Life...as I know it...

Update to come

noreply@blogger.com (Gina) — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 19:47:00 +0000

I have been up to some things and I promise I will update as soon as I load pictures. I made a great pulled pork recipe that I am going to share and I made some cute turkey cookies for Thanksgiving (that Tim helped me with). I am hoping this week to get some sewing done if my students don't drain me too much. Update coming soon I hope...

Too Good To Be True

noreply@blogger.com (Gina) — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 02:46:00 +0000

Everyone who knows me knows that I LOVE to read. More specifically, these days I LOVE to read on my nook (even though I have so many paper books that I have to alternate)! What I like to read is anything that doesn't make me think. So basically I read what is considered "chick lit"... light, fluffy, funny, cute... what would make a good chick flick. And I don't care if my books have no "substance". I enjoy reading them to relax me and what better way than to laugh while reading.

The last book I read is by Kristan Higgins "Too Good to be True". I had never read any of her work before but I have to say I am hooked. This book was so enjoyable I didn't want to put the nook down! (ok so that is true for most books that I read, but still!) I don't want to give too much away from the story, so here is a quick synopsis...

Grace is a civil war loving history teacher who has been dumped by her fiancee, for her younger sister! She has a hard time meeting men and everyone in her family is so worried for her because of the breaking up. It will be her time soon they all say... What they don't know is that all her life Grace has had a habit of making up fake boyfriends. And she has to do it again in order to protect her younger sister's feelings. Seems to be going fine until the house next door is suddenly occupied. After a few mishaps with the new neighbor (who is appealing to the eye, to say the least), she realizes that she is starting to think about Callahan a lot more than normal.

This book is definitely one that will have you laughing and wanting to turn the pages faster! The ending was not exactly what I expected. I am usually a really bad predictor when it comes to reading and even watching movies. but there are some twists and turns along the way that will keep you intrigued until the very last page.

Things around here are changing...

noreply@blogger.com (Gina) — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 02:22:00 +0000

...again! I just can't seem to decide what I want this blog to be! But here is what I have decided. I want to commit myself to doing one thing a week. As you are all thinking WTF is she talking about right... let me clarify

As I stated earlier in this blog, I have a lot of hobbies and things I want to learn to do. Unfortunately I just don't have time to do them all, all the time. What I want to do is do at least ONE THING a week. Whether it is trying a new recipe, working on a sewing project, baking, taking pictures, editing pictures, or reading and reviewing a book.

I am hoping that this will get me to do SOMETHING other than stress about work. And I do have a lot of Christmas sewing that I need to get done...

Grizzlies win!

noreply@blogger.com (Gina) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 14:14:00 +0000

We went to the Grizzlies game last night and we had a great time! They won, which is always a good thing! And I got to see my favorite NBA player- Rudy Gay (ok admittedly I don't know more than the Grizzlies players, but I love him!) Tim took and edited a really good pic and I wanted to share...

(if you click the pic it will make it bigger)

nookboards giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Gina) — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 19:59:00 +0000

Does anyone here have a nook or been dying to get one? I have a nook wifi model (had the 3g but had to get a new one and chose to get the wifi instead) and I LOVE it! They just released a nook color which will be great for people who want to read magazines or children's books but don't want to pay the high price of an ipad. If you have one or are thinking of getting one for a family member for the holidays, hop on over to nookboards and enter the contest to win a gift card! If you have a nook already this can be used to get a lot of ebooks for yourself. If you don't have one it is enough to get the wifi model, or to put towards another model of your choice! And even if you don't win, it is a great community of people with lots of resources and information. Free books, accessories, technical support... it's all there!

What are you waiting for? Go enter!!

It's been a while.... and some things bug me

noreply@blogger.com (Gina) — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 15:20:00 +0000

I can't believe how long it has been since I posted. We had my best friends wedding Oct 15 so I was out of town that whole week. It was a great time and we have lots of great pics- but I am still trying to catch up on my sleep! Then after taking a week off from work, I have been crazy busy trying to catch up. We have think show in 2 weeks... this is a big show of student work. Something I would rather NOT discuss- enough said. As soon as that is over, hopefully things will calm down.

I can't believe we are almost in November! I am not sure when we decorated for Christmas last year, but I am thinking we will decorate the few days I am off for Thanksgiving. I can't wait to get all of our decorations out and up! We bought just a couple new things from Disney when we went this summer and I can't wait to see how they look! We really need to start Christmas shopping. We have been saying every week, let's just get one person's gift each week so it doesn't hit us all at once... we haven't bought a one yet! Maybe after think show? ( I blame everything on think show!)

