When I want to start taking vitamins again I always go to the store or The Health Food Store in Ft. Wayne to get them. But then I get overwhelmed by the choices. What I need and what to add to my daily vitamin that I already take.

Well, Nature Made has made it easier for you. They have created the Vitamin ID, which personalizes vitamins to your lifestyle. Go and take the survey. It is totally free and you don't have to buy from them, even though I think their prices are very reasonable for everything they include. I found it very helpful and saw where I needed to add to the vitamins I am already taking.

Side note here, I have not been paid by them to review this. I simply came across the website and thought I would share it with you.

As I began to start canning this year I realized that I would not have nearly enough jars to do what I had planned on doing. So, I started asking around to see if anyone had canning jars they were not using anymore. Well, my aunt told me she had given all of hers away years ago. So I started scouring garage sales and came up with about 24. Not so great! So I did buy some at Kroger and Rural King. I still was not happy with the amount I had.

Well, I then started talking with my cousin and he informed me that his mom had left some in her house that she sold to the hospital. What? She told me she gave all of those away! Come to find out after making several phone calls to the hospital she had indeed left several boxes of jars in her basement and the hospital was more than willing to let me come and pick them up. My aunt had simply forgot about them...

So here are some pictures of the many, many cans that recovered from her basement. I have already washed 4 cases of the quart size and there are many, many more. I will update you to the total when I finish washing them.

Sorry for not being here the last couple of days, but on Tuesday I ended up at Cedar Point! It was a great surprise offered by Lake James Christian Assembly. Well, after going I was unable to function for two days...for normal adults you would probably just drag the next day, but with the fibromyalgia it takes me longer to recover.
I had a great time with the kids and some friends that I don't get time to talk with. The best part about going was the weather, it was absolutely beautiful! It did rain, but only for about an hour and a half then it was wonderful! WE ate for an hour of that so it wasn't bad at all!
Well, I am going to try and get ad match-ups for Meijer tomorrow or late tonight. I also am planning on still trying to get match-ups for Kroger even if we do not have one in our town. We still have one close enough to us that is the deals are good it would be worth the run.
Thanks for being patient with me this summer as with last summer it gets hectic around here!
As for coupon previews it doesn't appear to be a great week, but you never know. (Mom there will be Purex Q's coming this week :-))

I feel as if time has moved so fast lately because I have been extremely busy. Of course as you know my in-laws visited at the end of June then again on July 4th weekend. I love having guest however, I enjoy them more when it's one family at a time not three!
Next up was the 4-H fair. Both of the kids did great on their projects and received all blue ribbons. I will try and post pictures of the projects later.
In between all of this we continued with softball. Morgan made the travelling team and they ended up winning the Northern State Tourney and going to Kentucky. They only one the first game which was against the Southern Indiana State Champs. So her team (Angola Kids League) is officially the "State Champs".
That brings me to this week...and I have done some shopping and "had" some pictures to post, but my daughter deleted them thinking I already downloaded them.
I went to Kroger which is closing in our town and is currently running 25% off everything. I bought mostly meat! I still had several Tyson q's to use and I bought some ground meat that was already reduced so it was very cheap! I canned most of the chicken tonight. I have never canned meat before, but after talking with a couple of friends I decided to give it a whirl since I am short on freezer space.

Today I made it into Meijer and picked up 11 items and here is the picture of what I got.



(2) Aunt Millies Buns @ $1 - .35/1 MQ = .30ea
(4) Old Orchard Juices @ $1 - $1/4 MQ = .75ea (coupon was sent from manufacturer)
(1) Coffee Mate Creamer $1 - .50/1 MQ = FREE
(1) Land O' Lakes Marg $1 - .40/1 MQ = .20
(2) Warm Delights @ $1 - .50/1 MQ = FREE
(1) Aunt Millies Bread $1 - FREE (11th item)
Total was $4.15...later when I was figuring this I noticed it only took off .65 for the loaf of bread so my total should have been $3.80...I will go in and get the .35

Well, I hope to have Meijer match-ups on by tomorrow. From what I can see it looks as if it will be a slow week at Meijer.

However, CVS & Walgreen's are firing up for back to school and are running some awesome deals. I intend on trying to hit both of them early this week and maybe a second trip to Walgreen's mid week to roll some RR's.

I'm glad to be back and hope to get back on schedule before school starts.

