Adventures: Shelter Meeting & Scrapbooking Crop

Saturday was a busy day for me. 

At 9 am, I had a volunteer meeting at the Animal Shelter.  The Mobile Adoption Unit is starting up again and although I know what to do, I wanted to at least go to the meeting and see what's new.  Good thing I went because a schedule was handed out with all the NEW places the Unit will be going!  I can't wait to start back up on this.  I really enjoy it.  I think I'm at a point where I want to start volunteering more.

After the meeting, I headed to an all-day fundraising crop for Leap Ahead. I spent the day organizing digital freebies from Creative Memories.  Seriously.  That's all I did.  I had downloaded so much stuff and never did anything with it.  Now that I really want to get going on the scrapbooking, I needed to get it done.  It was definitely time well spent.  I felt so much better at the end of the day and today (Monday), I finished importing and tagging all the other freebies (from Scrapbird, Miss Kate Cuttables, & Persnickety Prints) I have downloaded.

Savings Summary Saturday - April 27, 2013

Items sent for:

• n/a

Grocery Shopping (and other savings) this week (and previous week):

• Giant
• Marked down boneless chicken breasts this week!
• Marked down Beggin' Strips - $1.59 each! Unfortunately, I didn't have any extra coupons with me, so if I had coupons for these, they didn't get used. :(  I keep thinking I need to just bring my binder with me.  I see others do it -no need to be ashamed.
• Scrubbing Bubbles products were on sale - Regularly $3.69 sale for 2/5 or $2.29 each.  Used a $2/2 coupon, 75 cent coupon & 50 cent coupon (both doubled)
• Wisk - regularly $6.85, on sale for $3.99.  Used a store coupon for $1 off plus a $1off manufacturer coupon.
• saved 46% this trip.

Gas Savings:

• Hubby used the Exxon card which gives us cash back via Upromise.com

Income (Starting to post again to Ebay & Listia. My goal is to post at least one item a day.):

• Listia
• listed several items that didn't sell last time plus a couple of new items. Received 1290 in credits - paid $7.80 in shipping.
• Craigs List
• Once again, someone inquired about the albums I had listed.  Said they were interest & asked when they could come by and then never did.
• Capital One
• got an extra $5 in our checking for using the ATM for a deposit!  FYI - I am now in love with the auto deposit at the ATM.  It's so easy to use & no deposit slips!
• Electronic Recycling
• got $6.50 for a broken Ipod Touch that I found.
• got $2 for an old phone.

Items received in the mail:

• Rolling Stone Magazine (rewardgold.com)
• Every Day with Rachel Ray (Pebbles)
• People (Peebles)

Rewards programs:
MyPoints - 15595  points (personal account) - 15580 points -last week
MyPoints -  5486  points (coupon account) - 5236 points-last week
Swagbucks -  874  points (852 points-last week)
Listia - 62394 credits (61834 credits last week)
Postpoints -  3380 points (3,370 points last week)
mycokerewards -  7120 points (7056 points-last week)
Bondrewards - $27.81 ($27.81 - last week)
Upromise - $22.48 ($22.48 last week) available for transfer
Capital One Rewards - 2571  miles (2451 miles-last week)
Thanks Again - 1075 points (1075 points last week)
Viggle -  19896 points (17993 points - last week)
NCP -  48,975 points (48825 points last week)
Daily Feats - 2467  points (2467 points last week)
ExpoTV -  220 points (220 points last week)
IBotta -$3.50 ($3.50 last week)
Jingit - $0.30 ($0.30 last week)

2012 New Year, New Goals - to continue in 2013!

• Use rewards programs to get gifts and daily stuff -
• Use Restaurant.com coupons -
• Set up an Estate -
• Monthly Review/Net Worth
• I created a new budget with only one income and used Quicken so that I am able to run reports to see how well we are staying on track.
• See From D.I.N.K to O.I.N.K.- March summary

The Housewife Tour 2013 - The Week in Review

No big projects this week.

• shipped out a bunch of stuff that "sold" on Ebay & Listia.
• Attended a scrapbooking class on Wednesday.
• spent about a day getting ready for a scrapbooking crop on Saturday.  Man, it takes time to get computer files organized!

