Wimpy Kid Month!

Celebrate all month long here at wimpykid.com with free resources including posters, party kits & activities, teachers guides, and more.  On April 28, Jeff Kinney, author of the Wimpy Kid book series, will reveal the book cover for book #9 in a live global webcast!  Registration for the webcast is open for individuals age 13 and up.  To register, click here.

Check Those Sales Receipts!

Sometimes, I really wonder if it's just me.  It doesn't happen each week, but it does happen.  I am over/under charged.  The price that rings up at the register doesn't match the price in the weekly circular or the price on the shelf.  And it's not the same store over & over again.  It's happened at national stores, drug stores, discount stores, grocery stores, warehouse stores...you name it.

So again, I wonder, is it just me?

Do you check your receipts?  Have you been over/under charged?

How many of us go by our daily lives, make a purchase, and think, "wow, that was higher than I expected," and not think twice about it, never realizing that there was a mistake on the bill?

Yesterday was errand day.  The little one and I did our weekly shopping trip.  I decided to head to a nearby town to shop at a grocery store that I haven't been to in over a year.  While there, I swung by another grocery store.  It was at this 2nd store, while checking out, that the thought occurred to me that I needed to check my receipt before leaving so I wouldn't have to make a 2nd trip into this town later on, in case something was not accurate.

So as soon as the cashier handed me my receipt, I took a quick glance.  The price of the 1st item was wrong.

And the 2nd item was wrong.

And the 3rd, the 4th, the 5th...what in the world???

Of the 18 items that I had purchased, 12 of them were too high.  My MVP discount did not get applied correctly, so I was charged full retail.  I immediately alerted the cashier.  She looked at my receipt and insisted that it was correct because my MVP coupons were applied.  But she spoke to another cashier who looked at the receipt.  I showed her the prices listed on the circular and that they differed from the price on the receipt.

In turn, she grabbed the CSM.  Together, they fixed the issue, and I received a refund of $10.74.  With our tight family budget, that's not an amount to sneeze at!!

The moral of the story is this: take the time to check your receipts!  It just might save you some money. ;)

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Removing Those Nasty Cobwebs

While getting an onion down from my garlic/onion/potato basket, I noticed something brownish / grayish / ickyish dangling from the ceiling above.

Cobwebs...yuck!

So I grabbed a step stool and my trusty broom...

I know it's a little frayed, but it works pretty well when it comes to sweeping.

And also works great at removing cobwebs!

(Note to self: time to repaint the ceiling!!!!!)

Kids Craft: St. Patrick's Day Hand Rainbow & Pot Of Gold

Happy St. Patrick's Day, y'all!

I realize the day is nearly over, but while sorting through some scrapbook pages, I came across this project that did with the kids a few years ago for St. Patrick's Day and thought that I'd share it with you.

My two oldest kiddos had a blast making this (who doesn't like finger paint??).  I was pregnant with #3 at the time, and considering that she'll be 3 next month, I should probably plan on having her make her own hand rainbow & pot of gold.

To make your own child(ren)'s page, you'll need:
1 - 12x12 blue cardstock
3 - 8 1/2 x 11 white cardstock or scrapbook paper
6 - paper plates or foil sheets
finger paints of all the colors of the rainbow (I used red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple & skipped indigo)
solid black cardstock
gold glitter paint
green clover stickers
scissors
glue or other adhesive

Use the 12x12 blue cardstock as your background or "sky."  Squirt finger paints onto paper plates or foil sheets. Dip palm of child's hand into one finger paint, ensuring good coverage of the palm, then press onto one half of a sheet of white paper or white cardstock.  Clean hand off, then repeat with another color and press onto second half of sheet of white paper/cardstock.  Continue repeating remaining colors of finger paints and white paper/cardstock until all colors are used.  Have child cut out a "pot" from black cardstock; of course, provide assistance as needed, depending on child's age.  Using gold glitter paint, create gold pieces onto inside of "pot."  Allow rainbow hands and gold pieces to dry completely.  Cut rainbow hands out of white paper/cardstock, then glue onto blue cardstock in rainbow pattern (red to purple).  Glue hands down to paper in a semi-circle fashion like a rainbow.  Glue pot of gold at bottom of rainbow.  Remove adhesive back from green clover stickers, then place at bottom of blue cardstock to create the look of grass.  Finally, have your child write his/her name on their St. Patrick's Day masterpiece. :)

Food Lion Shopping Trip: 3/14/14

I consider Food Lion one of my preferred places to shop, although I typically do not buy a lot of items.  At my last shopping trip, however, I stocked up on a lot more items than usual, mostly because I had some great store coupons that I wanted to put to good use.  The currently weekly specials are good through Tuesday, March 18.  Here's what I stocked up on:

