Potpourri

Welcome to my 500th post!!!

This month has been a very busy one for all of us. This has definitely been our busiest summer and I am sure that it will continue to get busier with each passing year. We have celebrated all of our birthdays one right after the other and I am just now seeing past all of cake and presents. I am so far behind on thank you notes, but hopefully I will get those crossed off of my list soon. We have traveled quite a bit, and have really enjoyed every minute.

I am so happy with our 2009 savings to date. We have saved $1,427.48 in shopping the sales and using coupons. It is amazing how much money can be saved if you clip coupons and use them with the sale items and at stores that double your coupons. I used to do ALL of my shopping at Wal Mart, because I thought they were the cheapest. Have I mentioned how much I can't stand that store anymore? Seriously, when I was a teenager all I ever wanted to do was go to Wal Mart with my family. I loved looking around at all of their "stuff" (and this was the old regular Wal Mart). I was so in love with the place. Now the mention of Wal Mart makes me cringe and I try at all costs to avoid the store completely. If I need a basic for the week that is not on sale, or that I don't have a coupon for, I settle for Wal Mart. I love a good sale and I love working it out to get the best deal possible. Just the other day I got back $12.50 in ExtraCare Bucks from CVS. That's FREE MONEY!!! I really don't know how I scored that deal, but I am very excited about my FREE MONEY!

My little garden is doing quite well. I have picked 6 cucumbers off of my one plant. My green beans and okra are still working their way up to producing, but if they don't come through, I might just have to visit a little market to stock up and freeze for the winter. We have cherry tomatoes coming out our ears. And my one Big Boy tomato plant has given me 2 big tomatoes. I'm having a hard time keeping someone's little hands off of them and the worms away. Our watermelon didn't come up, but I guess that we didn't really have much hope for it anyways. Jason and I are already talking about ways to improve our garden for the next year.

Does anyone else watch WipeOut? We just started watching it this summer and we love it! The kids really love it too. We always have to keep the volume turned down low and just watch the action, because some of those people don't really use the best words. The other day Joshua and Abby Kate were playing their own version of WipeOut with each other. It totally cracked me up.

Since we have been in and out of town so much, I am finding it hard to actually prepare meals. I love to cook and I can't wait for things to slow down a little bit so that I can get back into the kitchen.

The other day Jason and I watched an "Everybody Loves Raymond" episode. I really do miss that show!

The other night while driving home, Joshua and Abby Kate were talking about where we live and where their Nana and PawPaw live. Joshua chimed in and told us that "Tennessee is a nice place to live. And I think that Alabama is nice too, but it is a little hot!".