Light At The End of The Tunnel

Sometimes life seems hopeless or heartbreaking, but then you run into the right person or read some encouraging words. I recently felt down and read Three Weeks with My Brother by Nicholas Sparks. I never realized how much heartache that man had went through in his life and it is truly an inspiring story. It really made me understand why his books are so different and why they do not have a happy ending. They are more like life and how it is full of joy, but also that good & bad things happen to everyone. I also just watched the movie, Do You Believe? It really gets you thinking. I'm a Christian, but this movie challenges us all to not just to be a Christian, but show that you are with actions. We aren't just to read the word, we are to live the word and reach out to the lost. Our church service this morning was the same lesson, so I think GOD was trying to tell us something :) We are listening; message received. I can remember when I first became a Christian, how I was so on fire and telling everyone about Jesus. Somewhere along the line, I lost that zest and I want it back! I am rededicating my life to Christ and praying that we dig our way out financially. I would like to help the youth that I work with. When I see that they do not have a hat, gloves, socks, coat, etc. I would like to buy them for them. GOD hears our prayers and listens, we just have to believe.

Out With The Old, In With The New

2015 was a rough year for my family financially. We've made mistakes and our debts outweigh our income. We've placed our home for sale with no luck so far & it's been for sale a year now. I have hope & we have always made it through even when it looks bad. I recently paid off our two smaller debts to the dentist and eye doctor. We have cut back on our cable & phone. Yesterday we switched to a different cell phone provider to save money. We spent a lot less money on Christmas this year and even then I used mostly money from surveys and reward sites to pay for it. Our meals are usually Spam, ravioli, spaghettios, egg salad, grilled cheese, peanut butter and jelly, ramen noodles, eggs, toast, etc. I've cut our grocery bill down a lot. It's going to be ok. For family fun we recently dug out our Super Nintendo and have been having Mario Cart races LOL It is so addicting! This year is going to be better! For extra money we have been listing various items around the house for sale. There's two advantages to this; the first is it's less we have to pack and the other is money. I also enter a lot of sweepstakes. My best wins for 2015 was an Ipad mini and a Yeti cooler. On a positive note, sometimes we use AMC stubs rewards and gift cards I receive from doing surveys to go to the movies. We absolutely loved the cartoon "Peanuts". I love all of the Charlie Brown specials and this ranks right up there with them. It also has good moral themes in it. This year I'm all about letting go of clutter and stress. Today I made sure I hugged my boys & husband, pet all of the dogs, cleaned out my purse & car, I pinned future vacation plans on Pinterest, and cleaned a box out in the garage; part of it I threw away in the dumpster and part of it I used as a firestarter in our fireplace. I also take daily walks with my dogs and absorb the beautiful nature that surrounds us, lose myself in a good Hallmark movie, and I love to lose myself in a good book. Two books that I recently read, I would highly recommend; "Heaven is For Real" by Todd Burpo & "At First Sight" by Nicholas Sparks. I don't want to give any spoilers, but they both have good themes and gave me things to think about. I highly recommend the Game of Thrones books and Dunk & Egg novels by George RR Martin to anyone who loves to read. They are very well written, very imaginative, you fall in love with characters that you really want to hate, & you'll be rooting for your favorites to win the Game of Thrones. Also if you can watch the series on HBO. We let HBO go after the series ended because it was the only thing we watched on there. Have any of you seen "Galavant"? It is so funny! I love musicals and comedy!

Grocery Apps to Save Money or that I like to use as my Christmas Account

Checkout 51 - check each week as they add new products all the time. checkout51.com

Ibotta - this is the same type of app as Checkout 51 - go to Ibotta.com

Wal-mart Savings Catcher - just shop at Wal-mart and scan your receipt - if they find a lower price they will add the money to an account which you can redeem later


Snap by Groupon - this is similar to Checkout 51, Savingstar.com, and Ibotta -
https://snap.groupon.com/app?ref=8b38cda12c1d30b5

Savingstar.com - this is similar to Checkout 51, Ibotta, and Snap by Groupon

I also use the Receipt Hog app - you shop anywhere and upload your receipt for points which you can redeem later

These all save me money and I can't wait to see how much I will save up for Christmas this year.
It also helps me plan my grocery lists. I base my menus off of sales, coupons, and app offers.

