Thursday AnyTHing Goes 12/29/2011

Well, I was sick today. I didn't feel real well yesterday, and then last night it all went to heck and this morning my head was pounding, my sinuses were draining and then I started throwing up. I called in to work :( I miss my friends at work. I did NOT want to call in... I miss my Susan who is only there Tuesday afternoons and Thursdays... and now I don't get to see her until next Tuesday :(

Anyway, Wednesday my wonderful husband got his C-PAP machine, and last night was weird... I kept waiting for the snoring and there wasn't any... this is going to take some getting used to. We also stopped at Starbucks... yes, I am officially obsessed with Starbucks! LOL I do want to say that it might seem like I am trying to "buck" the system, but that is not true at all... I am not trying to do the "ghetto latte" thing where you order a Grande Americano without water in a Venti cup and then taking said cut to the condiment bar and using up all the cream and powdered flavorings to make myself a latte. I am just trying to use my Rewards card to it's full effect, and staying completely within the rules of the card. I ordered a Grande(the reason I am ordering a Grande instead of ordering the Venti I used to order is because I want to save money, so I have opted to downsize my drink rather than go the ghetto latte route!) Vanilla Iced Coffee with cream. I then went to the condiment bar and added a sweet and low packet to my drink. It was yummy, and I think it ended up being around $2.65! I was happy with that!:) It was even cheaper than the Grande Iced Vanilla Soy Americano that I added a little cream and sugar to. And I thought it tasted better. Stephen on the other hand, still likes the Americano's better. I think they are stronger and he likes stronger coffee than I do.

One Christmas present I got this year was membership in a crochet club. It is called RAKJpatterns and there are at least 10 free crochet patterns a month, a 40% off coupon to their store, members only forums, Thursday night chat/game night with prizes. and a Crochet-a-Long, where they post a pattern in pieces and you crochet-a-long as they post the pattern over several days! Here is what I am working on for that:

Crochet-a-Long Soloman's Knot

I got some yarn from Michaels, it is Loops & Thread Impeccable and it was on sale for only $1.99 per skein!! It is worsted weight and so soft and pretty!! I love it!:)

Humpday How To & Starbucks Rewards update 12/28/2011

First of all, here is the e-mail I got back from Starbucks regarding the question I asked here.

Dear Stephanie,

Thank you for contacting Starbucks Coffee Company.

You can find information about what is included in the rewards program at 
http://www.starbucks.com/card/rewards/program-information.

You are able to order an iced coffee and add free modifiers to the drink and you 

get free refills on brewed coffee and tea.

If you have any further questions or concerns that I was unable to address, 

please feel free to let me know. 

Warm Regards,

Johnny R

Customer Relations

Starbucks Coffee Company

800 STARBUC (782-7282)

Monday through Friday, 5AM to 8PM (PST)

So, that was not really helpful lol but I did find THIS, pretty much the guide to the Green Level:

Free Select Syrups and Milk

Purchase any beverage on the menu with your registered Starbucks Card at a 

participating store and you can get select syrup and milk options on the house.

Complimentary syrup choices include Caramel (regular or sugar-free), 
Cinnamon Dolce (regular or sugar-free), Classic, Hazelnut (regular or sugar-free), 
Raspberry, Peppermint, Toffee Nut and Vanilla (regular or sugar-free). 
Syrups are subject to availability and exclude all seasonal or promotional 
beverages and syrups. Complementary milk choices include: 
Soy, Nonfat, 2% (our standard), Whole and Cream (breve, half-and-half). 
Offer subject to change.

Free Refills on Brewed Coffee or Tea

When you’re at Starbucks you feel at home. Paying with your registered 
Starbucks Card gets you brewed or iced coffee or tea refills at no charge 
during the same visit to a participating store.

You must use your registered Starbucks Card to purchase a brewed or iced coffee or
 tea and then present that same card for a refill during the same visit. Offer not valid on 
Caffè Mistos, Pour Over, Starbucks Reserve™ or Clover® Brewed coffees, or at 
Drive Thru window. Offer subject to change.

Free Beverage with Whole Bean Purchase

Get more coffee with your coffee. When you use your registered Starbucks Card to
 buy 1 lb of whole bean coffee at a participating store, we’ll give you a handcrafted 
Tall (12 fl oz) beverage of your choice.

