weekly steals (more to come as I find them!)

Walgreens
Free Wags Vitamins $3 get $3RR
Free Saline allergy thing $7 get $7RR
Free Dentek floss $2 get $2RR
Free Dove Hair care $4 get $4RR (use coupons if you have for money maker!!!)
Halls 99c with their in-ad coupon - use $1 coupon from this week's paper for free.

Copps
Halls $1.00 use coupon for $1 = free

Potential cereal deal, but I haven't looked at prices yet.  Buy 7 boxes of Kelloggs, get $7 off and 3 - $3.50 coupons for milk (use these in the self checkout for the full $3.50 off)

Target
I haven't tried this yet, but... Renu coupon, buy travel size for free (you can print 2 by hitting your back button)

Leapster games - 2 on sale for $15 each, use the $5 off of 30 coupon on Target and if you have the $5 coupon off each game, you can get them for a steal.  Other games are on sale too, but Toys R Us has a better deal. Note - if you need a leapster, buy it at Target with the $5 off coupon, price match with TRU ad and only pay $34.99!

Oreida Steam and Mash potatoes B1G1, use 2 $1.00 off coupons from a few weeks ago and only pay 50 cents!

Starbucks 12 oz package of coffee $7, use Target coupon for 1.50 off, stack with last week's paper coupn for $1.00 off and get it for $5.50 (note when you finish the bag, most have a note on the side explaining how to get a free 12 oz cup of coffee at any Starbucks with the bag!)

Sentry RIP Double Coupons  :(
Eggs 69 cents with in-ad coupon

Strawberries 2/3

Cub Foods
Butter 97 cents with in-ad coupon

Strawberries 2/3

CVS
Windex 3/5, use this $1 off coupon 3 x and then this rebate = free!

Listerine 500 ml 1.99 each print 3 of these and this rebate = free!

Walgreens is great! 3/28 ad

I'm very excited about Walgreens this week!  Free shampoo, saline, vitamins and floss!!!
I'll post my purchases this week and see how much I can get for how little.

1) Dove 4 and Floss 2
Used $2 Dove coupon and $1 RR (from last week)
out of pocket $3.33
received $4 RR and $2 RR

2) Saline 7 and Vitamins 3
Used $4 RR and $2 RR
oop $4.55
received $7 RR and 3 RR

3) Accucheck 9.99 and Dove 4 and Floss 2
used $7 RR, $3 RR and $5 Accucheck coupon (this weeks paper)
oop 1.32
received $4 RR and $2RR and will mail in rebate for $9.99

So, yesterday I spent $9.20 (or $10.20 if I hadn't had the $1 RR) and still have $6 in RR and will get $9.99 in rebate.  Grand total of a savings of $6.70!

One odd duck

I decided to attempt a Woodman's sale list yesterday at the request of one of my readers.  Wow, what a task!  I asked at customer service and was told that sales occur when they get a good price on the product they are buying.  However, there is no easy way to determine what the sales are or when they will take place.  So I started going around the store.  At aisle 9 I noticed that each sales sign has a separate sale end date, some of which were expired!  So, defeated after over an hour in the store, I finished my shopping and went home.
That said, here is what I did write down.  I know that some of the sales end as soon as March 30th but can run as long as June 15th!  I will attempt to write down dates the next chance I have without kiddos.

Easter
mini cadbury eggs 3.29
solid milk cadbury bunny 4.29
cadbury cream eggs 2/5
Hersheys assorted candies 2.99
Robin eggs 1.69
Reeses pb eggs 2/6 (7.2 oz)
Reeses pb bunnies 2/5
Reeses pb eggs 2.99 (11.4 oz bag)
Skittles eggs .89
Dove mini chocolate bunnies 2.29
Dove eggs 3.49
M&Ms 2.69
Dove single bunny 3.89
3 Musketeers and Snickers bags 2.79
Large Reeses Bunny 3.59
marshmallow bunnies 1.19 - Melster
Brachs marshmallow bunnies 1.79
Brachs malted eggs and marshmallows 2/3
Crunch and Butterfinger eggs 2.99
Brachs Jelly Beans (premium and orchard fruit) 1.79
Brachs classic jelly beans .99

