Merry Christmas to MOM!

So I went on a little shopping trip to Toys R Us today to take advantage of their deal on backpacks.  Buy one for 12.99 or more and get a free lunch box.  I had a $10 TRU gift card from when I purchased my Wii so after card and sale I got a cool Spiderman backpack and a groovy grown up looking lunch box (for Kara) for only $6.48.  Then I went on to Target next door because how can you be that close to a Target and NOT go in??  LOL

I have been reading on line about the great toy clearances going on there and here's what I found just this afternoon...

This is my bed the toys are filling up

I got $432.84 worth of toys and games for $121.56.  There were many more things there like Chixos and Pixos and toys that I don't want in the house because of the baby and choking.  I put a pretty good dent in our Christmas shopping for this year. 

If any of you have Targets near you, you need to get there ASAP and see what you can find before the shelves are cleaned out by other bargain hunters.  The store employees were still in the process of marking more down while I was there too. 

Happy Shopping to you all!  (shopping is always happy when you save 75%!

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

After years of having The Notebook at the top of my favorite movie list I decided to go ahead and read the book as a comparison.  I have to say that If you've seen the movie, you don't really need to read the book.  The ending is different and in a way I find the ending to the book slightly creepy in a weird, old people kinda way. 

Allie and Noah lived a life that is definitely that of a love story, well, this is a love story.  They were together, then separated by things beyond their control, then brought back together by randon circumstances only to find out they love eachother even more than when they were younger.  Allie has to choose between Noah and Lon, between Love and Family, between her passion and her pride. 

This movie still tops my favorites list and this is sadly one book that I will say... just watch the movie and read Water for Elephants instead. 

Couponing 101

A few months ago I decided to start couponing.  Our grocery bill was getting out of control with 4 kids, 2 in diapers and I figured it was about time to fix the problem.  I prefer to do most of my shopping at Smith's (a Kroger grocery store) that has the savings card and pays you back quarterly for shopping with them.  I shop only using their sale flyer and plan our meals around what they are offering deals on.  Snack foods for the kids are 100% sale items with coupons only.  Fruits and veggies at Smith's are just fresher that other nearby grocery stores, especially the commissary which I try to avoid at all costs. 

Last week I got $130 worth of groceries for $49.  This week (pictured above) I got $89 worth of groceries for $25.  You can see all that I got up above.  I combined sale prices, store coupons and manufacturers coupons to end up getting some of the items almost for free.  The TGIF Potato Skins (I got 2 bags) unded up being 19 cents per bag.  The Barilla Piccolini was 39 cents.  The Suave was free and the hot dogs were all 70 cents per pack for Ball Park and Oscar Mayer Premium.  The A&W was 35 cents. 

You get the picture.  There are SO many coupons out there and it doesn't take much time to do and if you think of it as a job, like making money for yourself, you'll find that you start to enjoy it.  I love my shopping trips (when I don't have kids with me, that is) because it fulfills my need to bargain hunt.  I love leaving the store and seeing that I saved 2 and 3 times more than I actually spent.  And... as much as the people behind me in line Hem and Hah while the cashier is scanning my dozens and dozens of coupons, they are always amazed in the end and comment on how they're jealous and wish they could do the same thing.  Well... you can!  You don't even have to have a newspaper subscription if you can't afford that (although if you can I do recommend it!).  Every wednesday in my mailbox I get a Red Plum flyer that has tons of coupons in it, it's free and most people just throw it away.  DON'T!  There are also a few websites to go to for printable coupons which is where I save most of my money.  Most stores accept printed coupons. 

I am putting links to the websites at the bottom.  The first 3 are the best ones.  At Target.com you'll go all the way to the bottom of the screen and in small print one of the options is "coupons".  Some of them are TARGET ONLY coupons and those are AWESOME because that means you can couple them together with a manufacturer coupon.  For example:  I had a coupon for $1 off 2 Eggo products and printable Target coupons for $1 off of 1 Eggo product.  Eggo was on sale at Target for $1.75 a few weeks ago.  That means I got 8 packs of Eggos for only 25 cents each box.  With the Target coupons you can only use 1 per product per transaction.  So... if you want to use multiple then you'll have to ring them all up separately. 

At Kraft First Taste you register with them and you'll get GREAT coupons about once a month or so.  Like $1.50 off Deli Select Lunch meat or $1.50 off 100 calorie cheese packs.  You just have to register and wait.

When you are at coupons.com you can go back and print most of them at least twice.  Once you have printed something it automatically gets moved to the back pages of the coupons and when you've printed the limit it lets you know. 

Facebook is also a valuable resource for coupons.  Many companies (Nabisco and Huggies are two) offer great coupons quite frequently when you "Like" them.  Nabisco gives coupons for a free pack of cookies when you buy cookies and milk the first Monday of each month.  Huggies gives $3 off one pack of Huggies and $2 off a pack of wipes at random times.  There are several others out there, you've just got to keep your eyes peeled.

Check out Frugal Girls and Deal Seeking Mom on FB and "Like" them.  They are invaluable in their tips and special offers.  I don't just "like" them.... I LOVE them. 

Coupons.com
Smart Source
Target printables
Eversave
Kraft

A valuable resource for online printable coupons is The Krazy Coupon Lady.  She has compiled an entire database of every printable coupon available, organized alphabetically by brand.  I LOVE IT!  I go through the entire list about every other month to make sure I didn't miss anything, but I also look for a specific thing I might be shopping for and have often found a coupon for it!  :)
The Krazy Coupon Lady
She is also on Facebook and if you "like" her then you will get all of her wonderful updates!  I highly recommend her.

I hope this post has been helpful to you and Happy Couponing to you!!

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

I enjoyed the Twilight series enough and own the books, I've seen the movies and absolutely LOVE The Host. I'd say I'm a Stephenie Meyer fan. I've read Midnight Sun on her website and really enjoyed that as an addition to Twilight. But this book I probably could have done without paying money for. I'm very glad that Stephenie made the decision to offer it for free online.

This is a Novella written about the young vampire that is killed in the end of the large battle in Eclipse. When Carlisle is going to spare her life but the Volturi come in and execute her anyway because they can't let her go. This tells of the last days of her very short vampire life. Follow her around and meet some of the other newborns. See how newborns feed and how they were assembled. Yada, yada, yada...

If you are truly a TwiHard Fan and HAVE to own every single book in the series... you wouldn't be reading reviews to decide if you wanted to buy it, you'd already own it, finished reading it and have it on your bookshelf in between Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. For the rest of us out there, through July you can read this in its entirity on the internet for free. You can't print it so you'll be stuck to your laptop for a couple of hours, but it's worth saving the $7 IMHO. Go to www.breetanner.com or click on the title of this post and it will take you there to read it for free.

I found it to be a waste of time as I could have imagined the things that went on all by myself without reading the book. But go ahead and read it for free and decide for yourself. You can always buy a copy of it after if you find that you really like it. I wish I would have read it for free first, I wouldn't have spent the money.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Water For Elephants follows Jacob Jankowski who is either 90 or 93, he can't remember, as he reminisces about his days during the most trying time in his life. He was about to graduate from Cornell with his degree in veterinary medicine when he gets word that both of his parents have died. Not only that, but he finds out that because of the economy (during the great depression) his father's veterinary business was so far under that their house is taken and the business is gone. He has nothing left but to take his final exam and somehow start a new life completely on his own. In the middle of his exam he breaks down, runs away and hops a train out of town... but it's not just any train, it ends up being a circus train for the Benzini Bros circus and they don't like stowaways. This begins a roller coaster ride that will last 3 1/2 months with a crash course in taking care of large animals, understanding business, befriending a grouchy midget and learning what love truly is.

