12-8-09

TONIGHT'S SUPPER CHILI MAC

Left over pasta and sauce from last night's supper (free)
1 can Hormel Chili with Beans (.33 cents)
1 can Hormel Chili Without Beans (.33 cents)

TOTAL COST FOR MEAL: .66 cents
6 SERVINGS @ .11 cents a serving
(2 serving will go towards Tony's lunch Wednesday and Thursday)

I forgot to add another deal found today.
It was while shopping with mom at Kroger.
I found her a 5# bag of Kroger flour for .79 cents

After school today the kids hand me a birthday party invitation and asked if they could go.
I'm figuring the party is this weekend.
They just got the invitation today at school and it's tonight at 6:30!!
What is wrong with people these days.
They don't seem to have any consideration for others!
No present, no card and no cash on hand to give.
What the heck do you do when they go to the party in about a half hour!
The kids ran to the basement and got a toy of theirs to give the boy.
We do have a supply of toys in our house so that is good.
And the more that find ways to leave is better if you ask me.
It's now 6:00 and it is sleeting out. Good thing this kid lives only two streets away.
I hope we don't get an ice storm on top of wind gusts tonight as that wouldn't be good.
Then I hear a speeding car go down the street.
Sleet on the road equals slippery roads DUH!
Like I said before what is wrong with people!!

Tonight we have a high wind advisory.
Great just what we need during the cold Winter months is another wind storm.
It says wind gusts could get up to 55 mph.
The last time a wind storm hit the pictures on our walls would rattle!
It's not so bad having power outages during the Summer months but I couldn't imagine one during the cold weather with no heat and what the wind chill might be.
I guess we should consider ourselves lucky as some states are experiencing blizzard conditions.
But hey we had one of those here a couple years ago also.
We lived at Tony's work so that was nice he didn't have to drive but across the parking lot to go clock in and had free access to a snow plow from the company!
I didn't have to worry about him driving in traffic.

Mom experienced a power outage years ago where she lost power in an ice storm for almost a week.
She came and stayed with us during that time and it was during Christmas.
Gotta love Ohio weather since you get to experience it all in one place!
Can I interest you in a recap of the wind storm with up to 75 mph winds at times.
Constant non stop winds!
It was 9-13/14-09
No stores or gas stations open.
No ice available anywhere.
Had to throw out entire refrigerator contents along with 2 stocked freezers!
When stores did open most of Columbus residents did not have power.
That will be a shopping trip I will always remember.
Try shopping for food to make meals knowing you have no stove, oven, microwave, can openers or any appliances to heat things or open things with. No place to store food that needs chilled because ice was in high demand. It's Summer time and if you wanted something cold to drink you couldn't run down to the convenience store to get a cold pop with no power.
You had water out of the faucet or other things that were room temperature.
It was interesting. The kids just started back to school and had already used up 4 out of 5 school
"snow" days and it was still Summer time.
At least they were able to play outside because they would go crazy not being able to watch tv or have the luxuries that come with electricity.
We would go to bed early because of no lights.
We read books by candle light to entertain ourselves.
We played board games.
Kids now a days are soo spoiled.
You would go to bed in complete silence. No fans or air conditioner running.
You could hear the winds whistling outside and would stay up half the night wondering what tree would fall next and would hope it would miss your house and cars.
Power lines would snap like toothpicks causing fires.
You felt like you were in your own little world fending for yourself.
You had no way to know what was going on around you unless you got out and drove around. I would at noon turn the radio on in the truck to listen to the news.
But now you cannot even do that due to all this digital crap.
It took I think 3 nights and 4 days to get our power restored. The lady directly beside us was without power for a week and had to go stay with her daughter.
Driving at night was fun. You think you know where all the traffic lights are until there is a black out. Try driving with no lights anywhere, street lights, traffic lights, lights from houses, stores, NOTHING.
It was eerie!!
People had no clue.
They didn't not know how to come to a main intersection and treat it as a four way stop. It was literally a challenge to drive anywhere. Plus you had to watch out for downed trees and power lines in or around the roadways.

Last year's videos.
WIND STORM 08VIDEO #1
WIND STORM 08 VIDEO #2
BLIZZARD 08

Everyone should have a list of what to do in case of an emergency.
In this situation of the wind storm from last year
I had a hard time figuring out what to make or buy for us to eat.

SO HERE IS A CHALLENGE FOR YOU:
to figure out a list of meals to buy from the store
when you have no way to heat them,
no hot water,
no can openers,
no ice,
and no way to store leftovers or refrigerated items.
What can you come up with to put on this list???
I would like to keep a list in my one cookbook in case this ever happens again!

bread
peanut butter or nutter butter
canned vienna sausages or other canned meats
that has a pull tab top
ramen noodles soaked in water eaten cold
juice pouches
tuna fish with crackers snack/lunch pack
cold soup from cans with pull tabs
dry cereal
pop tarts
dry milk powder
nuts, crackers, potato chips, cookies (snacks)

12-8-09 DEALS OF THE DAY

Still doing some small Christmas shopping.
Today we visited the dollar type stores like Dollar Tree and General Dollar.

A month and a half after Halloween almost and I am still finding Halloween mark downs!
Dollar General had Halloween items marked down to 90% off!!
I grabbed some things to stock up for next year.
4 plastic creature packs and (.10 cents each)
4 packages of treat bags (20 in each) (.10 cents each)
for next years classroom parties at school.
2 safety Halloween blinking pumpkin light necklaces, (.10 cents each)
2 packs of Skull stakes, (.10 cents each)
2 packs of ghost stakes, (.10 cents each)
2 packs of hanging skulls, (.10 cents each)
a spooky skeleton window cover, (.10 cents)
2 bags of Toy Story candy, (.10 cents each)
1 bag Marvel Heroes candy sticks (.10 cents)
and
3 bags Gummy Body Parts Candy. (.20 cents each)

The candy will be used for stocking stuffers for Christmas.
(a total cost of .90 cents for 6 bags of candy for 3 boys!!)

TOTAL PRICE BEFORE MARKDOWN: $23.00
I PAID: $2.30
A SAVINGS OF $20.70

SUPPER 12-7-09 & DEAL OF THE DAY

My Deal of the Day!
Found a Meijer Catalina coupon I had for $2.00 off your next order
in my purse. It expires tomorrow so figured better use it while I can.
Had to go to post office with mom which is next door to Meijer so stopped in along the way.

4 two liters of Sprite Zero
$1.00 x's 4 is $4.00
minus the $2.00 catalina coupon
is now $2.00
minus a hang tag coupon for $1.00 off 4 bottles of Sprite
TOTAL: $1.00 for 4 bottles or .25 cents each.
Even the cashier made a comment
"I wish I could buy 2 liters of pop for a quarter each"

Here is an example of not following a recipe exactly and using
what you have on hand.
Tonight's supper was originally called Chicken Parmesana
BUT...
Don't have chicken thawed out only pork chops
Don't have spaghetti only penne pasta.

So I will call it Pork Chop Parmesana!

3 large pork chops (free)
1 large can spaghetti sauce (.99 cents Big Lots)
1/2 package (4 ounces) sliced mushroom (.50 cents manager special)
1/2 large can Hunt's whole tomatoes, cut up (.25 cents Big Lots)
1/4 cup Parmesan grated cheese (.24 cents Kroger)
16 ounces Barilla mini penne pasta (.50 cents)
12 Dinner Rolls 1/2 pack (.50 cents manager special)
(1.5 rolls for each person)

Pour spaghetti sauce in crock pot. Stir in mushrooms
and cut up tomatoes.
Put in pork chops and coat with sauce.
Cook on high for about 4 hours.

Boil pasta in pot according to package directions, drain and add butter.

Place pasta and pork chops on plate.
Spoon sauce over top and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
Serve with buttered dinner rolls.

TOTAL COST FOR MEAL: $2.73
makes roughly 4 servings @ .68 cents a serving
(kids each had 1/2 of a pork chop)
With plenty of leftovers on top of the 4 servings to make another supper!

Mixed remaining sauce and pasta and reserved it for tomorrow's supper of
Chili Mac!

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING & MISC. 12-7-09

My head is spinning thinking about spending money for Christmas.
I am trying to choose gifts wisely and be very practical with them.
But shopping can be very stressful and make you tired with many aches and pains.
Kids have so many toys and I told them this year that along with their so called toy wish list they also need to make a practical gift list.
They asked what practical meant and I told them something that gets used almost everyday.

Jonathan would crawl into bed with me in the evenings and watch tv. I don't have an electric blanket but I do use a heating pad at night.
He loves that warm feeling and said it would be great if they could make heated beds.
I came sooo close to finding a heated mattress pad at the thrift store for $5 for him.
But me and mom plugged it in and couldn't get it to heat up.
I was so bummed!
That would have been a perfect gift for him!
I will keep on looking though!

Christopher thinks Santa is bringing him a "new" bed.
So I checked to see if the thrift store still had the twin bed from last week.
It was gone! But in my mind I knew it would be.

Today I felt like I had stuck out twice with two great gifts for Christmas.
Then Kendra calls up to say she has an extra twin mattress that I could have!!
She's a lifesaver because I didn't know where else to look especially before Christmas!
So Christopher will be getting his "new" mattress for Christmas thanks to one of Santa's elves.

I have been thinking about redoing Christopher's room.
I just redid Jonathan's room with a new paint job and border in a baseball and sport's theme.
Cost me all of around $10 to do and it looks more warm and inviting in there with some color on the walls.
I'm including before and after photos of his room.
Jonathan wasn't really using his room before and it became a storage room
during the Summer months as he liked to camp out in the living room or his brother's room.
Now he LOVES his room and uses it all the time!
2 gallons of paint was $8 and 6 wallpaper borders $2 from Habitat for Humanity.
I also picked up some NASCAR border when there for $1.00.
If you bought one roll you got 2 free!

When organizing my storage room I found some NASCAR curtains. And I know we have NASCAR pillows, pillow cases and a comforter somewhere to turn his room into a racing theme. I also have NASCAR wallpaper border.

So maybe another Christmas present for Christopher would be to gather up all this NASCAR stuff and put it in a box as a gift and add a letter to say his room will me next to get a makeover.
Maybe I could find more NASCAR posters and such for decorations and to give him as gifts.

I'm just trying to be creative with the gift giving this year.
Mattress- practical
Bedroom makeover for cheap with bedding and curtains-Practical

I'm not looking forward to painting and wallpaper border again.
But to make things cheap you have to do it yourself!

MORE HASBRO COUPONS

This is a continuation of what I wrote earlier about Hasbro Games.

In the USA Weekend is 2 coupons for
$10 off Scrabble Diamond
and
$5.00 off Boggle
These are Hasbro Games!

Toys R US and Hasbro has a rebate form for many games
Many for $2 to $3 refund on each one!
So add that to the $5 and $10 off coupons to save even more money!

HERE ARE ADDITIONAL PRINTABLE COUPONS
FOUND FOR MORE HASBRO GAMES:

$5.00 off Game Of Things

$5.00 off Clue: Secret And Spies

$5.00 off Guesstures

$5.00 off Pictureka Flip

$5.00 off Cranium With Bonus Family Pack

$5.00 off Connect 4 x 4

ANOTHER FUNNY PHOTO

Yes.
That is correct.
Your eyes do not deceive you.
It is a gigantic crocheted hamburger dress.
All I know is, somewhere out there the Hamburglar is totally aroused and doesn't know why.


from Alarm Clock Catastrophe Blog.

SUNDAY DISPATCH 12-6-09

I just picked and chose some good deals.
Some have coupons
while others may have rebates.
I have not gone through all my coupons.
The coupons I found were the ones I had already filed.

In the USA Weekend is 2 coupons for
$10 off Scrabble Diamond
and
$5.00 off Boggle
These are Hasbro Games!

Toys R US and Hasbro has a rebate form for many games
Many for $2 to $3 refund on each one!
So add that to the $5 and $10 off coupons to save even more money!

_______________________________

ALDI

$1.49 gallon Milk
.95 cents Brown or Powdered Sugar
$1.29 Semi Sweet, Milk or White Chocolate Chips, Butterscotch Chips
$1.49 Sweet Cream Butter Quarters
$1.99 Vegetable Oil
.49 cent 3 pound bag of onions
$1.49 10 pound bag Russet Potatoes
$1.49 4 pound bag Navel Oranges
$1.99 5 pound bag Grapefruit
______________________

KROGER

$1.00 Pillsbury Grands Biscuits, Crescents or Cinnamon Rolls
(coup for .60 cents off 2 Grands Biscuits makes them .70 cents each)
(coup for $1.00 of 2 Crescent Rolls makes them .50 cents each)

$1.00 4 pack Angel Soft Toilet Paper

$1.00 Delmonte Fruit
(coup for $1.00 off 3 makes them .67 cents each)

$2.50 Jimmy Dean Full Cooked Sausage
(coup for $1.00 off makes it $1.50 each)
If you buy 2 packages with 2 coupons for $3.00
you get a Dozen Kroger Eggs FREE
Limit 1 per transaction.

$2.19 Country Crock 30 to 45 ounce Tub
(coup for .60 cents off makes it $1.59)

$2.99 Kroger Self Rising Frozen Pizzas

.84 cents Sierra Mist 2 liter bottle
(hang tag coupon for $1.00 off 3 makes it .51 cents each)

_______________________________

MEIJER

$1.00 Sprite 2 liter bottle
(hang tag coupon for $1.00 off 4 bottles makes it .75 cents each)

$1.25 Progresso Soups select varieties
(coupon for $1.00 off any Progresso Soups makes it .75 cents each)
(coupon for .50 cents off Progresso Light Soupons makes them .75 cents each)


_______________________________

WALGREENS

Nabisco, Triscuit and Wheat Thins
Sale 2 for $4.00

Buy $10 worth of Nabisco crackers at Walgreens
and receive a checkout coupon for $3.00 of your next order.
There are coupons out there for these crackers
I think both printable and paper.
There is also a $20 rebate for when you buy
10 Nabisco Crackers and/or cookies
10 Capri Sun Drink pouches
and 5 Easy Macs.

Save $20 WYB any 10 Nabisco cookies and crackers, 5 beverages (CapriSun and Kool-Aid Jammers) and 5 Easy Mac Single Cups.
*
BUY: Any 10 Participating Nabsico Cookies and Crackers (4.0oz - 28.0 oz) AND Any 5 Kraft Beverage Products AND any 5 Participating Easy Mac Single Cups (2.05 oz - 4.2 oz)
*
SEND: Original, store-identified Cash register receipts dated between 7/1/09 and 12/31/09 with date(s) and price(s) of all 20 items from the participating products (full list available at www.kraftbacktoschool.com) circled.
*
MAIL TO: Kraft 2009 BTS Rebate, Offer 511-1, PO Box 751644, El Paso, TX 88575-1644
*
RECEIVE: One $20.00 Rebate Check
*
Requests must be received by 1/15/10. Allow 6 to 8 weeks for shipment. Limit one request per family or address. Offer good in USA, its territories and military addresses. Void where taxed, restricted or prohibited. Proofs-of-purchase submitted by clubs or organizations will not be honored or returned. Limit one Offer Form per envelope. Requests must be forwarded in an envelope with sufficient first class postage. Retailers of Kraft Foods products are excluded. Kraft Foods reserves the right to verify identification. No name and address labels accepted. Theft, diversion, reproduction, transfer, sale or purchase of this Offer Form, proofs-of-purchase, or cash register receipts are prohibited and constitute fraud. Fradulant submissions could result in federal prosecution under the US Mail Fraud Statutes.

_________________________

ADDITIONAL REBATE FORMS

AND PRINTABLE COUPONS

Campbells

Eat Better America

Box Tops For Education

Pillsbury

Very Best Baking

Rebate Place