Posted 12:38 PM by Bonnie

Oh Brother!!! Okay, so I was taking a break and lay down on the love seat to watch tennis for awhile. As will happen when one lays down I fell asleep. Suddenly my cell phone, in my pants pocket, rang and startled me awake causing me to roll off the love seat and onto the floor! So there I was trying to wake up, find my cell phone and figure out where I was! It was Keith locked outside, having just got home from work, with the two stray cats all wanting inside. Sigh! and I was enjoying the tennis match so much! Ah...who's playing?

Posted 11:11 AM by Bonnie

Well, it looks like blogger can't do anything about the hacker who used a back door to get into and take over my sister Victoria's blog and use the address for their own. So I have deleted the link and hopefully Vic will have a new site up soon. It means recovering a lot of pictures and such. Don't you just love these people who think it's cool to do something like that?

Posted 12:16 PM by Bonnie

Recently two people made very strange comments to me about my using coupons. I don’t work, so the coupons are my way of contributing to the family budget. Even while working I continue to use them because they do add up to some good savings. I’ll give you some examples in a moment, but first I want to address the comments.

First a man I worked with for awhile with said it was a waste of time to use coupons because you still had to pay tax on the price before the coupons. First, there are no taxes on food items and here’s an example of the tax paid. Total prior to coupons - 40.41 (tax was 1.50) – total coupon savings 19.98 = 20.43. So, what he was essentially saying is that it is not worth saving $19.98 because he had to pay $1.50 tax. I don’t look at it as saving $1.00 on one product, $.75 on another, but as a total savings off my final grocery bill. I mean if you found $20 would you throw it away? Neither would I!

The other was a woman, who said, with her nose in the air and looking at me as if I were nothing, that she didn’t use coupons because they were only on unhealthy processed foods and she didn’t put that into her body. Hmmmm….let’s see… here are my savings from Walgreen’s today – which is the money example I used above.

Paper plates normally $1.79 for 100 were .99 per 100 plates with in store coupon
Video tapes normally $1.99 each were .99 with in store coupon
Scott Toilet paper was 2/$5 with in store coupon and using my 2 - $1.00 off each pkg. coupons the total was 2/$3 or $1.50 for four rolls. Not bad!

But my best savings was Crest toothpaste. Walgreens had a Buy 1 Toothpaste Get 1 get the Mouthwash free ($3.99 savings)…BUT! I also had a coupon for the toothpaste B1G1F (another $3.99 savings) so in the end I got 2 tubes of toothpaste and one bottle of mouthwash for $3.99. In case you didn't know it Walgreen's allows you to combine manufacturers coupons with their in store coupons.

I also purchased a couple other items that were in store sales not needing coupons. But, the point is not one item on there is a food product, so not ALL coupons are for processed foods.

We have a lot of cats that need fed so I have a stack of $1.50 off 15 cans of Friskies. I buy them in stacks of 15 at .99 for 3 cans. That would total $4.95 for every 15 cans. But minus the $1.50 a coupon that brings it down to $3.45 for 15 cans…but the savings don’t stop there! For every 15 cans I buy, at Food Lion, Friskies pops out a $.50 savings on your next grocery trip coupon. So, -$.50 on every 15 cans that brings it down to $2.95 for 15 cans. That's less than $.20 a can from the original $.33 a can. That really adds up when you buy as much as we do. Today it was a total of $10.00 saved on 75 cans. $1.50 x 5 (stacks of 15) = $7.50 add in the 5-.50 coupons that Friskies gives you from the store that's another $2.50 savings for $10.00 off the cat food.


Food Lion also has the new Cheerios Fruit cereal on sale at B1G1F a savings of $3.49 which made it less than $1.75 a box. BUT! You knew there would be a but. I had a coupon for $1.00 off each box! So that made it $1.49 for two boxes or about $.75 per box.

Jenny-O hot turkey dogs (okay they are processed but I think a lot of people eat hot dogs) are $1.19 a pack. Get ready for this! I have $1.00 off coupons on Jennie-O products so in the end pay $.19 per pack!

We eat a lot of soy products including Morning Star Farms. I had the good fortune a month ago to have a handful of $1.00 coupons when they had a sale marking down from $3.99 a pack to $2.99 a pack making my final price $1.99 per pack! I stocked up on the burgers, sausage, chicken strips! Also, a Soymilk coupon of $1.00 off each item makes it more affordable.

The kool-aid packs where you pour it into a bottle or glass of water are marked down from $3.99 a box to $2.99 a box - using my $1.00 coupons that makes it $1.99 a box and a reasonable price to pay.

So, my point is coupons are not a waste of time and they are not only for processed foods. Yes, there are a lot for frozen dinners… I leave many around the stores for items I don’t purchase and for items I do buy but will not be able to use all the coupons by the expiration date. Don’t have the time to clip and file coupons? Do you watch TV? Or home movies? That’s when I clip and file mine. I don’t use an elaborate system. I have a little plastic child size tool box with alphabetical index cards. I file the coupons in alphabetical order under their letter. It’s so easy to pick up that little box when I go shopping and if I see a sale for something not on my list I can easily find a coupon to match. I’ve considered hiring myself out as a professional grocery shopper to help people save money. Anyone want to hire me?

