Tonight two of my children ,"A" and "J" will be baptized. I consider myself blessed that I, too, will be re-babptized with them. The three of us will share this wonderful moment together and I thank my Heavenly Father that my children have given their lives to Him.

• I bought some ribbon for "A's" costume to hold the alien on. Eveything else I had.

• I bought bedroom shoes for "J's" costume. She wore them Halloween night and nearly every night since.

• I bought yellow ribbon for "K's" costume to hold up her box. I took some fabric paint I had and painted one of my son's old white t-shirts. She had the brown pants in her drawer already.

• I made the ears for "D's" costume out of cardboard and felt I had at home. I bought him a black turtleneck shirt that he was able to wear the rest of the winter ( I count that as clothes money not costume money) I found the red shorts on clearance and added the white buttons. He was able to wear the shorts this summer after I took off the white buttons. I also bought a pair of black girls leggings to wear under the shorts and gave them to my niece after Halloween and she was able to wear them all winter.

"K" was "SpongeBob Squarepants"

"D" was "Mickey Mouse"

I'm now thinking about costumes for this year. "D" will be "Bob the Tomato" from Veggie Tales.
"K" wants to be "Picachu" from Pokemon. I have no clue what "J" and "A" want to do. They better get on the move with an idea. "A's" costume last year took a bit of time due to the paper mache alien head and I REALLY don't want to be pushed this year.

What do you do for Halloween? Do you dress up? Do you buy or make costumes? Do you trick or treat? Do you even celebrate Halloween?

We used to trick or treat in a small neighborhood in our area but the past two years we've been to "Trunk or Treat" at Berea First Baptist Church. It's SO much fun! They decorate the trunks of their cars and lots of the folks dress up, too. We really enjoy it.

Saturday: *Roasted Chicken ~ Macaroni and Cheese ~
French Style Green Beans ~ Crescent Rolls


Sunday: *Chicken Casserole ~ English Peas ~ Bread


Monday: Ham Steak ~ Sweet Potatoes ~ Broccoli


Tuesday: Pancakes


Wednesday: *Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup and Grilled Cheese


Thursday: Swiss Steak (from Fix It and Forget It cookbook) ~ White Rice ~ Green Veggie


Friday: Eat Out @ McDonald's (Girl Scout Planning Night)


My family really enjoys my roasted chicken. I cook a BIG bird and use the extra for additional meals. Two of those meals are also family favorites...Chicken Casserole and Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup. I thought I'd share how I roast my chicken, make the casserole and the soup.


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Roasted Chicken


1 roasting hen

salt

1/2 cup water


Clean the chicken and take out anything stuffed in the cavity. Salt the chicken well and place in crock pot. Add 1/2 cup water, put the top on and cook on high 4 - 6 hours or until very tender.


Once done, pick the meat off the bones. Serve with side dishes.


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I then place the bones and skin back in the crock pot and add 1 cup water. Cook on high for one hour. I strain out the bones, skin and bits n pieces left and I now how chicken stock for soup another night.


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Chicken Casserole


1 cup diced, cooked chicken


6 ounces cooked egg noodles


1 cup sour cream


2 cans cream of chicken soup


4 ounces grated sharp cheddar cheese


1/2 sleeve of Ritz crackers


salt to taste





Combine the chicken, cooked egg noodles, sour cream, soup and salt. Mix well and place in casserole dish. Then combine the Ritz crackers and cheese and sprinkle on top of casserole. Place in pre-heated 350* oven for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

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Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken Stock

Egg Noodles

Cooked and Diced Chicken

Carrots

Celery

I'll take the chicken stock I made earlier this week and put it in a large pot. Then I'll add the noodles, chicken, carrots and celery. I don't measure this...I just add what I need to make a large pot full. I'll bring this to a boil then turn down to a simmer and cook until the noodles are done and the carrots and celery are tender
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Check out all the great Family Favorite Recipes this week at Menu Plan Monday!

Let me see if I can explain my soup deal.

The soup was on sale for $3.00 for 5 making them $0.60 each.

My coupon was $0.40 / 4.

I bought 24 cans of soup so I used 6 coupons.

Let's say you buy 4 cans at 0.60 each. That makes the total $2.40.

Now take that $0.40 / 4 coupon and triple it making it $1.20.

