My Saturday

I had great intentions of several posts today but that plan got derailed when I got a phone call from someone who wanted to see our house. You see, we have had our house for sale by owner for the last several months. My original plan when we first stuck the sign in the yard was to always have the house in good enough shape to be "show ready" within 30 minutes. Well today I had a 3.5 hour heads up before the showing and I worked my tail end off to the very last second.
Although I have no idea the true interest of the lookers, their scheduled showing was just the kick I needed to get the house back in order. I am soooo excited that the house work is caught up so tomorrow I can actually, maybe, get a Sunday nap! The thought just makes me smile!

Now if only The Grocery Game would post I could go ahead and get the grocery shopping knocked out! I do love Kroger on a Saturday night!

Thompson Family Vacation

I wanted to take just a few moments of Scrapbook Saturday to document a few pictures and memories of our recent ski trip.


My sweet parents took our family along with them on their annual ski trip to Durango Colorado.

Although skiing is not what I would call a "relaxing" vacation we did have a great time. And it is always great to get away from the normal routine of life. I was amazed how easy it was to get in bed at a "decent" hour with no laundry to fold, bills to pay, house to clean, etc. And it was awesome to have a set of extra hands to help with the boys!

This was our 4 year olds first time to ski. I was sooooo proud of him! Although skiing didn't come natural to him by any means, he had the best attitude and was always excited to pick himself off the snow and try again.

My favorite Colby story of the trip happened on our last day as we were turning in our ski rentals. I had told Colby he could get a souvenir to help him remember his first ski trip. Well, he found this hat that he claimed was the softest, most special hat in the whole world. Now mind you there was NOTHING unique about this hat, in fact I think I saw a similar one at Walmart before we left for our trip. But to Colby there was no better hat. No exaggeration- he talked about his hat for a good solid hour. He was so enthusiastic about the hat the manager of the store gave us an additional 20% off the hat- because he had never seen someone who has ever appreciated a hat quite like my son. Everyone in our family has since spent time touching, holding, and even petting the hat. Colby plans on wearing his hat year round and eventually passing "the hat" on to his children.


This picture shows DH with the leash device he created to help Colby down the mountain. The leash is actually DH shirt tied to the Belt in Colby's pants. Most of the time they stayed on the bunny slopes, but the second day after ski school DH and my parents decided to take Colby up the big mountain- big mistake. DH practically had to carry Colby down from the mountain. At one point DH let go of Colby and my Dad ended up doing the splits trying to catch him before he shot down the mountain. When DH tried to help PaPa back up he got twistered up and fell down too. My Mom tells me that Colby looked at Papa and Daddy as they were laying in the snow and said very mater of factly "Now why did you want to take me up this big mountain?"

This is a picture of DH and I on top of the world. I will say that this was one of my favorite skiing experiences. In the past, I have been overly cautious on the slopes but for some reason this trip I was able just to relax and enjoy the ride down.



Although Cohen did not ski, I think he had a good time. Let me tell you that boy was a complete angel on the flight to Durango- I was soo proud of him. His Gammy (my mom) watched Cohen the first day to allow me a day of skiing, I watched Cohen the second day, and then on the last day we brought him out to the mountain so he could enjoy the snow.



I would like to take a brief moment to apologize to the people of flight 6046 from Durango. Cohen was cutting teeth in the midst of this flight and was wailing pretty much the first 45 minutes of the trip. You could feel the tension rising among the passengers as I tried every trick in the book to calm him down. By the time he finally tuckered out I was broken out in a nervous sweat and on the verge of a panic attack- fun times.

My mom took this picture, and although she did not mean to cut our heads off, I thought it would be appropriate for the blog. Go here to see my family picture policy.

Once again, I would like to thank my parents for sponsoring such a wonderful vacation.

Deal Alert

Go here to print a $1.50 off 1 4-pack coupon for yo plus yogurt. This is the yoplait equivalent to the Dannon Activia Yogurt. It is often on sale at Kroger for $2 so it could make for a pretty sweet deal. Remember each computer can print off 2 coupons.

Let me know if the link doesn't work!

Lint revisited

Sorry to make you go here again, BUT I went to Best Buy to buy a thingy so I could start posting pictures again, so I HAVE to show you the lint that I wrote about earlier this week!

PS I saw Emily's battle scars today from her own lint war- pretty gruesome looking knuckles!

The bristly thing you see diving into the lint trap was my first weapon.

