Is this thing on?

Let me dust the webs off my blog….

Alright. It’s been a while. I haven’t done a real post since Novemeber? How sad is that?
Well to sum it up I will throw out a few or a ton of one liners… here we go.

Thanksgiving- We drove down to Phoenix to spend Thanksgiving with Eric’s family. We had some rad food, but its thanksgiving, who doesn’t have really good food? It was nice to see a thanksgiving inside a different family. This was my first away from home, yes I was a little home sick but it is something I have to get used to. It was nice to hang with his family and like ours, pick at the food whenever.

Dec. 10th was my first pampered chef show. Oh how nerve racking! I felt like I was tripping over myself again and again. Thanks to my sister Myrinda who helped me through it. WEW!

December in general was crazy! Girls had the cookie exchange, 100 mile Family Progressive dinner (done in record time) I made some awesome “Snow Flake Cocoa” and burnt everyone’s mouth. We had my mom’s side Christmas dinner and program, where we re-enact the nativity with the kids. I am so glad we are still doing that. I can remember being a sheep or an angel, this year, I played the voice of an angel. Haha. Christmas we woke up and Eric drug me to the tree, eager for presents. We did our gift exchange and went to IHOP(2nd year tradition) Then headed over to my moms to hang with the family.

For New Years we hung out with Kevin and Tiffany, had dinner and 1 minute to count down, we ran to my sisters house to see the LAME beyond belief fireworks on the strip. Budget cuts?

Jan is the special month that holds my birthday! A day when all your lives were blessed. Right? We went to dinner with some of the family to Joes crab shack, now I guess I should add that my niece/mini me shares the same birthday as me, so double blessing that day. And this was her dinner too. She had never been to Joes for a birthday, that’s why it was chosen! When it came time for the birthday song, It was me, my niece, my sister and my brother in law, all Jan Birthdays. It was nice to have 3 others blushing. Eric bought me some shoes, Hot pink and black Zebra Striped shoes. They are amazing! I feel like magic when I wear them. Haha.

Valentines was a mutual agreement to do nothing, get nothing. And we’re ok with that.

March was a busy month it seemed like there was something each weekend or we were sick. We both go these lovely colds and Im still trying to get rid of my weezy cough. Eric kicked his of course.

April should be eventful as well. Kevin is home for now which is exciting. Im still trying to work out a plan to break his leg or something so he won’t be able to go to Afghanistan but so far nothing is coming to mind. This weekend we will be trying to go to a car show, family Easter picnic, and a concert all in one day. With rain on the forecast, this should be interesting.

Well now, I feel a lot better and I feel caught up. Although Im sure there are a thousand events or funny things I left out, but that’s what you get when I slack. HA!

For Tiff... Oh Nao! Gawd Ziwra!!!

So here we lay in bed. Eric updates his contacts and I blog. What a friday night! Its been a while since I have blogged about anythign other than food savings. Not even holidays or my Birthday! Things get busy and I get lazy or just really tired at the end of the day. Sitting in front of a computer all day makes my laptop the last thing I want to see. Things have been crazy and not what we expected, but we are alive, well and still putting up a good fight! But for now the battle against my eyes and my eye lids is taking its toll. To be contrude... Hahaha

I do believe that money goes in my pocket...

So I've attended two Shop Smart/Coupon shows. The first I said hey this is cool... and then I looked at the web site a few times... It was always in the back of my head and I wanted to be able to get great deals at places other than costco or sams club. I never did anythign about it. I've heard stories and seen the final product of those stories but it still was never enough to really get me going. Well my sister and sister in law hosted a show the other night. I bought my RJ subscription for I can get the coupons from those instead of hoping for the massive pile in the mail. Well yesterday I got on line and went to the site. I saw Albertsons had a ton of deals going on. so without a newspaper I clicked the links to the online coupons. I put them all in order and made sure I knew how many to get. I took my friend Rachel and we went at about 10:30pm or so. The store was empty and quiet and we just did our thing... well I did my thing. She made jokes like "are you going underground?" or "Diana has her food storage" Cause realy it looked as if I was stocking up for the end of the world. We strolled through each isle and sometimes more than 4 times. haha. but I got it all. I was nervous for sure. the what ifs were kicking in... what if they wont take em... I shook it off and we hit the counter. I asked the cashier if she'd like the coupons first. It didnt matter so I loaded my goods onto the counter and tore off the last few coupons I didnt get to cutting. My total was up there for sure... 240.49 was the totatl. then I entered my prefered savings number and the numbers were going down. It was like gamblings but obviously the opposite way. I wanted it low..... Then she added all the coupons and it kept going down. My out of pocket cost was 106.39. I saved 134.10! INSANE! PLUS the little coupon machine started kicking out 5 dollars off your next purchase and those totaled up to 60 bucks, but thats not all! I didnt notice at first but at the bottom it said you have earned .25 cents off per gallon of gas, up to 20 gallons. Total SCORE! There is an Albertsons gas station right by my house so guess who will be paying less than 1.50 for gas next time, ME! I was so excited. Even though there was a TON of stuff I wanted that I needed Newspaper coupons for, I still made out.

