I Promise I'm Coming Back SOON!

In the meantime...

Brrr.....

Something strange happened last week... It got cold! Daniel and I were both off work last Tuesday, and the kids were out of school, because it was parent/teacher conference day at school. We breezed through our conferences early in the morning and then headed out for a day of family fun. What was planned to be a trip to Dallas for the Texas State Fair, quickly changed to a local day of trying to stay dry. The entire state was dreched in rain (thank you, Lord!), so we made the best of a leisure iHop breakfast and a 3-D matinee of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. However, while we were in the theater, the weather turned nasty and we ventured out into a very chilly day. Thus, the rest of our day was spent at the mall because my children have very few fall clothes that fit. Cooper didn't even own a jacket. Serious sales at Macy's and The Children's Place fixed that problem, and we set off for school on Wednesday in long sleeves and jackets. The bad mother award was narrowly avoided once again!

But, it's Texas, so the temps were back into the upper 90s by Friday and the short sleeves and summer clothes have been in back full force since then. Usually, the kids where their Longhorn gear on Fridays, but last week, Abigail rebelled, that stinker. She did, at least, wear it for the game on Saturday, and she's much more adept at showing off her Hook 'em Horns sign than Cooper is, so I let her slide this time. Ha!

Also on Friday, I spent my lunch break with the kids at school. They both have weekly chore charts and are working hard making beds, cleaning floors, taking out trash and various other activities, so we get to have fun with rewards every week. One of those happens each Friday when Daniel or myself takes lunch to them at school. It's fun to see them in their school element with friends and teachers. They are growing up and have their own world away from home, and I love seeing them in that element. I'm so thankful that we have jobs that allow us to spend time with the kids at school. And, I'll take advantage of that while they are still young enough to want us to hang out with them.

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Retraction and Apology

A few months ago I ranted and railed against Twitter, and now I'm back to grovel and ask your forgiveness for my misgivings and infraction against mobile social networking technology. That's right. You read it right. I was wrong, and I'm sorry.

I gave Twitter a look-see go around, and finally found what everyone has been raving about. It's so much better than Facebook, which is so much better than MySpace. Thus, it trumps them all! The mobility of TwitterBerry on my Blackberry is so much more awesome than the limited aspects of Facebook I can easily access from my phone.

Mostly, I like the briefness of Twitter. Facebook is all encompassing of my social networking life. And, I've found that my "friends" are mostly people who are eavesdropping on my life. They don't want to "talk" to me or comment on my comments or photos. They just want to steal peeks at pics of my life and not ever have to actually engage in conversation or interact with me. I call that eavesdropping, and it's not polite. Thus, I'm a convert. So, please forgive my shortsideedness on this issue. I apologize.

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Tuesday Treats: Chicken Alfredo Pot Pie

I've been looking for new dinner recipes lately, and this one I found on another blog hit the spot a few weeks ago at dinner (and again at dinner the next night - yea for leftovers!). Not only did I already have the ingredients in my pantry/fridge, but it was super easy to throw together. You can't go wrong with that kind of luck!

Ingredients:
4 cups chopped cooked chicken
4 cups Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers (from two 12 oz. bags)
1 jar (16 oz) Alfredo pasta sauce
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury refrigerated garlic butter crescent rolls

Directions:
In a large saucepan, heat cooked chicken, thawed vegetables, pasta sauce and milk over medium heat. Stir occasionally until thoroughly heated. Pour into a 9 X 13 Pyrex and cover the top with crescent triangles and then sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake at 400 degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until rolls are golden brown.

I think I may try it again with plain crescent rolls and see how the flavor changes. But, my family loved it as the recipe calls it. Enjoy!

Deal Day

I promise I am not becoming a coupon blog, but I must share this week's deals. It's just too fun not too! I've had quite a few people ask me how to ultra-coupon, and I hope I've convinced other people that this is the way to shop. If not, you're crazy. Seriously, people, you're just throwing money away if you pass up on the chance to purchase at a discount. And, it doesn't have to end at groceries and toiletries. I had some Kohl's coupons that I put to use Sunday afternoon and ended up spending less than $9 and saving $193.86. Last week, I was able to get a KitchenAid mixmaster for $191. That's just nuts because it was regularly priced at $499! I can't tell you how excited I am to get into my holiday season baking with my new mixer. Woo-hoo! Bath & Body Works was another retail outlet where I spent just $3, and left with three anti-bacterial soaps yesterday.

Here's my Walgreens deals this week. I don't go there every week because they don't always have the best deals, but I did okay this week. This cost me $9.12, and was a savings of $27.07.

CVS had some awesome deals this week. After adding on all the Extra Bucks (rewards that you use as cash for the next 30 days at CVS) and scanning my coupons, my receipt was so long that I HAD to measure it. It's 5 feet long! All of this cost me $37.32 and was a savings of $119.49.

My favorite place to shop, Target, is always my best savings place. I got all of this for just $36.83 and saved $86.44. That was a fun trip: 12 bags of Chex Mix, 3 small Renu bottles, 3 4-packs of Activia, 3 4-packs of Danimals, 2 Gillete razors with cartridges, 6 Jimmy Dean scramble bowls, 8 Quaker granola bars, 2 Aveeno baby lotions (for charity), 4 jars of Skippy peanut butter, Stuart Little 2 DVD, and 3 California Pizza Kitchen pizzas.

I went to Randalls last night for some other groceries, and had a 67% savings. I usually do better, but they didn't have everything that would have helped give me overage (more savings than the item costs, giving you money to pay for other items on your receipt), but I'll go back tomorrow and probably be able to pick up those items and get that savings. My favorite item was the Surf detergent boxes that are 120 loads and only cost $7. Needless to say, we are definitely set for laundry detergent. That's a great deal, so I picked up two boxes!

I still have to go to Wal-Mart, but wanted to get this out to you and hopefully inspire you to check out some of the websites I mentioned last week. You'll find all the same deals I did and can get these deals through Saturday. Happy shopping!

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Wordless Wednesday - Swim Lessons

Who am I kidding?! Seriously?! I thought I could be wordless! That's a joke.

Abigail is still going strong in swimming lessons every week. She tried out for the swim team on Saturday, but was sent back to work on her breast stroke. I don't think any of us were surprised, as the breast stroke has been a tough one for her for months and months. She'll be back in the pool Thursday and will go back for another try-out in a few weeks.

(That was at least fewer words than usual. But, somehow Fewer Words Than Usual Wednesday doesn't have the same ring to it as Wordless Wednesday.)

Tuesday Treats - French Toast Casserole

This is one of my favorite breakfast recipes I was reminded of when my turn to provide Sunday School breakfast came around last week. It's so simple, but so tasty! My mother found the recipe several years ago and it has since become our Thanksgiving morning breakfast tradition.

Ingredients

1/2 cup margarine

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

1 t. cinnamon

12 slices of bread

9 eggs

pinch of salt

2 cups milk

Directions

Melt margarine in 9x13 pan. Stir in brown sugar and cinnamon. Layer bread on butter mixture. Beat eggs and salt together, then add milk. Pour over bread. Cover and place in refrigerator overnight. Following morning, uncover and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Cut into squares and place upside down on place so melted sugar/cinnamon is on top.

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