Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Goings On

I wanted to apologize for my lack of posts. As I mentioned before things have been crazier than normal with Thanksgiving & preparing for and celebrating Christmas.

This week we are making the most of Dave's time at home. I'm getting some much needed rest. I didn't realize it but my cold & all of the extra work wore me down. As my friend Megan pointed out to me I'd been burning the candle at both ends. Every time I sit down I fall asleep. Whew! In addition to the rest we are getting some projects done around here too. Nothing major mainly little things that we never get to because of time. Well, until today that is. Last night a water pipe was accidentally punctured & water literally sprayed & gushed across the living room. The rug was soggy with water. Dave had to shut off all our water in order to fix it. It was shut off for 17 hours. Ugh. He had a rough time soldering the pipe because of it's size and location. Thank God he finally got it and we have water once again. There is a huge hole in the living room wall and I doubt we'll get it repaired before company comes. Boo Bear's friend is coming for New Year's and we are having friends' stay over Saturday night on their way down to Mississippi. We're praying no problems come with the rug & padding being soaked. What a day!

Tomorrow is Dave's last day of vacation. I'm sad but hope to make the most of it. I can't believe how quickly the week has flown! I hope you are enjoying your Christmas vacation too!

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

November

I can't keep up! So many things going on at once. I finally finished my sewing projects for Christmas gifts but I am kicking myself because I forgot to take pictures before I mailed them out. Drat! I still have baking & lots of wrapping to do. Only 2 more days to get it all done!

I thought I'd take a quick break and post some November pics before Christmas arrives. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and the weeks leading up to it.


WE MADE CRAFTS
He colored his hand print turkey.

Boo made an Indian hat for Elvis.


He played many hours in it.

Boo holding Bugsy's turkey. She helped cut & glue.

Elvis' hand print turkey. He wasn't too into it and did a sloppy job. But at least I got his hand print for memories.

A close-up of his headdress.

Boo made this comical turkey beak.
I cracked up every time I saw it.

Aren't they hilarious?


They also made pilgrims.

And turkeys from large leaves & pine cones.

Lots of glue of course!

BAKING TIME!

Pouring in the milk.

Adding the pumpkin.

Elvis could do it all by himself this year.

Stirring it all up.

Princess watched & waited patiently.

Bugs poses with his bowl of ingredients.

Stir, stir, stir.

He HAD to taste the chocolate chips.




Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
YUMMY!

THANKSGIVING DAY

Oh, so delicious!

And the rest! It all wouldn't fit on the table.

We had a little Indian join us for dinner.

And a beautiful baby.

After our feast it was time for PIE!

There was much to choose from.
Lemon Merigue.....

Chocolate Pie...........

................Pumpkin Pie......

.......and Apple Pie.
Oh so good!



Cookbook Giveaway!


The $5 meal lady, Erin Chase, is giving away copies of her cookbook. Hurry over & enter the
giveaway. Who knows? You may be a lucky winner!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Come On Over!

I am excited to share another frugal find with y'all! Last year I shared about SwagBucks. Ever since last fall I've been saving up mine and reached a total of 485! I've been keeping my eye on the prizes waiting for something that was worth my savings. I finally decided on a $20 Target gift card. I saved up until I was able to purchase two. Then SwagBucks slashed their price on their Amazon.com gift cards. I did the math and found out I could earn an additional $5.00 buying the Amazon cards vs. the Target cards. No brainer! Lol! I chose to buy the Amazon cards instead. Again before purchasing I did my research. I wanted to see what they had for sale and if it was a purchase I really needed, could be used to help our Christmas budget or something the entire family could benefit from. I also wanted something that qualified for the free shipping. I was happy to see that an item Elvis has really wanted was marked down. It is the Clone Wars first season on DVD. I had bought a different DVD for him but it only had 4 episodes (1DVD) where this one is 4 DVD's. (This is the DVD I bought at Walmart for $15.)

I got it at Walmart for $15. This one was $28.49! I applied the 3 gift cards I had already purchased with my SwagBucks and it knocked the price down to half. After I take back the DVD to Walmart I'll have the other $15. Yay! I'm very excited b/c essentially I'll get the 4-disk DVD set for the same price I paid for the 1-disk DVD! Happy dance!




This is the 4-disk DVD I bought for only $15 with my Swagbucks!

I encourage you if you are not already using SwagBucks to start. If you do choose to sign up please do so from my blog. Then I can earn bucks too! Look on the left hand column of my blog for the widget. In the bottom right hand corner is a tab you can click to sign up. It is free with no obligation. All you do is use them as your search engine. They reward you with "bucks" which you can then spend in their store. There are all sorts of things to choose from. I've noticed in the last month or so they are rewarding me with bucks more often than before. Yee ha! I still have over 300 bucks left. I think I will buy a Wii game for the family to play. I have my eye on one and have just enough to buy it. With the Super Savings Shipping it will be FREE! Now how's THAT for a bargain?
If you do decide to sign up & use my widget to do so THANK YOU! I deeply appreciate it. =0)

Monday, December 14, 2009

Frugal Find

I picked this up for Princess today. I'm going to stash it away until she is a bit older. Maybe her first birthday? Anyway, Kmart has it on sale marked down to $10.00. Combine it with the coupon from Coupons.com and it's only $5.00! Dave was very impressed by this deal. He was also happy to buy this for Princess. This is his kind of toy! LOL!



Friday, December 11, 2009

Surprise for Boo Bear

Tonight was a fun night. We gave Boo Bear her big Christmas present early. There was just no way to hide it. Lol! Dave drove to Nashville with the boys to pick it up.

Sweet Pea & Dave bring it in the door. It was heavy!


A new-to-her desk!
Boo loves to draw & likes to do her schoolwork in her room sometimes so I hoped she'd like it. I've been scouring Craig's List for weeks looking for a real wood one with lots of drawers.

Her reaction.

Hooray!


The boys were happy for their sister.


In her room at last.
Think she likes it?


Posing with her "new" desk.
It has 2 deep drawers & 5 other drawers. I love the large work surface & that it is solid wood & very sturdy. It needs a bit of touching up but we don't mind that at all. I am thrilled because it is exactly what I have been looking for & wishing for. We got a fantastic deal & I know it's a piece that will last her a long, long time. My childhood desk is similar and it's in fantastic condition. Sweet Pea has it in her room. It's an answer to prayer.
What was super sweet was the way Boo kept hugging Dave & I. She told us she has wanted a real desk but didn't want to ask us because she knew they were expensive. What a sweetheart. It makes all the hours of searching & the driving to Nashville to pick it up worth it to see her beautiful smile & thankfulness.



Thursday, December 10, 2009

Uncle Darin

Right before Thanksgiving my brother Darin came to town. He stopped in on a Saturday much to the delight of Dave, the kids & I. Later that night he came back & took the kids to a bonfire a friend of his was hosting. The kids had a blast. They adore their "Uncle D" and this was the best present he could have given them - his time. Dave, Princess & I stayed home and had a quiet dinner & a Netflix movie. It was nice. We're hoping to see Darin again soon!

Three monkeys in our backyard tree.



CONGA!

Uncle Darin is such fun!