"Helen Kellers Ours!!"

This post is dedicated to Resa for being such a fabulous host to us whilst we visited the Jacksonville, Arkansas area. The first night we were there he helped us settle in and then had frozen pizza for us. The next day, we were treated to a wondrous feast of specially prepared Boston Butt. He deboned the meat and then cubed it and then, I don't know if he waved a magic wand over it, but when it was all done in the roaster - It Was Fantastic!!! Before it was ready to be served he topped the meat with Soy Vay for added flavor and it was good. So good in fact that this Sunday we are deviating from our traditional roast in the crock pot for Kuresa's recipe. He was gracious enough to also take us around to let us see some of the sights. He really made the children's day when he took us to the Sherwood Festival of Lights to see the beautiful Christmas lights. (Incidentally, Sherwood is pronounced "Sharewood" by the locals). He also directed us to a delightful little doughnut bakery called Daylight Donuts. Awesome baked goods. He drove us up to this area nicknamed "The Heights", nice houses and a wonderful drive up the mountain. On the drive up you could almost imagine Frodo and his band of travellers winding their way to find Elrond in the Elven city. All the while singing the song "Bilbo Baggins", as performed by the great folk singer Leonard Nimoy (oh yes, I said Captain Spock, thanks, Res). Hey, Res, I don't care what you think. We had such a good time, so much so that the children refer to our trip to AR as "going to Uncle Resa's house." Boy will they be confused when we come back and Lika and Jason are there. We just wanted to say thanks for everything. Here are some pictures of Res with the kids. Love you all.

Just Randomness...This IS the Post You are Looking For.

Here are just some more pictures of our time here in Jacksonville. We see Jarod and his new toy from Mom and Dad. He simply adores his new friend - he has named him, Tiger the Lion. Thank you Mom and Dad.
Here is just a good picture of Dianna and Res. This was taken Christmas morning. Cute!
Here is Jarod and Res spelling Jarod's name in silly deep voices. Adorable!
This is us exploring the nearby Civil War battle site. This is where the Battle of Reed's Bridge was fought (the south defeated the north at this battle, preventing the north from entering Jacksonville....until a few days later when the Union went around and came at them from the other side).
Resa took us to this awesome Chinese restaurant. This is when we couldn't get out of Jacksonville because of the flooding.
Meet our newest ninja recruits, taking a break from training to take a picture with ninja master Kuresa.
Here are Dianna and Res at the New China restaurant. Good, good food! Did I mention it was a buffet?
More ninja training at the local park...I mean secret training facility.
Dianna found a little frog to ride while at the park/training facility.
We love you all so much and cannot wait to see entries on your blogs about your time in American Samoa. We have had a blast here all week with Res; he has taken such good care of us. The children will miss their Uncle; Jarod has already asked if he can come with us. We head out tomorrow no later than 5:30am. Please pray for us as drive. We will post once we get home. We love you all so so much. I leave you with this last picture of me and my Snuggie...I mean Jedi robe.

Saturday Savings 12/26

Got a few bargains today - mostly related to after-Christmas sales at Wal-Mart.

Following is a summary:

2 packs of Disney-themed mini-notebooks, 4 or 6 in a pack. Were $2.00 each, marked down to $1.00 each.

3 packs of Disney-themed pencils, 12 in a pack. Some Mickey and Friends and some Princess. $1.00 each.

32 cups for making Christmas gifts for my students next year. $3.00 total.

Set of 12 (I think) gift bags. $2.50

A gift for Dianna to use in the PCA Christmas gift exchange next year. $2.50 (Couldn't find one for Jarod's exchange gift, since all the boy gifts were G.I. Joe or Transformers. Just not suitable for a 3 year old at PCC/PCA. ;) )

3 boxes of candy canes $1.32

A few other items, including pain reliever for Dianna (her left ear has been hurting) and Pepto for Jarod (he seemed to have an upset tummy today). Triaminic cold and cough strips were on roll-back for $4.50, and I used a $3.00 coupon to get them for $1.50.

Over all, I spent $27 at Wal-Mart for at least $40 of product. I love after-Christmas sales!

Looking forward to payday this coming week and the chance to bargain shop some more. I'd love to know what you all do to cut costs and to be a smart shopper.

