CVS - the addiction

OK, fortunately for my wallet (but unfortunately for my spare time) I have stumbled upon the "CVS Game" quite a few ladies on the internet are OBSESSED with.  And I think I have been recruited.  I decided it was time for me to "figure out this coupon thing" because I had a feeling I was missing out on saving money and lately it has been bugging me.  Well, I think I have figured out a plan that will work for me.  See the picture above?  I got ALL of that stuff for $3.18.

Doesn't make sense does it :)

I have been majorly blog hopping.  There are so many blogs out there that outline when where and how to get these great deals!  Like this weekend...I found out Old Navy was having a $1 sandal sale (from a blog) and went there and picked up 2 pairs for Kobe, one for this year and one for next.  Then I had a coupon for a free anti bacterial product with any purchase (printable coupon I found on a blog) and I picked up a $1 item and got the anti bacterial one free.  As for the rest of the stuff you see on the table that was from CVS.  CVS had sales where they give you back Extra Care Bucks after you buy something.  It is a weird little game these ladies play between sales, coupons and Extra Care Bucks, but it really does go in your favor.  EVERYTHING I bought had Extra Care Bucks assigned to them that paid for the whole item.  I walked out of the store with all of that for free.

Anyway,

Check out http://thecentsiblesawyer.blogspot.com/ if you want to see the puzzle that is this crazy game.

Today I am going to Walgreens and CVS to pick up more stuff and between coupons, sales, Extra Care Bucks and my brain we will see how much I get for how much $.

I am going to have to try my best to not let this take over my blog though because even though it is interesting , it isn't what I want my blog to be all about!

Our big summer project!

Craig's List comes thru again!  See this big pile of broken up concrete?  (aka our old sidewalk that Ben busted out all by himself with a sledge hammer) Well, once Ben broke it all out we had to figure out how to get rid of it!  My Dad & my Grandpa offered to let us dump it at their property but we still would have had to borrow one of their trucks to do it plus load it all up and unload it once we got there.  Not a fun idea.

Anyway, I saw on Craig's List people posting "Free Broken up concrete" and in all honesty I thought who is the world would want that?  What would they use it for.  Well, I started googling around to find a place I could pay to come pick it up and dispose of it or a concrete recycling center that was close to us we could take it to for free.  I came across an add on Craig's List under the want adds:  Wanted, dirt, broken up concrete, leaves, or anything non toxic to fill in holes.  I called them (by the way they never called me back) but it made me think that posting on Craig's List wouldn't hurt so I posted with this picture:

On Monday we received a few phone calls from people wanting to come get out concrete.  And one ACTUALLY showed up and took it on Monday!  We were so excited to have someone else get it who needed it PLUS saved us A LOT of hassle!  All for Free to us.  I love it.

See-concrete-gone!

Now we are on to the next phase of this project-bringing in dirt.  This is the main reason that the bushes came out (beside being UGLY) and the reason we broke the sidewalk out.  Our yard sloped IN towards the house.  Not a good idea.  That means water is flowing towards our house and can easily end up on the basement.  Eventually we plan on finishing the basement, but before we do that we need it to be water proof :)

So that is the real reason for all of this:

See the foundation of the house in this picture?  The black part.  We need that covered up and high enough to move water away from the house.
So, Thursday I had a truck load of dirt brought in.  About 11 yards of dirt.  Unfortunately I think we will need more, but we will see.  Looks like another fun weekend out in the yard!

Kobe and His Pox :)

Well, as you know, the past week has revolved around Kobe and his chicken pox!  I thought I would show you some pictures of how he looks.

The entire time he has had them he has felt very normal.  He has the same amount of energy and never had a temp or anything.  He did have a couple days of being itchy thought that weren't too fun.  We put calamine lotion on him and gave him an oatmeal bath (which helped a lot!) and he did pretty good not itching.

These pictures were taken about a day after his worst day...
The light colored stuff on the spots in calamine lotion stuck in his scabs-gross-but I didn't want anyone to think it was puss or something!

When I had chicken pox I had WAY more than what Kobe had.

Our last evening in Lundington