Cute Eraseable Note Board

So - I was sitting here last week and decided that I been "pinning" way too much stuff on Pinterest and not actually "doing" anything. So I set my mind that I was going to start going and creating some of those babies I been pinning! Oh - you don't pin? Well, you should! What is Pinterest you say? Pinterest is a virtual bulletin board where you will find oodles and oodles of ideas of things to create, make, buy, drool over....you get the drift. You know how you see something in a magazine that you SWEAR you are going to make one day so you rip that article out only to not be able to find it months later when you look for it? Well...on pinterest as you find articles, pictures, etc. online, you can go and "pin" them to your board on Pinterest for all the world to see - and also so you can find it later when you "get in the mood" to do something.

Anyhoo - I been finding these cute little memo board/wipe boards people have been making on Pinterest and I finally decided I wanted to make one for my kitchen. So......I went down to my local GW (Goodwill) and found this baby:

Just an old plastic, brown frame. (Even better than it was 1/2 price and I got it for a $1.) I loved the "carvings" in it and thought it would look great in white. So......I sprayed it with some "made for plastic" spray paint, picked out some decorative scrapbook paper I had on hand and "Oila".........

A cute little memo board is born! Doesn't the frame look much nicer white? My kitchen is painted yellow with red decor so I wanted to incorpoate the red somehow. Found this cute tulip paper in my stash but the rest of my family was like "Ewwwwwww". So........changed it up to something they picked out:

Then I said "Ewwwww". But, unfortunately for me, I was out voted so I left this paper in (for now). But......if I get enough votes from YOU saying you like the red one better than I am switching it up!

Now just write on the glass with my Expo eraseable marker and I got myself a cute little noteboard. I think it would be great to if I changed out the papers with seasonable paper as well. Just hard to find something not "too busy" that you can't read your notes when you write them, but then again, I dont want something too "plain" for when no notes on the board.......off to find some more paper perhaps for Easter......

What do you think?

Tina

P.S. - I have linked to the link party over on http://delightfulorder.blogspot.com/. So, please come over and check all the other party goers out there to! (Sorry, I can't get the actual button to post to link over, so you will have to do the "old fashioned way" by using this link!)

Bi Lo Deals 1/18 - 1/24

Sorry a little late with some of the grocery deals for this week. In scanning Bi-Lo, here are some things I noticed that are a good deal in this area. - Also, I wanted to note that Bi-Lo has what they call "Meal Deals" they usually offer every week and then also some "Fuel Perk Promotions". Be careful when choosing these....just because they call them a "deal" they might not necessarily be so. So...just think about those "deals" prior to grabbing them. Sometimes they are GREAT deals, sometimes OK deals, and sometimes not a deal at all. You have to be the choice of that.

This week Bi-Lo has few items on sale for "3 Day Sale" which runs 1/20 - 1/22. I did see they had their Tilapia Fillets on sale for $3.99 per pack. This is a good price, especially if you are doing that "new eating lifestyle" (some refer to as diet).

Otherwise, not a really great ad this week in my opinion, but I will venture over there to pick up a few items, such as:

BOGO ITEMS:
Carolina Pride Smoked Sausage/Cocktails smokies
Carolina Pride Thick Priced Bologna
Weight Watcher Ice Cream Novelties
Birds Eye Steamfresh Veggies (possibly FREE if you have the Publix store coupon and the coupon from 1/8 circular)
Merita 100% Whole Wheat or Autumn Grain Bread
Mild-Bone Dog Biscuits
Hefty One Zip Storage and Freezer Bags

Also have Whole Chicken Fryers for .99 per pound.

As always, be sure to scan the circular yourself for other great deals that your family may use. If you need help with coupon matchups, please be sure to check out Southern Savers blog.

Happy Clipping!
Tina

Frugal Friday Family Fun - Board Games!

First - I want to start out by saying I LOVE this game! If you have not heard of it is "Logo" - duh - I am sure you see that above! It is kind of like Trivial Pursuit but you dont have to be a brainiac to play - you simply have to know your commercials, ad jingles and logos of famous brands. Anyhoo - I saw this game advertised a lot before Christmas and I kept telling my husband "I want Logo for Christmas". I must have said it 20 times and everytime we were in a store and I saw it, I would say "Oh look, there is that Logo game I want." I was hoping with all that I would find it under the Christmas tree on Christmas morning. Well - -- - I did! I was so excited.....Then a few days later my husband said "I thought you were joking about that game and bought it kind of as a gag gift.".....REALLY???? I RARELY ask for anything, so when I pointed it out 20-30 times I did not realize he would think I was joking?!

Anyhoo - he did get it. I guess he thought I may have been joking because my family does not sit down and play board games. Well.....they USED to not sit down and play board games. Now - - - they have became regular board game players - which takes me to the point of Frugal Friday Family Fun!

Yes, board games are not cheap. However, when else can you pay $25 for a game that will last for years to come and not $25 for a family of 4 to play one game of putt putt! Christmas night I was like (of course) "Let's play Logo"....after a few eyes rolling and possibly a few muffled groans from the boys, everyone did eventually please me and sit down to play. About 10 minutes later we we were all laughing and having a great time! Even hubby who I dont recall sitting down to play a game in a very long time and my son of course......if it dont have a cord attached to it and hooked to a gaming system - it ain't a game! My daughter, of course she was "game" for it. :)

Since that night, we have played the game a few more times when time has allowed and we love it every time. We have even had guests over to play with us as well.

