Dowell Chronicles

Again? Really?!?!?

2011-08-16T00:03:00.000-04:00

Seems the time has come for my brother's next deployment. This will be #3, and his second time to Afghanistan. I am so proud of my brother for the work that he has done in each deployment and I will always be honored to be his sister. He has sacrificed so much of his own life and of his time with his family for his job, and that job is to serve our country as a United States Marine.

If you've never been through a deployment with someone that's close to you, count your lucky stars RIGHT.NOW and then try to imagine how it would feel if part of your heart was totally ripped out and thrown into a den of wild wolves, where you hoped it would just lay low and survive until someone else was able to come and retrieve it and bring it back to you. Think about your family and imagine how it would feel if you didn't talk to them for a few weeks...not because you didn't have the time or didn't want to, but because you couldn't. They're out of touch, out of reach - you have no idea if they're ok, if they've got enough to eat and drink, where they're sleeping, if they're too cold or too hot, or what their emotions are. Are they scared? Homesick? Do they wish they could talk to you as much as you wish you could talk to them??? Do they look at your pictures at night before bed and did they get that package you mailed a month ago yet? That's just touching the surface of the water with regards to the emotional toll that deployments take. Never mind the phone calls from concerned extended family, the sick feelings in the pit of your stomach when you turn on the news and they're discussing the latest casualties of war, the complete loss and emptiness that you feel if you miss a call on your cell phone and see that the number that had dialed you was only 5 or 6 digits and you know it was him trying to reach you. The military has great support available for spouses who want to take advantage of it, but I've yet to find a great place to connect with other family members of deployed soldiers.

Yes, my brother's married and yes, I know that his wife and kids are his #1 priority now and I respect that completely ... but he's still MY brother. My ONLY brother. He's the one that I grew up with, the one that knows more about me than any other human being on this planet, and one of the only people that I feel "that" connection with - I can talk to him about anything and he has a way of texting or calling me whenever I'm really in need of someone to talk to. He's the one that made me lose my composure by saying "I'm on my way" when my dad had his stroke and I was feeling so scared and alone at the hospital (of course, he's also the one that got me so drunk at our bonfire the night before dad was discharged that I could barely make it to the hospital without throwing up... :) ). He's one of the first people that I ever trusted to watch K when she was an infant, and he was the first person to keep her for an entire weekend so that Scott and I could attend his brother's graduation ceremonies. And every time he deploys, I think of all these things, and more...and it just breaks my heart.

I know what I have to do - I *have* to put on my Big Girl panties and deal with this. I have to stay strong in my faith and use this as an opportunity for spiritual growth. I have to continue to be a dedicated mother to my children and a good wife to my husband. I have to be a good friend to those that need me in their lives. I have to stay focused on my business and keep my clients' companies at the forefront of their markets. I have to mentally prepare myself for weeks with no contact and for the terrible nights laying awake wondering "what if?" We'll do Christmas, again, without him and I'll see the pictures from his girls' birthday party as they will both turn another year older in February. Every time I log into Facebook, I'll look to see if there's a green light by his name. I'll put my yellow ribbon magnet back on my car and my blue star service banner back in my house's front window. And then I'll begin to pray to God that the star stays blue. I'll count the months, then the weeks, then the days, and then the hours until he's stateside again...and until I'll be able to throw my arms around him again and hear him say "I love you Jess."

I learned from the best...

2011-02-17T08:36:00.000-05:00

So, the other day I get the following email from my mother:

"Hey Jessica!

This is just one of our snags today. Not too shabby either.....$25.74 actual cost and we only incurred $8.04 out of pocket. We snagged you some good coupons too, blinkies and others. : ) The Velveeta is what started it all.... went on sale, plus we had $1 off coupons for each one, then the chips were FREE if you purchase 2 # , same with the Coke, coupon for FREE with the purchase of 2 Velveeta and the Rotel was on sale. The Vlasics, now I know you're drooling....BOGO plus a coupon of .55 off of the first. Just looked at the ticket... pre-tax the Velveeta alone would have been $8.58. Hmmm.

Jim and I both went through the line twice on the above with the only difference being that we only had one round of Vlasic coupons. Hey, we still got 4 jars of Vlassics CHEAP.

OK, your favorite Step Dad just ran the numbers on what we spent and saved today. We did have some items like a gallon of milk that gee, didn't save but .06 on that. Had a $1.00 off Pet coupon that actually did work out to save a whopping .06 over buying the store brand. The Stouffer's Lasagna was not a planned purchase, however it was on sale for $9.99 and we happened to have a $1.00 off coupon on that also. Jim found a good snag on his own....GO JIM!!!! ..... AA Batteries, should have been $5.60 and we ended up paying .76. Jimmy Dean Sausage was on clearance, $2.10 per roll, we had one .75 off 2. Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls, the 5 packs were on sale for $1.00, had some $1.00 off 2, then the .75 off 3. Philly Cheese and Kraft Chunk Cheese were also on sale, of course there were coupons involved. We stocked up! A couple of miscellaneous items thrown in with no coupon advantage and our final tally was $234.05 worth of goods for only $86.71. That's a 63% savings. The added bonus.... we were out having fun. : )

Love you and wanted to share!

Mom.... Jim too"

And now you KNOW exactly where I learned my skills from...

All my love,

Suuuuuper Doubles!

2011-01-05T12:59:00.002-05:00

Good afternoon everyone!!!! My friend Joanna and I had a rockin' good time at Fayetteville's one and only Harris Teeter this morning and I have some great deals to tell you about!

First, as always, here's a picture of "the loot":

Here's a quick list of what I purchased:

*7 jars of Earth's Best Organic baby food (no idea what I'm going to do w/ these yet. I bought all fruit blends so hopefully the girls can eat them as snacks, but if they refuse, I will just donate them to a food drive) - B1G1 so $.50/$.49 each - $1/7 coupon (doubled to $2) = $1.47 or $.21/ea

*Ziploc Big Bags - $1.94 - $1 coupon (doubled to $1.94) = FREE

*Muellers Spaghetti/Thin Spaghetti (4 boxes) - $4 (or $1/box) - $1/2 coupon (doubled to $2/2) = FREE

*Campbells Chunky Soups (5 cans) - B1G1 so $1.13/$1.12 each - 2 coupons; the first was $1.50/3, which doubled to $3/3 and the second was $1/2, which doubled to $2/2 = $.61 or $.12 each

*Smucker's Reduced Sugar Strawberry Preserves - $2.50 - $1 coupon (doubled to $2) = $.50

*Old Orchard Low-Sugar Apple/Grape Juice - B2G3 - $11.80 or $2.95 each - 2 $1 coupons (doubled to $2) ***With this deal, you can't stack two coupons into the "Buy 2" part. One coupon per B2G3 deal is all that is allowed.*** = $7.80 or $.78 each

*Seventh Generation Dish Liquid - $1.99 - $1 coupon (doubled to $1.99) = FREE

*Horizon Single-Serve Organic Milk (2 packages of 3 containers) - $6 - 2 $1 coupons (doubled to 2 $2 coupons) = $2 or $1 each

*Feline Pine cat litter (2 bags) - B1G1 so $2.75 each - 2 $1.50 coupons (doubled to 2 $2.75) = FREE

*HT Boneless Chix Breast - B1G2 - Price works out to $1.66/lb. - 3 packages - $3.10, $3.10, $3.12

*Weight Watchers Oatmeal Cookies - $2 - $1 coupon (doubled to $2) = FREE

*Reduced fruits - 3 packages - $1.04, $1.00, $1.07

*Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches - $3.99 - $1 coupon (doubled to $2) = $1.99 (<--OK, I know that's not a great deal AT ALL, but those things are DELICIOUS!!!)

*Bag of Tyson Chicken Tenders - $5.55 - $1 coupon (doubled to $2) = $3.55

*Yoplait YoCrunch Parfaits (2) - $4 - 2 $1 coupons (doubled to 2 $2) = FREE

*CoffeeMate coffee creamer - $1.67 - $.75 coupon (doubled to $1.50) = $.17

Grand Total Spent: $32.46
Grand Total Saved: $109.87

Good luck to you all for the rest of the week!!!! I know I'll be going back to stock up on some more great deals!!!!!

All my love,

"Excuse me, but those don't double..."

2010-11-05T09:35:00.000-04:00

I made my first trip to our local Harris Teeter for Super Double coupon week last night, and I didn't do great, but I didn't do poorly either. The Fayetteville Harris Teeter is not one to frequently restock hot items (like the Leland store did), so I guess unless you're there to beat the doors down at 7am on Wednesday morning, you're just out of luck. I ended up only using 16 of my 20 allowable coupons last night, but I was able to give tips and tricks to shoppers along the way. Grocery shopping would take half as much time if I didn't feel like I was somewhat obliged to help the clueless people clutching coupons in every aisle :)

I must have explained HT's rules and the "coupon game" 10 times last night - "No, you can only use 3 on any given item." "Here, see how this smaller package gives you a greater margin of savings?" "Just because that item is pictured doesn't mean that it's the only thing covered by the coupon....if it says "ANY" such-and-such product, you're free to go." and, my absolute favorite (to some people who I had been talking coupons with in the store...they decided to go for it by pulling the blinkies in the Pillsbury refrigerated bread section...) "Excuse me, but those don't double." (I then, of course, proceeded to tell them that coupons that begin in "5" double while those that begin with "9" never do. I also told them how you can go to Food Lion and pull their blinkies and then bring them to Harris Teeter.)

(UGH...Just lost my list that I had typed due to a Blogger error...not typing it again!)

Total Spent: $24.92
Total Saved: $54.83

Have a great day!

All my love,

Shopping at Walmart with Coupons

2010-10-01T08:55:00.000-04:00

This will just be a quick post, but it has some points in it that I thought of while I was cleaning out my coupon book at Wal-Mart the other night.

1) W-M stocks just about EVERYTHING! You know those coupons that have been living in your book for months because you simply can't find the product??? You can probably find them there AND they'll probably be at a good price.

2) You can use as many coupons on an individual item as you would like. Harris Teeter only accepts 3 identical coupons. I used 9 tuna coupons at W-M the other night and walked out with 9 pouches of tuna for $.39 each. Not quite as good as a triples deal, but better than letting those coupons expire on 9/30/10 without being used!

3) Your margin of savings will be lower. It's about 50/50 shot as to whether the Great Value brand or the brand name item plus coupon will be cheaper. You win some; you lose some!

4) It's ESSENTIAL to carry a copy of W-M's coupon policy with you. I had it pulled up on my Blackberry the other night because I forgot to bring my printout and I almost had to use it. The cashier wasn't sure about accepting the blinkies I had pulled from Food Lion, but, thankfully, we were able to get it straightened out without me having to "prove" I was correct.

