Where have you been :)

Hey guys! I have missed you! Where have you been ;) I know, I have been gone for a long time...I am sorry. I do miss this blog. I SO wish I had more time to blog.

Life has just gotten a little crazy lately. Hopefully since this week is spring break, things will sorta level out and we will find a groove for our family. Not really sure that will happen but, hey, a girl can dream right?

Well...a couple of you have asked me about things I do on-line to earn a little extra. There are two things that I love that I would love to share with you because they really do not take any extra time.

I want to start by saying that I have an email account specifically for these type things...that way my personal email does not get bombarded with "junk". I highly recommend this!

So, the first thing I want to tell you about is Swagbucks. I LOVE SWAGBUCKS! I like to search for things online and have always just used Yahoo, or Google now I use swagbucks! IT ROCKS. As you search you earn more bucks and they can be redeemed for gift cards and such. It is awesome. You should check it out!




The other thing I like to do is called InboxDollars. This is really cool because you simply earn CASH by checking your email. You have to click on the emails and you only earn .02 per email, but when you hit $30, you get a check in the mail! You can also earn more by participating in surveys or taking an offer that they give you.





I really enjoy these and they don't really take any time. Have you tried them? Do you like them? What has been your experience?? Do tell!

Can't seem to keep up...

Okay, well I had planned to get back into this pretty steady, however it just doesn't seem to work for me...I guess I should just be happy to post when I can. I am thrilled to say that we have about two weeks left in our "month" and I still have about $75 in grocery money left, that is only $5 less thank I am supposed to have! (Now mind you I did get a little bit of refund money in (rebates on products I have bought) So that has helped, but we seem to be staying on task this week. But this is the first time in over three months that we have even attempted to stay within our budget. I am very excited to be working on it again!

I had hoped to post about all the great deals I am planning to do, but honestly I just don't have time. I do hope to show you what awesome deals I got, assuming I get some!

For now, I am off to read, being back in school is more challenging than I expected...:)

Because I know you will understand and laugh...

Well, we are trying to teach our children (the boys) not to come out of their room until about 8 am. This is because Mommy really needs this time to get awake, read for school, spend some time with the Lord, exercise and get some housework done. Not that I would do all of that in any given morning but those are all options that I "need" right now :)

So in order to do this, we put a digital clock in the boys room and told them they could not come out until they saw an 8. (I am quite certain Matt showed him where the 8 needed to be) They are more than welcome to get down and play with their toys or whatever they so choose so long as they stay in their room. Joshua assured us that he understood (which is important, because HE is the one who can open the door).

Well, I removed Lydia from the room when she started crying around 7 this morning. Nursed her and put her in her pack n play in my room. Then went back to my studying. Then sometime around 7:15 I heard the boys. I thought this would be a good test. We really didn't expect that it would work on day one, but I was willing to try. Work with them and help them learn.

Joshua and Asher came running down the hall at about 7:20, I was shocked. I really thought this would have lasted a little longer. I was even more surprised to hear Joshua saying, "Mom, my clock has an 8 on it" followed by the words "and a 7, and a 1" Yeah, it was 7:18...

Oh well. I did get some studying in this morning. And it was a good learning experience for me. Tonight I will make sure that Joshua knows where the 8 needs to be on the clock!

Do any of you do something like this? If so how does it work? Have you always done it? If not, how long did it take to get it in place? I would love any advice on this!

KROGER AGAIN!

That great Kroger sale I told you about last week...well it seems like they are doing it again!!! YAY!!! I will be there Thursday night after class!! I can't wait! If you go, tell me now you did! Have fun!

More on the Sweet Potatoes

I really got tired of every Sweet Potato recipe calling for brown sugar and cinnamon. Don't get me wrong...I like those two ingredients, but we needed some variety. SO I found this recipe! It was pretty good, nothing GREAT but not too bad...
Sweet Potato Wedges, serves 4

Ingredients
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
freshly ground pepper

Directions
1 Preheat oven to 425F degrees.
2 Cut sweet potatoes in half lengthwise, then cut each half lengthwise into six wedges.
3 Mix with remaining ingredients in a bowl.
4 Toss gently to coat potatoes thoroughly.
5 Place wedges on a baking sheet without letting them touch and bake for 25 minutes or until very tender.

I doubled it and did not have cloves, so it was a little different, but I don't think it changed it too much.

CVS

SOY JOY!!!

I initailly made three transactions, that were basically all the same...

I bought:
1 head and shoulders 4.99
1 box Soy Joy 6.00

I used $1 mc coupon on the Head and Shoulders
then $9 ECBS (the first time I only used $7)

I then payed teh remaining, using a gift card for all but 0.15!!!

Then I realized that I could get more Soy Joy and went back and did three more transactions...
1 box Soy Joy 6.00
1 $6 ECB
Total 0.00

That was fun! May even go back for more Soy Joy, it says I have not met the quantity!

Walgreens

Well as you can see I had lots of fun at Walgreens this week. I was able to transfer a perscription and score an extra $25 gift card too! That was fun!

So in the photos you see:
1 Ink cartridge refilled $5.00 ($5 rebate in Easy Saver Catalog) FREE
2 Reynolds Wrap Aluminum foil .89 each ($1 off mc)
8 Hersheys candy bars BOGO (4 BOGO coupons) FREE
1 Colgate Toothpaste $2.99 ($1 off mc & $2 RR) FREE
2 PreSchool Workbooks $2.99 BOGO
1 Spill Proof Tumbler $1.09
1 Book of Stamps $8.40

I also used a $10 Register Reward from last week.

Therefore my total off the new gift card was $11.83!

AND I will get $5 back on my Gift card!!

I am very happy!