Coffee, spaghetti & a movie! No really, I'm not kidding~

Coffee again, so soon? Yep just Saturday it was Starbucks at Kroger and now Dunkin Donuts at Target. In Target's ad this week they are running a promo if you buy 3 bags of DD coffee you get a $5 Target Gift Card. Not a bad deal and the DD coffee is marked down to $6.00 a bag. Walgreens has it priced at $8.98 a bag, craziness.

At http://www.coupons.com/ there are $1.00 off coupons for DD coffee. So each bag is down to $5 each, pretty good in my book and you get the $5GC to go shop again at a Target near you~

Also Classico my very favorite premade tomato sauce is marked down to $1.84 a jar at Target this week. Folks this is as close as you can get to homemade in my book. There are coupons $1.00 of two jars here: http://www.classico.com/ . BUT wait there are coupons stuck to the side of the jars that say: "Buy two jars of Classico Tomato Sauce get FREE pasta ($1.99 or less)" Be still my heart! Cheap sauce and free pasta to go with it, what a beautiful marriage of coupons to combine in one transaction.

The Healthy Harvest Ronzoni Whole Wheat Pasta was on price cut to $1.30, PERFECT. Grabbed two of those and the light bulb went off, that is the pasta I needed to complete a movie rebate for Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs I just bought the week before.

This day couldn't be better.

Patty Cake Patty Cake, bake me a cake~

The joys of cooking are even more joyful when one of your children loves it just as much if not more than you.

My sweet daughter loves to cook, she loves to look at cookbook, she loves to watch the food network and she loves to compete in cooking contest. Last year was the first year she was old enough to start competing in our local Mid-South Fair and she kicked butt.

Her Gammie Anne got her an Easy Bake Oven for Christmas and she loves being able to create taste treats. We went to price the EBO mixes at Target and about died when we saw they were $5.44 each! I mean really, are you kidding me, that is more than a regular Betty Crocker cake mix. I was not going to be defeated by this pricey obstacle so I decided we could (1) make our own recipe for mixes or (2) just use a Jiffy cake mix, Martha White muffin mix or a Betty Crocker cookie mix. And guess what the Betty Crocker pouch mixes work great! You get exactly 8 cookies out of the mix using the EBO cake pan.

My daughter served them last night with warm Carmel sauce drizzled over them and they were Yummo!!!!!

We also found a few recipes on line for making our own mixes and some that make a batch for 12 mixes and will keep of 6 months. Just do a google search for Easy Bake Oven Homemade recipes and you will find the.

Bon Appetit

I love deals on coffee, don't you?

Ok, I have only been a coffee drinker for the last few years, well almost 4 to be exact.

Insert a crazy, almost 4 year old here :

Yes, the one that is preparing to leap off the tree stump.

Anyway my husband has always been a coffee drinker and his influence has finally won me over, for the most part. I don't drink coffee ever day, maybe 3 days a week but it does help when my son decides to be a night owl like last night. We put him in bed at 8:00pm, only after five potty breaks, some water and finding a hot wheel under his bed did he settle down at 11:30pm. And he was up like clockwork at 6:15am.

Who wants a cup of coffee with me?



I was at Kroger this morning and my last stop is the clearance aisle and there they were Starbucks coffee, and I am thinking to myself, how much can they really discount that stuff? It sales for $8.99 a bag, way to steep for me to fork out.

They were marked $4.49 and I just happen to have $1.50 coupons so I scored two bags for $3.00 each. Great buy for great coffee. And on top of that they do not expire until June 2010 and each have a Free coffee coupon attached to them!

Ahhhhhhhh the glorious Target Toy Clearance sale is upon us....

What a beautiful month for Christmas shopping. And how I ever went without it for such a long time. I mean really the last thing on any ones mind in January is buying more toys for the kids right! Who in their right mind could even wrap their head around such an absurd thing.

We just spent how much on those kids and most of those Christmas toys are thrown in the closet or under the bed by now, right?

Two years ago I found a fabulous website that had the answer to my long, long wish list. The tip top of that wish list being how to save like a crazy woman and spend as little out of pocket on the best groceries, bath and body, toys and whatever else I could find for my family.

This year Target's toy sale has begun most items are 30% to 50% off right now. But there are a few items already 75% off starting today. Of course our first and possibly only snow for this year decides to fall today and my husband banned me from going to Target to scope out what treasures I could find. About 10 minutes after he left he called and said I could GO!!!!!! I got the kids dressed and out the door in 15 minutes. Called my mom and told her to meet us there.

We started at the newest Target and yes they had lots for 50% off but the savy shopper that I am I really wanted to hold out until 75%. There were a few items I didn't want to chance missing out on so I decided to go ahead and purchase them and hope they have them next week 75% off and I can just buy those and return the 50% off items (Make sense???)

I got two of the Wow Wee Sleeping Beagle Puppies for 50% off, I would love to score these at 75% but I really wanted these for both children and didn't want to miss out on them next week, because there is no way I would ever pay full retail for them. So, so cute but so, so pricey.