I hope that something here will help one of you save money! Have a great weekend!!!

All my love,

It's SUPER DOUBLES again...

2010-09-20T14:11:00.001-04:00

and slacker me just went for the 1st time this morning.... :-/ There was just an overwhelming amount of work that I needed to do to my coupon book to get it back up to date and I was procrastinating! Last night, though, I made myself sit down and do it, so when I crawled into bed a little before midnight, I knew exactly what my plan was for today!!!

Here's the breakdown of deals I found:

*Hamburger/Tuna Helper (6) - Sale price $1/ea - $.75/3 coupon (doubled to $1.50 off 3) = $1.50/3 or $.50 ea
*Cinnamon Toast Crunch (2) - $2.50/ea - $1 off 2 coupon (doubled to $2) = $3/2 or $1.50ea
*Lucky Charms (2) - $2.50/ea - $1 off 2 coupon (doubled to $2) = $3/2 or $1.50ea
*Cheerios (2) - $2.50/ea - $1 off 2 coupon (doubled to $2) = $3/2 or $1.50ea
*Betty Crocker pouch potatoes - $.79 - $.40 coupon (doubled to $.79) = FREE
*Good Earth boxed dinner (2) - $3.50ea - 2 $1.00 off coupons (doubled to $2 off) = $3/2 or $1.50ea
*Progresso Soups (4) - $5.18 or $1.29/.30ea - $1.00 off 4 coupon (doubled to $2 off) = $.79/.80ea
*Campbell Chunky (2) - $1.25ea (and there was a coupon involved here, but I don't remember the amount :( )
*Smucker's Jelly ($2.75)+ Jif to Go peanut butter ($1.99) - $4.74 - $1 coupon (doubled to $2) = $2.74
*Chef Boyardee (3) - $1/ea - $.35/3 coupon (doubled to $.70) = $2.30 or $.76/.77ea
*Mini chocolate moon pies - $2.00 - $.55 coupon (doubled to $1.10) = $.90
*Libby's pineapple chunks - $1.85ea - $1/2 coupon = $1.70 or $.85ea
*Reduced angus chuck steak - $2.87
*Reduced angus chuck stear - $2.99
*HT Whole Chicken ($.59/lb) - $3.16
*Reduced HT "Pick of the Chicken" - $3.88
*Reduced HT "Pick of the Chicken" - $4.28
*Reduced italian sausage - $2.83
*Reduced apple assortment - $1.54
*Green grapes ($.99/lb) - $2.06
*Reduced bananas - $.95
*Romaine lettuce - $2.49
*Yellow onions - $2.99
*Baby bella mushrooms - $2.79
*HT Whole Grain bread - $.77
*Tombstone Pizza (2) - $6.67 - $1/2 coupon (doubled to $2) = $4.47 or $2.33ea
*Green Giant boxed veggies (6) - $.99ea
*Danactive yogurt (2) - $1.99ea - 2 $1 off coupons (doubled to $1.99) = FREE
*Activia yogurt (2) - $1.99ea - 2 $1 off coupons (doubled to $1.99) = FREE
*HT dozen eggs - $.79
*HT whole milk - $3.19
*Off the Bone lunchmeat - $3.50 - $1 off coupon (doubled to $2) = $1.50

And...because I purchased 20 General Mills products - $6.00 off at the register. Also rec'd catalinas for $3 and $2 off next purchase.

GRAND TOTAL SPENT - $74.34
GRAND TOTAL SAVED - $91.01 (<--and this does NOT factor in a lot of the reduced meats/produce I purchased!!!) :)

Abby and I will probably make a go at it one more time tomorrow...I hope that you have all had a great Super Double week thus far!

All my love,

I didn't even plan the last one:

2010-08-06T08:59:00.000-04:00

Good morning everyone!!!!

I have a super deal to share with you (and a few other things!). This week at Harris Teeter, MOST Kellogg's products are 50% off. Also, if you purchase 10 Kellogg's products, it will trigger a catalina (read: those coupons that print off at the register and are handed to you with your receipt) for $10 off your next shopping purchase. (SWEEEEEEET!)

Confession - The girls and I didn't go on Wednesday to take full advantage of this deal. I prefer to just stay home a lot when it's so hot out, but when we were forced to go out on Thursday to drop off our rent check, I decided to swing through the HT. By then, most of the REALLY good priced cereals were gone :( We made the best of it though, and came out alright in the end!!!

Just for the purpose of the final total, there was a box of Cheerios that did not make the image above. It was on sale for $2 and I had a $.50 coupon that doubled to $1.00, making the Cheerios $1.00! There also was a container of Welch's White Grape Juice. It was on sale for $3.00 and I had a $.75 coupon that doubled to $1.50, making the juice's final price $1.50.

All-Bran - $2.17 - $1 coupon = $1.17
Special K Protein - $1.74 + Special K Chocolate - $1.75 = $3.49 - $1/2 coupon = $2.49 or $1.25/$1.24 per box
Mini-Wheats (2) - $2.00/ea - $1/2 coupon = $3 or $1.50 per box
Kellogg's Pop Tarts (5) - 3 boxes rang at $1.09 and 2 at $1.10, so $5.47 total; 2 coupons applicable to this, each worth $1 = Final total of $3.47 or $.69 per box

The final total of my bill after tax was $13.00 AND I got a $10 catalina, so basically, I got all of that for $3.

Now here's the kicker ... the one I didn't even plan!!!! When I got home and was putting away my Pop Tarts, I noticed a promo on the boxes involving codes for different flavors. I flipped a box over and discovered that if you buy 5 different flavors of Pop Tarts (which I did) and put the codes into their web site, they'll send you coupons for 2 free boxes of Pop Tarts!!!! *happy dance*

A few other frugality-related things I've managed recently:

At the outlets the other day, I went into Izod and bought my dad a $60 golf shirt for $5!!! It was on clearance for ~$10 (they were getting rid of their summer inventory...I guess they don't realize that we golf in short sleeves pretty much year-round here in the Carolinas???) and when I got to the register, there was a promo for $5 off if you texted a certain combination to their corporate store. Since I already pay for unlimited data and texting on my phone, I really had nothing to lose and, so, at the register, I stood there and texted the numbers and then waited for the return message so I could get my $5 off! :)
Speaking of maximizing your data plan on your phone - I never pay for Red Box rentals (unless I don't take it back after one day). I stand in front of the kiosk with my phone, looking for rental codes. I just keep inputting codes until I happen across one that works! :)
At Food Lion last week, they had a few good deals that I couldn't resist! While there, I was perusing through their meat section and noticed that one of the big hams they had was set to "expire" the next day. I picked it up, took it to the meat clerk and said "Were you going to mark this down today??? It's sell-by date is tomorrow." He whipped out his label-maker and stuck another sticker on it!!!! I got a $27 ham for about $7.50! Sometimes, I just can't help myself :) And you should always ask about things like this too! The worst they can say is "no."

I hope that you have enjoyed reading this blog and that some tip will stick with you!

All my love,

Container Gardening ROCKS!!!

2010-07-15T08:15:00.000-04:00

Good morning everyone,

I took pictures of our container garden last night so that you could all see the growth we've had!

See how the cucumber trails down the steps??? We have seen a lot of growth on this plant, but very minimal signs of fruiting. I was starting to think this was going to be a dud year for cucumbers, until I found THIS:

Here's our super squash plant!!! Apparently these things do very well in half-barrel planters!

This squash has been minimally productive...I think it took the bees awhile to find our plants. We have a lot of flowering, but pollination has been an issue:

Here's my only producing zucchini plant - so far, so good!

Here's a side-by-side of our strawberry and jalapeno pepper plants. We're still collecting strawberries almost daily from that plant, and our jalapeno pepper plant is really doing well in a container of that size!

We transplanted all but 3 green bell pepper plants out of this planter, and these 3 have been producing peppers for several weeks now. I tend to pick them before they grow to grocery store size because I don't want them over-ripening.

Here are our 3 bean plants. They've given us beans for a few nights, but I'm not thrilled with their growth. Next year, I will try them in a container that has more depth than a window box.

We've had a few grape tomatoes ripen thus far, and plenty of blooms that indicate more are on the way. We have harvested no bigger tomatoes though, and I would likely not use this planter for this purpose again next year...I'll just plant my bigger tomatoes in something else and cage them like always...

This is what we refer to as the "down garden." In the back left corner, I am experimenting with a cucumber plant to see if it bears fruit better in the ground vs. in a container. In the front right, we moved the scraggly zucchini plant down and it has flourished in a new home! We may even get meaningful production off of this plant soon!

I hope that you enjoy the container garden update!!!! :) I will try to write more later this week about other goings-on in our lives!

All my love,

By Popular Demand...

2010-07-06T14:31:00.000-04:00

Good afternoon everyone!!!! I hope that everyone enjoyed their holiday weekend!

Today, I am pleased to share my dad's recipe for Smoked Cheddar and Jalapeno Bacon Meatloaf!!!

Smoked Cheddar And Jalapeno Bacon Meatloaf

1 1/2 pounds premium ground beef
1/2 pound ground pork
3 eggs
1 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup diced jalapenos
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp. Cowboy Flavor Seasoning
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
1 Tbsp. Mexican oregano
3/4 cup shredded smoked cheddar cheese
1 cup diced onion

For topping:
4 slices uncooked bacon
1/4 cup ketchup

Mix all the ingredients except the ketchup and bacon in a large mixing bowl. Place into a loaf pan or a round pie plate. Spread ketchup over the meat and lay the bacon on the top. Bake in 350 oven or a Dutch oven for 1 hour.

Enjoy!!!!

All my love,

5 Years Ago...

2010-06-29T10:09:00.000-04:00

...at 5:54am, my life changed forever. My priorities were shifted around, my life was turned upside-down, and my heart began to grow outside of my body. I gave birth to a beautiful little girl and we named her Katelyn Elizabeth. Katelyn immediately became a wonderful addition to our life. She has spent the last 5 years growing and learning, and getting ready for the biggest step in her life - starting kindergarten!

At Birth

1st Birthday

2nd Birthday

3rd Birthday

4th Birthday

Recently

I hope that you all enjoyed the photographic walk back down memory lane as much as I did!!! I find it so hard to believe that the little baby in the first picture (the one that I wasn't even sure how to care for!!!) has learned to walk, to talk, her colors, to count, to read, to do math, to love science, to negotiate, to do monkey bars, to make her own PB&J sandwiches, and to bring joy to everyone she comes into contact with. Katelyn has a heart of gold and is always there to give a hug to anyone in need. She and her sister have developed an extremely close bond since Abby was born and Katelyn is always looking out for her sister's best interest.

I'm going to have to wrap this up now, as we have a birthday celebration to kick off, but I wanted to just take a moment to share with you that my baby girl is now 5 years old!!!!

