Monday's Musings

Today will be a busy day. :)  I MUST catch up on my housework this morning. LOL!  I have been working outside on my garden in all my free time and my house is suffering a bit for it.  It should be a beautiful day - high of 78 so I have my windows open and ready to attack. :)

This is a picture of a tire planter that I created.  I love red, yellow and orange flowers. :)  The middle is a plant that someone gave me years ago and I am trying to replant the ones that have survived.

This is also the last week of school for Addie and Autumn.  They are excited about that - and so am I!  

This afternoon, we are attending a memorial service for a friend's baby who passed away last year.  The baby's name was Audrey Sullenger.  She stopped breathing at three days old and passed away at six days old.  Her mother is holding a memorial for her today at the cemetery.

Have a wonderful Monday!

Sunday Gardening...

What a beautiful Sunday!  We had a great and full Sunday morning service even with several of our regulars missing.  My husband had an old friend that he went to the Christian school with way back when...visit this morning with her husband and their neighbor.  Our Ladies Ensemble sang as well as one of our teen boys, Cedric, who did a special with his guitar for the offering.

This afternoon, Addie and Autumn spent the afternoon with Papa Tastet so while Summer napped...Sierra and I had our lunch out on the picnic table. She then helped me plant the rest of my garden.  Lettuce, sweet peas, her mustard seeds from Junior Church :), and basil.  We watered everything then ended with planting four planters of flowers.  My garden area is turning out quite well and I am excited at my hard work paying off. :)

I know...I keep holding off from posting pictures because I want to see what else I can do to it.  I have a feeling it will be an ongoing project and I will never be done. :)  Gardening is such great therapy.  LOL!

I hope you had a great Sunday!

Saturday Goals

Getting a good start to my Saturday. :)  My devotions and coffee were first...the first load of laundry is going, house is straightened, bed made, showered and dressed, the front lawn is being watered, and sausage is cooking in the skillet for breakfast.

Working on my to-do list - next is preparing my things needed for Sunday at church...prayer sheet, announcements, copies for Junior Church, etc.

My main goal is to get a load of horse manure compost for my garden beds today.  :)

Have a great Saturday!

CVS Couponing

So I made a trip to CVS today...forgot two coupons that I had printed for two deals I wanted to do :(  ...and one deal didn't have any of the product left that I wanted.  So after that disappointment, ha ha!  I got the above deals.  Three bottles of Finesse shampoo and conditioner for $.99 each. One Physician's Formula Concealer stick for FREE and actually made $1.70!  And my favorite deal - 2 tubes of Jergens Natural Glow and Protect Moisturizer/Sunscreen for $4.00 each.  Can't wait to try this new product out. :)

I will hit up another CVS tomorrow and see if I can get the other deals I wanted.

30 FREE Stationery Cards from Winkflash!

And the deals just keep coming!  Here is an AWESOME deal that you HAVE to grab!!

Another online card store and more...winkflash.com.  They are offering 30 FREE stationery cards - all you pay is $1.99 shipping!!  

Why is this such an awesome deal?  Each card was $1.99.  Shipping and handling was $6.89.  My total was going to be $66.59.  I only paid $1.99!  This was a savings of $64.60!!

The code for this deal is 30FREE.  You have until June 16 to use this deal.  They have many options to choose from:  Holidays, Graduations, Birthdays, Thank You's, Invitations and more.  I have two sisters that each have a kindergarten child graduating...this would be perfect for their graduation announcement.  I used my free cards for our new Easter family photo for our friends and family (since I did not do Christmas family photo cards).

Have fun choosing your 30 FREE cards! :)

$20 off coupon at Tiny Prints!

I received in my e-mail this afternoon a $20 off coupon from Tiny Prints.  It is one of the three online card, etc. stores that I order free things from.  

I could have ordered many things but I have never had my own address labels.  So I checked it out and was able to order 3 sets of personalized address labels...my final cost was $1 plus the $3.50 shipping fee.  Sometimes they will include the shipping into the promotion code but this would not.  Still a great cost and so cute! :)

I am glad I didn't pass up a FREE $20!  Did anyone else get a code from them?  If not, sign up for an account today at TinyPrints.com and see what freebies you may receive!

Online Freebies for Today!

Here are a few freebies for you all to grab today!

