Couple of Random Pics

It's the little things like this that make me happy. I was mixing up some Ranch dip, opened the sour cream container and seen this. I love when companies do this. Makes my day.

















When I work until 10 p.m., Jason usually suprises me and does a little cleaning. I don't always leave these notes, but I love leaving them. Just a little way to notice what he's done and that I truly appreciate it. I hope that he likes them too. :)

Day 213 {In Bed}

Day 213

I want to play around with the lighting in my bedroom and snapped a few pictures. I really like how this one turned out. It has nothing to do at all with today though.

Day 212 {New Recipe}

Day 212

Trying new recipes today. Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cookies and Chocolate Zucchini Muffins. I am addicted to the choclate chip zucchini cookies!!! So LOVE baking.

Day 211 {Heading up to bed}

Day 211

Heading up to bed with all my essentials. Ice water, book, and cell phone.

HUGE SALE!!!! Money Saving Mom

Crystal from Money Saving Mom and Biblical Womanhood is having a HUGE sale on eBooks! You can read more here or read more below with my reviews on the eBooks that I have. http://ampooh.cpaine.hop.clickbank.net/

For only $5.97 TODAY (Over $100 value!) you get all of the following:

Supermarket Savings 101: Learn How to Drastically Reduce Your Grocery Bill. This includes 6 downloadable lessons and a 57 page eBook.
I have personally taken this course (I paid $20 to take it!!!) and even though I’m a fairly seasoned coupon user, I still found some great tips and worth my money. I think that this eBook alone is worth WELL over the $6! If you are a fairly new couponer or need to be inspired, this will do it for you!

Simple Tips for Successful Home Management – Volume 1. A 32 page eBook.
Once again I have this book and has found that it has motivated me to declutter more and be more organized. Another great eBook!

What to Do While Waiting for Prince Charming: Encouraging young Women and Their Parents in the Incredible Potential and Possibilities for Unmarried Women. This is 70 minute audio download.

What My Parents Did Right. This is a 57 minute audio download.

A Proper Tea. This is a 33 page eBook.
This is another eBook that I have previously bought. It is wonderful! Great tips and there are even invitation ideas in there!
Make Your Own – Simple Crafts and Decorating. This is a 65 page eBook.
I too have this one! There are great ideas that even the non-crafter can do! Including photos and instructions!

Simply Centsible Breakfasts. This is a 17 page eBook.
I have this book too and I absolutely love this one! It’s full of homemade breakfast batters and recipes. If you are looking to start cooking more from scratch, then this is worth the cost alone! It inspired me to try new things and making more from scratch.

How to Start Your Own Business. This is an 80 page eBook.
This is another one that I have. I have been meaning to read it and get ideas on how to make money from home, but I haven’t yet. I have skimmed it though and found it helpful.

Menu Planning Made Easy. This is a 54 page eBook.
I too have this one, and with rising grocery costs, I have found that it has given me new ideas for reasonable meals and the basics of menu planning.

Homegrown Business. An over 80 page eBook.

In Good Season Autumn. A 41 page eBook.

The Bread by Hand eBook. A 43 page eBook. If you are new to making bread this is the book for you!

Momma’s Guide to Growing Your Groceries. Over 69 pages in this eBook! With rising grocery costs, this sounds like the perfect book!

Simply Centsible Suppers. A 20 page eBook. This is similar to the breakfast one, a great buy!

Thriving on One Income. An 80 page eBook.
This eBook is WONDERFUL! It is what helped push me to go part-time. Hopefully one day we can be a one income family. :)

You get all of this for ONLY $5.97 today only! After today, July 30. After today, the price goes up another $3 on Thursday and yet another $3 on Friday. At Friday at midnight, the sale ends.

If you wish to read more about the eBooks, you can click here and you can also purchase them though that link. http://ampooh.cpaine.hop.clickbank.net/ I do need to be honest with you and say that I do get part of what you pay as an affiliate. I feel that I need to be up front about that.

Now go and think about the eBooks (but not too long as the price will go up!) and then purchase them and enjoy! I truly think that all of you will get something out of this steal, I mean deal. I have found Crystal’s eBooks to be very inspiring.

Day 210 {No Photo Please}

Day 210

Laying in bed and realized I didn't take a picture. So wasn't in the mood for one, so this is what you get.

Ms. La Tete

I don't remember if I posted this on here or not, but my casual wear outfit won in the Ms. La Tete contest at the local scrapbook store. At the tradeshow CHA, one of the industry designers Heidi Grace doodled on the shoes!!! How cute are they??? I don't know if I get to keep the shoes, but if I get them back I am so framing them and putting them in my scrapbook room!

Day 209 {Riding}

Day 209

Went for a short and quick bike ride again today, then it started to sprinkle. Since I didn't want to melt we went home.

