Thursday, March 31, 2011

Quitting HRT Cold Turkey Journey

Last week I went to the doctor for my yearly check up.  I'm now back to my family doctor rather then going to OB/GYN because well there is nothing left for them to be doctoring!  LOL.  Top of my list of things to talk to her about was getting off the hormone replacement therapy patch.  I was on the highest dose of .01%.  My doctor planned for me to go down to .075% for a month and then .05% for a month and then .025% and then finally just using a hormone cream.  Last Saturday I started with the new patch.  All seemed ok. Sunday I had nausea but didn't think nothing of it.  By Monday afternoon I was sick.  I felt anxious and as though the back of my head was in a vise.  I called the doctor and I talked to her nurse.  While I was on hold waiting to talk to the doctors nurse I took the patch off.  Within minutes I felt better.  Unbelievable how fast and how different I felt.  Better.  The nurse said that the doctor couldn't talk to me until the next day so I was to go without the patch until I talked to her.  The doctor called me back the next day said go back to the higher amount.  She said my body couldn't tolerate the lesser amount.  To me that didn't seem right....  ok that wasn't what I wanted to hear.  So I decided that I'm going cold turkey.  So far I'm doing well.  No hot flashes or mood swings.  I do have a headache.  This is the same feeling I had when I stopped drinking caffeine.  I waited 3 months for the headache to stop from withdrawal of caffeine.  Now before you get all excited that I'm going cold turkey.  Let explain my feelings about the patch.  What happened to me on Monday I could not think straight I felt trapped and anxious.  That completely scared me.  HRT is very very powerful.  It was clear to me that it had control over me and I had to go through withdrawal at some time.  Well I'm going cold turkey  now rather then play around (stepping down as planned) with these hormones that no one knows for sure is the right dose.  If my symptoms get overwhelming   I can always go back on them.  But it would have to severe.  The more I read about menopause the more I realize that before I had my hysterectomy I was having almost all of the symptoms of menopause.  I'm feeling right now I can handle it.  I've kicked the caffeine and cigs, I can kick the hormones and deal with menopause.  So far I feel more normal then I have felt in a long time.  I want to be off the HRT and I know I have to go through some sort of withdrawal why wait?  When it a better time.  4 days down so far...


Today I have headache.  Felt a little foggy this morning, but by noon I felt much much clearer.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Easter Wreath

Last year I saw one of these and I wanted to make one. 

So I watched for a styroform ring at a rummage sale ($.50) and I picked up 4 bags of plastic eggs for $.25 each last year at Walgreens Easter clearance.  


Friday, March 25, 2011

Eagle Live on the Nest

Live
 
Rumor has it that the eggs should hatch on April 1 2011

Can't wait to see the babies!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Walmart coupon Policy Updated Again

Walmart has updated or changed their coupon policy again.  They will  NOT accept Walgreens register rewards any more.  That was one of the changes they made a few weeks ago.  Which is fine with me.  I really wanted it to be in writing that they accept catalina coupons (red striped coupons printed at registers) these coupons are manufacturer coupons that can be used anywhere.  However the cashiers would always decline using them because they had other store names printed on them.  Well they do accept them and it is clearly stated that they do.  I really like that part of the updated policy. Walmart Policy

Henry Got a Hair Cut

Henry got a hair on Monday he does look great!!!  Not that you can tell by this photo..  He is so lazy he didn't want to sit up to have his photo taken!!

Elizabeth Taylor Passed Away








Elizabeth Taylor
  1932-2011
This British Jewel will be missed!

March Snow Storm

Another year with a big March snow storm.  We had 10+ inch of heavy wet snow.  The storm started yesterday morning with sleet/snow then it turned to rain and then last night it turned to heavy sleet.  We had thunder and lightning through the night.  I had to set my alarm on my blackberry because the power would go off for few second every so often.  It was messing up the alarm clock.  I kind of thought there would be no school today which there wasn't.  However my son had to be up for work.  It seems as the snow has stopped but now it's blowing around.  Usually March snow melts the same day or the next but from what the weather people are saying it's gonna be here for awhile!  Man!!

