Busy Busy

Well it has been awhile since my last post but with good reason! Hubby and I welcomed our son E into the world in late late November and we've had our hands full since then.

Mom and I worked on refurbishing the baby bassinet that we purchased for little E. My contribution was zigzagging loose ends and sewing straight lines. Mom did the rest and amazed me by making everything only using the old covering as a pattern.

Mom also sewed some travel bags for little E - a bag for laundry and one for diapers. Also Mom sewed me some matching nursing pillowcases and a change pad mat. She is still working on the cadillac curtain - appliqued and hand quilted. Started out a Ford curtain - now a cadillac!

Here are some pics for your enjoyment!

London Drugs Shop!

Tonight I went to London Drugs for some shopping, stacking and price matching. My final bill was $57.18 ($24.74 of that was taxes). I saved $158.57 by using coupons.

Some of my best deals were:

6 Pantene Shampoo - $4.99 price matched to $3.78 - minus $22 in coupons = total cost $0.62 = $0.10 each!

2 Febreeze Luminaries - $17.99 - $15 coupons = $2.99

4 Febreeze Noticible Starter Kits - $6.99 - $6 coupons = $0.99 each

4 Old Spice Body Wash - Regular $4.69 Price Matched 2/$5 - $8 coupons = $1 each

5 Motrin $4.49 - $4.49 = Free!

2 Crest Mouth Wash - $3.49 - $2.00 coupons = $1.49

2 Downy Fabric Softner - $5.99 - $4.50 = $1.49

Many good deals this week!

Final Bounty from The Garden

On Friday, my mom and dad came over and helped my hubby clear up the garden. We pulled the carrots (planted some cool purple carrots), cucumbers, peppers and remaining tomatoes.

That's it for this year - a success!

Herb Drying - Success!

My mother-in-law shared a technique for drying herbs from the garden. You lay the herbs on a layer of paper towel on a cookie sheet in the oven (cover the herbs with another layer of paper towel) then leave them in the oven overnight with the oven light on. Don't turn on the heat - just leave them in with the light on and they will dry right out.

I left them in for two days (I washed my herbs first before drying them) but it worked out really good! I dried oregano, parsley, and thyme!

I was surprised it worked so well. Keeps the herbs from getting dusty hanging up in my kitchen!

More savings and stacking

I got a bunch of new coupons in the mail yesterday so I decided to take advantage of some of the sale prices in this weeks flyers.

Did some shopping and stacking at London Drugs - which resulted in serious savings - $87.40 to be exact!

Some highlights were:

2 Old Spice Men's Deodorant - free
Pampers Easy Ups - $14.99 - $12 coupons = $2.99
3 Shave Gel - $9 - $7 coupons = $2 works out to $0.66 each!
Pampers and Wipes - $17 - $12 = $5
Dawn dish detergent - $1.37 - $0.50 = $0.87
2 Febreeze Soy Candles - $20 - $16 coupons = $4 for 2 candles

Love those deals!

Crab Apple Jelly

My mom and I made a batch of crab apple jelly on the weekend. It looks so pretty - almost too good to eat!

My hubby loves this stuff - eats it on anything!

Shopping and Stacking at London Drugs

This past weekend my mom and I went shopping at London Drugs. What is unique about London Drugs is that they allow you to price match to competitors flyer prices. They also allow you to "stack" coupons. This means that you can use more than one coupon per item (as long as the coupon code is different). I got some really great deals! Especially on diapers which we will be needing very soon!

Some highlights of my good deals were:

- Two swiffer starter kits and two refills - regular price $35.50 - got them all for $11.50
- Tide $4.17
- Herbal Essences Shampoo $1.50 each
- Dawn dish detergent $0.85
- Shaving Cream $1 each
- Scrubbing Bubbles $1.10
- Ziploc bags $0.50
- Two packages of pampers diapers and two boxes of wipes - $7.98
- Motrin - free!

All in all my savings were over $200! Pretty amazing! You can hardly see my dad back there holding up the display!

