Cyber Monday

OK sorry for the lack of posts NONE all last week but I was KIND OF busy!  We have had three Thanksgivings!  I have so much to do this week as well as I MUST finish Christmas decorating!  I will post later and let you know what all we did last week but I must share with you that today is CYBER MONDAY!  I have wanted a subscriction for Southern Living foreva and ya'll know I am cheap so I was looking at deals today on Amazon and they have SL foe $5 dollars!!!  Oh that is something I Cas will be getting me for Christmas!  I just had to share the deal!  It looks like they have some fab deals! 

Five Question Friday

1. Are you a Black Friday Shopper?

Yep!  I started 4-5 years ago and I get up very very early and go shopping by myself.  I usually head to Kohl's 1st!  I love a deal but I do hate the crowds!

2. What was your favorite childhood toy?

Well the Easy Bake Oven is a sore subject with me because while yes I had plenty to play with I NEVER had an Easy Bake Oven!  My daughter will get one very early! Ha!  I played with Cabbage Patch Kids and Barbies.  I even had a lot of little cars I loved to play with and I would ride them up and down the fireplace and the individual bricks were parking places.

3. Favorite Christmas Movie?

Christmas Vacation~Hysterical

Charlie Brown Christmas~Classic

4. What is the must have item on your Christmas list this year?

Money!, laptop, I-Phone, Columns for the House (the dream list)

Maggie and I are getting matching pink snuggies!  I usually get perfume and I love getting pajamas and socks!  Love some fuzzy socks!

5. Do you go all out with the decorations or do you keep in simple?

Since we bought our house last year and it was our 1st Christmas in our house together I went all out!  Each room has a tree! Even the bathrooms have a little one and there is one for the pets in the laundry room!  Each room has somewhat of a theme/color.  Now if only I could get all of it put out and get these boxes put away!  I told Cas the next house we buy I will be scoping out if it has good places to put trees!  I want a big window for our main tree!

Show Us Your Life~Pets (4 legged children)

It is show us your life~Pets this week at Kelly's Korner!  As all of you know that read this little blog we have a four legged daughter Maggie!

I have had her for 10 years and had her before Cas and I met.  She is a purebred Daschund and actually came from near where we live now.  She is very spoiled.......see below

She loves to ride in the car with us and depending on where we are going we like to take her with us!  She sleeps with us every night and is "The Queen of the Queen Bed!"  She has a vast wardrobe and loves her Momma and her Daddy! She loves to be in the kitchen under your feet while you are cooking hoping for food to fall because one of her favorite pastimes is to EAT!  We love her dearly!

We also have four cats!!!!

Snoogans~Blue Point Siamese (bottom~I did not name him! His name has to do with a movie)

Snittens~Chocolate Point Siamese (top)

They came from the same breeder and are half brothers with different mothers and the same baby daddy!

They have a love hate relationship but we are always very amused by them and their big personalities attitudes!  Snoogans was a surprise Christmas present from me to Cas a few years ago! Then we got Snittens the following Spring. Yeah I know you are thinking it is strange for a guy to have a cat but he has always preferred cats over dogs (that is until the Mags) and Snoogans loves him and sits by the door waiting on him when he hears his truck pull in in the evenings.

 

Snittens as a baby

 Snoogans as a baby

 They are talkers!

They are in Cas's lap here in the car.  We used to take them in the car when we went to Cas's parents in Macon until the most horrific car ride ever!  It was a trip for Christmas and I ended up standing on the side of the road in some teeny middle of no where town crying!  Snittens foamed at the mouth the whole way and between the two of them they got sick and and messed up my new coat and some of the wrapping on Christmas presents.  It was about midnight and I told Cas just to either leave me or them on the side of the road!  Obviously as you are reading you can see we all made it back in the car but we ceased the family vacays!

Tillie~Just a Itty Bitty Kitty

I have had her for a while and I had her ever since she was about 6 weeks old, she is the oldest kitty child.  It is hard to tell by the picture but she is tiny, about half the size of the rest of the cats.  She is definitely a different kind of cat!  She also eats more than anyone in this house and will sit at the food bowl when it starts to get low to make sure that you are informed that she is gonna need food! She also LOVES some men!  The second Cas sits down she is in his lap and rolls around and purrs.  Anytime we have male company over she likes to sit with them as well!

