Lasts

Add this to the lasts: Volunteered in the nursery for the last time Sunday - Robert and I have thoroughly enjoyed our time in the nursery with those cute kiddos.  Maybe we'll get to do something like that at our new church.

Last Sunday School social - We enjoyed a picnic lunch at the park after church.  Again, maybe we'll do something like that at our new church.

Went to my good friend/former suitemate's senior piano recital on Monday.  So good!

Double date in Springfield with a classmate.  We went to Maria's...not as good as El Rodeo.

Yesterday we made these gorgeous pillowcases.  ilovethemsomuch.  Jim had some unattractive but very comfortable pillows so we used them.  We bought fabric and lace at Margie Pearl's.  Robert picked the fabric.  I picked the lace.  Can I just say yet again that I love that Robert can get into this kind of stuff with me?  He's the best.  The wonderful Kim gave us a sewing tutorial.  Wowie wow wow!  I'm so pleased!

Now, for a story about the sale of the century.  Robert and I returned some items at JCP for a total of $100 credited to our bank account.  Cha ching!  But that's just the beginning.  We won a raffle but we didn't actually like any of the items.  We returned all of the items to Target and got a $45 gift card.  Not too bad for only having paid $5 for the raffle.  Anyway, we're registered at Bed Bath & Beyond so I looked at our registry and found similar products at Target and then deleted them from out BB&B registry.  We got a Swiffer with free wet and dry mops - plus it was $1 off, salt and pepper shakers, dust ruffle, and welcome mat.  We ended up paying $2.57 out of pocket.  Not too shabby.  Now here comes the big kahuna.  We had a BB&B in store credit of about $12.50 plus a $5 off coupon.  Last night I was looking at our registry to see what we could buy for essentially $17.50 so we wouldn't have to pay anything out of pocket.  While online I realized that Noritake is running a special.  Noritake is the brand of our dishes (place settings, platter, serving bowls).  For every $150 of Noritake items you buy you get a $25 BB&B gift card.  Well, we already have all of our Noritake dishes, but the deal just started yesterday.  I decided to go for it and ask a salesperson if I could still get the deal.  So we went to BB&B to use our in-store credit and coupon.  We got two glass oil bottles (we'll use one for oil and one for dish soap) and a hot pad.  Grand total out of pocket: a penny.  I was so proud of myself!  We went to customer service.  I told them about the dishes and said I would even be willing to return all of them and buy them again in order to get the gift cards.  The worker asked the store manager and got it approved for her to just give me the deal, but of course it couldn't just be that easy.  Apparently after our items were purchased they went on sale so it made everything more complicated.  Also, we were $2 away from getting an additional $25 gift card.  We even thought about buying a cheap Noritake item in order to get the extra $25, but the worker decided to give it to us anyway.  Every item needed a "turn key" which I learned means another associate has to come and turn the key in order to approve it.  Duh.  It was a pain and took 30 minutes, but gosh darn it, it was worth it.  75 bucks, baby.  Once we get another 20% off coupon we'll use that and our gift cards to buy our bread machine for free.  YESSSS!!!  This is what gets me excited - saving money!  If I let myself I know I could totally become one of those extreme couponers.  Must resist!

I'll leave you with a precious drawing we received yesterday.