Here are some pictures of my winnings! (and I know... that IS a ton of hamburger helper, but guess who wont need some soon...)



And these are the golden tickets!


I am so glad I did this. It really did help light a fire under my butt. Too often I don't go shopping at the grocery stores because I can save with bulk buying, but really bulk buy is limited... and "who wants to be eating chimini-changas all year? not me."

Oh and did I meantion 2 of the Progresso soups were not only FREE but I made .20 off of them?

Helllooooo out there!

Wow!! I can't believe I've put this off for over a month. Of course holidays are busy busy and when you find a moment to yourself the last thing you think of is your blog.
So this will be quick and I will post pictures of it all this weekend, I hope.

Thanksgiving was an adventure. It was my first time away from my family and I admit I got a bit homesick. I guess I never thought it would affect me but Im glad I got to see how others celebrate Thanksgiving. Bottom line it was GREAT food. We hung out in AZ for 3 whole days. It was nice to not have to turn back for hom on the 2nd day.

December was VERY eventful. We had the girls cookie exchange a whole 13 dozen = 156 cookies plus the rolls still in my freezer. I think Im just cookied out. Its always fun to see the different shapes and decorations.
We had our family progressive dinner which went by quick. This year was the first time my house was included. As small as it was we fit everyone in there. I served EXTREMELY hot Snow Flake cocoa... I guess the on LOW for 2 hours would have been fine.... hahah I paniced at the time frame and turned that sucker on high. I think I left a lasting impression on the adult tongues. meaning burnt! Sorry! But once is cooled down it was a huge hit.
The Gifford Family Christmas Dinner/Theatre was held at mom's this year. The kids acted out the nativity story and I got the roll of the ANGEL with the angelic voice. hahah I love that we are still carrying on traditions from our childhood. I hope that my kids will be able to participate in them one day. Last year my aunt had her kids make a video. She called each of us and gave us a line from a holiday song. Last year was Up on the house top. This year we did two, I saw mommy kissing santa claus, and The Christmas song. Its so fun to see everyones different ideas of how to act out everything. One of ours was "everybody knows a turkey..." so I entered A. Turkey on my cell phone and took a picture of it. Clever huh? There were some other funny ones and some cute ones. Christmas Day we woke up and for someone who says he doesnt like christmas or the holidays, he sure is fast to get to those presents! We opened presents from each other and then hung out for a bit played games. I was lookin to whopp some butt on XBOX live cause I know some kids got games for christmas that they havent played. haha Then we dressed and went to Ihop. We went last year and this year we dubbed it a tradition until we have another mouth to feed. Then we went over to mom's house for all day snacking and hanging out. we wateched Wall-e a few times, played Rock Band, and I made a watch that's pretty rad. I think we got home about 10 pm and I believe we just crashed. It was a draining week and month.
New years... isnt new years. Its weird. Usually you get way excited about staying up... but seems these days 9pm feels like midnight. I called Little Caesars abotu 4pm and placed an early order for 7. Boy am I glad I did. That place had the longest line when I got there! But I walked in and then right out with our stuff. We headed to Kevin and Tiffany's house to eat and hang out. tiffany made some rad jalapeno poppers which were like Fire but still good. The fire came 40 seconds after it hit your tongue. My niece Crystal was there too and she came home with us to spend the night and hang out. We hung out a bit and then the boys fell asleep pretty much so us 4 (Maeve too) watch a poor version of Twilight. It ended about 15 minutes before midnight. We went in and woke up the guys to go to Shelly's house. by the time we walked out the door we had 2 minutes. As we walked into Shelly's house her tv showed 30 seconds. so we ran out back to see the fireworks and wow... how lame. Fireworks havent been fireworks since we did those 4th of July shows at the stadium here. Where the bombs felt so close you always ducked a little from the sparks, which were far away, but they were so huge and you could feel them pounding on your chest. the closest thing I've seen since then was over the lake/river in Washington. The rich people were shooting off HUGE bombs from their lovely lake side homes and we sat on the other side enjoying a free show.
But new years was good. It was fun to spend it with Kevin, Tiff, Maeve, Crystal, Shelly and Adam and their sleeping kids.

