Awesome Shopping Trip!

I went shopping today and got $78 for $27! Mostly air freshners, but mostly either free or for a dollar or two. Below is a link to my coupon blog with pictures and more info.

http://adventuresofacouponqueen.blogspot.com/2009/10/awesome-shopping-trip.html

I am here...

Sorry there hasn't been anything for a while... We're having computer problems. Hopefully to be fixed soon. :( But, I can run it in safe mode and be able to get on the net. At least I have that. My friend who is an absolute computer genius is on the case and trying to figure out how to fix it. :)

Round and Round I Go

Wow... I am having a very very very bad day. Night before last I was pulled over, in front of my house no less, for having a break light out. We didn't know it was out of course, and so I told the officer that. Once I finally got through the stop, I went on with life. Yesterday went as usual, and was fine, and we were planning on my dad fixing the light (it's his car), tonight when I go over there to go to a women's retreat with my mom. Today when we went to go cash my paycheck, I noticed that my license was gone. The last place I had it was when the officier pulled me over. So I called the police station, and they don't have it. I have to wait until 10pm tonight to call and talk to the officer. So we out to get by check cashed and as we pulled into the bank parking lot (I was going to use the atm to deposit my check, as i don't have a license) I got pulled over again. He gave me a warning on both counts (brake lights and no license) and said to get both fixed. So we then went to the O'Reilly's to get the brake light fixed. Finally after 1 hour of working on it, they got the brake light and the turn indicator working, but the middle brake light is still not working. AND, the guy told us that a different bulb would work so HE opened the package, and put it in, and it didn't work, and then HE said that since WE opened the package he couldn't refund it (HOW'S THAT WORK?????) So now we're trying to figure out if we have to go to the dealer to get the right bulbs, or if we're fine without the 3rd brake light. And, I still don't have a license. So now, after we find out if we can legally drive without the 3rd brake light, we're gonna go get me another license so that I can legally drive. I have to work tonight from 5-9:30 and then I'm headed to Kansas for a women's retreat (obviously the devil doesn't want me there!!!!)

::edit:: UPDATE: I called non-emergency police to ask about the brake light, they sent me to the license agency (makes no sense to me, but ok...) they said they have nothing to do with that so to call the driver's license testing center, so I called them and they said they didn't know to call the Highway Patrol headquarters, so I called them and they called me back after doing research and said that by Missouri Statutes it has to be lit to pass inspection, but does not have to be lit to not be pulled over. If it is not lit you must have 2 working brake lights to make up for it. So there you go.

::edit:: UPDATE #2- I'm an idiot! We found the license! So I'm again leaving after work tonight to go to my women's retreat... After all this, I think I'm completely in need of it!!!!!

Tomato Juice!

Washing the Tomatoes out in the sink to get yucky's off...

Sterlizing the jars

Princess helping mommy.... She sat on that stool pretty much the entire time!

Boiling the tomatoes to make the skins fall off.

Ice bath, to loosen the skins.

Tomatoes post ice bath

Peeling Tomatoes

Boiling down for juice

Juicing tomatoes

Pretty Juice!

Filling jars with juice, and some with whole peeled tomatoes

Waiting to go in the canner

Boiling in the canner.

Looking pretty in the pantry!

... And getting caught in the rain...

We were out picking limas when a big storm came up and caught us! DH sent me inside with the limas that were already picked, and he stayed out in the rain to keep picking.


Here's how much came in with me. about 1/4 to a 1/2 the wash basin full.


Here's DH as he came in from picking. He had just dumped the rest that he had picked into the bucket. The crazed look on his face was him laughing at the storm that he had made it!


Now he's trying to be serious. HA HA HA!!!!!


Here's all the green beans that we got. We planted heirloom beans this year, only 2 packets worth, not realizing that they don't reproduce after picking. So this is all we got this year. But next year we'll plant a whole bunch more!!!

Yay! We finally have a computer!

Yay! So we finally had the money to get a computer. It's not the greatest, but it will work for what we need it to do right now. So now I can update more often. We don't have internet at home yet, and probably won't for a while, but I can get on several wifi hotspots close to home. So I know everyone's been wanting to see how the garden's been doing, so here's some pictures (we got a new camera about a month ago too)!

Lots of green beans!!!! They're getting ready for the first picking!
The limas are starting to get beans in them. I can't wait!

There are so many tomatoes out there... now if they would only turn red!!!

The peppers are so big! and I'm amazed at how many can be on such a little plant! This is one side of the plant and the other picture is the other side.

This pepper is huge! I'm not sure I could palm it!

Well that's all for now, but rest assured now that I have a computer at my disposal there will be much more often posts, with plenty of pictures!!!!

