I Heart Faces!! Nostalgia

See I told you there would be more posts coming. This is this week's entry at I Heart Faces. If you want to see the picture better go over to my photography blog. I have a button on the side of this blog.

This week's theme at I Heart Faces is Nostalgia. Now nothing brings back memories for me than a bath in the sink. I love giving my babies baths there. It is so much more convenient than the tub. Now head on over to I Heart Faces to see more nostalgic photos. Don't forget to leave some love!!!

First thing's first...

First thing's first...Please continue to pray for Sweet Annette and her parents, Kirk and Natalie and big brother, Grant"a saurus". Head on over to their site to learn more.

I have had a few blog posts in mind lately and didn't know exactly which one I wanted to do first. Do the boy's first day of school, nah. I will keep you waiting for that one. The next I Heart Faces post? Nope, that will be next though. BTW when I do that one, be sure to head over to my photography blog to see the pictures better. Well, what post am I gonna do? Glad you asked!

I have been trying like crazy to save money. Duh! Who hasn't? One way I have been able to save money is with my grocery shopping. Now I have read tons of site that go into great detail with everything. Well, I am a simple kinda girl and here is what has worked for me. When I decide to go to the store I go online first and check out the store's weekly ads. Lately, Publix has won me over. They have tons of different buy one, get one deals. Great! Double the merchandise for half the price. Well I don't stop there. I also have signed up for online coupons. A few of the places I have gone are Valpak.com, couponmom.com, gocoupons.biz. I print off the coupons of things that my family will use. I mean why use coupons on things we don't just to say we got it cheaper. Makes no sense to me. Well sometimes I get lucky and there is a coupon for something that is on my buy one, get one list. Get this, sometimes there are more coupons for that same product that I can use and I get that product for pennies.

Example: Buy one, Get one for General Mills Cereals...check Then I run across a dollar off for two boxes (yeah, I know I'm not paying for the second box, but they still take it), then I get a coupon for $1 off of the cereals. With a box of cereal near $4 I get two boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios for $1!!

I also get the Sunday paper. I don't do a subscription, but around where I live they are selling it on Sunday's for a dollar. Sometimes I get two papers. In it there are store coupons and manufacturer's coupons. Guess what? You can double those. You can also go to the manufacturer's website and sometimes get a sweet deal too.

Now, sometimes I do my grocery shopping at different stores. I know you are asking, why waste the gas to save money? Well, for me I don't do a lot of driving anymore so it doesn't affect me, plus the grocery stores I use are very close to each other anyway. I don't always do it on the same day either. I like to get my milk at Kroger because for the past few months it has only been $1.99, but at Publix it is $2.50, so I get my staple items at Kroger. They also have the 10 for $10 deals, which I don't always get 10 of and they still honor the $1 price tag for each item. I know not all Kroger Stores do, but I have the BOMB Kroger. I try to buy in bulk as much as I can since I have an extra refrigerator and deep freezer.

I use ground turkey in all my meals that aren't chicken and I buy the one pound rolls of Honeysuckle ground turkey in a pack four in the frozen food isle. I get 4 pounds of meat for the price of 2 doing it that way, and I would freeze the meat when I got home anyway. I do the same for my chicken as well. I buy the bagged frozen chicken too. It tastes good and I get 3 pounds of HUGE chicken breasts (boneless and skinless) for between $6-$7.

One thing to remember is when you are preparing your menu "shop" from YOUR pantry and fridge. Don't rush out and buy tons of stuff for your food because you will spend way more than you need to. I don't cook every night either. Some nights we have soup and sandwich night and some nights we do frozen pizza. This way if you already have tons of stuff at home you can't really in good conscience come home and say "there is nothing here, let's go out". Now, obviously I have to go back frequently for produce, but that just really can't be helped.

My family eats pretty healthy and with all the coupons I use I get to buy lots of name brand stuff and not the cheap stuff full of junk. It is possible to feed your family good things with out feeding them crap.

This is a rather lengthy post and I feel I have jumped all around so here's a recap...

• Check out the stores to see what's on sale before you go...
• Get coupons...
• Here are some websites again
• Valpak.com
• Couponmom.com
• Redplum.com
• coupons.com
• Don't forget to check the Sunday paper and save all flyers with coupons that come in the mail...
• Check out the manufacturer's websites...
• Buy in bulk...

• Plan your menu around what you already have at home...

Now there are other people out there that do an even better job at this than I do, but I have been asked how I have save over $100 dollars on my grocery bill last month. This is how I do it. If you have any questions, comments or other, pleas share. Any and all money that is saved it wonderful.

Don't forget to check back because I should have a few more posts ready. Don't forget to leave some love.

