Wordless Wednesday - Construction Craziness

You can tell Spring is here when all the road construction starts popping up. Here is some of the construction that I have to drive through to get to work every day. Ugh!

For more Wordless Wednesday, head over to 5 Minutes For Mom.

Register that Starbucks Card

This weekend we were out for a family walk when I saw a Starbucks gift card laying there on the ground. It looked sad and lonely so I picked it up and brought it home with me. I figured it probably didn't have any money left on it, but if I was lucky there might be a buck or two left. I could tell that it had never been registered because the pin number hadn't been scratched off.

Later that night I finally got a chance to call the automated system and check the balance. Imagine my surprise when it said that the card had $30.00 on it. As someone else said when I told them about this, "That's a Lotta Lattes."

I took the time to register the card. This way, if I lose the card I will be able to get it replaced. I love this feature of the Starbucks card and I have taken advantage of it in the past. It's completely free to register your card and it only takes a minute. Plus, once its registered, if you lose your card all you have to do is call them and they will mail you a replacement. Again, free of charge. What do you have to lose? Register those Starbucks card. Don't wind up like the poor person who lost the card I found. And, if you find a gift card laying around, it could be worth taking a minute to call up and check the balance. It could just be your lucky day.

For more Works For Me Wednesday, head over to We Are THAT Family.

To Do Tuesday - June 23

This week looks like it's going to be crazy. I know that if I don't have a To-Do List and a plan of attack, things will quickly start to feel overwhelming and I will stress out. Last week I managed to complete 4 of the 6 items on my list. I don't think that's too bad. For some reason I never seem to complete every item. I never have. Maybe I just try to do too much.

Wash, dry and fold laundry
Put away laundry
Clean out email inbox
Balance my checkbook
Complete Menu Plan for next week
Schedule meeting with lender for home purchase

At this point we don't know if we'll have a contract for selling our house or not. There have been some complications with the buyers agent. If we get that worked out and manage to get our house under contract, then I will be adding some more items to our to do list. Until then, I just need to try to relax and not stress out of this whole selling and buying houses process.

What do you need to get done this week? To see more To-Do Tuesday lists, head over to Crazy Adventures in Parenting.

Menu Plan Monday - June 22

I am loving the new slow cooker that I picked up last weekend. So this week I'm planning some more meals using it. It is so nice to come home and have most of the work for dinner already done. There are still a few features on the new slow cooker that I haven't tried out yet. Once I try those out, I plan to post my review of the cooker.

In other news, we just might have a contract on house which would mean that we'd be moving by the end of July. So I really need to use up our stash of food. Our freezer actually has a little room in it now. I've been finding some things that I completely forgot we had, like the kielbasa you see on this week's menu. Of course our storage shelves are still pretty full. We have a lot of food to use up.

Hubby and I have been debating something and I would appreciate any comments you guys can give me on this topic. The new house will have plenty of room for us to finally have a freezer. Hubby has instead suggested that we purchase a new fridge and move the old one to the basement instead of buying a freezer. This way we would have additional freezer and fridge space. I'm not as sure about this. I told him I would think about it. So, which do you think is better, an extra refrigerator or a freezer?

Here's what I have planned for this week:

Dinners:

• Monday - Steak (in the slow cooker)
• Tuesday - Lemon Chicken
• Wednesday - Pulled Pork Tacos (didn't get to these last week)
• Thursday - Kielbasa and Macaroni and Cheese
• Friday - Chicken Salad Sandwiches
• Saturday - Spaghetti
• Sunday - Rosemary Pork Chops

Breakfasts:

1. Cereal
2. Granola Bars
3. Bananas

Lunches:

1. Leftovers
2. PB&J

To see more delicious menu plans, head over to Org Junkie for all the Menu Plan Monday links.

Eating From the Pantry Update

Last month I participated in an Eating From the Pantry Challenge and stated that I planned to continue that challenge into June. Since then I haven't been as good about posting updates. Here we are over half way through June and I haven't updated even once.

I have been doing great with staying out of the grocery stores. I have had so much going on that I haven't managed to track my exact spending. Since we stick with cash I know I stayed under budget so that is a good thing. This week I wound up spending $60 on dairy and produce. That's what happens when I don't even glance at a sale paper before going shopping. For some reason we don't get the grocery sale papers anymore and I just didn't have a chance to go online and check them.

