This Stinks!!!

I have had the strangest thing happen to me!!!!! I woke up last Thursday morning- 9 days ago- with a stiff shoulder. By Thursday night I was in unbelievable pain. I couldn't move my arm without terrible pain! I kept thinking it would get better because I didn't do anything to bring this on but it did not!

I finally went to the Dr. and he thinks I have a torn rotator cuff that will require surgery! WHAT! I had an MRI this past Thursday and I meet with the Dr on Tuesday. I am really drugged up so I'm not in so much pain but I still have almost no movement in my shoulder. When this happens to the arm that you use the most you become acutely aware of how many things you do with your right arm! I have also realized how much my 5 children....and husband:) hang on me! I feel like some kind of martial arts performer throwing my left arm out the second I see someone coming toward me....trying to defend myself! Obviously..typing is a slow process...this is why I haven't posted in a while. I love you guys out there in the blog world and I am praying for you!

Traditions

12 years ago my husband and his brother, Brent, started making picks of who they thought would win each week in all the NFL games. Whoever wins at the end of each year gets "The Helmsman" award...which is a trophy that they add a medal plate to each year with the date and the winner for the season. That brother gets to keep the trophy for the year along with bragging rights. This past year our son Benjamin wanted to join in...so Eric decided to make a "Helmsman Kids" award. If the truth be known Benjamin beat his father and his uncle with the most picks. Eric found the time to male the trophy and start a new tradition with our kids. They are all excited to join in this year and make their picks....this football season should be interesting!
Kids LOVE traditions!! I would love to hear about yours!

Welcome!!

Welcome those of you coming from the Thrify Mama site!!! If you didn't come via her site then you will definitely want to check out her great site for deals on organic and whole foods as well as all the great money saving tips she offers! She is wonderful! She just started a new forum as well with lots of great information for mama's!! Take a look and let me know what you think!

Coupon Boxes

What is a coupon box you might ask?? Well when I go to speak about cutting your grocery budget in half....Yes! I really can show you how to do that!! So many people asked about my box so I decided to sell it! It really is an ordinary box with legal sized envelopes...but the great part is all the pre-printed categories. When I first started couponing I had a small box with dividers.....broad categories.....I then went to the envelope system and as my envelopes would get so crowded I would make new categories and divide again. This box is made up of 50 categories so that you can file your coupons and easily find them when the items go on sale. It sells for $10 when I speak and $12 through my web site to cover postage.

You can order one here...Driven to Encourage Ministries

If you host a "Money Saving Mama" workshop..I'll give you one for free!

Prayer

If the Lord brings us to your mind will you please join us in prayer! We have some God sized needs..We know that He is faithful! Pray that we will be!!!!!

Inexpensive meals

I am trying to spend even less than normal at the store this week because we have some extra expenses......when you coupon you usually have a good extra stash of food so this is not really difficult. I found ground beef on sale for 1.49 a pound and I bought 6 pounds. I usually do not eat this much ground beef in a week but this week we did...are! I browned half of it and used part for tacos the first night with shells I already had on hand from a previous coupon stocking, cheese stocked from Kroger sale 2 weeks ago and free lettuce from Kroger...coupon came in the mail.... yeah!!.....the other half of browned meat I put in the freezer after I rinsed it for soup on Saturday. I rinse all browned ground meat with hot water in a colander to get all the extra fat off.


I will add Frozen mixed veggies, free last week at Publix.... Hunts Tomato sauce.... almost free from Publix a month ago and the ground beef in my freezer from the beginning of the week and some spices and make a big pot of soup tomorrow. YUM!!!

With the other half of meat I made hamburgers and we grilled them on Tuesday...Oh so good!

We also made: #1 breakfast this week...eggs, toast, hash browns, grits....I already had all this. #2 Grilled chicken veggies and baked potatoes we had this twice...all stuff I already had and I only added milk, bread and a few things that I got for almost free!

