Current Food Lion Deals

Food Lion brand sale:



As you may know I live in a rural area, surrounded by lots of small towns. The only options I have for groceries are Food Lion, Walmart and Piggly Wiggly. I can travel to a couple of larger cities, but its just not worth the gas money to go so far out of my way. So, I have found that normally I can get the best deals at Food Lion, especially if I buy only what is on sale using my MVP card and use as many coupons as I can.

I am jealous of all of you have access to double coupons and other promotions like that!

But, I will concentrate on getting the best deals at my Food Lion.

1. Food Lion has a good deal going on right now until February 7th. For each Food Lion Brand you purchase, which includes My Essentials, Home 360 and the Food Lion store brand, you earn 25 cents which will print out on a coupon to be used on your next order. The minimum is 4 items, so make sure you buy at least 4. The maximum in one shopping trip is 40 items.

On my trip yesterday I earned a coupon for $7.75 on my next order. This can be rolled, which means I can use the coupon to buy more Food Lion products and earn more coupons.

The best way to "do" this deal is to buy items you actually use and would buy any way. But the biggest deals are those items that don't cost much anyway. These items include yogurt, vinegar, mustard, macaroni and cheese, canned vegetables, tomato paste, etc.

Store brand yogurt is only 22 cents, so if you buy 4 containers you spend 88 cents, but earn a coupon for $1.00. Then on your next trip, buy 4 more with the coupon and get another coupon for $1.00.

Another good item to stock up on is tomato paste which is 39 cents. After you receive your 25 cents per can, the price is only 14 cents. I like to put a tablespoon of tomato paste in things like soup, chili and spaghetti sauce. So, once I open a can and use what I need at the time, I freeze the rest in "heaping" tablespoon size portions. I wrap each one in plastic wrap and place them in a zipper freezer bag. Then I just take out what I need later when cooking.

I also bought some small bottles of vinegar. Did you know drinking a tablespoon of vinegar is helpful for leg cramps? I don't normally have cramps, but my hubby and his sister do and this home remedy helps them. Of course, there are lots of uses for vinegar, so its a good thing to have in the kitchen.

2. Its also a good week for some basic meats. I don't know about you, but I refuse to pay as much for hamburger or chicken as I would for steak!!!

So I'm stocking up in the freezer this week split chicken breasts that are 99 cents a pound and ground chuck which is $1.99 per pound. This sale is only good through Tuesday.

3. For some reason the Food Lion brand "Lite" coffee is still marked $2.97 a bag, while right next to it the regular Food Lion coffee is $5.99. We like the half caffeine coffee and so every time I go to the store I pick up 3 or 4 of these to stock up on. Coffee is another item whose price has gone sky high! And these will qualify for the brand sale saving you another 25 cents on each one.

Heading Home

When I was making our daily pot of morning half-decaf coffee today I looked out the kitchen window seeing mostly darkness, a little fog, a car or truck headlight or two, lights in distant neighbors' windows and the above items.

The picture is one of my favorites simply because its title is "Heading Home". The Amish horse and wagon is heading down the path to home. There is a winter landscape and a barn quilt on the barn.

The picture gives me a bittersweet feeling. I head home as often as I can and I'm never there enough. But, after all, aren't we all heading home in a more permanent sense?

The plants, chicken and snowman/star round out my daily view. In the daytime I look beyond these items to see fields which change with the seasons. Its not unusual to see some deer foraging for food. The bird feeders and birdhouses also provide some entertainment.

What do you see out your kitchen window?

I hope you are safely heading home today!

Some Recent Sewing.....

A Christmas quilt in progress, doing one block a month. It should be finished by Christmas 2012.



A cloth grocery/tote bag.



I've started sewing clothespin bags for Spring and Summer. This one and the grocery bag are in my Etsy Shop.



The Pillowcases I worked on during 2011 and gave as Christmas gifts:



Some of the 26 Jacob's Ladder Quilt blocks I've made so far. Not sure how many I will need for the entire quilt... but lots more!

A Good Thing To Remember

I received this picture as a Christmas gift. Immediately upon opening the gift I realized that this would be the perfect Bible verse to be my theme for the year 2012!




... and in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths. Proverbs 3:6.

Happy New Year!

These dollar store calendars are hanging on the wall beside my desk at work. The last couple of weeks I have had one foot in 2011 and one foot in 2012. I am ready to let go of 2011!

How about you?

The Mystery Gift

My hubby has had a gift hidden in the spare bedroom for a couple of days and I was forbidden to go in there. I was so surprised to find out what the gift was! He had the old treadle sewing machine cabinet that belonged to my grandmother refinished! I really, really love this gift.

This is one of the most thoughtful gifts I have ever received. It means so much to me that he would go to the trouble to have this done and keep it a secret.





Here are a few before pictures that show how bad the condition of the cabinet was.







Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

From Homemaking Dreams:


I hope that all of you have a very Merry Christmas... and



May your homemaking dreams come true in 2012!

A Special Tree

***** update on Mama: She is improving, but far from well, and has been transferred to a rehabilitation/nursing center. Our hope is that she will be able to go home in a few weeks. She was very, very sick last week. I honestly did not think she would make it for a little while there! Thank you so much to all who were concerned for her and me.

