update & couponing

My playdate last week got cancelled with Stephanie at the last minute. I ended up taking the boys to Wal-mart to the walk in clinic to get their shots. Finn was supposed to get 4 shots and Logan 1. The dr. said in Ontario they give 2 at 12 months and 2 more at 15 months instead of all 4 in one go but he agreed to it for me. Then they realized that one of them was expired so I just went with 2 shots and then will do another 2 for Finn at 15 months somehow schedule that in even though I will be working. Finn did his angry cry. Logan was a super duper tough guy and didn't cry at all so I promised him a popcorn party!!! Then we did a quick walmart shop around but didn't find any deals so we headed to Loblaws college square to try and get 1 year photos done for Finn. We got there and the girl said that she had to take care of the portrait studio, photo lab and electronics so it was best to make an appointment. We said thanx for wasting our time and left. I managed to pick up a good deal. Vintna crackers were on sale for 3 or 4 boxes for $5. I had a $1 off coupon so it was pretty sweet. I tried to find prime rib to price match it with the sale at no frills but couldn't find any at the walmart.

Then we stopped at value village and I scored a pair of spider man winter boots for Finn that are bigger so I can get his foot in easier. Not a big deal since he isn't walking yet. I also scored a pair of American Eagle jeans and Calvin Klein jeans for $9.99 each and Logan found an electronic book for $1.99 that Brenda has in Comox so I let him have it. I received a free reusable shopping bag since my purchase was over $25. I have also joined their supersavers club. Join at www.supersaverscard.com and you get a 25% off for your next purchase as well as advance notice of sales and other awesome deals!! I was then driving to freshco when we ran out of washer fluid so we stopped at the walmart supercenter on bank st to see if they had the prime rib and to get some washer fluid. They didn't. I got some washer fluid and then 2 dove bodywashes at $2.97 minus 2 $2 off coupons. Logan wanted some bubble bath witch was $2.98 so I bought 9 charmin toilet seat covers at $1 each and used my Save $4 when you buy 3 coupon. This created a $3 overage and gave me a great discount on the bubble bath. We headed to the car and I put in the wiper fluid. It was tricky getting my hood open. It is being finicky these days.

Then we were off to freshco. I called Kevin and Karina to see if they would watch the boys while I went to freshco because Logan has been asking for Uncle Kevin and Auntie Karina and they said no problem so I dropped off the boys and headed to Freshco. They also didn't have the prime rib roast but I picked up 2 rib roasts at 50% off for $6.50 and $6 each. I picked up 2 purex at $3.97 each and used my save $2.50 when you buy 2 coupon. I also picked up the $3.97 milk bag of lactancia and it came with $6 of coupons on it. There was $1 off black diamond cheese 200,300 or 500g, $1 off black diamond cheese strings, $1 off astro yogurt, $1 off any 2 2l or 4l lactancia, and I can't remember the other ones right now. Was $6 in coupons. I bought 2 bags. Oh yeah I bought Pam for $4.57 or so and used my $1 off coupon and then I had a buy 1 pam and get $2 off eggs so my eggs were .65 after the coupon. Was an alright deal. would have been better if Pam was on sale but I needed eggs and didn't want to make a trip anywhere else. Then I picked up the kids and we headed home for supper. Then because I promised Logan we had our popcorn party after bathtime and then he went to bed just after 2100. Was a later night.

Thursday Logan had school and then after that we packed up and headed to Auntie Julia and Uncle Georges for a visit. We had a wonderful visit and she gave me a couple awesome bags of clothes for Finn and I gave her some coupons!! We got home for supper time and then bedtime for the kids. Laundry for me to do and then watched Greys and Private practice. I now do my laundry and run the dishwasher between the hours of 1900 and 0700 to get the cheapest electricity rates. I can actually program the dishwasher and washer to delay starting by a certain number of hours.

