Walmart Shopping Trip

After yesterday's shopping trip, I felt completely overwhelmed and frustrated. I spent $71.00 at Walmart for my groceries and only saved $7.35 from my coupons. And I still needed meats, which I had planned to pick up at HEB. It was a huge wake up call that I really don't know what I'm doing. I need more help! With this is mind I turned to couponing guru Kristin from Couponing to Disney. She has a series that she videoed on couponing for beginners. I sat down this morning feeling weary and watched all of the first week segments. I can honestly say that after watching the videos, I felt like getting up and getting back in the saddle (so to speak). Her first week goes over the basics such as common myths about couponing, the "code" names for specific types of coupons, where to find coupons, and how to organize your coupons. I noticed yesterday that I was completely unorganized in the way that I should have been. This took up a lot of valuable time and I think that is what frustrated me. After 2 and 1/2 hours in a store as big as Walmart, I can imagine the most patient person becoming frustrated and anxious (and patients is not one of my virtues). I did get a lot of groceries but they are not really cohesive. By that I mean, I don't really have a full menu planned out for the items that I purchased. This is another topic that Kristin talks about...planning your menu around what is on sale. Now I did read about this in my copy of Miserly Mom, but I think I forgot about this when I was doing my planning. Kristin suggests scheduling about 3 hours to really sit down and go over your sales ads, coupons, making your list and menu. This is something that I have scheduled into my limited time for Sunday, and hopefully I will do better this week. Heck, I better cause I'm running out of money for my food budget. I'll just pray that I got the stuff I need to have a decent Thanksgiving dinner.

Thursday Review: Starbucks Ice Cream

I've never fancied the idea of a coffee flavored ice cream, but I saw Starbucks on the label and said "what the heck." It was one of those nights when you just need to pamper yourself and feel like a woman. I decided to treat myself to the Caramel Macchiato flavor. Starbucks seems to have three different flavors, but I've only had the Caramel Macchiato so far.

After the kiddos went to bed, I grabbed the remote and my favorite cozy blanket to curl up on the couch with. After I found the girliest flick I could find, I opened the pint sized carton. I don't think I've ever said this about an ice cream, but it was beautiful! Creamy swirls of honey colored caramel drizzled throughout vanilla and coffee flavored ice cream. And the aroma! I began to feel like this was going to be one of those luxurious moments that make you feel like an aristocrat. I fell in love with the velvety smooth texture, and the taste of coffee is not over-powering at all. I think the vanilla ice cream really tones it down where as it hints at you with every mouth full. All I know is that this ice cream is sinfully good! If you haven't tried, I wouldn't definitely say grab yourself a carton. This is my new favorite.

So far the cheapest I've found it is at Walmart for $2.50 and there's a coupon for it here for a dollar off. Try it and let me know what you think;)

Field Trip to the Witte Museum

Yesterday was our field trip to the Witte Museum. Papa was home so he went to. The kids had a blast! We've been on several different field trips this semester all ready, but this time we did something a little different. I created some questions about the museum and some of the exhibits ahead of time. This way, I could measure what the children were grasping from the experience. I basically left it up to them whether or not to answer the questions while at the museum or at a later time. I did this as to not put a damper on their experience. I still believe that field trips should mostly be fun.

Let me digress though because I'm getting a little ahead of myself. As you probably know by now, I'm trying to live the frugal life. So I wanted to share this deal with any of my fellow San Antonians or destination bound vacationers. The Witte Museum is free of charge on Tuesdays between 3pm and 8pm. This admission price is good to see all of the exhibits except for the revolving ones. If you'd like to see the revolving exhibits, the admission is only $3.00 per person on Tuesdays only. The normal rate for these types of exhibits are $11.00 per person. Right now that exhibit is the Circus folks: Secrets Behind the Big Top gallery on display until February 14, 2010. Awesome deal!