So onto the second part of my title... things that bug me...

Have you ever noticed how people flaunt their money? Even if they don't have it to flaunt? It drives me positively crazy! We aren't by any means "well off" but we aren't living in a cardboard box either. We have a brand new house and are getting by on our own. But even if I did have money to gloat about, I wouldn't. I think it is very distasteful! I wish some people understood what it felt like to have to work hard for the things you want. Because I don't care what anyone says- the people that flaunt it, didn't work hard to get it! People that work hard to get what they have are very modest and silently proud of what they have. Just my 2 cents....

I am off now to have a lazy Saturday until later. We are going to the Grizzlies game with my parents. We couldn't pass down tickets for only $10! Maybe they will even win....

Hopefully there will be more entertaining posts coming in the next few weeks when I am done with this overwhelming feeling I have been having thanks to work.

What's with all the hobbies?

noreply@blogger.com (Gina) — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 02:41:00 +0000

As you can see, I have many hobbies. I am not perfect and I am certainly not a professional at any of these hobbies, but they keep me happy and help me keep my stress levels down.

I am pretty proud to say that my life doesn't revolve around only one thing. I can't imagine having only one thing in my life that was interesting to me. I know quite a few people that have no hobbies and I think how bland that must be.

I get a kick out of reading, and laugh as much when reading as I do when watching tv. Tim thinks I am crazy, but I enjoy it.

I watch sports with my husband. It is something we have been doing together since we started dating. It is nice time for us to do something together that we both love (ok admittedly he loves it way more than me, but I do enjoy football, hockey, and even basketball). It is nice for him to be able to teach me things since he knows more about the sports than me.

I sew because it keeps me busy and I love to be able to say "I made this!" (even if it looks like a 5 year old helped.)

I like to learn to cook and bake new things because even if they suck, I know my husband will eat it. I don't think I have made anything that awful yet (and if it was bad it was because it just was blah of a recipe not because I messed it up... come to find out I am pretty good at following directions.)

Tim and I play the wii (after a LONG hiatus from it). And I am not sure if this is considered a hobby but we have a good time and get some good laughs out of it. Laughing is what life is all about.

I love to take pictures and am constantly trying to take some good ones. I may not be that great at it yet, but I have my whole life to learn.

I am sure I have more hobbies (heck this blog has become one) but these are the big ones right now.

So I hope when someone asks you what your hobbies are that you can answer with something. Because I would sure feel bad if you had nothing to talk about. Or just one thing that your life revolves around.

Let's keep track shall we?

noreply@blogger.com (Gina) — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 20:22:00 +0000

3:31---So far I have done some leg workouts, am going to do my situps, and have worked more on my quilt... 30 more squares sewn together.

Once I clean up the mess I made from my quilt, I plan on reading on my nook.

4:21--- situps complete, sewing mess clean, nook in hand
(do you know how hard it is do to situps while a loving shih tzu is trying to give you kisses?!)

Pictures to come of the quilt progress, as well as the loving shih tzu who decided to sit on my quilt while I was taking the pictures. Both batteries for the camera are dead... so until they charge I will read on my nook then begin reading about photography. Chugging right along...

5:44--- floors cleaned... only have to clean bedroom and bathrooms and do laundry. But because I have the best husband in the world, we will do that later or tomorrow because he helps.

Going to look up some photography things (and add stuff to my ambitious list)

9:30--- what was I thinking when I made that list?! I put THREE sewing projects on it. I was obviously delirious. I am going to cross some off now because I only EVER do one sewing project at a time!. I did look up some recipes that sounded interestingly yummy and bookmarked those. I found some photography tips but the camera batteries just finished charging so I left it at that.

Talk about somewhat productive right?

So what is left to do?

Lesson plan from now until winter break with Amy.... we really are planning let's hope we can get that far (hopefully this will happen tomorrow)
Organize all my coupons and get myself reorganized so I can go back to couponing (hmm.. not sure if this will happen this weekend)
Clean the house (Tim is finishing laundry and we will do the rest tomorrow)
Get my sub plans done (which should be easy after Amy and I plan)
Fill out parent-teacher conference forms

Not too bad...

Sometimes I get a little TOO motivated

noreply@blogger.com (Gina) — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 15:04:00 +0000

Sometimes I get in my head that I want to do a lot of things in a short amount of time. Other times I am a really good procrastinator. Today- I am feeling ambitious!

Things I would like to get done ~~today~~ this weekend...