Possum~Tillie and Snittens had a litter of kittens last year so he is technically half full blooded Siamese!

Last year as a kitten

As the youngest of the house he is definately the "Wild Man" of the house!  He through the house and jumps over furniture very often!  You never know what he is going to do next!  He loves to wrestle with the other kitties and he loves Maggie too.  They often nap together!

There you have our "clan"!
It is rarely quite around here!
Melissa and Cas plus 5!

Plus 6????
This is Shadow who technically is "Not Ours" but she lives here!  She belonged to someone at some point and she has taken up residence here.  Yes we feed her.  She sleeps on our front door mat every night.  She also runs up when you pull in the driveway and she follows us around the yard.

The END!

OCC~Operation Christmas Child

I have my shoe boxes ready to drop off in the morning.  I just need pencil sharpeners which I have not found yet.  I checked the Dollar Tree and Dollar General so I will check WalMart or Target in the morning.  It is still heartbreaking to me that this is really all some of these children get and there is only so much you can fit in a small box!  I am soo excited that Susannah, Mrs. LG, and Renea are all participating in this as well!  If everyone that blogs just did one.....Wow that is a lot of shoe boxes!

If you want to participate you still have time to put a box together.  Some locations are excepting them through the weekend.  You can go to the Operation Christmas Child website and type in your zip code and it will tell you the drop off locations near you and it will tell you the times that someone will be there to accept boxes.  So you can go and look and see if you would still have time to make a box and drop it off in time!  Don't forget to read about the suggestions for your boxes.  They have things you should put in and things to leave out such as candy that will melt and don't forget to print out your label that you mark boy or girl on and what age range.  Also don't forget to put your $7 in to cover shipping.

From their site:

 INCLUDE YOUR DONATION

Please donate $7 or more for each shoe box you prepare to help cover shipping and other project costs. You can give online by using our EZGIVE option, or you can write a check to Samaritan’s Purse (note “OCC” on memo line) and place it in an envelope on top of the gift items inside your box. If you or your family are preparing more than one shoe box, please make one combined donation.

I did just read that it says no liquid items.......I have bubbles and Sus and I both have shampoo.  I guess I will ask when I get there!  It also says that soap should be in a plastic bag and candy should be in a bag.  Well now I guess I shall go re-work my box...hmm I had my candy in a bag and then it did not fit so I took it out.

This one made me cry!  The children are so sweet and they want to help and how awesome is it that they are being shown at an early age the spirit of giving to those less fortunate!

They also receive a book of gospel in their language with their boxes!

I am also going to include a small letter and a picture of us if I can find one!  If you are participating in this leave me a comment!

 

 

I will definitely start putting things away for next years boxes.  I hope we can do many more next year!

In one of the videos they make the comment:

1 box = 1 child = 1 life = 1 salvation

Thanksgiving

I have posted and shown my Fall/Thanksgiving decor and shared about Thanksgiving but I am going to post the links to each because I am linking up with The Bunnie's Bungalow and Its So Very Cheri

~My Fall/Thanksgiving Decor Post~

~My Thanksgiving Traditions Post~

Thanks for stopping by!

Internet Down

Our internet has been down since last night and this girl has things to do that require it! Trying to read blogs on Cas's blackberry is not working too well! Hopefully it will be back up today sometime!

Sunday Sayings

My great friend Sus is starting a new game!  Two weeks ago I won!  She posted in her blog that the first person to know the the actor that said a certain line and the movie it was from would win a prize.  I answered correctly and I recieved a little goodie package in the mail a few days later!  It is the first blog contest I have won.  I enter many giveaways but the blog gods have not been on my side for winning!  Here are my goodies!

The gummies were gone within an hour 15 minutes of me opening the package!  I love gummy candies!  I always need gum for my purse and I always keep pens and note paper by the computer so I can write important blog reminders!  Ha!  You don't want to forget an awesome blog address or etsy store!  So ladies be on the lookout for her to post today for your chance to win.  Isn't it so much fun to get personal letters and packages instead of bills and junk mail!  Happy Sunday!

