Goodbye, Beautiful Boy

Yesterday, when I woke up and saw the date - 10/10 -
I thought "Today is an auspicious day."

Boy, was I wrong.

 



Yesterday, our beautiful mew Titus was hit by a car.

 

{Feb 2010}

 

He was only three years old and he was perfect. I miss him so and my heart is broken. As my mom said, "It's a wonder I can still love with all these animal-shaped holes in my heart."

It is unhappily coincidental that I just posted this, about pet loss and why October sucks. I didn't expect to add another sad event to my list so soon.

 

{Dec 2009}

 

Titus was one of the kittens we rescued in October of 2009 and was a frequent visitor on the blog. He, along with his sister, Ruby, have brought us so much joy over these past few years. I only wish we could have had a few more.

 

 {Titus (green collar) and Ruby as kittens - Dec 2009}

 

{Ruby is on the left, Titus is on the right - May 2011}

 

{Ruby is above, Titus is below}

 

He was loved, and loving, and oh so beautiful. I don't want to share much about how he died, but I will share pictures of him and leave you with this thought:

 

"I know you're in a hurry, I know you have to get to work, I know you have a big meeting. But if you hit an animal, please stop. Please stop and find someone who can help if you can't. Please have some compassion, because that's someone else's family that you just drove away from."

Welcome To The World Baby Luke!

I am so happy to introuduce you to my new boyfriend, Luke! He was born on Tuesday night and I immediately fell in love with him. You may have seen his parents' maternity shoot here. I went to visit him yesterday and just stared at him. He's stolen my heart :)

 

 

Happy birth day, Luke!

My Forays Into Extreme Couponing! {Also, Better Than Free Honey Maid Graham Crackers At RiteAid!}

One of the ways I have been saving money has been...
EXTREME COUPONING!

 I started out as a casual couponer, using a $0.50 off coupon on my Smart Balance butter. Within a week, I discovered I am not casual. I have all the attributes of a good couponer - eagerness, thriftiness, TIME, zeal, access to many computers/printers, organization, and enthusiasm.

 

And then it got crazy.

 

Soon, I found that I could get things for FREE. Well, I'm a sucker for free. Here's a breakdown of my latest deal:

 

To do this deal, you'll need a RiteAid card, and 2 Nabisco coupons from www.smartsource.com (choose Nabisco from the brand drop down menu, press go, then select the first and only coupon - $1/2).

 

Certain Nabisco items are 2/$5 at RiteAid (Honey Maid, Cheese Nips, Saltines, and Ritz Crackerfuls).

 

There is also a $2 UP Reward (money you can use at RiteAid the following day), PLUS a $5 Up Reward when you spend $10.

 

SO, if you buy FOUR boxes, that would be $10. You'll get $5 in UP Rewards, $4 in Up Rewards ($2 per box). That's a cost of $1 to you.

 

BUT, use your coupons and you'll save an additional $2, which means you're getting FOUR boxes and making $1!

 

 

With the coupons, you have an out of pocket cost of $8, without them, it's $10. Note: there is a limit of 3 uses per RiteAid card for each UP Reward ($5, $2).
 

 

My receipt was $0 because I had enough UP Rewards in my account to pay for the out of pocket costs.

 

This is still a good deal even without the coupons! I am using some of these, but a lot of them will be donated to a food drive at a local school this holiday season. FREE GIVING! :) 

 

I first heard about this deal from SouthernCaliSaver. Note: this deal may not be good in all areas - check your flyer for the UP Rewards listed.