Slow week - but it was productive!

Becoming Betty Crocker: Roast Chicken with Cilantro and Garlic

This week at Giant, they had whole chickens on sale for 79 cents/lb.  I figured, what the heck, I'll try it.  It can't be that hard to cook a chicken!

I knew I had the cookbook, Simply Chicken that I was trying to get rid of on paperbackswap.  I had never used it, but figured I would pull it out and see what recipes there were for a whole chicken.  SCORE!  Unfortunately, I can't find the exact recipe on the internet, but I found this recipe which is very similiar.

So reading the recipe, it calls for a pestler and mortar or a food processor.  GUESS WHAT?!  I HAVE A FOOD PROCESSOR!!!!  Amazing right? - since I'm just starting to cook.  Know why?  My Mom & Aunt Helen each had one. 

I don't think they were EVER used though.  I don't ever remember them being used anyway.  I remember seeing them both in boxes.  So many times, I thought of getting rid of it, but NO WAY - NOT NOW!!!  This thing is around 25 years old & worked great!

One of the items that was needed for the recipe was 3 sprouts of cilantro.  Needless to say, I have a bunch left over - you know what cilantro goes in and what is easily made with a food processor??? SALSA!!!!  You know I'm going to try that one!

OK - back to the recipe. 

First step was preparing the seasonings & letting it sit for about 4 hours.

First ever item made with a food processor!

 

Four hours later - basting the chicken (before cooking)

 

BTW - I did know enough to pull out the guts.  Those items (gizzards, livers, heart & neck bone?) got cooked up for the pups.

Inners cooking for the pups

Inners cooked & chopped up for the pups. 

This was added flavor for their dinner :)

 

One and a half hours later, chicken was done & falling off of the bone!

This was such an easy recipe!  We had garlic biscuits and corn with it.  Definitely will do this one again if there is a good sale on the whole chickens.

NOTE:  next time I might put foil on top or put it in a different pan (with a cover).  Whenever I opened the oven, smoke came out.  Good thing our smoke detector by the kitchen is off!

We have plenty of left overs for some good chicken sandwiches!

Yes, the pups have some leftovers too.

 



 



Adventures: Digital Scrapbooking Class

One of my hobbies is scrapbooking.  Now, I haven't spent too much time on scrapbooking lately.  But I have many projects planned.  With this "time off" I have been trying to think of what my next step will be (in my "work life").  I would love to work from home.  So I have been kicking around the idea of becoming a Creative Memories Consultant.  In the meantime, I have been going to whatever CM (Creative Memories)events through my Consultant, Jennifer Hewitt Nino.

For the next 5 weeks, Jen & her upline, Jeannette Bianchi will be having a class during the day at Orange Leaf in Bristow, VA for digital scrapbooking.  I am so excited.  Although the CM Memory Manager & Storybook Creater software is really easy, I have already learned some tips from the class!

Now for the homework....

Jeannette Schafer Bianchi

Had a great time today at Orange Leaf! Today's homework.....

download and import another Friday freebie AND download and import another set of 12x12 templates.

Once you do both of these, comment which ones you did.

I think this (the homework) is a great idea.  Otherwise, I probably wouldn't do anything with it.  However, I am going to a crop this weekend and plan on doing only digital on that day - probably mostly organizing.

Becoming Betty Crocker: Land O' Lakes Saute Express

I have been wanting to try these for awhile.  I have seen coupons for this product and have just been waiting for it to go on sale.  SCORE!  This week it was on sale.

 

 Tonight I tried the Lemon Pepper on pork chops.  This was so easy to use.  I used 2 packets on the 2 pork chops that I cooked.  This was probably a little more than the directions (it said to use one packet on 1/2 lbs).

Here's what the packets looked like out of the packet:

 

Once again, I forgot to take pictures of the end product!  Once the packets "melted", I sauted the pork chops.  They came out WONDERFUL!  They tasted great.  I'm hoping that the other favors taste as good.

Adventures: Brunch with Friends

We had brunch in DC at Creme with friends.  Veronica and I have been phone/internet friends for about 2 years since she worked at Ping Mobile and I was her client at my work.  It was great to finally met Veronica!

