All About Thursday 07.28.11

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Free stuff:

• Nescafe Dolce sent the box of Cappucino Ice pods I had won through Twitter.
• Steri-Bottles came from my win on Akron Ohio Moms
• Aveeno Sample
• Disney Cars Instant Win Game code for the Amazon GC came in my email
• Beauty Blitz sent me a box of 3 nail polishes from Julep that I won in their July daily giveaway

Healthy stuff:

• changed to peanut butter without hydrogenated oil and threw the old stuff away
• purchased decent bread without high fructose corn syrup or other junk
• chose to get some almonds (with dark chocolate) as a snack instead of chips
• traded the salad dressing full of soybean oil for one without junk - the taste difference on this particular item was "WOW"
• got some laundry soap free of dyes, ink, and perfumes - I'm pretty sure the other bottle is what gave me hives
• exchanged plain Greek yogurt for the regular sugar-filled brand & bought honey to mix with it

Life stuff:

• painted my nails with that new polish today - hadn't done that in about 8 years
• remembered to call in a prescription refill
• saw the youngest child breeze in and breeze out long enough to grab clean clothes - the dogs were sad when he didn't pay much attention to them...particularly Ruger
• temperature here remains extraordinarily high
• Charlie fixed my leaky faucet - finally :)
• reading Towers of Midnight in preparation for the final book in the series coming out this fall - I may do one more re-read of the series after that and then I think I'll put them up for good.

Review stuff:

• (+) Erin Baker's cookies
• (+) Blue Diamond Dark Chocolate Almonds
• (+) Bear Naked Fruit & Nut Cookies
• (-) La Creme French Vanilla
• (+)Julep Nail Polish in Jaime
• (+)Dragonfly Sage & Clay Soap

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All About Thursday 06.02.11

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I am tired. Why I am so tired is a mystery, but I am. Charlie thinks it might be the weather.

We didn't make it to church last night because I had the beginnings of a panic attack on the way out of town. I'm not sure why but bipolar is bipolar. It seemed like it was mostly due to sensory issues, though. I felt like my clothes were going to choke me and that if I entered the auditorium I would be stuck with no way out. Church on the Move has a very loud, vibrant, and exuberant worship and I wasn't in a place where that would be comfortable. Most of the time I'm fine there. So we drove out to see my mother-in-law and Charlie's grandpa and visited with them awhile. I was finally able to bring her the collage I made for her from the pictures I took the day Bee was born. We also took them our coffee because we are not drinking coffee anymore and I had mini-stash going.

Caught up with last night's So You Think You Can Dance episode. Couple things sticking out in my mind:

• The girl who said her father was the real Ringo Starr AND her dad who BELIEVES he is the real Ringo Starr both need help. I don't say that flippantly, either. If she's grown up her whole life with her father making that claim, no wonder she is delusional herself. It was very sad to see.
• Dude who auditioned in next-to-nothing? I think his name was Chase? Wow. Just wow. I couldn't believe the height he reached with his jumps. He needs to be a bit careful of what he says on camera, though. Telling the audience that your ex-fiance cheated on you wasn't a real good topic.
• Krump dancer from New York. Amazing at what he did but being disrespectful to Lil' C and Russell was bad.
• Mary Kate, the Irish Step Dancer, was great and I'm glad she went through to Vegas. I will be surprised if she makes the final 20, though. I didn't think she did that strongly in the choreography round.

Mail day was another good one...

• Product test about which I can say nothing else.
• Downy softener sample

I have to be up early to take Charlie to work, do some menu planning, and go grocery shopping tomorrow. It's going to be a bit busy but productive which is a good thing.

Poor Ruger. His allergies are still in overdrive.

I just started a re-read of Robert Jordan's The Fires of Heaven. I have lost track of how many times I've read this series because as soon as I reach the last book, I just start over with the first book. I'm sure there are other good books out there. Somewhere.

I hope your day was blessed.

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All About Tuesday 05.31.11

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Cool stuff in the mail today...all cool stuff...which is nice. No bills or junk mail.