Lesson plan from now until winter break with Amy.... we really are planning let's hope we can get that far
Organize all my coupons and get myself reorganized so I can go back to couponing
Clean the house
Sew more of the quilt I started 2+ years ago! I made a small dent in it last night and sewed 21 of the squares together.... probably about 70+ more to go (I haven't counted them but there are a TON laid out on my floor)
~~Start sewing aprons for Christmas baking~~
~~Make another pillowcase dres~~s
Get my sub plans done (which should be easy after Amy and I plan)
Read up on some photography skills and practice them
Read some of the book I started on my nook
Workout- somehow, in some way- even just some situps or something!

Yea... I might get some of that done....

But I suppose it is better to be over ambitious than under. Set high expectations- succeed? That is what we do when we teach. Maybe it can work in my daily life.

Or am I just too ambitious today... like this baby?

But I imagine in order for it to work, I need to get up and get moving on my day!

Adding to the list... get ready for parent teacher conferences on Monday (as in, fill out all the forms so I am not rushing around before parents show up to get them done)

Regrets? Yea I have a few...

noreply@blogger.com (Gina) — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 02:46:00 +0000

Everyone has heard the quote

Never regret anything because at one point it was exactly what you wanted....

I think that is the biggest line of garbage I have ever heard! Just because I at one point wanted something doesn't mean I don't regret it. Whew, I have a long line of regrets. And I could probably write a novel of them and why they are all logical regrets. But I won't put anyone to sleep with all the details.

Those regrets are things that have made me the way I am. Sometimes I hate the regrets, because I have a bad day and wish I had made a different decision in life. Sometimes, I am thankful for the regrets because I learned a lot from them. If I could go back in time and change some things, maybe I would. But who knows?

I regret a lot of former relationships... but I am thankful for them because it showed me what I really wanted in a husband. And I must say, I have the best husband around. Everyone says it... I truly believe it. Someday he may have his own post dedicated to how truly amazing he really is.

I regret losing some friends... but people grow up and change. And if I lost those friends, they probably were never real friends to begin with. Because the real friends, no matter how bad things get, they come back. (Believe me on this one...)

I regret not getting my masters/a 2nd degree... but looking at those student loan bills every month am glad I never did because I hate paying those! Maybe someday I might get my masters...maybe I won't. Right now I am content.

So while regrets aren't always a bad thing.... I don't believe that quote. I have regrets and don't give me the line! Everyone regrets something... even if it is something small, like a new purchase!

While looking up quotes I came across these...

I have no regrets in my life. I think that everything happens to you for a reason, The hard times that you go through build character, making you a much stronger person.

Let me edit that one to MY liking... I have no regrets in my life. But- I think that everything happens to you for a reason. The hard times that you go through build character, making you a much stronger person.

If we spend our time with regrets over yesterday, and worries over tomorrow, we have no today in which to live.

I certainly do not sit down and dwell on the regrets. Most of the time I don't think about them. But I do accept them and how they have shaped my life.

Just because you wanted it doesn't mean you won't ever change your mind. Maybe we can call them learning experiences instead of regrets?

So fresh...

noreply@blogger.com (Gina) — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 02:20:00 +0000

...and so ~~clean.~~ I contemplated deleting my old posts... but I am not sure if I should do that. I enjoy my pictures that I edited and am proud of the savings I have made. What I have decided to do though, is revamp this whole blog. It will be a pretty good representation of me... a teacher, reader, sewer (or something that I like to call a sewer), baker/cook (again, something like that), disney obsessed girl...and any other hobby I might pick up along the way.

In the past few years I have realized that sometimes you need to make your own happiness. Ok.. most of the time you need to make your own happiness. Life got in the way of my happiness for a while and I am sick of it! So- here is this blog... one more hobby I have picked up along the way to keep me away from over working and stressing myself out. You will also see that I am pretty scatter brained ~~sometimes~~ most of the time. But I can deal with it... can you?

Delete the old posts? Or leave them?...

One Year

noreply@blogger.com (Gina) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 03:27:00 +0000

Today was our 1 year anniversary. I can't believe it has been a year since we got married already! Since we celebrated our birthdays with big gifts we decided to take the "paper" anniversary to the literal sense and just buy cards. It was a perfect day. My parents took us out to dinner to J. Alexanders... DELICIOUS. Then we came back home and did the traditional eat the top layer of the wedding cake thing. My dad wrapped ours really well after our wedding and it wasn't all that bad. The frosting left a lot to be desired... but this is from someone who doesn't care about cake that much anyways. The second anniversary is the "cotton" anniversary and I already have some pretty good ideas for it! We are off now to cut out our coupons and then hopefully watch a movie and go to bed...

