I great shopping trip!!

I don't normally post something like this, but I saved so much compared to what I spent, that I felt I needed to!!!  I spend quite a bit of time clipping coupons from the Sunday paper, magazines and online.  I have them very well organized in a pink coupon holder.  I have a second holder that's white that is for each individual store and their coupons.  Price chopper and Target allow you to use a store coupon in conjunction with manufacturer's coupons!  This often allows me to purchase items for less than $1 or even FREE!!  

Here's the rundown from this past week's shopping trip to Price Chopper:

(I don't have my receipt on hand, but most of these are accurate.)

18 ct eggs - $1.48 w/ in-ad coupon

10 oz Vigo yellow rice $.79 w/ $1 manuf coupon

box PC spaghetti - $.50 w/ in-ad coupon

PC 6-pk strawberry applesauce - $1 w/ PC baby club coupon

1 HUGE orange - $1

2 Old Orchard 100% juice conentrates - $1.99/2 w/ B1G1 Free facebook coupon

3 Greek yogurts w/ granola - $.92/3 w/ 3- $.75 on-item coupon PLUS $1 manuf coupon

PC 80 ct baby wipes - 

Huggies swim diapers - $2.99 w/ $2 manuf coupon PLUS  $2 PC baby club coupon

PC 36 ct diapers - $3.99 w/ PC baby club coupon

2 boxes PC graham crackers - $2/2 w/ B1G1 Free PC baby club coupon

28 oz Hunts tomato sauce($1) and 8 oz Hunts tomato sauce(FREE) s/ in-ad coupon

6-pk Danimals - $1 w/ $1 manuf coupon

4 pk Splitz yogurt - $.53 w/ $1 on-item coupon PLUS $1 manuf coupon

2 PC quesadilla pizzas - $1/2 w/ PC kiosk coupon

2 PC resealable bags - $3/2 w/ B1G1 Free PC baby club coupon

Duncn Hines brownie mix - $1.19 w/ $1 manuf coupon

6 pk frozen PC bagels - $.94 on clearance

2 Suave professionals shamp + cond - $2/2 w/ $1 manuf coupon

2 new Wishbone dressings + 1 bag Dole salad - ~$3 for all 3 w/ 2- $1.50 manuf coupons for dressings PLUS $1 in-ad coupon for Dole salad PLUS $1 on-item coupon for DOLE

2 loaves Freihofer's breads + 6-pk Thomas' English muffins - $3.69/3 w/ B1G2 Free store deal

pouch Kraft Homestyle Mac n Cheese - ~$1 w/ $1 manuf coupon

PC bag salad - ~$1 w/ $1 on-item coupon

Topcare handsoap - $.25 w/ $1 baby club coupon

SO..... I spent just under $42 and saved about $54!!!!!  It really does pay to spend the time on coupons and scouring the ads!!! With a growing family of 6, I need to save wherever I can!

It is a wonderful feeling to accomplish so much in one day.  Especially with a VERY busy toddler.  :)  Yesterday was one of those days...  

*4 loads of laundry

*started an 8 pound chicken in the crockpot for dinner and made salad

*made a trip to the post office and Walmart

*watched my nephew, Rocco, for a few hours while his mommy had a dentist appointment

*washed dishes about 4 times

*worked on a knit scarf while watching a movie with Sean

*finished spinning and plying a small skein of turquoise Angora

*cleaned my neighbor's guinea pig

* made a quick trip to the Y in the evening for a workout on the treadmill

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Today was a much more laid back day!!  I did my everyday household chores while Kendall watched her PBS shows, then once she took a nap, I worked on my spinning and watched a couple movies.   I'm working on my big Lhasa Apso order, desperately trying to work on it as much as possible and get it finished within the next month.

The other day I finished a 900-yard yarn order for a friend and delivered it.  She was very happy with the yarn and will be knitting a baby set.

Today my neighbor's 16 yo daughter helped me wash and dye 3 batches of alpaca...pale yellow, turquoise and silver-gray.  I have a ton of white to dye, so I plan on using every color I have...which creates many possibilities when it comes to carding!

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Well...time to pull out the turquoise, make dinner and spin more!  

Many blessings to you...

I'm back!!!

Last time I posted was 4 days before Kendall's 1st birthday!  She is now almost 17 months old and is a combination of her siblings.  She has a temper, is sweet, is stubborn...and SO cute!

  

The kids all celebrated their birthdays...Brendan is now 10, Cara is 12 and Caitlin is 6.  

Caitlin's sporting a very new haircut!  Last Wednesday I decided to take her in and just get it over with.  She woke up every morning with a tangled mess and I had to wash it every morning for school!  I was tired of it and Caitlin doesn't even like to have her hair in a ponytail....what's the point of keeping it long???  It's a fun and easy pixie cut....makes me wonder why I didn't do it before???!!!

This week is winter break here in Central NY.  The weather has been decent compared the last month of craziness.  I think our town has received almost 200" so far....insane.  Though I can say, I got many great workouts with all the shoveling!! 

The kids have been very good so far this week.  Cara and Brendan went to a Nerf party at church Monday night....they had a great time and slept well once they got home!  :)    Caitlin, Kendall and I drove to Weedsport to pick up my handspun yarn that I had left with a friend.  She had taken it with her to Tennessee in hopes of opening a small storefront....but, that just didn't come to pass, so she brought it all back up here on a visit.  I had almost forgotten what I sent with her!!  I've already sold 3 skeins and the rest are listed on Ebay!.

