Planting Time

Red Shoebox: Sweet corn
Originally uploaded by zosiablue.

I am so late this year with my garden. The freeze on Good Friday threw me off. I just got my corn planted today. The garden is growing more each year. Last year we planted our first corn and planted about 4 stalks. It was so yummy, but only enough for one meal.

Today I planted 51 stalks. I hope it is as good as last years!!!

My new try for this year is strawberries. I hope they do good, the children love them so!!

We have also already planted 30 tomato plants, one banana pepper plant, one cucumber plant, and some carrots (with more to come).

I am still hoping to get some spinach in before it gets too late!!

My Current Favorite Lunch

panini_640x480
Originally uploaded by Emo Squid.

Lean Cuisine Panini

I eat each side of the sandwich by itself - makes it seem like more. It is very yummy and only 7 points.

I am doing Weight Watchers again and my day is pretty set right now. I have Special K and skim milk for Breakfast - 3.5 points and then my sandwich for lunch with a peppermint patty for a little chocolate snack. What kind of day would it be without a little chocolate? It's only 1 point. That leaves me with plenty of point to eat a normal dinner with the family at night and sometimes enough for some ice cream for a late snack.

...Guess what I'm doing around my lunch??? You guessed it - More LAUNDRY!!! :-)

Laundry Day

Today was/is my day to work in the laundry room. Wow, it has gotten in such a mess!!

This is what I've done so far...

*sort our clothes (me, Artie, Stephen, Bobby and Terry)

(Brian, Troy, Brenda and Emily are responsibile for their own)

With nine of us and 8 beds - laundry is a huge undertaking each day!!! I wouldn't know what to do if I ever got caught up!!!

*hang out Brenda's sheets (it was her day to wash her's this morning before school)
*wash colors
*hang colors on the clothes line
*wash jeans
*hang jeans
*wash more colors
*hang more colors
*wash towels and twins' sheets
*sort all Brenda's clothes

hang towels and twins' sheets
wash third load of colors

sort Emmies' clothes - colors, reds, jeans

gather Brian and Troy's dirty clothes for them to wash

sweep laundry room

throw away all trash and put empty laundry bottles in the recycling bin

clean between washer and dryer and move back together

hang colors on the line

Brian - washed his work clothes (Brian's clothes all washed!!)
hang Brian's clothes on the clothesline

wash second load of towels (yeah!! the towels are all washed!!)
hang out towels

wash whites (whites are all washed!!)
hang out whites

dry socks in the dryer (waaaaayyyyy to many to hang out)
wash forth load of colors

everything taken down from the clothesline is folded waiting to be put up.

If you walked in my living room right now and saw all the clothes on the couch and the love seat - you'd wonder why haven't I been working all day??? :-)

Right now, I'm taking a break from cleaning off the top of my dryer!!! How does so much stuff get piled there?

Okay, back again...

hang out colors from earlier
wash fifth and final load of colors!!
dryer cleaned off and stuff put up

one last load of leftovers to wash
one new burgandy shirt to wash alone
and one bathroom rug left to wash!!






YEAH, I'M DONE!!!!

The Dirty Clothes Bus

The Dirty Clothes Bus
Originally uploaded by j.rice.

I guess I'd better keep the dirty clothes under control or they may start spilling out of the car - or we might just have to buy a bus to hold them all!!!!

My Current Favorite Homeschooling Book

Real Learning by Elizabeth Foss

I found this book at one of my favorite blog sites - By Sun and Candlelight - http://dawnathome.typepad.com/by_sun_and_candlelight/. I get so much inspiration from Dawn's writings and pictures I wanted to see where some of her inspiration came from. She says this book never leaves her night stand.

Mrs. Foss is a mother of seven, I believe - must be the connection I feel!! :-) She is a Catholic, homeschooling mama. I am learning a lot about the Catholic faith, but mostly her emphasis on the home and family.

I can't wait to start implementing some of the ideas when school starts in the fall!!

Valentine's Day

Here's a picture of the roses and card my sweetie gave me for Valentine's Day. There's also a card from Brian and Brenda. It was a nice surprise. (I'm just a little behind posting my pictures!!)

Bobby's Computer Coloring Page

Stephen and Bobby maybe? :-)

Gaffney's Middle Schools' Honor's Chorus

The honor chorus sang at the High School for the Art's festival. They sang three songs (one from the Rent musical). It was a nice evening. This is Brenda's first year in the chorus at the middle school. They will be performing in the musical Aladin coming up in the spring.