Bread
Sara Lee delightful breads 2.49
Nature's pride bread 2/4
Country hearth wheat, 12 grain, honey oat and multigrain 2.29
Beefsteak Rye 2/4
Healthy life 1.69
Hearth farms 1.69
Earth Friendly 1.69
Arnold 1.69
Kangaroo pita pockets .99
Earth grains thin buns 2.49
Pepperidge farms deli flats 2.49
S. Rosens Teibels rolls 1.29 (I bought these and they are actually pretty good!)
Gonnella Tuscan Bread 3.69 (and a 75 cent off coupon on package)

Produce section
Hostess singles .89
Strawberries .99 (compare to Target and Sentry at 2/3 however these are really really dirty and need much scrubbing!!!)
D&A Provens Herbs 2.39
Travers Bay Dried Cranberries and Cherries 2 (3 oz package)

Meat
La Prefereda Chorizo 3.99
Spring Hill bacon 2/3
Oscar Meyer fully cooked bacon 2

Chips
Tostitos salsas 2/5
Lays stax 1
Tostitos 24 oz salsas 2/6
Tostitos hint of lime and restaurant chips 2/4 ($1 off coupon on bag when buy salsa and chips)
Other tostitos 2.79
Lays 2/5
Fritto lay dips 2.29
Fritos and Cheetos 1.99
Manny's salsa 2.89

Aisle 4
Marzetti Dressing .99
Favorit jam 2.79
Newmans own dressing 2.49 (i know there was a 50 cent coupon in this weeks paper as well as on-line)
Alessi red wine vinegar 1.69
Zia Mia balsamic vinegar 4.19
Texas Toast croutons .99
Mrs. Cubbison's croutons .99
Stubb marinades 3.49
Green pearl sliced olives 1.59
Green pearl stuffed olives 1.59
Black pearl olives 1.29
Burgundy pearls 1.29
Davinci giadinera 4.49
Grey poupon (reg) 2.29
Uncle Phils mustards 1.19
Plochman mustard 2.69
Killians mustard 3.39
Reeses Horseradish 2.49
Woebers horseradish sauce 1.59

Aisle 5
Orville microwave popcorn 3/5
Jolly time microwave popcorn .99 (select varieties)
Matts cookies 2.59
Rippin good cookies 1.99 (select varieties)
Blue Diamond thins 1.69
Dare Grain 1st crackers 1.39
Zesta Saltines 1.69
Archway cookies 2.19
Alessi ladyfingers 1.89
Pepperidge farm cracers 2.49
Pepperide farm goldfish 2/3
Pepperidge farm soft cookies 2/5
Pepperidge farm 33.5 oz goldfish box 6.99
Honeymaid grahams 2/4
Nabisco saltines 1.99
Cheezits 2.49
Nabisco 100 cal packs 2/4
Chips a hoy cookies 2.50
Town house crackers 1.99
Special K crackers 2.49
Club crackers 1.99
Keebler toasteds 2.49
Oreos 2.79
Nabisco 12 packs 3.99
Wheat thins 2/4 (hang tags $1 off 2)
Keebler 100 cal packs 2.29 (hang tags $1 off 2)
Sandies 2.49
Chips Delux 1.99
Assorted Keebler 2.49
Famous Amos 1.99

Aisle 6
8.25 oz Delmonte fruit .79
Old orchard 64 oz juice 1.99 (select varieties)
Dole mandarin oranges 15 oz .89
Sunsweet prune juice 3.09
Hero juice 2.79
Juicy juice 8 pks 2/5
Juicy juice 64 oz 2/5
V8 fusion 12 oz 1.19
V8 splash 16 oz .99

Aisle 7
Quaker life cereal 2.89
Post cereals 1.99 (select varieties)
Honey bunches of oats 1.99
Mom's best 2/4
Kelloggs 2/5 (select varieties)
Cheerios 2.39 (14oz)
Frosted cheerios 2/5
Lucky charms 16 oz 2.39
Lucky charms 13.9 oz 2/4
Cinn. toast crunch 15.7 oz 2/4
Cinn. toast crunch 17 oz 2.39
Family size Special K 3.49
Cocoa puffs 16.5 oz 2/5
Reeses puffs 2.39
Cookie crist 2.39
Golden grahams and wheaties 2.39
Raisin bran crunch 3.29
Raisin bran 2.89
Corn chex 2.29
Basic 4 2.50
Honey nut clusters 2/5

Aisle 9
Ronzoni pastas .99 (select varieties) - Until 4/15
Del Fratelli tomato sauce 3/.99 - Until 6/15
Idahoan potatoes packs .49 - Until 4/13
Betty crocker potato boxes 1.09 - Until 4/6
La Banderita 27.5 oz corn tortillas 1.29 - Until 4/30

Like I said, very crazy and confusing!  As soon as I have a chance to brave it again and record dates, I will!