You receive one complimentary 12 fl oz handcrafted beverage at time of purchase 
of one or more pounds of whole bean coffee. Offer not valid with Pour Over, 
Starbucks Reserve™ or Clover® Brewed coffees or Starbucks Reserve™ 
whole bean coffees. Offer subject to change.

Ok, so cool... here is what I have been ordering instead of my Venti frappes and lattes:

Grande Iced Vanilla Soy Americano... for the price of just the Americano, 

since the milk and syrups are free with my card. It's not too bad... I add a splash of 

cream and 2 sugars from the condiment bar and that makes it really tasty! 

Plus it is under $3.00! Also, I was having the issue of only earning one star when 

I order my husband and I each a drink, so we remedied that by him using 

his cell phone Starbucks rewards app to purchase his (using my card number... 

which is actually OUR card now lol) and I just use my card to pay, so then I 

get the actual 2 stars for 2 drink purchases!

Today I am going to try a Grande vanilla iced coffee with breve creme and see if I like that. 

Ok, so I have been away a few days, because of Christmas and we got

 satellite internet installed yesterday... we really would rather have DSL or 

Cable, but this is all we can get out here... so anyway, here are the other 

Christmas cards I made(and once again, NOBODY said anything about them... )

Then, here is the Cookie Monster hat I made for Dylan's really big head!;) 

I had to add a couple rows to the bottom, and he LOVES it and is actually WEARING it, 

so I am happy!!:)

And now for the Humpday How To: this is a yarn holder I "made" out of an over the 

door hanger you can buy for around seven bucks at Walmart! Hang the hanger over 

a door and stuff with yarn!!:) 

Merry Christmas Eve!

So, we had a family gathering at Stephen's grandma's house and Stephen decided it would be really yummy to make chocolate covered bacon on a potato chip. The boys dubbed these Chipkins! We dubbed them Heaven on a Chip. They sound gross, however they are so yummy!

Just cut bacon into 3 pieces. Cook bacon in the skillet like you would bacon lol. Meanwhile, melt chocolate almond bark as it says on package... Stephen burned it the first time on the burner so we redid it in the microwave :)

Then dip the bacon in the melted chocolate and sit it on a ruffles potato chip and let it set up.

Enjoy! ;)

Unfortunately, they all got eaten, do we had to run to Walgreens and spend way too much on bacon to make more for tomorrow lol

Let's see, what else... Oh... After all the hard work we put into making cards and giving everyone one of our family pictures, not ONE person said ANYTHING about either... Disappointing! Oh well.

Ok, still working on Dylan's cookie monster hat, but almost done. Just have to make it a bit bigger for his unreasonably big head! Lol It's ok, he knows his head is big! ;)

Am blogging from my phone, so I hope this works!

Merry Christmas! :)

Blog Worthy Frugality!

Just thought I would throw this out there... Groupon is doing an Old Navy $20 for $10 thing right now! If you have last minute gifts to buy, here ya go! :)

Oh, and just in case anyone was wondering, I have not heard any word from Starbucks yet, but Stephen and I went tonight, and we ordered Grande iced vanilla soy Americano's and used my card and because we get the syrup and milk FREE since I am at the Green Level, our total was around $5.20 for 2!:) Woot! That is usually what I spend on one Venti Peppermint Mocha or Venti frap... granted these are not Venti's they have a lot of caffeine(I believe 3 shots of espresso each) so it's all good. We added sweetener to them and they are pretty good. So, yeah for us, frugal Starbucks without ticking off the baristas by ordering plain coffee and doctoring the heck out of it at the condiment bar, or ordering an Americano and trying to get free STEAMED milk. lol

Fringe Friday 12/23/2011

So, tonight I have to finish the Cookie Monster hat I am making for Dylan. I have to go finish up shopping first so we will do that and pick up the black yarn I need for Cookie Monster's mouth!:) {Update, I got the yarn and will be finishing up this hat tomorrow... why did I think it was a good idea to start a blog the week before Christmas!??? LOL}

And as I promised, here are the Christmas cards I made for the girls(and docs) at the office, and I have some to finish up for family, but I finished these at 2 am, so I could not do anymore! Also, Stephen helped color in the ornaments with my Copics! He did a good job for his first time!:)

Stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black

Copic colors used on card!:)

I think they turned out pretty good!:)

Spent the whole night finishing up Christmas shopping! All done, except for the pictures for the Christmas cards... oh and the rest of the Christmas cards! I will finish those in the morning! And I have to wrap presents...

