Toy & Game Score at Target!!

This was major stock up time for my gift closet.

Target is having a great toy/game sale right now

PLUS

you can stack Target Store Coupons

with

Manufacturer Coupons (Hasbro and Coupons.com)

to make the deals even sweeter!!!

Here's what I scored:

I paid $13.89 for the above.

IF I were to only pay the prices listed on the shelf, then I would've paid $53.35.

That's a savings of 74%!!!

I paid $18.38 for the above.

IF I were to only pay the prices listed on the shelf, then I would've paid $82.25.

That's a savings of 77%!!!

If you're interested in knowing the details and want to do it for yourself OR see what other deals there are to be had then I've got the sites you want!!

Thrifty and Thriving does a great job of laying it all out for you!!!

To see all her Target listings, go here.

What did I do with my Friday night?

I had a 1 person party in my kitchen, prepping 20 lbs of chicken from Zaycon Foods.

My friend & I split a 40 lb order and then we go to work. I trim, cube, bake, strip & crockpot it all and then go to bed with tired legs & feet, but feeling good that I saved myself so much work later on.

Zaycon sells this chicken for $1.69/lb.

Now I'm a super bargain hunter & Winco does sell 5 lb bags of chicken for $5-$6 and this is about $3 more, BUT I hardly trim any fat from it and it feels good knowing that their chicken has no added hormones, additives or aritifical ingredients. It's also fresh & NEVER frozen!

Melody from This Beautiful Frugal Life always has great ideas on what to do with 40lbs of chicken, next time I may just get the whole 40lbs. Our family of 5 goes through prepped chicken pretty fast. So much easier to take already prepared yummy chicken then it is to thaw out and trim the other stuff.

For more ideas on how to prepare it, the authors of Frugal Living NW have an e-book you can download called The Ultimate Guide to Freezer Friendly Meals: Chicken.

Here's how I prepared my 20 lbs on a Friday night.

I cubed & trimmed the raw meat.

I baked the chicken on 350* for 30 minutes, then I made them into strips for my yummy Sundried Tomato Chicken Fettucine Alfredo

Put 1.5 lbs in the crockpot to make Honey Sauced Chicken, haven't tried it yet but we're game for new recipes.

Made 2 large batches of one of new favorites, Salsa Chicken which I thought was called Mexican Chicken. Oh well. Super easy crockpot dinner!

What do you like to prepare ahead of time?

Happy 2012!!

January 2012

Like many other people, I'm always surprised that yet another year has gone by so quickly. Seems like as I get older, time passes much faster.

Our 2011 has been exciting, challenging and overwhelming at times.

Carter is going to turn five this month. His favorite things to do are: play with friends, follow & model Preston in everything, fall asleep in the car, couch and sometimes the dinner table. He can hardly be serious for anything, he used to be our calm & serious child. Not anymore! He is a giggling crazy man. Everything is a joke (well most things) and requires a silly face or a silly noise. He is very quiet & obedient in his church classes, but will slip in a silly moment every now & then.

Preston will turn seven next month & thinks 1^st grade is the easiest thing on the planet! I (Charlie) homeschool him and he is a really good student. His favorite things to do are play with his brother, wrestle with his dad, play Legos. Those are the things he is usually doing at any given moment. He & Carter are really great friends these days, they don't understand how they can be friends since they are brothers, but they are friends nonetheless. Preston takes PE, Music at the public school & gets to see a couple friends from church in that class and he also takes a homeschool PE class at a gymnastics academy close by. All of which he loves and is excited to have some time outside of Mom. ;-)

Alexis just turned nine & is in third grade (homeschool). She has really fell in love with reading! She was given the first Nancy Drew Detective books last year for Christmas and that started her off. She was reading some other books already, but didn't do much reading without being told to read. She gets to stay up as late as she wants as long as she is reading a book. She often will fall asleep reading & we have some great photos to put together one day when she is older of all those times. Her favorite things to do are: make crafty things from her imagination (an alarm that signals her when anyone comes into her room while she's sleeping-hasn't quite mastered that one though), reading, listening to Adventures in Odyssey. She can memorize like nobody's business and would love to join a local Drama Club, which we all know she's great at drama!! ;-) Alexis also takes PE & Music at the public school & a homeschool PE class at the gymnastics academy with Preston.

All kids are still involved with AWANA and look forward to going every week and we look forward to it too!

I (Charlie) still homeschool all the kids and have made a lot of changes to be more intentional about being with them & not just around them. I am no longer in my Mothers Bible Study at church, the days that I had study made for long & challenging days with school work. Everything else is really just your average stay-at-home, homeschooling mom type of stuff, so not really worthy of an update letter. Really, it's all about the kids isn't it?

