weirdos

i was signed up to receive my electric/gas bill online.
starting in january i wasn't getting the email.
then my bill was like crazy high b/c obviously i hadnt paid it.
i have had numerous problems with xcel when we moved here.
so today i call b/c i am so upset.
and of course, the guy barely knows any words in english, and the ones
he does know are so tainted by his crazy accent i literally don't understand a word he says.
he doesn't care that i havent been getting my bill, he just wants me to delete my cookies
(or i think he does).
anyways, i am telling him to hang on i am not to that point yet
(he wants to me go to file, tools, cookies, etc...)
i tell him to hold his horses (which who knows if he even knows what that means ).
anyway, they couldnt ever figure it out.
so i decided to just go back to paper billing.
so sad.
sorry trees.

previous marches

March 2008:
Went home to OK
-saw sus, susanne, lauren, brad, and ben, laura and andy, mom and david, gram, dad and maggie
Made the now famous homemade pizza for the first time
Made some awful looking scones
Oven caught on fire
Had the 24 hour flu
Got called for Jury duty but didnt have to go
First MTB wreck
Bowled on Easter with fellowship group
Went to a pig roast
Wes had another surgery
Cameron and steve MTB everyday almost


March 2007:
schnooze got something like ringworm, but it went away
we hiked around redrocks
We got a new amazing bed!!!!!!

March 2006:
planning a wedding :)

free, free, free suckers.

i am sitting here in the 12*F weather, sunny, while the sun melts the 12" of snow,
eating my free bagel and drinking my free latte.
how do i always get these good deals you ask?
well, i will tell you.
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it's like you are always on a hunt, or playing some game.
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Today my freebies are from Einstein Bagels & McDonalds.
In the tuesday ads we get in the mail, usually for grocery stores,
we got a page from Einsteins that was every Monday you get free coffee (until March 21st)
and every Friday a free bagel (until today).
So i used those like gold... the guy that works there even knows my name.
Once we only had one coupon, but he gave us 2 free coffees, probably b/c i'm so hot...right?
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the McD's coupon was good for 4 free fancy coffees, and it's a punch card.
Cameron got 2 of them (total of 8 free coffees peeps) b/c he had to wait for about 20 minutes to get an order of food for my work people one day.
-------he didn't complain at all, they just gave it to him-------
but i have a feeling the more you ask for the more you'll get, my friend Julie has that down pat!
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which brings me to how i save $100's of dollars each month on our grocery bill....
again, when i find such a good deal, i almost feel like i am stealing, BUT I'M NOT!!!!
http://www.thegrocerygame.com/
It's this lady that uses the sales at the stores in conjunction with coupons from the sunday paper to get you the best CHEAPEST deal possible.
It costs $5/month, but for us, it's totally worth it, and it saves me time.
I do know people that have done the grocery game, quit, and still do the process, but it takes them longer. It's up to you.
So how it works, is this: You have black, blue, and green deals...

black: if you are out, buy it b/c it's on sale, but not super cheap
blue: super super cheap, stock up on these items now!
green: free

things i have gotten for free: dog treats, protein bars, deodorant, gum, pasta, frozen veggies....
things i have gotten so cheap it's unbelievable and i felt like i was stealing: deodorant, steak, lunch meat, bread, milk, eggs, cookies, garlic bread, cheese, pilbury rolls, bacon, etc...

You have to be disciplined... you have to go to the store sunday, monday, or tuesday (before 1200 tuesday, b/c they change the sales in the store then).
I usually go Sunday after church or monday morning.
A lot of times they have Sunday ONLY deals at King Soopers.

That brings up another issue, you have to pick the grocery store(s) you usally go to...
walmart and target aren't on there...in my area they have: albertsons, king soopers, and safeway. you can pick all the stores in your area, but it's and addl $5/store.
there is a one month trial for $1 and you can pick all the stores, all for $1 total. which i did.
then ended up just sticking with one store, b/c it was too much hassel.
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also i picked the store i go to b/c they have double soupons up to $1 ALL THE TIME.

Another way to save money is to bring your own re-usable bags, they give me $0.05-0.10 per bag each time i go... saving up to $1 at times... that's huge.