Thursday AnyTHing Goes 12/22/2011

Ok, so I got a Starbucks card for my birthday from the wonderful people at my place of employment!:) I have already reloaded it once, because I have been sharing the card with my wonderful husband! I am going to be at 5 stars on the rewards program after my purchase of a Peppermint Mocha today {yum!} so I went and looked up the new rewards I will be getting on the Green Level, and here is what I came up with from the starbucks.com website:

Once you have visited and used your card five times (which earns you 5 Stars), you will move into our Green level, where you will receive the following benefits:

• All Welcome level benefits
• Free select syrups and milk options such as soy
• Free refills on brewed or iced coffee or tea during the same store visit
• Free tall (12 fl oz) beverage with one pound of whole bean coffee purchase
• Special exclusive offers and coupons (If you want to receive everything, please make sure you opt-in to Starbucks emails)

After you earn 30 Stars in 12 months (25 additional Stars after initially qualifying for Green level), you will qualify for the Gold level.  At this level you earn the following benefits:

• All Welcome and Green level benefits
• A personalized card (unavailable in stores) and Welcome Packet
• The ability to earn a free drink after every 15 Stars.

So, I wanted to know about these free syrups and milk options and free refills, so I sent them the following message:


"I am loving my gift card I got for my birthday, on 12/09/2011, and have even already reloaded it once. I should be at 5 stars after the purchase I made today, so I had a question about your green level policies:

Free select syrups and milk options such as soy.
Free refills on brewed or iced coffee or tea during the same store visit.

Would I be able to order an iced coffee, adding free select syrups and milk options, (and what are these options!??) and then get a free refill on this same drink?

Thanks so much!:)
Steph"

So, I will let you know what I hear back!:)

Hump Day How To 12/21/2011

I didn't want you to think I have forgotten you, but I will be writing this post later in the day, because I am going to be making my Christmas cards this evening... and that will be my Hump Day How To!:) I have no idea what I am going to do yet, so it will be an adventure, with pictures along the way!:)

Stay tuned...

OK, I suck!:( We had our Christmas party at work yesterday, and that was so much fun! I am so blessed to work where I work and to work with the wonderful group of people I work you... you have no idea!!! Anyway, we got a Christmas bonus, so when I got home, I grabbed my hubby, gassed up the car and we went shopping. We had to pick up a few swap gifts, and Stephen convinced me that it was ok to spend a little of my bonus on myself, so I did, but I still felt guilty!!

Picture time!

Our group!:)

 My date, Michelle!:)

My besties, Michelle and Susan!!:)

 And my finds at Kohl's: Black Daisy Fuentes jacket, very cute!

 Sonoma T-shirt under $2.00!

Cute little denim shorts, look really cute with black leggings under them! lol

 Cute tank top to wear under my black jacket above... around $4. 

Stephen loved this dress and it was only $5.00, so I got it... not sure about the fit, might have to enlist one of my friends who sew to fix it up a little!:)

 Ew, picture quality on my phone... blech.... another $2ish tank!

And another!:)

Another under $2.00 Sonoma t-shirt!

These boots/slippers I got in the gift exchange at work from Shelly! I LOVE THEM! I think they are slippers, but I am wearing them as boots, and I don't care what anyone says... lol they are super cute! I am wearing these boots, this shirt, black leggings and the black jacket today!:)

So, anyway, I will be doing the Christmas cards tonight(Thursday!), and I will post all about it! Promise!!:)
Oh, and my grand total on clothing for myself at Kohl's was $35... I saves over $210!!!! Woot!:)

Frugal Tuesday 12/20/2011

Well, I just got this in my inbox and I totally am going to take advantage of it!

Use the code JOY at Restaurant.com and get $25 gift certificates for $1 or $100 gift certificates for $4!!

