Something good

Today was....

My sister and I went out to do some shopping this afternoon.
While we were at Michaels, going through a bin of $1.00 ribbons,
my cell phone rang. First of all, I was surprised I even heard it,
because usually it's not loud enough to hear when it's tucked away in
my bag. And secondly, I was surprised that it was my brother,
Todd calling me. [Since he rarely ever calls.]
He started off all casual, asking how things are here and if there was
anything new going on. Then he said that there was something new
going on there. He told me that this cute little guy

is going to be a big brother!!!!
[A wonderful and very protective big brother, I'm sure!]

He told me the doctors are 80% sure what the baby is
and asked me to take a guess. I said a girl, he said I guessed correctly!
Hooray! A little girl! So very excited!

The baby is due some time in April and so far, other than some
nauseousness, things are going well with the pregnancy.
So I guess those cute baby girl outfits I have packed up in storage
won't have to wait as long as I expected to be put to good use!

Of course, the downside is they're in California and I'm 'trapped in Texas'.
So, hopefully I'll be able to plan a trip there some time in
late spring/early summer to see my sweet little baby niece!

So, I thought this would end up being the highlight of my day,
but good stuff, just kept coming! [No complaints from me about that!]

While in Michaels, I found a $20 scrapbook marked down to $5,
because some of the pages were damaged. I didn't really care about that
because I already had some pages and was more interested in the album
itself because it would be perfect to use as my Disneyland Halloween
scrapbook! [It's purple with a photo window.] Then when I checked out
I found that my 40% coupon went toward it, which meant it was only $3!
Gotta love that!

Then we went to Tom Thumb, which is what the Safeway stores
are called here. Whenever I go there I get homesick, so I don't go often.
But they had a special on milk, only $1 for a half gallon.
Couldn't pass that up!
We ended up finding some other good deals, as well!
We found Oscar Mayer New York Style Beef Franks for only 69 cents
and Oscar Mayer Carving Board Turkey for just 99 cents!
[Both of which are normally closer to $5 each!]

I spent less than $9 total and this was my total savings:

And my savings would've actually been higher, but I splurged
and got a loaf of sourdough french bread from the bakery,
which wasn't on sale. [Yes, I consider that a splurge, sad, I know!]

After dropping off the groceries, we went back out
to checkout one of our favorite thrift stores, Texas Thrift.

They have sales every day. Today it was 50% off all yellow tagged items.
We looked through their selection of baby clothes and found a bunch of
cute outfits, from Carters, Gymboree, Baby Gap, even Ralph Lauren!
I got some cute shirts and onesies for only 50 cents.
The most we paid was $1.99 for a swaddle sleeper.

But one of my favorite things about this store is the books section.
I probably spent half an hour browsing through all the shelves of
children's books. In the end, I came away with 13 books!
All in wonderful, like new condition.
One of the books normally sold for $21.99!
Most were normally between $10-$18, the cheapest was $5.
So thank you to the people who paid full price for these books
and took good care of them, so I could get them for cheap.

So, just how cheap did I get these books for?
See for yourself...

Yes, that would be 22 cents a book!
I mean, how awesome is that?
It made me almost want to go check the bookshelves
one more time in case I missed something!


Oh yeah, there was one more good thing that happened today...
I GOT A JOB!!!
I have been looking for a job for three months now and after many close calls,
I was finally offered a job and I accepted it! I start on Monday, October 22nd.

I will be working as a nanny for a family in Richardson.
They have twin girls who are 9 months old.
[They also have a 3 year old boy, but he's in preschool during the day.]
I had an interview for this position almost two weeks ago.
When I got there, we went to the girls room, so I could meet them and
immediately one of the girls came right over to me, wanting me to hold her.
Apparently this is not something she normally does, so that was a good sign.

However, they had an interview with someone else a couple days later,
so I hoped that instant connection, made a good enough impression on them.
The following week, she contacted me about a background check and references.
I've had several other families ask me for references, so while optimistic,
I still wasn't completely sure if they would be offering me the job.

A big THANK YOU to my references, Betty, Shauna and Danielle!
She was impressed with whatever it was you said, telling me that
my wonderful references had great things to say about me.
I couldn't have done it without your help!

So yeah, I'd say that October 16, 2012 was a pretty good day!
Wouldn't you?