Saturday, December 31, 2011

Target Deals and Clearance

I finally made it to Target today.  I was planning on going on both Thursday and Friday, but it was not to be.  Yesterday my daughter accidently took my car keys in the pocket of the coat we both like to wear from time to time.   I needed to stock up on a few household essentials and Christma clearance is now 70% off.  It is kind of picked over at our store, but I didnt need much anyway.       I did like this Charmin deal.  Charmin Sensitive on sale for $10.60 each.  There is also a $1 Proctor ang Gamble coupon that I accidently left at home.  You get back a $5 gift card when you buy two AND there are $22 worth of P & G coupons in each package.  It was like $8.10 when you add in the gift card. Had I had my coupon it would have been only $7.60.  I am not sure if this deal was just for this week, or for awhile longer. 


Here are some of the great food and baking deals I found in the Christmas/candy section.

Chocolate Peppermint popcorn 70% for only $1.49
Cupcake set with 6 tree silicone baking cups 70% off for only $2.99
2 boxes of Wonka candy canes for .74 each plus I had a $1.50 off 2 coupon for they were FREE
2 Wilton Red Frosting (can use for Valentines) 50% for only $1.37 each
2 Wonka candy bars for $1.74 each.  I had two $1 coupons that expire today, final price .74 ea


5 plastic goblets to use tonight for 70% off at .89 each
Mistletoe kissing ball 70% of for $2.70
2 bird ornaments 70% for .60 each
3 Christmas themed tees 70% off for only $2.40 each
Cat pastry gift set 70% off for $1.49 ($ well spent, see pic below)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on sale for only $4.49  (50% off)
Clorox 2 laundry pen on price cut for $1.75, I used a $1.50 coupon from the Clorox website, final price. 25


Coke Buy 4 get 1 free deal.  On sale for $1.25 each, plus I had two .99 Coke Zero coupons.  Final price $3.02 for 5 or .60 each.
Large candy cane filled with red licorice that I can use for Valentines Day for 70% at $2.99
White star garland to use tonight for 70% for  $1.20
5 packs of snowflake ornaments to use for a Snow Day Party for 70% at .30 each.


There were a few other household items I needed to buy such as containers, garbage bags, vitamins, feminine products, cat litter.  On todays trip I saved $131 and used $8.73 in coupons.  At the register I got a coupon for a FREE box of John Frieda hair color and a $5 gift card for buying the charmin.


The kitties LOVED their cat toys.  All 3 of them immediately started playing.  Good thing there were 6 toys!
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Last day for this YEARS coupons

Today is not only the last day of the month to print those last minute coupons, but the last day of the year.  If you resolve to save more money in the new year, coupons is one way to make that happen.    I am going to print mine.  So far this month coupons have saved me $289 at my favorite grocery stores, Target, drug stores and resturaunts.  
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Friday, December 30, 2011

Last Minute NYE Ideas-Appetizers

Spinach cheese balls from BettyCrocker.com


We have actually made pickles in the blanket before, and really liked it.  You can find this recipe at Familyfun.com


Nacho pinwheels from pillsbury.com
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Last Minute NYE Ideas- Countdown Bags


If you are looking for some last minute ideas, I really like this one from Hoosier Homemade. She made countdown bags and filled them with dollar store goodies for her kids. It helped her kids tell time and has since become a family tradition. Read more about the countdown bags here on HoosierHomemade.com

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It always seems to take more time...

I had what I thought was a pretty reasonable to do list today and enough time to do it.   Seems that was not the case. 


Meet friends and their kids for the 10:50 showing of Muppets
Stop at library to pick up 2 things
Go to Staples and buy ink (use $16 in Staples rewards)
Go to the bank
Stop at the dollar store for last minute New Year Eve stuff for blog
Go to Meijer 
Work on a project for the blog


This is how my day ended up going..






The Muppets Poster

We did go to the Muppets and absolutely loved it.   I met up with a bunch of my friends from womens group. One of those friends also has 3 kids. Her oldest daughter is really good friends with my youngest daughter. She has also 6 yr old (as of today) twins.  Two of my kids went, the third decided this  morning she did not want to get up to go to a late morning movie.  We left the theater around 1. 






I did stop at Staples to pick up ink because it was right next to the theater.  My really quick stop lasted about 10 minutes longer than planned because there was a really long line and only 2 registers open, both who seemed to be taking care of returns or something to that effect. 