Emily's Seventh Birthday Party

Emily enjoyed her birthday with friends from school and girls from her Girl Scout troop.

Emily skating at the skating rink with her birthday balloon.




Wow, look at all those presents!!! Mrs. Sandy always give the best presents!! She gave Emily some cute outfits and pj's!!


Stephen and Terry at the skating rink. They liked the video games better than skating.


Brian and the birthday girl.

Gwyn and I went to our first triple sale this week at Lowe's Foods in Gastonia!! We did very good for a first time I think. I got $231 worth of groceries and spent $42!!! That's $189 worth of free groceries!!! Just in case anyone is wondering - I think it will be a while before I run out of Ziploc bags, tomato sauce or any type of rice!!!! :-) (Next time I will take a better picture!!)

OFFICIALLY

tootsie pop
Originally uploaded by fraserw2.

Bobby's new word for the day - OFFICIALLY!!

ES&B went to their Good News Club today after school. Bobby told Terry that since he shared one of his suckers from GNC and Terry ate it - he is now OFFICIALLY a member of the GNC!!! It's so fun to watch them grow up and be sweet with each other.

Ruby Tuesday

Ruby Tuesdays
Originally uploaded by caitiebear912.

Yeah!!! Brian got a job!!!! He's working as a host at Ruby Tuesday. I'm so happy for him. He has been looking for several weeks now. He had to go and buy all black clothes - shirt, pants, socks and shoes (size 15!!!) and started his training. Saturday he has his first night on his own and he will be closing. It's such a good feeling that he is growing up into a very productive young man. They are working him almost 40 hours this first week. The only bad thing is that his first couple of paychecks are already promised out to a speeding ticket and another ticket from his wreck (where he wasn't hurt at all - no worries). It's all a learning experience isn't it!!

Vend-A-Moo

Vend-A-Moo
Originally uploaded by Soctech.

Terry loves to go here. He calls it the Moo Cow. It's pretty good for me. A Milk Drive-Thru!!

$3 and you get a gallon of milk without having to get out of your car. When you pay it "moos" as the milk slides down!!

Office Depot

Okay, here's my deal for the day.

I just bought 10 reams of computer paper (500 sheets each) from Office Depot. I got two coupons and ended up getting each pack of paper for about $1.60 (they are over $3 at Wal-Mart). Plus they will be delivered free tomorrow. These are great for printing all my internet coupons I come across each day.

Here's how to do it. (I have no idea how long this deal will last)

1. Go to www.officedepot. com
2. Search and Add 345603 ( Price : $5.59 ) - Buy 10 of these
3. Search and Add 429266 ( Price : $0.29 ) - to reach the minimum $56 order amount for the least amount of money
4. Coupon Price : -$31.00 Code : 73649244
5. Coupon Price : -$10 off $25 Code : 44141777
Final Price : $16.25 Delivered

"i didn't need the paper clips, so I got a 0.49 highlighter for our homework box. My order came to 16.43 delivered."

Let me know if you get some too!

Such a bad sister in law!!!

I'm so terrible. Here Artie went and told his sister about my couponing and told me she was gonna call. She called and left a message on the answering maching (the one that NEVER seems to get checked!!). I just got her message last night (she called a week or two ago!!) I thought she must have decided she really wasn't interested and never called.

Anyway, sorry Glenda. Hope you have some time to check out the couponing links. They have been great and saved me a ton of money!!! Maybe Amber can check them out too!! I'm sure it would make Jerry happy like it has Artie.

Shriner's Hospital

shriners
Originally uploaded by Jami Dwyer.

I took Troy to the Shriner's Hospital in Greenville today. He had been referred by his pediatrician, after a football physical, to be checked for scoliosis. They staff at the hospital were great. The doctor ended up saying Troy was fine and for us to just keep an eye on his spine or if he had any type of back pain to bring him back. We were told to be prepared to be there for atleast six hours for our first visit. We were in and out in less than three hours.

I so admire what they do at that hospital. Every child is admitted and not charged a dime. The Shriner's have some things I disagree with, but they are so great to handicapped children!!! My daddy joined the Shriner's when I was younger after seeing how well they treated my cousin Karen (who had many surgeries there growing up).

Artie and I were praying that if Troy did have scoliosis, that it would keep him out of the military, but no such thing. The doctor did try and talk him away from the Marines to maybe the Rangers though! He told him that the benefits were the worst for the Marines than all the other branches of service. Troy wasn't moved at all!!! Guess I'll just keep praying about that one!!!!

