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Dream Dinners: Earn Free Dinners & Special Offer for your Friends!

Abby H.

Dream Dinners in La Mesa has a new Meal Prep Workshop program.  This is an exciting new twist on the in-store party and it’s a great opportunity for you to introduce your friends to Dream Dinners and earn fun rewards!

Here’s how it works:
As the host, you attend the workshop for free! You also have the opportunity to earn up to $75 in host rewards!

Your friends pay $50 to attend and learn about Dream Dinners. This includes three pre-prepped medium-size meals, and everyone will get to assemble the Campfire Cobbler Trio, at this private, in-store event with your friends. They’ll enjoy delicious samples of our food. They also have some exciting perks for them if they place an order at the workshop!

Call/Text 619-460-6800 to learn more and schedule your event!
If you’ve never tried Dream Dinners, it is a great meal prep company with locations all over the US. I love Marsi and her staff at the La Mesa Location. When compared to other meal prep/meal plan programs, the prices and freshness are out of this world. For more about why Dream Dinners is tops in my book, check out this post.

San Diego International Children’s Film Festival: Aug. 13

Abby H.

The San Diego International Children’s Film Festival is coming up on August 13, 2022. There will be short films from around the world in several categories: animation, narrative, & documentary.

  • 10 am to 5 pm Saturday, 8/13/22
  • Neil Morgan Auditorium at the San Diego Central Library downtown, 330 Park Blvd.
  • Free admission
  • Filmmaker and animator appearances!
  • Film schedule at www.childrensfilmsd.org
  • Register here

Tryazon: Craft, Create, Illuminate with LetsGlow Dance Party!

Abby H.

We’ve been participating in Tryazon events for three+ years. We’ve gotten to try all sorts of fun toys, games, and food.  You can learn more about Tryazon here.

Light up your kids’ next party with this Tryazon Featured Party opportunity, from LetsGlow. Craft your LetsGlow look with a crafting kit of retroreflective fashion accessories that kids can wear to light up their photos or videos without an app! LetsGlow Studio™ kit includes a variety of non-toxic sticker sheets, nail stickers, and reusable reflective material to create hours of play! Just attach the LetsGlow LED Clip to any phone or tablet, light up your accessories and make fun, unique videos with friends and family! Perfect for family reunions, sleepovers, and parties!

Tryazon has 100 hosting spots open for this opportunity! Those selected get to receive a party pack valued at $70+ with a variety of LetsGlow products to share with friends and family! Learn more and apply here.

Checkout 51: SAVE on Real California Milk products!

Abby H.

Dairy loving peeps! Check out these sweet deals from Checkout 51! Earn Cash Back on cheese, milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, and ice cream—and feel good about it! When buying a product with the Real California Milk seal, you’re supporting Golden State farms and the farm families that run them. Now go dig into some dairy!

Checkout 51 is one of my favorite cash-back shopping apps! Most of the deals/cashback rebates are not store-specific, so I can save at stores that don’t accept coupons, like Grocery Outlet and 99 Cents Only.  You can also stack with store sales and other discounts!

  • Real California Milk Chunk/Block Cheese & Specialty Cheese $1.00 Cash Back
  • Real California Milk $0.50 Cash Back
  • Real California Milk Drinkable Yogurt $0.50 Cash Back
  • Buy 2: Real California Milk Yogurt $0.50 Cash Back
  • Real California Milk Cream Cheese $0.75 Cash Back
  • Real California Milk Sour Cream $0.50 Cash Back
  • Real California Milk Cottage Cheese $0.50 Cash Back
  • Real California Milk Ice Cream $1.00 Cash Back

And in addition to sweet deals on groceries, you can also save on gas at select stations. Information and specific participating stations can be found in their app.

To learn more about all of the Cashback apps I use, click here.

June 2022: New Healthy Freebies From Social Nature!

Abby H.

 If you are into Organic/Natural/Healthy products, then Social Nature is right up your alley. Sign up and apply to sample products that you are interested in. I get probably 1-2 products to sample each month. And most of the time it’s full-size products, not just a tiny sample.

