JJ Update

Well, I haven't updated this in awhile, but I have some news. My niece, JJ, had brain surgery today to remove a non-cancerous brain tumor. She had an original surgery when she was around 2. They didn't get all the tumor the first time and her chemotherapy didn't shrink the partial tumor sill in her head. She is now 4 and in Boston having a second surgery. She is a very healthy little girl. The tumor is very slow growing an may have never given her any more trouble. (she was having seizures) But her parents decided to try to resect it as a young brain is much more resilient to surgery than an adult brain. There were no complications and she is doing well. If you want to keep up, go to the link, make a profile and search for BabyJTurner. Here is the most recent post from her Care Pages.

Well, hopefully by now you know that she is awake. A huge blessing to both Brian and myself. God's healing hands at work - he protected her through this and will continue protecting her. Dr. Scott is very pleased with the result. He feels he was able to get most, if not all of the tumor. He did have to go into the ventricle (the space where the spinal fluid flows in the brain) which can cause some complications including fluid on the brain that may require a shunt - but we will cross that bridge if we come to it. First and foremost she is awake and hungry. Good sign. She also has been moving both arms and legs a little. She was a little nauseous and did get sick a couple of times, but this is expected just after surgery. She was watching spongebob when I left her. There isn't any connection in the ICU where she will be this evening. Hopefully they will move her to a regular floor in the morning. That is the plan. As for Brian and I we are tired, but so thankful that she is awake and acting like her sweet self. God listened and answered all of your prayers. You all have done a remarkable job of keeping us in your prayers - we can feel the love and it brings us great comfort.
The Lord is good, He is merciful and full of Grace. His plan for her is to be the best Christian she can be and we, as a family, will help her. She is one amazing child and we are very thankful. She is doing well and I will try to keep you all posted on her progress. We appreciate your prayers and welcome them in her recovery - the wait is over and now it is time to heal. Thank you all and God bless.

Giant Eagle - Week 1 of Serious Couponing 9/13/08

Pre-total = $193.27
Coupon/store specials = - $ 66.98
total = $126.29
% savings 35% savings

Not a bad first attempt. My big deals were:
4 Quaker oatmeal cans - On sale for $1.00 ea. and (4) $.50 each coupons doubled to $1.00. Free
2 Emerald Nuts- Regular price $6.38 ea. Store sale was a BOGO $3.17 each and I had (2) $1.50 coupons. $1.68 each.
8 Cat Treats - On sale 2 for $3.00 and I had (4) BOGO coupons. $1.50 each.
6 Birseye Steamer Veg. Bags - On sale $1.00 each and (2) $1.00 off 3. $.66 each.
4 ten packs of disposable razors - $5.78 GE BOGO - $2.98 ea. (4) $2.00 coupons - $.98 each.
I had to buy 6 packs of hotdog buns and 4 bags of chips for Juju's tailgate party. $8.64 that was food added to the grocery bill that we weren't going to eat, but the weather was so bad no one showed and we have a ton of hotdogs, buns and chips to eat. Crap. I guess someone has to do it...
Tomorrow is the New CVS ad.... I can't wait.

My CVS Maiden Voyage

Here is how my CVS maiden voyage went. I didn't do as well as i had hoped to. Some of my coupons didn't match the stuff on sale, ie I had an Excedrin migraine coupon and it was the only type of Excedrin not on sale. Crap. I couldn't find my (money making) Revlon nail polish coupon, and of course, they didn't have all the sale items in stock (apparently this making money on CVS isn't as underground as i thought).
I bought:

2 Soft & Dri deodorants on sale @ 2.99 each = $5.98
$1.00 off 2 coupon $5.98 - $1.00 = $4.98
$4.98 - $4.00 in ECBs = $.98 / 2 = $.49 each

1 Lorel Age Perfect Cleansing Towelettes on sale @ =$5.99
$1.00 off coupon $5.99 - $1.00 = $4.99
$4.99 -$5.99 in ECB = -$1.00 (I made a dollar)

1 Bag of Chex Mix on sale @ $1.00
$1.00 off coupon $1.00 - $1.00 = FREE

Plus $.60 in tax.

I spent a total of $10.57
I got a total of - $ 9.99 in ECBs (store credit)
$ .58 (basically the tax) for 4 items that normally cost $17.56 at regular price (not bad) If you don't count the taxes ($.60), technically they paid me $.02 to take those 4 items off their hands. (technically I still have to use the ECBs next trip, but that is money I can buy anything with in the store....and the $9.99 bill is on CVS!) SWEET!!!
CRAP. I just thought of something. If I would have rung up the Towelettes first separately, I would have had my $5.99 (in ECBs) to pay for the deodorant $5.98. CRAP. It would have been $6.57 (and $4.00 in ECBs) out of pocket instead of $10.57 (and $9.99 in ECBs). oh well. I have $9.99 to start out with next week. I will have to try to go on Sunday mornings if I want to get all the stuff that is on sale. Maybe I will stop in later in the week to see if they restock the things they were out of. Some people on the Money Saving Mom Website actually figure out what to buy first, second, third etc. in seperate transactions so they can go with 5 bucks and buy the store out. It has gotten so easy for them they have to make it challenge to use as little or no actual cash to get the sale/ECB/Coupon items and still make money for the next week.
P.S. Most of the coupons you can print out via links are printable more than once. (Check the website link above) Just hit the back button and another prints. It will tell you when you reach your limit. I printed out a second Chex Mix coupon, Sweet ! MORE FREE CHEX MIX !

