Florida Adventures

We just returned from our last hurrah before the next baby arrives. We spent a wonderful and relaxing 7 days in Naples, FL. Here are a few highlights of our trip.

The flight went well thanks to lots and lots of fish crackers and fruit snacks.

We had so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa.

Love the beach!

Relaxing on the balcony.

Our gluttonous last night in Naples - J and I tried to finish off all the cake and ice cream before we left.

It seemed like a good idea...

but didn't turn out so well.


We are happy to be home in Indiana, but we will miss the beach!

E & OE jammin' and dancin'

Cheap Meal of the Week

Bottom Round Pot Roast
http://www.recipetips.com/recipe-cards/t--4202/bottom-round-pot-roast.asp
I've never made this recipe before, but it looks good.
Bottom Round Roast sale $1.57 lb
I wasn't too impressed with Kroger's sales this week, so this was the best I could come up with. The vegetables aren't on sale, but you only need 1 of each item, so the produce shouldn't add up too much. Hopefully the rest of the items are already in your cupboard. Let me know how it turns out!

Happy Birthday to Baby A!

I am so excited to announce that Amy and Aaron had their baby girl, whom I shall call "A-ok" for now. She was born yesterday 5/16/09 at 6:53 am and was 6 lbs, 5 oz and 21 in. I got to visit them today and she is so precious and feminine. Amy and Aaron are such proud parents, and Amy is doing really well and looks fantastic. She had a great delivery and recovery so far.CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Go Cubs Go!

Cubs win 5-4 over Astros! It was an exciting afternoon at Wrigley Field from will call, to the game, to the people next to us on the bleachers.

First, we dropped OE off with Aunt Shelley which was super easy. Aunt Shelley has buses and police cars and taxi cabs right outside her window - awesome!

Then we headed to Wrigley Field and picked our tickets up at will call, which was a little challenging since J brought this confirmation email with him - see anything wrong?

Then we enjoyed the game...some nachos...

some beer...uhhhh, I mean soda...

UNTIL the top of 9th inning when we gave up 4 runs to tie the game and went through 3 pitchers. OUCH! This leads me to our seat neighbors...

It was almost hysterical if it wasn't so sad. They were so mad about the poor pitching that the 50-something man and his friends were yelling f-bombs and every other swear word left and right. A father of young children kindly asked them to keep it clean, which was not received well. It worked, however, because even though he kept muttering and badmouthing the man and the Cubs to his friends, he did stop yelling it out to the crowds.

Finally, the Cubs got 3 outs and were up to bat, which lightened the mood of our seat neighbors. Cubs got one more run to win the game and the crowd went WILD!

Back to Shelley's apartment to pick up OE and head home. Over all, a very exciting day!

Cheap Meal of the Week

Crockpot Pulled Pork
http://southernfood.about.com/od/pulledporkrecipes/r/cpweekly33.htm
Serves 8-10 - freeze some meat for 2 more meals at a later date

(sale prices at Kroger)
Vidalia Sweet Onions $0.39/lb
Pork Picnic Roast $0.99/lb
Sweet Baby Ray's 18-19 oz bottle $1
Buns (not on sale, probably $3 - also freeze leftovers for later)
Fresh Corn 4/$1

Other deals:
Kellogg's Cereal $1.88 (4/5 Red Plum coupon $1.00 off = $0.88)
Yoplait Yogurt 10/$5 (4/19 Smart Source coupon $0.40 off 6 = $0.37 each if buy 6) PLUS shortcuts.com coupon $0.40 off 6 = $0.30 each if buy 6
Healthy Choice Frozen Entrees $1.88 each (4/5 Smart Source coupon $1.00 off 2 = $1.38 each)

Cheap Chic was a success!!!

What a wonderful time we had at the Third Phase Cheap Chic fashion show. The children did so well and actually walked and smiled on the runway. We were not able to take pictures during the show, but here are some pics of before.

The cutie-pies showing off their outfits, all part of the Play-date scene.

The "runway" before the show.

OE in the dressing room.

A Case for Couponing

Coupons = Free Money

I have only been actively couponing for about 6 months, and I am in no way an expert, but I am definitely hooked. It started with seeing Stephanie, the Coupon Mom on Oprah, and I checked out her website and loved it. The process finally made sense to me. I encourage everyone to at least read her free ebook explaining her process at couponmom.com. You can really get into it with CVS and Walgreens, but I don't have that much time or interest to get that in depth. I just stick with my 2 favorite grocery stores to save big bucks on groceries.

I am also in a trial period for another service that you pay for, and so far I like it. It is more compatible with the way my brain works! Using the 2 systems together cut out all of my prep time besides actually clipping the coupons that I need.

Oh and also - STAY AWAY FROM ONLINE COUPONS!!!! The coupon websites require you to download their special printer. My hubby is a well-respected IT professional in Indy, and he is sure that they install spyware on your computers. You can do lots of couponing with just the Sunday newspaper. Do not put your computer at risk of expensive repairs for a few bucks.

We had fun Friday night at the Harrison Center for the Arts visiting with our good friend Steiny. He was playing a show with the artist (and our friend) Annie Quick. Her installation was a creative "re-creation" of Central Park with real grass and mud under our feet! There was a tree made of horns that would light up when played and another tree that served tea. Steiny and Annie played a show "on the lawn". Even OE had fun there - he found a gym where people were square dancing and ran around.