I know that I am the WORST blogger EVER lately!! I am really sorry about that....things are just crazy right now (then again...aren't they always?!).

Anyhoo, one tip: Publix has starkist frozen fish BOGO this week ($5.99 each)-use 2 $3.00 off MQs and they are free!

Tomorrow I am getting my echo cardiogram tests results back. I am a little nervous about that, mostly because I am depending on a good report so I can proceed with some other plans! My heart seems to be doing better today...so I am praying it continues to keep getting better! I have "mitral valve prolapse" (MVP), which is fairly common and not at all threatening......unless.... . My symptoms started getting really bad about 3 or 4 months ago, when I was going through some MAJOR stress. It got a little better as my stress level went down, but it never really recovered all the way to back where it was. Then, the last couple of weeks it got bad again for some reason.....probably a little stress and a LOT of excitement! Anyhoo-I get those results tomorrow and I am gonna let out a sigh of relief when the doc gives me the "all clear"!

Spencer is going to Tanya's house to play with her son , Ryan, in the morning. The Brooke and I are gonna run some errands, have a Mom/daughter lunch, go to the doc and then grocery shopping (if I can fit that in before I have to have Spencer at APD therapy!). Gonna be a busy but fun and exciting day! Maddie is at my "in laws" tonight, she is spending the night there and her grandpa is taking her on a boat ride down the river tomorrow! She is very excited about that...but we miss her here at home!! Her dog, scruffy, was CRYING tonight when I asked him where Maddie was!! It was so sweet...and sad! She loves that dog and he loves her just as much!

I will be sure to post the good news that I plan on hearing from the doc tomorrow!! Hope you are all having an awesome summer!!

Weeki Wachee

Yesterday Brett's Dad took us out on his canoe. We had to take turns going out on the river so while Brett, Maddie and Spencer were out, Brooke and I swam in the beach area. While on the boat, we got to see an otter (I did anyway), a snake (yikes!) and lots of fish! While we were swimming a manatee swam up near where we were. I wanted to swim over to see it, but I was worried about the kids swimming out that deep. Several people swan over to it and they were petting it! Anyhoo, I wanted to share some of the pics from yesterday, I am so blessed to have my family and I love spending time with them!! Thanks Phil for taking us out (even though the kids and I were not in the "original plan")!

Happy Easter!

Brett had NO work this whole weekend-it was nice to have him home! Yesterday we took the kids to an egg hunt at Publix and then we went to another one at a local church. Today after church we went to Cracker Barrel-we expected to have a loooong wait-but to our surprised we walked right in and got a table immediately! After CB, we came home and took a nap. While we were taking a nap, the kids cleaned our entire house from top to bottom! What a nice surprise! They said that they were grateful for all the "Easter bunny" brought them (which wasn't that much!-Brooke got a $10 gift card for music for her Zune, Maddie got a Christian CD and Bubba got the movie "Bolt"....along with a litte candy). Anyhoo-I am so proud of my "babies" for taking the initiative to work TOGETHER to surprise us! I wanted to share some pics from our weekend!

Brett helping Bubba make a craft.

Brooke and her new "Vera Bradley" purse & her and Maddie taking a B-ball shot.

I had to post this pic....the sun was "too bright" for Spencer and Maddie!

This week's deals

I am sorry that I have not had the chance to post the deals available at Walgreen's, CVS, or Publix! Things have been very busy around here and yesterday we took time off together, as a family, to go to the park and grill out. We had a great time playing baseball....I got a home run! Anyhoo, I know that the ads were available in yesterday's newspaper but if you see something that you have questions about, do not hesitate to ask me! Wish you all a Happy Monday!! Be determined to LIVE your life today!

I wanted to share some family pics from this past week....our "kitty" is doing really good, he is such a loving animal....already spoiled rotten...but loving!

"Kitty's" spot on Maddie's bed and "scruffy" sunbathing

Spencer, blowing bubbles and Maddie....being goofy! (I told you I was gonna post it Madeline!)

