Halloween

Little Mermaid

Ali Cat

I think they look great for homemade costumes.

Trick or Treat

Witch Hat Cookies

Here's our trial run of the Witch Hat cookies for Emmy's school party. Take a chocolate cookie, (I used oreo halves), dab a little icing in the middle and stick a hershey kiss on it. Then take icing and pipe around and make a bow. They are so easy!

PS-ignore the dirty counter!

Chili Beans Recipe

3 cups small red beans, rinsed
3 cups black beans, rinsed
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 each green pepper, yellow pepper, and red pepper, chopped
1 beef bullion cube
2 tsp chili powder
1 can diced tomatoes
1 c. tomato juice
4 c. water

salt

Dump all ingredients in slow cooker. Cook on low 7-8 hours. I serve with sour cream, cilantro, cheese, & crackers!

Mission Trip

Here are some pics from my recent trip to Leon, GTO in Mexico. I met some great people, bonded with some great people and the food was amazing! Check out Barb & Shawns website here for more on their mission.

Our group at a church overlooking Leon

Fixing lunch for the kids at the orphanage

GTO, Mexico

Menu Monday

Sunday-Lasagna, Salad, Garlic Bread
Monday-Poppy Seed Chicken, Green Bean Casserole, Cresent Rolls
Tuesday- Chili Beans, Crackers, Cheese, Pickles
Wednesday- Eat at church
Thursday- Frito Chili Pies (with leftover chili beans)
Friday-out of town
Saturday-out of town

Pumpkin Carving

They mostly played

Daddy & his girls

Mommy did all the work

Batty Pumpkin

Menu Planning Monday

Sunday-Was in Mexico! Had Tortas & Nachos

Monday-Flew home, had Chick Fil A on the way home.

Tuesday- Pizza and Cheese Breadsticks, (I have a coupon for a free one)

Wednesday-Eat at church

Thursday- Corn Dog Muffins, french fries

Friday- Stuffed Sausages, English peas

Saturday- Bacon, Eggs, Toast

Coupon Give Away

I have to give away a slew of coupons. About $100 worth to be exact! All you have to do is leave a comment to enter & I'll pick a winner by Thursday at noon.
Be sure to check out my other posts!
Much Love
Carol

Menu Planning

Sunday-Ate out

Monday-Chicken Pot Pie, Oatmeal Chocolate Cookies

Tuesday- Hamburger Helper, Corn

Wednesday- Saturday

I'm leaving to go on a mission trip to Mexico. My mom will have the girls, and DH is going out of town. Pray for us all to be safe!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I really wanted to buy some Kashi Dark Chocolate Oatmeal cookies, but it was $2.50 for only 8! So I bought some dark chocolate chips and decided to make some my self.

I found this recipe and they are wonderful!

The recipe makes 42 so cut in half or freeze half the batter like I did.

$1.89 at Country Mart

I didn't buy a lot, but I got a great deal.

Fast Fixins Chicken sale 2/$4 -2/$1 MC doubled =FREE
Ronzoni Pasta $1.64 -$1 MC doubled =FREE
Farmland Sausage $1.25 -$1 MC doubled =FREE
Wheat bread $1.29

My total was $1.89. The cashier looked at my bags then looked at me and said wow. I love doubled coupons!

Walgreens Deals for Oct. 6-10

1 Scrubbing Bubble sale 2.50 -$2 MC =.50
1 Fantastik Cleaner sale 2.50 -$1.50 MC=1.00
Glade Scented Candle Holder sale 3.99 -$2 MC=1.99
2 Glade Scented Gel Warmers 1.99 -B1G1 =1.99 for both
2 Glade Wisp Flamless Candles sale 5.99 -B1G1 = 5.99 for both

Total before coupons $29.37
Total after coupons $12.73

-$3 RR for Flamless candle
-$6 in rebates

= $3.73 for everything pictured! Awesome!

Sweet Moments

This was taken about 6:30 am. Emmy was watching TV while I got ready for work, when the baby woke up crying. I took her in the living room and Emmy said give her to me. Al started to whimper when I walked away to which Emmy said "It's ok, big sissy will take care of you."
I love moments like that.

Cheesy Tuna Mac

Cheesy Tuna Mac

1 box macaroni & cheese dinner

1 can tuna, drained

1 pkg frozen California Veggie Mix

1 can cream of mushroom soup

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Boil macaroni in salted water 9-10 minutes or until al dente. Place Veggies in colander and pour macaroni over to drain & quick thaw the vegetables.