Happy New Years!

I'm really hoping that 2015 is better than 2014. In 2014, I got kicked off Medicaid and had to pay $40 a month to be put on my employer's insurance, co-payments raised, plus my medicines cost more, my husband's prescription help ceased, his check went down $200, and we've had to use our credit cards just to buy groceries sometimes. :P Here's to 2015 being a better year!

Every year we celebrate New Year's Eve either at home or at a relative's home. I'm not saying it will always be that way, but it is the safest way. This year I made hot wings, onion rings, mozzarella sticks, and crackers with ham/pickle/cream cheese dip (cut up pieces of ham lunchmeat and dill pickles, mix with creamed cream cheese - it's delicious). We watched Revelation on the History Channel that we had DVR'd. I thought it was really important to start off our year with our thoughts on Jesus Christ. We did watch Fifth Harmony on Channel 2, because we had watched the group perform while they were on XFactor.

My Christmas break is almost at an end. I've kept the house clean, rented a lot of Redbox movies (I won $100 credit last summer), spent time with family, tried to get caught up on emails from all the contests and samples I apply for, got more than enough to eat - my mom, his mom, and our niece all had a Christmas dinner, put things for sell (including our home - we've decided one way to be frugal is to downsize - we don't use some of the space we have so it would save us on heating and cooling if we moved into a smaller home & gas if we moved to town), and catching my breath before I go back to the grind. We've stayed home a lot to save money, but it's been nice just having time at home before we go back to being so busy with chauffeuring the boys to practices and games and such.

I've been trying to eat out of the pantry or freezer a lot during Christmas Break to save us money. Yesterday our lunch was Red Lobster cheddar biscuits made from a mix you can buy at Wal-mart, lima beans, ham lunchmeat, and my husband and oldest son heated up leftover burgers from Chuck's Place (we love ordering the 10 large hamburgers with onions and mustard relish, their cauliflower is delicious; especially dipped in ranch and sour cream, and my youngest loved their pizza burger). Supper consisted of two Banquet turkey pot pies for my husband, and myself and my our two boys split two Smart Ones meals plus I made some Great Value mashed potatoes to stretch the meal. Everything tasted good, even if it was a hodgepodge kind of meal :)

My goal this year is to reduce our debt and to get healthier. Because of my Hashimoto's, hypothyroidism, and arthritis, I'm going to reduce gluten in my diet and dairy. I'm not sure if I can go totally free of either of these because it costs more money to eat healthier, in my opinion. Yesterday I used our Weider weight machine, put the pin on the second stack of weights and did ten to fifteen reps on each exercise. I also walked out to the tree stand to take pictures of it to sell, which isn't too far from the house, but going up the hill and through tall weeds acts as resistance, right? :)

Why do people cyber bully? I think it's like other bullying. People with low self esteems like to down others, so that they feel good about themselves. I personally have not been cyber bullied, but have seen others go through it. If you don't like it because someone posts too many selfies on Facebook, simply scroll down or delete that person as a friend! I also think sometimes people are afraid of change so they pick on someone who is trying to make a difference, which is very sad. Right now, in my hometown people are bullying a young woman and her son, because she wants to be mayor and they don't like the fact that she posts selfies which are no worse than bathing suit pictures and that she is a comedian and model. I am voting for her because she can be a voice for the poor and middle class, where her running mate is rich and in city council meetings has shown that he is for the rich.

Last night, my husband and I watched Debbie Macomber's Mr. Miracle. It was really good. I won't give spoilers to those who haven't seen it, but it has a good message which a lot of her books and movies do. I love her as an author and I love the Cedar Cove series that is based on her books on Hallmark.

