Giveaway Time!......My Boring Blog

Time for another Giveaway.
Remember my Birthday Bash Giveaway earlier this year?
Well, I've taken most of the items that were left, that the Giveaway winner didn't pick during the course of the Giveaway post, and fit them into a flat rate mailing box.
So I am giving all those items away for this Giveaway.

Here is what you will win if your entry is picked....

Sarah Micheals Tea Rose Gift Set bag
Avon Vanilla Shower Gel
Dove Shampoo
Pantene Styler
Box of mailing Envelopes
Old Spice Deodorant
Cinnamon Candle
Glade Scented Candle Tin
Airborne
Gax-X Prevention
Betty Boop Enameled Pen
Winnie the Pooh Gift Wrap
Hershey's Kisses with Almonds
LifeSavers Pep-O-Mint Candies
I also added in 2 Bottles of Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Polish, a pink shade and a coral shade.

Check out the rules.....
The Rules
1. You must be a "Follower" of my blog to enter and still be a Follower if/when you win.  Lookie on the right sidebar and press the big ol' FOLLOW button if you are not already a follower.
2.  Sorry but this Giveaway is open ONLY to those with a mailing address within the USA.  Hate to have to do that but the postal rates outside the country are KILLER.
3.  You must leave your email address on your comment OR have it linked to your account so that I can contact you.  If I can't email you, you can't win.

For your Required Entry.....Leave a Comment on this post with your Favorite Thing about my blog and the 1 thing you wish I did on this blog that I don't or something I do already that you'd like to see more of it.

You can earn EXTRA ENTRIES this way....

1.  Blog about my Giveaway on your blog.  This will earn you THREE extra entries. Please leave 3 separate comments that you did this with the url or link to the specific blog post where you mention this giveaway.


2.  Every person who comments/enters the Giveaway that mentions you sent them here to enter will earn TWO extra entries for themselves AND the person who referred them.  You only need to leave ONE comment only please.  I will add the 2nd entry for you and 2 extra entries for your referral person for you.


3.  If you would like to join a great company that provides cash for your opinion, use my referral HERE.  They provide participants for focus groups, product testers, as well as pay you to complete surveys online.  Use my referral to join up and then leave THREE comments on this post that you did this for 3 additional entries for the giveaway.


4.  If you haven't joined SWAGBUCKS, use my referral link HERE or go through the Swagbucks ad on the right sidebar on the blog here.   Use my referral to join up and then leave THREE comments on this post that you did this for 3 additional entries for the giveaway.

5.  Tweet about this Giveaway on Twitter.  Leave a comment on this post with a link to the tweet.  You may tweet once every other day(and leave a new comment with the tweet link)for additional Twitter entries. 


This Giveaway will be open until 11:59pm ET April 8th, at which time I'll randomly draw a winner.


As always, this is not a company sponsored or company supplied Giveaway.  Any costs associated with this Giveaway are coming out of my pocket because I'm just that kinda gal.  Please patronize our blog ads....I'm just sayin'.... ;-)


Sluggy

In a Bad Place......

I apologize if I haven't been posting much......or been my usual perky cheerful self(that part was sarcasm folks). ;-)
But stuff that's been going down lately with Daughter's college admissions/financial aid stuff has me in a bad place emotionally.  Let me rephrase that.....current difficulties in this area have brought up alot of suppressed emotions and events from my own life to the surface and that's why I am in a bad place.  The current 'stuff' we are dealing with sucks but I know we'll get through it.  It's the specter of my past that's been raised in my own head that's got me wanting to just go throw myself into a hole and die.