A picture from 1 year ago today...

Couponing our way to a new fence, Bills game, and FSU game

noreply@blogger.com (Gina) — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 04:50:00 +0000

As I mentioned in my last post, we saved about $45 tonight using coupons. When I shop I do not count the amount saved by using my store card as an amount to put in our jar. Though if we did, that would be another $45 that we saved just by buying the sale items.

So tonight, we have a deposit of $45 to our savings!!!
This brings our total to $181

We went shopping tonight.....

noreply@blogger.com (Gina) — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 04:47:00 +0000

Throughout the week I have been making my lists of sales and coupon matchups at each store I planned on going to. This was the first BIG trip Tim and I were taking with the coupon binder. I was prepared! Luckily today, I got my first envelope of coupons in the mail from the coupon exchange I participate in. That was even better because I was able to get even more of a deal. I am going to list the stores and what we got and then post pictures of all of the items together. All totals include tax.

First stop CVS where we got:
3 airwick iMotion air fresheners- on sale for $4.99 each with $4.00 coupon= $.99 each total-$4.35

Then Target, who had a hard time understanding my coupons...but that is another story.
1st order:
6 Old Spice body wash on sale $3.99 and used 3 BOGO coupons. When you bought 3, you earned a $5 Target gift card. So I paid $12.15 for all 6 plus got the 2 gift cards. (I later gave customer service a $1 off 2 body wash coupons because the cashier didn't understand that this coupon could still be used because YES I was still paying for 3 and did NOT use a coupon on those 3- so in reality I paid $11.15 for these). Making these around $2 each

2nd order:
2 soft scrubs for $2.79 each used a BOGO
Scrubbing bubbles power sprayer $8.69 (other sites have mentioned his being on sale for $6.99 but it is not here)- used a $5 coupon
2 Wonka exceptionals bars (or whatever they are called) $2 each used a BOGO and $1 off coupon
2 Act II popcorn (again other sites mention this as $1 but not here) $1.77 each, used $1 off 2 coupon
Total: $11.98 used two gift cards earned in last order and paid $1.98 in cash

Third stop, Kroger
2 totinos pizza rolls $1.25 each used a $.50 coupon (doubled)
2 totinos pizza $1.25 each used a $1.00 coupon
2 gatorade $.99 each
2 chef boyardee $.99 each
2 gushers fruit snacks $1.99 each used $.50 coupon (doubled)
(buying all 10 of these items took $3 off my bill)
1 loaf of wonder bread for $.78
1 bag of doritos for $.99
1lb strawberries $2
5 corn on the cob $1
We didn't have a lot of coupons here but we still got some good deals because of the sales, Total spent $12.32. (Total saved due to using my Kroger card and coupons $16.08)

Last stop, Schnucks
9 hamburger helpers 10/$10..used 3 $.75 off 3 coupons..... making these $.75 each
2 Crystal lights $2 each used 2 $1 coupons....making these $1 each
3 Skinny Cow ice creams 10/$10 used 2 $1coupons..... making these $.33 each (would have just gotten the 2 for free but couldn't decide on flavors so I got 3)
1lb of cherries (a little over a lb) $3.17
1lb ground turkey $1.87
1 cantelope $1.25
1 ice cream (something Tim wanted) $1.99
4 Dole Mandarin oranges 10/$10 used 2 $.50 coupons that doubled....making these $.50 each
Total spent: $22.35

And now the pictures of everything we got.. I am so proud

Total spent all together: $52.15

Total saved with just coupons: $45.72

A few more pics I have edited in the past couple days

noreply@blogger.com (Gina) — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 04:44:00 +0000

I am having too much fun editing pictures on my summer break, so here are a few more...

Couponing our way to a new fence, Bills game, and FSU game

noreply@blogger.com (Gina) — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 04:31:00 +0000

In my original post I stated we had $150 in our "jar". I made a mistake and it was supposed to be $100. Anyways, with that said...

I went shopping on Monday and saved $18 (spent only $20). We dropped that $18 in the jar, bringing our total to $118.

Then I emptied out my change purse... we don't spend change ever. When I emptied it out, there was $9. This brings our total to $127.

Then Tuesday we went to the zoo (for free...we should drop that $30 savings into the jar too hmmm) and on the way home drove past CVS (it is right at the corner of our development) and saw that coke 12 packs were on sale 3/$11. That doesn't seem like such a good deal to me usually BUT... they had made a very large error last time we were shopping and to make up for the mess they made, they gave me an extra ECB. So I had $8 in ECB. We went in and on the packs of coke were coupons for $1 off 2. We only got 3 so could only use 1 coupon. We ended up getting the 3 12 packs for $2.25 and saved $9. Adding that to our fund, we have now $136.

