A Happy Ending

Of coarse the world would be ending today. It never fails, once you come to that point in your life when you are truly happy, finally content with nearly every subject of your being and want nothing more than to simply bask in every last day of it, the world ends.

I told Kyle last night that I am definitely not ready for it to end yet. I still want to finish out this role called life, but right now would be ok if I HAD to choose because I'm utterly blissful at this point in my life. I text him 30 minutes to 4pm, which is when it was "supposedly" going to end in my area and said, "Just in case, I LOVE YOU, again."

At 4:07pm Kyle text me. "I'm still here."

Happy Day.

Those Crazy Coupon Clippers

I clipped a coupon a while back for .25¢ off 1 bag of my favorite brand of sugar. I was super excited to try it out. Kyle and I were at Walmart grocery shopping when it dawned on me to use my coupon but I had forgotten it. A couple weeks later we made yet another grocery trip and I made sure to grab my valuable coupon. I combed the baking isle for the brand I wanted and ecstatically grabbed the right size bag and went to put it in the cart when Kyle suddenly stopped me and informed me that the "knock off brand was a full dollar cheaper". I was heartbroken. I swore that was then end of my couponing days.

A while back my friend Chelsi and I were chatting. I had noticed she commented on her FB about coupons. She told me all about it and even gave me the site to go check it out for myself. I was curious, but not curious enough, so I just let it go thinking it was pointless.

A couple of weeks after talking to Chelsi I just happened to have a bit of time on my hands and ran across the site link that she had sent me. Almost jokingly I typed it in and skeptically started reading the "beginners" portion. It sounded pretty good but there was no way I was going to order 5 Sunday papers and clip all these multiples of each coupon. So I brushed the idea off yet again.

My mother has always received newspapers. She has a ritual of reading the newspaper every evening while watching "her shows" on TV. One day while I was staying at her house during my time of weakness (refer to blog "illusions in the night") I started flipping through her newspapers simply curious as to what coupons there really could be. It seemed there were never any that really pertained to the products I use. Then I remember Chelsi saying, "you have to be open to brands". So I flipped through and clipped one here then clipped one there. Before I knew it I had about 12 coupons clipped. Lucky me.

Still not feeling the couponing vibe I hesitantly took my stack of coupons and started flipping through the local ads. There were a few good deals in the add that correlated with my coupons. I circled a few things and clipped my coupons and ads together and stuffed them in my purse with the mild intention of actually taking them to the stores.

One weekday evening my mom and I were running around doing some piddly shopping when I told her that I needed to make a stop. So we stopped at Walgreen's to try out my coupons. Outcome:

Bathroom items on sale = 2/$7

Paid = $5

Men's razor regular price - $9.89

Paid = $5.89

Shampoo on sale = 2/$7

Paid = $4

Toilette paper on sale = $5

Paid = $3.50

Photo developing price = $12.76

Paid = $7.76

Total I would have paid = $41.65

Total I actually paid = $26.15

A 37% savings. Yay me!!

After that we needed to make one more stop so I thought, just for fun, I would try it just one last time and see how it goes. Outcome:

Milk regular price = $1.75 each

Paid (for 3) = $4

Lady's razor regular price = $9.29

Paid = $1.99

Total I would have paid = $14.54

Total I actually paid = $5.99

A 59% savings. Yay me again!!

I was feeling pretty proud of myself. I guess couponing isn't as bad as I had originally thought. Though I can never see myself going to the extremes that some people do I have actually come to enjoy clipping my coupons and being able to see the savings that I actually get. In fact, I tried it again last night. Outcome:

2 Cans w/o bean chili and 2 cans w/bean chili regular price = $10.16

Paid = $6.78

Salsa regular price = $3.59 each

Paid (for 2) = $3.98

Liquid laundry regular price = $7.99 each

Paid (for 2) = $4.98

Honey mustard regular price = $3.99

Paid = $2.49

Cereal regular price = $4.19 each

Paid (for 2)= $3.00

Kyle's must have muffins regular price AND paid = $1.39

Total I would have paid with taxes = $54.10

Total I actually paid with taxes = $27.64

A 49% savings. That's half price for my groceries!!!! YIPEEE!!! Look at me go.