P.S. Also don't forget to go and buy papers for the coupons.  I buy two!

It's Starting to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Well really it just looks like this right now!

Maybe by December it will look like this!

Yea right I wish!  I wish I had a fire place and mantle.

We started pulling the Christmas decorations out tonight so that I can get started because we will be gone the next two weekends and I want to get it all done.  Cas put ALL the trees together.....umm that would be 4 of them!  A 5th and 6th stay put together because they are small.  We have a live tree in the den so we will make our annual trip to pick that up the first weekend in December!  So yes there is a tree in everyroom!  Whew a lot to do!  Our tree in the den was a GORGEOUS 9!!! foot tree last year.  We had to open both of the back doors to bring it in and still had to cut some of the top off and it still touched the ceiling!  That was a few months after we moved in and we didn't have as much furniture as we do now so I won't get to bring my 9 foot beauty home this year!  Don't worry I will have my sites set on 8 1/2 footer! ;)

P.S. those ugly curtains are gone and I think I am going to try something new with the gold in the tree this year.  It just didn't have enough umph!

The Worst Sweet Tea~Ever!

Last night when Cas came in from work we finished getting dinner together and I said "we need to make tea"!  So I went ahead and made it! Then the DB poured it in the pitcher and added water and sugar. After eating some of my food I grabbed my tea and drank a big gulp of not so sweetness!  YUCK!  Cas looked at me and asked what was wrong and I was like "OMG our tea tastes like coffee!"  I thought we really needed to clean our coffee maker because that is some foul tea!  Not to refreshing NOR sweet.  After finishing the DB got up and cleared the table and went and looked in the coffee maker and exclaimed that "I(me) was such a dummy because I didn't take the coffee grinds out from that morning!"  Well he being a dummy too would have realized that if I had just made tea there would have been tea bags sitting in there as well!  I sat there and thought back a minute and realized that I had emptied the old coffee grounds and then went back to start the TEA and I played the motions back in my head and I realized that I grabbed more coffee grounds, because they sit right next to the coffee pot, and I put those in there instead of grabbing tea bags!  WOW!  You know he mixed up the "tea" he didn't realize it didn't smell so "tea-ish"?  Gosh really?  I can't be responsible for all of my own actions!  Yes this is a true story and Yes I brewed coffee to go with my delish roast I slaved over crock-pots are the best ALL day! Thank You, Thank You!  I think I might should up my vitamins or something else;)

Operation Christmas and Compassion

I set out to start getting some of my items for my shoe box's today and it is harder than you think.  I know you are thinking what is hard about finding some $1 items and filling a box.  Well when you think about what they really need it would never fit it a shoe box, a full size moving box or even a refrigerator box!  I did off course pick up pencils because that is one of the things that they love to get because they are far and few between and they can write or draw with them.  How many of you have given your child a stack of paper and a marker to draw or write to keep them busy?  That is not even something that some of these children get to do.  Cas and I were talking tonight about this and some other things such as the Compassion Bloggers trip to El Salvador that I am sure many of you have read about at Kelly's Korner as she has had the honor of traveling with them on this trip and is blogging about it.  I also came in to check blogger in time to read that Angie Smith had posted about their being a live feed interview with all of the Compassion Bloggers tonight so I was able to watch a good bit of it.  I had been watching the CMA's and came in here to check on something during a commercial break and read about that so I tuned in and I listened to the rest of it not even going back to the CMA's.  There stories are just so much to take in.  Last season on 18 Kids and Counting with the Duggar family they went to El Salvador as well and I have watched that episode a number of times and I have listened to them talk about the poverty there and they showed many of the children there.  The biggest thing of that episode that has stuck with me was when they went to an orphanage and they showed all of the precious children that are orphans and technically should be adoptable but they said it takes 7-8+ years to adopt a child from there if at all.  It sounded like the government just doesn't make them a priority.  I have been reading Kelly's blog all week with her stories and I a have also been following some of the other bloggers that are there as well.  They have asked for people to step up and sponsor a child or children through Compassion for the cost of $38 a month.  Sometime in the next year or two, when things are financially better I would love to be able to do this!  I went to Compassion's website and they have all of the children that need sponsors and I looked at the children in El Salvador, you can look at a list for any country, and I noticed a lot of the pictures have hearts on them.  I looked to see what that meant and it stated that  they have been on the list for over six months for a sponsor!  It is sad to read and see list after list of them!  So if any of you are able and would want to sponsor a child go visit their website.  I will tell you that I have cried while reading their blogs and watching their videos they have posted.  What a blessing for them to be able to go over and witness to these families and children! 

