It's been a while...but I wanted to share my score!!

Okay...I have really been out of touch with my little blog here. Steve and I went with friends to Mexico at the beginning of July (fabulous, by the way...if I get more time someday I will write up a little post about it!). Then with VBS and catching back up with life, well, you know how it goes!!

I went to Rite Aid today (without kids, thanks to Lisa) and I did GREAT!!!

Okay...

Pampers (31 ct)

wipes (72 ct)
4 Herbal Essence products

1 Crest Toothpaste

Total Before Coupons (but after Wellness card) : $25.17

-$5 off $25 video value coupon

-$1.50 off pampers

-free wipes (3.69) when you buy pampers

-free herbal essence stylers (2.50 each) with sham or conditioner (x2)

-$.75 Crest

Total: $9.23!!

That's not all...I got $1.50, $2 and $2 +up rewards for $off next purchase (crest, pampers, herbal essence when you buy 2). The pampers also have a $2 rebate.

So...I paid $9.23 and got $5.50 in up rewards and $2 rebate.

I turned around and went to the 50% off backpacks sale and found the last Toy Story backpack for my big boy who's turning 4 on Saturday.

Backpack: $14.99

-50% = $7.49

-$5.50 up rewards

TOTAL: $1.99 AND a $1 +up reward printed for the backpack purchase!

Yay!!! I call that a good day!!

Random Things...Genius Child, Smores and Project

Anyone who is a mom knows that feeling where you think your child is the smartest creature in the universe (even if you have seen them do some of the dumbest/strangest/grossest/etc. things...). So Micah, my little face-maker, chooses to give looks and make grunts, whines and yells when he wants or doesn't want something. He has said many words 1 or 2 times, but he just doesn't really want to express himself with words yet. (Sidenote: This doesn't worry me or bother, so I don't need any comfort...I am just stating the facts about my little precious monster.) Well, today he showed me where his eyes, tummy, feet and nose are at. He also made sounds for several animals (cow, horse-a fabulous raspberry noise that Mommy taught him, dog, chicken and cat) without the pictures! I just asked him to make the sounds. :-) So...right now I am thinking Nobel prize or something, right??

Anyways...I am on one of those "my child is a genius kicks" and I am going to ride it out! Enough about that...the big boy is pretending to be a dinosaur watching Land Before Time (I think the 5th one...which I wouldn't acknowledge other than it was free HBO weekend and I had to record the dinosaur movie for my dino-loving-boy. I am srticly a Land Before Time-the original-fan.)

We have been building fires because the boys LOVE it! When I say boys, I am including Steve-the hubby. They are so silly! We did smores last night. They were so cute getting all sticky. I have to toot my horn in that I am getting quite used to boys and their uncanny knack for getting sticky, dirty, muddy, and worse, and I just remember that the bath tub and the washing machine are in our house for a reason! Is it cute (and random) that they all match??? Also notice the great garden bench that I got my friend's garage sale for $10 delivered and the massive amounts of gravel! We moved it all over 2 days (10-11 yards of it) and I dug a "trench" around it all for the bricks that go around the perimeter of our huge graveled area...you can see them if you look close! We are feeling very productive lately...probably because the sun has decided to grace Oregon with it's presence a little more now!

I also wanted to share my fun project from yesterday! I have been very convicted by all the design shows about having framed mirrors in bathrooms and non-ugle fixtures. I have to say that our fixture was way-ugly. (Do you see the redeemingly cute boy, though??)

So...I decided I needed a frugal fix for my design dilemma. I had my wonderful, handy dad make me a frame to mount over the mirror. I painted it with the paint I used to paint the vanity a while back (along with a cute fork and spoon for my kitchen) and I hung it, and I mounted and wired the new fixture all by myself, too! I got the fixture at Walmart for $30 (no guilt there!). Gavin had to stand in the hallway to tell me when I had found the right switch to turn off power to the bathroom light--no electrocution in this house, thank you very much!

A few tips...If your new fixture is not as long as your previous, then there will be some paint issues (as you can see, there is the end of the white rectangle on the left side of the light!). Another tip is that if you are going to mount a frame over your mirror, paint the back. It is impossible to get it totally flush and the back of the frame (complete with small bits of paint and stuck on newspaper) will show in the mirror! Yes...I learned this by bringing in the frame, holding it in place and noticing my error. I took it back outside and painted the back!

Next item on the list...I need to get a quart of the paint I used for painting the bathroom from my family's building supply, Lester Sales!

My post as a new Hybrid Chick!!!

So many of you may be thinking: "What is a Hybrid Chick?"

Well, I think it has been said that I love scrapbooking. Over the past couple of years, I have dabbled in digital scrapbooking. I started with an HP program that my father-in-law gave me after reviewing it for him (he worked for HP). It was good, especially for someone who just wanted to do quick stuff, but I now use Adobe Photoshop Elements exclusively. I often don't print the layouts I do on the computer, but they can be printed at Costco (in 12x12) and there is a place online where you can upload and order them for $1.99 per 12x12. If I want to print them, I do 8.5x11 pages, and then I mount them on 12x12 cardstock with perhaps some "real" elements or other cut out printed digital elements. This makes a project "hybrid."

