My attempt at creative "cooking"

I saw the cutest thing on a blog the other day. One of my "deals" blogs posted about some of her favorite other blogs. I got the idea for the candy turkey from HERE.

I think they would work great for Thanksgiving, but I decided to make them as a "fall" treat:)



I can't wait to bring them to the party Friday. Oh, and be on the lookout Saturday for pictures of our Halloween costumes:)

My attempt at recycling

So...I have been pretty lax about recycling my whole life. I saved the pop cans when I was younger...because we got money for them!
When my sister and brother-in-law came to visit in July the "challenged" me to recycle more. Basically I started feeling guilty for not recycling. Since they charge quite a bit for a SMALL container of recycling in my town, I decided not to participate in their recycling service. I have been saving all the weekend newspapers I get (mostly for the coupons) and I have been saving all the cans and plastic water bottles too.

My next inspiration for going "green" was when I won a free reusable bag in an online contest. I was so excited to use it when I got it in the mail. I have acquired over 8 reusable bags for $0 with contest, store deals, and back-to-school teacher appreciation days. I use them most of the time on my shopping trips. Here are just a few:

The next thing I did was use coupons to get Dawn Direct Foam. This stuff makes the bubbles last a LONG time, and you don't have to keep filling the sink and washing dishes when there is only 5 of them to wash. I definitely think I am saving water. (Also notice the water bottle in the background that I use to stop wasting plastic water bottles)

Tomorrow, I am bringing all my saved up recycling to the place in Fort Collins (about 30 miles away). Here it is, sitting in my garage. Good thing I have a nice big area in the back of the xterra to fit it in!
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I know I am still not at all on the "green" bandwagon...but I don't plan on driving a Prius, composting my extra food, or even planting a garden anytime soon, so this is my small contribution:)

Happy Birthday Camille!

We remember when you were so little. It's great to see your personality shine!
We had a blast with you on labor day.

We love that you are the calm, even if behind you there is craziness.

We love that you like to hang out with us.

Thanks to Davina who put her pictures on our Laptop:)

My MiddleSchool Photoshop class.

This year I am teaching a Photoshop (Elements) class to middle school kids. We do a lesson every class period, and if they get finished early, they can create/edit in photoshop.
This past week I was sick of getting NEGATIVE political flyers in the mail, so I asked my students to create a POSITIVE flyer about America. Here are some good ones:




I didn't have many pictures for them to edit at the begining of the year...and the majority of photo sites are blocked with our school filter, so I grabbed some pictures of my family (nephews and neice) and let them edit those.
It ended up a little crazy.








Once I had gotten a few pictures of thier classmates, I included them...and this happened:

now they can only edit people if they have permission from those people:)

Food Reviews

I'm not normally one to plug a product on my blog (unless I am getting it for free:)...but here are a few of my favorite things. (Sorry the pictures are bad, Photoshop isn't cooperating this week.)
I bought a 2 cans of Campbell's select Harvest soup this past week (mostly as backup lunches in case I don't have time to pack one). Tonight I tried one to see how it was, and I really enjoyed it. I tried the "light" version of Southwestern Style vegetable. I thought it might be too spicy, but it was perfect. I added a few leftover veggies to thicken it up a bit, but it was fine without it. I didn't particularly care for the after-taste...but I usually finish with dessert anyway:)
By the way, there were coupons for Campbell's Select Harvest soup in the August 17 and September 14 Smart Source coupon inserts. The coupons included $0.50 off 2 and $1.00 off 4 cans.

Also, I am enjoying Pillsbury Thin Pizza Crust. I joined a program to "spread the word about new products"(=Get free coupons:))...but I LOVED this product.
The crust came easily out of the container, covered a lot of space, and was a delicious thin crust. In all, to make and cook the pizza it took under 20 min. (I think it took the longest spreading out the peperoni's because they were frozen!)
You can make better looking pizzas like this cheeseburger one too:

I have already given some of my blog readers coupons, or e-mailed them to you or
to get a coupon click here **Actually I don't know if this is working right now...I will check the links and try again.

And...I always use my favorite sauce: Prego "meat sauce". I have to WAIT for a good sale, but it is the only pasta sauce I will use.