Toilet Paper

So today toilet paper is on my mind! Don't judge!!! Toilet paper is so freaking expensive. I hate it. It's literally throwing money down the drain but it is the most necessary thing on the planed. Followed by deodorant, soap, shampoo, mouthwash, toothpaste, toothbrush and floss!

Back to the toilet paper.... Holy crap there are so many to choose from. And seriously who is going to stand there and figure out what  wipe works best for your families butt wiping needs. Now I pride myself on being a very good shopper. I have mastered the art of matching coupons up with sale adds to get the most savings. Toilet paper on the other hand wins almost every time. Those $1 off coupons don't really bring the price down as much as I would like them to. I'm not loyal to a particular brand. I am loyal to the coupon that I clip. Now don't think for one minute that I buy the cheap stuff that tears during a wipe. The kind that leaves you on the verge of vomiting when you realize you may need to dip your hand in bleach because the TP didn't hold up!! No generic toilet paper for the Glover's.
I generally buy Cottonelle! It is on sale more than the rest and there are always coupons. I also order it from Amazon quite a bit depending on the price. The prices always change on there. I love the convenience of it just showing up on my door a case at a time. I also like not having to haul it around the store hogging up my cart.


There are so many kinds of TP to choose from. Thank God TP has come along way from when I was a kid. I just didn't trust my TP growing up. So because I have a TP trust issues I have a habit of taking more than necessary. It is because of this habit I can not buy Cottonelle Tripe. There are only 4 rolls in the pack but 4 rolls are like getting 12 rolls. So technically you need less when you wipe. The problem with those packs if I buy them is that I keep rolling the TP off the roll like its 1987 and before I know it I have 4x's the amount of TP I need. Based on how fast we go through it I think the same is happening for the entire family. This kind of TP is so thick your toilet may not be able to handle the TP load its about to get! No kidding!  Plus its expensive too. Its like paying for 24 rolls.

We like the Cottonelle Ultra. It's soft, thick and absorbent. It's also ultra cushiony and ultra luxurious, for an ultra clean and fresh feeling. That's what they claim. My butt kinda agrees. It says that 12 rolls are like 24. Unless you are in my house then 12 rolls are like 12. I prefer this over the 4 rolls are like 12 kind.

We also use Clean care Cottonelle. It claims to be stronger and has extra-absorbent ripples. So does that mean it's stronger than the ultra?? And are those ripples like the ripples in the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser? Ripples.. Who knew they could help produce a more absorbent wipe! Because 4 rolls are like 8 we prefer this over the tripple care.
I wonder if any of them honestly clean any differently? Or if its just certain words in the advertising and packaging that catch peoples attention and  makes them want to buy a particular TP. The word clean is used over and over so I guess that's what really matters in the end (haha)



Honorable mention goes out to the Cottonelle gentle care with aloe & Vitamin E. Talk about pampering your butt! This is a nice option if you may be experiencing diarrhea (I guess.) Its the BEST ever according to the package. Ive never tried it but that cute puppy might just convince me to give it a try! The website says... Take good care of your behind with the soothing, gentle clean of Cottonelle Gentle Care. This Toilet Paper is enriched with aloe and vitamin E.

Am I the only one that hates spending $$ on toilet paper? I once saw a disgusting family on TV that used rags to wipe. NOT KIDDING! Then they had a plastic bag they threw them into until wash day. I swear I am not making that up. It was on TLC Extreme Cheapskates. Never in a million years. They probably save $10,000 a year on TP but no thank you. I would pole dance for TP before I use one of Todd's old shirts! I also hate when I go somewhere and the toilet paper is.... a little thin. Like school toilet paper or restaurant toilet paper. Ive considered bring my own roll with me to keep in my purse. NO I am not pooing up the place at Red Robin. Ladies need TP when they pee!

And lastly.... My favorite thing ever is the wipes! There is no way you will have a dirty butt if you use these things. Plus with summer coming on you might be able to avoid swamp Ass if you make sure your crack is completely clean EVERY time you have a code brown! I'm not joking. Just like the commercial says....a clean bum is a happy bum! Happy wiping!

Long, boring, exhausting week......