Subtract $1.20 from $2.40 and you now have paid $1.20 for 4 cans of soup or $0.30 each.

Does that make sense? It can be so hard to explain these deals online. Let me know if this helps!
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At Harris Teeter, you can triple up t0 20 coupons per VIC card per day. You may use up to 3

like coupons. Like the soup, I could use 3 in one transcation and 3 in another transcation on a

different VIC card. I have a VIC card and my mother in law let me use her VIC card so I could

do the different transcations.

(4) Coffee Mate Creamer: $1.99 - .50 q x 3 = $.49 each

(3) Natures Own White Wheat Bread: $2.19 - .55 x 3 = $.54 each

(8) Zataran's Rice: $1.29 each - .75 / 2 x 3 = $.33 / 2 or $.17 each

(3) Nesquick Chocolate Syrup: $1.79 - .50 x 3 = $.29 each

(2) Ortaga Taco Shells: $3.00 / 2 - .75/2 Q x 3 = $.75/2 or $.38 each

(24) cans of Cambell's Chicken Noodle Soup: $.60 each - .40 / 4 x 3 = $.30 each

(1) Roasting Hen : $6.00 (marked down from $10.00)

Total VIC Savings: $11.97

Total Coupons: $75.57

Total Out of Pocket: $27.54

(sorry that some of these items aren't spaced better. I double spaced to make it easier to read, but for some reason, some won't space no matter how I try to do it)

I am now offically "back"! We purchased a new computer today and it's up and running. Just in time for Harris Teeter Triples, too. I'll be back tomorrow with pics and the low down on my deals. :-)

My girls are in Girl Scouts this year. The 5 year old is in Daisy's and my 8 year old is a Brownie. My Brownie Girl is earning a patch called "Her Story". She was supposed to bring in something written by a woman. She asked her 95 year old great-grandmother (who lives just over the hill from us) to write about her childhood. Here is what she wrote:

Dear J,

Here are a few things you might want to know about my childhood in the country.

I started to school at six years old. A few years later, my sister who was ten years older than me, was my teacher for two years. The school house was only two blocks from my house and some kids walked pass my house on their way to school and I would join them. It was fun being with the crowd.

Everyone carried their lunch to school and enjoyed eating together. It was like a picnic. We would swap biscuits and sandwiches. We played jump rope, hop scotch, tag and ball.

I got to spend the night with my cousins. There were five of us and we wanted to sleep together, so we put quilts and pillows on the floor. We talked and giggled long into the night. Then came a knock on the door from my uncle saying it's time to be quiet and go to sleep...it was fun.

My friend came over to play sometime in the afternoon. My dad had a buggy with no top that we played with. We all would get in and down the hill we went, flying into the woods. Some fell out and got hurt, but we would do it again.

Everything wasn't just fun. We had chores, too. Sometimes my brother and I had to wash and dry the dishes and sometimes we had to do them over.

I liked to spend the night with Grand Ma and Grand Pa Jacks. They lived in a small town and Grand Pa would take me to the store and buy me some candy. One night I got a toothache. The mail carrier went out by our house the next morning and Grand Pa asked him to tell my dad to come pick me up. He did and off to the dentist I went.

My mother, your great - great grandmother, Mamie Jackson Jacks, liked all the school activities. She always carried my brother and me to all the plays and ballgames, but fishing was her hobby. She would get a sack of cookies and ham biscuits and ask all the kids to go fishing. I caught my first fish, but fell in the lake. No more fishing for me!

Country life...oh, I could write a book. We had our ups and downs but we enjoyed each other and all our friends.

Love you,
Nana, your great - grandmother
(Ouida Jacks Hutchens - 95 years old)

my computer is dead! :-( I'm using my 2000 emachine and it is S-O S-L-O-W! It won't let me do much in the way of pictures either. UGH! Wouldn't you know it? My oldest son is taking a Computer Animation class and our computer dies!

Anyone have any suggestions for a reasonably priced computer that would have 2 GB plus the capability for Power Point? It looks like we're in the market.

Hopefully I'll be getting the computer fixed this week so I can get back to blogging. Bear with me and stop by next week!

Really quick, the nearest Harris Teeter to me is in Hendersonville, NC. It takes me about 30 minutes to get there, but they triple coupons about every 4 months. I don't miss it! Usually I save around $100 and spend less than $15.

Can't wait to get back to blogging...;-)