Woohoo!! Sentry goodies

They are sampling Yoplait yogurt at Sentry with $1 off 2 coupons for the greek style.  They cost $1.09 each, leaving them costing 9 cents!!!!!
If you have the lifesavers gummies rings and strings coupon for 50 cents off, they are also free!
Our bills went from $33 to $10 (with $2.50 off my next purchase) and $45 to $9 (with $1.50 off my next purchase).  Awesome!

The Greatest Toy Ever!

I tend to be a minimalist when it comes to toys.  They create clutter, are rarely played with and are easily broken.  Recently we went through and donated quite a few of our toys.  The kids now have a "reasonable" amount. The number one played with toy? Magna-Tiles.  Seriously.  They received them for Christmas and have played with them every single day since.  If we bring them to play dates, this is the toy that captivates their young minds. 

I have been astounded by how well my 3 kids play with these and the creativity and dexterity they demonstrate.  My nearly 2 year old has made some pretty incredible structures for his age (usually included hidden cars in the rooms of his creations) and my 7 year old makes complex structures.  Magna-Tiles are a great toy to allow kids to use their creativity and imagination while learning.  We've talked about
everything from floor plans to different shapes and how to manipulate them into the shape you need.

There are 2 different kids you can buy - an opaque set and a translucent set.  We have the opaque set.  At a recent play date, another mom brought her translucent set.  The kids immediately started creating buildings with windows and "glass" roofs.  Thus, a translucent set is on the top of my kids want list.

Check out these amazing toys!  You won't be disappointed.  Oh - and did I mention that they are super easy to clean up and the kids have fun stacking them to put them away?


Their car set is pretty awesome to and occupies my boys quite well!

Just enjoy the ride

Okay, so I get annoyed pretty easily.  Lately, I've found myself particularly annoyed by the speed bumps in my neighborhood.  I know, I know, they are a good thing and slow down drivers in a neighborhood with lots of kids, etc.  However, you really have to slow down to avoid the bump bump feeling - generally unpleasant when pregnant.  Anyway, since spring has officially arrived and the sun is out, I've become determined to unleash my inner optimist.  In my first attempt to find the silver lining, as it were, I chose to stop my nearly 2 year old from his screaming in the back seat by telling him about the bump.  "Get ready, oh, here it comes.  WOOOOHHHHH"  This immediately stopped the crying and brought the response of "'gain momma."  Did you know that the faster you are going when you hit those babies, the harder the kid in the back seat laughs.  I ended up driving around the block so we could hit more.  The chorus of laughter and "'gain" or "'nother one" was sweet music to my ears.  Though I do not recommend speeding up before speed bumps on a regular basis - can't be good for your car - the occasional roller coaster simulation is thrilling.  I will never look at them the same way again.

awesome deals tomorrow!

Sorry for the delay in posting.  Sick kids take all of the energy out of me.  Tomorrow is the last day of double coupons at Sentry.

Sentry

1. Use the $1 off crystal light coupons for free crystal light.

2. Go to  http://www.specialk.com/products/coupons      to print a coupon for $1 off Kelloggs crisps = free!

3. Lunchables sub lunches are only 19 cents when you use the $1 coupon (you can also get them at the Super Target for the same price with coupon.  You can even get the ham and cheese one's free as they were on sale for 48 cents earlier today.

