Quilts!

I would love to win one of these awesome quilts! It's from Old Red Barn Co.. What do you think??

Jesus and Nicodemus

This is a painting that my husband and I got from my parents for our one year anniversary. We love it because it is different than any other paintings, so it attracts a lot of questions. We saw this painting while at the Passion Play in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. It was painted by Harry Antis. Here is that the brochure about it says:

"This painting is filled with symbolism. First the choice to come to Jesus during the darkness of night represents the lack of spiritual understanding by the Pharisees. The red sleeves denote that it was at the hands of the religious leaders that the prophets were stoned. The white that appears under his garment speaks of his desire to know truth. Nicodemus is sitting with his feet in the fire. The flames represent Hell itself. He thought he was right with god because of his good works, but the spirit of man died when Adam and Eve sinned. When we come to Jesus, believing, and asking him to forgive us, our spirit is given life eternal. We then are born again. Note the three white robed figures represent the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit."

"How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?" John 3:4

Grandad's Pie

Over at Today's Housewife, we are having recipes from our family members. I put my mom's veggie dip on there and also wanted to share this recipe from my grandad.

Low Sugar Millionaire Pie (Like from Furr's Cafeteria)

20 oz. can of crushed pineapple (in its own juice)

1 small box of no sugar instant vanilla pudding

1/2 cup of chopped pecans

1/2 cup of coconut (if desired)

Cool Whip (Lite) 2 or 3 large tablespoons

1 graham cracker or short bread crust

Mix cream cheese with pineapple juice (drained off crushed pineapple). Add the Cool Whip and the instant pudding and then mix in the pineapple, pecans and coconut. Pour into the pie crust. Add more Cool whip on top and sprinkle more chopped pecans on top. Then refrigerate.

Did you know?

I got this previously from my mother-in-law and it has some good tips in it. Thought I'd share!

Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little 'stringy things' off of it. That's how the primates do it.

Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.

Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.

Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummm!

Reheat Pizza -- Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.

Easy Deviled Eggs -- Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.

Expanding Frosting -- When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.

Reheating refrigerated bread -- To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

Newspaper weeds away -- Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers, put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

Broken Glass -- Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.

No More Mosquitoes -- Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

Squirrel Away! -- To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

Flexible vacuum -- To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

Reducing Static Cling -- Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and ... ta da! ... static is gone.

Measuring Cups -- Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

Foggy Windshield? -- Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car When the window s fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

Reopening envelope -- If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.

Conditioner -- Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.

Goodbye Fruit Flies -- To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2' with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid; mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

Get Rid of Ants -- Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it 'home,' can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS
The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.) He told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to the sink and ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material ... I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like. Well ... the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that's what burns out the heating unit. You can't SEE the film, but it's there. It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free ... that nice fragrance too. You know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box ... well this stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (and to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out and wash it with hot soapy water and an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months.
He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long! How about that!?!

Read Your Receipts

Have you been out to eat lately at a fast food place and noticed at the bottom of your receipt is sometimes a "prize" if you complete a short survey? I have become a master at scouring these receipts and finding the deals...even on the back. Here are some things I've gotten:
*Multiple FREE regular roast beef sandwiches at Arby's
*Frosty float from Wendy's
*Multiple 10% off one item at Burlington Coat Factory
*$1 off next purchase at Taco Cabana (got that one today)
*Free bean burrito or taco at Taco Bueno
These things take just minutes to fill out (online or on the phone) and are well worth it in my opinion. I just wanted to share this if you guys haven't taken notice of your receipts recently. Anybody else gotten some great deals out there for completing a survey for the company?

Sandra's Chicken Ranch Wraps

Over at Today's Housewife we are sharing recipes with chicken. Head on over and check out some new recipes. I forgot that this was the recipe I wanted to post for the "chicken" week!!
Sandra introduced this to me and I LOVE it! My family also loves it. I once served it to my brother who thought it looked so gross and ended up telling me that it as so tasty (and it's SUPER easy). Enjoy!!

Chicken Ranch Wraps

Flour tortillas
Chicken grilled or boiled and cut into bite sized pieces
1/4 cup of ranch dressing
Lettuce
Long grain and wild rice cooked according to the package

Mix the rice, ranch and chicken in a bowl. Put in a tortilla and add as much lettuce as you'd like. Roll like a burrito. Enjoy!!