All my love,

Grow babies, grow!!!

2010-06-14T21:38:00.000-04:00

Good evening everyone!!!

The pictures above just provide a quick update to our garden. If you look closely, you'll see some baby veggies and some of the grown vegetables that the girls have harvested. It looks like we are closing in on having daily fresh produce at dinner!!!! YUM YUM!!!

Also, I would like to mention something else that's growing right now and that would be the Lynch Station Pumpkin Patch!!! You can check it out on Facebook at this link or you can follow the progress throughout the summer here on my blog. Here are some of the most recent pictures:

This effort has been a major undertaking for my Dad - he set this patch up while on short-term disability leave from his job after his stroke. Justin and I are both cheering him on with this venture and we hope for BIG pumpkins by fall!!!!

Moving on to the other side of my family, I am trying to help my mom and step-dad sell their 1984 Ford TravelCraft 27' motor home. It has a 460 cubic inch engine, over-sized automatic transmission, cooler for towing, a large awning, and almost new tires. They've given it many upgrades and it's well-kept and clean. This RV will sleep 6. It has new brakes, radiator, water pump, belts, and hoses. Also, it has an over-sized refrigerator, roof A/C, gas furnace, gas hot water, new holding tanks and valves. There is no generator, but wiring in place (they used a portable generator). The engine has 75,536 miles on it. They are asking $7,500 and the vehicle is located in central Virginia. Email me if you're interested in finding out more!

That about wraps it up for this update...I hope that you all have a wonderful week and find many ways to beat the heat!

All my love,

Container Garden Update

2010-06-07T21:59:00.000-04:00

Good evening everyone!

I took new pictures of the back porch garden today, and I think you'll be amazed at the growth since my last update! We have harvested a LOT of strawberries already and we have 2 zucchini sprouts growing. I also see some yellow blooms on our grape tomato plant as well as some tiny jalapeno pepper buds on that plant. The girls and I separated the green bell pepper plants this afternoon, and left 3 in the container in the back of the house and moved 6 more to containers in the front of the house (I'm not counting on those making it though - I think the neighborhood stray animals eat my plants in the front...now that I think about it, maybe I should throw some habaneros up there just for fun ;-) ).

Here's what we have now:

Our 2 baby zucchinis

Yellow crookneck squash

Mystery plant (I think it's another yellow squash plant)

Cucumber plant (I can actually see where its vine snapped and then healed! Very cool!)

Green beans (We'll be harvesting these shortly)

These are the green bell pepper plants that we separated late this afternoon.

See the small yellow blooms on our grape tomato plant???

A complete look at our Upsy-Downsy planter

The "scraggly" zucchini plant is finally catching up!

We have the strawberry plant on the left and the jalapeno pepper plant on the right.

The girls and I put Miracle-Gro on all of the plants again this evening and we are very excited to see all of the baby vegetables making appearances!

Thanks for following our plants!!! I hope that you all have a great week; I should be blogging later this week about the Lynch Station Pumpkin Patch!

All my love,

Another try with our container garden

2010-05-24T09:43:00.000-04:00

Good morning everyone!!!

I wanted to update our garden situation for those of you who are following our journey though container gardening. We did plant the seedlings that you had followed from their start, but circumstances being what they were, those poor seedlings had a tough go of it...and then they died. We planted them outside on Easter Sunday, and the next day, the girls and I left to be with my dad. On Tuesday night, the low reached 41...so between the fact that these poor seedlings got no love and the fact that it got so cold right after they were planted, they really just didn't have much of a chance. We ended up with 1 sickly looking zucchini plant that we saved, and 3 small vines of green beans. So, we started all over again! We bought small plants at Lowe's and stuck those in the containers last weekend.

Here's what we have:

Zucchini and Jalapeno Pepper

Strawberry

Scraggly Zucchini

Green Bell Peppers and 3 Green Bean Vines

Cucumber (that probably won't make it...its stem was broken during a downpour) and Mystery Plant (we lost the tag...)

Yellow Crookneck Squash

Our "Upsy-Downsy" Tomato planter, with Grape Tomatoes growing on the top and Better Boy Tomatoes growing out of the bottom

I will post pictures throughout the growing season and let you know how these plants are faring. We have already harvested 2 beans and 6 small strawberries, so the fun part is definitely beginning!

Hope that everyone has a great week!!!

All my love,

$15.28!!!

2010-05-21T10:21:00.007-04:00

My second Super Doubles trip was a bit more tricky, as I have zero freezer space left due to buying all of those frozen pizzas during the first trip. So I had to be a little more creative with this trip, and I actually did NOT max out my 20 coupons because they were sold out of some of the items I was most interested in buying.

Here's my scoop:

Here's how I did it:

*Bisquick (3) - $3.17/ea - 3 $1 coupons (doubled to $2) = $1.17/per (<--We go through this stuff like water, so this was a pretty good pick-up for us!)
*Maxwell House coffee bricks (3) - $2.97/ea - 3 $1 coupons(doubled to $2) = $.97/per
*Kitty treats (2) - $2/ea - $1.50 coupon (doubled to $3) = $.50/per
*Bag of reduced price apples = $2.06
*Bananas = $1.15
*3 mini-cans of Pillsbury biscuits - $1.00 ea + 1 regular can - $1.39 - 2 $1 coupons (doubled to $2) = 3 FREE CANS + 1 can @ $.39
*2 cans of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls - $1.25 ea - $1 coupon (doubled to $2) = $.25/per
*Yo=Plait Go-Gurt (3) - $2.79/ea - 3 $1 coupons (doubled to $2) = $.79/per (<--These are favorite snacks of both K and A)
*Johnson's Baby Bar (soap) - $1.99 - $1 coupon (doubled to $1.99) = FREE

Total spent = $15.28
Total saved = $35.93 (does not account for reduced price of bag of apples)

All my love,

Helloooooooo Super Doubles!

2010-05-19T12:21:00.005-04:00

The girls and I maxed out our 20 coupons this morning and scored some amazing deals!

Here's what we got and how we did it:

*Maxwell House Coffee - $2.97 - $1.00 coupon (doubled to $2.00) = $.97
*KC Masterpiece BBQ Sauce (2) - $2.19(ea) - $1.00 coupon (doubled to $2.00) = $.19/per
*Dove deodorant (2) - $3.35/ea - $1.50 coupon (doubled to $3.00) = $.35/per
*Sure deodorant - $2.89 - $1.50 coupon (doubled to $3.00) = FREE
*Mystic Pizza (3) - $3.00/ea - $1.50 coupon (doubled to $3.00) = 3 FREE PIZZAS
*Bagel Bites (2) - $2.50/ea - $1.00 coupon (doubled to $2.00) = $.50/per
*Tonys Pizza (4) - $1.17/ea - $1.00/2 coupon (doubled to $2.00/2) = $.17/per
*Pillsbury Jr. Biscuits - $1.00/ea - $1.00/2 coupon (doubled to $2.00/2) = 6 CANS OF FREE BISCUITS
*Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls - $1.25/ea - $1.00/2 coupon (doubled to $2.00/2) = $.25/per
*Go-Gurt - $2.79 - $1.00 coupon (doubled to $2.00) = $.79
*HT Milk - $2.27

GRAND TOTAL - $9.25
Savings today - $60.08

Good luck to everyone else! We'll be returning later this week to scoop again!

All my love,

Welcome to the life of a mompreneur!

2010-05-10T11:16:00.004-04:00

Blackberry: "DING DING DING...CHIRP CHIRP...BEEP BEEP BEEP"
Hootsuite: "DING DONG DING DONG"
Phone: "RING RING"
Bills: Just keep rolling in
Kids: "Mommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmy! Can I have more juice? Up, up, up!!! She pushed me! I'm hungry! Abby just bit me!"
Household chores: (they live at the bottom of my priority list...)

Me: "Hmmm, and I asked for all of this???"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First, let me say that I love my kids and I am completely satisfied with my place in life right now. I get to have the best of both worlds by running a home-based business and being able to care for my children. Sure, there are some "sticky" moments where I want to give up and just do neither job of mine, but overall, the good times outweigh the bad. I can be there when my kids are sick, I can kiss all the boo-boos, they can nap when they want, eat when they're ready, and if they exhibit bad manners, I can be right there to correct it! I also have my other life, where I can be a successful small business owner who is immediately receptive to the needs of her clients and believes with all of her heart that hard work and perfection are the best ways to grow her client list. Additionally, I get to keep my resume in-tact without a gaping hole where I was not involved in any business community. Every mom who has taken time off to care for her children dreads the part of a job interview that covers "so, what have you been doing for the last 5 years?" Finally, I am able to put my degree to use by managing every aspect of a business, and if I fail at either endeavor (my children or my business), I have only myself to blame.

I just wanted to give everyone a little glimpse into my daily life. I hope to get some pictures up from our Virginia trip soon!

Have a great week!

All my love,

And with that, April has now come and gone...

2010-05-06T16:15:00.002-04:00

Good afternoon everyone!!!