Yes, I had 217 e-mails waiting in my inbox when I got back form vacation. Actually that was only my folder that did not include all of my sub-folders. Well, I am glad to have them read and deleted!
While I was in PA I did go into a store once and got to grab some great coupons wile I helped my sister-in-law shop for graduation food. Wow, I really could not live with the prices where she lives. I feel spoiled to have so many places to shop and that give such great bargains. Just when I thought the deals are getting worse I went to PA and soon decided I could live our prices here in Indiana.

Speaking of shopping I did get into Meijer tonight and picked up some great deals. I will list the deals below, but unfortunately I don't have a picture, because all of our batteries were dead.

Buy any 5 Crest, Gillette or Duracell Items priced @ $3 or higher and get a $10 Gift card instantly @ checkout. (Which means get the card and take it to the checkout with you.)
I did two separate transactions to get two gift cards.

#1 - (5) Gillette Fusion Hydra Gel 6oz. @3.49 - (5) $1/1 MQ = $13.67 w/tax

#2 - (5) Old Spice Red Zone Deodorant @ $3.49 - (5) $1/! MQ = $13.637 w/ tax
(Note you can not use the gift card from the first transaction to pay for the second. I found this out the hard way. However, it will take $3.67 off and you will end up with (2) $10 Gift Cards.)

* Denotes 10 for 10 get the 11th free
*Aunt Millies Bread $1 - .35/1 MQ = .30
*Shedd's Country Crock $1 - .25/1 MQ - $1/2 MM = FREE
* Bar-S Bologna & Chicken and Beef Franks $1 - $1/2 IP & $1/2 MQ
Keebler Chips Deluxe Cookies $1.98 - $1/1 IP this one is for the Sandies and will work with the sale, there are others out there = .98
Kellogg's Cereal Buy 4 get $3 off instantly at checkout = $7/4 - (4) $1/1 MQ's = $3/4 or .75/1
*Hunt's 24oz $1 - .20/1 = .60 or some of you have Free from the home mailer
Reynolds Wrap 2/$5 75 sq ft or 50sq ft Heavy Duty - $1/2 MM - (2) $1/1 = 2/$2 pretty good for the heavy duty stuff
*Wish Bone $1 - $1/2 MM = .50ea
*Ken's Salad Dressing $1 - $1/2 MQ = .50ea

I hope this helps you plan your shopping for this week and I should have Kroger up by tomorrow.

Sorry, for not posting lately. We have been very busy the last couple of days running to graduations and softball.
I will also be away for the rest of the week as we are going away to PA. My husband has been laid off for the week so we thought we would take a run to his brothers house in PA. My niece will also be graduating this weekend so it has fallen at a good time. If there is ever a good time to be laid off.

A heads up on coupons, Cellfire has updated their coupons as well as Coupons.com and Kraft Foods. I hope you get some great deals while I am gone! I will have a limited shopping area where I am going :-(
See you on Monday!!

Tonight we had a double header due to the fact that Tuesday's game got rained out. We lost this makes three losses. Not a great start! Tonight Morgan got to play second, center field, catch and pitch. I only have pics of her playing second and up to bat. It got very cold fast so I sat in the van for the second game. Her are a couple cute pics from the game.

This weekend was very busy here. Not only was it a holiday weekend, which means tons of traffic at the lake , but it was was also our city-wide garage/yard sales.

I have to say that this was a great year for them. The weather was great as well as the merchandise. In years past I have been disappointed with the quality of the sales, but this year there were more good sales than bad.

Then to top it off Monday Goodwill had 50% off store wide. I have to say I really over spent this week-end, but I got some great deals. Now I just have to buckle down on my grocery budget to squeeze out a little more cash to cover for my spending spree.
Here are just a few of the great deals I found:

I found this yarn at Goodwill...I was so happy just to find some yarn let alone several matching skeins with the same dye lot. There are 23 skeins total and I paid only $6 for all of it.



Vintage books for only .25ea, "The Diadem" book is from 1867.



Cast Iron skillet $1.50 quilted table runner $2.
Skillet needs seasoned but in good shape other wise. Some people are just clueless on how to take care of them so they would rather sell them. I would rather have a cast iron skillet any day over a non-stick pan. You'll never get the same results frying potatoes with a non-stick pan as you do with a cast iron skillet.



Vintage hand towels and small square table cloth .20ea. I love vintage hand towels and table cloths but I don't like to pay a lot for them. It is also hard to find them without stains on them. This table cloth does have a couple of small stains, but for .20 I thought it was worth it.




