My graduation present from the Mercers was a beautiful Sam Houston frame to display my diploma. I put it on top of our desk today and....oh... it looks like mine is bigger.... ;-)

Rowdy's visit

Rowdy came to visit last week for a couple days and I am sure hims had a good time! :D

But this pooch can be a little sneak at times...

It all started one morning as Greg and I sat in the front room enjoying a Chuck Swindoll message...

Rowdy decided to join us, but he brought along a little friend.
This is "pig-pig" whom I have had since my 1st birthday!



At first I thought this was cute that Rowdy somehow found "pig-pig" until Greg told me not to believe his friendliness! Rowdy has a specific strategy when it comes to stuffed animal buddies... First he is nice to them, taking them everywhere with him, making them think he is their best friend..... until he unexpectedly sneaks up on them and tears them to shreds!

So upon hearing this I rushed "pig-pig" right back to where he belongs in my sewing room!

Well, he didn't stay there for long.

Later that day as I was bringing in some clothes for a load of laundry, Rowdy followed me into the hallway and I heard him walking around as I put the clothes in the washer.

As soon as I walked back into the living room... this is what I saw...




Does that dog look a little suspicious to you??

So once again, pig pig went back into the room and I shut the door!

The next day, my mom and sister came over and like usual, we found our way into the sewing room. Rowdy followed and went straight for....



Look at that sneaky paw!

So pig-pig is now sitting high on a shelf! Where he should have been all along!

I guess Rowdy moved on, because he immediately started getting real cozy with "Greg" the bear...



Greg the bear also went onto the high shelf as we knew better this time, but Rowdy had yet to give up on his search for a "friend"

A few minutes later, we all heard some rustling in this guest room next door. So I searched around and found the little sneak!






But what was he doing under the bed?







Caught red handed!!!


But how can you stay mad for long at this cute puppy???

does it sound like I'm bragging?

Well, maybe I am! :D

Monday's are my grocery shopping days (Sundays are just way too chaotic at Kroger) so today I think I have broken my savings record.

I have a "budget" goal of 200.00 per month for groceries, toiletries, paper goods etc. At first it sounded very daunting, but I am a lot more confident that I can keep this goal!

So on my way to Kroger, I made a "fuel" stop at McDonald's for my free mocha as it is free mocha Monday!

And as you can see, it is a sample size that is gone in 3 sips, but it was a nice start to my shopping Monday... and the caffeine was put to good use that's for sure.

Here is the usual kitchen table picture of my shopping treasures:

and I stopped at Walgreens after for some .25 cent Starbucks, and free Neutrogena concealer!

And here is the receipt!

With the Kroger card and all my coupons, my total savings was 71.00! and my out of pocket expense was 65.00. Last week I only spent about 40.00 on groceries so my budget has balanced out a bit, and I'm thinking I can stretch these out for a week and half. A lot of the items I bought and stocked up on were less than .50 cents each thanks to the mega 10 sale and my matching coupons!

As I added the deodorant, toothbrushes, and tons of bar soap to my stock bag I realized that I have enough of the necessary toiletries to last the school year! (excluding toilet paper...) Which is great because I have a feeling there will no time for this much couponing!

Another great money saving outlet I have discovered is free samples! I sign up for about 2 or 3 a day and these range from body wash and makeup to a potty training kit! Yes, a potty training kit! Even if I know I do not need the free samples, I always keep in mind people I can pass them along to. (Cristie...be expecting a potty training kit from me soon! haha)

This is what I have received so far... check out the whole role of toilet paper and wet wipes! for free! (I am such a frugal nerd)

I like to share my saving goals and money saving adventures to show others that the time spent planning menus, printing out coupon deals, and signing up for samples is really worth it! Especially when you know that by spending less in one area allows you to save a lot more.

The main blog I read, moneysavingmom, shares her financial goals with fellow bloggers for encouragement as well as great accountability because her readers keep up with how she is accomplishing them! And I am hoping that I can also be a great encouragment for goal setting with this blog as well!

I won! I won! I won!

