New Years Resolution--Food Storage!!

I am doing my New Years resolution early this year. Some people want to lose weight. Some want to quit smoking or drinking alcohol. Mine is FOOD STORAGE!! I have no food storage. So for 2011 I am going to do a "Food Storage Item of the Month" for myself and anyone else who may be inspired. My plan is that every time I am at the grocery store to grab that item of the month. So here is my break down of what I want to stock up on month by month:

January: canned potatoes
February: canned vegetables (ie. green beans, corn, carrots)
March: canned chicken
April: tuna
May: Miracle Whip (We eat a lot of sandwiches.)
June: soups (cream of chicken & mushroom)
July: dinner soups
August: cooking spray (I know I can't eat the cooking spray but I need it.)
September: syrup and pancake mix (We LOVE pancakes and french toast. It's a must have in this house!!)
October: cereal
November: evaporated milk
December: peanut butter

So there's my list! Wish me luck! I will post pictures at the end of each month showing how much of each item I purchased. Also, I will include the total amount I spent on each item. I'm excited about doing this. This list isn't set in stone either. If there is an awesome sale on something else then I have the right to get that instead. :)

Cha-Ching

I love getting good deals. Hopefully you know that by now. Have you seen the Ikea commercial where the lady thinks she stole everything b/c she got such a good deal?

This is totally me all the time!! Last night I went to CVS and scored all of this for $2.12.

How did I do it? Here's how: I had $10 worth of CVS ECB (extra care bucks) to spend. I wanted to find a deal where I could roll my ECB and get things I needed.

Transaction #1:

2 Herbal Essence shampoo & conditioner $2.99 each

Total: $5.98

Minus $5 ECB

Total out of pocket: $.98 plus tax $1.06

Got back a $2 ECB

Transaction #2:

2 Herbal Essence shampoo & conditioner $2.99 each

Total: $5.98

Minus $5 ECB

Total out of pocket: $.98 plus tax $1.06

Got back a $2 ECB

So now I had $4 in ECB to spend on something else.

Transaction #3

1 Suave body wash $2

Total: $2

Minus $2 ECB

Total out of pocket: $0

Transaction #4

1 Suave body wash $2

Total $2

Minus $2 ECB

Total out of pocket: $0

I received the $10 in ECB b/c I signed up to be on the CVS Advisor Panel. All you have to do is go here and sign up. I completed a survey recently and I received $5 ECB. They will email you a survey to complete and if you qualify you will get different amounts of ECB for completing the survey. FREE MONEY PEOPLE....FREE!! My sister completed the survey and received $5 in ECB but she doesn't have a CVS nearby so she sent it to me. Thanks Jessica! So I went shopping.

**Note**

I had to do so many transactions b/c the ECB were not only under my name but my sister's name as well. So that meant my sisters card had to be scanned in order to get the ECB so that's why the cashier had to separate everything into different transactions. Even though I did so many transactions it didn't take long at all. Very easy!

Hot glue and burnt fingers

I have a big furniture redo that I am starting this weekend. This piece of furniture will eventually end up in our dining room. Hopefully everything will turn out how I want it to. I have a vision in my head and I am going to do my darndest to make it happen. But in the mean time, Matt went out of town this week for work so I had to do something after the kids were asleep.

So I made this:

This is going to go in our dining room as well. I have a very special place for this big guy! You can go here and see how I made it. I went to Goodwill and bought a book for $2 and at the Dollar Tree I bought a wreath for $1. I picked out a book that had older looking pages and was thicker. I didn't want plain white pages. Most of the wreaths that I have seen made they used a 10 inch wreath. For mine I used a 13 inch. I didn't think that 3 inches would make that big of a difference but it did. It's ok though...I'm still in love. This project does take time and patience and you will have burnt fingers from the hot glue. But it is so worth it.