Squidoo

I've talked on here before about Squidoo, but today I wanted to add it to Works for Me Wednesday. I'm sure you've never heard of this great site before. It's a fun way to make a little money on the side. I have been a member for about a year now and have probably made $100. The money takes a little while to come in. What you do is you make a "lens" about something that interests you that you think will interest others. I have quite a few (20) lenses. They range from my Freebies lens to my James Avery lens. They can literally be about anything you want. The more you have, the more money you make. To make money, you just make sure they are maintained. I do this by editing my lenses about every other day. This takes about 15 minutes to do all 20 lenses. At the start of the month, you will get $ for your lenses based on your rank--how many people visit, how much they buy off of there, etc. This really is just a way to organize information (amazon, ebay, etc.) in one place. Then instead of google getting the credit (and portion of the profit), squidoo gets it and they share it with you! This last month I made $20 for very little time invested. It's fun, free and easy! To learn more, click here. If you decide to sign up, use my referral here: Squidoo. TRY IT OUT!

Baby Cheapskate Give Away

Have you heard about this?
Baby Cheapskate Diaper Give Away
I am thinking about doing cloth diapers, so it sounds like a great deal!! Go and enter!

Today's Housewife

I don't really post on this blog anymore... Please go over to Today's Housewife and take a look around! :)

Target Clearance!!

We aren't finding out what we're having, but that doesn't stop me from shopping--I just buy a boy and a girl outfit... Whichever we don't use will be gifted away! I got these SUPER cute outfits for a steal today at Target. They were having a great clearance on a lot of their baby clothes. The first picture is a little cap, gown and blanket for $4.98 instead of $10! The second and third pictures were their 4th of July clothes--$1.99 instead of $8!!! The little girl headbands were $.99!! Plus the bibs come in 3 packs and only one of the girl ones says "4th of July." The other 2 match the outfit! The boy bibs have 2 that say "4th". So cute!

What would you like to see here?

I'm not sure if I should keep up with this blog. It takes a lot of work for me to put together the activities and food... I am also now blogging on Today's Housewife with some friends which I really enjoy. Is there anything you would like to see on here?

Preview of next week...

Next week on Today's Housewife where I also blog, we're going to be talking about coupons. I am a total coupon freak and can't wait to post on Thursday. Today was a GREAT coupon day at Brookshires! I went there this morning to pick up some fruit. I normally don't shop there, but I decided I would go there because they normally have decent prices on fruit. I found a few other things I needed and used a few coupons, not thinking I would save too much. I ALWAYS watch my total go down, so I was really surprised when I gave the girl $.55 coupons and the machine said Double and then Triple! Huh? So I ended up saving 46% which was $23.77. I figured something had to be going on, so I let the guy take my groceries out (they still do that there) and then went back in to look for the ad. There, on the front page was an amazing sight--Triple coupons up to and including $.60!!! Are you kidding me??? So I headed home on a mission. I had already saved so much, but I knew I could get stuff for FREE! On Thursdays, we get a free newspaper which has coupons in it, so I don't pay for them on Sundays anymore. Then I remembered the house down the street...vacant...forclosure...at least 10 newspapers on the front porch! So I went and helped them "clean up." I ended up with around 20 coupon insert packets which took me about 2 hours to go through. I cut out a lot and put the ones I thought I would use in an envelope. Out I went...again. It was a HOT day too! I spent at least one hour going up and down the aisles...sometimes more than once! My total was $89 something. Oh wait, I have a few coupons... I was still counting when I gave the girl my first pile of 20. I finished at 33 coupons! (I count to make sure they get them all because it drives me nuts when they go fast and skip one!) So, after all of that, my total was $29.33 and I saved 70% which was $64.90. Uh, impressive. Above is what I got on that trip--all name brand as you can see!! Most of it we will use--the rest I will donate. I also did another transaction while there because I had kept track of which coupons were great and I knew I had a few doubles, but they said (when I called to check before going) that they would only triple the first one. So I bought 6 things using coupons and the girl was shocked that my total was $0. I told her that if the coupons had actually counted correctly, they would owe me... Like the floss was $1.26 and I had a $.55 coupon--once, double, triple=$1.65. My savings was 100%. I had one other coupon and once again saved 100%. The manager kept having to come okay my total. If you'd like to learn my "tricks of the trade," check out my post on Thursday. Needless to say, I was very excited!!

