Monday, December 21, 2009

Is it already December?

I can't believe that Christmas is in a few short days.

I've finished up all my projects and am now in the process of enjoying the season.

Hubby is home all week except for Wednesday when he has to work. He didn't have to take any time off, we just lucked out on how his schedule worked this week.

I'm no longer working in scouts. I was released last week. I haven't heard about a new calling yet. that always makes me nervous. But I've pledged to enjoy the time off. No scouts no scouts NO SCOUTS!

Hubby is now teaching the 17 year old sunday school class and enjoys it very much. He's had a light few months since all of his class has gone to college, left on missions or is preparing for a mission. He has been the permanent substitute. At least for 1 more week!

C loves first grade. Her teacher is Mrs. Hanson. She really is a great teacher and she has the kids reading really well.

A is still loving preschool. Its a good thing she didn't start school this year because her attention span is still short and she is just starting to form letters for writing.

She is working on saying her L's. She says w instead of l. But not at the beginnings of words. Its cute to hear, but isnt' good when thinking about school next year.

Speaking of A, she's really on one right now. It all started with her finding the gingerbread house kit that we do each christmas. She opened it up and ate all the candy from it. It kept going from there and yesterday at church she attacked a hymn book with a crayon. I'm not sure if its a phase or what but it has got to STOP! I'm hoping an entire week home with me and hubby will help. I've also got some good ideas up my sleeve. (I think its an attention thing, and needing more limits. we're working on it)

We got 2 cats. Yes. We have 2 more animals. But we did sell all the baby turkeys for thanksgiving. So we don't have as many animals as we did have.

We got a momma cat and her baby. The mom is a mouser which we need since we have mice in the woodshed, chicken coops and garden. Yesterday I was filling up the water for the chicks and found 2 dead mice. Yep. Isn't it fun!

The only problem is the dang cat has been pooping in the yard! I've never had a cat poop in a yard. The outside cat I had growing up always pooped elsewhere. So now we have had to buy a litter box for the outside cat! I'm not sure what to do about this. The cat saw it, pottied in it, and then went out and pooped in the yard. I don't know if the cat knows how close it is to finding a new home. Its kitten on the other hand has been pooping in a flowerpot full of rosemary. So I have high hopes that it will transfer that to the litter box and do great with it.

This is why I don't think we'll have a dog. Dogs poop in the yard. I hate stinky dog poop on my shoes.

Anyway, enough about animals.

How about sleeping wierd? I woke up this morning with a kink in my neck. must have slept on it wrong last night.

There were doublers from Albertsons in the paper last night. With some help from www.discountqueens.blogspot.com who I ran into at the store, I was able to get some great deals!

Hubbies birthday is today. We've had pizza for lunch, by request. I also picked up some redbox movies for free using the "dvdonme" code . you can use it as many times as you have credit cards. (once for each card).

I've also got a few more free codes so I'm sure we'll enjoy other movies this week.

Is it wrong that now I've finished my christmas projects, I'm thinking about what project I want to take on next? yeah, I guess I'm wierd.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Ho Hum

So I've not updated this blog for a while. I think its mostly because I've been hanging out on Facebook.

I don't know if that's good or bad. I'm leaning towards bad.

We've been super busy canning and harvesting fruits and veggies from the garden. I'm also in the process of gathering eggs for the incubator again.

I've got 11 turkeys from the group the turkey hen hatched in early July. I may or may not have already said that. If I repeat, I'm sorry!

I'm trying to figure out how to fix a pear mistake.

I read that pears have to be cooled down before they can ripen. I heard you can put them in the freezer.

What I got was a defrosted soggy feeling pear.

I thought I would try to salvage them anyway. so I peeled some, got the middle out, chopped them and put them in the food mill. I want to have some texture besides mush in my pear butter.

Well the durn things are still to firm to go through the food mill! So I've put them in the microwave with a lid on the container to steam them.

Now, this may seem idiotic to most of you. But I'm just playing around with them. Trying to find what will work best.

I don't want to make them mush, just soften them. I just really don't want mush. They will cook further when I do the water bath. so I'm trying not to cook them to much.

Luckily I only peeled and chopped about 12-15 pears. so at this point, I'm not at risk for ruining the whole harvest.

Well on to other stuff.

A started preschool this week. She was soooooo happy. She is there right now! I am at home alone !

I never thought I would have this opportunity until I was at least 39 or so.

We had a movie under the stars thanks to my sister L and her projection thingey. Thanks to her and also to sister AR for hosting us.

It was a lot of fun!!

I heard a rumor we might do it again this Friday. I sure hope so!

Well, I probably should get back to the pears. I can only avoid the situation for so long :)

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Long time no post

So I've been thinking lately about how I haven't posted in a while.