Just feel all I do is work and turn around then go back.

The garden is growing!

No pictures yet, the camera is down. But my dad came over last night and tilled up a bit of the garden, and we now have 2 tomatoes, 1 red bell pepper, 1 basil, and 30 ft of limas, and 45 feet of green beans and 1 wide row 12 ft long of peas. Also 5 sweet potato plants and 1 potato plant that came up volunteer! I also have some strawberries in a pot. We're hoping to have more of the garden ready soon to plant some more soon! Hopefully I'll be able to put pictures up soon too!

Free rootbeer float night at sonic tomorrow night 8-midnight!

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On the road on my way to visit family and see my sister before she goes and spends the summer in florida.

Went to the taste of home cooking school with my mom tonight. lots of good free stuff, lots of good recipes and a really good day with mom!

I got my washboard in the mail today! i cant wait to use it!

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New Blog

Just wanted to post here and let everyone know that I have a new blog. I felt like all my couponing was taking away from the purpose of this blog. So I started a new one. it is www.adventuresofacouponqueen.blogspot.com. Hope you will join me there for my couponing adventures. I will still have this one for our adventures toward homesteading!

I just discovered that i can post to my blog by texting from my phone. This is a test of that!

Shopping Trip #2

So here's the update from my latest shopping trip. I finally got time to do it, sorry everyone it hasn't been before now. I know how excited Tabatha has been to see what all I got! I didn't get pictures of everything, but I'll tell you everything I got and tally it all up.

Arm & Hammer Essentials Cleaners - Coupon BOGO free - $2.69

Febreze Candles (Original Price 7.39) On Sale 5.39 Coupon BOGO Free

Kroger Hash Browns & Crinkle Fries - (Original 1.95) On sale 2/$3

Bar-S Bacon (Original 4.39) On sale BYGO Free - 2.19 each

Chicken Drumsticks (On Sale $0.95 a pound) 14 drumsticks for $4.11

Mushrooms 8oz. 2/$4 (New Price all the time)

*The dinners, Stouffer's and Lean Cuisine Meals originally 2.75, 3.19.

I got all of them for 2.29 with a $5 redeem thing they had

*The hot dogs I put in the pictures because I was going to get some different ones because they were on sale for $0.99 a piece, but then I looked down and the Kroger ones were always $0.88. It pays to look around!

*The Butter was originally 2.59 and I got them for 1.99. My Dillon's does this quite often, and I saw on QueenAcres Homestead, where she canned butter. I'm quite excited to try this, as I love real butter!

*The "la Creme" yogurt, was a splurge. It's my favorite kind of yogurt, and it was on sale for $2.50 (from $2.55), and I had a $0.55 off coupon.

I was excited beyond belief when I saw this! Milk is still really high around here, and these were still at least 1 1/2 weeks from expiration, and marked down to $1.14! So I bought all 3 and froze 2.

Rice-A-Roni on sale for 0.99 each!

Portabello Mushroom Caps $2.50

Wheat Thin Artisan Crackers on sale 2/$5 Coupon BYGO Free!!!

Triscuit Crackers on sale 2/$5 Coupon $1.00 off purchase of 2

We found these at Walgreens, original $2.59 Sale Price $1.99

This is a classic mistake, that taught me to watch as they ring up and ask questions. The Cereal and Cereal Bars were supposed to be in my "buy 10 items get $5 off" deal. Apparently only some Kelloggs cereals were included (not mentioned) and I wasn't paying attention until I got home. oh well. I still saved:

* Fiber One Cereal Bars - Original 3.55 Sale price 2.50

* Betty Crocker Potatoes - Original 1.69 Sale Price 1.59


These were included in my buy 10 save $5!

*Powerade $0.49 each! original $1.10 (I bought 11, and we're going to use them as our refill bottles for pop, tea, kool-aid, and water for lunches!!!)

*Alfredo Sauce 2.99 Sale price 2.49

These were kinda splurges too.

*Softsoap - Original 2.79 Sale 1.50

*Colgate - Markdown 1.59

*Kodak Black & White Cameras - Markdown 5.29

*Adams 3 month Flea Control - Markdown 6.99 (original 13.99!!!)

*Hair Dye (I can get at DG for $3) Original $4 Sale Price 2.49 Coupon $1 off

*Hair Dye Same as above, but i had another coupon for $2 off!

*the toothbrushes were Marked down to 0.99

*Herbal Essences Sale 2/$7 Coupon $1 off 2!

These are all from Walgreens.

*Raisins 2.99 Coupon $1.99 each!

*Dad's Root Beer Throat Drops Sale Price $1.79

*Axe Hair Gel 6.99 Free by mail in rebate!

*Fructis Shampoo 3.99 Coupon 2.00 off!

