Monthly Archives: December 2015

Things I Am Saving On 12142015

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Since I have been at home for the last few days I have been doing a lot of window shopping online and even purchased several things. Here are a few of my best finds.

Shutterfly– As I mentioned we have around 1400 pictures from our trip. I definitely am planning on making a scrapbook and knew that the sooner I printed these the more like the scrapbook is to happen. The offer a “pre-paid” plan for prints that currently is on sale for $54 for 600 prints. I purchased 2 and yesterday afternoon picked out 650 pictures to print. I used the code “SHIP49” which gave me free shipping so including shipping ended up paying $60 for these pictures or ten cent including shipping. I was also able to grab a magnet with some cute pictures for $3.45 and purchased my dad his yearly calendar which included about 75 pictures for 13.75 using a free $20 from my coke rewards. I must still print another 400 pictures within the next year.

Flirty Aprons– 70% of any apron with free shipping. I purchased an black apron for Matt to use in the kitchen for $7.48

Bath and Body Works- Over the past week, I have purchased hand soaps at $2.50 or less each and body cream for $4.  These were one day deals but I did grab a lot of stuff. I found out with the hand soaps that you can purchase bundles and they will be discounted but only count as one item in your limit.

JCPennys- They are really offering some great deals right now. I was able to purchase twin size sheet sets for $12.50 each and the kids some fleece jackets for less than $3 each!  I also get back rewards so these were awesome deals.

Amazon- finally today is known as green day because online stores are taking to have the biggest day of the season. Kendall has been asking for Doc McStuffins toys and I was able to grab on at half off today.

 

Have you found any great deals that I should check out?

 

Monday Menu Post 12/14/2015

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With me being at home with the shingles for this week, you will notice a little bit more complex meals for most evenings. This are usually food that we keep for the weekend but since I am at home might as well cook.

Breakfast–Orange cinnamon rolls and sausage ball on Saturday, Sunday- BLTs Monday- Waffles or French toast.  Tuesday- Banana baked oatmeal. Other choices include eggs, sausage, poptarts, grits, cereal, instant oatmeal and toast.

Lunch- We were able to pack all the kids lunches on Sunday. Each chose chicken nuggets for several days, sandwiches are on the menu another day as well.
Saturday- salad (we need to use up a bunch of lettuce that was purchased for $1.88
Sunday- meatloaf, squash casserole, left-over deviled eggs and potato salad from Saturday dinner.

Dinner- The side dishes will be brought out several times until they all get eaten or Matt and I finish them off at lunch.
Saturday- BBQ chicken legs, potato salad and deviled eggs, cookies for desert
Sunday- Copy Cat Lettuce Wraps-This were AWESOME! I did purchase both Sesame seed oil and hoisin sauce but will use for several times to decease the cost. Desert- Crockpot Apple cake
Monday- Cheeseburger Pizza using sour dough Desert- Pineapple casserole
Tuesday- Squash Lasagna Desert- brownies
Wednesday-Country style steak, all side should be left-overs except for corn? Desert- pound cake?
Thursday- Cowboy beans- Will plan to freeze half and this will also make at least 3 meals.
Friday- Spaghetti and meatballs- I am going back to work this day so back to quick and simple.

 

 

Disney – The Numbers

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I really want to write this post and it has been in my head since our return but… I know these numbers are huge and almost scary. It is much easier to spend quietly but I struggled and searched for hours prior to the trip to locate and make a realistic budget and really nobody is talking. So I am going to be honest this is what we spent. We had the best vacation EVER and yes we will be doing some penny pinching in the next several months but we do planning on going back in a couple/three years after we have met some important goals, see bottom of post for these.

