Reality Check

Sorry followers that I haven't posted lately but the past few weeks have been
a reality check in my life.
We all get up every day and go about our daily lives
of going to work or doing every day chores of dishes, washing, vacuum etc. Then
one day the unexpected turns in life appear in your life which shakes you up.
Recently I found out that my brother-in-law has lung cancer and the outlook doesn't look good.
This man is such quiet polite man that has provided for his
family all his life while working in a harsh environment that may have contributed to his failing health. He never has said a negative word towards anyone. He has been such a good father figure to his 3 children. He has enjoyed many trips to Wendover to just enjoy plopping a few chips on the tables and a few coins in the slot machines. It is just hard to believe that he has been dealt these cards in life
when this is such a quiet unique humble man who loves everyone.

Then..... a week ago while preparing to go to Idaho on our vacation to build a
shed on our place I got a unexpected trip to the ER the night before leaving.
It is hard to talk about this but I hope people will learn from my mistake.

I suffer from diverticulitis (which I found out last year when I had a colonoscopy).
I have never had one moment of pain or problems from this problem until around
5 pm one night while taking a bathroom break and started having alot of rectal bleeding which scared the daylights out of me. So it happened that Scott was in
the kitchen which I yelled at him that I needed to go to the ER. The last time I was in the hospital was in 1985 when I had Shauna, so this was new to me and I
was scared out of my wit's of what was happening to me. To make the story short, I ended up losing alot of blood (real close to having a transfusion) but luckly it started healing on its own but also during the colonoscopy they actually found the ruptured area and clamped it off. So after 2 days in the hospital I got to come home with orders that I was good as new but to add lots of fiber to my diet. Which my diet hardly contained any fiber in it before which is sad to say but I am going to be more conscious of eating more fruits and vegetables now.
Avoid foods that is hard to digest like corn, nuts, popcorn hulls, sunflower, pumpkin or sesame seeds. That must be true because I hardly ever eat nuts and the last month I have ate pistachio, cashews and peanuts then I ever have.

You get diverticulitis as we age unfortunately. If you eat more fiber the less likely you will get it and have any symptoms of it. I just turned 53 two days after getting out of the hospital.....and yes today I feel 53. I still get tired and weak from the loss of the blood and that it will take 30 days to get back on my
feet. That is how long it takes for our bodies to make a new red blood cell.

I did end up going to Island Park for my birthday, I figured I can recover in a recliner under a few pine trees better then at home on the couch. This way I can enjoy the cooler weather, mosquito's, and the birds singing in the trees.

I am back home to the every day chores of washing, watering the lawn, etc. I
do feel better but still get tired at times but I have also learned that I need to start taking better care of myself as well as I do the other members of my family.

I hope to start posting my money saving finds as well as any tid bits of info I think you'd be interested in.

and to those living in Utah.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY UTAH!!!

Island Park, Id

So I have been waiting all winter and spring for all

the white stuff on the ground to melt so we could start

making plans to go to our place in Island Park, Id.

It all started the year after we were married that we

made a trip to Yellowstone for our first vacation. We took

our small boat and fished on Yellowstone Lake. That is where

I caught my first fish.

The next year we went to Henry's Lake (14 miles south of

West Yellowstone). It is a trophy lake with big trout in it.

So for the next 7 years we camped at Henry's Lake in our

truck and camper. Every evening the sky would turn dark,

the wind would kick up and it would come in and rain. The

lake made its own weather for some reason.

In 1989, we decided that we LOVED that area with its lucious

green fields of grass with antelope grazing, the forest tree's

blankleting the mountains and valley's and the crisp air carrying

the smell of the pine tree's is unbelievable, that we bought a place

that we call home for the summer. We're always doing something

to improve it so that maybe when Scott retire's it'll all be done and

we can just sit and enjoy the birds and the wildlife all day long...

So we took our fifthwheel trailer up a couple weeks ago and stayed

up there for the 4th of July holiday. We got surprised a few days

into our vacation when the kids decided to show up with their trailer

and enjoy the holiday with us.

