Shopping for this week (total $61.81) Picture coming soon!!!!

Boy this week went very fast. (I went over my budget this week by $11.81)

Kroger is still having their Mega Deal and it is just too good to pass up. My cabinets and pantry are full (completely full). I hadn't shopped Walgreens in a long time but there was a few good deals that I wanted to check out. But after a 15 minute check out on Wednesday I don't think I will be going back anytime soon. What is up with them & coupons?

Walgreens deal: (one missing from photo because Sara had it for dinner!)

Velveeta Shells & Cheese Single Cups were 3 for $3 and I had B1G1 coupons to match plus a coupon for a free Krafts BBQ sauce with any Velveeta Shells and Cheese purchase (the coupon did not specify an size) :)

Coupons wouldn't scan correctly so this is how the manager rang my order up and I just smiled and didn't say anything, after all he was the manager....

8 Velveeta Shells & Cheese Cups x .37 each= 2.96-$2 Walgreens Q= .96
1 Krafts BBQ sauce $2.39 (Free coupon was good for up to 1.79)= .60
OOP with tax: $2.01

Ok, so I have no idea where he got his numbers but I came out really good. Plus I got a $1 RR for buying the Velveeta Cups~



Kroger Trip: (+ included on Mega Deal)

8 Sobe Water .99 +
2 Fiber Chocolate Granola bars 2.49 +
2 True Delights dark Chocolate Granola Bars 2.49 +
6 Betty Crocker Cookie Mixes 1.99 +
4 Ole El Paso Products .99 +
4 Pillsbury Cresent Rolls 1.49 +
4 Fiber One Yoplait Yogurt 4pk 2.49 +
Bananas $1.50
1 Doritos .99 ( Josh treat )
1 Cookies 1.00 (Sara treat )
2 vanilla waffers 10/10 (Sara and I made Banana Pudding last night)

Mega Deal savings $15.00
E-coupons loaded on my Kroger card:
Cellfire BC Cookie Mix .40
Cellfire BC Cookie Mix .40
Cellfire Old El Paso .60
Cellfire Fiber 1 bar .40
Cellfire YoPlait Yogurt 1.00
Shortcuts Yoplait Yogurt 1.00
Shortcuts Fiber 1 Bars .40
Shortcuts BC cookie Mix .40
Shortcuts Old El Paso .60
Shortcuts Pillsbury Cresents .50

Paper coupons used:
4 Sobe Water B1G1 (manager took the full price off of 1.79 each)
4 Granola Bar q's 1.00 each
2 Old ElPaso .60 (DB) 1.20 each
2 Pillsbury cresents .40 (DB) .80 each
6 BC cookie mix .40 (DB) .80 each
2 Yoplait 1.25 each
2 Yoplait 1.35 each
.15 Credit of recycle bags

Mfg coupons: 26.06
Bonus coupons: 4.00
Kroger savings: 35.17
Total savings: 65.23

OOP (with tax): $17.27
Total number of items: 35 (like paying .49 an items!)



Target:

1 Johnson & Johnson Vapor Bath 2.50 (big bottle)
5 J&J Head to Toe wash 2.19 each
3 J&J cotton swabs 1.29 each
3 J&J lotion 1.19 each
3 pk baby socks 1.49 each
2 Starburst 2.04
M&M .52 (Josh treat, don't ask) LOL

Coupons used:
2 Starburst Target $1Q (only one came off, going back)
12 target $1 J&J Q (only eleven came off, going back)
$5 Target Q when you buy $25.00 in baby items
11 Mfg J&J coupons $1.00 (Yes she missed one of these too) :(

So they owe me $3 in coupons back, total will be 4.53 after I get that back!
OOP with tax: $ 7.53

Aldi's: $35.00

Great dinner for 4 under $10

Since I have started cutting back on my spending I am really trying to utilize what I have in my stocked pantry and our small garden. Tonight I fixed homemade pizza.

Ingredients:

2 Pillsbury Crescent Dinner Rolls 2/$4 at Kroger

Pepperoni / Aldi's $2.99 used half bag

Mozzarella Cheese 8 oz .49 (sale price) Kroger

Classico Basil/ tomato sauce (1/2 jar) .50 Kroger

Drizzle of EVOO .15

Fresh herbs FREE from our herb garden

Thinly slices plum and cherry tomatoes Free from our garden.

Banana Peppers thinly sliced Free from garden

Chiffonade of fresh Basil leaves FREE from garden (Link that explains this technique) :http://www.cookthink.com/reference/50/What_is_a_chiffonade

NOTE: Don't precut your basil it will brown very quickly. I put it on the pizza the last few minutes in the oven. It will fill your house with the best fresh smell~

It was so good. I got the idea to use the crescent rolls as the crust from a friends recipe for BBQ chicken pizza and I loved the crisp, flaky crust you get with the crescent dough.

