winner winner chicken taco dinner

have you ever won a giveaway on a blog?? i know, i thought it was impossible too .. till i just found out i won!! now i'm on cloud nine. :) janae over at the grocery queen just had an awesome giveaway for a family taco night prize pack (she's the one who inspired me to start using coupons) and guess who can't wait to start making tacos?!! so the moral of the story is . . if you never enter a giveaway, you'll never win :) 

busy as a bee

okay maybe not THAT busy . . . but the time sure does slip away doesn't it?? no bargain hunting this weekend - we're preparing for our own garage sale, and depending on the weather tomorrow i hope it happens. if not . . then i'll be at the goodwill .. .where everything in the store will be 50% off (first sat of the month)!! make a note to check it out yourself!


now on to this cute little guy. found him at the goodwill outlet a few months back. so cute, so broken, so much potential! 

now i know i shouldn't post a before picture without an after picture . . but i'm still in the process of transforming him. just wanted you to know i am doing SOMETHING around here :) 


and since we couldn't spend money bargaining this weekend i decided to make a little money instead. 

found this crib at a garage sale for $5 . .it was taken apart and they didn't have the hardware for it. basically it sat in our house a little too long and my dear sweet husband took it to ace, picked up the hardware, put it together and i sold it on craigslist for $35. thank you cl for always coming through for me :)


and lastly since i like to add things to my "to do" list . .. i'm thinking of taking up couponing!! apparently that's not a real word but either way janae over at The Grocery Queen has totally inspired me. (and's she having a fun little giveaway so check it out) . . just scroll through her blog and you can't help but be amazed at how much FREE food she gets from clipping coupons. seriously your jaw will drop! if i was still in arizona i'd make her take me shopping every week :) 

weekend finds

 at it again this weekend. garage sales!! it's not even that i really love peoples trash so much .. (okay wait, yes i do) but it's more in seeing what kind of awesome deals i can score. 


there must be some medical term for people who are overly obsessed with great deals - any ideas??


well i took off early friday morning (by myself) to check out this lady's big "quilters and sewers sale" and what to my wondering eyes should appear?? (besides that bag of tulle and batting i bought??) . . two practically new 12x18" cutting mats 50cents each.

thanks google images

when i got home i got on the joanns website and found out they retail for $20.99 a piece

SHAZAAAAM!! :)

 . . and since i told brady i'd be home around 10am . . and it was barely a quarter after 9 .. i snuck away to another garage sale i found on craigslist - where 95% of their stuff was $1

i scored on lots of necklaces - i'd post pictues but then my sisters would be wondering which one they were getting for christmas :) another thing i fell in love with was this awesome cheetah/leapord rug. she wanted $15 and i decided i'd come back on sat and if it was still there i'd offer $10 :)

saturday came and by the time we shopped some other sales and got back to this place they were packing up. i found a couple books and baby items for $1 and while i was "checking out" i saw the rug.

"oh you still have the rug?" 

"we sure do"

"well i'd love to take it but i don't know how much i have on me" - checked pockets and i had a whopping $7.50

nice lady said "just give me what you got - i'm sure she'll be glad just to get rid of it"

so for a measly $3.50 i brought home this beauty!!

not sure brady's so hot on us keeping it in the front room . . but then again i'm not so sure he's not hot on us keeping it there :)

healthy three-cheese chicken penne pasta bake

i found this yumma recipe over at www.thegirlwhoateeverything.blogspot.com

i made it tonight but of course my version probably wasn't as healthy since we only had half the spinach amount it called for and no whole wheat pasta on hand :) we also had tons of leftovers since i used more pasta and more sauce than called for as well. we ate probably 1/4th of a huge 9x13 pan. i split what was left in two - part to get frozen for a latter date in time and part to be used as leftovers tomorrow!! enjoy!