Cardstore.com  FREE Mother's Day card (if you already have one for your mom...use for a grandma, an adopted mom in your church, a sister, a friend)!  Use the code - LUVMOM.  Ship it to yourself and it is FREE shipping.

Treat.com  This is a card site just like Cardstore.com.  Sign up for an account and your first card is FREE!  Use the code FREETREAT.  This is also FREE shipping to your home and you can choose any card for any occasion!

Thank you to the two friends who signed up with Vitacost and made their first order!  I received my $20 coupon for Vitacost.  I was able to order Fish Oil capsules with Vitamin D and D3 for my husband and Calcium vitamins for me.  If you order $25 of Vitacost brand items, you receive FREE shipping!  These were both needed items for us and I am grateful for a great deal!

Garden Remedies That Cost Pennies

I have been doing many things creating a small garden space in our backyard that is my little haven...it can become very costly so I am grabbing all the free and low cost ideas I can!  Here is a great post that I came across and am happy to share with you. :)

With gardening season just around the corner, you probably have been perusing the plant care aisle at your local home store. I know I have! There are so many chemical solutions available to help with fertilizing, feeding, and protecting your garden plants. Plant food and fertilizers can sell for as much as $5.00 a pound! Not to mention the fact that the thought of dumping chemicals on your tomatoes and peppers is not very appealing.

So, are we destined to spend huge sums of money and mingle with nasty chemicals in order to have a beautiful garden? Nope! Here are a couple simple and inexpensive home remedies to help keep your garden looking (and tasting) its very best. Most of the ingredients can be found right in your kitchen!

Basic Plant Food:

• 1 teaspoon baking powder.
• 1 teaspoon epsom salts.
• 1 teaspoon ammonia.

Mix ingredients together in a gallon of room temperature water. Store the solution in an airtight, labeled container. Use it once every 4 to 6 weeks, or even less if your plants are happy!

Simple Pesticide:

• 1 minced garlic clove.
• 1 cup warm water.
• 3-4 drops of dish soap.

Mix the three ingredients together and pour into a labeled spray bottle. Spray generously on plants, both edible and non edible. Bugs will find this mixture repulsive and will leave your plants alone.

Safe and Effective Weed Killer:

• 1 gallon of distilled vinegar.
• 1 cup of salt.
• 1 tablespoon of liquid dish soap.

Mix the ingredients and pour into a labeled spray bottle. Spray directly on weeds in the garden or pour directly into cracks of walks and driveways. Repeat as needed.

All of these mixtures are safe to use around children and pets and can be stored and used throughout the summer. To make larger batches of any of these recipes, just double the measurements! So this summer, skip the harsh chemicals and costly fertilizers. Mix up your own batches instead and save! Perhaps with all of the cash you save, you can invest in those fun tiki torches you have had your eyes on!

Happy gardening!

This has been a guest post by Katie from South Bend, IN

Lilacs...

My husband and I went to Home Depot and he let me pick out lilac bushes to put in our front landscaping.  We planted them Saturday.

We can't wait until they grow and we have beautiful lilacs! :)

Thursday...Sunday

Woo-whee!  The last four days have been extremely busy.

Thursday, I spent the day working at the church.  We had begun remodeling on another building in our strip mall...thinking we were going to move to that larger facility.  Because of some obstacles in our way, our members voted not to move.  So the building that we had begun to remodel needed to be cleaned out, building materials returned, vacuumed and so on.  I spent the day doing work there along with my father-in-law who took the metal scraps to the recycling center.  The girls did their school videos in our current building.  It went well and I was able to get a good deal accomplished.

That evening, we had a family movie night together since my husband was gone to Lodi Monday through Wednesday.

Friday, we spent the morning again at the church.  I was able to finish entirely the new building...that was a good feeling!  I then cleaned our regular church building which took a little longer than usual but it went well.  And yet another good feeling. :)

As we were packing up to leave and meet my husband for lunch, my daughters pointed out that the tire on the truck was going flat.  So we drove to Big O Tires and left it to be repaired which it was a leaky tire valve stem. We had lunch with my husband.  After dropping him off, we headed home to take showers and baths from the morning of cleaning (and drywall everywhere. :).  Then drop the kids off at the sitters, pick up my husband and head to make a church visit to a new family.  We arrived home around 10pm that evening.

