Saturday, August 9, 2008

i have olympic fever

And I'm barracking for AUSTRALIA!!!

Thursday, August 7, 2008

why so blue?


More Blue Flowers
Originally uploaded by patriciaofoz
I love taking photos of flowers. Pretty flowers. Colorful flowers.

Any kind of flowers.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

hail that taxi

We never did ride one during our NYC visit.

I somehow feel incomplete :)

i <3 photoshop

I played around with Photoshop today.

I love it.

the 2008 olympics

8.8.08

Be there or be square.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

love you already

Awesomeness defined.

cycling my way to a healthy life


Bicycle
Originally uploaded by J.Salmoral
No laptop. Instead, will get a bicycle.

My tax refund came in overnight (thanks, Australia!) so we'll be going shopping for a new set of wheels. The non-gas kind.

Let's hope I make the most of it.

this week's craving is...


Steak n Shake
Originally uploaded by Jesus Kreutz
Steak 'n Shake :)

Plus we have coupons. Can't beat that!

Saturday, August 2, 2008

dreaming of a new laptop


Lego laptop
Originally uploaded by gilest
I hope my husband comes home with a laptop that is NOT made out of Lego :)

Yeah, I think I'm going to put my hard-earned cash into a new laptop. We'll see...

Friday, August 1, 2008

journal your days

So, I was at Barnes & Noble last night and saw all these beautiful journals.

I was inspired. I'd love to keep a paper journal. But I wonder if I really have anything of "substance" to write about each and every day.

omg


Santorini Swim
Originally uploaded by ARKNTINA
Take me there NOW!

pristine


-Swimming pool-
Originally uploaded by Vit Hassan
How's this for a swimming pool?

I love the blue and the arched columns.

my coupon organizer

Alyssa from "Keeping the Kingdom First" kindly showed the world how she organizes her coupons. So I thought I would do the same!

Here are my trusty Coupon Organizer Buddies:

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I have only been couponing since May of this year so I'm new to all this. Before this current method that I have now, I used to do the "Envelope Method" where I kept all my coupons in one envelope. That worked fine the first couple of weeks and then it got out of control. So I decided to try out the "Photo Album Method" and I think it's safe to say that I will be sticking to this method because it works perfectly for my needs.

Let's start with the Photo Album first and my organizing ways:

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I bought this photo album from WalMart and if my memory serves me right it cost around $3.50. It came with the photo holders of around 130. So I knew that since I was only starting off, 130 slots would suffice.

I organize my coupons according to when they were going to expire. I figured that this would be the easiest way for me to work out when certain coupons expire. I would later find out that it was so much easier to keep track of which coupons needed to be either a) used or b) culled from the photo album.

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I used Post-It Notes to mark on the side where each month begins. It made it easy for me to find certain months. As far as how it's organized within each month, at the beginning I used to just slot in coupons wherever, not really organizing them in any category. But the last couple of weeks I've organized them according to "FOOD" or "NON-FOOD". I don't bother with trying to have the coupons arranged by the days they expire within that month.

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As you can see, I try to fill the photo slot as much as possible. I consider myself to have a great photographic memory so my knowledge of which coupons I have is pretty good. Plus it also helps that other bloggers and certain forums remind me which coupons are out and which ones are going to expire. I used to keep an Excel Spreadsheet of all my coupons but that got too much to maintain so I've since stopped using it.

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I also have a "2009" section for any coupons that don't expire until next year. They're mixed in altogether and I'll sort through them maybe come October 2008.

So that's the Keeper of my Coupons. Nothing fancy but the method works really well for me.

Now, on to the organizer that I take to the stores:

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Here is my trusty "Coupon-to-Store Organizer". I bought this at the Dollar Store back in May and on the same Sunday that I decided I wanted to get into couponing. Back then I was a novice and actually believed that this was all that I needed to store ALL my coupons. I obviously had no idea what was to happen in the future!

