Expired coupons?! Oh my!!

Contribute to the needs of the holy ones, exercise hospitality. (Romans 12:13)

Coupons have been my passion for the past year. They have allowed me to provide for my family items for a fraction of the cost, often free. Not to mention, they have helped our family to become debt free. I am extremely serious about my coupons - just ask my husband! So, I don’t like to have coupons expire, but when I do I’m bent out of shape for two reasons. First, I’m annoyed because a money saving moment has slipped through my fingers. Second, I’m irked because there’s no one to blame but myself!

These expired coupons would normally be tossed into the trash, but I recently discovered a program that allows these expired coupons to have a 2nd life!

The Overseas Coupon Program was founded in 1992 and shares donated coupons with military families stationed abroad. Even expired coupons are accepted because the commissary will honor them for up to six months after the expiration date! US military families all over the world are seeking coupon donations to help them stretch their grocery budgets.

If you’re an individual who wants to make a difference, consider adopting a military base, collecting coupons, and sending them to fellow Americans serving our country overseas. For detailed information about the Overseas Coupon Program including locations of military bases accepting coupons and guidelines for submitting coupons, please click here.

What an easy and wonderful way to support the troops!

All You Magazine

I just bought my first issue of the ALL YOU magazine and I love it! For $1.77 (at Wal-Mart), I was able to get a little over $17 in coupons that we will use. That's a good return on money. I also purchased a magazine subscription through Great American Online for $24 for 18 issues of which $9.60 will go to my children's elementary school. It was a win win situation. I don't know why I had never heard of the magazine until recently. I am so glad that I have and will now enjoy those savings.

I had a good week in coupon shopping. I think I came in under the 50% mark on everything. That means that if I bought $100 worth of groceries, I really bought $200. Coupons are such a great way to save money. It seems that everything is just going up and up!

Time to go to bed now. I baked pizza for supper, then a pan of brownies for Nikolai (who rarely asks me cook him something special) and a pan full of sausage for our breakfast this coming week. I am not feeling well - a cold I suspect is coming on. It's time for me to head to bed!

Tornadoes

I felt a little like Dorothy today as our entire school was placed under a tornado warning. All the students were brought down to the first floor. They sat on the floor facing the wall. With a 1,000 students on the floor, it was eerily quiet. All you could hear was crying - there were a few hysterical students. I spent my time, since I had no students assigned to me, walking and comforting these poor students. It's hard to see high school boys (and girls) scared to death. I prayed for my own children in a near-by school. You feel so helpless when you don't know what is going on with them. The tornado was a few miles from our school traveling up I-85. This was about 2:00 PM.

The warning lasted for about an hour (?) and we were able to return to class. Upon our return, I sang songs from the Wizard of Oz to my class (sweet little 9th graders!) They had a good time and even joined in with me when they knew the words!! It did little to quieten their anxiety about their parents and this evening.

Parents were annoyed when the administrators would not release the students during the warning. What were the parents thinking? That it was safer on the highway with the tornado??? The parents in the office were asked to join the students on the floor in the hallway.

The tornado went by us, leaving us a downpour of rain. It did touch down in one my co-workers yard uprooting several trees and tearing up her fence. I hope we do not have a repeat of this event any time soon.

The beginning of 2nd grade

Tonight was "Watermelon Welcome" (Back to School) night at the boys' elementary school. I took a few pictures of them while we were there. It's hard to believe that they are in the 2nd grade already!!

This is Aaron, Deniska's "best buddy"! They did not end up in the same class this year. Both of them are sad about that!

Deniska's 2nd piece of watermelon. He and Nikolai both had 2 pieces, along with cookies!

Deniska and his teacher.

Nikolai and his teacher.

I saw Nikolai blush tonight for the very first time. When we walked in, we saw that Faith's seat is right next to him. He loves Faith and we were teasing him about her sitting next to him. He turned as red as his shirt! How sweet!!

While we were in Deniska's room, Haley came in and immediately ran to hug Deniska. He ran to his mama! Good boy!! Haley and Deniska are very good friends.

Yippie yi Ohhhhh

Howdy Ma'am!

"Yippie yi Ohhhhh

Yippie yi yaaaaay

Ghost Riders in the sky"

~Johnny Cash

My friend Bonita gave me these hats for the boys. Needless to say, they were mesmerized and became instant cowboys! Johnny Cash would be proud!!

Christmas in July

My friend Tammy sent me a Christmas in July box. I received it yesterday and wanted to share the wonderful contents with everyone. Please hop over to http://mycottagelife.blogspot.com/ to see the goodies.

I have been making my Christmas cards for this year. I'll post those later when I finish. Dennis wants to know why I don't just buy them or use the ones I already have. Both good questions! I don't have an answer other than I enjoy making the cards.

Other than that, life is pretty calm around here. The boys did not have a good day yesterday but are having a wonderful day today. Sometimes, one does not have a good day. Unfortunately, they both had bad days on the same day - poor mommy!!

We read on CNN this morning that Russia has declared war with Georgia. We are praying for both countries.

Someone's in the Kitchen...

..and it was me! I cooked 12-13 pounds of ground round this morning. Boiling Ground Beef is a great way to cook up 10 (or more) pounds of ground beef at a time, with no spatters to clean up - well not many anyway. I put the ground beef in a big stock pot and covered it with water. I did not add seasonings except for onions. That way I can season it later depending on the dish I am making.

After it was finished cooking, I drain it, washed it, and packaged it to freeze. I was able to freeze 12 packages and had enough left to make enchiladas today for lunch. The boys wanted hot dogs but I didn't want to make the chili after dealing with beef all morning. I have gotten so that when I cook meat, I don't particularly want to eat much of it right then.

It's been in the 100s for the past few days and we are under water restrictions. According to the weather channel, it is 96 right now but feels like 105 degrees. I really worry about the young and the elderly folks during this time. They are so vulnerable.

The boys go out in the morning and spend the afternoon inside playing. If they venture outside, it's not for very long. They are drinking lots of kool-aide (sweetened with Splenda.)

I go back to school tomorrow; so, this is my last day of summer vacation. It's been a good summer but I am ready to go back to work.