Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween everyone! I can't wait to take Finley trick or treating tonight! She looks so stinkin' cute in her butterfly costume! Thanks Julie for letting us borrow it.

We went to the Pumpkin Patch again on Saturday morning. Due to Finley's blossoming modeling career, we scored 4 free passes because a picture I took of her last time we went won the Tate Farms photo contest. We went with some friends and their little girl. We had a great time. We got there bright and early so there were no crowds. We had lots of fun! I didn't take any pictures since we had already been and it was so nice to leave the camera behind and not worry about getting pics. I'm going to take pics tonight, but then I've decided no more until I take pictures for the Christmas card. Finley doesn't like getting her picture taken so I want to try and change that by laying off the picture taking for a while.

I'm going to stop posting about my couponing unless I save a ridiculous amount because, frankly, I'm tired of taking pics of what I buy and listing everything :) I did get to Kroger, Walgreens and CVS this morning. I'll hit Publix on Wednesday. My stockpile is awesome right now! I was thinking today that it will be so nice to not have to spend money on groceries, toiletries and household things during the holidays. I would love to just not shop in November or December and use that money on Christmas gifts. Aside from milk, I may be able to do it! We'll see...

On another note, I have been begging Joey to take me on a trip. Anywhere, I don't care. I just want a long weekend away for just the two of us to someplace we've never been before. Well, he agreed! Yay! We've set our sights on Asheville, NC. I think it will be perfect! I can just imagine sitting in a hot tub, on the deck of a log cabin with a view of the Smoky Mountains. Can.Not.Wait. We have the dates, baby-sitters and I think we found place to stay. If any of you blog buddies have ever been to Asheville and have any recommendations on where to stay, eat, shop, explore or whatever, please let me know :)

I hope everyone had a great weekend! You all know the shopping, celebrating, traveling to see family, gift-wrapping, eating, cooking, holiday party insanity has officially begun:) 25 days until Thanksgiving and 55 days until Christmas!!!!!!!!

Happy Halloween!

We decided to carve pumpkins this year! It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I think they turned out really cute :)

Hyland’s Teething Tablets may pose a risk to children

I saw this on Facebook and thought I would repost it. We used these while Finley was teething. It was the only thing that worked. Luckily we only used it for a few weeks and always in the lowest dose. Still scary though!

Hyland’s Teething Tablets may pose a risk to children

Hittin' the pavement!

This morning I headed out to 4 different stores! I usually just hit CVS and Publix once a week, but there were good deals all over town this week. Luckily everything is within a 5 mile radius so it's not a big deal. I went to CVS, Walgreens, Target and Kroger.

Here's the breakdown...

Target: Spent $5.92, Saved $10.42
Walgreens: Spent $6.48, Saved $5.18
CVS: Spent $12.65, Saved $11.99
Kroger: Spent $6.35, Saved $5.62

Total Spent: $31.40
Total Saved: $33.21

Here's what I got.



Yay! I saved more than I spent. I don't need many groceries this week since we've been gone since Friday. Next up...Publix!

Geaux home Tigers!!!

This weekend we headed to Bham for a couple of reasons. Friday we did some family pictures with Johanna Cosby. I take a million pictures of Finley, but the pictures are always of either me and Finley or Joey and Finley. Never all three of us. I can't wait to see them!!! My mom kept Finley while Joey and I went to the Auburn v. LSU game. We had a blast! If you were at the game you may have seen Joey and I zipping around campus on a rickshaw. There was no way we could have walked from our car to the tailgate with all the food and drinks we had. Besides, the boots I wore weren't made for walking, they were made for sitting or standing. We tailgated with one of Joey's vendors which was great. There was a TON of food including a low country boil. Yum!!! I made my pound cake again which was good, but for whatever reason it wasn't as moist as the first one. We headed into the stadium to watch the game with some new Huntsville friends (Yay!) and cheered on the Auburn Tigers to victory! It was an awesome game! After the game was over, we noticed that no one was leaving the stadium...everyone just stayed and watched Cam on the big screen celebrating with the student section and showing his fans some love. We left the stadium hot, tired and sunburned, but happy! We headed back to the tailgate for a bit and then headed to Birmingham. A hot shower and the bed couldn't come fast enough. We got up this morning and took Finley to a fair in my mom's neighborhood. There weren't many things for her age, but it was nice to get her outside for a little while. Joey won her a stuffed alligator so it wasn't a total loss. I hope everyone had a great weekend!