We all had a great time, the kids loved the exhibits. My daughter's favorite is by far the HEB Science Treehouse. There they have all sorts of hands-on machines and gadgets. Some of the other exhibits include the Texas Wild Ecology area, and the Don Yena Art Gallery, which highlights painting of South Texas history. Also, the Colors of clay textile gallery, which displays pottery. The Ancient Texans Rock Art display, Mummies and ancient Egypt exhibit, the Waterworks and Little Treehouse environment, the Log Cabins and Historic Homes exhibit, and the Lonesome Dove photographic gallery. The museum also has an website that provides interactive

movies, quizzes, and activities for the kiddos. Take a look

at the site here if it sounds like fun.

Okay, back to homeschooling info. One of the things that

I implemented a few years back is school-year scrapbooking.

Although I'm a complete novice to scrapbooking, I love the

idea of looking back over the year and seeing what you have

accomplished. This year will be a real treat since my son is

now enrolled in our school. He has just as much fun as my 8 year old when we go on these field trips. I'll be happy to

look back at the end of the year and see his face in the pics

that we took. For our yearly scrapbooks, I have the kids

write a one-paged paper about the field trip the day after,

during language arts time. This way we can adhere the report which highlights what they enjoyed or found interesting about the field trip, to a page with pictures. It's a great project which really comes together at the end of the year. Feel free to let me know how you make your field trips more educational or enjoyable:)

Still Trying

I've been reading my copy of Miserly Mom and picked up on a few smart shopper ideas. I was recently wondering if trying to get all the deals from coupons would be beneficial or if it would cost me more money. I was also wondering if I would be buying a bunch of stuff that I don't need or usually use. I was happy to see that Jonni addresses these issues in her book and gives practical advice for shopping. She explains that it is best to look for the best price in general. When it comes to coupons, if the store brand is cheaper than the name brand with the coupon, then buy the store brand. Simple enough you'd think right? Well, I was getting wrapped up in trying to find the coupon deals. Jonni explains that this is a mistake. I've been taking it slow, reading one chapter at a time and trying to mark sections where I may need to revisit. The book is invaluable and I'm glad I purchased it. With Jonni's help I have a game plan for tomorrow. I've planned my meals for the next two weeks around the sales ads for my local stores. I usually do my shopping at HEB supermarket and Walmart super store. I've identified my items for HEB and ready to execute my mission. I actually checked out HEB's site and they have a nifty little shopping list creator. I also like the fact that their ad is right there on the site just in case you misplace you flyer (like I have so, so many times). Well, I'll let you know how it goes:)

Walgreens Shop Day!

The new coupons came in Sunday's paper so I had to grab my copy. I was anxious to see what type of deals I could find for the week. As I was going through my fliers, I started feeling like I was going to need a little help to get me through my shop planning. So I headed on over to Money Saving Mom and linked up to several of her friends for assistance. It's such a beautiful thing to have help when you need it. Many of the sites that I visited from Crystal's page had beginners suggestions and tips. It's like taking an online class with most of these. I just began to think about how wonderful and giving these women are to share their wealth of information and to give so freely of there time to help the beginners, like myself. Well, I took the advise of one mom who suggests starting with one store. I decided to go for Walgreens, again. I think I'm going to focus on this store until I truly get the hang of it. I circled a few key items from the flier and wrote down whether I needed and in-store coupon or an circular coupon. You can find out more about what I'm talking about from my new unsuspecting mentor's site. Then I grabbed my oversized, knock-off designer bag and headed to the store. I bagged several deals that I was proud of. The Kellogg's cereal $1.99 on sale $0.99 with circular coupon, Ricola mixed berry cough drops $1.00 on sale $0.50 with Walgreens coupon with the extra bonus of a $1.00 Registar Reward. I also bought the Cheezits, Club Crackers, Austin Crackers, and Pecan Sandies, for $0.50 each. I was super excited to get the deals that I got even though I didn't get much. I just wanted to feel like I could do it...and I did. I just want to scream it to the world how wonderful couponing is. Next stop...Walmart (OOOHhh!).

