My Coupon Book

[This is from my deal-finding blog over at www.splendidlivingsb.blogspot.com]

This is my Coupon Book. My beloved binder full of discounts. I know it seems a bit crazy (I think 'obsessive' was the word my sister used) but I can't tell you how excited I am about my little Coupon Book!


I bout my love green 1" binder at Office Max for $1.50. The blue zipper bag was another $2.00. I keep my calculator, sharpie pens and special discount cards in the mesh bag on the front. In side the bag I store all of my receipts. I've never done this before but I'm hoping it will help me figure out how much I actually spend on groceries, office supplies, restaurants, clothes, gifts, etc. I could also look at my bank statement, I suppose but I sometimes pay for things with cash so I'm going to try this method for a while. Plus, it's nice to keep all my receipts in one place in case I need to return/exchange anything - I always know where to find my recipt!

Inside I have 10 tabs. I organized them in respect to how my local grocery store is organized:
(1) Produce, Sauces, Pastas
(2) Beverages, Dairy
(3) Cereal, Baking
(4) Freezer
(5) Snacks & Gum
(6) Household - cleaning supplies
(7) Meat/Deli
(8) Meds
(9) Beauty & Baby
(10) Catilinas - I'll explain more about Catalinas in a seperate post

I use baseball card sheet protectors for my coupons. I tried keep them in an accordian file thingie for a while and it was just mayhem. This system allows me to quickly sort and find my coupons! They are $2.99 for a pack of 10 at Office Max and this is the cheapest I've found them in town. I'm on 4 packs now and wish I had one more but am trying to reign in desire to hunt and gather coupons and start working harder at hunting and gathering the savings from USING the coupons! I've found that I'm a bit of a hoarder :)


In the clear bag ($.99 at Office Max), I store random coupons - usually store specific (all my Walgreen-only coupons might be there, for example) and my scissors. The very last item is my rebate forms.

I don't have any pocket folders in my binder but I think I should. I might upgrade to a 1.5" binder and add a few pocket pages to store store circulars and the print outs I pull off of other coupon blogs.

There you have it. My handy, dandy, dear and darling little green Coupon Book.

I love my Coupon Book. I think I'll call her Sandy.

Project 52: Week Five

This week has been major. Kevin worked on our new patio project every day - all day. The results are really wonderful. I'll post pics soon! We also spent the week preparing for our trip to Anaheim. Kevin is going to a major industry trade show and we decided we'd rather go as a family than miss him for 5 days. Because he's a genius, he posted a status update on Facebook asking if anyone in the Anaheim area would want to House Swap. Some sweet friends responded that they did!! Such a blessing. Huge house, separate rooms, 10 minutes from the convention center, full kitchen...totally worth the 12 hours I spent cleaning our house in preparation. But seriously, it is. I'm really looking forward to enjoy this week in 'new' surroundings. They have 3 children: 5 year old boy, 4 year old girl and 1 year old boy. The situation couldn't be more perfect for us. We FOR SURE got the better deal in the house department...but they get the beach. Hopefully it evens out :) Thanks again, Karen & Curtis!!

Monday, June 15: I didn't get a photo of this day (booo!) so I decided to post one of my favorite shots from the Free Family Photo Event we hosted the Saturday before. I took this photo of Becca and Jilly being silly. It was my first time at 'studio' photography and I really loved it!

Tuesday, June 16: Mimi being a sweetie pie all messy with food. "Eat" is her favorite word+sign combo. She says it about 15 times/day. "EEEaat". She says, "Gunk Gunk" for drink too ;)

Wednesday, June 17: Can you believe this is the only photo I took all day? Sorry. It's one of our favorite quick and easy recipes. Trader Joe's Orange Chicken and Fresh Express Asian Salad Mix. Divine!

Thursday, June 18: Brody got so bored that finally unzipped Spiderman activity set he got for his birthday...in April. Inside were these cool posters! We hung them to cover the glossy paint that Kevin accidentally used a touch-up paint on an egg shell wall. Plus they go w/his cool super hero theme. WAM! ZAP!

Friday, June 19: The beautiful bouquet of flower my girl, Christianne whipped up the night before during a home group cook-out. Our first entertaining event on our new patio!! Wooo-Hooo. Christianne left on Sunday for 3 weeks in Thailand. So looking forward to hearing how God will work in this trip!

