Photo 91

Soon to be banana bread!

couponing in March....

This past month was one of my worst month's couponing. My local grocery store, Homeland didn't have that many good sales. Luckily- they had triple coupons a few weekends ago, so that was nice.
We used alot of our stockpile this month. And, I was sick w/ the flu & strep, so we had alot of cereal, Arby's, Mazzio's that week! :)

Overall, in March I spent $184.55 on groceries and @ Walgreens.
We saved @ least $156.13!!

I spent over $40 at the local meat market on steaks and pre-packaged hamburgers. Their prices are amazing, and they gave us a 10% off your entire purchase coupon while we shopped.

I hope April has better sales/coupons! I'm running low on chicken, ground beef and some other staples.
How did you do in March?

linky link

I've been on a recipe kick lately.....in case you haven't noticed. :)
Anywho- I found this:
http://www.blogcatalog.com/directory/food_drink/recipes/2
It's a huge blog directory of all these recipe blogs out there. I found vegitarian ones (Jennifer!), gluten free, healthy, not so healthy and every type of food in between.

Just thought I'd share.

Spicy Mexican Chicken

I did alot of cooking/baking over the weekend. I love these meals that you can make ahead of time and use in a variety of ways. This next recipe can use beef or chicken.

Spicy Mexican Chicken

2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken

(OR 2 lbs. boneless beef chuck)

Salsa

green chiles to taste

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 green onions, chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped

2 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. salt

Cilantro

Chop onions, peppers, cilantro, garlic. Mix in chili powder, cumin & salt.

Pour over meat and top w/ salsa- making sure the meat is well coated.

Cook in the crockpot (with your trusty crockpot liner) on Low for 6 hrs.

Remove meat and shred. Add 1/2 of the cooking juices to the meat.

Use meat with tacos, enchiladas, burritos or quesadillas.

I divide out the meat and freeze it in seperate packages. It makes about 4 meals for Brandon and I.

Taco Macaroni Salad

This is one of my favorite spring/summer recipes! I made it for dinner tonight, and thought I'd share it. I like to make it in the morning and let it sit in the fridge all day.

Taco Macaroni Salad

2 cups corkscrew macaroni

1 lb. ground beef

1 pkg. taco seasoning

1/2 cup (or a little more) catalina dressing

1-2 tomatoes, chopped

1 cup shredded cheese

shredded lettuce (optional)

Cook macaroni according to package directions. Drain and rinse w/ cold water. Cook beef in skillet. Drain, then mix in dressing and taco seasoning.

Combine meat mixture and noodles together in large bowl. Once well mixed, cover and chill in fridge for at least 1 hr.

Add chopped tomatoes & cheese. (and lettuce if you wish!)

Enjoy!

pictures

Photo 85: My graduation announcement, cap, gown and master's hood came in the mail today......graduation is fast approaching!

Photo 86: This is a really neat bar/pub/grill in downtown Tulsa. We went last night with Erica and Ryan to try out the $3 burger and fries night. The burger was HUGE and the sweet potato fries were amazing.
It doesn't get much better- cheap good food, good friends and good atmosphere.

Photo 87: Spring is here :) It's over 80 degrees here today....I love it.

WFMW: Target

It's WFMW!
A few weeks ago I covered Target's store coupons. Now, Target has 'coupons'/catalina's that print out with your receipt after some purchases.
So many times I see people just toss these away without reading them. These catalinas work the same as coupons and some are even better than the coupons online!

I received a $5 off any $25 grocery purchase catalina this week! It was at a new Target store, but the moral of the story is- keep your eyes open :)

Check out more WFMW over @ www.rocksinmydryer.typepad.com

interviewing....

I completed my 2nd job interview today, & it didn't go as planned. :(

All thoughout school I have been told how 'in demand' speech language pathologists are. I know I'm just starting my job search- but it's frustrating.

How did you'all manage all the applications and information you received while career hunting? How did you know which offers to accept and which ones to pass on?

On a lighter note- I'll post my picture of the day later :)

Target (and a picture)

I spent about $30 @ Target today for all of this, plus 5 bags of candy.
The purple basket was only .49 and I'm going to use if for part of a giveaway @ our Sunday School class recipe exchange. I got those cute springy plates for that too!