Our freezer and pantry are starting to get a little room in them. Since we're hoping to move by the end of summer my goal is to have our pantry and freezer basically empty by then. As long as we have food in there I will keep going with my pantry meals. I have to say that I'm rather enjoying not running to the grocery store every week. I have been doing quick runs for dairy and produce, but they are nothing like a normal shopping trip. It has been very nice. Once we're in our new house I'm going to have to figure out a way to limit our grocery shopping to once or twice a month.

How has your grocery shopping been going? Do you shop every week or less often? I'm curious how other people do their regular grocery shopping.

Do We Really Need All That Stuff?

I've mentioned before how we're trying to sell our house so we've decluttered and moved quite a few things to storage. Now, I'm not to collect a lot of stuff so our house wasn't too bad, but in the 5 1/2 years we've lived here we have managed to accumulate a few things. At first I was worried that I would miss my stuff so I wasn't crazy about putting things in storage. Amazingly, so far I have only missed one thing. Yet even then I managed without it.

All of this leaves me wondering if I even need most of that stuff we put in storage. Honestly, I don't miss it, so why am I paying for storage? Ok, so I will want the Christmas decorations again come December and the baby stuff may get used again, but there are plenty of other things in there that I am seriously considering getting rid of. Maybe once we're in our new house we can have a yard sale and I can get rid of it. Or maybe I can have the charity truck meet me at the storage unit and take it all away for me. Both ideas are very tempting.

It can be stressful keeping your house clean to the point that its ready to sell. Yet it is also nice to have such a clean house. After we decluttered and cleaned up, hubby and I asked each other "Why are we moving again?" It has been so nice without all the clutter that I am seriously reconsidering just how much of it we really need. I like my house so much more when its clean and open without a bunch of clutter laying around. I need to remember this for when we move to our new house. My goal is to only keep things we need and things we love. All the rest is just "stuff" take up precious space in my house and my life.

So what about you, do you tend to keep a lot of "stuff" or do you prefer a less cluttered house?

Wordless Wednesday - Yard Sale Fun

My daughter has become a serious yard sale addict. This Saturday I drove past a church yard sale and she had a fit. So I wound up turning around and going back. We didn't buy anything other then a snowball there, but she did get to try out the moon bounce for the first time. There weren't any other kids in there so I got in with her and she loved it. Here we are in the moon bounce:

After the church yard sale we hit a couple other yard sales and a church Strawberry Festival and Book Sale before Pumpkin finally collapsed. Here she is after she shopped till she dropped:

Finally, here she is after a refreshing nap, enjoying the Leap Pad we picked up at one of the yard sales. She loves books so much I figured she would love this.

For more Wordless Wednesday, head over to 5 Minutes For Mom and Mom Dot.

To Do Tuesday - June 16

This is my third week participating in To-Do Tuesday over at Crazy Adventures in Parenting. I was bad and missed last week, but I am back this week and I'm determined to get some of this stuff done. I'm also keeping the list to 6 items. With as hectic as things have been around here, I don't think I could handle more then that. This week I'm also going to try getting these items checked off as I do them. Wish me luck.

√ Fold Laundry
√ Put Laundry Away
√ Clean out my coupon box
Clean out email inbox
Balance my checkbook
√ Complete Menu Plan for next week

To see more To-Do Tuesday lists, head over to Crazy Adventures in Parenting.

JC Penney $10 on $10 Coupon

JC Penney sends out their $10 off a $10 or more purchase coupons a few times a year. I love these coupons because I can always use them to get super cheap clothes for my daughter even if there isn't anything else I need. I'm amazed that some people actually throw these coupons away. If you're one of those people, could you just send the coupon to me? I'll pay the postage.

This time I was able to get 3 shirts and 1 pair of shorts for my daughter for under $3.00. You can't beat that. These clothes were all on clearance and when you combined that with my coupon, we did great. Pumpkin was even happy because she picked out the shorts herself.

My tip for when you get these coupons is to always check the clearance racks first. Also, read the fine print on the coupon as there are certain items that are excluded from coupon use. And, to maximize your savings, keep your purchase as close to $10 as you can. One time I was anble to get a complete outfit for my daughter along with a bid for just $0.26. Oh how I love these coupons.