She and her boyfriend, Mike, came down to spend the weekend in DC.  We were supposed to meet up on Friday, but the weather was crazy.  So we changed it to Sunday.  The food (and friends) were great at Creme.  We got there at a great time (11:30 am).  We were seated right away, then within a 1/2 hour there was a wait.

Afterwards, we went geocaching.  There are several caches in the alley ways of DC where there are murals on the buildings.  We found 2 1/2.  I say 1/2 because we thought we found one and signed the log (the gps said it was within 14 feet), but we pulled it out and it just said "Obama's Dog Cache" and no one had signed the log.  Come to find out, we were on the wrong side of the buidling!

One thing that is great about geocaching is that you find out about these things (parks, murals, status, etc) that you never new existed.  Here are some of the pictures from the murals.

Adventures: Wedding Reception

Dan & I had a wedding reception to go today in Martinsburg, WV for my friend, Michelle & her husband Matt. The reception was at The Purple Iris.  Michelle & Matt got married in December at a small ceremony and Saturday was the party.

On the way back home, we stopped at the bike trail and picked up some geocaches. There is a bike path (that's about 10 miles long) along Route 9 that has over 50 caches on it.  We got 2 and then stopped at Roy Rogers in Ranson, WV and got one more in the parking lot there.

Savings Summary Saturday - April 20, 2013

Items sent for:

• Walmart cat food sample (to be donated).

Grocery Shopping (and other savings) this week (and previous week):

• Giant
• Monday is the day for meat markdown!  I got 2 petite sirloins for about $3 each and 3 pack of pork chops about $2. 
• Petco
• used a $5/$25 coupon, Purina Beneful treats were bogo - used 3 manufacturer coupons on 4 boxes and used a coupon for a free can of cat food (to be donated).

Gas Savings:

• Hubby used the Exxon card which gives us cash back via Upromise.com

Income (Starting to post again to Ebay & Listia. My goal is to post at least one item a day.):

• Listia
• listed several items that didn't sell last time plus a couple of new items.  Received 1290 in credits - paid $7.80 in shipping.
• Craigs List
• relisted items.  I did have some interest in a couple of items.  I responded to their e-mails and then never heard back from them.  I'll try one more time and then off to Listia or donation they go.
• Ebay
• listed items for sale.  Sold 3 items for 99 cents each but made a little bit on the shipping (charged a flate fee or the shipping charged was greater than the actual cost).
• Electronic recycling
• I have been looking into several different electronics recycling websites to see how much money we could get for our old electronics.  Finally got around to do this.  I'm hoping to get $121.40!

Items received in the mail:

• free Martha Stewart Living magazine (rewardsgold.com)
• People magazine (signed up for 3 free magazines when shopped at Peebles)

Rewards programs:
MyPoints -  15580 points (personal account) - 15555 points -last week
MyPoints -   5236 points (coupon account) - 5097 points-last week
Swagbucks -  852  points (755 points-last week)
Listia - 61834 credits (46635 credits last week)
Postpoints - 3370  points (3,360 points last week)
mycokerewards - 7056  points (6937 points-last week)
Bondrewards - $27.81 ($27.61 - last week)
Upromise - $22.48 ($22.48 last week) available for transfer
Capital One Rewards -  2451 miles (2306 miles-last week)
Thanks Again - 1075 points (1075 points last week)
Viggle -  17993 points (13574 points - last week)
NCP - 48825  points (48335 points last week)
Daily Feats - 2467  points (2467 points last week)
ExpoTV -  220 points (220 points last week)
IBotta -$3.50 ($3.50 last week)
Jingit - $0.30 ($0.30 last week)

2012 New Year, New Goals - to continue in 2013!

• Use rewards programs to get gifts and daily stuff -
• Use Restaurant.com coupons -
• Set up an Estate -
• Monthly Review/Net Worth
• I created a new budget with only one income and used Quicken so that I am able to run reports to see how well we are staying on track.
• See From D.I.N.K to O.I.N.K.- March summary

The Housewife Tour 2013 - The Week In Review

Well, I really don't feel like I did much this week.  Maybe because the things I did took time.