So we took a few rides in our new Razor and even found that white

stuff called SNOW!!

Landon had a blast up there, playing in the creek, smelling the

wildflowers, watching the birds and even seen a mother cow moose

with her new calf the size of a medium dog.

Landon playing in the flowers

Landon smelling the flowers

The river that runs by our place

Kylie riding in the razor

One of our favorite trails

Kylie having the time of her life....she isn't spoiled is she???

Sawtelle Mountain

The trail going up to the top of Sawtelle Mountain.

White elephant where they measure the snow

on the mountain. There was 4 feet of snow

according to their measuring stick.

Trail going to Sawtelle Mtn, we let Kylie out

to play in the snow.

Happy 4th of July

I hope everyone had a Happy 4th of July celebration. We are so blessed living in a country that we have our freedom of many choices in life. It is also a time to think of our soldiers who served and serving so we can keep our freedom. When your younger you think of the holiday and the
festivities that go along with the 4th..... Parades, candy, family and friends gather together for the big barbeque and later on the fireworks.
When you get older you tend to start thinking deeper in thought, like what the holiday truly stands for and at what cost. You tend to treasure the time you spend with your family and watching the younger children enjoy the festivities. I must be getting older because the last
month or so I've really been a person in deep thoughts and trying to take in the moments of
personal events that have been happening for me and others.

I hope everyone can see what a blessing it is to live in America, with such freedom's we have.

Happy Birthday America!!

Spring and The Baby Birds

So I love Spring.

Flowers are blooming, the grass is getting green,

the leaves on the tree's are coming out of their buds,

birds making nests for their baby chickadee's.

So a month ago I seen a bird fly out of the tongue of

our fifthwheel trailer. Then a few days later I started noticing

that she would fly away when going to the mailbox or

getting into the car in the driveway.

I looked inside the tongue but couldn't find any nest so I just

thought she was using it to perch onto. Well this scernio continued

all week. One night at dinner I told Scott about what I had seen

all week long. So later on he got a flashlight and went out to investigate

to see if their was indeed a nest in the tongue. He came back with the

news I wasn't prepared for.........

"She has a nest built up inside the shell of the trailer"

So I went out to check it out for myself. There it was....... a big nest inside

the undercarriage of the trailer.....with baby birdies chirping away.

Noting that this could become a problem if we decided to

take our trailer out camping,

what would happen if we took off with the nest inside with the babies

and the mother bird wasn't inside, so we decided that we wouldn't take the trailer out until they were gone and to leave her and the baby

birds alone so they wouldn't go further into the trailer.

So tonight after Scott got home from work, he walked out to the tongue of

the trailer and couldn't hear any birds chirping, so he looked inside and

couldn't see any birds either. So after dinner we went out to check again

and still no birds, so we decided while we had the chance we pulled down the skin of

the trailer and he pulled out the nest with a metal rod.

This is what we ended up with.

4 individual nests and more

The hole into the trailer (the size of my thumb)


We determined that they have been making

nests in our trailer for a few years (our trailer is 5 yrs old).

There was lots of pine needles to lead us to believe that

a few nests were built in Idaho at our place where we leave

our trailer throughout the summer.

Scott took some caulking and went all around the hole and

the seams to make sure that there won't be any more

birds trying to make the trailer their home.



To discover that we had a nest of baby birds inside our trailer

was such a surprise but to discover how many nests were inside and what

we pulled out was even more of a surprise.

It figures.....

So this last week has been one of those weeks that you're glad it will be over not to soon. The weather has been great here, warm and sunny. I've been waiting all to long to welcome this warm weather and plant some flowers in my flower gardens. I had half of a big flower garden weeded out (the weeds took it over last year) but still working on the rest here and there when I can. I got the flower garden by my deck almost done (needs a couple more plants that I usually plant but no one in town carries them this year) and one tree circle pretty finished (needs some bark). I am making progress but its been hard because........

the DRUM ROLL PLEASE~~~~ I've caught a cold and feel like crap. It all started with allergies but I think my precious loving grandson gave me what he's been fighting for a month
now also.

