Free Birthday Cards!

I used to be the one in our family who sent everyone a card on their birthday. Now that is not very impressive for most families but on my husbands side there are nine children - and 6 of them are married/with kids. With grandparents/greats, siblings, spouses, neices and nephews that was a LOT of cards! I used to be very organized and divide my card needs into adult male, adult female, juvenile male, juvenile female, and a special card for the first birthday. I handmade cards for each group and put the card in an envelope. I made sure that each family didn't receive exact duplicates in one year of any given card. I added not only birthdays to my calendar, but 4 mailing days prior to the birthday I added a "Mail it" reminder. It doesn't surprise you that I'm a Type A Virgo Math major does it? ;)

After I had my third child this all fell by the wayside. I started missing birthdays and instead of just shrugging it off and continuing with the next birthday I imagined the mess it would be if Susie opened a card and her brother Johnny remembered that 2 months prior he had received no card from me. I felt terrible! So I stopped doing them all together. BUT.... now I think I found a good solution!

I read a post on "How Does She?" and was inspired! Using VistaPrints famous freebies I designed a postcard for our families birthdays! With shipping I received 100 cards, personalized and ready-to-mail for less than $1 out of pocket. The total actually came to $6.xx but I had some PayPal money from surveys that I occasionally receive that I was able to use.

Here are the cards I designed...

And to save even more time I designed a coordinating back side that included a birthday message, our family's names and (on the top right corner that's been cut off in the pic) our return address. Sweet! All that's left is to address them to the individual and maybe add a quick personal note. Oh, and I suppose some postage. Hmmmm - I wonder if they make "Forever" stamps for postcards... somehow I doubt it! ;)

Quickies:

You can check my Coverwear site to find the new March sale info - Black is on sale for $10!

If you and I are Facebook buddies you already know... but I made a new blog just for me to keep track of my recipes.  You are obviously more than welcome to pop over and take a peek.  Currently it's not a cooking blog with photos and such - just a way for me to categorize and keep track of my favorites!  My dream is to have a laptop in the kitchen and then just open it to the blog, find the recipe I need and not have to find a recipe card, jot anything down or print anything out.  :)  

You should be able to see it in my profile - but it's at erikascookbook.blogspot.com.

And I'm considering getting into freezer meals.  I was thinking about doing a swap but then again I'm picky so I'm not sure if I shouldn't just go crazy on my own.  We have some nice meat prices this week and I've picked up quite a few books from the library with recipes - we'll see how it goes.  The problems are:

• many of the recipes are SO bad for you that I'm not sure I would be doing my family a favor by making them
  
• my freezer is already full
  
• I'm not sure if I can round up enough pans to put these in!  Some just can't be done in a freezer bag.
  

Anyway - we shall see!

LDS Cannery in Aurora

OK - I have never understood how this place works and I'm so excited to finally know! Now maybe I'll take advantage of it! At church when I ask people they never seem to have a clue what to do with it either. So hopefully this will be educational for all of us.

It is at 3233 Fraser St in Aurora. It's between 10th and 8th streets west of Champers road. Their # is 303-371-7650.

You can go buy things without going to help with canning. The gal I spoke with on the phone mentioned Potato Pearls (you must buy a case), pancake mix, and 6-packs of pinto beans, rice or red wheat as items that were available to buy. (White wheat will most likely be available at the beginning of the year).

If you want to go and buy things like wheat, sugar or other "dry pack" (meaning they are canned w/o liquid and are dry materials) then you just need to show up Mon-Th from 9-3:30pm and buy what you want and then you pkg it yourself. The price list for dry items is found on providentliving.org under the Family Home Storage section. Here's a link to the form .

If you want "wet pack" items (like applesauce, meat) then they offer those on a set schedule throughout the year. They email out schedules for the next 2 months so just give them your info to sign up to receive the emails. These sessions are 4-5 hours and by appt. only - they almost always offer one evening session at 6pm for these.

It is a church-run cannery, but you don't have to be LDS (Latter-Day Saint) to go. If you want to organize your own group to come you probably do need to get in touch with your local LDS congregation - you need at least 2 people with you who have been certified to run the canning equipment.
And you can find one near you by checking out providentliving.org.

New Coverwear sale

Hop on over to the Coverwear Blog for details!

