Sunday coupon preview for 10/30/2011

I strongly suggest that you pick up an issue or two of this Sunday's newspaper.  There are going to be several inserts with several great deals!!  I like to use http://www.sundaycouponpreview.com to find out what is going to be in the paper.  If you sign up with your email, they send you updates through the week as what to expect that Sunday.  This is great so that I can plan ahead how many papers I want to purchase and how to plan my shopping trip the next week!!

Look what I found in the mail today!

Today was an exciting day for freebies and samples!!  I got another issue of my Working Mother magazine (which was free!!), 4 samples of K cup coffee (which I don't drink, but my mom does), my 3 samples of Bragg seasonings, another sample of the new Kleenex brand Cool Touch tissues, and my pictures that I ordered through www.snapfish.com.  For the photos I only have to pay the shipping and handling because I get the photos for free by using my points from www.mycokerewards.com!  If you drink a lot of Coke products I strongly suggest you sign up for this program.  You type in the codes of of your Coke product and earn points.  You then can use those points for several different things, such as free prints from Snapfish!

Starting my Christmas Shopping

Well, I know it may seem crazy to be seriously starting my Christmas shopping already, but now that I am a single parent, the money doesn't  quite flow in like it used to, so the earlier I start and the better deals I can find, the better off I am!

Several weeks ago I was able to pick up a board game for Truett for $3.00!  I bought him Chutes and Ladders, which is one of his favorites and mine!  The game retails at Wal Mart for $7.00, and lucky me, I was able to find a $4.00 coupon!!  I also had the same deal for Candy Land, but of course they didn't get any restock of that game in my Wal Mart until after the coupon had expired!!  Figures!!

This is the Captain America Disc Launching Shield that I was able to get for $5.00!!!  Target recently marked this down to $15.00 from $20.00.  I found a $5.00 off coupon in the newspaper, and then I used my $5.00 gift card from Target that I had received after I purchased 5 Glade holiday products from them.  Now, Truett already has one of these, but by Christmas, I guarantee that another one will be in order, or he can use it to dual with his friends.

This is the Transformers action figure I was able to snag up for $2.99!!  At Target it retails for $7.99, but recently the Transformers Facebook page ran an offer that gave you a $5.00 off any Tranformers Dark Side of the Moon purchase of $5.99 or more.  Truett will be so pumped when he unwraps this!!  He is on a big Transformers kick right now!!

A few great finds...

This week I received a few neat things in the mail.  I got in my coupon for a free Suave Professionals product, a Biore face wash sample, another Origins moisturizer sample, and a sample of the new Infusium 23. 

At the store I picked up a few bargains as well this week.  I had coupons that were about to expire for both Old Spice body wash and Tide laundry detergent.  While I don't usually use either of these products, if you can get them for free or almost free, then why not!!  Travel size Tide detergent at Wal Mart runs for $0.97.  I had 1 $0.50 coupon, 1 $1.00 off one coupon, and 1 $2.00 off three coupon. Now, with these coupons, there was not a size limit, it was off any Tide detergent.  So, after the math, I got all 6 Tide detergents for $1.35.  Not bad for Tide, and nice to have on hand in case I run out or need them for when I travel somewhere.  The Old Spice body wash coupon I had was for $1.00 off any Old Spice body wash 1.7oz or larger.  Well, the travel size at Wal Mart is 1.7oz and retails for $0.97.  So I actually made $0.03 off that purchase.

Our Pumpkins!!!

Well, we are way behind this year getting our pumpkins decorated!!  We finally got around to it today!  Thank goodness Truett is very patient and understanding with my lack of enthusiasm for the holidays this year!!

Instead of carving the pumpkins, every year we use foam stickers that I purchased from www.orientaltrading.com.  They are about $5 and come with 12 sets to decorate pumpkins with.  Above are the 6 options that you have.  This year Truett chose to do the Frankenstein pumpkin!

Tru putting the stickers on his pumpkin!!  What I love most about the foam stickers is that it is 100% safe for kids to do themselves!!  The stickers stay on really well too!  I haven't ever had a problem with any of them falling off, even when they stay outside through all the Fall weather.  My other favorite part of using the stickers, when Halloween is over, all I have to do is simply take them off and reuse the pumpkins with my Fall decor!!

There he is!!!  Tru is so proud of his pumpkin!!! 

The pumpkin that I did.  I wanted to put a little sparkle and pizazz on mine!!  HAHA!!  The paint peels off when I am ready to do something else with the pumpkin too!!

