Thankful Thursday

I have a very thankful heart tonight when I think of my dad. I just got done watching the movie My Sisters Keeper. I had read the book and decided it was not a movie I could watch in the theater. I could not believe the differences at first but once I got past that the movie was very healing for me. See my dad got Leukemia shortly after my oldest Jakob was born. We had gone out to have him baptized in April of 1996. My dad was not feeling well and chalked it up to the flu. However, shortly after returning home I got a call that he had been diagnosed with Leukemia. Being in Texas and my family in California I was so torn emotionally. It was so hard to see my brother in his last year of High School have to really pick up an adult role in life. I had this brand new baby so even if I were to come back to CA and try and help what use would I really be. That is what Paul's mom convinced me of anyway. Everyone told me the best thing that I could do was pray. There is nothing much like helplessness.
See I am not biologically his child, even though I consider him fully my dad, father etc...the part about not being biologically his was tough as I knew beyond a doubt I could not be a match. I think that was the first time I felt so far apart from him. I knew how hard it was on my mom emotionally and physically. It was a fairly long road but after time things really did turn around.
I saw him in June when my brother graduated. That was rough. I remember not wanting to leave at all. I was so thankful to even just be able to see him in the hospital, as I had brought Jakob with me.
I know there were things that went on that I will probably never really understand as I was absent from 98% of it. I am so thankful tonight as I write this Thursday post that the Lord healed him. He has been in remission for several years now. I know sometimes it is so hard to believe. I remember the "numbers" the doctors give, the facts of the case... it all really showed how truly wonderful healing can be.
I know I think of my mom often with that. I don't always understand why she has to go through such a rough physical journey in life. Even though she mainly has rough days I am still thankful she is here. I will continue to pray for her healing and be ever so thankful that we are all in the Lord's Hands.
I love you Daddy.

Another Giveaway

Go here for the entry form

Our birthday bash marches on with yet another great giveaway! One reader will win a Save At Home Mommy Coupon Binder in the color of their choice. I will have to say that over the past few days, I have loved my binder even more! I even dropped it in the store and not a single thing fell out. I was scared to look at first but was so happy to just be able to pick it up and put it back in the cart with no casualties. You can read more about my binders and order one for yourself or a friend HERE.

I am also going to put them on sale through this Saturday the 20th ONLY for only $20.00 for the standard binder! This is a great savings so if you have been waiting to buy one, now is a great time!

(1) reader will win a Save At Home Mommy Coupon Binder in the color of their choice with the standard pages included. Please fill out the form one time for each entry you complete so they will all count.

Coupon Mom Book Giveaway

Go here for a great giveaway, here are the details

As another great giveaway to you my readers in thanks for the past year, one reader will win one copy of Stefanie Nelson’s newest book, “The Coupon Mom’s Guide to Cutting Your Grocery Bills in Half”. This book is FULL of all different ways to save money including making your own yogurt and much more. If you are looking for new ideas or a little clarity on the money saving adventure, this book may just be for you!

Falling Short Last Weeks Tackle it Tuesday

I got some Tshirts a while back from Jakob's school. I had a craft fair to do and used the shirts to create a sampler I think it turned out really well. It was a lot of work but now I need to buy more stabilizer so that I can make my order for a teacher at the school.

Menu Monday

Wow we do not have a menu this week. Not quite sure what I will do. I could not get anyone to get involved.
My ideas are easy breakfast foods- mainly because we have ham left from last week. It didn't get cooked until Thursday.
So I am thinking:

Monday
Waffles and eggs

Tuesday
Pancakes and hash browns

Wednesday
French Toast and fruit

Thursday
Biscuits and Gravy and eggs

Friday
Egg and potato tacos

Saturday
Spaghetti and Garlic Bread

Sunday
On Your Own

Menu Monday

This week we will use a ham for meals starting on Tuesday. I was in Walmart when a lady in front of my friend and I was buying several hams for 47 cents a lb. I then called my husband and asked him to stop by on his way home. He was able to get four of them. That was pretty nice! So I decided with a crazy week I might need something real simple. What is more simple then cooking a ham and having some breakfast food all week. Of course we forgot to thaw it out last night so it does not start until Tuesday.
Monday
French Toast and Bacon

Tuesday
Biscuits, Gravy, Eggs and ham

Wednesday
Ham, Rice and Veggie (fry)
(mix cooked rice, olive oil, ham, cabbage and some onion, mixed veggies, egg in pan)

