Friday, you will never know how glad I am to see you....

Life has felt beyond crazy lately!

I'm not sure if it is because I am doing too much, or I am just feeling overwhelmed. But either way, I am so happy it is Friday. :-) And better yet, I am so glad that Josh and I are making time for a date tonight! I can hardly wait to spend time with my wonderful man.....we have barely had time to talk (really talk) lately, due to our schedules.
So tonight we will focus on each other and just relax.

We got family pictures taken last week, by a sweet long-time friend of our family. She (and her family) came all the way up from Texas to take our pictures. Well......and to vacation.....but it sounds cooler to say she drove all the way up to Colorado for a photo session. lol I will share more of them in another post......


And before I head back to all of the tasks I have left today, I thought I would share these fun deals. Enjoy your Friday as much as I am going to!!!

>>I think it's GREAT that Chili's is doing this for veterans. If you know of any, make sure they get their free meal--they deserve that (and more) for serving our country!

>>Don't forget to head to your local Noodles & Co. for free kids' bowls on Sunday! Read about it here.

>>These books make awesome Christmas gifts--I think I will be picking up this deal. :-) If you go through Ebates to make your Snapfish purchase, you earn cash back! Go here to sign up for Ebates.

Me and Queen have something in common

Every once in a (great) while, I look at blogs like this one or this one or this one and feel slightly envious and inferior.

Why, you may ask?
I know, I know....looking at my fabulous blog.....what more could one want??!!
But, as they say, the grass is always greener in someone else's blog, so envy creeps in occasionally.


And why do I feel envious?
It is because they always announce all of the great freebies and bargains!!!! I mean, a girl can't break any headlines with these people around! So, I usually do not even try. I just leave it to their fabulously successful blogs, and I continue on in my self-amusing world, rambling about potty-training and what we are going to eat for dinner.

(See, I am already over my envious feelings. I am quite content in my ToddlerWorld, with my witty anecdotes and occasional words of wisdom. Who needs thousands of readers and late-breaking opportunities for frugality?!)

Ok, so it would be fun.
But I haven't the time to keep up. Plus, I love finding out about all of those things, that I could never sniff out on my own. I love perusing their wildly successful sites, in my pjs, and finding out where I can get a free can of baby formula or dog snacks without doing any of the investigation on my own.
Bottom-line: I am lazy.

So, keep it up, fabulous deal hounds! And I will keep reading your blogs and I will keep writing pointless things on mine, and pretending like I am also changing the world. :-) And to make myself feel even better, I will occasionally post deals like this or this, to trick myself into thinking I am helping my readers.
(Even though the news was broken days ago by one of "those blogs"......)

Hello Jealousy....you are welcome here for a few minutes......

Weekend Circle Time: Friends are Friends Forever Edition

I had a nice weekend, spent with my family and good friends. In fact, the last few weeks have been spent with family and friends. I am very blessed. :-)

Before I hit the hay for the night, I wanted to share the things I have learned or been encouraged by this week.....

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1. Our littlest is completely potty trained (aside from the occasional accident)!!! No more diapers? I hope so. This potty helped us in our endeavor, and we are going to reward him with the help of Chuck and his incentives.

2. My friend Chas just started making beautiful and delicious cakes for special occasions. If you live in the Denver area and need a cake for someone special, let her know!

3. I picked up a sweet deal on a mani/pedi this week, thanks to Groupon. I get a different "daily deal" in my inbox every day. Most of them are 50% off or more!

4. This post really made me stop and think. Like Lynnae, I have been reading through the Little House series and it has made stop and think about what I think is important in life--what I "must have" to live.

~Have a good Sunday, and remember to spend time with those you love most!~

What a croc!

Get it?--what a CROC. I totally crack myself up.....

Anyways, I was just on Crocs website, and spotted these adorable shoes on sale! They are $9.99 before shipping, and if you buy them through Ebates, you will get 4% cash back! It's a great deal if you ask me, especially since the shoes would be perfect for the cold weather that is coming....

I had to pick up a pair for my oldest E, who is extremely rough on shoes. I think these will hold up for at least a month or two. :-)

In a slump

I am just not feeling inspired these days. I apologize to all 13 of you who read this blog.....I am sure it is disheartening when you check on me two or three times a day, and come up empty-handed.

