Final Days

Excitement, nervousness, anticipation, aches....just a few of the feelings I'm having about the big event on Friday. We'll post more then!

BRUC-E and the Wiggles

Bruce loves watching Wall-E, he asks about it every day. That fact, in addition to the cute phrase he says, "I am a robot...doot, doot, doot, doot," was the deciding factor in making him a robot costume. We didn't think that he'd dislike the costume, but there was some hesitancy in putting it on. I had to entice him with promises of candy if he wore it. It worked and we enjoyed some trick or treating at Kirk's work, a church trunk or treat, and going around our neighborhood. Thanks to Kirk's co-worker he got to dress up as well.

Weekly Deals

Hy-Vee
General Mills Cereal
There is a coupon in their ad (you can pick up one in the store) on cereal if you buy 6 boxes you'll get $10 taken off immediately and a $6 off your next purchase coupon prints out. The cereal I purchased ranged from $3.89 for the Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Lucky Charms to $4.59 for the Honey Nut Cheerios. Not necessarily cheap for cereal, but it ends up being cheaper than what I pay at Aldi. And I had some manufacturer coupons (of course I did) to take off even more. Here's how it worked...

Cinnamon Toast Crunch 3.89
Cinnamon Toast Crunch 3.89
Cinnamon Toast Crunch 3.89
Lucky Charms 3.89
Honey Nut Cheerios 4.59
Honey Nut Cheerios 4.59

Total: $24.74 - $10 Hy-Vee coupon = $14.74
Less $2.55 in coupons = $12.19

I paid $12.19 for 6 boxes of cereal, received a $6 Hy-Vee coupon good on my next purchase, and will get one free movie ticket because I purchased the specially marked box. Look out for those if you do this deal. Unfortunately I only found the Honey Nut Cheerios with this promo.

Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls (ends today....sorry, just read about it and tried it successfully today)
They have the smaller sizes on sale for 10/$10...let's just say $1 each. If you buy 6 a $4 off coupon prints off that is good on your next purchase. I've seen the coupons for $1 off when you buy 3 located right next to these in most of the Hy-Vee stores I've been in. There are also some printable coupons out there that work for this. Here's how it worked...

5 count Cinnamon Rolls $1.00
5 count Cinnamon Rolls $1.00
5 count Cinnamon Rolls $1.00
5 count Cinnamon Rolls $1.00
5 count Cinnamon Rolls $1.00
5 count Cinnamon Rolls $1.00

Total: $6
Less $2.55 in coupons I had = $3.45

I paid $3.45 and received a $4 Hy-Vee coupon good on my next purchase. So I basically made $.55.

Here is the forum I check out for these good deals.

Weekly Deals

If you're not interested in going all in with this couponing thing, Coupons.com gives you 100+ printable coupons to choose from and hopefully you can find one for a product you use. Type in your zip code and get started. Right now there is a free sandwich, wrap, or salad coupon from QT. Also, those Playskool toy coupons that I mentioned last week.

Skippy Peanut Butter
Kansas City Penny Pinchin Mama has some info about snagging it at Target for $.39. I plan on going to Walgreens next week to buy Skippy Peanut Butter. They are on sale 3 for $5 and when you buy 8 jars you get $8 in register rewards, it's like Walgreens cash to use on your next purchase.

A Weekend to Celebrate

Our little guy turned 2 and is doing amazing things. He loves dump trucks, construction equipment, emergency vehicles, hammers, shovels, and flashlights. Those are the types of books he picks out at the library. With some reminding will say please and thank you. He enjoys reading and counting, he'll count up to 9 (whether that's intelligence or a good memory, we're not sure :P). He also is quick to express his frustration with being told no and is familiar with time out. He wakes up around 7 am, naps for 3 hours in the afternoon, and usually falls asleep around 9 pm though he's put to bed at 8 pm. At times he eats more than we do and usually goes for the fruits and vegetables before anything else, unless there are chips on his plate..he loves chips.



With Bruce's birthday being on the 3rd we spread the celebrations out over the whole weekend in between listening to General Conference. It appears that he was very excited over the money he received in a birthday card.


And the cake. It's amazing what you can find on the internet.

Weekly Deals

Here's some of the weeks deals that I've done...

Dead Deal
Free 4-pack of Smuckers Uncrustables, complete the form and you will receive a coupon in the mail. There is a limit. If you receive an error message keep trying to resubmit.