Well, it’s been a ride since last time I was able to write a blog! We did enjoy spending time with my family on Easter weekend and then the girls and I were blessed to spend the following week in Wilmington with our family there. Scott arrived just in time for the Montgomery Gentry concert on Friday, the 9th and we got to spend the rest of the weekend hanging out looking at azaleas, watching the parade, and enjoying some much-needed family time. We all drove back to Fayetteville on Sunday afternoon and prepared to resume our “normal” lives….WRONG!!! By Monday night, that plan was rapidly falling apart as my dad had called and indicated that he was experiencing some serious health issues and planned to see his family physician early Tuesday morning, and would I come up and be with him? Of course, I would! So I loaded the van that night and we planned for me to arrive in Virginia at his work before lunch on Tuesday and we would tackle the health problems from there. By Tuesday morning at 6:45 though, there was a message on my phone from him. He had acute paralysis in his left arm and hand, and a coworker had come over to his house and convinced him to call 911 instead of waiting to be seen by his primary care physician. Dad was taken to Lynchburg General Hospital, where it was determined that he’d had a stroke. We arrived right at lunch time and found him settled into his new “home away from home” in the Neuro Intermediate Care Unit. The Dr.s ran a battery of tests and the results were that he’d actually suffered multiple strokes over a period of at least a month, and that he had severe blockages in both carotid arteries. After this news came in, I called in the big guns and consulted with my “little sister” who is a nurse in the Neuro Critical Care Unit at Johns Hopkins University Hospital. She gave me a huge list of questions to ask, things to watch out for, and possible treatments. We had a consultation with a neurologist, a family care specialist, and a vascular surgeon. The course of treatment that Dad opted for was to wait approximately 2 weeks from the onset of symptoms and then have a carotid endarterectomy on his left side, which was only 70% blocked. Apparently, there’s nothing that can be done for the right carotid, which is 100% blocked – the elevated risk of further stroking during surgery prevents physicians from attempting to clear an artery that’s completely occluded. After we had these consultations, my little brother decided to fly in from California (and thank God too, I needed him at this point!). He arrived on Friday night around midnight and brought his youngest daughter, Olivia, with him. Dad was discharged on Saturday morning and we were to watch him for any further symptoms and help him get to and from his therapy, since he wasn’t supposed to drive. His surgery was scheduled for the 27th, so we got to spend about a week between the discharge and the surgery together. (I did drive the girls home on the 22nd for Katelyn’s kindergarten orientation and we returned to Virginia on the 24th.) We made it to the hospital with plenty of time to spare on the morning of the surgery, and everything went very well! Dad was in the O.R. for less than 2 hours, and then was put in the recovery area for about an hour, and then was transferred to the Neuro Intensive Care Unit for an overnight stay. Breathing a huge sigh of relief, Justin and I spent that night around a bonfire catching up and renewing our bond (and eating s’mores and drinking some beer, of course…). That was probably my favorite night of the whole time he was here! I miss him so much when he’s in California and it totally caught me off guard when he said “I’m coming home,” so I relished every single second that he got to be here. He said he’s not coming back to the East coast before he deploys, so my only hope to see him again is to get more internet marketing work and buy a ticket to fly out to California before October!!! (And I’m not counting on that, so I made sure to appreciate the time I got!) Getting back to my storyline though, Dad was discharged on Wednesday morning and I went back to Fayetteville with my girls on Thursday afternoon. We spent Thursday night at home and then on Friday, we drove to Southport, where we joined Scott’s mom at her Relay for Life. On Saturday morning, we hit the beach and by Saturday night, we were back in Fayetteville. Sunday meant more road time, though, as we were set to have dinner and spend the night at my mom’s house with Justin and Olivia. We had a great time there and ended up staying Monday night as well. We came back to Dad’s house on Tuesday and Justin and Olivia boarded their plane back to California at 5:30 on Wednesday morning. I plan to return home on Friday, and may spend some time there next week getting caught up on errands and housework. This whole month has been an absolute whirlwind with so many emotions and so much road time and so little sleep, but I am glad to know that my family can pull together in times of crisis and that everything should be ok from here on with my Dad. He’ll always have an elevated risk of stroke since he’s already had several, but with the lifestyle changes he’s made (quit smoking and drinking, lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure, exercise more, healthy eating choices), he’s increased his odds of healthy living. I am so thankful that he has no debilitating effects of his strokes and that his occupational therapy seems to be helping a lot with his minor motor skills in his left hand. He should be back to normal in a few months! And I, will NEVER be back to normal I fear…

All my love,

Whew!!!

2010-04-11T21:43:00.003-04:00

Hi everyone!!!,

Just wanted to give a brief update about what the goings-on in our family have been since the last blog post. We have been extremely busy for the past few weeks, touring the mid-Atlantic from the mountains of Virginia to the coast of North Carolina. We spent Easter in Virginia visiting with some family there and we just spent an amazing week in Wilmington with our family and friends there!!! I don't have time for a big blog post right now, but for a little humor (and since I'm currently being annoyed by them...)

I hope that you all had fantastic weekends as well - I will post some pictures tomorrow!

All my love,

First Triples Trip!

2010-03-24T12:40:00.005-04:00

This morning the girls and I loaded up and headed for Fayetteville's one and only Harris Teeter. I had my coupons printed and ready and we were all very excited about how much we were going to save! We ended up spending $23.61 OOP and "saving" $53.64. I feel like we could've done better if more items had been in stock, like the Worcestershire sauce, the egg noodles, and the Rozini noodles I wanted, for instance. I suppose next time I'll have to do a midnight excursion!

However, here are some of the better deals we got today:

*HT fresh boneless, skinless chicken breast - B1G2 - $8.64 OOP for 5.2 lbs
*1 box each of Corn Pops, Froot Loops, and Apple Jacks - I had pulled coupons for $.70/box from Food Lion, which doubled to $2.10 off, so each box rang at $1.09 - AND since I puchased 3 Kelloggs items, it triggered a Catalina at the register for a free gallon of milk on our next visit :) :) :)
*Frank's Hot Sauce - $2 - $1.50 coupons = $.50 OOP
*Carnation Evaporated Milk (2 small cans) - $.69/each = $1.38 total - $1.50 coupon - FREE
*Sun Detergent - $2.99 - $2.25 coupon = $.74 OOP
*Oral-B Kids toothpaste (we were out...no choice on needing this!) - $2.49 - $1.50 coupon = $.99 OOP
*Bananas = $1.63 OOP
*Reduced Apples ($.49/lb) = $2.88
*Earthgrains bread - $2.50 - $1.65 coupon = $.85 OOP
*Totinos pizza (3) - $1.25ea or $3.75 for 3 - $1.80 coupon = $1.95 or $.65/ea
*Country Crock stick butter (4) - B1G1 @ $1.39 - 2 coupons for $1.20 off, so each pound of butter cost me roughly $.10 OOP
*Danactive yogurt - this is the one I don't remember what the coupon amount was...I know the final OOP was less than $1...sorry!
*CoffeeMate (2) - $2/ea or $4.00 total - Had 2 coupons which tripled to $2.25 off each, so FREE!

I hope that this will help some of you to identify the items you need and that you can get GREAT deals on! I am anxiously awaiting coupons both from a friend in Wilmington, from my mom, and from tomorrow's Paraglide, but for tonight, I'll be printing again and hoping to find some more steals on my next trip! Good luck to everyone else!!!

All my love,

Out of Sync

2010-03-21T21:08:00.010-04:00

The past few weeks have left me feeling out of sync with my world of budgeting, couponing, thrifty shopping, and being frugal in general. I am now pretty much forced to shop at our local Food Lion or at the Wal-Mart, with special trips to Harris Teeter being made once, maybe twice, a month. I despise Wal-Mart, so Food Lion has been the big winner and now gets most of my grocery money. The little things though (my coupon binder isn't in line with how their store is arranged, they don't double coupons so I'm constantly stopping myself from seeing "$.60 off" and automatically doubling it to "$1.20 off," etc.) are driving me nuts and I just can't seem to get it together! I took Abby today and we got approximately 1 week's worth of groceries for $43, which is at least $15 MORE than what I used to spend at the Harris Teeter. The good news was that I was able to redeem 6 coupons...the bad news was, I forgot to buy a newspaper while I was there so I could get more coupons!!! I am expecting an envelope from my mom this week, so that will help and I've also been tipped off by my new friends at FayettevilleMommies.com that I should have Scott pick up a copy of Paraglide every Thursday while he's on base. Between getting those items and keeping my will strong, I think I can get back on track by Easter!

I wanted to share these here too:

March 11

March 13

March 16

March 17

March 18

March 21

What we've got there is seedlings of squash, zucchini, tomatoes, green peppers, peas, green beans, and pumpkins. I'll keep you all posted on these plants as the year progresses. After seeing green peppers for $1.59 EACH today at the store, this is a harvest I'm really looking forward to!

I hope that you all have a great week! I hope to have a successful week in the world of internet marketing and a quiet week with the kids. We had a big weekend and they'll need their rest. Next Sunday is Palm Sunday and then we'll be headed to VA for Easter and then to Wilmington for the Montgomery Gentry concert and the Azalea Festival - time flies when you're having fun!!!

All my love,

Oh, The Places You'll Go!

2010-03-05T08:00:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone!,

FRIDAY already! Woohoo!!! I can't believe we made it through another week. This will be our first weekend in many that we won't be hitting the road, so I plan to enjoy as much of it as possible with my feet kicked up, hanging out with my family, eating delicious food, and getting ready for next week. We've all been working so hard the last few weeks that it will be heavenly to just turn the phones, computers, and cars off and ENJOY being together.

The purpose of this blog post is to highlight some of the places that *I* go to save (and make) money so that you can decide what would work for you!

1) Obviously, I go to the Sunday coupon section of the newspaper each week, but did you know that I also go through magazines, the Parade section of the paper, the inside of every food box that I use, the store shelves looking for "specially marked packages" when I'm shopping, and the internet looking for great coupons?

2) I collect points...Huggies, Pampers, Wachovia Possibilities rewards, and etc. These kinds of things add up VERY slowly, but they do come in handy about once a year for a $10-$20 gift card. Worth it to me! I'm already buying the product, why not get the points?

3) I collected Swagbucks for awhile, but the search engine just didn't return enough relevant results for me and I haven't made time to do the daily treasure hunt for Swagcodes. This could be fun though if you had enough time to dedicate to it daily!

4) I play the stock market! Thanks to my little brother, I've discovered how much fun it is to watch the ups and downs of the stock market on a daily basis...thanks to text messaging, I also always know when he makes more than me on any given day! This game that we play serves multiple purposes - it teaches us about investing, it makes money (hopefully :) ), and it keeps us aware of what's going on in the broader spectrum of things so that we have an idea of what our other retirement accounts may be doing.

5) I am an Amazon Associate. This program allows me to provide links for specific products or for Amazon.com in general that are embedded with my "code" and that earn cash back on whatever is purchased from the site. I also have a banner ad at the bottom of the main page of my blog that refers you to my aStore, where you can purchase Virginia Tech apparel and accessories! From this program, I've made approximately $20, so it's also a slow earner BUT every $20 helps!!! I didn't have to "work" for that...they basically gave it to me just for referring people to their site! If you decide to do this, expect about a 4% cash back return on purchases. (And if you don't want to do this, but you plan to order anything from Amazon, let me know and I'll give you a link!!! :-D )

6) In addition to checking my receipts, I also check my bills, my bank account, and my insurance policies. I call vendors with any disputes that I have, negotiate with my phone and insurance companies whenever possible, and always ask if there's a promotion available or any other discount that we're not currently getting.

7) We run a household free of pay TV, and have since January 2009. Since making that switch, we've saved approximately $980! We watch free digital channels over the air (and the pictures is in high-definition when available from the provider) and stream other things from the internet. Scott and I both resisted this change for a few months before we made it, but neither one of us really misses very much about receiving a monthly cable/satellite bill. :)

I'm sure I could name a lot more ways that we save/make money, but these items should give you some brain food for today...what can YOU do to help your family?

All my love,

ALWAYS Check Your Receipt!

2010-03-01T08:28:00.006-05:00

Hi everybody!!!!!

I hope that you all had a spectacular weekend! Ours was a bit chilly and we have more snow to look forward to this week. The girls are playing quietly right now, so I thought it would be a good time to do a post on the trip that I had to the Harris Teeter yesterday.

