Spring!........or not......

I bought these fun letters online from a lady that cuts wood and either sends it unfinished so you can Do It Yourself, or she will finish them for you. I chose to finish them myself so I could choose the colors and because it cost half the price! I am really happy with the way they turned out! I might put a few little paper/fabric flowers on them. What do you think? Should I add some little flowers? I put my S P R I N G letters up and the very next morning, I woke up to

THIS:



Cambree's comment when she looked out the window:
"WHAT would the weatherman say ?!?!"

I thought for a split second that maybe I better get the snowmen decorations back out! But then I guess Spring will eventually get here...SOMEDAY!

Apron Give-away

My friend, Melanie, is truly a magnificent person! She cooks and bakes, she "coupons", she does crafts, she sews like a pro, and she even writes novels - all this and at the same time she is a wonderful wife and mother!! Now to celebrate her blogging accomplishment of 500 posts, she is giving away an apron - MADE WITH LOVE by HER! Click here to enter her give-away! She'll even let you pick the colors and the style if you win!

Easter

I know...I'm a couple weeks late with this post, but that's just how my life goes! We went to Wyoming to spend Easter with the Hall side of the fam. We went swimming, colored eggs, had an Easter Egg Hunt, and all of that fun stuff. I always have a hard time narrowing down which pictures to post so I hope this doesn't get too long.

The Easter Bunny came!







Cory's parents had these funny little glasses at their house. Isaac looked like a little BABY GENIUS



Cambree and Rocky = GANGSTA



Isaac with his MOHAWK all ready to go to church...



LOTSA EGGS!



Cambree with her Hawaiian Haystack that SHE made!



Kaleb and his eggs that HE dyed...



Isaac got to try veggies (green beans) for the first time while we were in Wyoming. We had the camera all ready to catch the funny face of the first vegetable bite...and....NOTHING! Not even a flinch! He ate them just like it was the same ol' bland cereal he'd been eating for 2 months already. So far the only thing he has {somewhat} rejected is mashed potatoes! Everything else is just great as long as we spoon it to him fast enough! This boy loves to eat!



I'm lovin' this picture of Isaac with his Uncle Rocky! SO DANG CUTE!!

Are You Ready to Coupon??

Due to the overwhelming request of everyone that reads my blog wanting to get in on this, I'll try to tell you in a nutshell how to get started. First you need to start stockpiling coupons! If you get the newspaper, start with the Sunday coupons. The Post Register offers a special couponing subscription that gets you a weekly subscription and 5 Sunday papers for $20/month. I haven't signed up for this yet, but I'm thinking about doing it. So far I've just bummed coupons off of my dear Mom, and my Uncle (who doesn't use his coupons). And then I've also printed a bunch off the Internet.

In order to get free or really cheap stuff, you need to combine a store sale with a Manufacturer's coupon and/or a Store coupon. Most stores will accept a manufacturer's coupon and a store coupon on the same item. Here is a link to outline some of the local store's coupon policies. I have learned a lot just by reading blogs that are specifically made to tell about the good deals out there. One of my favorites is one based out of Boise called Krazy Coupon Lady. She posts throughout the day of deals she finds. Plus where she's in Boise, it's more local to us Idahoans.

Sorry I can't give you more specific info. Since I just started couponing, I don't know A LOT about it. Usually what I do is look online! You can find just about anything out there in CyberLand! LOL!

These are sites to find printable coupons:
http://coupons.smartsource.com/
http://print.coupons.com/
http://www.redplum.com/ (this doesn't come in Post Reg. anymore, but you can sign up to have it mailed to you)

Here are other links to sites and blogs that are all about couponing. Make sure to look at their side bars to learn more about how to coupon and links to other sites.

http://www.pinchingyourpennies.com/
http://www.mummydeals.org/
http://theobsessiveshopper.net/
http://krazycouponlady.blogspot.com/
http://thecentsiblesawyer.blogspot.com/
http://asweetsale.blogspot.com/
http://thefreebieblogger.com/
http://iamfrugal.blogspot.com/

It does take A LOT of time, especially when you're first getting started! I want to know your success stories so be sure to let me know how you do with your couponing! Good Luck and Happy Shopping!

My new obsession...

...okay, it's not TOTALLY an obsession YET, but it's getting CLOSE to being one! COUPONING! I'd heard a lot about it and thought it was cool that people could save so much $$$, but I didn't know where to get started. When my friend, Annette, told me that she was going to try it, I jumped on the band wagon!



I BOUGHT:

15 Boxes Post Cereal ~ .57 per box
6 Cans Dole Pineapple ~ .45 per can
3 Kraft Salad Dressing ~ .08 per bottle
2 Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce ~ 1.00 ea (not real cheap, but I love it!)
1 Two Liter Pop ~ Free
1 Johnson's Buddies Soap ~ Free (actually made .03 on this)
1 Colgate Toothpaste ~ Free (made 1.00 on this)
3 Oust Spray Disinfectant ~ .99 per can
1 Halls Cough Drops ~ .18
1 Johnson's Baby Lotion ~ 1.14 (not real great, but was $2 off)
1 Box Fruit Snacks ~ .52 (again, not real great, but about 1/2 price)

I PAID: $17.21 (before Tax) If I would have paid retail for these items at the respective store's price, my actual total would have been $119.08 (before tax).

Not too shabby for my first time trying this whole coupon craze!