Snow Day!

No work for me tomorrow! I love the snow! My outside tree looks great with the snowy background.

Spring Break

The school where I work a two week long spring break. I thought I would get so much done....and I was WRONG! I've been so lazy!! I have gotten some things accomplished: taxes done, finally got new glasses--it's been 3 1/2 years. Today I'm waiting for the plumber to come back..yesterday didn't get my drains unclogged. Apparently I've got tree roots keeping water from leaving the house effiently. Great...there goes the extra tax refund I was getting back. It's not enough to have to call the plumber---he has to make TWO visits (please God, only two!). I planned on getting my house a good spring cleaning and get three reports done or close to it for work....have I done either? Uhhhh....not really. OK..time to get off here and get something done!

Wonderful Wednesday

I "wonder" why this guy has so many books in his car?? Couldn't he find any boxes to put them in?

DBF, his sister, his mom and I saw this car on the way back from a flea market near Lexington, KY. It was so odd, I had to get a picture!


In other news, my last day at Wal-Mart was the last Saturday in August. Do I miss it? About as much as I miss a root canal! I've got enough to do with teaching about 17 special needs K-5th graders five days a week. I feel overwhelmed at times, but it's getting better. There's not enough time in the day to give all of them everything they need. However, the regular classroom teachers say the same things, so it's not just me.

I finally got a TEACHING check yesterday! This was the first one in four years, so I was tickled. I haven't had any check at all since July 15th! It will be nice to have money to put back each month. Now I can actually make a budget that I can follow. I am going to start putting money back each month because I know that I'll need to replace my car in the next year or so. I also want to start putting money in a Roth IRA instead of the school's 403b. There would be no matching money and with a Roth IRA I wouldn't have to move it again if my job changed. Another positive about TEACHER pay is that I don't have to worry about not having a full check during school holidays. I had two months in the spring when I was only bringing home $800 per month. DBF told me last night that he thought he was going to have to bring me groceries during those two months. Nah, I'm a grocery hound and had shoppied sales before the short checks came. However, I thought I was going to die when I got the $230 gas bill! Thank God I had money from Wal-Mart put back for it.

One more wonderful thing for this post: Snowball turns 15 this month!!!



I don't think she looks a day over 3!

August Has Been a Busy Month!

I love my new job, but I'm exhausted! I've not been on the GC message board as much as I'd like. I'm still getting my coupons, but not hunting down the deals like I had been. I haven't even been to CVS this week! Saturday will be my last day working at Wal-Mart, so I'm looking forward to that. I still need to add up my coupon and ECB savings for the past month and a half....keeping my receipts, but too tired to add them up.

Just wanted everyone know I was still alive!

Life Just Keeps Getting Better and Better!

Remember all those great things I was so thankful for last Friday? Well, this morning I have another.....I got the job!!!!! I'm SO happy! I will start teaching Special Ed at the same school where I went to elementary school. I'm really excited about working in this building. I don't want to put any identifiying info on here, so I won't mention what's so special about the building, but if you have my email and would like to know, just drop me a line. For everybody else, let's just say that there's a lot of history there!

This afternoon I went to a nearby town where they had the Clydesdale horses. They are so beautiful!

Fantastic Friday!

This was going to be "Thankful Thursday", but I took too long getting started!

Well, it's a "Fantastic Friday" because I was so "Thankful Thursday"!

Five reasons why:

1. My interview went GREAT!! She can't tell me I have the job because the school board has to meet, but it looks pretty good. They will meet next Thursday and school starts the Tuesday afterwards.

2. Monday will mark one year of dating for DBF and I....one whole year and we've never had a harsh word or even a disagreement!

3. My family....they drive me nuts at times, but I'm thankful to have them!

4. My furbabies.....just like my family, they drive me nuts and makes messes everywhere, but they are so loving and keep my company. The picture below is Midnight asleep with his tongue sticking out! He's sweet, but not nearly as innocent as he looks in this picture.

5. Most of all, I'm thankful for my salvation. God gave His son so I didn't have to suffer through Hell. Without God, I would have none of these other things that I'm so thankful for!

What are you thankful for this week?

