Playing hookie

Nick and I had a little "mis-communication" yesterday and while he was waiting for me to stop being a brat, he fell asleep....he ended up sleeping about 6 hours and missed ALL of work! What a slacker! ;-) J/K. He looked so cute and peaceful sleeping I couldn't resist taking a picture!

Gift cards

On one of my favorite websites there was a post about getting gift cards.

(click on FREE Gift Cards for Trial Offers! or FREE $25 Target Gift Card for trial Offer!)

So I decided to try it out. I Signed up for trial memberships at 5 different places. Most of them are FREE or only cost $1 for the first months membership. As a courtesy for trying these places out, they send you a gift card to different places. I received 3 of the 5 gift cards (totaling $60) today! I'll be calling to cancel my memberships on Monday to those places. Anyone else want to give it a try???

$30 Staples gift card, $10 Target gift card, $20 Blockbuster gift card.

Bone head

A few weeks back I requested tonight off at work. My boss-who does the schedule-told me that I wasn't on the list for requests off. When he posted the schedule for this week I was scheduled for tonight...along with many other nights! I was bummed, but what can I do...? I went in to work tonight and when I tried to clock in I was rejected--it said I was not scheduled, so I went to the schedule and saw that yes, i was scheduled, so I had a manager clock me in. But it was still nagging at me, so I checked out our front-end board to see if I was scheduled...I was not! I had my assistant manager check the back schedule and sure enough, I read the schedule WRONG!!! It said-- FR 9:00pm--12:00am--4:00am under the 3/28 date....I assumed I worked Saturday 9-4, like always. What I failed to notice was the FR at the beginning....FR is for Friday 9pm-Saturday 4am!!! Good heavens! So, I worked for an hour and came home! It's SO nice to be home before midnight!!! I have time now to do things around the house that I have been putting off since the kids are in bed and I have been working a lot this week and I'll be working a lot next week as well! I feel like a bone head, but hey, we all make mistakes, right!?!

a silly poll

I am taking a poll to see if, as a kid,
you think I looked like
Brad and Angelina's daughter, Shiloh,
or not.

The budget and Walmart shopping

My first week following a budget is done and I am proud to say that although I did not stay under budget, I only spent a few dollars over! I spent a total of $51.65! Pretty good, right!?! I was pretty proud of myself. (Probably helped that I didn't see any great deals at Walgreens last week...and very few this week--will probably skip shopping there this week too!) it's been fun trying to save money and stay under a budget. Hopefully I'll do better this week!

Also...

Last week I was looking through my coupons with one of my co-workers who is also doing couponing-thanks to me! I realized that I still had 9/$4 off Sense and Spray coupons. (My Walgreens never has them in stock!) I also realized that we price match at Wal-mart-DUH, so I pulled out the March Easy Saver book where they have a $4 off coupon. I pulled 9 Sense and Sprays off the shelf, and 3 Mentos Gums (I had 3/$1 off coupons left). My total should have been $78.27, but after my price matching and coupons, I paid only $5.64 (with tax)!!! :-)
Thats a 93% savings!!! :) I was VERY happy about it...and my co-workers were blown away...again! Lol. Ahhh...feels good to save!

Nicks office is finished...mostly

Nicks put a lot of work in to getting his office just right. This is the latest picture. He needs curtains/blinds up on that window and he still needs a new office chair (anyone have one laying around that you don't use?)...and couple of chairs at front of his desk for customers, but otherwise, it's pretty much complete! I am so proud of him! He's done a great job and he's gone back to the working world so happily and willingly. I miss him around our house, but it's nice to have my MAN taking care of us and working so hard so that hopefully by the summer I won't have to work anymore--or at least not as much! ;-)

I love you honey!!!

Our date after our date

After our GREAT dinner date to Tucanos, we put the kids to bed and then went back out. I "dragged" Nick to my Wal-mart to see the HUGE party going on there for the Twilight movie release. It was MUCH bigger than I expected! I soon found out why---

(Rachelle Lefevre)
aka: VICTORIA

from the movie was at our Wal-mart! She stayed to sign autographs for 3+ hours! We only saw her from a distance, and couldn't get a picture of her, but I got a few of the surrounding crowds. We sold more than 3000 Twilight DVDs that night....thank goodness I didn't have to work it!

On our way home we made it to the RedBox at 12:01 and I was able to rent the movie for a dollar. And I made Nick and Christopher watch it the next day...you'll have to ask them if they liked it or not.. ;-) I am surprised that I actually liked it this time! 3rd times the charm, right?!?