Me, just before my "home run"....although....the "pitcher" (Brett) let me keep swingin' until I finally got a hit :)

Sunday

So much to share......! Today we stopped by Tanya and Chris' house to see if we could park at their house and go around their neighborhood to try to sell the rest of Spencer's candy bars (we figured we'd have more luck on the "other side of the tracks"). Well, when we pulled up at their house they were all outside playing and Chris and Ryan took Brett, Spencer and the girls around to sell the candy...they sold out within a few minutes! Tanya and I just sat on her front porch swing and enjoyed the quiet! Brett and Chris played baseball with the kids while Brooke and Maddie took care of Ellie in the house, so it was a nice break for us! Anyhoo, I really appreciate Tanya and Chris allowing the kids to come play and for helping us get rid of the candy bars!
Ok...I have some "breaking news" that I am so thrilled to share with you!! Today I learned that you can print Target coupons AT Target! Those computers at the front of the store (that are for wedding/baby registry) also print STORE coupons (which means you can match them with MQs to get GREAT deals!). The manager was not even aware of this, I asked about it when I got there and he told me that the only coupons you can print are the ones that are only good online (that did not make sense to me so I played around with the computer until I figured it out!). First you want to go to the "shop online" option, then scroll all the way to the bottom of the page, to the tiny print at the VERY bottom, and click "store coupons", that brings up a page of coupons and you just click "Print"! It gives you the option to choose which ones you want to print, but if you just click "print" they all will print (4 pages). They come out of the printer right there! Some of the coupons are "Super Target" coupons, Target will not honor those (I do not think!) but most of them are "Target" coupons and you can use them right then! BTW-the coupons state "Offer valid for in store purchase only", so obviously they are not for online purchases.I know that I am easily amused, but was just SO excited to learn this! You can also print them from your PC, but I figure-why waste YOUR paper and ink? Also, if you ever forget your coupons, you know that you can get them right in the store!

Our trip to Disney World!

So much.......

There is so much to talk about today! Where to start?! Let's see, this morning we went to church and observed the children's church...Brett and I take it over starting next week and we wanted to see how things were done! Right now, it is REALLY small! In fact, today, it was just our 2 kids! There used to be a few more kids that attended but they have not been there the last few weeks. Our church is starting up a sidewalk Sunday school program and I think that it will draw more kids in! Also, right now our service starts a 8:30 am-since we share a worship team with Highest Praise, once we are able to start it later I think that will help too!

After church, I went to CVS to grab all this week's deals! Let's see.......I got shampoo and conditioner , 4 tubes of Colgate toothpaste, a pack of Nutra gum and 2 boxes of Listerine whitening pens...my out of pocket cost was $3.04 total! It would have been less but I did not have a ECB (extra care buck) to use that was less than that! If I would have used a $3.50 one-for example-I would have lost that extra .46. I came in with $46.47 in ECBs and left with $46.48 in ECBs!!

After lunch I ran up to Walgreen's, they have some awesome deals this week! First, let me say-today's paper had 5 coupon inserts!! FIVE...and they all have really great coupons in them! Anyhoo-BUY EXTRA papers this week (Tampa trib sells for just .50 each)! Walgreen's has Garnier Fructis shampoo, conditioner and hair products on sale for $2.99. The Walgreen's "easy saver" booklet (located at the front of the store) has a coupon for -$2.00 these products. THEN, today's paper has a -$1.00 coupon off "GF" shampoo/conditioner and a -$1.00 of "GF"hair products. Making them FREE! I got 10 shampoos, 10 conditioners, 3 conditioning masques and
16 hair products (hairspray, gel..) and I only paid the tax on each of them!! Also, at my Walgreen's there is Loreal lip gloss on clearance for $2.19 and today's paper has a -$2.00 off coupon....making them .19 cents! I got 10 of those too! BTW...when you use a coupon from the easy saver booklet you only need ONE coupon-so if you buy 10 "GF" products, the ONE coupon will take off $20.00 (so do not worry about cutting out a bunch of coupons!)

After we went shopping, we went to Wall Springs park to feed the fish and just goof off a bit. That spring is LOADED with mullet! We even saw 2 snook! Too bad there is "no fishing" in the spring! I will post pics! Tonight, Brett and I are meeting some of his family at Cracker barrel for supper! Yum!

This is a glider rocker and ottoman that one of my sistas ,"Jodi", gave me!! Thanks Girl! ;)

Our New Year's Day

Brett had the day off yesterday, so we were able to spend the day together as a family! My favorite "peeps" to be with! We went to the mall to take advantage of the semi annual sales. We stocked up the children's church "Bible buck store"! A little bit of money can go a loooong way with the sales that we found! Kaybee (is that how you spell that store? I am too lazy to get up and look at my receipt!) toy store is going out of business, they have 50%-70% off the lowest price on everything! We got lots of little stuff (color books, candy, ....) and a few bigger items too!

