Creating Memories

I had a few minutes today to blog. My grandmother is still holding on, but getting weaker each day. Today makes 3 weeks since she came home from the hospital. One doctor had said 3 months, a nurse had said two weeks. Only God knows the hour.

I wanted to share some pictures of her with you. We have been making memories these last few weeks. One day she helped us shell peas! I brought them to shell because I needed to get my work finished. She asked if she could help! She shelled them faster than me!

We have been singing to her and Timmy has been playing his violin. She along with her brother who is here from Ohio have been sharing stories and other memories.

I love my grandmother and want to make her last days here on earth pleasant and enjoyable ones! My 7 month old LOVES her! He smiles and reaches for her each time he sees her! He will probably not remember her, but these stories and pictures can at least let him know something about her.

I challenge all my readers to spend time with loved ones while you have the chance! I am very guilty of not spending the time I should with my loved ones! I get so carried away with things that I just do not make time for them! For that, I am sorry! If you have grandparents who are still alive, I ask you to call them and let them know you love them and mention some things you remember! If you do not have grandparents, call parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, ans uncles. I am sure they will enjoy it. My Mamaw is the last of my surviving grandparents with the exception of a step-grandfather on my father's side of the family. Enjoy the pictures and enjoy creating memories with your family.

Quick Update

I apologize for not getting all the cherry information posted. As I mentioned, we had a yard sale on Friday and Saturday which was at my Mamaw's house. Well, I had not seen my Mamaw in about a week and half. As soon as she opened the door on Thursday, I noticed she looked yellow. My sister-in-law and brother noticed it too. On Thursday evening, I spent researching what the yellow color could be. It did not look good. So, on Friday I called her doctor and he said to get her to the emergency room as soon as I could. I took her Friday afternoon and they ran lots of tests. By Saturday, things did not look too good. They found many tumors on her liver, pancreas, gall bladder, and many other places in her abdominal area. They tried to remove her gall bladder, but after getting in there, they decided it was too far gone. There was nothing they could do and it was only a matter of time! She is supposed to come home from the hospital today. I am not sure when I will be able to post much because I am going to be helping with her. My children are also in bible school during the day this week too. Anyway, I will be back posting as soon as I can. My mom is supposed to be coming to stay with my Mamaw on Tuesday evening, so that will help out a lot. I will appreciate all of your prayers. Mamaw is in good spirits. She acknowledges she has had a good long life. She is 80 years old. I lost my other grandmother earlier this year to cancer as well. I hope to do a post soon about grandparents. Stay tuned for more posts. Thanks for your prayers!

Quick Shopping Trips, $0 out of pocket!

While going for our cherry pitter today, we made two quick stops at Walgreens and Wal-Mart. We went to Wal-Mart to get some things for he kids to make cookies to sell at our yard sale this Friday and Saturday. They paid for those things with their own money. We went to the Crossville Wal-Mart which had peaches for only $0.78 per pound! We love peaches, so I bought about 5 pounds of them. I also bought salt and made $0.18 per package! The salt was $0.82 each and I had a $3 coupon good for the purchase of any three Hain Celestial Group products. So, my total was $3.46 for the peaches and salt. I used my Wal-Mart gift card which leaves me with $5.89. Then, we went to Walgreens. I bought sugar (I hate having sugar in the house!) for making the cherry preserves as well as some batteries, apple juice ( It's my husband's favorite!) and the Ecotrin. My total before coupons was $29.85. I used a $2.25 Ecotrin coupon and he pushed it through (amazing!), 3 $0.75 coupons for the batteries, a $2.29 Walgreens coupon for the sugar and a $2.99 walgreens coupon for the batteries as well as Register Rewards totaling $9! My total after coupons was $6.59 which I put on my Walgreens gift card of $19.24 leaving me with $12.65 on the gift card and a $2 Register Reward for another stop in Walgreens.

I really do not "need" anything else this week. However, there are some items on sale which I regularly use and can get for free and some overage, so I may go ahead and get them IF I have time!

I also spent $38.50 on the cherry pitter, but I can not figure out how it works, so my very intelligent tool maker and gadget savvy husband will have to rescue his fair maid when he gets home this evening! He is a wonderful help and always enjoys it when he HAS to help me with something! I used to try to do everything on my own and have only recently come to terms with the fact that is is IMPOSSIBLE to do everything myself, but that is another story!

Hopefully, tomorrow I will have some cherry preserve updates and some cherry recipes!

Going to Get a Cherry Pitter

I have picked Cherries for the last several days and have a grand total of 5 gallons. Now, I must go and get a cherry pitter which I should have bought long before cherry season! In the past, I have been pitting them by hand, but I am not going to do that anymore because it takes too much time. So, I am off to Crossville to the Cumberland General Store to get a Crank cherry pitter. Then, I plan to make some yummy cherry preserves. Hopefully, I will remember to take pictures too! I also have to hurry and get it accomplished as this weekend we (my brother and sister-in-law and Tim and me) are having a yard sale. Thanks for reading. Have a blessed day!

Blog of the Week!

I absolutely love cooking and using leftovers to create something new. I love Alea's website Premeditated Leftovers and I think you will too. Premeditated Leftovers is the blog for the week. I think you will find Alea's wit and honesty make her blog a fun daily read. She shares with you her menus and her delicious recipes! I can not wait to make her Raspberry Lemon Scones! I have some frozen raspberries just waiting to be used! She also gives other tips and tricks such as Organic Rabbit Repellent and Reasons for Why She Does not Blog More (I can totally empathize!). However, my favorite part is that her recipes include Gluten Free alternatives! If you know my family and me, they you know we are gluten free! Check out Alea's blog! I am sure you will enjoy it!