Date Night

My parents signed me up for the Birthday club at Tucanos so while they watched the kids, we took advantage and went out for dinner! We've been to Rodizio a couple times, but Tucanos is SO much better! We had a great time out together and were so glad to be able to be with out the kids for a while!

At Tucanos--I took this with my phone--not a great picture.


After dinner we stopped at a chocolate shop and I got a little bit of fudge for dessert.


I forgot to take any more pictures on the date, but we had a great time, and the kids had fun at my parents house!
thanks mom and dad for watching them for us! :-)

Daddy's new office

This last time we went to visit Nick at his new office I took some pictures. He's been able to set it up really nicely! Other than it's occasionally cold in there, he really loves it and is totally ready to be working again! Last week was hard--we only saw each other for about 5-1o min each night between him coming home from work and me leaving to go to work! I got a 3 day weekend off though, so we've been able to enjoy some quality time together!



The kids enjoy coloring on this HUGE dry-erase boar. Preston colored on the wall though, so I have to get a magic eraser to get it off... sigh...

Our weekly budget

Nick and I have talked about it and for an extra special challenge, I am going to try to spend only $47.75 (nick's humor) per week on groceries and household things--the items that I mainly use coupons for! (Basically anything you can find at Wal-mart or Walgreens)

I have enough staples in my house to last us a very long time, so I really think I'll do good following this budget. Plus, any money that I DON'T spend one week will be carried over to the next week! I'll keep you posted on how I do! :)

Blinded...and very confused

How could I be so blind!?! Nick told me that the picture I put on my blog back in Feb 2008 of our new house that we were buying was NOT really our house! WHAT?!? I am still really confused by it, because I could have sworn that I took that picture! If I didn't take it, where did that picture come from?


The picture on the left is NOT our house!

The picture on the right IS our house!

So confused!!!! Lol

(Hey Arah, do you remember if I took that picture on the left or not?)

Little hands

Preston and I were outside enjoying the nice weather today. He went in the house, got a big handful of fruit loops and put it on Ashleigh's chair. As he was going back in to get more, I looked at the seat and realized that what I thought was a lot of fruit loops, was actually very little! I forget how little his hands are and that he can't carry as much as I can.

The CSS board

My boss at work made up this CSS board and has it displayed at our podium (register 17). There is only 1 or 2 missing from here...

Top row--Becky, Kristin, Me, Nely
Middle row--Rachel, Carrie, Kristi, ?Krystal?
Bottom Row--Martin, Addison, Tiffany, Teri
Bottom-- Leslie



My picture was taken only minutes before I was written up for the coupon fiasco! Good thing he took the picture first...after I got in trouble, I was crying so hard I could barely see! sigh... Still waiting for my manager to call me back about it!

Preston playing on Ashleigh

Preston likes to climb on our backs now and just hang on. He was hanging on to Ash...

Then she got tired of it and flipped him over. Don't worry, no one got hurt! They play so well together, I love it!

No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

I was "neglecting" Preston the other day so he got out a book to read...hmmm...maybe I should neglect him more often.
He got out No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. He started reading it out loud to himself. I can only remember reading this book to him once before--a few months ago at least. I used to read it to Ash every night, so I was surprised that he knew how it goes--for the most part. I was able to get a picture and then a cute video of him reading it to me.

And Preston will be....

Awesome growth chart--gift from kevin and Jana!

Preston "turned" 2 1/2 on the 14th so we measured him to see how tall he should be as a full-grown adult.

He has grown a little more than 2 inches in 6 months!

By my calculations he should be about 5'9" at full height! Woah!!! (to me that's tall!)

(Ashleigh should be 5'5")


To check your own kids measurements:
For girls, measure at age 2 and double that height then divide by 12.
For Example...at age 2 measured 32"x 2 = 64" / 12 = 5'3".

For boys, measure at 2 1/2 and double that height then divide by 12.
For Example...at age 2 1/2 measured 40" x 2 = 80" / 12 = 6'6".

My week of coupon shopping

There were quite a few things I wanted to get this week at both Target & Walgreens. My first stop was at Target. I bought 11 packages of Goldfish Crackers (the kids already claimed 2 of them), 4 Motts applesauce's, and 12 Johnson's Buddies Soaps for only $15.50. I saved about $28.88.
65% savings











I was in the Draper area so I stopped at the Walgreens there to see if they had any of the items in stock that I wanted to buy. They only had the Garnier Fructis haircare, but they also only let me get 2 of each product--NO more! Arg... I got all 4 for free, so I had to get a filler item--Ash
wanted Pnut M&Ms. I spent $1.28 and saved $14.44.
92% savings!














