Winchell's Donut House

I had a good birthday. I was very busy attending a Union meeting, getting my food handler's permit, and then going to young women's. We also had Red Robin for dinner and I received a free hamburger and ice cream. Michael freaked out when the group of waiters came a'singing and clapping their hands around our table. Silly boy thought all the attention was for him. :)

I also got my tickets in the mail to see WICKED! I got an awesome discount deal through work which I jumped on. Richard was planning on buying me tickets for my birthday but was looking to upwards of $100 dollars/ticket. PShhaw. No way, Jose! Luckily I saw this deal just in time! So Excited!!!!!

So, anyway, on the morning of my birthday, I dropped off Richard at his internship and drove directly to my meeting. Much to my surprise, as I drove down the street I spotted a Winchell's Donut House!

Why, do you say, is this place so significant? And especially why is it so ironic that I see it on my birthday?! Long ago, like 23 years ago to the day, my mommy went into labor with her favorite child: me! (It's my blog, I can wish what I'd like!) My dad and mom dropped my older siblings off with Grandma and headed on their way to the hospital, but not without a quick stop to Winchell's Donut House that they saw on the side of State Street. Richard believes that my mom ate a chocolate donut right before I was born and that is why I am a chocoholic. It's in my blood.

Nevertheless, I remember hearing this story repeatedly growing up. I don't recall going to a Winchell's, ever! But whenever we drove by, I'd hear or think about my mom getting Winchell's the day I was born. Honestly, I didn't even know these donut shops existed anymore, or were even known outside of the one store I knew in Utah. So, I knew it must be destiny or fate, and that the donuts were calling out to me on this very special day. We went back later and grabbed a 1/2 dozen donuts and they were the. best. donuts. ever! Decent prices too!

Michael really, really wanted a donut.

Enjoying his donut.

Stuffing his face with his donut.

Richard and I attempting to get a picture together. It hardly ever happens, truthfully.

And, finally, the birthday girl eating the tastiest donut. I don't know what the frosting was, but the nuts and filling were DEliCiouS!

From Richard

"Yay! It's your birthday! The best day of the year! We will celebrate by eating brownies and ice cream and I'll give you a 1 hour back massage. My present to you will be doing the dishes for an entire year. Then you can tell everyone that during your 23rd year you never touched a dirty dish once! I'll even throw in changing ALL of the dirty diapers. You are the most marvelous, beautiful, intellectual, pretty, awesome, best-dressed, good-lookin', organized, fantastic women I know, and I am SO glad I married you. Happy Birthday Dear Diana."

That is the most ideal note I could ever ask for. I would be in 23rd-year heaven if Richard was truly the author of such a wonderful note. Unfortunately, I'll have to show it to him later, and see if he'll agree. All in favor, say "I".

Until then, it's my birthday and I'm going to be as self-absorbed as I wish because I LOVE birthdays, especially my own! Happy birthday to me!

MichaelMonologue

"Mommy! Look what I found? These are the greatest little things ever!"

"Oh, you want me to put them in the slit? Okay. Oooh, listen to that fun noise it makes when I drop it in. I'll keep doing this."

5 minutes later: "Come back out! Come back out!"

"Maybe my finger can fit. C'mon pennies, I see you in there."

"Mommy! You tricked me! This toy isn't very fun anymore!"

Things He Does

The second video shows that he was getting frustrated because he couldn't fit his sippy cup in his dish of applesauce. We won't talk about the mess he made from throwing it on the ground.

The tail end of my shopping trip.

Before coupons these items would have cost $16.89.

I paid a total of $4.83!

The Tide is just one load, but it cost .97 cents @ Target, and I had a coupon for $1 off Tide product, and since I had no plans on buying a bigger jug of tide, I might as well use the coupon to get one load free.

Target also put out a store coupon for $2.00 off any Kotex pads. Remember that a store specific coupon can be coupled with a manufacturer coupon adding up the savings. So I used an additional $1 off coupon for Kotex.

