My Mom has been clipping coupons forever.

I can’t remember her not going through the newspapers and magazines and clipping out coupons.

She always pulls the grocery and stores ads out and goes through each one from cover to cover.

She enjoys saving money at the store and has been it her hobby. She also keeps a ledger of what she bought, what rebates are due in the mail, along with a detailed list of money spent.

Here is a recent coupon from Super Fresh. They had a sale on gravy and she landed a huge savings.

As you can see from the bottom, her total bill was 3 cents. She got 6 jars of gravy and some wax paper.

There have been times she’s walked out of the store with two or three bags and paid nothing.

She spreads the wealth by giving away extras to the family. It is a good deed she does.

There have been many times when the total comes up ‘minus’, meaning the store owes her money. She tries not to let that happen as it causes quite a bit of confusion and people don’t know what to do. Obviously, the store doesn’t give you money back, but they get the manager involved and you loose time.

Within the Sons of Confederate Veterans there’s a group known as ‘Real Sons’. The United Daughters of the Confederacy have a corresponding ‘Real Daughters’.

These are persons who are children of a Civil War veteran.

It’s difficult to imagine with the Civil War ending 142 years ago that any child of a soldier is still living. However, a quick math less using the figure of 142 years explains it.

Here is an example.

A man was born in 1845 and was in the Civil War when it ended. He would be about 20 at that time. Forty-two years after the Civil War, he fathered a child. He would be about 62 years old at that time.

That child is now 100 years old.

Currently, across the country the SCV reports about 35 ‘Real Sons’ within their membership. I believe Maryland has only one Real Son remaining.

My mother and wife got up at 4 AM and left about 5 AM to go shopping on Black Friday.

I believe they’re going to hit the Wal-Mart in Martinsburg, WV, then possibly a few other stores.

Somewhere along the line will be a visit to the Waffle House for breakfast, then possibly a trip to the Dairy Queen for a soft ice cream.