Done with Thanksgiving Here Comes..... CHRISTMAS!!

Our family ended up having Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday because I had to work Thursday morning. If Granma isn't there in the morning, just how is she supposed to make her stuffing? Tyler the youngest grand kept asking for that "awesome stuff" meaning my stuffing, I took that as a compliment.

It's going to be a slim Christmas so I'm trying to come up with some big ideas for just a little money. Hours have finally picked up at work but I have some serious catching up to do. The good part is we are just now starting to run out of some of the groceries I stock piled when they were on sale last summer. Which is the point of course. Your stock pile can see you through the slim times.

 I did hats and scarves a couple years ago for everyone on my list and everyone still has theirs and I don't want to do it again. The grands still have the blankets I made them for one Christmas so that's out. I don't have time for anything big. Come on Deb, you have a room full of yarn and craft supplies you should be able to think of something.

Oh well, I will but when I do will I have time to finish them before Christmas??

Coupon Code for my Etsy Shop!!

I just finished listing these on my Etsy shop. Aren't they cute? I have these and a lot of second chance craft supplies in my Etsy shop. Etsy just started a new feature for coupon codes!! Just to test this out, until Dec. 1, 2010 use the coupon code frugal123 and you will save 15% off anything you order!

Visit Deb's Crafts on Etsy to see what I have for you!!

Wow, what a Haul!!

Look at all this awesome lace I got at one of my favorite resale shops. I've known the owner for years and not only is she a great person but she gave me a great deal. I got such a good deal that I'm passing the savings on to my buyers at my Etsy shop. If your in the market for lace for your crafting or sewing I'm sure there's something there you'll like. I haven't listed it all yet, but I'm working on it! Visit my Etsy shop here.

In other news, unemployed, college graduate son is going to become college kid again. He's been accepted into a post grad teaching program and will be starting back in January. It feels good to have a college kid again, especially since I won't have to start paying his student loans, at least not yet.

The oldest grand has started acting like the teenager he is. Suddenly, his friends (and girls) are more important than spending time with family. It's all in the nature of growing up, so Granma has to learn not to be hurt when he doesn't want to do something with her.

Other than that I'm just getting by, life and the bargain hunting goes on.

Freezing Peppers and Other Fun Stuff

My cats have woke me up at 4 am. Not my best time of day. My schedule lately has been very hectic. I'm now working in St. Louis 4 days a week and while I'm there I just stay with my older son Sean to save gas and wear and tear on my car. Today is the day I drive down there and I'm going to be very tired. It's five now and there is no going back to sleep.

Last weekend the small farmers market here was selling homegrown green peppers by the peck (yes, I know all about Peter Piper). They were small and misshapen but $1.99 for a peck of peppers is an awesome price. Of course that meant I spent some time chopping up and freezing peppers.

Peppers need very little preparation to freeze. All you need to do is chop them up, spread them out on a cookie sheet and freeze. After they're frozen you just package them up.

I got a lot of banana peppers from my little patio garden but for some reason my green peppers never got any bigger than a quarter. I used up all the banana peppers as i picked them so I didn't have any to freeze.

I got mixed results from my other plants, too. The cherry tomato plant produced tons of delicious little tomatoes. I ate most of them right off the plant. We had fresh herbs all summer, my son Ryan has been making homemade spaghetti sauce with them. I only got a couple cucumbers and no zucchini this year. The zucchini plant produced lots of little tiny finger sized fruits but they rotted on the plant. I have no idea what was going on. Were about due for our first freeze so I've already started cleaning out the garden and getting ready or winter. These last couple years I've learned a lot with my little garden and maybe next year willbe even better.

Good Grief!!! It's After Labor Day

   I just realized how long it's been since I posted anything on this blog.I had pictures taken of my son's college graduation and of our Memorial Day picnic. But I never got around to posting them. Then my camera mysteriously disappeared from my car and reappeared two weeks later. It hasn't worked right since.  I miss it terribly, my cell phone just doesn't take pictures that good.

    It's been a very long, hot summer here in Missouri. The Graduate hasn't been able to find a job and has moved back in with mom (me). Hours are down at work, too, so I decided it was time to do something I've been thinking about doing for a long time.  I've opened a shop on Etsy to sell my extra craft supplies. I've always done my crafting for charity and I don't want to change that, but with The Graduate moving in, I just don't have the space to store it anyway.

