Free Worksheets

The Trainer found this site while staying with us and looking for worksheets for the Heroes. I'm always looking for good sites for worksheets, so many of the good ones require a subscription. I like the layout of this website, it's easy to find what you are looking for, and it's free. Check it out.

Too Many Balls in the Air

Ughhh! I have too many balls in the air right now. Between a baby who won't sleep, my current health issues, the terrible twos, blogging in multiple locations, homework and activities times 2 big kids, and hurricane recovery...I'm drowning over here. I've barely clipped a coupon in the past month. Not cool.

So, today I resigned my spot writing for Deal Spice, in order to free myself up from the psychological pressure of coming up with so many bargain related topics per week. I don't like to do things if I can't do them reasonably well, and I've been grasping at straws for writing material lately. I'll be bargaining it up here exclusively for now, without the mental pressure. Life is just too busy at the moment for unnecessary self induced pressure.

The new grocery ads start today. *IF* my baby decides to grace me with a nap today, I hope to get a list going for tomorrow. I had to dispose of the entire contents of my refrigerator during the power outage and am starting over.

Our Hurricane Experience (Cross-Post)

From our main blog. Back to bargain blogging ASAP...

Our internet just came back up an hour ago along with my parents' power. Our internet is always tied to their power for some reason. It was a long week with no internet.

I should have taken pictures around our neighborhood, but didn't. My mind hasn't been "all there" lately.

Last Thursday, Daniel came home early from work to take down all of our backyard stuff and store it in the garage. Afterward, we went to drop his car off inside my parents garage and picked up some pizzas for dinner.Friday we watched the ocean swell into Galveston and waited for the oncoming storm to start spreading in our direction. It was a long day of waiting. We got some last minute preparations finished. B filled a giant tub with water for me, in case we didn't have water for washing dishes.The girls used their little hook & loom sets that Grammy got them, and we played several games of Sleeping Queens. I made dinner very early in case the power went out. Daniel complained about having dinner at 4:30pm and insisted the power would not be going out until late at night. The power abruptly quit at 6:30pm. The power had not been out for more than an hour when B smashed into J and cut her lip open...

I had all of the kids sleep in my closet so that I didn't have to worry about any windows breaking on them. It was also much quieter in there and less scary. It was like a puzzle fitting a crib, a crib mattress, and 2 twin mattresses in the closet.The storm was extremely loud from 11pm-5am and it was miserably hot inside our house. It was SO loud that I went to sleep on my bathroom floor next to the children in the closet around 11pm. At 2:30 my bathroom ceiling started dripping water and flecks of drywall onto my legs. I spent the rest of the night up and down, and in and out of the garage listening to the car radio. B&J slept fine, L&X were up several times.

We awoke Saturday morning to our fence being mostly down, my hibiscus and Mexican lime tree being somewhat overturned, but that is about all. (the arbor and trampoline base were tethered to the ground with large emergency stakes and bungee cords)

Some of our neighbors lost large portions of their roofs down to the plywood, most fences were down, signs were bent or sheared right off, and many many trees were down. No flooding to speak of around here.
Saturday we cleaned up our yard, visited my parents, and I washed the first of several loads of dishes by hand. We also transferred all of our perishable food into coolers. The water lines were in tact, but not the power. The girls did not enjoy the lack of power, but they made do.

(sweaty baby)

On Sunday, Daniel joined up with some service crews heading out from church and spent most of the day checking on people. It was hot and boring with 4 kids in the house, so I ran an extension cord out to my van, attached it to the power inverter, and ran a movie for the girls to break up the day a little. We did all of our cooking on the grill on Saturday and Sunday.Sunday night, our neighbor was brought a generator and gas from his son-in-law, whose power had returned. He offered to let us plug into it (as it was quite powerful). So, we were able to plug in our refrigerator and a TV...it was great.The temperatures turned cool on Sunday night which improved our experience greatly. The children spent a lot of time outdoors.

On Monday, we unsuccessfully attempted to secure more gas for the generator, got a new post for our fence and some concrete at home depot, etc. Soon after we returned home, our power was restored at 3:30pm. Daniel returned to work on Tuesday morning. The children remain out of school for the remainder of the week.

We have been on limited water consumption due to the risk of our sewers backing up since the pumping station for our area remained without power. My parents' power was restored tonight, Thursday, and with it came our internet...hooray. That is our story...back to our regular blogging schedule tomorrow.

Hurricane Ike

We are expecting a direct hit from Hurricane Ike. Will return to the Bargain blog, after the storm.

Didn't make it to the Drugstores

I fully intended to get a plan done and make it to the drugstores last night. Alas, it did not happen. I did get out, I did get some bargains, but the baby didn't allow me to make a plan before leaving the house...so no CVS or Walgreens.

Reader Comments

I'm dealing with a sick and cranky baby over here who doesn't want to nap...so I haven't looked at my ads yet. However, here are a couple of deals from reader Kelly...

Lands' End free shipping till Sep. 11. Promotion code is AUTUMN and PIN is 9432

And I am sure you noticed 3 bottles of Robitussin (11.97 total) earns $10 in Walgreens RR.

Thanks Kelly!

More Free Stuff

Free Custom Fruit Rollup sample

Free Sears Padlock printable coupon (no purchase necessary)

Set of free lunch box notes

I'm going to make a CVS/Walgreens plan later. I doubt I'll be able to get my hands on anything being that it's already Tuesday...but I'll give it a shot, and post back later. Tonight is my "night out".

Another Free Magazine & Charity

2 items for today...

NASCAR is sponsoring free registration for the Bone Marrow Registry if you sign up online from September 7-22. There is normally a $56 to register to be a bone marrow donor. Sign up HERE, and they will send you the kit (I think you swab your cheek). Then, you send it back in and you are all registered.

Also, free 3 year subscription to Remedy magazine. Click below.

Traditional Home Magazine

8 free issues of Traditional Home magazine (no strings). Thanks to Frugal Freelancer.

Safeway/Randalls

I scored some good deals on things that I really need a lot of today...cereal, apple juice, and granola bars. We go through endless amounts of these things every month. Safeway/Randalls is having a buy 5 get $5 off promo. I got 5 boxes of Honey Bunches of Oats, 5 boxes of Rice Krispies & Cocoa Krispies, 5 boxes of Quaker chewy granola bars, and 5 bottles of Mott's apple juice, and scored $20 worth of deductions, plus $4.75 off in manufacturer coupons...bringing the total to...$26 plus tax. Not free, but I would have to pay at least double that, if I was one to pay full price on a week to week basis.

Down East Basics

I finally made a purchase from Down East Basics. I've heard good things about them, and have put things in my virtual cart there many times...but never bit the bullet and checked out. I think I've even put these exact two dresses in my cart several times. Today, I finally did it. For a whopping $30...I came away with 2 cute dresses from the clearance.

To read the long drawn out story of my big night out yesterday...go here.

Too Much Blogging

Things have been super busy. Also, guess who is now writing for Deal Spice? Yours truly. I'll be linking up from here to my posts there for your convenience, and to keep it from being dead around here when I am too busy to make multiple bargain related posts each day. Here you go.

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