nasagreen

Homemade Valentine's Day 2 - Special Postmark (Send early!)

2012-01-30T11:48:00.001-08:00

Have you considered getting a special postmark for your valentine's day cards? I think I'm going to do it this year. You just mail an envelope, containing your valentine, to one of these postmasters. They will postmark it with their special mark just for Valentine's Day and mail it back.

Here is an example of how to address your outer envelope:

Postmaster
Valentine Remailing
Heart Butte, MT 59448

And here is what that postmark has looked like in the past:

Courtesy: Silly Bee's Chickadees

Or maybe I'll try sending one to Valentine, NE! Who knows :) This makes me want to mail a ton to myself to see what they look like.

Homemade Valentine's Day 1 - Yo Yo Valentine

2012-01-26T10:37:00.000-08:00

Just a little, simple Valentine for a big Valentine of mine:

Followed this tutorial and used a handy dandy yo yo maker I've had for years that was still in the original packing. Really quick and easy! Perhaps 15 minutes to make? And I got to use some buttons I found at the Country Living Fair!

Robbie the Robot 2

2012-01-23T18:26:00.000-08:00

Second time around!

I Love Ewe Onesie

2012-01-21T19:20:00.000-08:00

I decided to make a cute onesie for Millie as a Valentine's day outfit. I couldn't find anything cute, except for nauseating ones about Loving Mommy, Daddy, and everyone else. I want something CUTE! Not sickening...

So I decided to make one. First, I cut out a picture of a sheep I liked and then traced that shape onto wonder under. Then I ironed the wonder under onto a piece of minke white fabric (to make it seem more sheep-like, but to keep the white very white, I had to sew this onto a piece of felt). Then I sewed the hooves onto the red onesie, and sewed the white sheep body on top, and added a face, tuft of hair, and ears.

I did the lettering the same way, but with black courderoy (wish I had regular black fabric, it would have made the letters cleaner). I have a Cameo, but sadly all I've done is taken it out of the box, so this project was done by hand. One lesson I learned? Use interfacing when you try to sew on thin letters. It will keep the jersey knit of the onesie from getting sucked into the bobbin area of your sewing machine.

Do you think it looks like a sheep? If you would like, you could buy one of these onesies for your little one, just in time for Valentine's Day <3 Here's the link at my etsy shop.

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Homemade Christmas 5 - Major Award Onesie

2012-01-19T13:05:00.001-08:00

Another terribly late Christmas post. I made this onesie for my baby, but it was really a "present" for my husband, who loves The Christmas Story.

Here was my pinterest inspiration:

I decided to only put the leg lamp on the onesie without the words. I didn't have an easy way to trace and cut big letters. I just used two separate colors for the lamp, offwhite and black. I printed the picture from etsy, and blew it up to the size that would fit my onesie and cut the shapes. I used wonder under to help all the shapes adhere to the fabric and sewed around all the shapes with a zig zag pattern.

What do you think? I think next year I'll have to add this to my shop so people can get their own Major Award :)

Merry Christmas!
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Dakotans

2012-01-17T06:52:00.000-08:00

Lately, I've been getting a lot of blog traffic from North and South Dakota. Did you realize that blogs can bring in people from anywhere? I've had people visit from countries I never heard of, for things I didn't realize they'd want (Arby's coupons in particular), but I didn't expect a midwest flavor to my guests!!

What makes me even more happy to see those of you from the Dakotas is that some of my family hails from Valley City.

A) Valley City, ND B) Lake Ashtabula

On my father's line, his paternal grandparents met in Western North Dakota, at school. They got married there and rode horseback across the state for their honeymoon to Valley City, where they lived. We have lots of German relatives from there, including one ancestor who married into the Cale family. The Cales have a long history in Minnesota, and I was lucky enough to get letters from the Minnesota state archive about him and his wife and her children.

Turns out, they were farmers who wrote meticulous letters talking about their crops. At one point, a child of the wife said they spent a week with them at their farm and complained they lived like pigs in their prairie sod home! Later, they moved to a homestead that is now at the bottom of Lake Ashtabula.

Johann Baunig and Elizabeth Howery at the homestead circa 1874

It is like a scene straight out of Oh Brother, Where Art Thou!

My husband and I did get to take a roadtrip from Florida through the state of North Dakota in 2006 and it was marvelous. We even drove through Valley City, although we didn't have much time to look around. (And I have also spent about a week in South Dakota, as well. Don't want to forget about the sister state to the South.)

If you are from there or have family there, please leave a comment. I would love to find out more about where you are from! Perhaps long lost relatives are you!!!

Blankey Emergency Repair

2012-01-16T05:32:00.001-08:00

Oh my little blankey! Yes, I'm 31 (wait, is that right ?!?) and I still have my blankey. This is not my *real* childhood blankey mind you, it is one that replaced one that replaced the original, but nonetheless I've had this one the longest.

One short story about why I still have it. We went on a roadtrip from Florida, all the way to Washington State, and back. We spent one night in Fargo, North Dakota, and I left the blankey in the hotel. We were 3 hours West when I realized. My sweet husband drove all the way back to the hotel to get it! 6 extra hours!!! The hotel maid told me she understood...kids! Hahaha! I was a little embarrassed, but I still have my blankey. And this is why it needs an emergency repair:

So I decided to go for broke and remove the original print fabric and keep the tan fabric. I wanted to mainly keep the tan fabric because it is pilled and I love the way that it feels. You can tell in the dark which blanket is my blankey, amid the mass of blankets I have in the bed with me. I'm a pile sleeper. Under the pile sleeper actually. So I used my trusty seam ripper and took the fabric off.

Agh. Oh well, that was a little hard, but you can see that this fabric really was a mess. Then I decided I didn't want to completely lose it. So I wasn't nearly as courageous as you would expect a 31 year old who still sleeps with her tattered blankey and won't just throw it away now that I'm married and have a baby...I still kept 2 pieces of the original print. It's mainly because I love math and I love those ridiculous dogs and math problems.

The new fabric was leaves on vines, much more adult like. Which now makes me second guess keeping two squares of the original fabric, because I sewed them onto the more adult fabric on the front. It looks a bit weird.

But no one will want to steal my blankey now!

And I could always find mine!

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Homemade Christmas 4 - Baby Quilt & Country Living Fair

2012-01-13T12:24:00.000-08:00

Here's a quilt I finally finished for my friend's 3rd son, who was born just before Christmas!

Got the fabric for this quilt at the Country Living Fair in Atlanta, GA, back in October. I loved the fair, and wish I had blogged more about this event. I dragged my little one and my husband there, but we actually had a great time and the weather was fantastic. It was a lot of fun seeing the top of Stone Mountain and riding the train.

At the fair's entrance, it was cold that weekend in Atlanta!

FFA supplies. My husband is an agriculture teacher and this was a neat find, although we didn't buy it. If I had a house to furnish, I would have bought this for a kid's room though.

There was a glass blower on site making their products, really neat to watch.

A bowl of buttons. All day I kept quiet and didn't say that I was looking for buttons. Then I saw the pictures my husband took after we were back home. ARGH - BUTTONS! Never saw them so I didn't buy any.

Cool tool box.

Top of Stone Mountain - baby fast asleep.

I am so inspired at these large fairs to see how people showcase their handmade items, their antiques, and their displays. Everything was beautiful. I'll definitely be going back to the next fair in 2012. And I also want to get some of the creativity I feel when I'm at a fair like this into something concrete. When I think about all the things I want to make, gah! I'm overwhelmed. I'm going to try to make some of these items in batches to perhaps sell at a local fair and see if I can get things going here with nasagreen :)

The fabric I chose was a more old-fashioned looking set of fabrics, smaller repeats and more soothing colors. I got a bake stack, from Moda Bake shop designs, and a coordinating back for the quilt. This was my inspiration, from pinterest (again, all my best ideas are from my biggest time drain).

One thing I focus on when making baby quilts is to make the quilt adult enough that the quilt can grow with the child and it can be a cherished possession past their childhood. The reverse is that I don't want to make something that doesn't fit a baby either. You should keep in mind the durability of the fabrics as well, because if the owner really LOVES the quilt, it will be dragged around by a corner of the quilt. Corner fabric durability is also a high concern. My littlest sister had a blankey that she kept with her (and still does) and the corners were her favorite part. They held up pretty well, but finally gave way a few years ago. We've done numerous emergency repairs to that blanket and it still is her favorite.

It didn't take long to make the quilt top and I just used a walking foot to machine quilt along the chevrons. It was really simple and I got to use a little of my fabric stash for the binding fabric. I also added a label on the back with his name. I hope he becomes a math whiz when he grows up and really likes this quilt.

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Homemade Christmas 3 - Old McDonald Hand Puppets

2012-01-11T17:22:00.000-08:00

Another handmade gift I made was for a friend with 3 boys. The first boy is getting a cape, which I blogged about here.

The second boy is getting wonderful little handpuppets, which I found on pinterest (shocker) here.

Mine came out very close. I found the sheep difficult and it took a long time to cut all the pieces. I did make 2 sets, one for her son and one for my daughter, so that added cutting time. But I think it was worth it. A 3 year old will LOVE these!

Old McDonald

My daughter thought these were suspicious!

PS - Her 3rd son is still gestating, due December 20th and I am making a quilt, although I haven't cut any pieces for the top yet. Looks like that will be a rush job!

UPDATE - Of course I'm way behind posting this so her son has been born...Jude Lane, and I'll be posting his quilt just as soon as she receives it! No gift spoilers on this here blog!!!

2012 Year Goals

2012-01-05T11:45:00.000-08:00

Since I'm trying to work on this blog, I figured I would make some concrete goals for the new year, to be more accountable to myself, and to *hopefully* have a great year end wrap up when we reach the end of this year as well. I'm inspired by my friend, Amanda, and her blog post here.

Fireworks with the Family on New Year's Eve 2011

So, (and I begin a lot of sentences with the word so...apparently) here are my goals:

1. Get coupons regularly on Sundays. Already started this habit last Sunday.
2. Buy the profit/FREE deals at CVS on Sundays. All it takes is waking up 30 minutes earlier to go to the closest CVS and actually do the deals.
3. Cook dinner at home at least 2x per week (this is a hard one). I need to find recipes I like making, it would make it easier.
4. Make a schedule to study for the PE Exam & follow the schedule. Thankfully, this is in April so it won't take up time the entire year. Unfortunately, I haven't started studying, and it is April. Eeek!
5. Make more items to sell on etsy. I really need to get going on this, but I don't know where to get the time.
6. Make Family Reunion quilt. This is a quilt I got the pieces together for a family reunion held over July 4, 2009! I'm so behind
7. Get the house organized (mainly use closet space better). We are going to rent where we are for another year (through March 2013) so we are definitely going to need to clean up and treat this house more like a home. I'm focused on working on this, especially after the holidays.
8. Blog at least once per week. This really has been lacking for me, but I do have a full-time job and two part-time jobs. I just have to squeeze out the blog posts about our lives more frequently and be sure to document what creativity I do produce to share with the world. I would love to have a larger following and more community with my blog.

Homemade Christmas 2 - Handprint Ornaments

2012-01-05T06:54:00.000-08:00

In line with the post I made about the homemade passport covers, I also decided that old-fashioned salt dough ornaments would be a really sweet gift for the more old-fashioned relatives. So I made some really cute ones with this pin from pinterest as my inspiration. Sorry this is after Christmas, but I didn't want to ruin a gift surprise for any family members.

So away I went, googling how to make salt dough ornaments, since I had no idea how. This is the BEST site, with the most thorough instructions, although it isn't hard at all. A fool can mix flour and salt. Seriously.

The only difference between my ornaments and the inspiration pin is that theirs is ceramic and mine is salt dough. Here's the end result:

To get Millie's handprint properly, I rolled the dough as recommended and placed a small amount of dough on a cookie sheet. Then I brought the cookie sheet into her room when she was dead asleep and pressed her hand into the dough. Then I brought the cookie sheet back out to the kitchen to cut the shape out into the dough and round the edges a little bit. The only thing I wish I had done differently is really spend the time rounding the edges more and pressing them down instead of leaving them the way they were when I cut around her handprint with a knife.

Following all the website's instructions helped me get these right the first time. And I sealed with Mod Podge, although I think my first coat was too thick and they are a bit sticky.