Flan

This is a great dessert given to me by my missionary friend in Mexico while I lived there! YUMMY! You do need a flanera to make this which you should be able to buy at Wal-Mart or order on the internet. Worth it!!

1 can condensed milk
1 can evaporated milk
5 eggs
1 T vanilla (Mexican is best)

Blend all ingredients in blender.

Brown 1/4 cup of sugar in flanera on top of stove.

Pour milk mixture in flanera and close. Bake in pan filled halfway with water for 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees F.

From a nurse:

I'll never forget the look in my patients' eyes when I had to tell them they had to go home with the drains, new exercises and no breast. I remember begging the Doctors to keep these women in the hospital longer, only to hear that they would, but their hands were tied by the insurance companies. So there I sat with my patients, giving them the instructions they needed to take care of themselves, knowing full well they didn't grasp half of what I was saying, because the glazed, hopeless, frightened look spoke louder than the quiet 'Thank You' they muttered. A mastectomy is when a woman's breast is removed in order to remove cancerous breast cells/tissue. If you know anyone who has had a Mastectomy, you may know that there is a lot of discomfort and pain afterwards. Insurance companies are trying to make mastectomies an outpatient procedure. Let's give women the chance to recover properly in the hospital for 2 days after surgery.

If you're receiving this, it's because I think you will take the 30 seconds to vote on this issue and send it on to others you know who will do the same. There's a bill called the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act which will require insurance companies to cover a minimum 48-hour hospital stay for patients undergoing a mastectomy. It's about eliminating the 'drive-through' Mastectomy where women are forced to go home just a few hours after surgery, against the wishes of their doctor, still groggy from anesthesia and sometimes with drainage tubes still attached.

Lifetime Television has put this bill on their Web page with a petition drive to show support. Last year over half the House signed on. PLEASE!! Sign the petition by clicking on the web site below. You need not give more than your name, state, and zip code.

Sign the Petition

Familia Part Two...

Here are some additional family vocabulary terms to add to last week's terms. There are still others which you can find at the site below. Hopefully you are keeping up with la familia and can now call your hijo or hija.

hermana - sister
hermano - brother
tía - aunt
tío - uncle
primo - cousin - male
prima - cousin - female
sobrina - niece
sobrino - nephew
abuela - grandmother
abuelo - grandfather
nieta - grandaughter
nieto - grandson

Pronunciation Guide

King Ranch Chicken Casserole

I'm not sure if this is officially "Mexican", but when I'm in the mood for it, IT COUNTS! There are a lot of recipes for this out there. This one is pretty easy and fast. Plus it's very tasty! Serve with beans and tortilla chips.

1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 4 ounce can of Ro-Tel
2 1/2 cups boiled chicken breast chopped
10 corn tortillas cut into fourths
12 ounces of shredded cheddar cheese

Mix together and heat the soups, Ro-Tel, and chicken. In a 3 quart buttered casserole dish, place a layer of tortillas, a layer of soup mixture and a layer of grated cheese. Repeat. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.

Familia Activities

These are great activities for working out the vocabulary.

Family Activities
Family Worksheet
Family Quiz

Another way to practice with your little one is to go through pictures of your family. Point to each member and say the Spanish word. For example, show a picture of their grandmother and say "abuela." Remember that your pronunciation doesn't have to be perfect, as long as they are hearing Spanish spoken and getting those connectors in their brain. This will make learning the language easier when they take it in school! I hope your lessons are going well.

Familia Part One...

Let's start today with a few essential vocabulary words for family. I will add some more next week. To hear pronunciations, please go to the links below as I couldn't get them to paste too.

padres - parents
madre - mother
mamá - mother
padre - father
papá - father
niño - child - male
niña - child - female
hijo - son
hija - daughter

Pronunciation Guide
Family Tree -- Put your mouse over each picture and hear the correct pronunciation of each family member on the family tree! This has a ton of great vocabulary for family!

Sopapilla Cheesecake

A teacher I knew made this for a luncheon once. SO YUMMY!!! Enjoy!