I Heart Faces!! Crazy, Silly, Funny Face

Pam D. I am not trying to copy everything that you are doing, but hey, you have such good ideas.

So you I can't get the button to work on my photo blog, and you this blog doesn't do the photos justice, but I need to use this blog to play along on I HEART FACES. But if you want to get a better look, click here. (THANKS PAM D., who had this idea first =).
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Don't forget to go to I Heart Faces to see more silly faces, and don't forget to leave some love.

BTW, if anyone can help me out with figuring out how to get the I Heart Faces button to work on my wordpress blog, I would really appreciate it!!

Annette really needs your prayers.

Please click on the button on the side of the blog for Annette or click on this link...maxeyweb to find out all the details. This sweet baby and her family can really use them.

SHOW US YOUR LIFE...Wedding Party/Ceremony

This week's "Show us your life", sponsored by Kelly is focusing on the wedding party and ceremony.

We got married on November 20, 1999. This is also my parent's 13th wedding anniversary. Now we help each other remember our anniversaries. Pretty good idea...for the guys sake!! We were married at our church at the time, First Baptist of Smyrna (Georgia). We actually met there, we both played in the church orchestra at the time.

Here's me with the girls. My Matron of honor is actually Brian's sister. My best friend and some cousins. Isn't that flower girl the cutest. She is graduating high school this year (I think), can't believe it. I let the girls choose their dresses and ironically they all chose the same one.

Here are the guys. Brian's brother-in-law was his best man. Boy did he have some big shoes to fill. It was supposed to be Brian's father, but unfortunately he passed away a month before we were married. He was there in spirit and had the best seat in the house. We placed a portrait of him up at the front.

The groomsmen were friends of Brian. Our ring bearer is already off at college. AHHHHH!! My dad is also in this picture.

We had a simple ceremony. Brian played the trumpet and other brass instruments, and he also played it in his sister's wedding, the song was Trumpet Voluntary. Brian's brother-in-law sang "I will be here", by Steven Curtis Chapman. We played "Now that I found you", by Terri Clark. And we had a friend sing the "Lord's Prayer".

Head on over to Kelly's blog to see her's and so many other's wedding pics.

Guess it's time to tell you...

I have another blog. What? Did you think it was something else? Well I have been contemplating doing a photography blog for a while now. I started out this blog orginally to write updates about my family and possibly get into story telling again. What I have found is that a new "love" has occured. I am really starting to get into photography and learning how to take great photos. It seems like all I want to do now is post pictures. That is all well and good, but I can't get the pictures on here big enough to really get the best view out of them.

Pam D over at Life by the Creek apparently has been thinking the same thing and has done the same thing. Now she is a much better story teller and photographer than me. Check out her new photography blog. Anyway, when I saw how beautifully her pictures showed up, it kind of sealed the deal.

I am still learning about the art of photography so if you have any questions, comments or other, please let me know. I plan on keeping this blog around and will still post pictures here, but mostly as a way of telling my stories. So come visit me won't you? I am still learning how Wordpress works so bear with me. http://fostermom3.wordpress.com

"I Don't"

Here is another game that I got from Grammy Girlfriend. It is a list of my TOP 10 I DON'T LIST.

10. I DON'T like bugs.

9. I DON'T like math. Once you get past 2+2, I am lost.

8. I DON'T like driving on the interstate.

7. I DON'T do yard work, unless I absolutely have to.

6. I DON'T like pork, I DON'T cook pork. The only pig meat to cross my lips is bacon. It's not a religious thing. I just don't like the texture or taste. It may also have something to do with the fact that I LOVE pigs.

5. I DON'T dust. I despise it!! Hey that is a great chore for kids right!

4. I DON'T buy anything for full price. It has to be on clearance or on sale or I have to have a coupon.

3. I DON'T like say no to many activities for either church or school. (gotten a lot better.)

2. I DON'T like the fact that I am having to think this hard for things that I don't do.

1. I DON'T like seeing children (especially mine) hurt or made fun of. (course what parent does)

Now it's your turn. DON'T forget to head on over to Grammy Girlfriend to check out more, "I DON'T" lists.

Wanna see somthing funny?

Sure you do. Take a look at this video. I saw it for the first time on Friday night and it is great!!

SHOW US YOUR LIFE...Wedding Dress

Yay, another picture "game" to play. The host for this one is Kelly. So after you look at my pictures head on over to her page to see more.

So anyway, this week's theme is Wedding Dress. Can't believe that 10 years (this coming November)ago, I will have worn this dress.

I Heart Faces!! FEET

I know I have been MIA the past few weeks from I Heart Faces, but now I am back. Here is my submission for this week's theme, FEET!

Head on over to I Heart Faces and check out other pictures!!