Fresh Market

Western Family Large eggs 79 cents Limit 2 (store coupon)
Grandma Sycamore Bread $1.50 Limit 1 (store coupon)
Farmland Sausage $1.19 $1.00/2 Smart Source 1-9-11 pay 69 cents
Bayer Asprin 32-36 ct $2.00 $1.00/1 Smart Source 1-2-11
Bar S Bacon $3/5 Limit 3 (store coupon)

I just print off the store coupon and have walmart price match them



Fresh Market Coupons (email)

Jif Peanut Butter 99 cents Limit 1
Smuckers Jam/Jelly 99 cents Limit 1

(I am pretty sure there is a coupon for the Jiff Peanut butter and Smuckers when
you buy both at once, I'll check and see if it has expired and then repost an update)

Landon and Mickey Mouse

So Landon has begun to watch alittle Sesame Street but his favorite is Mickey Mouse in the morning. At the end of the show they sing and dance what I call the "hot dog diggity dog" dance. He starts dancing and it is hilarious to watch him get into it. I never can catch him dancing because the camera is always downstairs on the dock and the time I go downstairs and get the camera and get back up he is usually done dancing. So the other morning I went and got the camera when the show started to I would be prepared to catch him when he started dancing at the end of the show.

So this is him dancing the "hot dog diggity dog"

This is one of those times grandma loves to babysit......

Just ignore my voice I didn't know I had said anything till I was reviewing it....

sorry for the interruption.

Christmas clock for $5.99

Back in August Real Deals in Tooele was having a Parking lot sale, where some

of their items were marked down 60% off the lowest price marked.

So I found one of those decor clocks that sale for around $40.00 in the 60% area.

It was a only lonely clock that the glass had a crack in it.

It was marked $9.99 with 60% off made it $3.99. So I picked it up

and brought it home figuring it would be a project for Christmas.

It was the week before Christmas when I remembered I was going to give

the clock to Shauna for Christmas. I went downstairs in my junk room

unburied it and brought it upstairs and took it apart.

I bent the metal hooks straight, taking off the back of the clock to get to

the glass. I took the glass out and put both pieces into a book so I could

take it downtown to find a new piece of glass without breaking the glass

more and also so I wouldn't cut myself

I originally was going to take it to our local glass company .....figuring

it would be more expensive ....I decided that

I would check our local DI first and if they didn't have anything go to Walmart

and see if they had a clock with a piece of glass the same size as the broken piece.

I went to the electronic area in our DI

and there were 3 clocks to choose from,

the first one was to big, the second one I thought would fit and the third was way to small....laugh....

pulling out the glass out of the book I tried fitting it on top of the 2nd clock

I smiled and picked up

my new find and headed to the register to pay for it.

The clock that was just right

(and only $2.00)

Broken piece out of the original clock



I cleaned up the glass and put it in the new clock,
put some batteries in it and set the time and
she looked good as NEW:)


By the way Shauna just loved her clock
I got "No way this is one of those cool clocks" as she was unwrapping it.

$3.99 original cost, $2.00 for old clock/glass = $5.99 total cost.

Today's grocery finds

So todays trip to Walmart was an exciting shopping

trip to catch up on some bargains.

(I haven't been

doing to good on keeping up on the sales lately)

5 Reach dental floss = FREE

(used coupons off of coupons.com,

you can print off 2 coupons per time until they load on again)

Excedrin 100 tablets Extra Strength -$1.99

(free coupon up to $5.99 24 ct but I used $5.99 for a 100 count bottle for 1.99)

Excedrin 100 tablets Migraine - $1.99 (same deal as the Extra Strength)

3 Betty Crocker cookie mixes - $.60 each

(walmart xmas sale $1.00, $.40 cent coupon off of coupons.com)

4 boxes Finish dishwashing tablets - $1.24 each

(coupons out of Smartsource can't remember the date)

4 Pantene shampoo/condition - $1.00 each

(price match at walgreens $2.50, coupon out of Proctor & Gamble for $3.00/2)

4 Maruchan Yakisoba - FREE

(used $.50 coupon out of Smartsource)

I paid $10.74 for $54.84 dollars worth of groceries a savings of $44.10

I still want to get boneless chicken for $1.39 LB at Fresh Market

Also some Progresso Soup, Pillsbury Biscuits from Macey's.

New Kitchen Lighting

So for Christmas my family gave us gift cards for Home Depot,

I guess they know us well enough that we can ALWAYS use

them for the many projects we're always doing.

So next on our list of projects was to put in new

kitchen lighting. We wanted to get rid of the big florescent

box that stood out like a sore thumb.

So off to Home Depot we went with our gift cards in hand,

and went shopping for recessed lighting. We determined that 4

should be sufficient in our little kitchen.

With the help of Cheryl, one of the managers at our local

Home Depot (who just happens to live behind us...we should be

so lucky to have her and Jeff always there to help if we need anything)

she pointed us in the right direction of which ones we could use :

1. Ones that you can use next to insulation
2. Ones that you can install in the kitchen without going up into the attic.
3. How to take out the metal plate inside the fixture so its easier to install the light

4. How to pick out the face plate that goes around the fixture, with the ones easier to replace the light when needed.

So Scott used his Roto tool to cut out the drywall circles (with a handy circle guide I purchased for him last year), then he measured out the wiring to each of the holes and cut it to each length he wanted. He then wired nutted them together, then we placed the fixture up inside the ceiling, completing all 4 holes. Where the wires came out from the old light fixture, we capped it with a metal plate (according to code).

