Monday, November 3, 2014

My Little Princess

Part of my yearly Halloween routine is to snap as many pictures, of my little costumed mini me's, as I can.   They are typically the same picture year after year, posed in front of our front door, or  in front of the tree in the front yard.  Needless to say, they are a little boring, not to mention predictable.  This year I wanted to change it up. 

I have seen so many posts online, from Facebook groups to Pinterest, of these beautiful photographs that parents are having taken of their kids dressed up in their Halloween attire.  They are fantastic, and I felt myself a little envious of the creativity these parents have put into their yearly memory capture.  I decided that I would try to do this myself.  I love taking pictures, though I'm not very knowledgeable with the camera.  I experiment with different settings, but it's all trial and error for me.  Maybe one day I will take some sort of class to learn just what my camera can do.

So after the Halloween festivities at school, I took my daughter up to the local community center, which is the gathering place for most local picture taking opportunities, from Homecomings to Proms, as it offers a very pretty, scenic setting.  My little princess, donned in Princess Aurora attire, was happy to indulge me.  We had a blast!  I took a ton of pictures, praying that at least a few would turn out to my satisfaction.  To my delight, many turned out beautiful!  I took to a little editing, and voila...








I think I've found a new niche for my hobby....


   ~Holly

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Couponing!

As a child, I can remember every Sunday, my mom sitting at the dining room table, cutting coupons.  She had a little accordion-like envelope that she would sort and store these precious coupons in.  My parents cut out coupons for everything.. food, drink, restaurants, etc.  It was just a way of life.  If they could save .10, why not!?  I never really sat back and thought about it, for it was just something they did.  ALL THE TIME.
Once I was married and had a family of my own, I started to understand.  I started to see that even that .10 coupon saved you money.  Every little bit helps, as it all adds up.  I started shopping sales, and clipping coupons, however I must admit that I wasn't a very good coupon clipper.  I was spotty.  IF I remembered to get the Sunday paper, I'd clip them.  If not, I didn't really think much more about it, but then would get jealous of the ladies I'd see in the grocery store with their accordion-like envelopes busting with coupons.  "I need to do that", I'd tell myself.  And the next week I would.  But then drop the ball the next.

The latest craze now is "EXTREME couponing".  In fact, it's so popular, there are several tv shows about it.  These tv shows, however, portray the 'extreme couponer'.  These people spend hours, upon hours, cutting out coupons, organizing them, matching them up with their store's circular, and making their lists.  I've seen in some episodes where these people spend up to 6 hours shopping in the stores, and have several shopping carts FULL of items.  Upon checkout, their totals sometimes reach the $1000 mark, but after their gigantic stack of carefully organized coupons, they end up paying less than $20!  Say what!?  How can this be?  How can I do this?  Well the answer is simple.. I can't.  I just don't have enough hours in the day to do this, nor do I want to spend that much time on grocery shopping.  Sure, the savings are incredible, but I have better things to do.

But I still want to coupon.  I still want to get great deals and save money.  So for me, I am taking baby steps.  I am trying to educate myself with this whole couponing thing.  I posted on facebook a great shopping trip (though small) that I had this morning,  I walked out of there with everything in my cart, FREE.  I do have to admit, that I was tipped off by a friend of mine, who is also getting into this couponing thing.  Having a buddy is a great asset, as there is always someone watching out for you, and sharing info that you may have missed.

So let me try to tell you what I've learned.  One of the key things that you have to do is to get those coupon inserts!  Of course they come in the paper on Sunday, but did you know that the dollar store (at least my local Dollar Tree) has papers with them in them on SATURDAY.  Last week I bought 8 papers.  I saved that $8 today on my trip.. more than made up for it.   It's tiring to cut them out, but do it.  I don't cut out coupons of things that I know I wouldn't use, like Fixodent, or Nicorette gum.. that's just a waste of my time.  However, I am now cutting out different brands that I normally wouldn't use.  Why not.. if I get a good enough deal on it, what's the harm?  Get a binder.. a big binder that zips around the outside, with a handle.  Make a trip to your local craft store, and buy those baseball card like plastic pages to store your coupons in.  This makes for organizing your coupons a lot easier.  And dividers.. don't forget the dividers.  Section off your coupons.. I have "Frozen, Refridgerated, canned, boxed, health and beauty, beverages, " etc.. you get the idea.  Do what makes sense to you.

Now for the info.. I don't have time to drive around, collecting store circulars.  You can find them online.. And what's even better is that there are several online couponing sites that you can use FOR FREE.  These wonderful people have coupon matchups for each store!  All of my local grocery stores are listed on these sites, so this makes it much easier for me to find the great deals.  You just have to sit down and look.  These deals will become easier to obtain once you establish your very own coupon stockpile.  I've learned that at any given week, the coupon that may be used is one that was in a circular a few weeks back. Hold on to them until they expire. These sites also match coupons up with drugstores.. don't forget them!  They often have AWESOME deals!