As far as Operation Christmas Child my friend Susannah is going do some boxes as well.  You can go read about it here!  As Cas and I were talking we decided we can go ahead and commit to this for next year as well.  Since I have been getting so many things for Free with my couponing and a lot of them are toiletries I can start putting some aside for next year. Sometimes I see the Freebies or the next to nothing deals and I don't get  them because we don't need them but I can go ahead and put them away as well as collecting pencils, etc during the after holiday sells when they have everything marked off!  If you decide to do this you can read my previous post on it and go to their website and you type in your zip code and they will tell you where to drop your box or boxes off at.  There should be a church or school close by to you!  God Bless You ALL and to ALL a goonight!

Here is Something to Keep You Busy...

This lady compiled a whole list of things on sale at Wal-Mart.  There is a 119 of them under $1 and 18 are FREE!  I am at a stand still on printing out coupons since I ran out of paper. I must get some today!  Between the Sunday Paper coupns, magazine coupons, coupons from the sores, and all the ones I have printed out I have a lot of them to file.  I have cute most of them so that is a start.  Let's just say if we had a $ for every coupon I have right now, we would have some serious Christmas money!

And her Target list.

Things you made need for your Thanksgiving meal.

Oh What A Day

Oh what a day for the nasty rain...........

Gosh I don't think it ever stopped. Thank you Ida!  Now where do I send the receipt for the row boat and rain boats I need to get from the house to the car?  Oh and convinceing Maggie to go potty in the pouring rain was a "boat load of fun"!  I had to lasso her up and go stand out in the middle of the yard with her while she shook until she decided she better go because Mamma was not taking her back in until she went.  Meanwhile I was getting soaked!  When Cas left for work yesterday he told me not to go anywhere because he did not want me out driving in the downpours because he knows I hate driving in the rain.  It has ended up bad for me before!  Wellllll I decided to save more money and get more items around here I was going to have to start shopping at Publix!

Oh what a day for savings.................

Well we don't have one here in town yet.  They are supposedly building it but they need to build faster.  We have some within 30 minutes of the house.  Their sales go from Wednesday to Tuesday like Winn-Dixie.  I have shopped them before when I in town I have just never made a habit of going.  Well if you read a lot of food saving blogs Publix seems to be a phenomenal place for savings.  So I suited up in my raincoat and rolled the bottom of my jeans up don't you just hate when they get wet and then your whole leg gets wet.......? and grabbed my coupon novel along with the plethora of ones I found online for Publix and ones that went with their BOGO's  of the week.  I set out in the downpour to drive to LaGrange because it was the last day of the sale and there were a lot of things we needed so I had to get there come hell or HIGH water! And high water I did see.  So I gripped the steering wheel and prayed to get to the grocery store to tell about it blog about it.  The Publix I went to, I clocked it, it 30 miles from our house.  Normally I get to LaGrange pretty quick when I go visit a friend so it is really not that big of a deal.  I have to drive no matter where I go grocery shopping.  I made a list off of their website of all of the BOGO's that I had coupons for and I set out to only get that stuff, other than milk because we needed it. 

The Tylenol was FREE and the tape was almost free.  They had a $3 coupon in the Publix coupons inside the store and $1 off online and each box is only $3.99!  Pup-Peronis are for Christmas! LOL I am really sad I did not go ahead and get the chocolate chips that were a major deal.  I have some but I will probably need more for holiday baking! Sigh.......

It is hard to read but it says I paid $37.46 and saved $74.13!