Saturday, June 20: Our very precious and wonderful friends THE WOLDS came to visit/worktheirbuttsoff! We could never have gotten everything done w/out their help. Dave and Kevin did man stuff on the yard and patio. Christy and I cleaned, ran errands, shucked corn and tended to babies: women's work ;) Caleb and Mia did their own things and Brody and Maddie played their faces every waking moment of the day. Glorious.

Sunday, June 21: Clean all morning, drive all afternoon, play with other kids' toys all evening....whew. I'm ready for sleep.

Happy Father's Day, My Love

Brody made a sweet card for Kevin at school this week. I can't remember all the words but it ends, "...there is no dad in all the world like you." Brody always says how sad that is. We immediately realized that he's misunderstanding the statement and thinking it means something about there being 'no dad in all the world'.

How precious.

He is truly sad by the thought that there being no dad in all the world. Kevin is Brody's hero. He can literally do no wrong. The cool parent. The fun parent. The DAD.

I love you, honey, for being such an amazing DAD! There are no babies in all the world more fortunate than yours...

June Meal Plan - Week Four

We are going out of town this week and if I really were like Simple Mom I would have planned exactly what we're going to eat while away. But I was too busy preparing our house for the swap and well....I didn't plan very well. But my home looks great!

Now I'm a little inspired. Maybe I'll write out our Away From Home meal-plan on the way to Anaheim tomorrow. I just received my first copy of Everyday Food, great food fast from Martha Stewart, and I'm so excited to cook like Martha does...you know, everyday and on a budget.

Stay tuned for a possible update...although I assure you, reader (hi mom!), Chuck E. Cheese will be a part of next week's meal plan.

Deal of the Week: Free DVDs!

"Bought" some new DVDs this week for zero dollars, thank you very much.

1. Free Veggie Tales movie HERE {we picked Where's God When I'm S-scared but there are three options to chose from}. Also, if you want to pre-order the newest movie: Minnesota Cuke and the Search for the Lost Umbrella for $14.99 you will get Larry Boy and the Bad Apple for free!

2. Free Precious Places DVD from Fisher-Price HERE. I know this is a girl's move, Mom. I'll save it for Mimi or give it to one of Brody's (many) girlfriends as a little present. It's free. WHY NOT!?

3. Free Geo-Trax DVD (thanks, The Bargain Jargon!) HERE.

Not having a television has been a lot easier than I originally anticipated. In fact, the only thing I miss about it is 30 minute programing for Brody in the morning. We have a couple of Veggie Tales and Curious George DVDs but for the most part we only have feature films. These movies will be fun new programs for him to watch while (not) eating his breakfast!

Free Family Photo Event for Eastside Families

Last weekend I coordinated a Free Family Photo Event for the families of my 'hood: the lower Eastside of Santa Barbara. It was originally planned as a Mother's Day event but due to the Jesusito fires we had to postpone the event to June 13th. I have to admit my excitement for the event waned in the time between Mother's Day and the actual event. We went to Phoenix and started a major yard renovation and we were making plans for a couple of upcoming trips...I just felt less 'into' it.

Anyway, the week leading up to it I started getting really excited again. Just thinking about the people who were going to be blessed by these amazing family portraits! Some of these families have never had a professional photo much less by the caliber of photographers who gave their time to this event. Amazing!!

Here is a group shot of some of the photogs on hand and mi familia (it is my blog!). I was just so blessed by this event and know that the families who participated (about 35 in all) will be blown away by their prints.

Thanks again friends for sharing your gifts. You're all spectacular!

Deal of the Week: CVS Photos

I just completed my order for 50 free prints and (1) free 8x10 for....drum roll...ZERO DOLLAR$! Yes. Yes. Yes.

I'm not going to lie. This was not a simple process. Here is why:

1 - I tend to over think just about everything and so deciding which pictures I was going to print became a multi-day process. I decided to print the photo session I had with my niece so I can give her a little photo album of her "Diva Day of Beauty"! I know she'll love it!

2 - You have to sign up w/CVS. It becomes a bit confusing because you 20 Free Prints for creating a photo account here. You get another 30 Free Prints when you link your Extra Care Card account to your photo account. I didn't have an Extra Care Card so I had to first sign up for it, then wait a week for the card to arrive and then finally apply it to my account to earn the additional prints. I could have gone to my local and inconveniently located CVS to secure my card in minutes but this worked well enough and I never had to leave the house.

3 - Somehow I kept erasing my order!! I think this was 100% user-error but it was frustrating nonetheless.

