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Just when I thought I said all I could say….

Don’t even pretend that you weren’t singing Usher!

— Maybe I have had a bag packed in my car every day so far this week full of clothes, boots, a scarf, and gloves in case I get stuck somewhere because of this crazy Alabama weather. With an empty book bag to deposit my purse and work lap top in if I had to walk for a long distance. And when I say maybe I mean I do.

— I don’t really care about Valentine’s Day. Mainly because I think it is a stupid holiday. Shouldn’t you show your significant other love throughout the year and purchase them random little surprises because you thought about them instead of doing it because you are supposed to? Because a holiday reminded you to? Lame sauce.

–I do like hearts and pink glittery things, so not all of Valentine’s Day is lame sauce. You better believe I hit the clearances aisles at Target and purchase the pink towels with hearts all over them and the glittery xoxo.

–I haven’t painted my finger nails in almost two months. They started to chip and peel really, really bad after having them painted constantly for three weeks. It freaked me out and took until now to stop looking a mess. I am going to paint them this weekend and hope the layers of my nails don’t peel again! What do all of you use to protect your nails who have them painted constantly?! Clearly what I am using doesn’t work!

–I have my toe nails painted. The same paint I put on around Thanksgiving. There are 4 toes left with color. Maybe I should fix that? I say what’s the point until the flip flops get broken out. My winter work shoes just tear my toe nails up.

–I have gotten in EVERY T25 work out last week and this week so far! I have also stayed on track with my meal plan this week. Score!

–I hate lower focus day. Holy squats and lunges my legs shake for awhile after my work out.

–I have a ridiculous attachment to things that are sentimental to me. Chris bought me an iPad2 for my birthday the year it came out. It was my first tablet and I have loved it ever since. Chris has an iPad 4 but his work just purchased him an iPad Air. Chris offered me his iPad4. Sweet! However, now I don’t need the iPad 2 and I know I should sell it and put that money towards something else. But I kind of sort of have a really hard time letting go. Chris bought it for me for my  birthday so it is really special to me.

Note to Chris: don’t buy me shit that is upgradable for my birthday in the future…I will have a really hard time letting go when it is time to upgrade!

–I cant believe I am going to say this…but I am kind of ready for warmer weather. What the what?!?! That’s right. Me. Nadine. Lover of cold weather and winter. I am ready for some flip flops and dresses and no more threat of ice paralyzing my beloved little southern city. I am sure I will insert my foot in my mouth when it is April 2 and 85 degrees with 1546% humidity and I am sweating my ass off. You can laugh at me then.

It’s Wednesday. I am wearing pink.

On Wednesdays we wear pink and link up with Kathy for Wednesday Confessions and Liz for the Hump Day Blog Hop!

So, Amanda posted Shit that her boy says a while back and then turned it into a link up. I was super excited because Chris says the funniest most random shit all the time and I knew that his words would be blog post gold!

BUT then I realized that if I posted have the shit that he says on here you people would think I was crazy for being married to him and he would probably end up in jail. SO….I had to keep a note on my iPhone of the stuff that I can actually publish that he says. Not near as much material, but let’s go with it.

– While we were in Gatlinburg after Christmas, every year there is a Christian group up there. Now I have nothing against Christians, I am one. However, you put thousands of Christian kids together in a touristy area and they will get on your damn nerves!!!! We were walking downtown one day and I think we had all had just about enough of these annoying kids. (They are teenage-aged kids.) There was a table with some items you could buy to support their group. One item caught Chris’s attention and it became the joke the rest of the trip. Chris says out loud to all of us, “I am going to buy one of those I heart Christian Boys tshirts and wear it around town. Then let’s see what these kids have to say.” We all just busted out laughing.

– We were watching Revenge and the episode ends. Some serious shit just went down on the show. I am in a little bit of shock and processing all the events that just took place. Chris looks at me all serious like, and I am prepared for him to discuss what we just saw. He looks dead serious at me and says, “I’m going to need a huge piece of brownie warmed up with ice cream and milk.” Then he gets up and walks to the bathroom. Seriously!?!

– Randomly one night, “Do you ever hear your butthole right before you crap on the toilet? It talks to you.”

– We were out shopping and we walked past Men’s Warehouse. I ask Chris if he wants to look in there for some work clothes. He replies, ” They guarantee the way I look….but will they guarantee the way I feel?”

– Chris pre-ordered a game at Game Stop. When you pre-order a game at some of these places, they display the case and take the game out and keep it in a drawer until they can give them to the people who pre-ordered. Chris is all excited to pick up his game and we get inside and he realizes he is getting one that isn’t wrapped. He is upset. He says not only to the cashier but posted to the Game Stop Facebook page:

Unwrapping a video game is like undressing a girl for the first time. When I pre-order something, I expect it wrapped.

