Hamburger, Steak or Pork?

I know many people don't eat pork, either because of diet or religion, but we happen to have it at least once a week. Sometimes two. Aldi carries boneless pork ribs for $4.50 or so for 1 1/2 lbs. which are great grilled. I used this Marinade for Pork Ribs from food.com.

Dadcode on Swagbucks till 4pm central

They are slowly getting to the finish of their Father's Day codes for who's the best Dad. There is a code for 6 bucks on their blog and it is active till 4pm central.

For those who haven't checked out Swagbucks do so here. It is definately worth it. I've made $15 in Amazon cards this WEEK with only 1 referral.

Check out my other recommended FREE sign up sites that let you earn a little extra $$$.

Swagcode till 10 am central for 4 bucks

Easy. The question is on their Twitter page. I didn't even need to look it up but did anyways just to make sure I was right!

2 Walgreens Transactions week of 6/5-6/12

transaction 1:

Father's Day card $5.99
Salt x2 2/$1.00
Taster's Choice box of single packets x2 $.77 each
Coppertone Sunscreen spray $9.99
Pampers Pull-ups $8.99
Walgreen Comfort Wipes $6.49

I had a BOGO FREE on the Taster's Choice, $1.00 off the Coppertone and $1.50 off the Pull-ups and *$2.50 off 2 Reach (see below)
Total: $30.46
I received $9 in Register Rewards plus $1 off Glade Carpet Spray
Receipt Total Savings: $9.21


*Now I have a funny (to me) story. Originally I had bought the Total Care 2 Pack Advanced Reach Toothbrushes because 1. They were in the flyer for the Register Rewards 2. There was a yellow Register Reward sticker beneath them in the store 3. I had a coupon for $2.50 off of 2. I purchased them and they rang up for $5.99 each. So I went to customer service and asked why they didn't ring up for 2/$5. I forgot to grab the ad and show him because the kids were going at each other. He said that they weren't part of the sale so I asked to return them. He put the $12.82 back on my card. However, when I got home I checked my Register Rewards and the "magic machine" had printed out the $3 Register Reward for Reach AND the $1 Register Reward for the unpublished deal Buy 2 get $1 going on with Reach! Plus I had used the $2.50 off of 2 coupon which the assistant manager didn't deduct from my receipt. So a bonus for me.

(I know the picture is really blurry but everyone had already opened their items by the time I realized it was. The Butterfinger's are missing because hubby ate them in the car :))

Transaction 2:

Butterfinger Candy Bar x2 $1.49 total

Coppertone Sunscreen Spray $9.99

Sobe Water $.99

Nivea Bodywash for Men x2 2/$7
Pampers Pull-ups $8.99
Junior Swimmask w/Snorkel $5.99
Adult Swim Goggles $5.99

I had $9 in Register Rewards, $1.50 off Pampers, $1.00 off Coppertone and $2.00 off the Nivea x2

Total: $27.77 
I received $8 in Register Rewards and $2.00 off Always tampons
Reciept total savings: $23.58

So for all of the above I spent $58.23, saved $32.79 and received $8 in Register Rewards. Still over my budget but I am saving money compared to 3 months ago. I did buy 2 papers this week in order to have double of the Nivea, diapers and more. Good news is that they decreased the paper price from $3 to $2.

Another Dadcode in Swagblog till Noon Central

http://blog.swagbucks.com/

Swagcode for 6 bucks till noon central time zone in their blog! Its only one so look for the other one later?

Can't Forget Dessert!

Oven was on for dinner so I popped these in at the same time. Why waste the heat? Oddly enough, this is out of a box from Aldi's. Coffee Swirl Bread Mix turned into muffins because if its not portable nobody in the house will eat it. Although, in my opinion if it has icing it's a cupcake. :) I haven't baked in awhile because of the 98+ degree weather and have been craving sweets.