What a long week and I did not even work last Friday and I didn't work this Tuesday. I've been helping with some of the AIMS test prep. 2 straight days last week of trying to match the alphabetical labels that were sorted by grade to the alphabetical spreadsheet that was sorted by teacher. Point.... make sure every student had a label for their AIMS test and if they did not have a label I had to make a list for them. I had such a headache and felt nauseous because my eyes were scrolling up and down, up and down and up and down for 2 days! That was the reason behind staying home Friday. On top of that Ive have a heck of a time and have not been feeling well or having energy lately. Yesterday I went for blood work so we shall see what is going on there in the next day or so.

The past week has a couple trips to the gym. Not seeing any results on the scale but I know/hope that soon I will. My body is just not responding to diet and exercise like it was a couple years ago, It BLOWS!! I have Hypothyroidism so maybe my blood work will shed some light on that problem too.





Tyler had a friend over last Friday night, Todd played poker and I watched the movie 12 Years a Slave. 30 minutes into it and I was so disturbed. I knew its going to be a good movie but I struggle when watching people be beat and tortured. I also hate the N word! I've heard it about 50 x's. I don't know how anyone could treat other humans the way slaves were treated. I would have never survived during that time period. My mouth is to big.

I worked on cleaning my house last weekend. I just cant take the dust. I just sit here and look at all the dust everywhere..... Sometimes I close my eyes and imagine its all gone! I know when I open my eyes it will still be there. And yes, there it is. Just as it was when I closed my eyes! I did manage to get the whole house done. That felt good!!!

Saturday night we went to a friends house for her birthday. Her husband pulled off a surprise wine tasting party for her. Tyler was home alone so we could not stay over. That meant no libations for us! She lives over 50 miles from us so a cab was not an option either! It was still good to see everyone! I love Kim. Ive know her for 30 years! The is the best!

 
That is about it! The week seemed long, I have for the most part felt exhausted due to what ever the heck is going on with me right now and with the exception of Saturday night..... BORING!

Boobies, Bingo, Massage and Condoms.... oh my!

Tyler was at a friends house for most of the weekend. His best friend moved about 45 minutes away a couple years ago so when they have a sleepover it lasts for the weekend. The weekend was pretty relaxed! Friday after school I went to the gym then watched The Wolf of Wall Street. Holy boobies and blow Batman! Lots of sex and drugs! Todd played poker at the casino so he missed all the boobies!  I had to look at them all by myself. It was a good movie. So glad Tyler was not in the house when it was on.
Saturday Todd and I got up to a quiet house. Its always strange to me when Tyler is gone. Usually kids are at our house. We went to the gym and we both did a kick butt workout then came home and watched American Hustle. It was good too. SCORE for movie rentals!

Movie Rental Recommendations

1.) The Wolf of Wall Street

2.) Gravity

3.) American Hustle

Later we went out to dinner then we went to bingo! YES, bingo! I LOVE ECLIPSE BINGO!!! The only problem is that it starts at 11pm! I'm old so it hard to stay awake to go out that late. Once I get there I am fine. As a matter of fact I am more than fine. It is so much fun I highly recommend that if you have not played you try it. There is a DJ that starts at 10:15pm. He plays the entire night. So if you don't like loud music, stay home. When bingo starts, the regular lights go off and black lights and some flashy lights come on. So if you cant see in the almost dark and flashy lights bug you you might want to skip eclipse bingo. The cool thing is that the bingo cards glow in the dark because they are florescent. People are dancing around the bingo hall and at dancing on the dance floor during the intermission. There is a bar set up and that enhances the experience. The more people drink, the more they call bingo when they don't actually have one or they miss their bingo all together. Did we in at bingo??? NO! But we did win enough on the slots and in the poker room to cover everything we spent that night in the casino. Even won enough to cover the cost of dinner and late night Burritos from Filibertos.

Bingo Tips....

1.) Fill a water bottle with Vodka and "spike" the free soda you get in the bingo hall. Big money saver.
2.) Load a flashlight app on your phone and use it to see your bingo cards if you have trouble seeing.
3.) If you have a whistle, bring it. Its so hard to hear anyone yell bingo so the whistle everyone know you got yourself a big ol bingo! Or so you hope!
4.) Bring any glow in the dark or blinky light stuff you have. It enhances the eclipse bingo experience. Makes you feel super cool.
5.) Get there early to find a good spot. Next to the dance floor is always entertaining during intermission.Plus you can hang with your friends, dance, listen to the DJ, enjoy your "water bottle" and have fun with your glowing flashy things!
6.) Get a room if you can. Then you don't have to worry about the whole DD thing. If you screw up and get yourself into trouble check out www.toddgloverlaw.com for help. He's pretty good at what he does.

