Pomegranates

Look what we've peeped hanging over the fence in our backyard - gifts from our neighbor!  Have you any ideas what to do with pomegranates?  We need recipe ideas!  We look forward to reading your suggestions in the comments section.

Thanks!

A little here, a little there, a lot of savings everywhere!

The couponing adventures have continued.  I think I'm finally getting the hang of this.  After missing out on my KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce for $.50 after coupon at Target a few weeks back, I thought I'd skeet skirt on out early last week.  

Last Monday's rendezvous started at Walgreens:

Four 12 oz bags of M&Ms for $.75 ea!  The stinky thing is that I now have $5 in Register Rewards (like cash) that I must spend before a certain date.  In my opinion these are a PIA to use but we’ll be needing drugs here pretty soon for my Lindsay so that will definitely come in handy. 

Here’s how:

Courtesy of MyFrugalAdventures:

M&Ms Candy 4/$10

Get $5 Register Reward
Use  $1/2 Mars Bags Of M&M’s or Dove Chocolate, 7 Varieties, exp. 10/31/11 (RP 08/28/11)

Final Price: as low as $.50 per bag after coupons and RR 

My next stop was Safeway for CheezIts!

These were on sale for $1.49 with a Safeway coupon and Club card.  Because I earned a $3 catalina (Safeway cash) from my Gain purchase, this little purchase cost me $1.47 for three boxes! 

But wait, it gets better…

My third and final stop was Target.  This time I went straight back to see if they had perhaps restocked the BBQ sauce..  The heavens must have opened because ONE bottle had dropped from the sky, calling MY name!  I had two coupons but I guess one bottle is better than nothing, right?  Whatever.

Upon check out, I had

One bottle of KC Masterpiece

One 32 oz jar of Mt. Olive pickle relish

Three boxes of Zatarian rice

TOTAL: $3.53
  

BUT because of a balance from the Target gift card I had received from a prior purchase of razors, my total out of pocket for this trip was $1.43!

What a rush!

21 weeks pregnant

Here's a picture of Mama Turner at 21 weeks- posing in front of the very bright green wall we painted in the baby's room.  We're still debating whether or not we will keep this exact color- we may tone it down a bit :) 

I LOVE being pregnant- I'm feeling her kick and squirm more and more.  One of my favorite things is laying in bed at night (when she is most active) and asking John to feel my belly.  Even though John feels his own heartbeat through his hand more than anything else, that doesn't stop me from asking him to try!  There is something so special when I feel my husband's hand on my skin- just a thin layer away from the beautiful child we made with love :) 

 

Some of my baby MacFarland's favorite things to eat are:

• Chocolate Milk (or Hot Chocolate.... yes, I know it's summer, but we don't care!)
• Bagels & Cream Cheese
• Eggo waffles with Aunt Jemima syrup
• Tilamook Yogurt- any variety
• Squash & Zucchini & Broccoli

 So much to get ready for baby's arrival!  Next up: Kitchen remodel, projects around the house to finish, and a nursery to design!

20 weeks pregnant- we found out it's a .....

We had our 20-week ultrasound and our little gummy bear revealed itself... 

After seeing our baby girl on the ultrasound, we felt a burst of excitement and we have a renewed energy to get things done! Looks like we'll be painting and getting started on the nursery pretty soon...

John's co-workers were so excited that they decked-out his cubicle in pink "It's a girl!" things.
Wasn't that sweet!?!

Thank heavens for little girls!

A little bit of heaven

Drifted down from above-

A handful of happiness,

A heartful of love.

The mystery of life,

So sacred and sweet-

The giver of joy

So deep and complete.

Precious and priceless,

So lovable, too

The world's sweetest miracle,

Baby girl, is you.

Roses and Berries

Not much has been happening with the manor lately. Lindsay continues to stay pretty busy working her jobs and growing gummy bear. I sit at home in contemplation of the long list of things that we'd like to get done, some sooner than later, and feel somewhat overwhelmed. Remember when we were at Paiute Place and most of our really big projects were completed? Ahhh, those were the days!  Why is it that I'm always so motivated to get things done on the house while I'm sitting at my desk at work?  That motivation tends to die down by the time Ava the Avalon gets me home.  I'm not too concerned.  It just takes a few great kitchen remodel DIY shows and I'm revved up again.  Perhaps I should start watching those sooner than later...

