April 20th

What does it mean to  you?

• It is the 110th day of the year
• Detroit Tiger’s Baseball 1st opening day in 1912 @ Tiger Stadium
• Adolf Hitler’s Birthday ~1889
• Bay of Pigs Invasion in Cuba~ 1961
• Columbine High School Shooting~ 1999

Needless to say some pretty horrific events occurred on this day. Some we dare not celebrate. However this day is very special for Marvin and Lindsay ~ It’s our anniversary! 4 years!

Here we are in 2007:

Oh man in 10 years we will look back and say… “why was jumping, so cool?” Maybe it won’t take 10 years…

In 2008: We were living at Pineridge Apartments in Walker, MI. Marvin was working at Behr Industries and Lindsay was working at Loft Apartments.

We got Fran that year too!

In 2009: We were living at 656 Lamoreaux Dr. We loved that apartment. Marvin still at Behr, and Lindsay working at Grattan Academy.

We didn’t renew our vows… I just re-wore  my wedding dress to a masquerade party at church.

In 2010: We were living at Calle Transversal #8 in the Dominican Republic. Both working at American School of Santo Domingo

In 2011: We are living in Boyne City, MI. Marvin working at Boyne Mountain- Sales/Waterpark and Lindsay working at Concord Academy.

For our anniversary today, Lindsay had a snow day…WHAT? Yes a snow day on April 20th. 4 years ago it was in the high 70s and we were exchanging our vows at 7:30 in the evening. And now just 4 years later it is below freezing! I think I’ll email this to the global warming advocates.

We went to Gaylord for dinner and shopping. We have a tradition on our anniversary to buy new pillows. This is to avoid being 57 years old, married for almost 28 years, and having the same pillows during our whole marriage…not that I’m relating this to anyone in particular. After shopping at TJMaxx we went to dinner at La Senorita. It was a fun evening of just hanging out.

Here’s to many more years together!

Move over TLC’s Extreme Couponing…

Its Spring Break this week so instead of preparing for school I get to spend a little more time on my hobbies…that means couponing!

I went to Meijer today and walked out getting all of this FREE!

You’re probably thinking, HOW IN THE WORLD?

Here’s how:

1. Meijer had a deal running on Kotex U products. If you buy 4 items you get a $3 coupon on your next order. (your probably thinking – “well you have to pay for those Kotex U products first, right?” WRONG- and ill show you)

2. Collect 4 Kotex U products- I chose the 18 count that were on clearance for $1.03

Use 2- $2.50 off 2 Kotex U coupons

By using these 2 coupons the register actually owes you 64 cents, so you have to throw something else in on your order. I chose TWIX bars (MCVs favorite). Total is now 11cents. I tried this many times and I even told the register lady she needed to price adjust the coupon to $2.06 so Meijer wouldn’t be paying me. She just said nope I don’t need to just add something else to your order. OK I said. I tried! I think I ended up with $33.00 from this deal.

At the end of your order- once you’ve paid (11 cents-  I used a gift card I got free – see below) a $3.00 catalina (printed store coupon) will pop out next to the receipt. Use this to pay for groceries.

So you’ve just MADE $2.89 cents plus you got 4 Kotex products and a Twix bar.

3. I used these $3.00 Catalinas plus a prescription gift card I got free yesterday to pay for the shopping cart full.

How I got the free gift card form the prescription: Meijer frequently will spit out catalinas with your receipt that say $20.00 free when you fill your next prescription at Meijer. They look like this:

I got a prescription for amoxicillin  yesterday and filled it at Meijer. Getting a prescription is the only good part about being sick. Meijer actually will fill amoxicillin FREE (even with out health insurance) so they usually won’t take the coupon for this prescription fill. Except in my case, I told them I would actually like to PAY for my prescription so I could get the $20.00 gift card. Prescription lady Kathy said that shouldn’t be a problem (most times you can bill your insurance to pay for this- it would have cost $7.99). When I came back to pick up my prescription Kathy told me they actually couldn’t charge me for the prescription that the register wouldn’t let her. So I thought – oh well, I guess I’ll just have to save my $20.00 catalina coupon. Nope- because of Meijer’s great customer service (thanks Fred and Lena) Kathy’s boss went to guest services to get me a $20.00 gift card! So I paid nothing for the prescrip. and get a $20 gift card. I Heart Meijer!

