– I’ve had some proud of me moments this week. I put a whole chicken in the crock pot for dinner on Monday, which is super easy. After pulling out all the meat, I left the bones and skin in the crock pot and added water. I turned it on low and left it while we went to bed. In the morning, I strained out all the bones and skin and had homemade chicken broth, which I then turned around and used to make chicken noodle soup that night. I used the leftover chicken, along with some onions, carrots, and celery that were still in my produce drawer.

– Drew and I took a day trip to Jacksonville this weekend. We are contemplating buying a new bed and are researching all our options. We bought an off brand (i.e. cheap) memory foam bed from Costco a few years back, and it’s been alright, but we both definitely agree that we wake up stiff and tired every morning. We just can’t seem to get a good night’s sleep, and since it’s both of us, we figure it’s probably the mattress. Drew remembers sleeping on a friend’s waterbed in high school and how it was the best sleep he’s ever gotten. All I remember about waterbeds is sleeping on my best friend’s bed in middle school. It was fun then, but I had visions of getting seasick every time Drew rolled over. We agreed that we needed to go lay on one. Unfortunately, no bed store in Tally has them on their showroom. We had to drive to Jax to be able to lay on one. We found a small bed store that was furnished in 80s style and an overzealous bed salesman. He insisted we try the soft side waterbed, which has a layer of foam on top of the water compartment, as well as two separate water compartments. No seasick motions when Drew climbed in. It was rather comfy, but I had a hard time really testing it out, as the bed heater was cranked up to 90 degrees. It took me awhile to figure out why I was dripping in sweat. After we left there, we found another bed store that sold Tempurpedic mattresses, our other option. We wanted to compare it to the waterbed, and didn’t have the heart to tell the salesman we wouldn’t be back to buy a bed from him.

– After finishing our bed shopping, we had dinner on the water. We weren’t terribly hungry, so we split an appetizer platter that was quite tasty.

– I love couponing. I have recently discovered how to shop at CVS, and am really loving the Extra Care Bucks I walk away with. Yesterday I walked out with $15 worth of stuff for free! I paid a little in tax, but not too shabby. I love going to the grocery store each week and seeing what deals I can get. What can I say, I get a high out of getting my granola bars for 15 cents.