I got:

• A Senda Happy Gram that I won from Grandma's Guide to Life...I sent it to Alec and it definitely made him smile. Great customer service from the ladies at Senda Happy Gram, too.
• Rockin' coupon book from P&G...about $35 worth
• Free coupon for any Raid product up to $7.75 because I did Couponing to Disney's 5 a Day
• Alec got his paycheck from Walmart that was sent here after the tornado. Now he can get his car fixed, buy car insurance, and get new contacts. :::throws confetti:::

I finally took my one prescription to the pharmacist...I was about at my 30 day limit and the script was about to expire. I really didn't want to have to get another one from my doctor.

I entered lots of giveaways and sweeps today...I am working on a goal of a minimum of 500 entered per day. I'm at about 200 now. Thank you Sweep! program and RoboForm because if I didn't have those tools to create a working system I wouldn't be able to get as many done in a day.

Pets doing good. Ruger really needs groomed but since he won't let anyone pick him up without biting them, I'm not sure how to accomplish that. I am going to have to seek some professional pointers because it gets too hot in Oklahoma for him not to get groomed. Flea season is upon us and that will have to be dealt with, too. I really want to know why fleas were created. I'm not being smart about it, either, I truly want to know because I'm confuzzled about the whole thing. Other bugs, as gross and annoying as they are, still provide a function. What do fleas do except annoy?

I am making Hamburger Helper and Ore-Ida Sweet Potato Fries for dinner. I got a coupon for the fries and I'm really curious to see what they taste like. If it's not good, we'll all be eating PB&J for supper. Is it supper or dinner where you are? I interchange the two because midday is always simply "lunch."

I think we have finally given up on coffee. I'm finding that I like hot tea as well and coffee has just gotten soooo expensive.

Caught up on "Doctor Who" last night. Wow. I knew something was up but the end of "The Almost People" is not only a game-changer for the rest of the season, but also completely changes the first 5 episodes. I am liking Rory a whole lot more this season and am happy to see Matt Smith come into his own with this role. Although, I do still miss David Tennant.

I hope you all had a blessed day.

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My Joplin Tornado Story: I Thought I Lost Them

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You know that whopper of an EF-5 tornado that ripped up 25% of Joplin, killed approximately 120 people, and injured approximately 800 with approximately 1500 still missing? All my children live there. My boys, my daughter, my son-in-law, my daughter-in-law, and Tee and Bee.

My youngest son, Alec, worked at the Walmart that is now completely gone. He was at work. And I don't know how he got out of there alive.



This is the second tornado Alec has been in. The first was the EF-3 that hit Carl Junction, Missouri in May 2003. In that one, the houses on either side of us and all the houses across the street were demolished. All I had was a broken window and a totaled car.

After that tornado, in which everyone in the house ignored me and thought I was just being dramatic about the weather, we don't ignore weather anymore. We don't ignore warnings, watches, or sirens. The threat is real. And even if the threat does pan out as non-existent, is it really worth your life to take a chance?

Please don't ignore weather warnings and please please please make sure...absolutely sure...that you hug your family and friends at every opportunity and let them know you love them. Don't take moments for granted because you just can't ever ever get them back.

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I Was Planning On

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....having something written on here besides "business" stuff. I want my blog to be about my whole life...not just the bargain hunting mastermind side of me.

I'm the "Mimi" to "Tee" and "Bee". Tee will be 6 in July and Bee was just born last Saturday. I am going to photoshop a picture together of the two of them to put it on my blog. Thanks to hospital regulations, Tee was not allowed to go and visit her new cousin Bee when she was born. They live about an hour and a half from us, so we're going to have to all get together soon so the two girls can be introduced.

What I'm thinking is that I was supposed to be in bed about 3 hours ago. If I don't go to bed, I'm going to be a grumpy Mimi when Poppa wakes me up at 6AM like I asked him to do. I get all caught up in this blog and lose track of time, which is not a good thing. I have bipolar disorder and sometimes balance & order come a little bit hard for me.

I very much look forward to interacting with other people in the blogosphere. From what I have seen, it's a pretty amazing community.

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