 This is my father inlaw who lives next door cleaning out our driveway with our skidster. My husband was up north fishing.  It's usually a 3 hour drive.  Well he left 6 hours ago and he is still not home.  The route he takes to get home had up to 18 inches of snow.  Before this storm we didn't have any snow on the ground..  Do you see the snow that stuck to the window?  I'm sick of this weather!

So I didn't do my shopping today.  I might go tomorrow..  We'll see.  I did do a puzzle yesterday and I started another one today.

Has any one seen spring lately??

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Wednesdays Deals

Gas prices here has settled at $3.54 for regular.

However I can't believe what a head of lettuce is... $1.99 a head!!  That is a $.50 jump since last week.

Milk has also gone up about a quarter a gallon. 

What are your prices?

Walgreens Deal is Irish Spring Deodorant $2/2 after Register Rewards but I used two $1/1 coupons that I printed last week at coupons.com  I don't think these coupons are available any more.  So they were free.

Pick N Save Pedigree 4 pound bag $4.89 and I used $3 coupon I printed from somewhere.  Jollytime popcorn $1.50 used $.50/1 from the Sunday inserts.  Febreeze Air Freshner on clearance for $1.44 used $1/1 coupon from a home mailer.  Charmin extremely small package $.50 each and I used $.25/1 coupon.  Progresso Clam Chowder $.99 used $1/4 coupon from the Sunday inserts.  Colgate ProClinical on clearance $1.99 and I used $.75/1 coupon from the Sunday inserts.  Apples $1.98 for a 3 pound bag.  Coffeemate $2.29 but were B1G1F and I used 2 $.75/1 coupons printed from Coffeemate Website  I had 5 $1 coupons doubled.  I spent $11 and saved $40

Festival Foods loaf of store brand bread $.48, Wonder Bread $.98 eggs $.49 and $.69 all with ad coupons.  They had Kibbles and Bits 4 pound bag $4.79 and I used $3 coupon I printed from their website a few weeks ago.   I spent $9 and saved $16.

Walmart Deals.  I price match Piggly Wiggly ad for a case of Mt Dew $4.99.  I tried the new coupon policy out and it worked.  I bought the small box of Gain dryer sheets $1.87 and used $3 coupon and I got the overage... no problems.  So I will be using the rest of my Gain coupons there.  My aunt gave me 4 more of these coupons. Yes! They expire at the end of the month.

Happy St Patrick's Day!

We are not seeing green on this St Patrick's Day 2011!!
This is my yard this morning.  No sun and still lots of snow.  I know in the photo the grass looks green but it's not.  Its a yucky yellowish brown.

But that is no reason to not celebrate 

St Patrick's Day!!!

If you live in an area where the weather is already spring like...  B thankful!!

Friday, March 11, 2011

This Weeks Coupon Deals

We had a snow storm on Wednesday so I did not go shopping until Thursday.  Here are the deals

Walgreens is having a deep clearance in their frozen foods.  I got Red Barons single pizzas $.97, Hot Pocket Calzones $.75, Sherbert $.62, M&M ice cream $.75 a pint, Starbucks pint $1.29, Dove single ice cream bar $.50 and Edy's sugar free round $1.59.  All were excellent price and I didn't have any coupons.  I also bought some more of the Nexxus but this time shampoo.  I shopped earlier this week and picked up the conditioner.  The deal is buy one and get the second half off.  It's not the best deal, but it's the best I have come across in a while.  Love Nexxus.  I found Scotch Sealing Tape 100ft roll regular price $5.99 but on clearance $1.49...  great price.

Walmart I price matched Festival Ad for Starkist light tuna can's 3 for $.99 limit 6.  And gallon of milk $.98.  I also bought asparagus $2.39 a pound.  Cantaloupe $1.50 each..  last time I bought one from Walmart it was delicious.  I haven't cut this one open yet.  And they had grapes for $.99 a pound.