They are ready to go out in the yard!!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cupcakes

The kids in my class voted, and our friend Jack the pumpkin became chocolate chip cupcakes!! We mixed up our mixture of yumminess at school yesterday.  I love cooking in class because it opens up so many other teachable moments such as reading a recipe, what ingredients are, and measuring.  Plus, the kids have a blast doing it!!  The recipe we used is as follows:

INGREDIENTS

1 (1 lb 2.25-oz.) pkg. pudding-included yellow cake mix

1 cup canned pumpkin (or fresh, like we used)

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup oil

3 eggs

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

1 can frosting of your choice

DIRECTIONS

1 Heat oven to 350°F. Line 24 muffin cups with paper baking cups. In large bowl, combine all cupcake ingredients except chocolate chips; beat at low speed until moistened. Beat 2 minutes at high speed. Fold in chocolate chips. Fill paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full.

2 Bake at 350°F. for 15 to 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 5 minutes. Remove from pan; cool 20 minutes or until completely cooled.                   

3 Frost cooled cupcakes.

The cupcakes fresh out of my oven last night!  They made my house smell so good!!

I even toasted Jack's seeds with butter and salt for the kids to try.

Our treat for class today.  The kids had a choice between chocolate frosting or cream cheese frosting.  Most of the kiddos really enjoyed the pumpkin seeds.  There was not one seed left at the end of snack time!!  Since we have some of "Jack" left, the kids are begging to come up with something else to make.  I think next week we might make pumpkin bread!

Today's deals and freebies

My beauty sample bag from Target came in today!!  I have been SO looking forward to this!!  I also received the one they gave away a couple of months ago, and it was so awesome that I couldn't wait for this one to come in!  It didn't disappoint at all either.  The cute make up bag came with PONDS face wipes, Garnier shampoo and conditioner, TRESemme shampoo and conditioner, Burt's Bees lotion, Loreal Youth Code moisturizer, and tons of coupons for various beauty products at Target.  Also, today when I ran to Target I picked up this bottle of Listerine Zero and Suave deodorant.  I had a coupon for $2.00 off any size Listerine Zero, which for the travel size it is only $1.69.  So, I actually made money on that purchase, and even better, when I checked out, I was given another $2.00 of any size Listerine Zero, so I guess I will be making another trip to Target and make some money off another purchase! HAHA!  The Suave deodorant was $0.99 for the travel size.  I had a $0.25 coupon off of any Suave deodorant purchase.  So this came out to only $0.74.  Too bad the rest of my purchases there today weren't such good deals!!  HAHA!

Meet Jack the Pumpkin

This week in my class we are discussing fall and pumpkins. I bought a pumpkin for my class for us to have some fun with and to experiment with.  The class voted on the name Jack for our pumpkin, which of course is short for Jack O Lantern! HEHE!!  Today, we colored on Jack and carved him up so that we could see what was inside of him.

This is what is inside of good ol' Jack!  The kids thought it looked like spiders had made spiderwebs out of his insides!!  They thought this was so cool!!!

We scooped out Jack's seeds and "spiderwebs".  Tonight I am going to bake the seeds for the kids so that they can try them.  I am going to flavor some with salt and some with sugar.  The kids think it's really neat that you can eat the seeds from the pumpkin.  Also, we cut Jack up so that we can make pumpkin cupcakes tomorrow in class. Tonight I am going to boil the pumpkin and prepare Jack to become a sweet treat for my class!  HEHE!!  Tomorrow I will post the process of us making the pumpkin cupcakes and the recipe. I will also post what they thought of the seeds.  Should be interesting!!!

Another great Tuesday of freebies and samples!!

Well, it seems as though Tuesday is my new lucky day when it comes to my freebies and samples!  I had a successful day at the grocery store picking up some super deals and even many free items!!  In the mail today, I got some really neat samples!  I was quite excited!

My samples from the mail today were a Land O Lakes recipe book, a Kleenex set with their new cool to the touch tissues and coupon, a set of OLAY Professionals ProX lotions, and a set of face moisturizers from DHC.

The items I got for free from the grocery store today (pictured) were Suave Kids body wash, Suave Professionals conditioner, TRESemme shampoo, Suave Professionals hairspray, Always liners, G*U*M flossers, and Vaseline lotion.  Not pictured are some of my really good steals.  I was able to snag up two Listerine mouthwashes for $0.72, another pack of Always liners for $0.42, a NYC eyeliner for free, two boxes of Snackwell's cereal bars for $1.50 a box, two boxes of Barilla pasta for $0.73 a box, two jars of Barilla spaghetti sauce for $1.42 each, a box of Idahoian scalloped potatoes for free, a half gallon of milk for $0.98, and Zest body wash for $1.74!!