I did this one completely right from the start. I made sure that my coupon book was up to date and organized. I sat down with the list of both advertised specials and unadvertised E-VIC ones. I wrote a list (something I have been slacking greatly on lately) stating the product I would buy, the advertised price, the coupon that matched and if there were any restrictions on the coupon (i.e., must buy 2 products to use coupon). For example, I wrote "Gain Laundry Detergent, 50 oz. - $2.99 (-$1.00 coup)." This helps me when I'm in the store and my memory is shot and I'm fumbling with the printed ad, my coupons, and the products in question. The final preparation item that I succeeded at was to leave Katelyn at home and only take Abigail and her backpack carrier with me! :)

When we arrived at the store, I knew there were LOTS of good deals to be had, but I had to have a little talk with myself before going in...something along the lines of "I know that Betty Crocker Warm Delights are on sale and that there's a coupon, but they're not FREE, so get your willpower together because you're going to have to walk right past them if you don't want to be wasting money!" I think I did rather well in the end because I didn't let my focus stray very much from what was on the paper that I had brought with me. Aisle by aisle I scooped on deals (I got 10 Dannon yogurts for $3 after sale + coupon, 2 bags of discounted apples (one for $1.72 and the other for $1.68), 12 double rolls of Angel Soft toilet tissue for $3.99, 3 boxes of Green Giant frozen veggies for $1.80, an 18oz container of Jif peanut butter and a 12.75oz jar of Smuckers sugar free jelly for $2.98, 2 cans of Campbells Chunky soups for $1.20, 10.3 oz of Folgers coffee for $1.99, and 11 oz of Millstone coffee for $1.99, just to name a few). I had figured in my head approximately what the bill would be as I went along, so I was surprised to see that my calculations were almost $10 off when I got to the register. I paid, but before I walked out of the store, I read my receipt. Halfway down the paper, I found the glaring error...the Millstone coffee that I had purchased was an E-VIC special for $3.99, limit 1. I had purchased 1 and had combined their sale with a $2.00 off coupon that I had BUT the cashier had rang my bag up TWICE, causing an extra $8.95 + tax to be added to my bill. I was able to get the money back by going to the Customer Service counter and walked away feeling happy that I had done such a great job shopping and paying attention to what I had bought. Total OOP for the trip (after the refund) was $32.30 and total savings were $45.44.

I have another exciting piece of news to share from this week...my oldest daughter started her first savings account at our credit union. She has been asking to go to Disney World for some time now, and we used most of our meager savings for it while Scott was laid off. So, last week, I rolled all of our spare change and put it with all the cash that she had in her piggy bank and then took her to the bank and the grand total of her first deposit was $118.50! From now on, all of our spare change goes to her bank account, along with any other funds that we can filter away from our general account (like the $9.13 refund that I got from HT). I hope that she's learning important lessons about saving and money (and my tentative goal is to be able to take her to Disney World by next spring). She's already a great couponer, so if I can turn her into a saver too, then my work will be complete.

I hope that you all have a wonderful week and if we get snow, I'll post pictures!

All my love,

Killing Two Birds

2010-02-25T22:35:00.007-05:00

Hello everyone!

Can you believe it's almost Friday? And after the gorgeous weather we had here last weekend, it was SNOWING this morning!!!

I just had a few thoughts to share with you about how I effectively kill two birds with one stone when I'm shopping:

1) I LOVE the Box Tops for Education program!

When you're using coupons, you're getting great deals on brand name products, but it's as easy as grabbing the scissors to take it one step further! Each Box Top that you collect is worth 10 cents to the school of your choice (and they add up FAST!). If you have no children, or if your children are still too young for school, just drop these off at your local elementary, middle, or high school - they will be glad to get them! For a list of participating products, click here

2) Another good way to avoid throwing away any extra benefits of buying branded goods is to participate in Campbell's Labels for Education program. Just from browsing the 2 web sites, I don't think the payout on this program is nearly as good as the payout on the Box Tops program BUT any little bit helps when you're talking about education! A complete list of products (and point values) is listed here.

3) Finally, as most of you know, Harris Teeter is my absolute favorite couponing venue, and they have their own program that supports education called Together in Education. This program allows you to link your VIC card with the school of your choice and the rewards that you earn will be automatically distributed to that store.

There are many, many other ways that you can support schools or charities when you're doing your shopping!!! The point I'm trying to make is that if you are diligent and creative with how you spend your money, then you should be dedicated to the very end to squeeze as much value as you can on your purchases!

I hope that you all have a great night and a fantastic weekend! I may even have a guest blogger next week - my wonderful husband!

All my love,

Ready, set, go!

2010-02-22T21:39:00.006-05:00

Hi everyone,

I hope that your Monday was a great one! I was very productive today! After waiting through the move and then for my internet to get turned on at the rental house, I finally am making great strides towards becoming a small business owner! I didn't know before doing it for the Holiday Inn Express that I was so passionate about marketing, but I'm glad that I found what it is in life that I truly enjoy doing. I love meeting new people. I love helping people get what they want from an experience in a hotel or a restaurant. And I love staying on the cutting edge of all new technologies!!!

Yesterday I designed the logo for my company:

The colors are simple and I really liked the font because it seemed to play well off of the pineapple (which, if you don't know, is the international symbol of hospitality). I like this banner-style logo the best, but I had to modify it a little to "square" it up for my Twitter and Facebook avatars:

Considering that I am by no means a professional graphic designer and that I was only using Microsoft Publisher, I think they turned out rather well! BTW, I'm beta-testing Office 2010 right now, and I like it a LOT. It's a lot like Office 2007 with the tabs and etc., but the programs seem to be more anticipatory of what you may be trying to do and there are more shortcuts available on the documents you are working with.

Today I created a Facebook fan page for my new business. I also printed the articles of organization for becoming a limited liability company and applied for a federal EIN. Tomorrow, I hope to file my papers at the county courthouse and after that, I hope to obtain lots of new business!!! (If you know anyone that is in need of my services, please give me a referral - I'm hypothesizing that 95% of my work will probably come from people who know somebody else that is in need.)

Thank you so much for the support you've already given me on this venture and I look forward to keeping you posted via this blog and on Facebook, Twitter, and my future web site!

Have a great evening!

All my love,

Quick Poll

2010-02-16T11:49:00.005-05:00

Hey everyone,

Hope that your week is going well! We FINALLY have internet here today, so I will be picking up where I left off with coupon tips and etc. in the near future!

In the meantime, here is a quick poll:

***POLL REMOVED***

I'm just looking for input or any other spectacular ideas that may pop into your head when you think about what I'll be doing!

Have a great day (I'm going couponing in a few minutes!!!)!

All my love,

We Have Arrived

2010-02-10T21:55:00.010-05:00

We have spent almost a week in our new house now and things are finally starting to fall into place that make it feel more like our "home." I've been trying to get through as many boxes per day as I can, but there's also a priority factor that comes into play: first, make sure the kids aren't causing any harm to themselves or each other (or anything valuable in their path) and THEN I can go hunt for the most important boxes in the garage. We were in such a hurry to move that we stopped labeling boxes about 1/4 of the way through, so it's a big treasure hunt to dig around and see what you can find. My biggest prize today was Katelyn's Computer Cool School. She almost cried when I took it out of the box and then she ran upstairs as fast as she could to plug it in and play it. I haven't been the only one this week that's felt the pain of no internet; Katelyn's had a rough time as well! A lot of our favorite learning activities are online and we've had to do a lot of improvisation to our preschool time this week.

Hy the way, here are some of our favorite web sites (which I also have shared on WilmingtonMommies):

Letter of the week

Enchanted Learning

Fun Shine Express

Successful Homeschooling

Learning Planet

No Time for Flash Cards

First School

PBS Kids <--Especially on the Island - that's an interactive site that requires a parent to log in so that it can keep tabs on your child's progress. You can see a report card that shows your child's strengths:

Then your child is redirected to an area where they can play learning games to earn tickets (which can be exchanged for prizes such as printable coloring sheets, Sesame Street videos, or things to decorate their virtual treehouse with). Playing all of the different games successfully in a level will unlock a more difficult level. So far, Katelyn seems to be really taken to this particular learn/earn/reward style. She's also caught on to reading SO MUCH in the past few weeks. We're trying to teach a combination of a lot of basic phonics with some whole-word reading as well. She enjoys playing with her chalkboard a lot, and we're introducing both reading skills and simple addition via that medium.

In other Dowell news, Scott is still enjoying his job very much! I haven't heard him this excited about his work in a LONG time. The only drawback is the long hours. He leaves around 5 each morning, and tonight he's working at the office with the branch manager until 11. BUT, he said he'd rather do 70 hours a week than no hours a week! :)

We have to return to Wilmington this weekend to clean and paint our house before the tenants move in next weekend. I have a Facebook acquaintance, South-Eastern Commecial Services, scheduled to come on Friday to clean the great room carpet (let's hear it for networking!) and then Saturday will be a full work day and hopefully we will be able to return to Linden on Sunday knowing that the work is all done!

I also have a lot of work to do in the coming days on the new business I'm starting. I haven't quite settled on a name yet, so suggestions are still welcome! I'm planning a social media/internet management company that will (hopefully) stay focused on hospitality. I hope to market ~5 non-competing businesses in different geographical areas via the internet. The basic services that I will provide will be akin to what I do for the Holiday Inn Express:

• Manage private and/or franchise web sites
• Manage Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Ning, etc. accounts
• Work closely with sales department to ensure that sales and marketing efforts are all on the same page
• Monitor the internet for customer comments and complaints
• Respond to communications received from customers (in the form of surveys, emails, etc.)
• Attend local business networking events
• Publish employee or client newsletters.

I would also love it if anyone wants to write a brief recommendation of my skills for the web site I will be putting up advertising my services. If you'd be interested in doing something like this, please let me know!!! This is very exciting for me (and I am TERRIFIED of failing...but I will never know if I can do it until I try); it's a great opportunity for me to keep my children out of daycare and for me to do what I love - meet other people and market brands that I love! So, wish me luck as I take this big step!

I hope that you all enjoy the rest of your week! I'll keep you posted on our lives, and please keep in touch about yours!

All my love,

From Leland to Linden

2010-02-03T21:14:00.008-05:00

Greetings from Leland...or am I in Linden...or, hmmmmm, where AM I? I've been on the road so much this week I can't really remember anymore! Knowing that we had a lease in hand for our tenants to move in on February 20th, I hit the road on Monday morning with the girls with one mission - find a house in Fayetteville! We had looked at quite a few houses over the internet and had an appointment with a Realtor to see the most probable one (and thankfully it worked out!!!).

