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So…I know I should be sharing PC recipes on Jacob’s website, but this one is tooo good to not share, and too simple!

I hope everyone will be able to read it…if not, here’s the recipe:

Ingredients: 1 pound extra lean ground beef, 1 pkg (6 oz) stuffing mix, 1 tsp garlic powder, 3/4 cup barbecue sauce, 3/4 cup shredded cheese.

Directions: Heat oven to 375 F; Mix meat, stuffing mix, 1 cup water & garlic powder; Press into 12 muffin cups sprayed with cooking spray; Make an indentation in the center of each mini loaf with a spoon; fill with sauce; Bake for 30 minutes or until cooked through (160 F); Top with cheese; bake for 5 minutes or more until cheese melts. Serves 6.

ENJOY them as we did!

So…I decided I needed to get better control of my kitchen & what I am doing in it! So…here’s the plan for the week…

Breakfasts - Monday through Thursday: Yogurt, Oatmeal, Fruit, Toast, & Cereal - variety depending on mood.

Lunches - Monday: went to lunch with Fleeta before she left town; Tuesday: Spaghetti (I LOVE the new pouches for the microwave for sauce!); Wednesday: Soup/Sandwiches; Thursday: Grilled Cheese & Fruit; Friday: Daddy is off, we might go out somewhere cheap!

Dinners - Monday: Leftovers (soup for Jacob; Hash for Daddy; Toast for Mommy); Tuesday: Mini-meatloaves - I hope they’re good! with rice & veggies; Wednesday: Chicken Club Ring (PC recipe); Thursday: Frozen dinner from a few weeks ago - Ribs & Augratins with a veg. Friday: Leftovers - there are sure to be some! (might flip Thursday & Friday, too)

As for the weekend…they are always so touch & go…and, I include Friday’s in the weekend because Shad works 4 10’s now…and he’s off. Friday morning, I plan on making a Quiche (yummy…I did this with Heidi last week & it was soooo good!). Saturday & Sunday, we’ll probably stick to the above for breakfasts unless we have cinnamon rolls - they’ve been a hit lately!

I’ll keep everyone posted on our menus as the weeks go by & how I am to sticking with them!

Yup…if you didn’t hear, Mommy is THIRTY! Here are some photos of the party…

Mommy with her cake…didn’t Liza do a WONDERFUL job???

Yeah…the only photo of all of us, and Jacob decides to not look, because he is tooo interested in the cake!

So, last week, I had practically used all my ECBs up & needed to figure out how I was going to get them built back up. I had to get some diapers & milk…which ended up free…but, I only had $2.99 in ECBs at the end of the week.

Today, I had to go to Food Lion to get grillin’ goods - which is right next to CVS - so, a quick trip to start increasing my ECBs was needed!

In my FIRST TRANSACTION of the day:

2 Boxes of Smart Start - 2/$5 - Coupon for $3/2

2 Colgate Total Advanced - $2.99/each - Coupon for $1.50/1 (two of these)

1 Aquafresh Extreme Clean - $2.99 - Coupon for $1/1

J&J Buddies Soap - $0.99 - Coupon for $0.99/1

Total was  $14.96; I used a $3/15…then, my $2.99 ECB…OOP was $1.74! I got $4 ECB for the Colgate & $2.99 for the Aquafresh & got my favorite cereal as well! Best thing about this trip - Cashier says, “You can’t beat all this for $1.74″ and the woman behind me says, “What?” and proceeds to look in my bag & go, “You got THREE tubes of toothpaste for $1.74?” I said, “Yeah…do you have e-mail? Here’s my card - send me an e-mail & I’ll give you some information on how I do this!” I LOVE to teach people how to coupon & save money!!!

