turning lemons into lemonade...and more...

yesterday was one of those days. you know the kind i mean. i was functioning on a far less than ideal amount of sleep, compliments of a painful stabbing sensation in my ears that kept me up during the wee hours of the morning. a trip to the doctor's office...with three kiddos in tow (my two and miranda) revealed a bad case of swimmer's ear. of course, being squeezed into the schedule at the doctor involved kate skipping her morning nap. interestingly enough, the melties didn't rear their ugly head until much later in the day...right around dinner time in fact...and kate spent much of the evening alternating between fussing and comforting herself with continual thumb-sucking (an activity she typically reserves for nap-time). when i had all three kiddos settled for naps and was just settling into the quiet, i stepped in the laundry room to change a load to the dryer and face the dauntingly massive mounds of clean laundry. my plan was to sit down with a diet coke, listen to a sermon on CD, and fold, fold, fold. i took one step into the laundry room and immediately noticed my toes seemed wet. "hmm...that's strange. maybe elizabeth spilled some water in here," i thought. but alas, as i reached into the massive mountain-o-clean clothes i was greeted with a wet mess...ugh! somehow the drain pipe from the washer had popped out of the hole it is supposed to drain into...leaving a load worth of water on my laundry floor.

by now you might be looking back at the title of this post and thinking, "where's the lemonade?!" well, here it is. on top of all that stuff (or perhaps in light of all of that) i was simply feeling worn down, frustrated, and discouraged...and so i stopped....stopped to regroup and refocus on what was important. and, oh how faithful God is...to bring peace in the midst of chaos, perspective in the doldrums, and smiles when you are on the verge of tears.

-swimmer's ear leads to a prescription...which leads to...a $10 gift card from CVS for filling a new prescription. and you all know how far $10 can take me at CVS!

-a dauntingly massive mound of ready to be folded clean laundry does a FABULOUS job of absorbing the water from the wayward drain pipe...saving me the hassle of moving everything, drying, etc. the only clean up involved re-washing and drying the mound. last time this happened (yes, it has happened before!) the water flowed into the vent and down through the pantry...ugh! also, this time i was able to quickly fix the problem and deal with it on my own, as opposed to having a broken washing machine and wet laundry room greet my hubby when he came home from work!

-an exhausted kater gator led to a bit more snuggling at bedtime...something my sweet "baby" is often too busy for these days.

-a reminder in the form of my "free after ECB" dvd movies from CVS. i made one of these for each of the girls...and in the middle of the afternoon...at the height of my discouragement, i popped them in the dvd player and watched the images of my precious daughters flash across the screen. talk about perspective...sure...there are always going to be those days...but they pale in comparison to the giggling, smiling, playing, loving, and watching these sweet girls grow. time passes to quickly to get bogged down in wet laundry rooms, painful ears, and cranky babies. before i know it i won't have teeny-tiny laundry to wash and fold or a cranky baby to snuggle against my chest.

and now...here are some of my deals and "steals" from CVS and walgreens this week. i typically steer away from walgreens, since, as i've mentioned in prior posts, their customer service at the store near me leaves much to be desired...BUT there were some free after rebate items too good to resist...especially combined with clearanced pampers and the one day only $5 off $20 purchase coupon! for those who are considering dabbling in the world of CVS...this is a GREAT week to get started!

CVS (the results of about three separate trips--mind you, i can only do that many trips because it is less than a mile from my house, meaning we often walk!)

3 kodak picture DVD movies--$9.99 (FREE after $9.99 in ECBs)--limit three
2 maybelline define-a-lash--$5.99 each (minus 2 $1 off coupons)...FREE after $10 ECBs

4 christophe hair products--B1G1 (they ended up being free after 4 $5 off peelies on bottles)

1 band-aid ultra strips--$2.99 (minus $1 coupon)...FREE after $2 ECBs

1 revlon limited edition blush $9.99 (minus $1 coupon)...FREE after ECBs

1 benadryl strips ($1 off coupon)

1 mylanta ultimate ($1.50 off coupon)

2 neosporin (2 $1 off coupons)...received $10 ECBs for the benadryl, mylanta, and neosporin

1 tums quick dissolve (FREE plus overage after $2 off CRT and $2.25 coupon)

*i'd say this was a GREAT week for me at CVS!

**i highly recommend the photo DVDs...a great gift (or simply for your own collection of memories)...so easy to make (just take a CD or USB into the store with your 60 pictures loaded on it. you make it in the store, and receive it in minutes! NOTE...don't buy all three of these in the same transaction, or you end up with a $29.97 ECB, which might be hard to use in the future. i did one per visit/transaction...so i paid $9.99 for the first one (i used ECBs i already had), then used the $9.99 from the first one to "pay" for the second...etc.

WALGREENS (two transactions)

Transaction #1

1 pert plus (used $2 off coupon--this is a free after rebate item...so i got $2 overage)

3 olay ribbons body wash ($3/10...used 3 $2 off coupons...received a $3 register reward (like a coupon to be used on your next transaction))

2 bioinfusions products (these are free after rebate)

1 jane mineral powder brush (used $2 off coupon...this is a free after rebate item...so i had $2 overage)

Used a $5 off $20 purchase coupon from here (good TODAY ONLY!)

TOTAL $17.56 (plus a $3 RR for my next transaction)

**i will receive $20.76 in rebate for this transaction!

Transaction #2

2 ultra tuf tall kitchen trash bags (B1G1...$5 rebate for purchasing two...FREE after rebate)

2 boxes of pampers cruisers--140 diapers! (clearanced $15.99 a box...used $4 off coupon and $2 off coupon)

Used a $5 off $20 purchase coupon from here (good TODAY ONLY!)

Used $3 RR from transaction #1

TOTAL $25.21

**i'll receive a $5 rebate for this transaction

GRAND TOTAL--after rebates i spent less than $18 for the two boxes of diapers (which were originally priced at around $22 a piece!)...PLUS i got shampoo, trash bags, a blush brush, and body wash...not too shabby!