Monday field trip, Tuesday coupons

This week I took a field trip with a couple of ladies I met at church.  They are both in their 70's and were born/raised in the southern Tennessee/north Alabama area.  One of them missed decoration day, which is when churches gather the last week of May and have a church picnic then clean up and re-decorate the cemeteries.  We stopped in Five Points, TN so she could place flowers on family graves.  We visited a little country store she remembered walking to from her grandparents' house when she was young.  There were a group of men sitting outside the front door talking, just like you would see on TV.  Mr. Ezell was working the counter and a little lady insisted we walk across the street to another store.  It had been an old cotton town and the building was part of that heritage.  It was going to be torn down and so she bought it to save it from demise.  It is currently an ongoing garage sale where people bring their stuff in on consignment.  Going to little places like that makes one extremely grateful for their blessings in life.  One of the things I ask God for daily is contentment with what I have, because I know it is more than enough.

I didn't take any pictures in 5 Points.  After that we headed up to Etherige, TN, which has an Amish community.  There are several shops there that sell Amish made furniture and quilts and such.  The workmanship is truly beautiful.  I bought a biscuit cutter made from several different woods, a hand painted bookmark and some almond brittle.  Then Ms. Jean decided I needed to see how these people really live, so she drove us down a little road where there were signs pointing to more goods for sale.  This "store" was on private property and was an unmanned shack in the front yard.  There were wind spirals from wood, baskets, jams, pickled things, etc.  It was on the honor system, just leave money in a box.  It was VERY unsanitary and so I passed on any purchases there.  I had always thought of the Amish as being impeccably clean, but this particular community didn't get the memo apparently.  I think the non-Amish community is capitalizing on them being there though.  We stopped at a country store where they were offering tours of the area by horse and buggy.  The wagon above actually has an advertisement painted on the side.



From there we went to Davy Crockett state park for a picnic lunch.  After lunch we drove through the park and went by the creek where there is a little waterfall.  It was very peaceful.

Davy Crockett State Park

Which brings me to Tuesdays adventures.  Guess what those are.  Coupons. I am back to clipping coupons and trying to save a little money at the grocery store.  According to my receipt I saved about 31% last week and this week by shopping the sales and using coupons.  I promise not to become one of those extreme couponers, but it sure is a nice feeling to save some dough.  Now, how do I organize those little gems? I have tried the baseball card sheets in the past and that is just too tedious. So for now they are piled in a binder until a better system comes along.