Coupon Addiction

{Little sneak peak into some of my stockpile}

Well I have been couponing for about 3 years now.  Nothing crazy serious like Extreme Couponing.  I have some weeks that I don’t do so good and it causes a lot of catch up work for the following week.  Couponing has allowed us to have a pretty good stockpile.  The point is to buy products/food when it is on sale and combine with coupon.  That way when you need something you’re not forced to pay full price for it.  We call our closet in our laundry room “The Store.”  We have everything.

I have been trying to have better eating habits for my family.  Most of the coupons I use are not actually for food.  Some are but not most.  Couponing does take time like anything that you either earn/save money.  If it were easy everyone would do it.  I love it and don’t think I will ever stop this craziness.  Especially when I get things for “free”.  I use that term loosely because I do pay for the newspaper.  But what I spend on the paper and what I save does not even compare.  It’s totally worth it, if you have the patience. 

Grocery Game is my favorite coupon website.  I do have other blogs that I sometimes use that are free but I always go back to the grocery game.  My addiction has spread to my Mom.  She is even more into it than I am.  But together we save a lot and hope to inspire others to do the same. 

Why pay more for the same thing. 

Pumpkin Festivities

The past few years we’ve gone to Schnepf Farms. This year, partly because of the expense, we decided to go somewhere else.  Daily I drive past Vertuccio Farm so to change things up we went there for some pumpkin fun.  I actually really enjoyed it.  We all had a great time and it was at least a quarter of the price as Schnepf Farms.  That always puts a smile on my face.

We started with the corn maze.  It was like a game of clue.  They gave you a game piece to play as you walked in.  Basically you have to go through this ginourmous maze and find clues along the way.  If you find all of the clues then you know who it was, with what and where.  It was a cute idea.  We only found three.  In our defense the girls were our leaders most of the time and they loved it. 

At first they didn’t really know what to expect or what we were doing. 

Adisyn wouldn’t let go of my hand.

After we were done with the corn maze we rode the barrel train.  Ava was too scared to ride alone so, my Mom sat with her. 

After the train the girls spotted a jump house.  They jumped for awhile and when it was time to get out Adisyn was anything but nice.  Rather embarrassing actually.  So, she didn’t get a snow cone and whined about it for 20 minutes.

After we were all tired out of the fun.  The girls picked out pumpkins and we sat around for a bit and ate kettle corn. 

These are the two the girls picked out.

Fall is in the air

 

I have been more excited for Fall than past years.  Not exactly sure why, but I love the holidays.  I have been slowly accumulating “harvest” décor.  I also did manage to check off a few things from my fall to-do list. 

My fall wreath:

wreath is from Hobby Lobby $5

Letter “D” Hobby Lobby $5

vegetables and autumn leafs are from Dollar General $3

Total roughly $13. 

Christmas wreath my goal will be to go even cheaper!

Pumpkin Bread

 

Scrumptious Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup pumpkin purée

1/2 cup olive oil

2 eggs {beaten}

1/4 cup water

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice

 

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Sift together the flour, salt, sugar, and baking soda.

Mix the pumpkin, oil, eggs, 1/4 cup of water, and spices together, then combine with the dry ingredients, but do not mix too thoroughly.

Pour into a buttered loaf pan. Bake 50 minutes approximately or until a toothpick poked in the very center of the loaf comes out clean. Gently turn over the pan and let cool on a rack.  Once cooled slice with curated knife and enjoy with warm butter and glass of milk. Yum!

Yield: Makes one loaf.

I’m in LOVE…

With my new favorite toy… the Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens.  I have been wanting this lens for so long, not exactly sure why I didn’t invest sooner.  Anyhoo its such an amazing lens.  I love photos with blurred backgrounds.  This lens allows the f stop to be as low as 1.8.  I’m not an expert but I found some really good education here if you’re interested.

 

{all photos below taken at f stop 1.8, ISO 400}

To Sum It Up…

Backyard Progression {part 2}

This past weekend we got a ton {no pun intended} a lot done.  It’s kind of funny how it came about.  We decided to get trees & bushes earlier in the week.  On Friday we decided to order rock.  Being only 1/2 mile away from our house we I couldn't grasp the 65 dollar delivery fee.  So, we got a trailer and loaded it to the ground, literally! 
Since the decision was on such a whim we didn't coordinate friendly helpers.  That’s right we did it all ourselves.  Phew! 
5 Tons, 10,000 lbs, average time 5 hours.  5 hours of exhausting, back breaking HARD work.  {we even got a job to install ceiling fans and plant three palm trees}  LOL one of our neighbors thought we were a landscaping company and thought she could hire us to do some work around her house.  Due to the enormous mountain of rock still to haul and blistered hands with the taste of salty sweat dripping in our mouths, we politely declined. 
We ended the weekend with some football, cold, beer and I took a nap!  Neither of us could fathom cooking dinner, even a PB&J was questionable work!  So, pizza it was.  The girls were in bed by 7 and Shawn was sawing wood by 8. 

Take a peek…


{more panoramic views to come, almost done}
Still To-Do:

• Sod
• garden
• plants in pots
• possibly citrus tree
• rose bushes
• outside décor {can’t wait}
• seat cushions

See Part 1

Officially 3 1/2

October means my babies are 3 1/2. OH MY! Where has the time gone! 

What’s new with them…

 

Photo Time

 

My Loves