Muddling Along

Today marks the beginning of week four of the survival job and it's going fine.  I am grateful to have a job where the dress is casual, the people are nice and I can control my a/c in my office.  Oh, and I have a purple office chair I found in the storage room.  I'm grateful for that!

The dogs are now sleeping with us much to the chagrin of the cats.  In fact, this weekend Riley came up with me while I took a shower and got up on the bed and went to sleep.  He usually follows us but when I went downstairs he stayed right where he was and was very comfy and pleased with himself.  He came down maybe an hour later.  Look at this knucklehead!

Last Wednesday Mike made his national television debut!  Yes, the episode of "Restaurant: Impossible" that we did in March finally aired as the season premiere on the Food Network.  We both had quotes make the episode and got a touch of facetime.  I wish you all could have seen Mike's face when he saw himself on the screen.  He was so excited!  I likened it to the face of a little boy on Christmas morning.  Very cute.  So he's signing autographs and doing interviews.  The dogs keep barking at the papparazzi that are camped out on our lawn. 

My latest proud couponing moment came at the Giant on Saturday when I scored four boxes of Kellogg's cereal and a gallon of milk for $3 total.  At least my latest obsession helps us!  I spend maybe 2 hours a week on it and four bucks for two Sunday papers and that's it.  It's been worth it and I wish I had started this a long time ago.  However, I do look like a lunatic strolling around with my coupon binder open on top of my cart and people ask if I'm one of those extreme coupon ladies like you see on tv that have a stockpile that would have made my grandmother teary with joy.  I always say the same thing "I use coupons but I'm not extreme.  I don't buy 40 bottles of mustard" which is usually greeted with a laugh.  Sometimes I see someone looking at items to see which brand is the best deal and if I know I have a coupon for it and don't need it I'll pull it out and give it to them.  I also loved learning that expired coupons aren't trash!  If you didn't know, our armed forces are allowed to use coupons that are expired for up to a year when they go to the PX on base.  So I pull mine and send them to an organization in Ohio that receives, sorts and distributes them.

And now, for fun, here are things that make me homicidal:

• The Geico gecko
• Flo from the Progressive commercials
• Old Navy commercials
• Utensils scraping on teeth
• The song "Kokomo"
• Coldplay
• Daryl Hannah