Washing, Bargains, and Family Ties

Today is the day our youngest daughter moves into her first home.  The buying process had a few details in it, but that's to be expected.

My contribution is to wash all the bedding so everyone will have a fresh bed to slump into tonight.

My granddaughter's quilt isn't quite dry. It's draped over the
kitchen table to dry while the other loads are being washed.

My two year old granddaughter called me last night and 'read' me a story about fish.  She's quite the little chatterbox and I couldn't help but smile and giggle during the call.  She even continued to chatter when her mom was talking to me.  She also has quite a large vocabulary, as do all of our grandchildren.  Mastering the English language is important to us, as it represents quite a bit of who a person is.  I think it's human nature to make decisions about others by their ability to speak well. 

Speaking of the English language, our eldest daughter's books are doing quite well on amazon.com.  She also has been picked up by a publisher for her  next series that will be out later this year.  Here's a link if you are interested in intrigue and romance, with real romance and no scummy content.   (I couldn't think of a better word.)

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_fb_0_15?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=carolyn+laroche&sprefix=carolyn+laroche%2Ckitchen%2C141

Her first book, The Crazy Lives of Police Wives, was co written with Carolyn Whiting who is a retired police officer.  All proceeds from this publication are donated to police charities. 

Needless to say Carolyn (LaRoche) bases her novels on the knowledge she has obtained by being a police wife and a background in forensic medicine. She studied under Dr. Lee - of the OJ trial fame.  Detail is accurate in her fiction stories.

It was also a treat to talk to my son twice in the same week.  All is well on his home front.

A prescription was waiting for me at Rite Aid yesterday, so I took advantage of the 75% off summer sale to purchase a couple of small items.  The total cost for three items was .75 cents.  I think Santa will put a couple of these items in Christmas stockings.  The other item, ice cube trays, will be used to form wax blocks for my Scency warmer using residue candle wax that has run out of wicks that burn.  There's all this talk about burn rate (Whatever that could be.) saying that candle wax can't be used in the burners.  Could this term be manufactured by a company who super over charges for their wax blocks?  Your guess is as good as mine.

I made turkey soup for dinner two nights ago which was a major flop.  I ate it one night, but the salt content was way too high for me to eat any more.  So the pup had a little and the trash ate the rest.  I don't feel good wasting food, but there comes a time when I just have to give in.  This was definitely one of those times.

Our evenings are beginning to cool down a bit so sleeping is more comfortable.  The plants seem to like the change, as well.  I grabbed eleven berries from the black berry bush last night with more to come this evening.    The marigolds are now flowering because of the cooler weather, as well.  I thought the seeds I planted didn't take well because there were no flowers for quite a while.  I had to remind myself marigolds are a fall flower to keep from pulling them and pitching them.

These marigolds are from seeds I saved from last year's plants.
This is the third generation of plants that grew from the seeds of
plants I bought when I lived in the North.  If you would like me
to send some seeds to you, write your address in a
comment and I won't publish it, but only use it tosend the
seeds.

The last thing I did this week was find two 'bar' stools for the kitchen counter that is high.  I've waited three and a half years to find good quality at a reasonable price.  The stools were wrapped and put in my vehicle them my son in law brought them in the house for me.

I now have seating for all of us when we share a meal.  The stools are
well made and match my décor perfectly. 

A Quick Tip

I know cleaning out the dryer filter can be a pain, but if this is done after each load, it saves time, frustration,  and money down the road when it's clogged and has to be cleaned.  If the vent gets clogged, a fire can occur, as well.  I turn off the dryer when I leave the house to be on the safe side.  I don't relish the idea of coming home one day to a burned home - just to err on the safe side.  A clean filter also saves on power usage because the clothes dry faster.  There are also times I dry the clothes in the sun, which saves on a large portion of power costs.

Small Dollar Tree Haul, After a Visit to the Physician

I had some annual blood tests done on Friday.  When the doctor called me with the results she asked me if I had recently been sick because my white cell count was a little high.  No, not really, just a bit tired and an ear that was difficult to hear from.  She advised me to follow up with my primary doctor, so as a dutiful girl, I did just that.  I'm not really dutiful, as I was looking for ways not to call the doctor.  Until I woke up this morning with a painful face.  Yep, it's time again for the semi annual sinus infection.  So off I went to visit my primary care physician.

