Thursday, July 24, 2008

garden

Here's some pictures of our garden....

That ginormous thing in the foreground is a a sunflower!
Here's a back view....gourds are growing up on what used to be the chicken yard fence, and those are a couple dozen sunflowers beside the back wall under the window.
We've got - I think I remember right - 23 tomato plants, lettuce, cucumbers, zuccini, bush beans, radishes (Hannah's), birdhouse gourds, green gourds and potatoes.

We picked these this morning. I have two big buckets of these cucumbers now marinating in lime, awaiting pickling tomorrow! Think I'll pickle the peppers, too, come to think about it, and probably some of the beans, too. I LOVE pickled green beans....I mean, I LOVE anything pickled!

Except pigs' feet. Haven't gone there - yet!!

more cvs!

WHOOPs! An ECB is an "extra care buck" that you can spend just like cash at CVS. They term it like "cash back" but you can only spend it at CVS. It prints out on your receipt and expires - I guess about a month after its issued. Keeps you coming back.
But the good news is, they can be stacked with coupons for even better deals. And every week there are new/different ECB offers - like buy X worth of makeup, for example, get X amount of ECBs back.
AND, if you link your "Extra Care Card" (like a MVP card at Food Lion, or your Kroger Plus card) on their website by typing in your email address and info, they will send you GREAT store coupons - like $3 off a $15 purchase, etc.
You have GOT to check out those other blog sites for the great deals they report and they tell you how to do it, too!

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

CVS

Do U CVS?

Well, I do and I LOVE it. It keeps my mind sharp in my old age! I subscribe to several blogs that teach the whole CVS thing from a $5 weekly challenge, to the best deals, to shopping scenarios....and I am saving big bucks shopping there.

A recent example: 14, yes, 14 bottles of CVS brand clothes detergent, 30/loads each for about $.85/each....2 Dreft bottles (the big ones) for $1.50 each, totalling less than $14 for the whole order. I used clearance, a $1.00/off hang tag on the Dreft, and $5 ECB's that I had just scored buying 3 mega packs of dipes for Abigail. My total haul was $19 for 3Pkg of dipes - less $2 ECB, less $3/$15 purchase, making it $14, earn 5ECBs, then the laundry detergent haul for about $13. Anyways, I don't have all the details (tax, exact dollar amounts, etc.), but it was a huge score. Look into their rewards program if you haven't before, because its a great way to save money.

Here are some awesome sites to peruse:
i heart CVS
Mommy Snacks
Keeping the Kingdom First
The Centsable Sawyer

And there are more, but these are the ones I usually check for deals and ideas.

Let me know if you, too, CVS!

H

Monday, July 14, 2008

Fun for $1

Shaving Cream!

Monday

Has it really been almost a month since I've posted? Ack. Well, let me catch you up. No sob story, but the chickens are gone. We had a neighbor who was "offended" that we were keeping the birds on our property and threatened to sue us to get rid of them. So, we prayed and prayed and I'm not sure why right now, but God didn't have it in His plan for us to keep the hens for now. Andy manages to keep things in perspective, but I was so upset about it, and I had to just let it go. More prayer that I won't sin - and then prayers for forgiveness because I DID think awful things and say awful things under my breath.

But anyways, that is all behind us now. And I'm not renaming the blog because someday we will get more chickens!! On second thought, I could call the blog "Mo'Chicks" but somehow that doesn't fit the rural lifestyle I'm trying to embrace. In case you're wondering, I can be sure that 2 of the 12 hens are with their cousins in West Virginia, 9 continue to reside in Callaghan and Mr. Rooster - well, he's on a farm somewhere here in the Highlands. At least I think so.

So, here I am trying to post, and Abba is standing beside me trying to balance on a tape measure that DH left in the office. She's been playing with it quietly and now is standing on it, one foot on top of the other saying, Daddy, Daddy! Han is napping.

On to other things.... Here's where frugality can be a little embarassing. I'm always so glad when I find good videos at the thrift store, and I scoop 'em up - they're only $1. I bought a cute cute video yesterday - Steve Green and kids singing Bible verses. I let Han watch it twice before we went to the grocery store this morning. While I was trying to check out, get my coupons organized, find my shopping card, check the prices that were being rung up, bag my own groceries, etc., I caught Hannah singing something while she was spinning around at the end of the cart. Here's is what I heard, "I was created in my mother's room.....in my mother's rooooom......" (AKA Psalm 139:13For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.)

As usual, the cashier just kind of glared at me over her bifocals.