 

Sunday was a super awesome lazy day. Slept until 11am because it was almost 3:30am when we got home from the casino. I went and picked up Tyler then later went for a 2 hour massage! I wore a flower in my hair just like the girl in the picture! After the massage I ran home to grab my coupons before I went grocery shopping. Thank God I did because my shirt was on backwards and inside out! How the heck could I have not noticed that. I walked out of my massage and stood at the front desk waiting to check out with that nonsense. Those people must have thought I was crazy. I am sure they made fun of me when I left. I would have made fun of them for sure!
Now here comes a funny and super embarrassing TMI moment. You have been warned..... I took Tyler to Walmart later to buy a game. I needed a couple things as well.....

Things I Needed from Walmart
1.) A box of Sally Hansen wax strips because I wax my own lady beard to save money.
2.) Duracell batteries for the fire alarms. I swear to god!!!!!!!!
3.) Condoms.

This is what my purchase looked like

So I walked up to the counter in the jewelry department to pay. Hell no I was not getting line with everyone else to buy that combination of crap. I laid everything on the counter and just looked at the girl. Wax strips, batteries and condoms! Great. I cant imagine what she thought I may be waxing or using those batteries for. Throw the condoms in the mix and its a party. I said to her "Just ring it up and triple bag it please." She didn't say a word. I just stood there thinking to myself could you please hurry up before my kid passes the jewelry area or someone comes up to buy some Walmart jewelry! Or a student seem the loot. She told me my total and I said..... "I have a coupon." YEP! I laid that $1 off condoms coupon on the counter and as soon as she scanned it I swiped the card and left. I might have ran. I cant remember. 

(Tyler was in the game area and was going to meet me in the front when he was done.... for those of you wondering why I would but condoms when I had my 14 year old with me.) 

So there you have it. We watched some good movies, worked out, played some bingo and Todd has relations with a non bearded lady!

5 years and 64 days later........

I pulled up my old blog the other day and was shocked to see that it has been over 5 years since I last blogged. Now don't think I have not thought about blogging.... I loved it when I did and I actually miss it. There is a lot of stuff rolling around in this head and I love to write about it. So I decided to start blogging again. Lucky you!
When I pulled the blog up it was fun to read all the old posts from years past and see the photos I had not seen in forever. Looking through all that reminded me of how quickly time passes. Tyler was so small when I started blogging and now he is going to high school next year.
My last post was about Disney World! So I think that is where I will start today. YES, we went again. In the last post 5 years ago I wrote "I don't think we will ever go to Disney World again." Wrong! Last February we decided to go again. We planned out trip for the Christmas / New Years holiday. Again we spent a full 10 days in the park. We had a great time and because we had been before we knew our way around and knew what we wanted to see and do. Not much had changed. The one thing that did change was how much money we spend! Holy guacamole. Below is a copy and past from five years ago.

2009
The grand total out of pocket for everything for 12 days was:
$2,980.06.

Food & Drinks: $408.76
Grocery delivery: $101.71
Resort fee: $95.00
Airfare: 1,255.50
Disney 10 day passes: $445.72 (was $676 before Disney rewards)
Disney All Star Sport Resort: $284.79 (4 nights,was $424.79 before Disney rewards)
Timeshare exchange fee & Insurance: $203.00 (7 nights)
Souvenirs: $145.88
Tips & misc: $40.00

2014
The grand total out of pocket for everything for 12 days was: 
$2,607.26 without park entry

$3748.86 with park entry

Food & Drinks: $793.16
Grocery delivery: $107.88
Airfare: $641.70
Timeshare exchange fee & Insurance: $243.00 (7 nights)
Souvenirs: $94.60
Country Inn & Suites: $529.72 (4 nights)
Car service to and from airports: $197.20

Park tickets are a whole different kind of math this time! Last trip we just bought a 10 day pass. This time we bought the premier annual pass that gave us unlimited access to all Disney parks in Florida and California. It also included water parks and parking in all parks.  So I did some math and came up with the following to figure out what the 10 days in Disney World cost us. Here is a math problem and a little peek into how my brain works.

