Spring Break!

This week is my spring break.  I love how I'm not even a student anymore and I still get spring break!  It's so weird not having an extra baby during the day.  I've gotten very used to our weekly routine, so it's been strange not following it.  Another interesting point:  Ellie has been napping a lot longer without Emma here.  She took a 3 and a half hour nap yesterday...normally, I probably would've woken her up to keep us on the schedule, but since I didn't have anything going on I just let her sleep.  I got work done and watched 3 episodes of Grey's Anatomy! 

I finished my first batch of envelopes from Mail America this week.  I took 500 envelopes and addressed them...my hand still feels a little cramped!  It wasn't bad, though....I would just do 40 at a time, then take a break, and then do some more.  My only worry is about how picky they will be when it comes time to check my envelopes.  They have a lot of handwriting rules, so I followed them as best as I could, but I don't have the best handwriting.  I'm always jealous of those people who naturally have great handwriting that is always even and neat.  My handwriting is very inconsistent, and I have a horrible tendency to angle my writing upward if I don't have lines.  Oh well...I figure if I don't get paid very much from this batch, I won't do it again.  I'm telling myself over and over that I don't have to be perfect, nor do I have to do this job....

In other news, Ellie is now 8 months old!  I can't believe how quickly she is growing up.  I'm so proud of my little munchkin for overcoming so many obstacles and still being on track with everything.

On Sunday I did my drug store shopping.  I try to do all of my shopping on Sunday since I don't have a lot of time during the week, but I didn't make it to Kroger, so I'll have to work that in either tonight or tomorrow.  I went to CVS because there were several things I wanted to get and some pretty good sales.  This is what I got at CVS this week:

 
I got 2 boxes of Stove Top stuffing, 3 bottles of toothpaste, shaving gel, John Frieda shampoo and conditioner, 4 bottles of Aveeno body wash, a shower loofa, and a green bag tag.  Without coupons I would have spent $49.35....I spent $12.52.  It was definitely a pretty good day for me.  I did two separate transactions:


1st Transaction:

• John Frieda shampoo and conditioner (on sale for $5 each, used $4 in coupons) = $6
• Shave gel (on sale for $3.29, used 55 cent coupon) = $2.74
• CVS green bag tag = 99 cents

Spent $10.44, got $6.49 back in ECBs.


2nd Transaction:

• 2 Stove Top stuffing (on sale for 88 cents, used 2 50 cent off coupons) = 76 cents
• 3 Colgate toothpastes (on sale for $1, used 2 $1 off coupons and one 75 cents off) = 25 cents
• 4 bottles of Aveeno body wash (on sale $6.49, got one free with coupon, then used another $5 in coupons) = $14.47
• Loofa = $2.99 (needed something around $2 to get my total close to even with the ECBs)
• Used  $17.77 in ECBs from previous purchases

Spent $2.08, got $10 back in ECBs for next time!

It was fun to go do another big purchase...it's been a while since I've done one, and I definitely wanted to stock up on body wash and shampoo for myself since I never buy the nice brands!  I almost always use Dove body wash, which is a more expensive brand, but I always ask for it for Christmas so that I'll have a little stockpile without having to buy any.  I've never used Aveeno body wash, but I love their baby lotion and I figured Aveeno is supposed to be good for dry skin (which I have and it's awful) so I splurged on it.  As far as shampoo goes, I can never find any that I really like, other than Tresemme.  I bought the giant bottles of Dove shampoo and conditioner from Sam's, which I'm still trying to use up.  It's not bad, but I think my hair just gets all yucky after using the same shampoo and condition for over a month.  I figured I would try out John Frieda and see how it goes. 

At Walgreen's, I bought 4 cans of soup and 2 toothbrushes...not too exciting, but I only spent $2.


After my shopping, I came home and started putting everything away.  We have a linen closet outside our bathroom, which is where I keep all of our toiletries and my stockpile.  After going through everything and reorganizing my tote box full of stuff, I realized that we have enough toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, body wash, hand soap, shampoo (for Billy), and shaving cream to get us through at least the rest of this year, and some items we're good on until next summer.  I knew I had a large stockpile, but I didn't realize how much I actually had.  I'm glad I won't have to buy toiletries for a long time, so I'm definitely putting a limit on my toiletry purchases.  I think the only thing I'm still "allowed" to buy is shampoo and conditioner for myself, since all I have in the closet is the John Frieda I bought on Sunday.


Sounds like Ellie is waking up...I can hear her scratching on her bouncy seat =).