Life has been a little crazy lately.

the kids have been in swimming lessons for the entire month of July. Their last day is Friday. They've enjoyed it very much and are doing well. they are having fun. I won't know if they pass for a few days though.

Our turkey hatched out 11 turkeys. They now free range all over the place. I keep finding them in the front yard which isn't good. We don't have a problem (so far) with varmits down our little lane, but they do have a problem down the street. I just worry about them. Once they get a little bigger I will be putting them in a coop.

The silkie who hatched out some eggs a few months back is now chick-less. 3 of them turned out to be roosters (given away now) and the 4th mysteriously died a week ago. Don't know how or why.

The splash cochin is still going strong with what looks like 4 hens (crossing fingers)

C starts 1st grade in less than a month. I can't believe that she will be starting to go to school ALL day. I'm not ready for this!

A will be attending preschool again due to missing the deadline for kindergarten. I'm glad because she isn't ready for it yet. she still is working on her coordination with writing.

I'm working on a new church bag. This one is green, blue and orange. I think its pretty cute. But we'll see.

I've just got the handles left. But I've knit the whole thing. Which is to say I used the knit stitch on the whole thing, and I've knit the whole thing. Myself. I'm rather proud about that.

I also attempted Nie Nie's chocolate cake from Conversations with a cupcake. http://conversationswithacupcake.blogspot.com/search/label/Beloved%20Nie

Its pretty intense. I let the kids watch 4 episodes of the transformers while I slaved away for 2 hours. That's only the making time. It probably took another 2 hours for me to put all the parts together and finish the frosting and then do a little decorating on it (Its for my sister's baby shower). All I can say is that it better be worth it. We eat it tonight.

Anyway, the garden and fruit trees are working overtime. So far this year we have had golden raspberries, black berries, marion berries, blue berries, pie cherries, apricots, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, potatoes, green peppers, jalapenos, and broccoli. Quite the harvest!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

ala Pioneer Woman

So I was looking outside and realized once again how much I love our home, trees, animals, and just so much about our property.

So I decided to take some pictures of it!

I wandered out to the backyard and saw this.

Photobucket

Our 3 scaredy sheep. Doing what they do all day. Eat grass. Except when they take a break and eat weeds instead.

Here is Charlie.

Photobucket

He led the escape yesterday that led to one of my baby apple trees (planted last year) being stripped of its leaves almost all the way to the top.

You see, Charlie has realized 2 things. Once he was sheared he can fit through a gap in the fence. Of course we fixed it, but sometimes I don't latch the gate right. which leads to the 2nd realization. The grass outside the pasture is much better than the grass inside the pasture. Well, that and my apple tree and garden.

Luckily this time we got them back in before they made it over to Aunt Alyson's garden.

speaking of the garden.

Photobucket

Doesn't it look beautiful? Just don't go to close or you'll see some weeds and the rotting grass clippings we put between the grow boxes. They don't smell that nice.

Here is Turkey Lurkey.
Photobucket

I haven't decided if that will be his official name or if I'll go for something more creative like Tom.

Anyway, when a turkey isn't all puffed out like this

Photobucket

He doesn't look so regal. And frankly, he's kind of ugly. All those wart looking thingeys on his neck.

Everytime I go into the pasture he runs over because he thinks its dinner time. Well, most of the time its not. But he still comes over because it might be. And then he follows me around the pasture like a lost puppy chirping and making all sorts of noises I never knew turkeys made, in the hopes that I'll drop some food.

Oh what a handsome fellow that Charlie is!

Photobucket

I'll have to remind him that handsome is as handsome does and handsome doesn't let other sheep out and then eat my apple tree!!!

Here is a picture of some of our motley crew of chickens.
Photobucket

Here's a picture of the turkeys mate
Photobucket
She is busy trying to get some eggs to hatch in a quiet corner of the pasture. I'm really excited and hope they do hatch. We'll see!! It should take her until early to mid July.

Photobucket

Can you spot the rooster giving me the evil eye?

Actually its all show. He's isn't evil. He's only bothered me a few times and that was nipped in the bud by chasing him around the coop for a few minutes. But I can't let the kids in there with him. He bit my 4 year old on the leg (through pants) a few months ago. Once she gets older, I'll let her chase him around the coop. I took care of it for her that time.

Here is a picture of our splash cochin
Photobucket

She is busy sitting on 7 eggs. She can barely cover them all but is valiantly trying. She is so cute when she pushes an egg under her. She stands as tall as she can and uses her beak to push each egg aaaallllllll the way back under her.

She should have babies by Sunday. Monday at the latest.

Here is a picture of the beautiful rose type bushes that cover the back of our property.
Photobucket

The are beautiful, but it was easier when we had goats and they could eat them back a ways. But I have to admit, they were never this beautiful when the goats were eating on them.

Here's the other proud mama around here.
Photobucket

She's the one who lost a chick to the water bucket. I hope never to have that problem again.