Master bedroom art

So a couple of months ago I bought some flowery art from Hobby Lobby. When I bought it I knew it really wasn't my style but we needed something in our room. We had empty space above our nightstands. I wanted color but flower art just isn't me. I want our room to be romantic, relaxing, 5 star hotel like. So the flower art had to go. Maybe I will find another place for it in our house. Not sure yet. I will have to add colors in other ways to our room. Anyway, I saw in blogland a lady made "art" from sticks. Sounds weird and hard to picture, right? You can go here to see where I got the idea. Our neighbor beside us has a huge willow tree and sticks are always falling in our yard. Perfect! So I grabbed the sticks I liked and spray painted them black and stapled them to my Goodwill frames. Easy, quick, more my style and FREE!! I can't show you the whole room...well...b/c....my bed isn't made and the nightstands are dusty and it for sure doesn't look 5 star hotel like right now. But trust me this works better than the flowery art. This could work anywhere in your house. Have fun!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I have not bought laundry detergent in over a year. Not b/c I don't wash my clothes but last year I was able to score 8 bottles of laundry detergent for FREE!! Well, now all of that laundry detergent has been used so I recently bought my first bottle. But detergent is so darn expensive when you add up how much you buy it for and how much you use. Now that Levi is potty training I am doing a lot of laundry... A LOT....A LOT!! So I thought I would try to make my own detergent and see how it turned out. If it turned out ok then I could have more detergent for a lot less than what 1 bottle costs. So I found this recipe here. I followed it exactly and it made enough to last me for a while. Then I also found this site here and they did an experiment (non scientific) between Tide and the homemade stuff. Pretty interesting. I bought all of my ingredients at Kroger for a total of $8. The next time I make a batch it will cost me $1 for the Fels Naptha soap. $1!!! Here is a picture of how much I was able to make.

Good luck and I hope you can enjoy saving some money too!

**Note**

There are many different variations of homemade detergent. You can even add other scents to your detergent if you want. Most recipes have the same basic ingredients though. Just do a search for homemade laundry detergent and find one you like.

Missing you

Today is a day that I will remember for the rest of my life. I remember the moment, the pain, the sadness, the emptiness. I remember it all as if it were yesterday but it was 5 years ago. Paul Granada is not forgotten. He is remembered every time I listen to Blue October, pass a Wing Stop, or happen to see a black Honda CRX. I have so many memories with Paul that I hope to never forget them. Paul made me laugh and he made me cry. I feel blessed that I knew him and that we were able to spend so much time together. I know that he is with Heavenly Father in a better place doing the Lord's work. Someday we will see each other again and I can't wait to hug him and tell him how much he has been missed. I love you Paul and you are missed every day.

Random Thoughts Today

1. I realized while eating lunch today that I only like carrots cooked in the crockpot with steak. Weird...I know! Just the flavor of the potatoes, carrots and steak together is just irresistible.

2. I didn't like white rice until I had Jaxon. My friend Mandie brought over chicken and white rice for dinner after I got home from the hospital. For some reason I just couldn't stop eating the rice. I think I must have eaten about 95% of the whole bowl of rice. Now I love it. Maybe it was the hormones running crazy after giving birth.

3. I love Levi's crazy fingers! He is doing crazy fingers as I am writing this post. Crazy fingers is when he moves his fingers all crazy and makes a funny noise while moving his fingers. Unless you have seen it it is hard to explain. It's hilarious to watch!!

4. I hate laundry and doing the dishes. I still haven't realized that if I would just fold the clothes that have been sitting on the couch for 3 days my house would feel so much cleaner. If I would unload the dishwasher right when it finishes the dishes wouldn't pile up in my sink. I despise laundry and dishes.

5. I have the cutest boys ever. They make me smile and laugh all day long. Levi has such a fun personality and Jax is following in his footsteps.

6. I love the smell of fresh cut grass. I don't know why but it is a favorite smell of mine.

7. Why do the trains have to honk their horns so freakin' loud at 4:30 am every day. I thought Wylie was a "quiet zone". So much for quiet!

8. My dining room is the "play room" and I don't really like that. I need a play room so I can have my dining room back. That means a bigger house. Which means we need to sell our current house. Which means that someone has to want to buy our house. Any takers??

9. I'm glad Oprah is going off the air. She interrupts people all the time and doesn't let them finish their sentences or thoughts. Why is that Oprah? Let the person speak dang it!!

10. Will somebody please teach me how to make my bed? Well, I know how to make it but I just never want to make it. I like the way it looks when I do make my bed. Mom, sorry I failed you in that department. I will try better I promise.

11. Yogurtville...I am in love! Thank you for opening so close to our house. I smile when I drive by you. You are amazing and I will be visiting you frequently. See you soon.