Shelf Reliance at Costco

This is at the SW Littleton location - started yesterday and goes through next week and ends Sunday. The Harvest is cheaper than when they came here two years ago - $269 now. They also have the Cansolidator and 40-can Candensor (sp?) for 20 and 24ish. Just going from memory on the prices, but I'm in the ballpark. They also have a 1/2 size one that's like the Harvest but around $150. Anyway - if you have some money in the budget for food storage this is a great deal! Costco negotiates with SR and the result is a better deal for Costco shoppers than SR employees get.

Hear me crunch

Yup - I'm crunchy! Well, not really. I just pretended for the day. I went shopping at a local health nut store. They almost didn't let me in because I didn't carry in a reusable grocery bag. Well, again, not really. But I felt very guilty! And the sign by the checkout register said that to help them keep their costs down I should use my debit rather than my credit card. Suddenly I felt very self-serving for trying to rack up rewards by using my card as often as possible. Those tree-huggers sure know how to tug at your conscience!
I went to check out their bulk section where you can, I had heard, find great deals on spices and such. I was trying to make up some mixes from the the Hillbilly Housewife's website and it called for freeze dried veggies. Now you can buy these online but it was definitely preferable to be able to buy smaller amounts locally and not pay S&H. I was also out of TVP so off I went! I came back with the ingredients to make all kinds of awesome mixes: ricearoni type, pilaf, burritos, granola bars, etc. Very fun! Plus I picked up tumeric and lemon and orange peel - because I absolutely never have lemons and oranges at my house. I am tired of shying away from all of the recipes that call for them so now I am prepared! And for cheap!
OK, back to my fave Hillbilly. I printed off a lot of her recipes and am very excited to try them out! I made the veggie rice with currywurst tonight and it was really good! And if you haven't tried out her Magic Milkshakes please do! They are seriously just like Wendy's frosties - I kid you not. And you can use 1/2 tsp. lecithin if you have it instead of the cooking spray (as an emulsifier - your shake will not turn out if you don't use it!). And be sure not to measure the lecithin in a measuring spoon and expect it to come off. Nope. Not even in the Pots and Pans cycle on your dishwasher. Not gonna happen. You're gonna have to wash that puppy by hand. Or better yet just approximate it and pour it from the bottle. :)

PJ Pals

I like to spend $5 or so for PJs. I would love to spend less of course but that just doesn't happen - not even at WalMart. They are currently on sale (the summer shorts and T-shirt styles) at DisneyShopping.com for $5.09 after coupon code.
Codes to use:
"Shipfor5" gives you free shipping on $50 and "1699" gives 15% off your total. If this is something your kiddos would dig (princesses, Cars and Toy Story) then enjoy!

Free credit score and monitoring

https://www.listclassaction.com/

Read about it here.

$10 off $25 at Lowes

Use your Visa and the coupon found here. You can only use it once between now and July 30th.

Cheap Makeup

E.L.F. is has some coupon codes out that make for a pretty nice deal on makeup if you're interested. Go to eyeslipsface.com and enter $18 worth of stuff (most of it's $1). Then use coupon codes RADIO and ECTAPDY for $6.50 off and free shipping. Total = $10.50

Their lip stuff is supposed to be good, as are the brushes. The blush, bronzer and eye shadow look good and I've also heard the mascara is decent. I would avoid foundations, but that's just me.

They are busy and shipping 12-14 days out so don't plan on a quickie gift!

Also, you can get points through mypoints for this - so if you need a referral for free points just send me an email! (Shhhh - Rick is getting a $50 GC for HomeDepot from my mypoints redemption for Father's Day! I love mypoints!)

Print out your Super Target coupons!

This week you can get (among other things I am sure) awesome deals on groceries at Target! There is a $1 coupon on their site for fresh veggies which made broccoli $.99 for a big bunch (plenty for our family for dinner). Cauliflower would be $1.49 for a big bunch. Then there was the $.75 off Daisy sour cream (used for enchiladas). The small container was dead cheap with this coupon (no size restriction). There also a Stovetop stuffing Q that makes it $.29 - there have been Buy3Get1 tearpads spotted at grocery stores that make this even better! We topped our enchiladas with tomatoes from the $1 off tomatoes on the vine coupon as well. There's no minimum so I bought 2 tomatoes for $.84 (those puppies were $2.49/lb!!!).

I even used their printers to print off my Qs to save paper. Just use the registry machines/computers. Select target.com - shop online from the options, navigate to the coupons and print them right there in the store!

Silver and Gold...

