Robbing the Kroger

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We had a quiet day here... just what I wanted! I made homemade cinnamon rolls for the first time, but had a butter streusel(sp?) coffee cake as a back up in case the rolls were a disaster. Surprisingly, the coffee cake was the big disappointment and the cinnamon rolls were delish! We had a burst of snow flurries, but otherwise just a very windy day.

I got three cookbooks, including one on dim sum from Much Younger Sister, the Pioneer Woman Cooks book from Christina, and a book on the best of British cooking from Marmite Toasty. I have a stack of magazines yet to read (another family tradition) and a couple of PC games I have already played! A great Christmas.

But, today, I needed to go to the grocery store for milk and a few other things. And it was there that I started continued my life of crime! Just before leaving home, I grabbed my coupon wallet. I wasn't going to, since I only needed a few things, but thought... What the heck! I'm glad I did! Stud Muffin and I must have entered the store just after they marked down a bunch of items!



So this is what we came home with:

2 FRESH Butterball turkeys, each around 15 pounds, marked down to $.29 a pound, minus 2 $2 coupons = $2.24 and $2.44
2 half gallons of milk, marked down to $.99 each
2 Smart Balance butter spreads $5.00 - .55 coupon (doubled) = $1.95 each
2 Smart Balance sour cream = Free with coupon and purchase of the butter spread
4 Granny Smith apples
1 bag of croutons
1 large container of Simply Smooth coffee minus doubled coupon = $4.99
1 package french toast
1 can of organic fire-roasted tomatoes

Grand total?? $24.57!!! With the sale prices and coupons, I saved 42%. What a haul for a trip out to get milk!

I am now hiding at home, waiting for the grocery police to come and get me for ripping off the store for all of this food!

Guess what's for dinner tomorrow?? Here's a hint. It is fresh, cheap and made by Butterball!

Unwinding

Image by www.artshole.co.uk

I'm still alive and still unwinding. I take naps and am reading a novel from the library. Fiction. No charts or graphs. It feels good to be done with school for a while.

Not much goes on around the farm, but that is good. I harvested the last of the basil seeds, and used the tractor to smooth some speed bumps out of the gravel road. I have cooked a bit, started tidying up my sewing space, and thrown away a ton of school papers.

I never got the Christmas cards done. But that doesn't mean I don't love you!! I know you will forgive me!

Christmas preparations are as done as they will get. I need a few more groceries, but that is it.

I hope to get another post up before Christmas, but if my heavy napping schedule gets in the way, I want to wish everyone a very happy holiday!! Oh! This just in...

By pictures.funnyjunksite.com

I did it!!!

Image by i.ehow.com

There will be some dancing in the streets... as soon as I take a nap! I haven't slept more than 3 hours at a time since Thursday, but I got enough points on my Anatomy final exam to get an A in the class!!

I almost fell out of my chair in the library-quiet testing room! I was all prepared to break down in sobs, then escorted from the room in disapproval, but it didn't have to happen!!

So I have a second semester with all A's! Whoo hoo!

Oh! And after my 24 hour nap?? I'm going to take all my papers and notes and do this:

Image by gardeningwithchldren.wordpress.com

Might even roast some marshmallows! Let the holidays begin!!

Weird horoscope

Stud Muffin read me my horoscope from the (sort-of) local newspaper:

"Someone will test your knowledge, skill, or intelligence. Though you may find such drills to be nerve wracking, you will excel. And whatever you get wrong, you will more than make up for with good common sense."

Freaky... yes? This is better than a fortune cookie from a Chinese restaurant!

I hope it comes true (*crosses fingers*.)

BTW, I DID get an A in Chemistry!!

One more down, one more to go!

By sketchedout.files.wordpress.com

I have now finished 3 out of my 4 final exams. Yesterday, it was the most-hated chemistry class. You know, the one I whined excessively about because the online program couldn't even do basic math and always told you your answer was wrong when it wasn't?

I didn't have high hopes going into the test, but spent 2 1/2 days stuffing facts into my rapidly shrinking head. We were allowed a periodic table and one 4x6 inch note card in the test.



Now, the professor didn't say we had to handwrite the note card, so I crammed as many formulas and definitions as I could onto it by typing them up and using a reeeeallly small font and printing it out on both sides of the card.

The card is a lot clearer than in this picture!

My test proctor at the college laughed when she saw the card, but agreed that I was allowed to have it! Can I fill up a note card or what?!?

I spent so much time trying to remember the rules for naming hydrocarbons like...um... 4-ethyl-2,5,6-trimethyloctane, and then they never asked about it! Not that I'm complaining, but... sheesh! I got 85% correct on the test and if the stars align, the professor takes pity on me, or whatever, I might just pull an A out of this disastrous course.

So now I am dusting the chemistry out of my overworked brain cells and preparing for the mother-of-all-exams, Anatomy & Physiology II. Twelve chapters, 100 questions, and 110 minutes to do it in. I am holding an A in the class right now, so the pressure is on NOT TO SCREW IT UP! I have until Monday morning to cram all of this information:



into a head the size of a cantaloupe and still leave room for the neurons that keep me breathing.

The good news is that my doctor put me on some prescription weight-loss drugs to help me lose weight and control my blood sugar. Not only have I lost 7 pounds in the last week, but I'm getting by on about 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night. Sheer panic and good pharmaceuticals will do that for you!

After Monday, I plan on doing this:

Found on unsong.files.wordpress.com

then forgetting everything I have learned and taking a nap! Wish me luck and keep me in your thoughts that I survive until Tuesday!

One more week

Image from people.mozilla.com

In one week from tomorrow, the fall school semester will be finished for me. Come hell or high water. For good or bad.

And then I can stop waking up for the day at 2:30 AM!!