Meatloaf and Mac

Meatloaf with Mac & Cheese. Everyone has their own meatloaf recipe I bet. I got mine off of an onion soup box, which I can't find anymore. I've made it more than a handful of times, so now I don't really measure. In a pinch, its about a TBS of italian seasoning, salt, pepper, 1 diced yellow onion, 2 lbs hamburger, 2 eggs, 3/4 cup ketchup (or so), 2 TBS A1 sauce, and enough breadcrumbs to make it not so wet but not too much to make it dried up (maybe about 3/4 cup). And, of course ketchup on top.

We haven't had boxed Mac & Cheese in a long time. I was buying the 4 cheese kind from Walgreens but with the 2 kids screaming at the top of their lungs and me wondering if they were going to kill each other or put a hole in the wall, this worked.

Dadcodes on Swagbucks till 3pm

2 swagcodes for 3 bucks each till 3pm central in their blog.

http://blog.swagbucks.com/

Quick Email checkin FREEbies

Yogi Tea sample

Durex Play sample

Red Dress pin from Go Red for Women by liking them on Facebook

Pet Saftey Kit from ASPCA

VPlenish Vitamin sample

Gas-X Thin Strips plus coupon

Warrior's Prayer Bookmark

Caralox Acid Reflux
*let me do it again

Iman cosmetic sample

Messy Satay

It was decent. I wouldn't mind making it again IF I can figure out an easier way to get the sauce on and evenly distributed. I do not enjoy rolling and squeezing raw chicken and then having to put the sticky mess on basically a long toothpick. Sensory overload! And now my hands smell like soy sauce. :(

Chicken Satay

Grilled Chicken Satay tonight. Picture is from a book hubby got last year, and finally put to use, called Grilling & Barbecues-The Essential Grilling, Marinade and Rub Recipe Book. It seems really easy, except for slicing raw chicken which is disgusting for me. I've soaked the sticks and all I have to do is run to the store to get soy sauce because we're out. But....have to wait for hubby to get home because tot2 is napping and I'm going mad. I can't find the debit card! Gah!

Recipe:

4 TBS smooth peanut butter

generous 1/3 CUP soy sauce

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into strips

Soak skewers. Stir chicken strips into the peanut butter and soy sauce mix. Grill 5 min on each side.

We shall see...picture to come.

2 swag codes till 6 central

More Dadbucks. 2 swagcodes for a total of 6 bucks in their blog:

http://blog.swagbucks.com/2011/06/dadness-on-tv.html

Swagcodes for 3 bucks each till 4pm central

Two Father's day code's for 3 bucks till 4 pm central.

Coppertone Printable Coupon

Print 2x for $1.00 off Coppertone.  (print, hit back button, refresh and print again!)

At Walgreens right now its 9.99 for the spray with $4 in Register Rewards. I had to go to Wal-Mart for diapers (tot2 is allergic to the Walgreens brand) and did pick up the generic Equate Sunscreen spray for $5. We've gone through 2 bottles in 5 days! The lotion probably would last us longer but its makes my hands break out. I do think I have another bottle lying around somewhere that I got from Big Lots for $3 but I'm still organizing my kitchen from the livingroom floor construction. I keep putting it off to go swimming. :)

Walgreens picture later when I make my list.

Awesome Old Country Buffet Coupon

At least to me. Every time we go to either Rockford or Chicago and I ask hubby what he wants to eat, since we never bring lunch, he says Old Country Buffet. We have to do a sit down restuarant because its too messy to do car eating with tot2. I like it and its a definite go on the 17th when we go to the Shedd with my cousin's son who has a milk allergy. More options for food=a less stressed me. And he's a great eater. Last time we went with him, he had 2 plates so its definately worth it.

I found this on Mashup Mom's site

Printable Old Country Buffet Coupon
*2 kids eat FREE with Purchase of Adult Buffet Meal on page 2 of Kids Activity sheet

iRazoo rant

Grrrr.....at iRazoo. At first I didn't mind their new changes, like the 2 extra captchas a day, but now they changed it to 15 captchas a day and that's just tedious and time consuming. They did up the daily comment points from 100 to 150 so I am getting more points a day, but 50 points for an extra 10 minutes. But let's add up the extra 50 points. 30 days x 50 points= 1500 more points. Previously 3000 points a month, so now we're getting 4500 points a month which is almost 2 amazon giftcards. With search points you probably could get the 6000 points a month for 2 cards, but I don't always remember to search 4x a day.

