Great Date Night A.K.A. I Love Freebies

DH and I needed a reason to get out of the house; an excuse to have a date. Our excuse? We didn't have a main ingredient for dinner...so out we went! DH suggested a movie night and wanted to go out (gasp!) to the theater. Dollar signs went rolling through my head. A movie out? We have a Netflix rental sitting on the table. Tickets for a movie that is not a matinee? That's outrageous! AND dinner?! What would WeightWatchers say?! Well, I can't complain because I'm the one who was ready to crawl out of my skin because of being locked in the house. So we left and started driving. We had so much extra time we didn't really know what to do. You know what you do when you are killing time and have no money to spend? Window shop at Costco! We were planning on heading over there anyway to buy our movie tickets so we spent some extra time (and DH spent some of his graduation money) and enjoyed ourselves for a (nearly) free time. As I said, we picked up our movie tickets for much less than it would have been at the theater. Then we headed out to dinner, courtesy of my darling cousin and her hubby that came out to visit and gifted us with a little gift card. So that wasn't too bad either. Then we got a soda to smuggle in (I know..shame! But we planned on getting popcorn...that makes it better, right?) . At the ticket counter we gave them our movie theater rewards card and ended up with a coupon for free popcorn! Woo hoo! So our Great Date Night ended up being Great on the pocketbook too!

I must encourage anyone who even occasionally goes to the movies to check out any rewards programs that they have-they are worth signing up!

BYOB (Bring Your Own Bags)!

So I have been to two different grocery stores in the last two days and BOTH have given me money off for bringing my own reusable bags. What a great deal! Reducing my trash as well as saving a little coin. I think my wallet feels a little bit heavier. :)

Free Kraft Foods

Hey ya'll! Money Saving Mom posted about this freebie on her blog and I thought I'd pass it on. You just need to click http://www.facebook.com/KraftFoods?v=app_10442206389, click Like, and then sign up! Woo hoo

So I PASSED!!!!

Monday I found out that I passed all 3 of my CSET tests! That was amazing! Apparently my whole family was convinced that I would but I couldn't accept it until I saw that "Pass" "Pass" "Pass". I was so excited I called everyone that I could think of. If you don't know what this means, it means that I am now able to student teach. Within the hour I was at the Education office at school and they were processing me to place me in a school. I'm so excited yet so terrified. I can't wait to be in the classroom but YIKES! This is going to be a huge amount of work but I am so excited to do it. I have also started working out with the 30 Day Shred. I have figured out why it is called "Shred"...your muscles feel like they are shredded into little pieces. I took yesterday off but I'm getting back on the horse today. It's embarrassing to say that I couldn't finish the first workout-so that is my first goal. Then I will get used to that workout and move on to workout two. Last night I saw pictures from our honeymoon-and I do NOT like the fat that has found me in the last few years. I will be losing it soon that is for sure.
I'm also going to need crockpot and freezer recipes to prep on the weekends while I'm student teaching. Derek doesn't like rice or mushrooms and I don't eat beans or soup. Any suggestions???
Today I used my swagbucks giftcards on amazon and bought two books that I've been wanting "Katt's in the Cradle" and "Where do I go?" Both are christian books and I'm looking forward to catching up with them. I'll post up some reviews once I get the chance to read them.
P.S. If you're looking for a great deal on books check out paperbackswap.com. If you have never signed up with them, let me know and I'll send you my code. You request books and those books that people request from you, you send out. It's free and you can switch up your library as you please. I would have used them this time but neither of the books I wanted were on there. Hope everyone is having a good week!

What an adventure!

So The Middle Brother and his beautiful bride were married on Saturday (beautiful wedding...BTW...she looked like a princess and he couldn't have looked more happy. More on that later). Sunday they left for the honeymoon and I now have their two doggies at my house. No problem-just two more dogs to feed, right? WRONG! The older dog keeps "marking" in my house, the cats are locked up in the spare bedroom and did their "business" on the rug in three places and today the two dogs got out of the yard and only one returned. I realized that I was missing the little one and began looking in every nook and cranny. No pup. I call my mom (a bit panicked) and my stepdad comes over to help me comb the neighborhood. I travel the entire place for about 2 hours looking for this little guy asking everyone if they have seen him, talking to neighbors, putting an ad on craigslist and finally get back in the car to drive to my brother's house-praying that someone has found him and called the number on his tag. About halfway there I think "I should call Animal Control." Somehow I end up on the phone with the police dispatch. She's really nice, takes his info and mine and says she'll have AC call me. Five minutes later I get a call and they have him!!!!!! I just kept praisin' the Lord! So $33 bucks later and we're all home safe and sound. All three pups are passed out on the tile. Let's hope they just stay there.

My Very First Post

Welcome to my Happy-Nest! It's an extension of my home...my real happy nest! My happy nest is usually filled with chaos from the baby fussing, the toddler exploring, the cats meowing or the dogs barking but it's our chaos and it makes up our family. :) Initially I planned on blogging with all sorts of themes and categories but I can barely sing my ABCs anymore (and I spend a lot of time singing them each day), so really this blog is so that I'll have some place to direct all my friends and family when they ask me for the recipe. Hope you find something to like!