Month: July 2018

Giveaway: 2 Tickets to PowPac and Pickwick Players Romeo & Juliet

Abby H.6 Comments

Some of you may not know this, but before I blogged about frugal living and my family adventures, I was a costume designer. I made and sold costumes for a living. All kinds of crazy stuff: Corsets, Harry Potter Robes, Jedi Costumes, Roman, Egyptian, Biblical, and Renaissance. Heck, once I made a Prince Charming costume for a groom to surprise his bride with at the reception.

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Juliet, Romeo, and Friar Lawrence

Screen Shot 2018-07-07 at 5.35.08 PM.pngLast year, my husband decided that he wanted to put in a bid to direction a production of Romeo &Juliet with PowPac and co-produce it with Pickwick Players.  His bid was accepted, and the magic began! Many hours go into the production of a play.

I was lucky enough to design the costumes for the cast. I love creating costumes that suit both the actor and their character. Small details that reveal more of the characters.. well character. Colors, fabrics, and the lines and fit of costume can really reveal a lot about a characters motives or intentions.

And while the set is very barren and modern (UV lights, glow in the dark, and LED lighting is utilized)IMG_5409.jpg, the costumes and language are classic. And you may notice for the photos I’ve posted that there is also gender blind casting. From this article, “The show used gender-blind casting, something Hewes called both modern and very old. “Shakespeare had no problem with unisex casting, plus it was the law,” said Hewes. “So I didn’t either. I wanted to open the male roles to women.” Hewes said this was to make sure he had the best casting for the role, no matter what gender, and also because it is easier to find female actors than male.”

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Benvolio and Mercutio

Here is an article that was published in the San Diego Union Tribune about the show.

I am also lucky enough to sponsor a giveaway for a pair of tickets to the show. Entering is EASY PEASY.  All you have to do is leave a comment with your favorite play of all time. It doesn’t have to be Shakespeare either.  It can be the Spongebob Musical (yes, that’s a thing). 

I’ll select a winner at random at 7/19/18 about dinner time.  Tickets will be held at PowPac will call under the winners name and are good for any showing of the play.

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Romeo & Juliet

Photo credit: Adriana Zuniga-Williams

New Month, New Coupons!

Abby H.

Now that we’ve settled into July, it’s time to post about some of the new printable coupons! Last month I posted that the coupons weren’t that great. This month, they are slowly but surely getting better to ramp up for back to school.

file000786402730Here is your monthly reminder!  A new month means new printable and electronic coupons!

Check out the following sites:

One of my favorite website is the Sunday Coupon Review.  It helps me plot out scenarios in advance and I can email friends to ask for coupons in advance. Remember if clipping coupons isn’t your thing, but saving money is, check out my list of Smartphone apps that can save you the big bucks! New offers are added on the Smartphone Savings Apps all the time!

Here are just a few of the new coupons that have me excited:

Save $1.00 on any FOUR (4) WYLER'S LIGHT® Drink Mix Items - Includes Singles to Go, Canisters or Pitcher Packs
This coupon is great if you have a Dollar Tree location near you. These little boxes are $1.00 each and contain 8-10 packets. With this coupon, it’s like buy three, get one free!

 

Save $2.00 any ONE(1) CLEAN & CLEAR® product(excludes trial and travel sizes)
If you use this coupon, check your Target app to see if there is a cartwheel/savings deal in addition to this coupon- The best way to save money is to stack deals.


$1.00 OFF any ONE (1) Once Again Nut Butter ( 12 oz. or 16 oz.)
Perfect for Back To School Shopping, especially if your school is peanut-free or you have a peanut allergy in your home.

$1.00 OFF any TWO (2) flavors Lenny & Larry's The Complete Cookie 4 oz.

These cookies are so delicious.

 

 

And if you live in California, check out the CA Dairy Board’s website! Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and look for this:

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You can print two coupons per computer, every thirty days. It’s a great way to save a little bit of money if you already purchase milk and other dairy products.

What coupons or deals are you excited about?

6 Tips for Combating the Mid-Year Frugal Slide

Abby H.

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It’s July, and for most of us, Our New Years Resolutions are a thing of the past. Mr. and I were talking today about ways we could reign in our budget. We’re not making it rain by any means, but… we could make a few changes. Here are my top ten tips, and trust me, I’ve already started incorporating some of these. I’ll have all of them back in the works by weeks’ end.