This picture is my attempt to show you an inside shot of the lint trap. What you can't see is that the lint goes down to the base of the dryer making it impossible to reach with the human hand. Please note- the lint screen, that we all have been taught to clean after every load, was already removed before I took this picture. Otherwise, it would have been neatly slid into the slot hiding all evidence of the lint buildup below.

Now most of the lint was immediately discarded into the trashcan, but a few stragglers ended up in the barrel of the dryer- made for a fun clean up after the delinting process.



This was a picture of my final weapon. That is a swiffer cloth taped to a bent hanger. I think I'll market this tool and make millions.

And there you have it.

I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that I have become the type of person that takes pictures of her lint and then has a two part documentation of the process- oh well! Surely I'm not the first.......right?!

Taco Roll- Illustrated!

Ok, as promised here are the step by step pictures of how to assemble the taco roll! The fact that Kroger was out of the reduced fat Pillsbury crescent rolls makes me think a lot of you might be waiting for these pictures!

While your beef is browning, open up your package of crescent rolls. They will break into two sections and then you can peel off the triangles

Lay out triangles in a circle, pointy sides out, around a pizza pan

Once beef is browned and taco season is added, spread beef out around thick part of triangles.

Finally, fold triangle points over. Place in preheated oven at 375 degrees. Bake until golden. Serve with lettuce, salsa, reduced fat sour cream, and jalapeno peppers.

Nutrition Information for just the taco roll (does not include fixins)

Serving Size: 1 triangle

Meal Plan: Calories: 155; 1 starch; 1.5 lean meats

My Car- Conclusion

With Dave's motto in mind, "Live like no one else, so I can live like no one else," my attitude toward "my car" changed. All of the sudden I no longer was ashamed of "the car" but felt a sense of pride in what "my car" stood for. After all how many people can say they get a work-out from driving their car. And I wouldn't have to worry about running over any stray animals because my car was courteous enough to send out a warning siren anytime it went into reverse. My moments of no air conditioning made me grateful for the times the air was blowing and was a good reminder of how blessed we are to be living in a home that provided a respite from the heat, unlike some families across the globe. And no radio or CD player on my 45 minute commute to work meant some awesome prayer time. Plus when do you think I dreamed up the idea of DRS! But never was I more excited about "my car" then when I was at the gas pump. Now instead of paying close to $100 per week in gas I was paying closer to $15 per week! Woo Hoo!

Currently, I think I'm about 6 months out from having enough money saved up to buy a nice respectable four-door car. In the meantime, I feel so grateful for "my car"- not only does it faithfully get me to where I need to go, it has humbled my vehicle snobbishness, and taught me a great lesson in contentment.
If you would like to have this expereince, "my car" will be available to purchase in about 6 months :) Start saving today!

Deal Alert- Kroger

Initially I got real excited when I opened up the Kroger Weekly flyer and saw they were having a case sale. I had never been a part of a case sale before and thought I was in for some exciting deals. However, after looking through the ad I realized that for many of the items I would be better off buying the product individually with coupons vs in a case and only being allowed to use one coupon.

The items that looked most attractive to me were:

The 12 pack of Kroger Peanut Butter for $12
Final Price: $1 per jar
I'll be sure to look at the nutrition label first to look for Trans Fat before purchasing.

Kroger Everyday Towels for $3.99
Final Price: $0.67 per roll

Kroger Fancy Sharp, Mild Cheddar, 4 Cheese or Colby Jack Shredded Cheese for $18
Final Price: $1.50 per 8oz bag
I hate to pass up a sale on cheese but I did just stock up on Kraft 2% last week so I'll probably skip this one!

Kroger Water for $3.50
Final Price: Less than $0.15 per bottle

All the other case deals I feel I can get cheaper or for the same price at a later sale

Other Deals for the week:
Kroger Skim or 1% Milk on sale for $2.69 each (You can freeze milk, If you want to stock up)

Florida Strawberries on sale for $1.99 each

General Mills Cereals (select varieties) on sale 3 for $5
There are tons of coupons available for GM cereals in your newspaper inserts, All You Magazine, and coupons.com

Ragu Pasta on sale for $1.69
Use $1 off 1 shortcuts coupon expires 2/7 (load on kroger card) and $0.50 off 2 coupon from 1/18 RP
Final Price: $0.69 each

Huggies Jumbo Diapers or Pull-ups on sale $9.99
Use $1 off 1 cellfire coupon (kroger card), $1.50 off 1 Shortcut coupon and $1.50 off 1 from 1/11 SS
Final Price: $5.99 (I think that will work)

Dial Hand Soap on sale $0.88
Use $0.35 off 1 from 1/4 SS (I couldn't find it but supposidly it is there)
Final Price: $0.18

For a more complete list of deals go here or see the Grocery Game list Sunday!

