Super Saturday Savings

A friend of mine named Tracey contacted me this week about all the savings she's been getting at CVS and Publix. She asked if I was interested in learning the couponing ropes. I'm all for a great deal, so of course I said yes. I've been reading blogs like fiddledeedeeblog.blogspot.com, moneysavingmom.com, and couponmom.com to learn the ropes. Yesterday, I stepped out and saved us some money! Now that we're having twins and expanding from a family of 3 to a family of five in 6 short months, this is a great time to get started on cutting the food budget! Thx Tracey. Here is what I bought at CVS.






Let me explain why I have such random items. These items cost me a total of $15.91 oop (out of pocket) (excluding the phone cards that I bought with a second transaction). However, I got extra care bucks (ECBs) totaling $14.46 plus a coupon for a free $25 giftcard with a new or transferred prescription in return! ECBs can be used on future purchases at CVS. With my "free money" I purchased the $10 phone cards which were buy 1 get one free! That means I got a total of $20 in minutes to call Keisha in South Africa for absolutely FREE! At the end of the day I still have $4 to roll over on my next purchase and the $25 gift card coupon. Now that's a great day at CVS to me! What do you think?

My trip to Publix took some planning, but it wasn't hard b/c those blogs told me exactly what to buy and where to print out the coupons. Here is what I purchased at Publix.



Publix had a coupon for $5/$35 ($5 off a $35 purchase). My total came up to $34.17 (but it would have been $49.31 if the items purchased weren't on sale) so I purchased the Snickers bar to put me over $35. After my coupons my total was $20.02! Can you believe it? I cut the bill by more than half. The key was to buy things that were on sale or buy one get one free (BOGO) and use a coupon on top of that. I'm telling you, the internet and good friends can teach you anything! I have so many ideas for what I can do with the extra money we're going to save...did I mention we are about to have twins?!!!!

Double the Pleasure!!!

Well, well, well! We're having twins! Wow! We are so excited and just can't believe it (if we had a diaper for everytime we said that today we'd be set for atleast the first month)! The crazy thing is that I have been having thoughts that we were having twins...but just thoughts. I thought we could be having twins but couldn't find out until the first ultrasound. Yesterday, I asked Eddie, "What if they tell us we're having twins tomorrow?" He didn't really respond. Today when we were sitting in the waiting room I reminded Eddie that I didn't want to know the sex of the baby. He agreed to wait until atleast week 20 to ask the ultrasound tech what she thought it was. He didn't know that at week 20 I was going to tell him not to ask again!

Anyway, the ultrasound tech (Tonora)called me to the back and I laid on the table. As soon as, I mean literally within 1 second, of her putting the ultrasound tool on my belly I saw 2 separate sacks!! I sat straight up and started screming and giggling and I gave her a hug. I exclaimed, "Baby, it's twins!!!" He said, "No, you're lying...What?" I laid back down and she started again. Sure enough there were two moving little bodies on the screen!! Oh what joy. I just kept screaming and giggling...and hugging the lady. She started crying. Another tech rushed in the room and said, "Is everything ok in here?" We all shouted, "Yes, IT'S TWINS!!!" I called my mom while I was still on the table. She couldn't believe it. Tonora got on the phone and confirmed the miracle. My mom was just tickled pink! Tonora took extra time with us to make sure we got a good picture. The twins are laying opposite of one another (head of one to the feet of the other). I'm so over that mess of not finding out what they are...we WILL be finding out ASAP!!! We are just so excited and thankful to our Lord!

It has been so much fun telling all our friends and family today. It's funny how many people called us liars...no, people, we're not lying...it's TRUE!! My side of the family has 2 sets of twins and Eddie's has 4. Dr. Phillips told us that he thinks they are fraternal, but can't be sure yet. He said they look healthy. I just pray that their growth and healthy status continues. A term pregnancy for twins is 37 weeks not 40, so they should be here in Mid December. I feel great...haven't had any nausea or sickness AT ALL! Now that's crazy, because multiples usually cause increased nausea, fatigue, and all that other yucky stuff. God is so good.
Thx for sharing in our joy with us!
Here is the birth announcement e-mail that I sent out today.

Hi Everyone,
We couldn't be anymore thrilled!!!! We're having twins!!! Praise the
Lord! What a mighty and awesome God we serve! Attached is the proof of this
miracle. Please pray for us as we seek to honor the Lord for this wonderful
gift. We are so happy. Halley still has no clue, but she already loves her
toy babies so we can only imagine that she will be happy when her new siblings
arrive. They should be here before Christmas.
Love,
ALL the Chambers

Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one's youth.
How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; They will not be ashamed
when they speak with their enemies in the gate.
Ps. 127:3-5

My Little Underwear Bandit!!

Ok, so Halley likes to wear my undies! It's so funny to see her prance around the house with 5-7 pair of my underwear on. I don't know why she likes to do it, but this is one of her all time favorite activities of the day. She especially loves laundry day because then she has access to pairs on end without having to take the effort to open my drawer to fish out her favorites. If she can't wear them, then she would love to just be naked all day long. Where did we get this little nudist from? It's no surprise to find her taking off her clothes at any point of the day to go streaking through the house. I probably dress her atleast 4 or 5 times a day. The other day I went to my friend's house (she knows who she is) and her 5 year old was naked. When we came in, she told her daughter, "You may want to put some clothes on now since Halley is here." To which I replied, "Halley would much rather take off her clothes now and join the party!" Maybe it's an Alabama thing. One night Eddie told Halley, "I see your naked behind more than I see your mother's!!!!" I guess there are some things I could learn from my 18 month old!
P.S. I do own sexy undies too, she just chose to put on the grandmama ones (or BMD's...big mama drawz-as we call them in my family!)

I don't feel good!

All day long I've been ignoring my achy sore throat and stuffy ears. I thought if I ignored it, it would go away! But no, it's midnight and I still feel bad. I called my mom for some TLC and it's a good thing I did. She reminded me that since I'm pregnant, my options for medicine are limited. So that tidbit of advice saved Eddie a trip to the store. So guys, pray for a sista!