Sleep Baby Sleep

Awwww. Bless him. He was able to sleep long enough for me to do the dishes and make dinner.
I don't think that I'd be comfortable, its a good thing babies are so flexible and resilient.

The Following Restaurants have been "Bailing (me) Out"

Yesterday for lunch we had FREE pancakes at IHOP and for dinner, FREE tacos from Jack in the Box.

Today we are going for FREE sandwiches at Quiznos and (almost) FREE dinner at Arby's.

Lovin' the economy right now!



If you haven't checked out Hey Its Free!, you and your wallet are missing out!

New Dishes

Apparently my Mom hated my dishes. In fact she's hated them for a very long time. She told me that she's been wanting to buy me new ones since last summer. SO when she was here in Jan. that's exactly what she did. THANKS Mom!

The old dishes.



The new dishes.


The best part is that they claim to be chip resistant. We'll see how that works out.


*Update: Its been about a month since I've had new dishes. The best part is having a lot of dishes. Its great to have a dishwasher full of clean dishes, a sink full of dirty dishes AND still have dishes in the cupboard. Then I can decide to put away the clean ones or just make more dirty ones! :)
*We have had 2 glasses crack and had to be thrown away. :(

Kids are like sponges

Most people know that children will absorb everything around them. If you were unaware then check out Anjeny,she has a great post about this topic.

My story doesn't have swear words but goes a little like this.

"Hunter hurry up and get dressed, we're going to go to the gym!"

"Good, I need a break from you!"

Hmmmmm, do you think he's heard that before? Oops! Since I've aready done this, I decided to really work out. The problem was that I was getting a little bored with my routine. No problem, I'll just try one of the classes. There were two offered at the time I was going to the gym, spin or weight lifting with aerobics. I thought that spin might be the lesser of two evils so I plunged right in.

Let's just say that spin class totally SUCKS and I can't move today. The end.

Girl Hair

I have been having fun doing my little girl's hair. As long as I can distract her, she will sit pretty good for me. I even cut her hair once! She's just too cute!
This isn't the cutest one I've done, but its the only one I could find a picture of. If any of you have a daughter, niece, granddaugher, then check out my sidebar. I've got several great hair sites that I visit that have adorable hairstyles.

Getting on the CVS bandwagon

I took a coupon class lately and have really been trying to use my coupons when I'm out shopping. Its fairly easy to do when I go to the grocery store because I already have a list made and I can check that list to see if I have any coupons that match what I'm already going to buy. I've saved quite a bit of money and have been really happy with my thriftyness.

So now to CVS. I've heard many good things about CVS and all the deals that you can get, but I was a little intimadated. The system is a little tricky, but totally doable.

One night I called the "coupon lady" to come to my house and teach me how to do CVS. We spent an hour coming up with the PLAN. Then she was even going to go to the store with me and walk me through it, but by that time it was almost 10:00 and I needed to feed the baby and go to bed. Needless to say the next morning I didn't go to CVS.

Then I kept not going, until my sister took the coupon class and went to CVS and got amazing deals. She told me that I HAD to do it and cme over last night and made a plan and then took me to the store.

After getting our coupons ready we found an amazing deal on Money Saving Mom that said we could get FREE chapstick at Walgreens. I told my sister that I didn't think I could tackle Walgreens and CVS in one night. BUT she was optimistic and told me that Walgreens would be easy because it was only one item.

So we headed out (with 3 of my kids) to Walgreens first because it was going to be easy and would get me excited for CVS.

On the way the baby fell asleep, so my sister told me that she would stay in the car. All I had to do was buy the chapstick and maybe some chocolate to cover the cost. The other 2 kids in the car heard chocolate and jumped out of the car to go in the store with me. I found the chapstick and then headed to the Valentine section that had 1/2 price chocolate. We got to the register and everything was fine until the coupon wouldn't ring up. The sales girl didn't know what to do, so she called the manager. The manager yelled at the girl because her station was messy, and then told me that I couldn't use both the manufactuers coupon and the Walgreens coupon because then they would owe me money. BUT that is exactly the reason that I bought the chocolate, so that it would cover it. Bottom line is I didn't get the FREE chapstick and I felt like a failure. When I got back out to the car and told my sister the saga, she said she was disappointed. I did only spend $3.95 and I saved $8.44, but that $3.95 was haunting me.




Feeling sad (except for the kids who are now feeling a sugar rush) we headed for CVS. Would I fail again?






NOPE! I DID IT!!!!!! I followed the plan and got $25.60 dollars worth of stuff and only paid $8.01 PLUS I got $4 in ECB's for next time.


And yes there will be a next time (if my sister will help me with my plan, because she is way better at it than me) Check out her savings here.

Bellagio Botanicals

The Bellagio Hotel has a fabulous atrium that has flowers that are changed several times a year. We went when it was Chinese New Year. It was beautiful!

Chocolate Lovers

It is a well documented fact that I love chocolate. My obsession with peanut m&m's speaks for itself. I hadn't realized that this love has been passed down to the next generation,

but the proof is in the pudding as they say. (chocolate pudding of course!)