Badia Cilantro .25 oz, reg. $0.59
   Paid $0.59 (not on sale, but I had run out, and since we don't use a lot and the price was within my budget, I picked up a bag of this herb)
Food Lion Applesauce 6 ct, unsweetened, reg. $1.95, MVP price $1.69
   Used a $0.50/1 store coupon loaded to my MVP card, paid $1.19
Food Lion Mandarin Oranges 4 ct, reg. $1.95, MVP price $1.79
   Used a $0.50/1 store coupon loaded to my MVP card, paid $1.29
Hershey's Cookies N Cream Bar reg. $0.99, MVP price $0.69
   Paid $0.69 (this was an absolute splurge to keep my 2-year-old happy while we were shopping!)
Food Lion Italian Meatballs 14 oz, reg. $2.89, MVP price $2.49
   Bought 2, paid $2.49 each PLUS purchased the following:
El Monterrey Chicken & Monterrey Jack Burrito 5 oz, reg. $1.19, MVP price $0.99
   FREE plus $0.01 overage, used a $1 off $5 frozen foods purchase coupon that I received in this week's Food Lion Shopper's Companion Email
Corned Beef Brisket 4.51 lbs, reg. $3.99/lb, MVP price $2.99/lb
   Used $2 off $12 beef purchase coupon printed at MVP Savings Kiosk, paid $11.48 or $2.55/lb
Oscar Mayer Turkey/Cheese Lunchable reg. $1.79, MVP price $1
  Used a store coupon received in the mail from Food Lion for free O.M. Lunchable, price paid FREE
Dole Classic Iceberg Lettuce 12 oz, reg. $1.58, MVP price $0.99
  Paid $0.99
My Essentials Frozen Cut Green Beans 16 oz, reg. $0.97
   Bought 2, paid $0.97 each
My Essentials Frozen French Green Beans 16 oz, reg. $0.97
   Used $0.50/1 store coupon loaded to my MVP card, paid $0.47
My Essentials Nonfat Yogurt 6 oz, reg. $0.49
   Bought 3, used $0.40/3 store coupon loaded to my MVP card, paid $0.36 each
My Essentials Sliced Cheese 16 oz, reg. $2.47
  Used $0.60/1 store coupon loaded to my MVP card, paid $1.87

Total before MVP and coupons = $41.27 (includes NC 2% food tax)
Total paid = $27.08 (includes NC 2% food tax)
Total savings, including MVP, savings kiosk coupons, mailed store coupons, Shoppers Companion email coupons & applicable taxes = $14.19
That's a savings of 34%, not too shabby considering Food Lion does not double coupons. :)

To view this week's circular, click here.  Sales run Wednesday thru Tuesday each week.   Please note that sales vary by region.  For a complete list of savings options, check out Food Lion's Ways To Save here.

Check Those Sales Receipts

It always pays to check your sales receipts.  On too many occasions, I have been over/under charged, a coupon did not get applied, an expected Catalina coupon did not print at the register, etc.  Issues don't happen with each shopping trip, but they can happen on occasion.  If you don't check your receipts, that's possibly money down your drain, or even an adverse impact against the store.

Last week, I purchased several Kraft products at Harris Teeter that were on special -- buy 10 get $5 instant savings.  I've had issues in the past with the instant savings and/or Catalina register couponns not applied or printed as expected, so I purchased my 10 Kraft items separately from the rest of my shopping trip.

Unfortunately, I did not receive the $5 instant savings, as you can see from this copy of my receipt:

I used several coupons that even doubled in value, all of which totalled $5 in savings; however, this was certain not the $5 instant savings that I expected.  Furthermore, the price of each product did not add up to the advertised price -- for instance, Miracle Whip should have been 2/$5 but was 2/$4.85; Capri Suns should have been 2/$3 but was $3.23.  Regardless, the combined total of all 10 items was $21 before $5 instant savings, which is what I expected if the items had rung up at the expected sale price.

After reviewing my purchases & receipt at home, I saw the numerous discrepancies.  At yesterday's Harris Teeter shopping trip, I took this receipt to Customer Service and spoke to the Customer Service Manager about the issue.  She was very friendly & polite -- not the first time I've worked with her on an issue, so she knows who I am and vice versa -- and after agreeing with me that I did not receive my $5 instant savings, she promptly refunded me $5.

Voila!

It was that easy. 

See, it's always a good idea to check your receipts.  If they are wrong, take the issue to the store's customer service and politely explain where you believe the discrepancy lies.

On a positive note, if you have an EXCELLENT customer service experience, like a friendly, efficient, & proficient cashier, make sure you let your Customer Service Manager know about it!  They like to hear the good stuff, too. ;)

Bad Quality?