I haven't had time to or the desire to do much Christmas decorating this year. My daughter, who is always so thoughtful, brought me this pre-lit tree, fully decorated. She knows I love snow, so the tree is decorated with a snow theme and even has a snow tree skirt. She, my son-in-law and grandson snook the tree in and surprised me.





I love this tree and..... my daughter!

Update

A few of you have asked how Mama is, so I thought I'd give a small update.

She is very sick this week, in the hospital with Shingles. This has really thrown her for a loop. The combination of her age, being on dialysis and her other health problems have made for a very sick lady.

I thank you in advance for your, care, concern and prayers!

Debbie J.

How to have a 48 Hour Day

First an update of my mother: Dialysis is very hard! She is adjusting to it some, but I don't know if anyone ever fully gets used to it. However, she is feeling better. On the Monday after Thanksgiving, she will have her permanent access for dialysis put in, which is called a fistula. This will involve a couple more days spent in the hospital.

Since my schedule is even more busy now, I've not had time to post too much on my blogs, but I'm trying to get more organized and hope to get back into the swing of things.

Having a 48 hour day is not my idea, but I love the book called, "How to Have a 48 Hour Day by Don Aslett, as seen HERE.

My favorite concepts from the book are to have a front log, be early and not procrastinating. I am trying to incorporate these ideas into my day to day life. Since I work full time, help care for an elderly parent, and try to maintain my home life, I can use any help I can get!

My hubby has been a lifesaver! He has been doing almost all of the cooking and has been my support and my rock throughout this "new normal".

I am making lists, lists and more lists!

The front log is simply a list of all the things you need to do, whether they are recurring things, or projects that need to be done once. Then you just keep chipping away on the list when ever there is a spare minute or block of time available.

Thanks to this method, I have already finished my Christmas cards! I did this while hubby was driving my mother and me to one of her appointments. I was sitting in the backseat and worked on them while were going down the road. Then when I had a few more minutes later that night, I tweaked some of the addresses. I didn't seal the envelopes because I would like to include a picture of my grandson in some of them.

I am also benefiting greatly by not PROCRASTINATING! I never thought I had a problem with this until I started noticing that I would think I could just wait and do certain small things later. Now I am trying to do things RIGHT NOW while I am thinking about it.

Recently this has included: answering emails, folding and putting away clothes from the dryer, , doing some chores from my front log, even if there is only a few minutes available. Little minutes add up to hours!

Small Town America - The Dialysis Center Waiting Room

(Not my mother's walker, but a nice one!)

My mother has shown some improvement in that now she can get around with her rolling walker and not the wheelchair so much. Our current problem is that its hard for her to get into those SUVs and pickup trucks that most of my family own. My Little Ole Lady car is the only one she can get into without the help of angels.



Who are the angels, you may be wondering.

...The van driver who helped me the first time I took Mama to dialysis qualifies as one. I was not used to dealing with wheelchairs. I parked too close to the curb. I didn't know you could push a button and open the door. But he did! I don't know what I would have done without him.

...A brother who works nearby and shows up at just the right time to help get her in and out, is another angel.

...My husband who has offered to drive us to dialysis on Saturdays and then to help me run errands and pass the time while waiting for the treatment to end.

....The two ambulance drivers who teamed up to put her into the front seat of a small SUV are also angels in disguise.

".... I was sick and you took care of me... (Matthew 25: 36)"

There are so many personalities in the waiting room at the dialysis center. Most of the patients are not able to drive themselves there and back, and the length of time of the dialysis treatment is unpredictable.... and so they wait... Because of this they all get to know each other and they love to talk. Kidney failure doesn't care what your walk in life is, so all kinds of people end up in one small room.

You can learn all about a person in just a few minutes, when that person is eager to talk. One recent new friend from the waiting room is who my husband has dubbed "The Cowboy".

The Cowboy is a small man wearing jeans and boots, probably about 70 years old, with a weathered face After about 15 minutes I knew his heart. He loves horses, riding horses, teaching kids how to ride horses. Sadly, dialysis has taken a lot of this away from him.



When I asked The Cowboy how many horses he had and if he still rode them, he said, "They ain't goin' to take everything away from me!". I hope the cowboy can ride horses for a long time to come...

An 11 year old neighbor girl, named Australia, is another love of his. Her mother was killed in an automobile accident in Texas when she was only 2 weeks old. So, he and Australia's grandmother, Ms. Helen, went to Texas and brought her back to North Carolina. Australia can ride a horse like nobody's business, right through the middle of town, in the mountains or anywhere, thanks to The Cowboy. She loves the cowboy and he loves her.



I caught a glimpse of Australia when she came to the door of the dialysis center to let him know his ride was there... She is as pretty as the place she is named after.

When a dialysis patient exits the treatment room to the waiting room, they look pale and weak. Some of them are nauseated and some of them experience cramps. Some of them have a loved one waiting for them and others ride a van or on a gurney in an ambulance. Some are amputees and use prosthetic legs. They are all ages.

But they all have one thing in common. Dialysis is their job. It keeps them alive and so they go.....