The last 23 years- Part One

So, through the miracle of Facebook, I have re-connected with my long, lost best friend from Middle School, Jeriann Jones. We went to Middle School at Ft. Hood, Tx. My family moved to Utah the summer after 8th grade and we haven't seen each other since. We need to catch up, which is going to take a while, but I thought it would be fun to share the journey with all of you... By the way, I'm pretty sure Jeriann gave me this lovely haircut- in my bathroom-...

Hey Girl! Can you believe Texas was 23 years ago?!? It seriously feels like it was yesterday! Crazy as it sounds, I really don't feel THAT much differently than the nerdy 13 year old that left that summer... Catching up on the last 23 years might take a while, so I think we should do this in installments, haha!

Well, after we left Texas, we spent the summer in Burley, ID. It's a little town in Southern Idaho where my parents grew up and both sets of my grandparents lived. It was a pretty fun summer, actually. I remember that I missed you a lot! It was that summer that I met my husband Mike. I was barely 14 and he was almost 17. We met at the first church dance I ever went to. Crazy, right?

So, after leaving the Army and weighing all their options, my parents decided my dad should go back to school for a Master's degree. They decided to go to Utah State University in Logan, UT. So after moving every 3 years my whole life, this is where my parents landed in Logan and I lived there for 6 years. All of High School and my first two years of college.

I don't know if you remember, but my mom had just had my little brother Jake like two weeks before we left Texas. So that made 8 kids! My mom had another baby during my Senior year, my little sister Julia and then she has ANOTHER baby a few months after I got married. Yes, it was a true Mormon wedding- where the mother of the bride was pregnant, not the bride... Haha!

Even though I didn't ever live in the same town with Mike, we kept in touch over the years, and after his LDS mission (to guess where: Santa Rosa, Ca,!), we starting dating seriously and got married a year later.

May The Wind Be Always At Your Back

This is me last year running the Salt Lake Half Marathon. It was my first race. My sister Melissa and ran it together. We did it run walk and it turned out to be great.

I'm registered to run it again. I'm actually pretty excited. I hoping to be at least a little bit faster than last year...

So I've been training for the last several weeks. Mostly inside due to the weather.

The other day it was almost 60 degrees, so after work, I decided to venture a 5 miler outside. One problem: I hadn't realized how blasted windy it was! I was no more that 100 feet away from my house when I decided that it was just too windy and I was going to turn around and hit the gym.

As I was walking back to my house, I noticed my friend Tracy coming toward me in her car. She was actually getting ready to go on a road ride, crazy girl. I told her that I was going to head inside and she told me I just needed to turn around and get going.

Well, there's nothing like a little peer pressure to get you going! I turned around and headed south, right into the wind. YUK! I ran into the wind for about a mile, but then, the second I turned around, I remembered that the best part of running into the wind is when you get to turn around and the wind is at your back!

So as I was running with the wind at my back, I remembered a song that I had learned in choir in high school. It was a beautiful arrangement of the traditional Irish Blessing. You know, "May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back...".

As a runner, this blessing takes on a new and special meaning. When you're running into the wind, it's just head down, one foot in front of the other. But with the wind at you back, you can look around, breathe the air, enjoy the view. Sometimes you can even feel it pushing you along. As a newbie runner, I'll take every bit of help I can get! These are the moments that turn you into a real runner, that make you long to get outside and get running.

So to all you runners out there:

An Old Irish Blessing

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Couponing Adventure $465.29 for $109.08

Last week I spent more on groceries than I have in any one week since December, but I got
A LOT of stuff!
WARNING: THIS IS A VERY LONG POST
Here's how it went down:

*Remember: I learned about most of these deals on www.athriftymom.com*
MONDAY

Walgreens:

Right Guard $4.29 B1G1 free

• used 2 $2 off 2 printables
• Final Price: $1.14 ea.

Purex $5.79 B1G1 free

• used B1G1 free coupon
• Final Price: FREE!

Peeps $0.99 used as a filler
Paid with a $3 Register Reward from last week
Total OOP: $3.94

These two photos show 4 transactions at Albertsons.
At Albertsons there was a General Mills/NASCAR promotion: Buy $20 get a $7 catalina on your next order (ONYNO). I took advantage of that but I also had some rainchecks from the Quakers promotion last month. There were also double coupons! Please visit www.athriftymom.com for good instructions about using double value coupons.
Before sales, coupons or promotions this would have cost $230.72. I got it all for $49.34!

Transaction #1
6 Progresso Soups $1.50 ea.