I was fine all day Tuesday and around 10:00 pm I started getting a sore throat, then started getting all stuffy. You know how stuffy it gets when you can't breath through your nose so you start breathing through your mouth....which makes the sore throat hurt worse. So eventually I feel asleep...TILL 1:30 I woke up with the most painful sore throat I have ever had. It hurt to swallow so bad that tears came out of my eyes. I even thought about taking a pain pill to make it feel less painful. I eventually got out the ice cream out of the freezer and slowly ate a spoonful bite after bite, which helped temporarily. I found some cough drops in the medicine cabinet and that helped a bit also.

Since then I have gotten the croup cough which means your head is full as well as your chest with that green stuff we hate. Of course your tired but you keep going because you always have stuff that needs to be taken care of.

So I my kitchen counter looks like a cold section out of a pharmacy. Cough drops, cough medicine with chest congestion reliever, sore throat spray, kleenex's, vick's vapor rub, NyQuil (I don't know what I would do without you), and vitamin C. The fridge is stocked with orange juice and the freezer with ice cream.

My homemade remedy that I still use to help sooth my sore throat come from my childhood. My grandmother would always make it for me when I was sick and it always seemed to help.
You heat up a glass of pure orange juice (no Sunny D) and add 2 tablespoons of honey. It soothes your throat but also opens your nasal passages so you can breath for awhile anyway.

I even went Wednesday to the Dr. The strep throat culture came back negative and apparently I hadn't been sick long enough to get treated with antibotic's yet. It's a cold and just needs to run its course....give me a break....I already had a mild fever and green stuff meaning I have infection. My daughter and grandson was put on antibotic's but I guess you have to be on your death bed or close to it to get antibotic's.
I know the Dr.'s don't want to over prescribe antibotic's but when you open your eyes in the morning to see and their glued shut from the green stuff oozing out I think its time to give them some antibotics so I don't get phenomia.

It seems ironic, I went to the dr. to get some medicine to get a hold of it before it gets to bad but the Dr.'s want you to wait it out till your really bad and then they'll treat you...

So it is beautiful and sunny outside and I am inside with my box of kleenex's and cough drops to keep my company.........IT FIGURES!!

June 13th Grocery Deals

So I tried to make it to the grocery stores today

instead of making a last minute dash to catch this

weeks deals on Tuesday when the ad's run out.

It was nice to have more time to shop

and be organize.

At Smith's they have their Ronzoni 10/10, $1.00 coupons SS ? so they were free.

The Quick Cook was also 10/10 but I had .55 cent coupons which

made them .45 cents a box.

The Pepsi is the big DEAL of the Day!

They have a 20 pk of Pepsi (and other flavors) for $3.99, minus

$1.00 coupon (peelie's off of boxes at Walmart)

off per box, making them $2.99 a box for thats

almost like $1.50 per cold pack except its a 20 pk instead of a 24 pk.

At Walmart.....

Tidy Cat $1.77 with $1.00 coupon makes them .77 a bag.

Carefree : Free coupon from RP ? (try to fill in date later)

Wisk: Walmart has their Colorsafe Bleach for $5.00 a bottle on clearance,

with the $2.00 coupon RP? makes it $3.00 for the 52 use bottle GREAT DEAL!

Reach dental floss: $1.00 Coupon out of SS ?, .88 at Walmart

Wilkinson razor: $1.00 coupon from Coupon.com, .97 cents at Walmart

UP2U Gum: $1.00 coupon, $1.28 at Walmart making them .28 a pk

Nivea Happy Sensation Lotion: Let me tell you these are few and in between

they are always gone when I go to pick some up but TODAY I FOUND THEM!!

$3.00 coupon from RP ?, $5.00 at Walmart making them $2.00 a bottle

All: Priced matched..Smith's has them on sale for $2.99, with the $1.00

coupon makes them $1.99 a bottle..