Travis has had a lot of changes this last year. He was fired from his job at Combined Insurance last February after working for them for nine years. We knew it was coming and we were happy the way it all came about. He had been traveling so much the last year, that he was only home a couple weekends the whole month! He had started traveling awhile before that, but the last year was the worst.

To say that his coming home was an adjustment would be an understatement for sure! The kids & I were used to being on our own most of the time, and so was Travis. We had to relearn being one unit again, now we're fine. ;-)

God has been faithful to provide for us and we are always aware of his care and provision.
Travis has started out on his own. He buys and sells houses, this is not his job mind you, this is his business for himself. He works hard, spends a lot of time learning & seeking wisdom/help from his mentor.

The other venture he started is trading the markets! Again, he devotes time to learning and seeking wisdom from his mentor in this arena. I believe that he is much more passionate about this because of all the rules and if you didn't know, Travis is a rule-follower!!

We still live in Hillsboro, OR (almost four years now) and still have the goal of moving back to Eugene where we both grew up and where our parents are. We just spent a whole week in Eugene with both families for Christmas and have renewed excitement about moving back. We do have a date in mind . . . by the end of 2012. But of course “we've” had plans before so we'll see what the Lord's plans are for our family.

It's been an exciting 2011 for sure and we are holding on to the belief that 2012 is “our year”, praying it's your year too!

Love to all,

The Daggetts

Travis, Charlie, Alexis, Preston & Carter

A Benefit to Homeschooling

Here's an example of where we're glad to be homeschooling!

I'm sure this will start to be more frequent & we'll need to be diligent and educate correctly.

The only area that I've had to modify in school is in the area of how people view our environment & humans impact on it. Of course, our kids are taught that humans are the cause of everything negative & I really don't know what the solution is to them. I guess it would be a better world if we all died out, bring on Planned Parenthood I guess.

So today we had such a lesson. So far they are few & far between, but now for 3rd grade it's becoming very clear of the propaganda that our children are being taught. I feel so bad for those kids that are taught this without any checks from their parents.

Here is a link to show you what Alexis's activity was today. It shows a peaceful green forest, as you add farming and other man made activities you will see how man changes our environment and how bad it is.

"Short Term Changes"

We still went through everything, but with a different lesson. 

God is in control.

Who did God place in charge of the beasts and land? Man

We are to subdue the land, right? Yes

Does that mean that we can be careless and destructive? No

As is all areas of our lives we should be responsible people not leaving our messes for others to clean up. But, God can do whatever he wants. Afterall, this is his creation not ours!

We pray that our kids will grow up being passionate about what & why they believe something. Of course we pray that their beliefs line up with ours, but that is up to them. 

I get a little carried away with my ideas

I have a problem, my kids say I'm addicted to couponing.

There have been a couples times that school work has been abandoned for the sake of the deals.

However, there are lessons in couponing!

Alexis asks every time, "How much would that have been before coupons? And how much after?" She's shocked if I pay full-price for things, it does happen.

I don't have a formal location dedicated to my ideas, photos, tips and advice. I'm working on it though!

So today I got a little carried away with some tips to a friend, I decided to post it here to get everyone at one time.

Ask me if you have questions, it's fun for me so I don't mind it all!!

Enjoy!

I do most of my bigger deals at RiteAid/Walgreens/Safeway.

Albertsons & Safeway will usually do Double The Value Coupons or Double Coupons in their weekly in-store ads.

THE EXPERTS

Here are the sites that I frequent daily.

I would say that I defer to The Krazy Coupon Lady (KCL) on almost everything.

They have all the coupon policies & step-by-steps for each store along with weekly deals for each store.

KCL
Frugal Living NW
Hip 2 Save
are all great sites.

'Like' them on FB to put them all in one place, although they don't post every single thing on FB.
They have coupon databases on their website & always link to the printable if there is one.

I don't do 'extreme' shopping trips, too intimidating for me right now.
Probably to do that you'd need to 'buy' coupons from ebay or another clipping service. Which I just did to get a years supply of dishwasher detergent.

MY BOX

I use a shoe box type thing that I got at Fred Meyer for about $5.
I put all my coupons in small envelopes that are labeled: Cosmetics, Toilet Paper, Coffee/Tea, Meat, Cereal etc.
Big categories like Dental that have to be broken up into sub-categories like Dental-toothbrushes, Dental-floss e>Keep all your inserts even if you don't cut all the coupons. I just tossed out last weeks & now there's a deal for toilet paper at Fred Meyer, but I don't have the coupons. If it's a product you think you MIGHT use, cut it out!

If you never will use the product, leave it in the insert & file it.

You never know when a money-making deal will come along.

Keep your unused inserts together, i.e. Red Plum, Smart Source etc. Put same Red Plums together & put them in order of date (listed on the spine of the ad). When a website lists a deal & references a coupon from that particular insert they'll say: use $1/2 ($1 off 2) Cover Girl Cosmetics, RP 1/9 (Red Plum January 9th).

