No Tubes Yet & Good Deals at Target

Troy and I took Davie Ann to see the ENT yesterday.  I didn’t realize all they take into consideration – their anatomy, age, whether or not they go to daycare or school, frequency of past infections, affects on hearing, to name a few factors.  Davie came out on the higher risk side, but the good news is her hearing hasn’t been affected.  So the doc said he was in favor of tubes, but felt we could be more conservative and take a wait-and-see approach.

The same doc put tubes in my niece Kinley’s ears last week.  The poor kid is always sick.  I’ve never seen her well.  Even if she’s not “officially” sick, she still pours snot constantly.  I wonder if it’s an allergy thing.  She goes to daycare M,W,F but my mom keeps her T & Th.  When Davie was with my mom full-time, she had the most ear infections she’s ever had (almost 5 months straight) – right along with Kinley.

But now Davie is in “school” Tues. & Thurs. and only sees Kinley for a couple of hours before I pick her up.  And now that Kinley has tubes, there’s a good chance she’ll get less ear infections.  So, Troy and I decided to give it four weeks.  If Davie doesn’t get an ear infection or cold in the next four weeks, we’ll see if she can make it through the cold season without one.

But – if she does get one, Dr. Connelly said to call and he will schedule the procedure immediately.  We don’t even have to go back in.  So, I guess we’re in wait-and-see mode, but we’re ready to pull the trigger at a moment’s notice.  I just know I don’t want to see her suffer the way she has this past year.

._.-._.-._.

When I first started couponing, Target was my go-to store.  I got soooo many good deals there, I couldn’t believe I’d been spending so much all these years!  Then, they got super strict and conservative on accepting coupons, even their own!  They would fight every deal and make me feel like a criminal for using coupons.  So I just stopped going and Walmart became my #1 store for good deals.  Occasionally there will be deals I can’t pass up at Randall’s, HEB, the dollar stores or pharmacies (CVS & Walgreens), but the most deals in one place went to Walmart.

The past week, though, I’ve gone back to Target for some “can’t-pass-up” deals.  Oh my gosh, I’m amazed at how well the shopping trip went!  Mom and I pooled our resources together.  We used Target iPhone text coupons, Target Cartwheel, Target printable coupons and manufacturer coupons.  I got $70 worth of groceries for $26, and my mom got $57 worth for $23! 

We got huge bottles of 7th Generation dish soap for $0.99, 6 packets of a new Campbells Skillet sauce product for free (we’ve tried the Sesame chicken so far and it’s good!), 12 boxes of a new Campbell’s Crock Pot sauces product free, 8 free Monterrey frozen beef burritos, Betty Crocker cookie mix for $0.33 a bag and 6 boxes of Kashi crackers for $0.80 each.  I got 2 Tidy Cat litter jugs  for $3.30 for the large jug.  I can’t remember all the deals, but I’ve been really happy with them!

I am going to a different Target, though.  The one close to my house (Pflugerville Stone Center Target) is bigger and has more to choose from, but often by the time I get off work anything on sale is cleared out.  And even if you find the product, they will fight you at the register to not give you the deal or to take your coupons.  Not worth the effort!  Instead, mom & I have been going to a smaller Target near her house in the Wolf Creek shopping center in Georgetown.  The selection isn’t as big, and sometimes it takes them longer to get new products on the shelf, but they almost always have everything in stock that’s on sale.  And – they actually HELP you get the most out of the deals at the register!  They helped me use Cartwheel for the first time and reminded me to use my Red Card (a Target debit card) for an extra 5% off my entire purchase.  It’s worth the extra drive for the customer service alone!

._.-._.-._.

Tonight is the women’s Sunday school social for the women in my Sunday school class at church.  We’re making fall wreaths.  I’m so excited!  I’ll take pics to post later!