Race for the Cure

Early Saturday morning, I headed to Tupelo for the annual Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure. I had signed up on a co-worker's sister's team, and so I met up with them at 7:30 for a team photo, and then some of my friends & I set off for the starting line. They had these cute pink wigs and funky sunglasses...I loved them! They brought me some pink feathers to wear so I wasn't left out. :) We've decided next year we should form a team together and wear some fun costumes.

We finished the 5K race in under an hour then went around to some of the booths to see what everyone was giving away. After the winners were announced, we went to the mall for a little shopping and some lunch. We ate The Flat Tire Grille, which was really good, and then Heather & I went to see a movie while everyone else ran errands. I got groceries before heading home. It was a long day, but I had fun!

Random Blog Catching Up & Some Trips

Wow, I have gone from someone who really loved to blog to someone who can't get motivated enough to write anything down. It's just been a tough year. In fact, I told a good friend recently that I have officially declared 2011 as our worst year ever. From January until now, it's been one thing after another...serious personal issues, the death of Brandon's grandpa (my own grandpa passed away in December), Brandon losing his job, my dad had another heart attack, me wrecking (well, denting) our car...I could go on and on! The latest in a long line of bad news for our family is finding out Brandon's father has cancer. We truly are living in "critical times hard to deal with," and this year it seems like our family has taken hit after hit.

Anyway, I didn't start this post to complain or whine...just wanted to throw that all out there for an excuse, as it were, as to why I've been so quiet on here. I want to do better. I want to enjoy blogging again. I have things to say! I want to share! And I need to focus on the positive things anyway! :) After all, there have been good things that have happened this year too. I want to focus on those!

For instance, just a few weeks ago, we went camping with some of Brandon's family, including his dad, at Fall Creek Falls State Park. We had never been there before, but we definitely want to return. It is a beautiful park, and we really enjoyed ourselves, especially being with family! We love camping, and the weather was perfect for it. It was a little chilly at night, but we had heaters and the dogs to pile in the bed with us, so we made it just fine! Here's a pic of Brandon and his dad on our hike down to the cascades:

This past weekend, we met the majority of Brandon's immediate family (only his dad & step-mom, his older brother & his kids, and our niece & nephew in Kentucky were missing) in Townsend, TN, for a brief getaway in the Smoky Mountains. If I'm counting correctly, there were twenty-six of us, with the majority staying in two different houses, just down the road from each other. The leaves were gorgeous, and even though we were all still reeling from the shock of the news we had just received and wishing their dad were with us, we enjoyed ourselves. There were stressful moments to be sure, but that time together is just what everyone needed. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the trip:

Early Morning in Cade's Cove


Abby & Brandon with our Nephews, Jayden & Evan


Brandon with His Brother, Tyler, and All 3 Sisters


Another Adorable Nephew, Landon


Us at an Overlook on the Roaring Fork Motor Trail

So there it is...some bad stuff, some good stuff...but it's out there. I hope to do better about staying updated in the future!

Shoppers with No Ethics & No Shame

I coupon. I clip, organize, match up, and use my coupons. I even have a big dorky binder that I shamelessly carry into Kroger with me on every single trip. And I use it. I take my time and match my coupons to my shopping list, which I usually make while looking at the sales paper. Then I also keep an eye out for closeouts and other good sales on items that we use and I have a coupon on. My total bill usually goes down by about $20, but it has dropped by as much as $40.

I've been doing this for a long time now, long before that "Extreme Couponing" show aired. Have you ever watched that? Those people are nuts, and not a little unethical, in my opinion. Who needs 40 bottles of shampoo? Just because you CAN clip a million coupons and check out multiple times and whatever other loopholes they use, doesn't mean you should. And the bad thing is that since the show aired, all these other people are trying to do the same thing. They are abusing the couponing system and are making things difficult for the rest of us who are only buying what we need and trying to save some money while still playing by the rules. Do you know how many stores are changing their coupon policies because of these people? Not to mention the stigma...because now when I go into the grocery store with my binder of coupons, I don't just look like a dork (which I never really minded before), I appear to be one of "those people."

The ethics doesn't just stop with coupons. Case in point: Yesterday, I was at CVS picking up a few things and got in line behind a woman, coupons in hand, who brazenly placed a bottle of bath wash on the counter and said, "I'd like to return this. This week they're buy one, get one free." Seriously?? Not only was she DOING this, she was shamelessly TELLING the cashier she was doing this. I could tell the cashier was flustered, but what could she do? So, she gave the woman her money back, who then took the bottle and placed it right back in her buggy to purchase again. WOW. Really?

