Milk and Bread

On the way home from work yesterday, I thought I'd stop and pick up some milk and bread. The weekend was upon us and we were dangerously low on both these items. So rather than wait until the last minute, I thought ahead (for once). I pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store and ran in for the much needed items.

When I walked in I saw the Coke display. It was on sale! Woohoo! Can't pass that up. Four 12 packs in my cart. I proceeded down the aisle. Another sale...Capri Suns. Hey, we needed some of those. Six boxes in my cart. We didn't have any fruit and the price on the seedless grapes was doable. In my cart they go. And bananas are always good to have.

It had been awhile since I had last shopped and our meat supply was low. A roast, some chicken, and a couple of quickie meat dinners found their way into my shopping cart. Snacks! We needed em! For the last week we've been whining there was nothing to munch on so I had to get some chips. Of course, you can't have chips without dip or salsa so picked that up too.

Now that school has started, we need more lunch type foods. Cookies cakes..I need cookie cakes! And string cheese. And regular cheese. And cheese for cheese and crackers. Ohhhh...and crackers! Yeah, that's what I need!

And we can't forget Shae. She was out of puppy ice cream. So I picked up several boxes of ice creams for her. And chewies. She needed snack chewies.

Well, when all was said and done, I walked out of the grocery store with milk, bread, and an overflowing cart and $204 less in my pocket.

Dang, milk and bread are expensive!

Budget cuts

It was with great sadness that I ate my lunch today in the teacher's lunch room. It was at this time that I learn of another beloved member of our school family that bit the dust due to budget cuts. Today I realized that the water cooler has been removed. (sniff sniff)

That water cooler has been my good friend for many years now. I would take my big insulated mug to lunch with me each day, fill it with ice, then add fresh, clean, clear water from the cooler. That mug of water would last me the entire afternoon until I went home (usually around 5 or 6pm). If the water got too warm, all I had to do was add more ice and my cool refreshing water was once again thirst-quenching.

Sometimes I would take in Ramen soup for lunch and again, my water cooler friend would be there to add hot water to my noodles. What a warm fuzzy I would get from having hot soup from lunch with my good friend!

But, alas, budget cuts have forced my friend and I to part ways. Needless to say, I was not happy. My healthy water beverage no longer is there for me...to comfort me on those long, parched days. Oh sure, I could drink a Coke, Sprite, or Rootbeer, but those beverages, while tasty, don't have the ability to quench my thirst, cool my throat, and make me feel energized! Not to mention that those empty calories and high sugar content drinks are no good for my health.

So, with great sadness, I said goodbye to a dear friend. Never again will I be able to enjoy a quick energy boost or relaxing and soothing drink that will calm my nerves on a hectic day.

Goodbye my friend. You will be missed. And, budget cuts be damned!

Side note: Both the Coke and Pepsi machine have managed to make the cut. Oh, the horror!

Wednesday Chuckle

Thanks to my good friend Ree, I have this joke to pass along as my blog.

A LITTLE THREE YEAR OLD BOY IS SITTING ON THE TOILET. HIS MOTHER THINKS HE HAS BEEN IN THERE TOO LONG, SO SHE GOES IN TO SEE WHAT'S UP. THE LITTLE BOY IS SITTING ON THE TOILET READING A BOOK. BUT ABOUT EVERY 10 SECONDS OR SO HE PUTS THE BOOK DOWN, GRIPS ONTO TO THE TOILET SEAT WITH HIS LEFT HAND AND HITS HIMSELF ON TOP OF THE HEAD WITH HIS RIGHT HAND.

HIS MOTHER SAYS: "BILLY, ARE YOU ALL RIGHT? YOU'VE BEEN IN HERE FOR A WHILE.

BILLY SAYS: "I'M FINE, MOMMY.. I JUST HAVEN'T GONE 'DOODY' YET."

MOTHER SAYS: "OK, YOU CAN STAY HERE A FEW MORE MINUTES.BUT, BILLY, WHY ARE YOU HITTING YOURSELF ON THE HEAD?"

BILLY SAYS: "WORKS FOR KETCHUP."

Happy Wednesday!

Teacher Appreciation Day

Every year, just before school starts, some of the office supply stores have a Teacher Appreciation Day. Teachers are invited to shop during a specified shopping hours to stock up on school supplies they will need for their classroom. All kinds of sales are run at that time and teachers are provided a bag of freebies as well. Usually, the free give away items are things like a package of pens or pencils, a few sticky notes, some coupons for future services like copies or laminating, and things of that nature. Today, both Staples and Office Depot had Teacher Appreciation Day so John and I both went to see what bargains we could get for our classroom.