The best part of Target was the $5 off any $25 grocery purchase coupon that printed out! And it doesn't expire til the end of April!!!
I feel like I've been a little of a couponing slump- but honestly, I'm just stocked up on everything! I'm getting so cheap- it has to be something we really need/eat alot of or cheap/free for me to buy it.
I don't think I'll go to Homeland this week or this next week. The sales just aren't worth the drive over- we don't really need any of the stuff that's worth couponing for right now.

Photo from yesterday: these weeds are all over our yard. I hate weeds, but I think the purple flowers are pretty :)

weekends....

The weekends go by so quickly! Tonight we took dinner over to Will and Karen and hung out with them for a bit.....we were all so excitied because Baby Eli is home from the NICU!

Today, I also made this cake for us to have w/ Easter lunch tomorrow.

Have a Happy Easter! :)

I'm slackin'....

I've been slacking on my blogging lately. This week has just flown by!

Photo 79:

I love spring sunsets!

Photo 80:

This is the hospital @ which I'm doing my adult internship. It's a smaller hospital, but I am really enjoying myself! It keeps me on my toes.

Photo 81:

I dropped my cell phone for the last time today! My old one lasted 2 yrs, so I went to AT&T and got me this new pink slider one. I'm still figuring it out.

Catch up.....

Photo 76:We had this @ our wedding....all of our guests signed it, and now it hangs at the top of our stairs. I like to read what people wrote every now and then- I just love it :)

Photo 77:

Steaks! It's spring, thus its grilling season!

Photo 78:

Rain, Rain, Go AWAY! It's been raining since bedtime last night. I think we've gotten about 3 inches so far. Notice how nothings alive in my flower bed, besides darn weeds!

Triple Coupons!

Michael-Ann (+ her 3 boys) and I went to Homeland this morning @ 8:30am...I couldn't believe the coupon-ers that were already there! We don't get triple coupons around here that often, so everyone was really excitied :)

Everything I purchased is in the picture, besides for the 2 cases of bottled water. I'm still so weak from the flu, I'm waiting til Brandon gets home to unload those :)

Total OOP: $38.71
Total before coupons/tripling: $93.25

• 4 sargento cheese- $1.29 each
• 2 super pretzels- $0.01 each
• 3 Carl Budding lunch meat- .29 each
• Edy's slow churned ice cream- $0.69
• Edy's slow churned ice cream bars- $1.99
• 2 Tropicana OJ's- $1.99 each
• Chex mix- $0.43
• toothbrush- free
• 2 lays kettle chips- $1.49 each
• butter
• hot chocolate- free
• Ocean spray diet juice- $0.39
• Stoffer's frozen lasagna
• 24 pk Nestle bottle water- $0.49
• 24 pk Ozarka bottled water- $2.29
• Snuggle fabric softener
• parchment paper- $0.94

picture updates...

Nothing too exciting here....my local grocery store is running a triple coupon weekend this Saturday and Sunday.....I think I'm going to save up all my energy for that :)

So, I've heard controversy over this TamiFlu....do you think it works?
Mmmmm- gotta love extra sonic drinks!

project 365 delay....

I went to minor emergency this morning- my primary care doc was wrong.....I have the flu and strep.
So, I'm still taking my pictures, but I haven't gotten around to posting them just yet. :(

When I'm sick....

So, I'm home sick w/ a virus for day 2 now. Yuck.

But, it's allowed me lots of time to rest, and of course, plan our cruise :) I'm now offically addicted to www.cruisecritic.com. If you are ever interested in taking a cruise- check out this website first. They rank and review all the cruise ships, ports, etc. Then they have message boards where you can ask questions/find tons of information.

So, last night @ 1am when I couldn't sleep and was on cruise critic- I found us an amazingly frugal cruise deal!
On day 3 of the cruise we'll be in Nassau, Bahamas.
Atlantis is there- and we've always wanted to go. To have access to the beach and water slides, it would be $159.00 PER PERSON through Royal Carribean's shore excursions.
However- you can book a hotel room through actual Atlantis for $179.00 total for up to 4 adults to have complete access to everything @ the resort! So, after carefully reading I booked us a hotel room @ Atlantis we won't use, but it will save us almost 1/2 of the $ we would have spent on this shore excursion.

