A time for work...

This has been a busy weekend. Husband and youngest son laid a new section of patio. We have been using 16 inch square patio blocks and decided to make a new section of 24 blocks. They completed that last night and today they installed a fence beyond the patio to keep our dog out of the garden. I will try to take pictures tomorrow and post them. I should have taken before pictures, because then you would really see how much this improved this area.

I just finished spray painting my old metal glider. Paprika. It is a bit more orange than I wanted, I was hoping for a more reddish-paprika. Maybe it will dry the color I want. it still looks better than it did before though.

Tomorrow night my amazing girlfriends are coming over here for our monthly GNO. I am preparing a baked potato bar and all the fixins. I must get up early though and give the house a good cleaning.

Sorry for the lack of posting. Will try to do better.

Crazy Love

Go buy this book. Francis Chan is the author. It will rock your world and make you come face to face with God. I am not very far into it yet, but so far all I can say is, "Whoa!" Buy it.

$6.22 out of pocket

I hit up Walgreens again. Husband will say I robed them. When people call he tells them I am out robbing Walgreens. He is so funny.

All pictured for $6.22, plus I came home with $8.00 in new Register Rewards with the ice cream deals. Would have cost $66.70 without any coupons or Register Rewards. I am thinking about going back for more ice cream treats. My family will love me. Gee, I will love me. Notice, I did get some of the Skinny Cow variety. I do not eat this much candy, but I had to buy it to keep my coupon to item ratio in check. There are always little ones at ball games that "need" it. Actually, youngest son will say that he needs it.

Summertime and the Shoppin' is Easy

First week off of school and what do I do? Hit Walgreens and CVS at 7:00 am. Good deals to be had and I couldn't wait. Actually I wanted to go before I started working in the garden and got all sweaty.

CVS: I was so glad to get the Windex. I was out of that on the stockpile. The shave cream was on clearance for .29 cents each, and I received a $2.00 coupon on the Dove chocolate at "the magic coupon machine", making the whole bag just .50 cents. Just yesterday the cash register receipt kicked out a $5.00 off of $15.00 coupon, so that helped a lot. I had coupons for almost everything else, and I used $7.00 in Extra Care Bucks. I spent a mere .78 cents out of pocket on everything and earned another $5.00 in ECBs. Nice.

Walgreens: I used coupons for everything pictured except for the candy, which I bought as fillers. I also used a few Register Rewards. Everything pictured cost me a total of $7.08 out of pocket and earned another $7.00 in Register Rewards. Not bad.

In all I spent $7.86 and came home with $12.00 in a combination of CVs and Walgreens "cash"

Winner Winner Pasta Dinner!

I have a winner! I numbered my entries according to the entry where the email address showed up (because some left them out). So even if you commented, the entry that counted was the one that had your email address.

The random number generator (random.org) picked number 2 which, would be be Reta, who had her email address included.

I have emailed the winner.

You never know folks when another contest will pop up!

Cupcakes!

I have decided that I love making cupcakes.

I have really gotten into making them since the first of the year, and in the last 6 weeks I have made them for 7 occasions. I buy cake mixes when the are .88 cents or less then I buy several, and put them into the freezer. I also have been shopping at WalMart after each holiday since Christmas and I am buying various sprinkles and cupcake liners after they are marked down. I keep all of my supplies in a covered plastic tub, and I am gaining a nice collection of items to work with. Most of my cake recipes come from The CakemixDoctor

cookbooks that I have collected as well. I love her recipes. You start with a basic cake mix and then jazz it up. I always make homemade frosting and I do not use a recipe for that. I do not know how to do professional decorating, but I purchased a large pastry bag, a large tip and coupler, and after a lesson from my sister I do okay.

These are for an event after church tomorrow, and some will be for our small group which meets tomorrow night.

Note about the Give-Away

I need email addresses from all who enter.

Give-Away # 3 / CLOSED NOW

I am lovin' give-a-ways.

I have something really cool to share.

Betty Crocker, through MyBlogSpark has provided me with a great package which includes: a box of Betty Crocker's Suddenly Salad, a Pyrex dish, a serving bowl, and an insulated tote. These products are really nice and I was super excited to get them. I will use the tote to carry all of my cool dishes to our next picnic.

I have tried Suddenly Salad in the past and I have really liked it. The Greek salad would not be my first choice, but I know my son will enjoy it. I like the convenience and the taste of the ones I have tried. I also like how you can toss in anything you like and create a pasta salad just the way you want it. I have tossed in broccoli, carrots, red onion, and cauliflower pieces. Bacon pieces sound good to me also. These come together really fast, and makes fixing a yummy side dish really easy.

There are several other varieties of Suddenly Salad that sound great. You can check them all out at SuddenlySalad.com

The great news is that I am also able to give a package just like the one pictured to one of my readers! To enter you must do the following:

Post a comment to this post with the following information:

• What ingredient would you toss into a box of Suddenly Salad ? Specifically, tell me which variety you would pick and how you would change it up.
• Your email address or link to your blog so that I can contact you.

I will pick a winner using the random.org number generator from all eligible submissions on Sunday, June 6th.

The opinions of this product are my own, but I need to disclose that the package of Suddenly Salad, the prize pack, and the give-away were all provided to my by Betty Crocker, through MyBlogSpark.

Mail Call

Today was a very good day at the mailbox!

The breakdown:

• Kraft First Taste free product coupons. I LOVE Kraft! There are coupons for 6 free items! (Kool-Aid Fizz Drink Drops, Homestyle Deluxe Macaroni and Cheese, Digiorno Deep Dish Pizza, 100 Calorie Packs Cheese Bites, Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh Shaved Meat, and Ritz Crackerfuls) If you are not a member then you should go to here and sign up. I have gotten lots of free product coupons from Kraft this way.
• A full size eye shadow quad from Loreal. I signed up a while back for Loreal product testing and I did a survey on mascara. This was my gift for doing the survey.
• A sample of Secret Clinical Deodorant from WalMart (great source for samples)
• Samples of Dove shampoo and conditioner, also from WalMart
• 2 free samples of Purex 3-in-1 laundry sheets. ( I LOVE these)
• Home Made Simple coupon book (great coupons)

Pretty good haul for one day! Cheap is good, but free is better!