Disney Vacation package, including 6 day non park hopper ticket and dinning plan for 2 adults and 3 children      $4913.62
Cheap hotel room (I will not be staying here again, got exactly what I paid for.)  $41.41
Gas       $115.22-  I did observe that gas prices inside Disney World were $1.93 which were cheaper than our stations at home. We did not pay over $2 a gallon for the whole trip.
Food- Tips, drinks and other expenses outside of dining plan $523.83
Souvenirs–  This did include a lot of Christmas presents but these are things we came home with $1575.94

Total Expense for trip:$7169.98

Pictures taken– 1425- this included Photo Pass and Lily, myself and Matt. I am planning to complete a scrapbook and so is Lily.

On our date night, which we both really enjoyed, we talked about another trip because this one was so awesome. Our goals to begin planning the next trip included paying off all credit card debit and having an emergency fund to cover one month expenses or approximately $3500.  I am up for the challenge and would like to accomplish this in less than 2 years but God’s timing is always better than mine so I am going to wait and see.

5 Things Friday- Not the Happiest

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5thingsfriday-logoRED1. I was diagnosed with Shingles this morning. I honestly was surprised by this but it makes sense. I was almost thankful for an extra week out of work, I am highly contagious until I finish the medication Wednesday at lunch, until I started the medicine. My current side effects include being  hyper including feeling like I can jump out of my skin, and nauseous to the point I just want to put my head between my legs. My prayer is that the shingle pain and itching does not increase and the side effects decrease.

2. Our septic system is not working properly. This has been an ongoing problem since I bought the house in 1992.  We are again trying to fix the problem as our yard is becoming a wet mess. Today we had to move the trampoline out of the septic field which also involved making several paths of mud in the yard. We hope to have it fixed completely within the next week.

3. Matt and I decided to finish putting up Christmas lights outside this afternoon after moving the trampoline. The light looked awesome until it blew out the outlet outside. Matt had to go to Lowes and replace the entire outlet which meant our bedroom was dark for a couple of hours.

4.  Both of our email accounts have been hacked. Matt is spending his evening on the phone with the internet company to try and get this straighten out. This will be the third time this week that we have been on the phone with this company for a variety of issues.

5. Zach is having a rough time without sleeping. He was so tired last night that he ended getting several spankings prior to bed. Tonight, I put him to bed an hour early tonight but he is so tired that he is keeping himself awake. The medicine I am on, makes me less than patient so let’s hope the extra sleep helps.

 

Wordless Wednesday Snow village

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IMG_1272This is what we started with.

IMG_1280

After some TLC from Matt

In process…]

image image imageThe finished project!  I love it!

imageLast several pieces of the snow village

Random Disney Facts

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  • At 7:30 pm, Disney becomes the most tired place on earth! Don’t believe me look around on a bus!
  • On Sunday, we manage to ride every form of transportation offered in the park; ferry, monorail, bus, tram and train.
  • In order for any of my kids to eat an entire kids meal they must have been swimming for the past 2 hours.
  • Art of Animation has the best tasting food and is so easy to maneuver around the cafeteria .
  • The above picture is of Zach meeting Minnie Mouse, he was tired of doing girl things and this is what happens.  On the second attempt, he was embarrassed and still refused to talk to her.
  • Each resort has a different themed tree, ours is white and I think the ugliest.
  • I definitely recommended a “down” day during the trip.  You never realize how tired and busy you will be. Plus when else are you going to blog?
  • I also recommend using a travel agent especially for booking fast pass. Ours have been great and well timed.  We have been able to get all the important to us things done around the fast passes.  I really hope to get to the “Be our Guest” resturant but if not that will be the one thing we miss. I have called reservations 3 times but have to try one last time on Thursday for our best shot.
  • I know the meal plan is expensive but I am really enjoying using it and it also reduces the stress of finding food and drinks, while we are in the parks. It has also reduced the amount of stuff we are carrying around the parks.
  • The mass transportation system is really new and strange to me being from a small town and really this is the only place I have ever used one but it makes things easier and honestly probably saves time as well.
  • The best part of being at Disney this time of year is finding all the cool Christmas ornaments especially what we call “jingle buddies” with small bells attached on the bottom of figures.