War Eagle!




Finley before the fair.

Bad for the waistline, good for the soul.

Joey and I are heading to The Plains on Saturday for the Auburn v LSU game. We are so excited!!! We are going to a huge tailgate with one of Joey's vendors so I wanted to bring something. The other day I came across a recipe for a cream cheese pound cake that was supposed to be so good it would make you want to "slap yo mama." I decided to try to make it even though I would be making it from scratch. Yikes. I wanted to do a test run just in case so I made one today and it is DELICIOUS! I was afraid it wouldn't cook all the way through or the outside would burn or it would be dry. None of that happened. It cooked perfectly! It is so moist and delicious! It would be so good with fruit and ice cream. I had one small piece and that's all I'm having. Go to allrecipes.com (search: cream cheese pound cake III) and once you see the ingredients you'll know why it's bad for the waistline, good for the soul :)

Here's a picture of the finished product.

Yo Gabba Gabba Live!

Last night we took Finley to see Yo Gabba Gabba Live. As DJ Lance says, "It's AWESOME!" Finally...knowing all the words to the songs and all the dances came in handy :) Joey and I enjoyed as much as Finley did. The intro was great! There was music, streamers and confetti, lights, kids smiling and yelling, balloons dropped from the ceiling, bubble machines...plenty going on onstage and in the audience to keep Finley engaged. She didn't take her eyes off the stage. Her favorite part was when we did the dancey dance and when the balloons came down. I highly recommend this show. So. much. fun. Here are some pics and a video of the intro just in case you're wondering what it's like.

Publix trip!

I didn't have a great Publix trip today. I rushed planning my trip and had to go back to get things after I had already been rung up and I forgot to get bananas which are Finley's favorites. Finley was playing in my purse this morning so when I went to pay I had no cash because she took my money envelope out of my purse. Ugh! There wasn't a whole lot I needed which was good because the deals this week weren't great for me. Everything I bought was either on sale or had a coupon, but not everything had both. I spent $36. 58 and saved $21.96. When I don't have a good trip I try to remember that I'm still saving money so I shouldn't be disappointed. Here's what I got...



We are so excited about taking Finley to see Yo Gabba Gabba Live tonight!!!

Punkin' Patch!

We headed over to Tate Farms in Meridianville this afternoon to go to the pumpkin patch. They had a hayride to the pumpkin patch, a corn train, a cotton jump, swings, slides, a petting zoo, a corn maze, an antique fire engine and lots of other stuff. We all had a great time! I actually want to take Finley back this year. We got a late start and got there an hour before they closed. Here are some pics of my little punkin'.

Bear Grylls is HOT!!!

http://www.cancer.org/Healthy/EatHealthyGetActive/EatHealthy/fruits-and-vegetables-do-you-get-enough

The article above is short and to the point (bullet points actually) about how many fruits and veggies we need to be healthy.

I just got back from a Juice plus conference and it was amazing! I learned so much about family nutrition! Bear Grylls and Dr. Sears were there and let me tell you, Bear Grylls is even hotter in person. He is also really humble and down to Earth. Several women fainted when he told us all he enjoys soaking in a bubble bath ;)

Since I started taking Juice Plus...
- I have noticeably more energy
- My mood is better
- A cyst I've had for almost a year is almost gone. Two rounds of anti-biotics couldn't get rid of it.
- My complexion is better
- I don't get as many headaches or stomachaches.

I wish I could tell what it was doing to the inside of my body because I know it looks good. People in their 40s, 50s and 60s who develop cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease didn't develop it overnight, ...it started when they were OUR age. Kind of how all the time I spent in the tanning bed may come back to haunt me. It doesn't matter that I don't do it anymore...it matters that I did it from age 16 to age 27. The damage is done!