If you didn't get the coupon this time, you can still take advantage of it online (just remember that you will have to pay shipping). The coupon code is GR8DAD and I believe it is good through June 20th. And if you do shop online, don't forget to shop through Ebates so that you can get 4% cash back on all yous JC Penneys purchases. If you are new to ebates and create a new account, you'll get a $5.00 sign up bonus. Depending on what you order, that could pay for your shipping.

Tackling the China Closet

This week I decided to tackle my china closet. Since we've been packing stuff up and putting it into storage to help our house look nicer, we also packed up our good china. There were some other odds and ends in there that had to be put away and everything needed to be dusted. Now my china closet looks so spacious I can hardly believe it. I even took the time to go through the drawers and clean them out too. I'm glad that I got this done. It's amazing how freeing up space in the china closet does help the room look nicer.

For more Tackle It Tuesday, head over to 5 Minutes For Mom.

Menu Plan Monday - June 15

Showing our house has been messing up my menu planning. You can't really cook the meals you planned when you have to be out of your house for someone to come look at it. As a result, we wound up eating out a few times last week. To help prevent that this week I picked up some lunch meat so we can throw together some sandwiches and go to the park to eat. I'm also looking for some more picnic type options that I can have on hand for these situations.

This weekend I also picked up a new slow cooker. We wound up getting one by Hamilton Beach. After I've used it a few times I'll let you guys know what I think of it. The really cool thing is that when I talked with the salespeople at the store they told me that if I don't like it I can bring it back within 90 days with a receipt. Hopefully I'll like it, but its nice to know that I won't be stuck with it if I don't.

Here's what I have planned for this week:

Dinners:

• Monday - Slow Cooker Lasagna
• Tuesday - Omelets and Sausage
• Wednesday - Pulled Pork Tacos
• Thursday - Grilled Cheese with Cream of Potato Soup
• Friday - Chicken Quesadillas
• Saturday - Veggie Soup and Biscuits
• Sunday - Beef Roast

Breakfasts:

1. Cereal
2. Granola Bars
3. Bananas

Lunches:

1. Leftovers
2. PB&J

To see more delicious menu plans, head over to Org Junkie for all the Menu Plan Monday links.

Wordless Thursday

Ok, I realize that it isn't Wednesday anymore, but I didn't get my Wordless Wednesday picture up this week so I felt like I had to share something. And, this week it isn't even a picture of Pumpkin. This is a shot I took of our dogs at the park last night. We went for a picnic and they were hoping for some of my sandwich. Little mooches.

Next week I promise to get a picture posted on Wednesday for Wordless Wednesday. This week has just been a little busy. Between looking at houses and having people look at our house I feel like we're never home anymore. Hopefully we'll get a contract on our house soon and I'll be able to stay home a little more. Selling the house you're living in is not fun.

Well, I'm off to clean up for another showing of our house tonight. I'll try to get back online later and get a post scheduled for tomorrow. I feel like I've been really slacking on my blog lately and it's driving me crazy.

Menu Plan Monday - June 8

Last week we mostly stuck to our menu plan, but there were a few meals we didn't get to. Also, the slow cooker lasagna didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. It seems that it got overcooked in my slow cooker. Since I have an older slow cooker that is very limited in its settings I'm now looking for a new programmable one. If you have any recommendations, let me know. I've been trying to cook more with the slow cooker in an effort to save us some time in the evenings.

Here's what I have planned for this week:

Dinners:

• Monday - Omelets and Sausage
• Tuesday - Dinner out (we're looking at houses and won't have time to grab dinner at home)
• Wednesday - Hot Dogs and Macaroni and cheese
• Thursday - Grilled Cheese with Veggie Soup
• Friday - Ham and Pineapple Dinner (carry over from last week)
• Saturday -Slow Cooker Lasagna (we'll try this one again, but will cut off the slow cooker sooner)
• Sunday - Rosemary Pork Chops (carry over from last week)

Breakfasts:

1. Cereal
2. Granola Bars
3. Bananas

Lunches:

1. Leftovers
2. PB&J

To see more delicious menu plans, head over to Org Junkie for all the Menu Plan Monday links.