When I wrapped them, I made my own small boxes out of cardstock that fit the ornaments properly and then used tissue paper to fill them up so the ornaments would be safe. I also added a picture on the top of the box that has Millie and her first visit with Santa.

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Homemade Christmas 1 - Art Passport Covers

2011-12-14T18:37:00.000-08:00

So I had a baby. I thought that it would be neat to give a gift from the baby to members of our family. And so it began.

The first fun day was art. Millie loves putting her hands in her mouth, but even I didn't realize how much paint she would actually eat. She really had a great time making our first project...passport covers. It was sooo cute!

Here are the finished products...

I made 5, one of which I am going to turn into a framed 5 by 7 picture instead of laminating and putting in the cover. I got my covers online at Amazon, 5 for about $7.99 + shipping. And I laminating them with sealing lamination covers from Staples - 4 sheets for $14.99. So grand total was about $20 for all 5, which means $4 a piece.

When I wrapped them, because it is a little confusing what they are, I wrote on the outside of the present, "Please take me somewhere with this! Love, Millie"

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Travel Cake Pops

2011-12-03T13:32:00.001-08:00

I threw a mini shower for a guy at work who was getting married. I secretly found out that his reception was themed on their travels together before getting married and thought that I could present him with a gift card from everyone at work and make some globe cake pops for everyone to enjoy.

I decided to handmake the gift card holder, which is a passport replica. I made the top from royal blue felt and the inside has a light blue fabric with a pocket for the gift card. I also hand embroidered the passport emblem for the USA on the front cover, freehand. I couldn't get any of my fabric markers to show up, so I just eyeballed it.

Then, I made the cakepop stands, which are small blocks of dry floral foam, with 10 places for the cake pops. I covered the foam with tin foil, then wrapped the outside with scrapbook paper, and stuck that on with double stick tape. Then I used M&Ms to cover the aluminum foil after the cake pops were in place. Note, don't put the holes for the sticks too close together, they didn't fit and stuck together when I tried to use every hole. I used bakerella's generic cake pop mix, find her here (she is Amazing!).

I decorated each pop individually to look like a globe. I used blue candy melts for the water, and then used a premade green icing color to make the land masses. I think they were pretty good, what do you think?
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Robbie the Robot

2011-11-29T20:38:00.000-08:00

I finally finished a large stuffed plushie called Robbie. He's a robot. He likes a little mischief every now and then. You can tell by the look on his robotic face. And don't start by pressing his buttons!

For sale here.

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Bumblebee Baptism Party - 4 - Beehive Cake

2011-11-26T17:30:00.000-08:00

I saw another inspiration photo on pinterest:

.

I thought that would be perfect for Millie's baptism, so I called up It's A Piece of Cake by Maggi, my favorite cake store, and emailed them a picture. She is amazing. See?

I did 3 different projects with this cake. The first was the chalkboard signs that had really corny sayings like:
- To Bee or Not to Bee
- Beelieve
- I Beelieve I Can Fly
They were simple and I followed the tutorial here.

I also made a popular banner with sticks and flags that have Millie's name across. This was very easy, I just cut out scrapbook paper into triangles, put one letter on each flag, hot glued the paper to string, and then wrapped the string around the sticks. The sticks were dowels from Jo Anne fabrics that are very narrow in diameter, the narrowest they had (1/4 inch I think).

I also made the bees that were "flying" around the cake. They were just small black and yellow pom poms glued together, with a yellow stripe painted on the black pom pom with acrylic paint, two puffy paint eyes on the yellow pom pom, and then some tulle wings cut into shape hot glued on their backs. I hung them at different heights from two different sized embroidery hoops that I had in my sewing collection.

Here are the rest of the party linkups:
Part 1: Invitations
Part 2: Headbands
Part 3: Yellow Flag Banner

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Bumblebee Baptism Party - 3 - Yellow Flag Banner

2011-11-21T23:01:00.000-08:00

Inspiration photo

I saw some cute flag banners for sale on etsy through pinterest, and I thought, heck I could probably make that. So I did!

First, select your fabrics. A great part of this project is showcasing all the fabric you may (of course we have too much fabric!) have collected and using some of the pieces to justify to your loved ones just why you have to have more fabric :)

Since ours was a fall bee theme, I tried to stick with harvest colors. I happen to have a ton of plaid and stripes from a crazy plaid and striped only quilt that was a mess, so I did get to use a few of those fabrics.

Next, cut 6.5" wide strips of each fabric so that you can cut your triangles. I use trirecs tools to cut triangles because I have them and they were the right type of triangle for me (these are icoscoles if you wanted to know). I used to teach high school mathematics.

Cut as many sets of triangles as you would like. Each set will make one flag. For some flags, one side of the flag was in one fabric, and the other side was different. It depends on your taste.

Next, I cut a 2.5" strip for bias fabric (to make the banner). This was a fabric I got at Walmart last Christmas to make a wonderful casserole carrier from Homemade by Jill. Anyways, cut those and sew the ends together. You will have to fold and iron to hide the raw edges, just like making bias tape for quilts. Here is a fabulous tutorial if you don't know what I mean.

This is the Bias fabric name. I love these names. I sewed the strip together and folded with the iron.

Then I sewed together the pairs of flags, wrong sides together.

Then I turned each of the flags right side out carefully using a plastic tool.

I decided to keep a 6 inch gap between the flags to make it longer, so it would be a long banner rather than a short one. So you just pin each flag in between the bias sandwich, so that no raw edges are showing, and then there is only one more step.

You sew straight down the binding to finish the banner.

And you're done!

Here is how we used them in my daughter's six month pictures and at the party.

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Want to see more of the bumblebee party? Part 1- Invitations or Part 2-Headbands. Take your pick :)

Bumblebee Baptism Party - 2 - Headbands

2011-11-05T20:11:00.000-07:00

I already put up one blog post about the invitations for the baptism party here, but I wanted to keep on giving details for most of my projects. I had the idea of each guest getting a headband to wear, but scaled it back to keep people from feeling like they HAD to wear a headband. To get people in the bee mood at the party, I offered headbands outside the front door on a small table. We also hung some of Martha's tissue pom poms, which were a cute yellow color (sorry, my sister took them for her apartment so I don't have pictures). Go here for inspiration.

Here is what they looked like on. I made the antenna style for a literal interpretation of the Buzzing Bee, but I also made some of those popular flower headbands, mainly worn by the females at the party.

The flower headbands are very simple to make. I got stretchy elastic headbands at the dollar store, and hot glued flowers to a piece of felt. Then I cut the felt to a minimum outline, and hot glued it to another piece of felt to glue it to the headband. I put the metal part of the headband inside the felt, to hide it, and they pretty much fit everyone, even my 6 month old daughter.

Some people were even sad we ran out of headbands!!

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Shark Attack Victim & Lifeguard Halloween Costumes

2011-10-29T16:51:00.000-07:00

I just had to do a recreate of this pin from pinterest.

Here is what I ended up with, and I think it turned out really cute! It is a great idea for a 3-6 month baby, that can wiggle a little, isn't too upset if they "lose" their feet, and cannot crawl. Bonus is that a parent can be "in" the costume with a lifeguard to the rescue!

I have a short partial tutorial to add later, but for now, enjoy the Halloween festivities (my. favorite. holiday. ever.).

Cape Tutorial - Gift or Costume!

2011-10-09T20:37:00.000-07:00

I have a spunky nephew with a thing for superheros. So for Christmas, I'm giving him a cape that I made. Here is a tutorial for how to make your own. It is easy, I promise so even if you've never used your sewing machine before, you can do it!!!
Pin It

One of the main things about this cape is that it is light! That was a main requirement for my nephew's because the only real reason he likes capes is because they fly behind him when he runs. If you were making something for a child that likes the woods, or Lord of the Rings, or anything like that (Lion, Witch, Wardrobe, etc), then they may like a thicker fabric so it is heftier. So for his, I made a little red cape with a superman style marker on the back with his first initial "R".

For the tutorial, I used a thicker fabric with sparkles and the letter "J". Sorry, I don't know what the name of the fabric is, it was in the bargain bin at Joann's for $4 per yard. The red fabric was also bargain bin. Neither are cotton. The red fabric wasn't knit, so I used a regular needle. For knits, you will need a ball point needle so you don't snag the fabric. I actually am bad and used a regular needle for the blue knit, but you are taking a risk of a snag.

To Buy:
1 yard of fabric
ball point needles if you are using a knit fabric
2 different colors of felt/separate fabric to make the superhero logo
matching thread for cape and superhero fabric colors

1. Lay out your fabric and iron out all the wrinkles.

2. To make the tie, cut a 2.5 inch strip of the cape fabric.

3. Fold the strip lengthwise, right sides together and iron if fabrics are slippery.

4. Sew down the folded side of the strip. We will sew down the other side of the strip when we attach the cape so that isn't necessary at this point.

5. Turn the strip right side out by attaching a safety pin to one end and pushing it through the inside of the tube, little by little.

6. Fold the ends over to hide the raw edge and sew closed.

7. Set the strip aside. Next, we will make the superman logo. Freehand a diamond and then draw in your letter. Carefully cut out the diamond shape and also the letter.

8. Iron on wonder under or another heat bond interfacing to your contrasting fabrics. This helps keep things in place when sewing. Then trace the logo shapes onto each contrasting fabric.

NOTE - You want to use the letter template upside down, so that from the RIGHT side of the fabric, the letter will be correct and not be backwards. See the J, and how I made a mistake? I caught myself before I got too far, but this is very important.

9. Cut the logo out of each fabric. Then you can lay them on your cape and find the right positioning. I wanted long capes, that would last a while for the child, so I made the capes long and put the logo near the bottom so it could be seen. For a bigger child, you could always put the logo near the top (shoulder blade height). If you don't like a pucker when you do this (see how the red cape looks when laying flat), then I would use an interfacing on the back of the fabric before you pin on the logo.

10. Get the rest of the cape fabric and fold in half, making a square shape. Then, fold one part of the fabric down, so you can find the center line of the cape to put the center of the diamond on.

Mark this line with several pins (I used 3), especially if the fabric you are working with doesn't iron well.

11. Pin on the logo to the cape in a location you are happy with. I used the pins to help me line it up straight.

12. Iron the logo on.

13. Sew the logo on (with or without interfacing) with a zig zag stitch. My machine doesn't have a lot of options, so I just turn the knob to zig zag, set the stitch pretty wide, set the stitch size pretty low, and try it out on a scrap before I go to the project piece. By the way, my machine is a Pfaff Hobby. I need to upgrade soon.

You'll need to switch thread colors for each contrasting fabric color you use.
I had both yellow:

and red:

13. Now you are ready to sew the cape together. Take the cape with logo and put right sides together and sew the left side, bottom, and right sides together.

NOTE - I pinned after laying it down to be sure it would lay flat and not skew the logo.

14. Turn the cape right side out. Next, fold in the top raw edges about 1/2 inch to an inch and pin.

This will help you sew it closed without leaving raw edges or having to hand stitch anything. Top stitch around all three closed sides to make for a more professional finish if desired.

15. Next, we are going to pin the cape to the strip we made before which will tie around the child's neck. First, find the middle of the strip and the middle of the cape and pin that in place. The side of the strip that we haven't top stitched is to go to the top of the cape.

NOTE - I reminded myself which pin was at the center of the cape with a double pin.

16. Working outwards, make pleats from the center and pin each pleat to the tie. I like to do one side at a time, all the way to the end, and try to make each pleat the same width/depth.

17. At the end, compare the ends of the tie and see if it is about the same leftovers for the bow.

18. Then, sew all the way down the strip on the side you haven't sewn before.This can be very thick so sew slowly. It helps the feed dogs keep up with the needle.

19. Lastly, sew the bottom of the strip to the cape only. This is our final step.

Yay! We finished!

Did you make it? Do you have some cute other ideas for capes? I personally think this looks like a great one for a magician! Perhaps stars are in order!!! If you don't want to make this, I also am selling capes for Halloween or gifts in my shop :)

Bumblebee Baptism Party - 1

2011-10-07T20:50:00.000-07:00

Our daughter is having her baptism at the end of October, so I've been busy (as a bee) dreaming up a fun little party that doesn't cost too much.

One of the first things I thought of after deciding to do a "bee" theme is that making your own invitations isn't really that difficult. So I thought it would be great to have a beehive as an invitation.

