Harris Teeter Triple Coupon Trips

So, I made 3 trips over Thursday and Friday to Harris Teeter with coupons in hand. I got a lot of items for .25-.75. On the first trip I spent $38.03 and saved $36.88. Some of the good deals I got on that trip were ziploc bags and containers, scotch brite sponges, salsa, cheese puffs, toilet paper, windex, peanut butter, and dish washing detergent.

The 2nd trip was $27.01 with a savings of $35.97. Good deals included - more salsa, rice, mrs dash, paper towels, soap, splenda, croutons, deodorant, tooth paste (3 tubes). If it weren't for the Weber Grinder that I got which I paid $6.50 for with $1.50 in savings, the total would have been more impressive with the total being only about $20 for 19 items.

On the 3rd trip a lot of the shelves were bare and some of the deals that I was most looking forward to were not available any longer. Next time I will do better and take the coupons with the best deals on the first trip. Those coupon zealots with the baseball card type notebooks had already wiped those "free" and "nearly free" items out. I still got good savings though and spent only $43.11 with a savings of $46.95. Some of the items that I got were shaving cream, more deodarant, condensed milk, bacon bits, worcestershire sauce, shout, and shampoo.

Wow - what great deals!

A Sad Day at Our House

During the night last night our dalmatian Logan died. We knew it was coming but it didn't make it any easier. Brent got Logan at the end of 1995 when we were seniors in high school. Logan quickly endeared himself to Brent and his mom and it was clear that he wasn't going to be an outside dog! Logan preferred to either sleep in "his" recliner or with Brent. When Brent wasn't at home he tried to sleep with Karen, but that didn't go over too well. Karen used to work hard on her "city" garden as I called it. Once when I was at there house, she had excitedly picked one green pepper and I think 1 tomato and placed them on the air conditioning unit. A little later one of us realized that Logan had enjoyed the fruits of her labor!! That was the first that we knew, I think, how much he loved vegetables! He especially loved lettuce. When I would make salads he would always anxiously await the pieces that I dropped on the floor. He also LOVED ice from the ice machine in the refrigerator. Once, Brent and I thought that it was a great idea to take Logan to the fireworks. It was fun...until they began! Logan was terrified and Brent had to carry him all the way back up the hill to where the truck was!

When Brent and I got married, Logan quickly adjusted to our new life, but he still felt that he should get to sleep with Brent! That was fine until Nolan came along...then our bed got just too crowded and I finally convinced Brent that we HAD to get a bigger bed. When Brent began working for EMS I did enjoy having Logan to keep me company and keep me from being scared. In the spring and fall, when we had problems with mice in the house, Logan was the one that always "rescued" me from them when Brent wasn't home. He was really good at finding and killing the pests for me! After Nolan was born, I had a little difficulty in keeping up with whose name I was trying to say. For a long time, I called Nolan - Logan and Logan - Nolan. Logan was so curious of Nolan when he was first born. He would get on the recliner and look over to watch me when I was changing Nolan...I guess to make sure that I was doing it right!

Up until about 2 - 3 years ago, Logan was really not very friendly to many people. In fact, he was quite mean to most people and most people were terrified of him. He was just protective of those that he loved!

When Nolan began crawling we had to begin letting Logan stay outside a lot of the time, because we were afraid that he was going to hurt Nolan. By the time Elijah was born, Logan had pretty much become an outdoor dog...whether he liked it or not. Our house just wasn't big enough to accomodate 2 adults, 2 kids, and a large dog.

Logan has really been quite sick for the last couple of years. If you've been to our house, you could tell. Logan lived a good long life and we enjoyed every minute of his time with us. We will always remember the good memories! But Nolan reminded us today that..."it's okay, because all dogs go to heaven".

Teacher Workshop

On Saturday I spent the morning at church at a teacher workshop led by the lady, Sally Frazier, who is the author of the Sunday school curriculum that we use at Jericho. I knew that I liked the material, but I am even more excited about it now after attending the workshop on Saturday. About a year ago, we switched to the Faith Foundations curriculum for our Kindergarten - Middle School classes. This material is designed to take the students through the entire Bible by the time they reach the end of the curriculum. It is very purposeful and well thought out. It does require a lot of work initially and then once the group repeats then it is not as much work the following times around. If your congregation is looking for new Sunday school material, I highly recommend that you check this out.

Beach pictures...

Here are a couple more pictures from our trip to the beach a couple of weeks ago. I wish we were still there! Actually, I can't complain because the boys and I are going down to the beach on Sunday to spend a couple of days with my dad, stepmom, Chevy, and Maddy. We are looking forward to a few days with them.

Edisto Island Seashells

When my mom and I visited Edisto Island, this is what the beaches looked like at the state park. Isn't it amazing how many shells are on this beach? This is part of what made me love this place! I can't wait to go back.

I mentioned awhile back that my mom and I picked up lots of seashells on our visit to Edisto Island. I finally have some pictures to show you the shells. They are so beautiful. Everytime I see seashells like this I think about the amazing world that God has created for us to enjoy! We have a few ideas for the shells. I have put some around the flowers on my deck. Mom has used two of the larger conch shells to put indoor plants in.

New Animals at our house.

As I mentioned in a previous post, we have been expecting to get some new fainting goats. This week my dad was nice enough to take time out of his crazy schedule to bring them over to us. He even threw in an extra bonus - 2 "little" pigs. He calls them little...I don't see any little about them but he says they will get bigger. So, no we have 2 pigs and 6 additional goats in our family. That makes 7 fainting goats in our family and 5 additional ones that do not faint.

4th of July

In Mocksville for the 4th of July there is always a tractor parade. This year my uncle Larry and my step dad Bill both drove their tractors in the parade. Nolan rode with Larry, Susie, Averi, Sonya, Brian, and Grant. Elijah rode with Papaw and Grandma. I didn't get to go because I worked that day. They also got to ride on a

man's homemade train...isn't it neat?