Day 208 {Bedtime}

Day 208

I was in bed reading and Jason was snuggling with me when I realized I hadn't taken my picture of the day. This is the result. This is so us. Being all goofy before bed.

Day 207 {Scrappin'}

Day 207

At the scrapbook store working on scrapbooking my self-portraits a day. I had a blast and can't wait to go back. It is so worth hauling everything in.

Day 206 {Rubbing Feet}

Day 206

At night, I rub my feet together in circles. It's hard to explain, but it relaxes me. One of my little quirks.

Day 205 {Twirl}

Day 205

When I was younger I always twirled my hair when I was bored or tired. I've noticed that I still do it when I'm really tired.

Cool Snippet on Wind Power

I ordered "Vegetarian Times" magazine a while back to help me eat healthier (didn't really happen, at least not yet, LOL) and in it they have some cool articles. One of my favorites is "Carrot and Stick" article, where they give Carrots to certain companies/people, etc and Sticks to others. Basically a thumbs up/thumbs down.

This was in the July/August 2008 issue on page 57. Obviously they gave carrots here. :P

"Rock Port, Mo., for becoming the first wind-powered community in the United States. The northwest Missouri town will now get it's electricity from wind power generated from the five-megawatt Loess Hills Wind Farm. Built by St. Louse-based Wind Capital Group for about $10 million on agricultural lands within city limits, the facility generates more than enough electricity for the town's 1,395 residents. Excess wind power will be sold to nearby communities. "By generating enough clean, renewable electricity to meet all of Rock Port's energy needs while also generating additional revenue for their tax base, the facility is a shining example of the benefits of wind energy development," said Wind Capital Group President Tom Carnahan."

How COOL is that. I think more communities need to follow Rock Port's lead. I thought this was very inspiring, and I hope you do.

Combating Rising Food Costs

Michele over at Mama Central had a post on rising food costs and wondered what we were doing to keep food costs down. I thought that would make a good blog entry, so here is what we are doing.

• Making our own bread. A store bought loaf last time I looked was around $1.25 for a 1lb loaf. I can make mine for roughly $0.60 cents. I believe my loaf is about a pound and a half. We go through one or two loaves a week. Plus I feel that it's beneficial knowing exactly what is in the bread and not having all of the crap that is in processed food in there.
• Buy items on sale and try to match with a coupon if possible. Stock up on what your family needs when it goes on sale for a rock bottom price. I have found that with the rising prices what used to be a rock bottom price doesn't happen. I've found that it's typically anywhere from 5 cents to 50 cents more than what it used to be say a year ago.
• Know your prices. This is so very important. Sometimes it cheaper to buy in bulk, other times it's not. Lately I've found that especially with personal care items, it's not cheaper at all to buy in bulk at say Sam's Club. It's cheaper to go buy the item on sale at say Target and use a coupon. A price book might help you with this. I do that
• Use coupons!!! I can't stress this enough. My husband and I don't each much processed, boxed, or frozen food anymore. We prefer to make it ourself, but I still find coupons for what we do buy! Personal Care items especially, I get get them for free or less than a dollar. Veggies and Fruit, especially using the Target coupons can be a steal as well! I get the Sunday paper and sometimes buy a second one, and I cut out all of the coupons I *MIGHT* use. Yes, there are a ton of expired ones I throw away, but if an item is on sale or clearance and I have a coupon I can get it for free or even get paid to take it. I also follow a few couponing blogs to find printable coupons and deals.
• When using coupons you can use a STORE COUPON (such as Target) AND a MANUFACTURE COUPON such as one from the Sunday Inserts on the same item. This makes is easier to get cheap or free items.
• For milk we buy Silk Soy Milk for drinking because after coupons I can get it for $0.89 cents or less for half a gallon. We do buy normal milk at Kwik Trip, our gas station, because it's cheaper than in the store.
• Go shopping early in the morning if at all possible. Look for mark downs on meats especially. Target has $1, $2, and $3 off coupons on meat that needs to go, depending on the cost. We recently paid less than $2 for 2.5 pound Angus Beef Roast. We've gotten steaks the same way for about $1 for two steaks. Hy-Vee does the same thing, but they only have $1 off coupons on the meat. But depending on the cost, that can still be an awesome deal.
• This year we have started our own garden. I haven't put that much money into it at all, mostly time, and so far we haven't bought lettuce for almost two months now. I have all sorts of green tomatoes on my tomato plants. I picked some peas last night and boy are they good! My little green onions are almost ready to be picked, and I'm not sure how big my carrots are. The only thing that isn't doing too well are peppers and broccoli. Oh and I've been enjoying my chives and cilantro as well. This has saved us money and next year we are planning on expanding our garden. I hope to be able to can lots next year.