My family seemed pretty normal until I hit my teen years(yah, my parents were fairly good at keeping up appearances)and for too many reasons I can't list here, it spiraled into quite the disfunctional disaster zone.  And it continued through my college years and beyond, shaping me in ways that people should not be shaped.  Under my sarcastic exterior lies one broken damage bill of goods.
So yes, I am one of those people you meet in life with a lot of emotional baggage.  Mostly due to lack of parental support in all ways conceivable. If not for my Hubs and his unflagging love and support, I don't know where or what I'd be at this point in my life.
I guess I should go find a therapist and pay them to sit and listen to my tales of woe at $200 an hour.
Hubs sympathizes but he has no patience for listening AGAIN and AGAIN to me rehashing all this stuff when I find myself in this bad place every few years.  And he just doesn't "get it" really since he came from a totally different world where things like what I went through didn't happen.  And I sure don't want to burden my kids(even though 2 of them are adults now)with what haunts me because well, that wouldn't add anything positive to their lives now, would it?
So I just suffer silently and go to this bad place when life events bring it up again and relive these painful times alone.

Gawd, this is getting depressing even for me!lol  I'll stop now before anybody who's still reading this goes and takes a razor to their wrists. 8-P
I've thought about writing a book about my life.....no, I don't think anybody would pay good money to buy it!  I just think it might be cathartic to get it out on paper.  It might help me get past some of this stuff to deal with it in that way.
When I'm feeling a little better maybe I'll carve some time out to scribble down my thoughts.....

Anyway, this was all just my much too long way to let y'all know I may not be posting much in the next week or so.
I am going to put up a Giveaway soon but other than that I'll be off in my dark corner sorting through my baggage.  Hopefully one day I'll be able to declutter some of that as well as the physical baggage hanging around here! ;-)

Sluggy

The Groundhog Must Die!

Which Ground Hog?
Punxsutawney Phil of course.
Why?
Because of this......

Eight inches of snow!  And there's more coming!?

Early Spring this year my ass.....

Sluggy

Boring Shopping Post

I hit the local small market on Monday to do the Cheesy Deal....

The deal was spend $30(after coupons) on Kraft cheese(and/or other select products)and get $10 off instantly.  So it wasn't a Catalina Deal but an Instant Savings Deal, which was better since this store Catalina Deals suck.  Why?  Because they figure your total AFTER Qs to see if you qualify for the Cat,  AND the Cat is also based on sale prices not reg. shelf price.  Those 2 things make a BIG difference!

Some of the mozzarella bags had $1 off wyb a bag of cheese and a block of cheese(included Cracker Barrel and reg. Kraft branded blocks)Qs too but otherwise I had no Qs for the cheese deal.
I ended up getting 13 cheese items for $21.58 after sale prices, $3 in Qs and $10 discount.  This made each item $1.66.  I may go back and do it again before Saturday and just get the shredded cheese, which would make them $1.50 each.
The Healthy Choice dinners were on sale 3 for $5 and there was a $1/3 blinkie machine on the door, making them $1.33 each.  At that price, how could I say no to Lobster Ravioli?lol
The broccoli was for Monday night's dinner and we needed the celery...both were on sale.
The total was $28.39 for all.  Regularly priced at $61.66 which means a savings of 54%.

Then I went back to Rite-Aid.....

Used some more Johnson's rainchecks(got me free stuff after raincheck and Qs), redeemed a free Coke Q, got some more free Toothbrushes and I broke down and bought a Night Guard.  I'll get a raincheck for another one for BIL's account to use after the April $3 SCR kicks in on it.

I'm working on rolling next week's expiring +Ups at this point, so I didn't have to roll any +Ups but I did roll $22 so I am a little more ahead for the upcoming sales week.
The total came to $22.55 after Qs/sales.  I used $22 in +Ups and put the .55 on my gift card.  I received back $27 in +Up Rewards(6 x $2 Toothbrushes, $15 Night Guard) so I am 'up' $5 on this transaction.
I have $52.65 left on my gift card.

