AZDonna

First, a quick update on my couponing adventure. I’ve been saving money all right. I took Sara’s advice (she left a comment on my last post) and joined Coupon Sense for a trial month. I think I’m figuring out what the real savings strategy is — use coupons when something is on sale. I have been saving as much as 30-40% on each grocery shopping trip, but hopefully my savings will go up and my grocery bills will go down even more as I get my pantry better stocked.

Now for the main subject of my post. When Dale was here in October, he told us about geocaching, an adventure activity he participates in. Here’s how the geocaching site describes the game:

Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. Geocaching is enjoyed by people from all age groups, with a strong sense of community and support for the environment.

That sounded like a really fun activity to do with Nathan. So a couple weeks ago, we headed out on our first geocaching trip. We selected an easy cache just a block from my house. We hunted and hunted, but could not find the cache. Nathan was very disappointed (as was I!), but we had to give it up. (Note: I’ve since discovered the cache was taken and the owner is planning to replace it. I don’t feel like such a dud that we couldn’t find it.)

My neice, Karen and her three boys are visiting from Pennsylvania this week, so we decided to try again. I had my eye on a multi-cache site near LIFE, that was supposedly hidden by a leprechaun. Heather, Mark and Camden joined us and we drove over on Wednesday afternoon. We all hunted and hunted in the little park area, until Karen finally located the first cache unit which sent us across the street. We had Nathan check a spot that required small hands and he came up with the second unit. That took us back across the street to a different area of the little park and Camden found the treasure! It was very cleverly done and we allowed the boys to take a little souvenir from the cache box, but we were sure to replace it with treasure of equal value.

This was our first find, but it will not be our last. There are nearly one million geocaches hidden around the world. I think we will not run out of free fun as long as we can get outdoors and hunt for treasures. There are thousands of caches hidden in metropolitan areas, but also thousands hidden in wilderness regions. So whatever kind of adventure you are looking for, there’s a cache for that.

I have not revealed the exact location of each of the cache clues because I don’t want to spoil it for any of my readers who might decide to try solving the Leprechaun of Shamrock Estates.

I’ve been hearing a lot lately about homemakers who use coupons and save big money. I’m not just talking about saving 50 cents or a dollar here and there. I’m talking about saving well over half of their grocery bill. I always thought it wouldn’t be worth it for a single person to go to all the trouble to try to work the system, but since some friends of mine are starting to really get into it, I’ve begun clipping and carrying coupons with me now, so that I always have them whenever I run into the grocery store to buy something.  You know how that automated checker always ask “Do you have any coupons?”  I always have to punch NO, and am sorry I couldn’t save a dollar because I had a tiny slip of paper in my purse.

Well, I am discovering there is definitely more to it than just carrying those things around with you. I’ve been collecting coupons for a couple of weeks now, and last night made a trip to the grocery store. I was shuffling those little things, running from aisle to aisle, picking up a certain brand item and comparing it with my coupon, then putting it back because the store brand was cheaper than the the name brand even with the discount. It was very frustrating, to say the least. By the time I was through, I used three coupons and saved just $7. (It would have only been $2, except one of them was a store deal of $5 off if I spent over $50 AFTER all other discounts). Big deal! Ugh! What a lot of work for hardly any return.

But the real story here is the lady who checked out in front of me. She had a huge basket of groceries and a big handful of coupons. I watched the clerk scan and scan and scan coupon after coupon. When she was all done, the clerk announced “$27.53.” I thought I had heard her wrong and it must have been $127.53. So I inched up to where I could see the register display. Sure enough, $27.53! When she handed the lady her change, she circled a number on her receipt and said “You saved $151.xx”. I was floored! I spent more than twice what she did for a third of what she got.

So it’s back to class for me. And seriously, there are online classes for this. I’m now thinking about investing in one. Since Marvell no longer provides a big hot lunch for me every day, my grocery bill has really multiplied. If I can put a little work into couponing and save 25% of my bill, great. If I can save 50%, even better! If I could buy $179 worth of groceries for $27.53, WHOO HOO!!!

