Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Friday, August 24, 2012
Oh Geez!
I am horrible at keeping up with this blog! I can't believe it's been since April since the last time that I typed anything up!
Now let's see what's happened in the past few months...
Through Swagbucks, I have been able to get a whole load of (little) things that have helped. I think I have gotten about 30+ cards for various functions - baby showers, weddings, get well etc. This helps me tremendously. I am one that always waits until the last minute for cards, so these are great to have on hand in case I forget, don't have time to pick up a card or don't have the money. Also, I had ordered some baby things - pacifiers, socks, and a temperature sensing bath toy for a baby shower. Completely great ideas and probably would have cost me a small fortune to buy. I've ordered reusable grocery bags, a LED lantern, several music CD's, and deodorant.
I also did get a $25 e-gift card for Brinker International which is the company that owns On The Boarder, Maggiano's, the Macaroni Grill. We went to the Macaroni Grill because that's the only one that is with in a 8 hour drive for us - right in South Portland which is 45 minutes away. Their food is FANTASTIC!!! The food is a bit more expensive than what we usually go for, but more than well worth it. It won't break the bank going there a little bit, and we are planning on going again - once we save up the money (or have a gift card).
Right now, I have a $50 Home Depot waiting to be authorized from the Swagstore. I can't wait to get it! I am planning on getting some bushes and/or apple trees for my house. I am thrilled because I had a $25 gift certificate to a local nursery - Roosevelt Trail Landscape & Gardens. The employees there were fantastic in helping me pick out the bushes I wanted for my new house and helping with information on fruit trees and bushes. I bought 2 nice bushes there and one from Lowes with another gift card I had. The Home Depot gift card will help with filling in the flower beds on the other end of my house now that I have one side done.
I went up to camp (Spring Lake here or here) for Memorial Day weekend and 4th of July week - or at least the second half of that week. For Memorial Day weekend, my mom and I left Friday night after work and headed home Monday morning. We met my dad up there because he could actually get Friday off! Lucky duck! 4th of July, I headed up after I got out of work on Tuesday, July 3rd. I got up to camp about 10 and opened up most everything that night. My cousin and her husband (who owns the Post Office in the 1st link above) had just finished unpacking when I arrived. The thrill of that week was being able to turn the hot water tank on all by my self! I am short, and even standing on a chair can not see what I am doing with that thing. But in in the morning, I grabbed a sawhorse from the shed, was actually tall enough to see what I was doing and had hot water.
In June, I had my cousin from Arizona up for one of our cousin's weddings. She was beautiful, of course. During the reception, "someone" (not me I swear - maybe...) decided it would be a great idea to go swimming at the lake the reception was next to. The lovely bride laughed, and said no or else we might get yelled at by the staff at the camp. Needless to say, 3 cousins (not including the bride) went for a dip up to our knees, had a small water fight and went back to the reception to hug the bride. The beautiful bride thought that was the best thing ever.
The next weekend, I was in by best friend's wedding. It was fun, but nothing crazy happened at the reception. After the reception, a pile of the wedding party and a few guests went to the Old Port (in Portland) to go to the bars - all in their wedding gear and formal-wear. Apparently, the Food Network was filming the finale to the Food Truck Race right there! So the newlyweds went over, ordered food and they were interviewed! I can't wait to hear if they will actually make it to the final show:)
At the end of July, I did my usual volunteering in running the Beano Tent for Casco Days. Lots of hard work, running around, and stress for a good cause. The Casco Fireman's Association that sponsors the event and owns all of the equipment, based on a successful year, can buy new equipment for the fire department, put money towards scholarships, and help out local towns and groups with their monetary needs. I can never wait for the next Casco Days!
Well, I think this is it for now. Hopefully it won't take me 4 months to update again :)
Now let's see what's happened in the past few months...
Through Swagbucks, I have been able to get a whole load of (little) things that have helped. I think I have gotten about 30+ cards for various functions - baby showers, weddings, get well etc. This helps me tremendously. I am one that always waits until the last minute for cards, so these are great to have on hand in case I forget, don't have time to pick up a card or don't have the money. Also, I had ordered some baby things - pacifiers, socks, and a temperature sensing bath toy for a baby shower. Completely great ideas and probably would have cost me a small fortune to buy. I've ordered reusable grocery bags, a LED lantern, several music CD's, and deodorant.