2 cans crescent rolls
1 1/2 c sugar
1 8 oz. cream cheese
1 t vanilla (Mexican is best)
1 t cinnamon
1 stick butter

Open first can of rolls. Roll out into bottom of 9 x 13 baking dish. Press out making sure all perforations are closed. Cream 1 cup of sugar and vanilla with the cream cheese. Spread over the dough in the pan. Open second can and roll out on wax paper pressing out the perforations. Lay dough on top of cream cheese. Melt butter and pour over the top. Mix 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and sprinkle over all of the rolls. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F in the oven. Serve warm.

Fiestaware!

Fiestaware is awesome! I have been a collector of Fiestaware for a number of years and have got quite a collection in many different colors. I have vases, plates, bowls, coffee mugs, tea cups, pitchers, and many other kitchen accessories. I have never had a problem with it and I think it holds up great! I love it because it's so colorful, looks nice and is a great quality! I also love that it is not very expensive compared to other everyday plates. They also have a collection of Christmas/holiday plates and glasses that are very cute. Recently I bought a plate that we'll use for special celebrations that says, "It really is all about you!" and has dots all over it in many colors, so it will match everything! Check out my Fiestaware squidoo page to start a collection of your own!
I guess the only connection it has with Spanish is its name. Maybe that's why I love it so much!

Check this out: Fiesta Kitchen

Deals this week

Thankfully I was checking Money Saving Mom the other day and noticed she had some deals for Wal-Mart right before I was heading there. So I sat down, clipped the rest of my coupons and got them organized. With my list in hand, I headed out and saved 66% of my bill! It ended up being $10 for some stuff we needed, but I got a lot of it free--plus overage! Thanks MSM!
Then I headed to Kroger with no list. I was able to save 59% just by looking through the ad and my coupons. I got some milk for free because I bought 2 things of cookies and Pop-Tarts (which I was out of)! What a deal!! I still haven't tried CVS... I don't get the Sunday paper any more because double packs are now $3 instead of $2. I might start that next week...

Take a hike!

Take the bus! While I lived in Mexico, if I needed to get somewhere quickly (or if it was farther than I could walk), I would take the bus. Taxis will charge a lot of money. I once paid $70 (pesos) to take a taxi to a school that I could ride for $8 (pesos) taking 2 buses. It was a lot quicker to take a taxi (most of the time), but worth it to ride the bus and save money. Yes, it does take a little while to learn the bus system, so if you're only going to be visiting for a short time, it would be worth it to ask someone to help you figure out what exactly to do.
The Metro in Mexico City is also really cheap. You could ride it for around 20 cents and get anywhere in the city! When you're down there, you don't have to pay for connections as long as you don't come back outside. I would advise against riding it late at night, but I never had any problems riding during the years I lived there. If you have on a backpack, put it on your front and carry your purse in front of you. There is a ton of traffic during "peak" hours, so I would avoid that too! I once was riding with my brother (a rather non-Spanish speaker) and it was during the "peak" time. A man behind me decided that he was going to get on the next car that came through, and it was PACKED! He put one arm on either side of me and started pulling me in! Out of fear of being separated, I started yelling, "NO" and he finally stopped. We took the next, less-crowded car that came!

Basic Work

TODAY IS MY 30TH BIRTHDAY!!

Here are some sites to check out for basic vocabulary work. Some of the sites use more vocabulary than was listed yesterday, but most of the words are pretty easy to pick up! I hope you find some activities you can enjoy doing! Remember to keep practicing colors and try to add this new vocabulary.

Quia.com -- has many extra vocab words, but you can click on the link and it will show the words and their meanings

edhelper.com

spanishspanish.com

spanishpronto.com

Basic Vocabulary

Here are a couple of VERY basic vocabulary works to get you started! More to come!

hello Hola
good-bye Adiós
yes Sí
no No
friend Amigo (m), Amiga (f)
thank you Gracias
where is the bathroom? ¿Dónde está el baño?

Once again this site from last week should be very helpful: Basic Spanish

Mexican Wedding Cookies

One year I was teaching, the students made food for a project. This is one of the recipes I kept because it was so good! Enjoy!

1 c butter, softened

3/4 c sifted powdered sugar

2 c all-purpose flour

1 t vanilla (Mexican is the best)

1 cup finely chopped pecans (optional)

powdered sugar

1. Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add 3/4 cup powdered sugar, beating well. Add flour, mixing well. Stir in vanilla and pecans.

2. Shape dough into 1 inch balls and place on ungreased baking sheet.

3. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool slightly. Roll warm cookies in additional powdered sugar. Cool completely on wire racks.

