Bluebonnets To Peaches

Do you see all that chicken?  I paid $49 for ALL of it!  We live near a Tyson chicken plant and my neighbor recently told me that you can buy chicken directly from the plant.  I decided to check it out!  The catch is that they take cash only (no big deal since we are Dave Ramsey fans I pay with cash for all our groceries) you also never know what they will have, could be legs, thighs, nuggets, tenders . . .  The day I went I was able to get 20 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breast for $29 and 20 pounds of breaded chicken nuggets for $20!  The nuggets are lightly breaded, but the kids seem to like them and haven’t complained!  The chicken breast are great for cooking in the crock pot or shredding for casseroles, they do vary in size so it’s not exactly the same as buying it from the store but the quality seems to be good.  Forty pounds is A LOT of chicken, we have finally plugged in our big freezer in the basement! Yeah!

One of my neighbors down the street is expecting her second child, a boy!  She asked me if I would be interested in making a window valance for the baby boys room!  Of course I said yes!  She found an amazing deal on the baby bedding so she purchased 2 complete bedding sets hoping that we could make a window treatment out of the second set.  It worked out perfectly!  We decided to make an awning valance with flags at the bottom.  I think it turned out super cute!

Aren’t they beautiful?!  I just couldn’t pass these up when I spotted them at Costco this week!  They were a bargain at $19.99, already planted in nice pots.  I needed 2 pots for our front porch which meant spending $40 . . . although I knew this was a great price I just couldn’t decide if I should spend $40 for flowers or not (I don’t typically have a green thumb).  I called hubby on his cell to get his opinion and after sending him a picture of them, he told me to get them! 

So how did I get them for free? . . .

Just this week hubby and I were discussing our Costco membership.  I use to do a lot of shopping at Costco, but since I’ve began using coupons and shopping the sales I’ve found that I can usually beat Costco’s prices except on a few items (I know, I was shocked to discover this too!).  The thing is that I really enjoy shopping there, you just never know what they will have and it’s one of the few stores I can take the boys to without listening to them complain (they enjoy all the snacks and bribing them with a churro at the end of the trip works too!)

We currently have an “executive” membership which earns us 2% back on our purchases throughout the year . . . it also costs $100 whereas the “gold star” membership costs $50.  After talking with hubby, I decided I would check into downgrading our membership to “gold star” and saving $50.  So, after checking out with my hydrangea’s and few other items, I stopped at the member services desk.  The lady there told me that Costco guarantees the extra $50 cost of the “executive” membership, meaning that if you don’t earn a total of $50 on your 2% back every year, Costco will refund you the difference!  I replied with “that’s great, but I’ve already cashed my 2% check for this year.” She surprised me by saying “no problem, we’ll refund you in CASH!”  She preceded to hand me $41 in cash – which covered the cost of the hydrangea’s!

Did I mention I love Costco?

I’m not sure that a new iron counts as a “toy” but if you have to have a iron, this is a great one!

My mom was here for a few weeks helping me make window treatments for our home.  If you’ve ever done any sewing then you know how important a great iron is to your project.  I’ve had the same iron since hubby and I married, 11 years next month (I’ve also had the same ironing board with the same iron pad for 11 years – but we’ll save that for another post!)  The first week my mom was here my iron started smelling like it was burning.  We tried unplugging it, letting it cool off and then plugging it in again, but it started to smell again.  We decided it was time for a new iron.

The next day we were near Costco so I decided we should see what type of irons they carried.  I chose the Sunbeam Professional, 4268.  I realize it’s not possible to be in love with an iron, but I REALLY like the one I got!  It has digital controls, auto shut off, extra long cord and EXCELLENT steam power.  You can even use the iron as a vertical steamer – great for hanging curtains!

I think we are raising a negotiator.  We woke to find this outside our bedroom door last week.

Night at the Museum 2 is coming out on DVD in a couple of weeks . . . who knew we could get such great behavior for just $19.99?

We’ve had another visitor this past week . . . our cousins Flat Stanley from Texas!  Flat Stanley is based on the book by Jeff Brown.  Brad had read about Flat Stanley at his school too so it was fun that the 2 Flat Stanley’s got to spend the week together!

