Samples and Freebies

Requested:
Red Gold free can of tomatoes coupon (Facebook)
Voskos plus Granola - 7 free coupons (Facebook/expired)


Received:
Benefiber sample from Rite Aid (disappointed there were no coupons)

Clothes - Making Them Last or Enhancing Their Style

I always heard that boys were rough on clothes. What I didn't consider is that girls are equally rough.

My daughter loves to run and play, and I love for her to run and play. Problem is, she always seems to find a way to fall down. The result is a skinned knee, a tear in her pants, mud/snow/water all over her clothes, and in one unfortunate event a baby tooth that had to have the kid's version of a root canal and is now known as 'my gray tooth'. She even has a knack of being able to cut her clothing with her scissors while doing art projects.

She has a definite style sense, all her own. I affectionately refer to her as 'my Rainbow Brite' on many a morning, when she comes down wearing a multitude of colors and patterns. Despite her affinity for diverse patterns, she simply can not wear clothes that have a tear or a stain. So, when, as it frequently occurs, she manages to make a mess of a new pair of tights, pants, shirt, or other, the article of clothing is typically toast. It will be passed over or placed back in her laundry. As a mom, it is rather frustrating to see that new article be worn but once or twice.

In the past, some of these holes have been small and I have been able to apply a sneaky patch or whip a few threads through it and all is well. But, that is not always the case.

When she managed to get holes in the knee in two pairs of pants within a week, I knew I had to find a solution. I simply can not go out and buy new clothes every week. I decided that I would embellish the pants that she has holes in. When I left home to look for the perfect patch, I had visions simply of a colorful, shaped patch. I was thinking a star or a heart. Unfortunately, at the store, I didn't see these - I simply saw standard, rectangles of patches like I had used in the past. I knew that I could cut a shape, but that wasn't what I was after. I was after 'fancy'.

So, I kept wandering and luckily, I did, because just a few short steps away, I came upon exactly what I was looking for. Decorative patches. We chose cupcakes for this first project. The close second was butterflies.

To mend her pants, I used a small patch on the inside. This might have been unnecessary, but I wasn't sure how well the decorative patch would do at mending. Then, in order to up the style and not make it look like it was just a repair patch, I stacked two patches - one big, one small - over the hole and set them with the iron.

To complete the embellished looked, I also added another small patch on the pocket.

I was planning to put it on the back pocket, but their were no back pockets on the pants.

The end result:

I am happy to say that not only was she excited to wear them the day that I patched them, but the embellished pants are now often requested by name. In fact, she recently asked if I had any more of those cupcakes and could I put them on some of her other pants.

I feel that I have succeeded. For a couple of dollars, I not only rescued a perfect other than a hole in the knee pair of pants from never being worn, but I turned them into fashion!

This post shared at Frugal Friday.

Pinterest

So, it's been a few months now that I have been hanging out around Pinterest. I was slow to adopt. Everyone that was telling me about it was finding themselves 'addicted' and spending hours on the site, so I was a little nervous. I don't have any free time as it is. If you aren't familiar, think of Pinterest as a visual bookmark list of things that you like (or would like to try).

I've been using it now for a few weeks and I find that there are a few ways in which I use Pinterest.

I check out what others are pinning and if I see something I like, I repin it to my boards. I have found a number of recipes and crafts that my friends have shared that I can't wait to try. I love that I can organize them so easily. This is probably where I spend the majority of my Pinterest time.

The second way that I use it is by searching on Pinterest for specific things - like a recipe or a craft. This allows you to explore beyond your circle for things that others have found interesting. The visual aspect is a great way to explore. Sometimes, it can be a "pain" to click from the search, to the board, to the pin, to the source.

It really was when I started to see the PinIt buttons added to some of the blogs that I read that I really started to pay attention. Suddenly, I had an easy way to capture those recipes/crafts/etc that I wanted to come back and make/do/etc. Plus, since it was saved with a picture, I had an easy visual clue about what the bookmark was. This clearly was a better option than my prior approach of simply book-marking every page (unsorted of course!) and winding up with a list of website addresses that I had to attempt to decipher as I looked for a specific post that I wanted to go back to.

