Jewelry Sale!

Hey everybody!
I know some of you still haven't made the switch over to my shiny new blog, but I didn't want you to miss out on this.

Check out this post for some AMAZING handmade jewelry. She's having a sidewalk sale. The details are here!

Lame-o

That's right. I'm talking to you. :) jk. I had the following conversation with my sister, Lindsay.

L: I read your blog on Michael Buble. It looks like you had a really great time!
K: Why don't you comment on my blog anymore? Is it scary because it's "big" now?
L: Yeah. It's scary because it's big. Lame, huh?
K: Super lame.

So, I'm here to clarify. I am still the one writing our lives up on www.callmekristin.com. It's me. Kristin. The one who also writes this blog. That blog is an effort to simplify my life a little bit. Updating 3 different blogs on a regular basis is a sure fire way to pull your hair out/go grey/get wrinkles at an early age and no one likes that. Smooshing them all together was my solution, thus, callmekristin was born. And Blogger doesn't have the ability to do that as well/easily as I wanted. So now my blog is on wordpress [for those of you who asked]. It's not scary. and I'm afraid of losing contact with all of you just because the URL switched. :(

Your comments mean a lot to me. I mean it. So please don't be scared of my "big" blog anymore. It's still a blog. and it's still us. If you want to just stay up to date on the happenings of C&K, just click on the far left circle in the header. It'll automatically weed out all the stuff you don't want to see.

Love,
Kristin

CALL ME KRISTIN

Michael Buble

A few of you have been asking how Michael Buble was. It was INCREDIBLE! Check it out here. This is now our personal blog, too. So for updates, you'll need to add www.callmekristin.com to your blog reel. :)

New Duds & A Freezer Cooking Recipe!

Hiya!
I've finally got my new website at the point where I'll be posting regularly. This C&K/wileymarbles address will soon be obsolete. Please add www.callmekristin.com to your blog roll to receive our regular updates. Additionally, you'll find the first Freezer Cooking recipe up! It's a modified blondie recipe from Jessica's culinary school, and THEY ARE DIVINE.

I'd love to know what you think of the site, too.

Thanks :)

CALL ME KRISTIN

Freezer Cooking Day!

 Image courtesy of Luxury Housing Trends.com

So, my next freezer cooking day is right around the corner. I'd like to do a post to help you plan your own freezer cooking day, so please post your questions in the comment box. Since I'm about to do my big shopping and cooking days, I'll be able to provide the best answers complete with pictures. If you have a recipe you'd really like me to convert to a freezer cooking one, post it too! & I'll post my results along with the conversion recipe. I know I haven't posted most my own personal recipes, yet. But that's because I'm in the process of changing websites. :) The unveiling will be soon. I want all those recipes to be on the new site, so they'll be coming QUICK once the switch is made. [Which is hopefully by this weekend.]

So ask away!

My New {Favorite} Hobby!

***For those of you wondering where the recipes are for freezer cooking, I haven't forgotten! They're coming! Also, I apologize for the lack of a cute header. I'm not only lacking the cute header, but any and all creative inspiration for one: sooo, we wait for my creative mojo to come back.***

So, when I did our freezer cooking for February, Cameron's only complaint was that we didn't have enough snack food. I decided that in March, that would be different. Although, we absolutely HAD TO stick to our budget. I did my research, and found some great deals on YUMMY snacks.

I found a coupon online for $1 off Keebler's new Cheesecake Middles cookies...and printed five of them. One of my favorite blogs told me that these cookies were also a part of a Buy 5 get a $5 giftcard back. So, we went to Target where that blog also told me that the Cheesecake Middles cookies were on sale for $2.25. Here's how it went down:

We grabbed 5 packages of the Keebler Cookies: total $11.25. Used 5 $1 off coupons. Total: $6.25. Got a $5 giftcard back, which brings the total to $1.25 or $.25 a box! I then handed the giftcard back to Cameron, who had 4 boxes of Wheatables and 4 $1 off coupons.

Basically, we got 9 things of snack food for $6.

 

After that, we found Gold Medal flour on sale for $1.50. I had six $.75 off coupons. We got 30lbs of flour for $4.50. And then we decided to try to opt out of our recently renewed costco membership. [lol.] 

My favorite trip happened today, though. We got all this: 

for less than $4!

Without coupons and rebates, my total was: $56.49!

I saved over 92%! 

2 Old Spice Body Washes

2 Old Spice Deodorants

1 John Freida Shampoo

1 John Freida Conditioner

1 John Freida Hair Spray

4 Biore Face Washes

and

A New Eye Shadow Compact

I did 3 different transactions.