Anyway, this is how I've modified the organizer to suit my needs:

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Each store that I coupon at gets 2 compartments each. I shop at WalMart, Walgreens, Schnucks, Target and Hy-Vee so each of them gets 2 slots each. I merely used (again) a Post-It Note to cover the categories that were pre-printed onto the organizer. The main labelled compartment is where all the coupons for that week goes. The other spare slot is for any coupons that I know I could regularly use at that store but may or may not get for that particular store run. I just like to have it handy just in case.

I also have 2 other categories:

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It's pretty self-explanatory: Hot Food Q's and Hot Non-Food Q's. This is where all my good Toilet Paper coupons go, the Kraft FREE WYB 3 coupons, etc, etc. The items that I know I could use at anytime and at any store. All my FREE coupons also go here.

So there you have it, my coupon organizer. Like I said, this method works really well for me. I keep it well organized so that it also keeps me organized when it comes to couponing.

I chose to use this method because I know that if I didn't clip and file my coupons individually, I would have a hard time a) knowing which ones I have and b) knowing where the coupon I need was! I don't mind clipping my coupons because I only really get (at most) 3 copies of each insert a week. Plus I'm really anal about cutting them perfectly and organizing them accordingly.

Oh, and I have a special bag where that large photo album goes into and I ate it with me wherever we go out. Even if we're not going to a store it still comes with us. Just in case...

If you would like to see how others organize their coupons, go visit Alyssa at Keeping the Kingdom First!

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Thursday, July 31, 2008

vampires and ghouls


Breaking Dawn
Originally uploaded by Angel of Hearts
We may, or may not, go to the Release Party for Breaking Dawn.

We'll see how we feel come 10pm tonight.

i <3 cheerios


cheerios box cake
Originally uploaded by debbiedoescakes
Especially if it's made of cake!

But I like normal Cheerio just as much :)

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

not quite sushi. even better


A Burnt End
Originally uploaded by Slice
We didn't quite get sushi for dinner. Instead we grabbed a Burnt Ends Sandwich from J.P. Barton's.

It was the first time we'd ever been to J.P. Barton's. Thank goodness we had the GPS because it's in such an out-of-the-place part of town!

And guess what? The Former President Bill Clinton once had a sandwich at J.P. Barton's.

There you go.

bloated, thanks to hershey's

When all else fails, just have chocolate.

Just don't eat too much :)

i am craving...


Sushi
Originally uploaded by apc33
Sushi for dinner!

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

are you passive aggressive?

passiveaggressivenotes.com.

Sometimes, it's just fun to read notes.

Monday, July 28, 2008

i <3 etsy

Go visit Etsy.com.

Just be warned. It's very addictive. Next thing you know, you've bought 10 Etsy items and you can't seem to stop.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

who doesn't love chocolate?

Look at it glistening?

Who wouldn't want to take a bite out of this?

Saturday, July 26, 2008

cuppycakes


4
Originally uploaded by bottleitup
I am craving cupcakes after seeing this photo.

a pottery barn bathroom

Funkiest bathroom. Wouldn't this be cool if you had triplets? Or just 3 kids :)

We don't have a Pottery Barn in our small town and since moving to America, I haven't actually set foot in one. I've walked past one (in Kansas City) but didn't actually go in there.

a cake for the baby


www.cupcakeenvy.com
Originally uploaded by cupcakeenvy
OMG.

Doesn't this cake make you want to have a baby?!?!

Friday, July 25, 2008

i scream, you scream!


Good News Ice Cream!
Originally uploaded by aknacer
Who wants ice cream?

It's so hot and humid here today. It's like breathing in soup. Disgusting.

So ice cream is in order. Lots of it.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

welcome to my random days


welcoming cats
Originally uploaded by convexstyle
Don't you just love random days? Random post blogs? Random photos? Random everything?

Well, I do. So here's a blog about nothing. Everything random. No formula, no theme. Just randomness at its purest.

Enjoy the randomness.