April 6, 2010

Boy, do I like to save money. Jon and I went grocery shopping tonight. We got over $240 worth of groceries for less than $170! We shop for 2 weeks at a time, rather than the customary once a week. It's kind of a chore and a pain in the ass to carry the groceries into the house, since we aren't fortunate enough to have an attached garage. So we just try to get more done in one shot. Plus, since I work there, it's pretty easy for me to pick something up if we run out. Like milk. We buy so much milk, its unreal. For a household with no kids, we go through a lot of milk. I bet we drink 3-4 gallons a week. I guess that isn't something too horrible to be addicted to. And it's skim too! The above receipt reflects several discounts. As a team member, I get 10% off everything. And because we use our Target Check Card (NOT a credit card, comes out of our checking), we earn rewards coupons quite a bit. So there is an additional 10% rewards discount. AND all through the month of April, as a team member, I get an additional 10% off anything that is Target brand. Add on the fact that I am the coupon queen, and you can see that we saved $70.13. We actually saved a little more than that. There is a separate receipt where we bought a few other things, but had to be rung up separately because we were ad matching another store's ad price. I gotta say, if you don't grocery shop at Target, give a try once. After running the Price Accuracy team for a good 2.5 years, I know that we competatively price our groceries. And I have personally compared prices on stuff I buy all the time. If we have to run to Meijer for something, I check out some prices on stuff. Target is cheaper on so many things. Okay, I'm done with my plug for Target. Okay, one more plug. Target's bakery makes these sinfully amazing Archer Farms blueberry muffins. I made the mistake of checking the nutritional value one day, and found out they were 560 calories each! Well, the bakery also makes blueberry muffin bread. It is amazing. And each slice is less than 200 calories, so you can indulge and not feel so bad. Lightly toasted in the toaster with a little butter... Like I said, sinfully amazing. It will be making an appearance in Ludington this fall.

April 5, 2010

Have I mentioned that I'm itching to get all the deck stuff out? I think that this summer, our deck is going to have to host some Euchre, Texas Hold 'Em, Gin and Tonics and cigars. My daffodils are up. Everybody's are. And I checked to see if my lilies were gonna come up this year. I see stems budding out. So I think we may have a winner this year. Currently, the Butler-Duke NCAA basketball game is on. I don't follow college basketball, but I guess I'll pull for Butler since they are from Indiana. Speaking of Butler, their coach is 33 years old. And he looks really young. And he has a great job, a career actually. I'm 33 years old. And as old as I get, I still see myself as young. Not young like a kid. But young like I'm not a full fledged adult yet. Like I couldn't be old enough to coach a college basketball team. That's an old person's job. Make any sense to anyone other than me?

April 4, 2010

Happy Easter everyone! Since it was my weekend to work, I got an extra Sunday off today because we are closed. Yay! Jon and I went to my parent's house for dinner this afternoon. The weather actually turned out to be pretty decent. It was a little windy and slightly cool. But the sun was shining for a lot of the day. Lauren and Morgan got to do an Easter egg hunt in the back yard. My dad hid all the eggs. Well, almost all of them. He had put all the eggs in a pitcher and was hiding them in the back yard. Apparently, halfway through this process, someone rang the doorbell and he set the pitcher on the grill. Then...forgot about it. But there was still a fair amount of eggs and candy hidden in the back yard. Chris was walking around, giving Morgan little hints on how to find the eggs. She was moving a little slower than Lauren because every time she found an egg, she had to make sure everyone knew about it. And also had to open it to see what was inside. So Lauren was really pulling ahead on quantity. That is, until Morgan found the pitcher on the grill. Jackpot!

P.S. I didn't get an Easter basket.

April 3, 2010

Fired up the grill today! Yesterday, Jon and I said, "Let's fire up the grill tomorrow." So the plan was that I would pick up some stuff from work to grill today, then come home and we would cook out. Then it rained, was windy and kind of cold. So we planned on not grilling. Then the sun came out and TA-DA! We grilled some burgers. I bought some solar lights too. And some colored glass tea light holders. I can't wait to get the deck set up with all the lights and the gazebo. Did I mention that this week?

April 2, 2010

My hair is getting long. Keep growing or cut it. Summer's coming. What to do, what to do...?

April 1, 2010

So, did anyone pull any good April Fool's pranks? I wanna hear about them.

It was a record breaking 81° today. Jon pulled out the adirondack chairs from the shed. Not quite the usual backyard oasis, but it was nice to sit outside today. I can't wait to get out the gazebo top, patio table, chairs, lights, planters and such. Duke is enjoying the weather, too. He gets to run around outside more and more lately. He needs to lose 10 pounds. But he always gains it in the winter because he's not running around as much. He'll lose it in no time. I think Jon and I are going to have to get our bikes out this year. We didn't pull them out of the garage last year. My mom wants to ride bikes around Notre Dame campus this spring. Sounds like a good idea to me!

March 31, 2010

Since the weather is getting nice, we're gonna have to get out and start working on the lawn. These are the oak leaves that seem to want to hang on for dear life throughout the winter. I assume, now that buds are budding, the crispy, dead leaves are finally being pushed out and falling into our yard. Too bad the tree isn't ours. Cut 'em all down, I say! And to all you tree huggers out there, try living on an acre surrounded by trees. After one autumn and one spring clean up, you'll agree with me.