I cannot believe it is already 2012!!

Safe to say that the many individuals who claimed the world would end last year, were wrong! Maybe next time, guys!

2011 was full of a lot of happiness for me:

I traveled to Miami for UMF

Visited with friends

Got back into touch touch with some old friends

Graduated from Saint Petersburg College

Began working more diligently on my future plan and goals

Studied a lot

Applied to my MBA program

Realized that sometimes the only solution is to let go.. so I did

Celebrated another year with my husband

Realized that I am a very happy housewife – since that is mostly what I am able to do at the moment

Changed my attitude about my health – fibromyalgia will not take over

Couponed my way to a new car – the savings were amazing!!!

Found that sometimes people are exactly what they appear to be

Was invited to be a bridesmaid for one of my oldest friends

Spent more time in my kitchen – learning new recipes

Finally saw that it is important to have a bed time – so I got one

Along with a really great app to help me keep track of things I need to do or have done around the house/town…

There are so many things to list here! Having a hard time remembering them all, lol.

Towards the end of the year, I picked up bicycling for exercise. Jeremy, Avinash, and I have been doing the Pinellas Trail, well about 30 miles of it on a fairly regular basis. I’ve noticed a huge improvement in my muscle function and a marked improvement in my overall productivity since I began participation. Without question, it’s safe to say that it is helping.

So, yesterday I woke up a bit late; which threw off my entire schedule for the day. However, this was not in vain as we all know that Sunday papers have become a major addiction for me. Well, the excitement just took over as I was planning one of my largest hauls ever.

I’ve recently been using Working Mom Coupon’s couponing spreadsheet to do my coupon shopping along with my new iPad2.

Let me tell you, it has made all the difference!!!! At first, I thought it would just be more time spent in the store than I wanted. But, the more I use the spreadsheet, the more I realize that it really does make things a lot easier!

So, I’m up tonight preparing for my biggest coupon shopping trip I’ve ever done. Needless to say, I am nervous. My plan is to get around 800$ worth of items for less than 80$.. I believe I can do it. Although this trip has started to take on a life of it’s own! I started out hoping to get around 400$ worth of items for about 50$, but quickly realized that goal was far too easily attainable and that I had to put more items in the cart to utilize some of the coupons that are about to expire. Yes, I am one of those crazy coupon ladies that feels the need to try and use as many of my coupons that I know would benefit me as I can. This resulted in me digging deeper for deals.. and finding a deal that I will be making $3.51 per item for a vitamin that I will be purchasing today. That then gave me about a $90 overage! You can imagine how that made me feel.

I’ll give you a moment to savor that.

I’ll be making $90 just for bringing home some vitamins, that I will likely donate or give to family. Thanks to my coupons..

Ok, back to business. Well, since $400 for $50 became to easy, I decided to try and double it. $800 for $80. I feel that it is a goal strong enough that it is going to take some doing for me to achieve, but still within reach for me. 90% savings is nothing to scoff at, I say! Yes, I did add a bit of money to my budget for this shop ($30 to be exact), but i DOUBLED the amount I’m buying! So for 80$, I’m planning on buying enough products to help round out my stockpile and allow me to make some donations this week. I also am purchasing some items to help me begin my next big project: freezer cooking.

To be honest, I don’t think I’m a coupon “master” yet, but I am getting there. My 1 year coupon anniversary is coming up soon and I’m super stoked to see how I did for the entire year! Although, looking at our household finances and seeing that we bought a new car this year, with no major dent in our budget, thanks to my couponing (I use the money I would have otherwise used at the stores to pay for my Toyota!), you would think that I already know the impact that couponing has had on my family. Knowing that things I need are out in my stockpile and I generally do not need to make last minute trips to the store to prepare a dinner is the most freeing feeling I’ve had. Makes me feel like I do a good job taking care of my small family.

Another coupon adventure!!

Monique and I will be going out shopping today, right now we are planning our lists and preparing our coupons.

Pics and totals to come later today.

Shopping trip was fairly short and sweet, we decided to go ahead and work on our make-up board project; but haven’t been able to complete that either yet! Still looking for a metal sheet that we can use for the backing.. maybe this weekend I’ll locate some!

Here’s to that!

Ciao!

