Serious.Life magazine

Hello again, this is a great online magazine that my blog is listed in the directory. It has great blogs and interesting articles!! Check it out!

How I saved money, and How I absolutely DID NOT save money this week!

First, for the funny story of how I didn't save money. Eric was home sick on Wednesday, and we were going to the galleria area to have lunch with his mom. We were on I-10 and all of a sudden, we saw everyone slamming on their brakes. So, for those who live in Houston, you know you do WHATEVER you can to not get stuck in a wreck on I-10. So, we were in the far left lane, and there were 4 of us in the car, so I said, GO TO THE HOV LANE! Eric listened, as he almost always does, and we were on our way passed the wreck. Although, it wasn't a wreck at all. It was a policeman with a radar gun. Who was now flagging us down. Did you know there was something called "Unsafe lane change" and it costs $180 for a ticket? That is how I did NOT save money this week.

Onto how I saved money this week. I spent a few minutes gathering my coupons today for my Kroger trip. I wasn't planning on buying much, as I already have my very few meals planned this week (Thursday rodeo, Friday 10 year high school reunion!). But, there's this great 'deal' about buy 10 items, get $5 off your order instantly. So I was ready to stock up! I had lots of coupons, and was walking around getting my 10 things (after getting my essentials for the week: milk and produce and free toilet paper) and Kroger was out of a few things. Frozen pre-made meatballs being one of them. Have I mentioned I haven't purchased pre-made frozen meatballs is oh, 4 years? Why was I looking for those? Oh yeah, one of the 10. I was looking at my total I calculate as I go, and it was over $40 (and I don't have but $125 left for the month!). AND it was on stuff like frozen pizzas (10 things deal), that I have everything at home to make from scratch, and Gordon's seafood (which I bought a couple on a better deal a few weeks ago, and still have plenty in my freezer) and pizza rolls, which have 2.5 grams of trans fat in 6 rolls!! Ok, Misty, DUH, you don't need any of this JUNK. So I put it all back. I did go by the clearance section that usually has NOTHING in it, and got some great deals. On all those canned items, they were way dented, so on manager's special for like $.29 a piece. The refried beans were $.49 each. I had a coupon for $.50 on 2 cans (which doubles to a total off of $1), so I got those free. Also got the charmin with $.50 off one (doubled to $1), so they were $.19 each. I used my free Kashi frozen item, FREE. Notice a lot of what I buy has 'manager's special' on it. The salad, normally $3.69 was on sale for $1.89. Hummus, usually $3.99, on sale for $1.99. Total spent OOP was $20.08. It would have been less without the impulse buys of Cadbury Cream Egg ($.50--my weakness this time of year) and $1.39 coke! Oh well, I always have next week to try to resist the temptation! :)

GREAT Huggies Coupons!

If you haven't seen them around the web yet, there are $3 and $5 huggies coupons EVERYwhere lately! I don't need them, except to buy pull-ups for Cara's school days (2 per week for only about 10 weeks left!) when she naps. Anyways, you can click here, or on my coupons.com side bar (scroll down a little, on the left), register and print 2 per computer! There is an awesome deal going on this week at Walgreens, but I hear stores are running out of them! So good luck.
You may have to go to the last page of coupons, just scroll through until you see them.

Free stuff in the mail!

I just wanted to write a quick post about some of the freebies I've received this week in the mail. Be sure to check out all of my favorite blogs (you can click on my profile and see all the blogs I follow)! They post weekly freebies (sometimes daily), and almost every freebie I have received has had a coupon in it too!

My favorite one, a FREE Kashi frozen entree! YUMMY. I like having healthy options in the freezer for my honey in case we don't have leftovers one day, or if he really just wants a change. Kashi is very healthy, and very yummy!

One that didn't make the picture was a Raspberry and Chocolate True Delights breakfast bar. It had been in the mail box for probably a couple hours, and the chocolate was a little melted, but it.was.so.GOOD! I ate it right up, and it came with a coupon, so I'm definitely waiting for those to go on sale! :)

And don't forget to check out my daily posts on Happytobeathome.net!

Quick...my new favorite Cashbaq.com

Please Please Please, if you have ever shopped online, go to my left side bar and click on Cashbaq.com. (or click on that link right there). Right now they have a $5 sign up bonus! I did that on 1/31/09. Right now, I have $46 in my account!! Woo Hoo! And not because I've done a lot of shopping . I DID buy the $12.50 entertainment book Carrie at MSM told me about (and got $10 back in my cashbaq.com account). I also did the $30 WT Direct sign up deal, which earned me $30! I feel bad because I didn't have time those days to post about it (which is why I have her link on my right side bar, so you can check out all her deals every day), so I'm sure few of you took advantage of these expired deals. But, please check her site daily. She is very good with giving you step-by-step directions so that you can get the easiest money! Here is a recap of what I've earned from checking her site daily:
$500 gift card (woo hoo!)
$40 on cashbaq.com
$35 in amazon.com gift cards thanks to Swagbucks (halfway to my next $5 one)
$125 from Sharebuilder.com for opening up Micah, Cara and Eric's accounts
FREE gifts (or under $5) for doing a few Brylane Home deals that she blogged about, plus 2 $10 check--rebates from doing those deals
LOTS of free coupons from signing up for Buyer's Edge on some of those deals and
2 $25 gift cards to wal-mart from signing up for Buyer's Edge
6 free valentine's that the grandparents just LOVED!
NUMEROUS free coupons from various sites.