My Car- part 4

As I was saying... We vowed never to have a car payment again and, therefore, shortly after started the "car envelope." I won't lie, in the beginning weeks, and even months, of driving "the car" I complained.... a lot! After all, I do have a bad back, and do you know how hard it is to load and unload an infant carrier, complete with infant, in and out of a two door vehicle. Did I mention that this was in the dog days of summer and anytime my car would come to a stop (like at a stoplight or for a train crossing) the air conditioner would go out. Oh, and have you ever driven a standard with no power steering- talk about a work-out! I really think steering my car has contributed to my recent wrist problems. What about the high pitched squeal the car makes as it reverses out of the drive-way every morning? And talk about dangerous- a girl with a severe case of DRS should never drive alone in a car with no radio or CD player- way too much time in my own head!!! When do you think I dreamed up half of the DRS plan!

Well it was about month 4 of driving "the car" that I started reading Dave Ramsey's "The Total Money Makeover." Dave is a strong believer in the cash only system and lives by his motto "If you will live like no one else, later you can live like no one else." In this book he tells his story about going from living a millionaire lifestyle down to bankruptcy and then how he rebuilt his fortune with Zero debt. Guess what that means- no car payment!! His story was just the fuel I needed to light my fire. Although I had been filling the car envelope for several months- from that point on it no longer felt like a sacrifice- But a MISSION!

His Mercies are New Every Morning!

Although some bad news can make your world seem like it is coming to a screeching hault, it is amazing the hope that a new day can bring. We appreciate everyone's prayers on behalf of baby girl Lenderman. I plan to try to catch up the deal alerts and finish the car story today but I will have to wait until this afternoon's nap time to get started. Thanks for your patience. And I really appreciate Jennifer and Carrie and others for leaving posts about deals around town yesterday- what a help!

Prayer Request- Blog on hold

I am asking that all of you please take just a minute to lift my brother and his wife up in prayer. They went in for their much anticipated 18 week ultrasound to find out the sex of their baby and the doctor found some anomalies with the babies head. A level 2 ultrasound has been ordered but they will have to wait until the 11th for the appointment. As you can imagine this has robbed a lot of joy from the two expectant parents and our family. I beg you to pray that God would work a miracle on their behalf. I am so hanging on to Emily's verse of the week.

“You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the people.” Psalm 77:14

Please claim this verse for Randy and Christian and their little girl!

Please understand that I am going to take a break from the blog today to be with my family. I will finish up "my car" story tomorrow as well as any other deal alerts. Thanks again!

My car- part 3

"The car" was DH's travel vehicle. He had bought the car a couple of years back when he was doing a lot of traveling for work around the state. The car was a very used 1996, 200,000+ miles, 2-door Honda Civic he purchased for $2500. I was against this vehicle (I dubbed "the deathtrap") from the beginning. For starters it was a standard with no power steering; I literally had nightmares about DH traveling around the state trying to shift, talk on the phone, steer, and drink coffee all at the same time. The first week he had the car he got hit in the parking lot of a local restaurant- I just knew this was an omen of bad things to come. But he insisted the car was fine and that Honda's would run forever.

When we first put our SUV on the lot I agreed to drive "the car" on my long commutes but wouldn't think of driving "the deathtrap" on Mommy days. So hubby and I would switch vehicles back and forth throughout the week depending on which day it was and who was driving the boys. That only worked for a short period of time however, because I was constantly leaving things in one car when I needed it in the other, or DH would get a call from a renter and need the truck to haul off a heavy appliance while I had the truck out on an errand, etc. So, before long I found myself driving "the car" full time.

Meanwhile, our SUV sold! Talk about a miracle! We were extremely relieved to have the Sequoia off our hands, but we did end up taking a hit on the selling price. That experience made us both determined NEVER to be put in that situation again. We vowed from that moment on we would only pay cash for future vehicles! Thus my "car savings envelope" was created.

More to come.....