First we went to Office Depot. We signed up for the free drawings and enjoyed the complimentary breakfast foods they had (danish, donuts, cookies, oj, coffee). While snacking on our danish, just a few minutes after having signed in and receiving our bag of freebies, they had a drawing. Guess whose name they called? Mine! I won a basket of Avon bath products (shower gel, lotion, etc.). A minute or two after that drawing, another drawing was done. Guess who won? Me again! I had won a second Avon gift basket (coffee beans, aromatherapy candles, etc.). I had already received a bag of freebies and won 2 drawings all within 5 minutes of entering the store! John couldn't believe it!

We started shopping and picked up some things that we could use in our classroom. Students don't always have everything they are supposed to have so most teachers will buy extra supplies like pencils, erasers, paper, etc. plus the necessary "office" type things we need throughout the year like file folders, indexes and other things to help us organize. They had some really good deals so we were able to pick up some of the necessary supplies.

After about an hour, we had finished up with our purchases and had decided it was time to check out. John was looking at "one more thing" when they called another door prize. Guess who won? Not me this time....John! He won an office chair. You know, one of those adjustable height seat, lumbar back, rolly chairs. We couldn't believe it!

Since we were so lucky at Office Depot, we decided we'd try Staples so off we went. Again we got a bag of goodies, had a little oj and danish, signed up for 20 free business cards, and shopped around looking for more bargains. I have to say I was a little disappointed with Staples. Their sales were not nearly as appealing and they didn't seem to have much of anything we really wanted or needed. They didn't have hourly drawings like Office Depot (although we did sign up for several drawings they were having at the end of the day). Neither of us have heard from them about anything we might have won, but I'm still holding on to hope! Maybe they'll call tomorrow!

To pick up all the things we couldn't get at those to stores, we headed to Walmart. They had some great back to school sales and we were able to pick up things like crayons, markers, glue, etc. The only thing I wasn't able to get today was pencil sharpeners. I'm specific about the type I want and I didn't want to pay $2 for one pencil sharpener. They break too easily.

Overall, I have to say it was a productive and enjoyable day. We got a few things that will make our beginning of the school year go a little smoother, a chair to sit in, and Avon products that will make us look and feel good for the first day of school.

I felt appreciated!

Mystic Monk Coffee

This summer we visited my brother Mark and sister-in-law Barbara in Reading. It was a short visit, but we had a nice time. We wandered the Amish stores in Lancaster and went to an "Amish Experience" to learn a little more about their culture, customs, etc. It was educational and interesting.

Now anybody who knows my brother knows he is quite the connoisseur of coffee. Everytime we visit he has either a new fangled machine or some exotic type of coffee. This time he had some coffee that is made by Carmelite Monks. It's called Mystic Monk Coffee. It was actually very good.

Now Mark buys the kind where it is actually the bean and he grinds it as he needs. I had made comment at that time that I don't buy the bean as I don't have a grinder. A few days after we arrived home from our summer trek north, a delivery was left at our front door. Inside the box was a sampler package of Mystic Monk coffees, already ground, along with a note that said "Enjoy...Mark and Barb".

So this morning as I sit and type this blog, I am enjoying a cup of my Mystic Monk coffee. Mmmm, those monks have truly mastered the art of roasting coffee.

Thanks Mark and Barb!

I'm back!

Wow! I can't believe it's been over a month since I last wrote on my blog! The time has passed to quickly and I've done so much since the last time I'd written that I should be good for at least a couple of new entries before school starts again. (That's next week for teachers...the 24th for the kids. Yikes!)

Well, I'm going to start with what went on today and use all my other vacation stuff for another day. Today we went to the beach. We've been on summer vacation since June 10 and here we are, a week away from returning to work and we finally make it to the beach. We got a late start (I'm sure that's a shocker for all you who know us, ha ha) and left the house about 1:00pm. It was about an hour drive to Melbourne and the beaches, but we were in the convertible, top down, enjoying the day so it didn't matter. We finally arrived and lugged our chairs, cooler, and towels to the beach. After applying an ample amount of sunscreen on John, we grabbed our boogie boards and headed to the water. The water was a little cool at first, but after the intial splash it felt great and spent a good 40 minutes in the water before returning to our chairs. I have to say I'm not a big fan of the taste of salt water, but it felt great to be washed over by waves and floating on the boogie board.

While sitting on the beach we cracked open an ice cold bottle of water and just sat in our coca cola beach chairs soaking up the rays. There was a breeze blowing so it felt wonderful. We sat there for about 20 minutes before returning to the water for a final swish.



We made friends with a woman on Facebook who lives in Australia. I promised I'd build her I'd build her a sand castle farm so, borrowing a yellow shovel that someone had forgotten to take home, I built what was a poor excuse for a castle...with a pond and some trees.



John added a silo, which was not much better than my castle, and we took a few photos to share with her.




Another hour drive home and a quick jump into the shower revealed that a) I brought home way more seaweed than I thought, and b) we got WAY too much sun! Both John and I are RED (like the color of my wallpaper on this website) but we had a great time.

It was indeed a great day to be living in Florida!