Projects:

• organizing and posting items for sale on Craigs List, Ebay and Listia.  Luckily, some things have sold.  I have figured out that 3 day sales are the best.
• New toliet paper holder in the 1/2 bath.  I saw this a LONG time ago and have been wanting to do it, but it seemed like whenever I went to the craft store, they didn't have the vase I needed or they weren't on sale.  Score this week!  In stock & on sale (40% off).  I know, something so simple - but a GREAT idea!



Before



After

 
• Painted the door bells (yes, we have two - one regular door bell and one intercom system).  This project wasn't as easy as I thought.  I though both plastic covers came off and weren't connected to the wall.  Wrong.  So I ended up doing a backup plan.  Newspaper around the covers and spraying.  It didn't come out as clean as I thought it would (see around the edges - you can see some paint).  The paint was running down.  This wouldn't have happened if it was on the ground.  Oh well, it looks better than it did!  Last step will be changing out the house numbers.  I ordered them on Ebay and they forgot to put a double number in the order.  We should be getting that within the week.

 



Becoming Betty Crocker: Kraft Fresh Take

So I have been seeing coupons for Kraft Fresh Take for awhile now and this past week, they were on sale - you know what that means!  So I picked Cheddar Jack and Bacon out of what the store had.  I figured it would probably be good on chicken.

The plan was pull some chicken out and make mashed potatoes for dinner.  When I was looking for chicken breasts, I thought maybe the Fresh Take would make the Tysons Grilled & Ready Chicken taste better.

Side note:  This chicken was on sale and I had coupons.  I bought a couple of the breasts packages, but mostly the strips for salads.  We tried the breasts once before and they tasted like the chicken that is used in sandwiches at fast food restaurants (probably because it is).  Still, the chicken isn't bad for salads.

So, chicken pulled out, thawed and ready to go.  I mixed the breading mix and dropped the chicken for the "shaking".  See that picture above on the package?  The chicken didn't even start out that breaded!  I had to put the seasoning on top - here's the pre-cooked pic -

 

 You know the food never ends up like the marketing pictures, but I figured, this should definitely taste better than the plain chicken breast.  NNNNNOOOOOTTTTT!!!

 

 

After hubby's first taste, I asked how is it/what do you think.  His response - it tastes like a hot dog!  LOL!  I said it was probably the bacon flavoring.  He also said that it was salty (FYI - we don't add/use a lot of salt).  I almost ate the whole thing, but as Dan mentioned, it was salty.  I was done.

 

Originally, I had put the extra breading mix in the frig (since the chicken was already pre-cooked, I could use the seasoning again).  After dinner, I threw it out.  I almost threw out the Tyson Grilled & Ready too (1 1/2 bags of it), but then figured they would be fine for salads (once I get back into the salad kick).

 

Needless to say, I won't be buying Kraft Fresh Take (or the Tyson Grilled & Ready) again.

Becoming Betty Crocker: Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Pork

So I was going through the April 26 issue of All You magazine (BTW - great magazine to get some coupons from) and saw this recipe.  Sounded good - of course anything in the slow cooker is good.

This was really easy to prepare before the slow cooker.  However, I suggest getting boullion cubes instead of canned broth - I only used 1/2 cup of broth hence the leftover.

 

 

The sauce

The rub

 

The chops browned and with rub on them

 

Ready for cooking

 

All of these steps probably took 15-20 minutes tops.  EASY PEASY!

AFTER DINNER:
OK - once again, I forgot to take a picture of it done!  Oh well - it was REALLY GOOD!  We had it with leftover white rice.  Definitely will make this again.  You could probably used any chicken instead of pork.



Wordless Wednesday - April 18, 2013




Wordless Wednesday - April 18, 2013


 

 

Savings Summary Saturday - April 13, 2013

Items sent for:

• n/a - nothing this week.

Grocery Shopping (and other savings) this week (and previous week):

• Giant
• Paid for our groceries with the rebate card we got from Hyundai.
• Home Depot
• is there any such thing as a cheap trip to the Home Depot?  I did use several gift cards (Swagbucks, Capital One Rewards & the balance on the Hyundai card) and saved about $100.

Gas Savings:

• Had hubby used the Shell Saver card and Giant gas points this week (since the Jeep is full) - saved 60 cents per gallon.

