Sunday, January 18, 2009

wow! just. . . wow. . .

there really is no other way to put it - this weekend was gonna be nice and relaxing w/ nothing going on. well, fate had other plans, it seems!

saturday morning i woke up feeling cold. . . UNDER my blanket. SO not normal for me, being both pregnant and in the south. i finally convinced myself to get out of bed to go look at the thermostat - it was 6 degrees cooler than we had it set for! i'd noticed that the air just kept blowing and never really stopped, so i checked to see if it was warm or cold. . . it was definitely cold. of course, it's the weekend, meaning that only emergency maintenance problems will be fixed. and OF COURSE it's a long weekend b/c of president's day. fortunately, luck was on my side and this was considered an emergency - it was only 28 degrees outside and there's no other way to heat these houses - no fireplaces or anything, of course (again, it's the south). anyways, about 2 hours after i put in the call, someone came around and fixed it and all was well again.

well, that only lasted a few hours. that evening, as i was getting trevor ready for bed, i noticed that him gums looked swollen. i went to pull his lip back to see when i realized it was actually his LIP! my first reaction was that he must be having some kind of allergic reaction. i couldn't figure out what he'd be reacting to though b/c we hadn't gone anywhere, done anything, or eaten anything new all day (or for a few days beforehand, for that matter). i called his doctor to see if giving him benedryl was enough or if they wanted me to do anything more. they said give the benedryl a try, but if it didn't get any better or it got worse, take him to the emergency room. an hour after giving him the benedryl, i went to see if things had improved and they hadn't. they'd gotten worse. of course, right? so off we went to the emergency room. . . the diagnosis the doc there gave was "viral parotitis". . . they gave me some instructions on things i could do to help trevor feel better till it went away, things to look out for, etc., then sent us home.

after trevor was in bed (at 11:15 pm, ugh!), i went looking around online for info on viral parotitis and found out that the ONLY cause for it is the mumps! THE MUMPS?!?!?!?! he'd gotten his mmr back in june, he shouldn't be able to get this! ugh! anyways, in looking up info about it, i found that the incubation period is 2-3 weeks, but that the person who has it is only contagious for up to week before they develop symptoms till the swelling disappears (usually about 10 days after it first appears, apparently). great. now i'm stuck in the house for then next week and a half. b/c of the incubation period, he HAD to have picked it up in maryland over christmas, and the most likely place there would have been the nursery in my mom's ward (she's in the nursery, so she passed along the message that other parents should watch out). . . the worst part though, is that this past week trevor had been around at least 30 babies who have NOT been immunized yet! i'm so nervous that they'll get this now too. . . i've done my best to let everyone we've been around in the last week know so that they can at least be on the lookout, but i feel so bad! i know there's nothing i could have done b/c i had no idea till last night, but still. . .

there is a bright side though. trevor seems to be acting like his normal, happy self. the only real symptoms he's showing are a near complete loss of appetite and swollen cheeks. hopefully this is as bad as it gets. . . we've got another 9 days to go before this will be gone, so i'm keeping my fingers crossed.

in happier news though, the other big event this weekend was trevor's move to his big boy bed! a neighbor came over this afternoon to help me move furniture around and get everything set up. . . trevor LOVES his new bed and is SO excited about it. i was happily surprised to find that at bedtime, he just laid down and went to sleep like he would have done in his crib! i NEVER expected that! i was thinking i'd have to keep going in and putting him back in bed till he finally gave up and fell asleep, but thankfully, i haven't had to! :) yay! anyways, here are pictures of him and his new bed--

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now that he's settled in w/ the new bed, it's time to get cracking on nudger's room! :) i decided to do a kinda nature/animal theme in there, so i've been working on getting things for it. i've got a few posters w/ animals on them, but i need to get frames for them. . . then i also got a dish i'm gonna put some rocks and candles in (the candles are mostly for the look; they'll never actually get lit, most likely), plus wooden letters to spell out his name on the wall. i also managed to find an area rug that didn't cost too much and looks pretty nice. as luck would have it though, it's the EXACT same color as the carpet in the living room and trevor's bedroom. go figure! oh well, i'm just happy i found one that didn't cost an arm and a leg! :) anyways, now that trevor's down for the night, i'm gonna get to work on that! :)

