And then there's CVS:

T-15 days til the parade!!!

This is everything listed yesterday, plus what we bought today from Aldi, Foodtown & A&P. Also, not pictured, 2 more boxes of pasta (which I forgot to take out of the bag before I clicked the pic). We were under budget this week. We came in at about $58, which is AWESOME considering what we got!

There were 2 VERY cool deals at A&P that I will list:

#1: Pert cost $3.29 and I had a $2/1 manufacturer coupon and a $1.50 off any hair cair product store coupon. Made $.21 on the Pert

#2: Colgate on sale for $.99 and I had a $.75 coupon that doubled and a $1.50 off any oral care product store coupon. Made $2.01 on the Colgate. (Like we need more toothpaste!)

I'm giving one of the Crest and the Colgate to Dylan's school's Thanksgiving food/toiletries drive (in addition to the diaper box full of stuff I gave last week). I think I'm also going to give the 2 Kotex as well.

Just for point of reference, If I paid full price, for $58 I could get:

2 Diapers ($12.99 each)
2 Ricotta (about 6.50 each)
2 Chicken about $5.50 each)
2 Life cereal (about $4.00 each)

I freaking love coupons.

At Walmart and Target. Total cost: $2.01

Target
4 Oatmeal @ 2/$5 less $10 gift card (from last week's diapers)

Walmart
2 Cookie mix @ $1.50 each less 2 $.75/1 coupons
2 Kotex @ $1.00 each less 2 $1/1 coupon
1 KY jelly @ $2.57 less $2/1 coupon
1 Prep H wipes @ $2.97 less $3/1 coupon

You see that there? Those be diapers there. You see them there diapers? They cost a net of $3.00!!! Three fricking dollars for two packages of diapers and two tubes of toothpaste. (The toothpaste is really not that exciting since toothpaste is always free or better than free). Does PWNage get any sweeter than this? I submit that it does NOT!

For those of you interested in the math:

Diapers on sale: 2/$20
Toothpaste: $3.49 each

Less $5/$25 email coupon, $4/$20 internet coupon, $1/1 toothpaste coupon, 2 $1/1 pampers coupon (which were in the little coupon-giver-outer next to the diapers - I may have swiped a few more for future use...) and $14 ECBs. I paid $0.98 OOP and it generated $11.98 ECBs.

Yeah, baby! YEAH!

So, bye bye Erica Hahn. Yawn yawn. Yawn yawn yawn. Here's a tip, genius: Don't get into it with Shondaland.

Flu shot this morning for Darren and me. Yippee.

I'm over politics. It's not worth my breath to debate with people who are too ignorant, uneducated or pigheaded to come up with intelligent and meaningful points. Or to read.

And now I shall go back into the kitchen and bake pies before I express too many opinions for a woman. This is me, behaving and baking pies.

"All that year the animals worked like slaves. But they were happy in their work; they grudged no effort or sacrifice, well aware that everything they did was for the benefit of themselves and those of their kind who would come after them, and not for a pack of idle, thieving human beings."

"Surely, comrades, surely there is no one among you who wants to see Bush Jones come back? Now if there was one thing that the animals were completely certain of, it was that they did not want Bush Jones back. When it was put to them in this light, they had no more to say. The importance of keeping the pigs in good health was all too obvious. So it was agreed without further argument that the milk and the windfall apples (and also the main crop of apples when they ripened) should be reserved for the pigs alone."

"Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the animals themselves any richer— except, of course, for the pigs and the dogs."

"All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others."

I hope this change does not turn out to be as double plus ungood as I think it may be.

...why work is so mind numbingly boring.

...who came up with this stupid DST anyway? And why doesn't the whole country have to abide by it? What if I chose not to abide by it?

...what steps must I take to secede from the union? I know it didn't work so well the last time someone tried it, but maybe I'll have better luck. I'll try the whole "under the radar" approach. States' rights!

...where did the Whig party go? I think I'd like to vote for them.

...how can someone run for president and senator in the same election?

...what would possess someone to take a catch phrase from one movie franchise and write it into another? It was not funny and it took me out of the movie. "I have a bad feeling about this" belongs in one set of movies and one alone. I don't care if the movies share actors/directors/script writers. It is bad form.

...did anyone else notice that "Obama" and "Osama" sound a lot alike? I'm just saying. If nothing else, it would be good for political satirical poetry.

That's all for now. Remember to vote. Because it matters. It really does. I mean, unless there are problems in Florida again and they throw out the vote and the beat people up and the Supreme Court gets involved and declares that George III (notice how W looks a little like III) will continue his reign. Not that that would suck any more than our other two options.

Such is life.

EDIT
Just had to share the following conversation:

Dylan: My eyes are blue.
Me: What color are my eyes?
Dylan: Green
Me: What color are Daddy's eyes?
Dylan: Green
Me: What color are Uncle Mike's eyes?
Dylan: I don't know. He's not here.