Kroger Deals May 31- June 6

There is not much going on at Kroger this week. You can check out some of the good deals at Jennifer's site here.

Here is what I see worth mentioning and most likely some of what I will be getting if I even go shopping this week.
Georgia Peaches $0.99/pound
Lemons $0.28 each
Limes $0.20 each
Pineapple $2.50 each
Comfort Wipes $1.99 each
Use: $4/2 coupon from home mailer
Price: Free WYB2
Oikos Greek yogurt BOGO ($1.99/2)
Use: $0.50 printable here
Price: Free
Duracell Batteries $2.99
Use: $0.75 coupon from recent insert
Price: $2.24
Mahatma Rice $0.99
Use: $0.50/1 from recent insert
Price: Free
Dentastix $3.89
Use: $2.50 printable (no longer available) or $2.50 from recent insert with $2.50 Shortcuts e-coupon
Price: Free plus overage!
Almond Breeze Milk $2
Use: $0.50 printable here
Price $1 each

Ingles Deals May 31-June 6

There is not a lot going on at Ingles this week. Remember to check all the mark downs in the meat and produce departments as well as any buggies which may have some great markdowns. Never hesitate to ask if they have any markdowns. Sometimes if they are getting ready to mark down items, they will go ahead and mark them down for you.
OSCAR MAYER RED RIND MEAT BOLOGNA16 Oz.
BOGO ---- You're Saving 3.68 ON 2
Use: $1/2 here or $1/2 from recent insert
Price: $2.68/2
ORVILLE REDENBACHER'S MICROWAVE POPCORN2-4 Pack - Selected Varieties
2/$4.50 ---- You're Saving .06 ON 2
Use: $1/1 from May All You or $0.50 from recent insert
Price: $1.25 each
REDDI WIP TOPPINGS14 Oz. - Original or Extra Creamy
$3.78 ---- You're Saving .20 ea.
Use: $1/1 May All You
Price: $2.78
HEALTHY CHOICE FRESH MIXERS Selected Varieties
$2.78 ---- You're Saving .60 ea.
Use: $1/1 from May All You
Price: $1.78 each
CHEF BOYARDEE CANNED PASTA14.75-15 Oz. - Selected Varieties
5/$6 ---- You're Saving .25 ON 5
Use: $1/4 from May All You
Price: $0.95 each WYB 4
HUNT'S KETCHUP24 Oz. Bottle
5/$5 ---- You're Saving 1.00 ON 5
Use: $1/2 from May All You
Price: $0.50 each WYB 2
KRAFT CHEESE SINGLES, CHUNKS, CUTS, SHREDS, CUBES, OR CRUMBLES6-12 Oz. - Selected Varieties
3/$5 ---- You're Saving 3.64 ON 3
Use: $1/1 here or here or $1/2 here or $0.50 from Tear Pad in Ingles
Price: $0.67 each or $1.17 each (wyb 2)
NORTH CAROLINA BLUEBERRIES1 Pint LOCALLY GROWN!
$1.98 ---- You're Saving 2.00 ea.

Delicious Farm Fresh Meal!

On Saturday, we worked in the garden and harvested lots of wonderful goodies! In fact, we were able to have a lunch completely from our farm.

In this salad, there is lettuce, radishes, cauliflower, peas, onion, eggs, and homemade Thousand Island Dressing. The only ingredient I had to use that was not from the farm was the mayo in the dressing! I also had some left over hamburger which I chopped up and put on my husband's salad. It was a great meal and to end it we had fresh cherries from our orchard!

Freebies from the Farm (a few days late!)

I apologize for not posting much at the end of last week. Once the rain cleared out, we were very busy in our garden! WE had lots of Cauliflower, cherries, greens, lettuce, peas, onions, radishes, and weeds which had to be harvested! Below are pictures! I am still picking cherries and will have more cauliflower and peas over the next few days as well! Of course, there are still some weeds, but we did get rid of most of those over the weekend!

Week 3 NO Money Spent Out of Pocket ($230+ worth of groceries for $0!)!

Well, I succeeded again! I bought a van load of groceries and did not pay a penny of my own money! Here are some pictures. I am late posting this time because of all the work I have been doing in my garden so I am giving an abbreviated version!I had $58.65 left from my Edo coke card I won and $19.27 from a rebate card. My total after coupons for all trips (excluding Wal-Mart where I used a Wal-Mart card was $47.56 which leaves me with $11.09 remaining. I also have $9.35 on a Wal-Mart gift card, $14.98 in ECBs, $9 in RR, and a $20 Walgreens gift card to spend. I will have to be creative next week IF I even need to get anything!

Kroger

Total before coupons: 121.22

Total after coupons: $24.20

Ingles

Total before coupons: $58.21

Total after coupons: $11.76

CVS:

Total before coupons and ECBs: $13.61

Total after coupons and ECBs: $1.11 with 9.98 back in ECBs

Target:

Total before coupons: $36.28

Total after coupons: $10.49

Wal-Mart

Total before coupons: $35.65

Total after coupons: $15.65

Used $25 gift card leaving $9.35

That's it! How did you do?