I love entering in all the giveaways on the blogs I follow, but have never won any of them... until today! One of the blogs I follow chickdowntown hosted a giveaway for the cutest BB Dakota dress that I believe was made just for me!




And now it is on its way to my closet!

Chickdowntown has the cutest "vintage" inspired clothing and now I can't wait to wear a dress from them!

our new friend Lucy

These past two weeks, Greg and I got to care for Lucy while her family was out of town on vacation. Here are some pictures of her stay with us!

My favorite picture... I love that platypus.

Ciara made a visit to Lucy's favorite spot

She just loves that couch

night night time.

somehow she found her way under our covers every night!

sleepy face

model pose

there is that platypus again!

Greg walked in to us both asleep...

he said it looked like we had a fight. haha

but this time we were on better terms!

Before work on Lucy's last day

Here is the platypus in action!

We both agreed that Lucy can come visit anytime she wants to!


But our house wasn't empty for long...
Guess who we now have visiting...

sunday shopping

Target has become my new favorite store for sweet deals! I think the other crazy coupon ladies forget about it while they are all ravaging CVS and Walgreens!

Here are my treasures:

My first attempt at the picture was ruined by Greg's golf club... He thought it would be funny.

Here is my 2nd attempt minus a golf club, football, or Greg's hand...


And this grand total was an awesome 1.58! I never get tired of seeing the people's faces waiting in line behind me when the total is read aloud! haha

I told myself to take a coupon break this week....

YEA RIGHT! That did not last long!

It all started Wednesday when I finally found a Target that had the Degree Women's deodorant and body spray in stock... so obviously I had been on the coupon look-out when I was supposedly on this "break" Well, this sent me into a tizzy as I ended up buying 2 sets and getting "paid" 1.50 to do so! Which I used on some more free joint juice (Greg and I will have the healthiest joints on the block, that for sure! haha)


And then what really sent me into coupon overdrive was the discovery that Kroger was having their Mega 10 sale this week! And if you miss this sale, you are crazy! Pairing up coupons to the store's discounts= savings heaven!

Here is what I got:


6 packages of the Keebler fudge shoppe cookies, 2 Speedstick for Men deos, 2 tubes of Colagate, 3 boxes kleenex, 4 bottles of Kraft salad dressings, 4 bottles Propel water, 6 bottles Sobe Lifewater, 1 bottle handsoap, 1 package playtex gloves, and 1 package of Stayfree pads (which my mom likes to ask very loudly in the store if she has a coupon) lol

The grand total for my "treasures" as I like to call it is, roughly over 13.00! My total savings was well over 40.00 :D

I am glad my mom is onboard with me and the coupons. We had a fun time today hitting up Kroger and confusing the heck out of the poor check out guy! haha

Check out her first "look what I got for this much" post!

Cow Appreciation Day!

I love Chick-fil-A. I love Cows. And I love free food.

Today, my sister and I were planning on hanging out and maybe do a little window shopping at the mall. Little did we know we would be dressing up like cows!

Here are some pictures of our outing... I dragged my sister along and even some of Trey's friends who were at the house couldn't pass up the free lunch! Trey, however, opted out... something about being a 13 year old boy maybe?

Here I am in my get-up!

My new nose job!

Sister Cows!

I tried to write like the cows do... I'm not sure I was successful, but maybe that's the point!

Peace, Love, and Cows!

Our "long lost brother"

The herd. Trey's friends look so excited.

And that is what we did for a free meal!

I wonder if I could convince Greg to dress up for dinner??? haha

my target trip

I love coupons so much. I don't know what I am going to do when I don't have near as much time on my hands this Fall!

Here is what I did today at Target:


4 boxes Kashi cereal and granola bars (very yummy and healthy!) 2 Dry Idea Deodorants, 2 bottles of Joint Juice (they are for young people too! haha), 1 bottle of contact solution, and (my favorite) 4 boxes of Eggo Bakeshop breakfast treats!

The final total (that I paid in cash) was 5.99! All I did was follow Crystal's list of Target coupons and deals here.

So with all this couponing, I decided that rather than see how many random items I can get for free, I need to have a goal for all of this in mind.