Friday, December 19, 2008

catching up

well, it's been a while since i've written about the general goings on around here. while i've got some free time (waiting for jon to get off work and get on the computer so we can talk to him), i figured i'd do just that! :)

trevor's started to really love building things w/ his blocks - in fact if he builds something he's really proud of, he yells "no!" if you talk about knocking it down! strange, since most kids his age find that part to be the most fun. . . santa had good timing when he was gathering presents this year, since trevor's getting a set of megablocks! anyways, here's one he did all by himself--

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after i took the picture, he tried to add another block to the top and it fell over; pretty good though, considering his age. . . anyways, b/c of this, jon took to helping trevor build REALLY tall towers out of blocks the last couple weeks before he deployed. this is one they did together--

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we opened a couple of our christmas presents early this year, since jon won't be here for the holidays and have been putting those things to good use. . . my dad got us a wii, and even trevor likes to play w/ it--

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he likes to help daddy stear his car right off the course in mario kart! :) i got another baby carrier, a mei tai, as a gift from jon. i got to design it myself, which i was really excited about. here's me wearing trevor on my back w/ it--

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it's reversible too (the other side is a large black and white floral print - not super girly though, which is good considering we'll have 2 boys soon!), so that makes it that much more fun! i haven't used it much b/c the day after i got it, my back started to hurt like crazy, so i've been using the stroller more or just having trevor walk. once the baby comes though, i intend to make VERY good use of my new mei tai! :) (and for anyone who's wondering, it's a babyhawk)

we took trevor to see santa at the squadron's children's christmas party and were surprised to find that trevor was the ONLY kid there under the age of 3 who didn't scream his head off when he went near santa! he was a little worried at first, but once he saw me w/ the camera, he flashed a huge grin, so i got a really cute picture--

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he didn't have QUITE the same reaction to the santa at the mall, but then again, that one didn't have combat boots - maybe that made all the difference! :)

a few days after the visit w/ santa, we had family pictures taken and they turned out REALLY well! here's the one of trevor from last month, as well as the family picture--

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we all needed haircuts, so that came next - trevor wasn't as brave as the last 2 times, but in his defense, he'd gotten his flu shot just 2 days beforehand, so i can't say i blame him for being a little fussy. i didn't think to take the camera for that, since it was his 3rd haircut, but i was able to (kinda) get a picture of MY haircut. . . the last one i got (in may), the girl totally butchered my hair, so i got a complete overhaul on the style. i dunno how well you can see that in this picture, but oh well--

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the last pictures i have are from the day jon deployed. he cried before he left, which made me cry (of course) and confused trevor. here are the pictures from his departure (it was a commercial flight, so we couldn't wait w/ him like last time)--

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the 2nd picture is really distorted b/c the guy we asked to take the picture apparently didn't bother to get us out of the sun enough before snapping a picture. . . i did what i could to fix it, but it'll never be a GOOD picture. oh well, it's better than nothing, and you can at least tell who it is, so it could be worse.

since jon's been gone i've immersed myself in various projects. i'm finishing up the christmas shopping and trying to organize my house (not really cleaning so much as decluttering). . . the other night i started working on the rag quilt i'm making for nudger, and after christmas, i'm gonna get started on his room. we decided not to paint, but i wanna get some posters on the walls and get everything set up while i still can. trevor will be getting his big boy bed as a christmas present, so i'm hoping the transition will go smoothly for us when we get back from visiting my mom for the holidays. once i'm sure he's doing well w/ that, i'll set up the crib in nudger's room and get to work! :)

in all, things are good here. we miss jon immensely, but are trying not to think about it too much b/c that just makes it harder. i try to keep myself busy and set goals to keep myself positive, and we talk to him on the internet via webcam as much as we can. the timing is hard b/c of his shift, but we're making it work the best we can. trevor has been amazing so far w/ his daddy gone. i expected a week or 2 of tantrums galore and he hasn't really had many issues. he fussed alot the first night, whining for his daddy and not wanting to come near me, but after that, he seemed to "get" it and calmed down alot. he cries in his sleep most nights, but he doesn't wake up, which i take to mean that he just misses his daddy. during the day he's a happy boy. he knows we talk to daddy on the computer, so whenever i'm on, he asks me "dada?" about every 2 minutes. it's cute, and he gets SO excited when i finally tell him yes, it's time to talk to daddy. he doesn't talk for very long, but he's all smiles, giggling and babbling away, and when he's done he tells daddy "bye bye" and waves, then gets down off my lap and does his own thing. :) he's adjusted much better and MUCH more quickly than i ever could have dreamed; when jon deployed in january, it took a week or 2 before the fussiness stopped, so i was expecting the same thing again this time. i was happily surprised and am DEFINITELY not complaining! :)