Somehow he managed to shove most of what I had in my craft room (now his bedroom)  into MY closet and the rest of it is scattered around the apartment. It's going to be awhile before I find everything I want to sell.

I'm also continuing to go to yard sales, thrift shops and auctions to find yet more stuff so let me know what kind of craft supplies you are looking for and I'll keep an eye out!!

You can visit my Etsy shop here and see what I have so far.

I'm a Tattooed Lady and I Let the Grandkids Get Them Too

Ok, so they're only temporary but there was a Blessing of the Bikes on Main St in Troy today and there was a booth doing temporary tattoos. So we all got one (or two in the case of the kids).

Timmy looks so tough here, doesn't he? Awesome tattoo!!

Tyler wanted a big one so he got his on his back.

My turn, it can't show while I'm working so I had to get it on my upper arm.

Awesome, ain't I! So daring!!

And then Tyler decided he needed one where he could see it. So he went for a badger on his arm. It was a great morning with the grands and my son-in-law who opted not to get a tattoo. It's bad enough he has one on his arm with initials on it that are NOT my daughters.

The Horrible Orange Trench Coat

As many of you know I do a lot of crafting for various charities. Friday I stopped at a local nursing home and asked what they needed. One of the things she mentioned was activity aprons for their dementia patients. These are aprons with various things to fiddle with like buttons, zippers, laces and anything else that might keep their hands busy

I went out shopping for supplies for them Saturday. Found some just right zippers (short with a large pull), some fringe, lace and denim for the apron itself at a craft supply resale shop. Then I stopped at a regular resale shop and found a bead garland with lots of kitty cat wooden beads for only a dollar. Also stopped at a yard sale and found this horrible orange trenchcoat but the big orange buttons will be perfect and I only paid 10¢ for it! I'm having fun just doing the shopping, can't wait to start working on them.

If your local (or wouldn't mind shipping them) and have anything I might be able to use for these I would appreciate any donations. If you do any crafts see the list on Deb's Crafts of things the nursing home and hospice need.

I'm off to St Louis for a couple days again. It's a lot of back and forth for my job but I don't mind too much most of the time. I've made a lot of friends down there and this gives me a chance to visit. Hope you all have a good day.

My New Monitor Ornament

This is Beast (OK, I know, I didn't name him). He's a big cat and every time he gets up there I'm afraid he's going to knock it over. I usually call him Big Boy but since he was 10 years old when I inherited him last year and had gone by Beast that whole time I can't exactly change his name now. My other two cats have finally accepted him sharing their home but still haven't made friends which results in an occasional hissy fight in the middle of the night that wakes me up.

I have made a decision about my food contest blog. I am going to be shutting it down. It is too time consuming and has taken over way too much of my spare time. I've hardly had any time to work on my other blogs, do my charity crafting or even clip coupons. I wasn't even entering the contests, I was too obsessed with listing all of them. There's a lot of sites out there that list contests and mine wasn't getting any traffic. I am going to leave my craft related one up, I originally started it to keep track of the contests I entered trying to get more supplies for my charity crafting and I think I'll leave it at that.

Saturday is the last day to enter my Yoplait Yoplus Yogurt Gift Pack Giveaway. Please take a few minutes to enter.

I just entered a contest for the cookbook The $5 Mom Cookbook that looks awesome. The contest is sponsered by the Pssst... Network and General Mills who occasionally give me free samples and coupons. I think you need to be a member to enter so click the link and join if you wish. You can also order it through Amazon. It looks like a great book. It has 200 recipes for family dinners that cost under $5!

Today is Yo Yo Day

I didn't know that until this morning. In one of my online charity crafting groups that I just rejoined every 11th of the month is set aside for making Yo Yos, small crocheted circles. These are then joined together to make blankets to be sent to New York charities in honor of Sept. 11. So I made 11 of them this morning. If you want to learn more about charity crafting (and free crochet patterns) check out Deb's Crafts: Handicrafts for Charity for more information and to see some of the projects I've worked on.

I've been entering and blogging about lots of contests for groceries and craft items. Check out my contest blogs for all the listings.