Anyway…I won’t tell you that you must use coupons, I won’t look down my nose at you if you don’t because some people just don’t like to bother with them. But when you see someone else using them think about this missive and instead of looking down on them consider how enterprising they are. Happy Shopping!!

Anyone want me to do their shopping for them? Or get together and either trade coupons or learn how to use coupons to their greatest advantage? You know how to get in touch with me!

Posted 10:13 AM by Bonnie

My sister, Victoria, is aware there is a connection problem with the link to her blog and is working with the powers that be to get it fixed. I will keep you updated. thanks!

Posted 11:03 AM by Bonnie

Inside me lives a skinny woman crying to get out. But I can usually shut the witch up with cookies.
(Unknown)

Posted 8:15 PM by Bonnie

Open Mic Night!: We had a low turnout of poets tonight, because it was the first week back at school here. A lot of our poets are teachers and students and were all a bit overwhelmed by school and not ready for tonight. I have promises that they will be into a routine by next month and will be there. But, in spite of having a low turnout we had a blast! Lori Streett didn't bring any of her own poems to read, but while waiting I had given her chap books by Colin Haskins and my sister, Victoria Rivas to read and she fell in love with their poetry so read a poem from each book. From Colin's she read Promises Promises and from Victoria's she read The Minutes From Today's Meeting. One she said was too familiar to her and she thought would be to others.

Our featured poet, Larry Stoy, shared a variety of poems from the whimsical to the dark side. A well rounded poet his poetry captures all sides of life. Everyone enjoyed his readings and we were pleased to have him there.

We had one new poet tonight and sadly she only brought one poem to share. I hope Ms. Jackson will come back again and bring more of her poems. The one she did share was wonderful and insightful. I am constantly amazed by the talented people here!

Ms. Colette Jones graced us with her presence and her phenomenal poetry and rocked our socks off! This is one phenomenal woman! She shared some stories about herself that inspired her poems and as the night wore on I learned to admire her more and more. And yes, she has agreed to be the featured poet next month! When you can't get enough of someones poetry you feature them!

Here are the pictures from tonight. There are two of Lori because she read from two books and I had to get both on the page.

Larry Stoy Elizabeth Jackson

Lori Streett

Ms. Colette Jones

Posted 1:17 PM by Bonnie

"In The News" by Kris Kristofferson - I hope everyone will click on this link and listen to this powerful song and watch the video.

Posted 12:50 PM by Bonnie

CATS! They never cease to amaze me! I've been concerned about the kittens coming in contact with the male stray who hangs around. When just the mother comes in to eat, I let the kittens come down and eat and play with her. But when the male comes in I tend to keep them upstairs. Well, today the male, Scarface, showed up alone and I let him come in to eat and when I opened the door to go upstairs the kittens charged down! He immediately went to them and started licking and washing them and they did the same with him. He had never seen them but recognized them as his sons. It was so cute! So, guess I don't have to worry he'll beat up on them. Just wanted to share that with you.

Posted 8:52 AM by Bonnie

Talk about spoiled! Okay, I have been accused of spoiling my cats and my husband is no better than me. But, this takes the cake! We have two strays I feed every morning and evening. They came with the house and the neighborhood. The one, of course, is Little Friend, who gave us our two little kittens BJ and Tiny Friend, and the other is our Scarface, who was the first to show up for food when we moved here. Later he brought another little cat and the first thing I said is...oh, are you going to introduce me to your Little Friend? and the name stuck... okay, to move along...

I overslept this morning which is surprising because our cats don't normally let me get past 7:30 before they want their breakfast. Although I do vaguely remember one clawing at my foot at some point.... anyway....

By the time I got to Scarface and Little Friend they were outside the door meowing their little hearts out and trying to open the door themselves. It's raining and they wanted in out of the rain! We do have a room that is separated from the rest of the house by a door and so they can come in here to eat. But it was so funny watching them and as soon as I opened the door they charged inside. Now keep in mind these were cats who stayed outside no matter what the weather before we got here! Scarface has only recently started coming inside to eat, but he got used to the comfort of it very quickly.

So that is how my day started...how about yours?

Posted 7:30 AM by Bonnie

Selling my past! Yes, and on Ebay! A realtor in Erie, PA has a neighborhood up for sale in my old stomping grounds! Oh, to have a lot of money! It's sad to see the city dying day by day, building by building, as jobs are outsourced and more and more businesses close. So the people move and leave entire neighborhoods empty! To read all about it go to go Erie.com

To see the ebay listing go here

Posted 12:20 PM by Bonnie

For all you writers out there here's something to get your creative juices flowing. I try to enter every month. Not feeling real creative today, but hopefully inspiration will hit me this week. So, check it out and have some fun. The latest blogging for books is up!

Posted 2:03 PM by Bonnie

He looks so familiar - duh! Last Sunday Keith and I were watching a Diagnosis Murder tv movie titled Fatal Impact. There was one young actor we kept saying, dang, he looks familiar, where have we seen him before. So, today Keith checked the Internet Movie Database (IMD) and looked up Fatal Impact and found the name of the actor is Harry J. Lennix and gee, no wonder he looked so familiar. We only watched him EVERY week on Commander in Chief! He was only one of the key characters, but hey, I guess we're getting senile or maybe just a little forgetful. So, DUH to us!