Now that the holiday is over we start softball. I really am not looking forward to this year at all. Tonight is our first game if we don't get rained out. Wish us good luck.

Continuing with the Heloise from A-Z book here are a couple of great hints on apples.

Freezing Excess - Peel, core, and slice. Sprinkle with lemon juice or ascorbic acid to keep them from turning brown. Store in freezer containers or plastic freezer bags in specific use quantities like one, two, or three-cup packs so they'll be ready for recipes.

Storage - Apples give off ethylene gas and will make carrots bitter if stored in the same crisper drawer.

I am the type of person that reads about 4-5 books at one time and in between books I have been reading Heloise From A-Z, (AKA: Hints From Heloise). It is chocked full of simple ways to do household task. Some of these ideas I have been implementing for several years, however some ideas are new to me.
I thought I would start sharing some of these great ideas with my readers. I will be starting with the letter A.

Todays hint:
Ants, Extermination: Sprinkle boric acid or Borax powder along the ant trails and entrances. Keep crumbs vacuumed and any other "ant" treats wiped up so you don't attract more.

Ants, In and Outside Pet Feeding Dish: Make a moat! Partially fill a shallow dish with water and place the pet's food dish in the center of eat.

I thought both of these would be great for today since we are starting to get into the warmer months and that is typically when we start seeing the little critters in the house more. At least here in the north.
I suggest buying the book or simply write these tips on 5x7 index cards and make a reference library of your own.

Mom and I went out garage saling yesterday and these are some of my favorite finds.



Box of vintage rick-rack $1, Knitting needles $2, Clay Vase .50, scoop .50, The Story of Peter Rabbit .25, Stocking made from quilt piece .50.

I also picked up this iron plant stand for $3! What a steal!


One other item I picked up was a Bunn Coffee maker, the kind that most churches or small restaurants have, for only $1! They said it was broke and needed a part. My hubby cleaned it this morning and it works great!

Today after Piano lessons the kids, my Mom and I all headed down to Ft. Wayne. Which is about 45-1 hr depending on where we go.
1st Stop:
I picked up this great chair from a fellow Freecycler. Note, if you haven't joined your local Freecycle group JOIN! Google search for the group near you, it is well worth it. I have been able to get rid of unused items we can no longer use and I have also been able to pick up a lot of great items that I can enjoy! Freecycle has been set up for people to recycle items so they will not be put into the landfill.

2nd Stop:
JC Penney, Spencer has been looking for shoes for quite some time now. I swear he is worse than a girl when it comes to shoes. He did find a pair,out of my price range of course, so Grandma kicked in the extra $. Grandma's/Mom's are great about that + she had a $10 off coupon which helped.

3rd Stop:
Target, where I picked up these Fiber One bars & Fiber One Pastries (AKA-Pop Tarts).
Target is running a promo this week buy 4 Fiber One products and get a $5 gift card.

So this is what I did:
Trans #1
(4) Pastries @ $1.79ea - (4).50/1 MQ = $5.16 + I got a $5 GC

Trans #2
(2) Pastries @ $1.79 - (2) .50/1 MQ = $1.29ea
(2) Fiber One Bars @ $2.39ea - (2) $1.35 IP = $1.04ea
(2) Kraft Easy Mac @ .77ea - BOGO IP = .77 BOGO Coupon no longer available, but this should be a link for $1/2 which will make them cheaper, let me know if it works for you. If not I will find one that does.
Total $5.50 pd with the GC from trans #1 .50 OOP + I got a $5 GC

4th Stop:
Kentucky Fired Chicken! So we met up with John after he got off work and used our FREE meal coupons. If you were fortunate enough to print these off then I think you will agree with me that this was a great meal! I reall, really liked this chicken. It also seemed to have more meat than their original recip crispy chicken, which I am also a big fan of.
I was very disappointed I forgot my camera, because I wanted to post a picture of the KFC. It was so packed, lots of people were using their coupons. The one we chose to go to was on Dupont @ Coldwater Crossing. I highly recommend them! They were so friendly and their service was very fast, even though they were packed. Plus it was clean, which is one of my pet peeves with restaurants.