I just got back from my friend’s house, after enjoying dinner with her and her son, and I must report that I have never in my life had such a good enchilada.

Let me tell you, these things were the BEST!!!!!!

I am normally not someone who is very willing to try new things, even new recipes make me nervous. I start to wonder, what if I don’t like it? I’ll have wasted all that time, effort, and ingredients.. for nothing. They were good enough I even begged for the recipe Hopefully I can get her to spill it tomorrow!! And, with her permission, I’ll do a full tutorial on how to make them here, for you guys!

Hope you all are liking some of the changes to the site, I know it’s taking me a while, but you can’t rush perfection, right?

Adios!

T

Changing up my site today, please be patient.

Saw Kung Fu Panda 2 yesterday with Monique and her son. Really enjoyed it! Although it was a little hard to follow at first without having seen Kung Fu Panda 1 (which I had not seen), but Monique was kind enough to explain some of the little details to me that helped it make a lot more sense!

We all had a really fun time, even tried playing one of the arcade games in an attempt to win an Xbox360! We got close, but no win Maybe next time!

Can’t wait to get together again!

Nap time.

I just wanted to share with everyone some great news.. my husband graduated from college today!

I have pics that I will be posting in the next day or two, as well as some video.

Congrats, sweetheart! I’m so proud of you!

As promised, here are some those pics, FINALLY:

I have a lot more in the Gallery section of the site, please visit there to enjoy them!

Recently, I have been battling the early stages of the Flu.. thankfully, my physician and I caught it early enough for me to try TamiFlu this year. Now, by early I mean I was able to see her, get the rx and have it filled within 48 hours of showing symptoms.

TamiFlu is not meant to be a 100% cure for the flu, but it is supposed to help ease the symptoms and lessen the duration of the flu. My experience thus far has been a positive one. My flu started out with a major headache; which I ignored the first day because I normally get migraines.. and turned into a full body pain with nausea and bad stomach trouble. The next day, I got in to see her, as these symptoms came on very suddenly (well I should say the body pain worsened suddenly and the rest came on suddenly).. she immediately diagnosed the flu and called in the TamiFlu for me.

The TamiFlu came in a box of 10 with instructions to take 2 per day until completely finished.

As shown here:

Similar to an antibiotic pack, if you’ve taken them before. I took the first dose immediately and I am not sure if it was the medicine or just fatigue in general, wanted to go to sleep. Since my husband is also sick right now, we opted to get some supplies while we were at publix filling the rx. You know, the essentials: chicken noodle soup, gatorade, popsicles, bread, crackers, water, crystal light..

Once home, we both immediately crashed and woke up about 14 hours later feeling slightly better. It was then time for another dose (remember twice a day!) shortly after taking this dose, again with food.. I felt a bit tired again. I took another nap for about 4 hours and woke up feeling quite a bit better by comparison.

So far, I must say it seems as though the Tamiflu is definitely helping! Normally when I get sick I get super sick super quick and it seems to drag on forever. This time I hardly felt much worse than I normally do. While I can’t say I’m cured and everything is great, I’ll definitely take the improvement over the usual flu symptoms!

You know who you are.

We spent a long time hurting one another.

I officially let you go some time ago, but I stayed hurt.

I let you come between me and my own happiness for a long time.

So, here it is: I forgive you.

I forgive you for being a complete jerk.

I forgive you for making me feel guilty for wanting to plan a future with you in it.

I forgive you for hurting me and making my feelings seem trivial.

I even forgive you for making me feel like I was nothing more than a sexual toy to you.

I forgive you for all of it.

Why am I able to do this now?

Because I finally realized how much better my life is without this nonsense in it.

Because I married a man who cares for me in a way that I don’t believe you ever could understand, but I that eventually you will.

Because there is no reason for me to hold on to this anymore.

So, I’m very happy for you and the life you’ve created. I’m thrilled to know that you’ve found someone who wants to share that life with you. Let’s both hope you learned something from our time together and do not make the same mistakes again.

Thank you for the time we spent together that was enjoyable, you taught me things that I will always remember and showed me things about life that I really needed to see. You opened my eyes to the beauty in the world; which I really needed.

You were also the first person to truly break my heart and show me a pain that I never thought possible.

And I forgive you for that, too.