Ahhhhhhh.....

That's me breathing a HUGE sigh of relief that school is out!!!  This past school year has gone by incredibly fast and I can hardly believe tomorrow is the 1st of June.  Over the past month Kasey and I have kicked our "DIY" into high gear and have been helping his parents renovate their new house.  It's been an amazing transformation...the first time we get together as a family we will be reminded why we put in so much hard work.  It's going to be the perfect place for lots of Kuriyama "life" to happen.  However, it's not been all work and no play these days...I have had some time to do some of my "crafty" things...  Here are cupcakes from my sweet friend Victoria's bachelorette party...

And here is my new flower bed my mom and I dug...Gavin helped us too!!

I have been scoring some pretty sweet coup deals lately as well.  Kasey and I have decided to really start eliminating our debt and be more conscious of our spending.  So this has sent me into super coup mode...like I needed a reason. :)  I've also decided to stockpile MINIMALLY...no need to have Kase build me another garage for my goods and I don't have 3 years of mustard stored in my pantry.  I have though, started getting multiple coupons and using several when things go on sale. 

Here's some deals I got at CVS:
Kikoman Soy Sauce (such a good Japanese wife) 2/$3, which made them $1.50 each.  I used a $.55 off coup so I scored 2 soy sauces for $.95 each.

They had Ragu on sale 3/$5.  But you got $3 in Extra Care Bucks (to use on my next purchase) so it technically made them 3/$2 or $.66 each...but even without the Extra Care Bucks, $1.67 for spaghetti sauce is pretty good.

They also had theit cokes on sale 3/$10 but if you bought 3 you got one free, so that's 4/$10 or $2.50 each.

All in all I spent $17.

I've made 2 trips to Target...both in which I can't really remember all the details or find my receipt, buuuut between the 2 trips I saved over $30 and got lots of new make-up (all of which I had a coup, of course) and some cereal, pasta, trashbags, body wash, and some other random grocery items.  I LOOOVE Target because it's just fabulous...AND I love it even more that you can use a Target coupon and a maufacturer's coup. 

Other than serious couping, I plan to do some serious cleaning and organizing of our storage spaces and bedrooms and closets.  Who knows...maybe Kasey will let me turn our office into a nursery one of these days. :)

I'm not consistent with this thing...

So it's been a little while since I have blogged...things have been a little bit crazy.  It's spring time and that means softball and TAKS and everyone at school gets crazy around this time of year...the kids too.  I haven't made any bargain halls...but do have a few things to show off the I have made over the past few weeks.  Tomorrow is payday so I'm sure I will embark on a shopping extravaganza...I have a nice stack of coups!! YAY!!

Here are my peaked icing cupcakes...I've been wanting to be able to make these foorrrevvver!!!
The white icing ones were for Jeremy and Victoria's dinner...the green ones were for Aspin's 9th birthday!

Here is my Easter table from the Emmaus meeting last Saturday...

The people behind us in line probably hate us right now...

So last night I drug (willingly drug, mind you) the husband to Wal-Mart for our weekly purchases.  It was one of those trips that you seem to be out of ALL of your toiletries...D.O. for the B.O., wash for the bodies, and special scrub to ward off the wrinkles that are creeping upon me.  I have to admit that the husband has been really pretty good about my coup routine...maybe it's just because the first trip we went I saved $20 and I used my powers of "man speak" and equated it to a saving enough money to buy a roll of Copenhagen...regardless, he's very much in support of me being the (not so) crazy coupon lady.  Our trip Monday night we spent $119 before coups and subtotaled $101 after she scanned them all. Luckily, we had a VERY nice checker who knew how to work the coups...which made our life easier.  Where do I get my coups you may ask (just prentend like you did if you didn't)?  Most of mine are either online that I print off and I usually check out the inserts in the Sunday paper to see if they are any good.  I don't usually buy things I normally wouldn't just to use a coupon, because I think that defeats the purpose.  If the Wal-Mart or United brand of something is cheaper than the name brand with a coup, then I buy the off brand.  My goal is to save money, not spend more money so I can "pretend" to be saving it.  Does it hurt my heart to let a good coup go to waste?? Absolutely!! So I pass along the savings to my coupon proteges and let them bask in the glory.  I figure if I can save $15-20 dollars a week, that's at least $50 a month which isn't a lot, but I'd much rather spend that money on something more fun (Hobby Lobby, anyone?) than Swiffers and face wash.  Could I buy $600 dollars worth of stuff for $6.98??  Probably...if we had a grocery store that did double coupons and savers cards and I bought trial sizes of everything and kept a 5 year supply of tampons and tuna fish.  But since we don't, and I don't care for tuna all that much, I will stick to the not so crazy method.

For those of you who want to try your hand at coups, here are some good websites:
coupons.com
redplum.com
smartsource.com
couponmom.com

Just be prepared...the people behind you in line will probably hate you. =)

I should do a blog...

From time to time I get asked for recipes, get compliments on my "craftiness," and have people tell me that our house looks like and episode of HGTV.  I casually mentioned to Kasey (my FABULOUS hubby) and some of my friends (my only readers...ha) that I should do a blog and share my "Martha Stewart-ness" with everyone.  So here it is...my blog.  My guide to: cutting coupons (or "coups" as we shall now refer to them as), "so easy Debbie (Ahrens) can do it" recipes, and the random "knick knacks" and projects that I dabble in from time to time.  Who knows...maybe one of these days I can have my own HGTV or TLC show.  Until then, I will continue to keep my day job and post on my blog. =)

So for my inaugural post, I leave you with the recipe for our dinner that I cooked tonight...

Queso Chicken

8-10 breast tenderloins, chunked
Seasoning for chicken (I use fajita and Adobo seasoning, garlic salt)
1/2 package Velvetta cheese
1 can Rotel (with Cilantro...if you LOVE it as much as I do)
Tortillas (From Amigos...because they are the best and I refused to go to the Barrio before Kasey and I got married to learn how to make tortillas)

In a skillet, brown chicken tenderloins until almost completely cooked.  Cut Velvetta into chunks and add to skillet along with can of Rotel.  Cook on low until Velvetta is completely melted and chicken is cooked.  Serve with tortillas and any of your other favorite mexican food trimmings (guacamole, hot sauce, tortilla chips, etc). 

Kasey liked it...and having a husband that is the son of cattlemen, any chicken dish that he will eat is worth noting in my book.

This is a pretty cheap meal as well...it cost us less than $10:
I bought the chicken at United for $2.59. 
(They were buy one get one free, so I got 2 packages for $5.19)
Rotel-$1.09 at Wal-Mart
Velvetta brick $4.48(ish) at Wal-Mart BUT I bought it with a $1.00 off coup so $3.38(ish)
Tortillas at Amigos-$2.00 (ish)

Cheap and easy...just like me!