Thanks everyone, for the ideas! :D You ladies are great! I love the blank books mentioned on that site! Perfect!!!! Thanks again!

Ooops. I should have elaborated a bit. :tongue_smilie: I have been using the 40% off coupons each week for the "bigger" items....there are a bunch of $1 stocking stuffer type things that I'd like to get with a "% off total purchase" coupon. That's more what I meant. Do you think there will be more "total purchase" coupons? Sorry I'm so unclear. :o

There are some coupons floating around for 20% off your total purchase tomorrow (Saturday)....do you think this will happen again before Christmas? Just trying to strategically plan when to give DH my sad puppy face. :D TIA!

I know......I was thinking when I was typing it that it was really bad. I went in for postpartum check up...you know....4 years ago.....:tongue_smilie:

My dd will spend hours writing, "making cards," cutting, and drawing. :001_wub: Any thoughts on gifts or stocking stuffers to support this habit? I can't wait to read the suggestions here! You guys are great! :bigear:

I saw a few people reccommend it on the last "I need a good foundation" thread...has anyone NOT liked it? It's on sale at Walgreens and I'm totally out of what I had. Happy Friday, Hive! :D

If anyone is buying restaurant gift cards, check out restaurant.com! A friend told me about it and I looked at it last night...you type in the zipcode of said family member and it brings up a bunch of restaurants to choose from (along with descriptions, etc), then you can purchase gift cards to those restaurants at HUGE savings! Most ofthe ones I saw were $10 for a $25 gift card. Very cool! :001_smile:

Thanks, Chelle! I think it should work now. :tongue_smilie: You're right...sequence seems like a great idea, however, not exactly quick or easy!

I know there are other thrifty Christmas threads floating around, but I thought this deserved its own thread! http://thecreativecollection.blogspot.com/2009/07/i-found-this-great-tutorial-on-thrifty.html It's a homemade yahtzee game using family pictures...I think it looks pretty quick and easy and I'm wondering how many of these I can crank out before Christmas! :D Know of any other cool homemade games of this caliber I could make?

I go to Dr. John Appelbaum at Missouri Baptist. He is AWESOME and was reccommended to me by my aunt who is a labor/delivery nurse at Barnes. (at least I think he is still there as it has been over 4 years since I've been in! Oops!!!!)

I'm thinking of taking advantage of apple season by making some apple butter and canning it for gift-giving season. I've never made apple-butter, never "canned" anything...is this doable? Not to be attempted by a beginner? I don't have a canner; I'd be doing it the "really old-fashioned" way. :001_smile: I thought it might be a nice idea to get these gifts made and DONE in November. Usually, I have to wait to do treat-ish gifts so they are fresh....this would be great if it would work! Here's the recipie I found... http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/All-Day-Apple-Butter-2/Detail.aspx :bigear:

Is it "better" to earn certain beltloops/pins during specific years? As I look through the Sports/Academic info, sometimes they say "also needed for Webelos xyz award." So should we wait until Webelos to earn those particular awards? I know you can earn them twice, but should we work on different ones now (during Tigers/Wolf) and save certain ones for later years? Any ideas? I'm just trying to be "efficient." Thanks!:D

We had a cupcake (complete with sprinkles and a cherry on top!) and a construction worker (complete with REAL tools!). :D

Dang, Chelle! You beat me to it!!! ;) I was gonna post that you are a great mom with amazing children! :D Seriously, we all had a blast. Glad you liked the cupcakes!

We do this! We give treats instead of asking for them. :001_smile: Yes, we are "that strange homeschool family!" :001_smile:

This is our first year of non-themed costumes...:crying: DS is going to be a racecar DD is going to be a cupcake In the past we have done Shephard/Lamb (she was only 2 months old as the lamb!) Diego/Baby Jaguar Firefighter/Dalmation (with red bows on ears) Pirates We take treats to people instead of traditional trick or treating, so we'll make cupcakes this year and say we "raced over to bring you a cupcake!" That's the only way my mind is ok with us not being a "pair." They're getting too big!!! :tongue_smilie:

You can find lots of small packs of non-sugar treats right now due to halloween...little bags of pretzels, tiny microwave popcorns, etc. I have also seen some places (Dairy Queen? McDonalds?) selling coupon books for $1. The coupons are redeemable for an ice cream cone, etc. Hand out those individual coupons instead of the whole book and you have some inexpensive but neat treats! :001_smile:

interesting!

:grouphug:

Yes, such a library does exist. Google "family vision library" and it should take you there. LOADS of great resources and they will send you a certain number of books to check out per year, I believe. (I'm fortunate enough to just make the drive each month.). They even have Voddie confrence cd's if you are inclined! That being said, you may also want to try interlibrary loan or paperbackswap as those options may be more pocketbook friendly for most items. Hope I've helped! :)

Plaid dad commented on his (old) blog that he was running a cottage school/not homeschooling anymore.... (I think). His brilliance is missed by many!

In MO, we need to have 1000 logged hours each year. I am trying to keep very close track of this, and I have some questions... 1) I am marking us down for an hour of music instruction on piano lesson days; but what about for piano practice? Does that count also? 2) We use CLE reading, and it is Bible-heavy. Could this count as an hour of "reading" and "Bible"? 3) Does free reading count as reading? Thanks so much. I'm trying to do an accurate job and just don't have the hang of it yet! :001_smile:

I'm like this too and I really like Dove fresh or unscented. Neither are strong. :001_smile:

We're supposed to use 2-liter bottles....

My mission today is to help DS make a bottle rocket for Cub Scouts. I've read all there is to read online, and now I'm ready for The Hive Wisdom....any tips or tricks that helped yours work? I'm clueless at this stuff. :tongue_smilie: Thanks! So much!!!