Wordless Wednesday

Sometimes Daddy likes to make us breakfast on Saturday mornings. On this particular Saturday he made chocolate chip pancakes which Pumpkin obviously loved. What a fun start to the weekend.

For more Wordless Wednesday, head over to 5 Minutes For Mom and Mom Dot.

To Do Tuesday - June 2

This is my second week participating in To-Do Tuesday over at Crazy Adventures in Parenting. It will be interesting to see how many items I actually accomplish this week since I only got two done last week. I know I didn't update my list to check off the items that I completed. I seem to be having problems getting the HTML code for that to work for me. I will try again this week.

Fold Laundry
Put Laundry Away
Daily Blog Posts
Clean out email inbox
Clean out Google Reader
Complete Menu Plan for next week

To see more To-Do Tuesday lists, head over to Crazy Adventures in Parenting.

Talk About Moving

Since this is the first Tuesday of the month, it's Home Tour week over at Talk About It Tuesday. Since our house is up for sale and we're hoping to move by the end of summer I figured I would talk about moving and selling our house. If you want to see some pictures of the inside of our house, check out my Tackle It Tuesday post.

First, let me just say that I hate moving. It's such a hassle and my one dog does not take it well at all. Since we have started boxing up some of our "stuff" and moving it to storage, she has gotten very neurotic. To the point that she is now losing clumps of hair on a daily basis. She did this the last time that we moved and I don't understand it. We try to reassure her, but it doesn't seem to help.

There is so much stress involved in selling your house and looking for a new one. There are so many unknowns. Right now we are planning for this to be our last move for a very long time. Our next house needs to be the one we plan to stay in until we hit retirement. This will be the house that our daughter and any future children grow up in. So we need to love it, or at least the potential of it. We have two prospects right now which is a good thing. Now we just need to get our house under contract.

It's a little sad for us to be saying goodbye to our current home. It's been a great house and it is the house that our daughter first came home to. But hubby and I both feel like it is time for us to move on. The big unknown of where we will be living come fall is a bit stressful. Still, I feel like it will all fall together in time. We're taking a leap of faith here, hopefully we're doing the right thing.

Does anyone out there have any tips on getting your house to sell? I'd love to hear tips and tricks that have worked for others recently. With the way the real estate market is right now we'll take all the help we can get.

For more Talk About It Tuesday, head over to The Lazy Organizer.

Tackle It Tuesday - Cleaning House

This weekend we worked on getting the clutter cleaned out of our house so that it will show well. It's not a lot of fun, but the house does look nice. We packed up another car full of stuff and took it to storage. Plus we did the usual vacuuming, dusting and window cleaning. Yup, I actually cleaned the windows. I did tell my husband not to get use to that. I don't want him getting any ideas once we're in the next house.

Here are some of the pictures of what our house looks like now:

If anyone's looking for a nice townhouse, let me know.

For more Tackle It Tuesday, head over to 5 Minutes For Mom.

Free Redbox Rental - June 1 Only

The code for today's FREE Redbox rental is:

FM63H7

Remember that you can use this code once per debit/credit card, so if you have multiple cards, you can get multiple rentals. You can read about my previous experience using these codes here.

Come back every Monday for the weekly free rental code. This code expires at midnight tonight.

Menu Plan Monday - June 1

Wow, I can't believe that it's June already. This month I am still trying to eat from my pantry in an effort to reduce the amount of food we need to move. Plus it should give us a chance to save money since I'm also cutting our grocery budget.

Last week I didn't get my meal plan completed and we suffered as a result. Evenings were crazy and our dinners were thrown together at the last minute. Talk about stress. So this week we are back to our meal plan. There is enough going on right now, I don't need the stress of figuring out meals at the last minute added to it.

Here's what I have for this week:

Dinners:

• Monday - French Toast
• Tuesday - Potato Chowder
• Wednesday - Honey Mustard Grilled Chicken
• Thursday - Grilled Cheese with Veggie Soup
• Friday - Ham and Pineapple Dinner
• Saturday -Slow Cooker Lasagna
• Sunday - Rosemary Pork Chops

Breakfasts:

1. Cereal
2. Granola Bars
3. Bananas
4. Apples
5. Yogurt

Lunches:

1. Leftovers
2. PB&J

To see more delicious menu plans, head over to Org Junkie for all the Menu Plan Monday links.