Starting to Exercise

I have started to exercise with a group of ladies on Monday, Wednesday & Friday mornings @ 7:30 a.m.

Friday was my first day and I was excited & ready to go. I stretched real good, grabbed a bottle of Gatorade, my iPod and off I went to the park to meet the ladies!

We walked/ran 1.5 miles and also did exercise in the form of squats, jump n jacks and abs. I felt great. Even so that when I came home I put on my old tennis shoes and cut the grass on the front lawn. Woo Hoo!!!

Saturday was a whole different story. I woke up feeling like I had been under a pile of rocks for the entire night. My legs felt like rubber and we so sore. I didn't re-stretch after I finished.

Saturday night we headed to a USM (University of Southern Miss) football game. We walked for what seemed three days from the parking lot to the stadium. Then once we got to the stadium, we proceeded to walk around the back side for the "student" entrance, and then up a ramp that was four half circles upward. My poor legs were like rubber again and I thought I would die. :)

However, did I not only not die, but USM won the game...52 to 6! The other team, Southeastern Louisiana only got two field goals! USM had several interceptions, which lead to at least three (3) touchdowns!

After the football game, we had to hike back down the stadium to the bottom floor and back to the car. I was sore and my legs just wanted to fall off.

When we got home around 10:45 pm, I took 2 Tylenol and headed to bed. I woke up this morning around 9 am and my legs FINALLY feel better.

Back to walk/run & exercise tomorrow morning at 7:30 am. Weather looks pretty nasty, as they are calling for thunderstorms but hopefully it will be nice & cool and not wet & stormy for our walk.

I'm also trying to figure out what I can change as far as my eat habits are concerned. I need to lose weight and my goal is to get to 160 lbs. Last time I was weighed at the doctors, a little over a month ago, I weighed in at 180 lbs. So, watching what I eat won't do a hill of beans if I don't exercise. I know I can do it. I have done it in the past, but the difference now is that I have 3 other mouths to feed and cooking more than 1 meal is a pain in the derriyre.

I am looking into Weight Watchers, Atkins, NutriSystem, and this capsule called Alli. I don't have $$ to burn, so finding something to lose weight without the expensive food is what I find to be the key.

A few years ago, well maybe more than a few years, like in 2001, I went on the SugarBusters lifestyle quest. I walked 2 miles Monday - Friday, my house was a mile from work so I walked to work, home for lunch, back to work and back home. Plus I went full SugarBusters. I don't know what I weighed when I started, I would guess around 200 lbs. But I got down to 160 lbs in about 6 months or so. I kept the weight off for well over 2 years. I slowly started gaining it back, but if I would have just kept it up, I would still be that weight maybe less.

So, my goal is to be able to run a 5K (3 miles) and loose 20 lbs, if not more. I've begun the exercise part for the run. Now I have to start the eating part.

Until tomorrow when I go for another walk/run.

Take care,

God Bless,

Julie

~ A Great Lesson to Learn for Couponing ~

I learned my 1st lesson the hard way the other day while shopping at our local Winn Dixie. I began my shopping trip like any other trip...making my list, pulling out qs, and making my way to the store. I did great. I made two lists while I was shopping that day. First was prices of items that I use so that I can compare them to Walmarts. Second was what the price of my items were and putting a Q beside the ones I had one for.

Winn Dixie does a lot of "Make-a-Meal" and B1G1F so I take advantage of them a lot. The Make-a-Meal usually has you buy 1 or 2 of a particular item and then you get several items for FREE. They also will do B1G1F items and usually it makes pretty good sense... for example: Buy a package of Hot Dogs for $4.xx and get a 8 pack of hot dog rolls for FREE. So, I'm on the hunt for bargains like that.

My list that particular day had a lot of B1G1F items. I had a lot of qs that would also give me a better savings with their offer. So off shopping I went.I had everything I needed, between my B1G1F, Make-a-Meal and some odds and ends that I needed. I calculated everything up and it looked like I would be spending approximately $60 before the extra qs and my $5 off any $55 or more in groceries. That is what I was looking for. Spending under $50 for all of my items.I got to the checkout, and usually I put all the items that correlate together, so that I know what is B1G1F and Make-A-Meal...that way if I have the extra qs and there is a ?, I know where it belongs. For some reason I didn't do that this time. It was quite possible that I didn't because the kids were about to drive me crazy. They wanted to be home playing instead of shopping. But I had to have something for dinner that night.

It was time to pay for my groceries, after everything and my total was completely off. Instead of $50 something, I was looking at $70 something. I looked over my list of items and thought, well maybe I didn't add correctly. So I pulled items from my loaded grocery cart, that I really didn't need and got my total down to where I felt more comfortable. I ended up paying $60 for my items. So that wasn't too bad.

I got home and unpacked my grocerys and sat down at our table and went over the sales flyer and my list of what I purchased. Then I started ticking off the items on my register receipt and found the PROBLEM!! I had paid FULL price for 3 or 4 items that were B1G1F.

My lesson learned that evening...I need to WATCH the register screen very carefully and check over my register receipt prior to leaving the store! Winn Dixie has a RC (Rewards Card) beside all of the items that they have on special. I was upset that I didn't catch it earlier but I had already left the store, and I wasn't about to go back after I felt embarrased to have to put items back.