Make sense?

Keep all your coupons until they expire.

Always check out the clearance section at Target/Safeway/Albertson's, I've found great deals there too & then had the doubles to match up to it.

Don't get upset if a deal doesn't work out, you can always tell the cashier, "please put those back".

COUPON POLICIES

Print out & CARRY with you each store's coupon policy.....read it first..... that way if there is a problem you can lovingly show them what their policy is.

Walgreens' Coupon Policy

Rite Aid's Coupon Policy

Safeway's Coupon Policy

Target's Coupon Policy

TIP
When you print a coupon from FB or something else that doesn't let you chose your quantity (most databases):
Click on the back button twice - quickly- it will ask you to refresh the page, say 'yes' and it will print again. A glitch that benefits us couponers nicely.

Also, if you have more than 1 computer, make sure & print coupons from that one too.
Most databases only let 1 computer print a certain #.

TIP
Sign up for Rite Aid's Video Values on their website.
You watch short ads & at the end you enter a code and then they have extra coupons to print. Those can also be used with other MQ (manuf coupons) in their store.

WHEN DO I WORK ON THIS?

I spend 1 day cutting/organizing/making my store lists.

FINALLY

When your coupons have expired DON'T THROW them away! Send them to overseas Military families, they can use them for 6 months after their expiration date.

Go here to read more & how/where to send.

Hope

A little over a week ago, my Grandma Vera, passed away. She was my dad's mother.
Over the years I have witnessed (and done some witnessing) of people sharing their faith in Jesus with her. Praying for her to accept the free gift of salvation that is offered through our Lord Jesus.
While I was growing up she had been our guest many times at church. She sat through the service and I never noticed that she really didn't want to be there.

My dad (her son) shared his faith, I've shared my faith, my other set of grandparents shared their faith, even my daughter shared her faith with Vera. Of all of the people I know of, Alexis sharing her faith made me pray more and more for Vera's heart to soften towards The Truth.

My grandma was a proud & strong-willed woman, gave her opinion on everything & anything no matter what the listener thought.
Growing up, we always laughed at her "colorful" language and gestures towards everyone!

She would listen to what we wanted to tell her about Jesus, but sometimes would basically say that she had had enough.

Unfortunately I didn't know she was in her final days so I can't say for sure if she had come to a decision at some point in her life (or in her hospital bed) on whether she had accepted Jesus as her Savior or not.

After she died, I felt so sad that I didn't have yet one more opportunity to pray with her and tell her one more time that God loves her and I want to be with her in Heaven some day.
But as so many people have reminded me, she had been given plenty of opportunities and ultimately she was given free will to do with as she pleased.

I pray that I will again see her someday.

I was given a fresh boost of hope 5 days later when I was teaching in Alexis' 1st/2nd grade class on Wednesday night. The class has a prayer journal that the teachers record each child's prayer request if they have one.

Well 2 days before Vera died, Alexis' prayer request was for her "great grandma's salvation". I was not in her classroom that night, nor had we talked about Vera in the past week or so.

However, this is not an unusual prayer request from her (according to other teachers) but that night it had even more value.

We can expect HUGE miracles from our Lord because he promised he would be faithful. The Holy Spirit brings people & other prayers to mind & I'm so thankful that Alexis was obedient to that.

I pray that it has eternal rewards in the following days.

Freedom at Last!

I was rummaging around in my keepsake chest and came across an article that the late Marian Smith (Travis' mom's mom) wrote for a magazine. I don't remember which magazine it was published in.

This is a story about my dad and at the end he talks about his struggle with cancer. I was so overcome with emotion that I was crying while I sat in my closet and read the article.
It was the very paragraph that helped me regain my confidence that my dad is with Jesus and completely whole.

Marian wrote this as told by David H.Hall




Where was my Mommy? I missed her hugs. It felt like death. She'd left me off at Granny's, at Riddle, Oregon the week before saying she'd be back by Monday to pick up my sister, Clayetta, age 8, and myself. Each day I thought, "Mommy will be here today." Finally I gave up hope, it was 3 years before I would see her again.

I found out Mamma (Granny) and C.C., my step-grandfather, had adopted us. My name changed from David Larson to David Hall. That's what those bewildering meetings with men called 'lawyers', Mommy and my grandparents were all about. My father came to see us twice saying he wanted to keep up but couldn't afford to do so. He remarried and I didn't see him for many years.

Mamma and C.C. took us to church showing us the love we needed so desperately. I realize it was only by the grace of God they could, in their fifties, take on raising 2 kids. They took us on a trip to the mid-west to show off their new "children". "Mamma" was my mother's mother and I'm sure this 4'11" tiny lady of 80lbs, was heartbroken over the situation.
C.C. insisted both of us should be kept together. I loved riding on the tractor with C.C. and going hunting with him. Life seemed better as I had 2 loving parents now.