Target also has the Tag Reader Books on sale for 9.99 this week and I have lots of $5.00 coupons I got off the Wendy's Kid's Meal bags a few month back, they do not expire until 2/9/2010 and I have used them for every book I have bought. I was able to get the Tag Reader regular price 49.99 for 19.99 back in November. I priced matched the game with Aldi's ad ($39.99) and had a $10 Target coupon and a $10 manufacturer coupon (which you can use together at target) to use. The way I figure it, I have saved well over $80.00 on this GREAT reading system and books.

The best deal today was the Our Generation Kitchen Set regular price 59.99. I found it at the first target for 50% off still too high of me but at the second Target I found it for 75%, that's right $14.98 for the great set and now I have one of my daughter big Christmas items already for this year Santa stash.

A great tip for those of us that have to bring our kids along. I told my daughter that I was going to help Santa out this year and ship him some toys to bring to her. She thought it was a great idea and so sweet of me to be such a good shopper and help Santa save some money~ Love it!

Besides not many kids will remember 11 months from now that those great clearance items were even bought~

Bring on the new year~

Where O Where did the last 10 years go????

Ten years ago I was:
Enjoying being married to my husband for two year
Living in Midtown Memphis in a small studio apartment, midtown being the meca of art and cool
Enjoying photography and working in that field
Going to art opening and sipping on wine
Graduation from college (Oh wait that was 1999) LOL

Thinking how much I really enjoyed being an adult, that is all I ever wanted to be, an adult, living in my very own place doing whatever I wanted, eating whatever I wanted, living my life. I loved pretending when I was a kid that my room in my parent's house was an apartment and I lived in a building with other people and I wanted nothing more than to decorate and design my personal space, to etch out my place in this world.

Ten years later:
Married to the same man 12 years later (not many folks can say that)
Add in two kids, one girl, one boy (let the craziness of motherhood begin) Funny because I never saw myself having kids.
Work for my family and enjoying photography as a hobby
Living in East Memphis in my own home (but on the other side of the rail road tracks) so pretty in pink don't ya think~
Can't remember the last art opening I attending (the man child might break something)

All in all I am very happy but very busy and it isn't my sechedule making me busy it is everyone elses. I really don't mind but I sure would like a little time to myself.

Maybe this year will be the year for change, heart change. Reconnections to what has been lost along the way, finding where we left ourselves in the dust of that speeding truck...

Baby E. two weeks old~

Had a GREAT photo shoot Tuesday. Baby E was the best model ever, I shot pictures over 2 hours and she never got fussy. What a wonderful opportunity to do what I love and have such a beautiful model to work with~

Enjoy

Photography is my passion

We have been blessed with two new additions to our family the last two weeks. Two beautiful new nieces. One on my husband's side of the family and one on mine.

I offered to photograph both beauties for their parents the first few weeks of their new lives.

Here are a few picture of each:

Beautiful L.O.F.

Beauitful E.G.C.

More to come~

Happy 12 year Wedding Anniversary

~I can hardly believe it has been 12 years already~

Time sure does fly by fast these days. Dave and I were just talking yesterday about when, where and what we were doing 12-13 years ago. Where our families were in their lives, who was married, who had kids, who had bought a house..... A lot can change is 12 years, graduations, first homes purchased, death, births, a fight lost to leukemia, marriages, divorce, and divorce again and again, loss of beloved pets, getting new jobs, loss of jobs, a battle with breast cancer WON, being broke, wrecks, medical emergencies, medical bills, the list can go on and on.

We have treasured our lives together even when it hurt so much we thought we might die of the physical pain we both felt. It hasn't been easy, nope not at all. I admire the couples that it has been easy for and yes there are that very few that has been able to experience a blissfully easy marriage, we know a very special couple who as the husband said a few years back, "being married to her is easy, we don't fight or argue or go to bed mad at each other; I can't even imagine having a hard marriage." I think that is wonderful but not the norm, maybe is it because I am too hard-headed and stubborn (I get told that every now and then) :-)

Dave and I have what we call "discussions" often and even more so now that we have children. Isn't it ironic we wanted these cute little beings so bad, they get here and BAMMMMM boy can they cause some heated "discussions"

Want to know something? Dave and I added it up one time just after my brother went through his nasty divorce from his first wife and got engaged to his second wife 3 months later, having dated her the entire time he was going through his divorce. WE (Dave and I) made it, we did, we were the only cousins on my dad's side of the family to stayed married.

Out of six other cousins,we are the only ones still together with our original spouse. Now if you count both sides of the family there are well over a dozen divorced cousins, aunts and uncle. Crazy isn't? Please tell me you think this too. Why is it so easy to decide to want an out? Let me tell you something Marriage ain't easy BUT divorce will just about kill you. Just watching my brother going through his and the stupid stuff he did during the divorce would make for an R rated movie. I viewed all of it from a small, silent spot outside the sickness for over a year. Pregnant during it all with Joshua for 9 months of my brother's living hell. The stress alone made me wash my hands of the ick situation months before it would be "settled", if you care to call it that.