The only thing I have to add is that I would prefer to do the $25 gift certificates, because then the total purchase at the restaurant has to be at least $35... but if you get the $100 gift certificate, then the purchase sometimes has to be $200!!! So, just read all that fine print!

I got the following $25 gift certificates for $11.50 TOTAL:

Chubby's on Barry
Coda Bar & Grill
Elsa's Ethiopian Restaurant
Fat Fish Blue
JRay's Restaurant & Bar
Lakeside Restuaraunt @ Ramada
Tanners Bar & Grill
The City Grille at the Crowne Plaza
Velvet Dog Martini Bar & DJ Lounge
and a $25 Restaurant.com Gift Certificate.

Now I need to decide if I will keep them all for Stephen and I to use for date nights, or give some of them as gifts... what do you think??

Also, make sure you are getting No More Rack e-mails! This is a great deal site! Go sign up!!:)

Oh, and BTW... I tried this chalkboard painted coasters project, and it was a total flop... the paint just started peeling off the coasters when we wrote with the chalk... how disappointing!:(

Make a Menu Monday - 12/19/2011

Well, I am not working today, because for one I am going in Wednesday instead, so I need a day to get all this Christmas stuff done, and 2, I am exhausted from not enough sleep the last 2 days!:( I do plan to get some work done from home though, so that works.

Here is my menu for this week... it is going to be a bit unmeaty lol because we are on a tight budget right now!

• Monday: Pasta with cheese
• Tuesday: Pancakes
• Wednesday: Waffles
• Thursday: Some sort of meat and Twice Baked Potato Casserole
• Friday: Payday, we will take the boys out to eat
• Saturday: Christmas Eve, I am assuming we will not be home for dinner, but we will be making a Nutella Cheese Ball for dessert to take... 
• Sunday: Christmas Day: I know we will be gone for lunch, but not sure about dinner yet, and I will be taking another Nutella Cheese Ball!

I will be making 2 of the Twice Baked Potato Casseroles on Thursday, one for us and one for the clinic potluck on Friday! :)

So, yeah, like I said, I have a ton of stuff to get done, but I just managed to get one present finished! Xander's Sock Monkey hat is done!

Shopping Saturday!)

The plan this morning was to go finish buying the components for some Christmas gifts we are making. So, we got up, got dressed and out the door fairly early. I was wearing my leg warmers above my boots and the pretty blue wrist warmers I crocheted myself!:) I was determined to stay warm, and boy was I glad I had warm clothes on...

We didn't get very far and Stephen noticed the car was smoking and the temperature gauge was rising. 

But Stephen knew just what to do, so he fixed it and we were once again on our way. Then I decided to check my bank account on my phone, and it was NOT GOOD! So, I was wondering how we were going to put gas in our cars this week AND finish up the handmade gifts... and then God answered a prayer and a friend messaged me on Facebook wanting us to photograph her baby nephew, and we said absolutely!! So, we had that set up for this evening. Before that we did our shopping, knowing that we were going to do this photo shoot, so we would have money later in the evening for gas. God it good, all the time!:)

Some cool things we saw while we were shopping:

The cutest little kid's chairs! I want to get one of these for the studio!!:)

Look, I found a DEVIN!!! :) Finally have my boy home from college for the holiday break!:)

This is AWESOME! It's a Foosball Coffee Table!! It's pricey, but I still want it!;)

We actually did get some stuff that we needed for the gifts:

As you can see, we got some white mugs, some tea bags, and some herbal tea! You will have to come back later to see what we do with this stuff, and some other stuff we got last night!!

Also, we went to Kohl's, and I had not been there in a long time, and I have decided that is my favorite store now. I didn't actually buy anything this time, but I will go back and shop their wonderful clearance!!:) SUCH CUTE STUFF!!:) 

Then we dropped Devin off at home, gave Xander some hugs, told the boys we loved them and went to the photo shoot. This is a surprise Christmas gift for someone so I cannot say who it was or post pictures just yet, but it was so much fun getting to see our friends, getting to play with and hold the baby, and of course getting to create these memories that photographs capture so well!! I am exhausted, but I am going to get these pictures ready by Monday, so they can get them printed in time for Christmas! Thanks guys! You really helped us out!:)