I am pleased but still not thrilled!  I know it could have been better!

A friend of mine, who has a husband and three boys to feed went yesterday and spent $29.70 and saved $124.93!!  She also said had she realized she could have saved another $13.00 on top of that! Now that is what I am talking about!  Until we meet again next time this week Publix!

Everything Has A Place

AND EVERYPLACE HAS A LOT OF THINGssss!

Little Blue Baskets to match the paint color and they came from Dollar General for .50 cents on clearance!  That detergent is thanks to BOGO and coupons!  Sweet!

My plethera of cleaning products that I have stocked yet again to fabulous deals!  Every crafty women keeps 15+ cans of spray paint around....No?  It bothers me that the paper towels are upside down!

This is a peak inside our hall closet.  I had just tried to stop opening it for fear of what I would see or worse, what would fall and give me a concussion or the worst......death from a falling tool!  I don't think Maggie would be able to handle becoming an orphan from a "closet catastrophe"!

I found the shelves at the DG on clearance from there back to school college dorm room type stuff!  They were going to be for the Man's closet but I found them a new purpose in life!  Little buckets contain tools and electrical cords, etc.  Give them a week and who knows what will have married into my little black buckets of beauty from the Dollar Tree.

Oh and I did crop out all the coats that live in their too!  On blueprints to houses they really should label these little nooks with doors "Crap Closets" and not the formal name of "Coat Closets"!  Really you want to tell me you JUST put coats and jackets in there?  LIAR! LIAR! PANTS ON FIRE!

Bucket O' Bug Spray!  Apparently they are shaking in their 6 little legged bodies cause those dad blam ants won't get the heck outt'a here! 

Under our kitchen sink where each tub has a certain category of items.  Funny I should say that.....cause I gave the run down on the goin's on of my method and before I could get these pictures posted I opened up the cabinet and it didn't look so much like this.  Only one other person has posable thumbs in this house!  Guilty???

Pour Some Spices on Love

Take a Bottle Shake it UP.........

(we love some Penzy's)

 

And last but not least this little beauty!  I came up with this a few months ago for all my little backing items, popcorn, salad toppings, etc.  A friend of mine visited this summer and she loved the idea since she didn't have much room in her pantry.  This one came from Target for a few dollars and I hung it with 3M's because I didn't like the look of the metal hooks showing that came with it.  Also, they were scratching the outside of the door.

Cause I need 10 25 more boxes to fill!

If Cas ever goes missing you should check in the rubbermaid boxes.....things tend to get stored shoved in them!  If you put all your junk in boxes and stack them ever so pretty then it looks much better then a pile of junk thrown in the corner or crammed in a closet!  They don't teach that in decorating 101 in interior design scholl?  What?  Really?

There you have "Project Organization"!  Does this project ever end? 

Operation Christmas Child

Have any of you ever heard of this or participated?  This program is part of Samaritan's Purse.  It is where you fill a shoe box up for a a child somewhere in the world that otherwise would not receive anything for Christmas, much less anything all year?  I included a video at the bottom that shows the gist of it.  The website will show you much more!  We have participated in this before when our friend Renea was challenged to do this as a project for a college class to receive extra credit.  Yes it helped her but we did it for the fact that a child would get something for Christmas!  We did two boxes a couple of years ago and we will do two boxes this year.  One for a boy and one for a girl!  You decide if you want to do a girl or a boy either ages 2-4, 5-9, or 10-14. Here are the exact guidelines! We have the boxes that Samaritans Purse provided to us but you can use any standard shoe box out of your closet or you can even use a plastic shoe box that you can buy at ant Dollar Store or Wal~Mart.  Some of the things that they say the children love are toothbrushes, toothpaste, and soap~all personal hygiene items.  Things that we walk into our bathroom everyday and use some of these children have never had.  I know you can especially get some of these items close to free with coupons.  They also suggest pencils!  The kids love them!  Any kind of hard candy, toys, maybe even something to wear.  You could spend $10-$15 and have your shoe box full of stuff that would mean so much!  The Dollar Tree and the Target Dollar Section would be great places to find things for your boxes.  I was watching a video on this program earlier and there was a little girl that looked to be 6-7? and she received a doll in her box and she said that "she had prayed to God for a doll and had always wanted one"!  I am pretty sure all of the ladies reading this had numerous dolls growing up.  I know I did.  If you think you would want to participate in this I would encourage you to!  You can go to their link that I posted at the top and you can print of labels for your box and it will tell you everything that is suggested and not suggested for your boxes.  You are also to include $7 to help get it across the world!  Also, on their link you will need to look up a drop off location.  You just give them your zip code and their should be a local place to drop your box off between November 16-23.  I am in no way suggesting that you do not participate in local charities as well.  We have participated in Giving Trees and Toys for Tots in the past as well!  We are on a budget at our house but for $15 we can make a child smile with stuff that we would take for granted!  I hope all of you participate!  If you need to know more or what to do leave me a comment! If you participate in this leave me a comment also!