Why I Stockpile and Use Coupons

Now that this blog is linked to my facebook page and not just to the ladies at The Grocery Challenge, I feel that I should explain why and how I stockpile. I know that it looks and sounds a bit strange to those who do not shop the same way.


I really don't remember the first time I used coupons. I never remember my mom or dad using a coupon or stockpiling anything. I must have been started during college. I know my dorm had a table by the front door where you could leave or pick up coupons that were clipped out of the Sunday papers. I would look through them once a week or so to see what I could use. Then I got a subscription to the Sunday paper from Louisville (still has the best coupons around!). I also remember going to both Kroger and SuperWal-Mart for my grocery shopping. Kroger would double my coupons up to 50 cents, and at the time, they would take expired coupons.

When I started working summers at Wal-Mart, after my freshmen year in college, I started a mini stockpile I guess you could call it. I worked 25+ hours per week in the summer and only 15 hours at my work study during the school year. Therefore, I bought enough toiletries to last for entire the school year. That way I could use my employee discount PLUS coupons. I was then able to use my income during the school year for food and gasoline.

I continued using coupons and sales ads ever since then. However, the major stockpiling and going to CVS started a year ago this past February after I discovered the helpful ladies at The Grocery Challenge. I wish I'd started shopping at CVS years ago! There so many things that you can buy and get the whole amount back in Extra Care Bucks (CVS store credit type coupons).

You may have noticed two tickers at the top of my blog page. I have never kept track of how much I'd save with coupons, Extra Care Bucks, or Walgreen's Register Rewards. I thought I would keep track of it on here. I'm trying to see how long it takes to save $1,000 in coupons and $1.000 in ECBS and RRs. I've only been keep track for 15 days and already saved nearly $100! And I haven't speant a whole lot either. Here's a good story I found on MSN about saving money buying food inexpensively: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/SaveMoney/the-dollar-food-pantry.aspx
Ok, now you know a little about HOW I do it. So WHY do I do it? Well, to be honest, some of it is because it's a challenge. I like to see how much I can get for so little. But the major part is because my paychecks are so erractic. During March and April my paychecks from school (at assistant pay, NOT teacher pay), were only for seven days each because of a two week long spring break. Ten day checks are pretty good, I can make that work. But four 7 day checks in a row was tough! Because of my HBA and food stockpile (haven't showed a picture of that yet) I could use those tiny checks to pay the bills and not worry about having food for me and the furbabies. All I really had to buy was perishables, dry cat food and Diet Cokes. I can never have enough dry cat food and Diet Cokes stockpiled!

Another reason why I stockpile is to help friends and family who need it. A month or so ago a family member and his three kids moved and were starting over. I could not help with money, but I could help with HBA products! Below is a picture of things I gathered up from my stockpile. I probably spent less than $5 on all of that!

I've Got a Busy Summer!

Summer school is almost over already! I've been meaning to post pictures of the classroom, but haven't had a chance. It's been a lot of fun. I've had 12 to 18 kids on most days. Last year, the most I ever had was NINE! I have the same type of theme each year, but it's amazing how different each year is because of the different students. I can't believe it's almost over. The last day will be next Thursday, July 2nd.

That very evening Vince and I will be going to his parents' farm for the weekend. I'm, as usual, looking forward to that. I didn't think I was going to be able to go since I normally work Saturdays at Wal-Mart. In April, I had asked for the 4th off and was denied. On our way home from the farm Memorial Day, DBF and I were talking about it and it hit me! The only way I could get the day off was if I wasn't available on Saturdays in July. Hmmm....I thought about it for a day or two and gave it a shot. So I changed my availabilty to Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays in July and hurried up and turned it in. Well, the lady in personel accidently changed it for the last half of June too. OOPS, when I saw that I was scheduled Monday and Wednesdays during the school day I told them that I was under contract to teach summer school. They were very nice about it and took me off the schedule. I'm not scheduled to work at all until July 6th! I'll lose a couple days pay because of it, but at this point, my sanity is worth more than $120! It was so nice to have a regular two day weekend this past week!