On Saturday, I went to my Walgreens in Saratoga Springs. They had just stocked the shelves, but they were still out of a lot of the things I wanted. Its so frustrating. However, they did have the diapers and wipes I wanted to get the RR deal.
Transaction #1--2 Pedialyte, 6 Garnier Fructis, and 3 candies. I used my $10 RR from the other day and paid $3.62 oop, and saved $36.82.
Transaction #2--I bought 2 diapers, and 1 huge package of wipes. Spent $14.69, Saved $15.47...and got a $10 RR.
Transaction #3--I bought 2 pull-ups, and 1 huge package of wipes. Spent $14.69, Saved $15.47...and got a $10 RR.
Transaction #4--I bought 2 pull-ups, and 1 huge package of wipes. Spent $16.69, Saved $15.47...and got a $10 RR.

Total OOP $49.69 Total Saved $83.23 63% savings.
Plus I have $30 in RR to use on future purchases.





Then we stopped at Walgreens in Lehi. I had 4 more Garnier Fructis coupons to use, so I used them up, bought some more pedialyte--on sale 2/$10 - $2/1 coupon = $6 for 2! I needed some face cleanser and Nick needed some deodorant, so I decided to get some necessity items and use my RR to pay the difference. My total bill would have been about $41 (I can't find my receipt). After my coupons and 2/$10 RR's I paid OOP about $6.
Thats an 85% savings.


But then....I was at work last night. Our store has been doing better about filling up a folder with the current Ads from other stores because we price match to other stores. The Ads were on the counter so I started looking through them. I only got through a small part of the Smith's Ad. They had some great deals--and stuff I knew I wanted to buy and that I had coupons for, so I shopped after work. (I didn't take a picture since I brought it all home at 430am!) I bought 8 boxes of Kelloggs Cereal, a 12-pack double rolls of Cottonelle TP, 4 Betty Crocker fruit snacks, 2 toaster strudels, 2 Fettuccine pasta, 2 sour cream, 2 packages of Oreos, 5 Mentos gum, 4 Johnson's buddies soaps, 4 Healthy Choice pantry meals (for lunches for Nick at work), 2 McCormick seasoning packets, Asparagus, Grape tomatoes, and 5 oranges. My total before price matching and coupons would have been $91.37. My total after price matching was $67.

My total after my coupons and discount--my OOP was only $44.90.
I saved--$46.47 which is a 51% savings.

I was very pleased. I bought a lot of stuff this week...I took a look around our cold storage when I was putting stuff away and realized that I really don't have to shop at all for a few weeks at least if I don't want to...except to buy milk. I don't think I'll go shopping this week at all...unless I can get it for FREE!

This week, my total should have been $325.39, instead, I spent--$117.37. I saved-$208.02 64% savings!

My thought is that now that I have a really good supply of household items, and food storage, I am going to talk to Nick about how much my coupon budget (which will include household and grocery items) should be and see how well i do at sticking to it each week. I actually think it will be a really fun challenge!

Stay tuned....

Megs mini meatloafs

I decided to make those mini meatloaves the other night. Neither Nick or I are big fans of meatloaf, but we both agree that the like to eat the end pieces, so when you make a tiny meatloaf, pretty much the whole thing is the end piece.

this is the "before"picture
I decided to use bbq sauce in the middle

Here is our dinner

And the "after" picture of our mini meatloaves.
They don't look good, but seriously...they are SOOOO good!!!

Nick and I both loved them and Ashleigh gobbled them up too! It is definitely on our list of meals to make many times in the future! Yum!!!

Update on work

I took that blog I wrote about what happened at work (with some editing) in to my store manager. He was unavailable--he was talking to another associate--I heard yelling...uh-oh. So I talked to Co-manager Matt. I told him the readers digest version of what happened. I gave him the papers I had brought for the store manager and he promised to get them to him as soon as he was out of his meeting.