Albertson's was my next stop. The Sunday ad had 3 doublers in it, so I used a 2 $1 off coupons for both the Snuggle and deodorant. No coupon for cookies. I used my $5.00 catalina I received from the Kraft Promo, and that brought the total for those three items to just $1.56.

Piggy Launch

These videos are basically the same. I like the second one because it shows the process it takes for Michael to figure out he can launch the piggy.

Suzy's favorite type of post.

I know. I take pictures of my groceries. Not all of them. But sometimes, I just can't resist to share good deals and my enthusiasm for coupon-ing. My sister, Suzy, especially loves these posts; I know she shares in my excitement of good deals. =) (I'm only joking)Kraft Foods is running a promotion through Albertson's. Check with your Albertson's (or look online) to see if they are participating. Click here for details And Click here for the participating items. In short, purchase $25.00 worth in participating products (before coupons) and a catalina coupon for $5.00 off your next shopping trip will print, as well as the $20.00 rebate form to send into Kraft Foods. That's equivalent to $25 in free food!

Here's the basic layout of my shopping trip, starting with the Kraft promo items.

4 Lunchables @ 2.50 each = $10

2 Teddy Grahams @ 2.50 each = $5

4 Velveeta Single Serve Cups @ 1.00 each =$4

•Use 2 B1G1 free coupons

•Final price = $2

2 California Pizza Individual Pizzas @ 2.50 each = $5

• Use 2 $1/1 coupons

• Final price = $3

2 Kraft Single Slice Cheese @ 2.50 each = $5

•Use $1/2 coupon

• Final price= $4

2 Philadelphia Cream Cheese @ 1.67 each = $3.34

• Use $1/2 coupon

• Final price = $2.34

1 Ritz crackers @ 2.50 each = $2.50

1 Wheat Thins @ 2.50 each = $2.50

• Use coupon that states: Buy one Ritz crackers and get box of Wheat Thins Free!

• Final price for both = $2.50

Total Spent on Kraft Items: $28.84

• -$5.00 off Catalina Coupon

• -$20.00 rebate

• -$1.00 off Catalina Coupon from Velveeta (I wasn't aware of this one until it happened).

• Net Price = $2.84!

How is this not exciting!?

And for the rest of the trip:

Post Selects cereals are on sale for $2.50 each, but when you buy 4, it will automatically take $4.00 off = $1.50/box!

• I used 1 $1/2 coupon (but if you have 2, then use them both)

• Final price = $5.00

•But that's not all: After payment of 4 boxes, a $3.00 catalina will print that you can use towards anything in the store.

2 Baby Food Jars @ 1.07 each

• Use 2 "Free" coupons up to .99 cents

• Final price= .16 cents

And the Hostess Powdered donuts @ $2 each for Richard because he "will die if [he doesn't] get some!" Drama King. =)

Total Payout = $38.00

Catalinas received back= $9.00

Rebate = $20.00

Net Price = $9.00 for everything except the detergent, which I ran back and got, then purchased with my $3 catalina coupon, paying only .66 out of pocket.

Hugs and Kisses

I don't recall when we first realized this, but Michael will get very jealous and clingy whenever he catches Richard and I hugging or kissing. He runs up and grabs our legs, crying, and wanting to be held. He generally just wants to have Daddy all to himself. He doesn't like it when I hold him in the hug, Richard has to do it.

Anyway, Richard and I hugged after dinner and Michael began crying in the high chair. So, I got the camera and hugged again--just to prove it to y'all.

Good Sales this week!

Visit A Thrifty Mom to view some very good sales going on this week at Albertson's. 

Kraft Foods is offering a rebate, through Albertson's that is basically equivalent to $25 in free food after rebate! Couple with coupons and you have a money maker. 

I'm excited to plan out this shopping trip. 

Fashion Show

Sometimes I think it's fun to dress Michael in my clothes. Puts things into perspective at how big I really am. :)

But mostly, he doesn't like it

Doesn't he look like Philip in this picture? I see some similarities.