I love saving $$ :)

Cruise!

We are finally taking another cruise :) Just wrapped up all the travel plans....here's our ship:

Royal Carribean's Sovereign of the Seas

I can't wait til' May!

Photo 69

Made this cookie cake for our Sunday School pot luck- this was my 1st attempt @ writting.....I like the rosette's better :)

Frugal Friday

I haven't been to Homeland in 2 weeks, mainly because of school and their sales weren't worth the trip. Finally- they had a good sales week, and this is what I picked up:

Total: $33.21
Total before coupons/sale: $76.8

• 6 boxes of Kelloggs Cereal- $1.XX box
• 2 bags C&H powdered sugar- 1.20 each
• 2 Quaker Simple Harvest granola bars- .50 each
• tomato
• grapes- 1.49/lb
• 3 Welch's grape juice- .67 each
• Dole Salad mix- .89
• cheese- $2
• Mayo
• Texas toast- $1.50
• 2 loaves bread- 1.79 each (we just love this brand)
• FREE ronzoni pasta
• eggs- $1.22

Photos for Day 66

Tonight we had dinner out with JM, Allison and Jenna! It was so great to see them and to spend some time with them. I just wish they were here to stay in Tulsa.........

Walgreens deals (Photo 65)

My total OOP was $17.85, although I earned $20 in RR to apply towards other purchases.

It's hard for me to figure how the RR play into everything- do you count them on that inital purchase that generated the RR or on the stuff you buy with the RR?

Well, for 17.85, and w/ $16 in Register Rewards left, I got:

2.99 gallon of milk

2 Easter cards- .99 each

2 Easter candies

6 cans of HE hair spray (2.22 each thanks to the BG1Free coupons)

4 packs of Olay soaps (free w/ $4 profit- used $2/1 coupon)

I can't wait to use those RR up!

WFMW: frugal tips

It's a backwards additon of WFMW! So my question is, besides couponing, what are other ways that you are frugal?

We are wanting to buy a house late this year, and any extra $ we can save, the better off we'll be.
To check out more questions- go to www.rocksinmydryer.typepad.com

freebies

Here's another great freebie link for:
The first 10,000 people* to respond will receive a Clean Home Journal™ Spring Cleanup Gift Pack, which includes the following:

Pack of Pledge® Wipes samples
Coupons for Glade® Candles, Oust® Surface Disinfectant & Air Sanitizer, Shout® Advanced Gel and Pledge® Each gift pack comes with coupons with a total value of $11.00.

http://www.cleanhomejournal.com/offers/SMaR-08/Default.aspx

Photo 64- SNOW!

We woke up to 4 inches of snow here this morning! I'm ready for spring, but I always love a nice snowfall. Hopefully this will be the last snow :)

Space heaters & saving money

When we got our 1st gas bill after the ice storm- it was outrageous! So, Brandon and I decided to use 2 to 3 space heaters around the house (only running while we were home, of course) for a month to see if we could reduce our gas bill.

Our gas bill cam in the mail a few days ago- and it was reduced by $80 and our electric bill only rose by $18. So, overall, it was worth it to keep the thermostat lower and just run the space heaters as needed.

Just thought I'd share my thrifty heating tip on this cold day :)

Photos 61 & 62

Photo 61:
This is my last cake from the level 1 class. The roses were really hard for me to make- I didn't enjoy making this cake as much as the past ones.I forgot to take a photo before we ate some- hence the missing piece.

We start the level 2 class next Saturday- I hope I enjoy it and I don't have to make many roses.

Photo 62:

I put out my spring decorations today :)

On a couponing note- has anyone done this week's Walgreen's register rewards deals yet? (the free Olay soap and HE shampoo/conditioner) Have they worked out? I want to go do them, but I get so annoyed when the RR don't print and no one knows how to fix that little machine.

Friday's Photos

We went out last night to celebrate my completion of classes! Here's some of the pictures:

Sad Karen- after March 23rd she can have one! Mallorie and Mark......
Andrea, Erica and I @ McNellies
Rusty & Brandon
I love Tulsa!