I also wanted to throw a little bloggy love to Bargain Banana, who I don't look at as often as I should. She introduced me (and Eric) to Youdata.com and we have earned $17.17. Free money for clicking on a couple of buttons. See my Youdata widget at the bottom of my blog!

What's that? I can't hear you!!?!

I'm sorry, I'm deaf to most noises today. My 4 month old screamed half the night last night and half the night today. It was fun. We had a couple good hours today. As you can tell by this beautiful picture.

And when I was nursing him before bed tonight, I teared up because (in between 'yelling' at me between sucks) I felt bad for being mad that I was so tired. I think to just 10 days ago when I was afraid he might not be ok, and then I think a little crying isn't so bad. My life isn't so bad. I get to stay home with my 2 beautiful children, and experience all their firsts. Like little man's first time in the swingset (and any swing in general) his Papa (my step-dad) built him.

Or the first time my daughter comes to me with little man's camo blanket and says she wants to put on her princess dress, so I oblige and tie it around her waist.

Or cooking with my 2 year old helping and my 4 month old cooing (for that short period of time) in the bouncy seat next to us.

So yes, motherhood can be tough. But when you start looking for the good, or our God, in everything, it makes it all worthwhile. Who wouldn't want to be a part of this (that's Cara sitting at the very EDGE of the garage. Eric was almost home and I told her she could wait for him IN the garage, so technically she was obeying)?

46 CENT Walgreens shopping spree

Thanks to MoneySavingMom I always love her Walgreens deals posts!

Here's what I got for $.46. It wasn't even out of pocket, because I have $75 in walgreens gift cards from filling 3 prescriptions there (thanks kids!) :).


4 boxes Ritz crackers (B1G1, $1.99 for 2)
- 2 $2/2 coupon from 1/25 Smartsource insert (Thanks Kendra!)
= $.02 overage

1 Sambucol cold and flu relief $12.99
- $4 printable coupon here
-$10 coupon from March Easy Saver book (available at Walgreens)
= $1.01 overage


Colgate Total toothpaste $3.49
-$2.50 coupon from March Easy Saver book (available at Walgreens)
-$1/1 coupon from 2/22 SmartSource inserts
= FREE

20 ounce Coke (i know, bad misty!) $1.30

That's the reason I got the coke, to use up the overages. Yea! :)

Free $20 Dillyeo gift card!

Go get yours today!

MyPoints.com

I had heard of this website many times, and finally bit the bullet and signed up a few weeks ago. To me, it seems like a combination of Swagbucks (up to $35 in amazon.com gift cards!) and BigCrumbs.com'>Big Crumbs / Ebates / Amazon.com. You can search on it, shop on it, play games on it, etc! I actually don't know the full potential of it, just that once you get enough points, you can trade them in for gift cards, etc. In only a few weeks, I have racked up 280 points. This is ONLY from checking my email daily, scrolling to the bottom and clicking on the button that says get points. If you are going to do this, set up a new email account (I used one of my email accounts I set up for online offers that I check every few days). You get 5 referrals a month, and so I sent a referral link to a few people today. If you are interested in participating, let me know, and since I can't refer any more people until April, I will let you get referred by a friend, if they sign up! :)

Sick baby girl :(

Well, we left D'ville early yesterday because Cara was getting progressively worse. She woke up hacking up a lung around 1 am Saturday morning, and her eye was all gunky with stuff. I was freaking out a little bit, so we actually let her sleep with us (at our friends house). Part of the night in the pack n play in our room, and then she kept coughing, so we propped her up in between us in the bed for the rest of the night. This marks the first time she has EVER slept in the bed with us. I know, we're mean mommy and daddy, but we like our sleep, and we can't sleep when she's with us in bed (this doesn't mean she hasn't snuggled with us before) :). Anyways, we came home early to take her to Katy Urgent Care. She had 102.9 fever, a slight ear infection, and pink eye!! She has been miserable! Today was a little better, now that she had all her medicine in her, she seemed to feel better, but she still layed around all day, and was asking to go to bed at 5:15!! She really DOES NOT like her eye drops. I don't even know how much is really going in there. And I really don't know how I'll get them in tomorrow without Eric's help. Ok, enough for now, we have lots to do tonight. Don't forget to go check out my posts at happy to be at home . net ! :)