I worked over 10 years in manufacturing, and one of the big topics we heard routinely was about quality.  In its basic form, quality is about satisfying customers and continuous improvement.  We tracked issues that our customers reported to us, reviewed with the team, and determined ways that we could prevent those issues from repeating.

In my private life, I've never been big on reporting poor quality when I've encountered it.  Especially at a restaurant.  I usually just make a mental note not to order/buy/use again whatever it happened to be.  But due to the training on quality I had on the job, and how hard we strove to satisfy our customers, a few years ago I started giving companies the benefit of the doubt.  Overall, employees really do try to do a good job.  I know our employees did.  Unfortunately, mistakes happen and quality can be affected, whether it's a variation caused by a machine, material, person, or whatever.

I don't always do it, but when I think about it, if something goes wrong & depending on the circumstances, I contact the manufacturer or company responsible.  Each time, the few moments of inconvenience (experiencing the poor quality and the time it takes to reach out to the company) work out to my favor in the end.

For example, a couple years ago, I found a hair in a package of turkey burgers that I had purchased.  Yuck!  Nevertheless, I contacted the manufacturer and was rewarded for doing so.  Why?  Companies want our business!  If their customers are not satisfied, then they take their business elsewhere, share the bad business with their friends, and companies lose sales.

That wasn't the first time I reached out to a company about poor quality, not was it the last.  I recently purchased a bag of grapefruit at my favorite grocery store.  I love grapefruit -- tart, juicy, tart, tangy, and just a hint of sweetness.  Yum!

Fast forward to breakfast the next morning, and yuck!  Peeled & opened my first grapefruit from my purchase and found the inside of the grapefruit to be black, mushy, and looking more like mud than ruby red grapefruit.  I should have taken a picture, but it was pretty gross to look at, so I just tossed it in the trash.

The disturbing grapefruit, however, weighed on my mind, so this morning I decided to contact the company that this particular bag of grapefruit came from, Sunkist Growers.  I wasn't interested in getting something in return, simply wanted to inform them of the issue I encountered.

Within an hour of completing the online "Contact Us" form, this is what I received in return:

Anthony, Winnie J.

To Me

We appreciate your taking the time to contact Sunkist Growers regarding your recent purchase of Sunkist grapefruit.

Sunkist Growers and its affiliated packinghouses are very conscious of the quality image associated with the Sunkist trademark.  Through the efforts of packinghouse personnel and the Sunkist Quality Assurance Department, every effort is made to maintain this image.

The normal way of examining citrus is to cut random pieces and inspect for interior quality.  Obviously, it is impossible to cut every piece of fruit, but this sampling method usually allows inspectors to separate the good fruit from the bad.  Unfortunately, some inferior fruit can get by.

Citrus is a perishable commodity that is subject to so many variables.

We apologize for any disappointment you may have experienced with our product.  While only the retailer can issue a refund, I am sending by mail some coupons we hope you will use to try our citrus again.

Sunkist Growers

Surprise!  A super quick response to my notification.  Plus, some coupons coming my way to make up for the inconvenience.

It doesn't require someone to get angry, yell, scream or fuss.  Just simply saying hey, something went wrong and I want to make sure you're aware.  Like I said, companies want our business.  They'll thank you for taking your time to contact them. And you'll be glad you did. :)

To-Do Tuesday

I've missed out on my weekly To-Do List for a couple weeks now. It's silly to admit that I have to remind myself to do my To-Do List so I can remind myself of the things that I need to do, and even then I have trouble doing that. Oh well! :)

I'm keeping this week as light as possible. I'm stressed to the max between work and home activities, even though this is a light week for home activities.

• Plan May freezer meal list. Once A Month Cooking day is now officialy May 15. It's on the calendar and not going to change this time! :)

That's all!

Don't forget to take a quick peak at To-Do Tuesday at Crazy Adventures in Parenting! :)

Making Your Own Sale Part 2

Also known as How to Make Your Own Sale. :)

So if you missed my last past, let me catch you up to speed. I live in a semi-large town that has a military base. The stores in my area do not like to compete with the commissary, so we don't get all the good deals that so many other bloggers seem to get. I feel so robbed!

Buying every single thing on sale here is not an option, neither is using every single coupon that I find.

I've had to work around my challenges. Using the resources that are available--and there definitely are a LOT of resources--has helped me keep my spending in check. I can still get some great deals without putting a big dent in my budget.

