Luv Saving Money

I’ve had plenty of moments in my life that reminded me how thankful I should be.  How each day is not guaranteed and to be happy to be alive and have my family with me.  I had one of these moments at the local Dollar Tree store.

I work part-time.  I work every day until noon.  Hubby had the day off today so I decided to stop on my way home from work to take care of a few things. My oldest son needed a foam craft ball for a cell model so I stopped at Michaels.  I was thirsty and was craving a cold coca-cola.  Michael’s used to have a soda cooler but they apparently don’t anymore.  So I decided to shoot across the parking lot to the Dollar Tree.

I hadn’t been in the Dollar Tree for a while so I decided to have a quick look around.  I grabbed my coke I wanted and picked up another basket filler for my “secret pal” gift at work.  Normally I stay in that store and browse longer than I do but I thought, “You know what, I’m tired and I want to get home and see hubby and the kids.  Besides that if I stay and browse I’ll spend more money”  So I got in line.  I thought it to be unusually busy for the middle of the day.  Only 2 registers open and 4 to 5 people in each line.  The cashier was very polite and bid me a nice day.  I thanked her and was on my way.  As I was walking out I noticed two women I guessed to be a mom and a grandmother.  The one was holding a bouquet of balloons the other was pushing a stroller and there was a toddler walking with them.

I pulled out of my spot in the shopping complex and only made it about 3 stores down the road when I heard this tire screech sound and a sound that reminded me of a long crackle.  I looked back and saw a bunch of people running toward the Dollar Tree.  I saw the balloon bouquet going up in the air that the one woman had been carrying.  I saw people stopping and staring.  I couldn’t see what happened.  I prayed it was just a fender bender and everyone was ok.  I got to the end of the parking lot and a police car with it’s lights and sirens came flying in.  All I could think was “What on earth happened”.

I got home and told my hubby that I think something happened at the Dollar tree just a couple minutes after I left  I checked the local news stations website and saw this breaking news: http://www.wjactv.com/news/news/breaking-news-vehicle-crashes-cambria-co-store-5-v/nR4xJ/

I wish I could post the picture but I have no rights to it.  Anywho the gist is that a woman driving an SUV, for whatever reason (yet to be determined) hit into a car in the parking lot, put her car in reverse, and drove right into the dollar tree taking out one of the open cash register and injuring 5 people.  One person was pinned under her car.  There were witnesses to the accident commenting on the facebook page.  Sadly there are rumors that one person has passed away but it hasn’t been posted in the news yet.

It really made me think, had I stayed just a few more minutes and browsed it could have been me and my unborn child in that line.  Had I taken just a little longer at Michael’s before going over to the Dollar Tree i might have been one of those 5 people.  It literally happened 2 minutes from me leaving the store, 3 minutes from me paying for my coca-cola and basket filler.  I can’t imagine the people in the store.  I mean who expects a car to come backing into the store?!  The poor people probably never had a chance to move or even process what was happening.

As grateful as I am to be alive and make the decision to go home when I did, my heart goes out to the victims and the family of the one that has been said to have passed away.  I can’t imagine what that was like. There are witnesses that say what they saw the driver do. I hope it’s not true and I hope it was truly just a horrible horrible accident and not something done out of anger. I pray for the driver as well as their family for the trials they will have to endure.

My guardian angel was with me today whispering in my ear.

I’m very impressed with Vitacost.com.  They’re prices are always wallet friendly.  Plus if you are new to Vitacost.com, create an account and get a free $10 credit to use on the site for whatever you want.

They are having a sale up to 39% off their gluten free foods.  If you think they only offer a small section, then you’ll be pleasantly surprised. They actually offer over 1000 items that are gluten free and they continue to add items all the time.

Just a few Gluten free items (as I said there’s over 1000) you can expect to find on Vitacost.com:

Bob’s Red Mill Gluten and Wheat Free Pizza Crust only $2.99

Ener-G White Rice yeast free bread loaf  l lb $4.37

Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten Free Dreams  Pancake and Waffle Mix  18 oz $4.18

Annie Naturals Organic Yellow Mustard  $3.40

This is just a small sampling of everything they offer that’s gluten free.  Buying Gluten Free labeled products are expensive compared to their non-gluten free counterparts in the store.  Vitacost.com helps curb some of the cost.  If there’s a product you know you like, you can also sign up for their set & save program.  They’ll auto ship you the product you like and you can cancel when you want.  Save an extra 10% on set and save bonus brands.  Also after 12 months of consecutive orders you 13th order is free.  But you don’t have to do that you can buy at you leisure too.  

Ok I wish I could have grabbed some pictures of this but unfortunately I was lucky I remembered to breath during all this.

My 3 year old and I were sitting on the couch watching Sprout (thank goodness in this case the older kids were at their dad’s).  We have 2 cats.  I heard the cats come bumping and stumbling down the steps from the living room.  They sometimes fight with each other so I didn’t think much of it at first.  I looked at my 3 year old and said “Them silly cats, what are those goofy kitties doing?”  Then I heard the sound that that strikes fear in my heart.  The undeniable screeching.  Praying it wasn’t what I thought it was, I mustered up the courage to poke my head around the living room doorway to see what the cats were doing.  I didn’t even make it to the door way when a bat flew past my head.  I screamed like someone was killing me.

I coward on the couch with my 3 year old.  That ugly nasty thing kept flying circles through the house.  Every time it flew threw the living room I let out another blood curdling scream.  My 3 year old was crying and he said “mommy stop screaming”.  The bat then started flying back and forth from the foyer to the kitchen trying to get out one of the screen doors.  As soon as I could gather up the courage I grabbed my three year old and we ran outside.  I tried to calm myself down so I could calm my son down.

Thankfully it was only a half hour until my hubby came home. I waited gratefully on our front porch until he came home.  I was so happy to see his car pull up.  He got out of the car and my son says “Daddy we need help”.  I explained to my husband what happened.  He grabbed a straw broom off the porch and went inside.  He went through the house and stuck his head outside and told me he didn’t’ see anything.  I said “honey, it’s there I’m telling you.  If flew through the living room like 3 times”.  So I stood at the screen door and watched him from the outside.  I hear him yell “I found  it”  Then I see him back peddling down the steps swinging the broom yelling “oh shit!”

He finally knocked it on the ground and did a good shuffleboard sweep and pushed the thing up against the screen door where I was standing.  He shut the main door so it was strapped in between.  I again started screaming and ran over to the other end of the porch.  Hubby came out the back door and let it out and it flew away.  I was crying by this point.  He was laughing at me. Our neighbors probably think we’re nuts.

I have 2 irrational fears any type of rodents in my house and pretty much any kind of bug. I swear I could deal with an intruder in my house better than a bat.

I love when these coupon books are offered.  They usually have some good high value coupons in them  They’re free and they’ll send them to your house.

http://www.pgeveryday.com/pgeds/select-homemade-simple-coupons-samples-by-mail.jsp?brand=HMS_brandsampler&referrer=null

From the picture it looks like it includes Cascade, Febreze, Dawn, and more