Jammin'

One of my favorite things about living in Oregon...BERRIES!!! At church, we were able to order berries in bulk...I just picked up by 40lb. bucket of strawberries (sliced and all!!) and just have to share what you can do with 40 lbs. of fresh strawberries.

Shellie came over and we made strawberry Jam galore!

We ended up with:
8 - quart bags of sliced strawberries to freeze
10 Cups of Strawberry syrup
18-Pints of Strawberry Jam
and 6 cups of sliced strawberries to eat

and it only took us about an hour. I am LOVING the pre-sliced strawberries!!

A must have!

What a wild weekend! The craziness began on Friday night while I was scrapbooking with a friend at my house...the kids were playing and watching movies in the next room and I hear this screaming.

"Mom! Isaac has a Lego stuck up his nose and it's bleeding!"
Fantastic! I have managed to raise 3 kids so far with nothing being stuck up any noses. I inspect the culprit and walk straight over to my scrapbook tool tote. (My scrapping friend, Cindy, is looking at me very funny by now) I grab my Close To My Heart tweezers They have the perfect suspension-grasping action which was exactly what I needed to grab hold of the Lego and pull it right out.

EVERY mother should have a pair of these things in their home! You can buy them here.

Creativity & Good Deals

I know, I always post pictures of my shopping trips. So, today I thought I'd show you what I've been working on for my sister, Cyndee.
She is getting married this August and trusted me to make her invitations. (Thanks sis!)
You probably can't tell the heart image is stamped on a vellum overlay with ink distressing on the Colonial White CS and tone-on-tone ink distressing on the Amethyst CS. And in 2 more months I'll be working on the wedding cake. You'll either see pictures posted here (if it turns out) or on CakeWrecks (if it doesn't) ;)

And just because I can't post without mentioning couponing... I went out to do a little doubling this morning.Thats 4-boxes of Graham Crackers
4-packages of Hershey Bars
4-Bags of Marshmallows (Yummy S'mores this summer!)
3-bottles of Hershey syrup
8-packages of Ziploc containers (I couldn't resist!)
6-bottles of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce
2-jars of Mayo
4 lb container of Strawberries

and I only paid $2.85!!! on $91.16 worth of food. (But seriously, who would pay that much?)

The joys of couponing

One of the things I LOVE about couponing is that I don't have to hit every sale...I actually took the last couple weeks off...didn't hit any of the sales, didn't even go to Albertsons for their double coupons (gasp!). We finally have enough of a stockpile built up, that it's okay if I'm not a super shopper every week and just get the fresh produce for a week here and there.

That being said, I did sneak off to Safeway today in hopes of hitting the Ziploc sale. The buy 4 containers and they are 1.99 each. Thankfully they were very well stocked, my purchases didn't even dent their inventory!

Here's how it turned out...


16- Ziploc Containers
6-Carefree Pantiliners
12-Vitamin Waters
Bunch of Bananas

Before Coupons, Doubles, & Club Card this would have cost $84.31

I spent $7.74 AND got back a $4 catalina for my next purchase.

The cashier even said, "Wow, will you teach me how to shop?"

Glad to see I haven't lost my couponing prowess after a couple weeks off!

Are you ready to learn yet?

Bread...yummy!

While Shellie & Devin were living with us, I got to experience fresh bread every week. So, after 2 months, I guess we got a little spoiled and can't seem to go back to store bought bread (bleh!). I had to continue on in the bread making...and thankfully-having it around all the time now, I don't feel the need to eat as much of it, since I know it is always there.Anyway, here's what it's like (Thanks Aunt Colleen for the FANTASTIC recipe!)

Someday I'll move on to making Wheat Bread, but for now, white bread is just SO yummy!



Ingredients you'll need to make 6 loaves:
6 C. (very warm-hot) water
1/2 C. + 1 Tbs. sugar
3 Tbs. salt
6 Tbs. oil (I use olive oil)
(Flour & Yeast--see below)

Mix in a very large bowl. Start adding a cup of flour at a time. After adding 3-4 cups of flour mix in 3 Tbs. instant yeast. And continue adding flour until dough is not sticky.