Wednesday night I also found a childcare provider close to us that will take both kids and made an appointment to go and see her on friday after Logan had school. We headed there and I still have to make up my mind. Price wise it is alright. Cheaper than alot of other places that I have heard of. Pro is that she can take both kids, Logan can still ride his bus to and from school from her place. her hours are 0700-1645 which works for me as well. Cons are that she has a macau and 2 dogs. I am fine with the 2 dogs but the macau is insane. I was only there for 45 minutes and it was driving me crazy. She had a flood in her house so her basement was the daycare but now it needs to be fixed so everything is on the main floor. The bird is in a huge cage in the corner. There was crap all over the cage and apparently they can crap on you if you are near the cage. On top of that it screeches all the time when it isn't getting enough attention. The first few times Finn was fine but then he would lower his head and start to cry. I found it very annoying but Logan loved the daycare and the bird. I am still going to keep on looking. Another pro was that she gets 3 weeks holiday unpaid. Lots of places get paid vacation and then you have to take your kids somewhere else during that time so you pay double. I would have to pay when the kids aren't there which is pretty standard but I was spoiled by Brenda in BC and only had to pay half of what I would pay if it was full time. Hopefully I can find a place that I love as much as Brenda and Janice in BC.

After that Auntie Kelly popped over with a birthday present for Finn and to drop off my epicure order and the orders from the party. I texted Karina to see when she wanted me to drop off and she said they could pick it up so we invited them for supper. I was planning on heating up my mexican lassagna and I had it thawing out all day. I was planning a caesar salad and extraordinary dip for the appy. Paul got home just as we were loaded up to go to the independent so I was able to leave the kids with him and go on my own. I picked up romaine, cream cheese, graham crumbs, and chocolate crumbs, dream whip, and the gay lea gold sour cream was on sale for $2 and I had 2 $1 off coupons so I picked up 2 containers, and 4 avocados for $5. The best deal was the french cross chardonnay on the way out of the store that was on sale for $35 for 4L instead of $40.

I headed back home and whipped up the extraordinary dip and used the epicure caesar and made that dressing. Karina opened up her guacamole from epicure and we made that too. It was phenomenal. I will be ordering some of that. Then when I took the tin foil off of the mexican lassagna it wasn't mexican lassagna. It was the epicure chicken breasts. They are delicious so we just had those instead. It was lovely. Man I love the extraordinary dip!!! Erin and Andy popped over later on as well and picked up her order. Still waiting on the baby!!! Was a nice visit with them too!

Saturday we made our way down to Dows Lake so we could skate on the rideau canal. We drove around the lot and couldn't find parking so we kept looking elsewhere. Then we ran to the superstore at westboro because I wanted a hard copy of their flyer and I wanted to pick up the cold fx that were on sale for $16.77. We picked up 2 bottles because that was all they had at the sale price. It was one per customer but there was 4 of us. We did the self checkout and had no issues. Then we headed back to dows lake to try and skate again. We found parking on a side street 3-4 blocks away. We parked and loaded up Finn in the stroller with all of our gear. As we were walking down the street Kelly and Michael recognized my hat and called us over. I was in my own little world. They had planned to skate as well but it didn't work out so they were heading home. They lent us Owen's helmet since we forgot Logans. We headed out to skate. I lasted 5 minutes on my skates. I really had to go the bathroom and there wasn't one around so I knew that if I fell I would pee my pants. Both would be horrible. The ice is very bumpy and rough so I didn't want to chance falling and getting hurt worse that I already am. I have major body pain these days so more pain would be awful. My feet are killing me in the morning and my wrists are killing me at night. Very painful to try and do pushups. Back hurts on and off as well. So I put my boots back on. Logan did a really good job and kept his skates on for around 20 minutes or so. Then he wanted his boots back on so we swapped them back on. Paul took Finn in the stroller for a big skate. Logan and I waited for the Giant Tiger "train" to come so we could go for a ride. It was a truck pulling 3 train cars. It went around a km or so and back in a loop. Was fun but got chilly just sitting there. I was freezing by the time we got back to the beginning to go to the car. Paul found us with Finn and we got to wave to them as they were skating. They even found a bathroom together and some taffy. We made it back to the car and then had to rush rush home since we were invited for supper at Stephanie and Brendans. We picked up dessert and french bread, rushed home, then Paul had a quick shower and we packed up and headed over there. I was also delivering Stephanie's epicure order. We had a wonderful supper that was so delicious. Pork loin and potatoes, and these decadent tomatoe treats. We had a great visit as well. Paul did basic training with Brendan and I have known Stephanie since 2003. After supper I held the baby a bit and then Stephanie and I did some coupon trading and sorting. Paul and Brendan, Logan and Connor headed to the basement to watch some hockey. After we were sorted out Stephanie and I headed to Walmart to make a quick trip for some deals.