I just have nothing of interest to blog about!

I mean, I guess I could write about my latest deals at the store.....(All of this for $3!)

.....but that seems boring to me.

I could put up some more pictures of my exquisitely adorable children, playing in their new sandbox that our super-sweet neighbor made for us.....

....but you all have fabulous children of your own....why look at my kids?

I could harp on you for not helping me in my latest quest. But then you might get angry and I would be down to....umm, 2 or 3 readers.

So, I guess I will just try again tomorrow. Perhaps inspiration will come in the night, after my long evening of packing to go see my brand-new, stinking-cute niece.....

.....but you wouldn't want to be bored with those details either.

Sigh. Inspiration, where are you?

ZZZZZZ......

Did anyone else have "one of those weeks" last week? I felt completely exhausted all week! I think it was because of the time change....it's a really good excuse, right? :-)

But a few things perked me up.

I got all 3 of these boxes of cereal for under $3 total!~

And I got this little slice of heaven for FREE with my Safeway card!~
(It made my day yesterday. :-)

(It even came with a coupon!)



But most importantly, these verses always gives me strength during bad weeks:

Isaiah 40:28-31

"Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth
does not become weary or tired.
His understanding is inscrutable.
He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power.
Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly,
Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary."

Hope I am more awake this week...... :-)

Grateful

I know everyone will be posting about Thanksgiving over the next week....and since I am not creative, I will jump on the bandwagon and do the same. :-)

As I began to write this post though, I realized how difficult it is to really state what you are most thankful for. Especially when you have to narrow it down to 5 things.

I feel like I am going to miss something, or somehow sound trivial.

But here goes......maybe I will do a "Friday Fifteen" next year. :-)

My Five "Top Things I Am Grateful For":

1) my undeserving salvation from sin and hell, provided by the grace of my
loving God

2) my wonderful, loving husband, who is one of the most conscientious,patient, and knowledgeable people I know

3) my beautiful, funny and creative children, who teach me something new everyday

4) my family's good health.....I do not take it for granted!

5) the beautiful state that we live in....I am daily amazed by the wonders of Creation surrounding us here

As I said before, there are so many more things I am grateful for that I could take up the whole screen!! I am truly blessed, even when things don't seem to be going "right" according to our human standards. I am surrounded by wonderful loving extended family and great friends......we have a nice home to live in, as well as a "vacation home" in Wisconsin. :-) Ha! And the guidance of Scripture is an amazing blessing to those of us who follow Christ.

Thank you, Lord, for loving me beyond belief!

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Another thing to be thankful for......

The "Holiday Taste of Sam's Club" is going on this weekend (Nov. 21-23). From what I could see, there is going to be a HAUL of samples, so you can spend your Friday date night at Sam's and do just fine. :-) Check it out here, and see if your local Sam's is participating! My family will be taking a nice family trip to Sam's tonight.......no cooking for me. Woo-hoo!

Thanks Steve......or maybe I should thank Barry

The Steve & Barry stores in my state seem to be closing. I am not sure if this is permanent, or just until they redo their merchandise.....

Nonetheless--everything in the store is $4.98 or 2/$9!!! You have to sort through alot of junk--most of it is not organized in categories anymore--but if you have the time, it is worth it!

Hooded sweatshirts, baby gifts, t-shirts, some pants.....even a few pairs of shoes. I only bought one item--a beautiful black velvet Christmas dress, with a red velvet bow. My oldest daughter needed one for the holidays--I was so thrilled to get one for $5!!!

So, check it out if you have a Steve & Barry's in your area--you might score some cheap Christmas gifts. :-)

Poor, poor horse.....

What's the expression???

"Don't kill a dead cow"...No.

"Don't shoot a dead dog"......doesn't sound quite right.

Oh wait, "Don't beat a dead horse."

Yep, that's it. And that is exactly what I am going to do in this post.

I have ranted numerous times about the joyous rewards of Ebates. I have whined and begged and even coerced at times, trying to get my dear readers to sign up for this money-making (free) opportunity. A few of my faithful followers have complied and signed up but sadly.....have never purchased anything! Therefore, they have not reaped the benefits of their free Ebates' membership!

