holidays

Recipe: Choose Your Chip Cookies

Abby H.Leave a comment

Looking to switch up your classic chocolate chip cookie recipe this fall? I have just what you need.

Over the years, I have made hundreds  (maybe thousands) of batches of cookies, and I have substituted all sorts of different flavors of chips and extracts.

With the holidays approaching, there will be a lot of variety in baking chip flavors available at your local retailers. Some of my favorites include mlik chocolate, candy cane, pumpkin spice, butterscotch, and peanut butter. If you are an online shopper, The Bulk Priced Food Shop on Amazon has a lot of great baking chip flavors.

If you like a little more texture in your cookies, substitute one cup of the chips with dried diced fruit, or crushed freeze dried fruit, or diced candied fruit. Candied lemon peels are excellent in cookies with lemon extract, and white chocolate chips. Dried cherries go great with dark chocolate chips/chunks.

Change up the flavor with different extracts. I like cake batter, lemon, or almond in place of vanilla. Watkins is my favorite brand- they have a wide variety of flavor extracts. Rembmer Essential oils and baking extracts are NOT THE SAME THING.

If you are vegan or gluten-free, there will be substitutions at the end of this post just for you.

Choose Your Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup room-temperature butter (not melted, not hot)
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 2 eggs, room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 1/4 cups, all purpose, baking flour
  • 2 cups of chips, your choice

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter until fluffy (about 1-2 minutes).
  3. Add sugars one at a time and mix until fluffy.
  4. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until incorporated fully.
  5. Mix in baking  soda, salt, and flour.
  6. Once all ingredients are blended into the dough, add chips.
  7. I like to refrigerate my dough for about 30 minutes, this gives the flour a chance to rehydrate, and for the flavors to meld before the cookies are baked. It really in my opinion it makes the cookie texture a little bit better.
  8. Drop tablespoon-sized dough balls on cookie sheets that have been greased or are lined with parchment paper. I prefer parchment paper.
  9. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-12 minutes.  Let cookies rest 1-2 minutes before transferring to the cooling rack.

Variations: substitute half a cup of the room temperature butter for nut or seed butter of your choice. This will give your cookies a subtle nut flavor.

If you are vegan, substitute butter with your favorite plant-based butter, or hydrogenated shortening. Butter flavor shortening works best.

Additionally, you can substitute the two eggs for two flax eggs or egg replacer of your choice. It does affect the texture of the cookie, but if you are vegan or egg free, you’re probably used to the texture.

2026 Halloween and Fall Fun Events in San Diego, CA

Abby H.Leave a comment

It’s that time of year: Spooky Season! I’ll be decorating the house this week, once the heat breaks, and we’ve already started on Halloween costumes!

My kids have always loved wearing their costumes as much as possible, so we’re always on the lookout for fun Halloween events.

Here are just a few events that are free and seasonal.

10/09/2026

10/17/2026

10/18/2026

10/23/2026:

10/24/2026:

10/25/2026

10/30/2026:

10/31/2026

SanDiego.org has a listing of events all over the county. Some may not be free.

Talk Back: If you know of any free Halloween or Fall events that are free and family-friendly, please leave a comment!

Looking for a Gift for the Readers in Your Life?

Abby H.

I’ve got a couple of adult readers on my gift-giving list each year.

And it can be hard to find a book to give as a gift, but I recently discovered Book of the Month.

You can give a 3, 6, or 9-month membership, depending on what works for your budget.

Or, if you are the reader in your life, check it out for yourself! They have a pretty decent deal going right now: Join Book of the Month and choose your first book for $9.99 or make your pick later.

FINE PRINT: By clicking the checkbox above, you agree to Book of the Month’s Terms of use and Privacy policy. You also acknowledge that you are signing up for a recurring monthly subscription. Unless you skip the month or cancel your membership using our site or app prior to the 21st of each month, you will be renewed for $16.99 plus tax next month and one credit will be added to your account redeemable for your next book. As part of your $5 enrollment offer, you acknowledge that you cannot cancel until after you are renewed at least once. As part of this transaction, you may see a $21.99 temporary hold on your payment method, which will be released in a couple of days.

I’ve Been Busy

Abby H.

Hey friends- I haven’t been posting much because I’ve been doing a lot of stuff away from the computer.

The holidays are soon upon us, and I’ve been stocking up on items to donate. I’ve been using the CVS app to find the best deals and the best way to get the most bang for my buck when it comes to my monthly $10 Extra Care Pass rewards. I pay for the Extra Care Pass program annually. It has a lot of great perks, including getting my prescriptions mailed to me for free. Between that and the free $10 in-store each month, it definately pays for itself.

So far, I’ve picked up shampoo and conditioner, deodorant, and body wash, all using my October 2025 $10 reward, as well as some $4 rewards I had on my CVS account from getting the kids’ prescriptions filled.