Here are my beautiful girls at lunch:

Here's Katelyn playing in the snow, waiting for the Realtor:

After just a quick tour of the house, we decided that this was good enough for us and we'd take it. It met all the basic needs - vacant and ready, semi-clean, affordable - and it covered some wants - fenced back yard, 1/2 acre lot, two car garage, attic storage, and the big bonus was a HUGE building outside where Scott can do his "man chores."

It's weird to be renting again and even weirder to be doing it while OWNING a house. We took this house because it was in a great school district with a pretty low rent, so that, God forbid, anything happened with our tenants in Leland, we would be ok financially. I definitely see this year as a rebuilding year for us and hopefully we can climb out of some of the debt we've accrued over the years. There should be some money leftover from Scott's severance package, and that will go against credit cards. Our tax refund will go against either credit cards or the hospital bills from Abby's birth and Scott's surgeries.

Soooo, anyway, by 5pm on Monday, I was walking out of the real estate office with keys in hand to our "new" house! We picked Scott up for dinner and then showed him the new house, and thankfully, he liked it! He stayed there that night, sleeping on the floor, and we drove back to Leland to gather some essentials for the week. On Tuesday I gathered up the girls and as much as I could pack into the van and we made our first moving trip!

Even Dixie got to come along:

We took care of some essential business yesterday, like getting the water account transferred to our names ($100 deposit because we're renting...) and hitting the local Wal-Mart for shelf liner (since it's apparent that no previous tenant has felt the need to do this and, let me just say, ewwwwwww). We spent our first night as a family in the new house last night and Abby slept just fine, but Kate woke up in the middle of the night and ended up sleeping with us for the rest of the night. Hopefully once we get her bed there it will be easier for her to sleep in her own room! She's terribly confused right now by the whole idea of moving, so we're just trying to take it one meltdown at a time...I just really don't know what else to tell her to make it all better. She wants to stay here in Leland and just doesn't understand why Daddy can't work here. Try explaining the basics of a major economic recession to a 4-year-old one time just for fun...and let me know how that goes.

So this morning we decided to return to Leland to pack more of our belongings and get everything ready for the moving truck, which comes on Saturday. After we get our belongings out of the house, it'll just be a few trips to clean and paint, and then we'll turn the keys over to the tenants and say goodbye to our house for at least a year. I get the feeling that they're responsible, family-oriented, quiet people...and I really hope I'm right. This is the biggest investment of our life and we're about to hand it over to people that we've only spoken to for a few hours. Scary stuff!

The time has come for me to say good night, but I will do my best to keep everyone posted on our move througout the process! The best way to reach me in the meantime will be on my cell phone either with a voicemail or an email, or on Twitter (@PortCityHokie).

All my love,

Is this really happening?

2010-01-29T08:34:00.007-05:00

This week has been one of the longest, yet quickest, in memory. Let me explain. On Sunday night, we celebrated my husband's new job and packed his truck for the week ahead. That night, the monsoon rains arrived and by the time he left Monday morning at zero-dark-thirty, our street was completely flooded, there were branches down everywhere, and the wind was blowing so hard that the rain was coming down sideways. He did make it safely to Fayetteville though, and enjoyed his first day at the new job, though he did say it was sort of like a first day of school...

(taking a break to make some oatmeal for the girls...always fun being a mommy and a blogger!)

...where everyone else knew each other and he was on the outside looking in. Monday night brought a disaster of sorts when a hotel that I had chosen for him turned out to be in the slums (sorry sweetie!) and he had to spend time driving around town looking for an establishment in a better area. He landed at the Fairfield Inn (shh, don't tell the Holiday Inn Express!) and we got to video conference before bedtime. On Tuesday morning, the girls and I headed up to Fayetteville for our first trip to the city. We started at the Cross Creek mall for lunch, then headed out to Stedman and Wade. We didn't see anything of particular interest out there, so we crossed over to 401N and checked out North Fayetteville and Linden. There we did find a house that we liked and, more importantly, we found a school that rocks! Check it out here! After Linden, we went south through town and breezed through Hope Mills. We didn't have much time, but we gathered that it's a very typical suburban area with quaint neighborhoods and a few chain stores/restaurants. After Hope Mills, we headed back to the city to meet Scott for dinner and ended up getting horribly lost - lesson learned, 401 business is NOT the same as 401 bypass. We turned a 5 minute drive into a 45 minute one by making that error. We finally arrived at the ECS office and got to meet my husband's new boss (who seems like a really upbeat guy!) and see his work area. After the meet and greet, we took him out to dinner (one that included fruits, vegetables, meats that weren't fried...) and then got him settled in a hotel for the rest of the week (again, not a Holiday Inn Express...*they* wanted $139/night which is absolutely NOT in the budget). We left Fayetteville around 9:30 on Tuesday night and ended up getting home right at 11pm.

On Wednesday, I took Katelyn for her first dental appointment at the Cape Fear Community College Dental Hygiene Clinic. She was an awesome girl and very patient as my friend Katherine did her cleaning, and then Katherine's instructor checked her work, and then the dentist gave everything a final once-over. I didn't know if she'd be that patient or not! Here she is sporting her super sunglasses!

All in all, I think it was a good experience for her and for me too, because it was only $15 and you know how I feel about saving money!

We spent Wednesday afternoon negotiating with the future tenants of our house and getting all of the little details hammered out. By the end of the night, we had a lease written and they were ready to sign and send the security deposit (woohoo!!!!). Now WE can go to Fayetteville and rent a house with more ease because our home being officially leased here provides us with extra income. Katelyn and I had a girls' night on Wednesday and enjoyed a "sleepover" in Mommy's room complete with snacks, a movie, and lots of giggling!

Yesterday, I spent the morning straightening up the house and then went to the hotel for the afternoon. Last night, I went to the January Wilmington tweet-up at Outback Steakhouse and had a fabulous time seeing all of my old friends and making some new ones, all while promoting the hotel! There is to be a joint tweetup between people in Raleigh and people in Wilmington either in February or in March, and hopefully all of the Raleigh people will know where they can stay while in town!!! One of the most active bloggers in Wilmington, Bruce Brown, has already written about the event, so I'll let you check out his blog for all of the details and pictures.

Today is going to be another busy day as I wait for my husband to return from Fayetteville and then I will be headed out to Circa tonight to say goodbye to a friend who is leaving the Wilmington area. And then tomorrow, packing and cleaning will resume in earnest. On Monday, we plan to look at another rental house in the Fayetteville area. This house is currently vacant and hopefully, we will have it occupied by the end of next week!

I've spent much too long writing this post between chasing snotty noses, making breakfast, and getting small people out of trouble, so I'm going to wrap it up for now. Hope that you all have a great weekend!

All my love,

We Had Chinese!

2010-01-24T20:45:00.006-05:00

BIG NEWS for our family! My husband has been offered a job!!! He'll start tomorrow even...so this whole week has been a whirlwind for us. He'll be working with a company called ECS in their Fayetteville office. Here's what happened: on Friday the 15th, we knew we had an offer for a temporary position. It would've been a 4-6 week job with a different company and there was no guarantee that it would become permanent, and even if it did, their benefits sucked :(. However, at 4:45, Scott's phone rang and it was the branch manager of the Fayetteville office wanting to know if they could do a phone interview that night at 6:30. He said yes, and the rest of us (wouldn't you know it was family night?) tried to keep quiet as the time approached for the phone call. Of course, in true Dowell fashion, when his phone DID ring, all you-know-what broke loose in our house and an almost comical situation ensued as we tried to get him set up in a "quiet" place while attempting to keep the girls away while attempting to prevent the smoke alarms from going off because someone forgot that they were making turkey gravy in all the commotion and it boiled over onto the stove and into the floor. By the time all was set, the girls and the pets had been corralled into the front of the house and I was standing under the smoke alarm in the kitchen repeatedly silencing it with a Swiffer handle and Scott had holed up in our bedroom. After about an hour of going "shh shh shh," and starting dinner even, he came out and said that they'd had a rather nice interview (as far as phone interviews go...) and that he'd been invited to come to the office on Tuesday the 19th for a face-to-face interview to discuss the position and salary in greater depth. We all said a little prayer and tried not to get our hopes up over the weekend. On Monday, we decided that we would spend the morning doing household chores and then hit the aquarium in the afternoon since it was free admission day. I stayed at the house with Kate while Abby went with Scott to Wal-Mart, and out of the blue, they called him and told him they'd had meetings with the clients of the first project he'd be doing, as well as with the principals of the company and that there was no question about it - he HAD GOTTEN THE JOB. All they would do Tuesday would be iron out the details and get him set up for a start on the 25th. WHEW! Big weight off!!!! And finally no longer living off the government! I am so proud of my husband for hitting the streets so hard looking for a job...he was unemployed for 1 day less than 3 months in the WORST economy of recent memory.

The only downside to him finding this job is that it IS in Fayetteville, so we'll have to move again. That means we've had to list our beautiful house for sale or rent, with more focus on finding a renter. Here's what it looks like:

We think that if we can just wait a year or two for the builder to get finished with our neighborhood then we won't get into a price war with them because we can't afford to play that game. If we list our house for sale, they'll drop their prices, and we can only drop our price so far before we go upside down. So we figure if we wait it out for awhile, we'll have more control over the price (and we'll have more recently sold comps to get price points from). Hopefully, we're figuring right! :)

I have been told that I will be able to keep my job and I am extremely thankful for that!!! I knew there was a reason I created a niche for myself in social media and internet management...LOL. I plan to return to Wilmington at least once a month to attend the #ILM Tweet-Up and re-connect with my friends and business contacts. Hopefully I will be close enough to Raleigh that the company will use me as an asset at their Raleigh hotel as well...or maybe that's just me dreaming :).

So today we packed up Scott's truck and he'll strike out tomorrow morning for a week in Fayetteville. I pretty much have my week already planned out so that I don't get too lonely during the first week. I am going to attend a Mommies dinner tomorrow night (at Flaming Amy's Bowl - YUM) and on Tuesday I'm going to Fayetteville with Jan (it'll be the first time either one of us has ever been to the city). Wednesday will be Katelyn's first dental exam (she's seeing a friend of mine who's in hygiene school - let's hear it for saving tons of money with great deals! - check it out if you have no dental insurance!). Thursday I get to work at the hotel on-site and on Friday, Scott comes home! And somewhere in there, I will probably show the house a few times...and I'd like to clean out my minivan. But tonight, also in true Dowell fashion, we got ready to send Scott off with a very special "we've had great news" dinner - we had Chinese!

All my love,

Hold up...exactly how much are you getting back???