Oh and in the middle of this all, I had my first Pampered Chef show! I was sooo nervous but I did ok. I'm so glad I had my sisters there and I had a much better turn out than I planned for. I look forward to doing more shows and getting a better feel of the system. (HINT HINT)

Like I said it's been a while and Im sorry for the long post. but hey... its done now.

Rain thoughts twice...

Be safe out there in the rain. I had to see this poor old dude hugging a pole.


oh and here are my new glasses. Sorry I know I look like a turtle, but its hard to take a serious picture.

Time to travel, so let it rain!

It seems every time is pours here, we are going out of town. Memorial Weekend it poured, we were in AZ, and to day we are headed to AZ and its pouring. Good Grief Charly Brown.

So we are headed to Arizona to spend our first Thanksgiving with his family. I haven't had a thanksgiving away from mine and I'm a little sad to be leaving, BUT this will be fun and I'll still eat like a cow. So really only the location will change. We are spending 4 nights and about 3.5 days. We are taking family pictures too. This will be fun to see my face in the picture, rather than pulling out microscope to see it. haha.

This year has been hard and fun, sucky and rad, hot and not so cold. Through all of our ups and downs there was never a time or moment when we didn't have each other to lean on, or family standing behind us pushing us along or helping us up. I am so grateful for a huge and extremely close family. Each and every member brings something different and special to the table. I am so grateful that I can ask for help from any member and recieve more than I asked.
I can't even say how lucky I am to have the in laws I have. My mother in law is just awesome. There is never a time that I talk to her and don't either smile or laugh. My father in law is very down to earth and smart. I love that he is someone my husband can call and ask for advice or call about cars and everyday stuff. My sibling in laws are just as crazy and awesome as the next. They are the younger siblings I've never had and I am glad that I have been able to be the sister in law that I always had growning up. The one to talk to the one who makes sense and understands. Not to toot my own horn but HONK HONK!
I love my ALL of family so much and I am truely Thankful for all of them, and the ones to come.
I am also thankful for my husband, he is my crutch.... more like wheelchair. Without him I'd be just digging in my rut. He is always supportive of me and my dreams and we are always able to talk to one another without a problem. He is truely amazing to me and I couldn't be more grateful.

I am very lucky to have the life and abilities that I have.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! Eat lots cause its winter and our bodies need some layers for hibernation!

English Toffee

Ingredients
14 tablespoons (1 stick, plus 6 tablespoons) butter
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cold water
1/2 chopped pecans
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Dash salt
1 (6-ounce) bag semisweet chocolate chips or thin chocolate bars
Directions
Generously butter a cookie sheet.

Put butter, sugar, and water in a heavy pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Bring to a bubbling boil, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, about 10 minutes. Remove spoon from pan, and cook to a very brittle stage (300 degrees to 310 degrees F on a candy thermometer). Or, make a cold water test: candy will separate into hard, brittle threads when dropped in cold water(I TRIED THIS AND IT DIDN'T "THREAD" SO i COOKED IT UNTIL IT MOVED AS ONE... YOU WILL SEE. OR JUST USE CANDY THERM.) Remove from heat and add nuts(I GUESSED) to mixture. Add vanilla and salt. Pour onto prepared cookie sheet and spread to 1/4-inch thickness. Cool slightly, top with chocolate chips(DIDN'T MEASURE or chocolate bars, and spread as it melts. Cool completely and break into pieces. Store in an airtight container.

I let it sit over night and then broke it with a butter knife. It's soooo stinkin good and it takes hardly any time AND I had all the ingredients.


Enjoy!