Prayers for Ben and Katie

Ben and Katie are friends of ours here in Columbus, Ben works with C. On Thursday evening they were hit by a truck at a high rate of speed. Ben is currently, 39 hours after the accident, still in a medically induced coma, due to bleeding in his brain. Katie is currently recovering from surgery last night the repair 2 tears in her intestines and will have surger to repair her broken arm on Monday.

Please, take a moment to say a prayer for these two wonderful people, their family and friends. I know that it takes a lot for me to tell that my husband is upset, but I can see the pain in his eyes and hear the sadness in his voice. It is hard for these warriors to understand how one can make it home from combat so many times safely to be injured while at home.

They also have a Blog where there will be updates on their condition. C is going to head up to the hospital today to see Ben, so hopefully I will have an update for you then.

The Heart of a Hero....

I always new what my husband did for a living was dangerous, so dangerous that in fact I will never truly know exactly what it is that he did. He has since moved to a non-deploy able section of his Regiment, but for 4 years when he packed his green bags and headed out the door I never knew if he was coming home. Thankfully the Lord provided the opportunity for him to come home safely and mostly unharmed, the Lord provided this for us not once, but 4 times.

The past year has been a tough one in our "family", first C and I lost our dear friend Captain Richard "Richie" Cliff,I can not say enough how deep that hurt us. I grew up in the same hometown as Richie, was taught Biology by his mother in High School and C did ROTC with Richie at ASU. He was a friend to me and a great friend and mentor to C. He is in my thoughts every day and I pray that God helps his family as the first anniversary of his death is creeping in on us. Secondly, C lost another friend this year shortly after we lost Richie,Staff Sergeant Anthony Davis, C served with him in his last deployment before taking his non-deploy able position, it hit C hard.

Big Richie and Little Richie, about 3 weeks before Big Richie was KIA

Recently a young Ranger by the name of CPL Benjamin Kopp was killed in action if Afghanistan, he served with the Battalion that is here where my husband is now. I knew that CPL Kopp was killed as the former Battalion Chaplain attends our church and did the service for CPL Kopp. What I did not know and have just recently become privy too is the amazing story of a selfless hero that just keeps on giving. This article brought me to my knees, I am amazed at how our men and women keep on giving even after paying the ultimate sacrifice. What a selfless act of love, CPL Kopp died for his country and then gifted the opportunity for someone to be able to have a new life!!! I amazed and awe struck, the heart of a hero truly does beat on!

Publix Shopping 101

I have had a few requests for help on how to save big at Publix, therefore I decided it was time to post my Publix shopping 101 post. First off let me tell you that last week at Publix I spent $10.73 cents and that was a savings of 82% off of the regular prices, many of my items were free or pretty close to free!

Publix shopping rules:

1. Always shop the circular for your local market that is found online. There is an ad that comes out in the Sunday paper that includes the penny item coupon, but this ad just has a small selection of what is really for sale at Publix that week.
2. I never purchase items that are not on sale at Publix unless I have a coupon that makes them completely free. Unless an item is on sale at Publix their prices are seemingly higher than the commissary or Wal-mart where I would usually get those items.
3. In order to fully maximize Publix shopping and get your full savings you must clip/print coupons. Publix has a pretty awesome coupon policy, they double coupons up to 50 cents, you can use a Publix coupon(which can be found in their magazine type papers that are foudn at the front of the store or you can sign up for some of them on their website) along with a manufacturer's coupon, when you buy items that are B1G1 you can use 2 coupons, you can use printable coupons up to $4 and they also take competitor's coupons for other stores you have in your area, in Columbus that would usually be the Target printables.
4. Use the B1G1 sales to stockpile. The more you stockpile the less you will have to shop for things that are typically on the B1G1 sales such as spaghetti sauce, pasta, cereal, juice,etc.
   
5. When you purchase B1G1 items you do not have to purchase 2 of the item if you do not want to, if you purchase just 1 item then you will get that item for half off.
6. Each Wednesday the new circular comes out there is a great website called Fiddledeedee where she matches all of that weeks B1G1 and sale items with printable coupons and tells you in what coupon fliers in the paper you can find the non printable coupons for the items. Remember when looking at this site, most of the time when you print a coupon you can press the back button and print a coupon again, making it possible for you to have 2 coupons for the B1G1 sales.
7. Always make sure you try to have a coupon for the item you want to buy, however with that said the majority of the times on a B1G1 sale the items are cheaper than any other store. Publix has the best B1G1 sale around.

With that said allow me to show you last weeks $10.73 shopping trip:

• 2 Kraft salad dressings: Reg $3.00/each on sale B1G1 for $1.50/each. I used 2 $1.50 off Kraft salad dressing coupons found on the Cooking with Kraft website making these items free!
• 4 Muir Glen tomato sauce: Reg .89. I used 4 $1.00 of any Muir Glen item coupons found Bettycrocker.com making these items free plus .11 overage for each can.
• 3 Mueller's Pasta: Reg $1.39/each on sale B1G1 for .70 each. I used a $1.00 off of the purchase of 3 found on pastavalue.com making these items cost .36 each for a total of $1.10.
• 1 Go-gurt: Reg $2.99/each on sale B1G1 for $1.50. I purchased 1 and used a .40 coupon which was doubled to .80 found here making the Go-gurt .70.
• 4 Chef-boyardee cans: Reg $1.50 on sale for .85. I used 4 $1.00 off any Chef-boyardee item coupons found on the Simple and Delicious website making these items free plus a .15 overage for each item.
• 2 Hormel ready to eat entrees: Reg $5.5o/each on sale for $4.00/each. I used 2 $2.00 of Hormel item coupons found here making these items $2.00 each for a total of $4.00.
• 2 Betty Crocker supreme brownie mix: Reg $2.69 each on sale B1G1 for $1.35 each. I used a .75 off of 2 coupon making these .97 each for a total of $1.94.
• 2 Kraft Shells-n-Cheese: Reg $2.59 on sale B1G1 for $1.30 each. I used a $1.50/2 coupon found here making these items .55 each for a total of $1.10.
• Kraft BBQ Sauce: Reg $1.39. I used a coupon that was found on the Shells and Cheese box for a free bottle of BBQ sauce when you purchase 2 Shells and Cheese. Making this item free!
• Beechnut Mixed Cereal: Reg $1.89. I used a B1G1 coupon from a previous box of cereal to make these items .95 each for a total of $1.80

Overall last week I received 2 bottles of salad dressing(we use them for marinades for chicken), 4 cans of tomato sauce(for homemade spaghetti sauce), 4 cans of Chef-boyardee, and a bottle of Barbecue sauce completely free!! Which makes my free items a value of $13.95 completely free!

I purchased 21 items for $10.73 making that .51 for each item on average. Not too shabby if you ask me!!