Crafting time with my favorite 4 year old

2 of my grandsons were here today. 4 year old Gavin brought 2 bags of pompoms that he got at his church, I think they must of been cleaning out some junk closets.

He wanted to do some crafts with his pompoms so we looked at Pinterest for some inspiration. 

Gavin found a train engine he liked so we tried to copy it.

We also made letter shapes covered with pompoms.

The inspiration train was made with pompoms in just 3 colors and with pompoms all the same size. 

Gavin wanted to use some of all his pompoms so his train is especially colorful and cheerful.  His train has soul. 

Children just like to do make things- it gives them a big sense of accomplishment, especially if we grown ups don't interfere with too much assistance, 

Coupon shopping at JCP and CVS

JCPenneys has a big sale going on and $10 off $25 coupons too. I got a coupon in the mail, 2 in the newspapers and more in an email. At the jcpenneys.com website, you can print off all you want but they do expire today.

I did 2 transactions and bought 4 long sleeved casual shirts for my husband. After the sale and coupons, each shirt was $7.99- plus sales tax.

Just a small purchase at CVS.

2 boxes of hair color were $5.99 each and I used a $5/2 coupon them.

Dawn was .88 and I used 50 cent coupons on both.

The pain relief medicine was free with a scanner coupon. 

And I used a $5 ECB from last week. 

I spent $3.95 cash and got a $2 ECB for later. 

Where are transfats?

Did you watch any news this week? I did and I saw so many stories about the banning of transfats, how nobody should be eating them ever, etc.

it was rather alarming listening to them.

So, I straightened up my pantry and went on a hunt there for the transfats.

  I think we eat more healthy food than unhealthy food, even so, our pantry had about 3 kinds of store bought cookies, chips, assorted crackers, assorted Helper mixes, Spam, Crisco shortening, microwave popcorn, stone canned soups, granola type bars, cereals.....

Guess what? I found ZERO products with transfats in our pantry. 

Do any of you know of any specific foods that still contain transfats? besides the transfats that naturally are in meats?  I am just wondering.  

When I straightened the pantry, I found a nice assortment of nuts. I set them out on the counter, a sort of snack station, for my husband to get some extra protein while he continues to heal. 

I did not make the patchwork placemat but I am fortunate to have 2 sets of them,

This set with the green borders belonged to my grandmother and I think she made them. I also have a set with red binding that was a wedding gift (33 years ago)  from a very sweet honorary Aunt. 

I have used both sets a lot and some of the bindings are getting worn though. But I am going to keep using them as I like them so much. 

Morning doings

I baked a New York Crumb Cake for breakfast, it was delicious and this home smelled so good for awhile. Recipe.  I made just a half recipe today and baked it in a 8 by 8 inch square dish.

But it doesn't smell good anymore! I am using this time without the grand babies here to do some home keeping,

There is vinegar running through both brewers to remove the lime deposits.  That smells pretty strong. 

And since that smells bad, this seemed like a good time to run the self cleaning cycle on the oven. 

The oven was overdue for a cleaning do it may be a few hours before I can turn it off.

It may smell bad for awhile, but I will be happy the clean results from both tasks. 

The laundry is going, I hope to clean the floors and I already cleaned both bathrooms. 

If the smells get to me, I will go outside and do some much needed trimming of the rose bushes and move some bulbs. 

Anyone else cleaning today?

This weeks CVS deals

When I clipped the Sunday coupons and looked at the new ad, I made a CVS list - just in case I had an opportunity to shop there. After being away from home for the hospital stay, I am really happy to stay home and did not know if I would shop there this week. Then one of my husbands prescriptions was switched and CVS called to say the new one was ready, so I did a little bargain shopping on the same trip to get his medicine, 

I had $16 in ECB from previous weeks. 

Everything I bought was on sale. I used 3 small coupons on the 54 rolls of Cottonelle

A scanner coupon to get the paper towels free

A $2/$10 scanner coupon on the Caress as well as 2 $2 coupons. 

A $1 coupon on the deodorant

I spent $14.07 and got a $5 ECB for the next shopping trip.

I'm sure glad I made that list earlier!