Truett's Play Date

Truett had one of his friends over today for a little play date.  They had so much fun playing on the trampoline, riding around in the 4 wheels truck, eating pizza, and playing with Truett's toys.

As you can tell, they really enjoyed jumping and each one showing off their "cool tricks".

Working hard building their "house" out of Legos on Truett's Lego table.

The result of their hard work!  It turned out super cute!!

Cruising around in Truett's 4 wheel truck!

Cookie Decorating Party!!

Today Truett and I had a Halloween cookie decorating party.  We made sugar cookies and decorated them with orange frosting and sprinkles.  I took pictures while we were mixing the cookies and cutting them out, but smart me, forgot to put my card in the camera, and of course I have misplaced the device that I have to link my camera to my computer.  I finally remembered to put the card into the camera half way through taking picture!!!  So typical me!!  HAHA!!!

Our cookies fresh out of the oven.  We made ghosts, black cats, bats, pumpkins, and witch hats.

All of our decorations.  We had orange frosting, yellow sprinkles, orange sprinkles, Halloween confetti sprinkles, and five various colors of glitter gel frostings.  I am one of those insane people who has an entire cabinet in my kitchen devoted solely for sprinkles and candles!!

Truett putting frosting on his cookies.

Mommy's cookies...

Truett's cookies...

Awesome new stuff for my class!!!!

Today I was so excited to find so many freebies and coupons in my mailbox, but that didn't compare to the excitement I had when I also found my 2 packages full of goodies for my class!!!  Last week I went to www.soskids.arkansas.gov and ordered, for free, many items for my students for when we study Arkansas History.

The items I received were coloring and activity books about Arkansas, plastic rulers, a set of posters for my classroom covering Arkansas information, and a teacher's guide to assist me!!  I can't wait for us to use all of this in class!!!!

A terrific tuesday full of freebies/coupons in the mail!!

When the mail ran today, I was in for quite a surprise!!  Usually I find a mailbox full of junk mail, bills, and sometimes a freebie or two.  Well, today I was excited to find a mailbox full of coupons and freebies!!!

Today's coupons and freebies!!!  Today I received a sample of Dial NutriSkin lotion, two Playtex body wipes with coupon, and label and tab samples with coupons from Post-it and the Post-it Perks program at www.post-it.com.  My $10 Wal Mart gift card that I used my points I had earned through the My Points program at www.mypoints.com also came in. This is a program where you earn points toward rewards by shopping online, printing coupons, completing surveys, and looking through adds.  Also today I received many coupons towards baby items through American Baby Magazine and www.americanbaby.com/free.  I personally do not need these, but I sign up for these for my sister.  The coupons are for Simply Saline, NUK, Nursery water, YoToddler organic yogurt, A+D, Fisher Price, and 8 more coupons for various items at Walgreens.

Homemade Applesauce

This week in my class we are studying apples, so today we made homemade applesauce!!  The kids really enjoyed getting to help make it!!  The quality of the photos are not great, I apologize!!

The apples all cut up and cooking in the pan.

The apples are all cooked, mashed, and ready to eat.

I promise the applesauce tastes so much better than it looks in this picture!!  I posted the recipe below if anyone would like to try to make it at home!  The kids really enjoyed it a lot!!  I would recommend using softer apples such as Fuji or Red Delicious.  I have used green apples before and they take longer to cook and don't mash quite as well as others.

Applesauce

4 medium apples

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup sugar

cinnamon

Peel, core, and dice apples.  Place apples in a pot with water and simmer for approximately 15 minutes or until tender.  Stir in sugar and cinnamon to taste.  Then use a hand potato masher or mixer and mash apples to your preferred texture.

Some special saving!!

These are my freebies from this weekend!!  I used my two buy one, get one free TRESemme coupons from the newspaper.  My neighborhood Wal Mart had their hairspray on sale for $3.33.  They each came with a travel size hairspray or dry shampoo.  So, I bought 4 hairsprays, two travel size hairsprays, and two travel size dry shampoos for $6.66.  In this Sunday's paper there was a coupon for a free (which retails for $1.25) Dr Pepper 10 two liter, so I used that coupon along with my coupon from www.mycokerewards.com for a buy one 1.25 liter coke product, get one free.  Those sell for $0.98, so I got a Sprite and Fanta orange for a total of $0.98.