Of course, not every website had the PinIt button, so I went on a quest to find out how to add the PinIt button to my toolbar. I headed over to Pinterest and found the directions (under About, Pin It Button, 1st item). It was super easy (open up your bookmark toolbar and drag the button from the site to your toolbar - can you get any easier?) and now I can bookmark any post or article that I want, whether that page uses the PinIt button or not.

While there, I also saw the directions on how to add the PinIt button to the posts on my blog. I put it at the bottom of each post - do you think I should move it to the top? Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to work following the directions on PinIt. I was able to get the button added to my posts, but when I went to test the button, I would get a 'blank' image. I'm not sure what was wrong, but think it could be related to the 'old' Blogger template that was the basis for my blog. Not being a programmer, I had no idea how to solve the problem.

But, I did find this website that offered simple directions on adding the PinIt button and the code needed. I'm currently using her file for the button, but may try to customize my own and then I will just have to change the location for the file.

I love Pinterest so far. How about you? Do you use Pinterest? What do you like about it? How do you use it?

This post shared at Works for Me Wednesday.

Mamavation Monday

Yes, I know it is Tuesday, sometimes it just works that way in my world.

In order to try to help myself on my journey to healthier living, better eating, more exercising and losing weight, I have rejoined Weight Watchers. So far, I'm loving it. My first week was a positive week in that I lost 2#. It's not much, but it is a start. I need to have something in my life that helps me refocus and I think this can do it. I think that their apps for the iPhone will be instrumental in helping me achieve my goals.

The WW Mobile app allows me to track my Points or evaluate a mealtime/snacktime decision on the go. No more needing to wait until I have access to the computer and a few minutes to log in. Now it is at my fingertips. Tracking as soon as I eat something allows me to stay on top of where I am and be more confident that I didn't selectively forget something. Now, there are still foods that I can't find in there, which does mean that I have to sometimes do a web search for the nutritional information to calculate Points.

The WW Scanner app is a great app. With the WW scanner, you can scan the barcode of a product and (if it's in their database) will return the information to your phone - both nutritional information including serving size and the Points. There is a button that allows you to add it to your tracker or you can simply scan the next item and it will store those values. This is a great tool. You can use it at the grocery store to help you decide between items or to simply build a list of the items in your cupboard for easier tracking. When you are ready to track, you can either look the item up in the scanner app or you can find it from your mobile app. The scanner also has a calculator, so you can calculate Points and store the information for tracking later.

I wasn't as active as I had hoped to be last week and this week is already off to a not great start. Last week, I don't really have a reason other than the rain made me want to stay in bed. This week, early morning meetings require that I'm out the door sooner than usual and it just doesn't leave me enough time after laundry and dishes to work out. I am committed to this and do fully intend to return to a regular exercise routine. I picked up a Groupon for Zumba and I hope to meet a friend for classes. This will be in addition to my regular morning routine, so that should help as well.

In addition to the Points tracker, I'm tracking how the days go over on Losing It!. I'm hopeful that this added accountability and opportunity to reflect on what's working for me will help me to succeed.

This post shared at Mamavation Monday. This week, the post is sponsored by Mamavation, who asks: Who is your biggest inspiration when it comes to healthy lifestyle?

My answer: My manager. She is a woman whom I never saw as needing to lose weight. She started on her journey a few years ago and looked great. Then, she became pregnant and committed herself to eating right and staying fit during her pregnancy. She continued on her journey after the baby was born and she looks even more amazing now. I know that she worked hard to achieve her personal goals. I know that if I stay dedicated that I can do this too. I just need to figure out how to not get derailed by life. Seeing her each day reminds me what I am trying to achieve.

No compensation was received for this post. This post is sponsored by Mamavation – a community dedicated to obesity prevention & weight loss for women and I’m writing this to be entered into a giveaway. I was provided with a trial subscription to Weight Watchers. All opinions expressed are my own.

CVS Scenarios - week of 1/23

Not much jumped off the pages of the CVS ad this week. There are a few deals that might be worth picking up though.

Transaction #1
1 - Blistex

-$.35 Blistex mfg coupon

Total $2.52 OOP. Earn $2 ECB.