First, it came out much better than I thought. I am by no means an artist. Another question I bet you are thinking is: how do I get envelopes for my cards? Well, I bought mine with envelopes.com. They are great and for 50 envelopes, it was only $9.99 plus shipping. So far so good! Those came in the mail and I was off to the races.

I decided to keep the costs down, I would make 2 invitations per page of paper, which basically means a 5 x 7 invitation. That would mean an A7 envelope. I found this out by using the google and asking "What envelope size do I use for a 5 x 7 invitation?". It told me the answer. Smart google.

Next, I went to my local Joann's and picked up some letter sized scrapbook paper. I wanted the thick kind and my choices were limited to 2 yellow papers. One had gold in it (yuck!) and the other had a canvas feel. I personally thought the canvas feel had a more "hivey" look, so I went with that one.

I needed 14 invitations so I bought 9 pieces of the paper just in case I made printing mistakes.

Next, when I got home, I had to measure the paper and cut it down to 8.5 x 11 inches because that is what I was using as a paper size in the word template. Here is the word template by the way. You can edit it however you would like. I just love the bees I got from clipart!

Then, I drew out the hive shape I wanted the invitation to have. This was a bit trickier because it had to be in the 5 x 7 size for the envelopes and also contain all the words. I cut down a plain sheet of paper to 5 x 7.

Next, I printed out the words on my fancy paper. Be sure to do a couple tests if you change the wording template to be sure it will fit in the hive. Once I was sure, I printed out 9 copies (enough for 18 invitations). Then I traced the hive onto each invitation. I folded the hive across in a straight line as a guide to be sure the hive wasn't crooked, and aligned the fold with the last line on the invitation about the RSVP. It worked like a charm.

Then I cut out the invitations and decorated. I loved adding the dotted lines from the bee stinger to show a little movement. I think this was the best part of making the invitations. What do you think? Does it look like a beehive?

Be sure to stay tuned, more party DIY to come!

31st Birthday & Random Acts of Kindness

2011-10-06T12:56:00.000-07:00

I was recently asked what I want to do for my birthday and thought -- bowling?? a movie?? Blah! There wasn't anything I need or wanted to do, and then I saw this post:

http://mixmingleglow.com/blog/?p=1358

This girl is awesome! She turned 38 and did 38 random acts of kindness (RAOK) throughout the day. I am going to do this (although I'm going to do it on the Saturday before my birthday).

Do you have any ideas of what I can do that are cheap but would mean something to people? I want to touch people but can't give 45 coffees out or something like that.

1. Collect trash
2. Help push carts back from a parking lot
3. Leave a note of encouragement in a self-help book at the library
4. Write thank you notes around town
5. Fill parking meters downtown (do we have those in my hometown? I have no idea!)
6. Pay for someone's meal inside a fast food restaurant
7. Pay for a toll for someone behind me
8. Write a letter to an old friend
9. Hand bottles of water out to someone on a jog
10. Go to the playground and leave some change for kids to find (carefully)
11. Tape change to a few vending machines in the hospital
12. Read a story to kids in Barnes and Noble
13. Cut a neighbor's lawn (and mow my own of course!)
14. Leave a thank you note with a treat to our mailwoman
15. ??

I need 16 more ideas! So any you can think of would be great :)

Millie's First Rice Cereal

2011-09-16T05:19:00.000-07:00

We tried Rice cereal with Millie last night at dinner time. She did really great and it is a fun part of having a baby!

I See Me! Books Update

2011-08-25T13:04:00.000-07:00

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Remember the I See Me! books? Well, in addition to using the 20% OFF coupon code INCREDIBLE until August 31, 2011, you can also get free Personalized stickers!
They have books for introducing a baby's name, pirate adventures for boys, or fairy tales for girls.

Boy's Shoes - Gray Plaid

2011-08-23T09:04:00.000-07:00

I love this fabric for a pair of little boy's shoes. These are 3-6 months.

These actually also have a felt liner so there are no rough edges inside. I also have the same type of style with dinosaur fabric.

Giveaway - Twisted Sugar Twine Package

2011-08-19T05:24:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen the Tatertots and Jello blog? I love love love this blog and check frequently for crafting ideas, from quilting to homemade gifts. She is very creative and has unique ideas (puff quilts anyone?).

So many different ways to use these, but I would love to use them in my etsy shop packaging if I won the giveaway! What would you use them for?

She is currently having a giveaway for Twisted Sugar Twine, which is sooo cute!

I See Me! Books

2011-08-18T11:31:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen the I See Me! books? They are customizable. I first heard about them when my dear friend, J, bought my daughter a book....in it, colorful, beautiful animals spell both her first and last name in rhyme. It is so imaginative and fun!

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They have other options instead of introducing a baby's name, like pirate adventures for boys or or fairy tales for girls.

Here is a picture of the letter pages for the My Very Own Name book we have:

Well, until August 31, 2011, you can get 20% off these books with the code INCREDIBLE! If you saw the Eversave coupon a while back, I think you could combine with that gift certificate for an even lower price.

Onesie Tie with Shoes to Match!

2011-08-16T18:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, I just made this outfit for a baby gift size 0-3 months....what do you think?

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I rather like the polka dots! And it is more grown up than the normal nursery material with animals. It was simple: drew a pattern of the tie, ironed on wonder under (heat bond actually), ironed on the tie to the onesie, sewed the seams with a zig-zag stitch (in Navy blue thread to match), and then washed to be sure it would stay together. I'm so pleased it came out so well!

These are on etsy -- PM me if you like the set but want a custom order.

New Post, New Blog -- Almost

2011-08-16T10:05:00.001-07:00

Wow, it has been almost a year since I last posted.

In that time, a lot has happened. I got pregnant, we moved (without selling the old house), we have a buyer for the house, we tried one type of short sale, we got denied, we are in the process of another type of short sale, I started a new job, we had the baby (a girl - M), and I started an etsy business.

Which leads me to my new point of view for blogland - - CRAFTING! I love it, and so should you. Even if you aren't all that creative, you should try crafting just for the heck of it. And in that line, I would like to share my new creations from etsy. Keep in mind, most of what I create, I create because I love the process. I love the feel of fabric, the clack of the sewing machine, the little fuzz that scissors get on them when cutting thick fabrics.....even though that means more cleaning. So stick with me, invite your friends, find some cool stuff to send to me. We can have fun!

Side of House Project Part 4 - Complete!!!

2010-09-09T06:49:00.000-07:00

Remember this monstrosity? Well, it is no more! What did I do for four straight days last weekend? Well of course, work in the steamy Florida heat and finally lay down the paver walkway and landscaped the side of our house. Let me remind you of what this all looked like last February (I bought the pavers last summer planning on a winter project...but winter turned to Labor Day).
We had already removed all the boards and the sheds, as explained in three previous posts, go there to review how much work had already taken place - Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. You can tell just how steamy it was in the picture above. That's my dad and sister helping to dig out the place we would need to level before we put in the pavers.
And more digging. This shows the strips of plywood we put down with stakes to mark the edges of the path and to give us a level height to work from. We leveled the plywood tops with a string and level that we marked off from the height of the pool deck so the pavers wouldn't be very far away from that. It was hard to be perfect. You can see in the above picture that we were working on leveling the dirt before we starting adding leveling sand to perfect the surface to lay the pavers on top of.
Here you can see we put down leveling sand on top of the dirt we had leveled the same way. This involved using the board my dad is holding and scraping it along the top of the plywood (shown in the right of the photo). It is called a screed. So that helped us make the dirt level and also the leveling sand level.
The path almost done with sand; nice and level.
Whole path done. Now to lift all the pavers and put them in place on the path. I picked some pavers that would create a natural looking path, not square and it was neat how they fit together like a puzzle.
This is what the path will look like....next we used polymeric sand to fill in the gaps. Polymeric sand does not promote weed growth, doesn't float away like regular sand/dirt, and also will harden somewhat. Follow the directions on the package...and one bucket of that stuff goes a long way.
Here you can see I next put down landscaping edging along the sides of the path, filled in the pathway with regular dirt to keep the pavers locked in place, and mulched and planted the sides of the path with Florida native species. I'm hoping these won't die like the last 3 sets of plants I tried.
Ta da! Just a reminder of what this looked like before! What a difference!

I hope you enjoyed this....I'm so glad it is done. And just in time to put our house up for sale because I got a new job in Tampa. Whew! And we have an open house this Saturday (tomorrow) that hopefully goes well :)

Organizing for Shopping - How I use my Coupons

2010-07-19T07:28:00.000-07:00

First, I would like to say that it is fun using coupons and doesn't have to be a huge pain in the booty! You can succeed without really trying, which is always exciting and helps your monthly bottom line.

Here are the tips I have:

1. NEVER SKIP A WEEK BUYING THE COUPONS.

I use TaylorTown coupon preview to be sure there are inserts and which kind. http://www.taylortownpreview.com/ -- There are links for each week's coupons and also a yearly calendar to know when there are coupons and when there are none (major holidays usually don't have coupons).
If there are only the SmartSource (SS) and RedPlum (RP) inserts for a particular week, then I get 4 Sunday papers (and check to be sure all inserts are in there before I leave the store). If there is Proctor and Gamble (PG, usually at the beginning of a month) or extra coupon inserts, then I get more (6 is usually my max).

2. YOU DON'T HAVE TO CLIP THE COUPONS OUT EACH WEEK.

I take each insert and make a mega-insert by combining the like pages and keeping one large insert for each type (one mega for SS and one for RP, etc). I write the date on the top of the mega-insert and keep them in chronological order with the oldest insert at the top.
http://frugalsuz.blogspot.com/2009/05/coupon-organization-frugalsuz-style.html - This is the link that shows the same organizing style I use, but I do not do anything paste making the mega-inserts.

3. I HAVE FOUND TRIED AND TRUE SOURCES FOR THE BEST DEALS AT PUBLIX, CVS,
AND WALGREENS (WAG) EACH WEEK.

I do NOT find each deal myself. I use other people's information to match sale prices and coupons that are out there to make my money go further.

Publix - www.southernsavers.com - Just click on the box that says Publix and look for the blog post with the correct dates. Sales change on Thursday, she puts the shopping list up and I usually go print out my info on Wednesdays so I am ready on Thursday afternoon. Since that is when the deal is newest, I like to shop Thursdays because normally everything is still in stock. NOTE - Publix will give you a raincheck, which is great if you get there and they are out, but you have coupons that won't expire for a while.
CVS & WAG - www.frugalsuz.blogspot.com - Each week, my lovely friend Suz will post a blog that talks about the upcoming week's deals at both CVS and Walgreens. Again, she tells you which insert the coupons are in and all you have to do is make a list of what items you'd like with the coupons.

4. PRINT OUT YOUR DEALS.

Publix - Southern Savers has a unique shopping list that will allow you to only select each deal you'd like, and she includes the coupon insert type (SS, RP, PG etc) and the date. You can print your list on your computer. She also includes printables from competitors like Target and Food Lion and also printable coupons from the web.
CVS/WAG - I cut and paste the deals frugalsuz talks about into a notepad file, then delete ones I'm not interested in, and use that list at the store.

5. CLIP YOUR COUPONS!

Cut out the coupons from your mega-inserts that you need to bring to the store, which match your deals.

6. PUT YOUR DEALS WITH COUPONS IN YOUR PURSE/BAG/CAR

I paperclip the coupons to my shopping list and leave it in my purse for Thursday afternoons at Publix, and Sunday mornings at CVS/WAG.

Tips for each store:

Publix

Get rainchecks if they are out of stock.
Use Competitor coupons. They'll take Register Rewards (RR) from WAG, Target Q, Food Lion Q, and any other type of grocery store coupon as long as you have one relatively close by.

Hand your coupons over to the cashier in this order: $5/15 ($X amount off $X purchase) CVS Q, ECB, Manufaucturer Q.
My CVS will take any expired CVS coupons, including the fantastic Extra Care Bucks (ECBs).

Hand your coupons over to the cashier in this order: RR, Manufacturer Q, in-store coupons.
Walgreens advertises that Register Rewards/RR's can be used like cash, but they are actually manufacturing coupons that are only good at WAG (or in my case at Publix, too).
The catch is that you can't "roll" RR's to something made by the same manufacturer. Rolling is when you buy an item, get a reward, and use that reward to buy more of the same item, then get another reward. At WAG, you won't get the second reward. You WILL get a second reward at CVS, as long as you haven't reached your limit.
You can only NOT roll to the same manufacturer's items. For example, if I bought a Gillette razor, got RR, and then used that RR to buy a Kellogg's deal for more RR, it WILL give me more RR. It is based on the MANUFACTURER.
They have a strict coupon rule: # of items must be greater or equal to the number of coupons (although their store coupons do not contribute to this count).

