Gotta Stock up on your cereal this week!!

My Total Spent was $6.25 and I got 6 more coupons! If you shop at Tops you may want to consider signing up for Your Bucks here! I got 2 coupons that are for $1.50 off ANY soap and shampoo or conditioner with Your Bucks.

Here are a couple places to print your cereal coupons! They are on sale 4 for $8. You must buy quantities of 4 to get $2 price otherwise they are $2.50/box

 Nothing like getting cereal for less than a dollar! 

(2) $.50/1 doubled for Mini Wheats ( sign up)

(2) $ .70/1 doubled for Crunchy Nut

That makes em.. $.80 a BOX!! 

Also I got a monopoly piece for $.25 off a box of Mini Wheats! Even better :)

And that Welch's natural Jelly had a coupon  from 4/1 for $.75/1

Which means you pay. $. 50 !!

Raising Riley

It takes awhile to find peace.  Some tdays seem easier than others. But once you truly let peace fill your soul, it’s not a far reach on the days that aren’t so great.  Just a week ago Eric and I transplanted some bushes from our woods.  I am not a garderner in my opinion because I don’t know the names of hardly anything, but I have to say its in my blood because my mom is an AMAZING Gardner. 

That’s her gift flowers and  creating beauty.   

While I was out watering them  a beautiful  big yellow and black butterfly landed right on my chest. It stayed there for a good five minutes. I couldn’t believe it stayed on me that long.  That has never happened to me.  It was in that moment that I just continued to be so thankful for all that surrounds me. I must be doing something right with the flowers and bushes out there:)

But this summer with Riley being such a good helper I can get so much more done outside. 

  She’s not afraid to dig in the dirt 

and let her toes feel the soft cool grass.   

She loves going on our trail and hugging the trees and saying

 Hi to them.  We love to stop on the trail and lift our arms out wide and I tell her, 

“ Feel the breeze Riley.  Thank you Jesus for the trees and this wonderful breeze.” 

And in that moment we look at one other and smile.  I’d like to think that with all the time we spend outside without all the noise in the world, is a great way to teach Riley about God.   

It seems much easier when you see a breathtaking view to have a thought not too far behind come along and say, “WOW, is there more?  Who can create such astonishment?

Riley now knows before we eat dinner we pray. She starts to fold her hands together.  I’d like to think that these little repetitions will also teach her how to have a relationship with God.   This is the only thing I have not looked up. Honestly I have searched and read soo many articles and other people’s experiences online about parenting. Makes me think my mother would be going crazy if it wasn’t for the internet.

 But after she turned one, the obsession has come almost to a stand still.  Riley, is her own person. It’s my job to train her in the way she should go. Teach her by showing.   

We can’t walk into a child’s room and say “ITS SO MESSY IN HERE” and walk out and expect them to clean it.  Isn’t it in our nature to please others? I’m sure that child wants to please their parent and will attempt to clean. But when that parent comes in and has different expectations of clean.. the frustration takes over on both parts. It’s so important not to micromanage our kids.

What’s the best way to train them? SHOW THEM!!!That’s where a lot of my strength and courage come in with parenting.  Riley has learned everything by watching hasn’t she? It’s amazing to see what a 15 month old can do..  I have to continue to pray that I can be the best example for her. I have to continue to touch base with God, so I can be the best mom for Riley.

So I think that if I show her now the importance of God in our lives that by nature she will want to experience that same love and choose to have an amazing relationship with Jesus.

   

From the Unity Class I go to we watched Chip Ingram on House or Home.  He pointed out how many of us will send our kids to Christian schools and expect them to teach our children how to be spiritual.  He wasn’t putting down Christian schools, but made me think about how this is just another area of life that you are the best example for your child in how to know Jesus.

Watching our children grow we pray that they will know Jesus, but we also need to pray that we can show them too.  We can pray to trust God and follow his word on how to be a parent. Something that will stay true and bring much more value than a Google search.

Be open and show your children what it means to love and how on difficult days there is a reason we can find strength and hope… and that reason is Jesus. 