Got "Organic" Milk

I am really sticking with the no more than $50 a week food budget this week. I can up just shy of the $50. Boy did it come very fast this week. Kroger started their Mega Sale this week and I have alot of items I want to get over the next two weeks while the sale runs BUT I am having to space out what I buy so I stay within budget.

Part of my weekly budget went to Horizon milk for my daughter, to be exact $12.81 (including tax).

Some weeks are more unusual than others. For the last four weeks Kroger had the Horizon Organic Milk 8oz. Singles on sale for $1.00, normally $1.19. I was able to get 80 coupons off Ebay for a few dollars last week and again this week that were for .25 off one.

Luckily my Kroger doubles every coupon 60 cents and below so I would be saving 50 cents a milk. That is a 50% savings plus I got a recycle bag credit for every bag of my own I used. The only down side is they will only double 8 of the same coupon in one transaction so that meant multipule transactions but my Kroger is just around the corner from my house.

Mom was sweet enough to take half the coupons and purchase the milk also. So we got 80 milks for $40 normal price would have cost us $95.20.

The things I do for my kids, they really do love this milk and this is my daughter's favorite drink for her school lunches. Another plus is that is shelf safe, meaning I do not have to refrigerate any of the milk until I am ready to use them. This should keep her stocked in organic milk this complete semester of school and if I squeeze in a Capri Sun every now and then I can make them last a good ways into January maybe February.

Check out these Rockstar Shoes~

Check out Sara Hailey's new Cupcake Couture High Tops~


We didn't need to get very much on no tax weekend a few weekends ago BUT we did want to get Sara and Joshua new pairs of shoes.



We went to Rack Room Shoes first to look and pretty much knew we would be getting Sara Hailey her shoes there but wanted to look around for Josh a pair of tennis shoes. The little boy shoes were $45 a pop. Dave and I about croaked. I mean really $45 for a pair of kid's tennis shoes. While Sara and I were trying her shoes on her, one of the sales ladies came over to us and gave Sara a scratch off card for the brand of shoes she was trying on and she also thought Sara was so cute in her new shoes she had her walk around for everyone to see (very cute) Sara scratched off her card & got a $5 off coupon. I was so excited and then I read the "small print" which said on all shoes $20.00 or more and you may have guessed her shoes were $19.99.





Why do so many stores do that. I find that so funny because most stores price their items $xx.99 or $xx.97 and then send out coupons that you have to spend $xx.00 to get the discount. Always one penny off.



Anyway I ask one of the sales ladies if I would be able to use the coupon being that is was just 1 penny short to qualify for the coupon and the manager was walking by and said I could! SCORE!!



So we got her shoes for $14.99, it sure does pay off to be a nice shopper~



Here is Joshua with his great shoes that Dave found at Walmart the same day. They were $15.00 and fit so good, so much better than the $45 pairs at Rack Room. His little toes were getting squished in his other tennis shoes. And of course they are Cars.

He is very proud of his new tennis shoes and has told everyone that his daddy picked them out for him!

Those Cute Cullen Kids

Just had to share some cute pictures of the kids from last week:

Joshua with his serious look.

This is more like it!

I don't know many 6 year olds that have made $240...

Sara Hailey finally got her check for her first modeling job back in May. She was so thrilled to go and pick up her check at the modeling agency last week. We are praying there will be more work soon, as it has been very slow this summer for child modeling.

Memphis is on the grow but still has a long way to come for this type of business. We do feel luck that very recently a lot of the big clients and advertisement companies from New York and Chicago have started to come down to Memphis to hire talent because the cost is so much less. I hope that trend continues and more and more business comes to the Mid South. Sara is such a joyful child and that comes out so much in her pictures.

We did let her buy a very, very special treat with some of her money. She worked very hard the day of the shoot and really did an outstanding job considering they also had a videographer there and wanted to film her doing different facial expressions and she has had no training in acting.

We are hoping to find some classes she can take to help boost her confidence and get her comfortable with being in front of a camera, whether it be for video or still shots.

I will post later with what we let her pick out, the rest went into her bank account where it will be saved for the future.

Encouraging Word:

Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

Proverbs 4:23

Homemade at its best~

I devoted today to trying my hand at canning peaches for the very first time. Joshua and I drove up to Jones Orchard on Tuesday and I bought what I think was a peck of peaches. Still trying to figure all that out. LOL

I had done my homework and read every article I could find on the internet and ask my mom for a few pointers here and there. More excited than nervous I started quick boiling the peaches to get the skins off and the rest worked out perfect.

I was able to get four pints of sliced peached and 2 pints of halved peaches with cinnamon & clove. I read on another website to save all the extra skins, bits and pieces to cook down and make jelly, I even threw in the peach pitts.