The Sunday paper didn't have very many coupons I could use this morning so I only bought the one. When it has a lot I sometimes buy up to 6 papers. Our Krogers only accepts 3 like coupons so I try to keep it in multiples of three. I did go shopping yesterday and saved 48% off my order. Wasn't much on sale that I needed but it's still good to save what you can.

I'm a great believer in stocking up when things are on sale so I often stock up when a sale and a coupon makes something really cheap. I now have 5 loaves of Healthy Life 100% Whole Grain Bread in my daughters freezer ($1.39 on sale - 35¢ coupon doubled for an end price of 69¢ a loaf. This is of course not the only thing but it's just an example. How often do you find 100% whole grain bread for 69¢? I usually use a loaf of bread a week so this is 6 (counting the one I'm using now) weeks worth of bread. If you do this often enough you will eventually find that except for perishables you won't "need" anything.

Yard sales are starting around here so my Saturdays will be busier again. I've already seen a couple signs but wasn't able to stop. Next week I'll set aside some time for it.

Yoplait YoPlus Yogurt Gift Pack Review and Giveaway

We Have A Winner!!

The Random Number Generator chose #17 and the winner is Susan!!

MyBlogSpark and Yoplait gave me the opportunity to try new Yoplait Yoplus yogurt. This is from their information:

YoPlus now provides three important health benefits in each four-oz. cup:
Antioxidant vitamins A and E (now with 20% of your recommended daily value)
A blend of probiotic cultures & fiber (three grams of fiber per 4-ounce serving) for digestive health
Calcium and vitamin D for bone health
YoPlus is available in six delicious flavors including Strawberry, Vanilla, Cherry, Peach, Blackberry Pomegranate and Blueberry Acai.
If you are looking for all the great health benefits of YoPlus with even fewer calories, YoPlus Light is the perfect solution, with one third fewer calories than the original. YoPlus Light is available in three delicious flavors - Honey Vanilla, Strawberry Banana, and Key Lime - all with just 70 calories per cup.

I try to eat yogurt everyday so this was right up my alley. When I went to my local Kroger's they only had three of the six flavors. They didn't carry the light at all. They had my all time favorite, good old vanilla (I'm partial to vanilla ice cream too, ok so I'm boring) strawberry and blueberry pomagranate. Since they were on sale and I had a couple more coupons I bought all three.

Home for the taste test, now I couldn't eat three cups of yogurt all at once so I started with vanilla, yummy, creamy and good. The bluberry pomagranate was next and it's about to become my all time second favorite, I loved the tase, it was very, very good. The strawberry was also creamy and good just like yogurt should be. I will be definately be watching for sales and coupons for Yoplait Yoplus yogurt from now on. Why eat regular yogurt when you can get the extra fiber and other goodies in this yummy yogurt?

As well as the yogurt coupon I also received a gift pack that included an on-the-go lunch container with utensils, an insulated lunch bag, and a pedometer. Like I mentioned before I had a lot of fun with the pedometer, I actually walked four miles one day last week just doing my regular stuff.

Now for the good news! You can win the same prize pack I got! There are four easy ways to enter. Please leave a separate comment for each entry.



1. (mandatory before you do the others) Leave a comment about why you would like to try Yoplait Yoplus Yogurt.
2. Blog about this Giveaway!

3. Become a follower of this blog.

4. Become a follower of my Food Contest blog.


Contest will run until noon (Central Time) next Saturday April 17th.
Contest open to US residents only.
Disclaimer: Yoplait and MyBlogSpark.com provided me with the coupon and photo holder so that I could give my honest opinion of the product which I have done.

We Have a Winner!!

I'm a little late announcing the winner of the Pillsbury Sweet Rolls contest, I got a little caught up in the preparation of our Easter dinner. We had it at my son's house and even though he was hosting it, mom still had to cook so I spent the whole weekend there getting ready (and doing his laundry).
Anyway, Timmy "won" the vote to choose the winner and he chose # 2 so the winner is Nancy!! I will contact Nancy by email shortly.
More to come about our great Easter dinner in the next post.