I'm all about stacking coupons, getting freebies, and getting out of the store with the lowest total as possible, but only if I do it without bending the rules and essentially committing coupon fraud, which is really what's going on a lot of times with these obsessed, coupon-crazy cheapos who really only do it for the thrill. What are your thoughts?

Great - Yet Ordinary - Weekend

I've been lacking in the blogging department lately, and I'm determined to do better. One of the things I love about my blog is being able to look back and read about our life, whether it's a special trip or an every day "moment." I realize not all of my readers (because I know there's just tons of you...LOL) care to read the day-to-day boring "moments" Brandon and I share, but you know what? That's OK.

Don't get me wrong - I love knowing that some people read my blog, and I love comments from you, but I do mainly write for me. The fact that I can use this to look back later and smile about an ordinary, if somewhat boring, day in the life with my husband makes me happy. :) That said, here's an "exciting" play-by-play of our weekend, which was nothing special except for the fact that I spent it with my best friend and loved every minute of it!

Friday afternoon, Brandon & I went to Tupelo for dinner and to do a little shopping. The selection in the town where we live is severely limited (and expensive), so we try to make it to one of the larger towns a few times a month to stock up. Even with the gas we spend, we come out better with the selection and the fact that I can use my coupons, which double at Kroger, our store of choice.

We usually eat dinner somewhere before getting started, and on this trip we decided on sushi at Kyoto. I had the Tupelo Roll, which is filled with crab meat, avocado, and cream cheese, and then topped with spicy crab meat. It's really good! Brandon likes the traditional (read: raw) sushi and so ordered a sashimi appetizer & a salmon roll. We enjoyed our dinner together and then set out for the mall.

Our main purpose for hitting the mall was a trip to GameStop. Our nieces & one of our nephews are spending the weekend with us this coming weekend, and we wanted to see what kind of deals we could find on a new game we could all play. We didn't find what we were looking for but were able to pick up an older racing game for $5, so we were happy with that. While we were there, I had to check out my favorite store: New York & Co. I knew they were having a big sale and wanted to look at their jewelry. Plus, I had a coupon good for clearance items. Boy, did I rack up!! They had a whole selection of jewelry for $2.99/piece. They also had some summer scarves marked down to $4.99. I got two scarves, three necklaces, a bracelet, and a pair of earrings, all for under $22! Here's a photo of my stash after we got home. (As always, click the photo to "bigify," as a fellow blogger always says!)

Next came the "divide & conquer" part of our shopping trip, which is where Brandon drops me off at Kroger and takes care of all the other stops that need to be made, such as PETsMART and Sam's. It seems to work better that way, since I'm a somewhat slow shopper when it comes to couponing at Kroger. This way, he doesn't have to wait on me, and I don't feel rushed. Plus, we get home a lot earlier!

Saturday didn't go as planned, but it turned out really nice! We spent the morning watching a couple of old movies Brandon had recorded earlier: The Muppets Take Manhattan, followed by Jaws. Awesome combo, right? And of course, the babies wanted to cuddle while we watched TV. I'm putting aside all vanity for the sake of Boxer adorableness to share this picture of Duchess & Bogart snuggling on top of me in all my early-morning-no-makeup glory. Let's here it: Awww!!!

After our little movie marathon, it was time to turn the TV off and get some work done. Brandon went to take a nap since he hadn't slept much the previous night, and I started cleaning house. I also got supper started by getting our cilantro chicken into its marinade. (This stuff is SO good - check out the recipe in my older post!) Along with the cilantro chicken, which Brandon grilled, we had Mexican Rice (also in that previous post) and another new recipe: Grilled Avocados. OMG - these were awesomeness and totally complemented the rest of our dinner!! Here's the original recipe, with notes for the few changes we made:

Grilled Avocados

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 large ripe avocados, halved, seeded, and peeled (about 1 lb. total)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt or 1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup bottled picante sauce (We don't like picante sauce. Instead, we used some drained Rotel tomatoes, kicked up with some diced fresh jalapenos & serranos from our garden.)
1 ounce Monterey Jack or farmer cheese, shredded or crumbled (1/4 cup)
Snipped fresh cilantro
Salad greens (optional)
Bottled picante sauce (optional)
Dairy sour cream (optional)

Stir together olive oil and lime juice. Brush avocados all over with olive oil mixture. Sprinkle cut sides of avocados with salt.

For a charcoal grill, grill avocado halves, cut side down, on the rack of an uncovered grill directly over medium coals for 5 minutes or until browned. Turn avocado halves, cut side up. Fill centers of avocado halves with the 1/4 cup picante sauce and shredded cheese. Cover grill and grill about 5 minutes more or until cheese begins to melt. (For a gas grill, preheat grill. Reduce heat to medium. Place avocado halves on grill rack over heat. Cover and grill as above.)