So far it hasn't been too too terrible (in the grand scheme of things, you know, like compared to nuclear winter or famine or pestilence). Dylan didn't cry when I got on the train. I didn't cry when I got on the train. The two train rides were nice. We got into Boston a little early. Then I made mistake #1.

Lesson #1
When wearing high heels and lugging around a 500 lb suitcase in a city that doesn't number its streets all nice for tourists, take the cab to the rental car agency. The subway is no place for you.

But, eventually (and before they closed) I got to the rental car agency and got my Toyota POS, which is where I discovered what I will call error in judgement #2, made by Darren several months ago.

Lesson #2
When you have a perfectly good TomTom that is stolen and you were more or less happy with its performance, buy the same model when replacing it.

First it didn't have a signal. Then it couldn't find Church Street in Cambridge. Then it found two different Cambridges. But eventually (only an hour late) I met up with Vizma & Co. at Fire & Ice. Surprisingly, after dinner I didn't have any trouble getting to the road the hotel was on. And luckily there was a sign that my hotel was the next left, because the GPS said I had reached my destination and I was on a road in the middle of what looked like woods.

The hotel is nice. My room is nice. No TiVo is not so nice, but not bad on a whole. Breakfast at the hotel was decent and then I came upon what I shall call "Unknown Fact" #3.

Lesson #3
When traveling to Boston in October and renting a car, bring a scraper with you because the POS rental company and their POS Toyota don't supply you with one.

But class was interesting (once I got there after having to let the defroster do all the work for me) and we got out at 3:00, which is uber cool, because....*drumroll* ... tomorrow I'm going to Salem. Yay!!!

But right now, I'm bored. And a little hungry. So I will order room service which will take care of the latter. But the former give me entirely too much free time, and free time makes me miss my boys - especially my little munchkin. I wish I could give him big big hugs.

Hey, Dylan -- SQUEEZE!!!!!

Only 4 days to go. And tomorrow I'll be in Salem. So I can think about witches and pirates -- and not ones that sing "Ahoy, Cock-A-Doodley-Dare." Hmm... don't miss the Wiggles... except maybe Sam.

Plus, I'm due $10 in rebates from Walgreens, so it's technically $50 worth, but I had to put $60 OOP.

Cool Highlights:
- The Diego yogurt (which Dylan is going to LOVE) was 2/$6 and I had a $.75 coupon which doubled - so it cost $4.50 or $2.25 each which, for yogurt, is fantastic.
- The 2 blue cold liquid things and the ibuprofen, after rebates, will come out costing about $1.66 each. Again, fantastic.
- The best one: The 2 glade plug-ins were $1.99 each. I had a BOGO coupon and $1.00 coupon, so I paid $.99 for the two of them. Plus, there is a $1.00 rebate for each, so I make $1.01 on the deal! Score!

Tragically, I did not buy enough P&G products to qualify for the free pair of Crocs. Mike, if you are reading this, I'm very sorry. I know how much you love Crocs, and I was going to give them to you for your birthday.

Total Cash OOP: $0.78
Total Cost: $1.22 OVERAGE (Means I MADE $1.22!!!!!)

Gatorade 5/$5.00 (usually 1.99 each)
Wellpatch $5.99 each
Vitamin C $4.99 each
Spree $0.79

Less
$4.99 Vitamin BOGO
2 $1/1 Wellpatch coupon
2 $2/1 Vitamin coupon

Paid with $15.98 ECBs and $0.78 OOP cash
Made back 17.98 ECBs

I will file this with my other lists, "Ten Reasons Why I Love Root Canals" and "Ten Reasons Why Bush Is The Awesomest President Ever."

Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.

To aid in the transition to a British Crown dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

1. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'colour,' 'favour,' 'labour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters, and the suffix '-ize' will be replaced by the suffix '-ise.' Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up 'vocabulary').
2. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as 'like' and 'you know' is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as U.S. English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take into account the reinstated letter 'u'' and the elimination of '-ize.'
3. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.
4. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not quite ready to be independent. Guns should only be used for shooting grouse. If you can't sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then you're not ready to shoot grouse.
5. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. Although a permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.
6. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left side with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.
7. The former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline) of roughly $10/US gallon. Get used to it.
8. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.
9. The cold, tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. South African beer is also acceptable, as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of the British Commonwealth - see what it did for them. American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.
10. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.
11. You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body Armour like a bunch of nancies).
12. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans first to take the sting out of their deliveries.
13. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.
14. An internal revenue agent (I.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).
15. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 p.m. with proper cups, with saucers, and never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; plus strawberries (with cream) when in season.

God Save the Queen!

PS: Only share this with friends who have a good sense of humour (NOT humor)!