Here are some of the resources that I use to try to find the best deals:

• Bloggers such as Melissa's Bargain Blog, Money Saving Mom, Moms By Heart, and Attention Target Shoppers may not have the same sales ads that are in my area, but they certainly are an inspiration and a great place to start. Melissa posts scenarios to help you get started with your "extreme couponing," Crystal and Lori both post links to all the best coupons and free samples, plus Lori has a great weekly post on $0.50 or Less Shopping (love it!). And Ginger provides some of the most comprehensive Target deals you can find.
• Coupon generatorating sites, like Organic Grocery Deals and Hot Coupon World let me know some of the Target web coupons that are available, and I can print innumerable copies of as many Target coupons that I think I might need.
• The forums at Startsampling are also really great for letting me know about all the free samples and Internet coupons, taking out a lot of guesswork and hunting around. I love knowing that I can get something for free if I can't actually buy it for cheap (every little bit helps, right?). And, I just have to repeat this, no guesswork! They've done all the hard work for me and posted everything right there in the forums.
• All You magazine has been another excellent resource. I took the plunge last Summer and paid $16 for a two-year subscription. Not only are the articles and recipes great and full of frugal living tips, each edition is also loaded with coupons, even Free purchase coupons. You can click here to receive a free two-month trial for All You and check for yourself just how many coupons there are.
• Friends and family. My mother-in-law and husband's grandmother will occasionally give me a stack of coupons that they doesn't plan on using. And likewise, I'll share coupons with them or other friends who might be able to use them.
• And don't forget the store sales ad! Most stores post their sales online, which saves me from having to get an ad to the local paper, or driving across town picking up a sales ad from each store. This is another area where my mother-in-law is a life saver. My in-laws have a paper subscription, so they usually send the flyers home with my husband or one of the kids each week, which gives me a hard copy to work with as I plan my shopping.

Where do you go to find the best deals? Do you have a no-fail-go-to site that you visit? Share your tips with a comment below. :)

Coming up next, Part 3, or Putting It All Together!

Note: These are suggestions that I find works for me and my family's situation. The important thing is to find what works best for you, and sticking with it, or finding a way to improve upon it. :)

Making Your Own Sale Part 1

I live out in the boonies. At least, sometimes it feels that way. The town I now live in here in Eastern North Carolina is much larger than the college town in Central Texas that hubs and I lived in when we were first married. In Texas, we had two grocery stores to choose from, HEB and Walmart. Here, we have Food Lion, Piggly Wiggly, IGA, Save-A-Lot, Super Target (which, by the way, does not carry produce or fresh meat) and Walmart, plus Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid. Food Lion also has several convenient locations to shop at, so there's always one nearby no matter what part of town I'm at (no wonder they're so expensive--gotta pay the mortgage!! lol).

So with so many options, it would stand to reason that the stores here should be really competitive, right?

Wrong!

We have a military installation located in the heart of the big city, smack-dab in the middle of town. And the stores here just will not compete with the commissary on base.

So while I follow a couple blogs that match sales ads with coupons, like Melissa's, I rarely get to utilize their extreme couponing methods because the stores here, including Target and the 3 pharmacies, don't always have the same sale. Or, the stores have the sale, but the coupons aren't available in this area.

That means that I have to resort to extreme measures, like creating my own sale!

When I first started serious couponing a year ago, I felt as though I had to use every single coupon that I got my hands on, and felt like I had to buy everything that was on sale, whether I needed it or used it or not.

That meant, if an item was "on sale" in the posts according to other bloggers, but not on sale here in my area, I still bought the item. OR, if I couldn't get a coupon, I still bought the item.

*GASP!* What was I thinking??

Let's just say that train of thought didn't last very long!

It's taken some self-discipline, but I've come to learn that I don't need every single thing that is on sale. And I don't need every single coupon either.

If I miss a sale item because it's simply not on sale in my area, that's okay! That means that something else is on sale here. We're not brand specific either, so I'm perfectly ok with buying store brand or generic. And if I do manage to clip "the perfect coupon," then I'm happy to buy a name brand item.

Coming up next, Part 2! Also known as, How to Make Your Own Sale!

What shopping challenges do you have? Are you in the big city, college town, small town, or military town, and do you have to get creative with your shopping? Please post a comment below and share your tips! :)

Garden Update

With the warmer Spring weather we've been experiencing, our family has been able to work out in the garden more, setting up tomato cages and planting the transplants.

We've only had one little glitch that caused us to go to Plan B. We were supposed to get a large shipment of compost through a friend who is a landscaping contractor, but that fell through. So instead, hubs bought several large bags of special soil for vegetables, mixing some of it into the ground when he planted the transplants.

Everything's really starting to take off. Here's some of what we've planted:

Peppers, peppers and more peppers. My in-laws bought us several varieties of peppers--spicy, mild and sweet varieties, such as tabasco, cayenne, jalapeno, hot banana, green bell, and more.

My son's Mammoth Sunflowers are also growing. Two of the ones he planted really shot off and got an early start, even though they were planted the same time as others. We started most these out in Jiffy pots then moved them into the soil. The rest were planted right in the soil a couple weeks ago.