All I can do is hope that with all these new updates that they will get the gift cards out on time. :)

(check out my page Easy FREE $$$ Sites That Work for Me for more information)

Pork for Dinner

I took the pork chop recipe that I found on Food.com and used it on boneless pork ribs. I've used it on pork chops before so I figured it would work out. Tasted wonderful. Unfortunately, I did not get the pork into the crock pot till 5:00 so at 7:30 they were still pink in the middle. Hubby made me very happy by tossing them on the grill for a few minutes to finish them off and I was pleasantly pleased with the extra grill flavor. I added a side of noodles and cresent roll. Tot2 is so spoiled. He is definately not a meat eater BUT if it is steak he will eat it. So we told him that the pork ribs were steak and he almost ate TWO! plus noodles and a roll.

Nothing too fancy with the plate. :) Trying to save ourselves from the endless amount of dishes.



Peter Rabbit

I caught a quick pic of our onion stealer. Also, I think it has been gnawing on leaves of the transplanted hostas by the house. Every year since we've lived here, we get a momma that digs a hole in the middle of the yard to keep her babies in and every year our dog digs them out and tries to eat them before I have to toss the poor things. This year I think we have a family of rabbits that live at the graveyard across the street and they've been eating our produce.

Easy Crock Pot Chicken Alfredo results

The day before the Planetarium visit we had an easy dinner of Rigatoni noodles with warmed up Easy Crock Pot Chicken Alfredo and parmesan cheese on top. So I finally have a picture to post. It wasn't bad, but I forgot to add the mozzarella cheese to it while it was cooking in the crock pot. I think that would've definately thickened it up and added more flavor because it tasted even better with parmesan cheese on top. I also liked the idea of using chicken tenders in it because I loathe cubing chicken breasts.

First FREE Day Visit for the Summer

June 1st was a FREE admission day at the Alder Planetarium in Chicago. Technically, it was $16 for the visit because of parking. However, you get to park like 200 feet from the entrance so in my opinion it was worth it. Normally for non-resident adults the cost is $10 and $6 for children from ages 3-11. They have their own cafe to order food from or you can eat outside at the picnic areas, beach or grass. Shows are separate. We paid $30 for the 4 us to see "One World, One Sky: Big Bird's Adventure" in the Definiti Space Theater which is a dome shaped theatre where the screen is completely above and around you. It was the only thing that I could think of to do for tot2 since he can't read and wasn't really interesting in the exhibits. There was a Planet Explorers section with hands-on activities for kids so he was able to interact some. Even child8 liked the Big Bird/Elmo showing because they discussed the stars, moon and different parts of the world like China.

Highlight of the day: Almost simultaneously, hubby and child8 said "Look, a button!"

After 3 hours of walking through the exhibits and maxing out my camera, we went outside to find an awesome view of Lake Michigan with beach attached at no cost. Tot2 was literally stumbling from lack of nap so we didn't stay. We agreed to save the beach exploration for 2 weeks from now when the Shedd Aquarium has their FREE days. Hubby wants me to price the train next time for something different.

4 days of email FREEbies for 6/3

Oh, boy. 4 days of email=411 emails and that is only because I unsubscribed to ALOT of emails last month. I do not want to know how many emails I would have...

Let's see if there's anything good out of 411 "letters":

(all available while supplies last)

B2G1 FREE online sale at Women Within

FREE Chips and Salsa Platter at Chili's
*with purchase of any full size party planner

Free Sample Tend Skin Liquid
*email sales@tendskin.com with your complete mailing address

sample Car Cleaner

Dove deodorant sample
*it let me do it again

Texture Plus sample
*it looks like a wall texture store to me

Homemade Simple Coupon Book
*I received some like 3 months ago and they let me do it again

Lisanatti Foods
*one product sample per household
*SOY! too

Clark Color Labs
*FREE 5 x 7 soft photo book, 3 cent pictures and 20 FREE prints, details apply.

Universal Fitness sample


Down to 78 unread emails because I need to go through all my MyPoints emails and read my recipe mail.