2010-01-17T23:57:00.005-05:00

This post is dedicated to any person who is anxiously awaiting a big fat refund check from the government. I've seen my friends on Facebook posting about how they're going to buy a new game system, a new phone, a new camera, even a new car with their refunds...and the only thing I can think of is biting my tongue so I don't scream "you could've had that money LAST year!" Seriously, there is an art to doing your W4s, but if you're getting more than a few hundred dollars back, your withholding is WRONG. Why give the government an interest-free loan for the year? Think of it this way - we're all strapped for cash right now and many of us are working hard just to keep afloat and pay down debt as best we can. How much would it help each month to have an extra $50 in your budget? That's what you'd have if you traded in your $600 refund. Expecting $1,500 back? Fantastic - that would've been an extra $125 every month! See how the math works? Personally, I don't like to play it too close to the wire, so my goal each year is to neither owe nor receive greater than $500 from the government at the end of the year. I'm not sure how we did last year because we've never factored in unemployment before, but I will absolutely keep you all posted when we sit down to do our taxes! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we guessed it just right!

In other news, Scott had a very busy Friday. He had an interview in the morning that led to a job offer for a temporary (4-6 week) position, with the possibility of going full-time if work was available). We also found out (after much hounding) that the Virginia Beach job was filled by a local candidate, but we didn't even get a chance to pout about it all that much because at 4:45 on Friday afternoon, his phone rang and it was the branch manager for the Fayetteville office of ECS asking if they could do a phone interview at 6:30 that night! Scott said yes, of course, and had a great conversation with the guy about the opportunity they have. They are seeking an experienced geotechnical/CMT EIT who will manage the construction of new barracks at Fort Bragg for the next 6 months. The position will also entail doing business development (marketing and taking clients out, etc.) and would lead to Scott acquiring his PE license and becoming the #2 guy in the office! It seems like a very exciting opportunity and they have arranged a face-to-face interview for Tuesday at 9:30. We're not counting any eggs of course, but as long as the branch manager likes Scott in person as much as he did over the phone, he said the job could start as soon as January 25th! Talk about a time to be anxious! Thankfully we got to spend this weekend being very busy and it went quickly, so all we have to do now is get through tomorrow and make sure he hits the road on time Tuesday morning. I'm keeping my fingers crossed about this as well!

I'm going to sign off for tonight, but please keep us in your thoughts and prayers for the next week or so. I will provide updates as soon as I know anything and hopefully, we will re-enter the world of employment soon!

All my love,

You Can't Save a Dollar You Don't Have

2010-01-14T21:17:00.006-05:00

I was unable to find many outright freebies during last week's coupon promotion at Harris Teeter, and that limited my Super Doubles shopping to only 2 trips. I made the first trip (that I blogged about) and did one more trip on Tuesday, where I cashed in some internet coupons for free Select Harvest soup, free yogurt, dirt cheap coffee creamer (which is a necessity in this house...we don't drink coffee without it!), and some frozen pizza. Money was tight this week because we still needed to pay the January mortgage, and the problems were compounded when Scott's Paypal account that he's had since college was compromised in some sort of Skype fraud ring that's been going on for years. So, hopefully when triples roll around again, we'll be in a better financial position to cash in!!! This week, I have my eyes on Progresso Soups (Buy 2/Get 3), Old Orchard Juices (B2, G3), Smart Balance Popcorn, Betty Crocker Mashed Potatoes, some Lysol cleaners, and my usual discount meats and produce.

In the hotel world this week, I finished my monthly newsletter for the employees, was provided with some "Facebook Friends" rates to promote (Click here!), and we decided to participate in the 1st Annual Hospitality Olympics (Click here!). We also discovered that the Friends and Family rates are still available (Click here!) - these are GREAT deals for leisure travel!

Katelyn and Abby have enjoyed going to the pool this week. Both girls are like fish is the water (well, Scott says Abby is...she was too cold to enjoy it tonight when we went) and Katelyn is now doing flips off the wall into the water. Scott and I both think that she'll be doing backflips by the end of the summer! Stay tuned for video of that... :) We're also very excited that it looks like the weather might get a little warmer for the next week so that we can all enjoy being outside more. Both of our vehicles are in desperate need of a wash and the girls could use a few healthy doses of sunshine. Generally, the coldest month in the coastal Carolina area in February, so it will be interesting to see if that holds true for 2010. I would love to see a significant snowfall this winter, but we probably won't luck into that in Wilmington 2 years in a row.

The builders in the neighborhood started building the fence in our back yard today!!! We feel so lucky that we didn't jump the gun and build it ourselves before the had the chance to give it to us for free. :) Perhaps after Scott gets a job we'll finish out fencing in the side yard, but just them doing our back yard will save us a good thousand dollars! I <3 getting things for free!

(BTW, I just lost a bet with my husband...he said CSI had been on for at least 10 years...I said no way...Wikipedia says he wins because the 10th Season premiered in September 2009)

We hope to have an enjoyable weekend getting lots of quality time in with each other and perhaps cooking up the 2nd turkey that I bought pre-Christmas (the price was just THAT good...I had to get 2!). Scott has an interview tomorrow for a short-term contract position and we still have our fingers crossed for something else to come through. I am tired of living off the system and am ready to hang up the money worries!!! I want to just return to being a happy family that works hard so that we can play hard! Maybe soon...who knows?

All my love,

Are you talking about ME?!?!?!

2010-01-10T21:07:00.008-05:00

A big thank you to StarNews reporter Shannan Bowen for her shout-out to Dowell Chronicles in her Talk & Squawk blog here. She makes me sound like such a fantastic blogger, and I've only just begun! I do hope that you all enjoy following my blog and my life - you never know what's next for the Dowell family!

Scott has at least one, possibly two, interviews this week. The one that is definite is in Tulsa, OK (boooo :( ) and that will occur over the phone tomorrow. The other potential interview is in Virginia Beach, VA (YAY!!!!). Either option would mean relocating, BUT it would also mean leaving the ranks of the unemployed, which for us is the "greater good." If we move, we'll be faced with the choice of renting our house out for a few years or trying to sell in a pretty significant real estate slump. We have noticed that prices in Leland are starting to creep back up, which is a good sign that we may just be able to walk away with what we put into it (which is all that we want...no profit needed - just no loss, please). We also found out that the builder for our neighborhood is planning to run a fence along the back of our property, which would increase the value if we wanted to sell our house! We'll have many decisions to make in the coming months, and I have no doubt that we'll change our minds many, many times before coming to any final solution. It would just be nice for us to get back to our usual family dynamic where Scott and I each have jobs that contribute to our household's financial success, we each get time alone with our girls, and we each get time alone with our jobs. I know from doing it myself for a year, it's HARD to stay at home with the kids all day, every day...but I will say that Mr. Mom has handled it very well. He even took the kids to the pool by himself tonight!!!

(My Hokies just lost to UNC!!! NOOOOOOO!)

I do plan to print off some internet coupons tonight when I get home so that I can do that segment of coupon shopping during Super Doubles. It's like a scavenger hunt to see what hidden gems you will find buried on different web sites. And on some sites, like coupons.com or smartsource.com, it's all about what zip code you enter - some zip codes get better coupons than others! My only other frugal words of wisdom to impart upon you tonight are these - always check for discount produce and meats! If there was anything WRONG with it, it wouldn't be on the shelves. But, if your family is like mine, a tub of blueberries or a bag of salad can disappear in less than a day, so why pay full price for the freshest stuff the store has to offer? Nope...grab the stuff that has the "sell by" date of tomorrow, save >70%, and enjoy! Scott and I celebrated our anniversary last night by grilling out. We each had a hearty ribeye I had scored from the meat department after it had been marked down multiple times. It was originally priced at $14+ and I paid ~$3.50. YUM!

I'm going to sign off for tonight, but PLEASE keep us in your thoughts this week and I'll keep you posted on our progress!

All my love,

Two Things...

2010-01-07T22:20:00.005-05:00

First order of business this evening - Here are the coupon tips that had been given by me via Facebook a while ago:

1. Go to stores that don't double or triple coupons EVER (i.e., Food Lion here in Wilmington). Pull multiple copies of any coupon in a blinkie in the aisles. As long as the first digit on the bar code is "5" the coupon will double or triple...even if it says "Do Not Double" across the front. On coupon forums, these coupons are frequently referred to as "DND5s."

2. Make a friend....in another state! Have your friend send you their inserts!!! Most grocery stores are careful to not have a sale that combines w/ a coupon promo involving coupons you will have been given in your local paper. You'd be surprised what you can get for free (or really really close to free) just by combining out of area coupons with your store's sales!

3. Find a coupon forum - don't feel the need to pay for services like TheGroceryGame.com (they cut into your coupon "profits"!!!). I use hotcouponworld.com because each week (triples, super doubles, or not) they type out the HT ad (in advance of Wednesday morning) and match the items up with known coupons that are in circulation.

4. Get organized!!! Collecting all of these coupons will do you no good if you can't keep track of what you have, what it's worth, when it expires, etc. I have a photo album binder (the 3-ring kind you can add pages to) that I put all of my coupons in. It's roughly arranged by aisle @ HT so I can flip through, grab the coupons, grab the items, and go.

5. Know the rules of the game, and be ready to share. This tip is most handy (in my experience) at Wal-Mart. Every time I go couponing there, I make sure I have a recent printout from their corporate web site that states their EXACT coupon policy. More than once, cashiers have told me that they can't accept my internet coupons and I just whip out the policy and say "oh yes, you can."

Second order of business - I jazzed up my Foursquare account today and created a location for the Holiday Inn Express & Suites. You can become my friend on Foursquare by searching for me here. The venue I created for the hotel is here. Have fun exploring the new technology!!!

All my love,

Day 1 Trip

2010-01-06T13:28:00.003-05:00

OK, so Katelyn and I conquered the Harris Teeter this morning and walked out paying $17.67 OOP and saving $50.74! To the best of my memory, here's how it broke down (I didn't write down the matchups while we were in the store, so some things are an estimate).

*Glad Freezer and Storage Bags - I got 6 of these. There was a $1/2 coupon available around Thanksgiving in the store and HT had these as B1G1 this week. Each box was $.65 OOP.

*Heinz Ketchup - They were already sold out of the 20oz variety, so we settled for 14 oz. and paid $.15 OOP.

*Betty Crocker Potatoes - FREE - We had written Betty Crocker after consuming a box of potatoes that was grossly over-salted. They sent us a coupon for another box, as well as another $1 off any 1 General Mills item.

*Betty Crocker Cake Mix - FREE - It was priced at $1.75, but this was the item that we used our General Mills coupon on.

