Optimism

I tend to be more optimistic than my husband. He is often negative about a situation, but I'm always saying "at least it could be worse." I don't think he appreciates my optimism that often. :) 

Today, Addy and I went to Meijer after dropping the other two off at preschool. We got into the store, I got my list out and we were off grabbing what we needed. Then we got to the deli counter. They were going soooooo sloooooow....and there was only one customer there. She WAS ordering several pounds of several different meats and cheeses; I hope she's having a party or has 10 kids because that was a lot of meat to consume! 

Addy was pleasant early on, as was I. We were joking and tickling and just trying to pass the time. Then, she started to get cranky; I was saying to myself, "it could be worse." I started to get a little irritated after she ordered more than 5 pounds of meats while I was standing there (she did already have some in the cart, too!). That customer was finally finished and it was our turn! I ordered a half pound of Swiss cheese, only to have the deli guy come out from behind the counter to read the sale tag to make sure he was picking out the right one. Then, he went behind the counter and found he needed to go in the back and get a new one to slice. Addy was becoming impatient. I couldn't blame her; we had probably been waiting for a good 5 minutes at this point. I was running out of things to distract her with. The deli guy came back, sliced off a sample piece for us to eat and then completed that order. I then ordered a half pound of ham, and he again found he needed to go get a new block in the back to slice. At least, this time we had our cheese to nibble on. :) He came back and graciously gave us some ham to munch on while he finished our order. I didn't ever act rude or impatient with him. He did apologize afterward and wished us a great day. I was really glad I stayed positive; he tried hard to move quickly and it wasn't his fault. 

While I was there trying to be optimistic, I had forgotten all about a $10 off $30 electronic coupon from the Meijer website that I had attached to my phone number. So, when we got up to the checkout and I had to enter my number for a $1.00 coupon on our bread, it also rang up the $10 off coupon at the end! I was caught off guard and so excited! the cashier seemed pretty impressed, too, with my MPerks savings! AND, in addition to the MPerks electronic savings, I had another $13 in paper coupon savings, as well as having everything I bought be on sale this week! So, I saved pretty big overall today. I guess I'm glad we got held up at the deli counter. It made for a fun and surprising checkout experience, which is always fantastic! :)

We ran to Walgreens and Dominick's, too, before swinging by to pick the girls up. Walgreens saved me a bundle as well...on razors, cheese and toothbrush covers (4 for $.99!). I also scored 2 of the Kraft Homestyle dinners for $.17 each, which I was overjoyed about. I've actually never purchased those because they can be pretty pricey, when not on sale. This week, Walgreens has them for $1.67 each. The Walgreens January coupon book has a $1 off 2 coupon for them and I had two $1.00 off 1 coupons from the newspaper coupons. So, they were $3.34 minus $3.00 in coupons. $.34 for 2 packages! That's the best way to try something out - get it for almost free!!

Dominick's scored us some good fruits and veggies - oranges for $.50/lb, bananas for $.38/lb, and carrots for cheap, too (the already cut kind, which is time-saving most days!). I also had a good deal on Hunt's Snack Pack Puddings. They were on sale with the Super Coupon for $.88 each. I had $.60 off 3 coupons, so I got them for $.68 each. Another big saver was the Tide Stain Release Spray. I read it should be on sale for $3.49, but our store only had it at $3.99. I had an electronic coupon from Dominick's site for $3.00, so I got to try it (for the first time) for only $.99 after coupons. :) We have lots of stains here, so I can handle $.99 for something I haven't tried before!

After picking up the girls, we ran into Jewel. Yes, that's a lot of shopping in one day. I don't normally cover that many stores, but each one has little bits of things for cheap and I needed almost all of them, so I figured why not. I only had Addy for most of the shopping, so it wasn't rough at all. 