See what I mean?

And right now, Michael is holding my headphones that plug into my phone and trying to put them in his ears. How does he know that? I never use my headphones.

This post is brought to you by the letter G

When I was in 9th grade, in Mr. Anderson's World Studies class, we had one day where we read about garbologists. It was the most intriguing lesson to me as I learned there were people who literally dove in piles of trash (wearing full bodied suits) and studied it. What?

Okay, whoa, this dude, is NOT in a full-bodied suit. Totally not what I would sign up for!

They showed a picture of a head of lettuce that had been sandwiched in a garbage pile for who knows how many years, and it was still green because of lack of oxygen! However, they showed another picture next to it showing it had turned brown only minutes after being out in the open. Needless to say, I once wanted to be a garbologist.

Seattle really has started turning me green. I love recycling! Honestly, I really feel like I am personally making a difference, and I am glad Seattle has the resources to recycle so much.

I think my youngest brother, who lives in Utah, should do his eagle project on recycling. Seriously. I think if more people were aware of it and knowing how relatively simple it is, they would hop right on it. It would also be eventful and exciting to visit a recycling plant and see how it operates. Facilities will respond if there is more growth in recycling.

And, because I am on this topic, let me plug for all ye Seattle city voters out there: Awareness promotes change. Forcing a 20 cent/bag fee on customers will not promote change, only chaos. More and more people are using reusable bags because they want to. Many stores will give you credit for them, and there are plastic bag recycling bins in grocery stores as well, if you have excess.

I never planned on buying a reusable bag until I had to walk home with a lot of groceries. All of the sudden, 4 plastic bags worth fit into one, and was much easier to handle. I am reminded of a Barney episode (yes, I would watch it with my younger brothers years ago). One of the characters, Kathy, was demonstrating to her other friends how she was being energy efficient. She acted out a scene where she had just come home from the grocery store and was putting away her groceries and then washed her hands afterwards.

They commented on things like, "You turned off the water while you washed your hands with soap!" and, "You shut the fridge door while you were searching for things to be put away!"

Just when they thought they had everything, Kathy said, "You forgot one more thing!"

All the other actors looked around at one another in bewilderment, when Kathy answered, "I also used a reusable grocery bag!" and, I don't remember how it ended but I am sure all of her friends applauded and they sang some song and danced around, and ...you get the point.

Anyway, my friend Cathy wrote a blog about The Green Book that talked about waste reduction and energy savings, etc... I read some of it, although, I didn't really like the format of the book so I never finished it. However, it was her blog (and the voting) that inspired me to write this post and to highlight a few goals during the next couple months that Richard and I make to be more Green! What successes or efforts do you make to being a little more green or energy efficient in your day to day actions?

Beat the Heat and Memory Lane

This past week was incredibly hot. As a result, we tried to stay away from our even hotter apartment! Michael and I mostly hung out at Target, while Richard was in his air conditioned bliss work environment. Michael also endured my endless searching for a swimsuit at various locations. We went to the University Village outdoor shopping center, and I just have to tell you that I laughed, and couldn't stop laughing when Michael tried to walk into a jewelry store but instead walked right into their clear glass door falling flat on him bum. Yes, it was sad, but oh so classic.

By the way, I never found a dang swimsuit. Guess I am too picky.

Anyway, on Thursday afternoon, after Richard's day was done, we headed over to Woodinville to rekindle memories of Richard's childhood. We visited the house he pretty much lived in until age 11.

As Richard put it, everything seemed much bigger when he was a kid. Like this rock he used to climb.

Or this picture which shows "the Big Valley" as he and his neighbor friends used to call it.

Maybe this is what Richard used to look like, in this exact spot:


It's always fun taking walks down memory lane. We even were able to chat with his former neighbor, the father of Richard's childhood best friend, who allowed us to wander his shaded yard. Yes, it was a good day.