Greg stories

Sometimes I wish I had my own reality show, because Greg does some of the funniest things I have ever seen. But a blog comes close enough, so I thought I would share what I guess you could say I caught on "camera."

Let me set this one up: Greg and I like to have what we call "sleepy tea" at night (kind of like old people? haha) , and I am the one who usually gets this ready. Well one night Greg decided he would do it, and I made sure to give him as detailed instructions that you could possibly give when telling someone how to make tea...maybe I was too detailed. Here is how the instructions went...

Me: Okay, fill the pot with some water, set it on the stove, and turn it on high.

So far so good.

Me: Now that the water is steaming, bring down two mugs from the cabinet and two teabags.

Still good.

Me: Put the tea into the mugs and pour the hot water over them and wait for it to steep for about 4 minutes.

3 minutes later...

Greg: Hey, are these little grains supposed to dissolve anytime soon?

Me: What?


I think you can guess where the instructions went wrong.

So I laughed for a really long time while thinking to myself, I love him so much!


Well, speaking of tea... this one happened just last night.

Greg offered to get us both some ice cream so I said I would take just a little bit. Greg got his big bowl, and I got this...


He said he thought it would be cute. I agreed. :-)

Until the next episode of "Greg Stories".....

monday shopping!

So today was my first big coupon trip... I think I spent ALL day Saturday cutting 4 newspapers of coupons, going through my grocery game lists and store flyers, and making my week menus and grocery lists.... so yes, in order to save money, you have to give up some time. BUT I do know that eventually I will become more and more faster at planning and "couponing." I can definitely see how easy it is for one to give up early in the game!

Anyways, I went to both Randalls and Kroger because there were different deals at both. First of all when making my list, I didn't add anything that wasn't included in the store sale's flyer, so I plan everything around what is on sale for the week. I buy quite a bit of produce (and if you have read my post a while back, then you know this already! haha) because they make such inexpensive and very healthy snacks! I bought a large watermelon, grapes, corn on the cob (4 for a 1.00!), brocolli, celery (don't buy the pre-cut packs... what a waste of money!), bananas, and some peaches (this week they were finally ripe!)

Ok, on to the coupons! Thanks to the grocery game (www.thegrocerygame.com) I got to use quite a bit of coupons and even got some things for free! There was a great coupon for 2.00 off any bag of sugar if you bought 10 packs of kool-aid. They are usually 10 for 1.00 so I bought 20 and had two coupons and the imperial sugar (in the nice ziploc bag) was on sale for 1.99 so they were ultimately free! I also stocked up on some cheerios which were 2 for 4.00 and I had a coupons for 1.00 off and they ended up being a 1.00 each! (This is why I buy 4 papers!) I think I am going to make some cheerio treats this week! :-) I also bought bags of snack mix that were 2 for 3.00 and thanks to kroger's coupon doubling my .50 cent coupons became 1.00 coupons and I ended up getting them at .50 each! wooo!

My grocery bill this week was larger than usual, but thats because I stocked up on some things and we ran out of a lot of things! BUT I saved 30.00! and half of that was by coupons alone. :-)

THEN... after unloading at home, I went over to Walgreens where I got some awesome deals! Here is a picture of everything I bought... (side note: I tell myself to never buy things just because they are on sale...which is hard sometimes! So everything is what we needed or what we can store for later!)

Drumroll please..... The final total for it all.... 10.00!
Now, the expert couponers would laugh at me... but for my first big trip, I think I did pretty well!

I got all the information needed for this trip from www.moneysavingmom.com an AWESOME blog where the deals are posted each week for a variety of stores. (Just an FYI- she shops for a family of 5 on 40.00 a week for groceries!) amazing!
So here is how I did it... both shaving creams were on sale for 1.99 with the Walgreens in store coupon. I had two coupons from online for 1.00 off. Put two and two together and they were .99 each. The toothpaste was on sale for 3.00 each, I had two coupons for .75 off each. The real deal came from the register rewards I recieved when they were purchased, which was 6.00 total. Then I used that on the bounty paper towels which were already on sale for 6.49 and the bottled water that was also on sale for 1.99. The shampoo was BOGO.. BUT there was a "try me free" sticker on the fronts (which is like gold!) so essentially they were free! And this is 7.00 a bottle stuff! Now as soon as I got home, I filled out the rebate form, and put it right in the mailbox!

So there we have it... I have started a nice little cupboard of toiletries that I have gotten free or dirt cheap to save for when I need them!

It has become like an exciting game to me and I can't wait for next week!

trusting for an answer!

I haven't posted much about my job since almost a month ago... and for good reason! It has been one crazy ride to say the least, but now I can share the finalized details!

Some things have changed since the last update. I now work for both Goodson Middle School and Cy-Creek High School. And here is how I came to this point!....

I received news that Goodson could not approve a full time FCS teacher and decided to team up with the high school for a split position. I was a little hesitant about this change and decided to see what other opportunities were around the district, so I started interviewing again. After a couple interviews, I started getting very confused about where I should teach and it was quite overwhelming... to the point that I was getting discouraged about knowing where God wanted me to be. I wanted a clear answer! But don't we all!!

