Grocery Shopping Part 2

So, I know you are all anxious to know how my shopping trip went yesterday, huh? Well....maybe not, but I will share anyway!
I didn't get there as soon as I wanted to, so instead of hubby meeting me there after work and helping me at the very end of the shopping, he was there for the whole thing. He likes to mosey around and look at stuff, so our 2 hour trip took over 3 hours!
And he likes to try new things so that added a bit to my total. But,
I shopped for 3 weeks and spent $260.00 with a coupon savings of

Not bad for me, but I think I could have done better.
And then when we got home we found a huge mess that the puppy had made. So it made for a not-so-enjoyable afternoon!
Hope yours was better!!

Grocery Shopping....UGH!

In an effort to blog more, I may share more of my mundane life than you really want to know......

I don't know about you, but I dislike going to the grocery store.
Probably because it's such a chore for me. I thought maybe
blogging about it might make it "fun".

Here goes nothin'!
I start out by making a menu. Because I don't like grocery shopping, I make a menu for at least 2 weeks and sometimes 3 0r 4. If I am really lucky I can squeeze another week of meals out of what I buy before I even have to go back. Yep, I hate grocery shopping.

I first write the meal ideas down and then add them to the menu calendar. This way I can try to think of things we'll be doing on those dates. Maybe something easy if we have a long day or something in the crockpot if I have to be somewhere else that evening.
Crockpot cooking is my favorite way to cook! I love that I can cook in the morning and when I am tired at the end of the day, dinner is ready!Our menu usually consists of tried and true favorites, but especially when the kids were young, I would get out my recipe books (of which I am not lacking) and search for something new to try out. I would try to have a "new" meal at least once a week.

We found several of our family favorites this way!
Coming up with 14-21 meal ideas is no easy task. And it can take me a while! To make the ideas flow, I will have a "theme" for a certain day. This month I chose Thursday as a hearty soup night! Mexican for Monday, Chicken on Wednesday and Crockpot Tuesday are past ideas! Of course, when the weather is nice, we grill all weekend long!
I've also tasked family members with coming up with ideas and as the children got older, they also cooked one night a week! Usually it was something simple like Hamburger Helper, but hey, I didn't have to cook!
When I am feeling ambitious, I also like to go through the cupboards and freezer and write down what I already have and try and come up with meals that include those ingredients. This is a money saving technique I learned when we were first married.
I always try to have a magnetic list pad on the fridge so I can write down things I need from the store as I discover I'll be needing them such as coffee, paper towels and such. While I am making the menu, I add to this list the ingredients I need for the meals.

Then there are those coupons. What a chore! But so worth the investment of time. I can save anywhere from $30- $50 using those trusty coupons! And, nope, the Commissary doesn't double them, but I sure wish they did.

I subscribe to the Sunday paper for coupons, clip them from product boxes, get them from friends (thank you, Christy & Chrystal!), get them off the store shelf and pick up coupon books from the store. Ideally, I should clip them once a week so they don't stockpile, but this week I found myself cutting so many on Sunday that I had to take several breaks and do something else cuz my back was hurting.

I also sort though my coupons and get rid of all the expired ones so I don't have to worry about that while I am shopping. How I miss having the kids help me cut and sort the coupons. I am sure they don't miss it though!

Well, that is how I do it!

If you've got some time saving tips or money saving tricks up your sleeve, I would love to hear them! I haven't ever tried printing coupons off the web, so if you've done that, I'd love to hear from you on how that works!

Have a blessed day!
~Angel

Kisses for Grandpa!

The cutest baby in the world was over at our house last night.

He's precious!

I shot these next several photos of Kevin and Gabe in succession.

Can't you just picture them in one of those flip books where you can actually see the photos or drawings in "action"?

Now that is a nice wet kiss!

The last one is my favorite. You can see the joy all over Grandpa's face!

I LOVE it!

And right next to them on the couch was Paisley watching intently. Hehehe

Kevin took some pics of me with the baby too, but it was a bad hair/no makeup kinda day so we won't talk about those.

Empty House

It's just me and Paisley today.
It feels weird.
It is the opening of a new chapter for Kevin and I. It is the first time it's been just he and I alone in the cabin. I guess they call it "Empty Nest".
Jake, Megan and Gabe are all settled in the parsonage that came with his new position at Wellston Christian Church. They are only a half hour away though so I can get my grand baby fix a few times a week if needed.
Katie went back to school yesterday. She'll be back in May. We're planning on renting a truck to help her move here and move Brian and Alli at the same time. Brian will be taking a position at our home church in Wichita. It will be nice to have them only a couple of hours away as well.
My plans for the next couple months are to
~Get my house in order...spring cleaning is overdue
~Get immersed in the new Bible study I started last night. It's called Faithful, Abundant, True and looks like another great study by my favorite teacher Beth Moore along with a couple of other teachers
~Exercise daily and lose some weight I put on over the holidays (and months preceding the holidays) My loss of 2.5 pounds last week at TOPS was a good start there!
~STAMP! My stamping goals are to maybe join a design team and submit some projects for publication. I also have several projects lined up which include one of those Cookie Sheet Calendars for myself!
~and last but not least I hope to BLOG regularly
That is all from me for now! Hope you've had a great start to an awesome week!

Our 2010 Christmas

Here are some pics from our family Christmas. We celebrated it on New Year's Day this year since the boys spent their Christmas day with their in-laws as they plan to do every other year. I don't mind so much when we celebrate Christmas as long as we do! :-)

Of course, this year was ALL about the baby!

It was Gabe's first Christmas and we spoiled him (just a little).

I don't even remember doing this much shopping!!!!

It was Paisley's first Christmas too!!!!

I took a few pics of the pretty packages. Wrapping is so fun now thanks to my friend Shelly!

Thanks for stopping by today!
Blessings~

Paisley & Lucky

Besides the grandbaby, I have to admit I take more pictures of Paisley than anything else. I never knew I could love an animal SO much.

And let me just brag on the puppy a little bit!
She is SO smart! We've taught her how to sit, shake, lay down, roll over and more recently to play dead.

When she wants a treat now, she will just go around the room playing dead. It's very cute and nearly irresistible. She sleeps in her crate all night long and doesn't make a peep until she hears someone is up.

She is very good with the baby too.

She doesn't mind being messed with or if she does, she doesn't growl or make a peep.
She has the cutest little white mark on her butt. We call it her bar code.

She is not very big and doesn't bark unless someone comes to the door.
She is a little OCD I think. If she comes out in the morning and something has changed or something is not where it belongs inside or outside, she will growl and her hair stands up like a mohawk. If she doesn't recognize someone, she will do that as well.
Her best friends are Jake and Megan's dog,
Trixie

and our kitten, Lucky.Lucky is so named due to a 15 minute interstate ride in the wheel well of my car.

Lucky is normally an outdoor cat that we got primarily to keep away the mice. At the moment she is staying in the laundry room because we took her and had her spayed on Friday. She is a very loveable little bundle of lots of fur. She is very pretty and has the same coloring as Paisley.

Thats all about the animals. Aren't they adorable?
I posted on my stamping blog yesterday and this one today. Just call me butter cuz I am on a roll!
Have a great day!
Blessings~