We did stop at the library, also near the theater and Staples.   The two things we were hoping to get were a copy of the To Kill a Mockingbird movie that my oldest needs for a project, and  Cabin Fever the newest Diary of  Wimpy Kid book.  My middle child needs to read an AR book over break since he was sick the last few days school was in session.  The library took much longer than planned.  According to the computer, the library had 2 copies of the movie.  One was checked out and due back today. (12/29)  The other copy  was M.I.A.  A nice girl who worked there tried to help me find it and she couldnt find it either.   I had to put a hold on the movie, so I can hopefully pick it up tomorrow if it came back on time.  My son was upset because every single copy of Cabin Fever is checked out and have holds on them, so no book for him.  We left the library empty handed about 30 minutes after arriving. 

I decided to skip going to the Dollar Tree.




Its now about 2 pm and the kids (2 of mine,  plus my friends oldest daughter) tell me they are starving and they need to eat now. Since Taco Bell is nearby, I decide to pick up the $10 12 pack of tacos.   I ended up accidently turning the wrong way out of the library and spend several minutes turning around and going the right way in what seems like traffic right before Christmas (very busy!)

I decide to skip going to the bank. 

 My friends daughter informs me that she is capable of eatting 5 tacos.  I tell her that since 5 of us are eatting, she could have 2 and maybe a part of one of the extras.   Once we get home and start eatting, the girls lose interest after only 1 taco each and disappear upstairs.    It is now going on 3. 

I spend the next 2 hours checking email, helping my teen with some of her online work she is doing for  a couple of classes and basically get very little done that I need to get done. It is now about 5.

I hit my gift closet for a couple of gifts I want to wrap for the twins.  I also start matching coupons to my grocery list for our trip to Meijer.   We leave for my friends house around 6 to take her daughter home and to give presents to the twins. 

The plan is to stay 15-20 minutes, give the twins their gifts, and then head to the store.  That is not what actualy happpened.    As soon as we arrive, Kara and her friend disappear in Ks bedroom.  My friend offers me pizza they had picked up for dinner, and we end up talking for an hour.   The twins open their presents, and I tell Kara only 10 more minutes.  10 minutes turn into another hour. 




We finally arrive at Meijer at 8:15. Kara is complaining about her ankle really hurting and asks if we can come back tomorrow.  I tell her no, because it is going to be a madhouse tomorrrow with people getting ready for NYE.   Shopping after 8 ended up being nice because it was not that crowded at all tonight.  Kara ended up climbing into the cart because  she was begging, and I was too tired to deal with her whining about her ankle hurting. (that was caused when she fought with her brother over the couch)   She is WAY TOO BIG, but sometimes you just do what you go to do to get things done.  I informed her that she would be covered in groceries if she didn't walk.  Even though I had a medium size list and the crowd was tolerable, it still seemed to take me over an hour to get my groceries.  It didn't help that half the cart was taken up by kid.   We check out about 9:45 and get home a little bit before 10.   After unloading, scanning my groceries for NCP and putting them away, I decide to skip making the project I had planned for my blog.  I get on the computer at 11 pm, with only half of my days list complete.

Tomorrow is another day.  I do have another to do list.  Hopefully I will make it to Target, the bank, the Dollar Tree and the pet store.   We will see if it actually gets completed!

(I posted pics, but for some reason they are not showing up right now.)
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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Kid Friendly New Year's Eve

Do you like to go to glitzy adult parties or do you find yourself celebrating with friends, family, a  and lot of kids.    We normally have small family celebrations at our house, with food that everyone wants to eat, and a few other fun goodies.    I have found some great ideas that will help make your New Years Eve  a memorable night, and will keep the entire family involved. 


