Hell

Hell is a real place.  In many American churches Hell gets little attention.   I understand that churches want to attract people with the love of God, not the wrath of God.  But still, Hell is a real place and I wouldn’t even want my worst enemies to be there.

I read this today and it made me think:

Stop, Drop and Roll won’t work in Hell.

Will Dad ever get home……

The million dollar mop sits like this from about 5 pm til Dad gets home….  I need to put a pillow at the window ledge.  Sometimes Dad works late.

Funny things kids do

If you’ve been following my blog, you know I’m into food storage buckets and stockup deals.  You also know we don’t eat out a ton.  Today we were coming home from P.E class and the kids were starving.  They tried to talk me into french fries at the gym, but I said we’d eat when we got home.

We pass several fast food joints on the way home and Bethany tried a new strategy which was brilliant.  As we passed Bethany’s favorite the donut store she commented, “Mom, I bet they have extra buckets available in that Shipley’s donut store.”  I said thanks, but I’d pass for now.  When we passed McDonald’s she commented……”I bet McDonald’s also has extra storage buckets…”  Hmmmm, I see a pattern.  Get mom into the fast food place with buckets as the bait!

Menu for this week

Monday

• Buttermilk Whole Wheat pancakes and fresh pineapple
• Homemade whole wheat pizza
• Crock Pot Baked potatoes,  baked beans (from a can), leftover chicken and salad

Monday is a busy day for me so I need dinner ready with little effort.  I have 2 crockpots, yes I’m living big.  I’ll use one for Monday’s meal – I’ll put foil wrapped baked potatoes for about 8 hours on low.  This is easy breezy and very inexpensive.

Tuesday:

• Grapenuts for the kids w/ fruit and eggs, grilled ham, toast and fruit for Dave
• Grilled cheese on homemade wholewheat bread, ham and raw veggies
• Roasted Turkey Breast, rice and cold broccoli salad

Wed:

• Grapenuts for the kids w/ fruit and eggs, skillet hashbrowns and fruit for Dave (kids would rather have grapenuts)
• Hot dogs, mac/cheese and veggies
• Homemade tortillas for turkey wraps in green goddess dressing, and raw veggie platter

Thursday

• whole wheat pumpkin rolls from freezer and fresh fruit
• homemade wholewheat pizza
• homemade buttermilk cornbread, Colorado pinto beans and salad

Friday

• egg / veggie fritatta
• hot dogs, skillet fried potatoes and veggies
• Olive Garden Parm cheese Chicken, bow tie pasta and veggies

HEB Deals

I found these “stock up” deals at my local HEB.  No coupons are required.  It requires a $10 purchase, but my local HEB has a very flexible policy on this.  For example, I may get several items that require a $10 purchase, and these count against each other.  Make sense???  I usually grab eggs, milk and butter along with these items and come out OK.  Also check out their clearance bins.

Here’s a few good deals:

HEB brand green beans, kernel corn, cream corn and french cut green beans all 3 for $1.  You can get 3 of each of these, so you walk out with 12 cans of veggies for $4. Limit 3 each.

HEB canned tomato sauce (small cans) are 8 for $1.  Limit 8.

Hunts ketsup is 88 cents, limit 2.

HEB mac/cheese is 3 for $1, limit??.  I don’t buy this, but it is a good deal.

I also bought Hormel bacon bits and got croutons free with yellow HEB coupon.  If you can’t find the instore coupon, tell your checker and you usually get it w/o the coupon… they do a manual override.

Frugal Living, but with Compassion

I found a wonderful article thanks to HomemakerBarbi.  (the pic is copied from the article)  The article is: Frugal Living, but with Compassion.  I read a lot of frugal living articles b/c I need to keep filling my head with this stuff so I don’t fill my shopping cart with other stuff.  I really appreciated this article b/c the writer took a different approach to the thought of frugal living.  It was more about the people around us and the people in the world than us individually.   It is very good and made me think.

In Houston, we have not felt the economic downturn as much as the rest of the country and many parts of the world.  Granted, if you lost a job it doesn’t matter if you live in Houston or Detroit… you feel it.  But so many times, I get so caught up on how do we prepare that I take my focus off helping other people.  This is a balancing act.  You need to prepare for your family…. the Proverbs 31 woman had coats for her family….  she didn’t give them all to charity.  But she did reach out to her community.  We have an opportunity in this time and place to be a Proverbs 31 woman like no other period in my lifetime.  I don’t want to miss the opportunity to serve and get my reward:  “Well done my good and faithful servant.”  In the end that is really all that matters.  Easy to say when you have a home, elect, groceries, car, job…..   Another thing to say when you give of yourself in very tough times.