Saturday, I took the girls to a Sunday School activity at Mrs. Megan's home.  We made mini pizzas, watched a movie and had ice cream cones.  The girls had a good time with their teachers and friends.  After that, my husband and I took a trip to Home Depot...which I love. :)  We got things for my garden and our landscaping.  A new hose and drip system, garden soil, steer manure, 3 lilac trees and veggie and fruit plants for my garden.  I am very happy when I get these things. :)  When we got home, we planted our 3 lilac bushes in our front yard.  He had also mowed , watered and reseeded some bare spots in our lawn.  We work hard on our landscaping - you have to in Nevada or nothing will grow. LOL!  The weather was beautiful in the 80's.  My husband and I enjoy getting to work on projects like these together.  Addie and I made beefy jalapeno corn bake for dinner...then baths and collapsing into bed!

Sunday was a typical Sunday...nursery duty for Sunday School, morning service, camp meeting...then beef stroganoff for dinner and dishes.  Then my husband and I tranferred my raised beds for my garden into a new space and worked on filling them with native soil, garden soil and steer manure.  It was another gorgeous day in the 80's and I was loving it!  The big glass of cold sweet tea tastes so much better on these hot summer days. :)  Then singing practice, evening service and nursery duty.

And so that is the update!  Hope I didn't bore you all to tears. :)  This week, my husband will be gone 4 days out of town in his other offices...so I will be busy at home with lots of things to do.  This is Sierra's last week of K-4 - she will be done with her school year on Friday.  Tomorrow I will post some pictures of my yard projects.  Have a good Sunday evening!

Couponing-Wednesday

I did some couponing today at CVS and Walgreens. :)

I got six packs of Huggies diapers for $5.82 each.

Dawn dish soap - $.74 each.

BIC Flex 4 razors - $1.99.

Right Guard body wash (I am so in need of stocking up - I was down to one bottle left) - $1 each.

Snickers PB Eggs - $.14 each (I used these as fillers because at Walgreens- you can't have more coupons than items.  Easter items are 75% off and I used these to balance out my transactions.)

FREEBIES!

Pepsi Next - 20oz.

3 Kids Aquafresh Toothpaste

2 Colgate Total Advanced Toothpaste

FREEBIES from Vitacost!

Remember the post about signing up for Vitacost through my link?  When you sign up, you will receive a $10 off coupon.  I used mine to buy 2 bottles of Vitamin D and received free shipping because it was a specially marked item.  I received them in the mail today.  My husband and I both take Vitamin D so this is a GREAT freebie for us!

You can still sign up for Vitacost and receive your $10 coupon!  Here is the link:

http://www.vitacost.com/Referee?wlsrc=rsReferral&ReferralCode=30529207

Once you sign up for an account, you will receive your $10 coupon.  Once you make a purchase (and you don't have to spend more than $10 - just make a purchase)...then I will receive a $10 coupon for referring you to Vitacost!  Yay!

Then refer your friends and family and you can earn more $10 credits to buy more great products. :)  It is a win-win for all.

Tuesday's Happenings

Whew!  What a busy day!  In addition to regular housework, laundry, ironing, home school...I babysat for a friend's boys for the afternoon/early evening.  I made pigs in a blanket, french fries and frozen grapes for a quick dinner for them.  My husband is still out of town so I can make the meals simple and quick.

I also recaulked the bathtub today.  Yeah...I don't do a very good job - but it is better than no job at all.  LOL!  

I also finished up a project that the girls and I are doing to raise money for church camp this summer.  I am kind of keeping it on the down low...I am always reserved about bragging about these type of things before it is successful.  However, so far, it has come along fairly well.  Praise the Lord!

After that messy part of the secret project was complete and things were cleaned up, I finished cutting and organizing my coupons into my coupon binder.  I really needed to finish that in order to make out my couponing list for this week.  I can't know what deals I can nab if I don't know what coupons I may have and their value.  And praise the Lord, again, I finished it!

You may ask...what is on the agenda for tomorrow?  Well, for sure, coffee and my Bible in the morning.  (My coffeemaker is set for automatic brew in the morning so the minute I get out of bed...my coffee will be in my cup. And I can do my devotions in my bed because my hubby will be out of town. :)  And since the weather is nice, I think I shall mow the lawn.  Other than that...the day is up in the air.  :)

The Agenda for Monday

Monday...the start of a new week. :)  And it will be a busy one!