Even with all the obstacles, I have no complaints now that my order is being processed and I wont have to pay a single penny for any of it. Aaaarrghhh! That make me so happy :))

* Sign up for the 50 free prints by following the links in #2
* Upload and order your prints: (50) 4x6 & (1) 8x10
* Apply your credit for the 50 free points at check-out {there is a radio button}
* Enter your code for the free 8x10 {it's FREE8X10 and it is only good for through June 21,09}
* Choose to pick up the prints in the store in 'days' {vs. 'hours'}

My prints will be ready in a few days and all I have to do is show up. So excellent!

Huevos Rancheros

Once again, I am not stoked on my photo here but I had to post our super easy recipe for Huevos Rancheros. Kevin likes two tortillas, I prefer just one on the bottom.

Layers from bottom:

* Warm tortilla
* Refried beans
* Second warm tortilla (if desired)
* Two fried eggs
* Cheese {we use a cheddar/jack combo}
* Salsa
* Raw onion
* Sour cream

Oooooh, baby. You might think that I, the resident Mexican, might have brought this recipe to our marriage but the truth is - I'd never heard of or tried huevos rancheros until I married The Professor. We don't have it often but when we do we are always pleased!

Buen Provecho!

June Meal Plan - Week Three

I'm really loving this weekly meal plan program. The best part is that I took Simple Mom's advice and entered the daily meals into my Google calendar (under it's own title). I have daily reminders sent to email so that I am reminded each day what the plan is for the evening. AND if I have to do something special for the next day (set out chicken, for example) I make a note on the reminder. It has been really great!

This week is light. We have friends coming into town for the weekend and I haven't planned our fare yet. Any recommendations?

Monday - Hot Dog Crescents with cottage cheese

Tuesday - Home Group BBQ at our house

Wednesday - Egg & Bread Dish*

Thursday - Enchilada Casserole {we were too tire to cook on Saturday this week}

Friday & Saturday - TBD

Stuffed Peppers

I had to post this recipe because it's so flipping easy and delishy. Most of the main ingredients come from Trader Joes.

(2) Large Green Bell Peppers
(1) bag of TJ's Meatballs
(1) box of TJ's wild rice
(1) box of Red Pepper Soup from TJ's

First, cut peppers in halves and throw out the seeds. Place halves in a bowl of water to soak. Set aside.

Cook the entire box of rice according to the instructions. Slowly add an entire box of Red Pepper Soup allowing the soup to become thick and for the rice to absorb some of the liquid.

Heat half a bag of meatballs in the micro, cut them in halves and put them into the soup. Stir.

Place soaked peppers onto a dish or cookie sheet (I recommend lining with tin foil because this gets messy). Salt the insides and stuff with soup mixture.

Top with mozzarella cheese.

Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

SO TASTY! Even in warm weather this is dish is wonderful!

Enjoy :)

Darling Niki

I just had to post this precious photo of sweet, little niece Nicole. For her 10th birthday I gave her her own model shoot. She was amazing. So natural and beautiful. At one point she said, "I feel like a super model" and I realized my goal had been accomplished! She's same parts little girl and pre-teen. A joy to be around and a tremendous cousin as well. We love you, Nik!

Project 52: Week 4

This week was crazy busy. It was Brody's first VBS ever! He went to Good Shepherd Luthern in Goleta and had an absolute blast. His favorite part was FOR SURE climbing all over and beating up Tanner (or "Tan" as Brody called him) the 13 year old class helper. But along the way he learned several new songs & dances, created some sweet little keepsakes and discussed Bible stories!!

Also, this week we also started a major remodel project in our 'side' yard. I'll post more on this in the future but for now I'll just say that Kevin is exhausted (albeit delighted) due to pulling 8 hour shifts of manual labor for the past 6 days! We're all very excited to see the finished product which will hopefully be by the end of the week. Thanks, sweetie!

And lastly, I was busy all week planning for the Free Family Photo Event which took place on Saturday. So thankful for the 5 free mornings to be able to focus.

Monday - First day of VBS {I took this picture in the blazing day light so I couldn't really see what I was photographing}

Tuesday - Tearing down the fence from street corner

Wednesday - More house work from font door

Thursday - Evening social at Good Shepherd -- Brody was a total ham but adorable

Friday - I got lucky and stopped into Anthro right before Christy's break! We enjoyed 20 minutes of strong tea and frothy coffee together :)

Saturday - Mimi hunting for food again. "Eat". Her favorite word!

Sunday - Fence is up!! Our patio space is huge and beautiful and we can't wait to entertain :))