burn.

What a weekend. The trees here are bursting. Nate says they're dangerous because when you drive down the road, all you want to do is stare at them. :) All day yesterday I was thinking it was Sunday, so today felt like an extra special treat. I got up early on Saturday to donate blood at the American Red Cross. I recently had a blood test done at work, and all my levels of everything were normal except I have really low iron. (That might explain why I've been extremely sleepy lately.) But I started taking iron supplements and my iron was sufficient to donate.

I think it was to my advantage that I donated in the morning. The guy stuck the needle in just right and I pumped out a pint in 5 minutes and 36 seconds! It usually takes me more than 10 minutes, so I was pretty proud of myself. :)

Also for donating, the Red Cross gave me two tickets to the Nashville Predators hockey game on Tuesday evening against the Calgary Flames. The tickets were worth $44. Nate and I have men's group and women's group at church on Tuesdays, so I listed the tickets on Craigslist and sold them together for $25, which bought groceries for this week.

Nate has been working evenings the last few days so I've been cleaning my house and planning meals for the next couple of weeks. A Dollar General Marketplace just opened near me and I was glad to get in on some great deals. I've also been hitting up Aldi for my basics (like black beans and flour and sugar). You know I'm getting cheap when Kroger seems really expensive! At DGM I picked up a 5lb. bag of potatoes for $1.75, rotini pasta for $0.90, and 2 lbs. of onions for $1. One dozen eggs at Aldi for $0.79, black beans for $0.55, and a bottle of vinegar for $0.79. Staying under my grocery budget is kind of a rush, in a domestic-nerd kind of way. :-)

In one month, Nate and I are going back to Kansas! I'm really excited.