Curse of the Right Tire

I am convinced my car in cursed. The proof can be found in blog posts from the past year:
1. First flat tire/dented rim
2. Continuous honking horn
3. Totaled Car
4. The ice incident (no blog post)
5. Second flat tire from having old tires (no blog post)
6. Stolen License Plate
7. Today.

The last time I had a flat tire, I HAD to get two new front tires. These tires were purchased in February/March of this year. I have not had any problems with these tires, and today marked the day I first started dating Matthew two years ago. I knew I would not see him during the day, but after a really busy day I was looking forward to a special date tonight (and fried green tomatoes at a place his mom told us to go to). I got ready and headed off to Charlotte. On the way, I noticed a strange, yet familiar sound coming from my car. I pulled over immediately, and I saw that one of my BRAND NEW tires was incredibly flat. I had a problem with this because a) I didn't run over anything to dent my rim and b) these are BRAND NEW tires.



Matthew tried to teach my how to change a tire last time I had a flat so I could be "independent" and handle it on my own next time. While I am a great student academically, I am not a very good "real-life-skills" student, and I was scared I would seriously damage my car if I tried to do it myself. So, I retrieved my spare tire and tire-changing kit from my trunk, then sat on the back of my car and tried to look pathetic so someone would stop and help me (I kept a tire iron thing next to me in case someone creepy stopped-maybe it could have been used for self-defence). AND NO ONE STOPPED! WHAT? This is the South. I thought people stopped to help innocent girls stranded on the side of the road??

I ended up calling my brother, boyfriend, neighbours, cousins, and my aunt and uncle. My Aunt Shirley (Extreme Couponing Aunt) and Uncle Brad live in Mount Holly, but they were both sick. However, when no one answered my phone calls, they ended up coming any ways to help me out (I love them very much for this). My uncle changed it pretty quick, and he made me jack it up and watch him change it so I could maybe learn something. However, while I was sitting on the ground, I noticed a stinging feeling in my leg...because I was on an ant hill and was covered in fire ant bites...not my day!

We finally got the tire off and discovered a large, thick piece of glass in the tire...like one from a bottle. UGH! Not covered under warranty, so I will be taking it to be fixed tomorrow, or I will get a new tire. The ironic thing is, I was supposed to have my tires rotated last week, and I never got around to it. If I had only rotated my tires, one of my old, need-to-be-replaced tires would be flat instead of one of my BRAND NEW tires!



At least I started and ended the day well. This morning, I got to take my little niece to Kindergarten and pick her back up. On the way there she colored, and when I told her I would see her after school she replied, "How about 9:00? OR you can come for lunch then take me home. What about 1:00? AUNT HOLLY PLEASE!" Poor thing hates school already! Haha...I asked her if she was ready for first grade, and she said, "NO because then I have to go all the way to TENTH GRADE!" I didn't have the hear to tell her it was all the way to Twelfth Grade! She's such a hot mess.

And Matt took me to eat at Firebirds (it was a reasonable meeting place for me to meet him while driving on my spare). It was pretty tasty, and we were pretty much the only ones there...it really didn't compare to fried green tomatoes and Southern food though =[

Headlamps & Mattress Pads

I am TERRIFIED of bad weather especially when I think about the fact that there are hundreds people who have died in the Southeast over the past few weeks. So, full-fledged panic took place whenever the wind started going crazy here AND we were put under a tornado warning. We did not have a tornado at my house or damage, but I was very prepared with:
1. My headlamp from the NASCAR race
2. My mattress pads from my college dorm room
3. Norts & Nike running shoes.

#1-In case the power went out, I would not have to waste a hand holding a flash light AND the light is so bright that it lights up whole rooms.
#2-In case there was a tornado and my roof was to fall in or things were to fly around in my house, I feel like my 4 inch memory foam mattress pad and 2 inch memory foam mattress pad would at least provide some sort of buffer against things falling on my family's head/body.
#3-In case I see a tornado coming towards me, these two items would be necessary in order to RUN away from it!

Our house is okay, I'll post pictures of any damage I see tomorrow. And my rooster is no longer crowing, maybe Doodle has been sucked away by the wind....one can only hope.

On a serious note, my aunt and uncle's house experienced a tornado tonight. Praise God they are SAFE and their house is still standing! Their back porch was relocated to the woods, but that can be rebuilt =] I love my Aunt Shirley, Uncle Brad, Lindsey, Wayne, and Leah so much and I am so glad they are all safe and sound!

Also, my grandmother had JUST left out house when the storms got bad, and she was driving STRAIGHT into the worst part of the storm and where the tornadoes were happening. We could not get in touch with her (my extended family kept calling her too), but she finally called a few minutes ago, and she is not safe at home with power! She said there was debris all over the roads, and that the power was out in many places.



Side note: The free headlamp comes in handy! So far, I have used it to find things in my purse, read a menu in a dark restaurant, and it could have come in handy if the power went out tonight!

