I am a stay at home mom with three wonderful kids. I have been married for over 8 years to my best friend. I am head over heals in love with him. He always supports my crazy "thrifty adventures". We have a lot of fun together.
I was raised on a small dairy farm. Where I learned very young, the value of hard work and how to be thrifty in all areas of life. Growing up our meals were made from scratch. Only on special occasion would we get name brand cereal, chips, or any other fancy treats. Now that I am a Mom with my own budget, the basic foods always comes first. I too make most of our meals from scratch and take pride in feeding my family a well balanced healthy diet.
I enjoy seeing how far I can make our budget stretch, and when I take the time to match sales with coupons I am able to get all those "fun & fancy" items that would other wise be out of my budget. Being thrifty has always been a way of life for me, but it has also become a real joy.
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. Just a heads up to my local readers, if you are still looking for fruit snacks the Caldwell Stadium store still has a large display up front. I went in to get the Yogurt that is part of the ConAgra promo ( dairy shipments come to that store on Thursday) , and was happy to see they still had a ton left. They are out of fruit snacks, but still had stickers, roll ups, gushers and fruit by the foot. Hopes that helps…. The store was rather quite too…nothing like yesterday.
 While I was checking out, I heard Maleeya say yummmm….I looked down and she had put her little teeth into a plum. To bad they were almost $3.00 a lb….doesn’t she know to pick items that are on sale…haa haa haa! It was really good, we ate it on the way home. But a good reminder buy fruit that is in season, or on sale that week. You get much more that way. I normally try to buy produce when is less than $1.00 a lb, each week you will be able to find items at this price.
Who would have thought a piece of paper ripped in half, with a few boxes on it would be the trick to getting Maleeya to potty train. I would love to have Maleeya out of diapers by the time the new baby comes, but she has not shown much interest in the potty. One morning I decided to make a quick potty chart, and gave her a sticker every time she tried to go potty. If she went then she got an M&M, too. We are still not 100% but doing great and well on our way to being diaper free! She is so proud of her chart!
  
