The quiet ones are the ones to watch…

Well, yet another busy weekend over.  Ironically enough it was intended to be quiet one, what with Austin last weekend and a potential Austin trip again this weekend (depending on how the Texas Stars do in the finals) we decided low key was the way to go.

One of the great things about living here is that events need very little planning.  If someone is free, they send out a message.  There’s no coordination of schedules or weeks advance notice, it’s hours, a day if you’re lucky.

So we’re sitting on the sofa watching tv (already in our pjs) when my phone goes around 6pm on Friday Sharon wants to know if we’re free for a drink or two and chat at their house and with no hesitation we changed, we grabbed a bottle of our ‘Iowa Wine’ from the fridge and we spent the evening watching the Flyers beat the Blackhawks 😉

Col and Row ‘Sing Starring’ for Cols birthday 2008

Saturday, Col was barely out of bed when my phone went again, at around 2pm this time.  It was Ann asking if we wanted to go to a BBQ from around 4.30pm – again, no hesitation, I herded Col to get showered and ready, we grabbed another bottle of our ‘Iowa Wine’ (the last one, which I suppose means I just have to go and get some more, oh dear! LOL!) and headed over for some good food and for me, lot of seriously strong Sangria.  We met a new SLB couple while we were there, got pretty drunk on Sangria (and cherry wine) and played Sing Star til the wee hours.

It was great fun!  Col completely shocked everyone by coming out of his quiet corner and winning ‘rings round him’ on Sing Star and Team McMaster reigned supreme! It’s a great game, one that we love to play (although Col has taken to trying to play it at 10.30pm on a week night, which I keep trying to tell him won’t bode well for the neighbours or their kids who have work and school the next morning! LOL!)

Yesterday was a quiet one, I got up early (hangover-free thankfully) and took the car out for a jaunt to do my coupon shopping before coming home and making a big fry for brunch (since we defrosted some potato bread and wheaten the night before!).

This week, my receipts look like this:

CVS

Total Cost: $35.36
Total Savings: $23.63
Total Out of Pocket: $11.48
RR for Next Time: $5
RR Used: $2.00
Like Spending: $6.48

Walgreens

Total Cost: $62.29
Total Savings: $31.65
Total Out of Pocket: $30.64
RR for Next Time: $15
RR Used: $0
Like Spending: $15.64

I haven’t done Target yet and I need another Walgreens trip but the savings this week aren’t bad at all.  I’m really starting to get in to the coupon culture here in the States.  I have my coupon folder, all of my coupons sorted into different sections of the supermarket and I have my lists of what I need to buy with what coupons which I take with me every time we go out shopping and i’m really making some great savings.  It makes my shopping trips a lot longer though, which is why I do it without Col on the weekend mornings!  It’s definitely something I wish back home was in to because although it takes up a lot of time, it’s really worth it in the long run!

This morning I woke up after a 12 hour sleep, feeling pretty under the weather, my glands are swollen, my throat hurts, my head is pounding and my nose is stuffy.  I hope it a 24hr thing that passes, cause I’m certainly not a chipper sick person! LOL! In spite of my feeling crappy I went to see ‘Killers’ today with Sharon and Ann.  It was a cute film, horrendously cheesy and quite the Bond rip-off, but I’m all about the cheesy chick flick and I do love Katherine Heigl!

Row and I at my birthday celebrations 2008

I’m pretty preoccupied at the minute with the fact that in 5 weeks and 2 days my little brother will make his first trip out to the US.  I’m soooooooooo freakin’ excited! I can’t wait to see him! I’m nervous for him as he’s never travelled alone before, but I’m confident that he’ll be fine.  I can’t wait to show him Houston and Col and I are already making a list of things to do with him when he gets here!

We were considering going to the gym tonight, but we’ll see how things go and how I feel by the time that comes around, I’d like to go if this sudafed kicks in any time soon.  Tomorrow, I’m helping out my friend Lori typing up some notes for a trial she has coming up soon, but beyond that, most people are travelling home for the summer at the minute so my week is pretty quiet – which is an odd sensation and if this weekend is anything to go by, quite likely to change at the drop of a hat!