A Week of Celebration

Yesterday was my birthday and it was good in spite of finishing up on the cleaning and clearing out the house to make it ready for the stranger appraiser to arrive. Our landlord is refinancing the house and for some reason, it needs to be appraised.

It is a blessing to have everything in order once again. And, I plan on keeping it this way. I am very happy the house is cleaned and cleared out. That is the best birthday gift even though I had to work at it with Dan's help. Ha! By the way, Dan had the day off which made the day better.

I’ve been “celebrating” since last Saturday. I’ve declared all this week to be my birthday and for the first time, not stressing over things. I’ve been very relaxed. My “celebration” will end this coming Sunday.

I bought myself a gift using a 50% off coupon at Michaels. It is a 12-1/2" x 12-1/2" quilting ruler by Omnigrid - something I've been wanting for some time now.

I received a “kajillion” birthday coupons in my email box. Let me list them:

1. Denny’s: Free Grand Slam. Valid on my birthday only
2. Baskin Robbins: Free Scoop (2.5 oz). Expires 10/18
3. Jason’s Deli: $5.00 off. Expires 10/20
4. Red Robin: Free Gourmet Burger. Expires 10/20
5. Great American Cookies: Free Cookie Cake slice with drink purchase. Expires 10/20
6. Taco Cabana: Free Flauta Plate (chicken). Expires 10/20
7. Chili’s: Free brownie sundae. Expires 10/21
8. Friday’s: Free dessert w/purchase of entrée. Expires 10/21
9. Waffle House: Free waffle. Expires 11/1
   

We redeemed #5 last Sunday. I shared it with Dan as I can never eat a whole one. It was very good. I haven’t had one in AGES. I stay away from them places nowadays.

And yesterday, we went to Red Robin (#4) for lunch. We only go there once a year, for my birthday, because it’s too expensive. Just for a Gourmet burger, it’s over $9.00. Ouch. But, with the freebie, it makes for dining out reasonable. We also went to Denny’s (#1) last night for dinner. Yummo!

I paid the price in the middle of the night from all that bad eating. But oh, it was sooo good.

Today, I think I will go to Baskin Robbins (#2) this afternoon. And, I am planning to meet Dan for lunch Friday to go to Jason’s Deli (#3).

I think we’ll go to Taco Cabana (#6) sometime this weekend. I have never been and am curious how the food is. And, we'll go to Chili’s (#7) that afternoon for a snack. Friday’s coupon might be used this weekend also. I haven’t decided yet as I rarely have dessert after eating a meal. Maybe, Dan can get the meal and I the dessert? Ha!

The Waffle House most likely will not be used as we do not have one here where we live.

So, all in all, it’s a very frugal week.

And now, I’m off to drop off my laptop in the mail. It’s kaput and heading off to Dell. I am currently using Dan’s laptop along with my portable backup hard drive (HD) at the moment.

Speaking of which, I’m disgusted at myself because I discovered earlier that I did not back up my “1000 gifts” list (document). I’m kicking myself mentally over that. Hopefully, it’s just the video card or screen on my laptop that is kaput, not my HD. In the meantime, I started a new “1000 gifts” list.

Anyway, I’ll do a little window shopping after I drop off my laptop at a Fed Ex drop station. And, I’ll pig out on ice cream this afternoon. I can mentally celebrate the fact that it’s my Sister-in-law’s birthday today. That is my excuse. Ha! Dan and I are going to get fat this week from all the eating out that we normally do not do. Coupons are both good and evil.

Happy birthday to me. And, to Gina. And, to Deb. And, to Linda. And, to Amanda...