I’ve also been taking advantage of other sales and deals at Bath & Body Works. They have a great program where you can earn free full-sized products, access to free travel-sized products, and extra percent off deals. I recently had a free full-sized product, a free travel-sized product, and an additional 25% off coupon on my account. I was able to use all three and combine the 25% off coupon with the sale on $5.95 single-wick candles. I was able to buy presents for 5 people on my holiday gift list, including stocking stuffers for the kids.

I’ve also been taking advantage of grocery sales and rebate offers through  WeStock,  Social Nature, and Aisle to pick up free and less than $1.00 groceries to fill the local blessing box and donate to the local high schools’ food pantry.

Yes, these are clown beads. Littlest Kiddo loves clowns.

And because the holidays are coming up soon, I’ve kicked up my sewing and jewelry making. I’m going through my dwindling stash of fabric and craft supplies to make gifts for people on my gift list. I’m committed not to buy any new craft or sewing supplies unless I have a gift card and a coupon, or in the case of fabric, I can find it at a thrift store. There is a distinct lack of fabric stores in my area. I recently had a credit on my Temu account, and I was able to pick up some really cool beads.

I spent a few hours yesterday making bracelets and a few Paternosters for holiday gifts, and I pulled out the sewing machine and finished up some stuff lingering in my sewing inbox. One of the items was a medieval tunic that I made from an upcycled cotton tablecloth- I picked it up at a thrift store on 50% off day. And the trim was from a bag of misc. craft supplies at the same thrift shop on another day.

And of course, I do have a full-time job outside of the house, and I’ve got my kids 90% of the time.

I’m spending a lot of weekends hanging with kids, baking, meal prepping for the week ahead, and trying to teach the cat tricks- the last one isn’t terribly successful.

So while I may not be posting here multiple times a day any more, I am out there doing frugal stuff and trying to help as many people as I am able.

 

 

2025 Halloween and Fall Fun Events in San Diego, CA

Abby H.

It’s that time of year: Spooky Season! We’ve got our Halloween decor up, and I’ve been working on Halloween costumes.

My kids have always loved wearing their costumes as much as possible, so we’re always on the lookout for fun Halloween events.

Here are just a few events that are free and seasonal.

10/17/2025

  • HauntFest 2025, El Cajon’s ultimate Halloween block party and the largest free Halloween event in San Diego County! Happening Friday, October 17, from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. in Downtown El Cajon, this family-friendly festival draws thousands each year with costume contests, amusement rides, a haunted maze, trick-or-treating, trunk-or-treat with classic cars, live entertainment, and a family outdoor movie.

 10/23/2025

10/24/2025

10/25/2025

10/31/2025

SanDiego.org has a listing of events all over the county. Some may not be free.

Talk Back: If you know of any free Halloween or Fall events that are free and family-friendly, please leave a comment!

 

Inexpensive Accessories for Back-to-School!

Abby H.

My youngest is a fashionista, and the current obsession is jewelry, specifically bracelets. While we usually make them together, sometimes it’s just easier to have a few on my “order later” list on Amazon and slip a few into the cart.

Here are some of the accessories that I’ve picked up for this year’s back-to-school.

Ornaland Heishi Stretch Bracelets for Women Surfer Stackable Stretch Bracelets 

This is my favorite stack- Right now it’s less than $5.00 for a stack of $8!

If you like wearing the Nazar (evil eye), this next stack is right up your alley.

 

It’s less than $5 for 14 bracelets- that’s a bargain.

 SUPERFINDINGS 14Pcs Heishi Stretch Bracelet Colorful Evil Eye Polymer Clay Stackable Charm Y2K Summer Bracelets

These multi-stack bracelet sets don’t have to be worn together.

We’ve got a bracelet display rack similar to this one, which is perfect for storing bracelets without getting them tangled up.

I also like to pick up bracelet sets for holidays. These are great in a pinch for spirit days, such as:

 

Frugal Gift Idea: Fun Photo Collages!

Abby H.

If you’ve read my blog for any amount of time, you know I love giving photo gifts to relatives.

Walgreens has good-quality photo prints done in-store, and right now they have a coupon code for 50% Off Everything Photo! Use coupon code 50BELLS when you check out!

This offer ends on 11/30/2024, so there isn’t much time, but it’s a good deal.

I am redecorating our hallway, and I needed some new 8×10 photo collages. Using Canva (it’s free!), I made a few collages, including one of the ever-ferocious Fiona the Cat. Having Walgreens print an 8×10 cost less than $3. Don’t worry, I also made one of the kids too. I’m not strictly making photo collages of my cat to hang in the hallway.

And I discovered Michael’s is having a great sale on Belmont Frames brand picture frames. Either 65% off OR Buy one, get two free. I can get 3 8×10 picture frames for less than $20 (pre-tax), and pick them up at my local Michael’s tomorrow or Saturday.