Return Veggies/macaroni to pot and add cheese mixture from box and 1/2 c. milk. The add mushroom soup and tuna. Pour into greased baking dish and bake 30 minutes or until heated thru.

Works for me Wednesday

This is my 1st edition of Works for Me Wednesday sponsered by Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer.

One thing that works for my husband and I is the envelope system. I first learned about it at here. Here's the steps we take at the first of each month.

-Decide what we're going to spend in our catergories for the whole month. I only pay our bills from our checking account then everything else goes in our envelopes. My categories are

-Gas for Car

-Groceries, Diapers, & Household items

-Eating Out

-Entertainment

-Offering

-Gifts

-School (this covers field trips, lunch, etc for my daughter)

-Convience Store (my husband is addicted to going)

-Emergency

-Then we put the designated amount in each envelope. This means that I have to plan ahead if I want to buy something and I only can spend what I bring to the store which eleminates "extras"

-This has helped my husband and I cut our budget by about $700 a month.

Taco Soup

Taco Soup

3 c. pinto beans, cooked (I use leftovers, but canned are fine too)

1 can black beans, rinsed & drained
1 can sweet corn
1 can diced tomatoes with peppers
1 envelope taco seasoning
1 envelope dry ranch dressing
extra jalapenos (if you like it spicy)

Combine all ingredients in big pot. Bring to boil, then reduce to low for about 20-30 minutes. This makes enough for about 3-4 people with good sized appetites so double it if you have more. I serve this with tortilla chips, sour cream, cheese, and limes.

Baked Macaroni & Cheese

Baked Macaroni & Cheese Recipe

1 box macaroni noodles (I use whole wheat)
1 sm container (8 oz) sour cream
1 lb. shredded cheese, any flavor (cheddar & colby/swiss are our favorites)
1/2 c. milk

In big pot, cook macaroni noodles according to package directions. When done, drain and combine with sour cream, cheese, milk, and a little salt & pepper. Pour into 9 by 13 baking dish and cover with foil. Bake at 400 degrees for 30-45 minutes, uncovering foil during the last 5-1o minutes. This makes enough for our family of 2 adults/2 kids to have as a hearty side, leftovers the next day for me, and I put a big dish in the freezer to have as a side another day.

Menu Monday

Sunday- Enchilada Casserole, Refried Beans, Corn

Monday- Chicken Nuggets, Mashed Potatoes, Broccoli & Cheese

Tuesday- Bacon, Eggs, Biscuits

Wednesday- Eat at church

Thursday- Cheesy Tuna Mac & Corn on the Cob

Friday-Eat out

Saturday- Sandwiches or Leftovers

Walmart Date

Hubby and I were restless so we decided to take the girls to Walmart, plus I had a few coupons that were expiring soon. The girls managed to get their daddy to spend some of his birthday money on new books, and I mamaged to get some good deals.

1 Tide travel pack-.97 (perfect for my trip to Mexico) -$1 MC
2 Green Giant Steamers $1.87 each -2/$1 MC
1 Febreeze Noticable Kit $5.97 -$5 MC =.97
1 Gillette Shampoo $2.00 -$2 MC=FREE
1 Betty Crocker Potatoes .78 each $1/2 = .56 for both

Total= $3.56 -not bad

Super Savings Saturday @ Wags

Looking back at all the purchases I've made at Wags this week I probably could have done better, especially seeing other people's posts, but oh well. This was my last trip to Wags this week!
Transaction #1
3 Soaftsoap body wash on sale $3.49 -$1.00 WC=$2.49 each
Total - $8.31
-$4.50 RR
Total OOP=$3.81
Got $5 RR back

Trans #2-stuff we really needed
2 Cat food .79 each
Baby Wipes 2.99
Total-$4.98
Paid with $5 RR =FRee

So all pictured for $3.81 is not bad, still I feel like I can do so much better next time!

Frugal Friday

In honor of Frugal Friday I'm sharing the apron I made today. I had been wanting to make one for a while now and I had the day off so after dropping Oldest DD off at school, Youngest DD and I went looking for fabric.