Musing About Contests and Other Fun Things

I am a little disappointed in the response to my Pillsbury Sweet Rolls Giveaway, I have to keep reminding myself that this is a new blog and it takes awhile to build up followers. I'm thinking of having contest just for people to follow this blog. How about a Subway gift certificate? How does that sound? If your already a follower you'll still be eligible so you can go ahead and follow me now. You'll still need to come back and leave a comment if I do decide to do this.

Speaking of contests I have a new review and giveaway starting sometime next week after the current one ends. It's for Yoplait Yo Plus yogurt so check back next week. One of the gifties that came with my package from MyBlogSpark and Yoplait was a pedometer and I've been having fun with it. I managed to walk three quarters of a mile yesterday from the time I got home at 6:30 and opened the package until I went to bed. I've had it on all day and I'll see what I get up to.

I'm having car problems again so got to pull out even more of the "frugal tools". It's a good thing I stock up when things are on sale. There's a lot of things I won't have to buy for awhile and that really cuts the grocery bills. I've also gotten good at using what I have on hand and whats on sale. If you remain flexible it can really cut down on your food costs.

I called the phone company and I think I've cut out some of the unessential services and reduced my bill. I'm not sure though, have you ever tried to talk to those people? There's so much double talk and this package that package stuff that it's hard to keep it all straight. We'll see if it's lower. I supposedly lowered my internet speed but I don't notice any differences. I also find the "That rate is only for new customers" total garbage. I've had their internet services for years and never got a discount. Now is that fair?

I stopped at the little farmer's market here in town for the items I needed for the veggie tray and potato salad. They had some tomato plants out already and I bought a cherry tomato plant and planted it. It's a little early but since it's in a pot if it's going to get too cold I'll bring it in. There's a picture here of the garden I had last year.

Pillsbury Orange Sweet Rolls Review and Giveaway

Recently, Pillsbury and MyBlogSpark.com sent me the above gift pack consisting of a photo holder and a free coupon for their new Orange Sweet Rolls. So I invited the grandkids over for a taste test!

The theme was Sunday morning breakfast but I had to do it on Saturday because Granma goes to St. Louis on Sundays. The kids, Timmy is the big one, and Tyler could smell the yummy smells as the rolls baked and were getting impatient!

Finally done! Both of them chowed down. Timmy took one bite and exclaimed "These are gooood!!" Tyler didn't say much he just reached for another one. Diet or no diet I had to try them too. I agreed with Timmy they were gooood!! I especially liked the orange frosting, sweet but a little tart with the taste of the orange.

Almost all gone. The kids had to have the "How many did you have?" discussion to decide who should get the last one. Tyler won and finished it in three bites! What a sweet way to spend a morning with my two favorite boys! I liked the icing so much that I scraped the excess off the plate when they were done!

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Now for the good news! You can win the same prize pack I got! There are four easy ways to enter. Please leave a separate comment for each entry. In each entry please vote for Timmy or Tyler to choose the winner.

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1. (mandatory before you do the others) Leave a comment about your favorite family breakfast.

2. Blog about this Giveaway!

3. Become a follower of this blog.

4. Become a follower of my Food Contest blog.

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Contest will run until noon (Central Time) next Saturday April 3rd, at which point I will use the very unscientific method of asking the grandkid with the most "votes" to pick a number between one and however many entries there are!

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Contest open to US residents only.

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Disclaimer: Pillsbury and MyBlogSpark.com provided me with the coupon and photo holder so that I could give my honest opinion of the product which I have done.

Signs of Spring at Last

Aren't they pretty? I've been watching this little patch of daffodils since it first poked it's little green leaves out. It's right behind my office. I got off a bit early today so I stopped at the fruit and veggie stand to get some green grapes. They were more expensive than the ones I saw at Wally World so I passed on them but they had some red leaf lettuce plants so I bought them and planted them in one of my patio planters. I tried to start lettuce from seed last year and it didn't work too well so we'll see how it goes.

Wow, it's been a busy week or so, I've been in St Louis a lot. Which means I haven't had a lot of computer time. My son is on his PC most of the time I'm there and I hate using his laptop.

