Shopping with E-Mealz

On Sunday, my youngest daughter and I went shopping at Walmart with our E-Mealz list in hand which I must say is awfully convenient. We altered it a bit because this week is yet another busy week and we will only be eating from the plan three times during the week if we are lucky. I already had some meat thawed out for dinner for the weekend, but we didn't use it because we had people over Sat for a steak and crab feed and then on Sunday we had leftovers. Who wouldn't love leftovers from a crab boil and grilled steaks instead of ground venison?

Anyway, we headed to our local Walmart Sunday afternoon after my daughter cleaned her dad's office. We had to get a few things other than the things on our short list so I don't know what the final total was on the food end of the bill. Plus, I found a few things I didn't need in the scrapbooking aisle. They had some adhesive on clearance and who doesn't need adhesive, right? The cool thing I bought though was a Fiskar's craft knife. I needed a new x-acto knife, but hadn't purchased one yet. I got the one above for $3! I've always wanted this knife, but couldn't justify it. Now I own it and I am very excited to use it. So much for saving money with my E-Mealz plan.

School's Out for the Summer so Let's Live

School is out for me. Yay! My youngest daughter still has a month to go, but my older daughters are out too. In fact, my middle daughter is on her way home from San Francisco. She drove down with a college friend and is flying back tonight so she can start her summer job tomorrow. My oldest daughter graduated from Whitworth University a week ago, flew to Oregon for training and starts her new job tomorrow. It has been a crazy month, but now I am back and hopefully I will have some time to craft.

Trying to create a little more time in our lives this summer and hoping to take a little stress out of my life, I bought a membership to a cool meal planning resource that I learned about from Becky Higgins and Stacy Julian. It is called E-Mealz. They have several meal plans to choose from including a portion control plan that figures in Weight Watcher's points. You can even choose which stores from which you wish to shop. I chose the Walmart plan for right now. E-mealz is even recommended by Dave Ramsey. It is pretty inexpensive. It was $15 for 3 months. In my opinion that is very affordable plus our weekly dinner bill is suppose to be around $75 a week if I am feeding a family of 6. Hopefully mine will be a little lower since I typically feed around 4 people or less and I have a freezer full of meat so I shouldn't have to buy much. The best part, it should also free up some money for scrapbook, crafting and decorating! Yay!

Photos Create Memories

Wow, it has been a few weeks since I posted. I was on spring break so my blog was as well. It was a wonderful spring break this year although I should just call it a break since it didn't feel too much like spring to me.

My trip started off on a sad note, but got better and better. My cousin died of a brain tumor on my birthday so I went to Pendleton, Oregon with my Mom and Dad. He was only a few years older than I am so it was rather difficult to face. It was also rather quick between his diagnosis and our loss. It was great to see family though. Unfortunately it reminded me that we see way too little of one another. It also reminded me of the importance of photos and the emotion photos evoke in us. When we lose someone all we have left is memories and one of the ways we can preserve those memories is through photographs. My older cousin and I were talking about our grandfather and what we remembered about our grandfather who died when I was ten and he was about fourteen. One of the things we remembered was a rare Christmas we spent together as a family at our grandparent's home. As we talked about it, the one thing we both remember clearly is a photo that was taken of our grandfather in his chair with a package on his lap. I don't know that we really remember the Christmas although we both knew that it was rare and important so much as we remember it because of the photo. The photo sparks the memories. It just goes to show how important photos are to our memories. What is also odd about the funeral is that I didn't cry when I found out my cousin had died. I didn't cry when I saw my uncle. I didn't even cry when my cousin's daughter played "Amazing Grace" which always gets me. I totally lost control of my emotions when they played the photo slide show. I looked up and saw the cousin I remember; a photo of him when he was probably between ten and twelve sporting his impish grin. That is when I lost control and cried and missed him.

Rest in peace Gregory Mabbott. You will be missed.

The message today: Take more photos!

When disaster strikes, go shopping

So this past week, I have been doing a little retail therapy to replace the paper I lost during my art studio flood. I've spent a little bit too much money on paper I plan to use, but may just become my stash. Fortunately, there have been a few sales at my local JoAnn's as well as Michael's which I have to rely on because we don't have a LSS here on the north side of town anymore. In fact, I think there is only one place left in this big city of ours. We really have to rely on chains and big box stores for supplies or drive to the valley which is about a half hour away. I miss getting all of the new and latest and greatest and settling for what the chains have in stock. My old LSS owner used to go to CHA and buy the coolest paper. That store was truly current. I could order online, but there is just something about browsing and touching paper that is just so exciting to me. Even though I had to settle for chain choices this week, I was able to find a few cute things that I didn't have in my currently inventory. Here is one of my favorite pieces I bought from Cloud 9 Designs. This is Cinnamon Stick, but I also bought Chocolate Mint. Both so cute! Glad I got it because it looks like it is unavailable online. Maybe there is an up side to a chain store with old stock.

What did you buy with your Michael's coupon?

A little more retail therapy here! Last weekend, I went to Michael's with my coupon in hand to buy something. What? I was clueless but I had a coupon that I just thought I had to use. After all, it was my birthday so I deserved a little gift right? Not that I needed anything mind you, but I wanted something new. Well, I wandered the store. Up and down the aisles. I wanted a Martha Stewart scoring board, but my coupon said no Martha Stewart products. I thought, hmmm what big ticket item could I buy. After all, it is my birthday on the 11th. I deserve something fun! Of course, no Cricut items included. So I headed to the cutter aisle thinking I might enjoy a new cutter for the cabin. Sure enough, I found this cool cutter that I wanted. Just then I looked up and saw that it was already 40% off. So I took it off the hook and handed my coupon to the lady next to me. Thing is, I like it so much that I may have to go back for another because I want this one for home. I love the pre-marked measurements. The only drawback it that it doesn't fit in my 12x12 plastic boxes which I use for hauling projects. Maybe I will just save my money.

Cute St Patty's Day Idea from Obsessed with Scrapbooking

I saw this cute St Patrick's Day card at Obsessed with Scrapbooking using the Heirloom Imagine Cartridge and Give a Hoot from ProvoCraft. I find the cutest things on that blog. It just makes my brain start swimming. One of my favorite parts of this card is that the inside has, "Have a Sham-rockin' Day" in it. Too Cute!

I don't have an Imagine nor do I have Give a Hoot, but I do have a Cricut and a Gypsy with 20 or so carts which made me think about how I would do this card using my Cricut, my Gypsy and patterned paper. I have even gone so far as starting the LO on my Gypsy on my way up to the mountain.

Cute Cute! Maybe I will even get a couple of these done for my daughters who are going to college before St. Patty's Day 2011. Or, not since for me the designing is often more fun that the actual creating part and my Art Studio is still buried. Stay tuned and find out if my design gets off my Gypsy and onto my Cricut!