MAKES ABOUT 4 DOZEN

Fiesta Friday

Today I am really having a fiesta!! I am officially done teaching...at least for now. I've been a Spanish teacher for 6 years (with a 2 year break in the middle to do mission work in Toluca, Mexico). I've really enjoyed teaching, especially these last 3 years. I found out I was pregnant in January (due in September), and I've always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, so it wouldn't work to continue teaching next year! Finals were this week and yesterday was my last day of in-service. Today is summer day #1!
I am so excited about the baby coming...and any future children (which will make my teaching break longer)! Life is going to be so different! I'm going to have time for my coupons, CVS trips, sewing, scrapbooking, getting organized, decorating the baby's room and everything else I've had to put off until the summer! Sure I'll miss my students and the teacher-friends I have, but the future is more exciting right now!!
The only Spanish thing on my mind right now is...SIESTA!

Thrifty Thursday

I have done a little traveling while I lived in Mexico and Spain. I have also been to El Salvador and Costa Rica for vacation. There are tons of ways to save money in Spanish-speaking countries and I'd like to share those on Thursdays. I also would like to share my deals for the week (if I have any). If you have any suggestions, please feel free to comment!
I have not traveled with a child (since I'm pregnant with our first). While I lived in Mexico, I learned that it was way cheaper to buy where the locals buy instead of going to Wal-Mart or another chain. That meant I would head to the market on market day. What an adventure--tons of people, crowded areas, crazy smells and sights, and pick-pockets. Just make sure that you know what you're looking for and what "section" it might be in. Vegetables are the best to buy here cheap! Even if you're visiting for vacation, make sure you check out the local market just to experience it!

Workout Wednesday

Keep up your skills from yesterday's lesson by going to Colores to practice. Then point to various items that are around your child and ask them "De que color es..." If they are too young for this activity, then point to an item and tell them what color it is in Spanish (review pronunciation from yesterday if you need to).
If you are self-conscious about speaking in Spanish, don't worry about it! If you're saying something wrong and say it in front of a Spanish-speaker, they will probably just be excited that you're trying to learn their language. Your kids won't know until they start taking Spanish in school that they're pronouncing words wrong and that can be corrected easily. Keep trying! It is a slow process, but you'll find that it is worth it.
It is important to be introduced to a second language early. Studies show that the earlier a person tries to learn a language, the easier it will be for them to acquire it (that's why kids can pick up another language faster than adults). Can you imagine when you're driving down the road and your son says, "Verde" when he points to the grass outside?! How exciting!!

Translation Tuesday

Since I'm pregnant and have many friends who have little kids, I wanted to start off with some basic vocabulary you can use with your kids. If you have any suggestions, please leave me a comment and I'll make sure and get to them in a future post.

Colores:
amarillo — yellow
anaranjado — orange
azul — blue
blanco — white
plateado — silver
dorado — golden
gris — gray
marrón (or cafe) — brown
negro — black
morado — purple
rojo — red
rosado (or rosa) — pink
verde — green

Here are some great sites to help you pronounce the words correctly: Learning Spanish
Study Spanish
Basic Spanish Vocabulary

Mexican Dish Monday

Usually I'm trying to keep my cooking time and cost to a minimum. I have a few favorite recipes that I cook pretty often that don't require much time and taste pretty good. I plan to include some of those here as well as some that are new that I haven't tried (but that I plan to try).

Here is an old stand-by in my family--it can be made for 2 or 20.

Crushed Chip Taco Salad

tortilla chips

cheese

lettuce and tomatoes

beans, jalapenos or anything else you want to add!

ground beef or turkey browned

Taco seasoning packet (follow directions on packet)

In my family, we crush the chips on a plate, add the seasoned meat and top with whatever we want. It is pretty cheap and can be made quickly for last minute guests. Enjoy!

Since I love Spanish...

Usborne has some of their Spanish children's books on 70% clearance. I got one in my last order called "Mascotas." It's a GREAT book and was $2.99. Each page has a little puzzle for the baby to put together and something to "touch" (fuzzy ears, etc.). If you're interested in seeing the Spanish flyer, click here.

You can then order the items at my page here.

There is a ton of research that says teaching your child another language as early as possible will help them acquire it easier. This includes just seeing the words (if you don't know how to correctly pronounce them). Every little bit helps prepare them for future learning (belive me!!).