TRANSACTION 2 (second store, in St. Elmo, cause I had to go to Blockbuster & Wags as well):

1 Colgate Total Advanced - $2.99/1 - Coupon for $1/1

1 Colgate 360 Toothbrush - $3.99 - Coupon for $1/1

1 Adidas Deodorant - $4.99 - Coupon for $4.99/1

1 CVS Lens Tissue Pack - $0.50 (75% off filler!)

1 Rolaids Package - $2.49

TOTAL:  $14.96; I used a $3/15 purchase (I had to convince the cashier to scan it & that it would go through - it did!) & $2/10 purchase during this transaction, and it took them both. Used my $2.99 ECB from the last purchase (adjusted down to $2.97) and paid $0.65 OOP!!! Got $2 ECBs for the Colgate; $3.99 ECBs for the Toothbrush; $4.99 ECBs for the deodorant; $2 ECBs for the Rolaids - Best thing about this trip, the cashier, “Wow, you did better than I do!” I HEART CVS Cashiers like this!

TRANSACTION 3 (back in the Valley - my second trip there today “Jacob needed Milk”

2 Glade Clean Linen Air Freshners: $0.97 each - Coupon for BOGO & $1/1

2 Colgate Total Advantage - $2.99 each - Coupon for $1/1 (two of these)

1 Schick Intuition Razor - $9.99 - Coupon for $4/1

1 Rolaids Package - $2.49

1 Gallon of Mayfield Whole Milk - $5.09

TOTAL:  $25.49; used $5/25 coupon & $3/15 coupon; used $4 ECB & $3.99 ECB from above. TOTAL OOP: $0.57!!! I got $4 ECB from Colgate Toothpaste; $6 ECB from Schick razor; $2 ECB from Rolaids.

Currently, I have $20.99 ECBs to use…I’m thinking there will be FREE Coke products & diapers in my house this week!!!

WALMART: I got $24.07 (pre-tax) in products for $11.46 (with tax)!

Walgreens - while the deals at Walgreens are harder (IMHO), and not so instantly gratifying for the most part, I had some RR to roll, so I went today…I got over $40 in products for $14.88 (with tax!)…not to shabby! Plus, I have a rebate ($2.99), RR for $2, and another FREE Gillette soap. If you haven’t purchased your first one yet, I encourage you to do so. As long as they are doing the RR for it…it will roll & give you another catalina for it! I have gotten THREE thus far, and plan to get another one when I will be near the place to go to the bank!

Sorry there are no photos…I put everything away before thinking about it!

I hope all other mothers enjoyed their Mother’s Day as I did! ~ Melissa

We REALLY need a new camera…BAD! The batteries CONSTANTLY die in the camera we have…hours after putting them in…I think the camera no longer shuts off when closed. So…I hope to use part of our ECONOMIC STIMULUS package to buy one…I’ll be taking recommendations for the next week or two…until the $$ shows up. Thanks to geniuses like my brother, we are even going to get it EARLY!They even give some techie ways to spend that $$ burning a hole in your pocket!

So…we went to the farm on Friday…by “we”, I am talking about me and Jacob…Fleeta thought about coming, but she & Bill were leaving on Saturday, and she had a lot to do. Heather was going to come too, but she got stuck at work. Boo-hoo!

Jacob has a BLAST playing in the dirt! He really loved it…and, I got almost everything in the ground! And…that’s why I was upset about not having power for the camera…I wanted photos of Jacob playing in the dirt & what I got accomplished in the garden! Oh well…there is always next time!

Hope you are all doing well…what will you be buying with your economic stimulus??? leave a comment! Melissa.

There ARE things growing in our garden, now! We got the peat & compost down & I combined it all with the horseshoe hoe ALL BY MYSELF! No tiller needed here - it was a good workout, too!

I put the lettuce plants & the one basil plant I got at the sale at Crabtree Farms in the ground as well. Also, we got a few marigolds from a fellow gardener…he’s a Master Gardener as well…we’ll be getting to know him well! Oh…and, carrot & corn seeds went in as well!