At Jewel, we scored a one pound bag of radishes (already cleaned and ends cut off) for $1.00. The radish bunches were $1.29! So, I think we saved more on the bagged ones. We also found toothpaste for $.99, which I had a $.50 coupon for....so we stocked up on a couple. We found apples that we were needing, as well as plum tomatoes for $1/lb. My favorite saver there was Bounty Basic 8-pack paper towels. They were on sale for $4.99. I had a Jewel Avenu electronic coupon for $1.50 off and a paper coupon for $1.00 off. So, I got them for $2.49! That's 8 rolls of brand name paper towels for $.31 each! We actually don't usually buy paper towels because we get them for free from my father-in-law, but I figured it's good to stock up, especially for summertime when we have barbecues and lots of outdoor eating! 

I am looking forward to whenever Jewel or Dominick's has there chest freezer sale. It's either February or March. When you buy it for $100 or $150 or whatever the sale price is, you get over $100 worth of coupons for free or buy-one-get-one-free coupons! We are in desperate need of more freezer space. I cook and freeze often, as well as freeze breads and butter and anything else I can! So, extra deep-freeze space would be awesome! We also buy lots of meat on sale and always have several days/weeks worth of meat frozen. 

I STILL need to go to Staples and get more printer ink. They have a special this week - spend $40 or more on national brand inks and get a $10 prepaid Visa card. I need a black ink and a color ink cartridge, so I think I'll hit the $40 mark. And, then there's CVS. They have a sale on pop this week I'd like to catch, as well as Orbit gum (I'm getting 4 packs free and only paying tax; they have a buy one get one free sale, and I have 2 buy one get one free coupons!) and Listerine AND Crest Pro-Health mouthwashes. We are needing to stock up on the mouthwashes again. We have finally depleted my stash from last summer. Guess I should have bought more back then! Iris and Lily use it now,too, so we go through it a smidge faster than we used to. 

And lastly, I found a recipe for homemade pop-tarts online today. I really want to try it, but I don't have any plain yogurt. My mom actually offered me some this past weekend that she wasn't going to finish. I declined because "we never eat plain yogurt", but now I am actually in need of it. HA! 

I made cheese & onion bread in the breadmaker yesterday. It was awesome! My hands really appreciated not having to stir and knead for all that time. The loaf was pretty small; it only made a one pound loaf. BUT, it tasted great. We had it with dinner, my husband took a little for a snack at work, and we still have a few slices left. So, I guess the size really wasn't that small after all. Tomorrow morning, first thing, I am going to make another bread (probably with raisins or cranberries) to share with my friend Erika, who is coming by after Iris and her 2 oldest are off at school. Should make for a tasty and semi-quiet morning!

Oh, ok, I lied. That wasn't the last thing. Last night, I was trying to incorporate brown rice into dinner. I don't really like the flavor of brown rice, but Arthur asked me to buy it for him since it's healthier and he needs good carbs for exercising and running. I had some chicken sausage (made with green and red peppers in them. mmmm), that I decided to chop up and put in the rice. So, I made the rice with chicken broth for more flavor. Then I sauteed a green pepper and an onion in some light olive oil, til they were completely mushy....that is the only way Arthur will eat chopped peppers and onions - if they are mushy. I threw the chopped up chicken sausages in with the peppers and onions, then mixed in the cooked rice. I wasn't sure if it'd have enough flavor, so I made a white sauce to go on it. Turns out, though, the sausage, peppers, and rice had the perfect flavor! Everyone liked it and most had two helpings! I was excited to finally find a way to eat brown rice with some flavor in it. Sadly,though, I am out of those sausages; now I'll have to find another way to incorporate good flavor. :)

Tonight, I'm making White Chicken Chili. It's the first time for this recipe, but I'm excited. It came out of a magazine on the page advertising Campbell's, so I'm thinking it's actually a Campbell's recipe, which is fine because I've always liked the recipes from their website. It'll be perfect with some rolls and salad. I've been trying to have salad as an option at each dinner now; gives good opportunity for veggies to be consumed. Plus, my girls LOVE salad, so they almost always eat it. Can't get enough fiber, I guess!

Time to rest. My mind's going a million miles a minute. I have another page open on here to order some baby boy shoes from Payless for super cheap, so I should complete that order before I forget or they are out of those sized. Two pairs of infant shoes for $7.99, including shipping. Very cool!