Thursday, December 11, 2008

gender ultrasound - FINALLY!

so i think it should be termed cruel and unusual punishment to make a pregnant woman wait this long (21 1/2 weeks) to have an ultrasound when she wants to know the baby's gender, but whatever. i guess i already knew military docs were sadists, right? so yeah, they made me wait till i was 21 1/2 weeks for this u/s even though their guidelines say they'll do it anytime between 18 and 22 weeks. nice of them, huh? oh well, what's done is done. . .

SO, we got to see our little one for quite a while, just relaxing in there - even had one foot propped on the opposite knee - just like trevor does all the time! must be comfortable in there! :) the baby is doing really well, everything looks great! however, this kid is BIG - measuring a week ahead of schedule, so either my due date is wrong (unlikely) or this one will be MASSIVE (likely, especially considering that trevor was 9 1/2 lbs.). . . also, i'm going back for another u/s in a month b/c my placenta is low, and they wanna make sure it moves up. they're confident that it will, as am i, but please keep us in your prayers for that anyways. if it doesn't move, i'll have to have a c-section, and i wanna avoid that if i can! like i said, they aren't worried, and neither am i, but let's all hope my placenta moves up a little higher to avoid that issue entirely. . .

and NOW the news you've been waiting for, the reason i'm sure you're reading this post: it's a. . .




BOY!



we were surprised, we (and everyone we've talked to) were sure it was a girl. but there was NO mistaking it on the u/s. the picture they printed of the boy parts wasn't the best view we got, but that's ok, you can still see it. . . we got 10 pictures total, so here they are, the "boy parts" one first. . .

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my favorites are the ones where he's rubbing his eyes (#8 in the lineup) and where he's just relaxing w/ one foot propped on the other (#9). . . at one point he had his feet like that and his arms behind his head! they didn't get a picture of it, but it was so stinking cute!

we haven't come to an agreement on any names yet, but we're working on it. we've still got plenty of time, so i'm not too worried. it seems harder this time than it was w/ trevor, but i'm sure we'll have one chosen before he arrives. till then, we'll just keep referring to him as nudger. . . :)

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

don't know how i forgot to post this. . .

. . . but jon's deploying again. we found out last week on tuesday that's he's leaving on 12/15 for 4 months. it's short, and the timing is pretty good, but he's sad he's gonna miss christmas, and we're both nervous that he won't be back in time for the baby to be born. . . i'm due 4/19 and that's about when they'll be sending him home (we hope). HOWEVER, it's better than the alternative, which was that he'd deploy on 4/26. . . yeah, i'll take this over that option ANY day of the week! :) he may miss the birth, but he won't miss the first 4 months of this baby's life. we both agree that we like this better. oh yeah, and i have friends here on base who are willing to help out if needed, including giving me a ride to the hospital when the time comes. :)

anyways, he'll be pretty safe where he's going, so i have every confidence that he'll make it home in 1 piece. he'll be doing his actual job this time instead of baby-sitting tcn's, so he's happy about that at least; tcn duty is super boring, from what i understand. so yeah, he's happy he'll be getting to do a job that he knows and enjoys, even if he has to be away from us for so long. we're also glad it's only 4 months, many of our friends and family have MUCH longer deployments b/c of having chosen to join the army or marines. even those in the navy are gone longer most the time.

this way too, there's almost no chance of him deploying again before his contract ends in a year. that means the largest space of time possible for him to look at his options for when that happens. it'll give him a chance to job hunt, apply to grad school, take the officer exam, and apply for ots. PLUS the extra money he'll be earning from being overseas can help fund any trips he has to make for job interviews, as well as hold us over financially if it takes a month or 2 before we find something that works for us. so, like i said, it'll suck to have him gone and possibly miss this baby's birth, but it really is the best timing we could have hoped for. :)