(her picture not mine)

Three Cheese Chicken Penne Pasta Bake

1-1/2 cups multi-grain penne pasta, uncooked
1 pkg. (9 oz.) fresh spinach leaves
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 tsp. dried basil leaves
1 jar (14-1/2 oz.) spaghetti sauce
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes, drained
2 oz. (1/4 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Neufchatel Cheese, cubed
1 cup KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, divided
2 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Heat oven to 375ºF.


Cook pasta as directed on package, omitting salt and adding spinach to the boiling water the last minute.

Cook and stir chicken and basil in large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat 3 min. Stir in spaghetti sauce, garlic, and tomatoes; bring to boil. Simmer on low heat 3 min. or until chicken is done. Stir in Neufchatel.

Drain pasta mixture; return to pan. Stir in chicken mixture and 1/2 cup mozzarella. Spoon into 2-qt. casserole or 8-inch square baking dish.

Bake 20 min.; top with remaining cheeses. Bake 3 min. or until mozzarella is melted.

460 calories per serving; Makes 4 servings.

estate sale

so this last week rose and i went "garaging" . . you know, it's always fun to look through other people's STUFF and see what their gettin rid of!! this lady was having an estate sale and though the word "estate" makes me think fancy smancy - why not be like the rest of us and call it a garage sale?? - we didn't hesitate. we went anyway and boy am i glad we did.

 this lady had loads and loads of these fabric sample booklets. they have anywhere from 50-80 or so 12x12 fabric swatch pages . . fabric lovers start drooling. i had to check my lip a few times as i know i was. they were 2 bucks a piece and with coordinating fabrics in each book all i could imagine was making beautiful quilts.

(i hope i will one day stop imagining and actually start acting!!)

she also said that any fabric that was a single cut was only 25cents . . .umm did i hear you right??

so i found these 3 beauties . . the black one was about a yard and a half and the other two were about 3 yards each. so for 7 1/2 yards of fabric i paid a whopping 75cents!! can you say UNHEARD OF?!! i guess with her stacks of material i wasn't really ripping her off . . more like doing her a favor!

. . lately . .

as of late i have gotten back into selling on ebay. it must have been 7 or 8 years ago when i first had any interaction with ebay. i bought . . and i bought . . and that was about it. then i somehow forgot it existed until i came across the following blog

http://www.mydeartrash.blogspot.com/ (you can also just click the top link on the sidebar) . . which became pure inspiration :)
anywhosers laura grew up down the street from me. she and my older sister were friends. she's been selling on ebay for YEARS and swears by it. i figure if it doesn't leave me swearing maybe i could get into it.


sooo i started back in march ( a couple months before we moved from new haven)


there were two places i went 1) to my closet and 2) the Goodwill Outlet

this lovely gap trench coat came from my closet - poor thing had been sittin in there for years. . . . all i know is i got it on clearance at gap and it's been worn twice maybe??

 it sold for $20.50

 

this lucky brand tote bag was found at the goodwill outlet (still had the $54 tags on it)

sold for $24.99

 

*a note about the goodwill outlet (it's for those of us too cheap to shop the regular good will) everything is priced according to weight. the more poundage you buy the cheaper it gets. the tote bag probably cost me $1 and this J-Crew jacket probably cost me $1.50

that being said . . this lovely sold for $42 !!

now don't be misled thinking i'm cashing in on the big bucks . . here and there maybe . . but what i didn't share were all the items that sold for $.99, $3.99, and $5.99!

it was the top 3 items that made me think - "oh this totally rocks!" but then reality set in and those lesser items made me think "is this really worth it?"

i've decided for me - it is! and that's why i've started back up again. nothing will compare to the hamden, ct goodwill outlet (seriously awesome) - so i've settled with good ole nashville's goodwill dollar days. it allows me to get out that shopping bug without spending our lifesavings ( as a certain husband might say). its' a way for this stay at home mama to make a little extra $$ while the babes is napping or asleep . . okay okay or sometimes while she's entertaining herself :)

i hope to update the successes each week. we'll see how it goes!

the project blog

welcome to my crafting/sewing/decorating/cooking/thrifting/do it your self/randomness/whatever i feel like posting about blog.