What Makes Us (Almost) Late to School, Part 2

Rise and shine...it's going to be a bee-you-ti-ful mornin'!

What? Not so easily convinced?

Come on, I see you peeking at me a little!

 Open those eyes...do I need to bring the dog in here???

Money Saving Methods...and Coupon Craziness!

I used to think I was pretty good at saving money. You know, a pretty frugal person. I clipped my coupons, looked for sales, shopped at thrift stores and hated to pay full price for anything.

I still feel that way. It's just that I have recently discovered that there are so (and put a bunch of o's after that) many places and ways to save money that I never knew about. In fact, I think I still have only uncovered but a fraction of what's out there. I am having fun looking for them and saving money, though!

There are countless websites and blogs devoted to helping you find deals, print coupons, and reduce your spending. For me, that primarily means on groceries and household items like paper goods, cleaning products and toiletries. Websites like Money Saving Mom and The Krazy Coupon Lady provide great resources like upcoming store ads, printable coupons, and deals on everything you need (or didn't know you need!).

There are also coupons to be clipped in the Sunday newspaper and even in magazines. We recently canceled our newspaper subscription, to save money, which is fine because I can find out what coupons will be in the Sunday papers by looking online and then buy a Sunday paper if I want to. My sister-in-law gave me a great tip that you can get multiple copies of the Sunday paper on Monday at the dollar store (for $1.00, of course), which I will do if the coupons are worth it.

I really like to print coupons online. I set my printer preferences to everyday and greyscale to save on ink. Many online coupon resources will let you print multiple times before the print limit is reached, allowing you to get more of the coupons you use the most. Sometimes those same coupons will reset soon after, allowing you to go back and print them again. They also tend to have higher values then the newspaper coupons. You can also go to the websites of the brands you purchase (Coffee Mate, Freschetta, etc.) and often they will have printable coupons. Don't forget to go to the store sites themselves, too. All the major stores (Vons, Albertons, Target, etc.) have store and manufacturer coupons that you can print.

I have discovered the magic of combining store and manufacturer coupons. When you do this, and if the item is already on sale or at a good price, you can get it for free or next to nothing! Check the store's policies on quantity limits and when the coupon exceeds the price of the item, but at most stores these things are not a problem. Where you live, your grocery store might still double coupons. If so, take advantage of that! Ours do not, although once in a great while they will put "special" coupon doublers in the paper to use with a coupon. I bought three papers that week just for those coupons.

There are some great online deals to be had, too. Site like Amazon and iTunes offer free song downloads. Shutterfly and Snapfish both offer great photo deals. For example, a couple of weeks ago, Walgreens was offering a free 8x10 and Snapfish was also offering a free 8x10 that you could pick up at Walgreens. Sweet deal...two free 8x10's that I could order from the comfort of home and pick up at the same place. Check out this free deal right now from Shutterfly and Wink: http://moneysavingmom.com/2010/04/shutterfly-free-photo-strip-mailed-free-internationally.html (Thank you, Money Saving Mom!)


Drug Stores have their own reward programs, too. I currently just use CVS and their Extra Care card. They "pay you back" every time you shop. They also give you "Extra Bucks" when you buy certain items. I didn't realize the full extent of what I could accumulate until I was there the other day and scanned my card at the in-store kiosk. I had earned $14.50! That is like cash! That was a fun day, because it also spit some coupons out at me, so I ended up saving more than I spent. They even scan your card when you get your prescriptions, go figure! Check out your local drug store for their program.

The ways to save really are exhaustive. You can spend as much or as little time as you have available searching out deals. To me, the key is to continue to be wise with the amount of money I have to spend each month. Just because something is a good deal does not necessarily mean I should go out and buy 12 of them. It's tempting...but then what if I cannot buy the other things I need to feed my family?

I am learning that I can find the deals if I only look for them. And coupons do work. It's crazy fun, and I will share with you what I find along the way. Will you share with me, too?

Spring has Spru...Hatched???

We did it again. We just couldn't help ourselves. We pulled out the incubator and put some eggs in it. And three weeks later...



Fourteen fluffy balls of chirping sweetness. And since then we've added four more, because I wanted green eggs. There is something so simple about just sitting and holding a chick in your hand. Something so mesmerizing about watching them scamper about the brooder, pecking at food, each other, or my ring when I put my hand in and the warming lamp hits the diamond and catches their eyes.

The girls keep pointing out the reality of how many chickens we now have. 40. Forty. Four-Oh-Wow! We had not planned on that many. We are looking for loving homes for some of them now. And we will love all of the rest of them. We just hope most of them are hens and not roosters. And we pray we get more egg customers! =) 

Life is good on the Crazy Chicken Farm! Thank you, God!

Come Emmanuel

Come and speak to us
Come and renew us
Come and live through us, Emmanuel

Grace to implore us
Ever before us
Come and restore us, Emmanuel

Come Emmanuel, Come Emmanuel
Come Emmanuel, Come Emmanuel

Once mercy found us
Still You astound us
Hold and surround us, Emmanuel

Living inside us
Faithful to guide us
Cover and hide us, Emmanuel

Come Emmanuel, Come Emmanuel
Come Emmanuel, Come Emmanuel

Love that begins us
Pardons and wins us
Come and reign in us, Emmanuel

Come and speak to us
Fill and renew us
Come and live through us, Emmanuel

Emmanuel, Emmanuel

                - T. Paris

All the Pretty Christmas Lights

There is a particular street in our town that hosts a Christmas event every year, called the "Vine Street Showcase." We thought we'd drive down it the night before and check out the lights. Here are some of the homes we saw. (Click on the photo for a larger view)

It's been raining here, so it was a treat to be able to go out and look at these beautiful homes on a dry evening. Hope you are seeing lovely displays of lights where you live, if not in your own front yard!

What Makes Us (Almost) Late to School, Part 1

It's not breakfast without a book!

What?

It's my second bowl!

The Lazy Baker's Dream Cookies

I have a confession: I am a lazy baker. Maybe it's because I am not a huge fan of cakes and pies, or maybe it is because I detest doing all the clean up afterward, but my poor family rarely reaps the rewards of my measly baking skills. I also suspect I am just too impatient to get through all the steps required of baking (I like to guesstimate rather than follow exact measurements) to make it to the payoff. Oh, and did I mention what a stinker all the clean up is?

So when I stumbled across this recipe for Pumpkin Cookies on Sumo's blog www.sumossweetstuff.blogspot.com I knew she was speaking my language. Three ingredients, no measuring, one bowl...can it get any easier? I know we're into the Christmas season now, but I had to share this easy yumminess with you, so here you go!

Pumpkin Cookies

Gather your ingredients:

1 box Spice Cake Mix

1 small can (15 oz.) Pure Pumpkin

1 bag Chocolate Chips

Mix pumpkin and cake mix until well blended.

Stir in your chocolate chips.

Drop by spoonfuls onto your cookie sheet.

Bake in a preheated 350* oven for 16-20 minutes.

Just try to keep them in your cookie jar!

(I ate three before they even went in there...shhh!)

Enjoy!