I indeed did have a sinus infection on the right side of my face.  The left ear was plugged, not because of the changing barometric pressure, but because it too was infected.  A double whammy!  Off to the drug store to fill the antibiotic prescription, then on to the Dollar Tree.  I couldn't waste the trip out without checking what the dollar store was offering this week.  I spent eight dollars. 

Four of those dollars went to 4 eight pound bags of soil that will go into planters for tomatoes.  This year the plan is to put three pots in the driveway close to the house where the tomatoes will get all of the morning sun light.  It will also be more difficult for predators to find the plants.  I hope!

I also packed in the cart four packs of seeds, two of them being heirloom varieties - carrots and lettuce.  I know these veggies are not expensive in the stores, but they are so tasty fresh from the garden.  The other two packs are not heirloom varieties, but radishes and parsley are two favorites, as well.

They also had well made decorative pots that looked to be mistakes from a high end manufacturer.  The mistakes were in the glaze, inside of the pot where no one can see once the soil and plant are in the pot. 

There were multiple colors of this pot available, but I'm more
of a natural color girl, so black was chosen.

The remaining items are not so exciting.  I picked up a pack of 25 screen cleaners.  If I knew what the cleaner is made from, I'd make my own.  Since I have no clue I bought a pack that should last at least twenty five weeks.  The main reason I needed them is my computer is a touch screen model.  The fingerprints - even if they are my own - bother the hey out of me.  I also invested a dollar in small pieces of sticker paper to see what I can come up with.  I'm thinking of using it on the Easter tree squares I made to add a bit of spring color.  We'll see.

Who knew sticker paper was available? 

The time has come to take a short nap.  These infections are beating my butt!

Stay safe.

Has Spring Sprung in My Part of the World? (And some good bargains. Really good bargains.)

Our weather has been gorgeous.  The thermometer hit 73 yesterday and in the upper 60s today.  It's raining right now so it has gotten a bit cooler.  Could this mean spring is here?  I'm not sure, but I think I will begin my seedlings in the morning.  Six weeks in the house then out to the garden at the end of April.  Under normal conditions, April is spring weather in my area.

Yesterday I went to a couple of stores that offered me coupons for free items.  I picked up a pillow and two play shirts for my grandson's birthday at Penney's.  The out of pocket cost was $2.10.  (How could I resist the nice weather?  It was calling me to leave the house.)   The next stop was Victoria's Secret where I turned in a coupon for a free pair of undies.  They will be gifted to my daughter as they were not my style.  They were made more for a younger woman.

I wasn't expecting a top of the line pillow for free, but
I was happy to see they gave me a firm one.

The shirts were priced at $10.00 each.  On sale they were offered for $5.99.
With my coupon I paid $2.10.  The lady behind me told me what a good bargain I
got.  I agree, don't you?

I did a couple more errands then came home instead of going to Kohl's to turn in my two free $5.00 coupons. (On $5.00)  The errands did me in so I thought I'd come home for a rest.  Today I went to Kohl's and the Dollar Tree.

I found an outfit for my grandson for his upcoming birthday.  Pants and a long sleeve top for his next growth cycle.  You know the one.  When a child wakes up one morning and nothing fits because he/she grew during the night.  It's normally a quiet process and takes a mom unaware.

It's a bit difficult to see the color, but the outfit is
in different shades of blue.  Grandma's favorite color.

The Dollar Tree was busy this afternoon, but I took my time anyway, ignoring the hustle around me.  I found a couple of items for the Easter table to add a spark for the grands.  The candy jar was calling for some new treats so I got bubble gum shaped like Easter eggs and Life Savers in spring flavors and colors.  Adding the colorful pink polka dotted straws to the table will create a bit of an excitement.  The religious part of Easter has always been the part of the adults to explain to the children, and the bunny part is the excitement part for the kids.  This way they know the meaning behind the day and have some fun, too.

This was transformed into...

this.    Just a bit of fun for the children.



 

This day ended with a meal shared with my daughters and their children.  The four year old gets so excited when he's with his cousins and big brother. (From a previous marriage.)  I have so many good men in my life that I count this as one of the many blessings bestow on me.  There's nothing that can replace the pure excitement of an innocent child.  I eat it up with a smile.