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." Proverbs 22:6

Some more of my freebies!!

I just got all 13 items for.. $5.02!!!! at Tops today!

Ready to coupon yet??

My total before savings was 19.97 :) I earned a 101 gas points from this transaction! 

( every 100 gas points = .$10 off a gallon of gas!)

Heres the breakdown:

2 Quaker Medleys on sale for $1.79 each

Used (2) $.50/1 coupon from Sunday paper (tops doubles them!)

Final price for 2-$1.58

4 Milky Way Candy Bars on sale for $.67 each

Used (2) $.75/2 online coupons doubled

Final Price for 4- FREE

Simply Organic Lip Balm on sale for $1 

Used $1/1 coupon from Sunday paper

Final Price- FREE

2 Haribo Gummy Bear Bags on sale for $1 each

Used (2) $.30/1 online coupon

Final Price for 2- $.80

2 Boxes of Barilla Pasta on sale for $1 each

Used (2) $1/1 online coupons

Final Price- FREE

2 Starkist Tuna pouches on sale for $1.25 each

Used  $1/2 coupon from Sunday Paper

Final Price $1.50

Moneymaker at Tops! ( Yes you can MAKE MONEY SHOPPING!)

I printed a ton of these awhile ago, waiting to use them when gas points started up again. I just have to say that you can earn gas points quickly without spending much money.. Heres a great example:

Buy (3) Kikkoman Meat Marinade packets $1.19 each
- (3) $1/1 Kikkoman marinade coupons here OR here
= 57 cents Out Of Pocket
Plus, you will receive $2 OYNO and 30 Gas Bonus Points for the coupons used.

If you have access to more than one computer (only 2 prints per computer allowed), you can do this deal multiple times and keep making money and earning gas points!

Thanks so much for the moneymaker scenario Suzy Saver WNY

*FREE BARILLA PASTA *

  Tops has Barilla $ pasta on sale for $1 this week. Click here to print a $1/a Blue box pasta!!

YAY! Excited to add free pasta to the stockpile, especially the tri-colored pasta! Perfect for summer dishes!

Kraft BBQ Sauce $.25 at Tops and Free Milky Way

So you may not play the monopoly game but it's still a great idea to collect them and use the coupons!

Heres a great example!
Kraft BBQ Sauce on sale for $1 each!
There was a $1/2 coupon from the Sunday Paper 5/6
$.50/1 Tops store coupon from Monopoly game
Buy 2 Bottles and use these coupons and you pay $.25 a bottle!!


Also this coupon just popped up $.75/2 on Milky Way brand Candy Bar
They are on sale at Tops for $.67 each!
So this coup will be doubled and you will get Gas points and FREE Candy bars!
This is another great item for me to add to our Roadtrip food and drinks. So far everything I have for our trip to wisconsin has been FREEEEE!!!

* Hot Deals at Tops this week!*

Ok so.. I will get the exact dates starting this coming Sunday for coupon inserts.. B

But if you got the paper 2 Sundays ago, there was a coupon for a FREE Good'n natural Bar.. When you use it at Tops you also get 10 gas points!! 

Honey Bunches of Oats Fruit Blends are on sale for $2.50 each. 

If you print this coupon, you will pay $1.50 a box!

For $8.00 you can score 220 gas points! ( Every 100 points = .10cents off a gallon.) 

 A great deal if you are gonna have some parties this summer!! 

Heres how:

Print out 2 coupons for a $1.00 off Vanity Fair Napkins or Plates here or there was a $1.00 from this Sunday's paper (5/20)

Buy 5 Vanity Fair products and receive 200 gas points. 

Then from your 2 coupons an extra 20 added to that!

Or if you didn't want all the paper plates, bowls or napkins and want Brawny paper towels that's included in the extra 200 gas points too and you can go here to print a $1.00 off coupon.

Tops really is not an expensive place to shop when you buy things on sale with coupons!! 

More great deals to come!

Are you clipping coupons yet???????

The prison of want Continued..

This is the rest of the Prison of Want by Max Lucado..

Doug Mcknight at the age of 32 was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Over the next 16 years it would cost him his career, his mobility, and eventually his life. Because of MS, he couldn't feed himself or walk; he battled depression and fear. But through it all, Doug never lost his sense of gratitude. Evidence of this was seen in his prayer list. Friends in his congregation asked him to compile a list of requests so they could intercede for him. His response included 18 blessings for which to be grateful and 6 concerns for which to be prayerful. His blessings outweighed his needs by 3 times. Doug Mcknight had learned to be content.

So had the leper on the island of Tobago. A short-term missionary met her on a mission trip. ON the final day, he was leading worship in a leper colon.y He asked if anyone had a favorite song. When he did a woman turned around and he saw the most disfigured face he'd ever seen. She had no ears and no nose. Her lips were gone. But she raised fingerless hands and asked, "  Could we sing, ' Count your many blessings'?"

The missionary started the song but couldn't finish. Someone later commented, " I suppose you'll never be able to sing the song again." He answered, "No, I'll sing it again. Just never in the same way."

Are you hoping that a change in circumstances will bring a change in your attitude? If so you are in prison, and you need to learn a secret of traveling light. What you have in your Shepard is greater than what you don't have in life.


May I meddle for a moment? What is the one thing separating you from joy? How do you fill in this blank? "I will be happy when_____?" When I am healed. When I am thinner. When I have another child. When my children leave home. When I am rich.  How would you finish that statement?

Now with your answer in mind, answer this, If your ship never comes in, if your dream never comes true, if the situation never changes, could you be happy? If not then you are sleeping in the cold cell of discontent. You are in prison. And you need to know what you have in your Shepard.
You have a God who hears you, the power of love behind you, the Holy Spirit within you, and all of heaven ahead of you. If you have the Shepard, you have grace for every sin, direction for every turn, a candle for every corner, and an anchor for every storm. You have everything you need!

Teenage years, Do not worry!

Being a mom is wild isn’t? It’s so amazing and scary. It seems if you really stop and think for a minute how much you are shaping their lives, you can fall over with anxiety.

So that’s why don’t think too deep about your every move with your child! 

I think the most important thing is to allow your child to explore and guide them. Train them. But don’t micromanage them.  Allow them to be the person God created them and the parent God created you to be.  So with that being said of course I can fret about the teenage years with Riley who is absolutely beautiful, but when my mom says ‘ Oh you just wait… You get twice back what you gave to me.” I chuckle for a minute and then think, But mom I’ve got God, so no matter what happens it will be ok. 

Do you think that’s naive thinking?

My mother in law has said the same thing, “ Just wait til the teenage years!” (Which knowing the things Eric did in high school compared to me made him a saint!) But that’s not the point.   

I’ll give my mom credit.  I had an entire year during high school where I was a nightmare teenager.( Maybe at some point I'll talk about that time in my life)  I went beyond the normal defiance’s. And of course each person’s circumstances shape the choices they make, yet they were my own choices and I have long said Sorry and been forgiven for that horrible year.  But I do not believe because I gave my parents hell that Riley will give it to me worse… I do not deny the teenage years will be a challenge, but what stage of parenting isn’t? Do you think that if you gave your parents hell during the teenage years you will get it back worse? 

What I’ve learned with my brother being so sick, is life is gonna have very hard moments, the truth is Sin.  Our world is covered with it. It’s how we get through those moments and rely on Gods strength. I also know that I have someone else to help get through those years… my husband!  So it goes with not worrying again doesn’t it? I mean why should I sit and worry about how the teenage years will be, when I can give it to God, who has said he will take care of me and my burdens.  His love is so deep.  So today I can enjoy Riley throwing her tantrums that last 2 seconds instead of thinking about watching her tanturms at 16 of slamming doors and yelling I hate you.. So today I rest in knowing God’s love never fails even through the teenage years J

Pray before I speak..

Some  of you know … I have a very close hand on bitterness, pride, unforgiveness..  Unfortunately, I want to just push these emotions away, but when I do it pushes the person they are hooked into away too.. I can’t have that.  

