Snowflakes, Cookies and Coupons! Oh my!!

Here in Vermont we are finally getting back the snow that we lost to the usual January thaw this past weekend. I know that some of you cringe at the thought of more snow, but for me, better a blanket of snow than sorry, dried up brown grass covered with dirty patches of snow!

Yesterday my children came home to a blizzard in the dining room. My daughter, mother and I had made coffee filter snowflakes before Christmas and I never had time to hang them up in time. (Imagine, running out of time during Christmas!) Rather then keep them sitting in a pile on my desk, I decided to surprise the kids when they got home and hung them up. They were very excited. So, there are the snowflakes.

 Next is the coupons. This is the coupon organizer that I use. I had one that was similar to this and intended for that purpose, but it fell apart on me during a trip to the grocery store. I searched in my local stores for a replacement, to no avail. So I thought about making one from scratch, how I would bind it, etc. Then I remembered seeing these Medical Records and Pet Records thingies (technical term) at Big Lots and they were only a dollar. They have pockets and are spiral bound.

Long story short, I grabbed one and got home, eager to snip, glue and cover. I used scrap booking paper, a glue stick, double stick tape, a couple of stickers and clear contact paper. The best part is that

it I was able to label the pockets according to the items that I buy for our family. After I got done covering it with the papers, I used my computer to type the pocket labels and a list of things that I usually but at one of the stores that I go to every week. I stuck all of the sheets that were meant for medical information together and pasted my list there. I still have to make a list for the other side for the other stores that I frequent. I covered the front cover with the clear contact paper, but not the pockets. I had the feeling I'd be asking for trouble if I tried wrestling with contact paper that had to go on just perfectly.



Because I had to group some coupons together, I use some large index cards to separate the coupons. For instance in the "Dairy" pocket I have a divider for yogurt so I'm not sifting through a whole pocket for the yogurt coupon.When I make my shopping list for the week, I just paperclip it to the inside cover of the binder and away I go. That's the coupon part.        

Last but not least are the cookies. My kids asked me to make chocolate chip cookies from a recipe out of our families Disney Magic Kitchen Cookbook. I didn't mind because the recipe looks healthier than the usual cookie recipe. It replaces a large part of the butter with plain yogurt and part of the flour with ground, toasted oatmeal. They're not bad. The dough is inedible, (really, it's gross!) but the cookies have a cake-like texture. We'll see what the kids say. They might want me to stick to hanging snowflakes!

Well, the cookie testers (I mean kiddos!) will be home soon and I have to get a jump start on dinner. Prayers for a blessed afternoon and evening! See you soon.

Blessings,

Kelly