Friday, November 28, 2008

fighting the masses

so i decided to brave the crowds and fight the black friday masses at walmart, aka friday morning smackdown. i hadn't been able to fall asleep the night before until about midnight, so i already knew i was gonna be tired. i set my alarm for 4:30 so that i could still get there before the sale started but still get the maximum amount of sleep possible. what i didn't foresee was one of my friends calling at 3:55 that morning to see if i was up for the sales yet. it woke me up enough that i had no hope of falling back to sleep for another half hour, so i dragged my pregnant self out of bed and got my butt to walmart by 4:10

i spent the next 40 minutes trying to find the kitchenaid stand mixers that were supposed to be on sale for $130, and found basically everything else but them. i finally tracked down a manager to ask where they were at. turns out i'd passed them several times b/c they were on the same palate w/ a bunch of microwaves and i'd only walked along the microwave side. so at 4:50 i FINALLY figured out where i needed to be to get my hands on one of these things. there were 4 other women there for the same mixer. there were 5 mixers. seems cut and dry to me, each of us should get 1, right? well. . . not so much. one of the women decided she deserved 2, and b/c of where she and the other 3 were standing and how she'd angled her cart, there was no way i could wedge myself in there (even if i had NOT been twice my normal size thanks to baby and company) to grab "her" 2nd mixer, and none of the others could get out. ugh. i tried anyways, but didn't get one. i decided that it wasn't worth starting a fight in walmart over, so instead of yelling about the injustice of my being tired and pregnant and her getting my my way, i trucked it across the store to grab one of the portable dvd players and cases they were selling. i thought for sure they'd be gone by the time i got there, but i was pleasantly surprised to find at least 15 of them still there! happy day! the only other thng i'd planned to brave the sales at walmart for was a set of mega block for trevor. of course, that was on the OTHER end of the store. i swear, they must do these things on purpose. the 3 things i wanted were almost as far apart from each other as they could be. the only way they could have made them FARTHER apart would have been to put one of them in the automotive department. anyways, i figured out really fast that since all the sale items were in the main aisles, it was MUCH faster to go as far as i could through smaller aisles. well, i got to the point where i HAD to go through the main thoroughfare and got stuck. of course, being slightly cotton-headed from the lack of sleep, i'm still pushing my cart around, even though i only have 2 small boxes in it. DUH! i finally decide to ditch my cart in an empty aisle and carry my purchases the rest of the way. smart move on my part. it took me less than 2 minutes to get to the blocks and find my way to the check-out line (oh, and there were plenty of blocks, just as i'd suspected; apparently they weren't THAT hot a seller). i left the store at 5:20 after having to wait for a manager to come void the sale before mine b/c some guy was trying to pay for a $900 tv w/ a CHECK. um, yeah, not so much buddy. they made him go to customer service instead of dealing w/ him there though. that was nice, it could have been a much longer process.

once i was in my car and on my way to target, i called my dad. he lives in utah, so it was only 3:30 in the morning there. i begged him to go to his walmart and try and get me a mixer and i would pay him back. he said ok, so i was happy once again. i made awesome time getting to target, somehow managing to catch EVERY SINGLE LIGHT green! :) very happy evelyn! the only times i stopped were at stop signs, it was wonderful. and b/c it was so early, there were no slow people on the roads. target didn't open their doors till 6, so i stood outside in line w/ a couple hundred other people, wishing desperately that i'd thought about this part - i was wearing a sweater, but i was still cold. it's been warm during the day down here, but i don't go out in the middle of the night much, so i hadn't really thought about it. i survived though. . .

when the doors opened at 6, there were a few people who tried to jump in at the very front, but only 1 actually managed to get through. we were all tired, cold, and cranky and no one was gonna let anyone butt in front of them, not even friends. everyone was told to go to the end of the line, and they grudgingly complied. once i was inside, i knew basically where the things i wanted were located, but i was glad to find that the atmosphere was downright RELAXING after the madhouse they disguised as a walmart. anyways, i found the doodle pro i wanted to get for trevor and madgab for jon and myself. . . the rest of the things on my list weren't on sale, but i figured i'd just get them now to get it over w/. i found the side rails for trevor's big boy bed, as well as a comforter and 3 sets of sheets. i also grabbed a set of towels for our 2nd bathroom b/c up until now, all we'd bothered to buy was the rug and a hand towel. i grabbed a few of the dvds they had on sale (i hadn't planned to get any of those, but they were REALLY cheap, so i figured what the heck; i ended up w/ 5), as well as some infant tylenol and motrin too. i paid and went home after that.