  My biggest piece of the puzzle I keep asking is how can someone be so blind?  

How can someone not see how much Jesus loves us? That’s when I have to have a humble moment and remember times I was lost and in the dark and I didn’t want to face the dark hole I created around myself. 

But the thing is when you have a relationship with Jesus, you can’t wait to talk about him. It’s like when you are first in love, you just have such giddiness to you when that person’s name is mentioned, and it’s like that with Jesus too.  But like with all marriages, the giddiness isn’t always present and some days you just go through the motions. 

Church is like a date night with your spouse. 

It rejuvenates your soul. It forces you to stop what you are doing and just be present with God. Date night does that too.. It forces us to only think about our spouse and just be present with them.  There are times when date night comes with excuses. Just like we do with church.. It will cost money.. Can our child be alone? What about our routine? And you know all the excuses that can be found when it comes to getting up to go to church..

But when we actually push those excuses aside and go.. do we ever come back home and say wow, that sucked?

But back to bitterness.  I learned that when I am on fire for God and just spouting off scriptures to this person who is trapped down by despair that they are just bouncing off them. I can’t get angry with them for not hearing.. that approach doesn’t work with everyone. I learned that just because I’m telling someone scripture doesn’t mean I’m doing God’s work.  I needed to pray before I dove in.

Everyone’s approach to spirituality is different. 

Learning that one.. whoo… hard for me.  It’s not easy to pray before we speak but boy when we take the time, there is no regret no time wasted on thinking  should have’s. Praying before we speak is another attempt at putting our needs aside and always putting the other person first.

When you are speaking to a person drowned in their own self- pity it’s like preparing yourself for an encounter with a pit-bull tied to a metal link chain. ( I chose pit bulls because they are scary to me on a chain  you can insert your own scary thing :)

You see it laying there in the dried up dirt and you walk up slowly.  Always careful not to set them off.. You get closer and start speaking Jesus’ word, and the dog starts barking violently.  That dog sees you as a threat.  You start saying Jesus loves you … there’s hope you don’t have to be on this chain forever. The dog starts getting so angry you tremble for a minute thinking it’s gonna break loose off that chain. You want to run away. Why should you have to get bit when you are just trying to do something to help? But Jesus sent u there for a reason.. sent you there to love this dog.. So you put your arms up in attempt to show the dog you bring no harm.. It continues to bark but doesn’t pull forward on the chain as much.  Should you go in for kill, or run away and think you’ve done enough?

Brace yourself. You gotta go in for the hug. So you kneel down and put your arms out and wrap them around the dog. The dog stops barking. It can feel that someone loves them. Someone cares.  The rest is up to God. Trust God to use you to help this dog feel safe off the leash, out in the new world. But this situation probably wouldn’t play out like that unless you spent time with Jesus.. hearing how you should approach it..

That is just like dealing with this relationship of bitterness for me. I have to remember to act in love with that person.  To keep my arms open and to never stop loving. Also remember patients. For I may not get an answer right away.  It’s scary and there have been times I have been bit because of my approach, but when I pray before I speak, if  I get bitten I won’t be looking at the scar in regret, I’ll be looking at it as a sacrifice to share God’s love with someone.  Which is exactly what we are to do! Have an awesome weekend!

Free Iced Tea and $.01 Owater

Hey so its the end of the week and I wanted to share these great deals! I'm really excited about couponing because so far I've been stocking up all free drinks for our road trip to wisconsin this summer..
This week at Tops you can get Free Gold Peak Iced Tea and  $.01 Owater.

Gold Peak Tea 18.5 Fl. Oz. Bottle, on sale- $1.00
Use .$75/1 coupon here doubled
You Pay- NOTHING :)

Then if you bursted the Tops Bag yesterday you got a coupon for .01 on Owater. You can burst the bag everyday here.

The Prison of Want

I haven't posted anything for awhile and wanted to share this with you... It is from Max Lucados, "Traveling Light for Mothers."

