A few days ago I wrote this...

(Today it is rainy and I'm only doing housework...but when I look at this I am happy again!)
Today was a great day.
I got to drive my new car around.
I got a free extra (recyclable) bag (with goodies in it) for teacher appreciation at Office Depot.
I got 4 bags of Hershey's bliss chocolate with a 1.00 overage after coupons and rebate.
I just got a call saying I won a free pizza from Pizza Hut in a drawing at Office Depot from the other day. (Ooh, and Office Depot has a 10 pk of Crayola markers and a 4pk of glue sticks for .50 each (limit 2 each)
I won a free music download from Dove. You can play here http://www.dove.us/#/offers/sweepstakes/makeadifference_music.aspx/
I got free PanteenPro-V samples, and a free Good Housekeeping magazine in the mail.
I got an e-mail from Victoria's Secret with free $20 when you order something online. I picked a $15 shirt, and after S&H I am paying 1.00.
I won a free 8x8 photo book and free shipping from one of the sweepstakes I signed up for.
I got some fun e-mails from people and comments on my blog.
Did I mention I was driving my new car? :)

Family Vacation continued and ended.

Back to the last bit of cool pictures I have from when my family was out here visiting.
Caleb got to hang out with John and...
drive cars on his face,


play drums with him,


and be a track star.


Here is the rest of us attempting to be track stars:




We also went for a drive and saw some crazy clouds:

The Price is Right

I went to a few garage sales this morning and found some GREAT stuff. Then I went to Staples and Office Depot, where it was teacher appreciation day, and I got breakfast and lots of free stuff (including a 512 flash drive-which I forgot to put in the picture). I also went to Ace Hardware and Goodwill (50% off sale) before heading home.
If you want...you can think of this post like the game "The Price is Right". Come up with a price of how much you think it is worth...then adjust it down to my frugalness, and see if you are right:)

First Group: "Teaching Stuff"



Grand Total: .95

Second group: "Scrap booking Supplies"
This includes a brand new album, refill cover pages, A punch, stamps, lots of ink pads and a Rubbermaid to put it in:)


Price: 5.00

Third Group: Things related to clothes/exercise.
19 clothing items, exercise video,jump rope, aundry hamper, and some hangers. These are NICE clothes too: The Limited, Banana Republic, GAP, Old Navy....




Clothes Total: 9.50

Fourth Group: Camping Stuff
Two Eddie Bauer camping chairs with foot rests, 4 tiki torches, a waterproof jacket, and backpack.




Total: 8.00

Did you get any right?
Please ignore that I have my eyes closed in that last picture.
Here...I am modeling the blue sweater and tan pants...and I am smiling (even though it still isn't a good picture.)

The most Insane test-drive ever!

Today we went out looking for cars for me (mine isn't doing so well).
When we hit HEAVY rain going to our second location to look at a car, we contemplated canceling...but decided to drive it anyway (what better way to check out a 4-wheel drive than in the elements?)
Well, it started out raining lightly...then it started pouring.
We found out during our test drive that there was a tornado warning and that tornadoes had been spotted west of Greeley.
By the end (of our 10-min test drive) many of the streets were starting to flood on the sides. When we pulled into the dealership again the entry road was up at the doors of the car.
This guy got stuck:

We decided not to cross this intersection:


We did decide to get some food. Notice how wet John is from just running out to his truck.

Stay tuned for videos..I will upload as I can!

Here is a video on the way home with some flooding on the sides.
Here is us trying to get home:)

fun stuff

I got some fun stuff for cheap or free this week.
This is my favorite: School snacks!

After store deals, coupons and a $10 rebate, I only paid .80 for all of this! I would go into detail about how, but it was kind of time consuming to match things up and make sure I got everything correctly.
At RiteAid this week I got all this for about 1.10. (They have some pretty amazing rebates going on there this week).

More from family vacation

(This post is a continuation of the last post about my family's trip to CO.) After we traveled up the road to Pikes peak and saw the beautiful view:

We came back down, and went to Garden of the Gods in the Springs.




I even purchased a baby backpack carrier from a garage sale that came in handy (of course I wasn't the one using it :)


After that we met up with Chad and went to Dave and Busters. That place is HUGE!

On a different note, the day before that mountainous adventure, we had John's sister and kids over and we all played outside in the sprinkler and the pool. GOOD TIMES!
The blonde one is my nephew Caleb, the Brown-haired one is John's nephew J.T.

We all had fun drinking out of the sprinkler too...




Eventually we played in the pool and ran through the sprinkler:)





Thanks to Lori for some of the pictures....and sorry about getting you in the video Kyle. It was either you or me:)

The Family comes..

I had a blast this past week entertaining family, and letting them share in the 90 degree heat wave with our non-air conditioned house:) We survived fine, and revved up a window AC unit to help cool us down.
The little man was the center of attention, but he also made everything a lot of fun.
I have a lot of great pictures, so I'm going to do "segments" of vacation every few days until I am done:)
First Segment: At a lake on the way up the mountain.
We posed for some beautiful pictures:

Errr.... I mean BEAUTIFUL PICTURES...

That's more like it:)

I taught Caleb some bad habits:) (oops!)


Caleb had a blast playing in the water.




We chased down a chipmunk even though it started raining.

I did a QUICK job in photoshop to highlight the chipmunk and Caleb.


Next segment: The rest of Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods.