1-30-11

12:15PM

Housework and laundry day.

I redid my Lips cupcake and got it submitted.
I added an extra jelly bean tooth
and redid the bottom lip.

I already have an idea for
my next cupcake, lol.

Kissy Lips Cupcake
We decided against getting
the stove today.
Sounds like too much work
with moving and loading
especially with Tony's knee and
leg that's still in the healing process.

Was vacuuming and decided to
vacuum out some vents.
I removed the register cover
and decided to peek up under the
carpet the best I could.
We do have hardwood floors!!
You don't know how bad I want
to rip up this carpet. It shows all
the dirt and stains and I get so tired
of steam cleaning it.
And also there's the dust and dirt
that accumulates in carpet
that can't be good for people's health
and any breathing problems.

Now the next question is this.
Do you risk ripping out all the carpet
and finding out the floors are damaged?
Because having to sand, restain
and top coat wood floors might be expensive.

----------------------------

2:30pm

People wonder why I give up housecleaning
so easy. 5 minutes after I had the living
room spotless it looked like
a tornado went through it
because of kids & their friends
GRRRRR.
Thank goodness lunch was almost
done because I shooed them all outside.

Even the gerbils were getting in
on the action of messing the place up.
I no sooner vacuumed their
area from where they flipped
bedding out of their cage.
They have chewed through the
screen I put on the cage so
that idea no longer worked.
I went to return the cage to it's
spot only to see more bedding
all over the floor and table. Grrr.
I fixed that once and for all
and put them in a glass fish tank!
Had to rig the water bottle
and wheel to work in it.
I found suction cups and used
that on the wheel to hang from
the side.
..
-----------------------------------

Late lunch
2:45pm

Whole grain brown rice (.94 cents) topped
with sweet and sour popcorn chicken (.99 cents),
sauce was free (pineapple & red bell peppers)

So $1.93 for 4 lunches
@ .48 cents a serving.

-------------------------------------

4:25pm

Papa's been working on getting
his car put back together.
Got the same tires put back on
and new brakes put on.


Mama's been working on
getting the laundry finished.

I really don't have any plans to
go grocery shopping this week.
If I do it'll only be for
milk or pop and whatever
manager specials I find.

I'm so glad the sun decided
to make an appearance today.
Sure makes the day go by better
even though it is reflecting
off of snow.


---------------------------------

6:00pm

Supper
Spaghetti,
Garlic Bread &
Stuffed mushrooms.
Double batch.
One for supper, one for freezer.
No recipe, just stuff I threw
together that I had on hand
or leftovers of.

Whole grain Spaghetti $1.00
I drained the juice, from
the large can of whole tomatoes
I put into the sauce, into
the water I boiled the spaghetti in.
..
6 large mushrooms $1.69
leftover smoked salmon cheese- free
4 ounces fat free cream cheese- .50 cents
leftover horseradish in jar- free
2 tablespoons olive oil may0- free
1/4 cup shredded sharp cheese- .20 cents
4 slices pre cooked bacon, chopped- .20 cents
Tops rolled in wheat bread crumbs
with paprika- Free

Spaghetti sauce

Can of 4 cheese spaghetti sauce- $1.00
1 large can tomatoes- .49 cents
1 large can crushed tomatoes- .49 cents
mushroom leftovers that were
scooped out to make stuffed mushrooms- free
leftover 1/2 onion, diced- free
1/4 cup diced green bell peppers- .10 cents
couple tablespoons splenda- .05 cents
Mrs. Dash seasoning

parmesaen cheese- .25 cents

Garlic Bread

1/2 loaf from bakery
with butter and garlic already on it.- .64 cents
Other half put in freezer
for the other freezer spaghetti meal.

Total Cost for 2 meals, 10 servings
(includes 2 packed lunches)

$5.97
10 servings @ .59 cents a serving

----------------------------------

.
Household Tip

For those of you who may use
Damp Rid in your basements to
remove moisture or for those
who can't afford to constantly
run a dehumidifier:

Damp Rid is calcium chloride, the same stuff that's used to melt ice in the winter. Save yourself some money. Buy a bag of calcium choride packaged for melting ice, and use your own plastic bucket.

If I remember correctly, the 4 or 5 pound bucket of Damp rid is around 10 dollars. Whereas, you can by a 50 pound back of calcium cloride for $25.00


I priced DampRid at Lowes
and it costs $5.75 for 2.
Total weight was a little over 2.5 pounds.
Says it lasts up to 45 days.
To buy an equivalent of 50 pounds
worth of this stuff would
cost $115 so I would
use the calcium chloride for sure!

I'm gonna have to remember this
idea because that's what we use
on our driveway and walks
and what my honey uses at work.
It would be much cheaper than
running a dehumidifier.

-------------------------------------

1-29-11

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TONY

----------------------------------------

I plan on making ice cream cupcakes
sprinkled with crumbled up Butterfingers.
Birthday dinner:
Take out Long John Silvers fish fillets,
hush puppies, coleslaw and
homemade mac n cheese.

----------------------------------

Fun Stuff

Easter Egg Tree

Here we have a photo, taken by Jens Meyer, of Volker Kraft decorating a tree with 9,200 Easter eggs in his garden in the ancient town of Saalfeld in Germany. Will and Guy can tell you that the Kraft family have decorated their tree with Easter eggs for over 40 years.

---------------------------------------------

Have a cupcake and a smile.
My newest jelly bean cupcake.
----------------------------

3:40pm


My ice cream cupcakes.
I placed a tablespoon of cake mix
into each cupcake wrapper
baked 325 degrees for 10 minutes.
Allowed to cool down some.
Spoon ice cream, that has been
softened by sitting on the counter for a bit,
into the remaining space in the cupcake
wrapper. Wrappers will start to pull apart from sides
of cupcakes because of the ice cream so when
putting in freezer on a cookie sheet make sure
they are snugged up against one another.
Put into freezer until hardened.
Remove from freezer and put frosting
on top. Smack one regular Butterfinger candy
bar on the counter a few times to
crumble into pieces. Open and pour into a
small bowl. Sprinkle over tops
of cupcakes.

These cupcakes are made from
sugar free cake mix and frosting.
Be careful not to eat too much
candy or confections that are sugar free
as they can have a laxative affect!!

---------------------------

Today I got 8 packages FREE of
Butterfinger Snackerz at Kroger
with the coupons I mentioned yesterday!!

----------------------------

Tony found a black smooth top
stove for sale for only $35 obo.
I like obo's because you
know ahead of time they will take less
so don't offer full price when wheelin
and dealin!
It's about 5 years old.
Supposed to go tomorrow
to look at it. We thought maybe
something was wrong with it for that price
but when we asked, they said no,
the only reason they are getting rid
of it is because the house they just
bought had gas and this is electric.
The guy said they paid $700
for it when new.
Will be going over it with
a fine tooth comb at that price!
But it looks nice anyway
and you really can't beat that price.
I told Tony if we get this stove
then consider it his birthday
present, lol. I didn't get him
anything for his birthday
other than the cupcakes.
I had told him to pick something
out that he wanted within reason.
So we will see tomorrow
and I will get back to ya to let
you know.

-------------------------------------

Why do credit card companies
have to be soooooooo annoying??!!
We have a card that we don't use anymore,
haven't used in many years,
and have been trying to pay off
the small amount owed on it.
I have been paying it every
month, on time, for a long time now.
I got a couple days, literally, behind
with getting that bill sent out
because Tony was in the hospital.
And I'll be damned if they
called 11 TIMES in 3 1/2 days!!

From the 27th of this month
to the 29 it was 9 TIMES!!
And ya wanna know the kicker
to this story?
I just checked my bank account
and the check cleared on the 27th,
three days after I sent it!!

6:45pm

Just got home from the birthday
dinner at mom's. No sooner
got through the door and
the phone was ringing again.
It was the credit card company
calling yet again!!
I had Tony answer it. It's always
a foreign person who you can
barely understand.
She was going on and on
and Tony tried to tell her
to stop talking to explain himself.
She wouldn't so he finally got pissed
and said in a loud voice, "I don't
know why you keep calling and
harassing us, we checked our checking
account today and your payment
cleared the bank on the 27th.
STOP CALLING HERE!!"
and then he hung up on her.
So I wonder if they will call more tomorrow.
I've about had enough of them!

---------------------------

10:55pm

I just submitted another
Jelly Belly Bean creation of mine.

Easter Egg Tree

1-28-11

10:30am


Just got done throwing some
beef stew in the crock pot.
I did a triple batch, one for supper
and two for the freezer.

2 pounds stew meat $3.11
1 small onion .10 cents
2 boxes green giant frozen carrots slices $1.00
3 potatoes diced .25 cents
2 jars beef gravy $1.78
couple tablespoons steak sauce .10 cents
Mrs. Dash seasoning
pepper

Then will make mushroom rice
to serve beef stew over to stretch it out
even more.
2 pkgs mushroom rice $2.00

Total cost: $8.34
3 meals, about 12 servings
@ .69 cents per serving.

------------------------------------

2:45pm

Well I finally got around to making
some more laundry soap.
I still have about 2 gallons left of
the last batch.
So I will let you know when I run
out of that before using the newer
detergent that I just made.

If you recall, I made the last batch
October 20th and it only
costs $1.25 per bucket to make!!
I'm gonna guess and say, with the
remaining detergent I have, that
this bucket of laundry soap will
have lasted me 4 months.
I think I have another 3 weeks left
with the remaining detergent,
maybe more but I am only guessing.

It is so easy to make your own detergent
and doesn't take long to do!

This is especially good for those
who have sensitive skin and can't
deal with store bought detergents
with all the colorings and scents added in.

People ask me how this ends up being
so cheap to make when the boxes
of Arm & Hammer washing soda
and Borax can be a little costly
at $3-$5 a box,
Zote costs about $1.00 to $1.20 a bar
and lasts for 3 batches,
and I use Dollar Store brand
Oxy Clean for another $1.00.

For each batch you are only using
1 cup of Arm & Hammer
1/2 cup Borax
1/3 bar Zote
and about 1/2 cup Oxy Clean

I still have almost full boxes
of everything after making
an 8 month supply of detergent!!
Other than buying more Zote
and Oxy Clean, the most expensive
items should make me MANY
batches of laundry detergent
and last me at least a couple years!!

I recycle old detergent bottles
and refill them with my homemade.
Much easier to move around
than a 5 gallon bucket.

NOTE: No toes were harmed in the making of this detergent, LOL.

For those of you who missed it,
I dropped a laundry bucket on my toe
while making my last batch.
It got infected really bad to the
point of having to have my toe nail
removed. And while dealing with
that severe infection (staph & impetigo)
I caught the
stomach virus. When combining
the two, it wasn't good and I ended
up in the ER.
So of course I had all this on my
mind while making my newest
batch and was a little nervous.
Who knew making laundry detergent
could be hazardous to your health, LOL!

-------------------------------

5:15pm

Supper
Beef stew over mushroom rice.
----------------------------------

Butterfinger Snackerz
$1.00 off 2 coupon
use zip code 23462
to find two coupons,
be sure to print 2 of each
for a total of 8 Snackerz.
I can usually find these on sale
at Kroger for .50 cents
so it would make these
FREE with coupons.

I plan to crush up butterfingers
and sprinkle them over top
of Tony's birthday cake tomorrow.
It's a sugar free cake and icing.
I don't think it would hurt
to have a little sweet on it.
It wouldn't be like eating a whole
or even a half of a candy bar
per slice.
Tomorrow I need to get some
no sugar added ice cream
or one that's made with Splenda.
Want to make an ice cream cake.

--------------------------------

Money saving tip

Pants too tight around the waist?
Cut the outside seam of the legs open
all the way up to the waist and add wide
ribbon or fabric strips to the sides
and sew back up.
I think this would be pretty
if you added lace.


I like to think of ways I could change
my wardrobe. Here's a cute thing
I found to do with a box of pants
I have from a move out at
my honey's work.
So it wouldn't hurt to tinker
with freebies.
I've even seen shorts
made like this as well.
Something different.

.

1-27-11

12:00-3:45pm

Took mom and myself to the dentist
and we both got adjustments done
on our teeth.
It was an almost 2 hour wait in the
dentist office. They said they had a
situation come up and that's the
reason for the wait.

After leaving mom wanted to stop
in Kroger.
I grabbed a couple frozen pizzas
for tonight's supper since the delay
at the dentist office has put me behind today.
I also got some beef gravy to make
beef stew with carrot medallions
(don't have any potatoes)
over mushroom rice Friday,
some fat free cream cheese
to make smoked salmon stuffed mushrooms
to go with a
2 pound pork roast for this weekend which
cost $3.50 which I thought
was pretty reasonable.

I kept watching my watch at Kroger
because kids were due home soon.
I no sooner got home, come in
through the back door, went out
the front door to check the mail
and the bus was pulling up.
I couldn't have timed that any better!

Looks like an earlier bedtime for
me tonight, couldn't fall asleep
for some reason last night and
no nappie time today.
So tired!
Don't have any plans for tomorrow
other than throwing some
beef stew in the crock pot.
I like simple days!
Next week Tony has the pager
so that will be fun.
This past weekend the one guy
on call had 20 water freeze ups, ahhh!
So let's hope for some decent temps.

---------------------------

Anyone need any crafting
inspiration check out Etsy.
All kinds of hand crafted items
and clothing for sale.
I just like to look to get ideas.

1-26-11

Starting around 2pm
Tide will be giving away 5,000
Tide washing machine cleaner packets.
"like" them on Facebook.

-------------------------------------

If you sign up your Speedy Rewards card
on Speedway's web site
they sometimes send printable
coupons for freebies in their store.
This month it's a free
Enon Springs Sharp Water.

---------------------------


Helpful Hint
from Farmer's Almanac

If you drop an egg on the floor
cover it with salt so there will
be no slimy mess!

-------------------------------

9:30am

I am currently working on my
newest jelly bean cupcake.
Trying to get a couple things
done up ahead of time before
taking mom to the library
that way I can come home and
hopefully put it all together.

-----------------------------

12:30pm

Just got home.
Took mom to the library then
we went to Kroger after that.
Here's my deals I found:

2 pkgs diced onion $1.00 each
(will freeze)

1 pkg stir fry fresh veggies $1.49

1 pkg cauliflower $1.00

Sante Fe Chicken style salad $1.49

Large stuff style mushroom $1.69

3 pkgs pop corn chicken .99 cents
(not the healthiest choice
but if eaten in small portions
or mixed in with a meal won't be so bad)

6 boxes of organic macaroni & cheese
-these suckers were normally
$3.00 a box for your average sized box
of mac n cheese. I paid .50 cents each.
I couldn't of even imagined paying
$18 for 6 boxes of mac n cheese!!!
--------------------------------

12:50pm

Oh dear God I found out my
ex is wanting/trying to get a job where
me and my honey used to work, UV.
Let's see how well they remember
him and the chaos he caused when
I worked there.

Anything else want to go wrong for me?!
Just send it my way now so
I can get it all out of the way at once!

I think it's nap time!
---------------------------------

Christmas Candle Cupcake I made.




------------------------------------

5:00pm

I made up another cupcake
and left off the coconut.
This is the one I submitted
to Jelly Belly.
If anyone is wondering what I used
for the wreath ring around the "candle",
it is almond slivers that I died green
with food coloring to look like leaves.
.

---------------------------------

My honey got in his email
a printable coupon for a free dinner at Captain D's
for his birthday.
Can choose fish, chicken, shrimp or tilapia.

Be sure to sign up at all those restaurants
to get some freebies on your birthday.

This will be the third free dinner
from Captain D's in the last 2 weeks.
The other two freebie dinners
were from signing up at their website.

---------------------------------

7:40pm

I can't wait for Spring to get here.
I'm starting to get cabin fever.
Sure do miss those warm days
with the sun shining and windows open
with a warm breeze blowing through the house.

I've been sitting here thinking
about ways to make improvements to the house.
I found a quart of paint I had
that I got free from Glidden.
I got the paint awhile back to
do the bathroom with and found
a color that would go with the floor
that was in there.
I like it better than the recent sample
I got. Plus the recent sample I got
wasn't even a quart of paint or enough
paint to do the bathroom with.
So maybe in the near future I can
try to get motivated and paint the bathroom.
I've just been so tired here lately
and feel like I could sleep all day.
I'm so ready for a little sunshine.

Anyway here is the paint from
Glidden I picked out.
It's called Cyprus Grass.
I did a paint sample on a piece
of cardboard to see what it would look like.
I didn't like the color by the looks
in the can but once it dried it looked
pretty nice.

When choosing the free paint from
the internet I actually took my computer
into the bathroom and put it on
the floor next to the floor colors
to try and pick one of the many

colors they had to choose from that went with it, lol.

Here someone used this color in their laundry room.

And here is my bathroom floor along
with the Cyprus Grass wall color paint sample I did.

I don't know, I just need a project
to get me motivated and make
it more cheerful around here.
How hard could painting a bathroom
be being a small space, lol.

---------------------------

Christmas Candle Cupcake
can now be viewed on Jelly Belly
along with the directions to make it.
Somehow the photo came
out a little distorted.

1-25-11

7:25am

This is going to be a tiring day.
I woke up at 4am because
my belly was hurting.
Ya know there's not too much
going on, on tv at that hour which
sucked when you can't sleep.
Anyway I got some ibuprofen
and a couple Tums and it seemed
to take the edge off for me to fall asleep
a couple more hours.
I don't know what the belly ache
was all about but I sure hope it goes
away. I hadn't experienced one like this before.

-------------------------------

This morning I need to go
with mom to Sprint to activate
one of our backup cell phones.
Tony lost his and we have searched
high and low for it with no luck.
So there's another added expense
to throw on top of everything else.
But I give him lots of credit for
holding onto it this long. We've never
lost any of our phones before.
You look back at the days before
cell phones and we got by just fine.
And now it seems like we
can't live without them.
It only costs $20 for both of ours
so I can't complain. I know some people
who are paying a hundred to two
a month for just one phone.

-----------------------------------

Downy will be giving away
700 t-shirts at 4pm today.
Be sure to "like" them on Facebook first.

---------------------------------

FREE bag of New York Style snacks (9 oz or smaller – up to $3.99 value!)
You need to register first to
print your coupon.

----------------------

10:30am

Just returned from Sprint.
Good news, they didn't charge me
anything to switch the service
from one phone to the other!
Whew!

I also won a new battery on Ebay
for mom's cell phone today.
Her phone seems to be having
a hard time keeping a charge.
So we'll see if that fixes it.
Was only $4.35 with free shipping.
Sure beats the price of another phone!

-------------------------------

MAIL CALL

Free NeilMed Sinus Rinse

Free coupon for Yoplait yogurt

and another rebate from Pep Boys.

-----------------------

Today at noon
Suave is giving away a Suave Professionals.
"Like" them on Facebook first.

Also don't forget Clairol free hair
color at noon.
I still have two empty forms
for anyone if you want me to fill them
out for ya to get the freebie.

Olive Garden on Facebook.
Enter for your chance to win
one of 250 daily prizes.

--------------------------------

.55 cents printable coupon ($1.10 double)
for Hillshire cocktail weenies.

----------------------------------

3:30pm

I hate those days when you
have nothing planned for supper
and don't know what to fix.

I also need to work on getting
more cupcakes made so
I can get the creative juices flowing, lol.

---------------------------------------

4:35pm

Got 3 batches of different sized
cupcakes baking.
2 jumbo and 1 dozen each of regular and mini.
I know I've talked about some
ideas I've had with cupcakes
but I haven't had the time
to make any more up til now.

I also decided upon a simple supper:
Tomato Soup with
shredded cheddar cheese and
homemade wheat croutons on top.
Grilled cheese with
dill relish, Best Life Butter and wheat bread.

---------------------------

I thought this was funny.
Just saw it on Mad on Cartoon Network.
The Taylor Swiffer.


-------------------------------

7:10pm

Kendra-
If you have the plastic egg covers
over those 2.5 dozen medium eggs
from Kroger
and don't need them I could use them.
They make great cups to use when
painting things and mixing colors.
Here's mine I put to use tonight.
Ok, so it's not paint and it's
food coloring I'm using.
That's why I need more than
one. Edible and non edible paints.


Well I'm gonna go chill for a little bit
then get ready to watch the movie
Mean Girls 2 on ABC Family at 9pm.
Let's hope I can stay awake long enough
to watch it, lol.

----------------------------------

Well ain't this a cute idea for
cupcake wrappers.

----------------------------

This song was on Glee tonight :0)
It featured Carol Burnett.

1-24-11

8:35am

The house seems so quiet
with everyone gone off to school and work.
My honey just called.
It'll probably take him a bit to
get back into the swing of things at work.
Then he proceeds to tell me as
he was walking out of the office he
fell down on the sidewalk, twisting his
bad knee/leg underneath him
and then says he bumped his head as well.
At least another coworker saw him
and made sure he was ok.
So now I sit here and worry he
didn't injure himself any further.
He says he has a bit of a headache.
You would have thought someone
would have thrown some salt
down on the walks especially at the office!!

--------------------------

12:00pm

Woo Hoo I just snagged a couple
free hair colors from Clairol!
Got one for me and mom.
Go here before they run out
Clairol on Facebook.
I have a couple empty forms pulled
up for the offer if y'all want one let me know!

-----------------------------------

3:25pm

Breakfast: was cereal & gluten free bagel
with Best Life butter spread & jelly.

Lunch: Leftovers from yesterday.

Supper: Tuna & Noodles
-Box of mini penne pasta .50 cents

-2 pouches of tuna- Free
-can of cream of mushroom soup .39 cents

-Great Giant steamed brocolli .60 cents

Total cost: $1.49
served 8 @ .18 cents a serving

----------------------------


.75 cents ($1.50 double) printable coupon
for any 15 stick pack of Wrigley Extra Gum.

Buy 1 Diet Coke 20 ounce get 1 free.

They may have a CVS logo on them
but they are manufacture coupons
and you should be able to use them
anywhere as it does not state
you must use the coupon at CVS.

------------------------------

MAIL CALL

Today I received in the mail
a sample box of Aveda
Smooth Fusion shampoo, conditioner
and Style Prep smoother.

Kroger coupon book.
Has a coupon for free Kroger
diaper wipes.

------------------------

6:00pm

Along side of supper I worked on
a creation for the chocolate covered raisin
contest. I made a mini version of my recipe
for everyone to sample.
For starters, I am the only one
around here that likes raisins whether
chocolate covered or not.
While I cannot share the recipe
until I write it up and enter it,
I can say that all the samples where gone
within minutes! My family
gobbled them up, raisins and all!!
I can give you a hint, I love
chocolate combined with fruit flavors.

-------------------------

Buy 1 get 1 Nesquick printable coupon.
You have to "like" them on Facebook first
to get the coupon.