My Natural Hair Journey

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Take the Money and Run!

Round about Tuesday of this week I came down with the flu.

In my haze of Puffs Plus and Vicks, I managed to make my way down to the family room for a little TV. Toddlers and Tiaras happened to be on DVR (5 whole episodes!), so I decided to catch up.

There was one episode in particular that struck me outside of the usual pimping of the little girls that goes on: The America's Trezured Dollz pageant scam. Now, I'd read about this episode whilst posting on a favorite message board about another episode, so when I saw the title of the pageant in my DVR list, SPELLED WITH Zs (you know us black people love to misspell things on purpose) I got all W000000t with it and hit the play button...

I know some of you are going to talk about me but I don't care. I need to vent.

I've turned into the crazy coupon lady. Just left the store and I got into it with the cashier. She started in on my stuff telling me that my trial sizes were not going to scan with the coupons I had. I had a $1 off a Clorox Wipes any size. I got the trial size, because the coupon sites instruct you to do that to get it free. How does she know? I do it allll the time. I tell her this, and she's like, 'I'm telling you, it's not going to work'. MAN JUST SCAN THE COUPON WITH YOUR RED SHIRT WEARING SELF (I'm trying to use good language here).

THEN, she starts telling me how to organize my ish. I'm like, DUDE. I GOT THIS. She tells me I need an accordian filer. I'm like, THAT'S NOT HOW I DO IT. She says 'better yet, a three ring binder'. I hold up my spiral notebook and say 'this is what I use'. She then goes in on my Glade coupons, telling me they can't accept more than one manufacturer's coupon. I tell her what their policy is (per their site) and she argues with me more

MEANWHILE, this chick I went to college with walks up and is like, 'Hi! I would speak longer, but I see you're busy'. I'm embarrassed, so the arguing stops COLD and the white lady behind me had the nerve to stomp her feet and sigh loud. I wanted to go off, but I was already embarrassed. I had to end it there. I paid and walked off, leaving one bag and a free $5 gift card behind and forgetting two $1 off coupons, which would have taken my order down to $10 for all this:




She stopped me in the parking lot, but I'm still pissed. If I didn't know any better, I'd think they put these people out here to mess up your game...and if I wasn't embarassed, I would have told that lady behind me to hit another aisle.

I'm actually thinking about going back tomorrow and returning my stuff to get that money off, dammit.

One Year Nappiversary! :P

So I Tried to Take a Christmas Photo of the Dog...

He's hyperactive, so getting him to sit is hard when he thinks you're trying to play a game with him.


Around and around we went for about ten minutes --he would lay on all fours insteam of sit.



When I finally did get him to sit, he sat facing the tree. About 20 times.  I was sweating, yelling and pissed by then.



Finally, HE SAAAAAT!! OMG Please be still!

:( 

Thanks, Okii.

Merry Christmas.

Koo-pawn Ka-ween

So, I decided to take up couponing. Yeah, I know, it's for old ladies with blue hair, but if you pay attention in the supermarket (yes, I used the word 'supermarket'), there aren't many people who take advantage of the deals that are out there. People usually get what they want and leave.

On several past occasions I've made an attempt to coupon. Usually this involves me getting extra excited about saving money, running out to buy a nice coupon filer, clipping for about two weeks, walking around a store frustrated, flipping through coupons that aren't anything near what I want. Needless to say, the quest was dropped before the coupons could expire good.

This time though, my interest was peaked by the now defunct Target Glitch of 2010...

Buy 5 Glade Candles (using coupons, of course!)
Total = $7.50 after discount
Plus, you get a free $5 Target Giftcard, so in essence, you're getting 5 candles for $2.50 if you subtract the gift card

Now, I've seen the self-proclaimed "coupon queen videos" here amd there online, but I figured these people must not have a life to attend to and must spend every walking moment couponing.

Boy was I wrong.

I decided to give the coupon thing another try. After spending 2 days pouring over coupon sites, store policies and Sunday advertisements, I left for the store equipped with tons of coupons, a calculator, a notebook with the coupons cataloged, and a list for each (yes, each) store I was going to visit that evening.

Two hours later, I returned home with $198 in groceries having spent $91 (my cap for the week was $100), two large tubes of toothpaste, three deoderants, a floss, a bottle of nail polish, and a Listerine White. The non-food items were FREE. Yah.

I actually got four boxes of cereal for $2. Good cereal...Cookie Crisp, etc.

I'm still learning the ropes, but I am thoroughly satisfied with my efforts so far. If you need any tips, comment. I'd be happy to help.

Other People's Kids

I'm allergic to other people's kids. I know that's bad grammar, but I don't care. I call em how I see em. Today, I had the honor of helping out with World Fest, a festival at my school for elementary school-age children. It counted as extra credit for my microeconomics class (go figure). We were to sign up for a block of time during the fest, and wait for further email instructions. I got the email from my instructor, and was assigned to hand out goodie bags to incoming stucents, then walk them across campus (after a presentation in the theatre) to their prospective activities. Just that, alone, was hell for me. When I got my Associate's degree in Education I thought, 'How hard could this be? Kids at preschool age aren't hard to scare (funny, as I type this --on campus, there's a busy buggy full of toddlers going by)' I thought, 'All I'll have to do is scare em a bit, and they'll mind me! ...a bunch of crayons and a few cookies, and they should be all set!!! (smiley face!)'. I've always been a kid magnet. I'm the one who can make an art project out of a piece of upholstery and a tire iron while sitting cross-legged on the carpet. When I graduated, I got a job as a preschool teacher. My job was HELL. I worked at a rehabilitation center for troubled teens, and their parents were out of control. I'm talking, wanting-to-fight-you-on-a-daily-basis-because-their-son's-Air-Force-One's-were-dirty out of control. Kids came to school in twenty degree weather without coats, played with penises during nap time and were quick to bite you. I had one incident where a three and a half year old was forced to sit all week during recess because his mom didn't want his sneakers dirty. First, I'd find myself coming to work wishing certain kids wouldn't be there when I walked in, then, I got to where I would yell all afternoon, finally, when I got to the point where I was snatching kids by their shirts, I decided it was time to look for another job. I had NO patience left. NONE. So, now I'm at the point where the sound of children laughing bothers me. Sad, really. I hope these kids had fun. At least I didn't have to do any activities. I commend all educators. You can NEVER get paid enough!