I'm taking another class so I can keep my Kentucky teacher's certifcation. It just started last week and I already feel behind! It's only a five week course. There are two books that we have to read, which means about 60 pages of DULL reading per week. Plus, review five articles, journal entries each week about our text, discussion board entries each week. It's not a hard class, just time consuming. It will be over on July 17th. Just in time for me to help with my church's Vacation Bible School the next week!

Maybe after all that is over with, I can post more on here and organize my coupons better. I was going through some the other day and realized that I let a couple great coupons expire because I didn't clip them and put them in my little accordian file. I do have two new large accordian files that I can put whole inserts in. I haven't been clipping the coupons as much since I am usually busy Sunday afternoons. I hope that I can get everything accomplished by the time the regular school year starts on August 3rd!

It's Been A Good Week!

I've had lots of wonderful things happen in the past week.

1. I got a beautiful rose from my DBF on Friday.
2. I've seen DBF on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Monday! We live about 20 miles from each other so it does take some work to get together....not to mention money for gas.
3. DBF has agreed to go to church with me on Sunday. All my friends at church are dying to meet him. He's Catholic and I'm Baptist so I'm especially glad he's willing to go at least once. He's had some bad experieces with other churches----snake handling and speaking in tongues!
4. I got hired to tutor a second grade student in reading for an hour twice a week. It will mean an extra $40 a week!
5. Today I got a letter and two pictures from my nephew who's in prison. This is the first time he's contacted this (his dad's) side of the family in the year since he's been in prison.

Ten Years Ago..............

I graduated from college with a B.S. in Elementary Education on May 16, 1998. The previous year was the worst year in my life. In the six short months between March of '97 and September '97, I lost the love of my life (he decided he couldn't be what I needed), my dog had to be put to sleep and my dad died. It was horrible! So in May 1998, not having a teaching job lined up and honestly not feeling prepared to teach, I went back to the familiar..........back home to live with my mother and back to my summer job cashiering at Wal-Mart. This was supposed to be temporary, a year tops! Well, ten years later here I am.. :( Once I found an actual teaching position nearby in 2001 (instead of being an aid or a sub), it was only considered 7/10ths. That means I went home at 1:30 instead of 2:40 and made $12,000 less because of it. So I keep the cashiering job, but I went to Saturdays only. My plan was to quit as soon as I got tenure (which means jobs security in teaching). Tenure was supposed to arrive in October 2006.....the pink slip arrived in April 2005. I was very glad I kept the cashier job because I could not find another teaching job for the next year so I worked at Wal-Mart full-time. Finally after deciding to go back to part time and sub 30 miles away where I would be paid for my Master's degree ($95 a day instead of $45), I received a call about a teaching assistant position open four blocks from my house. Needless to say, I took it. But health insurance is not provided and there's no regularity in the paychecks (no pay in summer, small checks in December and during Spring Break), so I'm still stuck at Wal-Mart!



I'm tired of working six days a week! I can't count how many things I've missed because I spend nearly every Saturday of my life at Wal-Mart. In order to get the day off, I have to put in for it at least 4 weeks in advance. I could switch with someone, but no one wants to give up a Saturday off. I'd like to have a normal weekend, but I can't stand the thought of going in to work there after 6 1/2 hours with pre-schoolers either! I tried to change my availablity to 6 am until 8 pm. I was told I had to be available 16 hours a week. Ok, I changed it back to 6 am to 10 pm. I've been there nearly 10 years and they still schedule me nights?? That is so wrong when the people that just start get 8-5 shifts! Plus, I'm starting to get carpel tunnel from constant scanning and I'm bored out of my mind......I could do this job in my sleep, and sometimes I do when I have to work until 11 pm!

At the school where I work, a teacher will be retireing in 2009. I've heard that the pre-k teacher I work for want to take her position. I'd like to have the pre-k position. With my years of experience and Master's degree, I would make twice as much teaching as I made last year working both jobs (and that includes teaching summer school and covering a maternity leave). I just don't know if I can tolerate Wal-Mart for another year. Maybe I'll start using my personal hours and schedule a Saturday off a month. I'm just pray for the day when I can walk away from there and have my Saturdays back!