Grand #7, this week's to do list, and CVS

First, I am so happy to introduce this little cutie, Charlie Katherine. She is the youngest of all our grands and by far the biggest at birth, almost 9 pounds!  She also has the thickest head of baby hair I've ever seen.

She is just a few days old and so far, she mostly sleeps and wiggles.  

We are all in love with her and so thankful for her uneventful birth.

  Her sister was a preemie and was air flighted just a few hours after her birth to a big children's hospital.  Big Sis is fine but we all feared that same possibility for Charlie.   So we sighed a big sigh of relief and prayed a prayer of thanksgiving after she arrived.  

Here's my to do list for the week

The fabric tape is from Dollar Tree, designs are from rubber stamps and colored pencils.

CVS

Last week's sale - the Physicians Formula products were all giving big Extra Care bucks.  $7ECB for every $10 purchased.  I got these 3 and used some ECBs and a CVS coupon and spent just over $20 and got back a $21 ECB

Then this current week's sale, I used that $21 ECB and newspaper coupons to get 2 big packs of Charmin tissue and a bottle of a new product called Jergens wet skin moisturizer. 

 I spent $1.97 and got back $6.  

I read on IHeartCVS.com that the Physicians Formula will repeat next week as buy $12 get $8 ECB back. 

Hope you all have a good week!  We're planning another visit to Charlie and hope to see all our other grands this week as well. 

This week's list ....... A day late

I made this list Sunday night and worked on it quite a bit yesterday, but I am just now getting around to blogging about it.

I felt like yesterday was very productive - including an eye check up for me, laundering a huge amount of laundry for us 2 people and sewing 4 new pillows for the living room.  

This week's list is decorated with polka dot fabric tape from Dollar Tree and I found the stickers in a drawer that I cleaned out last week and decided to just use them.  Use what you have when possible! 

Hope you all are having a good week so far.  

It is HOT here, I plan to stay indoors as much as possible and drink lots of ice water and iced tea.  

Shopping and sewing

It's been a much quieter week here.  I've did a little shopping today and some sewing earlier,  

I bought a few produce items (red grapes, strawberries, carrots  celery and bell peppers) at Aldi.  I always wash produce and let it air dry- then I store in Tupperware or zipper bags.  I think it lasts longer and is crispier than if just kept in the crisper drawer.  

Yep, I stopped at CVS.  I got all this for $7.78.  When I was home and was organizing my receipts,  I found a $2/$6 Listerine coupon that I neglected to give the cashier.  Oh well!  I still spent less than $8 and got back $11 ECBs.  

At Dollar Tree, I only bought 5 bags of my very favorite dishwasher soap pods. There are 10 in a bag for $1, much cheaper than any other brand of dishwasher soap pods and I think they work better than any brand too.  

My favorite thrift store, and the only one I ever seem to shop at anymore, was having a $10 a bag women's clothing sale.  I filled up my bag and I think I got several things I will wear often, including 2 tops and 2 long skirts that will be cute outfits.  I also ended up with a few odd things that I wondered why I thought I would want them.  They may just go back in my next donation :) 

Sewing - I sewed up matching curtains for these 3 windows and our 2 living room windows several years ago.  They are still in good shape but I was tired of them and wanted something lighter.  

So I looked in my fabric tubs and re used this pink toile to sew some valances.  

Years ago, when this was actually a breakfast room, this pink toile was in some lined curtains that covered the windows.  But when I laundered them, the lining shrunk like crazy, and the curtains wouldn't fit those windows anymore.  I cut them apart then and I am glad I saved that pretty fabric.  

For the living room, I used some muslin curtains I had sewed up several years ago for my son's old apartment.  I added white ball fringe and the burlap pennant tie backs are from Baby Jack's shower decorations.  

These photos are really bad and I will attempt to retake them when the light is different.  

I am really happy with the new looks and glad I spent no money or time shopping to get them. 

I've got some pillows cut out and hope to sew them this weekend.  

I got lots done this week but the most fun day was the day these 5 sweeties were here- 

We may need to look for a bigger chair :) 

Monday list, CVS and catching up

Good morning everyone,  I'm back after a busy and fun week.  My parents stayed with us for a week and everyday they were here, my siblings or my children or my grandchildren were all here too in different combinations.  I think we all enjoyed visiting and seeing the sweet little ones.

