Coupon Crazy

I want to be a coupon cutter, money saver.  All my friends are doing it.  And apparently with great success.  Free toothbrushes abound!  Bags and bags of groceries for little to nothing in cost.  So they say...

I went online to give myself a little tutorial about proper coupon etiquette.  I learned words like doublers & catalinas.  I read up on coupon policy by stores.  I was ready. I was excited.  I purchased my Sunday paper, anxiously got it home and prepared my place to begin the cutting!

But, my newspaper didn't have any manufacturer coupons in it.  What?!?!   I became instantly frustrated.  Called Oldest Daughter (who is a crazy coupon woman) and asked her, "What's up?  No coupons."  She didn't know.  She was no help, no balm to my angst.

I flung the newspaper aside and went downstairs to pout.

Next day -  I decide I'll go online and print off the manufacturer coupons I want and then I'll use my Alberstons doublers (just learned about those) and I'll save oodles of money.  Screw those who left the ads out of my paper! You can't keep a crazy couponer down!!

OMG!!! Do you know what a temper tantrum looks like before the first cup of coffee has been consumed?  It is not pretty, let me just say that.

I could not figure out why I couldn't print coupons.  I downloaded the software, and nothing. I uninstalled it and reloaded it again and again and again!  I'm not kidding. I did it a total of 3 times.  AND... still no printed coupons.  I changed the settings on my spyware and  firewall.  I rebooted. Three times.  Still nothing.

Then I had an "Ah-Ha" moment and decided to open the web pages in a different browser.  Walla...whattya know?  How stupid!!!  

Browsed coupons...there were only four I could use.  FOUR!  It's a whole $6.00 in savings.  No free toothbrushes, no bags and bags of groceries for little to nothing.   Geez.

After all that, I can barely work up the energy to go to the grocery store and use these coupons.  I think I'm not coupon crazy any longer.

Arduous

This birth was long, hard, drawn out, emotional, frustrating, agonizing, hopeful, and a whole bunch of other adjectives that my sleep deprived brain can't quite grasp. It was arduous.  We literally used every trick in the book to get this baby to come.  We tubbed, we squatted, we lunged, we sat on toilets, birth stools and birth balls.  We hula'd, we swayed, we walked. We did hands and knees, knees and chest and McRoberts.

The entire time, Mom stayed dilated at 9 cm!!  NINE cm. for many, many, many hours.  And as frustrating as all this, as heart wrenching as it is to watch a mama push for several hours and not bring her baby any closer to birth, it is absolutely NOTHING compared to watching her do it alone since her husband was 100% useless!

Hope

Trust your strength

pick more wildflowers

Surrender your FEAR

Find beauty in the small

Unleash your joy

Teach kindness

celebrate the gift of today

keep being brave