My car- part 2

Me and the Sequoia got along great, until..... Gas prices started knocking on $3.00 per gallon. For the first time since I got my drivers license, I became aware of gas prices and I had to think about the cost of driving from here to there. My 2 day a week 35 mile one-way commute began busting my "gas envelope" before I even got out of the second week of the month. I was having to steal gas money from the "grocery envelope" at a time when groceries were also going up in price. I began to panic! All of the sudden the idea of driving my family around in a compact fuel efficient car sounded very attractive. After all I grew up in an SUV free family, and I turned out fine. (no comments please)

I approached my DH with the idea of trading the Sequoia in for a car. While he agreed that a car could potentially save us a lot of money, he was also the voice of reason and stated that it would be nearly impossible to sell the SUV now- at least at a price that would not put us upside down on the loan. So we held on to the Sequoia...... that is, until gas prices started getting dangerously close to $4.00 per gallon. At that point we decided we had no choice but to try to sell and hope for the best. We ended up parking the Sequoia on a used car lot in my parent's town 2 hours away. The lot only charged $30 per month, got lots of traffic and it was far enough away that I couldn't be tempted to drive it anymore. "Lucky" for us my husband had 2 vehicles- His truck and "the car."

More to come after these short deal alerts.....

My Car-part one

I thought today might be the perfect day to tell you all about "my" car. The word "my" is in quotations because it has only been of late that I have finally come to accept that this car is not just a fling, a loaner, a temporary means of transportation, etc. .. No it is "my" car.

Now, I have never thought of myself as a car snob, I truly didn't think I cared how I got from here to there as long as I got there. I never noticed nor cared what others were driving- it made no difference to me. My husband had taught me many years ago that cars do nothing but depreciate in value and therefore we would never own a "new" vehicle- whatever, no biggy to me.

When it came time to purchase a "new to me" vehicle a couple of years ago my only request was that it be a SUV because "we couldn't possibly fit all of our family into a car if we needed to travel." My husband selected a 2004 Toyota Sequoia complete with leather seating, CD player, Sunroof, 3rd row seat, a cup holder for every passenger, and a "nice" monthly payment- I didn't complain!

To be continued.....

Annual Budget Countdown

Before my trip I went to Kroger and Walgreens. I temporarily lost my Walgreens gift card so I did use some of my budget money toward that purchase. I also went to Kroger tonight to get groceries for the remainder of the week. Here is how those trips went down:

Kroger pre-trip:
Total Spent: $32.59
Total Saved: $52.31 (that was fun!)

Walgreens pre-trip:
Total Spent: $7.52
Total Saved: $41.56

Kroger post-trip:
Total Spent: $38.95
Total Saved: $7.99 (only had 2 coupons!)

Total Spent for week: $79.06
Total Saved for wee: $101.86
Total Spent for Year: $501.29
Total Saved for Year: $477.53
Total Left for Year: $4498.71

Deal Alert- Walgreens

Don't forget to pick up the new February EasySaver Catalog that is at the front of the store near the weekly ad. Not only will you find some great Walgreens coupons that you can stack with your manufacture coupons you will also find a ton of Walgreens Rebate items.

The following are the Walgreens deals I am most excited about this week. I recommend joining The Grocery Game to see a complete list of sale items with coupon match-ups.

Bayer Breeze 2 Contour Meter on sale for $14.99; Use $30 off 1 coupon from 10/26 SS (coupon will adjust down) Final Price: FREE (I have thought about doing this and selling the meter on ebay- not sure I'll do it though)

Register Rewards RR

Clinical Right Guard or Dry Idea Deodorant on sale for $5.99 with a $5 RR for 1

Supposedly there is a $2 off 1 coupon inside the Right Guard Aerosol Spray to be used on next purchase. Final Price: $0.99 or Free after coupon

February Free after Rebate Items

This week only: Theraflu Warming Liquid or Packets on sale 2 for $10

Use 2 $2 off 1 coupons here and submit for $6 rebate in ES catalog when you buy 2