Here's that Tom Turkey again.
Photobucket

Yes, I'm sure I don't have any food! :)

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

boring

I've been reviewing old posts and have come to realize that numbers aren't very amusing.

So how about a story or two?

today I went out to check on the chicks and was horrified that one made its way into the water bucket and drowned. I couldn't get it to balance on a stick so I had to touch its cold dead leg and pick it up and throw it into the bushes. I'm surprised at how I'm getting used to this.

I sure hope it doesn't happen again.

We have another hen on a clutch of 7 eggs.

Our turkey hen has laid a clutch of eggs, but insists on only sitting on it for about 1/2 the day. I'm pretty sure that this will lead to no turkeys, but I'm not that worried about it.

I'll give her until about mid july and then toss them.

At that point I'll collect her eggs for the Silkie or one of the Cochins to sit on. I'm determined to have baby turkeys this year.

So, the other day I was playing ring around the chickens and moving chickens from one coop to another.

I had to wait until it was dark for the chickens to go to sleep. Once they are asleep, you can do almost anything to them.

This night, I was trying to single out the Rhode Island Red hens who were not laying.
I also had chicks coming to the small coop so I decided to move any uneccessary hens out of there.

The first bit of excitement came when I put a younger RIR hen in a new coop. She hadn't been moved before and was a little disoriented. I put her in and shut the door.

Well, I grabbed the next chicken and when I opened the door to put her in the coop, the other chicken darted out!

So yay! (just a little sarcasm) I got to have a chicken chase in the dark. My most favorite of pastimes! At least I had a flashlight.

So, I chased her around the coop a few times and then pinned her with the coop door. I managed to put her in the coop and finish moving everyone around.

Well, as I was moving hens around, the turkey (who likes to perch on the coop roof to sleep) had been moving around nervously. When the chicken darted out and I had to chase her around the turkey decided she'd had enough and flew from one coop roof to another coop roof. All the while the Tom Turkey was watching. Awake, but not seeming to be nervous.

When I moved the very last hen, the turkey decided she'd had enough and flew the coop. she flew clear out of the pasture and into the yard.

So yay!(again with the sarcasm) I had another chase on my hands. This time a turkey chase.

I herded her back towards the pasture, but she wouldn't hop the fence. I chased her around for a good 20 minutes.

I finally got her into a corner and she hopped onto one of the gates into the pasture. I touched her tail hoping she would hop into the pasture. Instead she flew into the pasture, UP INTO A TREE NEXT TO THE PASTURE!!! And then proceeded to fall through many branches and finally to the ground.

It was just a little funny. But then I was worried and had to go and make sure she was ok. Which she was. As soon as I got near her she hopped up and ran.

so it all turned out ok.

The funniest part of the whole thing was my Mother in law.

She was staying the night so that I could drive her to the airport the next morning.

Before I go move chickens, I always tell hubby to check on me after 10 or so minutes to make sure I haven't been attacked by the boogey man or anything like that.

He is a good husband and will open the back door and yell to ask me if I'm ok.

So, since hubby had to work the next day, and my MIL was still up, I asked her to check on me if I didn't come back after 10 - 15 min.

Well, this night I had been out there a good 20-30 min. When I went inside, expecting my MIL to be worried about me, or at least wonder if I was ok, I found that she had GONE TO BED! the only thing she said to me (she came out of her room when I came in) was "You didn't show me how to work the TV"

Hubby and I had a good laugh about it.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Awesome deals found today

Today I bought 11 Secret Platinum deodorants, 4 Cover Girl Mascara, and 1 CoverGirl foundation thingey.

All for $1.20. that is .07 per item.

I was told about a cart of clearanced deodorants over at Albertsons. The one farther from my house on 12th and 7th. FREE.

So after doing 2 circuits of the store I spotted the cart pushed behind another clearance cart.

I got a cashier to pull it out for me and was in heaven.

I found all of the deodorants and bought what I wanted. Then I called Alyson and asked her if she wanted any free deodorant.

Anyway, after all was said and done, here were my transactions.

#1
3 secret deodorant $1.99 each
3 secret deodorant $.99 each.

Used 6 coupons for $1 off 1
Doubled 3 coupons

paid .60.


#2
1 secret deodorant $1.99 each
2 secret deodorant $.99 each

used 3 $1 off 1 coupons
doubled one coupon

paid .18

#3
1 covergirl trublend $1.99
1 secret deodorant $1.99
1 Loreal makeup $1.99

Used 3 $1 off 1 coupons
doubled 3 coupons

paid .30

#4
2 lash exact $1.99
1 Loreal Makeup $1.99

Used 3 $1 off 1 coupons
doubled 3 coupons

If you want to learn how to do this, call me. I'd love to coupon with you.

new arrivals

Hey, who you looking at?
Photobucket

OK guys, I think the coast is clear.

