Flooding aftermath

Here are a few pictures from my in-law's house after the flooding. The water came up 7 feet inside their house and destroyed everything. I haven't seen it in person, but these pictures show some of the devastation.

Their living room:
Kitchen:Kitchen (the counter tops are off white, not brown - that is pure mud) and somehow the dining room chair landed in the sink:
Just awful! :(

$8

If I wasn't couponing, here is what I could get for $8:

But since I AM couponing, here is what I got at CVS and Target for $8:

At Target, I got 2 Fusion razors, Pringles, and Saltines for $6 after 2 razor coupons and a $5 gift card. Plus, I got another $5 gift card for buying the razors to use next time! I needed Saltines and the store brand was the cheapest, and the Pringles were priced at $1.24, where at Publix they are $2.99, so I had to get those!

At CVS, I had expiring ECBs and a $5/$25 coupon to use, so I had to get my total up high enough to reach $25, but after coupons not go under $14 (the amount of ECBs I had). Here is what I came up with:

• Sheer Infusion lotion = $7.99 - $1.50 coupon; earned $7.00 in ECBs
• Fusion razor = $9.99 - $4.00 coupon; earned $5.00 in ECBs
• 2 packs Hershey's bars = $0.88 each, had a $1.50/2 CRT (making them $0.13 each!)
• Gummy bears as a treat for Nick = $0.99
• 2 Reese's peanut butter cups and Dove deodorant to get my total to the right amount = $0.75 each and $4.79
  

I paid $14 in ECBs, $12 in coupons, and $2 in cash.

Fall decor

Time to change out the hurricane vase decor!


Fall is here!! And only 2 more days to wear open-toed shoes! I'm celebrating by wearing flip flops, probably for the last time until April! ;)

Noah's Ark

Just call us Noah's Ark. Nick's poor parents were awakened this morning by a fireman telling them to evacuate. Water was pouring into their house and they got to higher ground and called us. Nick went and picked them up and we've set up a refugee camp in our spare room for them while they wait for the water to recede.

Here is a picture of their house as of 8:30 this morning... their house is the one in the middle of the picture - it is taken from across the street in the backyard of a neighbor.


Thankfully, everyone is safe and dry now, and we'll just wait to see how their house looks in a few days once the water recedes.

Garage sale and hair color

This has been a busy weekend! Emily and I held a garage sale at my house today. It was quite an adventure. In the first hour and a half, we made $0.25. This was probably due to the monsoon that has been going on around here for about the last 10 days or so. But we decided to stick it out and in the end, probably sold 1/3 to 1/2 of our stuff. We plan to keep everything where it is for a week, then try again next Saturday if the weather is better. Here are a few pictures of all our treasures for sale in the rain:

We set up a tent to keep some stuff dry and to catch people's eyes as they drove by:
Everything else went in the garage:

Last night Emily spent the night so we could get up bright and early for the sale. She highlighted my hair for me, returning the favor I did for her on Thursday. Here is an after picture of my hair. You can't tell very much from the picture, but it is overall a bit lighter and there are definitely blonde streaks throughout as well. Since I was given enough hair for three people, any shockingly blonde parts can be easily hidden. (Not that there are any...) I like the effect anyway - I needed a bit of a change.


For the during picture, click here (thanks a ton, Emily).

Christmas comes early

I bought myself a new day planner today, which is like Christmas to a crazy person like me!!

Blog makeover

Hoping this would inspire me to write more often than I've been doing (I've been really boring lately!), I chose a new look! I loved all of the fall ones on The Cutest Blog On The Block but I could only choose one!

School is underway and things are settling down. I'm appreciating a year of teaching without also having to be in school myself. It has been nice not to worry about my own homework. Also, I'm getting to really enjoy the novels that my students are reading. They are starting The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare this week, and I guess I truly am a literature teacher because I really like Shakespeare! I'm excited to get my kids interested in his plays. They moan and groan at first but really do end up enjoying the story.

Fun project

I've been meaning to make pillows out of the remnants of the fabric I used to make my window treatments I made awhile ago. I found the fabric in a closet yesterday and decided today was that day! I didn't follow a pattern, but just made an envelope style pillowcase (I didn't want to deal with a zipper or button). Here is the result:


(Sorry the third picture is so dark - taking a picture of a window is a bit difficult.)

Two week grocery store hiatus

We have TOO much food around here. A stuffed pantry, both freezers full...way too much. So, I'm imposing a ban on grocery shopping for two weeks. Which means even if it is free. This will be hard for me to pass up any great deals that come along in the next two weeks, but I've got to! I was going to make it three, but I might not be able to handle that. So, breakfast, lunch and dinner have all got to come from our home and not from the store. I will make two exceptions to that: milk and fresh produce. I can buy milk when necessary because Nick drinks it nightly and what we have won't last us two weeks and we'll be out of produce in a few days and I want to have fresh fruits and veggies around.

Meals might start to get rather creative around here after about a week...

This week, we're having:

Monday - Hot dogs, oven fries
Tuesday - Beef stroganoff, salad
Wednesday - Fish, rice, broccoli
Thursday - Sour cream enchiladas, salad
Friday - Pecan crusted chicken tenders, pasta, green beans
Saturday - Breakfast
Sunday - Sub sandwiches

I think I can, I think I can...

Hints of fall

If you know me, or have read my blog for any length of time at all, you know how I feel about fall and winter. Where most people get energized by the sunshine and warmth of spring, my energy comes when I know that cold weather is just around the corner. I know we have a few more weeks of summer still ahead of us, but today's weather is giving me a taste of it (it is currently 69 degrees at 2pm!!) and a couple of other things are making me excited for the change in season.

1) Football season starts this Saturday! To commemorate, here is a picture of my mantle decorations for the month of September (Roll Tide!):


2) A friend gave me this candle and it smells like cinnamon and other spices, which make me think of fall.




3) At Target today, my receipt printed of a $2 coupon towards a pumpkin spiced latte. This is a Starbucks seasonal drink and it started today. It sounded do delicious and the weather was perfect for it, so I went right over and got one! Even my coupons are telling me that autumn is nearly here!


Happy almost-fall!!!