Quick and Quirky Conversation Snippets

So, I thought this might add a little funny-haha comedy to the blog to include some of the random that goes on in this house. I was inspired by a tiny exchange with Tim earlier after we returned home from a movie.

Me: Hey, what do you want to do tonight?
Tim: I don't know.
Me: I just want to hang out with you, let's hang out! What are we going to eat?
Tim: I don't know. I just want to sleep.
Me: I don't want to sleep! I want to do something, and eat!
Tim: I'm not like you, I didn't get to sleep the entire car ride home from Marietta...(pause)...I only got to sleep for a few minutes on the car ride home.
Me: *blank stare followed by rolling off the bed in laughter*

Yeeeeeah. Corny, but funny for us. :)

The Art of Couponing: Back into Super Saving Action

You haven't seen me post one of these in a while, mostly because I've seriously been so busy we haven't even really been shopping. My mom has been taking on more of the feeding responsibilities because my niece and nephew are still around. But, since the online class is now over I decided to put my little coupons back into action. Note: I've still been clipping, just haven't been using.

So let me share some of the highlights from tonight's shopping trip.

@CVS:

Tonight's Out of Pocket cost was: $3.73

Yes. You read that right. I paid $3.73 for 2 Oral B toothbrushes, Tampax Pearl Tampons (get over yourself squeamish boys) and chocolate! PLUS: I earned $4 Extra Care Bucks. That's like a profit of 27 cents ha!

How I did it? Well, I had $3 ECB to use by 7/6 or else they expire, I used a B1G1 Oral B toothbrush coupon, I got a free chocolate coupon just by stopping at the coupon printer in store, I used a $1off Tampax Pearl, and the Toothbrushes+ Tampons had ECB deals. All in all a savings of 78%.

@Publix

All this can be yours for the price of $9.74

Above you see: Ritz crackerfuls, French's mustard, Viva paper towels, Mueller's pasta, 2 rolls of Reynold's non-stick wrap, Mahatma rice, Playtex tampons, and Breakstone's sour cream blends! All for under $10. The grand savings total was 64% off.

Let me go over a couple of the big deals:

Reynolds non-stick wrap, regular $4.39

On sale B1G1 so it's $2.19

Used a .75 off coupon to pay $1.44 a roll; that is a savings of 67% Not too bad. You can ALWAYS use this stuff.

Viva Big Roll paper towels, regular $3.00

On sale B1G1 so it's $1.50

Used a .50 coupon that DOUBLES to $1.00 off at Publix to pay .50 for one roll; that is a savings of 83%

Mueller's Pasta, regular $1.45

On sale B1G1 so it is .72

Used a .55 cent off coupon to pay .17; that is a savings of 88%

Please tell me I have persuaded some of you by now :)

Some of the best sites to help you are:
Southern Savers
Coupons Make it Free
20 Something Saver

Eleven in 11: Evaluating May

Where is this year going so quickly? Each day seems to zoom by! May was an incredibly busy month for us and I hardly had time to blog. But, let's see how we did.

The breakdown:
1. Volunteer opportunity- Check! I am now an advocate. I am also interested in volunteering for the libraries in town. A dear friend of mine is a librarian and I know he busts his for his patrons. I'm a little saddened by what I've read recently about the funding for the libraries in town, so my philosophy is to always be part of the solution, and not just someone who complains. We'll see.
2. The weight loss one- Ugggg. I have hit a plateau, however, I'm not gaining. Which is good. I'm maintaining the net loss of 33 lbs. Part of the problem is that I'm no longer tracking points as strictly. But, also, I've slacked up on the gym. We have a good incentive though for me to press on and finish my ultimate goal. This fall we are going to NY for a family member's engagement party! 
3. Plan and take honeymoon- We went to Amelia Island. Collectively, Tim and I decided that we simply didn't ever have a honeymoon. While the trip was a FABULOUS trip, it just wan't a honeymoon. We missed the boat 3 years ago, and it isn't something you can just have 3 years late. It's ok though, we still loved vacationing! You can see our recent trip photos from here and here.
4. Trying four new recipes- I think we managed to do it this time:

• Parmesan Parsley Chicken
• Roasted Red Ranch Potatoes
• Cube Steak Rollups
• and another roasted red potatoes recipe, only this time tried a French Onion mix

5. Blog three times a week- Only had 12 posts, but again...we were kind of swamped.

6. Student loan- Check!

7. Savings!- Check! 

8. Read 52 books- I bought another book, this time Chelsea Handler's newest release...but I've still only made it through the introduction...

9. Facebook birthdays- I really am reconnecting with some folks because of this!

10. Visit 12 new restaurants- Koreana was soooo yum! I highly recommend!

11. Etsy- I think I'm going to use Fridays as a crafting day. Did I mention I now work 4 days a week? Yay! 10 hours is a little rough M-Th...but having 3 day weekends is a blast!

I hope many of you are getting to take some time off this summer to do fun things. I want to go to six flags at least once. Any takers?

The Art of Couponing: Hang in there

I just wanted to post a quick blog update while I wait on dinner :) Tim and I just got back from Publix and it was a pretty successful trip. There are several good sales going on. I just wish we had gone sooner because some things were sold out.

Side note: If you haven't checked it out yet, you need to go to iheartpublix. Great blog about couponing at Publix.

Anyways, I titled this post "Hang in there" because I want you to know that it may seem totally worthless in the beginning, but HANG IN THERE! The more you clip, and the more practice you get at stacking and planning, the better savings you are going to have. I've been doing this right at a month now and my first visits were 19%, 21% and 28%. Tonight, I reached a 32% discount at Publix. It may not sound like much, but it was $38.11 off! And, we got materials to make AT LEAST 8 meals over the next week, have plenty of leftovers, lunches and we bought snackage (because we love to eat).

