Monday, February 23, 2009

Check out Lindsay's giveaway!

Lindsay over at Frugal and Fabulous is giving away a beautiful necklace from Peggi Li Creations. Some of the jewelry is just gorgeous! Check it out!


Friday, February 13, 2009

Ready for Mardi Gras!

At Galveston, that is. This is my best friend's mom, my bf, Trish, me, and Trish's sister in 2007. The Flagship Hotel is in the background. It was pretty torn up by Hurricane Ike last September, and still has not reopened.
Every year, for the last 16 years, I have headed to the Galveston Seawall for the first weekend of Galveston's Mardi Gras. There are 3 parades spread throughout the day and we hang out all day long. We like the first weekend, since it is much more family oriented and less of a drunken free-for-all than the next weekend can sometimes turn in to.

When I started going with my girlfriend and her family years ago, it was a BIG family event. She has 5 kids, so there were always kids and their friends and our friends. We would often end up with 10 car loads of people. We get there early and park along the beach side of the seawall, set up lawnchairs and tables of food, sometimes a grill, and have a great social event.

When I met Hubby, I got him to go and now he is hooked as well. Several years, we took our 3 kids, but they grew out of it, unlike my girlfriend's kids. So, for the last few years, Hubby and I are the only ones from our family. But we still have a ball. Some years is it cold, some hot and some rainy, but we are out there catching beads no matter what the weather.

Between the parades, we spend time visiting, walking, ready, eating and napping. LOL! It really is a wonderfully relaxing day. And we get TONS and TONS of Mardi Gras beads! They aren't the thrill they used to be, so we generally give most of them away, though we do have some of the "special" ones on display at home.

So, looking forward to tomorrow! A Mardi Gras style Valentine's Day!! No mere hurricane is going to stop the spirit of Mardi Gras!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Jane4girls is at it again

Erin is giving away reusable bulk food bags over at Jane4girls. Check out her review and enter her giveaway. These look great!

Monday, February 9, 2009

Good day at Kroger

I had a really good shopping day at Kroger, yesterday. I had gone through the ad, matched up coupons, then gotten DH's must have list and off I went. I am not going to list all the prices and all the individual coupons I used, since there is probably no one that will read this anyway. LOL! I came home with the following:

2 Freschetta pizzas ($4.99 ea)
8 Totinos pizza rolls ($1.25 ea)
1 9 pack beef and bean burritos ($3.59)
2 1-lb packs of stew meat (mgr special) ($2.25 ea)
4 2 liters Big K sodas ($.69 ea)
4 boxes Ritz crackers ($2.68 ea)
3 Pepperidge Farm Garlic bread ($1.80)
1 head of lettuce ($.99)
12 green bell peppers (3/$1)
2 baking potatoes ($.99/lb)
1 yellow onion (I forgot)
3 4 packs Cottonelle tp ($1.19 ea)
2 3.3 lb bags of cats food ($4.59 ea)
1 14 lb jug of cat litter ($5.99)

I think that's all. I had a handful of coupons, including a $7 off $70, that I had not thought I would get to use. Also got the $3 off for the Daytona deal. I spent $44.06 and saved $64.10! A whopping 59% savings!

Now, I know that I didn't do what a lot of bargain shoppers/super couponers do, but I bought pretty much everything on sale and use coupons on most of it. Some things, though DH wants and I am going to see that he gets them. LOL! Like the burritos...didn't need those but DH likes them. I could have also done without the pizza rolls, but there again, DH likes them.

We could also make pizza at home, except that DH cooks dinner every week night and sometimes he wants pizza, but he doesn't make pizza, so he used to just order in. We can afford it, but we happened to try a Freschetta and decided it was pretty darn good. So I keep some of those, bought on-sale with a coupon, in the freezer. Now, when DH doesn't want to cook or just wants pizza, he puts it in the oven when I am on my way home from work. When I get home, pizza night! For $5 instead of $25!


I chopped up the bell peppers last night while watching tv, so now have several bags of chopped bell pepper in the freezer. DH uses them a lot in his cooking. I was happy with that deal! I rarely see them 3/$1 and may stop by and get some more.


Some good deals for me. Less out of pocket than I budget for our weekly groceries. And a very happy DH. It was a good day.


OH, YEAH! And the lady in front of me at the checkout had a cart full of groceries, just like I did, a handful of coupons just like I did and she spent $212!!!! OMG!!!


Okay, I am better now.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Free gifts from the Thrifty Chicks!

Check out The Thrifty Chicks. Ms. Shopping Golightly is give away some lovely finds. All you have to do to enter is to post on her blog and make a pledge. Monday's pledge was to visit one thrift store this week, Tuesday's pledge is to donate something to a thrift store this week. What a lovely idea! We can find some bargains or declutter a little and possible win a lovely prize.


This is Tuesday's giveaway:


Thanks Ms. Shopping Golightly!

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Quickseals Review and Giveaway

Erin (jane4girls) is having a giveaway on her blog. Check it out! Quickseals Giveaway


These look like they would really come in handy!