I didn't hear from the store manager at all on Monday or Tuesday. I went to work with high hopes that I would see him and that we would be able to talk. I finally saw him just before midnight as he was leaving. He told me he got my papers, and decided to hand them over to Kevin in Personnel AND Co-manager Matt to handle. They won't be back to work until Thursday so I am going to call them then and see if I can get some answers. Store manager DID say that the reason he is turning it over to the other 2 guys is that apparently they are having this same problem/situation with another CSM too! There is an investigation starting. Any-hoo....

Now for the interesting news. When I got to work last night I told the other CSM's and 2 of my overnight cashiers that these ladies may come in since I told them I was working on Tuesday night. I was right! Literally a minute after the store manager left the ladies walked in...only this time there were 3 ladies and 1 guy. They waved and smiled at me when they came in. I responded as though nothing were out of the ordinary. I then called my assistant manager over to make him aware of the situation. We came to the decision that we would open a new register when she came up to check out. I would ring her up. and my co-worker would act as my supervisor and would monitor everything I rang up WITH the coupon that she was required to give me at the same time as the product. So, I rang up 2 things--got 2 coupons. They were ok. Then another item...no coupon, then 20 packages of huggies fresh wipes--the coupons were for Huggies diapers and they expired in February...NO Match! No sale! then she gave me 10 single packs of Dove soap and coupons for$1 off a 6-pack of dove soap--No Match! No Sale! then she gave me about 10 tiny bottles of listerine antiseptic. The coupon was for a specific kind of Listerine...not the one's she brought up. NO Match! No Sale! At that point she got fed up, started mouthing off about how my supervisor is being too picky and strict and they decided to not get anything and leave. surprise surprise!
i had to hold my tongue so I wouldn't mouth off to her! Pfew, I was just glad it was over and I am hoping and praying that they won't come back!!!

Did you know I have a new blog? Quinn and I do, actually (quinn you need to start adding to it!) We are starting a small "business" giving coupon classes. I decided to create a new blog to post sales, freebies, coupon stuff, other tid-bits of info...stuff that is not "personal" like what I write on this blog. Check it out when you have some time and here's hoping you will save save save!

Mini Meatloaf dinner

I think I am going to try this recipe out for dinner on Thursday...my only night this week that I do not work! sigh... If you try it out, let me know what you thought?

Mini Meatloaves in a Muffin Tin

by Marie on February 18, 2009

Don’t you just love these cute Mini Meatloaves? I love cooking things in muffin tins. It makes everything so tiny and cute to eat. Remember these Pop Up Pancakes? Yum! Well, these Mini Meatloaves in a Muffin Tin are perfect for dinner served with little mini carrots and baby asparagus!

This idea came from the magazine Kraft Food & Family. I subscribe to their quarterly magazine and it’s FREE! It has great easy recipes with lots and lots of pictures (every recipe book needs pictures!) They do advertise using almost all Kraft products, but I just use whatever I’ve got at home already.

Mini Meatloaf Recipe:

• Favorite Meatloaf recipe
• bbq sauce
• salt & pepper
• cheese - cheddar, or something stronger would be yum

Spray your muffin tin with cooking spray. Place in a handful of prepared meatloaf into each muffin tin. Press your thumb into each meatloaf ball, making a space for toppings. Squirt a dollap of bbq sauce into the space and salt and pepper. Bake in a pre-heated 375* oven for 30 minutes or until cooked through (160F). Add your favorite cheese and bake for another 5 or so minutes.

Now serve these on a mini plate on a tiny table in your smallest room with your cutest kids and enjoy!

Thanks, Make and Takes

blog follower...CANDY

I am a blog follower..there are so many blogs out there that I look at on a daily basis. Money Saving Mom's website is my favorite, and at the bottom of most of her posts is Mr. Linky-where other people who blog can connect their post to hers. I've found tons of great blogs that way! This recipe intrigues me...the person who wrote this is gluten free so they use gluten free ingredients. But if you can have gluten, I see no reason why you can't use the real pretzels-for instance. I think I'll try this recipe out...there has been praise for it on 3 different blogs I've found. If you try it, let me know what you think! :)

CrockPot Chocolate Frito Candy Recipe

We went on a road trip over the weekend, and road trips mean Fritos. When we were first diagnosed with celiac, we were pleased to discover that good ol' Fritos were gluten free. It's so nice to know that they are THERE---at every gas station, and in every vending machine.

When we returned home, I still had half a bag left, and they were awfully squished after being in the backseat for 2 days. The best thing to do with crushed Fritos? Make candy! I saw this recipe posted on the Cookie Madness site, and knew we had to make it. We just had to.