So.....next time you have a quiet evening and looking for something fun to do, turn off the TV, pop some popcorn and pull out a board game!

What games does your family play that you enjoy?

Happy Gaming!
Tina

Thrifty Thursday - Save on Dryer Sheets!

It is Thrifty Thursday again and this week we are talking about dryer sheets! Remember last time I had talked about how you could cut your Brillo pads in half to get more use out of them and not let so much go to waste by staying wet and rusting, etc? Well - did you realize you could do the same with dryer sheets?

As soon as you buy a new box of dryer sheets, open the box, pull the sheets out and cut them in half from top to bottom (vertically). Then you can simply put them right back in the box and dispense just half at a time. A half of sheet is normally plenty to do one load. However, if you are doing a large load of towels and like them to be "extra soft and smelly" then by all means toss 2 in, you are still at that point only using one sheet. It will make your box last about twice as long and you will still get the same results!

What else do you have in your home that you think you can use this concept of cutting in half to get double the use of?

Happy Savings!
Tina

Publix Deals 1/11 - 1/17

Happy Wednesday! Half way through the week already! So - if you are trying out that "new eating lifestyle" (sometimes referred to as diet) - how are you doing? Heard somewhere ealier this week that most people "give up" on their resolutions by next week, hang in there, let's prove them wrong!

Atleast Publix has a few things on sale this week that perhaps you can use during your "diet". Here are a few deals I saw in the paper that are worthwhile. As always, there are tons of deals out there, so be sure and read through the sales paper or check out SouthernSavers for a complete listing of sales and coupon matchups!

BOGO Deals:

Fresh Express Salad Kits $3.99 - so makes them $1.99 each
Green Giant Frozen Vegetables are $1.99 - so makes them only 99 cents each and you probably have coupon matchups!
Valley Fresh White Chicken (canned) in water $3.09 = makes them $1.54 each and you probably have coupon matchups!
Quaker Chew Granola Bars are $2.99 - making them $1.49 each - and again, coupons are out there!
Ronzoni Pasta is $1.69 - so .84 cents each
Cool Whip Topping $1.95 - so .97 each - love to use the Lite or Free on pudding!

Other Deals:
Smuckers Preserves, Jellies and Jams are 50% off!!
Progresso Soup is $1.33 and there are tons of coupon matchups out there!
Healthy Choice Meals are $2.00 and lots of coupon matchups!
Kraft American Cheese Singles - $2.50

Have you found a great "diet" meal to help you get through the day? Please feel free to share here!

Make it a great week!
Tina

Monday Menu Plan

Good morning everyone! Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and ready to kick off this week! Did you get a chance to get your Menu Plan together for the week?

This week I am trying mostly all new recipes! Because I started my adventure with The Pampered Chef as an independant consultant, I am trying out several recipes on my family before I go try them out on strangers! Last night we started with a Ham and Cheese Calzone which turned out rather yummy! Below is my plan for the rest of the week:

Monday: Cheeseburger Sliders
Tuesday: Garden Fresh Pizza
Wednesday: Spaghetti
Thursday: Chicken Club Ring
Friday: Kitchen Closed - Out to dinner!
Saturday: Chicken Fajitas

What's cooking in your kitchen this week?

Happy Cooking!
Tina

TNT Recipe Tuesday - Chocolate Chip Sensation

Happy Tuesday everyone! Long holiday weekend is over and time to get back to the normal daily grind! Time to kick off our TNT Recipe Tuesdays with a dessert item. For those not familiar - TNT on this site means "Tried N' True" Recipe - basically a recipe that I have made for my family that they repeatedly ask for time and again. Today's recipe is a dessert recipe that I actually received from The Pampered Chef YEARS ago. I have not made it in several years and decided on a whim last weekend to make it for some company I was having over for dinner. Well - needless to say, it was gobbled up and 2 days later my family asked me to make it again! So.....thought I would share it with all of you here.


It is called Chocolate Chip Sensation. My husband likes it because although it is dessert - it is not that "Too sweet" taste. Here it is:

Ingredients include:

16 oz roll package choclate chip cookie dough (Such as Pillsbury, found in the dairy section)

8 oz cream cheese (softened)

1 pint half and half

1/3 cup sugar

3.9 oz pkg. instant choclate pudding

Pecans, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Take the cookie dough and smoosh it into a large ball of dough. Place it on your pan (I use a large pizza stone) and flatten it out to a 13" circle. Bake it for 12-15 minutes until browned.

Mix cream cheese and sugar and set aside.

Mix half and half and pudding mix, set aside for minutes or until "set".

Once cookie is completely cool, spread the cream cheese mixture on top of the cookie, just like icing a cake. Once that layer is complete, pour the pudding on top and spread it over the cream cheese mixture and then sprinkle with nuts.

Chill until ready to serve. To make it easy to cut into serving size pieces, I simply use a pizza cutter and cut in to squares.

Yummy!

I hope you enjoy!

Tina