Well, this is the time of the year when I start looking into what curriculum I will be using next year for school. I will be using Saxon for Math, which we have been using for the past three years now, but I am really trying to find an all inclusive curriculum that will not cost me a fortune.
There are several companies out there that offer what I like, but I simply can not afford them. Also, what I buy for Spencer, I usually can't use for Morgan. They have completely two different learning styles.
Spencer, my oldest is so hard to get motivated. He hates everything! Morgan on the other hand just does her work and I really can give her anything and she will do it even if she hates it.
So, I have been looking over "Blessed Is The Man" for Spencer. It is a four year Unit Study based on Psalm 1, and the best part is it is affordable. I really am torn about this. I reviewed it online and I really think it is great and it covers everything except Math and some Science. I also like the fact that it is directed towards the student and I have minimal input, beside grading papers and some help directing him towards Units.
I definitely am asking for prayers to help guide me so I can make a decision. I want to do what is best for my son and I want him to enjoy the work he is doing. I also want him to enjoy learning as he grows closer to God.
If anyone has used this curriculum with an A.D.D. child I would love to hear your opinion of it, or if you know of any other curriculum that I may be interested in.

Well my sock is done. I finished it Sunday and didn't get it posted. However, the bad news is that it doesn't fit! I am sure it would have fit if I would have bought the yarn I intended on getting (Patons Strech Yarn) in the first place, because it has more give to it. But I am so cheap that I chose this Sock yarn instead, because I figured if I did not finish then I would not be out the money plus I used a 40% off coupon at Joann's. I was very disappointed at first then I decided that it was just a learning experience. I have started the next one and I am making it bigger. I also had to buy more yarn, which means I didn't really save any money! GRRR!
Oh well, I am really enjoying making these stupid socks and I hope my family will enjoy them as much, because they will all probably get a pair for Christmas...LOL! Now that I have taken the mystery out of crocheting I am finding I can crochet a lot of things. I have made a few flowers, a granny square, and a dishcloth. After I finish these socks though I need to re-focus on Aprons and Denim. I am so A.D.D that I tend to drift from project to project.
I also have finished sewing Spencer's Boy Scout badges on his sash. He seemed pretty happy that I finally got them on. I wanted to get caught up before he gets his Eagle, which should be some time this summer. Sewing badges on is the last thing I want to be doing before his Eagle party!

We had a great time at the Food Show. Wow, I was totally stuffed by row 4 and there are 9 rows of food! I guess we should have started with the desserts instead of the Meats.
This is the largest Hamburger I have ever seen!

This is a large stack of Hamburgers...hungry?

Stack of Waffles...

This is actually a bunch of little brownies stacked to form this big cake. Very neat idea for a Wedding.

Now this is the food we could actually eat!

This vendor actually had it so you could get your own but most vendors had little cups set up with samples already portioned out.

One of the perks to working at Lake James Christian Assembly as an assistant cook is I get to go to the Gordans Food Service Food Expo. GFS invites their big customers like camps, schools, restaurants, and nursing homes to these food shows to try to get more orders. Well, my job is to taste test! WOW!
Tomorrow is the big day. I will have lots of pictures to post for everyone. Hopefully I will also come back with some great recipes.

This is the result of her second class! Of course I think she did wonderful!! The best part is we get dessert every Tuesday...but that will end after next week :-(
BTW - She did not smooth out the icing on purpose, don't ask why she just didn't want to make it smooth.

Morgan has been making cakes for 4-H for the past 5 years now. Finally this year we decided to have her take a class. The class was half price so we only had to pay $17.50. Here is the cake she made last night. She said the 14 & the M were there because she had icing to use up. Unfortunately now we have to eat it...lol!
I think she did a great job! She must get it from her father.

These are BOM's from Willowberry Designs. I have finished Jan & Feb, and now need to get going on March. I have not put any fabric along the outside , because I didn't have it until last night. I picked some up at Wal-Mart in Ft.Wayne for $2/yd.




The next thing I am working on is my new "Denim" project. Here is a glimpse of what I am doing. I went to Goodwill and bought some old overalls and started taking the seams out. Unfortunately as you can see in the second picture the seam ripper and I got into a fight and it won!
I felt I needed to go to Urgent Care, however I was in pain and have never cut myself that bad. Then my husband looked at it and said it really wasn't that serious. He also reminded me that I could not go to Urgent Care at 9pm, I would have to go to our local hospital (which I hate). So I took a pain pill from my stash and whined for about an hour and now I am okay.
This will slow down the progress of this project, but I am determined to get something complete to put up on the page by this weekend. I also have company coming Saturday so who knows if this will truly happen.





I forgot to link you to this site when I first posted; (oops!) Head over to Homemaking Dreams to her "Whatcha Working on Wednesday" and get some inspiration for your projects.