We plan on getting back out on Friday morning to plant more things…that are bought at Lowe’s! ~ Melissa.

No photos…as, it’s just a mess! But, we weeded everything out of our 4 foot by 50 foot plot today! I say “we” because I have a partner in crime - Heather. I know Heather from church…and, I’m very excited to have this “excuse” to get to know her, and Luke (that’s her little guy) a little bit better!

As I said, it’s a mess - we had a TON (well, not quite) of weeds to pull out. Yes, the soil was tilled, March 1st! So, we have to clear it away again…we found ANTS in our plot, so we’ll be waiting until Tuesday to put the compost & peat moss down. I bought the peat & some lettuce starts at the plant sale…I think we’ll be getting the rest of our things at Lowe’s, with a coupon, of course!

I’ll keep you posted, as this is how I hope to keep track of our adventures on the farm, as well!

I wonder if I am even cut out for this “mom” thing…this morning, it’s been a little thick. My darling son has decided it is sooooo cool to SCREAM about everything. He didn’t want to eat - anything, mind you, not even the things he likes - this morning. I decided to put him in his crib for a time-out, one minute, because I needed it for me. Both of the children were crying at 9am - I say both, because I take care of a friend’s daughter twice a week - so I put them down, but they didn’t go to sleep. We got up after ten or fifteen minutes, but, again, I needed it for my sanity. Of course, Alyssa didn’t complain after a couple minutes, but Jacob screamed the entire time. They played for a while, nicely, after that…then, we went to take a nap at 10:10 or so…and, they are both sleeping. YES!

Today, I have a many things on my list to do…laundry, ironing, sewing…etc…the list continues. I have some things to need to get done for another job I’m going to be starting, and this weekend I have to work some athletic events on Saturday. Two different ones, mind you!
I also hope to get a post about Monday up for everyone…I took photos & need to get them posted!

More soon…and, hopefully from a  sane person! ~ Melissa.

Well, down here in the dirty, you pay for tax on your last total, after coupons, but before your CVS ECBs are used. Today, I ended up paying $7.54 OOP for a transaction - granted, I got $25 worth of stuff, and $15 ECBs printed out - but, I wasn’t happy about it. I wouldn’t use my $10 ECB to pay for $6.89…and, then pay tax on that $6.89 without getting the $3.11 cents to use again!

So, when I went back up - because we needed milk for Jacob & for us - I got better…I did more math before getting to the register - and, you know what, I ended up needing $9.73 before tax…used a $10 ECB & paid $1.30 OOP…and earned $5 ECBs…I heart CVS! For this purchase, I got: Gerber Banana Puffs ($1.59), 2 Deodorants for Shad (0.82/each - these were 75% off!), 2 Nivea shaving gels ($2.69 each), Aquafresh Toothpaste ($3.49), Bliss Trial chocolates (0.50), 2-12 packs of Diet Coke ($4.99 each), and one gallon of Skim Milk ($5.19)…I had coupons for the Diet Coke (free!!!), 0.55 off the puffs, .50 for the Bliss chocolate (free!), $3 off the toothpaste (fifty cents! - and, my favorite kind!), $5/$25 purchase for CVS…I used my $10 ECB & got $5 back! It was a great transaction! I heart CVS…but, I’ll be waiting until we need more milk to go back!!! And, to hit up the deals for next week…

Say it with me…you are going to start shopping CVS! Melissa.

***If you do this, or have done this, let me know…so far, four people have signed up, and I only know who three of them are for sure! ***

If you don’t have it, click on the link & sign up!

Yes, I do get $10 for each person who signs up because I “referred” them…but, you get $25 & have the ability to “earn” free money yourself!

I was skeptical, until friends & many of the ‘frugals’ signed up. If they are willing to sign up & it’s legit, then I was! I got my $25 right after opening my account! Now, I’m waiting on earning more by having friends & family use the above link to open their accounts!

Let me know if you have questions or comments…