Here is what I got:
PGX 90 caplets $19.96 minus the $10 printable save on foods coupon. = $9.96
Crest trial size pro health rinse $1 - $1 off p&g any crest pro health rinse = free
Crest glide floss $3.98 - coupon for free glide floss when you buy crest pro health rinse = free.
mini carrots $1
activia strawberry 650 g tub $3.97 pm to $2.39 from canadian tire flyer - $1 off activia coupon mailed to me by the company for watching their video = $1.39. savings of $2.38
Immunity fx price matched to superstore for $16.77 - $8 printable = $8.77
Cold fx 60 price match to superstore for $16.77 - $4 printable = $12.77
Babybel 6 pack price matched to $2.99 from no frills and used the $1 coupon attached to the package. Bought 2 packs. Was $4.77 at walmart so savings of $5.54
Black diamond cheese strings 16 pack price matched to no frills for $4.44 and used $1 off coupon. Bought 2. I believe they were $6.60 or so at walmart before the price match so I saved $6.32.

The pgx and cold fx were one per person so I had Stephanie grab 1 of each for me as well and I paid her back.

We pricematched ruffles at 2 for $4 for her which were $2.50 each at walmart. Saved her $2 on the purchase of 4. price matched Tide at Cdn tire and used a $1 off. price matched 12 pepsi from metro for $2.99 for her. She also was able to use the buy anyt venus razor and cartridges and save $10. Razor was $9.88 and came with 3 cartridges and cartridges were $10.18 or so so she got a pretty good deal.

While we were shopping around I found a huge rack of clearance pajamas on for $5 down from $12. I figured that this would be a good go if they didn't scan for $5 then we would get them for free since the scanning code of practice. We each picked up a pair. Logan is good to go right now so I picked up the 6X size. Stephanie went first in line so it scanned at $7 so she got hers for free. Then when we did mine the cashier automatically corrected it before the computer scanned it wrong so I didn't get mine for free so I didn't get them. The cashier said that once they know of an error in the system they have to correct it before it scans wrong. So after I did my transaction my subtotal was $44.75 , $7.60 in taxes and $52.35 out of pocket + 27 to Stephanie for my cold fx and pgx.

Total paid was $79.35. $value of coupons used was $32. Savings due to pricematching on top of that.

Then I took the pajamas to a different cashier and they still hadn't corrected the system so they scanned at $7 and I got them for free!!! The lady that didn't give it to me the first time was the supervisor so she didn't seem pleased that I got it for free from a different cashier but oh well. Sweet deal!!!

I have added the most awesome tool to my repertoire while shopping. I take my ipad with me and I use the website flyeronfire.com Every week they input all of the flyers in to this database. It mainly uses the flyers from Ottawa. So while I was shopping I saw the babybel with the $1 off coupons attached to them. I inputted babybel and it popped up that they were $2.99 at no frills. There is a link to the flyer and what page of the flyer they are on, then I used my ipad to show the cashier the price on checkout. Worked awesome. I used it for the ruffles for Steph, the tide, my pgx which walmart was already the cheapest. I also had the hard copies of all of the flyers except for no frills. Such a sweet system I have going now.

Then we headed back to Stephs. It was now 2230 and we headed home to bed.

Today we got up and had breakfast and headed to mass at the base church. It was wonderful. Logan had a peanut butter and banana wrap for lunch (recipe I learned from Bobbi Lalumiere) Paul and I had the left over half breast of chicken from friday night chopped up into 2 wraps each with romaine, tomatoes and cheese. Delicious.

Paul is working on his homework as I update my blog and then we are heading to the hill near Logan's school for some sledding!!! Will post pics and a video shortly.

This week Kelly is coming over on Tuesday to help me organize the kitchen better so that will be fun!!Still have to work on finding childcare etc.

Love Rae-Lynn Paul, Logan and Finn.