-We are watching Pretty Little Liars. Chris screams at the TV: “I am ready to stop playing just the tip and get some answers already!!!!”

– This past weekend we hung out with one of Chris’s friends that he used to work at a law firm with. They were talking about how that firm was sort of “the bad guys” in most situations. Chris starts talking about a case and says, “There was this plant in one of those western states….I dunno…Minnesota…Wisconsin…something like that. Anyways, the plant was putting out asparagus. Wait. Fuck. Not a fruit. Asbestos. The plant was putting out asbestos.”

– Later, with this same friend, we were discussing TV shows that we watch and some of our guilty pleasure ones. Chris and I were talking about how we used to really like Vampire Diaries until The Originals came on and now we like it better. We all agreed the show has gotten to be a little far fetched. Chris says, “Travelers is where they have gone too far. That is stretching it.” Joe says, “Really?!?!Travelers is where they have gone too far?! Not witches? Not vampires? Or werewolves?” Then I chimed in and said “Hybrids isn’t where they went to far?!?!”

Chris wore this horse head in the car driving around downtown Gatlinburg. He kept sticking his head out the window. People were loosing their shit.

Oh the crazy shit that boys say…and do. I love him and he keeps me entertained on the daily!!! I am so glad I have someone who I can be silly and funny with. I feel like we are both always ourselves and it is wonderful! It makes life A LOT more fun and interesting!

“Doodle bug, no whining!” – What I have said to Gracie about ten times this morning. She is being a little needy and I love it. Doodles is one of her many nick names. It goes well – Gracie Doodles!

Friday – We spent some time with Chris’s parents Friday night after work. We stopped by Publix and picked up Filet’s for his dad to grill us. Delicious!

Saturday – We hung around the house in the morning. Chris started a new job two weeks ago and he has A LOT of projects he is working on to get their IT department up to snuff, and he spent a lot of the weekend testing out a program to get all the kinks out. So, I cleaned the house, did some laundry and purged some stuff from my closet I no longer wear/need.

Saturday afternoon we grabbed a late lunch, stopped by Best Buy for Chris to get a new iPad case for his work iPad and stopped by GNC because I have been wanting to try Quest bars fooooorrrrrever. Then we headed downtown to World of Beer to meet up with an old friend we haven’t seen in at least a year. It was fabulous! We also had a late dinner at Fuego. I was proud of myself and only splurged at lunch and on a beer and a half. I had a taco salad at Fuego, no shell no dressing. Boom.

Sunday – I woke up early to get our grocery shopping done, came back and made Chris and I lunch. Then I headed up to my sister’s house for my nephew’s birthday party!!! I cant believe he is nine. NINE!!!!! I had such a good time getting to hang out with everyone and I stayed for several hours just chit chatting with my sister, brother in law and one of their friends and my oldest neice after everyone left.

Here is a picture of the birthday boy! Love him! My sister made lego cupcakes. I had none. WILL POWER!

Sunday evening we had dinner and enjoyed a Law and Order SVU marathon.

We are supposed to have some winter weather again tonight and tomorrow night. Crap. Why in the hell cant we just have some normal snow??!?!?! Why does it have to come with freezing rain and a shit ton of ice? I am ready for this stuff to go away and be done with. I am so sad that I cant get excited about snow. Leave it to the south to mess up some snow and winter fun!

I leave you with a picture of two tired little doggies. Apparently it is tough work playing outside in the afternoon.

Today is a random Friday Five kind of day!

1. Strawberries have started looking appealing at the grocery store again. Yes!!! The last few months they have looked very sad, moldy and frankenberry like. I picked some up both last week and this week from Publix and have been very pleased with them! I love strawberries.

Remember her? I have a Strawberry Shortcake ornament from FOREVER ago that still smells like the day I got it.

2. Loreal Heat Protectant Spray – I picked this up a few weeks ago at Target when my go-to Tresemme was not available. I have to say, I am very impressed and this may be my new go to. I really like how it sprays more evenly out of the bottle. The smell has some sort of sunflower (maybe) undertone to it that brings me back to high school, and I really like how my hair has looked the last few weeks since using it. Admittedly, I picked up Loreal’s new sulfate free line of shampoo last month when I ran out of my expensive salon kind. I picked up another bottle this month. I think it is a keeper, especially for HALF the price! I am a total product snob, you all know this….so that says a lot!

3. My oldest nephew turns nine next week. NINE!!!!! Where in the world have the years gone? My baby sister has a nine year old. What?! He is doing something fun with a friend for his birthday, so my sister is just having the family over on Sunday for cake and ice cream. I wont be partaking in the eating of said cake and ice cream, but I will be visiting with my family and telling Christopher to stop growing up. Sheesh! He is the sweetest kid I have ever met. He has the biggest heart and he is so smart. Proud aunt right here.