My household is finally falling back into order once again.  My sister and her 3-year-old son had to live with us for about 2 1/2 months...escaping a bad situation.  I was very happy to have been able to help them out, but it was a little stressful on our family life.  My children definitely acted out....very difficult to discipline the way I needed to during that time.  

We are very much looking forward to our family vacation to Orlando in April.  We haven't been on an out-of-state vacation since Brendan was about 18 months old!!!  I really hope we can budget in some sort of vacation every year...we need the away time together very badly.  

I've been checking out Disney tickets and I must say that I am sick to my stomach at how much it would cost us for one day at Disneyworld or one of the other 3 main parks.  About $300.  There are so many other things we could do with that $300.  But, we'll see.  We're on a limited budget...I'm just trying to stretch it as far as I can!

Time for me to end for today...I'm needing to just sit.  But if one knows me, I can't just sit and do nothing!  I filled a bobbin with a blend of white alpaca and blue sparkle today...time to ply it!  That should be the end of that order...then tomorrow I will keep going on the lhasa apso yarn order!  That one is very large, so I know it will take me a while to complete it.  Sure is a great feeling to finish an order and send it out.  

Good night and God bless...until tomorrow.

Kendall...almost 1 year old!

I don't know where this past year has gone, but it has flown by!!  Kendall will be 1 next Wednesday, the 29th at 2:19 PM.  I'm having a small party for her for family and some friends on her birthday.  She gets a free cake from Price Chopper too!!

This was taken on the 12th of September...  Her poor face was all scratched up from her nails.  They grow so fast I can barely keep up with trimming them! She looks so much like her daddy did at this age...

Kittens!!

Gracie, our 6 year old torbie-colored cat, had another litter of kittens last Monday!!  She had 5, but the 1st one born, I think a female, was born with it's intestines on the outside.  :(  She only lived a couple days, but she knew she was loved!    Here are pics of the remaining 4....2 females and 2 males.  The runt is a female and she was born with her right front leg underdeveloped.  She's been eating well and is still small, but she's strong!!

Foto Friday challenge - "Sky/Clouds"

Many days of grey skies this past week made it difficult to take photos I really liked.  These were all taken on the same day.  Here are a few...enjoy!  

A crow sitting on a line across the road from the YMCA....

Looking across the small lake here in town....I love clouds like this!

Just a cool shot...I enjoyed watching the seagulls antics!  

Such a pretty blue sky...

Gorgeous clouds!

This made me chuckle!

Love this pavilion...and so does Caitlin!  We often stop for a few minutes after picking her up from pre-k.

Foto Friday challenge - "Still Life"

A stuffed whippoorwill at Beaver Lake Nature Center. I am still figuring out all my options and the flash on my new Fujifilm Finepix S1500 camera!

This table was full of cool things from nature for us to touch and see...dry fungus, bones, a turtle shell, etc....

A stuffed Great Blue Heron hanging from the ceiling.

I focused on LIFE that was still for this challenge...or things that were previously alive.

This is the inside of a gorgeous tulip.

A beautiful water plant....

A huge rock in the woods...love the shadows from the trees.

Fallen trees...resting peacefully.

New growth out of a seemingly dead stump.

A lone branch sticking out of the pond.

New ferns opening...

Caitlin took this photo...

This coming week's Foto challenge is SKY/CLOUDS.

New camera...here I come!!

First off....I took this pic this afternoon in my backyard.  I discovered it is a Red Admiral butterfly.  Simply beautiful!

Sean gave me my birthday present early...a Fujifilm Finepix S1500 camera with a 4GB memory card.  Didn't cost him a thing other than his time working at NAPA for the past 15 years!!  :)  Thank you so much....I love you!!

I LOVE this camera...love what amazing closeup photos it takes most of all!!!  I also love the panoramic setting...that is fun to play with....

I've been following a young woman's blog for some time now and I've decided to join in her Foto Friday challenge....'Still Life" is this past week's challenge.

A visit to the cemetary...

Sometimes I like to take my children and walk through the cemetary that is near our home. It's a good time of reflection for me and a chance to amswer questions the kids may have.  These crocus were growing just inside the gate...so beautiful! This white one makes me think of Jesus blood washing us white as snow...all sins forgiven.

 A huge, old maple tree...overlooking many places of rest.

The kids were sad to see these two photos on the stones...just little angels whose lives were cut short, probably by sickness.

I don't think either little girl was older than 3.

This large stone belonged to an Irish Reverend who pastored for 26 years.

Another Irish pastor's resting place...1924.

This made me sad...all of these stones were from one family.

As we were leaving, i happened to look up these trees...an interesting shot against the beautiful blue sky!

This past Sunday was the first service of the new 'Bridge Curch' starting in Bville. It was held at the Red Mill Inn, formerly Mercer Mill!  A beautiful place....

It was a long day for us, but so worth it.  We attended our regular services in the AM, then met at 2PM to get everything set up. Sean helped with the technical aspect and Cara and I helped with the children. A nice catered dinner was served afterwards..the ziti and meatballs were incredible!! And the dessert...OH MY!!!!!

Before we left to go home, the kids wanted to see the river...

Looking directly across the river.

The main bridge in the middle of Bville.

Kendall playing with a water bottle, watching her siblings run around.

And a nice family photo...taken by Katrina! I can't remember the last time we had a nice one like this taken!