• Used 3 $1.10 off 3 printables
• Final price $1.13 ea.
  

3 Nature Valley Nut Clusters $$2.50 ea.

• Used 3 $1.00 off printables
• Final price $1.50 ea.

2 Chex Mix $2.50 ea.

• Used 2 $0.50 off printables
• Final price $2.00 ea.

Total OOP: 16.69
Recieved $7.00 Catalina

Transaction #2
6 Pop Secret Popcorn $1.00 ea

• Used $. 50 off 2 coupon
• Used 3 double coupons
  
• Final price: $0.50 ea

3 Betty Crocker Brownie Mix $2.00 ea

• Used $0.75 of 2 printable
• Final price $1.50 ea

2 Betty Crocker Cookie Mixes $1.69 ea

• Used $1.00 off 2 printable
• Final Price $1.19 ea.

10 Betty Crocker Cake Mixes $1.00 ea

Used $7.00 catalina from transaction #1
Total OOP: $15.15
Received $7.00 Catalina


Transaction #3

4 Pop Secret popcorn $1.00 ea.

• Used $. 50 off 2 coupon
• Used 2 double coupons
  
• Final price: $0.50 ea

4 Best Foods Light Mayo $2.00 ea.

• Used a rain check from February
• Total price $8.00

1 Kettle Chips $3.00

• Used $1.00 off 1
• Used double coupon
• Total price: $1.00

Paid with $7.00 Catalina from transaction #2
Total OOP:$4.78


Transaction #4 (This is were I used $1.00 Quaker rain checks from February)

5 Quaker Oat Squares $1.00 ea
10 Captain Crunch (Crunch berries and Peanut Butter) $1.00 ea
5 Quaker Oatmeal Pancake Mix $1.00 ea.
5 Oatmeal To Go bars $1.00 ea

• Used 5 $3/5 Quaker Products coupons that we found on e-Bay
• Total price: $.40 ea! Can you believe that?!

2 Cake Mixes $1.00 ea.
Total OOP: $12.72

After those crazy transactions, I ran over to Smith's for one more crazy deal.
Before sales, coupons or promotions this would have cost $37.50 I got it all for $13.80!

4 Kellog's cereals $2.50 ea.

• Used 2 $1.00 off 2 coupons
• Final price $2.00 ea

2 Mountain Dairy milk FREE!

• There was a Buy 4 Kellogs cereal, get 2 gallons FREE!
• Final price: FREE!

4 Nabisco Cookies $2.99 ea

• Used 2 buy 1 milk get cookies B1G1 free from Facebook (but I already had the 2 milks from the cereal)
• Also on two of the cookies there were $1.00 off peelies
  
• Final price $0.99 ea.

Used 2 Albertsons double coupons -$2.oo
Total OOP:$13.18

TUESDAY

Smuckers Sugar Free Jam $3.49
Adams Peanut Butter $2.79

• No Coupons for these, but I needed them for my "sugar free" 2 weeks (I'll blog about that later)
• Final price: $6.28

Diet Coke $1.25

• No Coupon, it was late and I was thirsty!
• Final price: $1.25
  

12 Dannon Light n Fit Yogurt $0.50 ea

• Used 1 $1.00 off 6
• Used 1 $0.75 off 6
• Used 2 double value coupons
• Final price: $.30 ea

4 Albertson's Lunchmeat $0.99 ea.

• On clearance in deli section
• Final price: $0.99 ea
  

Dog Food $12.99 (Not pictured, I HAAATE spending $$ on dog food...)

• Used $1.00 off coupon
• Used double value coupon
• Final price $10.99

Paid with $2.00 from a survey I took on Monday
Total OOP:$22.26

Walgreens: This was 2 transactions

Transaction #1

Register Reward Deal: buy 3+ products get $5 RR

4 Kotex feminine care $2.99ea

• Used 2 $1.50 off 2 printable Kotex pads coupons

Final Price: $2.29 each
Total OOP: $9.50
Revieved $5.00 Register Reward to use OYNO
Transaction #2

Computer paper $6.99
Paid with $5.00 RR from transaction #1
Total OOP: $2.40

Wednesday- Can you say "Fruit Snacks"?!?
So, starting on Wednesday there were several great promotions at Albertsons:

1. Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks 2/22 good till 3/21

• Buy 3, get back a $1.50 catalina
• Buy 4, get back a $2.50 catalina
• Buy 5 or more, get back a $3.50 catalina