Todd and Donna bought premier annual passes for their family of three. The total for all three passes was $2,629.80. How much was each annual pass?
ANSWER: $876.60 per person.  ($2,629.80 divided by 3 people)

Tyler and Donna both spent a total of 28 days in Disney parks during the year they had their annual passes. How much per day did their park entry cost based on the amount of days spent in the parks and the price they paid for each annual pass?
ANSWER: $31.30 for every day they went into a Disney park. ($876.60 divided by 28 days)

Todd spent a total of 17 days in Disney parks during the year that he had his annual pass. How much per day did his park entry cost based on the amount of days spent in the parks and the price he paid for his annual pass?
ANSWER: $51.56 for every day he went into a Disney park. ($876.60 divided by 17 days)

Todd, Donna and Tyler spent a total of 10 days in Disney World. Based upon the number of days they spent in the park and the amount per day already determined for them to enter the park, how much did it cost the Glover family to get into Disney World for 10 days?
ANSWER: $1,141.60 for all three people to go to Disney World for 10 days. (Todd's daily cost of $51.56 times ten and Tyler and Donna's daily cost of $31.30 times ten)

Take that AIMS test! and I failed 5th grade because of math. The difference between the two trips was $768.80. I know we drank a lot of coffee. Being older we needed it to keep the almost park open til close schedule that I kept the boys on. Tyler and Todd were not coffee drinkers five years ago so adding more addicts to the mix increased the food and beverage budget. Disney has gotten so expensive. We did not renew out annual passe this year. Tyler and I spent the last 4 days of our pass in the park this month.  We even got a unexpected surprise when we were each given a three day park hopper ticked that does not expire for two years! So we were thinking fall break 2015.

We did not take many photos. Honestly it all pretty much looked the same and no one wanted to carry the camera. That on top of a 14 year old that is to cool for pictures. I added a couple from this trip and a couple old ones from the 2009 trip just because you can see how much Tyler has grown. Both trips were very different even though the parks were mostly the same. The parks were super busy! Some days had parks closed due to reaching capacity. I did come to the conclusion on this trip that I would never visit or recommend visiting Disney World unless you are staying on a Disney property. We did not rent a car either trip. We relied on the shuttle system. Using the Disney shuttle system is super convenient and easy. Especially when staying Staying on a Disney property. This time we stayed off property and that meant we had to use crappy hotel shuttles on stupid schedules to get to the only park their shuttle went to, Epcot. Then from there we had to use the Disney shuttle system to get to the other parks. It was crap! Plus I like the Zip a Dee Do  Da service you get from Disney when you are on their property! There was no Zip a Dee Do Da where we were this time!

So yeah.... This was a pretty boring post! But in a few years I will look back and be glad I have the information posted somewhere!

And the grand total is????????

So what did this all cost? Take a guess. Remember that I am pretty good at finding deals. We also have a timeshare so the 8 days we spent at Disney's Boardwalk Villas only cost us our exchange fee. I also had $370.28 on our Disney rewards Visa card to use towards this trip. We have been saving our reward dollars since 11/07. We used $230.28 towards the 10 day passes and the other $140 towards the All Star Sport Resort stay.
The total below includes everything for all 12 days from the time we got to the airport to go to Florida until we arrived back at the airport from Florida. Yes, it includes all the Starbucks on the way home.

The grand total out of pocket for everything was:
$2,980.06.

Here is the break down:

Food & Drinks: $408.76
Grocery delivery: $101.71
Resort fee: $95.00
Airfare: 1,255.50
Disney 10 day passes: $445.72 (was $676 before Disney rewards)
Disney All Star Sport Resort: $284.79 (was $424.79 before Disney rewards)
Timeshare exchange fee & Insurance: $203.00
Souvenirs: $145.88
Tips & misc: $40.00

Not bad I must say. We purchased our airline tickets last summer and paid our timeshare exchange & insurance fees last February. 1/2 of the cost was paid in advance so that was nice. The rest will be paid as soon as the credit card bill comes in a couple weeks.
We had an awesome time. I love to travel and spend time with my family. I would go to Florida again but I wouldn't go back to Disney World. I think once is enough. Disneyland is MUCH closer for us. We can be there in 5 hours by car. We will stay close to home when we need our Mickey fix. Besides we like Disneyland & California Adventure better!