  1. Back to meal planning and sticking to it. No more trips to Denny’s when I am feeling lazy in the morning, or Mondays after group therapy.  That means I’ll be back to meal planning posts and new recipes too. And I’ll have several “back up dinners” on-hand in case the day gets away from me, or it’s too hot to cook the original meal. I took advantage of the sale on chicken breasts at Smart & Final the other day, and picked up 10 lbs. I came home and cut up the whole half breasts into more manageable sizes, and marinated some of it with different spices and put it in ziploc bags in the freezer. 10 lbs of chicken should get us 5 dinners, plus leftovers from each meal.
  2. Back to maintaining a robust snack bag in the car, refilling it daily, and remembering our water bottles when we leave the house. I fill our water bottles (we have these for the kids and these for the adults- in 40 oz) with water and ice before we leave in the AM and refill them as needed throughout the day in various places.
  3. In conjunction with #2, start taking surveys on receipts for deep discounts and free stuff again. I am Sonic’s text list, so when they have a daily deal that I have change in my car for, the kids and I stop for .50 ice cream cones, 1/2 price drinks (cherry limeade!). Frequently when you check out, there is a survey on the bottom of the receipt that will score you an XL (Route 44) size beverage for free! I really need to get back into stretching the buck.
  4. Check all my apps before I go shopping. I’ve been bad about this over the past few months. I’m sure I’ve missed out on Ibotta deals, Checkout 51 offers, and Cash Dash promos. No More! I’m back, baby!!
  5. Allowance. Yup, just like a teenager, I’m putting myself on an allowance, and Mr. is going to as well. I’m sticking to $40 in the summer, and $25 once we are back to school. This will just be for “fun money”. I still shop around for gas to stay within budget for gas each week. Costco is usually the cheapest.
  6. Keeping eyes open for cheap entertainment. Big Dude is in ESY (summer school) for the next few weeks, so a lot of the traditional summer things that are fun and cheap we haven’t been able to do (like Regal Summer Movies). We’ve mostly been doing fun stuff at the library, which is free, but I think we need to look beyond that. It’s starting to get too hot for park play dates!

I’d love to hear from you about how you combat the frugal slide. What do you do when you feel yourself slipping off your track?

Weekly Meal Plan

Abby H.

stemarie_1650skitchen

So, I know it’s Tuesday, but we were at Legoland yesterday for the opening of the Deep Sea Adventure. I need to get back to meal planning for the week because without it, I’m getting lazy!

Breakfasts are usually the same for us: Protein shakes for grown ups, and pancakes or something along those lines for the kids. We have plenty of protein shake fixins’- I buy the over ripe bananas, peel and slice them pop them into ziploc bags, and freeze them for smoothies and protein shakes. I also keep sandwich ziploc bags of  other frozen fruit on hand to make the kids smoothies when they request them (a few times per week). Berries, peaches, and mangos are pretty popular.

Lunches are leftovers, salads, or a protein shake for me and the Mister, and The Big kid has a specially packed lunch of whatever he’s into at the time (which changes frequently). Bitty Bird eats whatever I’ll feed her.

For dinner, when we’ve got buy days (like Mondays), I’ll try and put something in the crockpot in the morning, or pull something I’ve already prepped out that can be quickly cooked. This week, I plan on making a couple pizza crusts, and put them in the freezer in individual bags so we can have pizza whenever we want without having to call Dominos. I also plan on doing some meal prep this coming weekend for the coming week.

Monday: we had Jack in the Box on the way home from Legoland. We left later and got home even later.

Tuesday: The kids asked for Pancakes, so I whipped up a batch. For them, I just made regular pancakes, for Mister and myself, I made pancakes, but put a slice of bacon in batter after it’s poured onto the griddle. Yum.

Wednesday: BBQ at my parents house. It’s a potluck, and we’re bringing corn to grill, and a tasty green salad. There will be fried chicken, salads of all types, baked beans, and a brownie sundae bar!

Thursday: Pulled Pork. Onions, yellow bell peppers, carrots, celery, garlic, shallots, bay leaves, and about a cup of La Victoria Salsa Verde Pineapple Salsa, All cooked with a pork tenderloin roast. I’ll be starting it Wednesday night.  In the morning I’ll shred the roast with two forks, and vent the lid to cook off the excess moisture.  By 5 PM, the meat will melt in our mouths. I’ll be serving it with tortillas, rice, bans, and a green salad.

Friday: Leftovers, I’m guessing, or maybe quesadillas. Friday is usually date night, but it’s tech week for Mister’s play, and he opens Friday Night.

Saturday: Home Made Pizza- I’ll probably bust out a few extra crusts at the same time to freeze.

Sunday: Lemon Garlic Spaghetti Squash casserole– I’ve got 4 small spaghetti squash that need to be baked! I’m going to try cooking them in the crockpot- I saw a post on Facebook about it a few weeks ago and I saved the video.

What are you having this week for dinner?

 

Chick-Fil-A Cow Appreciation Day is coming!

Abby H.

Are you ready? Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A is coming up on July 10th! The kids love it, so we are prepping to go. You can check out my past post here with how you can DIY a quick costume with stuff that you may already have around the house.

It’s easy to score a free Entree at Chick-Fil-A on 7/10/18:

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Anyone who goes into Chick-Fil-A wearing any sort of cow apparel will receive a free entrée on July 10th.

Children wearing anything cow-like will receive a free Kid’s Meal.

I’ve been saving the treats (I’ve got a free fries and a free fruit cup, and a free White Peach Tea Lemonade) on my Chick-fil-a app to use on the same day- So lunch will be free for all of us.

I’ll be posting pics of our adventure on Instagram, I can’t wait to see yours as well!