4. Reeses dark peanut butter cups 85 cents less 55 cent coupon = free!

5. McCormick vanilla extract and food coloring.  These are essentially free.  Buy 3 (I did 1 food coloring and 2 extracts), use the 75 cents off coupon.  A coupon for $2.50 off next Sentry purchase prints out at the register

Cheap!
1. Nut clusters (careful, these babies are addicting!)  2.50 less 1.00 c = 50 cents
2. Hormel microwave meals (aisle 2) 2.49 less 1.00 coupon = 50 cents (these are great for 90 second meals.  no refrigeration required and there was a coupon generator in the aisle with the coupons!)
3. Progresso soup $1 use 50 cents off 2 and they are 50 cents each

Target

Cheap and Free
1. Connect Four $7 print $3 off Hasbro game coupon at  target, stack with a $4 off coupon at hasbro
2. Cheap Dial Handsoap.  print coupon for $1 off at target, stack with 35 cents off from newspaper.
3. Free Tide.  Use $1 off any size Tide coupon from newspaper.  Buy trial size for 97 cents!
4. Free lunchables ham subs - 48 cents today at Super Target.  Use either 75 cents off coupon or $1 off coupon from paper.
5. Free Sobe Life Water  10/$10, get $5 gift card back, use 5 B1G1 coupons (you will need several computers to print enough)

I was inspired today by this video.  I wish I had more time to devote to saving, but alas, 3 kiddos take most of my time and energy.  These are true Couponers!
video

When I say "Yum," you say "Yuck"

Well, dinner tonight was received with an overwhelming thumbs down, way way down.  After one bite, my 3 year old asked when the hamburgers were going to be ready.  My husband declared that he didn't like it either.  My daughter said, hey, for once dad agrees with us.  And finally, my almost 2 year old spit the food back out onto his plate.
So what did I make to warrant this reaction?  Moroccan Couscous with Saffron.  Think roasted butternut squash, onion, carrots and zucchini tossed with couscous and an herb infused vegetable broth.  Mmmmm...  or at least I thought it was.  My family is more of a meat eating group.  As my husband said "I don't like squash on a good day.  And zucchini is only good if it's in a bread with chocolate chips." I suppose on nights I decide to make this again (and I will be making this again), I simply need to make something like hamburger helper for my family.  Mom- if you are reading this, I'd love to have you over for dinner.  This is totally vegan and you'd love it with me!  Julia (from Dan's work) - Dan's bringing some to you for lunch tomorrow.  I hope you like it!
Does this mean it is time to shelve The Kind Diet?  Um, no. While my husband was enthusiastic about trying the new recipes after tasting the granola, he is now a bit skeptical.  Perhaps he will like the other dessert recipes from the book.  I have loved everything I made thus far and  shall continue to try them with the assumption that I will have leftovers for lunch and supper the following day.

FYI, I made the granola recipe yesterday with my daughter.  We added chopped apricots to the mix and extra rice syrup and safflower oil to make it really sticky.  Then I greased an 8 x 8 glass baking dish, lined it with parchment and pressed the granola down into it.  I baked it for about 30 minutes, let it cool completely in the pan and cut it for granola bars.  Wow, everyone in the family adores these.  In fact, they are nearly gone!

Munching and Crunching

Yummmmmmmmm....  I started a new health food kick this week.  Well, yesterday, to be honest.  I finally braved the natural foods aisle at Woodmans, spent way too much, went to Whole Foods, spent lots but on more stuff, returned the stuff to Woodmans and am now trying to use it all!  By the way, I was extremely impressed by Whole Foods.  Everyone was helpful and kind.  Amazing trips there (yes 2 because I forgot some things the first time.)  

Anyway, I am currently perusing Alicia Silverstone's book: The Kind Diet.  

Although I have no intentions of going totally vegan, the idea of eating more whole foods appeals to me.  Today I tried my first recipe - her granola... with a few changes...

Here's the recipe:

3 c quick-cooking oats

1/4 c maple sugar

1/2 c wheat germ

1/4 c sesame seeds (i toasted them first)

1/4 c sunflower seeds

1/4 c chopped almonds

1/4 c chopped pecans

1/4 c raisins

1/4 c craisins

1/4 c safflower oil

1/4 c brown rice syrup (I would bump this up a little next time)

3/4 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Spread oats on baking sheet and bake 10 minutes.  Transfer to a bowl and add dry goods.  Mix well.  Add liquids.  Mix well.  Return to baking sheet.  Bake 5 minutes, stir, bake another 5 minutes.  Let cool.