Photobucket

Yum Yum! I think that lady spread some chocolate in the dirt here.

Photobucket

And have I shown you a picture of our tom turkey? I don't think I did.

Photobucket

Behind him you can kind of see the hen turkey.

What I did this morning.

Spent $31 on this :
Photobucket


Here is how it broke down.

1st & 2nd transaction:
3 boxes trix cereal
4 bottles all small and mighty
1 betty crocker frosting.

paid 11.41
Used 2 - $1/2 and a doubler
used 1 - $1/3 and a doubler
used 1 .50/1 no doubler
used $10 coupon from the sale going on (buy $25 of certain items, get a $10 coupon for your next transaction)

I did this twice.

As I look at this I realized that the checker (on BOTH transactions) didnt' scan my .50 coupon. I hate it when I get home and realize things like this. That would have saved me $1 total.

3rd transaction:
4 boxes of Fruit roll ups
3 big boxes of Cheerios
2 bottles Bertolli pasta sauce

paid $8.76

used
$10 coupon from the sale
Got a $1.50 off (buy 3 large boxes Cheerios, get instant $1.50 off)
.75/1 coupon, doubled.
$1/1 coupon, doubled.

All in all, not a bad day. Not a stupendous day, but not a bad day.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Chicks!

The chicks started hatching on Friday and finished by Saturday afternoon.

All 5 eggs hatched. 4 RIR and 1 probably male sexlink or ?? barred rock. I'll have to research some more to figure it out.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Confession time

Last week I had a chicken go broody and I put 5 eggs under her.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Coupon insanity

I was at Albertsons this morning from about 8:30 until I just got home around 11:30.

Thats right folks. I was couponing for 3 hours. My dogs are barking. Ha Ha

Here is the result.

I spent approx 43.64 (I say approx because my brain is mush at this point.

Here is what I got.

Bandaids - 8
Mac N cheese - 6 boxes
Miracle whip - 1
capri sun (box) - 1
Cool Whip lite - 2
Halls cough drops - 1
Colgate Total - 3
zesty italian dressing - 2
Breyers Ice Cream - 6
Triscuit - 2
Ritz Bits - 2
Smartfoods snack - 2
Mr. Clean magic Eraser - 8
Ritz Crackers - 2
Graham crackers - 2
Wheat Thins - 1
Scotts bath tissue (4 regular rolls) - 2
Apple juice - 4

You may be wondering, what is she going to do with all of that stuff?

The first rule of couponing is basic. Stock up when its a good deal. Especially when its an awesome deal.

For instance, the bandaids were .50 per box and the Breyers was $1 per carton. The bandaids will last for a few years and don't expire. The ice cream could last the year, but we are coming up on summer, so we'll have to see.

Anyway, YOU can do this too!

Albertsons sent out an ad in yesterday's paper with Doublers in it. This happened in Idaho and Utah and Oregon from what I've read. I know at my store you can ask for these at the customer service desk. They will probably only give you 1, but at my store, they also slipped a few in with the ads at the front of the store. You know the place that as you walk in, you can grab the current weeks ad.

The doublers are only for yesterday through Tuesday, so you need to shop soon to take advantage. Also when the customer service desk is out, they are gone.

Now, you also may wonder where you can get your coupons. Well, if you have a printer and internet access I would suggest coupons.com. there are a ton of great Kraft coupons that go along with the current Kraft promotion. Buy $10 worth of marked Kraft products and get an instant $3 savings at the register.

So there you have it. go forth and prosper!!!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Insanity

I heard somewhere once that the definition of insanity was doing something over and over the same way and expecting different results.

Tonight some much anticipated coupons from Kraft were published. These coupons were limited in quantity and were great. $1 off for the most part.

Our printer has been acting up and is pretty much a very large scanner at this point. But I was crossing my fingers that it would pull through for me tonight. And you know what? It did. For the first 9 pages of my 14 page print, it was a pro. The colors were messed up, but I attribute that to hubby refilling the color ink cartridge rather than to the printer.

Anyway, I spent the next 20 minutes or so reloading paper into the printer. It would shoot a piece through, and then jam on the next piece. Its a strange error, but after reading up on it on the net, a regular problem.

So I was reloading and reloading and finally it decided to print again. I nursed it through the next few pages and finished the document.

Well, since the deals were so good, I had to go back and print more of the coupons we use the most.

So here I am again, reloading and reloading paper hoping that the result will change and I'll print some more coupons.

Am I insane?

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Wait I have to choose???

so I live next to my photographically gifted sister. she is always coming up with great ideas and taking a bunch of cute pictures of her kids!

So the other day she said, i've got a sort of studio set up. Ya wanna use it?

So I did.

And she even took a bunch of pictures too.

And then she edited them so cute.

And then I had to CHOOSE!!!

What!!

