Oh The Smell of Bread is in the Air

It's that time of year when there is frost on the ground, leaves falling from trees and smoke coming out of chimney's. For me, it's bread making season. Nothing beats the smell of fresh baked bread streaming through the house. No matter if you made the bread by hand or used a bread maker, it's smells and is bound to taste good. What I love is the abundance of different varieties of bread you can make. As long as you have flour, yeast and water you are good.

I started out this season with Foccacia bread. The only word I can think of to describe it is "yummy." With a nice crunchy crust, covered in olive oil, salt and garlic, when sliced open gives way to a soft bread. Perfect for soaking up a dish of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, making a sandwich or just eating on it's own. Last year I made a loaf and took it to my Nonnie(Grandma in Italian) for a wonderful Italian feast at Christmas. She said it tasted so good and reminded her of the bread her mom use to make. That was the greatest honor I had ever received.

I love bread and it's many different taste and textures. Screw the calorie counter, give me a good french baguette!

I Told Her It Was Addicting

I have been quite the coupon clipper for about a year now and I've been laughed at and told I was silly but I've finally found someone who can appreciate my clipping as much as I do, my beloved wife Katie. I've sucked her in. Even though she still feels bad for the checkers, she finally bought her first coupon folder and started printing online coupons. What really convinced her was when we went to Target and our total was $120 and we only paid $40.

I put her through some minor training. Gave her all the good coupon and deal web sites, like the ones listed on the right. I've taught her about stacking store coupons with manufacture coupons and what high value coupons are. She said I should teach a class but I still don't think I'm that much of an expert.

If anyone would like some advise though on how to get started with coupon shopping I would be happy to give what I know. First I would check out these two sites:
http://www.thefrugalfind.com and http://hip2save.com

As foster parents with 4 kids coupon shopping has helped out a lot. Especially around the time for Christmas shopping. I hope this info has been helpful and like I said before, feel free to contact me if you have anymore questions.

I'm out!

Our Fridge is Over Flowing!

So our fridge is over flowing with Thanksgiving leftovers. What do I do with all this food?! You would think that with all the members in our family that we would eat it all by now but no. So I have come up with a list of some ideas of what to do with the left overs and hope this will inspire others.

1. Dog and Cat Food - Kind of a joke but it's really healthy for them
2. Make a Turkey Pot Pie - Use ready made pie crust
3. Turkey Salad Sandwiches
4. Blend up food to make Baby food
5. If still in fridge for over a week just throw everything away

The actual Thanksgiving Dinner was very good. Spending time with Kati's parents was a blast. After dinner we went home and slept for a couple hours then rolled out of bed for BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING! We only wanted to hit two stores, Target and Old Navy. We succeeded and with no injuries. Someone at Target did get so excited that they barfed in one of the toy isles. A Target employee described it as a hazard waste spill. Old Navy had the best deals and we were able to get out of there the fastest. We ended the early morning with IHOP pancakes and then headed home and went back to sleep. All in all it was a good time.

Other than thinking of what to do with left overs and braving crazy shoppers life has been pretty good. Katie's(my wife)health has been doing a little better. She is able to function during the day a lot better. I'm just so happy to see her getting out of bed and not throwing up after every meal. The kids are doing good too.

That's all for now. I'm out!

STARTING FROM FRESH

So I have decided to start my blog over from fresh. It will be more about my current life and great deals that I find in my coupon adventures. Life has made some major changes over the last few months so I figured since I'm starting over I would start my blog over.

So, update on my current life. I am living up in Santa Rosa, CA with my domestic partner and love of my life, Katie. I still have my darling daughter Kaylani but Katie and I are doing foster care so we have an adorable 6mo. old boy names Atreyu and a wonderful, spunky 9yr old named Jacob. To say we have a busy life is an understatement. I love every minute of it, even when times are frustrating. I wouldn't change my life for the world. I love it so much up here and never want to leave. Also, Katie's family and I have become very close and I couldn't ask for better in-laws.

There have been some major struggles though. Recently, Katie was diagnosed with a seizure disorder and the neurologist have yet to figure quite what is going wrong. We hope to get some answers soon but until now we are taking things day by day and hoping for the best. On a good note, my medical issues have gotten much better which allows me to take care of Katie and the kids much better.

There will definetely be more to come but for now, I'm out.