For about $10.00 each I can make an awesome, thoughtful photo collage gift for my friends and family using both of these deals! These deals end soon, so if you want to take advantage, I recommend doing it soon.

Happy Holidays Y’all!

Abby H.

As you can tell from the lack of blog posts and social media posts/shares lately, I’ve been swamped. Getting ready for time off school for the kids, traveling to visit friends between Christmas and New Year, shopping, helping family, and busting out my end-of-year to-do list has been exhausting.

I did not do a New Year’s Resolution series this year, but I have done them in the past, and you can find that series of articles here. It includes the top ten NYR’s including saving money and getting organized.

I’ve been using a lot of Canva‘s really great templates for my new organizing stuff (Yes I have paper copies- the ADHD folks in my house need the reminders). It’s free and it’s so easy to use. In addition to the organizing sheets, I’ve made pantry and freezer inventory sheets, calendars, stuff for my day job, birthday party invitations, tutorials- Canva is pretty amazing. And it’s free!

 

Have a wonderful holiday season, whatever you celebrate. After the first of the year, there will be a Target Gift Card giveaway!

DIY Gift Bags-Frugal and Reusable!

Abby H.

Every year I look for a new way to save money. And over the past few years, it’s been harder and harder to come up with new ways to save money. And I’ve been meaning to post this for a while, but now I’ve got some free time, and Dollar Tree has some really cute fat quarters of fabric (that’s an 18×21 or 22-inch piece of typically cotton fabric). Over the winter holidays, I was watching TikTok and one of my faves creators, Domestic Blisters, had posted that instead of going the route of buying boxes and wrapping paper or paper gift bags, she was going to create a set of cloth reusable gift bags for her families gifts.

I love this idea, and honestly, I don’t know why I had never thought of it before. We are huge re-users of gift bags to the point where they’re mostly tape. And, a lot of our out-of-state/out-of-area relatives send us gifts from Amazon that come in reusable cloth Amazon bags.

We reuse those bags until they fall apart. And in the past, we have had 10 to 20, although in recent years we had started to cycle out ones that were falling apart or just weren’t in great shape.

So on a cold and rainy afternoon, I pulled my box of fabric out of the closet and set to go through it. I have recently acquired a pretty good selection of quilting fat quarters and smaller (left the yard) pieces of various weights of cotton. I squared off all the pieces so there were no round edges or strange shapes, and set to making some gift bags. We will primarily use these for Christmas, but, I wanted them to be used all year so I did not specifically make them Christmas or winter-holiday-themed. And because I used what fabrics I had on hand, they are lots of different colors and prints.

If you have basic sewing skills and can sew a square or rectangle, this is an easy project for you.

Items needed:

  • Fabric: If you are using fat quarters, you will need two pieces- one for the front and one for the back. I used a lot of 1/2 yard pieces- and I folded those in half. Cotton or cotton blend works best.
  • Pins: To pin together your project.
  • Safety Pin: To guide your string/ribbon/yarn through the casing.
  • String/Ribbon/Yarn: about 2 feet-ish (24-ish inches) per bag. You want enough where you can open the bag all the way and have enough to come out of the opening.

You’re basically just making a pillowcase, and on the top of the bag (or on the side of the pillowcase where you would leave it open to put the pillow in), you fold over the raw edge and make a tiny casing.

I fold my raw edge over twice to make sure the inside is nice looking. I frequently use my decorative stitches on the casing to make it a little extra festive.

Make sure to leave a little gap so that you can put ribbon or yarn all the way through to make a drawstring pouch.

We’ve already used some of these bags for my birthday, and my son’s birthday.

1 gift bag can cost upwards of $5, and if it isn’t opened carefully, it can be torn and then trashed. These bags cost about $2 to make (or less if you shop sales for fabric or reuse clothes that are stained or otherwise cannot be handed down. Make sure to cut around stains!) and can be reused for years. Spools of Ribbon can be picked up for less than $2/roll at Michaels, and they frequently have coupons!

So there you have it. In a few hours, you can have your own stack of reusable gift bags!

Are New Years Resolutions on Your List?

Abby H.

I’m personally not doing any NYR this year, but. I know a lot of you are.

If you are on the fence and feel like it might cause you more stress than it’s worth, it’s ok to skip New Year’s Resolutions or anything else that causes undue stress. We all have enough stress in our lives.

If you want to do them, I did a round-up of the top ten NYRs in 2018 (for 2019) here. Some of the links within the articles may be outdated, but if you are looking for something specific, please feel free to reach out to me either via email, Instagram, or Facebook.

You may have noticed that my posting has slowed. I’m spending time with the kids this winter break, and I start my full-time job in the new year. I’ll still try to post here a few times a week, however, it won’t be daily unless I’ve got time. I’ll be posting more on Instagram and FB than blogging.