A Coupon Missionary

Of sorts.........First off all I would like to say "HELLO ANDREA" if you are stopping by!  I was in Kroger doing my deal shopping this evening after another stellar Wii game shopping trip, more on that in a minute!  I was sitting with my mega coupon binder over by the Gatorade because I had just snagged 10 of them for $5 dollars, I keep them in the pantry for the DB (Darling Boyfriend since in blogland husbands are referred to as DH~Darling Husband) when he is playing sports and doing yard work, and sometimes I crave them even though I know they are completely bad for you when the sweetest last approached me.  She is a young Mom who has just started couponing after she learned about how much her friends were saving.  She asked me a coupon question and I happily answered.  I told her about Southern Savers off of the top of my head.  I know I read a lot of sites but I could not remember the names of all of them. She said she had hardly paid for much since she had gotten started couponing. I told her a few things I do and she was very thankful and we both went on our way!  I went down a couple more isles and  I kept thinking about this women I just met and how excited I have been with these fabulous grocery/toiletry/supplies deals lately and I just felt like I had to share more.  I really felt guilty ya'll!  I had to go witness to her about some more super saving sites!  No you won't find me knocking on your doors or out in a picket line with my info so don't worry!  I stopped what I was doing and went back towards the direction I had come from looking for her!  I found her and asked her if she had a pen and she did so I wrote my blog address down for her.  I knew I had some fab-U-lous sites on the side of my blog that have helped me out so much lately and I wanted her to know about them.  Like I mentioned earlier she is a Mom and not only do I read about great savings of household items I read deal after deal on childrens toys, clothes, etc. and what a better time to know about them with Christmas coming up!  I in no way care if she even reads the blog as long as she is able to use to sites on the side which I don't write.  Hardworking ladies, and even one Dad write them for ALL of us to benefit from so I know they feel just as giddy when we are scoring deals that they have blogged about!  I also shared with her that a great place to get coupons is out of the "ALL YOU" magazine.

