Did You Know?

Did you know that the Sunday paper contains lots of savings?

My Nashville hostess, Mandi, is a full-blown "couponer." Because I, too, want to be a frugal shopper, I picked her brain about how she cut her grocery bill by 1/3. She shared the site Southern Savers with me. Although I'm still getting the hang of it all, the site was very helpful. I was thwarted several times in my attempts by faulty printers, but I still managed to find a lot of great coupons! What I really enjoyed was cutting out all of the deals in the paper. I then compared my manufacturers' coupons to the buy-one-get-one deals at Publix. The next step was an examination of the cupboards and fridge. A quick peak revealed what items I could cross off my list. I have several great coupons that I can apply to items that are already buy-one-get-one. Oooo! This makes me so excited! From the list I planned out some meals for my family this week.

Did you know that Publix will also accept competitors' coupons? Watch for weekly Albertsons coupons in the mail.

Happy New Year...

...and GO GATORS! :D

'nuff said.

A Christmas Story: In Pictures

Christmas Eve we went to church and then came home and ate cookies and played the cheap, Wal-Mart version of Jenga.

Sorry for the blur. It took me a while to figure out that my camera lens had been switched from automatic to manual.

Amidst the blur, you may notice some unfamiliar faces. Meet Ming (left) and Yang (right), the Chinese couple who spent their first-ever Christmas with us.

Papa on Christmas morning. :)

Yang and Ming opening their first Christmas gifts!

What a great first gift from our family! Ha ha!

Modeling a few of my gifts. ;)

Julia got this cool ice cream/sorbet maker. The strawberry sorbet turned out great, but the lemon needs some adjusting.

The gang on Christmas morning. Notice my new jammie pants; I love them!

We thought it'd be easiest if we went to Papa instead of having him move. ;)

JP came over later. Of course there was a football involved.

And talk of football.

And #15, Tim Tebow.

Amanda was working, but both dogs joined us. Max was good and actually relaxed, but almost-three-year-old Rex was so crazy he was penned up.

Christmas night Yang and Ming decided to try on their shirts. They look great! I'm seriously considering purchasing one for myself; I've outgrown all mine.

Ty came over in the evening and we hung out a bit.

(Don't ask me about the Perfect Pushup box in the background. It belongs to my brother.)

It was a very quiet Christmas this year, but I enjoyed it. Ming and Yang were fun to be with, and I especially loved the time spent with my sister. We finally made my favorite meringue cookies! I've been begging to make them for the last several years, but there has always been some reason why we "couldn't." This year, Julia and I made it happen! I only wished we'd have doubled the recipe.