Have you been spring shopping?  Have you found any bargains.  Do you have children in your family that are getting excited for the bunny's visit?  Let us know in the comments below.  I'd love to hear from you.

Just A Few Things

The copies of Witness Protection arrived.  Give me a few days to meet up with the author and the books will fly out the door.


Since the grocery store hasn't seen me in a couple of weeks, I thought a visit was in order today.  I spent a bit over 37.00 and save around thirty dollars.  One of my finds was buy 2 cans of crushed tomatoes, get 3 free.  I use this kind of tomatoes when I make sauce so I'm always on the look out for them.  I paid 3.98 for five cans.  If my math is correct, that's .80 cents a can.  Not too shabby in the world of higher grocery prices.

Then being a very naughty girl I wolfed down a huge donut.  This is what's left of the donut.  In my defense, I had a very healthy breakfast.  That should count for something?

As you can see, the doughnut was delicious!  It's been almost a year since I have been this naughty.  It felt so good! Tee hee

This past weekend I made a batch of pizza dough in the food processor.  The recipe makes enough for a super large pizza, so I cut it in quarters.  After rolling out 2 of the sections, the other two went into the freezer to use later.  I put the dough in the door so it didn't get lost.

What left overs were in the refrigerator were cut small and put on the two pizzas I cooked.  There were green peppers, mushrooms, pepperoni, and Italian cheeses.  The pizzas looked mighty fine.  Until I took them out of the oven.  I think the heat was too high at 450 degrees F.  They were only cooked for 15 minutes, but next time the heat will be lowered to 400 degrees F.  The flavor was very good under the browned cheese. 

These pizzas sure looked promising.

A little disappointing, but eaten anyway.

That's it for tonight.  Time to pay attention to the pup and play a game or two on FB.  LOL

Valentine's Day Swag for $1.00!

Can you believe there was an ad for the NRA on this site?  I don't know where the ads come from, but I was very upset with this particular ad that has no place on this blog.  I deleted it - I just figured out how to and told google it was inappropriate.

I have two new readers who have signed up on Angie's House.  A big welcome to Thursday's Child and GIF Images.

I have often thought (and said) that my creativity level is below zero.  And, for the most part it is.  I'm more inclined to experiment with a recipe and call it fun than sit down to do any sort of craft.

This morning, out of the blue I got an image of what I could do with the dollar store paper hearts I bought the other day

I've always had a penchant for paper heart doilies.  As a child I loved them and wished that I could have just one.  I would have taken good care of it, bringing it out every year.  My mom said we couldn't afford them, so they went on my wish list for when I was a 'big' girl.

Then when we had our family, I couldn't afford to spend the $5.00 Hallmark was asking for them.   One day, what I considered  a miracle, I found a package on deep discount.  Every February first those hearts were lovingly separated and hung in the big picture window of our living room.  Year after year, until they couldn't take one more taping.  It would have been nice if the dollar stores were invented back then.

Now there are dollar stores.  I not only got a package of medium sized white ones this year, I bought a package of large pink ones last year to display in my front windows. (at the dollar store)

Now for the creative idea.  I was thinking about how much I like the holiday swags the stores put out.  I didn't see any at the dollar stores I visited last week, so I forgot about them.  Until this morning.  I had twine and the paper heart doilies.  I could make one.

Out came the ruler, hearts, and twine.  I measured twelve inches between the center of each heart and got to taping the hearts to the twine.  Twelve inches, twelve inches, twelve inches - 6 times . (There are seven hearts on the swag.)

When the swag was close to being complete, I remembered I also bought some pink grosgrain ribbon.  It went behind the twine for what I told myself was a means to introduce depth.  The idea was right on.  Imagine me, and how surprised I was, when the completed project ( 20 minutes later) was presented.  I did it!

Now to hang it.  This was a problem so I tried a number of different tactics.  I settled for securing the swag at the corners of the fireplace.  I couldn't get the hang of securing it in three places.

I purchased the hearts and ribbon because I liked them, thinking I would find something to do with them.  The thought that I would create anything with my hands didn't even enter my thought process.