THIS TRIP
Number of Transactions.....1
Total Spent....$.55 (put on free Rite-Aid gift card)
Value of Items....$86.78
SCR qualified for...$0.00
Other Rebates earned...$0.00
Gift Cards earned....$00.00
+Up Rewards earned...$27.00
+Up Rewards spent....$22.00
+Up Rewards left to spend.....$110.00

TOTALS--March Rebate Period

Number of Transactions......12
Total Spent....$3.93 put on free Gift Cards/Certificates so ZERO OOP
Value of Items purchased....$613.85
SCR qualified for....$45.00
Other Cash....$0.00
Additional Rebates....$0.00
Additional Non-Cash Rewards....$0.00

+UPS Totals for March SCR period
+Up Rewards carryover from 3/20.....$105.00
+Up Rewards spent....$234.76
+Up Rewards earned....$95.76
+Up Rewards left....$110.00  includes ALL +Ups not just ones from this SCR period

Sluggy

The 3 S's.....Sewing, Stockpile & Snow

As you can see from my To-Do List I finally got around to starting on one of my long neglected chores--my unfinished sewing projects!
It only took me a year and almost 3 months to get to it.....sheeesh!lol

 Under that pile of clothes is the long neglected sewing projects "in progress" tub.

And here it us after being uncovered......

Notice all the dust on the lid....lol
And here is inside the belly of the beast....

Well at least the top layer inside the beast. ;-)
So I pulled out a project.....well 3 projects really since I have 3 pairs of pajama pants cut out for my Daughter.  I'll be working on those this week and hopefully by week's end I'll have something to show for my efforts.

Before I did another else on Sunday, I went up to Rite-Aid to roll some +Ups and get my free after Q and +Ups toothbrushes.....

1 x Resolve on sale=$1.99
5 x Reach Toothbrushes on sale $2.99=$14.95
SubTotal....$16.94

Coupons Used
1 x $1 any Purchase AdPerks/VV IPQ=$1.00
1 x .75/1 Resolve IPQ(from Resolve website)=$.75
5 x $1/1 Reach Toothbrush tearpad Q(from dentist office)=$5.00
1 x $1/1 Listerine/Reach AdPerks/VV IPQ=$1.00
Coupon Total...$7.75

$16.94-$7.75=$9.19
I used $8.88 in +Ups and put the $.31 OOP on my Rite-Aid gift card.
I received $11 back in +Up Rewards(5 x $2 Toothbrushes, $1 Resolve)so I am "up" $2.12 on this transaction.

Then I did the same transaction again but my coupons were a little different....

Coupons Used
1 x $1 any Purchase AdPerks/VV IPQ=$1.00
1 x .75/1 Resolve IPQ(from Resolve website)=$.75
1 x .25¢/1 Resolve Peelie Q on product=$.25
3 x $1/1 Reach Toothbrush tearpad Q(from dentist office)=$3.00
1 x $2/2 Reach Toothbrush IPQ(old IPQ that was expiring soon)=$2.00
Coupon Total...$7.00

$16.94-$7.00=$9.94
I used $9.88 in +Ups and put the $.06 OOP on my Rite-Aid gift card.
I received $11 back in +Up Rewards(5 x $2 Toothbrushes, $1 Resolve)so I am "up" $1.12 on this transaction.

The reason I broke this into two transactions was because I had more than 1 $1 any purchase AdPerks/VV IPQs that were expiring on 3/26.  If I had done it all in one transaction the second $1 off Q might not have gotten used before Saturday.

My planning wasn't too great because I still have $2 in +Up Rewards left to use by Saturday.  I should have bought an 11th toothbrush....ugh.
And my gift card is down to $53.20.

I didn't get the Night Guard mouthpiece and roll $19.99 in +Ups.  I'll get a raincheck and hopefully they have it in stock after March 30th, when the April SCRs start.  There is a $3 SCR for the Night Guard item for April so I'll buy it on raincheck(the raincheck price will be $4.99 after $15 +Ups discount).  I'll use my $5/1 Night Guard Q and pay nothing OOP and then submit my receipt for the $3 SCR.  In the end I'll make $3 for buying it by waiting until the new SCR period. 8-)



After my Rite-Aid trip I went out into the garage to organize the stockpile.
As you can see, things have gotten out of hand in the last few months.....