Then I went over to Festival Foods Store brand Lasagna noodles $.88, Prego Spag Sauce $.98 limit one of each of these with in ad coupon.  6 of the Starkist tuna for $.99/3, another gallon of milk $.98 and store brand frozen peas $.68 each with ad coupon.  Fresh mushrooms $.69 with mailer coupon.  I didn't have any manufacturer coupons.  Saved $15 and spent $13.

I did not shop at Pick n Save because there wasn't anything I wanted and double coupon days are only Wednesday and Saturday. 

Target RANT

I'm going to talk negatively about Target.  I'm keeping it real people...  First I will NOT be going back into Target Appleton East ever.  Its so sad, I hate the thought of no more clearance items, after holiday discounts and great sales.  But I have had it.  They keep changing their coupon rules.  I can't keep up and I leave feeling like I was doing something wrong.  I wasn't I was following their rules from the weeks before.  I wanted to use 2 Target.com printed coupons and 2 manufacturer coupons on 2 a like items.  If you have read my blog before I have been doing this forever.  Well yesterday I was FIRMLY told they don't take 2 a like Target.com coupons in one transaction.  There is a limit of 1 per item, per day, per transaction.  I asked where this is posted.  I was told it is, in their ad.  No it's not, in their ad it says they reserve the right to limit quantity's that is not a coupon policy.  I asked her they post their coupon policy changes and she insisted that their ad is a posting of their policies.  Poop on them.  Thats not a policy.  I understand if they want to limit coupons usage but they must post it some where so customers and employees have something to refer to.  I try to obey their rules but when they change every time I'm there and the girls at the registers don't understand them either and they have to ask for customer service to come to the register to explain it.  Isn't right and frustrating.  I can only print 2 Target.com coupons at a time so why is it limited to 1 per day,  per transaction. I was pointed out that the coupon states one per transaction.  I believe that if I buy 10 items on one receipt that is the transaction.  If it's one item is a transaction then I would have to ring everything up in separate receipts and I would have 10 receipts.  I have been talking about this all over the net.  ( I wonder if they realize with social media being "now" that when they p*ss off a customer everyone knows about it instantly) and there are so many people upset about various things that Target has done to their customers.  Google Target Store S*cks... I can relate because there are other situations with that store that makes me upset.  Their price matching is upside down.  My daughter returned her guitar hero which was unopened with the receipt within the a 30 day window and they wouldn't give her cash only a gift card.  I can understand if it was a gift receipt.  She had the original receipt.  I was told to bad.  I tried to fill a prescription and was told they didn't carry that item.. what never encountered that before.  The pharmacist offered to call around to find another place that carried it.  Nice of him, but I found somewhere else myself.  Still shocking this was not a cancer or rare drug.   I will be refilling all of prescriptions else where asap.  I threw all my target coupons out.  I will canceling the mobile coupons.. yeah thats a laugh I hadn't trying using them, but I would bet it wouldn't scan so I wouldn't be able to use them.  When there coupons come in the mail, they will be sent back with a long detailed reason why I WON"T be using them.  The last time I boycotted a store.. Circuit City and yeah..  where are they today????  With Walmart, Walgreens and Best Buy within 2 blocks of this Target store...  what are they thinking???  Walmarts new coupon policy is amazing...  I have not tried it but word on the net is if the coupon is higher then the price of the item you will get the overage.  Such as the Gain dryer sheets are $1.78 (or something like that) and you can use the $3 off any size coupon.  So you will receive $1.22 overage to use on the rest of your transaction.  No cash back, but this is great.  Then they also added they will accept Walgreens Register Rewards!!!!  This terrific.  Hopefully now they will understand that we can use catalina coupons with store names on them anywhere.  Catalina coupons are manufacturer coupons and can be use anywhere!!  Hopefully Walmart will be training their cashiers correctly.  Walmart is becoming coupon friendly and Target is getting tighter and tighter.  So where are the coupon users going???  Duh Walmart!!  I wonder if the show Extreme Couponing has anything to do with Targets coupon tightening policy??

Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

OMG the entire country of Japan had a Earthquake 8.8 which caused a Tsunami.  This is a horrible situation for this country.  My prayers are going out to them. 