I bought enough to make 5 aprons at the cost of $8.47 for matierals. I did not have a pattern, I just cut a kind of U shape for the arms and sewed hems, then sewed ribbon on the neck and sides. For some reason, my photos of the finished product are not loading, but you can see below how I cut it.

The cost of each apron is roughly $2 and I plan to make some for Christmas gifts.

Super Savings Saturday (kind of)

No this is not Saturday, but it feels like it to me since I'm usually working on Friday. I found this $5 off 20 coupon for Walgreens so I just had to go back, and I printed more TP & shampoo coupons. Here's what I got

6 pkgs Quilted Northern Double TP $4.00 each -6/$1 WC then -6/$1 MC = $12 for 72 rolls
2 Pert Plus $3.49 each -2/$2.50 ES then -2/$1 MC=FREE

My Fillers-

Oral B toothbrush-$4.49
3 Diet Coke-3/$4
2 MnM-2/$1
3 Assorted Toys $6.98 each B2G1 Free

Total before any Coupons-$58.48
Total after coupons-$39.48
-$5 off $20 = $34.98
-$4.50 RR =$30.48 OOP

Now I've got TP for about 6 months & Christmas gifts for 2 kids on my list!

My first bread

So I'd been agonizing over baking my own bread. I'm not a great baker and I've wondered if it really is cheaper than storebought. I decided if I did make my own bread that I would do it with a breadmachine since I work full time.

When I picked up DD from my grandmother-in-law's today I asked her if I could borrow her's to see if I really liked it. She said I could have it! What a blessing. She asked if I would bring her a loaf now and again, and I said sure.

Now I did not have a lot of time to look for a recipe since we had church tonight, but I wanted to try it so we could have our first loaf tonight. I went with one of the first ones I found. Here's the recipe.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Light-Oat-Bread/Detail.aspx

Now here's what we thought

Pro's- The flavor was great! I added about 1/2 tsp each of garlic, rosemary, and onion flakes. It was still warm when we got home so the butter melted perfectly. The texture on the inside was also tender & moist

Con's- The crust was very hard. I did put it on the medium setting, but I had a hard time cutting it. It also did not rise to the top. The breadmachine setting was on 1.5 lb loaf and it only rose about 3/4 the way.

I liked it and will try again, but I think I might look for a softer outside & taller loaf!

Free Coupons! Over $120 worth!

This is my first giveaway. I have been saving all the coupons I don't use and now there are over $120 dollars worth of them. These are newer coupons from the last 2 Sunday's paper. All you have to do to be eligible is read one of my posts, give me a comment, and I'll pick a winner by noon on Friday. Good Luck!

$7.34 OOP @ Walgreens!

I thought I'd run to Walgreens before picking up Em from school and it was a great trip, plus I got a really nice cashier which is always a bonus.

2 pkg Quilted Northern Toliet Paper on sale $4 each -$2 Oct. ES -2/$1 MC=$2 each
2 Pert Plus Shampoo on sale $3.49 -$2.50 each Oct. ES-2/$1 MC=FREE
2 Quaker Quick Oats B1G1 Free $2.79 -2/$1 MC= .79 for both!
Sweet n Low B1G1 Free $2.49 -2/.35 MC= .89 each

Now I had to have fillers because Walgreens reqires you to have the same number of items as coupons so I got

Bag of Hairbow $2

For my treasure box at school-

Crazy straws .49
Halloween Tattoos 2/$1
Halloween Puzzle .34

Total after coupons $12.56
Used $5.22 from gift card from rebates
Total OOP-$7.34

A day in the life of a working mom

6:20-Wake up & get dressed for work
6:40-Eat breakfast
7:00-Wake the baby up, put her in car seat, leave house
7:15-Leave baby at babysitters
7:20-Arrive at work, get papers ready for the day
7:40-Students arrive in my classroom
8:15-Start handwriting
9:00-Phonics
10:15-Spelling
10:45-Lunch & Recess
11:30-Reading
1:00-Planning Period, yeah!
2:10-Math
2:45- School's out
3:00-Pick up baby from babysitter
3:30-Pick up oldest DD from school
3:45-Arrive home, give snacks, computer time for mom
4:30-Do housework, make lunches for tomorrow
5:30-Start supper, play with girls while it's cooking
6:00-Hubby is home, eat dinner
6:30-Girls bath
6:45-I take shower
7:00-Watch T.V
8:30-Read books to kids & baby to bed
9:30-Oldest DD & I to bed