It doesn't hurt to ask....& my HT deals.

Conversation in our van:

Abby: "I like your jacket."
Abby's friend, "Thanks! I got it on sale at Wal-Mart!"
Abby: "Girl, you just rose several notches up the ladder in my book. Anybody that shops at Wal-Mart and isn't afraid to admit it is truly awesome!"

Man, I love that kid! Funny, in our famlily, it's the people who tout thrift that are venerated, not those who make a show of their money.

Whoa...what a day! I started out this morning representing the nursing profession at the high school college fair. Not a lot of interest, I must say, which doesn't bode well for us nurses. I recently read that the average age of RNs is 47...wow. We need lots of folks coming in...

Then a load of laundry on the clothesline (thanks, Debbie!) and off to do super doubles at HT. So, here's what I got: 6 four-packs of yogurt for $.50 ea, guacamole for free, 7 packages of rice-2 for free and $.12 for the others, chocolate cheerios for $1.50, 2 packs of instant oatmeal for $1.49 each, box of wheat thins for $.99, bananas for $.34#, fresh green beans in the mark down bin for $1.00...total paid, $12.79, total savings, $33.81. Nothing remarkable or that I couldn't have lived without. I turned down a bunch ot items, because even though the savings was significant, the item was still cheaper at Aldi.

A cheery story: back in November, my oldest son broke his wrist while on a scouting trip 6 hours from home. Long story short, it required surgery and was going to cost us @ $1000.00 out of pocket. (@ $9000.00 total-crazy!) The bad news was that it healed wrong. So we go to our doc here and find out that we now have to go back every 3 months for x-rays (@$50.00 a crack) and see what happens. I paid the hospital and anesthesia bills, but when the Dr. bill came, I wrote the guy a letter and told him what happened. I was VERY nice-- really. I told him I wasn't upset or anything and that I realize "stuff happens, " but asked if he would consider reducing the $550.00 bill in light of the fact that we will have to do follow up here. I also said that if he wouldn't I understood and would pay it. Guess what? HE DROPPED THE CHARGE COMPLETELY!  I think I might send him part of it just for being so nice! It always pays to ask!

And then I got our bi-annual car insurance bill. I was shaking when I opened it because my daughter is now driving and I had heard a lot of horror stories...but it only went up by about 25%, which is high, but not as much as I had anticipated. Woot!!!! (Farm Bureau, BTW)

I am working hard on compiling a comparison list of 20 most purchased grocery items among different stores. I knew there was a diffrence, but WOW! Wait until you see it. You will be shocked. Should have it ready by next week.

There's a new recipe on the blog site: instant cappacino (I know that's spelled wrong...hate that there's no spell check on my blog!!!)

The boyscouts in this area are in the middle of a food drive. If you got one of their little bags on your door...please consider throwing in a few cans and putting it on your porch for pick up. It means so much to the scouts and even more to the needy in the community!!