I used seven of the 15 hearts at a cost of approximately .50 cents and half of the ribbon at a cost of .50 cents.  The twine was in the kitchen drawer as was the tape.  So for a dollar, I made a happy project.  I would say that was a frugal hack, wouldn't you?

Pictured here are the materials I used to create the swag. Scissors, tape, ruler, twine, heart doilies,
and ribbon.  The entire project cost $1.00 plus the twine and tape.  If pink or red hearts were used, only the twine would've
been needed.

The finished product.  I can't say how thrilled I am with the results.
Crafters would shrug this off, but to me it's a personal milestone.

Dollar Store Hauls (Small)

Wednesday was a day that was used to finish small projects after a little shopping at the Dollar Tree and Dollar General.

Since another candle was used up I cleaned out the jar and thought it would be a nice organizational tool for collecting cough drops for easy access.  It takes a few minutes to melt out the residual wax and clean out the jar.  A paper towel removed the residual melted wax then soap and hot water removed what was left over.

The Dollar General had a few Christmas items left on a clearance cart at the front of the store.  Any item on the cart was priced at .25 cents.  I found a few items, paying 1.75 total.  I bought 2 cards of magnets that were designed as Christmas stockings, a moose to place on the tree where the little one can reach, a pack of 8 Styrofoam trees - all glittery.  I wasn't going to get these until my daughter said I could use them to tie on packages.  A few ornaments for the tree  finished off the purchase.

I'm dating myself, but this moose reminds me of Mr. Moose from Captain Kangaroo show.

On to the Dollar Tree to find Ann Geddes writing pads, gross grain ribbon, candles, and cards.  This is my favorite kind of ribbon because of a couple of reasons.  It's versatile, it can be used to make bows and sew onto clothing.  It's also sturdy and has a nice feel to it.

The pads will be small Valentine gifts for women in my life.  Our family mainly sees this holiday as a couples day where the (fe) male gives sweets or a gift to their female counterpart. 

 The cream and pink ribbon could be used in a number of different ways.

safe.

Look what I found in the garden!  It's difficult to believe the parsley has survived the number of frosts we've had so far.


What did you do this week?  I love to read comments and reply.  It's like having a conversation with an old friend.

Stay safe.
 

 

 

 

CVS Shopping Spree

CVS has two sales and a free item this week.

1.  A coupon for free paper towels from the coupon machine.  Slide your CVS Extra Care Bucks card under the scanner to receive this one.  Along with this free coupon I received a .50 coupon off any purchase.  The more you shop there, the higher your coupon.  Mine was a small one.

2. Purchase one Purex laundry detergent for $6.29 (at my location) and get two (2) free.  You can do this scenario twice on a card.

3.  Many items in the store have a small sign under the shelf that says if you buy $30.00 you can choose a $10.00 gift card.  There were a number of choices for the gift card, but I only noticed the CVS one because I wanted to use it towards the Purex.

I bought Christmas stocking items at CVS rather than at the Dollar Tree.  Adding in 2 boxes of Klennix tissues and I reached the $30.00 rather quickly.

I did two transactions.  The first paying for the Christmas items to receive the 10.00 gift card (GC), then the laundry soap and paper towel.  After using the gift card and .50 coupon, as well as the free paper towel coupon, I paid 1.47 out of pocket.

Why did this make sense to me?  I would have purchased the Christmas items at the Dollar Tree with no $10.00 gift card given to me.  We* also need laundry soap.  Four free soaps and free paper towels made quite a bit of sense to me.

Christmas items
All of the items were on sale.  30.00 plus tax (1.80)
I can't take a picture of the entire haul because the recipients read this blog.

Purex
Regular price $37.74 for six
I bought six at a cost of $12.58
After using the GC and .50 coupon I paid $1.47 out of pocket

Paper towel
Free with .79 coupon

Total spent, including tax
$33.27

*I don't have pictures of the other items because I did the detergent scenario for my daughter.  She ordered Scency items for me and I paid her with the detergent.  After all of her shopping she ended up with 21 bottles of detergent.  Keeping it all in the family!

Here's some of the items I got.  The Kleenix was .99 a box, the gum and Russell Stover santas were .88 each. The pez dispensers cost the most at 1.59 each.  

CVS website