Or just silver! :) I wanted to invite you to take a look at the new item on the sidebar. It's a link to a site that allows you to buy silver jewlery for $5.99. (They say it's for free, but $5.99 is the shipping and handling). I bought a few pieces last year and they are totally legit, and very pretty! Just make sure you read the description so you know how big stuff is (the pictures are big so you can see detail, but the item may just be 1.3" or something) and also know that the pendants are just that - no chain.

There are gals that keep this site up all day at work (they rotate the pieces that are available every few minutes so it's always different stuff) so they can never miss a deal. I admit, I used to keep a window up occasionally too - they really have such cute stuff!

The site has become somewhat of a craze online. There are actually websites that list what items will be next, or at what time a certain piece of jewlery will come up, etc. Like people actually have time to watch it and record what stuff is up? And then figure out the schedule? Good for them! :)

Anyway, I put up a link so I can get credit in case I see anything I like - I have a feeling it won't be much, (like pennies) but it's cool that the item you see is current you know one of the four things currently up. I have to say out of the things I have ordered I love my toe ring the best - it's awesome!

Boxtops Sale at Albertsons!

This is an easy one for people who are new to this because you can find so many printables! The sale prices are effective 9/6 - 9/12.

All products 10/$10 when you buy in groups of 10. (10/$15 - $5 instant savings). For every 10 you buy, you will get a catalina for 20 bonus box tops for your school.

• General Mills Cereal
• Cinnamon Toast Crunch 14 oz.
• Cocoa Puffs 13.75 oz.
• Cookie Crisp 12.25 oz
• French Toast Crunch 13.6 oz.
• Golden Grahams 13 oz.
• Honey Nut Cheerios 14 oz.
• Multi Grain Cheerios 16 oz.
• Trix 12 oz.
• Pillsbury Sweet Rolls 12.4 - 13.9 oz, Select Varieties
• Nature Valley Fruit, Grain or Trail Mix Bars, General Mills Cereal Bars, or Caribou Coffee Granola Bars 2.5 - 17.8 oz., Select Varieties
• Pillsbury Toaster Strudels or Scrambles 10-18.8 oz., Select Varieties
• 8th Continent Soy Milk or Refreshers 48-64 oz. Select Varieties
• Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 3-pack, 9-10.5 oz., Select Varieties
• Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks 4.5 - 9 oz., Select Varieties
• Progresso Traditional Soup, 18.5 - 19 oz., Select Varieties
• Hamburger Helper Microwaveable Singles 6.3 - 7.4 oz., Select Varieties
• Progresso Reduced Sodium Soup 16.74 - 19 oz., Select Varieties
• Yoplait Trix, Go-Gurts (way good frozen) or Multi pack Yogurt 8-pack, 2.25 oz., Go-Gurts or 6-pack, 4 oz. Multi Pack, Select Varieties
• Pillsbury Pie Crusts, 15 oz.
• Betty Crocker Muffin Mix, 15.2 - 19.6 oz., Select Varieties
• Betty Crocker Cookie Pouches 17.5 oz., Select Varieties
• Betty Crocker Warm Delights Dessert Mixes 2.9 - 3.6 oz., Select Varieties
• Betty Crocker Supreme Brownies 19.8 - 26.7 oz., Select Varieties
• Pillsbury Ready to Bake Cookies 13 - 18 oz., Select Varieties
• Pillsbury Chub Cookies 16.5 oz
• Pillsbury Crescent Rolls 8 - 10.1 oz., Select Varieties (remember you can freeze these - they taste fine! And they are so nice for pigs-in-a-blanket, chicken pillows etc.)
• Bisquick Shake n Pour 10.6 oz.

It will be a great sale so remember to print out those coupons (you can find a nice list of sites here) http://www.pinchingyourpennies.com/basicboxtops.php and search through the inserts!

Free Chocolate from Nestle

http://nestlechocolatier.fanitorium.com/?C1853_554343

You sign up (you can choose not to get emails) and then sign in once they send you a password. The idea is that you tell all your friends about it and everyone who signs up in September gets a coupon for their new baking chocolates. Looks yummy!

This weekend...

Wow! What a lot we've done! Here's a little recap...
First on the house - here is the final floor for the water heater closet. So pretty! This is where the vinyl squares from the earlier post are going. Now we just have to paint on the primer with a roller (thanks Matt for the primer!) and then peel off the paper backing from the squares and lay down the tiles. It will be the first flooring to go down in our basement!

We also spent some time outside. After a couple of months with our new rock border we were wondering why it didn't occur to us to put in landscaping (weed barrier) fabric while we had the chance. You know, before we planted and put down all that rock.