Passion, hatred, murder and even a wild animal stampede add to the delight I found in this book. We see glimpses of the 93 yr old Jacob living in a nursing home feeling helpless followed by wonderful tales of his life on the circus train with Rosie, Walter and the lovely Marlena. I found it to be extremely well written and it flowed nicely always making you want to read on and see what will happen. Sara Gruen did a great job of switching back and forth between young and old Jacob and keeping the story just as interesting while in either time. I was just as attached to and invested in 93 yr old Jacob as I was in the young handsome veterinarian with morals and principles from Benzini Bros Circus of 1931.

I definitely recommend this book and will probably read it again once I make it through my summer TBR list.

Footnotes for my Christian friends...
The language is fairly minimal and usually confined to very heated moments of anger and such. There is one sexual encounter that is expressed in detail while the others are just stated as having happened and one other one that's left to speculation not only to the reader but to the character involved as he was quite drunk and grieving when it happened. There are fights and animal beatings and lots of alcohol, things you'd typically think of with a depression era train circus.

Matched by Ally Condie

Check out the summary and reviews for 'Matched' By Allyson Condie. Click the title of this post to get linked to Allyson Condie's website/blog. There are reveiws by some of my favorite authors and they are ALL good.

“Matched is a page-turning, dystopian love story, written with the soul of a poet. Finally, a brave new world that readers from Twilight to The Hunger Games will claim as their own.”
—Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, authors of Beautiful Creatures

“I can’t stop thinking about Matched. It’s impossible to put down this enthralling romance, set in a chilling world where every choice is predicted and even love is controlled. I need to know what happens next. More please!”
—Carrie Ryan, author of The Forest of Hands and Teeth and The Dead-Tossed Waves

Description copied directly from her blog:
"In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die.

Cassia has always trusted their choices. It’s barely any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one . . . until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path no one else has ever dared follow—between perfection and passion."


It looks like it's going to be a very good read! Can't wait til it comes out in November.

Under the Dome by Stephen King (audibles download)

So I am basically going to add on a review at the bottom that was not posted with my Amazon review. This added review is for my Christian friends and reading this from a Christian perspective.

Under the Dome is a huge novel, over 1000 pages, that takes place in the span of 6 days... Crazy?? No, King! Only Stephen King can take one tiny little week and create an intricate web of lives and stories that play together to form a novel of 1000+ pages and make the entire thing worth reading. The number of characters, the mass of details, and the supernatural nature of the story are all written together in such a flawless way. What is the Dome? I guess you'll have to read it to find out... no spoilers here. Dale Barbara is the somewhat lead character, or at least is very central to the plot, and he is an ex-military man turned short order cook in a local small town restaurant Briar Rose. He is mere feet away from leaving that foresaken town of Chesters Mill when the Dome crashes down, or up, or both. Many accidents and deaths occur as people learn more about the Dome and the force around it. Is it created by a terrorist sect, just a strange natural occurance, or something more. Follow the survivors of Dome Day as they figure out how to live in a society that is creating its own greenhouse effect with very little oxygen exchange from the outside. As they are now living in a place and time where the law is enforced and made up by crooked men looking for power and control, wanting to be worshipped and never questioned. How do you fight a power that cannot be taken down, and when you fail... how do you get away?

I really enjoyed this book a lot. The language was, umm, colorful to say the least. Being from Maine and having all of my family still there, I do know that this is the way they talk, King wrote it to be real and he would know since that's where he lives also! I listened to the audio book (reading the real book I may never have finished) and I had to keep this book on headphones instead of listening through my docking station or in the car because I have 4 kids and it was totally inappropiate for their ears. The audio book was well read and performed, I wish the person performing it would have had a New England accent or at least portrayed one for the story, but he still did very well. Not the greatest audio book I've encountered, but very good and made it easier to finish the book while staying busy.

Add on:
This book is written by Stephen King, so any of my Christian friends that are considering reading it are probably not super conservative about their literature. As I said earlier, the language is definitely an issue. That I can remember there is one sexual situation that was a bit uncomfortable to say the least, but goes along with the story line and is not done tastelessly. If you've read Stephen King then you know what you're getting into, if you haven't... you probably shouldn't start with this one if you are going to start at all.