Free Movie Monday

Today (Monday, January 26) you can get a free rental from your local Redbox. Today's code is:

57VH9L

To find where there is a Redbox location, click HERE. You can also search movies that are available at this location.

To rent with this code, you touch the lower left corner where it says "Rent with a Promo Code" then you can enter the code. Then choose your movie. You are required to swipe either a credit or debit card. You have to use a debit or credit card because they want to charge you if you do not return the movie. You have to return it by 9pm on Tuesday if you do not want to be charged.

You can actually rent more than one movie with this code just use a different credit or debit card.

Book Cover

A couple of months ago, I decided to stop clipping all the coupons from each insert. I have been filing the inserts in file folders with the date on them. If I need a coupon, Slick Deals has a list of unexpired newspaper coupons, I can look there and see which week's insert the coupon was in and retrieve it. I decided I did not want to use the big 3 ring binder and the baseball card holders to carry my coupons. It was big. I found a small binder that is suppose to hold Webkinz trading cards. I did not want to carry around a Webkinz book, so I found a tutorial and made a cover for it. Go HERE to see the tutorial at CraftBlog.com.au. You can see my completed book below. Hopefully, I will have time to clip the coupons I am going to use and file them soon.

Free Suave Shampoo

Get a free bottle of Suave shampoo. Go HERE to request your coupon today only. Your coupon will be mailed to you in 2-4 weeks.

Weight Loss Tracker

I added the Weight Loss Tracker to the top of this blog. If you are interested, you can look at any time to see how much weight I have lost.

Cherry Pastry

I thought I would share another recipe we tried this week. We wanted something sweet. We realy like the Pillsbury Turnovers. Neither of us wanted to go to the store to get some, so I searched for a recipe using a can of cherry pie filling (that I happened to have). I found a recipe on Cooks.com for a Cherry or Blueberry Pastry. It was pretty good. It actually was a little better the next morning. I will definitely make it again. You can go HERE to see the recipe or see how we made it below.

• 1 c (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 c granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 c all-purpose flour
• 1 can cherry pie filling

Cream butter, sugar, and vanilla in large mixing bowl. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Gradually beat in flour.

Lightly spray a 9 x 13 pan with no-stick cooking spray. Spread about 3/4 of the batter in pan. Pour pie filling over the batter. Drop the remaining batter by teaspoonfuls over pie filling.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until lightly browned.

Winter Coffee Mix

After a suggestion about making Christmas gifts in a jar, I found a recipe for Winter Coffee Mix. I mixed up a batch and put them in small canning jars with the instructions. I gave them to some of the nursery workers at church. I found the recipe HERE at CraftBits.

I actually made Ryan the Winter Coffee Mix in the jar above. I thought it was a pretty jar. I made a small quantity and omitted the cinnamon and the nutmeg.

Here is what I put in it:
4 parts powdered creamer
3 parts hot cocoa
3 parts instant coffee
3 parts sugar

To make 1 cup, we use a 2 tablespoons mix and a cup of boiling water.

Haven't lost weight yet!

I just wanted to clarify that I have not lost the weight as pictured in a previous post. The picture you see is what I might look like when I lose 50 pounds.

Suze Orman's Book

I was asked to post about this offer from a reader.

Suze Orman is going to be on Oprah today. They are offering a free download of her new book Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan.

Go HERE to download your free copy.

This is available to download today only. Don't wait, or you may miss out. I am sure this will be a valuable resource for this new year. I already downloaded mine and can't wait to read it.

**UPDATE** The book is available for download thru next Thursday 1/15/09.

One Goal for this Year

One of my goals for this year is to lose weight. I know that is a resolution many people make every year and I have made in years past.

I want to be healthy.
I want to teach my girls to be healthy.

With being pregnant last year and being depressed, I have gained more weight than I care to admit. I know I have a lot to lose, but my goal for this year is going to be 50 pounds. I think I can do that. It will only be about a pound a week. I have lost weight before and I know I can do it again.

To give myself a little extra motivation, I found a site called WeightView that shows what you might look like after losing weight. You submit a picture of yourself and how much weight you want to take off. They email the results back to you. I thought I would share my pictures with you. I am also going to add a weight loss ticker to my side bar, so you can see how much weight I have lost so far.

BEFORE-DECEMBER 2008

AFTER-DECEMBER 2009?

Walgreens Deals

There were a few good deals a Walgreens this week. I thought I would share some I plan to take advantage of and link to the coupons.

Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Pint 2/$6 or $3 each
- $3 printable (no longer available*)
= FREE

Progresso Soup 4/$5 or $1.25 each
- use in ad coupon page 1
- $1.10 printable
= $0.15 each

Quaker Instant Oatmeal $1.99
- use in ad coupon page 20
- $1.00 printable
= $0.99 each

Garnier Fructis Shampoo, Conditioner or Styling Product $2.99
- $2.00 Easy Saver Catalog page
- $1.00 from the 1/4 newspaper
= FREE

Electrasol Dishwashing Gelpacs or Tabs $3.49
- $2.50 from the 1/4 newspaper
= $0.99
plus get $1.50 mail in rebate from Walgreens


*Leave a comment with your email address and I will send you the link to the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream.

Free Movie Monday

Today (Monday, January 5) you can get a free rental from your local Redbox. Today's code is:

37CEA9

To find where there is a Redbox location, click HERE. You can also search movies that are available at this location.

To rent with this code, you touch the lower left corner where it says "Rent with a Promo Code" then you can enter the code. Then choose your movie. You are required to swipe either a credit or debit card. You have to use a debit or credit card because they want to charge you if you do not return the movie. You have to return it by 9pm on Tuesday if you do not want to be charged.

You can actually rent more than one movie with this code just use a different credit or debit card.

Homemade Capes

I wanted to make several homemade Christmas gifts for our girls this year. I began working on a superhero cape and a fleece blanket for each girl. I did not get them finished early enough. I wanted until the last minute and then I hurt my back, so I could not work on them. I did manage to finish Chloe and Callie's blankets. Cassidy got her material for Christmas. I thought she would enjoy helping me work on her blanket.

I decided to get the material out the other night and finish the capes for the girls. You can see the pictures above of what they looked like. They are reversible. Each picked out their favorite material (of what we had) and the other side has that with a princess crown on it. I think they like their capes.

I followed a pattern I found online for the capes. It is at Puking Pastilles and can be found HERE.

Menu Plan Monday

• Monday: Pork Chops, Mashed Potatoes, Peas
  
• Tuesday: Eggs, Biscuits & Gravy
  
• Wednesday: Baked Spaghetti, Salad, Rolls
  
• Thursday: Roast, Potatoes, Carrots
  
• Friday: Fish, Fries, raw veggies
  
• Saturday, Lunch: Leftovers
  
• Saturday, Supper: Steak, Sweet Potatoes, Green Beans
  
• Sunday, Lunch: Turkey Ham, Mac & Cheese, Corn
  
• Sunday, Supper: Leftovers
  

Weekly Goals - 1/5/09

I am going to try to start posting my goals again. Here are my goals for this week:

• 1. Workout or do something active at least 5 days
  
• 2. Make a menu for the week
  
• 3. Hook up the new printer
  
• 4. Exchange clothes at JCPenny
  
• 5. Post to this blog each day
  
• 6. Post to family blog 3 times
• 7. Take out expired coupons
  
• 8. Organize and send Boxtops to school
  
• 9. Get new freezer going
  
• 10. Iron 10 items
  

Free Samples

It has been a while since I posted the freebies I have received in the mail. Here is a picture:

Here is what I got:

• Post-it Wall Pad & Portable Notepad
• Fruit Roll Up
• Pampers $1.50 Coupon
• Pantene Shampoo & Conditioner
• Neutrogena Face Wash
• 2 Tide Total Care (from different places) & 2 $1.00 coupons
• Cottonelle Moist Wipe (from magazine)
• Quaker Simple Harvest Granola Bar & $1.00 coupon
• John Frieda Shampoo & Conditioner & $2.00 coupon
• Vaseline Lotion
• 2 Always Infinity Pads (from different places) & $1.00 coupon
• Crest Healthy Radiance $2.00 coupon
• Garnier Nutritioniste $1.00 coupon (there was suppose to be a sample also, but it was missing)
• OB Tampons & case
• Nature's Bounty Tote Bag & $1.00 coupon

I also got some samples from a radio station from St. Louis a while back. I got:

• 1 Kool-Aid Singles
• 1 Jello Singles Vanilla Pudding
• 1 Crystal Light Focus
• 1 Planters Daybreak Trail Mix
• $2.00 Schnucks Gift Card

I also signed up for VocalPoint. They send you freebies in the mail and they you can log on to their site and give your opinion of the products they send. Here are the things I have received from VocalPoint so far:

• Venus Embrace Razor & $4.00 coupons
• Kashi Cereal Bar, Coupon for a free box, & $2.00 coupons
• Coupons for DelMonte fruit in the produce section