I also did get a $25 e-gift card for Brinker International which is the company that owns On The Boarder, Maggiano's, the Macaroni Grill. We went to the Macaroni Grill because that's the only one that is with in a 8 hour drive for us - right in South Portland which is 45 minutes away. Their food is FANTASTIC!!! The food is a bit more expensive than what we usually go for, but more than well worth it. It won't break the bank going there a little bit, and we are planning on going again - once we save up the money (or have a gift card).
Right now, I have a $50 Home Depot waiting to be authorized from the Swagstore. I can't wait to get it! I am planning on getting some bushes and/or apple trees for my house. I am thrilled because I had a $25 gift certificate to a local nursery - Roosevelt Trail Landscape & Gardens. The employees there were fantastic in helping me pick out the bushes I wanted for my new house and helping with information on fruit trees and bushes. I bought 2 nice bushes there and one from Lowes with another gift card I had. The Home Depot gift card will help with filling in the flower beds on the other end of my house now that I have one side done.
I went up to camp (Spring Lake here or here) for Memorial Day weekend and 4th of July week - or at least the second half of that week. For Memorial Day weekend, my mom and I left Friday night after work and headed home Monday morning. We met my dad up there because he could actually get Friday off! Lucky duck! 4th of July, I headed up after I got out of work on Tuesday, July 3rd. I got up to camp about 10 and opened up most everything that night. My cousin and her husband (who owns the Post Office in the 1st link above) had just finished unpacking when I arrived. The thrill of that week was being able to turn the hot water tank on all by my self! I am short, and even standing on a chair can not see what I am doing with that thing. But in in the morning, I grabbed a sawhorse from the shed, was actually tall enough to see what I was doing and had hot water.
In June, I had my cousin from Arizona up for one of our cousin's weddings. She was beautiful, of course. During the reception, "someone" (not me I swear - maybe...) decided it would be a great idea to go swimming at the lake the reception was next to. The lovely bride laughed, and said no or else we might get yelled at by the staff at the camp. Needless to say, 3 cousins (not including the bride) went for a dip up to our knees, had a small water fight and went back to the reception to hug the bride. The beautiful bride thought that was the best thing ever.
The next weekend, I was in by best friend's wedding. It was fun, but nothing crazy happened at the reception. After the reception, a pile of the wedding party and a few guests went to the Old Port (in Portland) to go to the bars - all in their wedding gear and formal-wear. Apparently, the Food Network was filming the finale to the Food Truck Race right there! So the newlyweds went over, ordered food and they were interviewed! I can't wait to hear if they will actually make it to the final show:)
At the end of July, I did my usual volunteering in running the Beano Tent for Casco Days. Lots of hard work, running around, and stress for a good cause. The Casco Fireman's Association that sponsors the event and owns all of the equipment, based on a successful year, can buy new equipment for the fire department, put money towards scholarships, and help out local towns and groups with their monetary needs. I can never wait for the next Casco Days!
Well, I think this is it for now. Hopefully it won't take me 4 months to update again :)
Friday, April 27, 2012
Month's catch up!
Oh geez! I haven't posted in ages! Let me see if I can get caught up here on all that has happened in just over a month.
A few weeks ago, I bought some of that Philadelphia Milk Chocolate Indulgence. The product was on sale, and I had a $1.00 off coupon, so I figured that I would try it. The taste was o.k., chocolaty, but tasted too much like cream cheese. Of course, this is a cream cheese product, so what else should I expect. I tried it plain with a spoon, with chips, pretzels and pita chips. Not a big fan of it and would not buy it again. I was really hoping for more of a chocolate taste than a cream cheese taste to the item.
I am so excited! I have a baby shower coming up, and through Swagbucks, I have ordered some little baby things to give as gifts! One of the items is a White Hot Ducky Bath Toy that doubles as a thermometer to ensure that the bath water is not too hot for the baby. Very clever idea! I also ordered 2 - 2 packs of pacifiers through Swagbucks. One 2 pack had images of Minnie Mouse and the other 2 pack had Winnie The Pooh and Tigger. The Mother-To-Be is a HUGE Disney fan!
