This evening we had The Husband’s first crew of children and his grandchilden over to celebrate The Daughter’s 16th birthday.  Actually, three out of four children were here and four out of five grandchildren.

Family celebrations are always a lot of fun — and a ton of work!  The Daughter and I started the day with a big trip to the grocery store for supplies.  The Son stayed at home and cleaned the kitchen.  Both kids were very helpful in cleaning up the house and preparing for the party.  Having teens can be a real challenge but there are definite trade-offs — not having to buckle kids into car seats, not having to wipe bottoms, and not having to schedule my life around nap-time are a few that come to mind.

Kroger — $30.00
Prescription co-pays for three medications:  a cough medicine (turns out I can’t take any commercial/prescription cough syrups because of my corn allergy), a steroid (for my poor stressed lungs), and an antibiotic.  I avoid antibiotics at almost any cost but this time I’m going to give in.  My poor body — between the horrible bout with the flu, the stress of so much traveling and physical labor of helping my mom with her move, and being without my CPAP machine (and therefore without any REM sleep) for more than a week — is way too run-down.  My fear of ending up in the hospital again is stronger than my distaste for allopathic medicine.

Kroger — $126.17

• 4-pk Glaceau water — $3.99
• Bob’s Red Mill flour — $3.99 (saved $0.60)
• broccoli — $1.93
• red cabbage — $1.85
• carrots — $0.73
• cucumber — $1.00
• celery — $2.13
• green onions — $1.00
• tomatoes — $3.99
• box of Clementines — $6.99
• gala apples — $2.00
• bartlett pears — $3.32
• Coke — $3.67 (saved $0.72)
• 7-UP — $3.00 (saved $1.39)
• 2 mega packs Kroger TP — $7.59/ea.
• Hidden Valley Ranch dressing — $3.30 (saved $0.39)
• deli turkey breast — $2.22 (saved $0.74)
• deli sliced ham — $2.82 (saved $0.94)
• deli roast beef — $4.61 (saved $1.32)
• Kroger raisin bran — $1.89
• 2 pkgs Coleman hot dogs — $5.19/ea. (saved $0.30/ea.)
• birthday candles — $0.99
• Kroger bleu cheese dressing — $1.44
• Kroger medium cheddar cheese — $4.50 (saved $0.19)
• Orowheat 7-grain bread — $2.50 (saved $1.69)
• Breyers french vanilla ice cream — $5.19 (saved $0.50)
• Breyers chocolate ice cream — $5.19 (saved $0.50)
• 2 cartons Horizon chocolate milk — $3.19/ea. (saved $0.50/ea.)
• Oreo cake — $8.99
• Private Selection dijon mustard — $2.39
• 2 pkgs Roman Meal hot dog buns — $2.99/ea.
• 4 bag credits — ($0.20)

I applied a coupon for $1.00 off the deli meats plus two 1-2-3 dividend checks totaling $15.00.  I applied the entire purchase to the remainder of two gift cards I bought from The Daughter’s school so no new charges were added to my 1-2-3 Rewards charge card.  Not including the bonus checks and coupon, I saved $11.58 by using my rewards card — that’s 8% off my total bill.