So---in order to fulfill the idiom that I previously referred to (in case you have forgotten, it is "don't beat a dead horse"), I am going to once again rave on and on about the advantages of joining Ebates. I am also going to point out the $30+ that I have earned in the past six months, just for buying things online that I normally would buy anyway. I am going to stress the ease that accompanies your signing up for this FREE program. And I am going to throw in that if you sign up before October 31st AND BUY SOMETHING, you and I will both earn $10 cashback.

(The horse is almost demolished, but I must give one more kick.)

My favorite way to earn cashback on Ebates is by purchasing all of my digital prints at Snapfish. I earn 10% back, by buying the prints and photo gifts that I normally would.

If, after this tirade, you are even remotely interested in Ebates, please sign up through
this link so that I can see that you tried to humor me. And if you really are my friend, you will sign up and buy me something at Target (earning yourself a nice 4% cash back!). :-)

RIP, dear horse.

P.S. If you have any questions about signing up, purchasing, or anything about how Ebates works--please feel free to email me or leave a comment here! I would be glad to help you out--because it means we will both earn a free $10. :-)

We all scream for (free) ice cream

In case any of you like ice cream as much as I do......

....you might want to be here on Sept. 25th. I am hauling my whole family down there--they will think twice about having this promotion again when they see us walk in! :-)

(And it is for a very sweet cause.....)

Coffee on my mind

For my recipe this week, I am taking the easy route.

I love iced mochas or Frapuccino-type drinks in the summer. But the price of them kills me. So I have resorted to making my own iced coffee every day......it is not the same but does taste slightly better than the McDonald's one. :-)

The recipe is simple:
2-3 tablespoons coffee creamer
1/2 cup of ice cubes
1-2 cups of cooled coffee

Fill large cup half-way with ice. Pour creamer over ice. Fill cup with cold coffee. Stir
ingredients together with spoon. Enjoy!

Note: these are all rough estimates....I just dump the ingredients into my cup until the finished product looks and tastes right. It is very refreshing, and beats a hot cup of coffee on a 90 degree day. :-)


But in case you just can't live without your daily iced mocha, here is a deal for you. I just received an email about this and it was the highlight of my day. :-) My husband and I concocted a plan to make it a frugal deal for our family. He gets a hot mocha on his way to work, using his Starbucks card that he earned through MyPoints--I use his receipt in the afternoon and get my coveted iced mocha, using my Starbuck's card that I earned with reward points from my check card.

For $2.00. Life is good....

(Email me if you want to sign up for a My Points or Chase account--I can refer you for both and earn extra points! Plus you may get a bonus!) oregongirl77 (at) gmail (dot) com

Score one for the Rockies and one for me!

I have suddenly become a Colorado Rockies fan.......

All my life, I have cheered for the A's. When I married my hubby, I had to cheer for the Brewers out of home state loyalty (and family duty :-).

I did not plan on switching teams just because we moved to a new state.

Until yesterday....

....when I was in the Taco Bell drive-thru and the cashier informed me that on days after Rockies' games, they offer 4 tacos for $1.oo if the Rockies score 7 or more runs.

Suddenly, I felt a strong and almost maternal urge to cheer on those dear Rockies, to support their every play! Go home team!! Play your little hearts out!!!


(Because all who know me well know that I adore Mexican food. Unfortunately, this includes Taco Bell--due to my limited budget. I craved it constantly through my first pregnancy.
My dreams have come true.)

Sports Center will now be on 24/7 during baseball season.

(Which means my husband's dreams have come true.....)

Let's make a deal!

I bought a big boneless chuck roast at the grocery store last week. It was on sale for $1.99/lb. Pretty good deal....I was excited because I was going to use it for a new slow cooker recipe that I had found.

After I checked out, I felt like my bill was slightly higher than I had anticipated. (Yes, I am one of those shoppers who watches the clerk scan all of my items with an eagle eye.) But I happened to miss it when he rang up the roast. As I investigated my receipt, I realized that he had charged me full-price for the roast ($10.69) rather than the sale price of $5 or $6.