I'm back!

http://h5.sml360.com/-/bve3 I absolutely love smiley360.com. It's a great site to get free samples and earn points to spend on rewards.

Sorry I haven't been blogging as much as usual. Summer has came and gone and with the back to school grind it takes me awhile to get back in the routine of things. This year, my freshman is on the freshman football team and the jv football team, my seventh grader is in Challenge, Junior Beta Club, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, basketball, and soccer. Between working full time, chauffeuring my kiddos around, cooking supper, entering sweepstakes, cleaning house, and taking care of my dogs, I've been really busy.

Breakfast was at my mother-in-law's today and she made us eggs, fried potatoes, and bacon.
For lunch I made New York Strip Steak which I got marked down at Wal-mart and zesty fries.
Supper was General Tso's Chicken and Shrimp egg rolls which I love! I preheat the oven to 375 degrees, bake both pans for 17 minutes, add the sauce to the chicken and bake everything for 5 more minutes. It's quick, easy, and so delicious! Sorry for my upside down picture LOL Life is messy and not always neat LOL

 

 

I watched The CW's The Flash last night. It is really good and action packed. I'm also loving Gotham. If you love Batman, you will love Gotham. I really like Arrow. Tonight they had the actor from Superman on. It's different from Smallville, but equally good.

I gathered a big bowl of peppers from our garden today, cut them up, and froze them in little bags. I love using them in recipes. It's so rewarding eating things that you grew yourself.

Does anyone else hate doing dishes? It's the chore I put off doing more than any other. My husband is in charge of laundry, my youngest son mows, and my oldest son takes out the trash.

My husband's Dodge Dakota was having problems with the window. It wouldn't roll up, it wasn't out of  track, we could hear the motor, but it would not go up. Finally we took it to the auto shop and $230 later, it's fixed.

Today I did dishes, cleaned out the refrigerator, cleaned the stove, vacuumed, and cleaned the microwave.

Guardians of the Galaxy

If you love Super Hero movies, you'll love Guardians of the Galaxy. It has adventure, action, a little romance, and shows the importance of friendship and working together. We watched it in 3D and loved the effects. For my husband and one child it was $25, but I used my AMC Stubs card so it went towards my $10 reward. With the AMC card for every $100 you spend you get a $10 reward to use toward movie ticket purchases or at the concession stand also you can upgrade your drinks to the next size. Make sure you stay until after the credits for the hidden egg. I love how Stan Lee makes a cameo in his movies too.


We ate at Tequilas afterwards. My son ordered the 3 steak taco dinner, my husband ordered the chicken chimichangas, I ordered 3 tacos to go for my son at home, and I ordered the #6. I love their chips and salsa. We even had enough leftovers for supper.

I love the Cedar Cove series on the Hallmark Channel. It's on Saturday nights at 7PM Central Time. I read the books by Debbie Macomber and loved them too. It's a good family series on that the whole family can watch.

I'm watching the Brady Bunch (1996) on tv now. It is hilarious. I loved the series as a kid too.

A cheap and easy snack: place some tortillas on a plate, top with shredded cheese, heat in microwave for 20 seconds. Yum!

My wins for July

I decided to start writing it down on the calendar every time I win something, because sometimes I forget how much I win each month because it's usually little prizes here and there. For July I won: a $5 Burger King gift card, a 1 year subscription to Better Homes and Gardens, $5 Pizza Hut gift card, $6 Credit for On Demand Cable from M&M's, $5 Wal-mart gift card from Centralia Ford, $6 Movie Credit for On Demand Cable from M&M's, Jason won a Kubota Hat, Keurig Tea 4 pack, M&M's $6 movie credit again , M&M's $6 Movie credit, $5 CVS gift card, free coupon for hair color, and a $20 Virtual visa card which I used on my phone bill It's a fun hobby and I've won some neat stuff anyways