Income (Starting to post again to Ebay & Listia. My goal is to post at least one item a day.):

• Listia
• listed several items that didn't sell last time plus a couple of new items
• Craigs List
• listed items that didn't sell on Ebay

Items received in the mail:

• free Rolling Stone magazine (rewardsgold.com)
• People magazine (signed up for 3 free magazines when shopped at Peebles)

Rewards programs:
MyPoints -  15555 points (personal account) - 15450 points -last week
MyPoints -  5097  points (coupon account) - 5052 points-last week
Swagbucks -  755 points (738 points-last week)
Listia - 46635 credits (46520 credits last week)
Postpoints - 3360 points (3,350 points last week)
mycokerewards - 6937 points (6937 points-last week)
Bondrewards - $27.61 ($27.56 - last week)
Upromise - $22.48 ($22.48 last week) available for transfer
Capital One Rewards -  2306 miles (2196 miles-last week)
Thanks Again - 1075 points (1075 points last week)
Viggle - 13574  points (10898 points - last week)
NCP -  48335 points (48090 points last week)
Daily Feats - 2467  points (2390 points last week)
ExpoTV - 220  points (220 points last week)
IBotta -$3.50 ($3.50 last week)
Jingit - $0.30 ($0.30 last week)

Not sure if I'll be continuing Daily Feats - their rewards aren't that great - they basically are just coupons for money off offers - no free gift cards :(

2012 New Year, New Goals - to continue in 2013!

• Use rewards programs to get gifts and daily stuff -
• Use Restaurant.com coupons -
• Set up an Estate -
• Monthly Review/Net Worth
• I created a new budget with only one income and used Quicken so that I am able to run reports to see how well we are staying on track.
• See From D.I.N.K to O.I.N.K.- March summary

The Housewife Tour 2013 - The Week in Review

Wow - I didn't realize how long it's been - almost a month!

This week was basically back to normal - groceries, errands and the biggest project - yardwork! What a chore, but some good exercise!


What does that entail - ALOT!

• raked the front yard (tons of leaves from the fall)
• washing the porch*
• buying flowers for the porch
• pull weeds in the flowerbeds
• remove some old plants in the flowerbeds
• mulch the flowerbeds
• add topsoil to the liliac bush
• weed & feed the yard*
• place ant traps in the flowerbeds
• change/add downspout extenders
• put out yard decorations in the flowerbed

*hubby helped/did these things

Esa helping in the flowerbed

The end result -

There's still some things I want to do with the front yard.

• expand the bed - since the bushes have grown, the bed needs to be expanded out
• our front yard is sinking and we need to get filled in
• DIY craft - creating a wreath for the front door.  I was thinking about something like this but to match the flowers.

Wordless Wednesday - April 10, 2013




Wordless Wednesday - April 10, 2013


 

 

Savings Summary Satuday - April 6, 2013

Items sent for:

• n/a - nothing this week.

Grocery Shopping (and other savings) this week (and previous week):

• CVS
• transaction 1 (nephew's card)
• $1.50 ECB rewards
• Allegra - on sale for $17.99, used $6 manufacturer coupon & $2 off $10 store coupon),  recieved $5 in ECB 
• Clear shampoo - on sale for $4.99, used store coupon for $4.99 & used Ibotta for $1.25
• Purex - on sale for $2.88, used store coupon for $1/1 and $1/1 manufacturer coupon - paid $0.88!
• transaction 2 (our card)
• $0.50 ECB rewards
• Allegra - on sale for $17.99, used $6 manufacturer coupon, recieved $5 in ECB
• Nature Made - on sale bogo ($11.49), used $10 in manufacturer coupons (rewards program)
• Clear shampoo - on sale for $4.99, used store coupon for $4.99 & used Ibotta for $1.25
• Purex - on sale for $2.88, used store coupon for $1/1 and $1/1 manufacturer coupon - paid $0.88!
• Giant
• Keebler fudge cookies - on sale for $2 used $0.55/1 manufacturer coupon which doubled - 90 cents each
• Old Spice deorderant - on sale for $2.19, used a $1/1 manufacturer coupon
• Pantene - on sale for $2.99 used coupon for $3/2 - $1.50 each
• potatoes - on sale for bogo ($3.99), used $1 off store coupon
• picked up some marked down meat - saved additional $4 
• saved a total of 54%  
• Papa John's
• When the Washington Capitals win a game with 4 or more goals, Papa John's feature 50% off your order the next day.  Tuesday, they won so Wednesday night we had Papa John's.  I also cashed in 20K in Viggle points for a $10 Papa John's gift card - DOUBLE SCORE!