2. Chill Promotion going on through March

• Buy 10 participating products, get $10 in catalina to use OYNO

3. Crystal Light

• Buy 3, get back a $2.00 catalina
• Buy 4, get back a $3.00 catalina
• Buy 5 or more, get back a $4.00 catalina

I made 2 trips to Albertsons on Wednesday:


Trip #1, Transaction #1:

5 Fruit Snacks $1.00 ea

• Used 2 $0.50 off 2 printables
• Final price $0.80 ea

8 Old Orchard Juices $1.29 ea

• Used 2 $1.00 off 4 printables
• Used 2 double value coupons
  
• Final price:$0.79 ea

2 Ore-Ida Steam & Mash $2.99 ea

• Used 2 $1.00 off printables
• Used 2 double value coupons
• Final Price: $1.99

Final OOP: $14.13
Received $3.50 Catalina from fruit snacks
Received $10 Catalina from frozen foods

Transaction #2:

5 Fruit Snacks $1.00 ea

• Used 2 $0.50 off 2 printables
• Used $3.50 Catalina from transaction #1
  
• Final price $0.10 ea

Total OOP:$0.80
Received $3.50 Catalina from fruit snacks

Transaction #3:

5 Fruit Snacks $1.00 ea

• Used 2 $0.50 off 2 printables
• Used $3.50 Catalina from transaction #2
  
• Final price $0.10 ea

Total OOP:$0.80
Received $3.50 Catalina from fruit snacks

Trip #2, Transaction #1:

Transaction #1:

5 Fruit Snacks $1.00 ea

• Used 2 $0.50 off 2 printables
• Used $3.50 Catalina from earlier in the day
  
• Final price $0.10 ea

3 Crystal Light $2.33 ea

• Used 1 $0.50 off 2 coupon
  
• Used 1 Double Value Coupon

8 Old Orchard Juices $1.29 ea

• Used 2 $1.00 off 4 printables
• Used 2 double value coupons
  
• Final price:$0.79 ea

2 Garlic Bread $2.59

Used $10.00 catalina from earlier in the day
Used $3.50 catalina from earlier in the day

Total OOP:$14.40

Received $3.50 Catalina from fruit snacks
Received $10.00 Catalina from frozen foods
Received $4.00 Catalina from Crystal Light

I'm a Super Hero's Mom

This is my oldest daughter, Hailey. She's 14 1/2 going on at least 16 (which is a huge problem...). She is a freshman at her high school.

Pref (Girl's choice dance) is this weekend and so they have been having dress up days (Monday-pajama day, Tuesday- Foreign Exchange day, etc.). Well, apparently today, Wednesday, is Super Hero day.

We were having dinner with Mike's family on Sunday and Hailey and her cousin Callin (sophomore) were talking about what super heroes they could dress up as. I think it might have been my bright idea for them to go as the Wonder Twins.

Of course, they had no idea who I was talking about (thank goodness for Google!). After they looked up the Wonder Twins, they thought it would be a great idea.

I thought they needed the costumes for Friday, but no, they were for today! So, of course, we were frantically putting this together last night (no wonder my laundry never gets done...).

I traced a pair of her workout shorts and made a pattern for these shorts... I think they actually turned out ok. Hopefully someone will take a picture of the two of them together.

Working on this costume with Hailey was one of those rare moments of bonding: the two of us working on something together, trying to make the uncooperative fabric line up, laughing when the first fitting was WAY too small, figuring out how to fix that, plus the fact that she kept saying how "legit" it was. Mike was there too, in a supporting role...

At first I was getting frustrated that I wasn't going to have time to complete my training run for the day, but this morning when she was so happy to have such a "legit" costume, I realized that it was worth it. You just don't get those kinds of moments very often...

Last Week's Couponing Adventure

Ok, so with a large family, I'm always looking for ways to save money. I have a really good friend, Lana, who has been couponing for a while and when she told me that she spends about $200/month on groceries(for a family of 8!) using coupons, I thought I had to give it a try.

She taught me the basics and turned me on to a great web-site www.athriftymom.com. I started in January. In December, I spent $800 on groceries, which I would say has been a pretty average amount (by "groceries" I mean anything purchased at the grocery store; this includes: food, paper goods, shampoo, medicine, etc...). In January, I spent $600- so that's already about a 25% reduction of my grocery budget.

I was talking to one of my sisters about this, and she said I should start keeping track of my savings. I thought that it would be fun to have a record of my savings and see if I'm making progress.