"Come with me to the most populated prison in the world. The facility has more inmates than bunks. More prisoners than plates. More residents than resources.Come with me to the worlds most oppressive prison. Just ask the inmates they will tell you. They are overworked and underfed. Their walls are bare and bunks are hard.
No prison is so populated, no prison so oppressive, and whats more, no prison is so permanent. Most inmates never leave. They never get released. They serve a life sentence in this overcrowded, underprovisioned facility.
The name of the prison?
W-A-N-T
The prison on want. You've seen her prisoners. They are in want/ They want something. They want something bigger. Nicer. Faster. Thinner. They want. They don't want much, mind you. They want just one thing. One new couch. One new car. One new house. One new spouse. They dont want much. They want just one.

And when they have "one," they will be happy. And they are right-they will be happy. When they have "one," they will leave the prison. But then it happens. The couch gets a spot. The new job gets old. The neighbors buy a larger tv. The new spouse has bad habits. The sizzle fizzles, and before you know it, another ex-con breaks parole and returns to jail.

Are you in prison? You are if you feel better when you have more and worse when you have less. You are if joy is one delivery away, one transfer away, one award away, or one makeover away. If you happiness comes from something you deposit, drive, drink, or digest, then face it- you are in the prison of want.

Thats the bad news. The good news is, you have a visitor. And you visitor has a message that can get you paroled. Make your way to the receiving rooml Take your seat in the chair, and look acroos the table at the psalmist David. He motions for you to lean forward. " I have a secret to tell you, " he whispers, " the secret of satisfaction. The Lord is my shepard; I shall not want." (Ps. 23:1)

David has found the pasture where discontent goes to die. Its as if he is saying, "What I have in God is greater than what I don't have in life."
You think you and I could learn to say the same?
Think just a moment about the things you own.
Think about the house you have, the car you drive, the money you've saved.
Envision all your stuff. Let me remind you of two biblical truths.

Your stuff isn't yours.
"Naked a man comes from his mother's womb, and as he comes, so he depart. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand. " (Eccles. 5:15)
All that stuff-its not yours. And you know what else about all that stuff? Is not you. Who you are has nothing to do with the clothes you wear or the car you drive. Jesus said, "Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have alot."
When God thinks of you he may see your compassion, your devotion, your tenderness or quick mind, but he doesn't think of your things."

He continues on but that's enough to stop and let soak in for now! I'll follow this up with my personal experience from the prison soon!

Greater things are yet to come.

Mother’s day is coming up. This year I actually have my head above water.  My brother is alive and learning how to go to the drive in with all his equipment and baggage.  It lifts my shoulders up so much, even though his journey is still so uncertain.

But I guess that’s true for all of us. I don’t know what’s going to come in the future.  Ughh that sucks sometimes doesn’t it?  It’s different for people who have a physical battle they meet face to face ever morning.  Their worries for the future are much different than someone who is “healthy.” 

We take health for granted. It’s interesting to think about with all the buzz in the media about us having an obese epidemic.  We do not think for a minute what we are putting into our mouths, appearance is way more important usually with food isn’t?  Convenience is so much easier and we are great at finding thousands of excuses of why we can’t cook dinner.

The same is true for physical beauty. The Anderson show did a test of a beautiful woman with form fitting clothes on having a flat tire. She didn’t have to wait more than a minute for a man to help her. And more men kept offering to help. A girl who has shorter hair and no makeup and loose clothes.. 10 minutes before a man helped her…

The psychologists say it’s how are brains are programed we enjoy things that are beautiful.. So I guess we say we can’t help that and if you are not physically beautiful to someone.. you’re screwed?!…

Our world’s viewpoint sucks.  .  Open your hearts, compassion is sadly missing from our culture.  Too bad we couldn’t follow this more… “ Finally all of you should be of one mind, full of sympathy toward each other, loving one another with tender hearts and humble minds.” 1 Peter 3:8

But back to sickness, someone who has a life long physical battle has constant worries. For example, my husband has type 1 diabetes.  To most it doesn’t seem serious and most people know about it now because of type 2 diabetes… which goes back to our obesity in this country. But it is serious.  And to me I think it’s a silent killer. 