Publix - 7/17

2010-07-19T06:43:00.000-07:00

Sorry no pictures, but this week's deals at Publix are really amazing!

3.99*2 Edy's Fruit Bar [1.99 each]
-3.99 Edy's BOGO
7.99*2 Contessa Frozen Meals [3.25 each]
-7.99 Contessa BOGO
-1.50/2 Contessa Q
2.99*4 Kellog's Raising Bran [.99 each]
-2.99*2 Raisin Bran BOGO
-1.00/2 * 2 Raisin Bran Q
2.19*2 Hershey's Syrup [1.09 each]
-2.19 Hershey's BOGO
4.29*4 Hershey's Bliss Chocolates [1.14 each]
-4.29*2 Hershey's Bliss BOGO
-1.00*4 Hershey's Bliss Q
3.49*4 Juicy Juice [1.25 each]
-3.49*2 Juicy Juice BOGO
-1.00/2 * 2 Juicy Juice Q
3.69*2 Chips Ahoy [1.85 each]
-3.69 Chips Ahoy BOGO
5.49*2 Olay Cleanser (saved 1.50 each on sale) [2.25 each]
-1.00 Olay Cleanser Q
-5.49 Olay BOGO Q
1.00*3 Bic Mechanical Pencils (saved 2.69 each on sale) [.67 each]
-1.00/2 Bic Pencil TARGET Q
2.50 Strawberries (saved .49 on sale)
.92 Tomatoes (saved .62 on sale)
-.50 Q wyb $3.00 produce FOOD LION Q
1.00*2 6 packs of Pencils (10 ct) (saved .85 each on sale)
1.00*2 6 packs of Crayola Crayons (24 ct) (saved 1.65 each on sale)
2.00 Florida's OJ (saved 1.69 on sale)
6.09 Ground Sirloin (saved 1.65 on sale)
5.83 Ground Sirloin (saved 1.58 on sale)
1.49 Eggs
3.35*3 Milk
2.89 Bread
5.19 Half a Key Lime Pie
1.78 Tax
=78.63, saved 88.99 which is 53%!

5/27 - GPS IIF-1 Launch

2010-05-28T05:44:00.000-07:00

The first GPS IIF Launch happened last night from pad 37B at Cape Canaveral, FL. Here is my video from Watts Park, Merritt Island, FL. There was pretty thick clouds last night, which made the video pretty short but even when the rocket disappears, you can still hear the rumble.

5/23 - CVS & WAG

2010-05-28T05:23:00.001-07:00

CVS #1
3.99 Nair Bikini
4.00*2 Old Spice Body Wash
1.50*2 Newspapers
= 14.99
-4.00 ECB
-6.99 ECB
-4.00 BOGO Old Spice Body Wash
+.90 tax
=.90 OOP, +$8 Body Wash ECB

CVS #2
4.00*2 Old Spice Body Wash
4.00 Gillette Body Wash (didn't get ECB cause the limit was 2)
1.59*4 Sobe Lifewater
-1.59*2 Sobe Lifewater BOGO
1.50 Newspaper
= 19.86
-2.00 ECB
-6.99 ECB
-1.59*2 Sobe Lifewater BOGO Q
-4.00 Old Spice BOGO Q
+1.01 tax
=1.52 OOP, +$8 Body Wash ECB

Then I returned the Gillette Body wash and got a 4.24 Gift Card, which makes it a better day.

Grand total: Bought $30.85 worth of merchandise at a cost of $2.16 (and got 3 newspapers too) which is a savings of 93%

WAG
#1
2.99 Colgate Toothpaste
+.18 tax
=3.17 OOP, +

#2
2.99 Goody Updo Barette
-2.00 RR
+.18 tax
=1.17 OOP, +3 Goody RR

Grand total: Bought $5.98 worth of merchandise at a cost of $1.34 which is a savings of 77.6%

5/16 - CVS & WAG

2010-05-18T06:53:00.000-07:00

CVS
2.99*2 Herbal Essences
1.88 Dial Soap 3 pk
6.99 Blade 5 Razor
1.99 J & J Floss *Monthly Deal
1.50*2 Newspapers
-12.00 ECB
-1.00*2 Herbal Essences Q
-1.00 J&J Floss Q
+.48 tax
=5.32 OOP, +6.99 Blade ECB, +2.00 Herb Ess ECB, +2.00 J&J Floss ECB, +1.00 Dial ECB, which is a cost of 5.33

#2
2.99*2 Herbal Essences
1.88 Dial Soap 3 pk
6.99 Blade 5 Razor
1.99 J & J Floss *Monthly Deal
1.50*2 Newspapers
-12.00 ECB
-4.00 ECB
-.50 ECB
-1.00*2 Herbal Essences Q
-1.00 J&J Floss Q
+.21 tax
=.55 OOP, +6.99 Blade ECB, +2.00 Herb Ess ECB, +2.00 J&J Floss ECB, +1.00 Dial ECB, which is a cost of 5.06

GRAND TOTAL at CVS: Bought $39.68 worth of merchandise at a cost of $10.39 which is 74% savings!

WAG
1.00*2 Stride Gum
1.99*2 Potting Soil
4.49 Old Spice Body Wash
3.99 Old Spice Deoderant
-5.00 RR
-3.99 FREE Old Spice Deoderant wyb Body Wash
-1.00 Store Q wyb 2 Stride Gum
-2.00 Store Q ($1.00 off each Potting Soil)
+.75 tax
=3.22 OOP, +4.50 Old Spice RR, which is a cost of $3.72
Bought $14.46 worth of merchandise at a cost of 3.72 which is 74% savings!

5/14 - STS-132 Space Shuttle Atlantis Launch

2010-05-15T07:20:00.001-07:00

From Watts Park, in Merritt Island, FL, at 2:20 pm EDT:

Gardening

2010-05-14T05:58:00.001-07:00

My first tomato of the year (I wish I was Dan Quayle so I could spell it tomatoe).
We also have a single planted rose bush that has a nice bloom on it right now.
I am growing cuttings in smaller pots from my grandparent's house as well. After my grandmother died, my grandfather planted a rose garden. He even got a sign that says "Elizabeth's Garden" and the cuttings are from those roses and others on their property. I hope the cuttings root well so I can plant them before the heat of summer.
Tomato bushes. I have about 6 on the right in a line that are very large now and 4 on the left that are smaller. I had to replant seeds during the spring because of cats digging them up and the coldest winter I can remember here in Central Florida.
Corn! I love summer corn and I'm hoping these get bigger. Makes me remember that I need to fertilize.

Did you plant anything? What is the best thing for where you live?

Meeting Pioneer Woman

2010-05-14T05:40:00.000-07:00

Wednesday night, Pioneer Woman (aka Ree Drummond) came to Orlando to sign her cookbooks. She stayed up on a balcony all night. See the video later in the post about her feelings on balconies.
I met some really nice people, and we talked the whole time.
She asked every single person a question or two and we asked her about visiting Florida.
It was amazing, even though I was downstairs most of the night and waited 4 hours to get my cookbook signed. My greatest surprise was that her voice was higher than I imagined an Ethel Merman impersonator's to be. But she was so gracious and spoke to all of us individually, which is why it took longer.

4/6 - Side of House Project Part 3

2010-04-06T08:28:00.000-07:00

I finally removed enough dirt to plant the podocarpus, which ideally will create a nice hedge to block the view between us and our neighbors. They are wonderful neighbors, and we love them, but the houses in our area are built EXTREMELY close together. So I started digging the first spot, right behind that front plant in the next picture.
Of course, it couldn't be easy. We are planting under two very large Australian Pines, on our neighbor's property. The roots are soft though. But I didn't hit a root. I hit a....5-gallon bucket, turned right side up! Lordy. Took 2.5 hours to get the sucker out because the roots had cemeted it in place, combined with the dirt inside which made it too heavy to just lift out.
This is where I was as of the Saturday before Easter. I have since begun planting the plants. My husband brought Azaleas from his job, he is an Agriculture teacher in Polk County, Florida, so we bought plants the students raised. They are already blooming!
More to come! If you want to see the project from the beginning (I recommend you do so you can see how *beautiful* the house was before), use these links: Part 1 and Part 2.

Angry Driving + Car Advertising = BAD PRESS

2010-03-26T07:14:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't written in a while, I haven't had much to blog about.

However, this thing happened to me yesterday in the Publix parking lot. We have a very oddly shaped lot that requires a driver to twist and turn around the end to get to each row. I was quietly minding my own business and was in the right part of the road, when a crazy driver drove towards me head on. She had the window down and was screaming at me (with a child in the front seat), and with a bluetooth headset.

Crazy woman. Then I realized that she had an advertisement for a business on her car. I was so flabbergasted that I didn't know really what to do. But she didn't leave the lot. She parked the car!!! This is the advertisement:
Now the funny thing is the name of the business -- Friendly Cleaning Service by Yira Lee. Sorry Yira, you're not fooling anyone. You are as friendly as a pit bull that has a tooth pulled. Seriously, get a grip. I would definitely say if you live in Brevard County to find a happier person to clean your house.

PS - I hate to do this, but I just had to. I can't deal with that kind of maniacal driver in the Publix parking lot.

Sanctity of Marriage

2010-03-08T11:23:00.000-08:00

Hilarious video. Yes, I'm a liberal. Deal.

2/28 - Side of House Project Part 2

2010-03-04T06:47:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I was pretty busy but managed to work on the side of the house project a bit more. I began by removing the screws in all of the wood planks that are rotting. The screws are still as good as new (although I don't think I'll reuse them). Too bad because I have a gazillion.
Next I removed the planks, although it got dark before I finished them all.
Just a reminder, this is before:
Next step is to remove the rest, then start digging out the dirt to lay the foundation of gravel. I chose gravel under sand as the base because this needs to drain water well (otherwise it gets very muddy). I probably could get by with just sand, but I want this to be 100% wetland free. We have a pool pump on this side of the house as well as our A/C unit too. So mud is not so great.

Here is what it looks like laid out. I have to begin thinking about ordering the sand and gravel soon. You may have to click on the picture to enlarge it so you can see what I mean. The AZ are azaleas my husband is growing in a greenhouse. The BR are Bromeliads I've already bought. We are going to plant podocarpus along the chain link fence which will act as a screen between us and our neighbors. Their kitchen window now views our swimming pool since we removed the sheds.See Part 1 of this project here.

Sewing Bags

2010-02-26T05:59:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to work harder at sewing throughout the year for some craft fairs and also to make gifts I thought people might appreciate. I made another of the larger tote bags two days ago for my best-friend's birthday. It had more blue in it. They were a little smaller than I realized, but very easy to make with a small amount of fabric. I got the pattern here. I probably will make different sizes by just scaling up the fabric size.
I also tried to make the Buttercup bag by Rae twice. The first time is on the right, which looks cute but is very very flimsy. The fabric I chose wasn't thick enough. A little girl would love it though, and it closes with a small magnetic closure, which means things will definitely fall out. The second one I made without a strap, but it has a zipper closure. First try with a zipper on a purse, it is not as easy as it looks and her tutorial didn't include instructions so I tried my best. I also don't really need a light-tan purse, but it was the only thicker fabric at the store that I liked. These extras will go in the pile for sale/gift ideas.

2/14 - 1970s Attic #2

2010-02-22T08:40:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I finished the attic project last weekend with the help of my sister, Katie. And a little help from my dad. Here is the picture of more notable items that we found:
The tallest item is a floor scrubber...I checked it and it still worked! The blue "Gas can" type item is actually a foam fire extinguishing tub. It was empty. I also pulled down a ton of trash, chairs, and other items not in the picture, but notice on the right the white thing? It is a meat slicer!!! OMG!

2/13 - Epcot Trip

2010-02-22T08:15:00.000-08:00

DH and I went to Epcot for our Valentine's treat to each other, courtesy of two FREE tix I got for singing in Candlelight this Christmas. It was really fun, we had dinner at China, and dessert in Paris.