Last night we all watched the movie "Pilgrim's Progress" together. Spencer has informed me that it is now his favorite movie........next to Prince Caspian (from the chronicles of Narnia)! He is actually watching it again this morning! I fell asleep at the very end....our DVD player is broken in the living room, so we have to watch DVDs in our bedroom-it is hard to stay awake while laying in a dormia! (Seriously y'all , I love my bed!) Anyhoo, I know that the movie sparked LOTS of questions with the kids......they finally moved the conversation out to the living room-once I asked them too (I was half asleep!)! Mom guilt ..........again! They were having seriously deep spiritual conversations and I could not wake up enough to participate! Anyhoo, it is a good movie and I encourage you to watch it! The Christian bookstore, in Palm Harbor, has it for only $5.00 right now-they'll be out of business by the end of the month though, so you may want to go soon!

So, today, we are going to straighten up the house a bit and then go to the YMCA. We qualified for a partial scholarship so we took advantage of it! We paid $10 to join and then $35 a month for the whole family (reg price is $100 to join and $70 a month!). When we get our tax return back, we are going to set aside the $35 a month for the 6 months (which is how long our scholarship is good for-then we'll reapply and either raise or lower it, based on our income)-so it will not come out of our budget. The YMCA in Trinity has pools (one has a large slide for the kids), indoor basketball courts, along with the workout equipment and exercise classes! It will be a nice place to go with the kids over the summer! The YMCA closer to our house is much smaller, but I plan on going to that one to work out. It is a really nice facility-very new and clean, I like that it is smaller! With the membership we have, we can go to any of them-so it is nice to have options.

Well, I need to get up, clean up, take some Tylenol for this headache!, and go to the gym....I really missed not having a gym anymore-I feels so good to say that!
Happy Friday everyone!

Happy Monday!

Yesterday we went to church, then I went to Kmart for some double coupon spending! I got SOOOO much stuff...a lot of it was FREE!

The items I got for free are:

4- (4 packs) of Olay soap

4- large bags of Lifesavers

3-bottles of Men's Gillette body wash

3-packs of Pledge dusting wipes

4-cans of Endust spray

The rest of the items I got were things like (multiples of each product!) Dove shampoo/conditioner, Tylenol, Oust disinfectant spray, Aussie S/C and styling products, Bengay cream, napkins, Pur water filters and Water flavorings, soda, Chocolate "turtles" (for a gift)...

My total went from $176.00 down to $40.00- since I had to spend $20.00 (after $9.00 in coupons!) on the Pur 3 pack of filters and the 2 pack of flavorings(which I had set aside money to buy anyway)-I only spent $20.00 on all the rest!

Yeah!!

Last night we decorated our tree...when we plugged in the lights-all but about 6 lights were blown! I had to run out to CVS to buy more lights. We bought 8 (100 bulb) packs of lights, 3 boxes of candy canes, 2 bottles of febreeze fabric spray and 2 bottles of febreeze air freshener...my total was .18 cents! The guy in line behind me just looked at me like I was nuts! The reason it was so low was because I used about $36.00 of my reward bucks, along with coupons. I ended up making $5.00 more in reward bucks though! It hurt to let go of that many reward bucks...knowing I was only gonna make $5.00 back! I still have $29.00 reward bucks left...so THOSE I will save to use to make more

After we decorated our tree we watched the Bucs vs Saints game. I wore my Saints shirt and cheered for the Saints...mostly just to aggravate Brett and Spencer! They ended up losing....20 to 23 . Shocker! Anyhoo....I had fun torturing Brett and Bubba! My Daddy kept calling...KNOWING that we were watching it on DVR.....and telling me what the score was. There was not too much suspense in watching it for me....I would not DARE tell Brett what the score was though!! He is serious about making sure he does not find out ANYTHING about the game before he watches it!!

Brett and I ran out to buy ice cream (vowing to "start our diets tomorrow! LOL) and we watched the movie "Fred Clause" with the kids while we ate our ice cream! I love family time like that!

So...that catches you all up to today! I am going to call my Physical therapist and set my 3 appts for the week, then I am going to walk up to the library.......to work off some of that ice cream!

Have a HAPPY Monday everyone!

We took the kids to the Rec. Center today.....we played Basketball, football, soccer, and baseball. (I TRIED to play.....but it aggravated my back-so I only played a little bit ). Anyhoo-I wanted to share some pics! Tonight is date night! I am excited! We are going to Red Lobster...I have a $4.00 off coupon AND a free appetizer/dessert coupon-so we decided to go there.






I was glad to see that my FAVORITE NFL player is the "honorary team captain" for the Bucs today! John Lynch is retiring...I hope that the let him retire as a Buc! I have a Lynch Bucs jersey that he signed for me...I even got a pic of him signing it (and also a picture that I took of him-when I shot a Bucs game umpteen years ago!). Anyhoo.....fingers are crossed that he retires a Buc!











Bubba's butt wound up right on Brett's face! LOL!