Bread Pudding

The beginnings of a warm and cozy evening. I decided to make bread pudding. Sniff, sniff...aahhh! I'd gotten some Texas Toast bread free from the discount bakery shop where I buy our family's bread. If you spend $5.00 you get a loaf free. I usually get about 5 loafs of bread for that price plus a smaller item. That's six loafs with my free one. The catch is that the free loaf has expired by the date or is about to expire. I get it anyway and make something like this wonderful dish, or freeze the bread until I need it. Works for me! This picture is what it looked like when I put all the ingredients together and had it ready to go in the oven. This is a super simple recipe for y'all that haven't tried making it. I like to use a thick bread, preferably something that's not pre-sliced...baked as a loaf. Bread Pudding Preheat oven to 350 Ingredients: 8-10 slices of bread or a half loaf cubed 6 eggs 3 cups of milk 1 cup of white sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 2 tablespoons of butter 1 small box of raisins (optional) In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, milk, eggs, and vanilla extract. Place cubed bread in a 9x13 baking dish and arrange. Sprinkle raisins on top of bread if desired. Melt butter and pour over the cubed bread. Next, pour half of the egg mixture over the bread. Let it sit for about 2 minutes, then pour the rest of the mixture in. The bread should be almost covered with the mixture. Gently push the bread down into the mixture so that all of the bread is moist. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake on 350 for 45 minutes or until top is golden brown and the bread is a little springy to the touch. The bread pudding should be puffed up when it comes out of the oven, but will settle down once it comes out. Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream and your kids will worship the ground you walk on. Here's a look at the final product: And yes, my kiddos are worshipping me even as they sleep...I can just tell;) Blessings~

Emotional Day

Today was a doozy, I could just visualize myself sitting in one of those padded rooms wearing an all white ensemble with multiple buckles. The day started off wonderfully enough. I slept in just because I could, and woke up to a smiling husband. The crap didn't hit the fan until I left outside of my bedroom. As soon as I went down stairs to round-up a little breakfast, my son pulls me to the side to tell me that the cat has been up on the counter-top licking my beautiful pumpkin chocolate chip muffins...( and yes, they were really REALLY good). Of course, I was livid! Instant anger took over my body so I went and got the cat and put him outside. This is where a whole new set of problems start. The cat technically belongs to my daughter, little Miss Sunshyne, but she was anything but sunny after she found out what I had done. She came down stairs just when I was closing the door and saw that I had put the cat out. Then she looks at me with those beautiful, brown eyes in disbelief. There's a pause, then she turns and bolts up the stairs crying. It was exactly like a scene from one of those dramatic "teen vs mom" movies (except my daughter's eight). I couldn't believe it! I went up stairs and explained to my husband what happened and he came down to retrieve the cat. After bringing the cat back into the house, hubby begins to talk to my daughter about letting the cat roam in my kitchen unsupervised. He told her that we may have to adopt the cat out if she is not going to watch over him. Miss Sunshyne immediately gets the cat and storms towards the stairs, turns back looking toward us and says "why don't you just get rid of both of us then!" Afterwhich, she bolts upstairs crying again. As you can see, things weren't going well. It was already time for me to go up to the hospital to feed RJ. I felt so bad that I couldn't get dressed to go. My husband insisted that he would handle it and encouraged me to go to the hospital. Before I left he went in to talk to her but came out emotional himself. He said that he was thinking about what she had said and didn't want her to ever feel like that. I started crying too...I mean, this is my baby and I didn't think my actions would hurt her so much. Hubby thought it best for me to go ahead and go to the hospital and just talk to her when I returned. So I went. I felt sad, helpless, ashamed of my actions, guilty, and any other negative emotion in this category, driving to that hospital. Once I reached the hospital and visited with my son, I felt happy, elated, thankful, joyful...praising God for my stewardship as a mother. However, when I left that same thankfulness and knowing that these children are in my care for me to be the best parent I can, brought on more guilt. I went home and had that talk with my daughter. She was as sweet as pie during our talk. We both apologized and that ended the saga. It feels good to be able to apologize to my child for my mistakes...I think it lets her know that I'm human and that I don't have all the answers. I hope that helps her to have a closer relationship with me as she grows.