Now they are saying that Hawaii could get a damaging Tsunami it won't be a huge only 6 to 8 feet vs the 23 foot wave Japan was hit with.  Still could cause damage but there has been enough of warning for people to go inland.  This Tsunami could hit the west coast of the main land.  Hopefully it will be less of a impact by the time it gets to the States.  My prayers go out to all the people in the Pacific!! 


Everyone must be on You Tube looking at this because I can't get into You Tube this morning.  Other wise I would have posted a video!! Maybe I will be able update later today.  I will be watching!!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Now Available at Different Things

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Bosch SHE43F16UC Dishwasher It's been a Year

It been a year with my Bosch  .  It doesn't feel like it's been a year.  I still love it and I learned a lot about it.  First I had stock piled dishwasher tabs when ever I could get them for free months before I even I had a dishwasher.  So I was using these tab up until late fall.  Well then I had to buy some and of course I got some free or for pennies and thats when trouble began.  My dishes were coming out with a white powdery streaks on them.  I was using Finish tabs and Finish Rinse this was Bosch user book said worked best and it did until my stock pile ran out.  I bought the same product but the powder seemed to stick to all the glasses and any item that boiled water or was in boiling water.  Like my pots and black spoons.  My black glasses we horrible and I didn't want to drink out of them  I had to wash everything in vinegar to get rid of the white streaks.  I stopped putting my black nylon spoons and such in the dish washer.  Hint when this happens I would wipe them down with vegetable oil and then hand wash them and it restored them to looking new.  However most of my pots are still white.   I googled the problem and the first thing that came up was hard water.  And yes we have very hard water and we have a water softener.  I had hubby check it and it was working fine.  So the next thing that was talked about was using to much detergent.  Well thats not the case because I'm use the tabs its all measured out.  However they also talked about how manufacturers had to change the formula of the detergent because  the government banned phosphorus.  That is one of the ingredients and I guess without it I get white powdery streaks on my dishes.  I really had it bad because most of my dishes and equipment is black.   I bought liquid that didn't work.  I used my tabs and vinegar as a rinse and that didn't work.  I used liquid and vinegar that didn't work.  So then I realized  the inside of the dishwasher probably also had a build up but I couldn't see that.  I was running vinegar in my empty dishwasher once a month, but I needed something more of a cleaner.  So I bought Finish Dishwasher cleaner.  Actually I bought 2 and I ran them through right after each other in the longest cycle.  And that did the trick.  I still was seeing the build up start again.  So I bought the Finish gel packs.  That was the thing!!  But I have all of these tabs I got stock piled again.  My solution is I run a gel pack and tab every other time and I don't use a rinse.  I fill a measuring cup with 4 oz of vinegar, set it in the bottom rack every time I run the dishwasher and I have not had one problem since!!  I run a Finish dishwasher cleaner through once a month.  I think this works for this dishwasher and our water.  I don't know if this would work for you.  I think everyone has to try different things to see what works for you. 

I don't have any issues with the dishes coming clean aside from the white powder issue I was having.  Once in a while something will come out dirty but it is because someone loaded the dishwasher wrong.  Like a bowl right side up or 2 plates in the same slot.  It's amazes me that the kids really think it's gonna come clean when they load it that way.

I was really worried about how much the electric bill was going to go up.  Well I didn't see a difference in our bill.  The first 6 months I ran it on the Pot Scrubber cycle which is over a 100 minutes.  That is a long time.  So I had to get everything in there from the entire day or still do some dishes that didn't fit.  Well then I thought I'm going to try the quick cycle which is just under 30 minutes and guess what it cleans the almost as well as the pot scrubber cycle.  If I have some really tough pots and pans they won't come out clean but the typical dirty dishes including dried melted cheese comes right off in the shorter cycle.  With the shorter cycle I run it more then once a day.  So I don't have to pack it so tight and the kids can throw in dishes with less worry about getting it wrong and it will come out clean.  I don't have to worry so much about the electricity.  If I run it twice a day on the shorter cycle it still is less runny time then one of the pot scrubber cycle.  We have a well so I have no clue if the dishwasher uses to much water.

