Our latest purchase

For David's birthday, he had asked for a new camera...normally when he says something like that I start to sweat and have heart palpitations because his idea of a new camera cost like $5,000.00. Oh how relieved I was when I realized the camera that he wanted was nowhere near that much! So, I bought him, (actually got him a giftcard) the camera. It came in a couple of days ago, and we played with it very briefly. The main thing that I like on it so far is the display screen will flip out and turn around so when you are taking self portraits, you can see yourself and you don't cut off your head or someone elses. Now, this camera does a lot of other neat stuff, but this was just the first feature that I found that I liked. I am still going to have to have a crash course in how to use it. Anyways, here are a couple quick pics of Wilson with the new camera!

Workshop Update

So we just got back from the Two Thrifty Sisters workshop and it was wonderful!!! They had so many good ideas about saving money, combining coupons (which I didn't know you could do), getting register rewards, raincheck, the list goes on and on! And, to top the evening off, Micah and I BOTH won door prizes! I got a free haircut and she got a free facial. WHOOOT WHOOT!! I have been a coupon lady, but never knew exactly how they all maximized their coupon spending, but boy they do! Fun fact, which everyone else probably already knows but me, but did you know that at Publix for their buy one get one item, if you only buy 1, it is half price, and you can use a competitors coupon and a manufacturers coupon as well, so you are basically getting the item for free. I know!! I almost passed out! I will start posting some of my finds so you guys can get them too! Hope everyone has had a great week so far!!

Free Workshop

Tomorrow, after baton, I am heading to Athens for the Thrifty Sisters workshop. I am really excited about going to this workshop for several reasons. I am always looking for a good deal, and they are the queens of saving money. Most of you probably do that "register reward" stuff at Walgreens and other places around, but for some reason I can't get my brain around how that works. So, I e-mailed the ladies at Two Thrify Sisters, and they said they would discuss that tomorrow evening. The event is free...but you have to bring either a can food item or cosmetic for local shelters. Hope to see some of you there!!


This is their original post if you have questions....
Thanks to Crystal and the nice folks she worships with at Sardis Springs Baptist Church, we've got another workshop coming up for anyone who wants to learn more about saving money! It's FREE to you, it's open to anyone who wants to join us, and this time it's in the evening, so all you working Thrifty Sisters and Brothers can join us when you get off work.
Here are the details:

Making Cents out of Stretching Your Dollar
A Two Thrifty Sisters Workshop
Thursday, October 22
6:00-8:00 p.m.
Sardis Springs Baptist Church

Once again, we are asking only this for admission: The donation of either a food item for our local food bank or a health/beauty item for our local women's shelter. And if you stock up on stuff when it hits the rock-bottom price like we do, you probably have plenty of mac-n-cheese and toothpaste you can give away, anyway!
We'll be talking to you about lots of ways to save money, figure out sale shopping and couponing, live within your budget, and still have fun while doing it. We're also planning to have some fun door prizes and take-home info.
And we want your input, too! Is there something specific you want us to explain or address? Shoot us an e-mail or leave us a comment, and we'll try to work it into the workshop. We want to share all our trade secrets with you, and we want to learn from you, too! And if you're a business owner who is interested in doing a giveaway or discount for workshop attendees to help get the word out about your business, let us know and we'll see if we can work that in, too.
We're excited about the opportunity to help y'all learn how to stretch your dollar, to have a fun night, and help some people who are less fortunate at the same time. We're also really grateful to the people at Sardis Springs Baptist Church for making this possible. Sardis Springs Baptist Church is located at 18310 Ala. Hwy. 251 in Athens, and you can call them at 256-232-2056. Go here to check out their website and get directions, too.
We hope lots of you can make it!

Always Try On...Even When Tired

I decided to do a little Christmas shopping and in the midst of buying for others, decided to buy myself a nice pair of black running pants that were on sale. I was super excited, because I love a good deal. However, I had a buggy full of stuff and and been shopping for a couple of hours so, I skipped the dressing room and just thought...if they don't work, I'll take them back. (On a side note, I do not think I have EVER returned anything....even if it didn't work, its still hanging in my closet....because I ALWAYS try stuff on....) So, I was about to go run tonight when I remembered my new pair of pants in all the Christmas bags that I stashed away. So I put them on, they looked decent, felt decent, so I yanked the tags off. It wasn't until I caught a glimpse of myself as I was doing the "butt check" (ladies, you know what I'm talking about...how does my butt look in these pants??) that I realized they had this lovely little design right across the back of them. The funny thing was when I showed them to David and he told me it looked like I had a tramp stamp, which is one of those tattoos that everyone got there for awhile so when they were leaning over, their tattoo showed on their backside. Anywho, he got a kick out of it, and I am now going to be wearing shirts that cover this up...oh, and I had to run with my hand on my pants to keep them up tonight....so the moral of the story is, ALWAYS TRY THINGS ON BEFORE YOU BUY....EVEN IF YOU ARE TIRED!

Showing my pony...

This year, I am the chairman of the horse show out in Priceville...so since Wednesday, every spare moment outside of work has been consumed with this event....They have this....I guess you would call it a saying in the Racking Horse world, when they are competing where at a certain point in the show, they announcer says, "Show Your Pony" and that is the time they are suppose to make the horse go as fast as it can. Well, being the goofballs that we are, Meg and I got a kick out of the whole, "Show Your Pony" thing and it is quite a regular phrase we use these days. Rachel, our co-hort, even made us "Show Your Pony" visors which I wear ALL THE TIME! So, enough about that...last night, we were in charge of the dinner for all the horse people, and so I decided to take a quick picture before the chaos started...we had a great time together...but it is exhausting! Oh, and Meg is REALLY exhausted after holding up all of the Apple Lane Farms Sandwiches...thanks Macho Meg!

New Recipe

So last night, I didn't know what to make for dinner....I had some chicken thawed out, but didn't want to do the normal stuff that I always fix. I bought 2 big things of Velveeta cheese when they were on sale at the grocery store, and I had some rice....so I thought of some kind of recipe using those would be good. I don't know if you guys are a fan of KraftFoods.com, but if you are not, I highly recommend it. They have a search section of their website where you can put in up to 3 ingredients that you have on hand, and it will pull up all these recipes for you. That is where I found this Chicken and Rice with Broccoli creation. Now, David is not a fan of ANY vegetables, but I guess since these were smothered in cheese, it made it bearable for him. So, if you need a simple recipe...try it out!!

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

1 can (14-1/2 oz.) chicken broth

2 cups instant white rice, uncooked

1/2 lb. (8 oz.) VELVEETA Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen chopped broccoli, thawed

Make It!

COOK chicken in large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat 5 min. or until chicken is done.

STIR in broth. Bring to boil.

ADD rice, VELVEETA and broccoli; cover. Remove from heat. Let stand 10 min. Stir until VELVEETA is completely melted and mixture is well blended.

School Lunch Fun!!

So on Friday, I was in Athens for work, and decided at the last minute to eat lunch with Bree and Kate. They didn't know I was coming which made it even better because they both got soooo excited. However, they were both disappointed when I didn't check them out...but I told them I had to work and maybe we could do it another day. Anyways, we feasted on a lovely BBQ sandwich lunch and some pretty good brownies with chocolate syrup on them. YUMMY! Actually, for a school lunch, it wasn't that bad. Although secretly, I was hoping that it would be square pizza and corn day...with peaches....that was always my favorite lunch! What was your favorite school lunch?