*TBonz dog treats - $.39 - Gotta show some love to my furry friend Dixie!!! :)

*Lysol Wipes - FREE

*Craisins - These weren't a spectacular deal, but they're healthy and I like to put them on my salads! - $.69

*Dawn dish soap - Again, not fantastic, but you do NEED some things! - $.84

*Special K Red Berry cereal - $.50

*Healthy Choice soups (2) - $.50 each

*Crisco Olive Oil - $2.49

*Bumble Bee Chicken - I had a $.75 coupon in my book. My mom had pulled this coupon from a Food Lion and mailed it to me. - FREE

*Gatorade (3) - I let Katelyn talk me into these since she had been such a good helper (and they were marked down to a fair price!) - $.69 each

*Dannon yogurt cups (10) - $.20 each

*Activia yogurt 4-pack - $.50 (I had a $1 off coupon that doubled and they were priced @ 2/$5)

*Gwaltney hot dogs - $.97 - No coupon; just a staple at this house!

From Blogger Pictures

Super Doubles @ Harris Teeter

2010-01-06T10:14:00.000-05:00

This is what as I see just going through my coupon collection and getting ready to go check out the rest of the deals at the store:

*Dannon Yogurt - 10/$4 -->$1 off (doubles to $2) = 10/$2 or .20/yogurt (GREAT deal)
*(Don't think I'll buy this one) Lean Pockets - 5/$10 or $2 per -->$1 off 3 (doubles to $2 off 3) = $1.33/meal
*(Just a good deal) Crisco Olive Oil - $3.99 -->$.75 off (doubles to $1.50) = $2.49
*Heinz Ketchup - $1.67 -->$.75 off (doubles to $1.50) = $.17
*Healthy Choice Soup - 4/$5 ($1.25 per) -->$.75 off 2 (doubles to $1.50 off 2) = $1/2 or $.50 each
*Special K Cereal - $2.50 -->$1 off (doubles to $2 off) = $.50
*(Not buying this one) Post Honey Bunches of Oats - 2/$6 -->$1 off 2 (doubles to $2 off 2) = 2/$4 or $2 each
*Hillshire Farm Lunchmeat - $3.33 -->$.75 off (doubles to $1.50) = $1.83
*(Not buying this, but you might need it) Kleenex Facial Tissue - $1.50 each -->$.50 off 3 (doubles to $1.00 off 3) = $1.16 each
*Lysol Wipes - $2 -->$1 off (doubles to $2) = FREE

Super Doubles is particularly time consuming in the store because a lot of times, you'll find deals that don't match up with what is "on sale." I plan to go either today or tonight and scope out the deals and will post my pictures and my OOP (out of pocket) spending. I am very excited to be opening my 2010 couponing with such a potentially great event!

All my love,

And we're done.......

2009-12-26T09:32:00.000-05:00

Whew! Christmas has come and gone, and (aside from the usual family drama) it went very well. We enjoyed Christmas Eve dinner w/ Scott's parents and then came home to get ready for church. We went to the midnight service and then came home to finish up our parental duties. We finally got to bed around 2:30 and at 6:30, Kate was at our door whispering "Mommy...Daddy...SANTA CAME!!!" We held the girls off from the presents until Grammy and Pop Pop arrived and then the race was on! The girls ended up w/ just about everything they asked for, Scott and I received some fabulous presents, and everyone enjoyed being together for the special day. I think Katelyn's favorite presents were her Hannah Montana box, her bed tent, her Gameboy Advance, and her Splatster. Abby is still checking all of hers out, but enjoys her 'busy ball activity center,' her music-making kangaroo, and her new blanket from Aunt Erica! Scott got the GPS watch he really wanted, some new jeans, and new shirts, among other things. I got new sneakers AND new boots (!!!), the new Harry Potter movie, some wonderful new shirts, and a new Foodsaver (since apparently mine stopped vacuuming not long ago and no one told me...so when I removed the wrapping paper, I am looking at it like "they are BOUND to know we already had one of these...what is going on here?" and I ask "what's in the box?"...yep, that was a conversation that led to me being teased relentlessly for the rest of the afternoon. All-in-all though, we really couldn't have asked for more!!!

Parenting is such a fun job sometimes. Abby, a.k.a. "The Toddler Tornado," was her usual self yesterday and managed to get ahold of a cup of coffee and pour in into our laptop...yay. I immediately pulled the hard drive out, took the case apart, dumped it all out and have left it in an upside down "V" on our kitchen table w/ hopes that it will dry out. I just hope for one more boot so I can recover my stuff. We shall see...I'll check on it when I get home this afternoon. I did see a new laptop online today for $197, so hopefully we can replace this one as soon as Scott gets a job.

My dad left today to return to Virginia, where he probably still has snow on the ground, and we will leave tomorrow at some point to spend a few days with my mom and her new husband. I'm hoping that THEY still have snow too because I know my girls would love to see (and play in) some snow this winter. I also hope to see one of my best friends while I'm in VA - MEGAN!!!! :) We haven't seen her and her fiance since I was approximately 6 weeks pregnant with Abby, so it will be nice if we can find a time that works for all to get together. We'll return to Wilmington in time to ring in the new year and, of course, watch the Hokies play on New Year's Eve!

I hope that you all enjoyed your Christmas holiday and that we can all get some relaxation in this weekend and this upcoming week before everything kicks back into high gear after the first of the year!

All my love,

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

2009-12-23T19:54:00.004-05:00

So here we are...2 days until Christmas...NORAD will start tracking Santa tomorrow and I can't wait to watch him make his journey around the world and see the wonder on Katelyn's face!!!

The hotel that I work at is in dangerously low occupancy territory. There are plenty of extremely smart people on the management team here, yet no one seems to quite know how to fight the recession. I continue to expand my work in social media, and pitched to the other hotels in our group for me to do their social media too, but have heard nothing back and am unsure as to where to go next. I have had several interviews w/ other hotels, but nothing that's a "great" opportunity for me to grow in. There's no way I can earn anything close to what Scott was earning, and we need him to be blessed with another job or we WILL lose everything, but I also feel like, even though I can't earn anything CLOSE to what he was earning, I would like to explore my career options. I have toyed w/ the idea of forming an LLC and marketing myself to different hotel groups for social media services, but with us not knowing where we'll be in a month even, it's tough to make a decision and then stick to it.

In better news though, our girls are getting VERY excited for Santa to come tomorrow night. Let me reiterate, they are SO BLESSED. Our families have made sure that from Day 1 of Scott's unemployment, the girls have had no inkling that financial disaster is looming for our family. I have multiple bags and stacks of presents in my garage and in my closet to prove that.

I did tell Scott that he'll have it easy for his New Year's resolution - all he needs to do is find a job at some point during 2010! :) I applied the other day to be a JDRF advocate and assist them w/ their goal of finding a cure for Type I diabetes. I love this cause and plan to spend a lot more of 2010 raising awareness of (1) the disease itself and (2) how VERY close we are to finding a cure.

I hope that you all are ready for the Christmas holiday! We have made all of the major preparations and will now just focus on what's truly important - spending time with our families and cherishing every minute of it.

All my love,

Jessica

Pulling from every resource

2009-12-10T10:45:00.000-05:00

So with the holiday season being upon us, and Scott being out of work, we've had to GREATLY scale back our Christmas budget this year. We are not exchanging presents with any adults and our giving to our children has been threatened as well. Thankfully, we have lots of wonderful people in our lives who love our children and who are helping to keep the magic of Santa alive, but we still wanted to get a few things for our kids. Last night Scott and I went out on a date and did some Christmas shopping and here's what we did (and how we did):

Applebee's Dinner - $20 gift card from the hotel where I work at that I received on my birthday; roughly $15 out-of-pocket for beverages and tip
GameStop - $20 for 3 Gameboy Advanced games (which is the platform we're moving Katelyn to because the VSmiles have been the WORST purchases ever - not durable whatsoever; got a GBA on gamestop.com for $19.99)
Gap Kids - Matching hoodies and socks for Katelyn and Abigail - $25 gift card from Wachovia Rewards; $3 OOP
JC Penny - Scooby Doo pajamas for Katelyn - $10 coupon from the mail; $4 OOP
Barnes and Noble - Lift the Flap Danny Dozer Christmas book for Abigail - $10 gift card from Wachovia Rewards; $.50 OOP

TOTAL OOP - $42.50 ($62.50 if you add in the GBA from gamestop.com)

I had gone to Goodwill earlier and purchased a Hannah Montana shirt for Katelyn ($2.49) and several books for the kids (ranging in price from $.25-$.75/each).

Also, I made my first Amazon.com referral fees yesterday and have started collecting SwagBucks in hopes of trading them in for gift cards for use in Christmas 2010. We're tapping every resource this year to make sure that, to the best of our abilities, our kids have an awesome visit from Santa!

Bringing it all together

2009-12-06T22:45:00.000-05:00

In this fast-paced, multi-outleted internet world that we have created, I hope to use this blog to just keep it ALL together. I will talk about things ranging from my wonderful family to my job to my famous coupon tips!!!

I am a 25-year-old mom of 2 beautiful girls. The oldest, Katelyn, is 4 and she is a great companion and we have had many great adventures together over the years. She is currently into all things Hannah Montana and can't wait to start kindergarten next fall. My baby, Abigail, is now 1 and I'm enjoying seeing her personality develop more and more every day. She's just starting to walk and has developed quite the vocabulary (much more than I remember her sister having at that age). I have been married for almost 5 years to my soul mate, Scott. We met in September, 2002 through a mutual friend and have been inseperable ever since. We both graduated from Virginia Tech and thoroughly enjoy every minute we are lucky enough to be in Blacksburg these days. We love to travel, play board games, hike, try our hands at gourmet cooking, camp, watch Harry Potter, and just have "family time."

With Christmas coming in less than 20 days, this is a very special time of year for our family to reflect on being truly thankful for the gifts that we have been given - our good health, a loving family, great friends, & opportunities to grow and succeed in work and in life. I have spent the last 5 years puttering in the hospitality field and have recently gone back to work full-time following Scott's layoff from S & ME, Inc. I am very blessed to have a job that I love and it's amazing to be the one trying to stay on the cutting edge of new technology (like figuring out all things Google Wave - jessicawdowell@googlewave.com). Older technology is still fun (http://www.twitter.com/portcityhokie ... http://www.facebook.com/jessicadowell ). And things I don't have access to yet (http://www.foursquare.com/) are a beacon on the horizon - constantly reminding me of why I love being in social media. I am hoping to get the opportunity to manage multiple hotels' social and internet marketing programs; stay tuned for details on that.

I also am a pretty thrifty person and 110% believe in the old motto - "watch your pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves." I LOVE to use coupons when grocery shopping and would never, EVER, make a purchase online without searching for "promotional codes" first. I also enjoy making great finds on the side of the road on garbage day! I'm not likely to buy the latest trend just because everyone else is buying it, and when the money runs out, it's gone. We live within our means and that means no cable TV, no fancy new cars, no new wardrobe every season, no replacing appliances just because a better version has been developed, etc.

I hope that you will enjoy following us on our journeys through this blog. It's always fun to see where life will take the Dowell family!