I am cooking that down with about 7 cups of sugar right now. I had Dave go pick up some 4oz jelly jars from Kroger and I sure hope this sets up for jelly.

Update: I am one tired puppy~

One woman's trash is another woman's treasure

Around this time of year for the last 4 years I would be turning my dining room into a make-shift retail shop to prepare for the Highland Street Kid's Consignment Sale. Sorting, ironing, arranging, tagging, pricing, listing everything on inventory sheets and packing it all up to deliver to a church way out past Wolfe Chase Mall and if I wanted to volunteer I could shop early when all the good stuff is still there and then come pack up whatever didn't sale back up.

Well this Fall is a little different, I didn't want to participate this year. I guess I was just so tired of being tired that I looked through my busy Fall schedule and "X" what I could out. I was feeling a little bad for not participating but for my sanity I declined.

I stumbled upon a sweet little secondhand store on Tuesday (My DAY OFF now) and decided to go check it out and see if I could find any canning supplies (We will leave that topic for another day). Anyway I decided I would look through the children's clothes and see if there was anything worth getting. To my surprise I found many items for Sara & Joshua and even a pair of shorts for me. I also found some great picture frames for the Grandmother's and Great Grandmother's Christmas gift.

I went to check out feeling so good about my treasures I had found and to my surprise all the clothes were on sale for 50% off. So my $2.00 shirts I found for Josh were $1.00 and the beautiful smocked dress I found Sara was $2.00 instead of $4.00. On top of that all the proceeds go to missions over seas.

There are so many people I know that wouldn't set foot in a little place like that, well that is just fine with me because that is less people I have to share my treasures with~

We found beds x2~

We are fortunate that we live in an area of town that has many antique store, thrift store and what I so lovingly refer to as junk shops. My mom and I have loved to go junkin since I was a kid. There is something about the hunt, looking through the disorganized, one of a kind treasures that these store so gracious display that triggers excitement for me.

Throughout the years, we would think of something we wanted but didn't want to go buy in a retail store that 50 million other people would have in their homes too. No, we wanted that something special that was made way back when, made well and my neighbor wouldn't ask upon entering my home, "did you pick that up at Target."

Dave had a chance to go look at Bojo's Antiques, one of our favorite antique stores last week and came back saying he had found a beautiful bed and blah blah blah. Well, we have very different taste and I just listened and didn't comment because to be perfectly honest it didn't sound very nice.

Saturday, Dave was home with the kids and so I took the opportunity to sneak away and go check out a few of the junk shops around our area and also check Bojo's Antiques and see what I could come up with. This place is huge and broken up into three different levels. After wandering around for about 30 minutes I came a cross the cutest set of twin beds. The two together were $145.00. I couldn't believe my eyes, that was less than the cost of one of those 'lovely' MDF beds we found in the retail furniture stores. Real, solid wood, maple beds; I came home very excited because for the first time since this hunt began I felt like this could be the perfect bed for my sweet girl and as a bonus also get one for Joshua too.

At home I described the beds to Dave and how I really liked them and didn't feel like we were just settling for a bed. He just looked at me and said those are the exact beds I found last week. We knew then that they were meant to be ours.

We picked them up last night and will be shining and polishing them up this weekend for the kids.

Life is good~

Joshua on his John Deere Tracker

A sweet 6 year old cousin gave Joshua his electric John Deere Riding Tracker because he had outgrown it and thought Joshua would love it. And of course he does, he keeps a grin plastered across his face when he is riding it. When he wakes up every morning the first thing he ask to do is ride his tracker. We were trimming a few of our trees and hauling the limbs to the ditch Sunday and Joshua drove up on his tracker with the trailer hooked up and told us to fill it up, he was a huge help!.

Isn't God good, it maybe used and the wheels a little worn but praise God, because he provides even the toys for my children~

The hunt for a new/old bed x2

Sara Hailey has been sleeping on a bed that was graciously given to us by my mother. It is old probably around 60+ years old if not older. A little rickety but nothing a few screws and a good coat of white paint couldn't fix. See it was her bed when she was a child and we needed a bed for Sara to transition too when our baby boy arrived. Sara Hailey was still managing to squeeze herself into the baby bed with all her favorite toys at 3 almost 4yrs and it was high time to move her to a big girl bed.

Well, last week we heard a small pop from the front of the house and her little voice, "mommy." we checked and another slat had fallen, no problem we will fix it in the morning. Go back to bed, night night kisses, settle back into the movie we were trying to watch. A few minutes later, CRASH, in a loud voice, "MOMMY!!!!"

We race up front to find her holding onto the side of her bed and one corner of the bed on the floor. I wanted to laugh because it was a funny sight to see such a little girl hanging onto the edge of this bed and thinking the rest would soon follow.