So I've got 5 frames to fill. I would like to choose 2 pictures of each girl and then one of them together.

Here are the pictures I took.

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

And here are some that my sister AR took and then edited. Now, remember we were taking a lot of the same pictures, just from different angles. So her poses will be similar and her camera is a lot better than mine.

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

So, what do you think?

I've just realized that I've left pictures I like off of this post. There are just so many pictures to look through that I've forgotten to post some.

Oh well.

Oh, and my sister said that I could use her editing software so any that I took could be gussied up.

Guess what I've been doing this past week?

I've been taking this yucky stuff

dirty wool

Adding a little soap and water and the result was this

clean wool

Then a I did this

dyeing the wool

and the result was this

dyed wool

and this

colorful hands

The next step is this

wool carder

Once I'm done with that step, I'll post more pictures!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

For my sister

http://krazycouponlady.blogspot.com/2009/03/cash-n-carry-chicken.html

But someone commented that the chicken was tough? Maybe not high quality?

and

http://www.kraftbrands.com/trailmixcrunch/

But the coupon isn't there anymore?

Ugh. I hate it when I tell someone about a good deal and it falls apart before my eyes.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Cross your fingers!

The fever that C started, ended about halfway through the night.

She is bouncing around today, no congestion or anything.

A has congestion, but it doesn't look like more than a basic cold.

We may get away from this thing without further victims!!

In other news Hubby made my day by doing a weeks worth of dishes on Saturday. And when i say dishes, I don't mean he just loaded the dishwasher. He loaded it twice! Wiped off the cupboards, swept the floor!

And when I told him how sorry I was that it was such a mess and how I'd help him after running a quick errand into Meridian, he said that it was ok, he understood that I'd been sick and he was willing to do it.

I don't think I can tell him enough how much I love him. He is awesome!

I'm going couponing again tomorrow. Albertsons is having a big kids post cereal sale tomorrow. The cereal is $1.67 per box and when you buy 5 boxes a $5 catalina will print, good towards your next sales order. And if you use it to buy 5 more boxes of cereal it will be something like .60 per box AND another $5 catalina will print.

I will most likely go tomorrow morning and then hubby will be gone most the rest of the day picking up a cord of free firewood from another brother in laws brother home that he is getting ready to sell.

Not going to say no to free firewood!

With hubby gone tomorrow I will most likely wash some of the wool waiting for me.

After that I've had a request to clean the bathrooms. :) Most of washing wool is hurry up and wait. So I'll clean the bathrooms while waiting. Not my favorite chore, but neither is washing wool. So I'll turn the radio on and sing and dance around for entertainment.

I'm excited to get my spinning wheel out. I have to wash and dye wool as well as comb it before I can even consider spinning it. But I'm looking forward to it anyway.

I have some new powdered dye that I found in a locally owned hobby shop that I can't wait to use. I've heard powdered dye is stronger stuff. We'll see.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

I'm alive, I'm ALIVE!!!

I finally feel like a human being again! I slept pretty well last night. My coughing is still an issue and my lungs still crackle, but I feel so much better!

BUT

Now the kids are starting to go downhill. As we speak C is in bed with a fever. A is starting to cough, but it is still TBD as to whether it is a real cough, or a "I want to be sick too" fake cough.

So, another week of church missed and I predict that I'll make it 3 for 3 next Sunday when I predict that A will be down with this nastiness.

Oh well. I can deal with it much better since I'm feeling better.

I'm just not certain how it will affect C and if she will go to school next week. I guess we can just be happy that there is no school on Monday.

In the meantime, most everyone has picket up their milk. So yay!

Now I just need to get the powdered eggs, cheese and butter delivered. Hopefully this week!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Hope your spring break is better than mine

I've been sick with the flu. Not the throw up kind. Just the kind where coughing makes you want to die, fevers and strange dreams are how you spend your nights, and you remember how bad cough syrup is.

I've been sick since Monday night.

I just want to feel better again!!

Oh, and the kids are tearing up the house and the dishes need to be done.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Double double toil and trouble

So. I started responding to the question about coupons below, and my response got really long, so I decided to write a post about it.

I started off the morning by dropping by my newspaper guy. I got 6 papers and could have received more, but thought I should leave it for their other lady. I usually get the Press Tribune, and she gets all the statesmans. But there were only statesmans left. But there were so many left that the nice newspaper man split the pile and let me have 6 of hers and offered me 2 more if I wanted them! I like my newspaper man.

And I'm glad I didn't get any more than 6. I was really struggling with what to spend my Albertsons doubles on.

So after the newspaper guy, I went to Kmart. I went immediately to the cleaning isle because that was where the hot deals were. Cleaning products for 50 cents with coupon!! they were out of most everything, but I grabbed some lysol disenfectant 2/$9 and used my $2 off coupon on them (50cents!) and some lysol kitchen cleaner.