My husband left for a business trip to Sacramento earlier this morning and he will possibly be gone the entire week.  So that means...how many things can I get done while he is gone? :)  Well, there are many things already on my list so I hope it will go according to schedule!

On today's agenda:

School in the AM.  Laundry.  Light housework.  Drop the girls off at FIL's.  Doctor appt. for me at 12:45pm.  Pick up a few items at the store on my way home.  Make a salad for our youth worker's meeting tonight.  Youth worker's meeting at 6:30pm at the Traynor home.

That is my basic list...I hope to accomplish two projects today:  Cut and organize my coupon inserts from this week and prepare my couponing list for CVS and Walgreens for this week.  There are some good deals to be nabbed! :)

Repot our tomato seedlings.  (More on this dandy project later this week. :)

And spectacular news!  The weather should be in the 70's this entire week...and 80 degrees on Saturday and Sunday!  Woo hoo!  This will be great for my tomato plants and I shall enjoy working around my home with the warm breezes and flip flop-clad feet. :)

I hope you have a wonderful week as well!

Why I Like Glad Storage Containers

I just love these Glad storage containers!  Above are three in use right now...grapes, last night's dinner-quiche, and red bell pepper strips.  I had a set of larger containers that I would use for leftovers and such.  

However, I found five things:

1.  They took up too much room in my fridge.

2.  No one wanted to eat the leftovers.

3.  They were too large to send in my husband's lunch.

4.  They dirtied more dishes for me.

5.  Often the leftovers I had only took up a 1/3 - 1/2 of the larger container.

I bought this size containers and they have done wonders for me. :)

Now...

1.  It is easy to grab a container of leftovers and send it in my husband's lunch or for me to eat for a quick and easy lunch.

2.  They take up less space in my fridge and stack easily.

3.  You can microwave the food right in the container - in doing so, you don't have to dirty more dishes.

4.  I can prepare fruit and veggie snacks such as the red pepper strips or grapes (above) and store for easy access for the kids or the hubby.  In the morning, I just put an amount in baggies for his lunch...it takes me about 30 seconds to put together a healthy lunch in the morning for him. :)

5.  Most of the time, leftovers fit easily in one container and are used up by the next day - no waste.

Few pictures of the girls...

Just a couple of pictures of the girls...

Here we are stuffing Easter eggs for the church Easter egg hunt. 

They were playing campout in the living room with their chairs and princess tent. :)

Easter 2012 Family Photos

Here are our family photos from Easter 2012.  

Our photographer is Mrs. Shannon Traynor who is our youth director's wife.  She worked very hard and gave many hours to do this for our church family.  Thank you Shannon!

These are our four daughters.  Addie is 8 yrs. old and in the 3rd grade.  Autumn is 6 yrs. old and in the first grade.  Sierra is 4 yrs. old and in K-4.  Summer is our "baby".  :)  She is 18 months old.

My husband, Eric and I.

Recipe: Pie Crust

This post makes me happy.  LOL!  Why?  I have recently ventured out in making my own pie crusts.  Gasp!  I know.  I told my sister I am embarrassed that it took me until I was 35 years old to just do it...and really realize that - "Wow!  It is that hard.  All these years I have been telling myself that it was too difficult to make your own crusts."  Silly, right?

One of my favorite pies is apple pie. :)  Probably because it goes perfect with a cup of coffee.  *Sigh.*  I love apple pie...and nothing beats a fresh-baked, homemade apple pie.

And I have vowed to never go back to buying pie crusts.  It is just too easy and fun to make them. :)  And eat them, for sure!

Here is a simple recipe that I use to make my pie crusts:

Single Pie Crust

1 cup flour

1/3 cup shortening

1/2 tsp salt

3-4 tbsp ice water

Double Pie Crust

1 1/3 cups flour

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 tsp salt

4-5 tbsp ice water

Mix flour, salt and shortening together with a pastry blender, 2 knives or your fingertips until mixture resembles meal.  Sprinkle on water - a little at a time until a ball that will not crumble is formed.  Do not over mix and remember that a pastry is made by "feel".  Never dump in all the water at once.  Roll out on a floured surface and rub flour on your rolling pin.  Roll until pastry is 1" larger than your pie pan.

Addie's To-Do Lists

I found these notes by Addie's school desk one morning. :)  She is so like her mother - always making To-Do lists. 

 That's a good girl.  LOL!