This past weekend, I was able to get some plants to transplant. I am not 100% what kind of plants they are, but the way that they were described to me, and the ones that were on the woman's property were very pretty. I am excited!
Last night, we tried to have a date night. I redeemed some credit card points to get a $25.00 LongHorn Steakhouse gift card. Also, because I joined their email club, I had a coupon for a free appetizer. We got to the South Portland LongHorn at about 6:30, and we were seated right away. We both got water for our drink and ordered Housemade Chips and Dip. The description on the product from their website says "Made fresh to order and seasoned with sea salt and black pepper. Served with creamy BBQ sauce." The BBQ sauce was very good, with a bit of a smoky after taste. The chips themselves were o.k. The amount served were just right for 2 people, not any more than that. I ordered the Parmesan Crusted Chicken Sandwich. It was a chicken breast with Parmesan and Garlic cooked to a crust on the chicken, put on a bun with some lettuce, tomato, red onion and pickles. It was good, but nothing exceptional. It retailed for $10.99, but it wasn't worth more than $7.99 or $8.99. My boyfriend got a burger that was $10.99 as well, but said that the burger was a bit on the pricey side for what it was. We were both too full for desert, but they had a sampler that had chocolate cake, an apple bake, and cheese cake and a chocolate sunday that both looked divine. Looking over the entire menu, everything could have come down an average of $5.00 and would have come in line with other chain restaurants in their same "genre" of restaurants. The atmosphere was really nice, but came down to a very nice chain restaurant. The wait-staff was quick, and several people ensured that we received our food promptly, but none of this in our opinion could validate the prices. We were glad that I had the coupon and the gift card, because you would need to be rich to eat here and pay for more than one person at a time!
After we ate, we managed to half haphazardly find out way from the South Portland LongHorn to the Portland BJ's Wholesale Club. In the mail, I received a coupon for a free 60 day trial of BJ's. We figured that we could take a look around to see what type of products they had and to see if there would be enough of a savings to warrant paying for a membership, planning on buying large quantities, storing the large quantities in my small house etc... After looking around, we both agreed that there were some things that were good deals, like Spaghetti-O's (which I love to eat!), but there are two in Maine - Auburn and Portland. Both a good 30-45 minute drive for us. We figured that any savings that we would have would be eaten up by the gas and time it took to go. Even the gas was not a savings. Yesterday's membership gas price in Portland was $3.81, and in Oxford, where I work, gas was $3.80 - $.01 cheaper than BJ's! So we might use the free membership while it lasts, but it does not look like we are going to be paying the $50/year for the basic membership for that one!
Well, I think this will do it for now.
A few weeks ago, I bought some of that Philadelphia Milk Chocolate Indulgence. The product was on sale, and I had a $1.00 off coupon, so I figured that I would try it. The taste was o.k., chocolaty, but tasted too much like cream cheese. Of course, this is a cream cheese product, so what else should I expect. I tried it plain with a spoon, with chips, pretzels and pita chips. Not a big fan of it and would not buy it again. I was really hoping for more of a chocolate taste than a cream cheese taste to the item.
I am so excited! I have a baby shower coming up, and through Swagbucks, I have ordered some little baby things to give as gifts! One of the items is a White Hot Ducky Bath Toy that doubles as a thermometer to ensure that the bath water is not too hot for the baby. Very clever idea! I also ordered 2 - 2 packs of pacifiers through Swagbucks. One 2 pack had images of Minnie Mouse and the other 2 pack had Winnie The Pooh and Tigger. The Mother-To-Be is a HUGE Disney fan!
This past weekend, I was able to get some plants to transplant. I am not 100% what kind of plants they are, but the way that they were described to me, and the ones that were on the woman's property were very pretty. I am excited!