Edible Party Hats from FamilyFun.com


                                                     Bubbly Jello fromFamilyFun.com




                                          Decorate crazy party hats from FamilyFun.com

                                Make noise makers from water bottles from crafts.kaboose.com


                                                  New Year Ball #1 from crafts.kaboose.com


                                               New Year Ball #2 from crafts.kaboose.com


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Save Money in New Year





If one of your resolutions is to save money in the new year, you will be printing more coupons. Matching coupons to sales is the best way to maximize your savings. January is a great time to buy vitamins and healthy foods. There will be sales on many of those types of items.
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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Edible Horns by Hungry Happenings

Since I have not  yet had to think much about New Years Eve, I thought I would feature a fun tutorial from Hungry Happenings. Beth has so many great ideas, including this one on how to make your own edible horns.   They are so colorful and fun.  Check out Beth's tutorial on Hungry Happenings here.
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Top 10 in 2011

The New Year is always a time of reflection.  I started my blog on Blogger  around Feb 1, 2011.  I had been blogging for about year on another site called Weebly to a very small group of people.  I was only getting my feet wet, because  there was so much I did not know. I did not yet know about the world of linky parties.  I did not know about Google Connect.   I did not know about all the great features that were available to bloggers such as Pinterest, having a blog Facebook page, and Twitter. 

In the past year, I have learned so much.  I have gone from  a couple hundread of pageviews a month on my old site, to an average of 16,000 a month on Blogger.  My tutorials have been featured 53 times, so I am guessing there are people out there who like what I do.    I want to say thank you to all of my followers who have stuck with me through  this past  year.  I hope to continue to learn, so I can make this blog better and better.   

One thing I love about Blogger is how easy it is to see my most viewed posts.  Here were my top 10 posts  in 2011.


#10 Mini Fritatas







# 9 Angry Birds in My Lunch




#8 Are You Ready For Some Football?



#7 Addicted to Angry Birds




#6 Teacher Gift Idea

 

#5 Angry Bird Inspiration (noticing a theme here?)




#4  Pepperoni Pizza Casserole




#3 Bunny Treat Boxes



#2 Easter Cake Pops




and #1 Crabby Sandwiches

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Tis the Season

Sick Little Girl In Bed Clipart Image


In addition to all of the holiday festivities of the last few days, all 3 of our children have been sick.  It started before Christmas when one of them came down with a fever. That fever pretty much did not go away for about 3 days.  Then the running nose started.   The second child luckily spared the best. This child had a headache on and off, and an occasional sore throat. After some extra rest, seemed to be just fine. The third child, was not so lucky.  During the afternoon on Christmas Day, they said they were not feeling that great.  They laid down to take a nap.  They seemed well enough at dinner time to eat some Christmas dinner, but then went back to lay down.  A few hours later, I was summoned.  That child  was throwing up.  Bah Humbug! I tend to have a weak stomach when it comes to that.  That poor child was not feeling well all day yesterday and is sleeping in this morning.  Some of the crafts and treats that we had planned to make, have been postponed.  Some of the festivities and activities have been cut back.  New Year's Eve is in a few days, and I haven't even thought about it yet.  It looks to be  a simple family affair this year, hopefully with everyone well. 
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Monday, December 26, 2011

Cold Crab Dip



I had to stop the family from eating this so I could take a picture. 

I made cold creamy crab dip that my family liked so much, I thought I would share it here.   It would be good to serve for guests this weekend and for next weekend's New Years Eve parties.  

To make this dip you only need a handful of ingredients:
a 8 oz block of cream cheese
about a cup of  sour cream
dried minced onion (or real onion if you prefer)
a package of crab or imitation crab.  (I used Louis Kemp from the seafood section, that I bought on sale from Meijer recently)

I opened the package of crab in a mixing bowl and cut the large pieces into much smaller pieces
I added about a half container of sour cream.  I did not measure it, just eyeballed it. 
I cut up the cream cheese into cubes and added it to the bowl.
I sprinkled in some onion.  I did not measure, again just added 3 or 4 shakes.
Stir the mixture together
I then added the mixture to my blender.  I have a bullet which is not that big, so I could not blend it all at once.
Place in a serving bowl and serve with your favorite bread or crackers. We ate it on a loaf of Italian bread. 
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Saturday, December 24, 2011

Merry Christmas Everyone!


The real reason for the season



It's Buddy's last day here.  He too, wanted honor baby Jesus. 





Kyle tracking Santa's progress.  Who knew Santa could give a geography lesson.  We learned about a few countries we knew nothing about. 



We made a  few last minute cookies.  We always give Santa frosted sugar cookies. Normally we are not working on them so last minute, as we are this year.  We made also made some Chocolate dipped Nutter Butter reindeer and snowman cookies.  Kara felt we should give Santa a snowman instead of a reindeer cookie, because she doesnt want to tramatize the reindeer.  LOL!



                                                                Merry Christmas Everyone!



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