Gas Savings:

• Hubby used the Exxon card which gives us money in the Upromise account.

Income (Starting to post again to Ebay & Listia. My goal is to post at least one item a day.):

• Listia
• sold a merchandise credit of $1.56 - for 202 credits (paid $1.89 for shipping)

Items received in the mail (since March 9):

• free Rolling Stone magazine (rewardsgold.com)
• Mycokerewards - NCAA tournament bracket
• 5 music downloads
• (1) 20 oz soda
• $50 gift card for Home Depot from Capital One rewards
• Hyundai MPG rebate
• refund for magazine
• People magazine (signed up for 3 free magazines when shopped at Peebles)
• $7 Nature Made coupon (Nature Made rewards)

Rewards programs:
MyPoints -  15450 points (personal account) - 15350 points -last week
MyPoints -  5052  points (coupon account) - 5007 points-last week
Swagbucks - 738 points (668 points-last week)
Listia - 46520 credits (46273 credits last week)
Postpoints -  3350  points (3,335 points last week)
mycokerewards -  6937 points (6966 points-last week)
Bondrewards - $27.56 ($27.51 - last week)
Upromise - $22.48 ($22.28 last week) available for transfer
Capital One Rewards - 2196 miles (1836 miles-last week)
Thanks Again - 1075 points (1075 points last week)
Viggle -  10898 points (26844 points - last week)
NCP - 48090  points (47245 points last week)
Daily Feats - 2390  points (1820 points last week)
ExpoTV - 220 points (220 points last week)
IBotta -$3.50
Jingit - $0.30

I joined IBotta and Jingit this week.  I'm not impressed with Jimgit yet - I could only watch 3 videos and there are no offers in our area when I try to check in.  IBotta is cool as long as you plan to buy the stuff that is available.

2012 New Year, New Goals - to continue in 2013!

• Use rewards programs to get gifts and daily stuff -
• Use Restaurant.com coupons -
• Set up an Estate -
• Monthly Review/Net Worth
• I created a new budget with only one income and used Quicken so that I am able to run reports to see how well we are staying on track.
• See From D.I.N.K to O.I.N.K.- March summary

Becoming Betty Crocker - Ken's Buffalo Wing Sauce Marinade

Thursday night, we went to the Capitals hockey game.  Hard Times Cafe has concessions there and the person next to us got wings from there.  That's all it took - then I wanted some.  Luckily, we had wings in our freezer & I had some Ken's Buffalo Wing Marinade.

So the crockpot was pulled out for the 2nd time in a week.  This sauce was really good and we will definitely get it again.  I wouldn't be surprised if this is used at restaurants.

Wordless Wednesday - April 3, 2013




Wordless Wednesday - April 3

 




The boy cousins hanging out

Becoming Betty Crocker - Slow Cooker Spare Ribs

Time to get back to becoming Betty!

When  I was moving stuff around in the chest freezer the other day, I punched a hole in the ribs we had in there - DANG!  I guess I need to make some ribs!

I wanted to try a different recipe so here's the one I found on Pinterest.  Monday was shopping day, so I was able to get what was needed (totally out of soy sauce since I've been using it for this recipe!).

Recipe was pretty easy - wasn't sure about the boiling part, but did it.

PS - this really looks gross

 

Sauce was easy to make -

Then into the crockpot -

1:45 pm - as I am typing this in (up to this point), I realized that I only did 1 tablespoon of soy sauce in the sauce - OH NO! So I've added the 2nd tablespoon - think that will make a difference? We'll see!

6:15pm - no difference with adding the the 2nd tablespoon hours later.  Oh & I forgot to take a picture of the final product! DANG!

Anyway - it was TASTY!!!  I wasn't sure because whenever I opened up the crockpot, I wasn't sure if I liked the smell. 

Hubby liked it too.  We had corn and biscuits with it.