… just a dash of sarcasm.

Well at least my washer waited until I had the majority of my wash done before it completely broke down.

Thank goodness for 3-day weekends. Even more time to spend hunting down deals, making up shopping lists.

/sarcasm

I’m trying not to be bitter, angry, sad or whiny. It doesn’t always work that way. I don’t know if it really is true that when it rains it pours, or if when it is pouring out you just take more notice of each, fat drop.

Lots of fat drops going on right now. Good, bad, normal… it’s all a part of life. Sometimes it just gets more difficult to cope with it when it continues to hit.

Yesterday I said “goodbye” to my parents. Not that I won’t be seeing them again, but we just won’t be living in adjoining zip codes. My father retired from being a pastor; my mother retired from a lifetime of lab work at the hospital. Somehow I thought it would happen around the same time, but not literally within the same week. Since my father was a pastor living in a parsonage (the church’s house), they moved. Not to another time zone, but another area code, hours away. A sad, but still somewhat exciting adjustment. Emotions.

My boss, a pastor, was recently assigned to a different church. 6-weeks notice, and her “going away” day was the same as my father’s retirement party. Again, sad, but exciting. A new boss means new experiences, and hopefully ones I can learn a lot from. Emotions.

My oldest son is taking off on a trip a couple states away for a camp. Quite an honor and exciting adventure. Teenaged angst and personality. Emotions.

My daughter, almost 20, continues to make life choices that are difficult to stomach. Emotions.

Searching for something predictable, I have found some joy in couponing (again). Not stockpiling like a freak whose stash will expire before making a visible dent. Not like that. But… like, going to Walgreens with a plan (researching a few sites– probably too many, printed coupons), saving money on items and walking away with a load of good stuff and not a bunch of money spent. My second trip (yeah I said it) was the best because I totally stacked coupons and got some stuff for cheap-o cheap (4 body washes for the boys who use them like crazy, pantiliners, a few other goodies). I like to know I’m getting a deal on things and am stocked up. I can see how some people go insane with it. Eh.. sort of.

My mother was a couponer. She had a tin recipe-card holder with her coupons filed in it. She was a SENSIBLE COUPONER long before there were shows about people with Coupon OCD. I guess I learned from her. That makes me smile. My ability to scrape together a meal from what seems like nothing, and my coupon skills are both from mom. And I’m adopted. Monkey see, monkey do.

So anyway, I also made out of Target saving more than I spent (go to Target.com and scroll to the bottom, click on the “coupons” link). That is a cool feeling. Contact lens cleaner, Colgate toothpaste, Crackerful crackers, 2 Dove deodorants, pens (for .02!!!), more pens, travel-size Tide, more pens… all for $10. The contact lens cleaner itself was $8 originally. I felt like a bandit. They let you stack coupons. So, for example: Contact cleaner $7.99 originally, Target has $2/off coupon, I also have a $1/off manufacture coupon — I get to use both for $3/off. I purchased everything by stacking. It does take time, but for me time is money and this is money worth working for.