Another Meme...how can I be so lucky???

I have been tagged by QTPies7 for a 5 Random Questions Meme. The rules of this meme are to answer the 5 questions posed by QTPies and then make up 5 questions and tag 5 more people. So...here goes.

1. What was it about your spouse that made you decide he/she was the one? My husband's complete and total devotion and love towards me is what made me know he was the one I should marry. I had never experienced anyone who loved me in a romantic way as much as he loved me.
2. What was your favorite pet in your entire life? And why? I have had few pets in my life, but my favorite has to be Macy. She is a Sheltie and is now 15 years old, living with my parents. She is the most loyal and best dog! Even though she is blind and frail now I know she still knows who I am when I visit.
3. What one thing should you give up? (coke, cookies, computer?) I definitely need to give up regular Pepsi. It may be my demise.
4. What is your most embarrassing moment? Ok, at least name an embarrassing moment! I am not one to embarrass too easily. I have done a million embarrassing things. By now they all just roll right off me. One moment which was somewhat embarrassing which comes to mind happened in high school. I was eating lunch in the school cafeteria with a lot of my friends. A few more friends joined us late during lunch time as I was returning from taking my tray to the dish room. When I returned a friend of mine had taken my chair so I grabbed another chair and pulled it up the table. I sat down and the chair immediately broke and I fell through to the ground....in an entire cafeteria full of people...horrible for a 16 year old! :)
5. What is your favorite/most interesting/weirdest job you've ever held? One of my most trying jobs I have had I held the summer between my Freshman and Sophomore years of college. During this time I worked at a Christian camp. I was an assistant cook and the canteen manager. This was one of the most physically demanding and time consuming jobs I had. I worked from 6 a.m. most weeks until 10 p.m. at night with few breaks. As a canteen manager I was in charge of ensuring all the snack items were stocked including refilling the pop machines, emptying trash cans and even cleaning the large maggot infestation out of the trash cans, and then serving rice for dinner...G.R.O.S.S! One of my favorite job related stories happened at camp that summer.

As I said, I often had to start my days very early to ensure breakfast was ready for the 200 campers who were there most weeks. The main walk-in deep freezer was outside the kitchen due to space and we had to walk outside to get to the freezer. One morning I went outside to get the sausage links for breakfast. I opened the door and stepped in toward the back where the sausage links were, I took two steps and then realized that my sandals were stuck to the floor of the deep freezer and I could no longer take any steps (now imagine I am standing with both feet totally separated, as you would when you took two strides toward something). It had rained over night and when I walked outside to get to the deep freezer my sandals got wet and thus stuck to the floor of the freezer. I could not reach the sausage links from where I was standing and I was afraid to put my bare foot on the floor of the freezer for fear that I would stick to it and then be in more trouble so I turned around and jumped to the door of the freezer and went inside and sheepishly told the head cook what happened. First she scolded me for wearing sandals in the kitchen, then went out and removed my sandals from the floor of the freezer and got the sausage links for breakfast. Trust me, I never lived that down for the rest of the summer.

OK, here are the five random questions I have come up with:
1. If you could return to a certain stage in your life, what would it be and why?
2. What is the strangest thing you have ever eaten?
3. What is the longest you have gone without sleep and why?
4. What is one goal or dream you have that few people know about?
5. If you could meet any fictional character who would it be and why?

I tag Jessie at Seriously Though, Becca at The Hatfields, Awesome Mom, Ang at the Toy Box Blew Up, and Jessica at Itty Bitty Bits of Me (I owe ya one!)

Parade fun!

With the 4th of July coming up there will be several parades around the U.S. celebrating our nation's birthday. We are planning on attending one here in our neck of the woods.



QTPies7 posted pictures this week of a parade in her town which occurred recently. Let me just say that it made me laugh a lot...so go, check it out....and be prepared to laugh!

Rockin' and Rollin'

My little boy is growing up....and fast!

It was only a year ago that Jake could barely roll over and was still attending physical therapy for his neck torticollis. Now he is running a million miles an hour and never sits down...EVER...and that is no exaggeration!

This past Tuesday was Donnie's birthday and I told Jake we had to sing "Happy Birthday" to daddy. I began to sing the song and Jake immediately joined in. And he really sang, "Hap Birday to dad." That is exactly what it sounded like and he sang every verse...at least saying "Hap Birday." It was simply precious!