Finally went shopping last night and Kroger's has Kraft cheese on sale. Woohoo, I use a lot of cheese and I stocked up. Final price between sale and coupon was $1.17 for the 8 oz bag of shredded cheese. I think I'm going back tomorrow, they limit the amount of coupons you can use so sometimes when the sales really a good one I'll make a couple trips. Our Kroger is not that far from where I live so it's really not a big deal. They had some other good bargains but I didn't really have the time or money (today's payday) to do much shopping last night.

I've finished a couple of blankets for Project Linus. They give handmade blankets to children in our local hospitals. I love making these and you can see them and find out more by going to my Deb's Crafts blog.

I've also been posting a bunch of contests on my two contest blogs, one lists crafty contests and the other one lists food giveaways. Check them out if you like to enter contests!

Got Home Early Today -- NapTime!!

I missed half a day of work today because of a nasty headache and sore back. This isn't a very frugal thing to do, but sometimes you just have to take some time off. I napped most of the afternoon and feel much better now.

I took the college kid to Arby's for lunch yesterday, we had some coupons and ended up paying less than $8 for both of us to have a nice lunch. Not only that but there was a number on the receipt to call for a survey. I called it and now the next time we go to Arby's I get a free sandwich. Woohoo, college kid and I are going to eat good again next week!

Here's some great Campbell's coupons to check out. I have a pantry full of Campbell's soups that I got by combining a sale with double coupons. I paid 60¢ a can for both condensed and Chunky soups. So watch for those sales and stock up when you can.

Nothing Like Free Food!!

I went to the store for a few things today and ended up paying 25¢ for a bagful! That was less than the sales tax came to. Although I used several other coupons, the reason I was able to get it all so cheap was I had a "$4 off your next shopping order" coupon. I love those kind of coupons, I still have another one for $1.50 because I didn't buy enough!

I had to get eggs, although I bought other things too, I wanted to make some breakfast burritos. These have become one of my favorite breakfasts. I've posted the recipe on another blog, check it out here.

I'm not going to make this blog all about couponing, there's a lot of other things I do to save money, like thrift shops, clearance racks and more but I do like to include a printable coupon with the posts. Todays is for Post Cereal, register and you'll be able to print out a $2 coupon!

And the Winner is......

The random number generator at Random.org chose number 3 which turns out to be sarahespn. I have sent you an email please send me your address so I can mail out your coupons!

So Glad it's Friday

Wow, it seemed like the work week was going to last forever! I would have titled this TGIF except that has become so cliche. How about Thank God It's Payday? I had the horrible experience of having to replace my brakes this week so there went a large chunk of that paycheck.

That's why I stock up on sale items when I have the money. If I buy extra.. well, let's say soup, at say 60¢ a can. (on sale for $1, 40¢ off 2 coupon doubled). Then I don't have to buy it this week at $2.49 a can when my funds are low.

I did stop at the local veggie place for some fresh veggies for a salad. I love this place, it's called Sugar Grove Growers and it's fruit and veggies are often a lot cheaper than the grocery stores. I walked out with a plastic shopping bag full for a little over $6. Salad for dinner!

Did you ever try raw zucchini in a salad? I've been doing it for about a year now. Saw a recipe for a salad somewhere that included it and found out it's pretty good. Another way I like zucchini is my Sauteed Zucchini. I actually make it for pot lucks and get lots of compliments, quite a change from the old green bean casserole standby.

Don't forget to enter one or both of my contests, they both end on the 28th of this month so hurry. If you crochet you can still enter to win some yarn at Deb's Crafts. And don't forget to enter the contest for a free Nancy's Appetizer coupon.

Coupon Giveaway #1!! Coupon for Free Nancy's Appetizers!! and more!!

Ok, here's the story.. a couple months ago I won this coupon in someone elses contest. It's for one 12 ct Nancy's Frozen Appetizers. It's not that I didn't want it, it's just that the stores in this small midwest town I live in don't carry it. It expires on 4/30/2010 so I want someone to be able to use it. I will also include another 12 high value food coupons.

To enter this contest just leave a comment below telling me if you use coupons and how often.

For a second and/or third entry publicly follow either this blog and/or my Deb's Food Giveaways blog. You can also blog about this contest for another entry!

Please leave a separate comment for each entry.