I have had lots of you ask to see a few photos of our home remodel….it is still in tear down stage. So you have to look past the demo and see what it will become. Good things come to those to work hard…right?
 Broken tile, dust and more dust, missing walls, rotten sub floor….hours and hours of work. I just have to remember it will all be worth it in the end. I will be very excited when my new floor is in, and when the remodel is done. Maleeya has been potty training all week ( the reason for no pants) but she has also had fun helping us with the kitchen demo! My cute little helper.
 Mckeely had a blast sweeping up all the dust.
 Matthew thinks knocking out walls is better than Christmas!
 Old cabinets that are coming out. They don’t look to bad in the photo…but they are very 70’s and falling apart.
 Matt and my Dad taking down the wall the cabinets were on. This is the 2nd wall we have taken out… to open up the kitchen into one large great room instead of 3 small rooms.
 As you can tell it is a work in progress. It is going to be long road…but well worth all the hard work. I am blessed to be married to “Mr. Fix it” I love you Matt! -Sarah-
Love you too: I just glad you are letting me do this. Our other house you fought me so much because you had a hard time picturing what it would look like. But after it was done you loved it. I think this time you are just sitting back and you are trusting my design skills… Thanks, love you too – Matt
Happy Valenintine’s Day
In November of 2001 I gave birth to my oldest son Matthew, who is now 8 years old. He was a beautiful baby boy with a full head of dark brown hair. All was well, and in an instant I was this sweet little boys Mom. Soon we realized our son was struggling, trying not to worry we hoped for the best.
About 12 hours after my sweet little Matthew was born we found out he had one of the worst heart defects you can be born with. He was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS), or in other words he was missing the whole left side of his heart. In an instant my world was turned upside down. We had three choices,
- 1. Let him peacefully pass away in our arms, and spare him a long road of surgery’s, and hospital stays.
- 2. A heart transplant, which he would most likely never get in time.
- 3. Open heart surgery’s (at least 3 and a hand full of other corrective surgery’s). The first one he would need with in days and he only had a 25% chance of surviving.
We decided to give our son a chance at life, no matter what the odds were. We knew we had to try to repair his tiny heart and give him a chance at life. So off to Seattle Children’s Hospital we went. In three years my son had 3 major open heart surgery’s, and 11 other corrective surgery’s. Those three years were filled with moments of total despair. At times the challenges seems more than I could handle. But they were also filled with gratitude, joy, and on over whelming love for my tiny son. Matthew was in the hospital for weeks even months at a time. I had to rely on the knowledge of Doctors and Nurses to give my son the critical care he needed to live. I also had to rely on the kindness of other “heart moms”, who gave me support and love in those difficult times. I was humbled by the kindness of others I made a promise to myself that I would try to give back as a way to say thank you.
Some have asked me why I take the time out of my busy day to write this blog? I know that some of you out there are struggling, I know what it feels like to be over whelmed with the burdens of everyday life. So this is my way of helping you, Let me teach you another way to provide the basics for your family. When I get an email telling me I have helped someone, I feel like I have kept my promise to give back, to help others in their time of need! This is my way of saying thank you …..SO Happy Heart Day!
With a heart full of gratitude!
Sarah
My girls went to play at their friend Lizzy’s house. They had a blast, they dressed up like bunnies, and had face paint to match. They looked to cute….Maleeya played so hard she feel asleep on the way home. She looked so pretty all wrapped up in her pink blanket.
  Mckeely my 4 year old.
Last week Matt told you all that he got me a bag for Valentines day….well they showed up (he bought me a big and little one) and he was so excited he could not wait to show me. He has never been good at keeping secrets… he always gives me my gifts early. I loved this one!
Maleeya wanted me to carry her around in it…she is such a funny little girl!
  Just in case you did not know…yes, I am pregnant…very pregnant…only 9 weeks to go, before our new little boy comes! My huge tummy is going to get even bigger…..uuuggghhhh!
 One of the fun perks of running my blog is getting to try out new products. Snyder’s of Hanover Pretzels asked me if I would like to try some of their new products…of course I said yes. Today the doorbell rang and it was the FedEx man with a package. I told my girls it was a surprise for their tea party. They were SO excited… you would have thought it was Christmas morning!
 Inside was 3 bags of Snyder’s of Hanovers new products, chocolate covered pretzels.
- Peanut Butter Pretzel Sandwich Dips, Dipped in Hershey’s Milk Chocolate
- Bite-sized Nibbler Pretzel Dips, Dipped in Hershey’s Milk Chocolate
- Peanut Butter Pretzel Sandwich Dips, Dipped in Hershey’s White creme chocolate
 We gave all 3 of them a try and loved them all! They are sweet and salty, the perfect snack. They are almost like a tiny little candy bar…so good! Our favorite were the two with peanut butter. The Girls liked the Milk Chocolate dipped peanut butter pretzel sandwich, and I like the ones dips in white chocolate. Thanks again for letting us try your new product, they made our tea party extra special. This gets an A+ in our “Mom likes it review” To view their website and all their products click here.
  
