Finally home...

Guess who finally made her way home today? Kaitlyn has spent the last 2.5 weeks up in TN visiting her aunt, uncle and cousins and while I know she had fun; we are soo happy to have her home! The girls had fun watching the airplanes take off and land as we waited for Kait's plane, wondering which one was hers. As soon as Camille spotted her in the crowd, she took off, with Celeste not far behind. I barely had a chance to get the camera out. lol

Needless to say, the girls have been snuggly and spending lots of time with big-sister today catching up. And I'll admit it, I've been extra snuggly too. It's so good to have my big girl home.

Wordless Wednesday - Cousin T comes to visit!

For more Wordless Wednesdays, visit HERE.

Another great day at CVS...

15 32oz. bottles of Powerade
2 Fabreeze Noticables Starter-kits
1 Bayer Countor Meter (will be donated)
3 boxes Post Trail Mix Crunch cereal

Manufacturer coupons:
- (1) Buy 10, Get 5 Free Powerade (hang-tag on product)
- (3) $.75/2 Powerade (wish I had more of these - tear-pad at gas station)
- (2) $4/1 Fabreeze from 7/5 P&G
- (3) $2/1 Post printable coupon available HERE
- (1) FREE Bayer Contour Meter from 3/22 SS or 2/1 RP
CVS coupons:
- $15 ECBs

Total OOP: $3.12
Earned back: $15.00 ECBs ($5 for Post Cereal, $5 for Fabreeze, $5 for Contour meter)

This could have been a major money maker for me, but my kids drink Powerade almost as much as they drink water, so this was a good time to stock up for me.

CVS Good Deal of the Week

Alright, consider yourselves forewarned - this is a LONG post!

Yesterday, I went to CVS – got all of this for $2.47 out of pocket (OOP) and got $11 back to spend another day. That’s right, all this for less than the price of 1 gallon of milk!

Here’s the run-down:
2 Gallons T.G. Lee Milk
4 Head & Shoulders shampoo/conditioners
2 Dawn dish soap
1 CVS brand panty-liners
1 CVS brand pencil sharpener
1 Lady Speed Stick trial size deodorant
1 Colgate toothpaste

Manufacturer coupons:
- (2) $1/1 T.G. Lee printable coupon available HERE (if your CVS carries T.G. Lee)
- (2) B1G1 Free Head & Shoulders coupons from 7/5 P&G
- (1) $2/2 Head & Shoulders from 6/7 P&G
- (1) $.50/1 Dawn dish soap (home mailer from Home Made Simple)
- (1) $.25/1 Dawn dish soap from 7/5 P&G
- (1) $1/1 Colgate toothpaste printable coupon available HERE

CVS coupons:
- $1/1 any Lady Speed Stick printed from kiosk at front door
- $3.49 E(xtra) C(are) B(uck)s for Free Gallon Milk (CVS promotion running through 7/26 – details HERE)
- $12.00 ECBs from Soy-Joy deal 2 weeks ago

I was a little disappointed that they were out of the Post Trail Mix Crunch cereal. I will be checking the other stores in my area for this for sure. Deal is: Cereal is 3 for $10. $2/1 Printable coupon available HERE (will let you print 2 per computer). You get $5 ECB back when you buy 3 boxes. The math: $4 OOP, get $5 ECB back - a $1 money maker!

If you don’t have any existing ECBs, you could always split this up into multiple transactions to minimize your OOP. Example:

Transaction 1:
2 Dawn dish soap
1 CVS brand panty-liners
2 CVS brand pencils or pencil sharpener
Manufacturer coupons:
- (2) $.25/1 Dawn dish soap from 7/5 P&G
Total OOP: $4.37
ECBs Earned: $1 from Dawn, $.89 from panty-liners, $1.98 from pencils/sharpeners

Transaction 2:
3 Post Trail Mix Crunch Cereals
Manufacturer coupons:
- (3) $2/1 Printable coupon available HERE
CVS coupons:
- $3.87 ECBs from previous transaction
Total OOP: $.13
ECBs Earned: $5 from Post

Transaction 3:
2 Head & Shoulders shampoo/conditioners
Manufacturer Coupons:
- (1) B1G1 Free Head & Shoulders coupons from 7/5 P&G
CVS Coupons:
- $5 ECBs from previous transaction (they'll have to round it down to $4.99)
Total OOP: $0
ECBs Earned: $4 from H&S

TOTAL OOP: $4.50 plus you’ll have $4 in ECBs to spend another day.

