earning a little extra

While the internet is full of get rich scams, I don't mess with them. I do participate in a few online programs that either earn me a little cash or free products.
Here are the ones I belong to and think are worthwhile.

all of these coupons are from Kraft, either from their First Taste site or by "liking" Kraft products on Facebook. You don't have to do anything at First Taste, just join, and then when Kraft has products they want to promote, they send out coupons or samples. You do have to check your account occasionally and accept any new offers to get the coupons.

Vocalpoint is another site that promotes new products. Just sign up and check out the Try and Tells to get samples and coupons.
In yesterday's mail, I got this cute cardboard purse from VocalPoint.

It contained 3 of the new very thin Pampers as well as some high value coupons.



I just started Swagbucks about a month ago and plan on earning Amazon certificates. I mostly use it as a search engine, I do a few searches several times a day, hoping to win a few bucks, I also do the Daily Poll everyday for 1 swagbuck.

I have belonged to MyPoints.com for about 10 years. My husband also has an account. Most of our points come just from clicking on the links in the emails they send. We also get points from some online purchases including Ebay and for printing and using coupons at our local stores. I spend maybe 1 or 2 minutes on some days with Mypoints and earn a $25 gift card every 8 months or so.

If you have a blog and like to host giveaways, I recommend MyBlogSpark.com. I have hosted for them several times, they usually send me some sort of gift pack to try and then a giftpack or gift card for a reader that comments.

None of these programs will replace earnings from a fulltime job but most of them are fun and do offer rewards. I would be interested in hearing of any other reward programs with good reputations too.

Weekend doings

I baked some banana bread with some over-ripe bananas

canned some jalapenos from our backyard container garden with carrots and onions

Jeff was busy smoking meat for future meals - he smoked 20 pounds of pork loin, 6 whole chickens and a beef roast. Then he sliced all the meat and de-boned the chickens. Last week I made roma sauce for pasta and 6 meals worth of taco meat. I think we are stocked up on easy meals for awhile!

I sewed up a 4th of July dress for Elizabeth at her momma's request.


We also went out the country to see Gavin and take his momma, Amanda, her birthday gift. Gavin and Amanda traveled to east Texas and Arkansas last week to visit relatives there. And this week, Gavin's grandma Ruthie from Indiana is visiting here.
Gavin at his great-grandparents in Arkansas - doesn't he look like he is really enjoying being a little boy in the summer?

Last night, we got a nice little rain - the yard needed the water and we were happy to see our recent gutter installation in action and working just fine.

Yard Sales where price tags don't mean anything

I headed out to a few yard sales alone Saturday morning. Jeff was home smoking meat to stock our freezer. I only went to 4 and bought things at 3.
At the first sale I found this Fisher Price swing for Elizabeth to use at our house. It was marked $8.....

I also got these utensils there, they were marked 1 cent each.
So when I was checking out, the seller said - "I think that swing is $2 and you can just have the utensils"
I corrected her and said the swing was marked $8
She laughed and said "oh well, you can just have it all for $5"
I took it, I've been looking for a nice swing and have not found one for less than $25.

Now, on to another sale. See the price sticker on this pot - says 50 cents.
The other pot was not marked. I asked the seller how much they were, she said the tall one was $1 and the long one was 75 cents. I showed her the 50 cent price tag and handed her $2. She gave me back one quarter for change.
So apparently her price tags did not mean what they said either!
But I liked the pots and they will be great for backyard vegetables so I did not argue.

Gavin gets a pair of Carters jeans - marked $1 and paid $1.

Jimmy

28 years ago, I was in the Naval Regional Medical Center aboard Camp Pendleton, California with my brand new baby Jimmy. Jeff and I arrived at the hospital after midnight and Jimmy was born, very easily, at 230am.
Jimmy was born a few days after Prince William. Princess Diana leaving their hospital with their new baby was on the single tv in my hospital room. I was in a room with 4 other Marine wives and we all watched the royal family and then talked about how different her hospital stay must of been from ours.

Jimmy was a happy baby - always smiling or sleeping. Pretty cute too! This was 28 years ago.....

Now, he has one more semester of law school and is working this summer as a Licensed Legal Intern with an attorney in our town. He can do some things in a limited way that an attorney can do, but not everything.
He does have to dress like an attorney - doesn't he look nice? He came to Nina's house today at lunch and opened a birthday gift that my brother left there for him.

Zerbie is looking on, it looks like she is curious about what is inside..... Uncle Bert always picks out interesting gifts, what could it be?

Oh, it is a retro stalking panther TV lamp!

A close up look, in case you have never seen one.
Jimmy says he has been looking for one and it is just what he wanted.

Jimmy with baby Elizabeth

Happy Birthday Jimmy!

Saturday Yard Sale finds

I only went to one sale this weekend, and it was right in my little neighborhood.