I thought it might have been just a fluke thing, but the next morning as he was eating breakfast the local news station played their birthday list for the day and Jake began to sing the song again, without prompting.

Singing is one of Jake's favorite activities. Later on Tuesday evening he was walking around the house moving his arms singing, "dee and why" for "Deep and Wide." He has serenaded me with "Twinkle, Twinkle" and he LOVES to sing, "Little Light of Mine," especially for hide it under a bushel....NO!

It is amazing how intuitive Jake is and how much he loves music. I know he gets that from his daddy because I'm no music connoisseur. However, Daddy can listen to three notes of a song and tell you who sang it, what year, album and some odd fact like, this was when so and so was the drummer and not so and so...all while I am trying to sing what I THINK the lyrics say and not what they actually say.

Maybe I am raising a future Rock Star! Or maybe a great musician. Whatever Jake may become one thing I know is that he'll always be my baby!

Countdown to July 5th!

Alright, Alright...I am a reality TV addict. It all started with Survivor when I was in college and it never stopped.

One of my favorite shows to watch starts July 5th!

Big Brother.

I think I like this show so much because hubby is also a fan (he really does not like reality unless it's "Cops" and he makes lots of fun of me for watching "The Hills" or "Little People, Big World").
If you are a fellow Big Brother fan, go check out the I Love Big Brother website. If you don't want spoiler alerts, don't go to the website, but I love spoilers and check it religiously each summer! The site will have clips from the live feed cameras and will also tell you who won challenges, etc. before they air on TV.

If you want to know where I am on the evening July 5th I will be glued to the TV...hopefully it will be a good year!

WFMW -- Saving money at CVS Pharmacy

Keeping in step with my recent WFMW tips on ways to save money , here is one I have newly discovered. If you have a CVS Pharmacy store near you then immediately go sign up for their Extracare Card (you can sign up online for the card and it will come to you in the mail).

Here is how I have saved recently at CVS using the Extracare card.

Each week I get the newspaper, clip my coupons and scan the ads. The CVS ad (which can also be found online at their website) will tell you how you can earn Extracare Bucks (ECB) when you purchase certain items. For example, they may show several Proctor and Gamble items and say if you purchase $20 in these items you can get a $10 ECB. The ECBs print out on your receipt after you meet the requirement of what to purchase. You need to keep the receipt to redeem your ECBs (although, I have heard, but have not proven, that you can print out your unused rewards at the website). Also, you can register your card once you get it in the mail on their website (so they can email you specials) and you will get a coupon for $4 off a $20 purchase.

I just started this myself 2 weeks ago. I first had to earn my ECB rewards so I planned out what I was going to purchase in order to earn ECBs. I was able to earn $11 ECB rewards and all for purchasing items I had typically use (I even got Crest toothpaste for free, it was on sale for $1.99, I earned a $1 ECB and I used my $1 off coupon).

The next week I had to go try to find a great deal. Last week CVS has the deal that if you purchased $20 or more in certain Proctor and Gamble items you could earn $10 in ECB points (I have to keep earning the points in order to continue to save money!)

Here is what I purchased last week at CVS:

* 2 - 9 roll packages of Charmin toilet paper on sale for 2/$10

* 2 packages of Duracell batteries on sale for 2/$6

* 5 boxes of Puffs tissues on sale for 5/$5

My total (before tax) was $21

I was able to use a coupon I had, $5 off any purchase $20 or more, plus the $11 in ECB rewards I had earned the week before. This brought the total to $5

I then used 2 Duracell battery coupons of 75 cents off each, bringing the total to $3.50 before taxes.

PLUS I earned $10 in ECBs, which I plan to use this week, so in return CVS really paid ME $6.50 to shop at their store and purchase their items.

Now if that is not a deal, I don't know what is!

Trust me, I have this week's shopping mapped out to get some good CVS deals and earn $9 in ECB dollars.

ECB works for me! (that rhymed!) For more WFMW tips visit Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer.

Happy Birthday Hubs!

Today is my WONDERFUL hubby's 32nd birthday!

Even though we have had a very eventful few years together with lots of life changes I love growing old with him! :)

He's a fabulous father and he keeps me young at heart, at least as much as my uptight old age lets me!

I mean, how could I NOT love him when he does this?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY D!

Whew, THAT was a close one!

Thank goodness we won't have to see this!