Off schedule....

I had a long lasting stomach bug almost 3 weeks ago. I've been better for awhile but I am still off my normal regular daily activities.  Not sure if it is just from being a little weak or if this winter weather is slowing me down or what. 

So that is my explanation for so few blog posts.  

Right now, I am waiting for these cinnamon rolls to cool.  My husband asked me to make them so he could share them at work, but he didn't request them until after supper or I would of started them earlier.

I am not a night owl and am normally asleep by now, but since I've been so off schedule, I am happily baking cinnamon rolls.  I wish you all could smell them- they smell great.  Once they cool off, I'll cover them up for the night and then in the morning, I'll frost them and maybe sprinkle with chopped nuts. 

I made 2 trips to CVS and combined manufacturer coupons and store coupons and sales and extra care bucks, the purchases below cost me 59 cents cash and my other similar purchase but is not photographed was less than $2.  And I have more than $20 in CVS bucks to spend on future purchases. 

If you are wanting to stretch your budget, I really encourage you to pick out a local store and look up their deals online, especially on a Facebook group or YouTube videos, as I've posted about before.  

It does take some research and organization but it really can add up to big savings.  

I shop CVS because there is one in my town and in a close convenient location.  

I see posts about great deals at Target, Rite Aid, Publix, Kroger- and others.  

Getting deals stretches our budget and it's fun! 

I think those rolls might be cool enough to cover up now and I am going to bed.  

I should have very sweet dreams as our home smells like a Cinnabon bakery 

Good night for now

Mid week catch all post

What have I been up to?

I've been sewing on an American flag inspired quilt that a son requested. His birthday is in April and I hope to have it finished for that. 

I also made 1 visit to 1 thrift store. 

I got all these nice Oneida spoons and forks for 25 cents each.

I also got this pile of children's clothes- minus 2 pair of jeans that my daughter was so tickled to see as they were like new and fit long legged and slim Elizabeth perfectly.  This pile was surprising as most of the clothes are for the older grands.  Like I mentioned before, the bigger size children's clothes are harder to come by so this was a good buy. 

This is an odd fabric product- it feels more like a heavy interfacing than fabric - not sure what I will do with it but I really like the kitchen theme design.  It is 1 yard of 60 inch wide and was 50 cents. 

Beside the Valentine family party,  we had another big weekend event.  We went to a gender reveal ultrasound for grand baby #7 who is due late July.  

In this photo, the baby is looking right at the camera and has both arms up beside the head.  We also saw a yawn and a thumb suck.  So sweet! 

Before we went to the ultrasound, we had lunch with the parents, another aunt and the maternal grandparents.  A friend made these pretty cupcakes with pink and blue mini pacifiers so we could predict what the baby might be.  

They were delicious, but most of us were wrong,  we pedicted a boy baby but 

It's a girl! 

And just what big sister Andie requested.  

Happy Valentines Day 2015

We just had a very fun family Valentines party. We celebrated with pizza, snacks and homemade Valentine  boxes.

We started doing this years ago when we homeschooled. The one thing the children missed most about public school was the parties. So we decided to sort of replicate a school party at home with homemade Valentine boxes. 

There were some especially creative boxes this year. 

Gavin used a basketball with a slot cut in it.

Son in law John made a Bat Mobile. 

Daughter in law Sheena made a very cute frog princess. 

The grandchildren really had fun - they like playing with their cousins and glow sticks and of course they like the candy, 

We just fill the boxes with little gifts and treats for each other.

Hope you all had a happy Valentine's Day too! 

Oriental Stir Fry - our newest favorite Aldi product

I like to watch YouTube videos while I am doing home things.  One homemaker I like cooked this Aldi Oriental Stir fry.  Hers looked very good so I bought some on my next trip to Aldi.

It comes in a 32 ounce bag in the freezer section and sells for $2.89 here.  There is also a teriyaki with noodles version but we have not tried that kind. 

The bag contains lots of nice vegetables and a packet of a thickened soy and slightly ginger sauce. 

The ingredient label is not scary either. 

It is very quick to prepare. Just heat 1 tablespoon of oil and then stir in the frozen vegetables, cooked covered for 5 minutes, stirring a few times.

Then add the sauce packet and heat through. 

We had it last night with rice and some chicken my husband smoked.  

That is his plate below.  

The sauce tastes like a good sauce from a good Asian restaurant and we enjoy it very much. 

This is a product I will be keeping in our freezer, especially for busy meal times.

I've cooked it twice and both times have cooked it plain just as the bag describes. 

The YouTube homemaker added frozen scallops and shrimp to hers and I think she also got her seafood at Aldi.  

I may sauté an onion next time to add to ours next time I cook it.  

More about CVS - part 2

Here are a few more ways to get the good deals at CVS.

My favorite time to shop at CVS is early Sunday morning. Their sales start on Sunday and I have always found the deals I want in stock if I go early in the sale.  I've read that the sales prices for the next week are activated in the computers on Saturday evening but the ECBs don't always print at the early sales.  

Even if the sale tags are not posted in front of the sale items, they should still scan at the ad price. 

The CVS red box scanner not only gives coupons, it also will scan items for price checks.  

If the sale items are not available, ask for rain checks.  CVS rain checks never expire. 

My CVS gets their new shipments to restock on Thursday so that is a good time to shop if I miss going at the first part of the sale cycle too.   Just ask a store worker and I think most will tell you when they usually restock.

CVS often has offers like buy $30 of something and get back $10 in ECB. 

If the offer was for $9.99 priced items and you bought 3 at $29.97, the ECB would print as CVS gives a 1% grace of the purchase price and still honors the ECB. 

If you have coupons on the deal, they count toward payment and don't subtract from what you bought as far as the ECBs part of the deal.   So if you bought $30 of the items and had $10 in coupons toward them, you would still get the ECB. 

If you just bought $20 toward the $30 deal, it will be listed at the bottom of your receipt and if you go back during the sale cycle and buy more, then you could still get the ECB.  This is called tracking.  

This is a mid week purchase I made. My husband needed this 8 hour pain reliever and I wanted to check out some sales I read about on line.  

These Nexxus products were all 75% off and I double checked them at the red box scanner to make sure. Clearance products are not supposed to earn ECBs but sometimes they do.  Some of these did track and some didn't.  The current deal now is buy $20 Nexxus and get $10 ECB.  So if I go back to CVS, I may try to buy more to get the $20 and earn an ECB. 

The Almond Joys were still on 75% off clearance for 39 cents a 6 pack and are use by dated near the end of this year. 

These are some of the CVS coupons I got this week for scanning my card.  

I will keep up with them as they could be very helpful when combined with a sale and coupons. 

For the Mitchum pictured above, they were on sale for $2.99 so I bought 4 of them and used the $2/$10 CVS coupon along with some newspaper manufacturer coupons and got the deodorants almost free. 

Whew!  I think I have covered about all the helpful CVS tips I know. Please share if you know any more. 

And I'm sorry if CVS is not your thing.  I'll be posting soon about a quilt I've started, 2 sacks full of thrift store goodies and an Aldi product we really like.