Needless to say, I did not do all my regular cleaning last week so today I'm doing a lot of catch up.  We did part of it yesterday and I've already got quite a bit done this morning so it won't be too hard to have a clean, orderly home again.

I took this photo last night and have already checked off several.  

No Spend July is not No spending at all but spending as little as necessary. After paying our yearly home insurance, bi-yearly vehicle insurance, baby gifts, upgrading our child car seats and many Spring birthdays,  our bank accounts could use a boost.  So husband and I both agreed that July will be very limited spending.

CVS this week - I used lots of ExtraCare bucks from previous weeks and rewards so my out of pocket cost was very low.

The Charmin was $9.99 with a $10 ExtraCare reward for buying $30.  I had .75 coupons on each pack too.  Their are quite a few other Proctor & Gamble products on this deal.  

Propel water was $1.25 with a $1.25 ECB reward

The 2 Gatorades were $2.00 with a $2.00 ECB reward.

After coupons and $30 ECBs,  my OOP was .97 and I got back $13.25

A few scenes from this week

No, they are not all on their cell phones.  The adults are working on the Transformer toys that I got at a yard sale a few weeks ago.  If you look close in the lower left corner, Gavin has about 5 of transformers  that are back in their original state.  

My daughter had a deal she wanted to do on a Thrity One Gifts diaper bag.  She needed another purchase to get a lower price so I ordered this very large tote- it's big enough to hold 2 2 year olds! 

All 6 grands!  And Grand baby #7 will be here any day.  

Some delicious and much appreciated home grown vegetables from my brother.

JJ helping my mom and dad make a Rhubarb pie.  He had so much fun helping put the ingredients in the pie shell and my parents really enjoyed the rare treat of Rhubarb pie.

This week looks be a bit slower than last week.  For now,  I'm off to get housework done.  

93 cent CVS haul

Just a small CVS haul this week.  

The Revlon nail polishes are on sale for $3.99 and $5.99 this week.  Sunday's paper had $3 Revlon coupons. I also had a CVS $4 off $15 on Revlon coupon. 

The Schick razors are on sale for $5.99 and there were $4 coupons also in this Sunday's paper.  

I also used 2 $5 ECBs from previous week's to bring my out of pocket (OOP)  total to just 93 cents.  I didn't earn any ECBs on this purchase but most of it tracks on CVS beauty club and that earns a $5 ECB for every $50 (before coupons) purchased.  

Today is the day CVS credits their quarterly rewards.  It is 2% of all quarterly purchases and you can get yours by signing in to your CVS app or by scanning your CVS card at the store,  my rewards were $7. 

Another Monday list

Good morning everyone.  Sorry for no posts last week but I helped my daughter 3 days and took a little relaxing time on days our home was empty.  I also spent a good deal of time organizing and listing the freezer contents, making a shopping list and doing a huge shopping trip to our favorite commissary.  

This week, we have company all week so my standard to do list is much shorter. I will just keep up with house cleaning as it needs done and I have time to do it. 

To answer a few comments from last week

Lilac Dreams Tracey - I stopped doing Swagbucks a couple months back, I may start back in the future but not now.  

Vickie - I kind of have a love-hate relationship with THM desserts.  My favorite is the no bake chocolate version cookies that I think originated with Sheri Graham.  I made a double batch of them, using half oats and half coconut.  I keep them in the fridge and they always taste good to me.  

I did get some the new THM baking blend and I made a half recipe of a shortbread cookie but I didn't like them one bit.  In fact, I threw them away.  

I want to try the cowboy cookies in Mrs. Criddles site and hope to do them tomorrow. http://mrscriddleskitchen.com/cowboy-cookies/

 I'll let you know!

Have a good week everyone!  

Monday list

Good morning everyone.  

This week's list seems shorter and I am probably forgetting something but I'll do what I can and then add things if needed.  

Instead of rubber stamps, I used some fabric tape from Dollar Tree and stickers to decorate this week's very simple list.   The fabric tape is cute and cheerful, but it seems to have a mind of its own which is evident in my wonky stripes.  I like it but will be looking for small short projects to use it.  

My Dollar Tree had 6 different designs and it was on pegs with the stickers and labels.  

I'm off to get stuff done! 

Feeding the grands

4 of the grands are here for the day.  I made oatmeal pancakes and oven baked bacon for breakfast.  

There were leftovers and they went in the freezer for future breakfasts.