jon was awesome and let me sleep in that morning. i was exhausted, and ended up sleeping till 11:30, late for me these days (usually, even given the chance to sleep in, i'm up by 9 or 10). while i ate breakfast, i looked over my receipts from my early morning adventures only to find that target had charged me $22 for the doodle pro that was advertised for only $10. we needed to go pick up some things from circuit city anyways (already paid for online), so we agreed to go back to target to fix the issue too. well, it turns out that the model i got was NOT on sale, but it had been the only one in the entire area. i was not happy. of course, i didn't think of this possibility, so i hadn't brought it w/ me to return. i looked to see if they had any other models, but to no avail.

i went back to walmart to see if they had a better price b/c $22 really is too much for a toy that's sure to break when trevor decides to stand on it the day after he gets it. i found a much more age appropriate model there for $16, as well as a nearly identical set of sheets to one of the ones i'd gotten from target (target sold them to me for $15, walmart only charged $9). i bought those, along w/ an ornament for trevor for the year and a few other things we needed that were not christmas related. i then returned to target for the THIRD time that day to return the doodle pro and 1 set of sheets.

one of the additional things i'd gotten from walmart was a set of towels. i figured we already had the bath mat and hand towel from there, so it made more sense to get the remaining items from there as well. individually they cost less than at target, again for a practically identical item, and we had fewer things we'd need to buy. of course, i hadn't thought about this until i was already out, so i had to make yet ANOTHER stop at target on saturday to return the towels i'd gotten the day before. oh well. . . oh yeah, and on saturday too, i got the crayola ultimate art supplies kit from walmart. . . jon's got to do this under-priviledged youth mentoring thing and he was told to get a gift for a 3rd grade girl. we know nothing else about her, so it was hard coming up w/ something that would fit in the $10 maximum price limit they set and be universally appealing. in the end, i figured this was a safe bet b/c even if she doesn't like to draw or color, most kids need crayons/colored pencils/markers for school.

oh, i almost forgot too, the whole thing w/ my dad and the mixer. . . so my dad called me while i was at target the first time to tell me that there were like 9 or 10 mixers at his walmart w/ at least 15 people in line for them. this was at 4 am his time! i told him thanks for trying, but no big deal. well, once i was home and trying to fall back to sleep, he called again to tell me he'd found one for me! :) it turns out that sears had them on sale for $199, but you ALSO got a $50 mail-in rebate. that was only $20 more than i'd intended to spend, so i was ok w/ it, especially after my dad offered to pay the additional cost. so yeah, i was WAY happy about that, and i can't wait to get my mixer! i have a feeling i'm gonna be doing a LOT more baking in the weeks and months to come. . . :)

so yeah, the experience ended on a happy note, but i'm not sure if i'll ever brave walmart on black friday that early in the morning again. although, next year i won't be pregnant, so maybe it won't be as bad - i'll be smaller and less tired and irritable. . . and i'll already have my mixer, so i won't be tempted to give anyone a beat down over that either. . . :)

Thursday, November 27, 2008

snapfish deal!

ok, so i was looking for some discounts for things i needed to get online when i came across this deal from snapfish: if you use the code DAILYDEALSNOV, it'll give you $10 off $25. the code is good till 12/5/08, according to what i read. i haven't tested it out yet, so i don't know how reliable it is, but i wanted to let you all know about it either way. if you try it, let me know if it works!

taking advantage. . .

so, i was excited to find out that cvs was actually open on thanksgiving day. i took full advantage as soon as my turkey was in the oven! here's what i got--

1) clairol hydrience haircolor (on sale for $8.49; earns 5 ecb's), 2 aussie conditioners (on sale $2.99 each; earns 2.99 ecb's; used $1 off any aussie hair care product coupons for each as well), johnson & johnson soft lotion (on sale $5.69; earns 5.69 ecb's), 2 l'oreal color juice sheer lipgloss (on sale $6.99; earns 6.99 ecb's; used $1 off any l'oreal product coupons for each as well), oster 10-cup rice cooker (on sale $19.99; earns 10 ecb's) maybelline mineral powder liquid foundation (on sale $8.99). paid $63.54, got 40.56 ecb's.
2) sonicare essence 5300 toothbrush (on sale for $49.99). used ecb's from previous purchase, paid $9.99.

