Help Support 3 Kiddos Come Home

Hey Friends,

We have paired up with our good friends, who are also adopting internationally, for a fund raising garage sale.  So if you happen to live in the Nashville area, come by and see what we have.

The Craigslist listing is found here.  Thanks!

http://nashville.craigslist.org/gms/3224616599.html

My First Etsy Shop

I have a big announcement to make.  I have opened my very first Etsy shop.  For those of you out there who don't know what Etsy is, it is a place to sell your handmade goods.  My shop is called Fish Sticks For Africa.  I opened a shop in order to help raise funds for our adoption of twin boys from Africa.

It would make me so happy if you would spread the word to your friends and family through Facebook (which I don't do), Twitter or email.

I made a few sling bags out of blue jeans and they are listed individually.  If they sell well, then I will make more.  My daughter LOVES hers to hold her Kindle Fire.

The main item is my t-shirts.  I applique them by cutting out the t-shirt and adding a backing knit fabric.  I started by making one for our school last year, reading GCA.  Then recently I tried one of the country of Africa with our country marked with a hand sewn heart.  I have been stocking up on adult, youth and children's t-shirts at discounted prices so that I can make these to order.  I am in the process of making some for our cousins with the cut-out of Turkey and trying a sample shirt of Tennessee with a heart on Nashville.

Please pass my etsy link on and help us bring our boys home.  Thanks a ton!!

 http://www.etsy.com/shop/FishSticksforAfrica?ele=shop_open

Expected Short - Took Too Long

Went to Walgreens today.  Had a few problems and it ended up taking me 5 times as long as it should have.  The Scope was $3 each and you get $3 RR when you buy 2.  I had 2 coupons for 75 cents off making them $1.25 each.  They had mislabeled the sign on the Scope, putting the deal sign on a much larger Scope, which of course did not ring up correctly so I caught that and we had it corrected.  The Omega Smart supplements were on sale for $10 and get a $10 RR making it FREE.  It didn't print and so I waited for the manager to get a form for me to fill out and mail in with a copy of  my receipt in order for Walgreens to mail me a $10 gift card.  I also purchased a Good 'N Natural bar for $1.29 and this Sunday's paper had a coupon for a free bar.  I wish I had more than one coupon, but it's not in the photo because it was my lunch.  :)  The total on these 4 items was $2.50 + a lot of trouble.  Guess it's par for the course.

I also saw that they had summer clearance items.  Since we frequent the lake and my mom's pool each summer, I always stock up on clearance items for the following year.  I grabbed a few swimming rings, arm floaties, water balloons and goggles all at super prices - 80% off.  I also purchased t-shirts for $2 each.  I am stocking up for a fundraiser idea I have for our adoption.  The tees rung up at $2.50 each and since I was getting 10, it was worth it to me to say something once again to the clerk.  I'm sure she was glad when I left.

I'm skipping CVS this week.  Didn't see anything that really struck me for a trip to the store.  Hope your couponing this week takes shorter than mine did.  :)

Couponing Can Build Community

I grew up in a big city.  When I got married, I went to the same Kroger every week.  I thought maybe one day someone would notice me as a regular and call me by name, just like in Mayberry, but it never happened.

When I moved to my small community 10 years ago, I went to the drive-through of the bank.  The teller said, "Hey, your husband just came through a minute ago," and then called me by name.  I had to pick my jaw off the floor of my car!  How did she know?  Well, the same teller still knows me and gives me 12 green apple lollipops (2 for each Fish Stick) every time I drive through her window.  I LOVE IT!!!  There's just something wonderful about feeling a part of a small community.

As a couponer, I visit the same Walgreens and CVS just about every week.  Sometimes I will go to other ones that I pass on errands, but for the most part, they see me coming every Wednesday.  I noticed that my CVS manager hasn't been at my store this summer.  I saw him from a distance with his family at Chick Fila on August 1st though.

My Little Guy needed his passport renewed (We keep all Fish Stick passports updated.) and I had to drive to Nashville in an area of town where I rarely go so I could take care of it at this particular post office that does passports.  I ran into the local CVS there to have his passport photo made.  There was my old CVS manager.  I told him I missed him and asked him if he got transferred.  He did, and now drove a long distance to this new store.  Then, without warning, he shared with me something tender that brought tears to my eyes.  His 13 year old son (same age as my son) was diagnosed with cancer on July 3 and it's aggressive.  I told him I would pray for them and when I got home, I looked up their CaringBridge site.  You can see their story here.  I didn't know that they knew the Lord until I read the posts about their son.  So take a quick look at the site for me, say a prayer for healing for this young teenager and a prayer for Carl and Liberty as they endure a trial that I pray I never will be asked to endure as a parent.

As silly as it sounds, being a regular shopper, in my case through couponing, can be a blessing in ways you might not expect.  I know God orchestrated me to go to that CVS half way across town to spread the word about this young boy who needs our prayers!

Grilling Side Dishes

 On Independence Day my mom served a super appetizer and I knew I had to try it on my own.  She said she found the recipe in the newspaper.

First slice green tomatoes and marinate them in equal parts of olive old and balsamic vinegar and sprinkle them with coarse/kosher salt.

 While it's marinating, slice fresh mozzarella and have whole basil leaves ready.  Thank goodness I had a basil plant this year.  I've never bought fresh mozzarella but it was worth the $3!

 Lay marinated green tomatoes on grill and grill on both side until soft but not mushy.  Lay a basil leaf on each slice.

Lay the cheese over the basil leaf and grill just a tad bit to melt the cheese slightly.  Absolutely delicious!  I didn't take a pretty picture of them on the plate because they were gone by the time I got my camera ready!!

Walgreens Freebies

This week at Walgreens, you can get several items for free without any coupons.

The Carmex lotion was $4.99 with $4 in RR making it 99 cents.
The tampons were $1.50 with $1.50 back in RR making it FREE.
The ReNew Life 3 Day Diet Start was $10 with $10 back in RR making it FREE.
The Lanacane with Aloe Spray was $6 with $6 back in RR making it FREE.

Go grab these deals this week!

CVS

Got some good deals at CVS this past week.  Children's Allegra was $9.99 with a $2 off coupon, making it $7.99.  Puffs were 88 cents and I had a 25 cents off coupon for each one making them 63 cents each.  Playtex was spend $25 and get $10 back in ECBs.  I got 4 boxes of Playtex that totaled about $26.  I used 2 different coupons that totaled $7.  After ECBs I got each box for $2.25.  The 2 big boxes had a free offer for a $45 cosmetic bag by just mailing in the 2 UPC codes (which I did).  I messed up on the Dove deodorant a little.  Faithful Provisions listed the deal as get $5 ECB when you purchase 2 Dove deodorants for 2 for $7.  The actual deal was purchase 4 deodorants and get $5 ECB.  I did have a coupon for $2 off Dove deodorant so although I did not get the $5 ECB, I did get them for $1.50 each.  Had I known, I probably wouldn't have purchased them.  Live and learn.  Still got some good deals.