I also in the past couple weeks have mailed out 3 rebates that will total around $25 so when those come in I will add that to our savings.

Who woulda thought this could be so much fun?!

Total savings since June 7.... $136!!!

Baby James

noreply@blogger.com (Gina) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 04:32:00 +0000

Today after running errands with Becca, she let me take pics of her baby because Roscoe (my dog) is rather sick of posing for pictures for me. I decided to edit a few tonight and here they are.

We decided that we need to take him somewhere to take some more fun pictures because he is too cute not to!

Coupon Binder...

noreply@blogger.com (Gina) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 00:19:00 +0000

After spending a lot of time researching couponing and how to do it and save a lot and how to sort coupons and blah blah blah... I decided to make my own binder. I have seen sites where the bloggers offer to sell their binders for a fine tune of $40... i made my own for 20. Good for me!

It is best (I think) to get a binder with a zipper. I have had far too many things fall out of binders, and no way do I want to be searching the floors for missing coupons. So, I went and got this binder from Walmart.

In the front little zipper pocket I have sandwich baggies filled with misc. coupons. These are coupons for entertainment, eating out, and save X off X at the grocery store.

When you open the binder I put in paper. This makes it easy for me to make my list of what to buy at each store and how much I should pay for it. On my list I also include where in the binder (under which tab) my coupon is located. Once I get to the store and decide that I do need the coupon, I will be sticking them in the mesh zipper that you saw on the front of the binder. This will make it easier for me to hand them all to the cashier at once (and not make Tim shove them all in his pockets).

I bought these dividers because they are more sturdy than the paper ones. If you want to save more money though, I imagine you can use the paper ones just fine.

I made labels on the computer and just taped them to the tabs on the divider. I used categories that made sense to me, but these can be adjusted based on personal preference.

My categories are:

baking, cereal, boxed/canned, cleaning/detergent, razor/mouth/soap/deodorant, drinks, dairy/frozen/meat, candy/snacks, pets/school, female/make-up, hair, first aid, misc, and medicine.

I combined some of the categories because of where I keep things in the house or how I associate them in my brain.

Under each tab I have the baseball card insert sheets (I believe I got 35 of them for $5, also at Walmart). I only put one specific coupon in each insert. Therefore, I can have 9 coupons per sheet. I don't like to put them front to back, but you can. I just thought it looked messy. If I have duplicates of the same coupon, obviously they go in the same insert.

On the left side of the binder, there is an accordion style folder. I am going to use these to keep coupon inserts. After I cut out the coupons of things that I will most likely use, I date the insert and keep it so that if I see a coupon match up on something I may not usually buy I can easily locate the coupon. A lot of times things can be gotten for free or under a dollar, so even if it isn't something we will use, it can be donated.

There is MY coupon binder... hopefully this will be a start to helping us add more to our "jar"...

This "jar" has been a savings method for us for years. We used it for 2 years to save up for our honeymoon. After that we used it to save for our anniversary trip, and now...

Our "jar" this year is for a fence, a bills game, and a FSU game...

So we are couponing our way to those things and any time we add money to the "jar" there will be a post titled:

Couponing our way to a fence, bills game, and FSU...

Deposit of _____

As of now we already saved $150 since coming back from Disney on June 7!

Edited in later post... this amount should say $100.

A little of this....

noreply@blogger.com (Gina) — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:37:00 +0000

A little of that... and everything in between. That's what this blog is going to be. I will post:

Pictures that I take/edit
Recipes that I make/bake
Money that I save
Weight that I (hope to) lose

Why?
Because I got a new dslr for my birthday and want to get better at using it.
Because I am learning to cook and bake, and because of new camera, take pics of it all.
Because I am getting into couponing, and you should too.
Because I am going to try to stick to some type of a workout plan and posting it keeps me accountable.

Try this!!

noreply@blogger.com (Gina) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 02:00:00 +0000

Have you heard of swagbucks? It is a search engine that randomly awards you for searching. I have found that you can earn swagbucks once in the am, once during midday, and once in the pm. You don't always earn them, but I have also found that if I search and don't get one, then just tweak the search words, I usually win one or two. They also issue codes that let you earn free swagbucks. There are plenty of things that you can do with your swagbucks. I am saving for giftcards, however, there are all kinds of prizes and contests you can use your points for. If this sounds interesting to you, go here and sign up and start searching..