Extreme Couponing Day of Awesomeness

I really need something to fill my free time or a job, but at the moment I am VERY obsessed with getting things for $1 or less (preferably free) using sales and coupons. Last night, I took my coupons plus some my Aunt Shirley/Coupon Partner gave me along with a current sales paper for every store in my area. I laid out a master plan, and here is what I got for my money today:

Ingles:
Bar S 16 oz Jumbo Franks. Normally $1.78, BOGO, plus coupon, made each pack $0.39 cents
Lipton Ice Tea (24 bags). Normally $2.08, BOGO, plus coupon, made the box $0.24
I also bought Lee and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce for $1 a bottle.
*Side Note: I have been looking for my boyfriend Matt's favorite Ranch Dressing for a year and a half, ever since they stopped carrying it in the stores in his hometown. I have walked into every grocery store for the past year and a half looking for this dressing without luck. Well, last night my Aunt Shirley gave me a coupon for THE SAME DRESSING. And I FINALLY found it at Ingles and I got to use my coupons. WIN. Top that one Matt!

CVS: BEST DEAL OF THE DAY!
My Aunt Shirley gave me a coupon for $5 off a $15 or more purchase at CVS. I had a coupon for Biore Pore Strips to get a Biore Face Cleanser for free up to a $9 value. Each Biore product was $8, so my total came to $16 (Note, neither products were on sale they were full price). With both coupons, I got the face cleanser and pore strips for $3.84 WITH TAX!
Bonus: Because I bought two Biore products, I received another $5.00 off coupon for any purchase value over $5. I had a coupon for a $1 off Nivea body wash that was full-price $6.29 and came with a free sample of lotion. With both coupons my price was $0.29, but with tax I paid $0.78. My taxes were more than the total (You have to pay taxes on the amount pre-savings, FYI).

Bi-Lo:
For $22.24, I got a large bottle of French's Mustard, KC Masterpiece Barbecue Sauce, a can of my dad's favorite Turnip Greens ($0.14 normally $0.99), 2 Dole Peach Parfaits 4 pack ($0.50 each), 6 tubs of Crystal Light mix for the price of 2, Ken's Steakhouse Marinade, Lawry's Signature Steak Marinade, 4 Hefty Paper Plate packs for $0.95 each, and a 150 oz/100 load of Purex Laundry Detergent. My total before savings was close to $70, but after my coupons I only paid $22.24 with taxes.
Side Note: There were a few items I had coupons for that I would have actually MADE Money ($0.08-$0.60 per various items) that would have brought my total down and given me more items, but Bi-Lo was sold out (probably because other couponers got there first), so I had to take a rain check for each item because I plan on going back for them when they are restocked.

Tomorrow I am going to Harris Teeter and Food Lion to see what damage I can do there. At Harris Teeter, Birds-Eye frozen vegetables are BOGO, but I have a coupon to buy one bag and get one free. I am wondering what they will do if I use a BOGO coupon when it is already BOGO. I am hoping money will be credited to my total bill to get both free, but who knows.

Extreme Couponing with my Aunt Shirley

In case you have not been watching Extreme Couponing on TLC, you need to watch this before you read this blog so you can understand my inspiration for Extreme Couponing/my obsession with it.

It all started when last week, I took a trip to the Bi-Lo with my Aunt Shirley and Candyce. We were going to get a few things we all needed, and we decided to go to the self-checkout. Well, someone had left their Bonuscard reward coupons at the coupon printer, and my Aunt Shirley decided to gank them. Candyca kept insisting that we needed the Bonuscard to make them work, but my Aunt Shirley scanned one and it worked. This started a frenzy. I used a coupon, and Candyca used a coupon plus a sale price to get a large container of Hi-C for $0.97.

Ever since then, I have been collecting the Sunday papers trying to get coupons. This was not working out very well, because you don't get very many. Well, my grandmother told me & my aunt (I was at her house supposed to be working on job applications) that on Wednesday, she always threw out her coupons that were put in her mailbox. Apparently, the post office distributes these inserts on Wednesday and most people throw them away in the post office....GOLD MINE.

This led to my aunt Shirley and I driving to two different post offices to dig out the coupons from the trash cans...and yes, we only took coupons & the only trash in the cans was paper & mail so it's not like it was gross. And, we wanted to be EXTREME after all.

We ended up clipping coupons at her house for about an hour and a half. Then we went on our first couponing trip to Bi-Lo because they will let you double coupons up to $0.99. Shirley saved $67 and I saved $20, and it was AWESOME. I just really like buying things without having to give away any of my money. Also, I want to get good enough to go on the show, haha!

After I finish this post, I am going to Harris Teeter to buy M&M's. With my coupons and the fact that they are tripling this week, Harris Teeter will owe me money.

If you are reading this and don't use your coupons, save them for me please!

Please Pray for my Mom

Last week, my mom came to the hospital with chest pain and struggling to breath. One of her stents around her heart (something to help unclog arteries) was 95% blocked. She has a problem with scar tissue filling up the stent and clogging it, and it was again filled up with scar tissue. After her surgery, she seemed to be fine and stable. We were talking about movies we were going to watch when suddenly she began to cry from sudden pain. After an awful few nights & multiple blood transfusions & time in the Coronary Care Unit (ICU for heart patients) she started to do much better. Her problem was that she had internal bleeding, and her kidneys were struggling to process the dye used during her surgery. She was doing fine once again today and up and walking, but because she took her blood thinners again it made her internal bleeding start again. So now she will be getting some more blood (she gets so much I feel like she is going to pull a Bella from Twilight and start sipping it out of a solo cup). Hopefully giving her blood without the blood thinners will stop all the bleeding again.

But the best thing I feel that can be done (and the only thing I can do to help) is ask for prayers for my mom. Just please ask God to heal her and take care of her pain. I would really, really appreciate it.