I've been...busy?

Hello! Well, things have been crazy and I've been too busy to coupon, CVS, be frugal... We are trying to pack up our house so we can move to another house, I'm trying to finish out the school year and we're enjoying time together before the baby comes! I am really looking forward to the summer though! It will be nice to relax.
My friend Tres Alejandros became an Usborne consultant recently and it sounded like a great deal, so I also joined in! I got a great deal because she was in her incentive period and I got the start-up kit for half price (regularly $199). This is great because I can have a little income when I'm not teaching next year. I also get free books and these are REALLY great children's books! So if you're interested in becoming a consultant, hosting a party near me, or hosting an eShow, let me know!! EShows are easy--you just e-mail people and tell them to buy books from the site and then you get free books for the purchases they make! I just hosted a party and sold $265 worth and got $85 worth of FREE books! What a deal!!
Oh yeah, here is my Usborne page.

Prego...it's in there!

Well, I've been out of touch with this website a lot lately. I actually have been taking a break from CVS, Walgreens and coupons. I had about 15 stacks of coupon booklets to cut out previously and they sat there for many weeks. They are still mostly all sitting in the same spot. Maybe I'll pick this back up during the summer when I have some more time.

We found out a little while ago that I'm pregnant and due on Sept. 30. We are very excited. Today was doctor visit #2 and we got to hear the heartbeat for the first time! It was amazing!! Here are pictures from our ultrasound. Enjoy and I'll catch up on here later!

I'm behind!

I have been so out of it lately that I haven't even cut out my coupons in about 3 weeks. YIKES! I have been to CVS and Walgreens, but have only cut out and used the coupons that showed to be a really good deal. Like last week at Walgreens, I bought 2 deoderants, Bayer, toothpaste, and 4 packs of 17 stick gum for $2.76. At CVS, I spent 10 ECB and $.07 to get a Heath bar, 2 apple juice bottles, Excedrin, 2 toothpastes, Gatorade G2 and shave gel. I think I got a little over 5 ECBs back. We'll see what happens this week at CVS. Maybe I'll be better with the coupons--only one pack, so i can get caught up from the other weeks!

I heart Walgreens and CVS!

I think I would make a shirt that says "I heart Walgreens and CVS" and wear it when I'm doing my weekly shopping. Today was no exception. I have never done the 2 transaction thing because I don't want to bother the workers or people in line. Anyway, I headed to CVS first because I was more excited about their sales. (They are right next to each other too! I'm trying a new CVS and like it MUCH BETTER--they take multiple CVS $/$$ coupons.)

1st transaction:
$.99 A&H toothpaste with $1 off coupon ($1.99 with 1 ECB)
$9.99 Breeze 2 meter ($9.99 with 9.99 ECB and $9.99 mail in rebate)
$6.99 Fusion Power Razor with $2 off coupon ($8.99 with 6 ECB)
Total--$0 after 12 ECB, CVS coupons. Awarded 16.99 ECB
2nd transaction:
$.50 Kashi bars with $2 coupon ($2.50)
$6 (2) Robitussin with $3 coupon (buy $20 worth of this plus Advil, get 10 ECB)
$2 (2) Advil Liqui-gels with $2 on box coupon
$1.29 Clean Dry-max with $2 coupon--I can only find the $1 one now...(3.29 ECB)
Total--$.79 because I didn't want to use my 1ECB. Used 6ECB and CVS coupons. Awarded 13.29 ECB
CURRENLY HAVE 24.29 in ECB!! That's double what I went in with and I only spent $.79 OOP!

Walgreens:
3 Kleenex (I forgot to use the $1 coupon in the $Saver, but had 2 others)
2 Nail polish ($.50 each)
Schick Quattro (with free MP3 arm band--$.99 after coupons)
2 Envelopes ($.50 each on sale)
Fructis Shampoo (I forgot to use the $1 coupon I had, but will get the $3.99 rebate)
Total: $10.42
(plus $3.99 rebate here and $9.99 at CVS--I GOT PAID TODAY TO SHOP!)

Thanks to all you people out there who help me figure out how to use CVS and WG! You guys rock!! (Links to the side)

Birthday Dinner

Today is my husband's birthday. For dinner, he wanted some King Ranch, so this is the recipe I used. It's great!