Sure he could eat whatever he wants and go back for more and more and hope his insulin works it out.  He could go to work all day and decide it’s too inconvenient to test his blood sugar and if his blood sugar goes high or low, he doesn’t see immediate damage to his body… but keep on with this type of pattern and at your next eye exam you will hear the words of.. “the vessels in your eyes are becoming damamged.” And keep on a few more years.. you will hear” I’m sorry, you’re losing your sight.”

In one quick second your world is flipped. Your eye sight could be gone. Your world would be transformed.  Your blame alone would make your world dark.  Your regret of going back would pound you to the ground… its not looking good.

The words losing your sight.. makes you think, Did I lose my sight along the way? What are our eyes set on? What’s the focus of your day?

What’s heavy is Eric is living with diabetes and the daily struggle, but our souls our intertwined so I live with it too. It’s not just his responsibility but mine. I make dinner. I choose what I put into his body. I help control diabetes.  Sometimes  I forget.. more like I don’t want to think about how serious it is.  Convienance is a temptation.. but when I think about the life long consequences and ask God to help knock it outta here… it’s no longer appealing.

A few weeks ago Eric told me how he is so worried about the future. If he dies, what will happen?.  If he goes blind what would happen? 

It made me think about how his worries are different. But all my response was, 

Don’t you trust God to take care of you?

It’s like all things. You can not just sit around and eat whatever you want and only check your blood sugar and say Well God will take care of me. …. We have to take care of our physical bodies as best as we can here.  We can’t just spend whatever we want to buy what we desire and say God will give me more money.

We can be thankful for how much we do know about diseases today and what helps treat and prevent them.  We have to talk with God and trust him. He won’t let you just sit around and not take care of yourself.

will use others to speak to you,  and he will speak to you. But when we are doing everything we can, trying our hardest, when we are putting forth all we have with humble hearths that’s it.. the rest is in God’s hands.  Sure to think about Eric losing his eyesight is a shot through my heart and I think would I be able to take a breath? Then I remember how much I trust God. I know he loves us so much he would be right there with us.

  I also know he doesn’t want us worrying about the future so much that it consumes us.  Trust him. How do we trust God? We start with what he left for us, the manual to our life.. you know it.

“You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it.” So true right?  We spend all our time worrying about the future and what if the next day we did lose our sight? We would regret we didn’t look around at what we had a bit more closely.

God will listen to our needs. “Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything; tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank him for his answers.” Matthew 6:34

Here’s some others that help to put worry aside and enjoy this moment right now that has been given to us.  It’s not to say we can’t prepare for the future, but we also need to trust him and that comes like any relationship. It takes time, and communication. Talk to God. Get to know him. Expose yourself to him. He’s waiting right now!!

Philippians 4:6

1 Peter 5:7

Joshua 1:9

Mark 4:18-19

John 14:27

Kraft Milk Bites .99cents!

Ok have to share this one too.

Play the Tops burst the bag game here... for a chance to win a $50 gift card or a $1.00 super coupon for Kraft Milk Bites.

Then you can use the printable coupon here 

With that coupon doubled and the Tops super coupon that's $2.50 off! I don't know how much these are, but that's a good amount of savings.

Cereal Deals less than $1.50 each

So I just wanted to share this with you. Since I have started couponing I will not buy cereal if it's more than $1.50. Because for the last 3 months I have always gotten cereal less than that. Its crazy to me because I love cereal and have always thought it was so expensive. Ok so here are some good deals this week.

Moms Best Natural Cereal ( its really yummy!) on sale at Tops- $1.99
Use .75/2 printable( no longer available, but if you printed it a week ago yay!) doubled
You Pay- $2.48 ( $1.24 a box!)

You can also sign up here to get a $1.50 off 3 boxes which you would pay $1.49 a box... still not too bad!

Krave Cereal on sale at Tops $2.50
Use .70/1 printable( no longer available) doubled
You Pay-$1.10!

So see coupons are great and you gotta print them online when they are available, the good ones go quick! Lots of competition..

Have a great day! Its so dreary... good day to print coupons!!