Well, tomorrow I had an interview at a school that I was highly considering. Small classes, new school, just me and one other teacher, but that is before I got the call today!

Cy-Creek called to set up a formal interview (I had one with Goodson already) but because the high school would be the one to hire, I needed to meet with them first. I was again hesitant, because I had other options waiting for me and I still wasn't sure about the split.

So I decided to go and I figured I would tell them that I needed time to make a decision. At the interview, however, it seemed as if the decision was already made! They explained how the split would work, which is now much simpler than I thought it would be, I would be teaching the course that I love, at two very good schools. After the short interview, the principal welcomed me to the school and told me HR would be in contact with me! I don't remember ever accepting an offer! Now I wasn't quite sure what to say, but honestly, I felt very okay with that! In fact, I actually felt excited about this coming fall and being a part of both schools.

As I was driving home, I thought about how much I prayed that God would provide the answer to where he wanted me to be. And each time I always seemed to have Cy-Creek at the back of my mind, but I always shook it off because I knew there must be better opportunities out there for me.

So this was the answer I was waiting for. It surely sneaked up on me! And I have realized even more that sometimes you know what you want, but not what's best. But God knows and I thank Him for that! :D

Looking back I see now that I have learned quite a bit about my relationship with God, even with something as small as this! I always trusted He would lead me in the right direction, but now know to never falter or loose heart, no matter how long I have to wait!

Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

the "B" word

Greg and I finally got down to business and did our budget this weekend! Its been one of those things where we have both said, "lets do the budget after ____ (enter in anything that costs lots of money)"

So Greg being very Excell savy and especially thanks to Cristie and her awesome budget layout for ideas, we compiled a pretty sweet system for tracking, categorizing, and of course frowning upon some implulse expenses.

Now after seeing that many of our categories were already maxed out for the month of June (I believe we are only halfway through??) I decided to pick up those lost frugal habits I totally said I would do as soon as I got married, do some more research on "extreme couponing", and definetly vent to my mom :-) I mean, how do families of 5 do it?

Yesterday, I decided to buy 2 newspapers at the dollar store, clip the coupons, and put together my first couponing book! Here is a pic... I'm pretty proud!


Now couponing has definitely come a long way. It is a lot more than saving 35 cents here and there. It has pretty much turned into a game in which when used correctly after much researching, thought, and (yuck) math, can turn into lots and lots of free household essentials and sometimes can even make you a few extra bucks!

I have been to an "extreme couponing" class and to be honest, I was very overwhelmed! These ladies were constantly adding to a huge stockpile of free toilet paper, toothpaste, and rice crackers they had stored in closets, under beds, and in their garage! That is why I have decided to take it step by step, week by week. And of course, I will be updating on my learning progress!

So tonight, I think I may get in some practice by going to my Walgreens and picking up some free deoderant, reusable shopping bags, and a new razor for Greg. :-)

But anyways, back to the "b" word... after distributing money to our various categories I realized that some things had to change! No more eating out (like Greg's lunch, and random weeknight fastfood or ice cream runs!) except for the occasional Sunday lunch out and maybe a date or two each month. Greg will have to cut back on the golf to once a week at a "cheaper" course, and no more fabric binges for me at Joanns. :-(

What really scares me is that Greg and I don't live lavishly at ALL (I don't get my nails or hair done, no new cars or furniture), and we don't even have a mortgage payment yet! (which may be sooner than we'd like!)

But I must say, I feel much better knowing exactly where all our money is going... I feel like I have control over it too! And Greg and I both even believe that budgeting and seeing how much we can save can be fun! (last night's date was homemade calzones and a $1 redbox rental!)

Alright... off to Walgreens!


UPDATE!! I just got back from Walgreens... Here is what I scored!

Three reusable walgreens bags (I love these things for storage bags)for .33 each and two of the new Titanium Schick Quatro men's razors (Originally priced at 9.99 each) for .75 each! No joke! So my total was 2.70 and I could tell the check out guy was astonished :D hehe! Here is how I did it: (didn't realize it was so easy!)
The razors were BOGO, and I has two coupons for 4.00 off each
The bags were 1.00 each and I had the walgreens in store coupon for 3/1.00

Now I started off small, but what a great 1st try at extreme couponing!

Tomorrow I am going to get some free deoderant! How exciting right???

summer layout!

I thought I would copy my mom and get myself a "new summer outfit" for my blog, so here it is! It's the cutest, I know!

our new pet

Eventually Greg and I would like to get a dog, but we decided that is going to be a little ways down the road.

But for now..... we have "Porchie"

This is Porchie the frog.

He makes a visit to our front porch every night, hence the appropriate name given by Greg.

I was thinking Marvin, or Hubert (your typical frog names, right?) but Greg decided Porchie fit best.

For the past week, every once in a while, during the course of the evening, one of us will say something like "Go see if Porchie is here yet." "Go check on Porchie," or "What is Porchie doing?"

Maybe we should get a dog sooner.