King Ranch Chicken Casserole

1 can Cream mushroom soup
1 can Cream chicken soup
1 Soup can milk
1 4 oz. Can Ro-Tel
5 oz. Cooked chicken
10 Corn tortillas, cut into fourths
12 oz. Shredded cheddar cheese

Mix together and heat the soups, milk, Ro-Tel and chicken. In a 3 quart buttered casserole dish place layer of tortillas, a layer of soup mixture and a layer of grated cheese. Repeat. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

We had this with some tortilla chips, black beans, and guacamole (avocado mashed with Pace picante sauce). We have some German chocolate cake (his favorite) that I got from Wal-Mart for dessert. Less than $20 for the entire meal.

Personalized Baby Burp Cloths

Well, I've started a new hobby! I got a sewing machine for Christmas and with my mom's help, I've learned to use it! We saw this baby burpers a friend of mine had on her registry that were $14! I knew we could do better than that, so out we went to buy the diapers, ribbon and other supplies necessary to start.

On Monday we made a few and even colored the diapers to make them look a little different. I put them on the "For Sale" e-board in my school district and have already got an order! I have way underpriced them though and only make $2-3 per burper (because we personalize them with the baby's name), so we'll have to figure that out. So we have a lot made and just need to sell them now. They make a great baby shower gift and I plan to give one to the shower we have at my school next month. Who knows, maybe we'll sell all of them! Here's what we did. I hope you like them!

CVS Deals...

Well, I went to CVS today (early because of teacher in-service) after getting coupons off of couponloop. I got $11 worth of CVS stuff (toothbrush, cotton balls and storage bags), so I used a $2 off coupon. I also got the Dawn for free ($.99 with $1 off coupon). I got the Fusion razor deal (minus a $2 coupon). I didn't buy too much stuff but most of it we can use (or we got it for free). I think I currently have about 7 bottles of dish soap. I think we only used one bottle last year somehow... We were in desperate need of cotton balls. I used my 9 ECB from a few weeks ago, a few coupons, a $2 off $10 CVS brand coupon, and $4 off $20 purchase. My total ended up being $3.74 OOP. I also made $12.99 ECB.

I had some issues with the guy who checked me out. Every time I gave him a coupon, he called the manager over. I was not allowed to stack the $/$$ coupons she said. I had to check out 3 times because he read the fine print on the Dawn that said only 1 coupon per customer. He said he has to turn in a paper when he goes off work documenting what happened in his transactions. Weird. It was kind of frustrating, so maybe I'll find a new CVS. I do love CVS though.

Walgreens

Well, I haven't tried to shop at Walgreens for freebies before, but I did this week and IT WORKED! I was totally impressed. I figured they would say, "nope, only one coupon...no double BOGOs." Not one single comment--just impressed that my 3 bags totalled $5. In 2 trips (I wasn't sure if I could use multiple coupons on the same items if I bought multiples, but I'll do that in the future), I got 4 bottles of Fantastik, 2 Glade sprays, 4 Glade scented oil candles, 2 things of Quaker Oats, 1 thing of Purell (that was on clearance so I got it for 19 cents), and 2 toilet cleaners! I spent $5.51 total! I also got some free Softsoap at Kroger (3 of those in 3 trips). Kroger and Tom Thumb won't double and triple coupons for the same items after the first one when you buy multiples (I called to check). My mom was impressed, but I don't think she's going to join the bandwagon any time soon.
Since this is only my second week to do this, it seems to be pretty time consuming. Thankfully it was semester exam grades at school so I had some time to clip and organize coupons. The blog is another issue. I spent a ton of time on one computer and my husband on another most evenings (after working out of course). This just doesn't work for me. I'm now planning to invest in our relationship instead of in the blog. I will do some type of update once a week or so and do the daily thing this summer. Just wanted to clarify. Happy weekend!

How is the blog unique?

I read recently that there are a ton of "frugal" blogs out there, but very few of them are unique. I found this article on frugalhacks and it made me think! Anyway, it said:

How is your blog unique?
What is your frugal specialty?
Why does it matter?

Well, I started thinking about this last night and came up with some ideas (including a different name). I thought I'd use Spanish and post some stuff that relates to things I love--travel, Spanish food, being thrifty, etc. The easiest way I could think to do that at this point was to do the thing most people do and come up with a "theme" for each day. Those are listed to the right. I haven't seen any others that have a Spanish focus--I plan to include mini lessons on the language too. The more fun it is for me, the more fun it will be for others, right???