Enjoy the article here…

Gerald Celente – economic crisis to get worse

Here’s the latest from Gerald Celente.  If you don’t know this guy, check him out and you’ll be amazed at how accurate he has been in the past.

Go here for the video

Krogers Trip

Today we had a day off from school, so I pulled out my coupons and planned for a Kroger’s trip.  Got all this for $99.  I don’t know the % saved b/c many of the items were closeout and they don’t register in Kroger’s system as savings.  $99 may sound like a lot for this, but notice there are several pricey items included.

1. One is extra virgin olive oil.  It was on sale for $14.99 ($3 off) plus there was a $1 coupon blinkie next to the oils that I used.
2. I also got several bottles of Medications.  The Robitusn was $9.39 less $1 coupon.  And I got two Aleve’s at $7.49 each.  They were $1.90each off normal price, plus I had coupon plus they came with bonus box.   In addition I got three boxes of kid vitamins and one adult vitamin.
3. The fancy salad dressings were closeout, so they didn’t break the bank.   One was Brianna’s Santa Fe Blend and the other was Cardini’s Rasberry Pomegranate dressing.  I made taco salad with Santa Fe and it was wonderful!…why are they clearancing this???  On clearance I also got Jack Daniels Steak Sauce.  I’ve never seen coupon for these items so I grab them when they are on closeout prices.  These were with the regular salad dressing (except steak sauce) and not in the clearance bins.  Look for the white closeout tags.
4. Angus ground beef on sale for $1.99 – got about 6 pounds.
5. 10 pounds of potatoes on clearance for $1.00
6. In honor of the Dow dropping today, I bought more beans and rice.
7. The big applesauce is $2.  Contains no sugar.  This is a great deal.  You’d have to buy a lot more than $2.00 of apples to make this much sauce.
8. 1 free icing bucket from bakery dept.

See MoneySavingMom and SouthernSavers for other great deals folks brought home.

Will you share your milkshake?

Whenever we go out for ice cream, I rarely get my own b/c it is so many calories.  But when I see everyone else with their treat, I just want a bite.  My family hates it when I go with them.  Dave has started ordering an extra ice cream Sunday as insurance that he’ll get to eat his undisturbed.

I never eat light sour cream, cheese or creams… but for some strange reason I worry about the calories in ice cream.  Yesterday I treated the girls to an early dinner at Fuddruckers and they each got a milkshake.  I ordered water.  This place makes the best milkshakes.  I talked Bethany into a “sip”, then Maggie into a “sip” of hers….  Then I asked Shea for a sip.  Here’s the dialogue with my 4 year old:

• Mom:  can I have a small sip just to taste?
• Shea:  No, it is mine.
• Mom:  Well I bought it.
• Shea:  You gave it away to ME.
• Mom:  (mentally…. she is right)  Well, pretty please just one little sip
• Shea:  I have germs and you shouldn’t drink after me.
• Mom:  I don’t mind your germs.
• Shea:  But you’ll get your germs in my shake
• Mom:   (mentally…. she is using my words against me.  I’ll wait a few minutes and try again.  I finally got a sip.)

Clothing Resale Strategies

Today I’m joining Frugal Fridays.  See here for many other great ideas.

We stuck gold at the resale shop.  It is not “luck”, it is strategy.   I am on the email update list for my local resale shop.  Whenever they ask for the next season’s clothing, I have mine ready and am one fo the first to bring them in b/c you get the best value if you are one of the first to drop off.  Your clothes stay in the shop longer and yours are the first on the rack for people looking to get ready for the next cycle.

Many times these shops also have drawings for credit at the store.  My local shop has a fish bowl and each time I’m in I register for a drawing.  This month I won $20 credit!

I also shop for last seasons clothing when I bring in the next seasons clothing.  Right now I’ma buyer of coats, heavy dresses, sweaters and long sleeve tops.  The resale shops do not have room to store inventory, so it goes down to rock bottom when they start the next season.  If they don’t sell it they donate it to charity.’

Yesterday I got 16 items (4 were new with tags) for $24.42.  After I applied my $20 credit, I owed $4.78.  I also have a store credit for stuff I’d sold at this store, so I walked out without paying a dime.  Included:

• 5 jackets (gap jacket new w/ tags – Cindy, one of these is for Garrett)
• 1 new Claiborne boys shirt with tags (Jill this is for Brett!)
• 1 spring dress
• 1 pair sandals
• 2 gymboree dresses
• 2 shawls
• 1 lands end sweater new with tags
• 1 long sleeve Talbots t-shirt new with tags
• 1 gymboree skirt
• 1 sweater