Last Fall, we bought 3 different varieties of grapes. We didn't know if they survived the Winter, unti a week or so ago, we saw the tiniest little leaves budding out. It hasn't taken long for these to take off, either!

Our garden was ravaged by bunnies last Spring, one of the many pests (although cute pests, to say the least) to attack our garden. The bunnies ate up several of the green leaf lettuces, and chewed up all the blueberries, plus most of the blueberry bush as well. They finally went away for good after I brushed down the dogs and gave the menfolk a haircut, and put all the fur and hair around the perimeter of the garden. I suppose that I could do that again, but we opted to try out a fake owl to start off with. So far, so good. We've seen a couple bunnies in a neighbor's yard (I know they're eyeballing our garden from a distance) but they haven't actually ventured into our yard yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it continues to work!

Another new addition to this year's garden is potatoes. We planted several red seed potatoes in these 4 blue barrels. The bottoms are cut out of these barrels, and we filled it with good compost. As the plants grow up, we'll lift up the barrels little by little to keep the leaves from falling over. The potato plant will stop growing potatoes when the leaves "fall over" the edge. As long as you can keep the plant growing "up", it will keep producing potatoes, which you can pull out from the bottom of the barrel as you lift it up.

The seed potatoes definitely seem to like their home. We've got quite a lot of little plants growing in each barrel.

In addition to the blueberries, the bunnies also helped themselves to most of last year's strawberry crop. Last year's crop didn't produce a huge number of berries, but holy cow, we have a ton of little white flowers and little green strawberries growing this year! I sure hope that the owl does his job and keeps out the bunnies so we can truly enjoy our strawberry crop this year!

Here's our blueberry bush, full of new little blueberries. It will be awhile before these ripen. Again, keeping our fingers crossed that they'll be able to ripen to maturity before the bunnies devise a way to sneak into our garden! lol

When we planted the blueberry bush last year, we also planted a blackberry bush. It had just started flowering, and when we planted it, all the flowers died off but didn't produce any berries. We pretty much missed the timing. The plant, however, continued to grow. And this year, it's loaded with beautiful white flowers. I'm looking forward to when it produces berries--they'll be great as a topping in some yogurt or for cereal!

Are you growing a garden this year? What are you planting? What are your success stories? Are you going organic? Lots of questions, but feel free to leave a comment and share your gardening story! :)

To-Do Tuesday: Week 14 And A Bit Of Remembrance

There's a whole lot of things that I know need to get done this week, but there's so much on the calendar and we are absolutely insanely busy, so I'm going to try to keep things simple. Simple. A word that is easier said than done.

• Put away Easter decorations
• √Revamp/reorganize the kids' room. Box up toys/books/clothes that can get sold to the local "gently used" children's store or taken to Good Will.
• Dust/vacuum
• Read another chapter out of personal reading book. Been a few weeks now since I've had even a moment to even *think* about doing this.
• Take dog to the pound. I haven't had a chance to do this particular unpleasant task.

What's really sad is that the kids found our cat Britnee a couple days ago. She had disappeared a couple months ago when our dog started her habitual escaping from the fenced-in part of the yard to chase & kill stray cats. We thought Britnee, our outside cat (we had to kick her outside last year after she peed & pooped in our bed) was one of the victims, but we never had any proof. The dog has not escaped in about a week. And then a couple days ago, the kids were exploring around the yard, and right at the treeline they found our Britnee.

Except she was not alive. We were able to confirm that it was, indeed, our Britnee. Not only did the fur color, length & texture match, she was also wearing the same collar that she had on when she disappeared. It was an emotional day, though. Not only had our cat come back home, she had also died just 20 yards from the house.

It was easier before, not knowing what happened to her. But this time was different. We don't know exactly how she died...my husband doesn't think it was our dog because it had been several days since her last great escape. Who knows. The kids were deeply saddened, though.

We buried Britnee in a spot of leaves in front of a tree where she used to curl up and sleep. Hubs made a cross-shaped tombstone. My little 3 1/2 yr-old insisted that Britnee would be all alone in her grave, and then through her tears, she insisted that it was a different Britnee. She took this rather poignant picture of the grave...I thought as I first saw this picture that my little girl is a budding photographer, a bittersweet thought, to say the least.

To help the kids cope, we put a picture of Britnee on the dresser next to their bed, and allowed our other cat, Ginger (who is an inside only cat) to sleep with the kids that first night. But since we still don't know 100% what happened to Britnee, and since our dog has gone wild with chasing stray cats, what we do know is that The. Dog. Has. To. Go. Period. My husband refuses to do it (he's too emotionally attached) which leaves me to be the bad guy and do the bad chore. I think this is the weekend that I'll have to do the dirty deed that we've been putting off.