 Got this email today….
I just had a little advice for you. my intentions are not to make you feel bad in any way! i just could not help but notice how many grammatical and spelling errors you have in your blog. i know it may not seem like a big deal-but trust me-it doesn’t look very professional! i appreciate all the hard work you guys put in daily! it has helped me out a great deal in saving money.
My first reaction is to be totally embarrassed ….and yes a little hurt too. But instead, I attempt to use this as a way to learn or grow. When I started this blog it was not only to help my friends and family save money, but to face one of my biggest fears…. trying to hide the fact that I have a mild form of dyslexia. But I did not want that to hold me back from helping others. SO spelling and grammatical errors WILL be a common thing on my blog.
As a little girl and still as an adult I often feel “stupid” and a bit angry that I can’t learn the same as others. My brain does not see things the same way as many of you….I really can’t see the misspelled words. My brain mixes them all up.
The only thing I can say is we all face this life with a different set of talents ( spelling and writing is not one of mine). If I was to focus on all the things I CAN”T do well, then I would never be able to find the joy in the things I can do well. So if you see a misspelled word on my site…feel free to let me know, I will be happy to change it. Or just remember that I am a busy Mom of 3 ( soon to be 4) writing a blog for my friends and family to help them save money….far from professional …. and I am learning to be OK with that.
And FYI to the emailer “i” instead of “I” is not correct grammar either -Matt
We have been “under construction” with our home remodel. Maleeya does not like the sound of the sanders, drills, hammers and all the noise her Daddy makes while fixing up our house. She loves to help Daddy but does not like all the noise…so she found these huge ear muffs to fix that problem. She was so proud of herself.
This weekend I went to my Sister in-laws baby shower, while I was there I met her cousin who happens to read my blog. Her husband and her also own the local Nampa IHOP. She told me about a few very THRIFTY deals that they have and I was so excited to pass them along to all of you!
Seniors BOGO FREE!
Every night at IHOP from 2pm to close they have BUY one get one FREE on any menu item with the purchase of 2 beverages. The menu states seniors are 55 or older.
Kids Eat for only $1.99 every night!!!
Every night kids eat for only $1.99 from 4pm to close. Kids meal includes a drink too!
Both of these offers state they are not valid with other discounts or coupons.
This is only offered at the NAMPA IHOP!
Tell them A Thrifty Mom sent you!
Matthew with a mouth full of bacon…can you tell he is loving IHOP!!!
We do not go out to eat very often, but we thought we would try out the $1.99 kids meal offer. First off I have to say my kids were SO EXCITED to go to IHOP. They had never been before, they were so excited to pick their own meal ( without being told no that cost to much….yes that is normally what I say). They had a huge selection too, with fun photos to choose from, anything from breakfast – dinner. And nice big portions as well!
At only $1.99 this is something we will have to do more often! Matt and I totally enjoyed our meal as well…and their prices are great too!
 Why does Maleeya have the “deer in the head lights” look???
 Look who was climbing on the curtains…and knocked them down!
Every time my girls go to Walgreens with me they have to show me the big packs of flavored chap stick. Both of the girls got chap stick for Christmas and they LOVE IT! This morning Maleeya was playing with her little house when I noticed she was not playing with the little people, instead her house was full of “chap stick babies” She was even taking her blue chap stick “pee pee”.
 
Maleeya got a Dr Kit for Christmas…she likes to be the patient and let her brother and sister fix her up. They play so cute!
 
Guess who learned to take pics of herself this week….
It is a tradition in Matt’s family to give each child their own nativity set on their 3rd Christmas. This way they can set it up, tell us the story of Jesus and play with it all month and not be told ” don’t touch the nativity”. I love this tradition and the kids are really proud of their own set.
 Matthews set above, Mckeelys set below
 Notice both sets are missing baby Jesus. Matthew was very upset that he was missing.
 Maleeya…saw he was upset and with a big smile said ” Baby, sleep, tree”
 She had taken both baby’s and put them under the Christmas tree skirt….she said they were sleeping.
 She did not want us to wake them…we had to be very quite. Matthew was laughing so hard at his little sister….we all thought it was pretty cute.
 Finally it was time for them to wake up…she put them back. I love how her little mind works….this is why I love to be a stay at home Mom!
Both Matthew and Mckeely needed to bring goodies for their school Christmas parties. I could have just made cookies or cupcakes, but they wanted to help me. So we made White Chocolate Chex Mix together. They were so proud that “they” made their treat.
 I then let them put them in these cute little Chinese take out food boxes. We by them at in bulk (50 at a time) at Cash and Carry, for about $3.40 a package. This makes them about 7 cents each. You can buy them in 3 different sizes, these are the small…but they go all the way up to a 3-4 cup size. I have done some really cute craft projects with them….but for this project we kept it simple for the kids.
 I gave my little ones each a sheet of stickers, and then they decorated the boxes.
 They had so much fun, and were so excited to give them to their little friends.
 We then filled them with the chex mix, and closed them up. These were a big hit with their class, and it was a good project to do with my little ones.
We moved to an older home a few months ago….we are taking out the dinning room walls to expand the kitchen. We started this weekend, and let the kids have a good wack at the wall. We feel it is important to let them work along side us… They had so much fun. Now lets just pray they do not do this to any other walls in the house.
  
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