2/6 Kohl's Experience

2010-02-17T11:59:00.001-08:00

Here is what I got with my 20 $5 Kohl's Coupons:
Dr. Seuss Plush 5.00*2
Candle .59*3 (saved 2.40 on clearance each)
Easter Towel 4.99 (saved 5.00)
Easter Hand towel 2.99*2 (saved 5.00 each)
White wash cloths 3.99*2 (saved 4.00 each)
White hand towels 4.99*2 (saved 5.00 each)
Pillow 4.99 (saved 5.00)
Pillow 3.99*3 (saved 6.00 each)
Green Bath towel 6.74 (saved 8.25)
Green Bath towel 6.99*3 (saved 8 each)
Green wash cloths 4.49*4 (saved 4.50 each)
Kitchen Scissors for Knife Block 8.24 (saved 2.75)

My mom also got 3 bath mats for 5.00 each after tax approximately, which are usually 24.99 before taxes

Total merchandise regular price: 298.74
Total savings (I did lose a few receipts): 249.64
Total out-of-pocket: 49.10
Savings: 83.5%!!!!!!!!!! Yahoo!

2/7 - Attic 1970's style

2010-02-09T07:45:00.000-08:00

It could be that it is my luck. But I think that it is weird when people sell you a house and leave piles of items inside it. Not to mention that (which we took care of before we moved in) but now the attic is on my to-do list because of this:

I know it is hard to understand why people would leave such beautiful and useful items, like:
1968 wall paper, a golf bag with the clubs, and a piece of multicolored blue/red/orange carpet. Wish the carpet had been bigger, I could have gotten it bound! Do you have people that left stuff at your house? What have you found in your attic? I have a long ways to go before this project is over!

Space Shuttle Endeavour Launch

2010-02-08T08:59:00.000-08:00

Very awesome experience. I'm glad I killed myself getting out there. There was a guy at church yesterday who had room in his car to go onto the base and see it as close as you can get. So I did that. We met at 12:15 am and got back home at 5:15 am. Worth it!!! We were in Cape Canaveral on Merritt Island, FL.

Chain Link Fence Project

2010-02-03T07:53:00.000-08:00

Now, because of Tropical Storm Fay, not only did our dock get submerged, but we also had some bush damage. We had a very very large bouganvillea that was quite beautiful. So beautiful I decided to pose in an ugly bathing suit the first month we lived in our house, with my nephew.
Well, Tropical Storm Fay actually pushed this over, till it hit the dock pilings, which are behind me in the above photo. It was leaning at a 45 degree angle. This won't do, Gidget!
See above for how the bush landed after the storm. Next step was to cut down the bush, which I ended up doing to ground level. Behind it, the bush had destroyed the chain link fence, so I employed my father, who nicely came and helped me with this part. We saved the links, and got the connectors and bars at Home Depot. I still have to spray paint to keep it from rusting further.
You can see above what is left of the bouganvillea, which is a stump, and new growth that I'll have to make stay smaller than what was there before. Nice job on the gates, huh? I know my dad is a genius.
We needed them replaced on both sides of the yard, so the above is the other side. Finally, we had a gate leading to the front yard that was not able to swing, so we had to cement in a new post and change out the hinges. Note the special piece on the right. My dad had that made in a machine shop. He is a mechanical engineer so he is good with these things (I'm only a lowly aerospace engineer.) Before it was just the pole on the left, which left a large enough space for a small child to creep through, which always worried me. Now it is impassable!

Side of House Project - Part 1

2010-02-03T07:36:00.001-08:00

Gosh we didn't have much space on the left side of our house before. I realize now that it was because the sheds were much larger than I thought. The roofs were both damaged due to cutting down the tree above them. So we removed them completely. Before pictures here:

Here is what it looks like now that we have removed the shed walls (we have to pry up the shed floors after we remove the wood planks).Also note that in the picture above, I have removed all the pavers and rocks that were surrounding the air conditioning unit (they were up behind the unit about 6 inches, covering it...not good!). You can finally see the concrete it is sitting on. See the lovely shed floor below. Fun times. Also, they stored a biminy top frame behind one shed...it is stuck for now.

New Dock

2010-02-03T07:11:00.000-08:00

So I've been promising more pictures, and believe me, more are sure to come. Here is the dock before. It was really in sore shape. Notice the before pictures with the pilings that are leaning, and are rectangular (normally pilings are round). Some we could see through, of course I didn't get good pictures of that.And the dock was pretty small before. We definitely couldn't fit a table out there, and we were worried about falling in the canal all the time, since it was small. And of course, there was the time that the dock collapsed on one end and two people actually did end up in the salt-water.

Now, these are terrible, but it shows the old dock removed, and the new pilings going in.

Now here is a picture of all the pilings installed.
You can see it is getting much larger! This is the day they were starting to install the lift.
We changed the layout and now the boat faces the other way. But it gives us much easier access. Before it was a 2-person job to ease the boat out of the slip. We had to back out and make a turn at the same time. Now we can get straight out.
And here it is in all the glory...with our used lift we got for $2K :) -- thanks RoxyinRed!

Now it is also higher, so this doesn't happen again (Tropical Storm Fay Fall 2008):

Wake up (Snake Surprise!)

2010-02-03T05:48:00.000-08:00

I didn't need coffee this morning, not that I drink that anyways.

I didn't need coffee because I had a .....SNAKE.... in my kitchen! Whew! Wake up surprise!
Since I live by myself during the week, I had to get rid of it on my own! Got the swiffer out and the snake climbed aboard (not really) and I put him in the front yard. Whew.

Last weekend

2010-02-02T07:21:00.001-08:00

We finished Fiddler on the Roof. I always forgot my camera, so I don't have any great pictures to show you right now, but I was a bottle dancer and it was a lot of fun.

I also worked more last weekend outside. My dad did most of the work, but we finally removed the sheds. I will be posting the shed/side of house project in pieces on the blog when I get a chance. It looks much larger with the sheds removed. So be sure to check back!

On a side note, I have been going to A Full Cup for a while now. It is similar to HotCouponWorld.com. It has coupons, forums on specific stores, deals, and can help you find help with almost anything coupon related. You can check it out through my banner on the right side of the blog. Thanks for stopping by!

Also, I am going to have to start planting for the side of the house once I get the pavers put in. If you have any ideas on great plants that would do well in Florida, and vary in height, that don't need a lot of any care, please comment below. I need help with tall, medium, and short.

My apologies

2010-01-29T07:56:00.000-08:00

So sorry that I've been MIA on my blog. Things got crazy right around Christmas time.

My great aunt Margaret did like her quilt. I hadn't heard from her though and got quite worried until I got a card on the 27th of December to tell me she finally moved out of her house and into a facility, so she wouldn't be alone all the time. Whew. That really scared me. I've never met her, but I feel attached now that I found her and have talked to her so much.

I've been doing a lot of genealogy research now too. That takes up a ton of time at home, when I normally go shopping and save my receipts and post them here.

We got our dock built finally. I'll share pictures sometime. And of course, I've been doing a few yard work projects. I planted my garden. My dad and I worked on the chain link fence that was uncovered after I chopped our bouganvillea down to the ground level, since Tropical Storm Hannah decided to lean it at 45 degrees towards our yard. Next up is the paver project and removing the terrible looking sheds on the side of our house. Pictures are due for that as well.

My nephew loved his homemade presents, even if they were *homemade*. I think it is love that counts, not presents. And I'm going to embrace this more, even if it perturbs some in my family. What do you think? Should a PRESENT be more important than being kind and treating others with respect? Little do you know how much that came into play this Christmas!

Finally, this is the last weekend that I'm performing in the Chorus of Fiddler on the Roof at our community theatre, Surfside. It has been chaotic, but there is a great group of people in the cast and we've had a wonderful time. I'll miss that for sure.

Shopping This Weekend - 12/18-12/20

2009-12-21T09:27:00.000-08:00

I did a ton of shopping and working this weekend!

First, I finally finished the quilt I made for my Great Aunt Margaret in Oklahoma. Do you think she'll like it?? It is a 12 block, made from a pattern I found in Fon's & Porter's, and it is called the Kaleidoscope. See how the triangles inside each block rotate around to repeat? I LOVE THAT PATTERN!! The possibilities are endless. On a side note, see how I painted my living room blueberry? It is still growing on me. But most of the time it looks darker than that.

I also added a label on the back:
Then I went to Walgreens to get some much needed paper towels and John Frieda:
5.94*2 Viva Towels (6 pk) [15% discount]
5.94*2 John Frieda Shampoo/Conditioner [15% discount]
.50 Mouthwash drops filler
=24.96
-2.00 RR
-2.00 RR
-2.00*2 Viva Q
-5.00/2 John Frieda Q
+1.43 tax
=2.69 OOP, cost of 6.69

Next up was CVS on Sunday for the new deals! I found a ton of the Thermacare (thank you manager of my local CVS).
I did 4 transactions before bopping over to church.
#1
2.49*3 Thermacare
2.99 Scissors
=10.46
-2.99 Raincheck Scissors
-1.00*3 Thermacare Q
-4.00 ECB
=.47 OOP

#2
6.99 Revlon Moondrops Lipstick
2.88 Crest ProHealth 4.2 oz toothpaste
5.99 Nivea Body wash
2.49*2 Thermacare 1ct
= 20.84
-.64 ECB (adjusted from 1.00)
-5.98 ECB
-7.47 ECB
-.75 Crest Q
-1.00*2 Thermacare Q
-2.00 Revlon Q
-2.00 Nivea Q
+.93 tax
=.93 OOP

#3
6.99 Revlon Moondrops Lipstick
2.49*3 Thermacare 1ct
2.99 Scissors
=17.45
-6.99 ECB
-1.00 ECB
-2.99 Scissors Raincheck
-1.00*3 Thermacare Q
-2.00 Revlon Q
+.19 tax
=1.66 OOP

#4
6.99 Revlon Moondrops Lipstick
2.88 Crest ProHealth 4.2 oz
5.99 Nivea Body Wash
2.49*2 Thermacare 1ct
=20.84
-7.47 ECB
-5.98 ECB
-.75 Crest Q
-2.00 Revlon Q
-2.00 Nivea Q
-1.00*2 Thermacare Q
+.96 tax
=1.60 OOP

Grand total: Bought $69.59 worth of merchandise at a profit of $9.71, which is a savings of 100%!

Next up was Publix (or P-club known to some).
3.19*3 Gallon Milk
.60*8 Swanson Canned Broth (saved .49 each on sale)
-.25/4*2 Swanson Q
2.99*2 Aleve (saved .52 each on sale)
-1.00*2 Aleve Q
2.50*2 Sister Schubert’s Rolls
-1.00*2 Sister Schubert’s Q
1.29 Organic Carrots
3.69*2 Wesson Oil
-3.69 Wesson BOGO
14.06 Beef Rib Roast (saved 9.04 on sale)
-2.00/10 Deli Food Lion Competitor’s Q
1.99 5# Idaho Potatoes (saved 1.50 on sale)
.92 White Onion
2.00 Loaf of Bread (saved .99 on sale)
=42.80, saved 28.66 which is 40.1%...not my best but certainly not my worst.

Finally, last weekend (2 Sundays ago), my church had a cookie exchange. I made my grandmother's buckeyes, and won a prize -- MOST TRADITIONAL. Kinda funny cause a lot of people I know have never had buckeyes. But they were delicious. I'll post the recipe at some point on my blog.

Homemade Christmas - 2

2009-12-14T06:18:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I did more work this weekend. Good for me (or unfortunately, depending on how you see it), none of my family reads this, so I know I can post it!!

I made three crayon rolls, that I saw first on homemade by jill, which she got from Skip To My Lou. It worked perfectly!

That will really help a parent keep track of those crayons.

Then I made some stuffed felt animals. I saw the Alligator on homemade by jill, and got the other two free here. Again, I just love finding new sewing information and ideas from others. I wish I were a little bit more creative!

Homemade Christmas

2009-12-11T11:38:00.000-08:00

I'm making many cute items that I can give to family members. Here is a great one, for a younger boy (my nephew is just over 2)....it's called a car caddy. Now, I made mine with recycled denim from DH's old ripped jeans, but I don't recommend making more than one layer denim. I went through a ton of needles because it was too thick. Here is where I saw this idea, and it has the tutorial for you as well (thanks homemade by jill!).
Inside there is an area for a road, for imaginative play!
Next up is a crayon roll, same idea but with crayons instead of cars. That is going with a coloring book about dinosaurs and a dinosaur toy (that I got with a $10 Q at Walmart!). I am also doing a quilt and towels and coaster sets, but I'll post those pictures when I'm done. Enjoy!