Anyway, we spend $240/month for groceries
and I know a couple with a kid that spends $200/month
and we make (obviously) good stuff!!!
I think making a lot more stuff homemade saves A TON of money too.
like bread... i can make a loaf for like $1, which may be close to yucky walmarts prices, but i know what I've put in it.
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if you have a deep freezer, you can obviously get more bang for your buck.
we dont have one, but i have seen some on craigslist for $50 and under... at times free!
a good investment i think, especially if you are going to breastfeed and pump and save when you have kids.
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so there are my 2 cents (200 cents really) on being thrifty.
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oh oh oh actually.... more...
we got one of those "entertainment books" from walgreens, and it has coupons for eating out....
well our budget is $15/week to eat out, but there are coupons that are buy one entree get one free, and we have used so many of those coupons, plus a lot of our friends got books, so we can go try new places all the time with them, with our coupons.
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another thing to do is: dollar movie theaters (ours has $0.50 movies on tuesday)
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happy hours: This place called Lime (mexican) has $1 Taco tuesday... so cheap, i can be full on 2 tacos, cameron on 3-4... then you could make a night of it and go to the movie, all for under $10!!!! (and still get popcorn:)).
----some happy hours don't even have to include drinks... the food part of them is sometimes worth it on it's own!!!!
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i am always purusing websites and signing up for email lists, b/c places will totally send you coupons.
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not that i advocate credit cards by any means, but cameron had to get a whole bunch of new clothes before this school year started in sept.... so we went to gap (he likes them, and they fit)...anyways, it was some deal like if you sign up for the credit card, you get 20% your whole purchase... well i was just going to cancel it after that, but i kept getting all these amazing deals... (and when you have a crazy husband like me, you will have to buy jeans/shorts/khakis ALL THE TIME).
i get $20 gift cards in the mail (i think i have gotten 2-3 since sept)
i get 30% off 3-4 times per year (a couple weeks ago, we had to order cameron some pants and shirts, but waited until we got the 30% off, and we saved so much it was like getting 2 pants for free)
so i kept the card, just for the deals.
(plus gap is slave free)
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oh oh oh and a couple days ago i got a giftcard in the mail, so i went to try those dresses on at old navy they have been advertising for $15... anywho, i went to the baby section to check on stuff for all my friends babies...
they had all this super cute brand new stuff for spring for $5... (normally up to $20...)
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so i got a dress... and when i did, they gave me a $5 off coupon... it was valid starting thursday, but the baby $5 sale went until thursday. so thursday i went back in AND GOT A FREE BABY OUTFIT. suckers.....
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sometimes it's just crazy.
and i feel so good when i get such good deals.
my friend julie and i always call each other to tell each other the percentage of money we saved... my best was 67% off my total bill at the grocery store :)
seriously.
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good luck and may the force be with you.
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comment if you have have q's, comments... and i will answer them.

the past week

This past week has been a whirlwind of weather changes.

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Friday night we had Bethany and Stephen come over for burgers.

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it was in the 60's, so we had a fire in the backyard!

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strawberries have been so good lately, i got some and made homemade whipped cream.

OH MY GOSH!

*new bowl i got on sale for $28, since cam broke my fav. one
the berries

the kitchenaid makes a mean cream.

i added 1T sugar and some vanilla!

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by ourselves, bethany and i ate 2 pints of berries...

yes i sampled it like 30x...

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Saturday day it was 78*... so nice!

schnooze watching guard

these are growing, what are they?

they are bulbs for sure, b/c i accidentally dug one up.

(actually this pic was taken friday, b/c saturday i worked in the flower beds, more pics when it's not snowing...)

what am i?

my two babes

the house.

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monday i had off, so i made cameron a SOUTHERN style din.

homemade from scratch biscuits

-i used a glass as a cookie cutter

fried chicken in all its goodness

mashed potatoes with a head of roasted garlic and a stick of butter,

move over paula dean, here i come!

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so even monday it was nice, but

tuesday it got cooler,

wednesday cooler.

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and then, there's today...

A freaking BLIZZARD.

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starting at 0600, cam gets an email that DU is closed...

closing a university? proposterous.

at 0900 it was kind of snowing.

me running errands

yikes it's getting worse while driving.

also mad face b/c they called and canceled my haircut... losers, i mean what do they know, so what if all the schools are closed all over the state, look outside, it's barely spitting.

ehhh, kind of worse

but the roads are FINE.
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(these pics are out of order)

they call from the eye dr's office and say they want to cancel those appts, and i get sad, so they say, okay make it in by noon, so we HUSTLE!!!!

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still roads arent bad... at 1130 they are like the 0900 pic... then i will time each pic for you.

1230

(this was after eye dr, it had gotten SO BAD just the 45 min we were in there)

total white out visibility maybeeeee 1/4mile.

1130

1230... still happy, have no idea whats in store...

cam being stupid. (probably thinking "i have super human eye sight"... 20/15...loser)

39 minutes in, and only MAYBE 1 mile from eye dr.

1 mile from highway and stopped, we watch an epi. of 30 rock on cams phone...

some neigborhood

this car was going SOOOO SLOW.

we had 4wd on the whole time.

it's not just a bad pic, you really couldnt see.

last watch pic o took, out of order...

they are predicting 10-20" of snow today.

playing solitare on phone...while cam tries to watch a tv show on his.

we only had to drive like 7 miles or so... ridiculous.
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we finally fanagle our way on side streets.

we saw a lot of wrecks

a lot of people stuck

a merdecdes hit another car

and a lot of SNOW

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we get home... snow is slowing but they say it will pick up again.

my feet as i step out of jeep... probably 8" or more

our steps...

our poor honda is totally covered... snow is even in the muffler thingy

our house.

schnooze stayed out for 30 seconds.
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needless to say, our winter park weekend is toast.

I-70 closed east and west bound.

I-25 closed north of us.

so, we will stay here.

we have food, and beer, and internet, and a heater.

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plus we have fondue plans with our down the street neighbors.