*Pantene Shampoo & Conditioner Sale Price 2/$8 Coupon $2 off 2!

*Gillette Shampoos Sale 2/$9 Coupon $1 off

*Gummies Sale price $.79 each

*Lifesavers Markdown 1.39 each

Sale price 2/$5

Also got:

Peeps $.39 each!

Purex Laundry Detergent 72 oz. $8.99 BYGO Free

Walgreens Cookbooks $3.99 Sale 3/$10

7-Up 2-liters 0.99

Total Spent: 269.77

Total Savings (not counting markdowns and some sale prices and rebates): 92.87

I'm sure with rebates, the sale prices, and markdowns we saved at least another $100! And we had so much fun!

Grocery Shopping

I have pictures from my last grocery shopping endeavor, but there's alot to sort through. I'll try to post them tomorrow as I have the day off. I'll post what I spent and everything. I spent around $200-$250, and got around $450-$500 worth of stuff!

More pictures...

More of the pictures that couldn't be posted yesterday...


This is one of the pipes that we found in the garden plot... They are about as long as my lower arm, and bigger than my hand around... They are made of a terra cotta type substance.

:) Here are the first things to grow in the garden! This means that it's ok to have the garden there!!!


Here's the progress of the daffy's as of yesterday, I don't think any more popped open today. They are looking so good!


We went walking to pick up cans today, and found some plants that we don't know what they are so I thought I'd post them on here to see what we can find out. This one is the first. It has velvety leaves.


This is the second. We took a far away picture, as well as a close up. It looks like Bamboo to us, but I've never seen Bamboo green, just dried, and I didn't know if bamboo could grow in our climate. UPDATE: We just answered our own question with this one! Click here for the Missouri Conservationalist Magazine Website where we found out the history of Bamboo in the Ozarks!

And this is the last picture for today. I am trying my hand at hand washing clothes. We didn't have the money to go to the laundromat for a couple weeks, and really need clean clothes. I put hot (boiled) water in the bucket, some of my homemade laundry detergent, then the clothes, then finished off with more boiling water. I swished that alot with a mop handle, then let it sit for a while. Swished some more, then rung them out. The water was disgusting! This picture is at the beginning of the second wash. I decided to try running them through soapy water twice, then rinse several times, then hang dry. Really not as much work as I though it would be. Rather enjoyable, as long as I don't do to much at once. May start doing it for all of our whites at least!

My hands are dirty.... Yay!

This is all you get today... I took more, but the camera batteries died. We were in the garden most of the day yesterday and from 9-1 today. We went inside then because of rain scares. Here's what we've done so far...
This is the total amount "tilled up". Wait till you see all the rocks we've gotten out!


This is only one pile of rocks, thre's another pile the same size! There's a bunch of pipes in there, we think they were sewage pipes from the house that was there.

Here's the other pile, it's a little neater.

Here's the half done and that's ready to be planted. It's rockless, glassless, and everything. I sat and cleaned it out with my hands!

This is the other patch. It's pretty much just dug up. I've worked some by hand, but we've just been trying to dig it all up and get the big rocks out. Then I'll go back through and get the glass and little rocks and other things out.

It's pretty cool, we've found all kinds of glass, from dishes and such, marbles, a jack, a piece of a comb, nails and some other stuff. Kinda like an archaeologist, huh?! Hopefully if we keep going at this rate (this is 2-3 days worth of work done), we'll be done by the time we want to plant!

My Coupon Binder, and the growing garden!

This is my coupon binder! I found the binder at Sam's Club for $7 or $8 on sale.

This is what you see as you open it. To the right I have my pouch with scissors in it (2 pair so if someone else is helping there's one for them too). Behind that is one of the provided dividing pouches where I have pens, pencils, and a calculator. To the right are all of the coupons!

This is the farthest to the left. Where I have all of this weeks current ads.

This is what it looks like inside the right side. I used baseball card pages that hold 1, 2, 3, 4, 8 & 9 coupons.
This is what it looks like filled. I have sections for Food (Beverages, Canned Goods, Produce, Baking/Cooking, Snack Foods, Grains, Frozen/Refridgerated), HBA, Cleaning Products, Household Supplies, & Resturants.

The garden is growing again!!! We spent about 1 1/2 hours last night with the potato fork and hoe, working it up. We're hoping by next week we can have lettuce in the ground! The part that's dug up so far is the lettuce bed, that way even if we don't have the rest dug up yet, we can get it in the ground.

The daffy's are slowly coming back. Here's the pitiful one that I've been taking pictures of.

And here's a sideways (still can't figure that out) picture of the rest of the blooming ones. You can't see if very well, but the one closest to the porch also has some blooms on it.