We decided that late is better than never and so we are in the process of shoveling up all that rock, putting down fabric, cutting holes for our little plants, and then putting the rocks back in. Fun, fun, backbreaking work. Even the kids got to help. (Well, they think they helped.) They helped put the rocks back in their places after the fabric was down. They also helped put the rocks back in various other places like the driveway and the lawn. Oh well. It's all about spending time together as a family! If we did everything the efficient way it just wouldn't be as fun! Plus, we worked so late that got to have pizza for dinner! Yummy!


This one was way too cute. I went downstairs to take a picture of the storage chest (the one from Hobby Lobby) so you could see our solution for the warped lid. Ashlyn, who remembers the picture of her and the chest that I posted earlier thought that the picture of the chest just wouldn't be complete without her in it! So she went right in front of the chest and put on her big cheesy grin! I did eventually convince her to move aside a bit so I could take a picture of our solution (the whole point of taking the pic) so there you see her in the corner.

As for our solution - hope you can see it. It is blurry because the camera was focusing on the wrong part of the picture. It is called a gate hook. You screw in a circle piece in the base of the chest and then screw a hook into the lid. Then you put the hook in the circle and presto change-o you have a chest that closes! I'd like you to know that this was my idea - that's why I get paid the big bucks and why Rick likes to keep me around! We bought some spray paint too to make it black, but decided against it. I don't think it looks bad and the paint would just keep rubbing off anyway.


This past week we also managed to acquire, dismantle and reassemble a bigger swing set from some people who figured their kids were too old for it (youngest is 10). I wasn't going to tell them that you're never too old to play on a swingset :) I know I'm bad. But their kids don't use it so we went over one night and dismantled it and put it in the van. Since the horse and slide had long since broken off this one, and the other one is only partially functional I figure now we have at least the equivalent of one big playset!


And, as you can see from the above snapshot our backyard consists of dirt and weeds so I wanted to share the one thing that does look pretty right now - the bushes under our bedroom window! Aren't they gorgeous?

And as for this last picture - any guesses as to what this is? We tore out the broken concrete pad in the back that was our patio and that area is now just dirt. These plants are growing there. I know some of you will know, but for those who are not quite sure here are some hints...
1. They were planted on purpose (we actually want them).
2. They flower, and I've seen them growing in people's homes as an item of decor, but most people want this plant for human consumption.

Anyone care to venture a guess?

I love Hobby Lobby!

Ok, after my last post about being poor I realize this sits in stark contrast - but keep in mind a Bargain Diva knows not when nor where the deal will strike and must at all times be prepared to take advantage of an opportunity! Ok, so we'll be eating out of our food storage for a few weeks - but check this out!

Hobby Lobby had most of their furniture 80% off this week. So thanks to a great friend who let me know about it, when we have a downstairs living room - it will be mostly furnished! Yay!

The top left picture is of an end table and a DVD/CD cabinet. The one on the right is the matching end table. Everything I got was in that black finish with scuffed edges that seems to be so popular now. I can't tell you how excited I am to have something to put our movies in - hooray!

Now here is the bench/really low coffee table. There are a few things that need to be explained here...

1. Ashlyn is in the picture because it was killing the little ham in her to have me taking pictures of inanimate objects and not of her.
2. The drawers are all false fronts - it's just one big storage chest.
3. It is upside down. Because (and I think that this is why it was still there) the top is warped. I was kind of hoping it would help to have the weight of the piece pushing down on that gimpy corner. You can see that the corner of the lid by the pricetag is an inch+ off the ground compared to the corner by Ashlyn's feet. Rick tells me at worst we will make a new top. I'm wondering if maybe we can screw in a board under the lid that might act as a brace and straighten things up? I don't know. But it has potential, so we'll work with it!

And last, but not least, we bought a fireplace sceen! It's not for downstairs, but as soon as downstairs is ready for the TV then upstairs will be back to being a fireplace! And then it will be nice to have a screen for both practical and aesthetic purposes.

So.... you like? And because you're thinking I'm cuckoo for whining about $$$ and then buying this - all of it including tax costs less than a month of preschool. So there! :) [Just Kidding!] And for those of you straining to see the pricetags - that's not how much I paid. I have to say that this was a nice big bright spot in my day. Funny how shopping will do that for you! Combine it with a bargain and it's even better!

And even better - Ashlyn has had no timeouts! Woo-hoo! Her reward chart is looking pretty sparse - only one flower in two weeks! I hope she gets another today!