Coupon beginner

I have always used coupons, whenever I see one for something I use, I will cut it out & get the item & save a few dollars here & there. Well everyone knows about all this coupon hype going on- All kinds of blogs on couponing, a reality show dedicated to it, even a small segment on your local news. You feel a tiny bit of guilt for not being as resourseful as others...& then one night you tune in to Here comes honey boo boo on TLC & even her Mama June has a house stocked full of things she has gotten for free from couponing. 
That's it, now I'm game. 

Last week I bought a few of CVS's advertised items & got $17 back in Extrabucks, so this week I was ready to see what I could do. 
I started looking through the ad, finding something I had a coupon for, and that I will get more Extrabucks for purchasing. I decided on buy 4 Aveeno products get $15 , & buy 2 Revlon cosmetics get $7. 
From the Sunday paper I have a
*save $1 off one Aveeno
*save $3 off 2 Aveeno
              *save $1 off 1 Revlon lip product
I get 4 Aveeno items I will use & do need, & I get some Revlon eyeliner & tinted lip-gloss. 
Get to register, all my items total $47.24.... 
-5 with manufactur coupons, -3 with a CVS store coupon, & -17 with my Extrabucks rewards. 
New total.. $26.05
AND I got $22 Extrabucks to use next time. So today is the best I have done with saving $. I usually get carried away & find some other makeup item, or nail polish color & end up spending more & would have been better off just staying home. But today I was disciplined & really wanted to see if this worked. :) :) 

YAY! 

Goody bags for school party

 I got all my ingredients for this at Aldi, I love that grocery store. Cheaper prices than most, easy to get in & out of there without wasting time, being pressured by all kinds of other things you don't need.. ( super Target??) Yikes. I would have more "extras" than the stuff I went in there for.

Peanut butter cups on pretzels, 375 degrees for 3 minutes. 

THIS is what 5 minutes at 375 looks like. Don't do this. 

Now press the candy corn on top- I started with two, but it started to be tricky & I thought it ended up looking better with just one.. but do what you want to. 

You can really use any kind of candy you want to press in the top of the peanut butter cup. For Christmas you could do red & green M&M's. How cute would that be? 

This is what I actually signed up for to bring candy.
I signed up too late & all the good things to bring had been taken by the other moms. This was no good for me, I would feel like a domestic failure showing up with only a bag of Butterfingers. 

This is what I  brought for Ryder's classmates. See?  There is still some store-bought candy in there! 

Some pumpkin bread loaves for his teachers

The inevitable part of all cooking? The dishes. 

Wednesday lunch, shopping & cupcakes!

With 5 of our kids being in school & mothers day out, my friend Jennifer & I decide to take baby Slade out to lunch & some shopping:) 

Republic Gastropub in Okc for some yummy eats 

Jenn had a burger with homemade mac & cheese covered in toasted bread crumbs- love the presentation of the food here.

I had BBQ Chicken sliders on the most yummy buns ever. I know they were "just" buns, but these were special! They were amazing, tasted like they were freshly baked. Oh.. almost forgot & some baked potato soup. 

Now off to Anthropologie! 

Loved this necklace with the yellow wood beads. 

I thought this shelf back in the clearance area was very industrial looking & rustic, I want some open shelving like this in my kitchen to have more storage. 

Got excited when I saw how simple this is, very no-fuss & I could put this thing together! Wonder if you can buy something like this online? 

CUTEST aprons ever! 

Add caption

Another necklace... 

Green goodies cupcake bakery

Array of yummy treats! 

Will be coming back again! 

Painting the day away

I have been busy painting these cute family holiday-theme boards for friends & family. Here is a OU one I did, & some pumpkins!

The shops at Target.. Love!

I love Target bringing these unique brands to their stores, from dish towels to potholders to jewelry, I love it all!

Cute rectangle chalkboard to jot things down. 

Who doesn't need some navajo print dishtowels? 

Sorry, I just like their display! Well done. You had me running over throwing things in my cart, I guess that is the general idea. 

Cute little vintage-style milk bottle 

I wouldn't want too cook in this apron & get it dirty! 

Thrift store trip

I love thrift stores! That's an odd thing to "love" or to enjoy doing, but I just love vintage items & the thrill of finding them. 97% of what I see I'm not interested in, its the 3% that keeps me hooked. Years ago I found a vintage Chanel silk scarf for 99 cents. Ha! You gotta hit the stores that the employees have no idea what Chanel is. Cha-ching! No designer brands were found today, but here are a few cool things I saw-

Quirky wicker reclining chair! I had a better pic of this but it got deleted. oops.

Love different dishes & cups! Leaping deer & a lion head? Hmm OK- I love the glazed yellow color, I tend to gravitate towards yellow & golden hues 

Avocado green meat grinder from Sears! 

My son Ryder showing off a brown American Tourister carry-on

I bought this for the frame, I like the carvings in it- Don't worry, I will be putting another picture in it.

I used to HAVE this Barbie! She was one of my favorites. I had her in my cart until I was in line to check out, then my clutter control voice said NO you don't need this. I might go back for her..... 

I feel like baking! Chocolate sheet cake

I have never made this before, but I have tasted quite a few peoples variations over the years at parties & holidays. My Grandma gave me this cookbook from her church's fundraiser a few years back, thought I might try this recipe & see how I do! 
Why can't I follow a recipe exact? Seems like there is always a reason I cannot follow what the directions say. I did not have buttermilk so I substituted 1% milk. It was all I had, other than almond milk, which that would have been nasty. I added a sprinkle of cinnamon to the cake part, & only used 1/4 cup of oil rather than the 1/2 they asked for. I felt guilty about the 2 sticks of butter, so decided less oil was a good thing! Then I realize I do not have a sheet pan they call for to bake it in. I just had my 9*13 trusty Pyrex glass baker. So mine yielded thicker pieces. (oh darn) 
It did not specify if you are to pour the boiled frosting on the hot cake? But that is what I did. It made the center of the cake collapse into a fudgey cookie dough-type consistency... & the edges crisped up almost like a crust. Overall it turned out very good, as you can see the remaining sections got taken off to hubbys workplace so the temptation is out of the house!