Btw, I will list coupons if I remember them. kmart doesn't put coupon details on the receipt.

Oh, and I don't want to forget, but the best way to determine if you should bother to stop by at all is to call ahead. Find out when the next truck will be coming and when the shelves will be restocked. If you are looking for specific items, ask about them.

Anyway, I stopped by the body care area and restocked on bandaids (paid a little over $1 per box) and found some great deals on deoderant and body wash, and other stuff.

Went and got some cereal where I discovered that they were running a General Mills promo. Buy $5, get $1 back, there was some other number and you got $3 back and finally, buy $20 and get $5 back.

I ran up to the front and confirmed that my store was taking internet printables and would double them. I would suggest confirming this before you fill your cart because sometimes a store will not follow corporate policy.

Here are my totals.

I ran my cereal first because the money back comes in the form of a coupon that prints after you pay (for use on your next sales order).

I spent $14.46 on 11 boxes of cereal and got a $5 coupon. so it was like spending 9.46 and less than $1 per box. Now these are the small boxes and if your kids eat a box in one sitting, it probably wouldn't be worth it to buy cereal.

Here is what else I bought - Remember, from memory, so I might get some things wrong (band aids, thought I paid more? can't remember the coupons...) because kmart doesnt have coupon specifics on their receipt, but I'll do my best.

olay body wash on clearance 2 @ 1/$2.99 (paid .99 ea)
Gillette combo shampoo/body wash for men - 2@ 1/$4.49 (paid .49 ea)
ponds face wash - 2 @ 1/$3.14 (I paid $1.14 ea)this was a splurge item for me.
Secret Deoderant - 3 @ 1/2.49 (paid .49 ea)
Gillette shampoo - 4 @ 1/$4.99 (paid .99 ea)
Degree deoderant - 3 @ 1/ $2.59 (paid .59 ea)
Suave shampoo & conditioner - 3 @ 1.79 (paid .62 ea) hmm cheaper at Freddies. whoops
Band aids - 2 @ 1/$2.79 (I think I paid .79)
flex band aids - 2 @ 1/$3.29 (I paid 1.29) they were Barbie :)
band aids - 1 @ 1/$2.59 (I paid .59)
band aids - 1 @ 1/$2.79 (I paid .79)
Lysol w/ bleach 4/1 kitchen cleaner - 3 @ 2/$5 (paid .50)
Lysol disinfectant spray - 3 @ 2/$9 (paid .50)

Paid $25.32. I challenge you to add this up and tell me if I remembered what I paid :)

Just don't forget that I have to pay tax on the whole amount before coupons.

Next I ran over to the Albertsons on 12th.
they made me run each 4 items as seperate transactions. Annoying, yes, but they could have stuck to the 4 coupon doublers per household per day rule and I would have had to sneak in several times to use up all 24 of my coupon doublers.

Here is what I got -

Finish powerball dish detergent. 3 @ $3 (paid $1.49ea)
Treetop 100% juice - 2 @ $1.99 ea (paid $1ea)

total was $ 7.10

next receipt
scotts bath tissue 1@ $2.15 (paid .15) was a 4 regular roll pack
Breyers ice cream 6 @ 2.50 ea (paid $1.50 ea)

total was $9.94

next receipt


Darigold chocolate milk 2 @ 1.25 (paid .50 ea)

total was $ .59

Next I ran over to the Albertsons over at Greenhurst. I could have stayed at the other store, but wanted to sit for a little (Tired by this time) and a change of scenery and get a bit closer to home since it was around 11am by this time.

this store was limiting you to 8 coupon doublers, and this cashier was making you run them seperately.

Here is what I got.

4 boxes playtex tampons 4 @ $3.50 (paid $1.50 ea)

total was 6.60

next receipt

Pringles - 2 @ 1.09 (paid .09 ea)
Kelloggs frosted flakes - 2 @ $ 2.50 ea (paid $1.50 ea)
playtex tampons - 2 @ $3.50 ea (paid $.50 ea)

total was $6.79

At this point I was tired and went home and cut my coupons out of the newspapers.

I was on a roll though, and wanted to get all my doublers done.

So I went back to the store with my last 7 doublers.

This time I got a cashier with an override key who let me run it all 7 as one transaction. YES!

Here's what I got -

Ritz bits - 2 @ $2.50 (paid $1.50ea)
Bliss easter eggs - 4 @ $3ea (paid $1 ea)
playtex tampons - 2 @ 3.50 ea (paid $1.50 ea)

total was $ 11.02

Then I went home and folded laundry for a few hours :)

My total spent today was $ 81.82

Considering that most days I spend nearly that much on groceries for a week, I think I did ok. I tried to stick with what we use, and only strayed to the dark side a couple of times (pringles and bliss candy). The things I spent a little more on like the ritz bits were for snacks at kindergarten, I felt ok about value for money.