Last night, we tried to have a date night. I redeemed some credit card points to get a $25.00 LongHorn Steakhouse gift card. Also, because I joined their email club, I had a coupon for a free appetizer. We got to the South Portland LongHorn at about 6:30, and we were seated right away. We both got water for our drink and ordered Housemade Chips and Dip. The description on the product from their website says "Made fresh to order and seasoned with sea salt and black pepper. Served with creamy BBQ sauce." The BBQ sauce was very good, with a bit of a smoky after taste. The chips themselves were o.k. The amount served were just right for 2 people, not any more than that. I ordered the Parmesan Crusted Chicken Sandwich. It was a chicken breast with Parmesan and Garlic cooked to a crust on the chicken, put on a bun with some lettuce, tomato, red onion and pickles. It was good, but nothing exceptional. It retailed for $10.99, but it wasn't worth more than $7.99 or $8.99. My boyfriend got a burger that was $10.99 as well, but said that the burger was a bit on the pricey side for what it was. We were both too full for desert, but they had a sampler that had chocolate cake, an apple bake, and cheese cake and a chocolate sunday that both looked divine. Looking over the entire menu, everything could have come down an average of $5.00 and would have come in line with other chain restaurants in their same "genre" of restaurants. The atmosphere was really nice, but came down to a very nice chain restaurant. The wait-staff was quick, and several people ensured that we received our food promptly, but none of this in our opinion could validate the prices. We were glad that I had the coupon and the gift card, because you would need to be rich to eat here and pay for more than one person at a time!
After we ate, we managed to half haphazardly find out way from the South Portland LongHorn to the Portland BJ's Wholesale Club. In the mail, I received a coupon for a free 60 day trial of BJ's. We figured that we could take a look around to see what type of products they had and to see if there would be enough of a savings to warrant paying for a membership, planning on buying large quantities, storing the large quantities in my small house etc... After looking around, we both agreed that there were some things that were good deals, like Spaghetti-O's (which I love to eat!), but there are two in Maine - Auburn and Portland. Both a good 30-45 minute drive for us. We figured that any savings that we would have would be eaten up by the gas and time it took to go. Even the gas was not a savings. Yesterday's membership gas price in Portland was $3.81, and in Oxford, where I work, gas was $3.80 - $.01 cheaper than BJ's! So we might use the free membership while it lasts, but it does not look like we are going to be paying the $50/year for the basic membership for that one!
Well, I think this will do it for now.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Free items/cupons website
I just went to Freeflys.com and found a pile of free samples. I requested a pile of samples, and once I get them in the mail, I will review them :)
Monday, March 12, 2012
New items to try at the store!
So this past week grocery shopping at Shaws in North Windham, I picked up a few new items to try. They were on sale and I had a coupon, which made them the right price to try.
The first item was the Kraft MilkBites. They were $2.99 plus a $1.00 off coupon off 1 box of 5. I had two coupons, so I bought their chocolate granola bars and their peanut butter bars. The chocolate granola bars were for me and the peanut butter ones for my boyfriend. The peanut butter ones were gone in about 2.5 days, and my boyfriend keeps threatening to finish off my chocolate granola bars. The chocolate bars taste like an incredibly creamy granola bar. I'm not usually a fan of granola bars because they can be dry or chewy, but these were creamy and delicious!! These, for the right price, and I definitely want to try the strawberry ones next.
The next two items that I bought were two different flavors of the Kraft Fresh Take. Again, these have a regular retail of $2.99 and I had two $1 off 1 package coupons. Friday night we tried the Cheddar Jack and Bacon Fresh Take. This tasted very good. I covered chicken in the cheese and bacon mix. (FYI, follow the instructions on this one - I didn't and realized that the chicken would have been better covered if I had followed the actual instructions before hand). I put the chicken in a Pampered Chef stone ware dish, then covered the chicken in the remainder of the cheese and bacon. The package said that it would cover 6 pieces of chicken, I only used 2 large ones because I am only cooking for 2. The cheese and bacon turned nice and crispy, and the smell was wonderful.
The other Kraft Fresh Take that we tried was the Italian Parmesan. I loved this one better than the Cheddar Jack and Bacon package, and I loved that one! This time, I cut up about 1 pound of chicken into strips, and actually followed the directions on how to coat the chicken in the mixture. I then put the chicken in the Pampered Chef stone ware dish, and put the little bit of remaining cheese mix spread out on top of the chicken. This was delicious! There was no flavor that was too over powering - the bread crumbs, seasoning and cheese complimented themselves quite well.