Another lesson learned that day... don't bring your grouchy kids with you late in the afternoon grocery shopping. They are usally very well behaved when we go places, but THIS trip to the grocery store was the trip from a bad nightmare.

Thanks for listening! Have a Blessed Day!

Winn Dixie Savings for July 23, 2011

Hey y'all! :)

I went to Winn Dixie today to grab some items for dinner this evening and saved more than I have since I started. I couldn't get a pic since it is so late and had to get dinner done...I got a good deal on cereal & ice cream (B1G1F). Buy 2 products for $15.99 (paper towels and/or toilet paper...mix & match if needed) and got 4 items free (hand soap, Ziploc bags, WD snack bags, napkins & three (3) pack of Kleenex tissue). The kids are starting school in two (2) weeks and they will need the tissue, so that was a PLUS.

My total w/ tax was $72.96 (which includes my Reward Card Savings). I had a $5 off $55 or more order coupon and a $0.75 coupon. My total after that was $66.86. I saved, between Rewards Card Savings & Coupon.........

$44.38

I'm so excited! I got another $5 off $55 or more, $1.50 for cereal on any three, and 20% off any purchase @ Payless. So that is pretty good for a little shopping trip.

Gotta run, DH is home so yummy dinner is ready. I'll post my recipe in a bit. It is really good & not expensive to make. :)

Take care,

God Bless,

Julie D

WalMart Savings for 4th of July '11

This is everything that I used my coupons on...saved $26.61 on my original total w/o tax $164.20.


This is all of the B1G1 Free stuff that I will start my stockpile with. LOVE, LOVE this!!!!!


Rob & I went grocery shopping today for a few meals for the next few days. I am going out of town overnight to pick up Ash at my parents, so he needed something to eat. LOL

He needed personal hygiene items, so I went thru my stash of coupons and P&G had a lot of B1G1 Free, so I figured what a better way to start my stockpile.

We agreed that we needed to spend under $150. AND I DID...my total w/tax was $149.08!!!

I was SO happy!!!! He just looked at me. He doesn't see the savings YET, but he will. He added some razor cartidges which I had a coupon for...AT HOME, that would have saved us more money, but he didn't tell me he needed them, so I let it slip this time.

I was a good girl and searched the Winn Dixie flyer to see if the items I needed were on sale before I decided to head to ole faithful WalMart. I even looked at KMart, CVS, Walgreens & Rite Aid as well. Nothing good on sale, even to use my B1G1 Free items, so WalMart it was.

I am even clipping & saving coupons for our local resturants. It amazes me how great it feels to SAVE even just a little bit of $$. Granted I'm not an "extreme couponer", but I am saving $$. My savings today helped in either saving the money towards a bill or buying lunch/dinner out.

No IF I can just get the Budget started and working along with paying US first, then I will be doing excellent. It is a little bit harder for Rob to grasp the paying us first issue, but we will get there. Just have to keep at it. :)

Well I hope everyone has a wonderful Blessed 4th of July holiday and stay safe.

Take care,
God Bless,
Julie

Winn Dixie Savings on 6/28/11

Here is my trip to Winn Dixie on 6/28/11 where my total w/tax was $51.21 before coupons or Reward Card savings. My final total w/tax $35.63. That is a $14.56 savings. I'm getting better.

Scotch Gift Wrap Cutter

Hey y'all! This is what I just got at KMart to cut my coupons with. I saw on someones blog awhile ago where this gal had something similar that she bought from Amazon that you just slide down the coupon pages and cut several coupons out at the same time. I couldn't find anything like that today, but I found this and figured technically it should work. So I just tried it using 3 pages and it worked pretty well. It didn't fray the paper and the only problem I ran into while cutting coupons was that you can't just turn another way with it. You can only go 1 direction at a time, so it was a little time consuming but not too bad for my first time using it.

Here is the product from Amazon, I just searched for coupon cutter...DUH!!!!

Well, I'm heading off here for a bit to get a Coupon cheat sheet for those coupons I use & don't use. That way I can keep it so I know what is going to expire soon and when. I'm still searching for baseball / business card holder to put all of them in. KMart didn't have either one. Next stop Walmart.

Have a blessed day!

Take care,

God Bless,

Julie D

TEXAS Coupon Clippers

I have the following coupons that can ONLY be used in TX...MEDIEVAL TIMES exp 7/31 $20 off Adult Adm. & $10 off Child (3); GOLDEN CORRAL Lunch buffet exp 7/3 2/$10.99 & Dinner exp 7/5 $8.49 & Kids exp 7/5 $1.99 & Breakfast exp 7/5 $5.49 (3); BLIMPIE all exp 8/31 Free 6" sub w/ purchase & $1 off any Sub, Salad or Wrap & Free 6" Sub w/ purchase & Catering Special..$10 off $50 order or $5 off $25 order (3); SPAGHETTI WAREHOUSE both exp 7/25 Lunch & Dinner B1G1F Lasagne or Spaghetti w/ purchase of same & beverage.

If anyone is interested in these, please let me know and I will send them to ya.