Some of my price limits:

• Hormel, Boneless Thick Cut All Natural Pork Chops they go down to about $1.88 a pound.
• My husband and I love cereal especially in the summer mornings. I won't pay more than $1 a box. With all of the $2 and $3 off coupons, we have a TON of cereal, many different varieties, most of them we got for free or for a few cents. We will not cereal until next year.
• We don't use ground beef often at all. First I can't find a good price on it and I can get the 97% fat free ground turkey for about $1-$1.50 a pound before coupons. (You can request coupons for them here: http://www.honeysucklewhite.com/contact.do just fill out the form to request "Money Saving Coupons" plus you can do that once every three months. :)) When it goes on sale for that low, I stock up. Last time I bought 30 pounds of it and 15 pounds of breakfast sausage and we still have some left! That was last fall I believe.
• Beef Roasts anything less than $3 a pound is a good price here.
• Pork Roasts we can get them typically for $1 a pound.
• When ham and turkey go on sale for the holiday's I always pick up extras.
• Chicken, we buy the boneless skinless chicken breasts (yes, I'm spoiled!) for about $1.99 a pound. I do buy the whole chickens when they go down to 59 cents a pound.

So far with the rising food costs, we haven't really changed how we eat. We are still managing on about $200 a month or a little more for the two of us, plus picking up extras. That includes all health and beauty things as well. We portion all of our food out to the recommended serving and eat that. We also use our leftovers for lunches and dinners. For instance, if I make homemade pizza or chicken enchiladas (we like the chicken ones better than the turkey or beef ones!) we have enough for 2-4 additional meals for the two of us. We use a TON of leftovers. We also LOVE having breakfast for supper. Breakfast foods are cheap, yummy, and filling. Nothing better than that. I am a firm believer that homemade food is the way to go, both healthier and cheaper.

Now leave a comment here or a link to your blog with how you are combating rising food costs.

Day 204 {Bike}

Day 204

My new bike. Getting ready to go on a bike ride tonight.

My Favorite Money Creek Pictures

You can view the entire set of Money Creek Pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gamerbabe360/sets/72157606161094050

I'm not going to put descriptions on these ones, but if you care to know what is going on in the picture, go to the set linked above and you can find the thumbnail of the picture, click on it and view the description. :)

Hope you enjoy!

Day 203 {Legs}

Day 203

Flopped down into bed trying to get comfortable.

Day 202 {Outside}

Day 202

Outside sitting on the picnic table talking with hubby while he is grilling away. LOVE it when he grills. So yummy.

Day 201 {In Bed}

Day 201

Me trying to get cool in bed. So hot upstairs, but we are trying to make it without putting the air conditioner in this year. Thankful for fans today.

Great Deal!!!

Last night after Jason got done working at 1:30 a.m. we decided to do a quick run to Wal-Mart to see if they have Tava. I LOVE me some Tava. I didn't find Tava but I did get some good deals.

2-8 ct. Zantax 150 $3.98 each (Used 2-$5 off coupons)
3-Motts Applesauce single serve $1.50 each (Used $1 off of 2 coupon)
3-Jars of Plantsers Peanuts $2 each (Used 3-$3 off of Planters product when you buy 3 Kraft products)
9-Kool-Aid packs (to get the above peanuts) 20 cents each
1-padded envelope to mail something to Ma 97 cents
1-pkg lace trim in white, on clearance for 50 cents
1-Optimus Prime Transformer on clearance for $30

Grand total after coupons was $33.90
Less Transformer Cost & Tax $32.10

TOTAL SPENT ON EVERYTHING ELSE $1.80

Now that is some supersavings if i I do say so myself, even if I had to go into the dreaded Wal-Mart.

Day 200! {Foot Massage}

Day 200!

Nothing like a foot massage to relax you and put you to sleep. Mmmm....that felt so good. I need another one.

Day 199 {Bag Lady}

Day 199

I feel like a bag lady today. Have my backpack and my huge purse. Leaving work a bit after 10 p.m. So tired.

Day 198 {Spinning}

Day 198

Me in the dress that I made (with no pattern) spinning around the living room.

Day 197 {Serene}

Day 197

Outside alone, in the morning light, enjoying it for a few minutes before rushing off to work.

Day 196 {Cheesy}

Day 196

Say CHEESE! I didn't really want to do a self-portrait today. Spent the day cleaning up camping stuff, doing a ton of laundry, and trying to stay cool. It was so hot out today.

Day 195 {Heading Home}

Day 195

Last day of Money Creek in the car on the way home. Tired, unshowered, and sunburned. But so happy and relaxed.

Day 194 {Love}

Day 194

"I love you"
"I love you more"
"I love you the most"
"I love you the mostest"

Day 193 {Splish Splash}

Day 193

When the pool water is FREEZING, you just have to dip your feet in and do a little splashing. Cools you right now.

Day 192 {Camping!}

Day 192

This is so me camping. A camera, a book, and a campfire. That's all I need to be happy. :)