Transaction #2
2 - Triaminic

-$3 Triaminic mfg coupon
-$3 Triaminic mfg coupon

Total $5, pay with $2 ECB and $3 OOP, earn $3 ECBs.

Transaction #3
1 - Boost High Protein (I use as an after exercise protein shake)

-$3 Boost Mfg coupon

Total $3.99, pay with $3 ECBs and $.99 OOP. Earn $1 ECB.

For the day, the total OOP is $6.51, with $1 ECB to roll and just under $20 in product at sale prices. A savings of about 69%.

For more deals and scenarios, check out Money Saving Mom and Deal Seeking Mom.

CVS $5 Challenge

Transaction #1
1 - Blistex

-$.35 Blistex mfg coupon

Total $2.52 OOP. Earn $2 ECB.

Transaction #2
1 - Boost High Protein (I use as an after exercise protein shake)

-$3 Boost Mfg coupon

Total $3.99, pay with $2 ECBs and $1.99 OOP. Earn $1 ECB.

For the day, the total OOP is $4.51 with $1 ECB to roll and just under $9 in product at sale prices. A savings of about 55%.

For more $5 Scenarios, check out the CVS $5 Challenge.

Menu Plan Monday (and the weekend in review)

What a wonderful weekend.

Friday night we had the perfect snow storm. I say perfect because it started after we were all home for the evening, snowed about 3 - 4" overnight and was done snowing by about 8 am. The world is beautifully blanketed in white, but we didn't have to deal with traveling in the snow. We were even lucky that someone (not the city) came down our road using their own plow and cleared a single lane path, so when we went to my son's basketball game in the morning, we didn't even have to worry about the road ways (the main ones were done of course).

Saturday was a very productive day. We did a quick stop at the grocery store to pick up a few things for the week and for dinner on Saturday. We stopped at Target and got some bins for under my daughter's bed. Her bed is adjustable and we had always had it on the lower setting (less distance to fall), but in an attempt to make it possible to open and close her closet door, we decided it was time to raise it up. Target had these cute little baskets with wheels - perfect for under the bed. We grabbed three. After having lunch and putting away the groceries, we tackled her room. It is wonderful. She has three bins under her bed and they are all full of stuffed animals and dolls. Her closet is organized and she can find the toys she wants to play with and has a place to put them away when she is done. The rest of the house also got a pretty good cleaning. I returned my dining room to a room in which to eat. This was inspired by my decision to have friends over for dinner. Saturday evening was a wonderful evening. We spent the evening eating, visiting and playing games with friends. I even tried out a new recipe for (Chicken Brushetta) - I enjoyed it and I know that my kids did too. It was so nice to have a relaxed no plan sort of evening. The kids had friends as well and they entertained themselves, allowing us to simply be adults. It was wonderful.

Sunday was a busy day. We had Kindergarten Open House for my daughter after church - so hard to believe that she will be in kindergarten next year. Then, we headed to lunch at our favorite local Mexican restaurant, using a voucher from the new daily deal site - DailyReferral. After lunch, it was time for haircuts. My daughter wanted her hair to just touch her shirt, so she had about 3-4" cut off. It is really cute. My son got closer to the buzz cut that he wants, while still keeping some hair like I want. When we came home, we watched Kung Fu Panda 2 as a family. This was followed by baths and dinner. The evening was capped by watching the Giants win their way to the Super Bowl. My husband watched with friends, but I am certain there were points where he was yelling at the TV. I'm just glad that they managed to pull it together and win in overtime.

Now, it is time for the week. I have a few work dinners this week, so my husband is on his own for a couple of meals. I'm guessing what he will make - I guess we'll see what he actually does.

Sunday
cereal
Mexican
leftovers (Chicken Brushetta)

Monday
Pizza

Tuesday
Pasta

Wednesday
Pierogie and Sausage

Thursday
Turkey Hot Shots

Friday
Sloppy Joes

Saturday
Tilapia Vera Cruz


Breakfast is cereal or oatmeal each morning, although sometimes at school my daughter will have pancakes or french toast. For my son, lunch is either the menu item at school or a packed lunch with some type of sandwich. Lunch for my husband and me is typically sandwiches, frozen meals or leftovers.

This post shared at Menu Plan Monday.