How is your To-Do List going? I did manage to check off most of last week's list. My son had a great & fantastic 6th birthday & party. Did you see the pic of me flat on my badunkadunk? Oh, and I did get to commemorate one year of Balancing Act Basics!

Remember to visit Crazy Adventures in Parenting, the home of To-Do Tuesday!

Strawberries Are A-Comin'!

Last year, we planted 6 strawberry plants that gave us the occasion ripe, red & juicy berry of sweet goodness that we could eat straight off the plant or slice up and have with our cereal. These plants produced strawberries all throughout the growing season here in Eastern NC--from when we first planted them through September.

The plants continued to stay green even after they stopped producing fruit, so we left them in the ground.

As blustery Autumn days blew in, and the cold of Winter set, those 6 strawberry plants continued to stay in our garden, green as ever. I debated on whether I should pull them up or leave them be.

I decided to just leave them alone.

A few weeks ago, as we started preparing our garden for the new growing season, I unburied our strawberry plants from the heavy layer of Autumn leaves that had accumulated. The strawberry plant leaves were still as green as ever. But instead of 6 very distinctive plants, we had a multitude of plants in that strawberry patch! They had literally spread out and multiplied!

But they were still alive, so I decided again to leave them alone and not pull them up.

A week ago, again working out in the garden, I took a moment to look at our strawberry plants, and wondered what I was to do with them. Were they still viable? Would I be able to reap another harvest from them?

And then I saw it. Tucked away under a green leaf.

A flower.

A beautiful, white & yellow, oh-so-beautiful strawberry flower!

In fact, tucked under some more leaves on this same particular plant, were even more flowers!

Hot dog, strawberries will be here soon!

Here's to being patient and riding things out. A year ago, I never would have believed that you could grow plants in the Winter, especially not strawberries. It gets rather cold here, and it snowed 4 times this past Winter. But we managed to grow broccoli, cabbage, onions and carrots all Winter long.

And, apparently, strawberries (so to speak :) !

Double-Check Those Manager Special Price Tags!

Make sure you double-check your price tag on your meat purchases before you take them to the register!

On a recent trip to Food Lion, I saw that whole, cut-up chickens (whole fryers that had been split in half) were marked down to $0.58/lb, a fairly good deal in my book. I usually prefer to buy fryers when they are under $0.50/lb; however, I liked that they were split in half, which meant that they'd fit into my freezer better.

I did my usual hunting & pecking around to find the "perfect" package, and noticed that one packaged seemed to be priced a little lower than the majority. It was $2.65 for 4.91lbs, whereas most other packages were in the $3 range. I pulled out my calculator, plugged in the price, and saw that the price per pound was actually $0.54!


I thought to myself, "Wonder what else is priced for less?"

After some more hunting around, I found yet a 2nd price tag that was definitely, undeniably, lower than the rest. It read:

2.56lb for $1.48 total

Come again? $1.48 for this thing? The weight of this chicken didn't feel any less than the others. I just knew that the weight was incorrect. So I took it to the produce section and weighed it in a scale. The actual weight was about 4.75lb.

I weighed the other package of chicken, and it was right under 5 lbs. I knew then, for sure, that the package marked at 2.56lbs was incorrect. For an approximate weight of 4.75lb, and a price of $1.48, it was actually just $0.31/lb!!

And, would you believe, that I saw even mroe tags that were mismarked? I don't mean in favor of the customer--some prices were actually charging the customer more, up to $0.65/lb!! I did not elect to purchase any of those!

However, I did take my two packages to Customer Service, and informed the associate about the discrepancy on the price tags, the two that I had with me, which were actually cheaper than the sale of $0.58/lb, as well as the packages that I left in the meat department, that were marked higher than the sale.

The associate thanked me for bringing this to her attention. She agreed to honor the prices that were on my two packages that I chose to keep and indicated that she would have the manager correct the packages that were marked up too high.

It just goes to show that it PAYS to do the math, and double-check those prices tags! Whether on sale, manager's special, marked down, blue light special, or just plain ol' regular price, get out that calculator and verify price accuracy. You never know when you might get a better deal (or worse, when you might inadvertently get ripped off!).

To Do Tuesday: Week 13 and Return & Report 2010 Goals Update

Somehow, someway, I managed to survive last week. It was a crazy week, but I had the most relaxing weekend that I've had in a long, long time. I got to spend a most of Saturday & Sunday sitting in our garden, digging into the cool soil, pulling up grass roots, weeds, and tree roots. Of all things to enjoy! My husband tried helping me Sunday evening, and he pretty much gave up out of sheer boredom within the first 15 minutes. Me? I loved every single minute of it. It was just too relaxing, and I could really enjoy & appreciate our Heavenly Father's creations, while looking forward to the creating we'll be doing as we plant more seeds & transplants in our now tripled-in-size garden.