PS - Did you know that Publix and Winn-Dixie both double the value of manufacturer's coupons? EXCEPT in the state of Florida. grr.

Jacksonville area flooding

We tried to get into North Little Rock last night, Christmas, to visit the Old Mill, but the interstate was closed due to flooding. We felt quite boxed in and deprived, until we saw this house. The house next door had what appeared to be a package that had been delivered to the front porch; the package (if that's what it was) had floated to somewhere near the middle of the front yard. My heart goes out to these folks; such a devastating thing to go through on Christmas Day. I pray that they know the comfort of God's hand in this difficult situation. I hope their homes and cars are still usable.

Believe it or not, that is a road covered with water. You can see the traffic backed up. Nobody was going much of anywhere yesterday.

A baseball park in Jacksonville. On the left in the background, find the two lightposts, each having a cluster of 3 lights. They are just about 1 foot above the water.

I wonder if these cars were stationary during the rain, or if drivers thought they'd be able to make it through the water on the road. Being in Pensacola for Hurricanes Erin, Opal, George, Dennis, Ivan, Katrina, etc., I have not seen flood conditions like this.

If this last picture continued just a bit more to the left, you'd see the stranded cars from the previous picture.

We went out again today, trying again to get to North Little Rock. The weather has been quite clear all day, but the water has not receded enough, and the interstate was still closed. We are going to try again tomorrow afternoon.

Oot and Aboot in Jacksonville

Merry Christmas to all my Aiga across the sea. Thank you so much for the packages that you sent. We received them today. You do too much for us. Thank you. We have had a great time here in Arkansas with Resa. The children have really enjoyed being with their uncle. We have tried exploring on our own and with Res. He has been such a gracious host to us. He took us to look at Christmas lights on Tuesday. So let us explain some of the pictures you had to suffer through to get to my awesome post. Let us start at the very beginning, a very good place to start: first up is the capitol building in Little Rock all lit up for the Christmas season. Very nice looking. Next up is a Noah's Ark light display at the Trail of Lights in Sherwood (a couple miles away). The display was a part of a drive thru display made up of several separate light displays (from bunny rabbits hopping, to Santa and reindeer, to Old Glory waving proudly). Awesome displays. Very fun. The next pic is back at the capitol building for a picture in front of the replica of the Liberty Bell. So cool. Dianna was cold in that picture and Jarod was still waking up from his nap in the car. After that picture, we went to a little place that was recommended by Rachael Ray on her show Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels. The place was called Doe's Eat Place. Very small, but good. Thanks Rach. While Res was working this past Monday, we ventured out on our own to the River Market district in Little Rock. Once again, a Rachael Ray recommendation. We had fun. We ate down there and also visited a very cool museum down there. It was all about Arkansas. Civil war stuff (weapons-guns, knives, swords, cannon, and the like), a display dedicated to the local Indians, furniture, and a children's play area. It was at this wonderful gem of history that we took these last two pictures. The first was at the children's area. We found a little room that was set up to look like a vintage photo studio. Very cute. The last picture is of the kids and I in front of a civil war era gatling gun. I pretty sure it is the one used in the movie "3:10 to Yuma". Well, that is all for now. We will post again tomorrow after lunch. Love you all. E manuia le Kerisimasi ma le Tausaga Fou.

We're Dreaming of a Soggy Christmas?

I can't get pictures to upload today, and I'm too impatient to wait it out. I'll have to ask Talani to post later with pictures; he'll be patient enough to make sure it's done right. :)
Lookin' around, it's nothin' but GRAY skies here in Arkansas. It's has been raining non-stop for almost two days straight. I think it may be stopping for the moment -- quick! everyone to the car! Let's go DO something while we have the chance!
It may snow a tiny bit tonight. If the snow is worthy, we'll wake the kids up to see snow for the first time. :) It's supposed to clear up after today and not rain or snow again until Tuesday, a day or two AFTER we leave!
I'll save all the stories of our adventures here for Talani's post with pictures. (He's a much better story teller than I am, anyway. Did you love his Lord of the Rings tale of our journey here? I experienced the trip and I still enjoyed his fantasy spin on the details.)
So, my post will end - after an update on my hobby - learning to save money through couponing and smart shopping. Some websites for you to check out:

www.hip2save.com
Collin is a mom to 3 kids and has devoted herself to getting the most out of each penny. And she's so cute!

