Good Morning

It's been a while since I typed up a "Good Morning", this is what's going on in my life post. So, here we are Monday morning. The last time I glanced at the clock, it was after 2, so I got barely 4 hours of sleep this morning. Today, the alarm went off at 6:15, instead of 6:45. My friend, Traci, whose house burned a few weeks back, needed some help. She has had a few rough weeks, between the house, then her Grandma passing, and now an uncle passing. Today is the funeral, but it's up north.

She needed someone to get her middle son to school, and he was dropped off about 10 minutes ago, so I got up early. Originally, it was supposed to be all week, before and after school (she arranged for him to be able to ride Gilly's bus), but due to changes, she only needed me this morning.

Last night, I escaped to the "Cheap Theater" to see Fame- only to discover that it's no longer cheap. When we moved to Lansing, the theater boasted "No seat over $3.50". It was $3 for matinees and kids, and $3.50 for adult evening shows.

Then it jumped to $3.50 & $4.00. The sign outside last night said $4.50 & $5.00, but I didn't notice they had dropped the "No seat over" part, because that was just the matinee prices. It was almost $7 for my ticket. I don't mind occasionally paying that, but that's what I pay across town for the nice, new theater. The old "cheap" theater is run down, the seats are old, and the smaller theaters often smell like sweat in the winter.

Anyway, so I went to see "Fame", and was disappointed. I felt that the movie tried to cram too many main characters in, too many years (Audition Day, then Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior years in HS), leaving it without the ability to really focus on any one person. Instead of concentrating on the lives of just a few people, it gave glimpses into the lives of many people, leaving me wanting in the department of "knowing" the characters.

It did do a good job of conveying the feelings of some, such as the dancer, Kevin. You could really understand that he felt inadequate, and that he really struggled, and knew he wasn't as talented as his fellow students. You could feel that.

Other characters fell a bit short, such as Jenny, an actress. From the get-go, she never felt like she was star material. She didn't 'pop', or stand out in the sea of students, and while she certainly studied hard, she just didn't feel to me like she had 'it'.

Overall, it was a nice break from the kids. While I was in Lansing, I went to Target. Corpse Bride was on sale for $4.75, and I wanted to pick it up. They also had cereal on sale. With coupons, I was able to get 2 boxes of cereal for less than the cost of 1 box. It was $2.66 a box, on sale. I paid $2.36 for 2 boxes. Yay!

I'm getting back into couponing full time. Saturday, I broke down and realized that to get the kick in the pants I needed, I would have to sign up for Savings Angel finally. My friend Karen, and my brother Kenny both recently signed up, and after talking with Ken for quite some time with my own tips, I realized that if I wanted to really get back into it, I would need some help to start off.

So, Saturday I signed up for it- $20/month, first month free, but in the end, I should easily be saving more than that $20. Well, part of the site is internet coupons. I knew what my grocery list for the next two weeks was like, but I also knew there were internet coupons for many of the things on my list, so I signed up with the intention of being able to print coupons.

Unfortunately, first my printer was being dumb, then the site was. I didn't get anything to print off, but still saved $58, and spent $162 with just a few coupons I had on hand. Not horrible, but not great. Most of that was in-store savings, only $8 was in coupons.

When we got home, I fiddled around, and suddenly got coupons to start printing. I went back to the store, and came out having spent $18, but having saved $45, and got a coupon for $1 off my next purchase. MUCH better.

Yesterday, I broke out my old coupon folder. Man, it really has been a while- the coupons in it expired in 2006. -sigh- I've been a bad saver. I know how to do it, but the time involved got the better of me.

What else... I think that's really about all for now. I'm tired. Raegan is home from school today (I won't go into specifics, but my "good" child did something extremely dumb last week, and got suspended for half a day on Friday, and all of today.. Joy), so I can't take a nap. She's going to be busy doing laundry pretty much all day. We got a nice clean house out of her this weekend, which was part of her grounding- chores all day, no reading, tv, or computers, no friends, no phone calls, etc).

Time for my breakfast! Chris & Rae already ate, and Gilly won't be up for another 10-15 minutes (most mornings, she gets up when Chris does, but I didn't wake her yet, due to the extra body in the house, I'd rather she waited until she actually needs to be up, to wake her). Nick is getting up. I volunteered for the extra person, so I took the early wake up time.