We then proceeded to drywall patch the holes where the old fixture hung from.

Then I took the drywall mud added alittle water to thin it out alittle and then took a plastic grocery sack wrinkled it up and then dipped it into the mud and blodded the ceiling in to match the rest of the ceiling. When the mud was almost dry, I then took a putty knife and flattened the spikes. (That is how I textured the ceiling a few years ago, now I learned they have a ceiling brush that does the work in half the time)

I then painted 3 coats over the old area until it all matched, I think it looks pretty good if I say so myself.

Then we put in the flood lights (65 watts), we used the ones with the reflective mirror looking stuff on the outside instead of the soft white surface. The reflective light puts out alot more light (makes it brighter) you can use the soft white if you want it more softer lighting. I like lots of light while cooking.

Old fixture

(Scott had already started before I took a before picture)

Finished look

Finished look
(see my window shutters I mentioned in my last post)
Just click on the pictures to enlarge

Meredith from: welcometoheardmont.com has posted the procedure on how to install them, they used the same kind we did. I hope she doesn't mind me posting her blog on mine but they done a great job explaining how to do them.

Kitchen before and after

So this last week while Scott was off we decided to do alittle more

to the kitchen, it is work in progress even if its almost a year later.

I realized I never posted my before and after pictures of the kitchen,

so I figured better late than never.

Dark cabinets

The island




The demolition part ....YEAH!!!



The finished kitchen




Can I say I just love the white cabinets it seems so bright in the kitchen, after
the dark cabinets and countertop.
No more vinyl flooring, I now have nice laminated wood flooring to give it alittle
warmth.
The backsplash....what can I say I love it also!!!!... even if it took me several trips to
Home Depot, several trips to Salt Lake to check out other tile stores.

I just love my new plantation shutters, they keep the cold out so much, when you open them in the morning the cold air rushes out like the window is open (the window is a good new one), so we're planning on installing more of them when we can.

I love the openness of the whole kitchen, it seems so
much bigger.

You can click on the pictures and they will enlarge and then just click back to go back to the post.


You can read all the posts I posted during the remodel if you go to 2010 posts,
then click on May and that should bring all of them up for you.

Midway Ice Castles

I got on the internet today and researched the Midway Ice Castles that we got a sneak peek at on Saturday. According to his website he is going to open January 5th instead of the 15th as I posted yesterday...sorry....

If you'd like to see the pictures of them go to: brentsicecastle.blogspot.com

He also tells the story of him and his family and how he got started building them.

I had seen stories on the news in past years but seeing yesterday in person makes me want to see them when their completed.

Midway Ice Castles

Downtown 100 North 200 West

Jan 5-Feb 28th

Mon - Friday noon - 10:00 pm

Saturday 10:00 am - 10:00 pm

$2.00 a person

(It is just down the road from the HomeStead in Midway)

Ice Castles and Snowy Mountains

During this wintery holiday season, Scott had taken off

the week between Christmas and New Years. We had been

sticking around the house either digging out the snow that has been

falling this week or doing a few projects around the house (which

I will show you later on).

So today we decided to get away from the house and go on a

mini road trip, so we loaded a few essentials in along with Scott's

snow buddy....she hasn't been out of the house for awhile either.

So off we went .....heading north where we could find more snow.....

I know it should be somewhere warmer but if you know us,

we have always been snow bunnies (snow skiing, and snowmobiling).

First we went to Park City, we drove up main street looking at

the people enjoying brousing the small stores lining the street.

It was so pretty, with the snow lining the street and covering the

roof tops with snow hanging off the porches like they were icicles.

It brought back memories of us up at Park City enjoying the

2002 Winter Olympic's. I can truly say that we were in the

moment of true bliss with concerts going on, ski jumping in

the streets, fireworks and the firepits to keep warm.

Then we headed to Midway, where we came across

Midway Castles. It is where they take water and spray it out of

water spouts and make icicles....except these they make as tall as our

house. Then it makes like a village of different ice castles where you

can walk through amiring them while listening to music.

This year they weren't ready for the holiday season because December

was warmer than usual, so they are planning on opening January 15th instead.

If you look closely it looks like a man's head, with his
hair, nose and eyes. Then off the left it looks like Elvis with
a spikey haired guy also.





Then we went to Francis, where we use to go snowmobiling all winter long,
except during February when we use to go to West Yellowstone and spend
a week.
There wasn't as many snowmobilers as we thought, maybe because
it was only 18 degree's.

I did take this picture of a bridge that you can ride your snowmobiles over to a place
call Soapstone. It was a picture perfect moment to take a picture and put on my
computer desktop.




Scott's snowbuddy

The sun setting behind the mountains

I can honestly say this is one of the best days I have had

for a long time, enjoying our mountains blankleted with snow,

deer forging for feed, frozen water made into ice castles with

the sun shining through them to give them an illuminating colors

that can't be duplicated on canvas.