CONGRATS to our winner- Elizabeth!

The winner of the Valentine's Day Giveaway is comment #39- Elizabeth! Congratulations!


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Timestamp: 2009-01-24 18:38:44 UTC


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Be sure to "stay tuned" for future contests and giveaways- and send me an email if you'd like to be included in all blog updates!



I appreciate each and every one of those of you who submitted your ideas and opinions... in my opinion, our first giveaway was a roaring success! Thank you from the bottom of my heart.



- Jodie

We're home!

Finally! It was beginning to look like we were going to have another night of peaceful slumber and royal treatment (haha) in luxurious (another haha) room 223 at Freeman Hospital...but alas, BJ was dismissed, now we're back to "slumming it" at home! : ) And boy did it feel good to walk through our front door!



Is it wrong of me to be ITCHING to make a Walgreen's run?! I've got coupons burning a hole in my pocket! I've only told one other person (Nicki, my sister-in-law- my confidant) a little story that I will now go public with....just to let you know what a Wags addict I've become...



Not knowing what to fully expect, and basically having to fly by the seat of our pants when BJ was taken to the hospital 2 nights ago, I didn't do a very good job of throwing things together in a suitcase. Yesterday, when we were informed he was in need of an angiogram we thought it would be good if he'd jump in the shower at the hospital....since he didn't know when it would be that he'd have the opportunity to shower next. SO...I was helping to gather up all of the things he'd need before, during and after the shower and realized (bad wife!) that I'd forgotten to pack underwear!! Does anyone see where this is going yet?

BJ- getting ready for shower... had to keep IV site dry

Proud to be bio-hazardous!

To invoke a mood of calm, I quickly said, "Okay, don't worry about it...you just shave and get your shower, and while you're doing that, I'll go buy you some new undies. You'll be finished before I get back, but you can go 'commando' for a few minutes." BJ agreed that was a good plan, so off I went. My first thought was Wal-Mart, but I quickly realized Walgreen's was closer. Surely they had men's underwear, right?! Wrong.



But while I was there, I couldn't HELP but look at the clearance end-cap to see if there was anything I couldn't live without....besides, an unknown force was pulling me back there. When I rounded the corner, a golden light was eminating from the bottom shelf (mysteriously, this light was evident only to me- all other shoppers were oblivious to it) and behold! Clearanced Sunsilk styling products! Eight glorious bottles of Waves of Envy! I didn't have a SINGLE coupon with me. They were $1.19 a piece...



The little angel on my right shoulder was whispering in my ear, "Go, Jodie, Go! Run from the store! Your man is waiting for his boxer-briefs!" But the devil perched on my left shoulder was shouting, "GRAB 'EM, YOU IDIOT! IF YOU DON'T, SOMEBODY ELSE WILL! YOU HAVE TIME- JUST DO IT!" The devil won. I snatched up the Sunsilk and scurried off to the register. Total was $10.36. Got a register reward for $10. Yippee!



When I got out to the car, I remembered there was a Dollar General just a few blocks away- ran in, grabbed the underwear, and rushed back to the hospital where BJ was waiting for me- watching TV in the adjust-o-matic bed. All was well. I didn't tell him of my latest quest....I didn't feel it was prudent at the time. In fact, I didn't think I was going to tell ANYBODY but Nicki... but what good is a blog about finding the bargains if I don't tell about ALL of the bargains I find- no matter the circumstances, right?!



Anyone ever heard of "SunsilkGuilt"? It's a side-effect of "WagsAddiction". It's a new sickness, a disease... treatment has yet to be discovered. BJ will surely be one of the first to be signing up his wife once test studies are underway.....

The Devil made me do it!

News

I just wanted to post a message- super quickly- to let everybody know that although I know I wrote that the Valentine's Day Contest would end today, I'm going to extend the deadline until tomorrow morning. Why?

Wednesday afternoon, BJ (my hubby) started having chest pains at work. After calling his cardiologist to find out what kind of pain/discomfort is worth worrying about and what's not, I was instructed to take him straight to our local hospital. After several hours of waiting, tests, labs, more waiting... they determined he really needed to be transported to Joplin to Freeman Heart Institute, where just 3 months ago he had a stent placement. I was not allowed to drive him to Freeman- he had to be taken by ambulance, which scared me to death. BJ was admitted to the hospital and monitored all night Wednesday. Thursday morning brought orders from the cardiologist for a new stress test.