Now, after saying all of those great things about the Fresh Take products, after buying the chicken, I would not pay much more that the $1.99 that I did for it. We spoke about making this from "scratch". If that is less expensive, then we will definitely be going in that direction with the store brand products. The Fresh Take packages also said that it would work with fish or pork chops, so that might be nice for variety.
The last item that I picked up was some Kraft Belvita Blueberry Breakfast Biscuits. I had a free sample of this at work, and it's a good thing I did. After trying a bite, I was shown the package and asked if I would pick that up off the shelf to buy. I replied with a "no" because the package made it look like a health food which to me says that the item would taste like cardboard. The blueberry tastes quite good. While shopping at Shaws, I walked passed a display with them on sale for $2.99 (regular retail $3.49) with a stack of $1.00 off coupons off 1 box. Each box has five individually wrapped packages, each package is one serving which is 4 biscuits. I would have purchased the package for $2.99, not a penny more, but the $1.99 is even better. I had one package this morning for breakfast, and it is surprisingly filling! About the time that I start counting the minutes to lunch, I was still full. With this item, looks are definitely deceiving.
Oh, over the weekend, I went to to my Swagbucks account and found some cards that I liked, and for only 119 swagbucks ordered them! I can't wait for them to come in the mail! This is a good little minor set back to my goal of getting a FREE $50 Home Depot or Lowes gift card. I haven't made up my mind on which I would like yet though. At least I have some time to think!
Thanks again! :)
The first item was the Kraft MilkBites. They were $2.99 plus a $1.00 off coupon off 1 box of 5. I had two coupons, so I bought their chocolate granola bars and their peanut butter bars. The chocolate granola bars were for me and the peanut butter ones for my boyfriend. The peanut butter ones were gone in about 2.5 days, and my boyfriend keeps threatening to finish off my chocolate granola bars. The chocolate bars taste like an incredibly creamy granola bar. I'm not usually a fan of granola bars because they can be dry or chewy, but these were creamy and delicious!! These, for the right price, and I definitely want to try the strawberry ones next.
The next two items that I bought were two different flavors of the Kraft Fresh Take. Again, these have a regular retail of $2.99 and I had two $1 off 1 package coupons. Friday night we tried the Cheddar Jack and Bacon Fresh Take. This tasted very good. I covered chicken in the cheese and bacon mix. (FYI, follow the instructions on this one - I didn't and realized that the chicken would have been better covered if I had followed the actual instructions before hand). I put the chicken in a Pampered Chef stone ware dish, then covered the chicken in the remainder of the cheese and bacon. The package said that it would cover 6 pieces of chicken, I only used 2 large ones because I am only cooking for 2. The cheese and bacon turned nice and crispy, and the smell was wonderful.
The other Kraft Fresh Take that we tried was the Italian Parmesan. I loved this one better than the Cheddar Jack and Bacon package, and I loved that one! This time, I cut up about 1 pound of chicken into strips, and actually followed the directions on how to coat the chicken in the mixture. I then put the chicken in the Pampered Chef stone ware dish, and put the little bit of remaining cheese mix spread out on top of the chicken. This was delicious! There was no flavor that was too over powering - the bread crumbs, seasoning and cheese complimented themselves quite well.
Now, after saying all of those great things about the Fresh Take products, after buying the chicken, I would not pay much more that the $1.99 that I did for it. We spoke about making this from "scratch". If that is less expensive, then we will definitely be going in that direction with the store brand products. The Fresh Take packages also said that it would work with fish or pork chops, so that might be nice for variety.
The last item that I picked up was some Kraft Belvita Blueberry Breakfast Biscuits. I had a free sample of this at work, and it's a good thing I did. After trying a bite, I was shown the package and asked if I would pick that up off the shelf to buy. I replied with a "no" because the package made it look like a health food which to me says that the item would taste like cardboard. The blueberry tastes quite good. While shopping at Shaws, I walked passed a display with them on sale for $2.99 (regular retail $3.49) with a stack of $1.00 off coupons off 1 box. Each box has five individually wrapped packages, each package is one serving which is 4 biscuits. I would have purchased the package for $2.99, not a penny more, but the $1.99 is even better. I had one package this morning for breakfast, and it is surprisingly filling! About the time that I start counting the minutes to lunch, I was still full. With this item, looks are definitely deceiving.