Smart Water: $1.00 at Walmart, .75 coupon, makes them .25 each.

So the other day Kimberly found this at the Dollar Tree,

normally they sale for $3.29 on Amazon. So I picked me

up a few use. So that is a savings of $2.29 a bottle.

Saturday I did pick up a few items.

The Speed Stick's coupon was going to expire

the next day and they actually had some (been out

for awhile also) so I picked up some for .25 cents each.

2 Zyrtec: $5.97 at Walmart, used the $4.00 coupon making them $1.97 each.

4 Huggie Wipes 64 ct: $ 1.97 at Walmart, used the .50 cent coupons

that was expiring that day. Also with buying these I can enter

the codes for the Cars 2 game for prizes.

I'll try to come back and fill in the dates for the coupons if I

remember. It's late and I am getting a sore throat so I am

heading to bed.

A Good Day for Shopping

So I made my trip to Walmart to get the last of this

weeks deals before they expired tonight.

So I found a few clearance items that was a good surprise.

Ocean Spray was 50 cents, so with the $1.00 coupon that

came with the freebie makes them a money maker.

Ronzoni Garden Delight $1.00, with the $1.00 coupon
from Ronzoni (which you get to print 2 of them) makes them FREE!

So I tried my hand at trying to be a extreme couponer today.
This is what I got:

23 1 Liter bottles of Smart Water:
23 x $1.00= $23.00, minus 23 .75 coupons (teartags) = $5.75
SAVINGS OF: $17.25

8 Jars of Nalley's Hamburger pickles:
8 x $1.62 =$12.96, minus 8 $1.25 coupons (RP 5-22-11) =$2.96
SAVINGS OF $10.00

10 Bar S Hot Dogs:
10 x .88 = $8.80,
Priced Matched @ .69 cents
minus 10 2/$1.00 coupons (RP 5-22-11) = $1.90
SAVINGS OF $5.90
These will come in handy for my grandson's
Mickey Mouse Birthday party, the theme is Hot Diggity Dog....


3 Scrubbling Bubbles:
3 x $3.97 = $11.91, minus 3 $3.00 coupons (SS 5-11-11) = $2.91
SAVINGS OF $9.00

Beginning Balance: $56.67

Total Spent: $14.52
TOTAL SAVINGS OF: $42.15

These are some of my other buys.

All: Priced matched $2.99 - $1.00 coupon = $1.99
Garden Delight: Clearanced $1.00 - $1.00 coupon = FREE
Beggin Strips $2.76 - BOGO coupon = $1.33 each
Pert: .97 Walmart - $1.00 coupon = .03 money maker
IHOP: $2.87 Walmart - $1.00 = $1.87
Paula Deen Chocolate Sauce: Clearanced $1.00 (was $3.98 each)


So it was a good day for Shopping

TROPICANA LIGHT BERRY BLEND

So I've been meaning to tell you about my latest find. It is

Tropicana Light Berry Blend. It is on sale at Walmart for

$1.00 each. I looked at the tag and it said 5-11-11 and usually

Walmarts marked downs go for 30 days so I think they will expire soon.

They taste great, usually light drinks lack flavor or have a weird taste.

For 8 oz it is only 10 Calories!!! Yeah you heard right... 10

You could drink the carton and it would only be 80 calories

and 16 grams of sugar. Compare it to a can of Pepsi which

happens to my favorite soda of 130 calories.

They come in different flavors light or regular.

This is my own opinion you'll have to taste it for

yourself. I think you'll be surprised at the great taste.

McDONALD'S STRAWBERRY LEMONADE

So on my way home from a hard day of grocery shopping.

Yes it can be stressful ....looking for great deals, pushing the

heavy cart around, etc...

I decided to treat myself ......

so I stopped at McDonalds

and got me a Strawberry Lemonade.

Of course I used one of my FREE coupons (smile).

Mummmm it was good!!