This weeks freebies

 This week I got a few really neat samples/freebies! I got in my Loreal EverSleek samples and coupon.  I am really excited to try this out!!  My hair could use some help! HAHA!!  Also, from my free boxes of the new One Step Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom cleaner, there were several coupons inside for buy one, get one free refills for the One Step cleaner.

My shout wipe and coupon also came in.  I really like these!  I carry them with me everywhere!!  I got a buy one, get one free Coca Cola 1.25 liter coupon!!  This will so be used!!!  Then, I also got in another UnStopables sample and coupons.  This one was from VocalPoint, which gives out GREAT samples and the coupons that come with the product are always super!!! It came with one $3 coupon, and three $2coupons.

Also, my free Alaska guide came in.  No, I don't plan on going to Alaska any time soon, but I always jump on these freebies because I really like to use them in my classroom for the kids to look through. 

Treasures from my Nanny

My dad has been busy cleaning and going through my grandparents' house since my Nanny passed away.  My family has been so kind and allowed me to take a few "treasures" as my Nanny would say.  It's still too hard to put her pictures back up in my house, but it's nice to have little reminders of her around me through her things!!

The "Billy Bass Singing Fish" was not my choice, that would be my father.  He insisted that I take it home for Truett.  I guess that's what Paw Paw's are for!  HAHA!  There are a few more things that I forgot at my dad's house, but this is most of it.  It may not look like much, but it means a lot to me!!

I LOVE this over sized basket!!  Not that I needed another basket, but why not...you can never have too many baskets!!!

This is a red leather ottoman that used to be in my Granddaddy's office.  It needs some tlc, but once I have fixed it up, it will look great in my house!!!

Product Trial from Synovate

Well, I have officially completed my most recent product trial from Synovate, a company where you earn money or prizes by completing surveys and occasionally testing products.  A few days ago I completed my product trial and have submitted my thoughts on that product.  Now that it is complete, I thought I would share what it was I was testing...

I was  testing a possibly new product from Slim Fast.  It's a new meal replacement bar.  The flavor I tested was Chewy Chocolate Crisp.  Each bar had 200 calories and was high in fiber.  I really rated it high overall because it had a great flavor and was very filling.  The only issue I had at all, and it wasn't a big one, was that I felt it had a slight coffee flavor to it. Overall, this was a great product!!  I can't wait to do my next product test!!

USPS Priority Mail Boxes

Recently USPS was giving away this great set of boxes!  I was so excited to get these in!!  I have a feeling that this is going to be saving me a lot of extra trips to the post office around Christmas time!!!

Happy 91st Birthday Granddaddy!!!

This past weekend  a lot of my family came together to celebrate the birthdays of my Aunt Betty and my Granddaddy!!!  I have the best family and I always love when we get together!!

The little ones of the family hanging out and playing. My niece, Truett, and my cousin's daughter are all close in age and love when they get a chance to have playtime together!!

My Granddaddy and his babies!!  From L to R are my wonderful dad (yes, I am very aware that I look just like him!!  haha!!), my Aunt Betty (the birthday girl), my Granddaddy (the birthday boy at 91 years young!), my Aunt Barb, and my Uncle Jerry.

My sister Hillary and her beautiful family!!!!

Newest Product Trial from Synovate

My newest product trial has arrived from Synovate!  I am not allowed to disclose at this time the exact details, but I can say that it is for a meal replacement/protein bar.  I am super excited for this one!!  As soon as I am allowed, I will fill you in on all of the details!!!!

The Home Depot Kids Workshop for October

Every first Saturday of the month I take Truett to participate in the Kids Workshop at the Home Depot.  He absolutely loves it and looks forward to it every month!!  He gets to use a real hammer and nails and create various projects.  This month was their Fire Safety month and they held an extra special event with various vendors, the Rogers Fire Dept, Rogers Police Dept, Carroll Electric Cooperative, NWA Storm Chasers, the EMS, and free hotdogs, popcorn, and drinks!!  We were very excited to have the Brumback family join us for the day.  Truett and Cole really enjoyed themselves!!  Both boys were a little disappointed the Rescue Helicopter wasn't able to make it, but there were plenty of other things there to keep them occupied!!

This month they made model helicopters!  Here is Tru showing his off...

The boys enjoying the police car....

Truett and Cole checking out the inside of the fire truck.  I think this was by far their favorite part of the day!!

The fire fighters using the jaws of life to take apart a car....

Truett thought getting to see the NWA Storm Chasers and their car was just the coolest thing!!

The boys even thought getting to watch them make the popcorn was cool!!!