One evening, when I was 12, I was told it was bedtime but I wanted to stay up. Angrily I walked by C.C. as he held out his hand to me and told me that he loved me. I pulled away continuing up the stairs forfeiting my goodnight hug. The next morning I was told that C.C. had been killed in a 'woods accident' by a tree they called the "widow maker". A deep sadness flooded over me with the loss of my dad and the realization that I'd not hugged him and made up our differences.

I played basketball and helped Mamma on our 18-acre farm. My sister had become abusive to Mamma so she was sent to live with an aunt.

When I was 16, Mamma sold the farm. We moved to Eugene, Oregon over my protests. I didn't want to move to a big city but soon was enrolled at Sheldon High School and entered into sports. Even with a new start I became more undisciplined. Pain in my heart over my life losses wouldn't leave.

Two doors away from our home was the home of a pretty brown-haired girl named Becky. I noticed her right away and she seemed interested in me. We watched each other from a distance.

In high school I sought the "greaser" look, tight pants, hair combed straight back '60s style. I was defiantly getting into fights regularly. I graduated from high school and went on to Lane Community College.

The Vietnam war loomed on the horizon and I had drawn a low draft number. I could get drafted at any time and that meant being a foot soldier in the Army. I was doing well in college but decided to join the Coast Guard. Soon I was in California for training.

My service life was comprised of drinking, fighting and running around. I'll never forget Peter Pappas, the only Christian on the base, usually on his bunk reading the Word. We'd talk about the Bible but I still had my own agenda.

Stationed at Subic Bay in the Philippines I was serving in the Mecong Delta area in Vietnam as well. One day under orders we were told to shell the Vietcong before they could fire on our boats, so I fired off a volley that killed 10 men. I'd seen plenty of death, but knowing that I'd taken their lives, even in war, crushed me.

One night I was arrested with 2 counts of assault and battery plus one count of rape. I acknowledged the assault and battery, but I knew the rape count was untrue. As I was denying the rape charge I was being thrown into a civilian jail with murderers and hardened criminals. Our ship was ready to move out and I would be left in a foreign jail indefinitely. Providentially, someone from our ship had seen me taken to jail and at 1:30 AM I found myself being bailed out for $44, and hurried to the ship. After that when we came into port I was confined to the ship to keep me from being thrown back into the Philippine jail.

Toward the end of my stay in the Philippines I noticed I'd tired of wild lifestyle. At 21 I started praying for a brown-haired, blue-eyed virgin to marry.

Home on leave from the base in San Diego it was great to be back with Mamma. Also, I thought a lot about Becky. One day I was mowing Mamma's lawn and Becky came over. She'd told her mother it was only neighborly to welcome me home. We talked and I asked her out. She was a little standoffish on our dates. Her father told her not to date a non-Christian so she finally asked me the big question. "Are you a Christian?" I had to honestly tell her "no". Becky gave me a new Living Letter Bible to take back to San Diego.

One night as I was reading my Bible I zeroed in on John 3:16, "For God so loved the world so much that He gave His only Son so that anyone that believes in Him shall not perish but had eternal life." I wanted this promise to be a reality in my life, I prayed, "God, if you're real, please work in my life." He came into my heart in a fantastic way. Lying on my bunk it felt like my body wasn't even touching the bed. I was cleansed, brand-new!

I called Becky with my news, but she seemed cautious. But, as I spoke with her father he discerned it to be real, Jesus was living in my heart!

Happily, Becky and I were soon married. We were blessed with a baby boy, Chuck, and later a baby girl, Sharlene. Living in Minnesota, we were having a hard time financially. During that period my dark memories returned. Satan had a powerful grip on me and I had an abusive attitude toward my family. I received deliverance from God once more.

My Mom, Vera, lived a hard life after leaving us. She married 10 times searching for fulfillment, later we made our peace.

in 1997 after 28 years of married life with my precious wife, I was faced with another challenge. Our daughter was to marry a Christian man, Travis, and we were caught up in the coming event. After the wedding on January 17, 1998 I finally admitted I had a physical problem. I had ignored my symptoms for 6-months, that of blood loss and weakness. I was diagnosed with colon cancer. Numb with shock I wondered how it could happen to me at the age of 50. Hard reality set in when I started the chemotherapy. At times I felt I couldn't go on, trying to work and being so ill. Happily, I've just had my 6-month checkup and have a clean bill.

An extra bonus is the recent birth of our 1st grandson, Aidan, to our son and his wife, Nicole.

God gives us joy in life we hold to our bosoms and cherish. I have a win/win situation. I am either completely healed by Christ or I will go home to be with Him where there is no "sorrow or pain." How can I lose?