4. Ok all my fitness/healthy lifestyle  journey people. I think I need an accountability partner. Someone who wants to randomly text me with encouraging words, their confessions of eating a cookie, or something funny to get me through my day. Especially on the weekends when I would kill a kitten for a cheeseburger. (Just kidding I would never kill a kitten. Duh!) Anyone out there need the same? I can throw in a few pictures of Gracie or Mac if you want. Chris is no help by asking this like, “Did you pick up ice cream this week?” No I didn’t pick up ice cream because if I see it in the freezer, five pounds of flab goes straight to my abs! I don’t even have to eat it, it just being there makes me gain weight.

5. Can I get an amen?!

With the economy like it is, and prices constantly rising, money can be tight some times. Let’s be honest, the money that we make now isn’t near as much as it used to be growing up. The fact that our grocery bill each week for two people ranges from $120-$180 for ONE week is just ridiculous!!! Now, this does include some essentials when needed such as cleaning products, some personal care items, light bulbs, laundry detergent etc. Chris and I cook dinners at least 4 nights a week and take our lunches to work at least 4 days of the week. I eat breakfast in the mornings every morning, Chris only eats breakfast on Saturdays and Sundays. So that gives you an idea of how much we are purchasing. I try to make at least one meal a week that can be reheated as a left over a second day. We don’t buy in excess so food doesn’t go to waste.

With all that said, I have tried very hard to cut our grocery bill down. There is only so much that you can cut, especially when trying to eat healthy. I mean, a box of Kraft Mac and Cheese or a package of Ramen noodle soup is super cheap, but I don’t want to eat all that processed shit. (Don’t get me wrong, I love both and it makes me sad to try not to consume them anymore.) I decided the only way to cut our bill without cutting out nutritious, wholesome meals was to cut coupons and shop deals every where I can.

Now, before you think this is a sponsored post by Target, I assure you it is not. I am just saving too much money not to share. If you are from Target and you are reading this, please feel free to throw me some money or free products and hook a girl up?!

We do about 95% of our grocery shopping at Target. We have a Target card that automatically gives us 5% off every single thing we purchase from there. Hello. Why wouldn’t you have one of these glorious cards?! Last year we saved almost $400 just with that card! Since I do my grocery shopping at Target, I downloaded the Cartwheel App a few months ago. This app is amazing! I have saved over $20 in the last two months with it. We get a free local newspaper in the mail once a week. About 8/10 times, there is a coupon book in there along with the Publix sales ad for the week. I cut out a coupon for every single thing that I might purchase. Now, I don’t buy something just because I have a coupon for it. I only use them when we are going to actually need the product. I also look at the Publix ad because lets be honest, Target doesn’t always have everything I need, so I sometimes I have shop at both stores each week. If Publix has their salad mix buy one get one free, I will get it from there instead that week or look at other deals on things we might need.

Shopping at Target also provides coupons. At least 2/3 of the time they will hand me 5-6 coupons with my receipt that printed out, and they are all on products that I actually use. Last week I got a FREE item coupon, $1 off produce, $1 off fresh meats, and $1 off fresh veggies. Hello!!!! I buy all those things EVERY week, I will take the $3! That money adds up quick!

The great thing is that the Cartwheel app can be used in combination with coupons and your 5% card. Sometimes I might save a couple of dollars on an item or get it almost for free with the combination of the three! Last week I saved $33 dollars with cartwheel, my card and coupons. This past week I saved $21 with the combination. I felt like a freaking rock star walking out of Target with all my savings!!!

Now, not every week can I get $30 in savings, even if it is only 50 cents I will be excited because that is 50 cents I have to put towards something else!! While this takes a little planning on my part, between cutting coupons, going through the cartwheel app each week and adding and removing different deals based on our grocery list, it is time well spent. I look at it as I am getting paid to do it. And, once you meal plan and look up deals for a few weeks, you get into a rhythm and it takes hardly any time at all.

I feel like my inner cheap chinawomen Kathy is coming out! But, if I can keep extra doll hairs in my wallet to spend on something fun rather than a necessity, then gosh darn, bring it on!

Another great thing about being a Target Red Card customer is that I get catalogs in the mail every now and then that will have a $10 off $50 on it. Around Christmas, I had a $25 of $150 coupon!!!! A FREE $25?!?! I felt like I won the lottery!

Another way I have gotten some great coupons in through BzzAgent. It is sort of like Influenster. They send me products to review, or coupons to purchase products and then tweet about it, write a review for their site, or share with my friends or readers. They also give me coupons to hand out to my friends. Almost every time I meet the girls for lunch lately, I have had a coupon to hand out and a new product to buzz about. It has been really fun!

So, are you trying to coupon and save money where you can? Don’t worry, you wont find me on an episode of Extreme Couponing on TLC. Though, you may find me on hoarders for all the pets I want to save! (It’s ok, I still only have 2 dogs but a girl can dream, no?)