How is my blog unique? It will focus on Spanish and frugal ideas!
What is my frugal specialty? Thrifty travel to Hispanic countries!
Why does it matter? People love to travel and want to learn another language!

I hope you enjoy the changes to come (I plan to start next week)!

Gratis!

I'm a Spanish teacher and I LOVE SPANISH. I honestly don't know where this love started. I started taking Spanish in high school and had the same Spanish teacher for 2 years. I thought she was so cool I wanted to be just like her. I wanted to be a Spanish teacher!!! I got to go on mission trips to Mexico, study in Spain, teach Spanish in my hometown for 3 years and even live for a year and a half as a missionary in Mexico. All this really gave me great confidence in Spanish. This was vital as NO ONE else in my family speaks Spanish!! I love everything about it--grammar, vocabulary, verb conjugations, sentence structure, culture, FOOD and the people! I love the fact that tener becomes tengo, tienes, tiene, tenemos and tienen. I love verb charts! Maybe it's the organization of the language and the way I learned it that makes me so happy with it! We don't learn English that way. No one tells us to memorize these words, conjugate this verb, put the verb after the noun and so on! I could go on and on!

I also feel this way about coupons. Tonight my mom and future sis-in-law came over for dinner. After dinner, I showed them my new coupon organizer that I made (I'm naming it Clippy). It's like a notebook (with the baseball card sheets) without the notebook. I just put it in a binder size accordian folder because I already had that. It seems to work. Anyway, I took that out and they started asking about CVS. So I showed them how to get CVS to work for you! They were impressed--not that they're going to start doing that because they said even if you get something for free, you have to find somewhere to store it until you use it. (Or give it away, right?) It was pretty fun to organize my coupons (finally) and show off my new system.

Yesterday's deals at Tom Thumb:
$.99 peanut butter minus $1 coupon = free
free dog treats (still no dog--donating them)
free $1.99 cup of fruit
$.40 Hunts tomato paste minus $.35/2 coupon trippled = paid to buy!
Spent $7.45, saved $30.64

Adios! Que tengan un buen dia. Dios te bendiga y te ama.

Romanos 5:8 Dios nos ama. (Romans 5:8 God loves us.)

Do you SQUIDOO???

What exactly is Squidoo and why should you join it?

According to squidoo.com, "Squidoo is a website hosting hundreds of thousands of lenses. Each lens is one person's look at something online. Your take on football or business or the best thai food in town.
Lenses are free.
Lenses pay a royalty to hundreds of great charities. [or you]
Lenses get you credibility and traffic... and lenses only take a few minutes to build."

I have been a member of Squidoo for about a year. My brother first started doing this. I have about 20 lenses out there including my freebies lens and lenses about many of my favorite things. They are so easy to make and just take a few minutes each day to update. That's one reason I love them. Another reason is that I make around $25 a month added to my paypal account just for having these out there! If you'd like to join, please check it out and then use my referral link! It really is THAT easy (and fun)...

It didn't look like there were too many great deals at CVS or Walgreens this week. I just plan to buy the fish oil vitamins at CVS with some coupons I have (and I'm waiting for some $/$$ ones to come out). Then at Walgreens I might take advantage of the rebate on the Glade Scented Oil Candles (how would this rebate work if it rings up as $6.99/2?) and the oatmeal. Not super exciting, but I had too much fun last week I guess!! I also got a double batch of coupons from a double newspaper on Saturday night from Wal-Mart and cut a ton out. Now I have to organize them!!

Romans 5:8 (NASB) But God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

I'm new to Frugal Blogging

Hello world! I'm new to frugal blogging. I've always been a sucker for a good deal. I start buying Christmas presents in December for the next year, I always use coupons and I LOVE freebies. I usually get at least 10 samples a week in the mail! I have just recently found other frugal sites online after reading Freebie Fridays for many months. On those sites, I've learned how to use coupons and ECB from CVS to get great deals.
This week has been my first experience at getting deals at CVS (and even free stuff) just by using the right coupons and reading the weekly ads! I plan to keep up with what I've done at the stores on this blog. Thanks for reading!!
1 John 4:19 was the verse my husband and I used in our wedding. "We love because He first loved us."