When I was a kid, I used to drink soft drinks all the time. This is mainly because my parents drank soft drinks all the time and didn't say that I couldn't have them. At some point a doctor told my dad that he needed to cut out the sodas. And since dad couldn't have them, nobody got to have them. So I got into the habit of drinking mainly water, with an occasional soft drink. Just about the only time I drink sodas is when I'm at a party, or if I order a combo meal that includes a drink from a fast food joint. When I order "just" water, nine times out of ten, the cashier will pull out a dinky little cup that's smaller than the kid-sized cup. I got one today at Panda Express, and I had to get up twice to refill my cup. Do restaurant managers think that people who drink "just" water somehow drink less than people who order sodas? Or that the rediculously overpriced meal I just ordered doesn't cover the price of one of their precious paper cups? If that's the case, just charge me the whole nickel it cost you to buy the cup in bulk and let me have my tall glass of water!

I don't have a Roomba, although I desperately want one. With two cats and cement floors, you frequently see pet-hair tumbleweeds blowing across the floor. It's a little bit gross, actually. So I'd love to have a Roomba to automagically pick up all the cat hair in the afternoon before I get home so I don't have to look at it.

Of course, I would probably have to contend with this:

Time for another Monday morning grocery update! This time I took a picture of all the stuff that I got for free or ridiculously low prices:


Pictured above:
1 jar O'Sage Pimentos - FREE (Regularly $0.69)
6 cans Carnation evaporated milk - FREE (1.19)
4 cans Quaker Instant Oatmeal - FREE (1.50)
2 50-ct Reynolds Baking cups - 0.04 each (0.79)
7 Suave shampoo & conditioner - 0.28 each (1.29)
8 cans Swanson chicken broth - 0.37 each (1.09)
2 bags Veg All frozen vegetables - 0.45 each (1.79)
2 cans Pam cooking spray - 0.95 each (3.19)

So basically, I spent less than $8 on all the stuff pictured above. The shampoo & conditioner will go in the shelter box for a donation, and the evaporated milk goes to hubby's grandpa. I'm not sure what I'll do with the pimentos. I'll probably mix them in with something and make hubby eat it.

Overall, I saved $63.02 with coupons & sales yesterday, and I spent only $42.58 on actual groceries. That's a savings of 59.6% this week. Since I started thegrocerygame.com this summer, I've saved $1104.62.

Yipes! Stripes!

I finished the first pair of socks from my Christmas knitting extravaganza. They're just a little too big on me, so I think they'll fit my mom just fine.

Today is payday, so that also makes it bill-paying day. After putting together about six bills to mail out, it seems to me that an envelope company could make a ton of money by making the glue taste better. I guess they'd rather charge an extra ten cents for a peel-and-stick envelope instead though.

I had a few bills to hand-deliver since I'm not using a stamp to mail it across town. I have one check that's gone missing. I had to re-open all my envelopes, and it's not in there. I went through all the papers on my desk, and it's not mixed in with them. It's not still in my checkbook, and I did write the check because I have the carbon copy. And I can promise that as soon as I start to write a replacement check, the lost one will turn up. :-\

The weather is wreaking havoc with my sinuses, and I have a feeling that I'm coming down with my annual sinus infection. If I don't feel better on Monday I'll find a walk-in clinic. Might as well since I met my deductible in early January.


Max the Goober Dog was pretty good last night. I took him for his walk and then he stayed inside for over an hour before he started misbehaving. The secret? A Beggin' Strip shoved inside his Kong. He'd chew on it for a few minutes and then get frustrated and come to me, and then get all excited when I stuck my finger inside the Kong. After he got the bacon out he startedd to get aggressive and tried to chew on my hands. That's what earned him a trip outside.

It's time for Monday's grocery update!

I use thegrocerygame.com to match up local sales with coupons so I pay as little as possible for my groceries. Part of the strategy is to stock up on items so instead of buying 1 widget for 90% off, I get two or three months' worth of widgets fo 90% off.

Here's this week's highlights:

• 5 Pedigree GoodBites doggie treats - FREE (Regularly 3.62 each)
• 2 cans Carnation evaporated milk - FREE (1.19 each)
• 6 bars Dial soap - $.20 (.50 each)
• 2 bottles Dial liquid soap - $.20 (1.50 each)
• 3 cans Quaker quick oats - FREE (1.50 each)
• 9 3-Liter bottles of Ozarka water - $2.25 (1.29 each)
• 3 tubes Colgate toothpaste - $.75 (2.09 each)

Overall, my savings this week were $124.19. I spent $81.91, so I saved about 60%. My savings since starting the game in July are just over 46%.

I've decided to start collecting items for the local battered women's shelter, so that's where the toothpaste will go, as well as toothbrushes and whatever personal care items I can get for rediculously low prices.

I've been knitting like a fiend the last week. I decided to give socks for Christmas, and to finish them all I have to knit in almost all my free time from now until then. I just finished the first sock of the pair that I'm giving to my mom. This is the fourth pair of socks in my knitting career, and I've discovered that I much prefer toe-up rather than top-down. My problem up until now has been binding off. I made a pair last winter, and I have to be very careful getting the cuff over my heel. On this pair, I used this bind-off method, and it seems to work very well.

Max the Goober Dog finally managed to dig his way out of his pen. Truth be told, I'm surprised that it took him almost five months to figure that one out. He dug out right over the water line, so I'm thankful that he didn't destroy that, but he managed to make a huge mess. He played tug-of-war with the water hose and broke that into about twenty pieces. Then he went after the trash can. We only had one bag in the can, but it was pretty full. And it was extremely windy, so a lot of it wound up in the neighbors' yard. Moses's dad said Max was sitting on the truck tailgate surveying his damage. He put the dog up and put some firewood in the hole to keep him from getting out again, which worked better than I would have thought. Moses has filled in the hole with a bag of concrete, so he won't be using that particular hole again. We've also started stacking up firewood along the outside of his pen so that he can't make another break for it.

On that note, we're asking for Home Depot gift cards this Christmas.