Final Price: FREE

Garnier Fructis Wonder Waves Shampoo, Conditioner or Styler up to $4.29

Use $1 off 1 from 1/4 RP

Final Price: Free plus $1 overage after coupon and rebate

Revlon Age Defying Spa Concealer or Spa Foundation up to $10

Use $2 for 1 from 1/11 SS

Final Price: Free plus $2 overage after coupon and rebate

Revlon Creme Lip Gloss up to $10

Use $2 for 1 from 1/11 SS

Final Price: Free plus $2 overage after coupon and rebate

Thermacare Trial Size Neck, Shoulder and Wrist Heat Wrap up to $2.49

Final Price: Free after rebate

Walgreens Multi-Purpose No Rub Solution 4 oz up to $1.99

Final Price: Free after rebate

Zucol Cold Care Lozenges 18 pk up to $7.99

Use $2 for 1 from 2/1 SS

Final Price: Free plus $2 overage after coupon and rebate

Thrifty Thursday Accountability

Ok all you deal seekers let me know how your doing. Feel free to report any deals you have found this week, any great shopping trip experiences, your family's annual budget countdown or any financial plans to which you would like to be held accountable.

Thrifty Thursday

Today is an exciting day for Thrifty Thursday. Walgreens has it's new February EasySaver catalog out and boy were they generous with the free after rebate items this month.

I am also going to use today to introduce you to "my car." I felt today was appropriate because this week's zone cleaning focused on "my car" and it is a major part of my ultimate financial plan.

Pumpkin Pancakes- recipe modification

We ended up having the Pumpkin Pancakes tonight because it was something quick and easy and we had all the ingredients on hand. I did want to let you know that you will need to add some milk to the batter in addition to the milk called for in the Bisquick box recipe. Just add until the batter looks like normal pancake batter consistency. I also added ground flax seeds to the batter to beef up the fiber!

DRS- at its worst

We just got in late this afternoon from our vacation and guess what I did?

• I did not unpack. No some of the clothes are still sitting in suitcases.
• I did not do laundry. No that would have required unpacking.
• I did not open the mail that had piled up.
• I did not watch the DVRd episode of Biggest Loser
• I didn't even work on tomorrows Thrifty Thursday posts

No, instead of doing all those things that should have been done I instead opted to spend 2.5 hours of my life............................ Cleaning out the lint trap in my dryer!!!!

It's all Emily's fault! I decided to look through the comments left today and found Emily's comment for her daily Tidy Tuesday accountability report. She talked about how she had spent all afternoon cleaning out her lint trap and even gave some tips on how she did it. So in true DRS fashion I wanted to clean my lint trap too.

It started out harmless, I was just going to soak the pull-out lint screen in warm soapy water while I caught up on some blogging. But Emily had talked about cleaning out the lint underneath the lint pan so I thought I would just take a look before I sat down at the computer. GASP!!! Oh my goodness! It was like a giant lint party was overtaking the inside lining of my dryer!!!

I was too far gone at that point. Once I had seen the lint there was no way my DRS would let me walk away. The unfortunate thing about this lint buildup is that it is caught in a very narrow but deep opening between the dryer barrel (I have no idea if this is correct terminology) and the outside covering of the dryer. My weapon of choice was this long bristly wire thingy that could fit down between the opening and attract lint to it's bristles. It worked ok, but 1 hour later I knew that if I was going to fully conquer the fuzzy laundry droppings I would need a new tool.

I decided it was too late to get on the Internet and search out the perfect lint trapping device so I decided it was time for some creative thinking. Long story short I ended up making a lint cleaning gizmo out of a hanger and lint roller tape. I used the bristle brush to sweep the lint into a pile and then sent the hanger in to collect as much lint as it could. I almost went through an entire lint roller and the job was still not done. The last tool I sent in was a swiffer cloth taped to the above hanger to dust out the area.

If you shine a light down the hole you will still see some lint remains but after 2.5 hours hunched over my dryer trap door, I decided it wasn't healthy to continue. I need to conserve energy because tomorrow I have already warned my DH we are moving the washer and dryer out to mop underneath... no telling what we'll find.

WARNING: If you suspect you have any form of DRS DO NOT peek inside your lint trap door- unless your ready to go to war! You have been warned!

PS I did take pictures throughout the delinting process but I have lost the cord that connects my camera to the computer. Sorry!

Product of the Week

This week I am featuring the Pear as the product of the week. To be honest the pear has never been one of my favorite fruits, in fact I don't even like pear jelly beans. But I picked some up the other day at Kroger because they were on sale and me oh my..... DELICIOUS! So juicy!

Nutrition Information:

Serving Size: 5 oz Pear

Calories: 80

21g Carbohydrate

4g Fiber

Pears are also a good source of Vitamin C and Copper which makes them a good antioxidant!

Go grab a pear and enjoy!