The stress test was bothersome enough to BJ's doc that it was determined that there was a need for another angiogram....which was performed at 1pm yesterday. This time, the angiogram showed the need for yet another stent in BJ's right corornary artery, which Dr. Reinsvold revealed should PROBABLY have been "stented" when we were here the first time, but our insurance company said it didn't meet the blockage percentage requirements.... so now we're here for round two!

The good news is that the procedure went smoothly. As I sit here in the hospital room (thank goodness for laptops!) and glance over at my hubby, I am struck with the thought that I am a very blessed woman to have "dodged the bullet" once again. (If you recall from one of my early posts, the cardiologist told me back in September of last year that he placed the original stent in what is commonly known as The Widow Maker.) Even though I'd rather be home and preparing to announce the winner of our great little contest- I thank God instead that BJ is going to be okay.

We have been waiting all day for the doctor to make his rounds- and it's now 1:25pm. We've been told BJ should be released today, but it's getting later and later.....I'm sure it will happen, so we're trying to be patient.

So, if you still have any great ideas for the gifts to the Lafayette House, go ahead and submit your entries! The official cut-off for entries will be 10:00 am Saturday January 24, 2009. At that time, I will submit all entries into an online "random" selector which will determine our winner. As soon as that is completed, I will post the name of the winner here on the blog.

I want to thank everybody once again for participating in the contest. You've all made such a difference in what WOULD have been and what WILL be given to the ladies at Lafayette. I appreciate you all.

Jodie

Eye Drops & Chocolate-Covered Macadamia Nuts

I read lots of blogs and browse through several different couponing websites, and recently came across postings of a couple of excellent bargains that I wanted to bring your attention to.

If you're out and about picking up this week's best deals, check your shelves for these tasty little morsels.......




Mauna Loa Milk Chocolate Macadamias are regularly priced in my store at $3.69 per bag. This week, they're on sale for 2 bags for $4.....BUT- there is a coupon for these in the January Easy Saver booklet for $3 off 2 bags! Do the math.....they're .50 cents per bag this week- a steal! I bought 2 bags this evening. Now we're down to 1 bag. (BJ already found 'em!) I'll be looking for more, but I know I'll have to hide them as soon as I bring them in the house. BJ says they're delicious- I wouldn't know....the bag was devoured before I knew it!



I also found Soothe (by Bausch & Lomb) Lubricating Eye Drops on clearance today at my store for $2.79. The regular price was somewhere in the neighborhood of $12. We have $3 coupons for these and they work like a charm! FREE! I brought home 2 boxes and still have some coupons so I'll be looking for more of these at other stores. What I really like about them is that in each box there are 28 sterile single-use (disposable) tubes of drops. These will be so handy to have a few in my purse, make-up bag, etc., for use on-the-go. Seems my eyes are always dry and I've heard wonderful reviews about this product, so I'm glad to have found them. Here's a closer look at the box...

Sunday trip to Walgreen's

Funny how a sale on peanut butter and spaghetti sauce can work me up into a little "tizzy"! Normally I don't start shopping from the new Walgreen's ad until Monday, but I was afraid if I didn't get there today the shelves would be empty. Once I arrived and began pushing my little buggy around the store, I quickly realized my fears were real! I'm guessing some of my fellow Savvy Shoppers made it to the store before I did!

There are several other items I'll be working on over the next several days, but for now I'm perfectly content to have brought home what I did today.

What a great week for Register Rewards!

The breakdown of today's shopping is as follows:

$183.60- Value of all items, based on sale prices
$15.20- Amount of $$ I spent out of pocket
$36.00- Amount of Register Rewards I earned and have left to use on future purchases
92% savings

And here's what I brought home:

Only 7 of these 12-packs were purchased today

2 bags Mauna Loa Chocolate Covered Macadamia Nuts
10 jars of Skippy peanut butter
7 12-packs of Pepsi products
4 jars of Ragu spaghetti sauce
2 bags of Doritos
2 bags of Tostitos
4 jars of Tostitos Queso
8 double-packs of low-dose Bayer aspirin
2 boxes of Soothe eye drops
4 boxes of Alka-Seltzer cold meds (various types)
2 Oral-B toothbrushes (rain check)
1 Vicks "plug-in" 8-hour vaporizer
1 Vicks box vaporizer refill pads
1 package Garnier make-up removal/cleansing face wipes
3 packages Walgreen's make-up removal/cleansing face wipes

A closer look...

Here's hoping your shopping this week is wonderful! Be sure to post your great "finds"!