The biggest thing I bought was this solid oak little cabinet/side table made by Lane. It has a wheat design on the front door.

lots of storage inside and a little pull out shelf for sitting a drink on

and a magazine rack on the back.
I am pretty sure I have seen a table just like this before, maybe my grandparents or maybe one of my aunts or uncles had one, if my Mom remembers, I think she will leave me comment.

a little compact with 2 mirrors inside - I've already tucked this into my purse
2 glass things with metal tops - they are really cute and look old, but I don't know what they are, anyone know?

a ring holder - I've misplaced my rings too many times, maybe this will help me keep track.

some vintage kitchen towels - 5 towels, 2 dishcloths

a huge green table cloth and 6 fancy white napkins

long mirror
8x10 frame
a big summer handbag
cosmetic bag
spool of jute twine

and 2 vintage dresses - they are very cute and well made, but no where near my size - not sure what I will do with them but I may try to resell them.


Nothing at this sale had prices on it but I knew the man was selling things low. When I asked about my pile of purchases, he said $10. I told him I thought that was too low but he said he was just trying to get rid of stuff.

linked to
Rhoda at Southern Hospitality
Selena at Apron Thrift Girl

Jeff's "vacation" day

Jeff took a vacation day from his job today, but he worked pretty hard at home. Our home does not yet have a complete set of gutters and he wanted to add to them.
So early this morning, he measured the east side of our house and off to Lowes we went to buy all the parts.

Here he is, just getting started. I helped when he was attaching the long pieces by holding one end and handing the drill or gutter pieces up to him.
The whole job only took 3 trips to Lowes and a lot less time and money than I expected it would.
We've had a lot of rain this spring but no rain at all is in this week's forecast so we will have to wait a while to see how much the gutters help.

Then we needed to do a few errands and since we were right beside one of the best thrift stores in my town, we stopped there and I did a little shopping.
Not shown - 2 pair of shorts for Gavin,
"Blueberries for Sal" childrens book,
some interfacing for future sewing projects.

they had baskets full of thread for 10 cents a spool - I got 22

This embroidered towel was in a bundle of 4 other hand towels for $1.50 - I really like this one but the others are not-brand-new terry cloth and they will get used for rags.

One of our errands was to take some things to Nina she wanted to borrow so we also spent a little time with sweet baby Elizabeth. She is doing just fine and sweet as a baby can be.

This weeks yard sale finds

Our neighborhood had their annual sale on Saturday and lots of homes had sales.
We shop at yard sales so often that I can be very selective about what I buy. I found a few too-good-to-be-true purchases.

First is this week's Pyrex - a blue divided dish $3

2 Corningware pans - one is a skillet and the other is a large saucepan with lid - $2 for both

At an estate sale, I spent $2 and got a stack of flower pots and all this fabric and muslin

I roughly counted the muslin and I think one piece is about 6 yards long and the other is 12 yards. It is really nice quality fabric too.

a floormat-play gym for Elizabeth - the music pad plays Mozart very softly


I started going to yard sales very regularly about 4 years ago and Jeff started going last summer. At first, he usually just drove me and sat in the truck. Now he looks with me at most sales and I think he likes to shop at them as much as I do.
I did not even see this thing at the sale where he bought it but he liked it alot. And now, we own it! I am not sure if I am happy about that or not.

Who knows? maybe we will both like it so much and use it everyday - then we will might look like Bob and Jillian.

See more thrifted treasures at
Rhoda's Southern Hospitalityand
Selena the Apron Thrift Girl

Pink blooms in the front yard

This Rose of Sharon bush is about 10 years old. It was already planted here when we moved here. It starts blooming every June and stays is full bloom until the first frost. It takes almost no care at all except for a little pruning to keep it from getting taller than the house.


So if you are looking for some easy pretty flowers that last a long time, you might consider a Rose of Sharon bush.

Remember all the baby hydrangea? The all seem to be white except this one is a pretty pink one.


we went to a few yard sales this morning and I will post our finds later.
I hope everyone who reads this is having a good weekend.

How does my garden grow?

not wonderful but not terrible either. The flowers are doing better than the edible things.


our 3 tomato plants - kind of straggly but we've been picking a handful every day

jalapeno peppers - I thought I planted 1/2 bell peppers and 1/2 jalapeno, but they all seem to be jalapenos

dill plant with Gavin behind it

squash, cukes, cilantro

herbs and veggies - I think this shows the squash and cucumbers, maybe the basil and some radishes

Yellow rose bush from Aldi

tiny tea rosebush

a few sunflowers

Marigolds with tiny buds that should open soon and thumbelina zinnias

Cooking at Nina's

About 5 or 6 weeks ago, I helped Nina fill her freezer with meals. Nina and John both liked them alot and they planned on doing it again on June 5th. But baby Elizabeth was born a little early and they did not get done it done before she came.
Nina is recovering so quickly, she wanted to get some more meals done and thought if I helped her, we could do it today.
So we did!

No gourmet recipes today - they both like casserole type meals so that is what we made.
The first casseroles finished were 3 tater tot casseroles.


Other meals
pasta with cheese, broccoli and ham
from Tammy's Recipes Saucy Chicken and Broccoli bake
From Taste of Home Meatloaf
porcupine meatballs
creamy chicken cordon bleu bake
and there might of been some other things cooked too but my memory is not working so good.



Elizabeth is one week old. She was happy we were cooking a lot so her parents will have nice meals for a month with very little prep or cleanup - so there will be more time for them to dote on her.