We were supposed to have a potluck office meeting this afternoon at work, so I made a huge batch of crockpot applesauce last night (10 minutes total prep time, 9.5 of that peeling and slicing!). Anyway, I was expecting some yummy dishes today at the meeting. I guess everyone else in the world (okay, just everyone who works in my office) was just too darn busy to throw something together. When I arrived at work, they were taking up a collection to order a sub tray. I declined, stating I had brought something in. The reply? "Oh, everyone else forgot" This was our lunch:
sub tray from local grocery store
three bags of chips, one bag each of prewashed, precut carrots and celery, two containers of store-bought dip, one box of store-bought cookies, one store-bought coffee cake, and one store-bought cake. Huh? This is what I slaved for 10 whole minutes over a hot crockpot for? Where are the brownies? Where is the potato and macaroni salads? Fresh fruit? Even a hand-cut veggie tray? Oh well. I'll bet you can guess who got the most compliments and recipe requests in that meeting
(your truely, in case you didn't guess)

I finally got around to completing a few rebates tonight - two for Rayovac (thanks mjrube!), one for Rite Aid. Those three will bring in $10.48. I'm still waiting for a $10 Wal-Greens and $10 Staples rebate. I just received a $3 Valvoline rebate (which my niece kindly write her name all over for me - in pen. I hope this doesn't affect the ability to cash it) I have one more rebate (Hunts) to submit, but ran out of steam tonight and wanted to update the blog before my eyelids drooped anymore. Oh, and I received a reimbursement check for my dental appt. last month. I had included the spending in the budget and completely forgot that my dental insurance does a partial reimbursement. So that's an extra $95 to make me VERY happy this evening.
Just to report on the spending front: went grocery shopping today. Granted, I used a few free coupons, but I still cut my $124 bill down to $67.
More freebies to add: three free bags of cat food (two pouches, one bigger bag) - retail value: $9.08, my value: $2
One free tub of Olivio spread - retail value: $1.99, my value: $1.99
I also got three more magazines from my SIL, along with a few toys her daughter doesn't play with anymore: retail value: $10, my value $0
Total freebies: $287.45(retail value: $997.48)

A side note - I checked my receipt after leaving the store and noticed that for items that were on sale (with the grocery store card), the cashier deducted the full price, not the sale price, when she took off for the free coupons. So I guess that counts as a little extra savings.