Friday, January 25, 2013

Did you know that Dollar Tree takes coupons?

I have been back in the states now for a couple of months and am learning new things all the time. One thing I found out recently was that Dollar Tree takes manufacturer's coupons. This can make for some good deals. Here are two that I was able to score this week.

I bought my Sunday paper at the Dollar Tree for $1. I cut 2 coupons and used them the next day when I was out running errands. $1 off 1 Speed Stick deodorant and $1 off 2 Hormel pepperonis. 3 items we would have bought at some point anyway for $1 plus tax. This worked out as a pretty good deal to me. I actually went back and got three more papers so I could get more free deodorant and cheap pepperoni.

Did you know that the Dollar Tree took Manufacturer coupons? Did you know they carried name brand items that coupons could be used for? Have you scored any amazing deals there?

Have a super fabulous day!!

Friday, January 18, 2013

Update on Me

Well life is in limbo at the moment. The kids and I are in the states. The Man is still over there finishing up his time. He is being booted, for lack of a better word. He was originally going to be booted for not making his rank but he is now being booted for failing his PT test. He had surgery and couldn't pass a PT test 6 weeks after and couldn't pass. This isn't the first time this has happened to him. This is the third or fourth time this has happened. His body is falling apart. So after 15 years of serving for the military he is going to be out on his butt and in the real world. I am trying to see this as a blessing in disguise. Really, it scares the crap out of me!

Currently, the kids and I are staying at a friends house. This has been a nightmare. She has not grown up at all and acts like she is still a carefree teenager, even though she is in her 30s and has children of her own. I came here to try to help her out of a bad relationship and to try to help my kids transition into the real world before The Man lost his job. I feel like I have done a huge disservice to my oldest boy. She will not get a job or even make a good effort at putting in applications. She will not discipline her oldest child and he is mean, mouthy, and a bully to my oldest. She sleeps all day if I do not wake her up and make her get out of bed. She seems to think this world owes her something. I know I should not complain about her like this. She is my friend and has been my friend since high school but I really do not know how to help her. I really would like to see her succeed at life. I would like to see her be able to take care of herself and her children without depending on everybody else around her to do everything for her. Everybody around her tries to help her just to try to help her get a leg up in life but it seems she has come to expect it at this point.

I was started on Topamax for my health problems and have been stepping up to the full dose for the past several weeks. It has been helping my migraines. They don't come on nearly as often as they were or as strong which is good. I have lost about 10ish pounds since starting it. I cant be certain if this is from the medicine or from all the stress I have been under but weight loss is part of what the doctors wanted. I do have the tingling in the hands and feet which is very irritating. I was hoping to be able to go back doing hair when The Man came back but I cannot do that if my hands are tingling. I am hoping once I am on the full dose for a while it will start going away. Also, I have noticed that my face will start twitching occasionally. It must not be too bad because I asked my friend if she could see it and she couldn't and I asked The Man if he could see it and he couldn't. I can see it in the mirror if I remember to try to look but of course I am more judgmental of myself probably.

The three little kids are doing great. They did awesome on the airplane over here and they adjusted to the time difference within the first week pretty well. My oldest is still struggling a bit. He is having a hard time fitting in at school. I knew this was going to be the case because I have personal experience at this exact thing. Going from being a military dependent child, going to a DOD school, with other military dependent children, then moving to a town where most of the children have lived and gone to school with the same children their whole lives is very hard. These children have had the same friends their whole lives, their parents already know one another and it is very hard to fit into a clique. I was the same age as my oldest son is now when we moved to this very same school district when my dad retired from the military. It took me until I was in 9th grade (2 whole years) and joined the dance team until I really felt like I fit in somewhere. It also doesn't help that my friend's son is being a bit of a bully at school to my son. I have tried to talk to her and she blows it off. It is very frustrating. My son has three F's right now. This is heart breaking to me. This is from a kid who normally has all A's and B's. We did come part way through a quarter so that counts into it so in a couple weeks it will wipe clean and he will be able to start over and try again but it is still frustrating.

If you made it this far. Wow!  Thanks for reading. I hope you have a super fabulous wonderful day.