Shopping Deals - 12/10

2009-12-11T11:16:00.000-08:00

Okay, I did another shopping run last night before I went home to make 10 dozen buckeyes! Ooh someone is getting some buckeyes!!! Surprise!
Staples
12.99*2 20 ct Duracell batteries
+1.56 tax
=27.54 OOP, get back 24.99 in Staples Rewards for Batteries, cost of 1.56
WAG
#1
.39 Candycane
1.99 Stayfree
.15 tax
-2.00 RR
=.53 OOP, +2 RR, which is a cost of .53

#2
2.00 Scunci Headbands
-2.00 RR
+.12 tax
=.12 OOP, +2 RR, which is a cost of .12

Grand total: Bought $3.99 worth of merchandise at a cost of .65, which is 83.7%
Publix
5.49*2 Glad Kitchen Bags [3.49 each]
-1.00*2 Target Glad Q
-1.00*2 Glad Q
-.55*2 Fresh Express Q (oops, I forgot to get the fresh express!!)
3.49*2 Cocoa Puffs [.75 each]
-3.49 Cocoa Puffs BOGO
-1.00*2 Cocoa Puffs Q
3.39*4 Nabisco Baked Crackers [.95 each]
-3.39*2 Nabisco BOGO
-1.00*3 Nabisco Q
3.50*2 Benefiber Stick Packs [FREE!]
-3.00 Publix Benefiber Q
-2.00*2 Benefiber Q
4.79 Revlon Nail Polish [.49 each]
-2.50 Publix Revlon Q
-2.00 Revlon Q
3.29 Cover Girl Nail Polish [.29 each]
-2.00 Publix Cover Girl Q
-1.00 Cover Girl Q
3.65*2 Juicy Juice [1.08 each]
-3.65 Juicy Juice BOGO
-.75*2 Juicy Juice Q
1.95*2 Betty Crocker Cake Mix [.98 each] -1.95 Betty Crocker BOGO
6.89*2 Vanilla Extract [3.45 each]
-6.89 Vanilla BOGO
1.79 Publix Eggs [FREE]
-1.79 Publix Egg Q FREE wyb 2 Sargento Cheeses
4.29 Stew Beef (2 lb total) [3.76 per lb]
5.23 Stew Beef
-2.00 wyb $10 Beef Food Lion Competitor Q
1.67*2 Sargento Shredded Cheese 2.50*2 Butter .99 Sour Cream 8 oz 1.19 Cream Cheese 8 oz 1.59 Canned Pumpkin 1.50 Beef Consomme 2.00 Qt Grape Tomatoes 4.99 1 lb Strawberries 1.99 8 oz Mushrooms 1.49 3 oz Shallots 3.19*2 Gallon Milk +1.44 tax
=62.14 OOP, saved 62.04, which is 49.9%!

Walgreens Deal - 12/10

2009-12-10T06:56:00.000-08:00

#1
2.00 Brushes
1.99 Stayfree
-1.00 Stayfree Q
+.24 tax
=3.23 OOP, saved 5.29

#2
2.00 Brushes
.39 CandyCane
-2.00 RR
+.15 tax
=.54 OOP, saved 5.99

#3
1.59 Replacement Christmas Bulbs
1.99 Stayfree
-2.00 RR
-1.00 Stayfree Q
+.22 tax
=.80 OOP, saved 4.30

#4
2.00 Brushes
-2.00 RR
+.12 tax
=.12 OOP, saved 5.99

Grand total: Bought $11.96 worth of merchandise (sale price), at a cost of $2.69, which is a savings of 77.5%! Now I have 2 more RR ($2 each) to roll or use at Publix!

Shopping - 12/8

2009-12-09T06:20:00.000-08:00

I'm back!!! After a long hiatus, I'm finally doing coupons again. Just too much to do!

So here is what I did last night:
Winn-Dixie
1.49*8 Bounty Paper Towel Single Rolls [.34 each]
-1.49*4 Bounty BOGO
-.25*5 Bounty Q
-1.00*2 Bounty Q
2.50*4 Hefty Ziplock Bags [.25 each]
-2.50*2 Hefty BOGO
-1.00*4 Hefty Q
+.66 tax
=4.37, saved 18.21 which is 80.6%

CVS
6.99*4 John Frieda Shampoo/Conditioner
.45 Photo
1.49 Photo Surcharge
-1.00*4 John Frieda Q
-4/20 CVS Q
-3.00 John Frieda CVS Q
-4.00 ECB
-6.99 ECB
+.72 tax
=8.63
+4.00 ECB Holiday Catalog, +10 ECB John Frieda, which is a cost of $5.62. Saved 21.99 which is 81.20%

Publix
1.00 Food for All Donation
2.99*4 Arnold Buns [1.50 each]
-2.99*2 Arnold BOGO
3.99*2 Ruffles Chips [2.00 each]
-3.99 Ruffles BOGO 6.49 Duracell 9 V Batteries 1.50*2 Goldfish
3.39*2 Nestle Cookie Dough [.95 each]
-3.39 Nestle BOGO
-1.50/2 Nestle Q
6.99*2 5# Uncle Ben's Rice [3.00 each]
-6.99 Uncle Ben's BOGO
-1.00/2 Uncle Ben's Q
3.79*2 Q Tips
1.29*4 Green Giant Veggies [.65 each]
-1.29*2 Green Giant BOGO 25.00 Itunes GC for Sister 25.00 Old Navy GC for Donation
+.84 tax
=91.34, saved 27.80 which is 23.3%

2009 11 16 Atlantis Shuttle Launch

2009-11-16T12:05:00.001-08:00

At 2:28 pm EST from Melbourne, Florida.

Publix Deal - 10/29

2009-10-30T06:15:00.000-07:00

4.99*2 Breyer's Ice Cream [1.75 each]
-4.99 Breyers BOGO
-.75*2 Breyer's Q
2.50*4 Nature Valley Granola Bars (saved .79 on sale each) [1.10 each]
-4.00/4 In-Ad Nature Valley/General Mills Q
-.40*4 Nature Valley Q
8.39 for 2 New York Strips (saved 5.52 on sale)
7.69 for 2 New York Strips (saved 5.06 on sale)
2.00 Bread (saved .99 on sale)
1.25 for 5 Corn on the Cob (saved 1.75 on sale)
1.99 5 lb White Potatoes (saved 1.50 on sale)
1.62 Asparagus (saved 1.63 on sale)
3.09*2 Gallon Milk
=37.01, saved 31.70 which is 46.1%!!!

Ares 1-X Launch - 10/28

2009-10-28T08:36:00.000-07:00

Here it is, from sunny Melbourne, FL.

CVS Deal - 10/18

2009-10-19T10:23:00.001-07:00

#1
6.99 Glade Reed Diffuser
2.99*2 Aussie (Raincheck)
.99 Green Bag Tag
1.50*3 Newspapers
-2.00/2 Aussie Q
-3.00 Glade Q
-2.00 ECB
-9.00 ECB
+.99 tax
=3.45 on Gift Card, +6.99 Glade ECB, +4 Aussie ECB, which is a cost of 3.46 (less than the newspapers!)

#2
6.99 Glade Reed Diffuser
.99 Green Bag Tag
-3 Glade Q
-1.00 ECB
-3.98 ECB
+.24 tax
=.24 OOP, +6.99 Glade ECB, which is a profit of 1.77

Grand total: Bought 26.44 worth of merchandise at a cost of 1.69, which is 93.61% savings!

Publix Deal - 10/15

2009-10-19T10:16:00.000-07:00

2.99*10 Arm & Hammer Toothpaste [FREE!]
-2.99*5 Arm & Hammer BOGO
-3.00/2*5 Arm & Hammer Q
1.79*4 Healthy Harvest Spaghetti [.22 each]
-1.79*2 Healthy Harvest BOGO
3.69*2 Sweet Butter Fresh Express Salad [1.85 each]
-3.69 Sweet Butter BOGO
3.00*3 Snuggle (saved .99 on each) [FREE!]
-3.00*3 Snuggle Q
3.99*2 Blue Bell Ice Cream (saved 2.60 on each) [3.49 each]
-1.00 Blue Bell Q
2.00 Bread (saved .99 on sale)
2.95 Ground Chuck (saved 1.92 on sale)
1.75 Artichoke Hearts (saved .20 on sale)
2.93 El Paso Taco Box
1.49 Publix Cheese
1.57 Tomatoes
.79 Mandarin Oranges
1.01 Onion
3.09*3 Milk Gallon
+1.50 tax
=38.45 OOP, saved 60.50 which is 61.1%!!!

Military member? GET A FREE DISNEY 5 DAY PARK HOPPER!!!

2009-10-14T11:02:00.000-07:00

Wow! Found this at swaggrabber.com --

Walt Disney World is offering a great promotion for military families. Anyone either enlisted or retired from the military (certain restrictions apply) can get a free 5-day park hopper pass. These are normally around $300. PLUS they can get their friends and family $99 5-day park hopper passes. This is a HUGE savings if you are planning a trip. This expires 12/23/09.

They are also offering discounted rooms as well as free transportation and lots of other goodies. Click HERE to learn more!

Have a Twitter account? Do something good...

2009-10-14T06:46:00.000-07:00

Ok, I read about this deal on cnn.com. http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/10/13/drew.carey.money.twitter/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

A guy is auctioning off his twitter name (@drew) to raise money for cancer (LiveStrong) and Drew Carey found out. Carey offered to donate $1Million to the LiveStrong foundation if there are the same amount of followers on his account (@drewfromtv) by 12/31/09 at midnight.

They only have 76K following now, so please just take the time to login to your account and go to his page and click on +Follow. It will help so much!

Publix Deal - 10/8

2009-10-09T07:28:00.000-07:00

SORRY NO PICTURE!

2.69*4 Lysol Trigger Spray [.85 each]
-2.69*2 Lysol BOGO
-.50*4 Lysol Q
2.59*4 Swanson Broth [.80 each]
-2.59*2 Swanson BOGO
-.50*4 Swanson Q
4.00*4 12 pk Cokes [3.00 each]
-4.00 B3G1 FREE Coke
3.21 Pork Loin Chops (saved 1.24 on sale)
8.73 Sirloin Tip Roast (saved 2.92 on sale) [2.99/lb]
4.79 Publix Peanut Butter (saved .20 on sale)
1.29 Organic Carrots
3.99 Potatoes
1.69 Bread
-6.00*2 Walgreens Register Reward Competitor Coupons
+1.05 tax
=31.31 OOP, saved $34.92 which is 52.7%!

Walgreens Deal - 10/4

2009-10-05T07:52:00.003-07:00

1.39*2 Chicken Noodle Soup
1.34 Chicken Noodle Soup
1.22 Chicken Noodle Soup
8.99 Fusion Razor
3.29*4 Glade 2.0oz Candles
-3.00 off $15 purchase (got for getting flu shot)
-1.00/2 *2 Chicken Noodle Soup Q
-4.00 Fusion Q
-3.34 Chicken Noodle Soup In Store Coupon
-3.29*4 Glade FREE Q
+1.15 tax
=3.14 OOP, +6 Fusion RR, which is a profit of 2.86

Grand total: Bought $27.49 worht of merchandise at a profit of 2.86 which is 100% savings!

CVS Deal - 10/4

2009-10-05T07:52:00.001-07:00

#1
2.49 Old Spice Deoderant
1.88 3pk Dial Soap
3.99*3 Revlon Nail Polish
2.99*2 Aussie Shampoo/Conditioner (raincheck)
12.99*2 Coppertone Nutrishield
-.35 Dial Q
-2.00/2 Aussie Q
-1.00*3 Revlon Q
-5.00*2 Coppertone Q
-5.00/25.00 Flu Quiz CVS Q
-12.99 CVS CRT BOGO Coppertone
-1.98 ECB
-7.00 ECB
-4.00 ECB
-1.00 ECB
+1.88 tax
=2.86 on Gift Card, +9 Revlon ECB, +1 Dial ECB, +1 Old Spice ECB, +4 Aussie ECB, which is a cost of 1.84

#2
2.49 Old Spice Deoderant
1.88 3pk Dial Soap
3.99*3 Revlon Nail Polish
+.69 tax
-.35 Dial Q
-1.00*3 Revlon Q
-5.00 ECB
-6.99 ECB
=1.69 on Gift Card, +1 Old Space ECB, +9 Revlon ECB, +1 Dial ECB, which is a cost of 2.68

Grand total: Bought $64.64 worth of merchandise at a cost of $4.52 which is a savings of 93.01%!