I also added a handful of toasted flax seeds at the end.

This is phenomenal!!!  I needed more syrup because of all of my additions and will add more next time, but the rice syrup gives just enough sweetness to the mix.  You can use maple syrup if you like it sweeter, though.  

I'm hoping to try more recipes from her book and will keep you posted on my food explorations. Enjoy!

Ahh, smell, taste, relax...

After a crazy and stressful day, there is nothing better than a bowl of soup and fresh bread.  I've had a few of these days lately and thought I'd share 2 of my favorite bread recipes.  I stumbled upon a corn bread recipe on allrecipes.com.  I have always had a passionate dislike of cornbread.  In fact, one of my first Christmases as a married woman, I received a cast iron corn mold for making cornbread.  I had hinted that
a madeline mold would be wonderful, however I married into a family of cornbread eaters.  (As an aside, I have never actually used this mold.)  Anyway, after making a delicious pot of chili, I decided to indulge my husband with cornbread.  This recipe is amazing.  I loved it!  I still wouldn't consider cornbread a favorite, but will certainly make it again.
Corn Bread
1 c flour
1/3 c sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 c milk
1 c cornmeal
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 c sour cream
1/4 c butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
2. In a separate bowl, combine egg, sour cream, milk and butter.  Add to dry ingredients.
3. Pour into greased 8 in square dish.  Bake 20-25 minutes.  Serve warm.

And now for my go to bread dough!  This was sent to me by a friend.  Here is the link for the video
Video .  The cookbook is entitled: Making artisan bread in five minutes a day.  Authors Zoe Francois and Jeff Hertzberg created an amazing cookbook that seems to have been designed for the busy mom! I highly recommend purchasing it.  You can view it here

Here is the basic recipe:
3 c lukewarm water
1 1/2 tbls salt
1 1/2 tbls yeast
1 c wheat flour (or all purpose) 
5 1/2 c all purpose flour


1. In a 5 gal container with a lid, add yeast and salt to water.  Stir until mostly dissolved.
2. Add flour, stir until well mixed.
3. Let rise at room temp 2 hours
4. Refrigerate up to 2 weeks.
5. When ready to use, dust dough with flour.  Cut off a grapefruit sized chunk.  Pull dough around to bottom until smooth on top.   Dust again with flour and use a serrated knife to make 3-4 slits on top. Place on pizza peel covered with cornmeal and let rise 40 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Make sure you have a pizza stone on a shelf with a roasting pan on the shelf below.  Preheat the stone for at least 20 minutes.  Then add bread.  Pour 1 c water into roasting pan and let bake 35 minutes until brown and crispy.


This dough recipe can also be used to make baguettes and pizza!  Check out the book for details.  
I have also used the brioche bread recipe.  While I am not a fan of this highly buttery dough as bread, I loved it when used for beignet (also in the book).  These are a favorite at my house for breakfast.  Dust them with powdered sugar and you have an amazing treat!

Birthday Madness

Crazy to think that my little girl is now seven years old!  We had her birthday party yesterday with all of her friends.  I swear I don't remember being that emotional at seven.  Nevertheless, the girls were all on a roller coaster of sorts.  Arrival was great, though our opening craft of decorating treat bags did not possess the magical quality it has in the past.  Following that was exploring the darkened bathroom with glow in the dark bracelets.  Then we had clean the kitchen with balloons and the searching for seashells in a bucket of rice blindfolded (a definite toss for this age group!).  Painting sea shells and porcelain animals came next which was met well, but was rushed through by about half of the girls.  These girls proceeded to loudly say that there was nothing to do.  In came a balloon sword fight.  A very short connect four tournament led to a quick present opening and decorating cupcakes.  Again, not a very long lasting event.  Finally the big hit of a riddle solving hunt.  This continues to be the highlight of our parties, however with differing ages (nearly 5 to nearly 8), this involved some hurt feelings for the younger girls who were not as fast to solve the puzzle and search for the next clue.  Unfortunately, after rushing through the prior events, we had about 20 minutes of free play time, aka meltdown time.  Lots of tears as the group separated into cliques.  I never imagined this would happen at such a young age!
All in all a fun, successful party, but a sour note at the end.  Next year more games/activities will be planned and perhaps more guests invited to prevent the left out feelings of some of the girls at times.  Then again, even the best planning may not stop the roller coasters!