Social Nature has rounded up products that are available to try at a local grocery store or mass merchandiser near you.  Apply to Try the products that interest you to see if you’re a match here.

Here are some of the new sampling opportunities:

  • Mac and Cheese by GOODLES
  • Veggie Pasta by Veggiecraft Farms
  • Cocoa & Blonde Truffle Bars by Honey Mama’s
  • Meatless Breakfast Patties by Nature’s Fynd
  • Gluten-Free Mochi Ice Cream by Bubbies
  • Plant-Based Ice Cream by Eclipse Foods
  • Plant-Based Alternatives by Big Mountain Foods
  • Plant-Based Ice Cream by Wildgood
  • Oat Crackers by Bob’s Red Mill USA
  • Various Comvita Health products

 

And More!

And one of the things I love about Social Nature is that they don’t leave our friends with food allergies out.

There are sampling offers for Gluten-free, nut-free, meat-free foods frequently.

Canadian Friends- You are in luck, there are sampling opportunities for you too! So if you love trying new products, check out Social Nature!

A San Diego Summer Favorite- Resident Free Days at Balboa Park

Abby H.1 Comment

One of the best ways to pass a Tuesday afternoon in the summer is to hit up Balboa Park. Each week there are several museums that offer free admission to residents of the City and County of San Diego, and to active military personnel and their dependents. Please be prepared to present a photo ID with your address.

Here is the schedule:

First Tuesday

Second Tuesday

Third Tuesday

Fourth Tuesday

Fifth Tuesdays

  • Regular admission prices are in effect

The Following Tuesdays: July 26th, 23rd, September 27th, October 25th,  November 22nd, and  December 27th:

  • The Comic-Con Museum (Not valid for “Beyond Amazing: Spider-Man – The Exhibition.” This special exhibit is an extra charge)

As a lifelong San Diego County resident, I’d pass on the automotive museum, it’s kinda meh (I’m not a gear head). And unless your kids are super into airplanes or outer space/NASA, I’d skip the Air and Space Museum. We paid full price a few years ago, and the kids hated it (ok, mostly Bitty hated it). The Mingei Museum is full of all kinds of stuff (folk arts, useful goods like pottery, clothing, quilts- it’s not super kid-friendly), but it’s pretty interesting.

Take a picnic, and enjoy eating in any one of the gardens/open spaces.  Another free activity in Balboa Park is the Botanical Garden and Lily Pond. Right next door is the Spanish Art Village, which is fun to explore as well.

Talk Back: What is your favorite part of Balboa Park?

 

Summer Movies for Kids!

Abby H.1 Comment

One of the kid’s favorite summer activities is to hit up the local theater for a showing of one of their favorite movies.

Big buckets of popcorn, snuck in candy (shhhh), and a drink and they are ready for 2 hours of fun in the Air Conditioning.

In my search for theater chains offering this fun this summer, several of our old friends are not participating as of the writing of this post.

Select Reading Cinemas will have the Reel Kids program, where throughout the summer (June 21-August 9) there will be kid-approved movies for the reduced price of $2/ticket!

And perhaps my kids’ favorite, 2022 Regal Summer Movie Express is back! Express tickets are just $2 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays featuring summer movies the whole family will enjoy. Availability varies by location. My kids are excited to see Lego Movie 2, Lego Batman, Scoob, and Shrek.

AMC has information about their $5 Fan Favorites on their site, but no information or schedules for the summer.

Cinemark (No locations near us) has 8 weeks of Movie Fun planned. More Details can be found here.

Talk Back: What summer movies are you looking forward to seeing?

 

6/6/22 Weekly Meal Plan!

Abby H.

0a5e9dab796cea8a07eabe4eb4795b9e.jpgIt’s Monday Morning, and that means Meal Plan time! Can you tell I’ve had my coffee already?

I shopped over the weekend and did some meal prep as well. We should be set for the week!

