Great Advice

We have been VERY fortunate and not been really sick at all since we have had kids, but I know one day it will happen. An amazing friend of ours from our VA Beach days, and mother of 10, posted some GREAT advice and tips for handling the flu and sickness at home....I am definitely going to get some extra plastic shower liners and I loved the idea of the buckets with trash bag liners!!!

Tips & Savings

I wanted to pass along this neat website I have seen on a couple of blogs lately and finally gave it a try. These past couple of months I have been "shopping" around for the best places to do grocery shopping. While sometimes, you just have to watch the deals and coupons and get the better price, I have found that Super Walmart usually either matches or beats those prices. I tried out the one near us in Poulsbo finally and the past two weeks have done all my grocery shopping there. I have been very impressed with their selections and produce and PRICES most of all. Then when I add in all my coupons it is even a bigger savings. I clip them out of the paper and lately been finding A LOT online. I look at my shopping list and then search online for specific coupons. For example I was going to buy some Uncle Ben's rice...went to their site and got a $2 coupon!! I knew I was going to buy some General Mills items like granola bars and cereal...went to their website and saved $1.50....same goes for Huggies, Gerber, etc. You just print and off you go!! Then THIS SITE is so neat. You plus in the stores you shop at and your location and it basically tells you all the deals going on that week....and you can search by store or item...it is AWESOME. When you find the deals you want, you create a shopping list and then print it out and it tells you where to go. For other items, Costco still beats the deal when you compare the price and quantity. If you have any tips....let me know, but truly check out this site and find coupons....I saved almost $10 last time.

Sad in Seattle...

...because this weekend our camera DIED!!! So sad, as I probably use my camera almost everyday! The CCD card or reader or something died....basically the part that takes the pictures and after several estimates, it would cost at least $250 to fix! So we are in the deciding time for a new camera. We really would like to get a nice one and maybe have a cheap one that we could just take on the go and that still does video capability because the nice ones I guess don't have that feature. So...if anyone has any tips or suggestions please pass on! We will hopefully decide soon because I HATE not having my camera....so it might be a much less "colorful" posting for a bit.

Excited

This past weekend I was so excited to get my washer and dryer cleaned up, I know sad that this is all it takes to excite me. But every couple months I like to do a thorough cleaning of these appliances. I have used my two favorite cleaning books for tips: Queen of Clean, and Martha Stewart's Handbook. I just use mild dish washing liquid and water to clean off the exteriors, then wipe with a damp cloth. Then I do a hot wash with 1 quart bleach in the washer, followed by another hot wash with 1 quart white vinegar. At this time I also heat up one cup white vinegar in microwave and pour into fabric softener dispenser and pour some vinegar into the bleach dispenser as well. I love Q-tips to clean out the little spaces!! I have also learned that keeping the lip open after washes helps things dry out faster and cuts down on grime and mildew issues. For the dryer, I spot clean the exterior, vacuum out the lint chute and vents inside and we also need to disconnect the dryer duct hoses and vacuum those out (recommended once a year) to make sure there are no lint build ups. I got really excited because my mother-in-law just sent me THIS which is awesome for treating any kind of stains and lots of other uses found in these books....she used it in Virginia when we were there and I called it the miracle soap....she said her mom always used it too. THANKS MOM!! Happy cleaning!

Cool tricks...

Ok, this first tip I learned in VA from my mother-in-law. To avoid those round shape bubbled up hamburgers when you make them homemade...just put a thumb indentation in the middle of the patty before cooking....stays nice and flat!!

This next one my mom just told me yesterday and we had to try it and it worked!! If you ever lock your keys in the car and you can call your hubby or someone who has another unlock button to your car. If they are talking on a cell phone, they can hold the key unlock pad up to the phone, hit the keys and your car will unlock!! It's like magic!! (although I am sure there is some very profound technical explanation for how this works)