CVS questions

I have had several gals email me and ask questions about CVS and how it works. I love to speak like I did at the convention this past week however there is no way that I can fully go over all that I want to in an hour. When I do workshops I always give 2 hours so that everyone leaves understanding what to do. You can contact me here about doing one in your area. I would suggest that you visit this web site http://www.moneysavingmom.com/ and then look at the right side bar for CVS 101. This will walk you through the steps for CVSing. Let me know what you think!

Africa

My pastor, Johnny Hunt, preached 2 amazing sermons this past week...AM and PM..you can go here to view them. Aug. 3 A Flower Quickly Fading part 1 &2. Anyway, he said many things that hit a cord with me.....some encouraged me some were used to put a pin point on an area that needed some work or surrender to the Lord!

He said something that I have dealt with so many times with others over the years....."If God is such a loving God then why are there people all over the world who are starving?" I have been asked this so many times by those who are looking for answers. I am in total agreement with what my pastor said and I am so glad that he addressed it corporately!

God chooses to use us here on this earth....Yes, He could literally speak it and there would be no more hunger....just as he could speak it and the economy would be better, orphans would have homes, widows would have enough! It is so easy to look at God and say...why......and here we stand with ALL the resources we need to solve those problems ourselves be we who are blessed....I 'm not talking the super rich here..I'm talking those of us who have a roof over our heads and enough food to share....are stingy with our time, talents and resources! Why are we not working to be a part of the solution? Some are!!! Like these guys! But what about the rest of us? Are we praying and open to let the Lord lead us to be a part of the solution....we have the resources!!!!! HE already supplied them!!!!

Menu for Aug. 3-9

Breakfast: Cereal, French Toast ( I made 48 extra pieces this morning for the week and froze them...I'll post the video I took this morning later :) ) Oatmeal, Grits, Toast and Eggs.

Lunch: Grilled cheese, PB&J, Turkey, egg salad dinner left-overs, Cheese roll ups, Salad, fruit, pickles, blue corn chips and baked crackers.

snacks: carrots, protein fruit smoothies ( I get my protein from Shaklee...expensive but oh so healthy and a "grand-ma treat"), apples, grapes, banana bread, cheese, yogurt, baked crackers and whole wheat choc. chip muffins.

The above stuff doesn't change very much from week to week.

Monday: baked chicken with ritz crackers, mac & cheese, salad, baked pot. and carrots

Tuesday: grilled chicken, corn on the cob, green beans, oven baked potatoes

Wednesday: salad with sliced grilled chicken( I'll make enough Tuesday for Wed. ), bread, strawberries & grapes cut up together.

Thursday: Breakfast for dinner....eggs, bacon, toast, grits, hash browns

Friday: grilled flank steak, baked pot., salad, steamed veggies, brownies (we usually have Pizza on Friday night but we are cooking for a family who's father is serving in Iraq so we wanted to make it special)

Saturday: We are going to a pool party so we will pack sandwiches & baked crackers.

Sunday: Pork Roast, mashed potatoes, steamed veggies, bread, any and all fruit and raw veggies still left

Sunday's Shopping

Oh boy did I have a great shopping day....here is the list and later tonight I will post my menu for this week.

Aldi:
4...gallon milks @1.49 each (the only thing that I do not like about the milk is that they do not carry 1%)
red grapes 2.99
lg baking potatoes 10lb 3.49
6 doz eggs @.69 each
6 tomatoes 1.99
strawberries 1.99
lemons 1.99
avocado 1.29
organic blue corn chips 3@ 1.69

$29.64


Publix

3 Mueller whole wheat spag.
6 cheerios
4 Brownie mix
6 Boxes Dog treats
1 Kraft BBQ
2 Mt Olive Dill Pickles
2 Toothpaste....arm n hammer
Ritz Crackers
4 country crock spread
10 packages steam in bag frozen veggies
4 Yoplait
2 six pack water bottles ( this was the penny item)
Pace picante sauce

$26.52

Total spent $56.16...my weekly budget for the 7 of us is $70 so I have $13 to spend at BJ's for meat.


CVS was great this week as well...I only spent .52 out of pocket and I got

2 lg Stayfree Maxi pads
2 notebooks
5 bottles of soft soap bpdy wash
and bunch of rain checks for items that they were out of stock on!