I want to be around for a long time so I am going to start taking better care of myself through what I eat. I'll only have Wendy's once a month ;)

Publix trip!

I went to Publix this morning. I did pretty good despite the fact that I bought several B1G1 items but had no coupon. Since I'm still stockpiling, I had to buy a few things that were not on sale. I spent $66.30 and saved $76.61. Here's what I got...

10 bags of Green Valley Fresh Steamers veggies
2 bags of Fresh Express bagged salad
1 box of Glad kitchen trash bags
1 3ct. Glad reusable containers
2 Martha White muffin mixes
1 box Ziploc storage bags
1 carton of Yoplait kids yogurt
2 bags of Kraft shredded cheese
1 carton of Philadelphia cream cheese
2 packages of Kraft sliced cheese
2 canisters of Pillsbury crescent rolls
2 boxes of Muellers Angel hair pasta
2 Marie Callendar's frozen entrees
2 loaves of Pepperidge Farm Farmhouse bread
1 box of Klondike Heath bars (bad)
1 box of Klondike Oreo ice cream sandwiches (very bad)
1 package of Lender's bagels
1 bottle of Crisco cooking spray
2 bottles of Sweet baby Ray's BBQ sauce
2 packages of Hillshire Farms smoked sausage
2 4 packs of Green valley Giant canned veggies
2 boxes of Cheerios

I HEART PUBLIX!

Stockpilin'

I went to CVS today and I did pretty good! I spent $32.37 and I saved $36.11. My stockpile is starting to look really good :) I got everything pictured above plus a deoderant. If you get a chance you should definitely get to CVS for the Purex 2 in 1 laundry detergent. It's B1G1 free and there is a $3 off coupon in the paper. Get 2 of them and it makes each one 99 cents. That's 64 loads of laundry for $1.98!!! The sheets are for HE washers too. I'm headed to Publix tomorrow!

Have I mentioned being an hour and a half from Bham is MAGNIFICENT?

We went to Bham this past weekend because Joey went to out of town for a golf trip. We got to see almost every member of our family! It was great! We watched the Alabama game with my cousins and their families, we visited my dad, step-mom and evil step-sisters, we saw my mom, my sister and Joey's parents and just before we came home we went to watch Finley's cousin Anna Grace cheer on the Oak Mountain Eagles so we got to see Aunt Laura and Drew too! We are so glad to be back home with Joey and ready for a busy and fun week!

Huntsville Botanical Gardens

I took Finley to the Huntsville Botanical Gardens the other day to take some pictures of her in her Halloween costume. She had fun walking all over the place. The little stinker does not like having her picture taken and will NOT look at the camera, so we mainly take pictures of the side of Finley's face for now. Thanks Julie for the Halloween costume! It is so cute!

Our chairs are back!

I had my dining room chairs recovered and it was tough having them gone. They were only gone a week, but we missed them! I LOVE the way they turned out! The set was my grandmother's and it was passed down to me. I wish I had taken a before picture. I bought some fabric at this great discount fabric store in Tennessee, but I really wasn't crazy about it. I decided (on the day the chairs were picked up) that I would run in Hancock and see if they had anything else. On the way to the store I was thinking that a big red and white floral would be pretty. What did I find when I walked in??? Exactly 5 yards (just how much they needed to recover) of red and white floral fabric for $20. It was fate!

HAPPY!

An awesome day!

We are having a great day! We got up bright and early this morning and headed to Publix where I had great success! I know I can do better, but I was so happy to have saved more than I spent! Here's what I got...

2 boxes of Ronzoni Quick Cook Penne pasta
2 canisters of Clorox wipes
4 cans of Hunt's Petite Diced tomatoes
6 cans of Chef Boyardee pasta
2 cans of Progresso bread crumbs
4 packages of Pillsbury Ready to Bake cookies
2 1/2 gallons of Organic Valley milk
2 bottles of Hidden Valley ranch dressing
3 lbs. of bananas
2 packages of Oscar Meyer Oven Roasted turkey breast
2 packages of Ball Park turkey franks
2 packages of Huggies baby wipes
2 boxes of Finish dishwasher detergent
1 box of Huggies Snug and Dry diapers

I spent $40.34 and saved $64.61. Yay!!! This was just the motivation I needed to keep couponing!