"All I really need is love, but chocolate doesn't hurt!" -Lucy from Charlie Brown

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! Since my sweatheart is out of town, I'll send each of you a hug. XOXOX

Taco Meatball Ring

I made this for dinner last night. It was scrumptious and it looks beautiful too!


Prep: 20 min. Cook: 30 min. Yield: 16 servings

2 C. shredded cheddar cheese, divided 2 TBS water 1 packet taco seasoning
1 lb. ground beef 2 tubes refrigerated cresent rolls 1 med. tomato, chopped
1/2 med. head iceberg lettuce, shredded 4 green onions, sliced
1/2 cup sliced ripe olives 2 jalapeno peppers, sliced sour cream and salsa

In a large bowl combine 1 cup of cheese, water and taco seasoning. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well. Shape into 16 balls.

Place meatballs on a greased rack in a shallow baking pan. Bake uncovered, at 400 degrees for 12 min or until meat is no longer pink. Drain meatballs on paper towels. Reduce heat to 375 degrees.

Arrange crescent rolls on a greased 15 in. pizza pan, forming a ring with pointed ends facing the outer edge of the pan and wide ends overlapping.

Place meatball on each roll, fold point over meatball and tuck under wide end of roll. (Meatball will be visable) Repeat. Bake for 15-20 min. or until rolls are golden brown.

Transfer to a serving platter. Fill the center of the ring with lettuce, tomato, onions, olives, jalapenos, remaining cheese, and sour cream and salsa if desired.

I got this recipe from my Taste of Home magazine. It was so yummy and the kids liked it too.

Going Green Results

Well, after the overwhelming request (Melanie & Shawna) to see the final product. I thought I'd post a couple of pictures.

I ended up with nine bags, which means I can really shop! The bags will fit 2 gallons of milk or lots of other things. They are made out of canvas and are very sturdy. I'd like to thank my mom, my sister and other family members for all of their help.

Going Green

I've seen many reusable shopping bags at the store and I always think that I should get some. It would be better for the environment, and I'd have less plastic bags around. But then what if I'm shopping at Target and I have a Walmart shopping bag? Would I be able to use it there or would I have to buy a Walmart bag to shop there? Then I'd end up with a lot of bags from all the places I shop and it would be too confusing to remember to bring a certain bag with me when I went to a certain store. SO I did nothing. For many months I continued to get the plastic bags. And yes I know that they too can be reused (in bathroom garbage's,etc.), but for the most part I have a lot of plastic garbage sacks accumulating in my cupboard.

Since my Mom was out visiting I thought this would be a great project for her. She is a fantastic sewer and I just happend to have a large quantity of green canvas fabric. She found a pattern online, modified it a little and then got started. Well, maybe I should say that we all got started. There was a lot of "helpers" which probally made the job take a little longer.

Thanks Mom! I've already used them, and love them!

The Magic Quilt

http://themagicquilt.blogspot.com/ This is so wonderful and inspiring!

For those of you that know and love Pat, this quilt is even more amazing. I know that she will feel loved and that her Mom will feel the warmth of this quilt!

So join up! Make a difference! Feel the love people!

Happy Birthday Hunter!

Fabulous, Fantastic Five!!!!!

The best part

Sorry you don't have a scratch and sniff (or lick) computer, because honestly the best part of making fudge is eating it!

Grandma Coral's Fudge

This isn't ordinary marshmallow fluff fudge. This is the real deal. The yummiest stuff ever slaved over a hot stove stuff. My Grandma has been making it since the Depression when she was a girl and wanted a little something chocolaty. It is super yummy, and although I've been trying, nobody makes it the way my Grandma does.

On her recent trip out here she taught me some of the secrets and gave me the recipe. I'm not sure if I'm going to share the recipe (except with sisters of course) BUT I would like the opportunity to practice. So if you live near by and would like to taste the best fudge ever, then just give me a 8X8 or pie pan and I'll fill it up for you. That way I'll get to perfect my fudge skills AND not gain any weight!

Day by Day

What a difference a day makes.

This is how we looked yesterday. O.k. you're probally thinking that its no big deal to be watching t.v. in your pajamas, right? What if I told you that it was 12:30 in the afternoon?

This is how we look today. Awake by 7:00. Everyone dressed and ready to go by 8:30.
Why was I up and at 'em? Well, I took advantage of the free breakfast this morning. It was yummy.

I had a good time with my friends and my kids had fun with theirs. It wasn't too crazy when we got there, but by the time we left it sure was busy. I think that I might have been in a pancake coma, because instead of taking 3 kids home I ended up with 5!Can you imagine 5 carseats? (What will the single mother that just had 8 babies and has 6 more at home drive?) Anyway, we love having friends over to play. It gives me a break from the kids because they are busy playing. Then they are usually tired out and will take a nap later, giving me more free time.

Too bad its laundry day!

Free is always good

In case you haven't heard--all Denny's restaurants across the country are giving away a free Grand Slam breakfast to everyone tomorrow (Tuesday, February 3, 2009) from 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.