School is over on Wednesday, and we’ve got two weeks off before summer school starts. I’ve got two lazy days planned for the end of this week, but after that, we are starting fun activities and we’ll be out and about!

Saturday is Bitty’s Birthday Party and we are having a fairy themed affair. Snacks, wands, and wings (fairy wings that is).

Our veggies and fruit are delivered by Yasukochi Family Farms CSA. For $28, it’s a great deal. I don’t have to pick anything, go to the store, or carry it upstairs. I can’t go to the store and get the same amount we get weekly for $28. Seriously. It’s a deal. They email a preview of what will be in the boxes over the weekend, so I can start thinking about what I’d like to make.

With the increase in food costs, we are leaning more and more on our CSA box each week as the base of most of our meals.

We’ve been trying a lot of new foods lately, thanks to the really great freebies from Social Nature lately too. It’s fun to try new foods. On Friday night I ran to Sprouts and picked up the monthly freebies, and redeemed all of the Social Nature Coupons I had in my wallet. We’ve got all kinds of yummy snacks and treats!

For those of you that are new to meal planning, I’ve got an easy 101 style post here with super easy tips and steps. After you get that down, here is info about batch or freezer cooking.

I’ve gotten a pretty good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge done (I try to update it after every shopping trip), so I’m able to plan meals and use up what we’ve got with little waste.

I only post our dinner plans for the week, because our other meals are usually the same each day.

Breakfast: Coffee with 1/2 and 1/2  for me, and pancakes or something along those lines for the kids. They are also into fruit and bagels for breakfast. Lately, the big kid has been digging protein shakes in the morning. This is his favorite kind. 

Lunch: I have a plastic tote in the cupboard full of self-serve snacks. I buy treats and snacks in bulk and fill up snack-sized zip-top bags. I’m back to packing lunches again. However, school lunches are free this year- Little Bit has been buying her lunch and expanding her palate.  The big kid still brings lunch from home.

Dinner: We’re still working our way through our Dream Dinners order for the month, and I’ve got two meals ready for this week.

Laundry Detergent Stock up Alert!

Abby H.

If you have Walgreens nearby, checkout this sweet deal on Arm & Hammer Laundry Detergent this week!

Through 6/11/22, you can score up to 5 bottles (25 load size) of any variety of Arm & Hammer Laundry Soap for just $1.99 (normally $7.49). I prefer the purple cap variety, but really, it’s a personal scent prefence. No coupon needed, and you can even buy it online or through the app and pick it up in the store!

I’ve been using this laundry detergent for years, but I only buy it when it’s on sale. This is a definite stock up sale price for me.

Crafts and Fun DIY with Dollar Tree!

Abby H.

Wednesday is the last day of school for us. And we’ve got two weeks of fun and frolic before summer school starts, so that means it’s time to bulk up our craft supplies and try out some new crafts.

Dollar Tree does not disappoint. Since they’ve increased prices to $1.25 per item, I’ve seen a huge increase in the quality and variety of craft items, including cotton fat quarters, which are great for all sorts of sewing and crafts.

If you are looking for some ideas for fun, inexpensive summer crafts, check out the Dollar Tree Blog here.

I picked up one of their bottles of dye for tie-dying, and I took pics for Instagram. I’ll post a final pic this morning. Overall I’d give it 5/10. I chose dark purple, and it came out more of a wisteria color. There is a lot of fading, but if you use some of my tie-dye tips here (especially the washing soda pre-soak), you may have greater success. Colors available include Green, Pink, Purple, Red, Turquoise, Yellow.

And I made this cute sign the other night. All the supplies came from Dollar Tree!

The wooden sign, The butterfly stickers, one of the colors of paint (white), and the black permanent marker I used to outline the leaves.

All told, this craft cost less than $6 and I have a cute welcome sign for the front door.

There are all sorts of fun crafts available at Dollar Tree! I’ll be posting more of our crafting adventures on Instagram this summer, if you see a craft that interests you, please comment and I can do a tutorial!