Iraqi Bundles of Love - Sent

I managed to get two "bundles of love" together and mailed off. I stuffed the packages with two large pieces of material, several skeins of yarn, several pairs of knitting needles, ribbon, nylon web strapping, and a ziplock bag of notions - zippers, buttons, thread, sewing needles, ribbon, bias tape, elastic etc.

Check out the Iraqi Bundles Of Love blog - the man who started this project was hoping for 20-30 bundles. At this point, he has over 1921 bundles delivered. It's amazing how word can spread and people around the world find out about a project and want to support it.

Iraqi Bundles of Love

I found a link to the blog Iraqi Bundles of Love through another blog. An American Soldier in Iraq has sent out a call to quilters, knitters, crochets, and sewing enthusiasts to send a bundle to be given to local people in Iraq. Bundles can be made of yarn, fabric, tools (like scissors, thread, buttons, knitting needles etc) and are shipped to an address in the USA to be sent across for distribution.

The deadline for mailing packages is Sept 8th (Tuesday). If you are interested in participating, check out the blog (link above). You need to make a comment on one of his posts and he will mail you the mailing address. He has directions for how to pack the bundle, what to include and other FAQ's.

Sounds like a great idea to thin out my stash of yarn, needles and fabric and to help someone who would really use and appreciate my extra supplies. If you are interested, go check it out!

Summer of Fun!

ACDC! Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap!

Great seats! We were close enough to see them sweat!

Prince Fielder - swing and a miss! Great seats again, hubby!

Hubby and I went down to Wisconsin for a sports road trip - saw the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team play at Miller Field and went to Lambaugh Field to watch the Green Bay Packers kick butt on the Cleveland Browns.

Great seats Hubby!

Brother and I also went to see ACDC! Pretty cool concert!

Pies and canning

Canning raspberries - thank you mom in law for picking them all!

Mmmm...raspberries!

Canning raspberries (and peaches and cherries!)

Making pies! 2 Lemon meringue, one peach. Delicious!

Thank you card for my cousin. Love this stamp set.

My mom and I spent a day making pies and banana bread. We made two lemon pies and one peach pie.

I made the pie dough in my cuisinart and it worked so well. Took only a minute and mixed up really well.

I also spent some time at the lake stamping and making cards with my friends. Made about 20 cards and prepped elements for other cards. Very productive and enjoyable time in a beautiful setting.

September already!

Bread and butter pickles!

Enormous tomato!

Bounty of tomatoes!

Hubby with a horking huge zuchinni!

Wow - the summer flew by! September already! Hard to believe.

I've been pretty busy this summer. The garden has boomed and we're getting plenty of peppers, zuchinni, tomatoes and cucumbers out of it.

My mom and I did some canning and canned raspberries, peaches and cherries. I also froze saskatoons, blueberries and strawberries. Yum! We also made bread and butter pickles. I might pick up more pickling cucumbers at the farmer's market to make more.

The next project is pickled beets! Busy busy!

Flowers

I am very pleased with how my flowers have grown this summer. Here are some pics.

Mmmmm I love berries!

I picked up some strawberries and saskatoons last week. They were so delicious! No comparison to the strawberries you buy at the store.

How Does My Garden Grow...

The vegetables seem to like the spot I picked for the garden. Here are some updated pics on my garden. The fence is 5 feet tall so that gives you an idea how tall the plants are. I can't believe we got green peppers!

Grow Garden Grow

My neighbours lilacs - beautiful!

Tomatoes, cucumbers, beets and a few peppers.

Carrots.

Zuchinni, eggplants, and radishes.

Lettuce, radishes and a zuchinni.

We were away on the weekend and the amount of growth in our garden is staggering! The zuchinni had only 5 leaves on Thursday and are now about a foot across.

The lettuce and radishes are about ready to be picked!

Grow garden grow!

More pics of the garden decorations

All of the following were made by my crafty father-in-law!

This was made by drilling through a tea cup and saucer. Makes a dainty little birdbath!
Garden Fork with a spoon for a perch!

An old window frame - mounted with birdhouses!

This bench is large enough to seat two comfortably! (Or three if you are skinny)

A little bench - just perfect for a child to sit on - or some flowers!