Making Caramel Apples!

Last week after church we made caramel apples. The kids had so much fun! Zoe is my little OCD girl, so I gave her the task of unwrapping all the caramels, I knew she would make sure they were perfect, no plastic pieces, lol. She also helped me chop the nuts, chocolate chips, & oreos. Drew helped Stir/melt the caramel, Jeni (my little sister) supervised & did the trial run to show all the babies how. Haliee watched the babies & helped them do their apples. I LOVE fall baking!

The babies had more fun playing hide & seek in the pantry & rearranging the spices! It is their favorite thing to do!

A sweet customer!

I have a super sweet customer with an adorable daughter & I just had to share! Isn't this little girl a princess!?! LOVE her big ole' bows! The sweetest part is this is a foster baby! I really LOVE how kind people's hearts are. How blessed is this baby to have such a sweet Momma! Warms my heart!


Here's 1 more pic she just sent me from a Harvest Festival! SO Sweet! :0)

New Bows!

Here are a few more this morning!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=390107236608

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=390107230215&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

Orange Poppy Necklace GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Orange Poppy Necklace GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Do you coupon?

Ok, I am OCD! About almost everything, truly. As most of you already know. Great if you are a bow customer, not so great if you live with me, ha! I have learned to be more patient as I age and my children are teaching me tolerance like it or not. "Chillax" as Haliee calls it. I am officially ADDICTED to couponing...I have always been crazy about getting good deals, since Hal & I got married. Growing up I was so spoiled, never even considering what daily expenses were or acknowledging they existed really. If I wanted something, I got it, including a new cosmo or people every time we went to the grocery store. I had never looked at the price of an item, ever. Any money I earned went to me, new clothes, going places, etc. Needless to say when we got married I was rudely awakened by reality, lol! When it was my/our money not Mommy & Daddy's paying for groceries, clothing, electricity, etc. my outlook slightly changed. *Sigh* A monster was created. I have since mastered this money saving skill to a fine art. I may just save us into the poorhouse, but we will always eat well, ha! I go to the store every week. I have a list of what we need and a list of what's on sale. We have a food storage comparable to any supermarket, lol. If it is on sale, I must have a coupon or 2 for it so by stacking it will be virtually free. I spend at least an hour a week organizing the coupons with the ads. The checkers know me, yes, true, but...I get great deals!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here is an example of last nights visit. I "needed" milk, hamburger meat, hot dog buns, aluminum foil, and well...that's pretty much it.

I spent $45. 59 and saved $112.34 + earned $.25 off per gallon of gas...

I got only 2 items which were not on sale...hot dog buns, and mike & ike candy, oh that husband messing up my perfect couponing experience with his candy addiction, grrrr...

I didn't take a picture, dang, I will next time of all the booty, but here is a list of everything I got, no kidding....

1 box reynolds wrap

1 box mike & ike (grrr)

2 pkg. spaghetti

2 pkg. pasta

2 gallons milk

6 lbs. hamburger

1 pkg. hot dog buns

2 pkgs. ball park hot dogs

4 pkgs. keebler cookies

2 pkgs. nutter butter bites

2 (6ct.) pkgs. motts applesauce

2 (12 ct.) snapple yep, a case

6 boxes quaker granola bars

2 boxes pancake mix

2 (5 lb.) bags of sugar

1 welchs squeezable jelly

2 boxes cap n' crunch

3 bags hershey's baking chips (choc chips, etc.)

1 lg. coffee creamer

Oh....and I got a $10 rebate on the cookies, so if you factor that in, I only spent $35

So...do you have a sickness? I really do, lol! I LOVE free stuff!

The sad part is...this was one of the more expensive "couponing" trips, I usually get more free. Here are a few pics of my food storage, I didn't open the fridges/freezers, I am a big enough dork this way right, but you get the idea, the scale is worse than you can see in pics as it is stacked 3 or 4 back. Yes, some of the pics are in the laundry room you know where you are supposed to store laundry goods, well, I am out of space. This is the part my husband always tells everyone. Do you think it is a problem or a blessing? My point is...when it isn't on sale, I don't buy & we don't notice because we already have it, lol.

Field Trip to Meet the Mayor & Tour the Library

Last week I went with Drew's 3rd grade class to tour the new CDA Library and have a question & answer session with our Mayor Sandi Bloem. There was also a councilman there who happens to be one of Drew's friend's grandfather. It was really neat, they answered every question the kiddos had; Some were great, some were funny, all were entertaining! One of the Library representatives taught us about the history of Coeur d Alene, it was really interesting. I took pics of the "Heritage Wall" they have in the library. It has several pictures from the turn of the century and explains how Coeur d Alene was developed. They have an interactive laptop next to the wall which you can read in depth about every photo. They also have (some are on micro fish) every single newspaper dating back to the 1800's. All the names you see on the wall are families or businesses who donated $10,000 or more to the libraries construction. They had to also be a member of the community for 20 years or more I think. Does it mean I am old/nerdy that I liked this? LOL! The library is AMAZING. It is so homey & welcoming. It has several places with fireplaces and chairs where you can just read or relax with a laptop with tons of windows and many lake views. I LOVE the pic of the kiddos with Mrs. Olin their teacher. She was also Haliee's teacher and is the best! She was diagnosed with breast cancer when Haliee was in her class and only took a little time off during surgery/chemo because she loves the kiddos and teaching and wanted to be there. She kept them in the loop and really handled it amazingly. She made my kiddos respect the need to raise awareness and has impacted them in such a great way. She does however always call me on my obsession with my kiddos and gets on to me about letting them grow up, lol. LOVE her! She is a stinker! The open books were on pillars on the stairwell and were notes from donators. The huge moose bookends were donated by a family who actually had them in their house, CRAZY!

The Heritage Wall

Meeting Mayor Bloem. This is also where the city council meets and it has a built in recording studio as they air all the meetings.

The back of the library that looks out over McQuen Field, you can see the lake from here & it is so beautiful. The fountain/water feature is pretty too.

This is Mudgy. He is a moose from the story (actually a few stories) "Mudgy & Millie" written by a local author. There are several Mudgy & Millie statues around Coeur d Alene also constructed by a local artist. There is a map directing you to find them. The kids LOVE this! Mrs. Olin claimed the artist made the statues full of rebar and capable of handling kiddos climbing all over them. I was slightly (ok greatly) uncomfortable with them doing this, but but I dealt, lol!