Contest ends at midnight Feb 28th central time

An Unexpected Day Off

The client I was supposed to take care of today went in the hospital last night so I don't have a lot to do today. Answer the company phones and thats about it. I'm in St Louis so what should I do? I'm thinking about wandering around the art museum, or should I make it the history museum? Love going to both of them. Usually do it with one of the boys though. Or... I have my coupons with me, maybe I should check out a couple of the stores I never get to go to out there in the "country". Oh well, I'll keep you updated later today.

Here's a coupon for Fiber One Yogurt to start out your day.

Back Home and Cutting Out Coupons

Finally made it home today after a long 4 day stay in St Louis. Took Ryan out for lunch and out grocery shopping before I came home. We went to Fazoli's for luch and had an ok meal, they had a $3.99 special which of course is what I had. Ryan's only careful with his money and since I was buying his combo cost $8 something. (sigh) But it was nice to spend some time with him.

I am so glad to be back on my own computer, Sean's laptop drives me nuts. It was also fairly cold there. He got his first winter gas bill, freaked out and turned his furnace down to 64 degrees. After all those years of him coming home from school and turning up the thermostat he finally understands.

Picked up the Sunday papers on my way home and have been cutting out coupons. Lots of good coupons today. I've been thinking, if I had a contest for some good coupons (I wouldn't send out junk) would you all enter? I'm hoping to host giveaways on this and my other blogs but want to have a something to get things started. So, anyone want some coupons?

Have you read my Deb's Crafts blog? It was the first one I ever did and it's all about crafting for charity. I've written quite a few crochet patterns and have posted them on that blog. I am currently having a contest looking for pictures of projects done from my patterns. If you crochet you have plenty of time to do something since the contest will run for the rest of the month.

Todays internet coupons are for Campbells Chunky Soups and other Campbells products.

Snowed-in In St Louis and Spending Time With Sean

I promised myself I would post on this blog as often as possible and I have already broken that promise. Just because my son insisted I let him use his computer doesn't mean I actually had to let him. I've been staying here since Weds. because I've been working just a few miles from the city. I was planning on going home today but the weather is not cooperating. So I decided to stay at Sean's for one more night. Actually fixed him something green for dinner. Probably the first green food he's had in weeks. Oh, I'm mistaken, I think there were some green peppers on the pizza we had the other night.

I almost forgot, I have this great coupon you, check it out. To get a $.95 off coupon for Pillsbury Orange Sweet Rolls (sounds good doesn't it?) go here. It was offered to my readers from General Mills through MyBlogSpark.com.

I'm Now the Granma of a Teenager!

My grandson, Tim, turned 13 today. Happy, happy birthday to a wonderful young man. It can't have been that long ago since I held that tiny baby in my arms and welcomed my first grandchild into the world, can it?

I've posted some new contests on my two contest blogs, check them out and enter a few. The links are on the sidebar. I've won quite a few of these blog contests and I love sharing the ones I've found with others.

I went shopping yesterday and spent $11 for $65 worth of groceries. I did it by combining sale items with double coupons. Now I just have to figure out what I'm going to do with 8 cans of white chicken chili. I mean, I couldn't pass it up at 29¢ a can could I?? I also got free I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, but my daughter Jenny decided she needed it more than I did, so I gave it to her.

Speaking of coupons, one of these days I'm going to set up my printer so I can print off the ones on the internet. Even if I can't you can so check out this $1 coupon for DelMonte Refrigerated Fruit. Here's another one to check out for Special K.

OK, Some People Would Just Call Me Cheap

Why am I starting a new blog? I have a few but there's really not any one place to pull them all together. I'm putting a blog roll over on the side so you can check the other ones out. I'll probably refer to them often as I post crochet patterns, recipes and contests!

I raised three kids on a budget and now that they have all moved out I can't seem to break the habit of saving money. I'm still helping my youngest through college but he's very good at budgeting his student loan money and hasn't had to ask for much. I save coupons for him and he uses them. My middle child just graduated from college last year and even though he got a good job he's paying off student loans and I try to help him out, too. The oldest, my only daughter, is the mom of the two most wonderful grandsons ever and wife to a pretty darn good son-in-law.

So thats me and my family, oh yeah, I almost forgot the furbabies, I have three, all of the feline variety. They keep me from going completely crazy living in this very empty nest.