Let raise until double in size. Separate into buttered loaf pans (sorry no pic, I had to hurry out on an errand and got home just in time to bake em) Let raise again til double in size. Bake at 350 for 30 min.
Cool on wire rack, and enjoy!!! YUMMY, just in time for some fresh strawberry jam.
They actually turned out fairly evenly this time--except for the huge one in the back, that's my biggest pan.

I usually put 4 loaves in the freezer (if I don't give any away) and we end up making bread about every 10 days. It's very light and airy and just perfect if you ask me!!

Strawberry Bandit

It must be strawberry season, because the strawberry bandit has been to our house. He eats part of the strawberry and leaves a little trail ... this time, I caught him before he finished ALL of them. Saved one for me. Good thing it was the biggest.

CAUGHT HIM! I heard Isaac in the next room saying "these strawberries are SO good!"

Happy February!

It's been awhile...so here's the lowdown on what's been going on...

Wade's cousin, Devin (and his wife Shellie), visited last week while they did some job searching. We had a GREAT time with them and our fingers are crossed that they move here soon.

My computer was taken over by viruses and I had to wipe it all out and restore it to the factory settings (first of all--why did I not know the computer came with this disk? And secondly, should I pay myself for fixing my own computer?) I was VERY grateful to have been introduced to this website as I had started on their email program for emergency preparedness and backed up ALL my computer data not too long ago. So it was an easy decision to start all over. I had tried several virus scanners and they all FOUND the viruses but none of them seemed to get rid of them. So we are starting fresh. It's like spring for my computer. ;)

And as if I could get through one blog post without mentioning couponing... I have totaled up the amounts for January. (I of course had to download a new version of the savings tracker as I apparently didn't have the right version of Excel...urg!) So after re-entering all my receipts for the month.....

drum roll please......

I purchased $696.36 in groceries/toiletries in January

and only spent $185.19 !!!!

I saved over $500 in just ONE MONTH!

and THAT is what keeps me couponing!

After many requests from my family, I am going to attempt to post deals for them in the boonies of California to try to help them save money too. So, stay tuned!

Too Cute

I know, I know, 2 posts in as many days! What can I say, my kids are cute, and it's very slow & quiet at work. So you get to see Libby's new laptop!

She was so excited to have her very own! It even came with it's own mouse. SO COOL! I kinda think she's too young, but she just loves it SO much......
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She made it herself...I just love the screen and the mouse cord. Is that not the funniest thing?

Okay, so we went to Walmart tonight to hit the Christmas Clearance sale stuff and scored a bunch of wrapping paper for $0.25 each (awesome) and some other ribbons and things. We are driving out and see the "HOT" sign lit at Krispy Kreme and we decide to take the kids in to get a free donut.

So we are standing there watching the donuts being made and at first nobody else is really in there, maybe a couple people sitting down. I snuck off to get the each of the kids one of those hats they all MUST have and then all of a sudden there is a line forming to buys donuts. One lady asks for a free hot donut and they say they don't do that anymore. The kids looked devistated. Because they knew that we didn't go in there to BUY donuts ;) (we are really trying to keep ourselves on a tight budget and enjoy freebies where we can, and we aren't ashamed to admit it) In all the devistation of getting backin the car with no donut, Isaac's hat broke.

I told Libby that maybe she should write a letter to Krispy Kreme. And Ethan says,

"Dear Krispy Kreme,
Isaac's hat broke."

Aah, cute kids.

Gasp! I'm updating my blog!

Can you believe it? It's only been 2 months and I'm updating my blog already...not waiting the usual 6 months. I know shocking.

I've been dying to share my favorite Christmas gift with you. Everytime I see it, I smile. (and giggle a little). Isn't he adorable? My very talented Sis-in-law, Gina, made all my kids robes for Christmas. And Isaac just looks like a little man, especially sipping his Hot Chocolate.