The Ingredients.

--1 stick of butter

--12 oz bag of chocolate chips

--2 T peanut butter (optional if you have allergies)

--1/2 cup brown sugar

--1/2 cup chopped peanuts (optional--we used honey roasted because that's what we had)

--2 cups Fritos

--2 cups Pretzels (I used Glutino)

The Directions.

Put the Fritos and the pretzels in a large Ziploc and smash until crumby. Set aside.

Line a 9 x 13 or so cookie sheet with Release foil or parchment paper. Set that aside, too.

Put the butter, the brown sugar, peanut butter, and chocolate chips into your crockpot and set on high for 1-2 hours or until everything is really melty and you can mix it well.

It took 1 hour, 15 minutes to melt nicely for me in a 6qt Smart Pot.

Stir in your pretzel and Frito pieces. Anna at Cookie Madness did it differently. You can read what she does, here.

Using oven mits (use them! The crock is hot!) dump the hot candy out onto your lined cookie sheet and spread out with a wooden spoon. Sprinkle the peanut pieces on top.

Put the pan in the refrigerator for about an hour, or until candy has set completely. Break into pieces.

The Verdict.

Woah, mama! Man, these are amazing and wonderful and so scary in that they are SO good you want to take them all into a corner of the garage and eat them all by yourself.

Amazing. You must make them.

Thank you, A Year of Crockpotting

Walgreens Diaper deal

Walgreens this week has a GREAT Huggies diaper/wipes deal. if you are in need of diapers-now or in the future, I would suggest you go and get some!

If you buy $25 of participating items (Huggies, Kleenex, Kotex, Poise, Depends, Scott TP, or Cottonelle TP) you will get back a $10 RR (register reward) that you can use on your next purchase.

Plus--for the last week and a half or so Huggies was offering a $5 off 1 package of diapers or pull-ups coupon & a $3 off coupon. I printed my first set of coupons off and sent them to Betsie to use, but on Sunday when I saw that Walgreens had this diaper sale & they reset the coupons so you could print more off, I printed off more coupons for myself! I didn't get them printed off in time for my most recent shopping trip, but I printed them off today so I'll go to Walgreens again either Thursday or Saturday to get some more diapers for cheap!

Anyway--here's what I bought yesterday:
$20 2 Huggies pull ups
$6 Huggies Wipes
$3.49 B1G1 Almonds
$3.49 Bandaids
$3 2 Halls cough drops
$9.98 2 L'Oreal nail polish
$17.93 6 Garnier Fructis Hair products
--------
$63.89

But after my coupons and my gift card I paid $25.32 out of pocket.
60% savings and I got a $10 RR to use on my next shopping trip.
On my next trip I plan to spend a lot less!!! I was frustrated...I should have done better!

My birthday

I turned 29 on Sunday. Nick woke me up-declared that he is my slave for the day (which I totally took advantage of) and then gave me my presents and cards to open.
From Ashleigh and Preston I got a $20 Starbucks gift card....I LOVE the vanilla steamers and the green tea frappes! From Nick I got a Gift card for a 1 hr massage at Massage Envy. Ahhh....I can't wait for that hour of pure relaxation! Ashleigh also drew me a great picture!

And Nick also bought me a chocolate fudge cake...

Which Preston (and I) LOVED and devoured...

We usually go to the Calls for dinner but Juli is in Spokane so I decided to invite Randy, Quinn and Zach over for dinner.
My favorite thing to have on my birthday is my dad's Stew and brownies, so that's what I made.

Dinner was really filling so the boys took a little rest on the couch and watched Barbie and the Diamond Castle. Ha Ha ha

And then Nick gave Zach a puzzle to put together.

Quinn played with Preston

And then while Quinn and I went out for a little while, the boys played Wii Mario Kart
It was a great birthday!!! Thanks honey for all you do for me and making me SO happy today!!!

Upset, angry, frustrated, hostile, and mad!!!!

On Saturday night after my girls night out I went to work. My boss-Vahid-gave me some disappointing news...basically that I am NOT transferring stores and that for now my job is safe, but in the future, my position (Part time over night Customer service manager) will be cut and I will have to change to something else. I stressed out that night about what is going to happen in the future. He told me not to worry about it, but that I just needed to be aware....