Publix Deal - 10/1

2009-10-05T07:51:00.001-07:00

3.99*4 Kix [1.50 each]
-3.99*2 Kix BOGO
-1.00/2 *2 General Mills Cereal
5.00*9 Purina ONE Cat Food [FREE]
-3.00*9 Purina Q
-2.00*9 Target Purina Competitor Coupon
3.65*4 Juicy Juice [1.58 each]
-3.65*2 Juicy Juice BOGO
-.50/2 *2 Juicy Juice Q
3.09*2 Gallon Milk
4.89*2 12 pk Coke
+2.21 tax
=30.95 OOP, saved $63.28 which is 67.15%

Walgreens Deal - 10/1

2009-10-05T07:50:00.000-07:00

#1
2.99 Herbal Essence Shampoo
-1.00 Q
+.18 tax
=2.17 OOP, +2 HE RR, which is a cost of .17

#2
8.99 Fusion Razor
.32 Dentene Ice Filler Clearance
+.56 tax
-2.00 RR
-4.00 Fusion Q
=3.87 OOP, +6 Fusion RR, which is a profit of .13

Grand total: Bought $12.30 worth of merchandise at a cost of .04, which is a savings of 99.67%!

Publix Deal - 9/29

2009-09-29T17:13:00.000-07:00

5.00*17 Purina ONE Cat Food 3.5#
-3.00*17 Purina Q
-2.00*17 Purina Target Competitor Coupon
.50*15 Peanuts/Sunflower Seeds
.79 Sweet Tea
5.09 Deli Sub for Lunch
=17.28 OOP (including lunch!), saved 118.83 which is 87.3%

Publix Deal - 9/28

2009-09-29T06:45:00.001-07:00

5.00*14 Purina ONE Cat Food (regular price between 6.99 and 7.19)
-3.00*14 Purina ONE Q
-2.00*14 Purina Target Competitor Q
.50*14 Peanuts filler
+2.88 tax
=9.88 OOP, saved 99.26 on CAT FOOD which is 90.95% savings :)

CVS Deal - 9/27

2009-09-29T06:44:00.001-07:00

.99*2 Ruler (raincheck)
5.00*2 Glade Sense & Sprays (raincheck)
=11.98
-1.98 ECB
-2.00 ECB
-4.00*2 Glade Q
+.49 tax
=.49 on gift card, +6 Glade ECB, +2 Ruler ECB, which is a profit of 5.53 which is 100% savings

Cat in Basket - 9/26

2009-09-29T06:43:00.000-07:00

At my garage sale:

Rocket Launch - 9/25

2009-09-25T05:35:00.001-07:00

Here is a Delta II rocket, as seen from Melbourne, FL, (where I work). It is headed to space with two Missile Defense Agency demo satellites.

Publix Deal - 9/24

2009-09-25T05:32:00.001-07:00

5.00*6 Purina ONE 3.15# Cat Food [FREE!]
-3.00*6 Purina Q RP 9-13-09
-2.00*6 Target Q (had to do separate transactions with filler item to use both Qs)
3.49*2 Keebler Fudge Shoppe Cookies [.75 each]
-3.49 Keebler BOGO
-1.00*2 Keebler printable Q
2.99*2 Philly Swirl Stix [1.50 each]
-2.99 Philly Swirl BOGO
3.99 Blue Bell Ice Cream (saved 2.60 on sale) [2.99 for 1/2 gallon]
-1.00 Blue Bell printable Q
4.22 Ground Sirloin (saved 1.21 on sale)
3.60 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (saved 4.16 on sale) [1.99/lb]
3.14 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (saved 3.63 on sale) [1.99/lb]
1.99 Trix Cereal (saved 1.50 on sale)
2.71 Whole Fryer Chicken (saved 1.71 on sale) [.79/lb]
2.88 Whole Fryer Chicken (saved 1.82 on sale) [.79/lb]
2.44 Whole Fryer Chicken (saved 1.54 on sale) [.79/lb]
1.67 Publix Shredded Cheddar Cheese (saved .82 on sale)
1.08 Onion
2.99 Wheat Hamburger Buns
1.89 Pimentos
2.99*3 Gallon Milk
4.00*2 12 pk Coke/Diet Coke
4.42 Lean Ground Beef
3.63 Turkey Breast Deli
2.99 Bread
+2.22 tax
=66.31, saved 72.19 which is 52.1%!

CVS Deal - 9/20

2009-09-21T09:07:00.000-07:00

#1
.99*2 CVS Ruler (raincheck)
6.99 Phillips Earhook Headphones (raincheck)
6.99 Schick Razors (raincheck)
1.00 Newspaper
= 16.96
-3.00 Schick Q
-1.00 ECB
-4.00 ECB
-7.99 ECB
+.78 tax
=1.75 on Gift Card, +4 Schick ECB, +7 Phillips ECB, +2 Ruler ECB, which is a cost of 1.74

#2
2.99 Schick Razors (raincheck, clerk should have typed in 6.99)
6.99 Phillips Earhook Headphones (raincheck)
=9.98
-2.99 Schick Q (adjusted)
-2.99 ECB
-4.00 ECB
+.42 tax
=.42 on Gift Card, +4 Schick ECB, +7 Phillips ECB, which is a profit of 3.59

Grand total: Bought 26.94 worth of merchandise at a profit of 1.85 which is 100% savings!

Publix Deal - 9/10

2009-09-11T09:25:00.000-07:00

3.99*2 Kix Cereal [.25 each]
-3.99 Kix BOGO
-.75*2 Kix Printable Q
-1.00*2 General Mills Target Competitor Q
5.99*4 All Small & mighty [2.00 each]
-5.99*2 All BOGO
-1.00*4 All Q
2.89*2 Vlasic Pickles [1.45 each]
-2.89 Vlasic BOGO
2.79*2 Apple Juice [1.40 each]
-2.79 Apple Juice BOGO
2.69 5lb Sugar [1.69 each]
-1.00 Food Lion Sugar Competitor Q
2.50 Salad Mix (saved .49 on sale)
1.00*4 Goldfish (saved 1.19 each on sale)
3.59 Semi-sweet chips
2.99 Bread
3.79 Flour Whole Wheat
1.95 Cake Mix
2.99*2 Milk
1.47 Tomatoes
2.59 Caramels
3.99 Pecans
.77 Evaporated Milk
15.88 Steaks
+.88 tax
=69.21, saved 36.40 which is 34.5% savings!

Hilarious - Ikea Heights

2009-09-10T13:04:00.001-07:00

This is probably the greatest thing I've seen in a while:

Episode 1

IKEA Heights from DaveAOK on Vimeo.

This is done in stores, with shoppers as extras, and without Ikea knowing. You can go to the website, there are 3 more episodes they have made. Great job!

CVS Deal - 9/8

2009-09-09T12:08:00.001-07:00

2.99*2 Aussie Shampoo/Conditioner
10.49 Schick Razor
9.99 Schick Cartridges
9.99*2 Glade Sense and Sprays
=46.44
-9.99 Schick BOGO Sale
-4.99*2 Glade Sense and Sprays Raincheck (2 for $10)
-1.00*2 Glade CVS CRT Q
-2.00/2 Aussie Q (expired but they took it)
-4.00*2 Glade Q
-4.00*2 Schick Q
+1.35 tax
-1.98 ECB
-2.00*2 ECB
=1.84 on Gift Card, +3 Glade ECB, +4 Aussie ECB, which is a cost of .82 and a savings of 99.23%

Walgreens Deal - 8/30

2009-08-31T10:34:00.001-07:00

#1
2.99 Reach Toothbrush
-2.00 RR
+.18 tax
=1.17 OOP, +2 RR, which is a cost of 1.17

#2
2.99 Colgate Toothbrush
-2.00 RR
+.18 tax
=1.17 OOP, +3 RR, which is a cost of .17

Grand total: Bought $5.98 worth of merchandise at a cost of 1.34, which is a savings of 77.6%!

CVS Deal - 8/30

2009-08-31T10:26:00.000-07:00

#1
6.99 Glade Candle
.20 Mint Filler
.99*10 J&J First Aid Kit
1.00*2 Newspapers
=19.09
-1.00*9 J&J Q
-.90 J&J Q (adjusted)
-3.49 Glade FREE Candle Q (YMMV, these were for 2.0 oz and the candle was bigger)
+.44 tax
-1.98 ECB
-4.00 ECB
=.16 on Gift Card, +6.99 Glade ECB, +10.00 J&J ECB, which is a profit of 10.85!

#2
6.99 Glade Candle
1.00*2 Newspapers
=8.99
-3.49 Glade FREE Q (YMMV)
+.54 tax
-1.71 ECB
-3.79 ECB
=.54 on Gift Card, +6.99 Glade ECB, which is a profit of .95

Grand total: Bought $28.08 worth of merchandise at a profit of $11.80 which is 100% savings!

Shuttle Launch - 8/27

2009-08-31T10:25:00.000-07:00

This was at 12:00 midnight, I forgot how bad the mosquitos are, and also to keep my digital camera turned the correct way. Sorry about that.

Publix Deal - 8/29

2009-08-31T10:22:00.000-07:00

.79*3 Barilla Spaghetti (saved .60 on sale each) [.29 each]
-.50*3 Barilla Q
4.54 Turkey breast 1# (saved 1.82 on sale)
4.75 Ground sirloin (saved 1.36 on sale)
2.76 Grapes (saved .93 on sale)
4.00 Fried Chicken Tenders from Deli
2.89 Milk
2.99 Bread
6.39 Publix Sub
-5.00/25.00 Walgreens Competitor's Coupon
+.63 tax
=24.82 OOP, saved 12.41 which is 33.3%! (no picture this time...sorry!)

New Swagbucks Code - good until 10 PDT

2009-08-27T08:29:00.000-07:00

Details in the swagblog, but all it says is: you might find a rewarding surprise in one of the books in the Swag Store that later had a movie made about it so you need to look in the prizes under books to find it.
PS - I found it under the book Bridges of Madison County

Walgreens Deal - 8/23

2009-08-24T11:56:00.001-07:00

2.50*2 Kellogg's Frosted Flakes
.99*3 Reach Prevent Toothbrushes
1.79*3 Johnson's and Johnson's Floss
=13.34
-2.00 RR
-1.00*5 Reach/Floss Q
-1.00/2 Kellogg's Cereal Q
-2.40 Instore 7-Day Ad Floss Q (.99 each)
+.36 tax
=3.30 OOP, which is a cost of 5.30 (but I needed the floss/brushes and I donated the 2 cereal boxes)

CVS Deal - 8/22

2009-08-24T11:49:00.000-07:00

Got to the store late Saturday night to do Sunday's deals in peace. Hallelujah!
#1
1.99*2 Steno notebook (raincheck)
1.99*2 Recycled Boxes (raincheck)
.99*2 Composition Notebook 100 sheets
3.79 Carefree Ultra Protection Pantiliners
=13.73
-1.00 ECB
-3.00 ECB
-5.78 ECB
-2/10 CVS Q
-1.00 Carefree Q
+.71 tax
=1.46 OOP, +4 Steno ECB, +4 Boxes ECB, +2 Comp Notebook ECB, +3.79 Carefree ECB, which is a profit of 2.35

#2
1.99*2 Steno notebook (raincheck)
1.99 Recycled Box (raincheck)
.99*2 Composition Notebook 100 sheets
3.79 Carefree Ultra Protection Pantiliners
=11.74
-2/10 CVS Q
-2.00 ECB
-1.00 Carefree Q
-3.00 ECB
-3.00 ECB
+.48 tax
=1.22 OOP, +4 Steno ECB, +2 Box ECB, +2 Comp Notebook ECB, +3.79 Carefree ECB, which is a profit of 2.57

#3 (next morning)
1.00*3 Newspapers
-3.00 ECB
+.18 tax
=.18 OOP, which is a cost of 3.18

Grand total: Bought $28.47 worth of merchandise at a profit of 1.74 which is 100% savings!