Brad will be writing about their adventures and we will send our cousins Flat Stanley (along with pictures) back to Texas!  If you have elementary aged children, you should check out the Flat Stanley books.  They are fun and the kids LOVE them!

2 weeks ago we had snow flurries, last weekend we had a hail storm – crazy weather!

We knew we had some storms headed our way, but we didn’t know how severe they were until we received a call from hubby’s parents in Texas asking if we were okay.  I think I responded with something like “of course we’re okay, why wouldn’t we be?”  They then told us that they had seen the radar for North Georgia and it looked like we were getting pounded by some storms.  I decided that maybe I should turn on the TV and check it out!  Oh my goodness . . . the radar was solid red in our area and we decided we should try to pull hubby’s car into the garage.

As soon as we got the car in the garage, the hail started coming down!  By the time it was over, it looked like it had been snowing – there was ice everywhere!  Our pictures didn’t turn out great, but here’s one of our gutter off the front porch to give you an idea of what it was like!

We are enjoying a relaxing spring break:

We have a large, steep hill next to our house.  Part of the hill is on our property line and is covered in pine straw (pine straw is used for mulch here in Georgia).  There have been some large weeds growing on the hill, but I thought there was no way to get to the weeds because the hill is so steep . . . hubby proved me wrong!  He tied a rope to the trailer hitch on his car and “propelled” himself down the steep hill to pull the weeds.  Being the wonderful wife I am, I ran inside to get the camera! 

Have you missed me?  Between my sister and her family visiting for spring break and then my mom coming in for a visit, things have been pretty busy around here!

Our fridge and pantry were looking really bare so I was very excited to see a GREAT sale at Publix this week!  I spent twice as much as normal this week; however, I’m still within my monthly budget since I haven’t been to the grocery in awhile and we are well stocked again!  I went to both Publix and Kroger today, here’s my loot:

PUBLIX

• 2 Wesson Oil $2 each
• Sun Maid Raisins, BOGOF $1.85
• 4, 5lb bags Gold Medal Flour $1.79 each
• 4, 5lb bags Domino Sugar $1.99 each, less .65 coupon, less 2 .35 coupons both doubled = $1.48 each
• Ground Beef $2.82
• 2 Wheat Thins, BOGOF, less $1 coupon = $1.13 each
• 4 Dole Pineapple, .99 each, less 2 .55 coupons = .72 each
• Froot Loops $2, less $1 coupon = $1
• Sister Schubert Rolls $2.50, less .50 coupon doubled = $1.50
• Smithfield Bacon BOGOF = $2 each
• Kraft Ranch Dressing $1.50, less $1.50 coupon = FREE
• Ragu Sauce BOGOF $1.10 each, less .30 coupon doubled = .50
• 4 Swanson Chicken Broth BOGOF, less .40 coupon doubled = .35 each
• Duncan Hines Yellow Cake Mix BOGOF, less .35 coupon doubled = .13
• 2 Duncan Hines Brownie Mix BOGOF, less 2 .35 coupons doubled = .60 each
• 2 Land O Lakes Butter, less .50 coupon doubled = $1.50 each
• Sour Cream .99, less .55 coupon = .44
• 3 Kraft Cream Cheese, less $1 coupon = .67 each
• 6 Campbells Cream of Chicken Soup, less 2 .25 coupons, doubled = .83 each
• Cool Whip BOGOF = .75
• Kraft Single Cheese Singles, less $1 coupon = $1.17 each
• 24 oz Honey $3.99
• Donation to March of Dimes = $1
• Fruity Pebble (this weeks mystery coupon) = .01

Total Purchased $125.21

Total Savings $68.17

Total OOP $57.04

KROGER

• 3 General Mills Cereals, less $1 coupon = $2.16 each + 1 FREE gallon of Milk!
• Bread $2.69
• French’s Honey Dijon, less $1 coupon = $1.59
• Olives $1.19
• 6 bags of Kroger Shredded Cheese, $1.25 each
• 2 Ball Park Hot Dogs, less $1 coupon = $2.50 each
• 6 Yoplait Yogurts, less .40 coupon doubled = .42 each
• Lemon Juice = .99
• Chicken $1.99/lb
• Cucumbers .75 each
• Bell Pepper .71
• Sliced Mushrooms $1.69

Total Purchased = $77.06

Total Savings = $34.02

Total OOP = $43.04