Last night, I boiled eggs and sliced cheese and made the fruit tray. This was today's lunch with milk and crackers.  After we ate, all the eggs and fruit were gone. 

 It was much easier planning this ahead and doing the prep last night.  

Now it's nap time and almost miraculously, all 4 are asleep! 

What are we having for supper? At the moment I have no clue.........

Supper is cooking

It's almost noon and I just started supper.  

I put a whole chicken in our bigger crockpot- spray it first with something nonstick, season the bird however you like and I like to cook birds breastside down. 

In the other crockpot I put foil wrapped sweet and white potatoes.  They don't have to be wrapped but sweet potatoes tend to drip and caramelize when they cook and I am hoping to avoid that mess.  

Both the chicken and potatoes should be done after about 5 hours on high.  

I made a big salad last night and we will have it too.  

I cooked a chicken just like this last week and planned to make chicken salad with the leftovers.  Four of the young grands were here for that meal and they liked that chicken so much, there was none left!  

A whole chicken makes an easy, low cost and healthy crowd pleasing meal around here. 

Do you have any other meals that work for a group? 

Neighborhood yard sale finds and CVS

Our little neighborhood had their annual yard sale this past Saturday morning. My son came over and we walked to every sale.  We both were happy with our finds.  

My son got this expensive looking silk plant for $2, the stone finial for $1 and I think the books were 50 cents each.  

The rest are things I bought 

Pretty frame $1

Giant heavy silver plate serving tray $2 - really! 

It still had this price tag on it. It's very grand looking, like it belongs on Downton Abbey maybe.

3 packs or weather stripping tape $1 for all 

Little boy clothes - all 25 cents each

A new Martha Stewart tablecloth $1 

Beanie Baby puppy and measuring spoons 25 cents each 

The biggest purchase was this 3 foot tall storage cabinet full of 12 by 12 inch scrapbook paper and cardstock for $15.  It's very heavy so we drove the block and a half back to pick it up in my vehicle.  

I haven't looked at every sheet but I like all the ones I have looked at.  

CVS this week 

I think before sales and coupons, the total was $60ish,  but after all the deals, I spent just under $10 cash and got $13 in CVS money to spend next week.  I've already checked out next week's ad at 

Iheartcvs.com and plan to stock up on Charmin.   

The Meta bars are free for everyone with a CVS card this week.  Just scan your CVS card and the free coupon will print out once per card.  If your store is out of them, get a rain check.  They are stocked back in the pharmacy with things like Slimfast and fiber supplements.  

Plus, if you do the Meta refund on Ibotta, there is a $2 refund on them.  I just started doing Ibotta about a month ago.  It is an easy way to refunds on retail purchases,  you just sign up and then on eligible products, you just scan the upc and receipt with the camera on a smart phone or iPad type device.  

Happy bargain shopping everyone! 

New week to do list

This week's list has a few carry overs from last week.  I got lots done but just didn't get it all finished.  

My weekly lists are made with rubber stamps on old fashioned notebook paper, sometimes colored pencils, and kept on a clipboard on my kitchen counter.  

One reason is 2 of our grandsons stayed with us for 4 days while their mom was out of town and their dad was working.  They were good but this 2 year old and 6 year old boys kept me on my toes.  They played with their cousins, swam in a wading pool in the backyard, had a great time with last week's yard sale toys, rode bikes, and ate a lot.  

And we all slept good each night after our busy days. 

Hope you all have a great week and get lots done 

Sweet birthdays and a much loved quilt

This is our daughter just a month or so after she was born,  her birthday was this week 

And it was especially special to celebrate it with her and her sweet newborn "baby Jack". 

Their family had professional family photos made by http://www.averiblackmon.com I know Nina worked hard to get all their outfits coordinated,  I was so surprised and pleased to see they used a scrappy string quilt that I sewed for them several years ago.  Jilly, who blogs at http://simplegifts365.blogspot.com isent me a box of her fabric scraps and I think I sewed this quilt 100% from her scraps.  Jilly, I know you will like the quilt and that the photos were taken in The Botanic Gardens in our town.  

Baby Jack has a head full of dark hair just like his momma did.  We are wondering if it will turn blond and be straight like his mom or curly like his siblings or will it stay dark like his dad's.  

http://www.averiblackmon.com 

Her husband was also in the photos but I don't have access to all of the shots yet or I would show him too.  He is a great guy and my favorite son in law.