My goal will be for me to only have to buy the produce, meats, and perishable dairy items during my weekly Kroger trip. I do not want to buy snacks, mixes, cleaning items, personals, etc. unless they are either free or almost free :-) So that is why I have become a stockpiler!

I think this is a good and attainable goal which will highly benefit Greg and I as we can save that extra money for those greater purchases in the future. I don't know if I could convince Greg of the 100% debt free living that Dave Ramsey is all about, but I am going to try! haha

real America

[updated]

I came across a video today that lifted my spirits on this matter and I think it is important for everyone to watch. This is the true honoring of a real hero.

You don't have to watch the whole thing to get the picture of real America, but it only takes a few seconds to bring tears to your eyes and make you feel proud we have these men sacrificing for us.

Honoring a Fallen Hero

a victim of veggie tales

As a kid I absolutely loved veggie tales and the magical way these ordinary vegetables could come to life in the stories of the Bible.

Now it seems I have been cursed.

Here is why...

Greg and I have been studying Daniel this week, his favorite book in the Bible, and we finished yesterday at Chapter 3 and 4 where the story of King Nebuchadnezzar ordered the courageous Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendego (sp?) into the fiery furnace for not bowing down to his false god.

I have really loved this study and am really excited to continue, except for one thing.

Last night, the entire time of our reading, I could not seem to picture these Godly men and harsh yet confused king as anything but this..





Including the big eyes, the wart on the nose, and even those darn baseball caps.

Don't even get me started on those chocolate bunnies. That is just embarrassing.

Even the story of the Good Samaritan is tainted with an asparagus as the faithful hero.... I am hopeless!



So needless to say, I am looking forward to the day when I meet these great men in Heaven and can finally put these veggie memories to rest!

my $5.70 shopping trip!

Practice makes perfect and with couponing, this holds true!

Yesterday, thanks to money saving mom, I printed out a list of awesome deals both at CVS and Walgreens for this week. So last night, I got my coupons ready and wrote down my "senarios" (I'll explain later) and waited patiently for this morning!

After hitting up a few CVS's and one Walgreens around the area, I came home with some treasure! All for an out-of-pocket expense of $5.70!


This picture includes: 3 boxes Post Trail Mix Cereal (very yummy by the way) 4 pints of the new Starbucks Ice Cream (doubly yummy!) 2 Febreeze air freshener starter kits, Goody headband, 2 packages of clear tape, 1 package pantiliners, the CVS brand of Biotene mouthwash (for Greg), and a package of flossers.

Okay, now here is how I did it. I will try not to confuse anyone! haha

First I sat down with all my coupons and the list of deals. I highlighted all those I was interested in (or needed) and then organized them into buying order. It takes a bit of thinking and some math, but this is why practice makes perfect! I am getting much faster at it now.

So I went to a CVS first and picked up the tape, pantliners, and Post cereal. The tape was 1.49 each, but CVS gave me 1.49 each in ECB's (Extra Care Bucks) that I can use like cash in my next transaction. The same was true for the pantiliners, and they were .89. The Post cereal had a deal at CVS for buy 3 boxes for 10.00 and when you do, you get 5.00 in ECB's. Well I also had 3 coupons (printed online) for 2.00 off 1 box. So I went to the counter and did 2 separate transactions. First I bought the tape and pantiliners, payed 4.19 and recieved 3.87 in ECB's. I then took those ECB's and used them in my next transaction which was the cereal. So I had 3 coupons totalling in 6.00 off as well as my 3.87 in ECB's... and ended up giving the cashier .02 cents! Thats right, 2 pennies! :D And remember, I got 5.00 more for buying 3 boxes of Post!

Okay, then I went to another CVS because they didn't have the other deal items. The next deal on my list was the Febreeze air fresheners. The deal was if you buy 10.00 in Febreeze products, you get 5.00 in ECB's. Now thanks to my money saving mom list I knew that I also had 2 4.00 off 1 air freshener coupons! I knew I would be getting 5.00 in ECB's from this transaction, so I picked up a few things Greg asked for, the Biotene and dental floss. I took all items up to the register and did two more transactions. The first was my air fresheners at 6.50 each. I used 8.00 in coupons and 5.00 in ECB's from the Post cereal. The balance on this reciept was 0.00! And out of the little reciept printer came my 5.00 ECB's that I used on the Bitoene and floss, making that total only .69 cents!