www.couponingtodisney.blogspot.com
Kristen just booked her family's summer trip to Disney World (they'll be there when we are!). She's nearly paid for the whole thing by employing smart shopping strategies.

www.sendearnings.com
Complete surveys and click links in emails to add value to your account. When you've reached $30, request a payout. Check's (almost) in the mail! (I've got a balance of almost $10 after just about 2 weeks with the site.)

www.gsn.com
My dad got me interested in this site. Answer trivia questions daily to earn "oodles" which translate into prizes. For 9,000+ oodles, get a $10 Starbucks gift card. Home Depot, Applebees, and Walmart cards are also options. We've got about 11,000 oodles and are saving toward a goal that we'll reach sometime in 2010. I am currently using an account in my name, while Dad has an account in Talani's name that has generated 2 gift cards totalling $50 over the past few months.

www.lightspeedpanel.com
Take surveys for points. Redeem points for gift cards. So far, we've earned a $5 gift card to Red Robin and we're one good survey away from another $5 gift card to one of several restaurants. Or I could keep saving points for a more valuable gift card. I've been with this site for just a little over 2 weeks, trying to take one survey a day.

www.mypoints.com
Receive points for shopping online through this website. Then redeem the points for gift cards. I'm trying to save for a gift card that we'll use at Disney. I need 6,750 points. I have 255 points. Oh, I'll get that gift card, all right, though Dianna might be 10 by the time I earn enough! This is a site that I can earn extra points for referrals. I'm going to work on putting up a link on the right side of the blog for you to click on and get started earning your own points and help me out at the same time. :)

www.swagbucks.com
Earn points for your web searches. I've already got a link on the right of the blog to this site. I do get a kick-back for referrals. Here's what you need to do. Click the link and register. Then, use the swagbucks website whenever you would normally google something. You'll get all the same results to your search. There's a chance you'll win swagbucks with your search. (There's a chance you won't win, too. That's why you use swagbucks for ALL your searching.) I've earned 45 swagbucks, enough for a $5 Amazon egift card. Talani has 21 swagbucks. When we get enough egift cards to Amazon, we'll be able to buy our Disney guide book by combining our earnings and maybe even get the book for free!

I hope you enjoy checking out these websites and working to earn some free rewards of your own.

Saturday Savings 12/12/09

No pictures or cute stories today, sorry. I just wanted to write a quick post about my newest fascination - smart shopping. I've recently come across a blog or two about smart shopping, and I've been amazed at how much money can be saved when you know how to go about it. My new favorite website is couponingtodisney.blogspot.com. The author - I call her the couponing mom - is using smart shopping as a way to pay for a future trip to Disney World. She's well on her way to paying for the trip entirely by using smart shopping to save money in her household budget. (She also does online surveys and the like to earn more cash and prizes which she uses toward her trip or other needs.)
I'm still trying to find my way with all the of the rules and whatnot, but we did have some fun this morning doing some shopping. I'll give you a summary below, then you need to log on to couponingtodisney and see what you find for free-or-cheap too.
Walmart #1 - $6 worth of products for $1.39. Among the free items: renu contact lens solution
Target - $6 worth of stuff for $2.21. Among the free items: two cans of organic green tea, Johnson and Johnson shampoo
Walmart #2 - $16 and change worth of products for $5 and change. Among the free items: Cole's stuffed breadsticks and Snuggle fabric softener sheets.
Whataburger - $13.50 worth of food for $3.39, thanks to the 12-days-of-whataburger promotion . . . we got 4 free breakfast sandwiches with the coupons we printed.
I found it quite exhilarating to get so much today and to spend so little for it. In several cases, the coupon we used was for more than the shelf price, so we got a little extra off of the rest of our purchase. For example, the Renu contact solution we bought at Walmart was $1.47. We used a $2.00 manufacturer's coupon, so we got the item for free plus $.57 saved from the rest of our bill.
I almost can't wait until the newspaper gets here tomorrow so I can work on finding more great deals.