This is obviously not this month's magazine!  The only place I have found this magazine is at Wal-Mart but that is not to say it is not other places I just haven't gone on a wild hunt for it!  Here is the list of all of the coupons that were in this month's issue.  This magazine is cheap and it always has great stuff in it!  A tip I received from the Coupon Queeny at The Southern Women's Show was buy a Sunday paper for each person in your household to get the extra coupons.  That is her rule of thumb.  She also has older children and she said to keep them occupied in the store she sends them, as a game, to go around the store and has them collect all of the coupons that are in the little coupon machines around the store. She also mentioned if you have certain things you need coupons for ex. diapers and you have friends that don't use diapers ask them to save the coupons for you or trade them for coupons you have that they might need!  A great thing she shared with us also was that when she finds a deal on things they don't use or need that may come out FREE (or maybe super cheap) then she gets the items and donates them to the food bank!  I watched a lady on the news this Summer and she does the same things but puts the stuff up at her house and helps out friends that need help. She herself did not have much but she said it's FREE so get the items because someone will need them!  Aren't those great ideas!?  Another thing that lots of people don't know about is that you can buy coupons on Ebay!  It is illegal to charge for the coupons they can only charge for postage!  So you could get a huge coupon for the price of a stamp!  Anytime I go anywhere I try to look online for a coupon before I go to use on top of a sale.  Old Navy, Bath and Body Works, you never know so it never hurts to look!  I am in no way a coupon blog writer but when things are too good not to share I just can't contain myself!  When everyone needs to feed their families and keep the laundry washed and house cleaned and there are ways to do that for super cheap then why not!?  There were times when we all just went and bought everything we needed and the bill was probably sickening and the more things that happen in our lives and money is a BIG issue you have to make some changes.  Not feeding your family is not acceptable obviously so why not keep your pantry stocked the cheapest way possible!  My grocery bill was  $40 dollars tonight for 40 items at Kroger!  That is including 10 boxes of potatoes, 2 pizzas, 8 stouffers items for me to make dinners out of, 10 gatorade, and a few other items!  A friend and I had a conversation a few months ago about how great we felt when our pantry's were full and the fridge/freezer was stocked.  I know the feeling of we have nothing to put together for a meal and it is not payday yet!  It is a sick feeling!  That was before the couponing FREAK in me came out!  Any of you watch Jon and Kate?  Do you remember the episode where they had just moved into the new house and she found out he went to Home Depot without taking and using the coupon they had for the store and she went off on him?  People said that was horrible.......but truth is that is me in a nice way now!  If you have money to save on something you have to buy anyways then that is like flushing money down the toilet.  I carry my coupon binder everywhere with me now!  My friend Briana likes to make jokes and call it my Trapper Keeper!  Make jokes Sista! :)  Cas and I went to Wal-Mart the other day which I don't do that often anymore.  They may have "Everyday Low Prices" blah blah blah but they don't have BOGO and they have been a pain to me every time I have tried to use coupons there so really it is not the place to buy groceries.  I just go there for other clothing, gardening, decorating, etc.  Anyways I didn't take my coupon binder in with me because we picking up something that I knew I would not need/have a coupon for.  While we were there Cas said "oh we need syrup."  O.K. fine but make it cheap.  There was a brand there that was cheaper that the Great Value.  It is called Log Cabin.  O.K. that is cheaper lets move to the check out!  The next day I was filing coupons and I came across a $.50 off coupon for Log Cabin syrup! I was soo mad! :)  Also let me tell you that most things that are not name brand taste just like the name brand.  So don't be so haute ladies!  There are a few things that I do buy a specific brand of but.....I did learn that Winn Dixie green beans are growdy!  I do have to say that even if money was not an object around here on the Howard~Smith home front I would still take advantage of the coupons and the great deals because why not??  and it is actually super fun to me! 

Andrea the site I told you that I use is The Grocery Game.  It is a minimal fee every two months and she points out what is on sale and the coupons on top of that and if it is a good deal of not, etc. You can use if for a Kroger, WM, Winn Dixie, CVS, Walgreens in our area.  I use it for WD on top of blogs!

Old Navy had scarves for $1 today and I had a %15 off coupon that I got off of Old Navy Weekly.com (they normally reset on Th).  So I was able to pick up a few for Christmas presents!  I will in no way admit to getting a feeeew in colors to match everything!

As I mentioned earlier in my post I scored another sweet deal at Target tonight!  I went back for more Wii games.  Scenario~3 Wii games @ $14.99.  The promotion this week was Buy Two get the Thrid FREE.  So that is 2 @ $14.99.  Then I handed her 4x$10 off coupons!  Ya'll do they math!  That girl looked at me with a stunned look on her face and said......"You just got all those for free..you didn't pay for any of them!"  That is sooooo right chicky!  If I had only been brave enough to have used more coupons last night!  I am just glad I have been able to use these great deals for Christmas presents! That does not mean I don't love you any less babe because I didn't pay for them!  It has been a true blessing!

So go on and share your knoweledge with others that don't know!  They will Thank you later when they realize all the money they hand over and they don't have to!

Andrea if you are reading this good luck to you and my email is mph4au@gmail.com if I can share the coupon love with you any further!

Saturday Things Worth Sharing

Old Navy is having $1 fleece scarves today!  Today only and you can buy up to $5.  I also found a coupon on oldnavyweekly.com so you may can score a coupon on top.  I like to have a lot of differant scarves to match different colors!