Okay, stop for a breath...

My last trip was to the Walgreens close to my house. There is a rebate going on for the Goody headbands where you mail the recipet in and they send you 3.99 back (the cost of the headband) Well what do you know, my list told me I had a coupon I could print online (the blogs give you the direct links!) for 1.00 off. So essentailly this is what is known in the coupons world as a "money maker" I will get a check in the mail for 3.99 when I only spent 2.99 at the register.

Okay, one more deal I promise! The highlight of my trip... Starbucks Ice Cream! Walgreens had a sale for BOGO the pint size cups. I had 4 coupons that read 2.00 off one pint. (This is why I buy 4 newspapers at the dollar store every Saturday!) The ice creams rang up to .40 cent each!

And that is how I only payed 5.70 out of pocket for 56.65 worth of items (and this includes the store discounts without coupons!)

Sometimes I think to myself, "it feels like I stole all this stuff!" when in reality, everything I did was just using my coupons wisely and pairing them up with the deals and rewards the store gives you!

If you are interested in couponing, check out the easy how-to posts on money saving mom! Crystal Paine is the writer of this blog and is also a Christian stay at home mom who homeschools all three of her children. Crystal and her husband are also saving up to buy there first home with cash! She posts financial updates every once in a while on how they are reaching that goal.

At first I was very overwhelmed with how to use coupons, but I realized I really don't have to do the hard work when there are many blogs and websites devoted to sending out the deals lists. It really is a matter of getting used to how it works! And it only took me about a month!

The 4th!

What a weekend!

Lets start from the beginning.

On Friday, Steven and Cristie invited Greg and I and Allison and Tim over for some burgers/pool/slip n' slide/Wii/Twilight fun! (yes the last part is true.)

Before we left, I wanted to bring a dessert over and I decided to try my hand at lemon meringue.

And my first try was a success! I definitely will do again!

On our way over, Greg and I saw this interesting site... what is wrong with this picture?

He is definitely not a mail-man!

So I just concluded that with all this "bailout, government owned, socialized medicine" mess going on in our country... why not start driving like the Europeans too?

But anyways, once we got there, Greg started hanging out with his new pal.

(If you look at the picture the right way, it looks like Tyler has a monster fist...haha!)

This is why I get baby fever every once in a while!

Now Steven got a Wii for his recent birthday, so we spent quite some time getting "fit."! But I think the real workout came from all the laughing we did! Here is why...

(sorry the video is on its side, I don't know how to flip it!)

There really is nothing like a Houston summer, so us natives have to take the necessary precautions... These guys have the right idea.

And I will wrap up our Friday with that!

So on Saturday morning, Greg and I received a little temporary present...


This is Lucy, and she will be our pet for the next two weeks while her family his on vacation!

What a postcard picture!

That afternoon, we headed over to the Stewart's house for a barbecue and pool party! And I decided to bring along some edible patriotism.


And then that night, we had the best view from the Mercer's backyard as we watched many firework shows going on all over Cypress! I'm kicking myself for not having a picture because it was so nice!

Sunday was back to normal with church in the morning, Greg watching tennis in the afternoon, and me clipping coupons in the evening! :D

So last night Greg and I set some goals for this coming week and one of them is to gradually become "morning people" which is VERY hard for the both of us! Me being the overly-organized person that I am made a schedule of the times we need to get up to where we will eventually be waking up at 5:30 (its a long shot I know! but I will be getting up at 5 during the school year!)
This morning the goal was 7:15, and we did it! Tomorrow and Wednesday will be 7:00 and Thursday and Friday will be 6:45... this is going to be a long week! I will keep everyone posted on our progress. Simply because "A goal not written is only a wish!"

Have a great week everyone!

p.s. There are some awesome deals out there at CVS this week, so I am stepping it up a notch and trying my hand at some serious savings! I might post my treasures this evening!