John Freida products were 3 for $15.

I used 1 $3 off of $15 Rite Aid coupon

2 $3 off any John Freida Product

1 $1 off Root Awakening Product

and I'm submitting for a $5 SCR on Rite Aid.com 

Total: FREE [plus $.82 tax]

Transaction #2: 

Old Spice Stuff

I used another $3 off $15 Rite Aid Coupon

I also had 2 coupons for buy a deodorant get a body wash free

Then I used a $1 off of 2 deodorants

I tacked a 75% off eye-shadow onto this transaction which made the total 6.06

I'm submitting this for another $5 SCR on Rite Aid.com

Total: $1.06 [because of the eye-shadow, otherwise this would be FREE too!]

Transaction #3:

Biore

I had a coupon for free biore cleanser with the purchase of nose strips. They were on sale 2 for 10 and I bought 4 bringing the total to 20. I used 1 $5 off of $20 coupon from Rite Aid's video values coupon site. Then I used 2 FREE cleansers with purchase of nose strips coupons. They also had cleansers with a save $2 on 2 peelies, so I used one of those, which brought my total to $4.03, but I'm submitting for a $2 SCR on Rite Aid.com.

Total: $2.03

All total:.82 + 1.06 + 2.03 = $3.91

Worth it.

I'll definitely be doing this again. :)

I'm whooped.

This is our freezer.

It is currently the only orderly part of our kitchen [and maybe our house. maybe.]

What is that IN our freezer?

Well, it just so happens to be 37 meals. 

All made today. 

*beaming*

I did this last month too, but didn't post about it because I was so dang tired that I didn't know if I'd actually do it again. The pros definitely outweighed the cons, though, so here I am after month two of 

"OAMC" or

once-a-month-cooking.

[The milk is there because there were tons of sales this month and if you can get 4 gallons of milk for a buck a piece, you'd freeze it too. According to the internet, skim milk freezes best, so it's lucky that's all we eat anyway!]

And for those of you who are wondering, the food is delicious! (and nutritious) And makes for great leftovers the next day. I honestly don't know how people live without OAMC. I can't count how many times I've come home from work with absolutely no desire to cook anything. In the past we'd just go out. However, now when I come home and have no desire to cook anything, I don't have to. I grab a meal, throw it in the oven and put a batch of rice in the rice maker. 5 minute dinner that tastes like you've been in the kitchen all day. 

Perk #2: you do dishes ONCE. wow. [that should really read Cameron does dishes once, let's not kid ourselves.] The rest of the month, the most there is to wash is 2 [or 4 if there's company] plates, cups and silverware. Awesome. 

A lot of people have hang-ups about how much it costs to do this or how making multiples of meals gets old after a while, or how long it takes. To clear that up, we spent $130 yesterday shopping for today. We got 37 dinners, lunch meat, tons of snack food [including star wars fruit snacks...they were on sale and when you marry a jedi, he stays a jedi.], new ink cartridges, and stuff for root beer floats. It's not like we're impoverished.  Also, here's the calendar for our meals: 

 

 You can see that most of the time, we have 2 of each meal: tops! And in all honesty, they don't get old. We've got mexican to italian to american to chinese. It's gonna be a yummy month! Quite often, we're excited for each meal to come back around. 

Also, the how long it takes... welp, I've found that it takes approximately 90 seconds longer to make 2 lasagnas than it does 1. Personally, I think the 90 seconds is worth it. It's totally your call though. :) It also depends on what kind of meals you're doing. Last month, I was able to go shopping and make all our meals in the same day. I was exhausted, but the actual cooking time was 3 hours. A few of the recipes are chopping chicken and throwing it in a ziploc bag with it's marinade. 5 minutes and you have tender juicy chicken for 3 different nights that month.

I've decided that instead of baby shower gifts, I'd much rather come do this for my friends right around their due date. I figure 30 meals is better than 1, even if they're in charge of throwing it in the oven. So, that was my saturday in a nut shell. :) I'm off to shower, write a talk, and hit the temple with my man. 

And somewhere in there I'm making dinner. 

Cameron's favorite: poppyseed chicken : isn't a freezer recipe, so we have to have it on the big cooking day when I'm in the kitchen anyway. I figure at only having it once a month, it'll stay a favorite for quite a while. 

O! and if you want any of the recipes, let me know! I'll be happy to post the ones people are interested in! 

And, in other news. I'm opening my digi scrap shops on Thursday. I just finished a kit inspired by none else than my gorgeous sister Jessica. While I'm sharing, I might as well post this too. :) 

 

Happy Saturday!