Someday, I'd like to be able to show you exactly how I did every transaction, but for now, I might just have to keep it simple.

**DISCLAIMER**

I am new at this. I hope eventually I'll be as good as Lana and "The Thrifty Mom". I'm getting better all the time... Here are some tricks I've learned so far:

• I've learned that the trick to getting great deals at Walgreens is to utilize their "Register Rewards" and to shop using several transactions in order to "roll " the Register Rewards. Again, I'll defer to www.athriftymom.com. She has great instructions on her website about how to do this.
  
• The trick at other stores (Albertson's, Smith's, etc.) is to "stack", meaning, find the store sales for the week and then "stack" them with a manufacturer's coupon to get extra savings.
  
• The third trick is to buy multiple Sunday papers (at least 5) so that you have several of the same coupon. That way, when there is a really good deal, you can stock up on that item.
  

So, last week I shopped at Walgreens and Alberetson's. Here are the deals I got... I want to give proper credit: I learned about all of these deals on www.athriftymom.com.

WALGREEN'S

Transaction #1

Hershey's Pieces 4@ 2/ $5.00- buy 4 get a $5.00 RR

• $1.00 from a Utah Smart Source (used 2)

Total Out of Pocket (OOP): $8.60

Transaction #2

Tomato Sauce 3@ $.39 with in ad coupon

• Used $1.00 off 3 from delmonte.com
  

Total: $.06 ea.

Triaminic 2/$10 (W sale price) $5.00 RR when you buy 2

• Used $1.00 off 1 (used 2)
  

Total: $8.00

Excedrin $2.50

• $2.00 off 1

Total: $.50

Paid with $5.oo RR from #1

Total OOP: $4.49

Transaction #3

Cover Girl cosmetics Buy one get one 50% off ( one eyeshadow was $7.49 the other $8.99)

• use the B1G1 free from 2/7 PG
• $1 from 2/14 Red Plum

Total: $3.99 for both items

Right Guard Deoderant $2.99-$3.99 ea. B1G1 free.

• Use $2 off2 (use 2)

Total: about $1 each

Tylenol Sinus $4.99 ea $3.oo RR when you buy 2

• Use $3.00 off 2 coupon
  

Total: $6.98

Lemonheads $.49 each

Paid with $5 RR from #2

Total OOP: $12.32





Transaction #4:

Tomato Sauce 3@ $.39 with in ad coupon

• Used $1.00 off 3 from delmonte.com
  

Total: $.06 ea.

Excedrin $2.50

• $2.00 off 1

Total: $.50

Seeds 5/$1.00 with in ad coupon
Total: $.20 each

Paid with $3.00 RR from #3

Total OOP: $1.95

Later I returned the Excedrin for $5.60

So on this trip, my total OOP was $21.76. Without couponing, this would have cost me $90.31.

Albertson's

This week at Albertson's they had a deal where you buy $20 in participating items and get back a $7 Catalina coupon to use on your next purchase (basically like getting $7 back).

So, first I purchased these items that totlaed something like $21.00. I had $1.00 coupons for everything but the bisquick. I had a $.60 coupon for that. So my total OOP was about $15.00 and I got a $7.00 Catalina.

Then, I got a few things that we just needed. Everything was on sale. I also got a box of Kashi cereal that I has a $1.50 off coupon for. Total for this was $11.60


I also spent about $40 at Costco (fruit, fruit leather, soy milk, etc.)

Total OOP: $27.60

This week I spent about $87 on groceries. I used to try to keep my grocery budget to $200/week. Now I'm shooting for $100/week, so last week I was under. Yay!

It's Time!

I've been thinking about starting a blog forever. Last year I had several experiences that I wish I would have documented. I'm starting a new adventure today so I just decided that today is the day! So, here it goes.

If you're reading this, then you probably already know me. But just in case you don't, here's a quick intro (I'm sure you'll get many more details as we go along...): My name is Adria. I have a husband and five kids (yes, five). They are great. I have a degree in Health Education and am currently working at our local Health Department as a Health Education Specialist. I live in small town Idaho. I NEVER thought I would end up here, but after nearly 17 years, I can say I love it here.

As a busy working mom, running around has always been a part of my life. Last year, however, I started ACTUALLY running- hence, Adventures of the Running Mom.

Along with running, I have other adventures as well. I just started couponing, which is turning out to be quite fun. I'm also trying to go sugar free, so that will be an adventure in itself.

I want this blog to be a place to document my life as well as a place to share my adventures with others.

Welcome to Adventures of the Running Mom!