Here are a few sites that I use:

Saving My Family Money 
Coupon Mom
Krazy Coupon Lady

Here are a few sites that you can find coupons and print them at home!  Sometimes you can print more than one..
Coupons.com
Red Plum
Smart Source

There are so many other little tools out there that you can use.  Keep in mind that most stores offer their very own STORE coupons.  These coupons are only good at that store.  For example, Wal Mart and Target do this all the time.  You can go online to their website and find store coupons and print them out.  STORE coupons CAN BE COMBINED with a manufacturer's coupon for an even bigger savings.  Check out your grocery stores paper circular.  Often there will be store coupons in that.  Combine them with a manufacturers coupon, and you've just saved double!

Make sure that you check your stores coupon policy.  Many stores limit the amount of coupons you can use on the same item.. for example, you may only be able to use 4 of the same coupon, or only 20 can be doubled.  It's best to know what the policy is BEFORE you shop.


Below is a picture of the items that I picked up today at ShopRite.  I got all of this for free.  Here's how I did it:
First, the pasta.  It's Barilla Whole Grain Pasta (all varieties).  It was on sale for .99 per box.  I had 3 coupons for 'save $1 on 2 boxes.  Shop Rite doubled my $1 coupon today (limited promotion), giving me $2 off for each coupon.  In the end, 6 boxes of pasta = FREE.  Barilla Pasta Sauce - on sale for .99 each.  For the remaining items, it was similar.  My coupons, doubled, took care of the cost of the product.  :)

Good luck!

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Disney: Day 1 comes to an end.


There really wasn't much that could top meeting Ariel, but we finished out the night 



Penny in a wishing well


Taking a peek at the new 7 Dwarfs ride

Wishing the slipper fit..

She beat me on Buzz!


Castle at night

Pretty castle at night

Blurry.. but Tinkerbell's flight!
Tinkerbell

Very tired, and heading back for the night

Good night, and stay tuned for day 2!

Disney: Day 1 - Meeting Ariel

Every child has that one special character that they just have to meet.  The one that holds their excitement more than others.  The one that can bring a smile to their face, just at the mention of their name.  Well for our little princess, that character is Ariel.  Despite not feeling the best after recovering from a bout of food poisoning, she still wanted to meet Ariel.  This kept her going.. gave her what she needed to make it around the MK on her first ever day at Disney World.

After stopping to watch the Castle show, we made our way over to Ariel's Grotto, to meet this special princess.  Thankfully, the wait time wasn't too long.. about 30 minutes, so we joined the line. It was all smiles from there.

Had we had the forethought, we would have had her draw Ariel a picture on our 15 hour drive to WDW, so that she could have really made it colorful and special (as most of her artwork is), but of course we didn't.  while in line, she came up with the idea of making something special for Ariel, and asked if she could use one of her pages of her Autograph book to draw her a picture.  How could I say no?  So she quickly got to work.  It's hard to make out in the picture, but it's a picture of a mermaid, and it says, "I love you"  then has her name and info.  She was very proud of this, even without colors. She was very excited to give this to Ariel.


Even one of the big girls is excited to see Ariel (also her favorite!)
Good photo of her favorite Ariel shirt

FINALLY!  MEETING ARIEL!

Presenting Ariel with her drawing...and she made a HUGE deal over it.  The interaction with her was amazing.  I watched as my little princess came to life.  It was as though she suddenly felt all better.  She sat in total awe of Ariel.  Couldn't stop staring at her, and checking her out from head to toe.



Ariel reading the message on the picture.  Just look at the face on my little princess.

Total awe!

Checking out Ariel.. lol


Ariel signing her book

Still in total awe!


Of course we had to get Ariel to make a "fishy face"!

Her favorite photo of the entire trip


More fishy faces!


This Ariel was very special.  She pretty much set the tone for our entire trip.  My little princess, who wasn't feeling well, came to life upon meeting her, and was extremely upbeat afterwards.  I think she would have stayed in there for hours!  The Disney magic, that Ariel gave her was priceless.  She still talks about meeting her, and how nice and pretty she was. Almost every day, she wants to draw her a picture and send it to her.  She's already planning her next trip, and keeps saying that she can't wait to see her again. We were VERY lucky to have met her.  Thank you Ariel, for bringing so much magic into the lives of the children who adore you (and their parents).  :)

Disney: Day 1 - Castle Show and Characters

As we got to Cinderella's castle, a show was about to begin, so we found a spot to plant ourself, and enjoyed it.  Turned out to be a favorite of the little princess, and we saw this show again 3 times! :)






Once the Castle show was over, we were off to find some characters.  Ariel is still at the top of the list, but we will leave her for last in our post.  Here are some other characters we found..

Merida


Pooh and Tigger!


Cinderella




Aurora
Rapunzel
Snow White


Dance party with Stitch
Dance party with Chip (and Dale)



Talking Mickey!

Talking Mickey was fun!  If you can, make sure you get to meet him!  He's in the Town Square Theater!

Okay, on to Ariel....