Make Your Own Sugar

Start by sowing sugar cane in your backyard... no, no, no, let's jump ahead a few steps!

It's the colored sugar I needed this morning. I was making sugar cookies for church and the only sprinkles I had were orange and black, mixed orange and black, not exactly what I had in mind for my butterfly and umbrella cookies! I could have drug four kids out to the store but that's less appealing than halloween butterflies! So I decided to try a little kitchen chemistry.

Here's what you do: Simply spoon some table sugar into a baggie or bowl. Add a single drop of food coloring. Really, just a teeny tiny bit! Shake or stir (baggie or bowl) until the color coats the sugar. It's that easy. If it's too dark, just add some more sugar. If you've been saving your old spice bottles, like I told you, then you've got a perfect shaker for your new colored sugar. Just be sure the bottle is clean and DRY before you add the sugar. If your sprinklers are as generous and messy as mine are, you'll want to make a big batch! LOL

For more Works For Me Wednesday, visit Rocks in My Dryer.

Toddler Time Taker

It seemed like such a simple idea when I read it on someone's blog (sorry, I can't remember where or I'd give you credit!). Simply place a big mixing bowl in the sink, add some water, and give the bored and pesky toddler some spices to mix in his soup. So, when my bored and pesky toddler wouldn't let me fix dinner tonight, I set up a cooking station for him, too. It worked! He was entertained for over a half hour!

Actually, it worked too well. My spice cabinet is not all that well stocked and it didn't take him long to go through the old or unused spices. I can't spare my chili powder or cinnamon! LOL At the rate he'll go through the spices, even buying the cheapie 50c spices will cost more than I'm willing to spend. So here's where my ingenuity comes into play. Salt is cheap and comes in mass quantities. I refilled the empty spice bottles with salt. I had noticed Matthew's fondness for the red paprika so I added a couple drops of food coloring to the salt. Shake it up and the color disperses to the whole bottle. Now we have a rainbow of salt for him to use next time he "cooks." I'm hoping it will smell better than the celery seed, too!

It works for me!

For more Works for Me Wednesday, visit Don't Try This At Home

CVS Deal

I've got the fever! I've been surfing all the blogs boasting of great deals at CVS and I couldn't resist. I've been shopping the Extra Care Bucks for a few weeks now but this week was the first one that resulted in them owing me money. I had to add a pack of gumballs to my order to bring it out of the negatives (the boys loved that). Here's what I got...

• Colgate toothpaste $1.88 - 75c coupon ($1 ECB)


• Fusion Phenom razor $9.99 - $4.oo coupon ($6 ECB)


• 2 Kleenex tissues $2.19 - B1G1 free

I used my $10 ECB from last week's purchases and got a -.45 total! I added a pack of gum balls to bring it to 23c out of pocket AND I have $7 in ECB to use next week.

Plant Rescue

I've got a black thumb. I'm notoriously bad at keeping plants alive. I've killed more than I'd like to admit before I finally gave up on plants. But a couple years ago, my mother-in-law, who also has a black thumb, gave me a couple potted plants. I guess she figured I could kill them just as quickly as she could and she wouldn't have the rotting remains in her house! So why am I offering advice on saving your plants for my very first WFMW?

Because the joke is on MIL this time. While one of the plants did die, the other one is living happily and healthily (is that word?) on top of my refrigerator. It's all about location, baby! That plant is still alive and prospering b/c it sits atop my freezer. Whenever I reach into the freezer to get ice, I just throw an extra cube or two in the plant! There's no need to add plant watering to my "to do" list. It requires absolutely no thought or effort... right up my alley!

What is that you're saying? You don't have a plant with which to practice your new found knowledge? Never fear... Lowe's will give you $10 off the purchase of any house plant if you take in this printable coupon. If you pick something that's less than $10, it's free!

Feeding ice cubes to the plant works for me... and my plant! For more Works for Me Wednesday, visit Rocks In My Dryer.

Freebie Friday

Here's a couple of the best freebies I've run across this week. Just click the link to request them for yourself. It's easier to fill out the forms if you use your Windows Auto Fill feature!

Free full size Bottle of Clorox Clean-Up (coupon by mail)

Free full size Bottle of Coffee-Mate (coupon by mail)

Free sample of Quaker Simple Harvest

Free Can of Mighty Dog (short survey required)

Free sample of Aveeno Positively Ageless Lotion (short survey required)

Free Sample of Garnier Fructis 2+1 Shampoo/Conditioner (very short survey)

Wife of the Year

I must be the most wonderful wife in the world. I just copied all of dh's cds onto the computer so he can put them on his mp3 player. Although, I guess if I was really a wonderful wife, I'd buy him some cds from this millenium. LOL Now, if I could only figure out how to get his records saved on the computer... really.

Christmas Decorating on a Budget

We're having two Christmas trees this year. One is a 9ft family tree and the other is my brand new 6.5 ft., pre-lit, white tree, just for me to showcase our collection of White House ornaments. It doesn't sound very frugal, does it? Well, the brand new tree isn't exactly brand new. It's been in my attic for almost a year. I bought it for $7 after Christmas last year! I also bought the red and blue balls last year for 20c per box and the tree topper for 50c. The White House ornaments are an annual gift from Jeff's brother who lives in D.C. and the garland I bought years ago for the big tree but there's not enough. So, for about $8, I have a brand new completely decorated Christmas tree in my living room this year.

We also have brand new stockings, new Christmas cds, and two pair of Christmas socks. I'd forgotten about the socks so that was a happy surprise for me. I love funky socks. Start planning next year's Christmas decorations now, and you can save up to 90% by buying in January!

Don't forget to buy something fun to stick in with the Christmas stuff. You're going to want a happy surprise after dragging all that stuff out of the attic! :)