At least as a result, we have a new favorite cupcake recipe.  My daughter loves chocolate cupcakes, which we made, but then also requested confetti cupcakes.  This is the homemade recipe I found on-line:

Confetti Cupcakes

1/2 cup milk
3 large egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
6 tbsp butter, soft
2 tbsp rainbow sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350F.
Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
In a measuring cup, whisk together milk, egg whites and extracts. Set aside
In the bowl of an electric mixer (or a large bowl if you prefer to work by hand), combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Stir to combine. Cut in butter with the paddle attachment at low speed (or cut in by hand), until mixture is coarse and sandy. Add milk mixture and beat at medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes. Scrape sides of bowl and continue beating for 20-30 seconds. Stir in sprinkles.
Divide batter evenly into prepared tin. Bake for for 15 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.
Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire cooling rack before frosting.
Makes 12.  (I doubled the recipe and omitted the almond due to an allergy at the party, then used giant muffin tins to make 12.)

Finding Hidden Treasures

The kids and I had quite a trip yesterday.  After schooling in the morning, I decided a field trip was in order.  A quick stop at Bagels Forever (yummmmm) and then on to St. Vincent dePaul's on Williamson Street.  What a great place for a treasure hunt!
Though we were unable to explore the whole store (the boys were cranky), we did spend over an hour in the book section.  What fun!  We found amazing homeschool books and curriculum, a cool Dragonology book for fun, lots of books for me to read and books for the kids.  By the time I was done hunting, the kids has amassed quite a pile of books and were happily reading them.  Narrowing down our piles was incredibly difficult and we still left with an entire box full of books (think copy paper sized box) and a nice dent in my wallet.
I encourage you to take a quick tour of your local thrift stores to search for the hidden treasures.  You might be surprised by the gems you find... and you'll be helping great organizations too!

Sentry Double Deals!

I spent more today at Sentry than I normally would only because there is a coupon in their flyer for free 3lbs of 85% lean ground chuck with a $25 purchase.  That said, my total was $26.77 with $47.04 savings. Cool!  Here's my list:
Frozen Super Pretzels (pregnancy craving) 2.67 less .50 c = 1.67
3 lbs ground chuck 5.99 less 5.99 = free!
2 yoplait greek yogurts (yummmmmmm) 1.09 each less .30 c = .98
6 Dannon yogurts (store coupon for 10/4 and mf coupon for 1.00 off 6) = .40
Lindt Truffles (again, craving.) 3.89 less 1 c = 1.89
Voila Garlic Chicken Frozen Meal 3.99 less 1 c = 1.99
3Hormel Beef and Gravy meals 2.59 x 3  less 1 c x 3  = 1.77
C & H Powdered sugar 2.29 less 50 c = 1.29
2 Kraft Deli Deluxe cheese slices 2.77 x 2 less 1 c x 2 = 1.54
2 C & H Brown sugars 2.29 x 2 less 50 c x 2 = 2.58
Synder preztel sandwiches 3 less 1 c = 1
Betty Crocker frosting 1.66 less 50 c = .66
Old Wisconsin snack sticks 3.99 less 1 c = 1.99
2 cans dole pineapple chunks .92 x 2 less .55 c = .74
3 packages bandaids 1.89 x 3 less 1 c x 3 (should have been free, but manager had a hard time entering this one, so paid 3 cents)
3.19 lbs bananas (use in ad coupon) 1.24
2 Old Wisconsin Summer Sausages 3 x 2 less 1 x 2 = 2
3 Riceland Brown Rice 1.15 x 3 less 50 c x 3 = .45
4 Pringle cans 1.47 x 4 less 1 c off 4 = 3.88
Campbells Butternut Squash Soup 2.50 less 1 c = .50
2 Izze sodas 1.39 x 2 less .75 c x 2 = free!
30 cent bag refund to boot!

Happy Shopping.  Sentry has the same double deals on Saturday!