Remove avocados from grill. Sprinkle tops of avocado halves with snipped cilantro. If desired, serve on a bed of salad greens with additional picante sauce and sour cream. Makes 4 servings.

We ended our night with yet another old movie - The Man from Snowy River - while we ate dinner. You know, I don't think I had ever watched this movie! If I did, I was too young to remember. Anyway, I really enjoyed it. It's a definite watch-again!

Sunday after the meeting, we went to Subway for lunch and then out to do RVs with another couple from our congregation. Our initial intention was just to stay out for an hour, but we were enjoying ourselves so much and being so productive that we ended up staying out 2 1/2 hours. We didn't get home until nearly 5:00! It felt good to get the month started out that way, though, and we're trying to do more Sunday service. We're going to try to make it a habit.

Yesterday was a holiday, but I needed to work. Rather than going to the office and sit by myself, I took my laptop home and worked there. I can't do that often, as a lot of my job consists of supporting people at work in their jobs. Since the plant was closed, however, it wasn't an issue. It was nice being able to sit in my lounge pants & t-shirt with my pets and Brandon around and get some things done. As you can see, I had a nice little paperweight nearby most of the time! I was able to get up early and get an early start too, so by 2:00 I was done for the day and could hang out with Brandon. I need more days like that!

Shopping at CVS

I made a trip to CVS during my lunch break today and came back with the items pictured: 2 bottles of Pantene, a new Schick Intuition Razor (which included 2 cartridges), a bottle of Revlon nail polish, a new Colgate 360 Surround toothbrush for Brandon, a tube of Colgate Total, a bag of dark chocolate Hershey's Bliss candies (heavenly!!), and a bag of my current weakness - Sour Patch Kids. After turning over my coupons & $0.99 worth of Extra Bucks I earned on a previous trip, my total came to $33.80. Sound high? Yeah, a little...except for the fact that attached to my receipt were several more Extra Bucks totaling $18.99. That brings my total down to $14.81. Not bad, especially considering how expensive Pantene & Intuition razors are!

Tomorrow, I will go and finish picking up the rest of the items on my list (that I intentionally broke up because I knew I was getting the Extra Bucks), which include the special currently running of five 12-packs of Coke products for $13, as well as one or two other items which are on sale, have Extra Bucks, AND I have coupons for...I should be able to get out of there with all my items for little or no more money out of my pocket, plus some EBs to spend the next time. Yay!

I want to give a shout out to dealseekingmom.com for the sale/coupon combos they list for specific stores every week. Be sure to check them out before your next shopping trip!

Gone Fishin'

Last Friday when I got home from work, Brandon & I decided to take a spontaneous drive to one of his fishing spots he's been going to lately. I haven't been fishing with him in years - he's just recently taken it back up - and I didn't know where this particular spot was. Let me tell you - it was out in the middle of nowhere, down a non-existent road that I could have sworn we weren't going to make it down in his little pickup! I was told to keep my arms in the truck and we'd be fine. "Mmm hmmm...we'll see," was my thought as the tree limbs surrounded us and we bounced through a dried out creek bed.

The place turned out to be really nice and peaceful once we finally got to it. We sat up our chairs, and he baited his hook and started fishing. I explored a little and then killed time taking photos and playing with the apps on my phone, periodically stopping to look at whatever he was pointing out to me...turtles, fish swimming around his line, etc. It was a nice, quiet evening. I really enjoyed spending time with him outside and away from the TV, which is what a lot of our evenings revolve around. It meant a lot to me that he invited me to go along. :)

Here are a few more pics that I took while we were there. Click them to see a bigger version.

Here we are right after we got there and set our chairs up.

This old chrysalis was on a tree near where Brandon was fishing. I thought it was really neat.

Despite all the large shapes we saw swimming under the surface and the numerous worms that were taken from his hook, this little bluegill was the only thing he caught. Fortunately for the fishy, he was too small to do anything with, so he got thrown back.

Cypress Knees

We took a little walk down the "road" before heading home and found these huge rocks. It was pretty, but it was getting really late in the day and we were out in the middle of NOWHERE so I was glad to head back to the truck afterwards!

Ella's First Pool

A few weeks ago I went to see my niece, Ella. She's such a cutie pie!! It was a really hot day, so my dad blew up the little swimming pool his wife had found for her. He filled it with water, and my sister & I took her out to see what she thought. She loved it!! Here are a few pictures I got that day. Love this little girl!!