This week will be just as busy as last week, but I definitely feel refreshed and able to meet this week's challenges without the stress & anxiety that I had last week. I guess that's what a 3-day weekend will do for you!

I'm combining this week's "To Do List" with an update on my goals for 2010. Just a quick update. I could easily write an entire novel, but I don't want to put anyone to sleep! lol

This week, I'll need to:

• √Announce 1-year Blogoversary AND Giveaway!! Have you entered the giveaway for a $10 Target gift card? You've got plenty of time, but don't delay! Giveaway ends at 11pm on Monday 4/11/10.
• √Order son's birthday cake. His party is at a roller skating rink, and the invitations were camouflage colors. So he picked out a camouflage-colored cake with a roller skate on the top. Interesting combination, if you ask me. At least he's creative! In years past, my mother-in-law has decorated the cake, although I did do it one year. But since you can only turn 6 once, and since we've splurged on a party at the skating rink, I thought we'd have the local pastry shop do the cake this year. I know the Little Man is gonna love it!
• Make necklaces & bracelets with Little Miss. She got a bead kit for Easter from her grandparents, and it's all she can talk about now.
• √Attend Young Women's Presidency meeting & activity. The Y.W. program is for the adolescent girls at church, and I've been serving in one of the leadership rolls since the beginning of the year. These girls definitely help remind me of what it's like to be a teenager--last week the big topic that kept coming up was prom!
• Take dog to the pound. This dog has just gone loopy. She's always been great with the kids, very loving, mostly obedient. But lately things have changed. Maybe it's her age. We were having a lot of stray cats come into our yard for about a month. The dog figured out how to jump our fence, attack, and kill every cat that she's come across. She has even developed a "taste" for dead cat. It sickens me, and I do not like my kids seeing the dog behave this way. The dog is tearing up the fence, and my husband has repaired the fence on several occasions. He's even got an electric fence up, and the dog still breaks through that. Today, the dog escaped again and trampled the corn transplants in the process. It was the last straw. The dog has got to go. Sadly, my husband just can't bring himself to take the dog to the animal shelter as I asked him, so of course the job will be left up to me to complete.
• √Buy birthday presents for my son, wrap them & hide them (he'll bug me about wanting to open them if I don't).
• √Wish my not-a-baby-anymore firstborn a Happy 6th Birthday! He's growing up on me!

As for my goals for this year:

These goals are definitely a "work in progress." I made some pretty lofty goals, and I knew that they wouldn't happen over night. But when I evaluate them, I see that I am making some progress. Slow going, but progress nonetheless.

• Organize, organize, organize--this has been quite a challenge for me! My husband has been unemployed for over a year now (the economy was hit really hard where we live), so he's home all day every day, as well as the kids when they're not in school. If I clean up the house before going to bed at night, it's a guarantee that it will look like a tornado zone when I come home from work the next day. I can't win, so for now, I give up. Plus, the kitchen remodel has come to a grinding halt due to lack of fundage, and other projects that have become a priority, and I feel like reorganizing the kitchen is pointless at least until my husband builds the last cabinet and puts down new Formica. The kids' room is a complete disaster, but I'm just too swamped to attack it for now. I really need a good 8 hours of no interruptions, no distractions, which means I'll need to take a day of vacation, or find a Saturday when I can kick the kids & the hubs out the door and leave the bedroom all to myself. So for now, I'll just have to put this goal on temporary "hold."
• I am, however, pitching as I go, hence the link to the March Clutter Update at Amy's Finer Things. I've got 2 huge boxes packed to overflowing with items that are going out the door and into Good Will--woohoo! I just need to get them into the car and off our property! haha
• Fit & Trim -- I have managed to work out a few times over the past few weeks. Not as often as I'd like, but definitely an improvement. Hubs and I bought an exercise bike as an anniversary present to each other, and so far it hasn't been collecting dust. My husband exercises at least every other night, and he's managed to lose 5 lbs! I haven't had the luxury of exercising on the bike as often, but I am eating even healthier than I had been, and cutting back more on my portion sizes. Working in the garden for about 15 hours this past weekend definitely worked the muscles! Strangely, though, I've actually gained about 3 pounds!? Muscle does weigh more than fat, right? That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
• Reduce Leftovers -- Definitely doing great here! Our meals are smaller in size, not that were eating more food at dinner time in order to avoid leftovers. I haven't had any leftovers to take to work in over a week! Don't get me wrong, I love leftovers. But in my quest for being fit & trim, I need to reduce my caloric & fat intake. When I don't have leftovers, I stick to simple sandwiches, grapefruit, or a small soup for my lunch at work.
• Better Blogging -- I think I've done a pretty good job here, especially considering that I'm not able to dedicate the time to blogging like I was able to a year ago. My employer is now requiring 9-hour work days as a requirement of the job. It seems like there's always something going on with the family, so there isn't a lot of free time in the evenings. Plus, I've got all these goals to work on, too! :) The good news is that I've been able to do a post nearly every day every week, and when I know that I'll be tied up in the evening, I've been able to get several posts done in advance. I've been able to do some new series, like my Better Breakfast and Spectacular Sides posts. I'm not exactly where I'd like to be, i.e. a set schedule for each series, but I am definitely better than I was when I started the blog.

