Tea Party

....and not the political kind. ;-)

A couple of weeks ago, the stars aligned and ALL 10 of the great grand kids (#11 on the way) on one side of the family were all in the same city!  Even my cousins from Germany and California!!  Well, that called for a celebration - which in our family, is a TEA PARTY!

The table was set...using only the nice china of course! (none broke btw...a miracle!)

Everyone found their seats and checked out the food.  Apparently by smelling!

We nibbled on tiny sandwiches and fruit salad!

Sipped on tea from singing tea pots!

And chatted away!!!

Then it was time for some fun!  Poppop had bird houses for the "men" to put together!  This was right up the boys' alley!  They LOVED it!

Rhodes even got in on the action!  And knew exactly what to do with the hammer!

The girls learned a little dance taught by my cousin's wife!  Who is a professionally New York trained dancer, btw!

Precious!

The boys and their finished products!  And a very proud Great Grandfather...passing on his woodworking skills!!!!

Then we rallied the troops to try and get a picture!

Not too bad, eh!?!?  And to think only 4 of 10 cousins have had children!  The great grandkids won't fit on this couch much longer!!!

Thank you Mimi and Poppop for a wonderful time!!!

How I Do It NOW

For those that are new around here, I decided to link some old post I wrote about how I got started couponing and then some updates on how I do it now!

THIS POST talks about some of the ins and outs on how to get started.

THIS POST has a couple of examples.  AND some pics of Olivia and Landon when they were younger!  So cute!

And now....

The biggest change to couponing I've made is how I store and clip coupons.  I now FILE them away by week.  Since the main two sites I use (Southern Savers and IHeartPublix) list the date the coupon was in the paper, I just look it up real quick, locate it, and clip it!

I have 13 or 14 file folders in my drawer in my desk.  Every Sunday I grab the back (oldest) file folder, trash the inserts that are in their (expired) and re-label the folder with a sticky label, and put it in the front of the bunch of folders.  I also have a folder for coupon booklets, advantage buy inserts and other pages of coupons that I've found.  I also have a folder for loose coupons that I accidentally printed or didn't use one week.

I try and do one big couponing trip a week.  That meaning that I buy things even if I don't "need" them because they were at a great price!  Then I put them in our extra fridge/freezer downstairs - which is a HUGE help when stocking up!

I pretty much only shop at Piggly Wiggly for meat.  They have incredible sales on GOOD MEAT!  Even steaks!

***Guys, chicken breast should be SMALL and PINK.  Not huge and white...like I seem to find at other stores I frequent!  I promise the small, pink ones will be tender and juicy when they cook up!***

But because we're a family of 6, other small trips are usually in order.  To pick up things we need NOW or are out of...like Rhodes' soy milk, fresh produce, lunchbox items, etc.


I still hit up CVS every once in a while, though I'm not rolling ECB's (extra care bucks) like I used to.  But if there's a great deal, especially on diapers or wipes, you better bet I'm there.  I just know that we have enough razors and toothpaste to last us for a while!


Hope this gets the ball rolling for a few of ya!  I wish I had known this stuff earlier on in my marriage!  Heck, I wish I'd known this stuff in college!!  Oh, the $$$ I could have saved!!!

Club Pub

It's been a while since I've posted my Publix trips, but I'm still at it!!!  My Publix finally decided to take Target coupons.  They were a little wishy washy for a while.  I'm hoping this will help put and even greater discount into my grocery savings!

4 V8 Splash
2 Nature Valley Bread
6 Kraft Mac and Cheese
4 Green Giant veggies
2 Purex 3 in 1
1 Wisk
2 Glass Plus
2 Grilling Beans
2 Texas Toast
4 boxes Toaster Strudels
1 bag Idahoan Potaoes
2 blocks Publix cheese
2 Coffemate Creamer
1 box Barber Chicken
1 box drink pouches

The cheese was on sale but I didn't have a coupon.  The kids have been begging to make sausage balls, so we are!


With coupons, it made the windex $0.25/bottle.  The mac and cheese was $0.31 each, the coffee creamer was FREE, wisk was $1.49, drink boxes were $0.75, Texas toast was $0.19/box, veggies were $0.15 each, juice was $1.20 each, potatoes were FREE...you get the idea.

STATS:

Total Before coupons/sales:  $100.37

Total After coupons/sales: $30.45


70% savings!!!


Have YOU still been up to it!?!?

The Kids Just LOVED Carving Pumpkins...

The kids were so thrilled to carve pumpkins.  They all helped carry the pumpkins down by the water to get them ready to carve!

Rhodes supervised things as they all helped gather supplies. 

They watched as every saw, back and forth, of the knife went through their pumpkins!

They happily cleaned them out in order to get them ready for the faces they picked out!

Everyone was full of smiles and excitement!!

They could hardly contain themselves!!!

I was proud of MY pumpkin...aka Lillian's.

They couldn't wait for Dad to come help with the other two pumpkins!

Olivia and Landon picked out the two most intricate designs in the carving kit!  They were so eager to help and watch Dad carve away!

Meanwhile, Rhodes had a little reading time with Daddy Doc!

Robert tediously worked away as the children watched in anticipation to see what the finished product would look like!  They couldn't wait to see the final product!!!

Landon picked out a cat!?!?  Our favorite animal.  Well, it is and "evil" holiday anyways...and you know where cats come from!  ;-)

Now the part that the kids weren't interested in at ALL!  They look pretty unamused...right?!

Now back to no sarcasm....as was all the text above.
So even Robert and I did all the pumpkin activities, the kids did enjoy lighting them up!  It was just so funny to see them so uninterested in something they said they couldn't wait to do!!

They turned out GREAT!  Don't ya think???

Pure.Raw.SugarHigh

Anyone else coming down from a Sugar High today?!??!?

Thankfully, no one has thrown up...yet.