After Publix we went to storytime at the library and then the playground with some new friends. I returned some shoes to DSW and then we came home, had lunch and now Finley is watching Yo Gabba Gabba. I plan on putting her down for a nap and then putting myself down for a little tv/laptop time in the bed.

Happy Hump Day!!!

HELP! A question for CVS shoppers.

Okay, I am .06 away from $5 ECB and $9.00 away from another $10 ECB. Tell me if this is correct. The way people save so much money at CVS is that they save up these ECB and use them when something goes on sale and they basically get it for free. I'm trying to figure out if I should go back to CVS and buy another thing of paper towels or toilet paper and another shampoo or conditioner to reach the goals for my ECB. Then I would have a total of $22 ECB. So I could go right back to the aisle and stock up on whatever was on sale and/or gave me more ECB and go back again and again as many times as they would let me. Or I guess I could just wait and see what's on sale next week. Is that the way to do it???

Also, if I want to go back and use the $7 ECB I have right now to buy something to help me reach my goals for the ECB I'm close to, can I do that? Can you use ECB to get more ECB or no because you're not actually paying cash for it. Does that make sense? I'm starting to confuse myself...

Getting better...

I read on a couple couponing blogs that Rite Aid was having a great diaper deal and I needed diapers so I headed out once Joey got home from work. I went to a Rite Aid right by my house and as soon as I walked in the door I could see that the diaper aisle had been cleaned out. Ugh! Lesson learned. All day I kept telling myself I better go or they would sell out, but Finley has had a really bad runny nose so I didn't want to get her out. I drove to another Rite Aid about 15 minutes from home and they had plenty. They had diapers on sale for $7.99 for the 31 and 27 ct. packs. I got 4 of them. I had a manufacturer's coupon for $3.50 off 2 and another one for $3.00 off the other 2. Then I had a Rite Aid coupon for another $2.00 off one pack and a $5.00 off a $25 purchase. The total was originally $34.52 and after coupons it was $20.62. So I got 116 diapers for $20.62.



I also went to CVS. I got everything pictured for $45.19 (except the diapers). I saved $33.02 so I'm getting closer to my goal of saving more than I spend. When I went in to scan my CVS card I had a coupon for $5 off Halloween stuff so I got Finley a little sippy cup which she would not let go of for the picture and a bowl for Halloween candy for free. Probably the best deal was on Colgate toothpaste. They were B1G1 and I had two .75 off so they were .58 each! I am trying to keep in mind that I am still stockpiling and that as time goes on I will save more and more. If any of your coupon queens see anything in my posts that I'm doing wrong in my shopping PLEASE let me know! I appreciate any and all advice!

Tomorrow I'm headed to Publix!

Madison Street Festival

Last Saturday we went to the Madison Street Festival. We went with a friend of Joey's and her husband and little girl. We had a great time! The weather was PERFECT!!! We walked around and visited the booths, ate some yummy Greek food, visited the petting zoo and went through an inflatable obstacle course in high heeled boots. Cool, huh? They also had pony rides and I was so excited that there was no height requirement. The parents were allowed to walk alongside the kids. Finley loved it! She recently learned to say yee haw, so she said "Yee Haw" and "Weeee" the entire time. Finley had fun and she was exhausted afterwards. It was a nice little Saturday!

Yee Haw!



Joey gets out of everything because he's "too tall". I can't believe I didn't pop this thing with my shoes. Finley loved the obstacle course. She's very adventurous :)



Finley had a group of kids crowded around her blowing bubbles at her. Here she is telling one of them to blow more!



Watching the parade.



The petting zoo. I wish petting zoos would step it up a bit. Llamas, miniature horses, goats and pigs get old after a while. I'd like to see a duck-billed platypus or a koala bear or something.