My mom calls me a scheemer....

I have been thinking about posting info about what I do to save money. Sometimes I feel like I want to write a book about all the tricks I have learned from doing research and taking the time to learn different ways to save money. Well, today i had some good successes. I always go through the newspaper on sunday to find coupons. I also have learned that if you look through the safeway circular it has "super coupons" for a couple things every so often. More now I believe because people are financially in trouble and they want to encourage people to shop. I take my grocery shopping very seriously. I always shop on Mondays because the produce is freshly stocked, and very few people shop on Monday, and the sales are still going until tuesdays. So I had already done my shopping this week, but I discovered a coupon in the circular for 10 off if you spend 50 dollars. When you have CF, you eat, so i figured there is someway I can spend the money on things we need... I figured out how! hahaha... Now, i must say, the thing to making a coupon of $10 off is only to buy things you would be if you didn't have a coupon. SO, i had to figure out what to get. Casey is a coffee-a-holic, and Peet's coffee was on sale, so I got 2 of those. I use distilled water to irrigate the sinuses, so i got 2 of those (also on sale) I got 2 yogurts (also on sale) I got 3 waters to keep in the garage (I am buildling an earthquake emergency kit, which were also on sale) They also had the game apples to apples, which I have wanted (on sale 1/2 off for 9.99) I found a roast for almost half off, i got chicken to put in the freezer (the trick here is that you get chicken that needs to be used that day and they put a 30% off coupon on it and you put it in the freezer and use it when you want if you can't use it that day). So i got a lot of stuff... I think I got a few other things.. Oh yea, i got 2 honey mustards that casey likes and for buying 2, I got a coupon for a dollar off my next shopping trip.
Also, there was a super coupon for raisin bran for 99 cents. So i got that too. It was quite a trip. Essentially I saved $44 off the bill, and the way I see it is I got the game Apples to Apples for free! It was a good day!

Updates

Well, i didn't get through Tuesday as well as I had hoped. I developed a fever at about 230pm yesterday and felt like crap for a while. I had to miss my retreat meeting, I am sorry to my fellow committee members to those of you who read this. I am going to give the drug one more try next week, and hopefully I will feel better next week. I can't continue to take a drug that makes me sick for a day, because I have things to do, a life to live. I got kitties to play with at the humane society. Tuesdays are going to be my kitty day, so I need to have some free time not feeling too crappy.
Other than that.... I got my car into the shop to fix the recall out on it, I have been putting this off for too long, and I am very happy to finally have that done. Tomorrow it is going in the OTHER shop for a oil change, tires, and 30,000 mile check up. The car has to go to the doctor too ;)
Also, today is a great day... we finally closed our new refi-mortgage (well Casey did). We were able to take advantage of the drop in rates and luckily we closed at the perfect time and got a rate of 4.85 which is amazing. We were very happy about it. To have it finally close was quite a relief, because now loans are so difficult to get. We applied for the loan on Dec 23rd, and it is now Feb 25th.... how crazy is that. Just glad it is done. So that is my update....

More pictures

Just thought i would post more pictures from the hair experience.....

Follow up

Sorry I didn't post more about the haircut sooner.... I was exhausted and needed to rest. I am still liking my hair, but i must say it isn't as fabulous as when it was done in the salon. My curls are tighter than i would like, but i am working with it. I have worn it down everyday since the cut... so that is an accomplishment for me. It is amazing how i feel more comfortable now than i ever have with my hair. It is good, I am embracing the crazy.
Friday was my last day of training with the cats at the humane society. I did my mentorship and now I am able to go play (and clean) the cats at my own leisure. YAY....
Tomorrow i have to take fosamax again, and I am hoping that i don't have a reaction. Let's cross our fingers for that one... other than that we are just ending a normal lazy weekend.

AFTER!

This is the final result! I love it. i got my hair shaped and highlights. It is also all about the products they used. I am really excited and really tired from the day... I will post more tomorrow...

Before

Well, finally we made it all the way to SF to Madusalon and got our hair cut!!!! I had my appointment with Adrian at 3pm, and we ended at a little after 6pm. It was a great experience, but I am tired tonight and I just wanted to post pictures and I will write about it later.... I figure you all will forgive me, all you want to see is the pics....
Just to explain, you know all of the commercials where they do before and after shots? I wanted to take some drastic before shots... so enjoy and feel free to chuckle. These are both before pictures (one a little more realistic than the other)

Good to go....

Ok, I made it through the night. i didn't want to get too excited about getting my hair done today since Monday night was a dud. So I am feeling good and getting ready to go. Our appointment is at 3pm, so i got to sleep in and have time to do a little before the appointment. Ok..... I am excited... it will be a whole new me! YAY! I will be back when it is all said and done!