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so, i paid $73.53 and saved $89.95. that means i saved 55.02% on $163.48 worth of stuff. wahoo! i would've saved more, but for some reason, even though the maybelline foundation tag said limit 2 ecb deals, the register only gave me 1 deal (that was on monday; the ad says limit 1 too, which is why i didn't make a fuss when i realized it didn't give me any ecb's for it today). oh well. so i was out an extra $8.99. . . if i'd gotten that, i'd have only paid like, $1 or so for the sonicare. . . but still, $10 is a great deal on that, considering the original price was $82.99. happy evelyn and happier evelyn's dentist! :)

Monday, November 24, 2008

cvs again! :)

ok, so i'm back at it, full strength now. i went to cvs again today and will be going back this weekend for the AWESOME deals they're gonna have for black friday. :) here's what i got today--

1) 9 monster energy drinks (should have been 10, but i missed 1 in my cart, oops!; they're on sale 2/$3), 12 oz. complete multipurpose solution (on sale $8.99; used $2 off coupon), maybelline mineral powder liquid foundation (on sale $8.99). paid $30.87, got 21.98 ecb's.
2) my missing monster energy drink, 2 scotch magic tape 3-packs (on sale 2/$5), 2 boxes of candy canes (on sale for 88 cents each), 8 herbal essences anti-dandruff shampoos (clearenced at $3.69 each; used 4 coupons for $3.00 off any 2 herbal essences products), tic-tacs. used ecb's from previous purchase, paid $4.25. got 1 ecb.

here's the obligatory picture--
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so, in total, i spent $35.12 and saved $61.74. so i saved 63.7% on $96.86 worth of stuff. happy day! :) i haven't reached my limit on a couple of things, so i'll likely get more when i go back this weekend. :)

Friday, November 21, 2008

excited about this

so we decided to make it a family tradition to have the missionaries over for dinner on christmas eve. i decided that this year, in addition to dinner/dessert, i wanted to put together a missionary-friendly care package for them, especially since i've gotten such great deals on things and we have more than we'll use in the next few years. so yeah, here's what they're getting: toothbrush and toothpaste, shampoo, body wash, chapstick, gum, hand sanitizer, a couple candy bars, a tube of orange rolls, a couple candy canes, and some cookies. i still have to get the orange rolls and candy canes and make the cookies, but other than that, we've got everything. the only things i paid for out of pocket were the chapstick, sanitizer, and candy bars! i know it's not alot, but from what i've heard about cash flow (or lack thereof) on the mission, anything useful is appreciated by these guys. :) so yeah, i'm hoping they'll enjoy it. i'm thinking about getting them each a stocking to put all this stuff in, but i dunno; if not, i'll just put it in a gift bag or something like that. . . any opinions? any suggestions for what kind of cookies to make for them? anything else that's small and affordable that i could include?

it's been a while. . .

well, it's been a while since i posted anything, even longer since i've posted about any deals i've gotten. . . i figured it was time i finally got back to cvs, so after TWO MONTHS of not going or even bothering to check their ads, i got up off my lazy pregnant butt and found some pretty great deals. so here i go. . .

1) 3 packs of 4 AA duracell batteries, 1 pack of AAA duracell batteries ($5 off duracell cvs coupon). saved $5, paid $17.29; got 15 ecb's.
2) 2 crest 4.2 oz. prohealth whitening toothpaste ($1 off coupon for each tube); 1 right guard deodorant (75 cent off coupon), 3 soft & dri deodorants (had 55 cent peelies on each one, yay!). used ecb's from previous purchase. saved $25.14; paid $0.14; got 14.98 ecb's.
3)10 candy bars (on sale 2/$1), 6 suave body wash (on sale 3/$5), 3 suave deodorants (on sale 3/$5), 2 cover girl mascaras, 2 cover girl eyeshadows (4 coupons, each for $1 off any cover girl product; deal on these was buy cg mascara, get eyeshadow or eyeliner free), 2 chapsticks, 2 pen-size hand sanitizing spray, 3 orbitz gum 14-ct. packs (coupon printed from previous transaction for buy 2, get 1 free orbitz). used ecb's from previous purchase. saved $43.96, paid $30.18.

here's a picture of today's spoils:

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so, in total, i saved $73.10 and spent $47.61. that means i saved just over 60% on $120.71 worth of stuff. happy day! :)

dang it though - i just was looking at my receipt and it seems for my 2nd transaction, i ended up LOSING money! grr! i had $18.94 worth of stuff, but $19.95 worth of coupons, if you include ecb's. ugh! i lost a dollar that i could have used to buy something else. . . poop on them for not telling me and double poop on me for not noticing! :*(