I was slightly irritated at that point, because I had already made too many trips to the store that week, and did not enjoy the thought of making another with three children in tow. But I was not going to lose all of that money. :-)

So--I made it back to the store several days later, with my receipt and the tag from the roast. When I explained the situation to the customer service clerk, she seemed slightly confused and flustered. ("She didn't have last week's ad, so she really didn't know about the sale."
I thought--Great, I am going to lose my money....) She called a man from the meat dept. to help me out. The man cheerfully explained that the same roast was on sale this week for only $1.69/lb. Figures...... I informed him that my roast was at home, waiting for me in the fridge. I just wanted my money back.

After he confirmed that I was telling the truth about the price (isn't the customer always right??!), the lady began to try to fix the mix-up. After several tries--I honestly do not think she knew what she was doing--she finally just opened the till and handed me back $10.69. Now, I am not one who believes in luck, but if I did--I would know that I do not have any. So I was slightly taken aback. "Do you want me to just pay the difference then, out of this money?" I asked her, still not believing my good fortune.

"No, enjoy your roast!", she said.

This story just shows that it is always good to call stores on their mistakes. Every time I have done it, I have come out with something in the end. This happened to be one of my best outcomes. (And yes--we did enjoy our roast.) :-)

It's your birthday--party for free!

Our middle child (now known on this blog as "Luigi") is having a birthday next week. And what a horrible time to celebrate her birthday! Her parents just moved her away from all of the friends, family, and favorite ice cream joints that she would normally celebrate with. What kind of birthday will this be? Hopefully she will not be scarred for life because of it......

To make the day as special as possible for her (yet maintain our non-existent party budget :-), I have been searching for places to go and things to do. I ran across this list of places that offer free birthday meals and desserts. Score! :-) This is where I found all of my restaurant deals. Have any of you done this?

So here is the plan so far:
Monday night.....free ice cream at Cold Stone
Tuesday lunch.....free kids' meal at California Pizza Kitchen
Sometime this week....free kids' meal at Sonic
And just to keep the birthday fun going, on Saturday morning...a free meal at Perkins too

And because my birthday is coming up in a week, I may try out this deal or maybe this place or just get some coffee and donuts here.....

Could it be any easier (or cheaper!) ?

OK, I know I am probably way behind the times on this--but bear with me. I am so excited because we finally live in a thriving metropolis where they have REDBOX! I had heard about these when we lived in Wisconsin. But there were none in our area. (Just to give you an idea of our area.....the nearest Starbucks was in another town, 20 miles away.Yeah, we lived in small-town America.)

I love RedBox, and have used it a few times already. They are vending machines, of sorts, set up at various locations around the city. Each one has different DVD titles, and you can choose from a large assortment. The DVDs are only $1 each for one night, and $1 for each night after. So for those of you who tend to turn movies in late (I wouldn't know--I NEVER do such things), this is the perfect thing for you.

Plus you can choose on-line, and then just pick up your movie when you get there! So nice--and you don't have to mess with returning movies in the mail, etc. like other companies. I can just pick up a movie when I am at Walmart shopping.

And if you give them your email address, they will give you a code for a free rental. That means if you and your husband have several different email accounts (like we do), you could have a plethora of free rentals! :-)

Have any of you ever used RedBox or do you prefer another DVD rental service?

The wool has been pulled again....

OK, I used to work at Kohl's back in the day. I was always amazed at the amount of sales pitches they came up with to get people in to shop their store. "Grand Opening Celebration", "One Day Sale", "The Big One", "Early Bird/Night Owl Specials".....all we did was change around the sale prices every few weeks. Sometimes the "big sale" price was actually more than last week's ad. I always felt a little sorry for the customers who would come rushing in for the big event.

Usually I try to remind myself of this ploy when I shop out there. I try to refrain from snatching up a "good deal" unless I really need it--it will usually be on sale again, often for cheaper. But unfortunately last week, I was sucked into their sale vortex.:-)

My friend works out there, and I was returning some items during the night owl sale when she came by. She informed me that it was "friends and family weekend" and I could have one of her 15% off coupons. I was planning on shopping anyways, so I took it happily and set off to shop. I bought more than I should have, but got some good deals. (And of course--I got 15% off!!!) I returned home, relatively happy with my purchases and glad that I had saved a little.

Then, about 3 days later, what do I receive in the mail??? A 30% off coupon from Kohl's!!! Once again, I have been tricked.....maybe someday I will learn. *Sigh*