A better way.... or simply another way

Well, the baby has me up again, so I get to write more babble!  I just finished reading Jodi Picolet's The Plain Truth.  What a great book!  She goes into detail about the Amish way of life and the intricacies of family life under the rather strict religious guidelines.  While reading this, I found myself enamored by the thought of a more peaceful existence.  What would it be like to live by the land, on the land - with the land?  To spend the days out of doors doing physical labor and eating the best food around without concern of putting on weight.  Ah the benefits of manual labor...
Seriously though, she portrays them in a somewhat idyllic manner.  Having never been on an Amish farm before, I don't know how accurate her portrayal was, but am assuming it is pretty close to reality.  The sense of peace they seem to have when they abandon the typical egotistical way of modern man, working instead to better each other and their community, is enough to make me want to "try it out." I love to bake and tend to the children, enjoy a good hymn sing (does jazz count?), and enjoy sunshine, nature and physical labor.  Then again, I have allergies and would probably be miserable.  And there is that small rule that would forbid my baking binges with wine and the sweet crooning of Ella.  Hmmm.... and no Zumba or dancing of any kind really.
I suppose that while I enjoyed reading about this way of life and all that it entails, I would rather lose myself in my imagination than give up so much of what I have grown accustomed to.  I do wonder how much extra time I would have in my day if I stopped checking my e-mail or searching for coupons 10 times a day...  Perhaps what I really need is simply a vacation.

Double Coupon Madness!

Okay, here's the scoop for this week.

Copps (Today only!)  By the way, I found a loophole to their coupon policy.  If you go to the Copps on Whitney Way and use the self checkout, all coupons are doubled, regardless of your total purchase.
Here's my Copps list:
1 loaf roundy's bread .80
3 boxes Reeses Peanut Butter Puffs cereal 11.07 (more discounts taken later) less 3.30
2 boxes rice chex 5.98 (ditto) less 3.00
Less $10 for buying 6 boxes cereal
4 boxes fruit by the foot 10 less 2.00
Less $4 for buying 4 boxes betty crocker fruit snacks
1 box dreamfields pasta 2.49  less 2.00
black licorice .30
bliss dark chocolate 3.39 less 2.00
2 lbs strawberries 3.98
Total: 14.73
and received coupon for free eggs, free gallon of milk and 2.50 off my next purchase (for buying the betty crocker snacks)

Sentry (double coupons on Wed and Sat)
2 Smuckers Uncrustables 5.00-4.00
New York Texas toast 1.99 less 1.00
3 Yoplait smoothies 7.47 less 6.00
1 Oreida Frozen Potatos 3.00 less 2.00
3 del monte fruit chillers 9.27 less 6.00
snyders preztel sandwiches 3.00 less 2.00
birdseye rice and veggie steamer 1.34 less .70
mccane smiley pototo 2.49 less 1.50
2 yoplait greek style yogurts 2.18 less 1.20
2 deans dips 3.28 less 2.00
la creme yogurt 2.27 less 1.00
2 boxes riceland rice 2.30 less 2.00
nabisco wheat thins 2.89 less 2.00
hormel smoked ham 2.49 less 1.10
2 farmland deli hams 4.58 less 2.00
jif peanut butter and smuckers jam 4.15 less 2.00
sara lee wheat bread 2.49 less 1.10
Also 1.00 off from previous purchase
bag refund .40
Total: 20.36
Total:

Pregnancy Essential

I'm feeling extremely pregnant today.  Funny how that is possible at only 8 weeks!  Then again, it is my fourth child.  Between the exhaustion and nausea, I have been amazed at how quickly I have outgrown my normal clothing. At the same time, I am not yet ready for maternity clothes.  In comes the belly band.
I first heard about these with my last pregnancy.  They claim to allow you to wear your non-maternity clothing longer and look stylish at the same time.  Yet at $17 bucks a pop, I passed them by.  This time, however, I ordered the Be Band on Target.com without hesitation.  Fortunately it was even 25% off!
The verdict - wow!  I don't know how long into the pregnancy I will be able to wear it, but it is great.  I have converted my favorite jeans into pull ups!  Crazy.  The only drawback is that after wrestling with the kiddos, it can slide, revealing a pouch in the butt area.  Easily fixed, but at times annoying to be readjusting the band throughout the day.  I look forward to using it postpartum when I dread the thought of maternity clothes, but cannot yet wear my normal clothing.