It may be a tedious job....but someone has got to do it. Right?! ;)

The "Bundt" Of It!

While studying my Better Homes and Gardens magazine a while back I came across a new recipe that looked scrumptious. So, like many others, I tore it out and added it to my cookbook collection hoping to have a chance to try it out.

 

There were a few evenings when I was sure I had time to undertake my new goal but there was always that one special ingredient that I was lacking, plans changed or some other piddly thing came up. There was even an issue with my oven. The oven never really worked quite right from the first day we moved in but I always just kind of dealt with it. It is a bit different from the ovens that I have been use to. There are 4 burners on top like most others but there are actually two ovens on the bottom. The top oven is super small and is for light toasting or simple, small baking. The bottom oven is where all the crucial baking is done, like cakes. The problem with my oven was that I loved to bake things, but the bottom portion was broken so I always had to use the top smaller portion. I pretty much burnt anything that wasn't a casserole every time.

One evening while I knew my dad would be around I gave him a call and pleaded with him to come take a look at my oven just to see if it was possibly a brief easy fix.  So he and my mom stopped by and while Dad looked at the oven Mom and I just sat and chit-chatted with him. He came to the conclusion that the "motherboard was shot" and that I would have to get a new one. In other words, the oven was toast because it would cost as much for the motherboard as it would for a new oven. But my Dad being the incredibly handy guy that he is informed us that he could make only the bottom oven work if that is what I wanted but then the upper oven would be of no use. I thought this was a fabulous idea. No more searing every meal.

After a few short minutes my dad had swapped some wires and turned the oven on to try it out. Once it had reached max temperature we opened the door to check it out. This led to a gigantic squabble about the heating elements inside the oven. Mom swore that both top and bottom elements should be on while baking. Dad said no, only the bottom one should be on while baking because you bake from the bottom up, the top one is for broiling. I was clueless either way. Dad finally caved to Mom's seemingly valid points and hooked up the oven so that both the top and the bottom elements were on when baking. Wonderful, It works!

After several months of failed attempts at finding the time to create my new found recipe, I scored a couple hours last night. I also made sure to grab one of the special ingredients that I don't normally carry a few nights before on a grocery run. Double score. I was ready to make my first ever "bundt cake".

I was very meticulous about each line of the directions so as not to miss any little step. I measured each ingredient just as the recipe required as well as alternating the final two ingredients steadily as advised. Everything was going smoothly and I couldn't wait to try my oven for the first time since Dad had fixed it.

I poured the flawless batter into my nifty bundt cake pan and placed it carefully into the cold oven, like the recipe called for, and turned the oven on for 1hr and 20mins. Meanwhile I was cleaning up the enormous mess I had made when I suddenly smelled something strange. I brushed it off thinking it smelt a lot like my new scentsy scent that I had just recently replaced.

After about 5 minutes of cleaning I turned around to wipe off the counter to find my oven was billowing smoke out every crevice. I panicked at first but then quickly grabbed my hot mitt and opened the oven door to find the pan with my black bundt cake smoking like a chimney. At this point I was devastated.

I hurriedly pulled my cake out and set it aside while I shut down my new-found in-cinerator. I scraped off the coat of ashes that topped the still runny batter while a million thoughts of despair ran through my mind. Suddenly a light of hope came to me. I grabbed my phone and called my friend who had recently lived in the home before me, was the landlord's daughter-in-law and also just happened to be staying with the landlord whom lived across the driveway from me. She answered, thankfully, so I asked if it would be ok for me to bring my cake over to finish the baking process. She was happy to help.

I boogied across the driveway and quickly positioned my cake into my landlords much nicer oven. I was worried that the future was not looking bright for my little cake, which after more study of the actual recipe we had come to the conclusion was actually a "pound" cake. An hour and fifteen minutes later we opened the landlord's oven door to find a perfectly golden, scrumptious "bundt" cake.

*Just a note: My dad is still an incredibly handy guy. He has already come back to fix the oven for real this time. :o)