$140.75 was the total I saved. So I should have spent roughly 222. I spend $81.72

Not a bad couponing day.

btw I'm tired of typing and reading and the kids are hungry so I'm not proofreading this. sorry :)

Sunday, March 22, 2009

the worm

So tonight I went and dropped off some eggs at my sister AR's house and made arrangements with her to go to the KMART super coupon day tomorrow!!!

I'm just hoping there will still be stuff on the shelves.

Anyway, on the way home I saw a turtle sandbox that has been open all winter collecting snow that became water that became yucky yucky water (that I think is what made A sick BTW).

Anyway, I went and poured all the water out of it and leaned it against the pasture fence as a reminder that I need to disinfect it.

Well, underneath it was a big fat juicy worm. I couldn't just leave that chicken ambrosia there.

So I picked it up.

Worms are so slimy!! I dropped it 2-3 times and then finally cupped it in my hands. It was also very squirmy. It nearly squirmed out of my hands when I had to use a hand to undo the pasture fence.

Anyway it was so gross and slimy that I ran over to the chicken coup and dropped it in. Those chickens thought I had brought dessert. They fought over that thing like it was gold.

Pretty funny to watch. Almost worth the nearly throwing up that I experienced when handling the darn thing.

spring break

Is it wrong that the reason I'm looking forward to spring break is that I won't have to rush anyone off to the bus or go to preschool or anything!!! We're free!!

Oh, and Kmart is doing double coupons again and so is Albertsons!

Could this week get any better?

Oh yeah! No scouts!

I'm free!

We'll probably go to the library and maybe the park if the weather cooperates.

Hubby is home off on Monday so I'll probably do my couponing then. I won't have to take the kids and they won't get bored at the store. Besides, I can concentrate more when I don't have to placate them.

A couple of good coupon blogs I read.

athriftymom.com

krazycouponlady.blogspot.com

I'm still learning about coupons, so these blogs help me quite a bit.

I'm still not comfortable in Walgreens, and we don't have a Rite Aid anywhere near us, But you've got to start somewhere.

Charlie and the girls are doing well. Charlie has finally stopped the relentless scratching. At least, it seems like it since the bare spots where he rubbed his wool off on his back are growing back again, and no new ones have appeared. Crossing my fingers. I'm aiming for a late April, early May shearing.

I finally went through those last 2 fleeces. I haven't had any training in skirting the wool, so my attempts were poor. When going through the wool, I pull it apart so that when it is washed the water easily gets to everything. You see, a sheep's wool has lots and lots of greasy lanolin in it that has to be washed. Sometimes this lanolin is concentrated on the tips of the wool. It takes a lot of time to dissolve like that. So by pulling it apart and also getting rid of the worst bits of it, I'm able to wash it without going crazy and wanting to pull my hair out.

So now I have grocery bags full of stinky wool that needs washing. I guess I should do that this week as well....we'll see.

A was feeling yucky last night. She had a fever and a bad headache. I'm hoping that she'll feel better this morning. We've all had colds this past week, our fourth this winter. C and I take turns bringing them home from kindergarten and preschool.

Please!!!! Please!!!! teach your child to sneeze/cough/whatever into his elbow before they go to preschool and kindergarten. I've gotten 2 colds from kindergarten boys coughing in my face. You can only back so far away from them(The first was the Skylar cold, the 2nd was the Ernesto cold) and A has gotten 1 from Anderson in Kindergarten. I don't know where she picked up this last one.

Maybe we should go the Michael Jackson route and start wearing those face masks. :)

Speaking of Kindergarten, C is reading so well!!! I'm so impressed. Of course it helps that her preschool teacher had her reading. Starting out at the top of the class has really given her an advantage. And her teacher has been so helpful by continuing to challenge her.

Please! make sure your kids are solid on their letters and sounds before they start kindergarten. It will help them out so much!!! There are a surprising number of kids in C's class who are really struggling with identifying letters. I feel really bad for them because they are smart, but have had to start behind all the other kids.

The school is really good at working with them though. They have several teachers that give them one on one help. One in particular is specifically assigned the kindergarten.

I'm excited by this year's garden. Hubby has started to clear it out and we've started seeds inside. Now if only they would grow!! I don't think they are getting watered enough. But I don't want to water them to much.

The ward helped us get Mom and Dad's trees pruned. I'm so excited by the prospect of fresh fruit!!! Nothing makes me happier than a tree ripened peach or nectarine.

YUMMY!!!

And no goats to get out and eat the garden this year!!!!! YAY

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

And so it goes

Well, I'm pretty sure that Charlie doesn't have scrapie. He is still alive and well and this has been bugging him for at least2 months. He is showing no other signs of scrapie.

