"I'm Done With This Dirt!"

We have all been there.

D.O.N.E.

Just over it.

In this case, Isaac's famous words referred to actual dirt.
We were wandering a half mile trail through Usery Park when we came across a fork connecting us up with another trail.

We got adventurous.

We turned onto the other trail.

Which was a two and a half mile trail.

We figure we caught it with about 2 miles left to go...

The sun began to go down.

We heard coyotes.

We got a little tired...

(and perhaps a little nervous that we had turned down a trail taking us to Egypt).

...and no other words captured the general feeling better than Isaac's profound

"I'm done with this dirt!"

A phrase that has since found its permanent place within our home.

Some examples of other
dirt I am done with:

Drama Queens.

Negativity.

Taxes.

Whitney.
(The sitcom.)
(Ever since the dramatic recent story line change - they have lost me I'm afraid.)

Muffin Top.
(The tummy one, not the yummy one.)
(I caved and bought the size up pair of jeans I have been working on since the holidays.)
(Just one pair though. And I will never tell you the size.)

Isaac. Hiking South Mountain. New dirt.

Save Me!

See the lady in the picture?

I have one word for her.

Rookie.

I had only 6 coupons, but I had 3 bags of groceries, and I only spent $4.

In my bags:

A box of cheerios

A dozen eggs

1 pound of bacon

2 bags of shredded cheese

A bottle of Salad dressing

A bag of rice

Yes, I know women like the people you see on Extreme Couponing (A new reality show for those of you who actually have lives and don't keep up on important things like the latest and greatest adventures in reality TV) - those women will mock me for boasting about my meager little booty, but that is not the point...

I usually spend more than $4 on just the bacon. 

I typically reserve my energy for "big saves" like automobile purchases
or furniture,
or other high ticket items,
but these days those are not the purchases that I am making. 

I do, however, have a lot of children.
I find they behave better if I feed them every once in awhile.

I spend a lot of time at the grocery store.

I spend a lot of money at the grocery store.

I don't like coupons.

But I do like to have money.

And frankly, there is more of it left in my wallet today than I expected because I decided to give this coupon thing a try. 

I will not be subscribing to multiple newspapers and programming all grocers within a 10 mile radius into my GPS any time soon,

but I will probably do this again.

Often.

To a degree.

Because, as it turns out, contrary to my original suspicions

I was able to take the bags from the grocery store at that price without being accosted by security on the way out.

This is legit.

And,

for a single mom on a budget,

a few dollars saved here and there could come in handy every once in awhile.

I will count this as a successful first mission.

I will also count the dollars I saved.

$15. 

A savings of 77% according to my receipt.

Not too shabby for a first-timer like me if I do say so myself...

And I do.

You have my permission...

Brag with me.

Tell me about your conquests.