I thought I'd also spotlight a few good deals & example of stacking:

Example 1: Sargento Shredded Cheese [Pepperjack]
Publix Sale- $2.00 + $1.50 off coupon for Sargento Shredded Pepperjack = 50 cents
Since the cheese is regularly $3.19 that's a savings of almost 85%

Example 2: Crest Toothpaste [I bought the one that has coupons inside!]
Publix Sale- 2 for 2.99 (B1G1) + $1 off Publix coupon = 1.99 for 2 6.4 oz sized toothpastes
Since the stuff is regularly $2.99 each, this was a savings of 67%

Example 3: Sun Chips
Publix Sale- $3.00 + $1 off Publix coupon = $2.00
Since the chips are regularly $3.79, this was s savings of almost 47%

I also cannot promote these enough but check out Jaclyn's blog & SouthernSavers They both give me great ideas.

Three Years Married, But Over a Decade of Friendship

Tim and I three years ago today!

Tim and I last night at CODE RED.

It is crazy to think we've been married for three years. It feels like only yesterday we were in grad/law school at rival SEC schools. It feels even more bizarre to think about the near seven years of dating (yes, if you're new to the Kelly and Tim show we met way back in high school). But, here we are. There have been ups, downs, good times, bad times, crazy times, crazy fun times, tragedies and celebrations. I look forward to the next three years, and the next three and the next three and so on...I'm still hoping that we can eventually take that honeymoon though...*cough* Anyhow...on to the fun part!

The gift for a three-year anniversary is supposed to be leather...so check out what I got Tim:

Tim opening up the leather zip-padfolio I got him. It was also engraved with his name!

Tim got me a new handbag. Scooby wanted to check it out too.

Happy Holidays (a little late)

Sorry again for the lack of posting. We have been busy with the holiday season visiting around, shopping and relaxing. I thought I would catch everyone up with a photo update. Enjoy!

Before Christmas, we went to Fantasy in Lights at Callaway.

Toy Solider

Teddy Bear

Tim and I on the Jolly Trolley

IDK what happened but it looks super cool...

Whhhhirrrrr

Snowflakes

Poinsettias

Swans!

My favorite.

Mmmmmm Gingerbread!

The next night was Christmas Eve. I made dinner for my family. I'll make a separate post with the recipe for the Garlic Knots, but it was Baked Ziti with Garlic Knots and salad.

The next morning was Christmas! Wooo! The cats had a lot of fun.

Elliot vegged out by the fridge

Elliot opening her toys from Nana and Papa

Scooby being the present devil

Laser cat Jackson

We also visited Tim's family after Christmas for a few days. All around it was a great break and now we are looking forward to 2011. More on that soon :)

Dinner at Our House: Rosemary Chicken Pasta

So tonight I cooked again. It went muuuuuuch better than last night. I made Rosemary Chicken Pasta and it is soooo easy to make and actually pretty good for you. I enlisted some help from Tim and the whole dish took less than 30 minutes to pull off (including prep time). It was also nice to get some verbal feedback from my dad when he said "You know, you could do this every night."

This is my plate. It was soooo yum.

If you're interested in the recipe I'll post it below. It came from a great website called http://www.lowfatlifestyle.com
Ingredients
 8 ounces uncooked penne, ziti or other pasta
 1 clove garlic, minced
 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips
 16 - 18 asparagus spears, sliced thin (fresh or frozen)
 3/4 cup fat free chicken broth
 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
 2 tablespoons reduced fat Parmesan cheese
 salt and pepper to taste
Directions

1. Prepare pasta according to package direction; drain.
2. Heat 1/4 cup broth in a deep non stick skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and rosemary and cook 15 seconds. Add chicken and cook, tossing well, until lightly browned, about 3 minutes.
3. Add asparagus*, remaining chicken broth, parsley and pasta to skillet. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, until liquid has reduced enough to lightly cover pasta.
4. Sprinkle with reduced fat Parmesan, salt and pepper and toss. Serve immediately.
5. *If using frozen asparagus, make sure to thaw and drain before slicing. If using fresh, make sure to snap bottom portion that is rough off before rinsing and slicing.

Per Serving: 494 Calories

4g Fat (7% calories from fat)
66g Protein
45g Carbohydrate
4g Dietary Fiber
139mg Cholesterol
295mg Sodium

Date Night Movie Review: Easy A

Today around lunch I (Kelly) got a text from Tim that said "date night?" Of course! So after I got done at work we decided to do dinner and a movie. What's more fun than date night? Double date night with another married couple (other than my parents- because let's face it, almost every night seems like a double date night with the parents...). We made plans to meet for a showing of the new flick Easy A with newlyweds Mel + Chris. I have to say that the movie exceeded all of our expectations.

I went into it thinking, oh it's another Superbad or Knocked Up type movie. I'll laugh at some good old fashioned overplayed adolescent jokes. But, it actually surprised me. I enjoyed the appropriate amount of John Hughes references, the literary references, and even the line about running out of things to talk about and sticking heads in the over (Plath anyone?). I really enjoyed the minor characters as much as the main ones. The parents were the best. The principal even better - "My job is to keep the girls off the poles and the boys off the pipes." I laughed the entire movie. I think at some points though Tim, Mel, Chris and I were the only ones laughing. We certainly were the only four left to watch the ends credits, mostly to see what music was featured in the movie (because there were some nice tracks to bob your head to).

Overall, it the movie was good. The company was good. Married life is good.