Meanwhile, the backyard has been taking on a life of its own. From wild and crazy blackberry bushes to random rose bushes to weeds and shiz everywhere else, it's a jungle out there!  Let us not forget the wildlife of all kinds roaming the grounds, including skunks.  What is it about the Heights that attracts the skunks?!

Here are some samples of the rose bushes from a few months ago randomly grouped on the side of the house...because that's a good place for rose bushes! I'm not quite sure what the thought process was when these were planted on the side of the house (aka the RV access).

"Painting the roses red..." (Click image to make larger)

The wild and cRaZy blackberry bushes are yielding some fabulous berries. I reckon we won't keep ALL of the bush being that it takes up quite a bit of space so we're going to enjoy the berries while they are in abundance. I've found two recipes (thanks to our beloved Food Network Magazine and a fellow blogger) to make with berries so far.   Have berry recipes you'd like to share?  Please do!

15 weeks Pregnant

15 Weeks

So proud of my little belly at this point! I'm sporting my "belly band" (thanks, Mom!) since I couldn't zip up my skirt all the way in this photo.

Being pregnant is great-

• My boobs are getting bigger :)
• I get to go shopping for new clothes
• Libido sky rockets!!!!
• Nausea is gone
• My hair and nails are growing like crazy
• I'm surfing the web daily looking at the cutest baby things

The only not-so-good part:

• I get tired easily
• All this fun costs money!

We find out in a week or so if it's a boy or girl.  An 18-week pic is coming soon!

Extreme Couponing: Turner Edition

I've been on a coupon kick since the beginning of the year. Between Extreme Couponing on TLC and a local coupon group, I've been intrigued by the bargains to be had.  Nothing like the extreme couponers spotlighted on the show because our stores won't double coupons.  While being in California puts us at a serious disadvantage, there are still deals to be had!  It's really the thrill of it all.  Plus, who wants to pay real money for poopoo things like razors and Ziplocs?!

My latest achievement was at Target today. I LOVE Target!!!  This is probably one of my biggest triumphs with couponing to date! Take a look:

Four boxes of ZipLocs

Four pkgs of four Shick Quattro razors

Two Oral B floss

One container of TicTacs

One pkg Zantac 150

The purchase of the razors yielded two $5 gift cards, bringing down my net total to 

$12.95

Of course, because Target is going through some mad clearance thing right now, I found a few extra items that I considered to be bargains:  

One pkg of mayo/mustard/ketchup

One MadGab card game

I'd still consider myself a novice at this stuff.  Being at that register with my book of coups, fingers crossed hoping that the plan works as described on various other coupon blogs, can be a tad stressful.  However, the worst thing that could happen is that they won't honor the deal and I walk away!  No money lost.  

While I'm still a novice, I met someone in the ZipLoc aisle in Target today.  I had been there trying to decide whether my ZipLoc bag purchase was a real deal or not.  FYI - it was a GREAT deal on ZipLoc brand sandwich and snack size bags, perhaps even the gallon size.  Target brand bags were the same price.    With the coupons, ZipLocs were actually cheaper, so why not.  However, the freezer bags weren't such a deal.  I had to check myself as I placed those freezer bags in the cart and then removed them.  It's definitely a better deal to buy Target brand freezer bags than Ziploc bags unless there's a really terrific sale, FYI.  Anywho, so I see this woman with her binder of coups and she's flipping through them.  I thought she would be able to assist me with her coupon knowledge.  WRONG!  She can't print coupons from the internet!!!  HELLO!!  That's where half the deals are!  I didn't feel like such a novice after all.  Girl looked like she walked the walk but in the end, she wasn't worth much to my coupon experience.  Good luck to her!  I proceeded with my project.

What are your favorite coupon blogs?  What's your most exciting coupon adventure?  

Dontcha just love Target?

What do you get when a boy and a girl LOVE each other???

Baby Turner arrives in January 2012!

For now, we refer to our bundle of joy as our "Gummy Bear" or "Little MacFarland"... and we can't wait to find out if it's a cute little boy or girl that will join our family... one thing we do know for sure, he or she WILL BE cute! :)

Lindsay is nearly done with her first trimester- she experienced a couple weeks of nausea and all the glorious (not!) side effects- but she is feeling better each passing day as she makes sure to schedule in enough rest in her busy schedule.

The doctor said our little Gummy Bear has a strong, healthy heartbeat.  We're one proud mommy and one proud daddy and we are excited to share this joy with all of you!

What do you think?  BOY or GIRL?

Check back to the blog to join us in the journey and watch Lindsay GROW :)

XOXO