Don't forget to go buy your Wii games!  If we go back today I am going to have strength at the Dollar Bins!  Luckily for Maggie they have put their doggie winter clothes out at the 1-2.50 section!  Will post on that later! 

Also, they are having a giveaway for $25 to be used at The Monkey See Boutique.  Go and check out the details!  Click on the "giveaway" 1st.  They have some ca-uuuuute stufff!  I would like one of everything Dear Santa!

Maggie is hoping I win this giveaway so she will receive some new bling for Christmas! These handmade pet tags are super presh!

If you want something that will make you laugh go read this and keep reading her blog!  I found it this morning and was very entertained! I entered the give-away for the camera strap cover cause I soo need one! Yes in-deedy I do!  After that click on her archives and read 1-800-shoot me! I laughed out loud!

*I may be adding to this throughout the day!*

What is everyone doing on this pretty Saturday?  I would love to hear! 

Show Us Your Life~Thanksgiving Traditions

This week at Kelly's Korner everyone is sharing their Thanksgiving traditions.

Every year we have two seperate Thanksgiving's.  One in Macon, Ga where Cas's family lives.  His Mom and one of his Aunt's(nurses) and Brother-In-Law(cop) all have the same weekends off so it depends on the weekend they have off.  One year we didn't make it because we had Auburn/Alabama tickets!  They have Thanksgiving and Christmas other weekends than the actual holiday since the family is rather large and that way everyone can go to the other side of the family on the holiday.  At Cas's family Thanksgiving we have tons and tons of food.  So much that you will feel full just looking at it.  Everyone is assigned dishes to bring and it is an all day long buffet!  You eat until you look like they Turkey in the Thanksgiving Day parade!  There is one Granny, 5 sisters, their husbands, 11 grandchildren and their spouse/signifigant others, 3 great grandchildren and two more on the way!  That equals lots of people!  There is never less than 30 people in one house.  We take turns eating at the tables.  You must wear your deoderant cause your gonna be close with one another for the day!  I don't have many pictures :( but I do know this picture was taken for us last year.  We had a cousin-in-law do a mini photo shoot for us so I could send out Fall cards with our new address on them!

This was us last year in Macon on his Granny's front porch

Then we go to Birmingham for actual Thanksgiving to spend time with my Dad and his wife.  We have a much smaller crowd there!  2 parents, 3 children (me and my two step-brothers), Cas and my step-brother Tom is getting married so that is one more.  We also have a family friend that joins us so usually we have 6 and now we will have 7!  We all fit around one table in the dining room.  We have the usual turkey, green beans, sweet potatoe casserole, etc.  We also have two types of dressing.  One is a southern dressing and the other is more of a northern dressing.  The guys watch football all day of course.  I like to get up and watch the parade and I start scouting the sale papers for the best deals on Black Friday.  I make my list of where I have to go 1st and what is most important to try to get for fear they may go quickly.

This was us last Thanksgiving in Birmingham

 

Cas setting the table

My Dad cutting the Turkey.....the skin is my favorite part!  I know it is fattening!

 

 This is Calico.....she literally came up to the dining room window while we were having our Thanksgiving meal two years ago.  We were eating and I looked over and there was that extremely scrawny, at the time, kitty sitting in the window out in the cold.  Luckily for her there was turkey leftovers and I with a soft heart for animals!  I snuck her some of the goods!

That is right you go ahead and thank me......."Thank you for convincing those parents of yours to take me in and spoil me...meow meow.......I am sorry for the times I have bitten you and clawed you....I shouldn't do that you fed me and these people gave me a forever home.....meow meow!

This year the Auburn/Alabama game is on Black Friday so Cas will be with the boys and I shall be hunting for deals or window shopping!

This is just a few weeks away!  We are doing Birmingham Thanksgiving and Macon Thanksgiving all the same weekend this year. Lots of driving!

What is your favorite thing about Thanksgiving?  What is your favorite recipe?  I just love some southern sweet potatoe casserole with the brown sugar and or marshmellows!