Ok, so everybody up, lights on, Dave checks the bed. No there is no fixing it this time, it is broken for good. It is 9:30 at night and we are tired, she is tired and the movie we tried to watch in half over; lets break down the bed and she will just have to sleep on the mattress and box springs on the floor until we can find a replacement.

We had big plans to buy both children new beds for Christmas with the help of grandmother's and great grandmother's monetary contributions, they have plenty of toys anyway right, a bed is so much more of a useful item. We just figured Sara could get her bed early and Joshua can get his bed around Christmas.

Saturday morning rolls around and I wake up Joshua for breakfast. Where have I been, this child is as long as his baby bed? Ok so he is 3 1/2 but he is a little guy, he can still squeeze into 18 month shorts. So when did he get so tall??????

Scratch finding 1 bed...........make it x2!

First day of 1st Grade

Well, summer is officially over for Sara Hailey. School started today, no more waking up at 7:30 now each day starts at 6am. She has to be in her class in her seat by 7:30am. Of course even earlier for my husband if he wants his shower in peace and quiet before the house wakes up.

We managed to get both kids fed, bathed and in bed by 7:45 last night. We picked out her uniform, shoes, socks, jewelry and hair bows. Brushed teeth, blew out her hair and took her cough medicine, all before 8pm. I was so proud of myself for getting them in bed at a decent time until I heard the toilet flush at 9:45 and Sara say that she couldn't go to sleep. Doesn't she know how hard it is going to be to get up tomorrow morning and how very quickly 6am will roll around?

We rubbed her chested with some Baby Vicks and she finally went to sleep.

The school was a madhouse of children, parents, boxes and bags of school supplies, baby brothers and sisters in gigantic strollers and book bags as huge as some of the children standing in a very, crazy, crocked line. A line I refered to as the derailed train line when I taught Pre-K.

Everyone must have walked their kids to class today. We had to park a block from school and let me tell you the humidity was awful today. My lens on my camera actually fogged up. LOL

She was a little nervous but all in all seemed very excited when she saw her classroom and went and sat down beside a friend from kindergarten. I think this year will be such a growing year for her. No more afternoon snacks or nap time this is the beginning of real school. I know she will do great, with lots of encouragement and we as parents doing what we are suppose to do... guiding her through this new chapter of her life~

My MIL just emailed me some words of wisdom:

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:
1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.

This could be the toughest job in the world...

I think it is great to see family owned business still around. So many stores have the big corporate heads now and they all have lost the importance of customer service and personal care for each individual that walks through their doors.

But working with family is painful to say the least. Is it because you know you can't fire them? Or maybe because you get your feeling hurt more when it is your Mom telling you, that you did something wrong? Or better yet your older brother who seems to have his head up his ass most days telling you to "create" a new form that will make "his" job easier and then realize he hasn't ask about the form for 6 months.

When I was growing up, I made sure that everyone knew I would not be working in the family business BUT here we are 15 years later and I will give you one guess were I work and with whom I work three days a week. Yep, family.

Why, how, when did this happen. Did I just settle for the easy way to earn a living. What if I had searched for a job after I got my degree and actually did something with my major. I mean don't get me wrong, I love the beautifully framed diploma hanging on the wall in my home office but what have I done with all that hard work, six years I spent earning that stink in degree. Although I will say I was so burnt out on photography by the time I got it in my hot little hand I just wanted to hibernate for a few years. I do truely enjoy taking pictures of my children and I feel very blessed that I have been trained well to take great pictures of them.

Anyway back to working for family, boy did I veer off to the left with that last paragraph. I appreciate having a job that I know isn't going anywhere and a job that will pay for most of our families bills, mainly the housenote. But I tell you it is so tough dealing with family each day. Plus the fact that my kids come up to work every day and I have my brother's kids every other week too. As I type they are wreslting in the floor of the playroom across from my office.

I could truely pull my hair out most days of course enough of it is falling out by itself that the actual pulling out of the hair isn't nessesary.

Well a new school year is fast approaching. Sara will be in the 1st grade this year and boy is that a BIG step for her. She is starting to get nervous about school starting Monday so Dave and I have just tried not to talk about it around her. I know it will just take a few weeks for her to feel comfortable in her class and being on the other side of the school from where her kindergarten class was.

She just got her hair cut and her nails done at Sweet and Sassy on Tuesday as a special treat before the school year starts. I will post pictures later.

Dave and I decided that it was best that we don't sign the kids up for any extra activities this year. It seems like we get so busy with everything on the calender there is no time left for family time.

I also made the big decision to take at least a year break from teaching at Parent's Day Out and regain having my Tuesdays and Thursdays to plan whatever I want to do. I am hoping to start sewing again and am so looking forward to having those two days to plan meals, shopping list, organize the house and work in the garden.