4. So today I shopped using coupons and buying things on sale. I focused on these things to maximize my deals

• Things on sale- never buy unless its on sale AND you have a coupon. Just having one or the other does not constitute as a good deal.
• Meijer’s 10 for $10, get the 11th item free (deal) Use coupons on all 11 items

So here is my HAUL unpacked.

Fran enjoyed this shop too! She HEARTS plastic bags.

If you are thinking you’d like to try out couponing but have no idea where to start, try these links:

• Saving Addiction
• Hip 2 Save

Also feel free to email me questions or leave a post on the blog.

Happy Friday!

 

Day 4

The trip to GA was great. Monday we did a little townie touring. We woke up early (8am); boys were up even earlier!

• stop at Golden Donut
• stop at Ross (kind of like tjmaxx) picked up new sunglasses
• Chick-fil-a for lunch (a southern must stop)
• commissary shopping with coupons – I think I enjoyed this more than Mandy
• this should be an incentive for joining the Military!

Back at home we packed up the car, played a short game of Monopoly Deal (left the game with Wilson- hopefully he is playing up for the next time we come to town), and then headed home.

We stopped in Knoxville (thanks Dotson’s for the invite- maybe next time!) for the evening and them made it back to Flint by 4pm Tuesday.

The trip was GREAT! It was so nice to see the Lutz’s. It was the first time I’d seen Brad since he got home from his tour in Djibouti, Africa. 

Here are a few pictures from our trip.

Bike riding- Both boys are 2 wheeling!

Muskoka- the Dog, beautiful!

Monopoly Deal

The Faces of Walker

Golden Donut

Chick-Fil-A- The manager was laughing at our accents or lack of accents, I guess!

I’m sure my cousin Mandy will be posting photos of the trip too. Check our her blog.

Day 3

Sunday, Sunday, ....

Church at 930, or 10, they aren't sure when it starts. But, we were on time :)
It is a MEGA church, approx 5,000+ people. Worship was amazing a real production!
After church it was Nascar racing time and nap time. I fell asleep around lap 199 and woke with about 199 left to go. Wilson really gets into racing- he truly watches every lap. Junior is his favorite racer!
We went for a walk and the boys road bikes.
In the evening we ordered pizza and watched the CMAs.
I really feel like I'm in the deep south.

This is what they boys liked most about us being here
Walker says: "Playing monopoly deal"
Wilson says: : "Playing monopoly deal"

(pictures to come on Tuesday/ Wednesday) I left my camera cord in MICH.

Georgia Day 2

Arrived on post at 10:30 a.m.  We made great time!
Post (not base- that's Air Force)  is huge! They have 5 elementary schools, and an interstate running through the post. We drove around the post a little with Brad while Mandy was at a baby shower. The boys were very excited to see us; we got numerous hugs during the day.
We taught Wil how to play Monopoly Deal (it's addicting)- he caught on fast.
We went to dinner at a local Mexican restaurant ( I got a coupons on restaurants.com). In the menu it said first order of chips & salsa was free...they kept bringing chips, it was comical. I think we had 3 full baskets on our table at one time and about a gallon of salsa! (they didn't charge extra).
It was mid 70s today, supposed to be even warmer tomorrow!

Road to trip- Spring Break 2011

My sister Ari and I are road-tripping to Fort Benning, Georgia to see our cousin and family.

Day 1

Left Burton, MI at 10am.
2 wrong turns before we even left Michigan :/
1 food stop- McD's please! Can you believe they charge $1.80 for soda in Ohio! It's $1 drinks in MI. I knew Ohioans were crazy!
5 hours of driving for Ari
7 hours of driving for Lindsay
1.5 hours of talking on the phone to the Bakers to find a hotel :} YIKES!
Hotel stop for the night in Dalton, GA (3.5 hours from destination) Best Western $59.99- I think we will be safe here, if not you know where to find us!
A short game of Monopoly Deal and then bed. 8am departure time set!