Freebie-$10 off coupon for Vitacost! And more...

So this week is not a great deal for deals at CVS and Walgreens...It seems to be that way after the holidays.  The only deal that I picked up at Walgreens was diapers (Walgreens brand) for $5.99.  They are not my favorite but I can live with them for that price.


I have also signed up for more FREEBIE samples online and on Facebook here and there.  Things like Cutex nail nourishing pad, Carefree liner sample, Seattle's Best Coffee sample, Zone Perfect Nutrition Bar...those are a few that I can think of. :)


I also signed up for 20 FREE issues of the magazine - Family Fun!  Woo hoo!  If you are a mom, this is a great magazine.  SO many ideas for crafts, recipes, activities, and so on.  I have received it before and really enjoy it.  So this was a GREAT freebie!!


A few deals that I snatched up online...
Hello Kitty watches on Focalprice.com.  I bought two watches - for Addie and Autumn's birthdays - for a total of $5.70 and free shipping!  I am so excited!  Addie has already asked for a watch and these ones are SO adorable.


CARS toy characters on DisneyStore.com.  I bought four CARS (the movie) characters (including Mater! LOL!) for Sierra for her birthday.  I know...she is a girl but she LOVES cars and such.  She is our little tomboy.  I got these for $4.32 for all four!!  Free shipping as well!  


And lastly, I signed up for a FREE membership to Vitacost - a Health and Wellness company.  
So do this for me if you would...


Click on this link and sign up for your own FREE membership.  You will receive a FREE $10 coupon just for doing so!  And doing it through me, I will receive a $10 coupon because you signed up. :)  


http://www.vitacost.com/Referee?wlsrc=rsReferral&ReferralCode=30529207



Right now, they have Vitamin D capsules at the price of $4.99 AND FREE SHIPPING on your entire order! So this is the scenario I did...

1. Signed up for my FREE Vitacost account.

2. Received my $10 off coupon in my e-mail.

3. Ordered 2 bottles of Vitamin D capsules - total of $9.98. (They have TONS of neat things to order. However, my husband takes Vitamin D because of a deficiency so I grabbed two bottle to make it simple.)

4. Applied my FREE shipping code and FREE $10 off coupon code.

5. Two bottles of Vitamin D FREE and shipped to my door. :)

It only takes a few minutes and you and I both win if you sign up through my referral. :) I would appreciate it so much and I think you will be very pleased with Vitacost!

Oh yes...I received a FREE Artisan Dominoes pizza this week as well through their Facebook giveaway! We had a pizza night and watched the new movie - War Horse. :)

Just a Normal Day

Today was a normal day.  We did a quick run of errands this morning...ATM for cash, gas station for gas, Walgreens for diapers, Smith's for milk and Marketon for produce deals.

Then while the girls did their schooling, I worked in the kitchen.  I blanched and froze 3 heads of cauliflower, one quart bag of diced jalapenos and 2 quart bags of Italian squash.  I also washed and prepped a bag of grapes, cut up a mini watermelon and sliced two red peppers for snacks.  

Then to dishes, sweeping, dusting, etc.  Graded school papers for today.  Addie and I then worked on dinner together...Roadside Diner Cheeseburger Quiche. (Actually two of them. :)  They are very tasty! 

After dinner - baths, dishes, a chat with my sister and grabbed a few freebies online. :)

That was my Wednesday!

Recipe: Spiced Apple Cheesecake

This is the recipe I made for our church Easter potluck. Everyone loved it!

Spiced Apple Cheesecake

Ingredients

• 1-2/3 cups crushed gingersnap cookies (about 45 cookies)
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• FILLING:
• 3 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
• 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 4 cups chopped peeled tart apples
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• CINNAMON SAUCE:
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons red-hot candies
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch

Directions

• In a small bowl, combine cookie crumbs and butter. Press onto the bottom of a greased 9-in. springform pan. Place pan on a baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
• In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Beat in the milk, flour and vanilla. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Pour over crust. In a large bowl, combine the apples, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg; spoon over cream cheese mixture. Return pan to baking sheet.
• Bake at 350° for 60-70 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Loosen edges of cheesecake from pan with a knife. Cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight.
• In a small saucepan, combine sauce ingredients. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened; cool completely.
• Remove rim from pan. Drizzle sauce over cheesecake. Yield: 12 servings.