Shopping Fun

I enjoy my shopping trips when I can score lots of great things for very little money. So my shopping trip today included CVS, Target, and Kroger. I was able to accomplish so much with Cameron at home with daddy and some advance planning.

CVS
2 Throat Coolers ~ 4.99 each (get 4.99 each ECB)
1 Cough Drops, 30 count ~ 1.19

Coupons:
~Throat Coolers Buy 1 Get one Free (-$4.99)
~ Cough Drops ~ FREE coupon ($1.19)

PAID:
~$4.00 ECB
~.99 cents Out of Pocket

NEW ECB: $9.98 for next trip

TARGET

5 ~ Digiorno pizzas ~ $3.99
5 ~ 2-liter drinks ~ $1.25

1 ~ gift
2 ~ magnetic letters for the fridge for Cameron ($1.00 each)

Deal:
FREE 2-liters with the Digiorno deal
Gift was 75 % off
letters were in the $1 section

PAID:
27.05 Out of Pocket ~ Not bad for 5 dinners, a gift, and fun with Cameron

Kroger

Lots of FREEEEEEE Stuff

1 ~ Country Crock butter ~ $1.44 after coupon
2 ~ Horizon individual milk ~ $.25 after coupons
2 ~ Rotel ~ $.40 each after MEGA
1 ~ Velveeta Cheese ~ $3.99 w/ coupon and MEGA
1 ~ Nestle Chocolate Chip cookie dough ~ $.96 w/ coupon and MEGA
2 ~ Chili with Beans ~ $.45 (together) after coupon and MEGA
2 ~ Pace Salsa ~ $1.52 (together) after coupons and MEGA
1 ~ Kleenex Tissue ~ $.54 w/ coupon and MEGA
1 ~ Fiber One snack bars ~ $.39 after coupon (reduced to $1.39)
2 ~ Centrum vitamins (130 count) ~ $3.99 each after coupons
1 ~ Quaker Bars ~ $.29 after coupon (reduced to $1.29)
1 ~ Nutter Butter ~ $3.85 (Michael requested and then decided it is the wrong thing - so it's going back to the store!)
6 ~ Bananas ~ $.83 (only item without coupon)

3 ~ Frank's Hot Sauce ~ FREE w/ coupons and MEGA Event
4 ~ Glade Aerosol spray ~ FREE w/ coupons and MEGA
1 ~ French's mustard ~ FREE w/ coupons and MEGA
4 ~ Green Giant Steamers (corn) ~ FREE w/ coupons and MEGA
3 ~ Quaker Rice Cakes snacks ~ FREE w/ coupons

Want to make a guess how much I paid??????

Drum Role Please................

23 coupons ~ $19.60
Bonus Coupons ~ $6.60
Plus Savings ~ $37.27
1 Short cut for the Green Giant vegetables ~ $.50
$10 for MEGA Event
$8 for emailing about milk going back BEFORE the Sell By Date

Total coupon $63.47

Total Out of Pocket $16.90
A savings of 79%

My own dish

Well I finally took the plunge and took my own take home container with me when we went out to eat last night. I think Michael was a little embarrassed. The waiter came to the table and asked if we needed "To-Go" boxes. When I told him I had brought my own he was a little surprised and mustered out a "I think that's a first." Unfortunately I forgot one for Michael's food. Jeez, he never has leftovers so I didn't even think about 2 containers from home. So, he had to have a box to go. At least I requested a plastic one. I'm thinking I need to go to get some real containers to keep just for restaurant "to-go" times.

Is that a Chicken Pot Pie?

So I was feeling ambitious this week and decided to try out a new recipe for Chicken Pot Pie. Turned out it was yummy! It was supposed to go in a 9 inch pie pan but there was have been NO way for it to go in there without making a really BIG mess. Fortunately I had a casserole that would fit everything. I'll try to post the recipe later.


Here's the recipe...

• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
• 1 cup sliced carrots
• 1 cup frozen green peas
• 1/2 cup sliced celery
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/3 cup chopped onion
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon celery seed
• 1 3/4 cups chicken broth
• 2/3 cup milk
• 2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts

I left the celery out and substituted the celery seed for celery flakes (less expensive). I added green beans since they are one of our favorites.

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.)
2. In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas, and celery. Add water to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and set aside.
3. In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside. (I stirred in about 1/2 the flour, then added the chicken broth and milk, then added the remainder of the flour.)
4. (The mixture was way more than could have been held in the pie crust. I put the pie crust in a 9 inch round baking dish about 2 inches tall. Then added the mixture. Then added the second pie crust on top.)
   
5. Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture over. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

This was delicious. Give it a try!

Found on All Recipes website, Chicken Pot Pie IX

Almost 2 and Funny as Ever

Cameron splashing his feet in the hot tub! He really wanted to get in but it was way too hot!

Cameron couldn't resist Grandpa's chips. I guess they tasted better than the one's on his plate.





Cameron working at his tool bench.








Cameron being his silly self!







Drinking from a "Big Boy Cup." I'm not sure Mom is ready for this (or the carpet!)






Cameron loving his yogurt.








Cameron ready to get down from his chair after eating yogurt.

Michael's Man Cave

Well we , I mean I, finally got around to organizing the garage so that Michael could organize his tools and "manly" stuff. It's still a work in progress but Michael now has MOST of the garage!

We'd Love to Hear From You!

It's been busy in our lives lately. I will be updating soon. I have some cute pictures of Cameron and of our newly organized garage. Stay tuned.

Oh, and don't forget to get signed up so you can leave us messages. I love to see who's dropped by but as of yet we've received only 1 message.

Love to all!

Happy New Year

I hope everyone had a wonderful beginning to 2009. Ours was extremely low key. I wasn't even awake at the stroke of 12:00! I asked Michael why he didn't wake me and his response was "You didn't hear the fireworks going off?" Since I wasn't awake it's safe to say I didn't.

The Shaw family was able to ring in the new year with a new member of the family. Barbara's brother, William, welcomed a baby girl, Skyelar Michelle. Both Mom and Skyelar are doing great and I can't wait to visit them.


Look what I caught! Cameron loves to play with his fishing rod!










Here's Cameron looking like E.T. He came into the living room wearing my sweater. I burst into laughter at the site. Michael said "he told him he was cold" so he put on my sweater.


Here's another of him standing in front of the fridge really looking like E.T.





And here are a few of our visit today with Nana and Grampa. Grandpa was having a great time pushing Cameron around the pool on his fire truck.








The next is with Cameron taking a pit stop for pizza, but not for long.






The last one is of Cameron "working" on his truck with the WD-40. He was so cute and I bet Grandpa needed a nap after we left their house.