The last day of our vacation, day twelve 1/11/09

Our plane left at 1:05pm. Perfect! We could sleep in a little bit, have breakfast and be on our way. The resort arranged for transportation to the airport. We checked our bags with the resort so we didn't have to do it at the airport. They printed our boarding passes the day before so we didn't even have to wait in line for those. It was a sad ride to the airport. Monday morning back to reality.....Yeah!!!
The airport in Orlando is huge. It has a mall in it, a hotel and restaurants galore. The best thing in the whole entire airport was STARBUCKS!!!!! Oh yes! coffee. Good coffee. I had not had a good cup of coffee since I left Surprise. Tully's is my favorite but Starbucks was just fine. We all got a big, huge, gigantic cup of coffee. We boarded our plane and were off as scheduled. We had a layover in Atlanta and as we got off the plane there it was STARBUCKS!!!! We all had another big, huge, gigantic cup of coffee. Yes we did!!
As we boarded the plane from Atlanta to phoenix we were amped and ready to get home and get settled in. We were exhausted and Tyler was dying to see his dog. My sister took care of Daisy Mama for us. She picked her up and took her home the night before we left. They fell in love with her and told us when we called to check on her that we were not getting her back. Well we did! I have a yard full of dog poop to prove it.
About 45 minutes into the second flight I was ready to duck tape Tyler's mouth shut. He would not shut up. My nerves were shot. As I thought About it I realized that we forgot to order Tyler's 2nd coffee decaf. OMG we were in for it. That kid loves coffee but we ALWAYS order decaf. He was so wired. We told the Airport in Orlando decaf and as the flight went on I wonder if they had used decaf. I swear it was like he was on drugs. He was a coffee crack head!
The plane ride was pretty turbulent for about an hour. The flight attendants couldn't even bring snacks and drinks because it was so bumpy we all had to buckle. That's OK, I don't thing Tyler needed anymore caffeine.
We arrived on time and Larry was there to get us. We got our luggage and we were off to the parking garage. When we got there Larry had forgot where he parked. Up and down the rows we went. Just what we wanted to do....more walking! We finally found it and headed home.
We got home and Todd and Tyler went to my sisters to get the dog and I stayed home and unpacked. We were all in bed by 10pm because after all we had to get back to work the next day so we could start earning more money for the next vacation!!!!

Our vacation, day eleven 1/10/09

GOOD BYE MICKEY!!!!

Today was spent in the Magic Kingdom. We rode some of our favorites and caught a show. It was our last day of our 10 day pass. We spent 2 days in the Animal Kingdom, 2 days in Epcot, 3 days in Disney Hollywood Studios and 3 days in the Magic Kingdom. As I walked around that day the thought of vacation coming to an end made me sad. I know that people say they are always ready to go home at the end of vacation but I wasn't. I could of spend another week on that boardwalk. We headed back to the resort around 9pm. We had dinner outside again and enjoyed our last night. Because of the parks winter hours they closed early enough for us to enjoy dinner on the boardwalk several nights. It was a perfect way to end a day.

Our vacation, days nine & ten 1/8 & 1/9 2009

Day nine 1/8/09

What to do today? Sleep in that's what. After we slept in and spent some time by the pool we headed back to Hollywood studios. We did our favorite rides again and caught our favorite shows. It was a short day there but that was OK. We enjoyed sleeping in and hanging out by the pool. When the park closed we went to the boardwalk and had dinner at the ESPN club then sat on the boardwalk and looked at the water. The pictures below are from the Toy Story ride. It was so awesome. This ride has just opened up at Disney's California Adventure. YEAH!!

Day ten 1/9/09

Today we decided to go back to Epcot. This would be our second and last day in this park. My first impression of Epcot was not so good. We were not even going to go back. We decided that because we had so many days on our pass and it was a boat ride across the river that we would give it another try. I have to say I did like it better the second time. We did the rest of the things that we didn't get to do the first day. There were a few cool things. Most were more educational & interesting than fun. That's OK because we pulled Tyler out of school for a week. We left and went back to the boardwalk, ordered a pizza to eat on the water and had a pretty good time just hanging out as a family.

Our vacation, day eight 1/7/09

On the eighth day we returned to our favorite park Animal Kingdom. Again we had an awesome day there. We rode the super cool roller coaster a few more times and we went on a few more safaris. We caught a show that we didn't get so see the first day we were there and we also saw the Lion King again. It was a pretty good show. Tyler was selected to help with one of the dance scenes. I know the photos below suck. There was a lot of smoke in the room and all of the flashes were making weird spots on my pictures.

It was a nice day. The weather was cooler and there was an overcast. A little rain as well. I have to say it was nice to have the cooler weather. The warm weather made it nice for swimming but it did make it a little sticky in the parks some days.

We watched a super cute parade on this day. No one does a parade like Disney!!!

We also experienced a pretty cool African music performance. That group knew how to get a crown moving. I looked around and everyone was moving their body in some way.