So I'm thinking its a burrowing mite or something. But I can't treat it very well due to not being able to get the medicine through his wool onto his skin. Its called synergistic delice. Just had to say that. Synergistic.

Anyway, with all the warm weather, I'm considering having him sheared early just so I can save part of his fleece and treat him.

In the meantime I've got to to worm all the sheep and they all need a hoof trim. I'm just not sure how I'm going to get hold of half wild sheep. Charlie won't be a problem. I picked him up by his front hooves just the other day. It was kind of funny. He was taller than I would have supposed. I've just got to figure out how to get him on his back.

I gave away 4 of my older chickens to a couple who just like chickens. They wanted them to raise chicks and play with their rooster. Seemed like nice people. Easier to give them away then kill them for the stewpot.

The cows are getting nice and fat. One more than the other. Though both are steer, one has horns and the other doesn't. I think it has to do with when they were fixed.

With the weather getting so warm, it has me thinking about yard work, pruning fruit trees, planting new trees, and lots of stuff like that.

I'm doing another powdered milk order. This time its much less stressful. The price is better and people who ordered before either didn't order enough, or liked it so much they told all of their friends and family about it, and they are ordering too.

I'm working on my 3rd pair of knitted socks. My first pair was a little short. They are ok to wear, but I would like a pair that fit well. So after making a pair for hubby (as requested) I'm now working on another pair for myself.

I've still got 2 fleece to clean from last year. I've got to get them at least processed before its time for this years shearing. I don't want to get to far behind. Also, I've heard that with time, lanolin hardens and is harder to clean from a fleece. Don't want to deal with that. Plus it kind of smells. :)

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Recovering & schedule change

So we've had an eventful few weeks.

My maternal Grandmother died at age 91. So we had a quick trip up and back down to Utah. Well, maybe not THAT quick since we did stay 2 nights.

She died from organ failure and old age. She is now with her Sweetheart. She will be missed.

I am grateful for many happy memories with her and Grandpa.

On another subject, I am worried about Charlie.

I've been e-mailing back and forth with someone from the U of I vet school and after I described his symptoms she came back with a list of what it could be.

Imagine my surprise when one of the things listed was Scrapie.

For all of you (me) who are unfamiliar with the disease, let me describe to you what I have found through my research.

Scrapie is a nervous system disorder in which the sheep feels constantly itchy and will scratch away large patches of wool.

It is deadly within 1 - 6 months of diagnosis.

It is usually given to a baby sheep by its mother or another adult sheep it has contact with as a baby.

Let me spell it out to you.

these sheep are all half siblings. If this is what Charlie has, it could wipe out my flock of 4.

If they weren't given this disease as babies, then there is a chance that if Charlie has it he could pass it to them.

I'm crossing my fingers and we're going to try some other possibilities that she mentioned first. Its just that the medicine for the other stuff is expensive and I hate to throw money down the toilet.

Oh, thats right. I was going to say something about schedule changes.

Hubby has a new schedule at work. He will now be working 3/4 12's rather than 4 10s. So every other week he will be working 3 days, and every other week he will be working 4 days. Alternating on Tuesdays.

So he will have every other Tuesday off and work until 6 now. I like the every other Tuesday thing, but will have to get used to the working until 6.

Oh, and his work group may not be moving over to the big city. They may keep his group closer to home. Crossing my fingers here!

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Teasing sheep

I've had some fun over the past few days teasing Charlie, our most tame sheep.

I've started on the sheep coats, but am unable to really get them going because I can't actually lay the fabric on a sheep to calculate the size.

Charlie let me measure him with my seamstress measuring tape, but when it came to draping fabric on his back, well, he didn't like it at all.

The teasing came in after I learned how much this freaked him out.

If he and the other sheep were into their alfalfa and not paying strict attention I could drape the fabric on his back. However, when I go to adjust it a little, He notices me and runs (because he knew I had the fabric) then when he realizes the fabric is on his back, he starts to buck to get it off. I'm not sure what he's afraid of.

Don't worry, I only did it twice. But it sure was funny.

Friday, January 30, 2009

done!

The couches are recovered, the throw pillows are sewn and put on and the drapes are up!

Put a fork in me, I'm done.

Well, I'll be done after I have those darn sheep covers done...

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Big project revealed

So the big project that caused me to forget about getting C off the bus was reupholstering the couches.

I've been putting it off for almost a year because I was intimidated by the whole thing.

Well, hubby had the week off so we decided it was about time.

We're probably about 45% done. It feels pretty good.

I'll post pictures once we're done.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Today

Today was an interesting day.

Hubby had a dental appointment and had no cavities, so yay!

C had a good day at school. Except that I forgot to pick her up at the bus stop and had to go and pick her up at school.

But I had a good reason!

I was in the middle of a huge project and just lost track of time.

I've now set my watch alarm to the correct time to go and pick her up.

Whoops!

Its been a crazy day at our house!