Publix Deal - 8/21

2009-08-24T11:41:00.000-07:00

4.99*2 Tostitos Tortilla Chips [2.50 each]
-4.99 Tostitos BOGO
4.99*2 Cheerios [2.00 each]
-4.99 Cheerios BOGO
-1.00/2 Cheerios Q
2.50*5 Welch's Juice (saved 1.79 each) [1.75 each]
-.75*5 Welch's Q
.89*2 Cornbread Mix [.62 each]
-.55/2 Cornbread Q
5.79*2 Tombstone Pizzas [2.90 each]
-5.79 Tombstone BOGO
1.99 Marburger Buttermilk (saved .36 on sale)
2.39 Iced Tea
2.79*2 Publix Cat Litter
-5/30 Publix Mailer Q
-2.00 Walgreens Register Reward
+.36 tax
=28.07 OOP, saved 37.38 which is 57.1% savings!

Vacay - Yellowstone & Other Wildernesses...

2009-08-18T11:34:00.000-07:00

Last week, my sister, mom and I flew to Billings, Montana, for a vacation. Wwe visited Yellowstone National Park and camped there for four nights. The first night, it was 34 degrees when we woke up. We flew so we were lacking a lot of nice warm blankets and stuff. Had to fix that. It was beautiful, we saw Grizzly Bears, Elk, Bison, etc and got to go on a ranger hike and a campground program. We also got to go on a Cookout and rode there on horseback.
Then we went back East through Montana and stopped at Pictograph Caves State Park outside Billings, Montana.
After that, we kept heading East to South Dakota and saw Mount Rushmore for their evening program. It such a nice night.
Then we drove to Badlands National Park.
On the way back, we enjoyed ourselves at Wall Drug, in Wall, South Dakota.

Walgreens Deal - 8/17

2009-08-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

14.99 Scholls Wart Remover
2.99 Conair Brush
=17.98
+.18 tax
-4.00 ECB
=14.16 OOP, +2 Brush RR, which is a cost of 16.16, saved 10.12%

CVS Deal - 8/17

2009-08-18T11:22:00.001-07:00

#1
.99*2 Paper
.99*2 Pens
=3.96
-3.00 ECB
+.24 tax
=1.20 OOP, +1.98 Paper ECB, +1.98 Pens ECB, which is a cost of .24

#2
2.79 Milk
-1.98 ECB
=.81 OOP, +1.00 Milk ECB, which is a cost of 1.79

Grand total: Bought $6.75 worth of merchandise at a cost of 2.03 which is 69.9% savings!

Walgreens Deal - 8/16

2009-08-18T11:20:00.000-07:00

#1
3.99 Softsoap
+.24 tax
=4.23 OOP, +4 Softsoap RR, which is a cost of .24

#2
2.99 Conair Brush
+.18 tax
=3.17 OOP, +2 Brush RR, which is a cost of 1.17

Grand total: Bought $6.98 worth of merchandise at at cost of $1.40 which is a savings of 79.94%!

CVS Deal - 8/16

2009-08-18T11:17:00.000-07:00

#1
.99*2 Paper
1.99 Recycled Box
=3.97
-1.97 ECB
-2.00 ECB
+.31 tax
=.31 OOP, +1.98 Paper ECB, +1.99 Recycled Box ECB, which is a cost of .31

#2
.99*2 Papermate Pens
=1.98
+.12 tax
=2.10 OOP, +1.98 Pens ECB, which is a cost of .12

Grand total: Bought $5.95 worth of merchandise for a cost of .43, which is a savings of 92.8%!

Whitewater Rafting

2009-08-07T10:09:00.000-07:00

After my grandfather's funeral, my whole family (mom, dad, and 2 sisters) went rafting on the New River (III-V) with 3 major Vs. It was a blast. Here are the pictures from the waterproof camera, they came out really nicely. I took most of them.
At the beginning of the trip, near a coal mine railway bridge.
We were allowed to swim through several of the II class rapids, which were pretty tame, but it was fun to get in the water.
After lunch, we moved downriver and got to stop and jump off a 20 foot high rock. My dad got pictures of me jumping first (still at the top in the picture)...
and then of my sister jumping:
It was really fun and a nice memory to have of our trip to West Virginia.

Publix Deal - 8/6

2009-08-07T05:26:00.000-07:00

2.95*10 Kellog's Fruit Snacks {qualifies for Fuel for School $10 Rebate (bought on a separate transaction to simplify rebate)} [-0.025 each after rebate MONEY MAKER]
-2.95*5 Kellog's Fruit Snacks BOGO
-1.00/2 * 5 Kellog's Fruit Snacks Q
5.49*2 Glad Trashbags 40 ct (saved 1.50 on sale each) [3.49 each]
-1.00*2 Glad Q
-1.00*2 Glad Target Q
1.89*2 Crest Regular Toothpaste (saved 1.24 on sale each) [.89 each]
-1.00*2 Crest Q from P&G Savings booklet (mailer)
2.89*2 Publix Gallon Milk [2.14 each]
1.50*2 Welch's Squeezable Grape Jelly (saved .89 on sale each) [1.50 each]
-.75*2 Off Milk purchase WYB Welch's Squeezables
8.79 Tide 32 load [5.79 each]
-1.00 Tide Q
-2.00 Tide Target Q
3.56 Deli Turkey 1/2 lb [1.31 each]
2.07 Deli Ham 1/2 lb (saved 1.04 on sale) [1.32 each]
-3.00 off 10.00 Deli Purchase Food Lion Q
6.49 Ground Turkey Breast 1.3 lb [5.55 each]
5.62 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast 2.99/lb [5.56 each]
-1.00 off 5.00 Meat Purchase Food Lion Q
1.67*2 Kraft Cheese {qualifies for $10 Kraft Publix Gift Card wyb 4 different Kraft products and a $50 grocery receipt} [1.17 each]
-1.00/2 Kraft Q
2.29 Shake and Bake Original Chicken Seasoning {qualifies for $10 Kraft Publix Gift Card wyb 4 different Kraft products and a $50 grocery receipt}
.95*2 Publix Cream of Mushroom Soup .95*2 Publix Cream of Chicken Soup 1.65 Raisins 2.00 Loaf of Bread 1.89 Diced Pimentos 1.52 Onion +1.18 tax
=61.99, saved 45.79, and will get back a $10 rebate for Fuel For School, which is 51.7% savings!

CVS Deal - 8/4

2009-08-04T09:40:00.001-07:00

#1
1.25 Vitamin Water
-.98 ECB
+.08 tax
=.35 OOP, +3.00 Vitamin Water ECB, which is a profit of 1.67

#2, 3, 4, 5
1.25*2 Vitamin Water
-1.98 ECB
+.15 tax
=.67 OOP, +3.00 Vitamin Water ECB, which is a profit of .35

Grand total: Bought $11.25 worth of merchandise at a profit of 3.07 which is 100% savings.

Just Because

2009-08-03T06:10:00.001-07:00

You really need to check pictures before keeping ones on digital cameras. You just never know what you'll get:

**if this is you, I'm sorry, but the chances that she'll see this are just about zero**
**if this is my mom, I'm sorry, but I'm sure me, Tommy, and you had no idea**

CVS Deal - 8/2

2009-08-03T05:52:00.000-07:00

#1
4.50*5 Electrasol Tabs
.99*2 Caliber Index Card Holders (raincheck)
.99*2 Caliber Memo Books (raincheck)
1.99*2 Caliber Pencils 24 ct (raincheck)
.99*2 Pilot 2 ct Pens (raincheck)
=32.42
-5/30 CVS CRT Q
-5 Kashi Raincheck ECB (wouldn't print but they took the amount off this transaction)
-1.00 ECB
-1.67 ECB
-4.00 ECB
-1.00 Index Holder Raincheck (cashier didn't take off for both!!!)
-1.00 Memo Books Raincheck (cashier didn't take off for both!!!)
-2.00 Caliber Pencils Raincheck (Cashier didn't take off for both!!!)
-1.00 Pilot Pens Raincheck (cashier didn't take off for both!!!)
-2.50*4 Electrasol Q
+.38 tax
+1.17 tax
=1.55 OOP, +10 Electrasol ECB, +2 Index Card ECB, + 4 Pencil ECB, + 2 Pilot Pens ECB, +2 Memo Book ECB, which is a profit of 11.78

#2
.99*2 Caliber Stretch Book Covers
.49*2 Portfolios
.01 Caliber Pencil (penny item)
.99*2 Caliber 20 ct Black Pens
.99*2 Caliber One Subject Notebook
1.50*2 Caliber Protractor
.99 Caliber Glue Sticks
.99 Caliber Pen/Pencil Eraser
.89 M&M
1.79 CVS Chapblock
=14.59
-.71 ECB
-.89 Free Chocolate Q
-.99 Chapblock CVS CRT
-2.00 ECB
-10.00 ECB
+.62 tax
=.62 OOP, +.98 Portfolio ECB, +1.98 Notebook ECB, +3.00 Protractor ECB, +1.98 Bookcovers ECB, +1.98 Pens ECB, +1.98 Eraser ECB, which is a cost of 1.43

#3
.99*2 Caliber Stretch Book COvers
.49*2 Portfolios
.99*2 Caliber 20 ct Black Pens
.01 Hallmark Birthday Card (penny item)
7.99 Blink Tears
.99*2 Caliber One Subject Notebook
1.50*2 Caliber Compass
.99*2 Caliber Pen/Ink Eraser
1.50*3 Newspapers
=24.40
-4/20 CVS CRT Q
-1.89 ECB
-1.98*3 ECB
-3.00 Blink Q
+.75 tax
=10.32 OOP, +7.99 Blink ECB, +1.98 Eraser ECB, +1.98 Pens ECB, +1.98 Notebook ECB, +.98 Portfolio ECB, +1.98 Bookcovers ECB, +3.00 Compass ECB, which is a profit of 1.74

#4
7.99 Blink Tears
=7.99
-4.00 EB
-.98 ECB
-3.00 Blink Q
=.01 OOP, +7.99 Blink ECB, which is a profit of .99

#5
2.99*2 Scissors
=5.98
-1.98*3 ECB
+.36 tax
=.40 OOP, +5.98 Scissors ECB, which is a cost of .36

Grand total: Bought $85.38 worth of merchandise at a profit of 12.72, which is 100% savings. GET THOSE RAINCHECKS! (**then of course make sure the cashier does them correctly**)

Publix Deal - 7/30

2009-07-31T05:51:00.002-07:00

3.19*2 Stouffers French Bread Pizza [1.60 each]
-3.19 Stouffers BOGO
3.19*2 Keebler 100 Calorie Snacks [1.09 each]
-3.19 Keebler BOGO
-1.00 Keebler Q printable
3.99*2 Kellogs Cereal [.99 each]
-3.99 Kellogs BOGO
-1.00*2 Food Lion Kellogs Q
1.67*2 Jello Cups (saved 1.62 on sale each) [1.07 each] **can be used for Kraft/Publix Gift Card Promo**
-.60*2 Jello Q
5.49*2 Nature Valley Granola Bars Value Pack [2.75 each]
-5.49 Nature Valley BOGO
-.70 Nature Valley Q 7/12 SS
2.59*4 Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Deluxe [.55 each] **can be used for Kraft/Publix Gift Card Promo**
-2.59*2 Kraft BOGO
-1.50*2 Kraft Q Printable
2.63*2 Betty Crocker Brownie Mix [.94 each]
-2.63 Betty Crocker BOGO
-.75 Betty Crocker Q 7/19 SS
2.49*8 Dole Fruit Cups [.87 each]
-2.49*4 Dole BOGO
-.75*4 Dole Q 4/26 SS
3.29*2 V8 Splash [1.64 each]
-3.29 V8 BOGO
.99*6 Hamburger Helper (saved .96 on sale each) [.74 each]
-.75*2 Hamburger Helper Q 7/19
3.99*2 Clean and Clear Face Wash (saved 1.00 on sale each) [1.99 each]
-2.00*2 Clean and Clear Q printable
2.50 Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs [FREE]
-2.50 Oscar Mayer mailer FREE Q
.89 Carrots
3.52 Grapes (saved 1.88 on sale)
2.42 Tomatoes
3.00 Tostitos (saved .99 on sale)
3.99 Potatoes
8.26 Rump Roast (saved 3.37 on sale)
2.89*3 Milk
-5 off 30 Publix Mailer Q
+.68 tax
=63.46 OOP, saved 80.30 which is 55.9%