JCPenney
$10 off a $10 purchase online, you'll have to pay for shipping...promo code is ENJOY10. Ends today. We've been searching for a fun bedding set, something truck related. This is what I found.

Hasbro Toy Coupons
I'm thinking our toy collection could use a Mr. Potato Head.

Weekly Deals

Diapers, Walgreens Brand - $5.40 + tax
Apparently I didn't stock up on enough size 6 diapers during the crazy good sale at Walgreens at the beginning of the summer. I've been on the lookout and this week they are 6.00 for a pack, not ideal but a bit of a deal especially with 10% off that because of participating in the Prescription Savings Club.

Movie Ticket, Spot Shot - $2.42
Spot Shot has carpet stain removal products. They are running a promotion with the movie, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Buy any Spot Shot product and mail in the completed form for a movie ticket. I am guessing that it is like another free movie ticket rebate I've done that you are not limited to the movie they are running the promotion with. Especially since this goes on until December and I'm sure this movie will not be in theaters then. So, use $1 off coupon from this last week's Sunday paper. At Wal-Mart it was $2.98 - $1 coupon = $1.98. Go online, complete the form, and add postage to your cost and you just paid $2.42 for a movie ticket and some carpet stain removal.

Really??!!

New blinds went on Bruce's window a few nights ago. We even took off the extra length at the bottom so it hovered just above the sill...who does that? Maybe everyone does, but I didn't think getting rid of that annoying bulk would be as satisfying as it was. One of my check ups on Bruce revealed broken blinds, vent cover off, and closet door handing by one side. He had taken the plastic caps off the bottom of the blinds and somehow the middle string broke through. I asked him where the caps went and he pointed to the vent. Guess we won't be seeing them again. Argh! This is what we get for putting things together in front of the boy. I don't think he would have messed with them otherwise.

Of hammers, fans, and furniture

On a scale of 1-10 describing the amount of work that was needed on our new home we originally thought we were moving into a 2 (not much at all). Carpet was new, walls looked freshly painted, roof was only a year old, yard is fenced. Of course the list started as soon as we moved in that pushed it to a 4 or 5, not things that made the house uninhabitable and not luxury improvements either....the master bathroom had no vent fan which made it smell damp and stinky all the time, there were flea and ant problems, trees and bushes needed trimming badly, the swingset was in need of some safety maintenance. It was a bunch of little things that added up.

Mom and Dad W were kind enough to drive up for a visit and assist with these repairs. I know it was a lot of hard work, but I can't help but think that Kirk and his dad enjoyed their time together making trips to Home Depot and Lowes, raking insulation and crawling in the attic so they could install a vent fan, putting together shelving to organize our garage and make it look awesome, and trim our unruly trees and bushes among a lot of other minor repairs.

Not to be outdone, Mom and I hit the furniture stores in search of a big boy bed for the boy before baby #2 arrives. It took some searching and finally a trip to KC's furniture superstore, but we found a great set that can be used for a long time.

And the new house, we're loving it!

Up

During Family Home Evening tonight we are discussing the Aaronic Priesthood. Bruce is struggling, we're making him sit with us and not get into the computer cords and breaker box...poor kid. Anyway, I ask him "Where does the authority for the Aaronic Priesthood come from?" His response, "Up." The boy is a genius. Not even two years old and he knows where it's at.

Now for a thought from our lesson...we were discussing the ministering of angels and what it means that the Aaronic Priesthood holds the keys of the ministering of angels. In additiona to a physical appearance of an angel, there is the unseen ministering of angels. Dallin H. Oaks ("The Aaronic Priesthood and the Sacrament,” Ensign, Nov 1998, 37) explained it quite well in this article. He explained that Aaronic Priesthood holders administer the ordinances of baptism and the sacrament. These allow us to be cleansed from our sins and have the Holy Ghost to be our constant companion. Anyway here's what he says and it is much clearer than any explanation I can give.

"In general, the blessings of spiritual companionship and communication are only available to those who are clean. As explained earlier, through the Aaronic Priesthood ordinances of baptism and the sacrament, we are cleansed of our sins and promised that if we keep our covenants we will always have His Spirit to be with us. I believe that promise not only refers to the Holy Ghost but also to the ministering of angels, for “angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ” (2 Ne. 32:3). So it is that those who hold the Aaronic Priesthood open the door for all Church members who worthily partake of the sacrament to enjoy the companionship of the Spirit of the Lord and the ministering of angels."