Many hybrid projects are little boxes, mini-albums and gift type items. The point is that they combine the digital things with actual "real" things. Hybrid is ideal for me because I love the paper and glue and all the goodies of the traditional scrap world, but it is so much fun to buy elements and paper (at great low prices) that are all digital and can be used over and over again, resized, edited, etc. to meet my personal needs. It is AWESOME!

So you can look back at previous posts and see some of my projects (digital, traditional and hybrid). They were posted so the ladies at The Hybrid Chick (part of The Digichick) could determine if I was worthy of joining the Hybrid Chick creative team. They decided YES! So I am now doing 1 blog post a month (sometimes more) at THC that shows a project I have done along with a simple tutorial on how I did it. Many of them will be things you can do with even having a digital scrapbooking program. The one I did for June (in the picture above) is the perfect example because all I used on the computer was Adobe Acrobat Reader (for pdf files...a free downloadable program most people already have on their computer) to print out the template.

I cannot post my tutorial here, so please check it out! You can click here. The picture above should also be a link to it. :-) I am learning so much about blogging and linking and all of that!!

Feel free to add THC blog to your reader or favorites and check back often. New posts are done almost daily! You can sign up to receive them in your email, too!

Safeway and Rite Aid scores!!!

Okay...I only took one picture of it all because it is a warm day, and the ice cream and popsicles were going fast!

Safeway:
3 4-pk yogurts ($1 each after 2 $1 coupons, 1 $.50 coupon + 1 dbl)
1 lucerne butter ($1.99 super coupon)
10 lb potatoes ($1.50ish for 10)
1 kraft dressing (free with $1 coupon and dbl)
2 onions
1 sour cream
grapes ($.99/lb)
2 dentyne gums (free w/ $1 coupons)
4 Ben and Jerry's (2 $1 off 2 plus dbls)
2 Starbucks Ice Cream ($1 off 2 coupon and dbl)
fudgepops and popsicles
Total: $24.32
Saved 59%!!

Rite Aid
1 megapack Pampers ($2 coupon and they are on clearance for $8.99)
2 Garnier styling products (2 for $7, plus 2 $1 coupons)
1 Suave Professionals cond. (free with facebook offer coupon)
Total: $8.27
Total before clearance and coupons: $28.47

Safeway and Walmart finds!!

I tried to take a picture of my deals from today, but my batteries are dead. I happened to buy a new charger with 4 rechargeable batteries today at Walmart, and they are charging right now. So...you have to read the deals without the visual...sorry!

Walmart
Pampers Wipes tub $2.24 -$2 coupon = $.24
Pull-ups travel pack wipes $1.76 -2 $1 coupons = $.76 each
Del Monte Fruit Chillers $2 -$1 coupon = $1 (I got some at Safeway, too! I LOVE these!!!!)
Dentyne Pure Gum $.96 -$1 coupon (they had to mark it down to $.96) = FREE (I got 2)
I also found a t-shirt on clearance for Gavin for $2!

Safeway
2 Bull's Eye BBQ sauce $.99 each
1 Purina Beggin Strips $2.50
2 Del Monte Fruit Chillers $1.99 each
2 Crystal Light to-go $1.49 each
1 Cheetos (Cheddar Jalapeno for my hubby!) $1.49

Total: $12.93
-2 $1 bbq coupons
-$1 Beggin Strip
-2 $1 Del Monte Fruit Chillers
-$2 doubles
TOTAL PAID: $5.93!!!!

I also got some other things, but this was a highlight and part of the Buy 8, Save $4 promo!!

Oh...I got a 6 pack of Dan-a-nino yogurt for the boys for $.50!! (on clearance because they expire Saturday...$1.25 - $.75= $.50. It would have been better if I did another transaction for the doubles, but I had the kids! )

Stacy's Score!!

Here is what my friend, Stacy, sent me today:

After a full year of couponing, in March I decided I needed a break. We have been successfully living off of “stock pile” items for 3 months now, and I have been very grateful for the break. However, last month I found that I was completely out of shampoo and conditioner. (That part of my stock pile had been depleted in December when I gave my sister over $100 in free hair products… the best Christmas gift ever). So I took myself to Walmart without a single coupon and no plan whatsoever. BIG mistake. I couldn’t believe the prices! After leaving the store with two measly bottles of Pantene shampoo and conditioner (of course, I had to get the most expensive kind to make my blonde blonder) and $10 dollars less in my pocket I made a vow… “never again”!

Today I redeemed myself. With just a small amount of planning, I was able to leave Target with 5 bottles of John Frieda Shampoo and 5 bottles of John Frieda Conditioner for $4.96! Less than the cost of ONE bottle at regular price. Yes, my friends, the extra work is well worth the effort.

Thanks, Stace! This is awesome!!!!

Some of my work...

Here are some pages and projects I have done. A couple are hybrid, but otherwise they are either digital (using Abode PSE) or done traditionally using paper, etc.

Boys Like Cupcakes, Too!
(Using a template by Kelleigh Ratzlaff...won her cupcake contest)

The Sirius Black layout shows a wide variety of techniques including embossing!

I used my Cricut to make the letters for this title (My 2 Dreams Come True). I used Adobe PSE to change the coloring on the pictures to match my paper more. I love this layout!!