As I recently tweeted, I removed my old computer desk and painted my home office. I also got some new funiture. I dragged Daryl to Ikea to help me load and haul a new desk system home. When we got to my house, Daryl just got busy helping me assemble and setting it up. It turned out really nice, I think. I still have to do something with the window. I want to put a curtain or valance there. But it’s organized. I even have 5 empty cubes on the shelf unit! I haven’t decided what I’ll put on them. It’s wonderful not having any clutter there right now.

October 10, 2009

From left: Dale, Betty, Don, Dave, Carsten, Heather, Mark, Donna, Camden, Brian, Mom, Robin, Nathan, Jennifer, Karen, Dayna, Richard, Dianna, Gisele, Daryl (Early Saturday morning, Devon & Derek were still sleeping)

I grew up in a big family: 4 brothers and me, the only girl. We had a lot of fun as kids, taking lots of family camping trips, swimming in the back yard Doughboy pool, chasing dust devils across vacant lots, getting ice cream sundaes at the local Dairy Queen, and celebrating homemade holidays. When we reached adulthood, we all married, had kids and scattered across the country. Amazingly, we have not all been back together in one place at one time in 40 years! This weekend, that changed. From the four corners of the earth (well, maybe just four regions of the country), we came. Richard and Dianna, Don and Betty, and Devon came from California; Dayna came from Texas; Robin came from Idaho; Dale, Jennifer and Dave came from New York; and Karen came from Pennsylvania. We converged here in the Mesa/Tempe area (with Mom, Brian, Carrie, Lauren, Nathan, Andrew, Daryl, Gisele, Derek, Heather, Mark, Camden, Carsten, and me) and had the time of our lives.

Donnie, Dale, Dick, Daryl, Donna behind Mom

It began about six months ago when Mom connected with Dale’s oldest, Karen, on Facebook. We have not had much contact with Dale’s family over the years, so it was a delightful surprise for Mom to hear from her. In quick succession, we all “friended” Karen, then Dale and Dave. (Jennifer is in school full time, and as a dedicated student, has resisted the time waster called Facebook). Karen soon announced she wanted to make a trip to Arizona to meet her grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins she had never known. Through wall posts, FB inbox messages, and email, we began to put together plans for a long weekend in mid-October. When Karen wrote that “we are all four coming”, we were ecstatic.

I didn’t even ask Robin if there would be any possibility of her coming because she had just been here in August. But she had other ideas and secretly made plans to join us … and surprise me.

Dave, Heather, Brian, Robin, Jennifer, Karen, Dayna behind Grandma

Starting Saturday morning, our mouths didn’t stop for the next two and a half days. We ate. We talked. We watched old home movies. We ate. We talked. We toured L.I.F.E. We ate. We talked. We slept a tiny bit. Did I mention we ate and talked? We compared jobs, iPhone apps, bald heads, musical passions; and patiently smiled while Daryl’s neighbor s-l-o-w-l-y focused 12 cameras, one by one, taking our group photos.

It was a wonderful weekend. Here are some pictures. As you can see, we spent a lot of time around the table. Did I mention we ate and talked?

Dr. Mehmet Oz has a new show. I first met Dr. Oz on Oprah. Almost everything he says makes sense to me. He said recently the embryonic stem cell debate is going to be a moot point very soon because researchers are finding that adult stem cells show such promise and are more predictable than embryonic ones (that on a show with Michael J. Fox).

He launched his own syndicated show this week. He has body parts, human anatomy animation, no embarrassment zone Q&A, guest medical experts, and practical advice. This week my favorite tip was “Close the lid BEFORE flushing.” Did you know microscopic water particles (containing bacteria, fecal matter & urine) can splash as far as 20 feet during a flush? They examined someone’s toothbrush and found e coli on it! Eeewwww!

Check your local listings if you like this kind of stuff (and IF you have the stomach for it!)