Back to CVS

Okay, I went back to CVS today and used my $30 transfer coupon. My prescription with my insurance card only cost me $10, so I actually made $20 for them to fill my prescription!!!

CVS Deals

CVS Pharmacy - Marietta, Ohio
Originally uploaded by Marietta Clicker.

I've had a lot of people asking about my couponging adventures lately. Last week at CVS was my best trip yet. Here's how it went.

I bought:

2 packs diapers 26 count
2 packs dipaers 21 count
2 bottles CVS cleaner with bleach
head and shoulders
3 bars irish spring
3 bars j&j baby soap
maybelline lipstick

total - $68.86
CVS sales - $18.54
- $10 off $50 coupon
- $ 3 off $15 coupon
- $ 3 off $15 coupon
man coupons - $ 4
ECB - $20
tax $ 1.62
out of pocket money spent - $11.93

$13.50 ECB printed this trip plus two coupons

$13.49 to be printed next trip!!!!!

I still have a $30 transfer coupon to use today but I forgot my insurance card this morning.

Coupons, Coupons, Coupons

coupon cutter
Originally uploaded by ladyphoenixx_1999.

Let me show you part of what I've been doing with my computer time.

I've joined a coupon group. I am really saving lots of money with coupons and rebates.

Today I went to Harris Teeter and bought $60.00 worth of groceries but only pail $17!!! Yes, $17!!! I'm not doing as good as some of the ladies on the group, but wow I'm learning a lot. (I got fruit, milk, refrigerator bread, frozen veggies, chicken, Pepsi, rice - not just a lot of non-usable stuff.)

Here are a couple of sites I've been using.

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/smartspending

This is the best couponing group, they are very patient in their teaching and share all good deals they find.

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/smartspending

I've found a lot of rebates on this group for free items.

http://www.hotcouponworld.com/forums/index.php

You can read a thread of whatever grocery store or drug store you use. It's great and updated with the weekly sales.

I've spent a lot of time learning but have saved so much. Consinder it better than spending money on an outside couponing class. Just sense the beginning of Feb - I've gotten these things complete free:

Purina Cat Food Naturals
No Time for Colds - 18 count - $5.99
Fruitis Shampoo - 25.4 oz - $6.99
Viactiv Multi-vitamin - 50 count - $6.99
Maybelline Cream Matte Foundation - $5.99
Maybelline Lipstick - $6.99
Huggies Wipes - $2.50
Theraflu - $5.99
Comtrex - $5.99
Success Whole Grain Brown Portabella Mushroom Rice - $1.00
Nexus Shampoo - $15.99
Nexus Conditioner - $4.99
Reach Toothbrush - $2.50
Robitussin Cough Medicine - $4.99
Dasani 6 pack Lemon Water - $3.33
Gordon's Shrimp Scampi - $6.99
Prego - 3 lbs - $2.50
Rayovac 4 AA Batteries - $2.52
3 - Grands Biscuits - $1.25
2 - Pillsbury Bread sticks - $2.19
4 mahatma yellow rice - $.69
microwave singles - hamburger helper - $3.19

That's almost $100 worth of stuff free. Now normally I wouldn't be buying Nexus shampoo, I'd be buying Suave or VO5 or something generic, but to get it free - I can suffer through using name brand!! :-)

These are from store rebates, product rebates, and couponing. That's not even counting the items I've gotten for $.25 and $.40. I also got three gifts cards from pharmacies - Eckerds, Walgreen's, and CVS for either transferring or starting a new prescription for $20, $25 and for $30!!! That helped pay for the free things I bought and then got reimbursed for.

I've found that the more expensive stores have better sale items and products you can get much cheaper than generic often.

I'm trying to hit a store each day between - Harris Teeter (my new favorite - I drive 25 minutes to get there once a week), CVS, Wal-Greens (my new favorite drug store), Ingles, and Food Lion. Then I supplement everything else not on sale at Aldi's.

We were spending so much money on food I just had to find something to help.

The new rebate forms for Walgreen's and CVS are just starting if anyone wants to check them out for the month. If you save any money, let me know. It's been fun for me - kinda like a secret treasure hunt that's nationwide - and we get lots of treasure even in the little town of South Carolina.

Pike Place Market, Seattle

Pike Place Market, Seattle "Pike Place Market"
Originally uploaded by trent_maynard.

Well, Artie ended up not able to go to the Space Needle but he did get to go to :Pike Place Market. Oh, definitely my kind of place. It's a Farmer's Market that sells produce, fish, flowers, jewelry. I would love to get to go there and shop one day with Jessica!!