It’s generally best to save your ECBs to spend on other items that earn ECBs, but sometimes you just need to spend it on milk. We always seem to need milk and CVS generally has the cheapest prices (go figure!). And the Buy 5, Get 1 Free deal definitely sweetens the deal.

Don't have a CVS Extra Care card? Get to it! and check out Alyssa's $5 CVS Challenge at Keeping The Kingdom First for more ideas on how to maximize your dollar at CVS.

New challenge for me!

I've decided to give myself a 30 Day Challenge. Well, actually 2.

1st challenge - To make the beds every day. No matter how messy my house is, I always feel better about my day when the beds are made. This is something that takes 2 minutes or less every day, yet always gets pushed to the side. No more. I will have my tranquility in the bedroom. I will have my little piece of peace in a normally hectic household. I will make the bed. Every day, for at least 30 days. My hope is that we will fall into the routine and continue making our beds daily even after my challenge.

2nd challenge - Not really to lose weight, but in order to get more physically active, I want to do some sort of physical exercise every day for 30 days. I have the Leslie Sansone Walk Diet DVD. I also checked out some Yoga books/DVDs from the library. And there's always taking a walk around the neighborhood with the kids, although it's a bit HOT outside for that.

I don't plan to post updates every day, but I will post updates at least twice a week. Wish me luck and anyone who wants to join is welcome!

Tuesday Heads or Tails

The theme/prompt for THIS week, July 7, is:

HEADS - "Spin"

Make any kind of post using any version of the word "Spin" as your theme/prompt.

Remember these:


Ahhh, childhood memories. I used to play with my sit 'n spin for hours. Looking back, I'm trying to remember what the appeal was, it's just a boring piece of plastic that you sit on and go round and round. No lights, no noises, no plug-ins - oh wait, that's probably what was so great about it. Powered buy imagination engineering.

Visit the Heads or Tails blog for more!

Menu Plan Monday

Had to take a little mini-break here last week. I really don't realize just how much Kaitlyn helps around the house until she's not here for a while. I'm so happy that she'll be home this week - and not just for the extra hands, but I've really missed her.

Before we get to the menu; check out this cute little note pad I found at Michael's for $1.00. It's a weekly menu plan with space for the menu on the left and a grocery list on the right. It's not quite perfect (menu plan spaces are kind of small and weekend is lumped together), but it was only $1.00 and it's magnetic so it goes on the fridge just right!


Another easy menu week here, it's just too hot to do much cooking.

Monday: We had Chinese take-out, per Hubbster's request.

Tuesday: Grilled cheese sandwiches and fruit smoothies.

Wednesday: Baked mac-n-cheese with Veggie-dogs. BAS on the side.

Thursday: Kaitlyn is finally home!!! Yay! No plans for this night. We'll either go out to dinner, or I will let her pick what we have.

Friday: Veggie burgers with oven fries and BAS.

Saturday: My sister and I will be attending a Slumber Parties party. Baby-sitter Kaitlyn will be serving either pizza, or something simple that she can cook.

Sunday: Baked chicken with roasted new potatoes and fresh green beans.

I'm kind of nervous about the Slumber Parties thing. It looks like it'll be fun, but still, it's an *adult* party. This sounds kind of silly, but I've been working on getting myself more "out there" and trying to make friends. I've had the same friend (singular) for about 20 years and a few acquaintances from my old work, but no one that lives near us. One of Celeste's friend's mom is hosting this party and she is nice, so I am trying to be more friendly and not so
on my own." Anyone out there ever been to one of these parties? Give me some details.

Alright, enough about me. For more menu plans, head on over to the Organizing Junkie site!