Later, I saw a customer go up to our "smoke" register (#17) with a lot of small items in her cart--from the looks I assumed that she was a couponer...I was right! She had a binder full of coupons. After she checked out, she went back through the store to find her friends that she was shopping with. I struck up a conversation with her about couponing...since I am doing it too and it's now a passion of mine! We talked for quite a while..we swapped success and failure stories and other tid bits of information. I told her that there are a few cashiers who are sticklers about coupons (my cashier Barbara is VERY picky!!! TOO picky) and I pointed out Barbara and suggested that my customer avoid going to her line. (We had about 10 lanes open, so she had plenty of other people to choose from) She met up with her friends and they ended up going to register #19. I came by to see how they were doing a little while later--the cashier Tami-was nearly done ringing them up and was starting on their coupons. Their sub-total was $190...after coupons their final total was less than $5!!!!! Because they used so many coupons the register prompted for a CSM (Me) to override it. I was there the whole time so I saw how many they used, but not what they used exactly! I approved it and I moved on...went about my business. I was baffled by how much they saved, but I've also been able to get many items for free with my coupons so for the most part I was just really impressed. I knew that our store has a coupon use limit, but I didn't know the exact number that was and I've never been taught how to handle the situation if it happens.

Today, I went in to talk to our store manager about helping me to get transferred...our talk went fine...I was informed that they have hired all the CSM's that they are going to and that's probably why they didn't take me, but to keep trying for it cause stores lose people all the time!

NOW I CANT!!!!

Because, after talking to Scott, Vahid tracked me down and wanted to talk to me....UH-OH!!!
Yep, after getting compliments for doing things right, I was then told that I made a mistake... He asked if I was the one who put my key and my numbers in to approve coupons on register 17. I felt really positive that I did not! I told them the WHOLE situation with that lady and her 3 friends. I told him I saw Nely (the other CSM) up there and she probably did it with my numbers cause we share numbers--it's complicated the reasons behind it. So he called security to pull up the camera to see who did the override. IT WAS ME!!!! I was beside myself! I told him that obviously, he has visual proof, but that I do NOT remember doing it! I told him that Yes, I did the override at reg 19, but not reg 17....I still don't remember doing it...I think perhaps he was talking about a different customer...who knows! I was so pissed!!!! The 2 cashiers--from register 17 & 19 are going to get "coached" too! I tried to get him to not coach Tami cause I was there the whole time, I should have paid more attention to the coupons and not the customers and their "great" couponing, but I didn't! I told him I take full responsibility for that one, but I told him that I do NOT agree with my being punished for overriding on reg 17!!! Reg 17 lost $93 because of it and reg #19 lost $24! I am mad because I got in trouble, but more so because my cashiers KNOW to check the expiration date--most of the coupons from reg 17 were expired by more than 2 weeks!, and they know to pay attention to what they are ringing up so that they only take coupons that match! I ASSUMED that they both did that! I ASSUMED that none of the coupons were expired! I ASSUMED that I was only overriding to accept the large amount of coupons!!!! Apparantly, I was overriding to approve expired and wrong coupons! How was I supposed to know this!!! That part of the ringing up a customer process is not my responsibility! My responsibility is to approve things that my cashiers can not....like using a lot of coupons!!!
Now here is the kicker.... I am going to fight my getting in trouble BECAUSE, Vahid told me that the registers are not set up to catch it if someone uses a coupon for a wrong item--if the BRAND is the same, the register will accept the coupon. For example--if your coupon says $5 off Crest Whitening strips (which normally sell for probably $15) and you buy Crest toothpaste for $2.50, you just made $2.50 on it because our register reads the BRAND (CREST) rather than that it's for whitening strips NOT toothpaste. AND, it will accept the coupon if it is expired! The register doesn't read the expiration dates, so if you have a "non-observant" cashier or CSM, then you can use them and no one is the wiser. So if the register is not set up to catch those 2 things--as EVERY OTHER STORE IN AMERICA's registers DO, and I did not know this, than why am I getting in to trouble for approving it when I again ASSUMED that it WOULD catch it!?! No one, in over a year of working there has ever told me that! No one, in over a year, has ever taught us that! Why am I being punished for the system having faults!?! None of us should be in trouble for taking coupons that do not match the product...however, the kid on reg #17 who took the expired coupons SHOULD get in trouble!!!
So those ladies who did SO good completely cheated the system! They KNEW that the registers would accept the coupons for the wrong items and they KNEW that the register would not read the expiration dates. I was told-also in my meeting with Vahid-that these ladies (Polynesian) stopped shopping at the West Jordan store cause they finally caught them using bad coupons...so now they come to my store!
Yes...I used my key and my numbers to approve the transaction...the use of all those coupons

BUT

If all those other elements had been in place...
1-the register caught it when the coupon does NOT match the item
2-the register caught it when a coupon is expired
3-I was informed that there are customers who KNOW the system is faulty and therefore take advantage of the defect!
4-My cashiers paid attention to the dates and the items they are ringing up...

then MY JOB wouldn't be on the line and my reputation as a GREAT manager wouldn't be tarnished!!!!