How about you? What's on your To Do List? How are your goals going for 2010?

This post linked to To-Do Tuesday Week 58 at Crazy Adventures in Parenting and Amy's Finer Things!

Gardening Blues

Note to self: Make sure you water your transplants frequently if you're going to keep them outdoors!

My husand has been watering our seedings quite frequently, so I really didn't bother to check their soil level every day, thinking he was doing that.

I took a look at them this afternoon and about had a panic. The soil was dry as a bone, and the plants were shriveling up!



My poor little lettuce leaves...I don't think they'll make it. :(

My husband last watered them Tuesday, but we've been so busy this week, that neither of us have had much time to devote to something as simple as checking in on all these little guys until this afternoon. Hubs watered them , but the soil was so dry that the water simply had evaporated by the time I looked in on them about an hour later. I watered them as well and gave myself a swift kick in the rear for not being diligent about checking on these at least yesterday or the day before.

Thank goodness for stores who sell transplants! Looks like I might have to go do some shopping! :)

To-Do Tuesday: Week 12

Yes, I know that it is Thursday. It's just been one of those weeks. You know. The kind of week that just makes you want to pull your hair out because there is just too much going on and no way it will all get accomplished. It's frustrating knowing that I have no control. I'm trying to take things one day at a time, but...I really want my life back. One day things will quiet down again, right? Maybe? Let's just say that I won't hold my breath, but I will try to stay sane! :)

The good news is that I did create this week's To Do List, and I've even managed to cross things off. I just didn't have the opportunity to type it up and post it. *sigh* Like I said, I've been busy.

• √Decorate Easter eggs. √Call hubs' aunt & uncle and let them know we will not be able to go to their house for Easter this year. √Buy stickers for the kids' Easter parties, and stuff plastic easter eggs with stickers. √Make snacks for the kids' Easter parties--jigglers for Little Miss, and Banana Muffins for Little Man.
• √Pick up completed physical form from pediatrician's office in preparation of registering son for 1st grade. We were able to keep him at the preschool he went to last year and registered him for the Kindergarten program there due to a scholarship he got. Having him go there, plus our daughter go to the same school for preschool was WAY cheaper than day care full-time for just our daughter, even if we didnt' have the scholarship. But they stop at the Kindergarten level, so we'll need to register our boy for 1st grade in the public school system. I'd quit my job and home school him if it were feasible, but then we'd be living in the car on the street, and I'm not exactly keen on that! :)
• √Prepare and √teach lesson/activity for this week's Young Women's activity. The Young Women are the youth-aged girls at my church, and I am responsible for the activity if we have a 5th Tuesday in the month.
• √Buy a gift for a birthday party our son was invited to. Wrap the gift, or at least √ put it in a bag to make it look presentable.√
• √Enjoy a 3-day weekend off from work--halleluia!--and at least try to sleep in 'til 7am each day. *fingers & toes crossed on this one!!*
• Return a recent favor and help some friends with their garden.
• Super clean the bathroom. Sweep/mop floors. They've gotten filthy, thanks in part to work my husband has been doing out in the garden. Good work; dirty shoes and hands!
• √Book the Skateland for son's birthday party. He finally decided that yes, he does want a party at the skating rink after all. √Buy invitations for the party, write up all the party information, and √distribute to son's friends and family.
• √Go to son's baseball practice to support him. Hubs was kinda' sorta' guilted into becoming the head coach for the Dixie Youth Coach Pitching team our son will be on this year. It's the 2nd year our son will be on a coach pitch team, but the first year he'll be playing Dixie Youth, and the first year Hubs will be coaching. And there will be 2-3 games each week. Things are just getting started, and the season will really kick into gear after Spring Break is over. Say good-bye to free nights & weekends!
• REMAIN CALM, COOL AND COLLECTED! Ok, this one is not going so well. Perhaps I appear so on the outside, but on the inside...I'm screaming in defeat! Deep breath, deep breath.

I know there's more that needs to get done, but I'm going to stop there for now. This is one long little list. Thankfully, I managed to get everything done last week.

How are your own To Do Lists going? Managed to accomplish everything this week? Or are you struggling with finding time enough to breathe like me? :)

This post linked to Week 57 at Crazy Adventures in Parenting, the home of To-Do Tuesday!