My parents loved each other like no other couple I have ever known. Did they have "discussions" Oh yes they did, never in front of us. But it was always behind their bedroom door in voices never over a regular tone. This of course is one of the flaws Dave and I need to work on. It just isn't fair to children to ever see their parents having a "discussion". Kids are like sponges and what they see as a child they WILL carry with them to adulthood. My parent's were great roll models for me and my brother (not sure when he veered off the road)

We all have choices, to choose to do and say how we want to live our lives. God gave all free will, we all have the opportunity to make our own path, to pick which fork in the road we want to take. Having a successful marriage is ALL about choices. To choose to love and respect your spouse, to be faithful to your spouse, to love them even when they don't love themselves, to hold their hand when they are sick, to be the shoulder to cry on or the hand to hold singing in church on Sunday morning. I actually hold Dave's hand at Church on Sunday morning more than I hold it any other day of the week.

So..... do I still love Dave after all these year, would I change anything, even the tough times, ABSOLUTELY I still love him and I wouldn't even change the tough times we have lived through and survived. You betcha I love this man. Could I ring his neck? Sure many times BUT he isn't going anywhere and I'm sure not going anywhere either.

Love ya baby,

~Here's to another 12 years~

Making homemade pesto, would have been much easier with a cuisinart

I have all this great basil growing in my backyard and with cold weather soon approaching I wanted to use as much as I could before the frost got it. Got the "how to" advice from my mother-in-law. Thanks Anne!!!

I washed my basil in cold salt water just to make sure no little bugs were hiding under the leaves. I substituted walnuts for the pine nuts because they are easy to find in the grocery store this time of year and cheater too and yes they work just as well as pine nuts.

Anne said to add just a 1tbls of fresh lemon juice to add to the favor and keep the basil bright. You can also add some of the lemon zest. Kraft Parmesan cheese is just fine to use for your pesto, don't go a buy some expensive Parmesan for this.

Ok, so I do not have a Cuisinart just a blender and yes it can be done in a blender, BUT it is not easy. You have to keep pushing down the basil leaves with a wood spoon so it will keep mixing. Very messy~ A Cuisinart has been added to my wish list for Christmas.

The results, yummy homemade pesto from my backyard! I kept some in the frig that I would use that week and the rest I put in a freezer zip lock and roll into a small log to slice off what I need whenever pesto is on the menu.

Homemade Pesto Recipe

4 good handfuls of fresh basil (About 8 cups)

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1 tbls Fresh Lemon Juice ( a pinch of Lemon Zest if you like)

1/2 Cup chopped Walnuts or Pine nuts

2 cloves fresh garlic

Mix all ingredients together:

Add Olive oil as it is mixing, just until it is all mixed. About 1/8 cup Olive oil.

Store in a pretty glass jar or scoop into a freezer bag and roll into a small log and freezer. Will last for 6 months in freezer, only a week or so in frig.

A little planning pays off for a great day of shopping

Out of Pocket: $14.35 (including tax)

Considering the regular price of the razors are $10.99 and the garbage bags are regularly $6.99, just those TWO items would have been more than what my OOP was for all I got.

I'll take 31 items for $14.35 over 2 items for $17.98 any day!!!!

I decided to get out and roll a few deals at Walgreens yesterday. Dave was running very low on his razors and I was a little worried we would be buying them at full price very soon if I couldn't find any good sales going on. Walgreens has really been shoveling out the good deals lately so I decided to venture back to them very slowly; in the past they have been very unfriendly when you hand them coupons.

Shopping at Walgreens is all about figuring out how to roll one register Reward deal into another RR deal so you can just keep rolling Walgreens own money back into more items. With just a few dollars of your own to cover tax and change from each transaction.

From these deals I now have $22 in Register Rewards to roll into more deals next week. But be sure not to let the RR expire.

My budget was a $20 bill in my wallet and when that was gone I would not use anything else.

Here is what I got:

$8.99 / 2 Gillette MVP razors received $6RR for each

$4.00 Tuf Tall Kitchen bags (30 count)

$4.99 Tuf Black outdoor garbage bags (32 count)

$2.99 / 2 purell (8oz) One missing from the photo, hubby already claimed it for school) Received 2RR

.99 / 3 Carefree (In-ad coupon)

.29 /10 Hershey's Dark chocolate Bars (For all my holiday baking) I store them in the freezer

$7.49 / 2 (Rimmel mascara w/ bonus eye liner) used B1G1 Manu. Coupon making it FREE

$2.29 Sally Nail Polish Hand a $5 Sally RR used to make this FREE and help pay for other items.

$1.00 /2 Trident Layers Gum Used .75 IP coupons making these .25 each then I got a 1RR back.

$1.00 /2 Trident Spearmint Gum Used B1G1 manu coupon making them .50 each received a 1RR

.50/ 4 Campbells' Tomato Soup (Used IP coupon $1.00/2 making this FREE

.99 Circle Peanuts for a 3 year old helper!

4 Halloween pencils for cheap fillers

Total before coupons: $61.84

I used 30 dollars in Register rewards, manufacture coupons and in-ad Walgreens coupons to save: $47.49

Included the store sale price of the items, I saved $80.10!!! It pays to shop the sale price of store even if you do not have any coupons.