Mostly it's stuff not getting put away and stock not being rotated back to front as it's used.  It's gotten so bad you can hardly walk around out there.


Plus the field mouse getting in kicked my ass into gear!lol  BTW-We "took care" of mr. mouse the next night....I won't share the details or the photos of his extermination. ;-)

I spent hours out in the garage on Sunday and ended up with a more organized mess.....

 Cereal, Paper Plates, Tea, Coffee, Hot Cocoa, Oatmeal, Taco Shells, Compleats, Granola Bars, Jello and Pudding, Condensed Milk, bagged/boxed Potatoes and "Helper" mixes

 Spices, Rubs, Powders, Sauces, flavored Noodle bags, Steak Sauce, Baking Soda, boxed Bread/Cake/Brownie/Muffin Mixes, Frostings, dried Fruit, Pie Fillings, canned/bagged Nuts, Coconut Milk, flavored Rice bags, dog Treats, canned Dog Food

 canned Soups, canned Veggies, Olives, Green Chilies, canned Tuna, Sardines, Evaporated Milk, Chocolate Syrup, Pancake Syrup, baking Chips, Sugar products(honey, agave, brown sugar, fake sweetners)

 Croutons, Trash Bags, Foil, Parmesan cheese, Ramen and other Noodles, Freezer Bags

 Cereal, Crackers, BBQ Sauce, Marinades, Bread Crumbs, Flour, canned Beans, Spaghetti Sauce, Tomato Soup, canned Tomato products, Pasta, Chili, Hash, Jellies, Peanut Butter

 Salad Dressings, Fruits, Condiments, Oils, Maple Syrup, Juices

 Hand Soap, Dish Soap, Cleaners, Sprays, Wipes, Baby and Wet Wipes, Stain Sprays, Fem. Products

Toilet and Facial Tissue, Paper Towels, Napkins

 It's not perfect but it will do for now.  You can see why I haven't done any grocery shopping for weeks now, can't you?lol
I also culled out 4 boxes of food from the stockpile.....1 for BIL, 1 for the food bank and 2 boxes to offer on the local Angel Help Community Yahoo group for Easter.

By 8pm Sunday night I was a stiff, sore mess....so I went to bed before 9.  Me?....the night owl.
And the most amazing thing was I slept until 9 this morning.  12 hours in one stretch.  It's so unlike me.

 After a semi-productive weekend I woke up to this.......?!?!?......

WTF?!?

I had no clue we were due for more snow!

I'm off now to the stockpile and freezer to figure out the meal plan for this week.  I might hit the grocery store(for more than milk)this week since there is a cheese Catalina deal at the local Shursave affiliate store....spend $30 get a $10 Cat....as we are getting low on cheese.

Check me later for the Meal Plan for the week.

Here are the Rite-Aid numbers for Sunday and the running Totals....
THESE TRIPS
Number of Transactions.....2
Total Spent....$.37 (put on free Rite-Aid gift card)
Value of Items....$56.48
SCR qualified for...$0.00
Other Rebates earned...$0.00
Gift Cards earned....$00.00
+Up Rewards earned...$22.00
+Up Rewards spent....$18.76
+Up Rewards left to spend.....$105.00

TOTALS--March Rebate Period

Number of Transactions......11
Total Spent....$3.38 put on free Gift Cards/Certificates so ZERO OOP
Value of Items purchased....$527.07
SCR qualified for....$45.00
Other Cash....$0.00
Additional Rebates....$0.00
Additional Non-Cash Rewards....$0.00

+UPS Totals for March SCR period
+Up Rewards carryover from 3/19.....$101.76
+Up Rewards spent....$212.76
+Up Rewards earned....$68.76
+Up Rewards left....$105.00  includes ALL +Ups not just ones from this SCR period

Sluggy