Make Money Shopping @ CVS

This is the craziest thing I have ever seen. You can make money if you shop at CVS. Well, not cash money, but ECBs (store credit). It is like an underground cult thing or something. People post all their "scenarios" on making or saving money from CVS every week. The first thing you need to do is start clipping coupons from the Sunday paper or get them from someone who doesn't use them (both is preferable) the more the better. Cut out EVERY coupon, you never know what you can use. Even if you will never use the item, who cares, IT IS FREE. File the coupons in a system of your choosing. Next, go and get a customer care card from CVS. Next, get the Sunday ad from the paper or stop into the store. Find the items that are FREE when you get bonus ECBs. Then, look for a coupon for that item in your coupon book. Here is an example of how it works. Let's say deodorant is $2.00. The ad says "get $2.00 in ECBs, so the item is free". You have a dollar off mfg. coupon. You pay $1.00 for the deodorant and then get $2.00 ECBs. you just made $1.00 in store credit. There is a limit to the items . Let's say the quantity limit is 5. Assuming you have 5 coupons, you can do this transaction 5 times and you just made $5.00 in store credit. This is just for one item. Usually there are at least 2 items this works with and there are a bunch of items that are free with or without coupons. CRAZY. Here is an awesome LINK that explains it better than I ever could and people have links to what they bought and how much money they made or saved. Most times they figure it out so all the stuff they get is FREE! The website takes all the work out of figuring it out yourself. Just do what they do.

Labor Day Weekend and an End Of An Era

Here is how the weekend went down.
Friday - Took Friday off and Juju and I did some long put-off errands after taking Cooter to daycare. We were going to move some stuff over to the new house, but decided not to as the guys work slow enough and they would all but stop working to bullcrap with us. Picked up Cooter in the afternoon and went to the house after supper to see what progress (or lack of) was made.
Saturday - Juju's cousin came into town from Chicago. "The Rat" is what we call her. It seems everyone in Juju's (and my) family has an animal nickname.... curious.
She stopped over with Juju's other cuz Jen and we went to see the house. Afterwards we stopped at the Goat's house and visited with her. Then the Turnbuckles stopped over and we went to their house for BLTs and salsa. You make good salsa Sissy. We were there a few hours and it was Cooter's bedtime.
Sunday - Sunday was a crazy fun day. I did laundry like a MOFO most of the day. and then at 4 we went to the Luce Labor Day Picnic. It is a picnic that our church friends put on every year. It was fun. My folks, my brothr Bear and his fam and all of the usual suspects from church. I can't help to think the picnic was a little different this year as there is a lot of crappy stuff happening at church lately and we have basically stopped going. There was an uncomfortable undertone at the picnic as all the usual church chit-chat was non-existent. It was great to see some people I only really see once a year. The Conleys, some out-of-town Luces and actually many of our church friends we really don't see much of since we stopped going. We stayed a few hours and then to the Turnbuckles for their Pig Roast. Of course there was a poker game going and a bunch of beers. I basically got hammered, which is unusual for me, but the beers were going down pretty smoothly. I didn't play any poker, but got into the family BS session. Juju drove home and I passed out in bed when we got home.
Monday - Finished up the laundry in the morning and then we went to Aunt Kate and Uncle Roo's house to go swimming and picnic.
Tuesday - Tuesday morning back to work, but my boss Willy and Main Street sprung the NFL Fantasy draft on me.It was happening Tuesday night. They decided to do it on Friday when I was off. Crap. Hello, I have a phone... It started at 6 and ended about 10. I have never done an NFL draft. I have been in my share of MLB drafts many years ago. I am pretty happy with my team. We will see how the season plays out.
Wednesday - This is where the end of an Era tale begins. This was the last week of poker, maybe for awhile, maybe forever. I don't need to go into the details of why, but it is done.
Here is how the final week went down.
17 Players - Not sure of the rebuys. I think 3 or 4.
4th Place - Sandy
3rd place - Heather
2nd Place - Spitter McGee
1st Place - Mark
Mark and his wife Sandy are so new to the game they never got nicknames. Crap. I think I said this last week, but it is a shame we had to quit as it was just starting to get fun again with all the chatting and BS-ing. We had 5 ladies playing on the final week. Captain Dave was to my right and he never stopped yapping (I loved it). I won a nice hand early. I limped in with poket 9s and after a near all-skate of limpers I caught a 9 on the flopped and bet just the right amount to keep a majority in the hand. I took down a pot over 500 chips. It was not the proper play, to limp-in first position, but it sure paid off.
To everyone who ever played in my game. I looked forward to every week and trying to out-wit you. Sometimes I came home with some extra money in my pockets and some weeks I came home shaking my head, but every week I had a story to tell someone, or a bad beat to complain about, or a win to gloat about. I will miss the game, but I will miss all my poker friends more.
Thanks again for a great run and some great fun.