She Bringeth Her Food from Afar

She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar

Proverbs 31:14

Katie and I made our monthly shopping trek to "the city" yesterday. It usually takes us all day, and we make it a fun day together. It's a learning experience for Katie. We talk about everything we see. We compare prices (as much as she understands it), pray for guidance before we go into a store, look at the ads, and practice good habits like courtesy towards everyone.

At CVS I spent a net of just over $3.00 and got $38 worth of products we use. That also included $7.00 for mouth medicine that Katie needed and we usually don't buy. We used coupons combined with sales and the ECBs we'd accumulated. Not bad!

Kroger went really well too. Rick LOVES seafood and they had some crablegs that are normally $28 marked down to $10 so that was my first item. We also got 6 boxes of Honey Bunches of Oats cereal that were on sale for $1.99 and I had a coupon for $2 off EACH BOX making them free! (We'll eat a lot of that, but some will be donated also.) We found milk marked down to $2/gallon and bought 3 of those for the freezer. Two cake mixes were for my mom and were on sale also. All together, I spent $28 and saved over $40. It's like I bought the crablegs and got the rest for free!

We also stopped at the meat market, Aldi's, Walgreens, GFS, the bread store, Wal-Mart (where I used $14.50 in coupons), and the Farmer's Market. Other than adding in a few fresh fruits and veggies in a few weeks, we're set for the month!

Our excitement for the day happened while I was having some fabric cut at Jo-Ann's. My cell phone rang and the conversation went something like this:

Me: Hello

Rick: You've gotta come home. Audrey has a BEAD stuck in her nose!

Me: What? Are you serious???

Rick: Of course I'm serious. Come home soon!

(At this point, I'm trying not to laugh. The woman who was cutting the fabric was giving me the oddest looks..... Keep in mind that I was at least 25 minutes from home! I get my fabric cut and hurry to the register.) The phone rings again....

Me: Yes?????

Rick: I got the bead out. You can finish your shopping. I'm throwing away every bead in this house!

Me: You got the bead out???? She has no bead in her nose???

(At this point, the cashier starts giggling and I can't help but laugh too!)

Rick and I hang up and I finish my errands. When I got home, Rick had indeed thrown out every bead he could find. (Katie and I love beads.) Knowing Audrey, she'll just find something else....like a bean, or a piece of cat food, or a small toy.