Five on Friday

Ever heard of Ten on Tuesday?  Apparently it's 'a thing' in the blog world, tons of bloggers are doing it.  The post a list of ten things or answers ten questions, or is just a list of 10 comments; something like that.  Well I've seen some very thoughtful questions and answers and some that are not so interesting.  So, I'm jumping on the blogger bandwagon but only answering one question at a time or doing a 'five on Friday', 'two on tuesday', 'three on thursday', something like that.  I'm not sure that I'd do it regularly, so I'm just going to post a question or questions when I feel like it.  How about that?!

So, today's installment is called 'Five on Friday'. - Five Friday Truths I've Come to Know.

1.  Mr. Clean Magic Eraser IS MAGIC!  Aaaa. . . wait for it. . . mazing!

2.  Garage Sales are a lot of work.  We'll see if it pays off.

3.  Farmer Tans are not so cute. . . now limiting my wardrobe to turtleneck sweaters.  :(

4.  I watch too much tv!

5.  OH!!!! and the biggest truth which deserves a post all of its own. . . the governments "8K Tax Credit" for buying a house in 2009 is a load of BULL. Our 8K tax credit came to a grand total of $775.  No one tells you it's calculated on some crazy formula that is based on a percentage of your income.  BOO!

Anyway, we have a busy weekend ahead and it should be a lot of fun.  I hope ya'll have a great weekend!

Sew Cute!

My co-worker told me about the cutest place.  We were talking about how we wanted to learn to sew or knit or cross-stitch or some variation of that and she told me about a sewing center in the Heights.  It's call Sew Crafty Houston and they offer all types of sewing classes.  I'm loving their site and it looks like such a great place to learn a new skill.  My co-worker decided to take a class in April so I'm curious what her feedback will be.  I'm thinking of taking Knitting 101 in May. 

Do you know of any other places like this or that offer fun, easy classes?  I'm also interested in learning painting techniques.

P.S.  Anyone want to join me?

Bargain Hunter Extraordinaire

I'm a bargain hunter, it's in my nature.  I LOVE finding a good deal.  It gives me joy to not pay full price for something.  When I heard about a coupon class being tought by a friend of a friend, I was in for sure.  It was an interesting class and the girls provided a lot of helpful resources for saving money on groceries.  They showed us receipts where they saved up to $100 on a grocery bill.  I've never seen anyone save that much on groceries before, and they gave us some good tips on how to save a lot of money.

The general tips were:
1. Clip Coupons
2. Shop at Kroger (because they double and triple coupons and have good sales)
3. Plan Ahead

I decided to put these basic recommendations into practice on today's shopping trip. 

I'm a planner, it's just who I am, so planning my shopping trips is nothing new.  I TRY to plan my meals as well but that usually falls off my to-do list fairly quickly.  But for this week, I planned my meals and made a list.

I used to shop at Kroger, but had switched to HEB because we had moved into a neighborhood with an HEB and I had never been able to shop there before.  I like HEB but I like Kroger as well, so off to Kroger I went.

The challenging part is clipping coupons.  I've tried that before and it's time consuming, plus I didn't have a good organization system.  The girls recommended this Martha Stewart coupon box, which I think is SO cute.  A few days ago I bought a Sunday paper and clipped my coupons.  I put them all in an envelope, which proved to be a little challenging while at the store.  A organized system would be much easier to use.

So, today I saved a total of $48 at Kroger.  It's no benjamin, but I think it's the most I've ever saved at the grocery store.  I think it was good practice, maybe next time I'll save a little more. 

They had a lot of ideas and tips on how to save the most on what you buy, but I wanted to start with the basics first.  We'll see how this goes in the future.

Girls Night Out Equals Date Night

First of All, I have to give props to my hubby for finding my camera cable.  I couldn't find it and after days and days of looking in every place I could think of, my hubby found it in less than 10 minutes.  Lucky Him. . . but at least I can find the milk in the fridge!  ;) . . . now on to the post.

Awhile back my church had a Ladies Night of Worship and it was such a great event for many reasons.  One reason is I actually won a pretty cool door prize and since I never win anything, I was really surprised.

I won a free nights stay at Hotel Sorella, dinner at Ra Sushi and a few other small items.  I was really excited because we've never stayed anywhere like Hotel Sorella and I thought it'd be fun to make a whole 'staycation' out of it.  So, I didn't tell Curtis that I had won anything and that we needed to go out of town for a night.  I think Curtis was kind of skeptical about what I had planned, especially since I agreed to everything he guessed, I had him convinced we were driving to San Antonio, which I don't think he was excited about.  Once we got there, I had to assure him that I did not pay to stay at a hotel in CityCentre, 20 min from our house.  Once I told him how I came about the free nights stay, he was excited as well. 

Hotel Sorella was very modern, which is not so much our kind of place, but it was a comfortable room with a great view, cool decor, and great restaurants. 

The courtyard was really nice and it turned out to be great weather so we walked around, did some shopping, sat out on the patio and enjoyed the view.

We also had never been to Ra Sushi so it was fun to try a new place.  We both love sushi so I knew we'd like it.  We made it there right before happy hour ended so we ate a lot of great food for a great price, the chiveche was really good.

There is a new restaurant in Citycentre called the Yard House.  We met our friend Chris there for lunch the next day and sat out on the pattio.  The food there was really good, we decided we'd like to go there again. 

Overall, it was a great "Staycation".  I enjoyed making Curtis squirm by not telling him where we were going.  We enjoyed Hotel Sorella, but I don't think we'll stay there again (just becuase it's 20 min. from our house), that is unless I somehow get another free night. ;)

Cheers!