{Boo!'s and Meow!'s}

BOO TO YOU! That.is.SCARY!

And so is she....

...my cute new witch for $1.50 from Goodwill. I once again, with GREAT restraint, limited myself to one trip and $5 this week. Go me!

Took this for proof ;) I also found a nice coat for Trav, two new shirts for me, and an awesome pair of brown vintage gloves...while staying in the budget!

Last night, I had to work a foster parent recruitment event and sweet lil' Makayla tagged along :) She kept saying "Wa Wa---Kitty Kitty?" I would reply "Meow!" and she would just giggle and giggle. SO SWEET!

"Hweeeeee!"(Or however you'd make an angry cat sound:)

Oh, and this is the Halloween craft I made from last weeks Goodwill trip. A spooky spider tree!

Full of creepy crawlies---Eek! I made them out of pipe cleaners and pom pom's and found the tree for 80 cent. I already had the spider webbing at home. I can't believe my cats haven't destroyed this yet, actually:)

There's all kinds of Halloween magic going on lately at the Rada House, too! In fact, would you like to take a bite of my apple, dear?

Shhhhh! It's a POSION apple....ahahahaha!

Love (and tricks!),

Laura

{A few good....}

...Deals!

I'm so PROUD of myself! I limited myself to $5 and one trip to Goodwill last week;) I grabbed this 20 pack of disposable Christmas placements for 25 cent...I can do LOTS with them when the time comes;)
...and these cute Mickey and Minnie Valentines with stickers for 60 cent. I couldn't resist---just too darn cute!

Also, this brand new big Valentine's Day candle that smells HEAVENLY! Helloooo February;)
The last bit of my $5 was spent on some craft stuff I bought at Goodwill but that project will be featured tomorrow---stay tuned!

I had to do a little grocery shopping and found these flowers on clearance at Ingles...
I wanted the whole cart but I left the loveliness for someone else;) and kept smiling. Hehe!
Now...get ready for the Grocery shopping breakdown:

On the Menu for supper:

Hamburger steak, green bean casserole, baked potatoes

Crockpot BBQ Chicken, scalloped taters, and grean beans

Tacos with spanish rice and black beans

Homestyle Turkey Bake

Fried Chicken, mac -n- cheese, cabbage

Turkey dogs with baked beans

Kashi whole wheat pizza and salad
TOTAL=35.20

Per meal= 5.86

Per person= 2.93

Now...LUNCH MENU:

The basics to last about three weeks-
TOTAL= $24.06

Per meal= $1.71

Per person=$0 .85

And I figure there will be about 2 or 3 days worth of leftovers from supper, too ;)

Lastly, I got me some good ole' cereal for $1.60 a box...
One more deal I just gotta share with you guys---
My cart full of DEALS from Dollar General. I wish I could remember what blog I saw advertise this great sale so I could give a Kudos but I can't....Boo! But I send a giant "thank you!" to whoever that kind person was!
10 cent! 10 cent! 10 cent! ENOUGH SAID!
19 patriotic decorations for $1.90
and summer stuff for 60 cent...HELLOOOO Fourth of July weekend...lol!

...and that pretty much sums it up;)

Night! Night!

Love,
Laura

{QuizNo or QuizYes?}

A good day for a new thrifted scarf? Sure! Why not? :) Although I'll probably go with a brown sweater next time...I am feeling just the slightest big elfish:)
Scarf: Goodwill-50 cent
Green Sweater:Goodwill-$1
Feeling Chirstmas"y" on a nice fall day: Priceless---hehe!
So...yesterday I had a coupon to use for lunch--Woo Woo!
It was for Quizno's and I'd never been before so I was pretty pumped. Armed with coupon, I prepared to go in for my free drink and cookie or chips with a regular sandwich purchase:)

I chose the Traditional because it seemed like it was the healthiest choice minus the sauce and cheese. I also loved that they had a pepper/pickle bar that I cleaned out before I left:) The thing I didn't like is that even with the free drink and chips, my meal was almost $7 which isn't a deal at all to me:( I think i'll stick with my $5 footlong from the Way:)

Pickles on Baked Lays might just be about as good as snackin' gets!

But sorry...it's a QuizNo for me...unless of course another (better) coupon comes along;)

Then I'll be there with bells on for the pickles!

Love,

Laura

{Demo-Dine-Declutter!}

Finally!!! The yucky carpet in the bonus room (plus the gross green walls) are gone, gone, GONE!
Ripping the carpet up was easy peasy... But I just honestly couldn't even stand touching it...yuck! That's how bad I hated that carpet! So I just kind of acted as the "site manager" and made sure Travis did the job correctly...hehe!

Yes! Fresh concrete underneath. I can finally breathe easy!

But then, it was time for the hard work! Thankfully, my Dad is a jack of ALL trades and he did all the labor for free:) And I continued to oversee everything ;)By that afternoon, we had a brand new laminate floor (and a room I love being in!) for about $350! The free labor certainly helped out:)

I seriously would've slept here last night if I could've found my sleeping bag! ***Love!***

Since my Dad and Trav worked hard all day on the floor, I figured the least I could do was feed them a good meal.

This is a new pork chop recipe I concocted last night:)

Just douse your pan with a little olive oil, throw in a few boneless chops, sprinkle lightly with seasoned meat tenderizer, peel and chop up one large apple, throw them in the pan, sprinkle generously with french fried onions, drizzle dish with worshtershire sauce, and let cook until good and brown (and done:)...it's DELICIOUS!

I was admittedly heavy-handed on the apples, seeing as I made an apple pie and caramel apples, too!

Luckily, I still have some teeth left, too!

YUMMY!

Earlier in the day, while the menfolk were laying the floor, I got to cleanin' in the kitchen.

The end result was a place for everything and everything in it's place:) Odd kitchen tools Serving and cooking utensils Baking tools

and even a clean (though almost bare) pantry!

I could get used to Sunday's like this!

Love,

Laura

{ Meet Frankin!}

FRANKenstein + pumpKIN= Frankin the Friendly Pumpkin!An ordinary pumpkin...
....becomes a MONSTER!
At first glance you might want to run! I don't blame you! I would too if I saw this horrible creature! But before you do, let me REPEAT.... Frankin is the friendliest pumpkin you'll ever meet!

Love,
Laura

{Booted!}

So, as you can see, I filled up my candy bowl this morning. And, as you can also see, it will be empty sooner than later!

Love me some candy! And who doesn't need a few extra "smarts" to get through a Friday workday?! :)

Then on the other hand, who doesn't LOVE/NEED a little Friday lunch break shopping, too?!

("We do!", says Mo and Les!) "Oui! Oui!", says me!

"Boot..." you say..."I don't need to spend much money!" NEVER FEAR...a deal is near! Thanks to my friend Leslie, she let me sneak in the pair of boots on her "5 for $20" clearance deal at Wet Seal:) So that cost me....$4! (Of which I still owe her $2 so I'm technically in debt:/)

But that's OK, because I'm the new owner of an awesome new pair of boots! I needed a new dark brown pair and these fit the bill (and my foot!)

Keep in mind their shoes run big (in my experience) so go down a size or so:)

And then kick yourself in the "boot" and go get you some!
Happy Friday!

Love,

Laura

{Friend Feature: Leslie's Good Deal!}

2 Girls+ 2 Great Deals= 2 GREAT FRIENDS IN 2 CUTE AFFORDABLE OUTFITS! I am so excited to debut my {Friend Feature} Segment! Starring (me) + one of my BFF's Leslie! We were college roomates (which feels like FOREVER ago:) and now we've been working together for almost five years. She's definately a keeper! And she found that cute green blouse at Goodwill yesterday for $2! Kudos Leslie! It's Old Navy and had the tags still on it! That's my kind of shopping:) Thanks for letting me feature you Les!

My duds today total $5!

Boots: $2 Brand New Life Stride Boots(aka: Super COMFY!) at a recent yardsale

Cords: $1 at Goodwill with tags still on them:)

Sweater: $1 Mossimo from Goodwill

SUPER soft and puffy vest: $1 at a recent yard sale

Me, Les, and Mo had lunch together at Cook Out and I tell you...that place is FABULOUS! All three of us ate for $12! Today's bible verse on my cup was "Proverbs 1:7" The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
AMEN!

After a super swell afternoon...Houston--WE HAD A PROBLEM!

Oh No!

My car would NOT turn off and the keys WOULD NOT come out of the ingnition.
So...I stopped by to see if the Hubs could help....

Maybe I should've just kept on driving forever...hehe! Just kiddin'....he was only pretending to me mad (*I think!*)

He gave it a valiant effort but NO LUCK! Thank Goodness, my stylish friend Leslie, see above:), was able to pick me up at the shop where I had to drop my car off to be fixed.

Leslie, you're a lifesaver and a you totally know how to rock a cute bargain, too!

Love,

Laura