Oh, over the weekend, I went to to my Swagbucks account and found some cards that I liked, and for only 119 swagbucks ordered them! I can't wait for them to come in the mail! This is a good little minor set back to my goal of getting a FREE $50 Home Depot or Lowes gift card. I haven't made up my mind on which I would like yet though. At least I have some time to think!
Thanks again! :)
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Last weekend & vacation plans
This past weekend was fun. Friday night my parents and I went "upta camp" in T3R4 Maine and met up with my Aunt and Uncle. We are lucky that my Grandmother bought a camp up there in the 1960's for us to all enjoy. We spent the weekend snowshoeing, ice fishing and sledding. There are camps up there available to rent from two different people - my aunt and uncle and from Frank and Ruth. One of the gentlemen that owns another camp up there gave me some homemade maple syrup! I can't wait to try it!
For my next vacation that I would like to plan, I want to go up to Rangeley for a few days then up to camp. My dad, uncle and one of their friends co-own a hunting camp in Rangeley. No running water, an out house, and a wood stove. Luckily there are plenty of things to do in Rangeley - hiking at Saddleback Ski Mountain, lakes to swim and fish, restaurants to eat at and tons of small stores to shop in! I want to take my boyfriend up there for maybe 2-3 days, then head over to Spring Lake.
At least the Spring Lake camp between May and October has running water and indoor plumbing. The Spring
Lake Association shuts off the spring fed water every fall when the threat of frost and freezing water becomes too great. Our Spring Lake camp has a propane fridge, stove/oven, hot water tank (only a 5 gallon tank though) and lights. It's like high-class living in the middle of no-where!
Well, tonight I've got to plan the weekly grocery shopping for the two of us. Luckily I won't have to worry about supper tonight - it's a annual Casco Days planning dinner meeting.
For my next vacation that I would like to plan, I want to go up to Rangeley for a few days then up to camp. My dad, uncle and one of their friends co-own a hunting camp in Rangeley. No running water, an out house, and a wood stove. Luckily there are plenty of things to do in Rangeley - hiking at Saddleback Ski Mountain, lakes to swim and fish, restaurants to eat at and tons of small stores to shop in! I want to take my boyfriend up there for maybe 2-3 days, then head over to Spring Lake.
At least the Spring Lake camp between May and October has running water and indoor plumbing. The Spring
Lake Association shuts off the spring fed water every fall when the threat of frost and freezing water becomes too great. Our Spring Lake camp has a propane fridge, stove/oven, hot water tank (only a 5 gallon tank though) and lights. It's like high-class living in the middle of no-where!
Well, tonight I've got to plan the weekly grocery shopping for the two of us. Luckily I won't have to worry about supper tonight - it's a annual Casco Days planning dinner meeting.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Cool Websites for free stuff!
I just came across this website called Points2Shop . The site looks promising - watch videos, take surveys and play games, get credit and earn prizes with the credit points!
This also seems to be very similar to SwagBucks. With this website, you can get credits for searching the web, games, video clips and much more. I've earned over 5,000 credits so far on this one, and just need a few more credits to get a $50 gift card to Lowes or Home Depot. I can't wait on this one because there are so many things I need for my house from these places.
One of my goals this summer is to get a garden started and some fruit trees. I am hoping that these will have minimal cost and lots of reward to help with the cost of food.
Can't wait to start finding more money saving tips...
This also seems to be very similar to SwagBucks. With this website, you can get credits for searching the web, games, video clips and much more. I've earned over 5,000 credits so far on this one, and just need a few more credits to get a $50 gift card to Lowes or Home Depot. I can't wait on this one because there are so many things I need for my house from these places.
One of my goals this summer is to get a garden started and some fruit trees. I am hoping that these will have minimal cost and lots of reward to help with the cost of food.
Can't wait to start finding more money saving tips...
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