Thursday
Pancakes, Ham and eggs

Friday
Waffles, blueberry topping, eggs and ham

Saturday
Birthday Party for Noah

Sunday
On Your Own

Tackle it Tuesday- finishing up

This Thomas the Train Pillowcase was made for my friends baby Noah, he just turned one yesterday. I was so excited to get it done and take with me. I was able to spend some of his birthday with him which I thought was really neat. He doesn't know Thomas yet but I thought he would like the bright colors of the fabric. He sure did. He would just lay his little head on the pillowcase. It was the sweetest thing. Of course I also purchased a pillow too, because I was counting on it being his first real pillow. It sure was. That made it the perfect gift.
This is a new baby genius Quilt. I made it for my younger two's choir teacher. Is that even correct grammar.. Oh well. Anyway she has a niece that just found out she is due in a few months so I suggested one of these. I have another quilt order from her for a Baby quilt in pink and brown damask fabric. I sure hope that one turns out as nice because it will not have cut fabric. It is just one piece on either side with binding- that is not my typical quilt.

Brookshire Brothers Sale Feb 3-9

Here are this weeks deals at Brookshire Brothers. Prices effective for Katy, New Caney, Magnolia and Montgomery Stores only
Brawny Paper Towels BOGO Limit of 2- I believe there is a coupon for this
Grands Biscuits 8 ct BOGO- S/S 1/31 print here or here
Tombstone Pizza (thin, brick, oven or garlic bread crust) BOGO
Lays or Doritos Chips BOGO
Blue Diamond Almonds 2 for $5 -Insert 1/24
Kraft Shredded Cheese 2 for $4 Insert 1/31 print here
There are other sales also but these are some that most would be interested in. If you would like to see the full Brookshire ad you can go here

Hope this helps those shopping for deals.

Menu Monday

Wow I cannot believe it is February already. My oldest son was supposed to help me with our menu for this month since he turns 14 on the 12th but that did not happen. So I am going to try and figure out what he might want. To be honest that means some processed foods. I think he got hooked on some of these when his dad cooked dinners while I worked nights years ago. Also we have a very busy week after school due to the science fair for the younger two so dinners need to be quick and simple. Here is this weeks Menu Monday

Monday
Tuna Helper, corn and broccoli

Tuesday
Spaghetti, garlic bread, broccoli

Wednesday- Church Night
Bean and cheese burritos

Thursday
Baked Potatoes

Friday
Chicken tenders, mashed potatoes, corn

Saturday- Church
Breakfast foods

Sunday-
On Your Own

As you can see his favorites are corn, potatoes and brocolli- really pretty easy :-)

Shopping Day Saturday

I think Saturdays may become my normal shopping day. The store is a little more crowded but it just seems to fit in my schedule better for now. This week I just went to Kroger. I did not find that I needed anything at Walmart this week. Kroger's had a Mega Sale and it was full of really good deals, even if you did not have coupons for some of the items. Like Rotel- at 40 cents a can. You just can't beat that. We eat a lot of queso around here and love Rotel for things like enchiladas so I stocked up. Another item I stocked up on was Kraft cheese. I had 5 coupons for $1 off 2. That meant I got 10 bags for $1 each. Great deal. I had a BOGO for Always products- 2 of those. What was nice was she gave me the org price of $3+ for the second one so instead of the sale price of $2.49 for each first product I got them for an additional $1 off. Making 4 Always products $1.49 each. I was highly impressed. Another item I did really well on was I can't believe its not butter. I must admit I tend to be pretty loyal to brand. This is not one I would generally buy. However, it is really hard to pass up a sale for 99 cents on the two pack when you have a $1 off coupon.
I feel I did pretty good. I do not have pictures this week as honestly all but the cold food is still in the bags. We still do not have our side room finished so I can't even put all the food away. The table from last week still has last weeks food on it. I think we might try to just put it all in containers for now since my husband will probably have overtime all week and not get to it until next weekend. It is a pretty funny site to start a stockpile and have so much food and no where for it to all go. I miss the old days of having a pantry in my kitchen.
So the breakdown
I paid 105.27- included 2 papers
MFG savings 43.82
Bonus Coupons 4.00
Kroger Plus $85.05
Total Savings $132.87

Not too bad. I must admit my cashier was the best yet. I handed her this forever stack of coupons and she laid them in two piles and pulled them one at a time. She would even print the receipt- which she did three times to make sure coupons scanned. She was so highly impressed. However the very nice but young bagging person said even though I saved so much she would rather not go to all the work. I'd like to see her unemployed and with three kids then see how she feels :-) For me it is worth every penny we saved. I just hope I can get even better at it because I only had the $100 to play with this week due to a quilt sale. Normally our weekly budget for food is more like $20-40. Pretty hard to feed a family of five on that.

Oh and we bought $10 in rotel items so I will submit my receipt to get $25 in savings back from ConAgra Foods.