Another concern that I had was moisture in the house from the heat from the dishwasher.  From the research I did before went looking for a dishwasher that the Bosch was the best for less moisture.  The stainless interior really promotes drying and it doesn't have a heating element on the bottom so there isn't a drying cycle.   I have not had an issue with spots, no matter if I take the glasses out when the cycle ends and they are still warm or if I take out the glasses 2 hours after the cycle.  However plastic containers don't dry well.  Most because of the rim, water sits in the rim.  So I do have to dry my plastic containers with a towel.  I have not found any more moisture on my windows in the winter after running the dishwasher.  I did look at other models like Kitchen Aid (comparable price) and they did have some really cool bells and whistles that my Bosch model didn't have but the Bosch rep of great cleaning and drying I was sold.

Some of my logos on coffee mugs and any paint on glasses have come off because of the dishwasher.  Now when I buy new items I pay attention if it is dishwasher safe.  I never did that before because I didn't have a dishwasher.

Would I buy this model again? yes.  Would I tell my friends and family to buy this model? yes. 

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Piggly Wiggly and Walgreens Deals

Piggly Wiggly I picked up these deals Betty Crockers potatoes free with $10 purchase and facebook coupon.  There is a deal buy 10 of these items and get them for $.69 each..  Brown and Serve, Manwich and Pillsbury Grands, I used a $.30/2 coupon from the Sunday inserts.  Chicken of the Seas 3 cans for $.99 and Claussens Pickles $.99 limit 3.  Spent $12 and saved $17.  This ad ends today.

Walgreens has Swifter floor dusting refills  are $3.74 on sale.  Buy 4 and get $3 register rewards back and also use 2 buy one get one free coupons from the Sunday inserts.   Then they have Nexxus buy one and get the second half price.  I bought Kaukauna shorts on clearance for my daughter for her birthday.  Spent $28 and saved $19. 

Monday, March 7, 2011

Gas Prices

I just paid $3.47 a gallon for regular in Kaukauna Wi.  Before I left home I checked prices at gasbuddy.com    What are you paying? And where are you located?

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Walmart Coupon Policy

Walmart has updated their coupon policy  print here and take it with you to the store it will help you when there is conflict. 

Wednesday Deals

Aldi's deals:  This week they have bags of oranges for $.99 each.  Great deal and they taste great.  Lettuce $.99 each everywhere else is $1.48 at least.  Strawberries $2 a container.  Cans of beets are $.59 each.

Target had Bounce Dryer bar on clearance $1.04 and I used $.50/1 coupon for the Sunday inserts.  Fructis $1.78 on clearance and I used $1/1 that I printed but I can't remember where.  Excedrin $3.39 and I used $1/1 coupon from Sunday inserts and $3/1 that I printed from target.com  Spent $.28 and saved $9.50

Walmart deals I price matched Festival Foods shredded cheese $.99 each and $.69 eggs (eggs are other wise high here about $1.50 a dozen regular price..)   Price matched Piggly Wiggly ad  Clausens pickles $.99 and can's of tuna are 3 for $.99.  Walmart haas Doritos $1.90 and Cantoupe $1.50 each and they are good.


Festival food they have a deal when you buy 10 select items they take $.50 off each item.  I bought Betty Crocker cake mix, Pillsbury crescents and bugles.  I only coupons for the crescents.  I bought more of the cheese and eggs.  And they had Ruffles my favorite potato snack $1.99.  Spent $21 and saved $32.

Pick n Save deals Clearance Pedigree marrobone dog treats $1.77 used $1/1 coupon from the Sunday insert.  Milk bone treats $1.49 on clearance and used $1/1 coupon from the Sunday inserts.  Act II popcorn $1 and used $.50 coupon from the Sunday inserts.  McCain Whole Baby Potatoes $3 used  and $1/1 coupon.  Jacks Pizza $2.20 and used $1/3 also Oscar Mayer Carving Board turkey $2.50 and used $1/1 coupon.  Kemps sour cream $1/1 and used $.50/1 coupon.  All those coupons were from the Sunday inserts.  5 of the coupons were doubled.  I spent $12 and I saved $33.