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poor bethany has to stay the night at the hospital... i told her if she can break free we'll come and get her... it's a bummer. i am just glad i'm not working. they already called me to come in... yeah RIGHT! hope everyone is staying warm. Mom and Dad both said it's gonna hit OK anytime.

homemade ravioli & bread

wednesday night we had people over for dinner.

i have been wanting to mae some kind of homemade pasta,

in hopes that i get good at it, then get the pasta attachement for the kitchenaid.

anyways, this was the perfect day to make the ravioli.

i had started the starter for the bread.

then we went mountain biking, and i will have to upload those pics from cameron's phone later, but i kicked some serious bootay!!!!!

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anyways, we got home and i made the ravioli, i used emeril's

recipe for the dough, but filled it with my own homemade idea...

and i will have to say, although it took awhile,

it tasted GOOD!!!!!

i satueed:

mushrooms, eggplant, garlic in EVOO

then when i put it inside the rav's i added goatcheese!

*chop/dice the above reallllllyyyyy small, so inside the rav it's easy to eat and not super chunky

the raviolis!!!!

so you just roll the dough out really thin;

then put in little scoops of filling,

then brush egg around the filling,

then put another piece of dough over it

make sure it is sealed really well,

then use a pizza roll slicer thing to cut up

(i was able to make 27 raviolis with this recipe)

(fed 4 adults + 1 kid)

(but i would have liked some for left overs AND to freeze?!?!?!)

it's soooo messy!!!!!


boil in salted boiling water for about 5 minutes,
then voila!!!
i made a garlic/butter sauce for them, i coulda added cream to it
and it woulda been better, but i had no cream.




the french bread, soooo good!!!
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so i didnt take a picture of the whole dinner,
but it was good!
i think i will make it again when we can sit, relax, talk, and drink some good wine!

rei dividend

this is our rei dividend working for us

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i got all these things for free!!!!

me today dressed for church

*along with rei dividend shoes from last year*
prAna tanktop

grey capris

exofficio top

(has odor and sunscreen control suckas)

patagonia skirt

patagonia tanktop

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i love all my stuff and feel so luck o get it all for free!

i mean i didnt even have to get my wallet out!

also i got to use a 20% off coupon for the most expensive thing, which took like $12

off the patagonia skirt!!! i loved wearing it all today.

and I KNOW i got all the same colored stuff, but i just can't help it.

Sister Visit

Thursday Morning I picked Sus up at the a/p.

Then we ate breakfast at Mona's.

we had eggs benedict (one without c. bacon)

and french toast!!!

there's a chalkboard on the wall :)

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then we went to REI

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then we went to Fancy Tiger

she didn't know what to get?!?!?!?

"i love them all"
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then we went to Wash Park with Schnooze
and some books.
we sun bathed and planned our meals :)



taking pics of a kite

sisters

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then we went to the grocery store to get all of the ingr.

for our meals.

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then we made dinner!

sus and cameron

liz and sus

making the hummus and babaganouj (sp)

the most amazing bread EVER... olive, onion, and parsley bread.

it was SO GOOD!

the bread.

cameron.

with the pager for work.

knee brace.

oscar meyer weiner pants.

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FRIDAY

homemade (from scratch) cinnamon rolls for breakfast
(gotta put that kitchenaid to work :))
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Then Susanne and Sophie and Elsie came over

(they were in Loveland visiting her sister)

sophie

sus and elsie

sus, elsie, liz, sophie

reading a book

cameron and elsie

she has a crush on him

she was grabbing him to kiss him :)

not really, she just liked his beard

liz and elsie

sus, sophie, and elsie

aren't they THE CUTEST!

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they will probably be moving to Henderson, NV

(close to Las Vegas) in May :(

sophie eating chocolate and it dripping all down her face
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then sister sus and i recovered this chair

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poor momma...

we were so creative like 10-15 years ago...

and it was a cool chair back then,

but now... not so cool.

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i remember we had gotten the chair for $0.50

and the ottoman mom had, the jeans were the

most expensive part of the project.

after 2 hours and lots of staples....

so hip!

soooo tired after upholstering
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SATURDAY

i worked, and sus brought me a smoothie and an egg.

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i was supposed to work sunday also, but they put me on call ALL DAY!!!!!

we made scones and biscuits

then went to church.

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sunday night

sushi with the group so they could meet sus!

rolling sushi

sus, odette, shellie, bethany

the vegetarian ones, sooooo pretty!

sisters

shellie, odette, julie, bethany

rolling some rolls

the boys and sus :)

stephen, steve, sus, will, kimel, brian, brett

(i think cameron was cutting the sushi)

odette, sus, brett, liz, julie, shellie, bethany

*we also made choc covered strawerries for dessert...yumm!

liz and sus and brett

kimel, steve, stephen, cameron, brian

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MONDAY

sus and i met bethany and got free coffee at

Einstein Bagel (with a coupon).

then we went to anthro and urban outfitters

and browsed cherry creek.

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then came back here,

made a pizza for lunch,

then i had to take her to the airport :(

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It was so good to have her here, we had a blast!

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she's t-3 months til she leaves the US for Swaziland :(