And, if all those elements had been in place, there would have been ZERO need for me to use my key/numbers to override...because there would have been nothing to override!!!!!!!!!!

After talking/venting to Nick I am going to print out the above and take it back to work and I am going to talk to my store manager again...I am going to explain my side and "demand" that he remove my punishment...and possibly the cashiers punishment as well. I pray that he will listen to me, HEAR me, and help me to get this situation rectified!!!!

Girls Night Out

My friend Becky (whom I also work with) invited me to a Girls night out. It's been a long time since I went out with a bunch of girls...I am usually just working or hanging out with Nick. It was a little adjustment to switch to girl talk rather than the funny thing that Preston or Ashleigh did today...
The night started off a little rocky. Becky lives seriously out--WAY out North West from me. It took me 45 min to get to her house! I was about 30 min late! Then we went in to Sandy/Draper area to Olive Garden. I thought for sure she had made a reservation, cause 12 girls on a Saturday night trying to get in to the OG there is NO WAY!!! I was right, it was a 2 1/2 hour wait! So instead we went across the street to Johnny Carinos. I had never been there. I will probably never go back. It was good food, I guess, but I paid more for my food there than I would have at Olive Garden and it was not nearly as good!
And, I was meeting 7 girls who I didn't know, so the "shy" Megan came out and I pretty much kept to myself for a little bit. But I picked a good seat at the table and everyone was around me and the other girls talked a lot so it was easy to join in and enjoy myself. And I did! I really had a good time! It was a lot of fun...it was a great bunch of girls. I am really glad that Nick made it possible for me to go. (Thanks babe)
The only down side was that they were continuing on at another girls house after dinner, but I had to go to work....sigh.
Hey, at least I was able to go at all, right? :-)






My friend Bethany...we used to work together.
She is VERY outgoing...very blunt and strait forward and to the point...and such a sweet girl!
I really miss working with her!

It's ME!!!

This is Becky...the host of the night. She is the first person I met when I went to the Riverton Walmart. She welcomed me with open arms to that store...made me feel SO comfortable and happy that I transferred. She has the kindest heart and I just love spending time with her!







This is Vanessa...she is Becky's friend. I didn't get a good opportunity to talk to her and get to know her, but from what I could tell, she is shy, sweet, and probably the best friend a girl could have!

These girls came with Bethany...on the right is Danielle--Bethany's sister. And Danielle's friend Holly. They were on the other end of the table so I didn't get to talk to them either, but they were really nice too!

This is Aymee...we work together too! She is one of my employees. She is soft spoken and has a genuine heart. She's a sweet girl and I am glad that I have been able to get to know her a little bit.

This is one of Becky's friends--Kim. Again, I didn't get a chance to talk to her at all...she pretty much only talked to the girls that she knew. But it was nice to meet her too.

This is Donnelle. I don't know much about her except that she is very personable...she LOVES Toyotas and she sells jewelry. Really nice stuff! When I can justify spending $25 of a pair of earrings, she'll be the first person I'll call!











This is Michelle....You wouldn't know it to look at her, but she has some serious health issues. Becky has cried a few times at work over it. Michelle was the life of the party. She was so funny and entertaining and there was never a dull moment with her around. I am so glad I got to know her!











This is Becky's sister Heather. She is 23...she came down from Centerville. She sat next to me at dinner. She is much like her sister...very sweet, kind, funny and outgoing.

I also got some group shots....
Aymee, Holly, Danielle

Heather, Michelle, Kim, Donnelle, and Aymee

Holly, Danielle, Vanessa, Becky, and Bethany

It was also birthday month for us...my birthday is the 8th and Becky's is on the 18th so we got a free dessert and passed it around the table so everyone could enjoy it.

I don't think Michelle was very happy to get only 1 bite...so she decided to just eat it all. Lol. Jk.

I had a really fun time...I hope we do it again soon!
(Thanks for the invite, Bec)