Ways to Save--Hair Products

I go through "hair product" like crazy...especially since my hair is getting longer, it requires more mousse and definately more hair spray. 

I'm a sucker for professional hair products--I've tried different brands from grocery stores, Target, Walmart, etc but I just never find anything I love. 

The thing is--I hate how much the professional stuff costs. 

I had always heard that JCPenny, of all places, has the best sales on hair products.  Really???  Turns out, it's true!  The other day I got a Redken Liter Set for $30...not too shabby!  In fact, most stores base their sales off of JCPenny's salon sales.  Who wudda thunk it...

It seems JCPenny is ALWAYS sending out those $10-off coupons in the mail...you know what I'm talking about!  We received yet another coupon in Sundays's paper that was good for July 3rd and 4th only.  And this girl was out of hair spray...

I headed over to Penny's with my coupon in hand and turns out...they were having a "Buy 1, Get 1 for $1" sale on all their products.  Talk about perfect timing!

I paid $23 for $62 worth of hair product.  That's a savings of $39!  My items went from being $15.50 each to $5.75 courtesy of the sale and my coupon.  

Thanks to JCPenny's, I can still have my professional hair gunk AND have some money left in my wallet!  And if you're lucky, maybe I'll show ya some pics of my growth one of these days!

Mothers DO Know Best...The Swimsuit Edition

The other day I was telling my mother about my newest dilemma.

The new pool at City Park is uh-mazing.  Justin has been dying to go but I have a slight problem with going there...or going to any other public pool in town, for that matter.

The problem--my students.  There is NO WAY in h-e-double sticks I would let them see me in a swimming suit...and then stand in front of them come September and expect everything to be cool between us???  Keep in mind half of my students are pre-pubescent boys.  Yeah, right.

My solution was buying a summer pass to one of the local hotel pools where I could get a little sun.  Mom's solution, one of those swimsuits with a skirt on the bottom.

You mean, one of these things???

Jeezzzz-ussssss....those things are gawd awful.  I would drink a big old glass of milk (does it help to mention that I have a serious milk phobia???) before I would get caught dead in something like that.
I stopped by Dillard's the other day as their swimsuits were finally on sale...I haven't purchased one in several years and my swimsuit fabric is making that pretty obvious.

Lo-and-behold, what did I find but this darling little thing:

I must have been in a daring mood because I tried it on...and fell in love with it!  Guess Mom was on to something after all!

Later on, I ran to Target to see if they had any decent suits left.  I was in the dressing room when a pre-teen girl broke down in tears, horrified by the suit her mom wanted her to get.  I'm pretty sure the entire store could hear how traumatized she was...but ya know, the suit her mom wanted her to get was super cute (I just think it wasn't risque enough to attract the boys' attention...)!  Once again, sometimes Moms know what they're talking about.  

I didn't find anything at Target so I called it a day with my lone "swimdress."  I wondered if there were any other cute swimdresses in cyber space and look at what I found:

Isn't this about the cutest thing ever?!  And it comes with a removable spaghetti-width halter.

Oh, wait--the pink is fun, too!  Guess has definately designed a cute suit!

And this one--very, very retro.  I kind of like it, but it would have to be black.

Kinda like this one!  But not with the $250 price tag.  Ouch!

And I LOVE this one as well!  Based on my research, it's a discountinued style and only available on eBay...not sure if I'm daring enough to buy it and not know for sure where it came from.

I just wish I knew where to get this cheery little number! 

I never thought I would actually WANT a one-piece...but now I'm having to practice self-restraint to keep from buying a bunch of the swimdresses!  At least I can blame my own mother for planting the seed in my head ;-)

Our Front Porch

Last summer, we "salvaged" these vintage motel chairs from my parents' garage.  I despised them as a child but ended up LOVING them as an adult.  After some serious sanding and a fresh coat of paint, we had blue chairs for our porch!

Long story short, the chair on the right has started rusting out...and in a bad way.  Neither one of us felt safe sitting on it :-(

We knew it would need replaced so we started looking around for a new set...but it would have to be affordable as just one year ago, we thought we had something that would be with us for a long time.

Pier 1 came through over the weekend with their outdoor sale!

2 new resin wicker rockers later and this is what we have:

The chairs are actually more brown in person.  Justin picked out the color and I have to say I love the contrast!  I had left-over fabric so I decided to skirt our old wooden table.  It really helped add a pop of color and also fill out the space between the chairs.

Speaking of left-over fabric, I had another print on hand so I decided to make some pillows for our porch swing.  We still need a dark accent on that end of the porch but I just haven't figured out what...maybe a neat wicker floor vase in the corner, behind the swing???  Does anyone even sell those???  Or a low "coffee table" of sorts in front of the swing???  Eventually, I'll figure something out!

And the final touch--our dog planter!  I found it last year on serious discount at Tuesday Morning and couldn't resist!  We have had many people comment on how it makes them chuckle :-) 

On a related note, our animals love hanging on the porch during cool evenings.

Miss Mitzi sticks her head through the slats whenever she wants to look at people walking by...maybe one day she'll figure out she can have an unobstructed view if she stands on the steps!

And Malcolm...he does nothing but clean himself while on the porch!  Then he hops over the railing and ventures back into the neighborhood!



Favorite Things--Marinade

Our evening meals are generally cooked over a hot, open flame during the summer months.  It's just too hot to crank up the oven or even have the stove going.  Needless to say, it's just too hot to be outside but it's definately worth it for some grilled meat!

A few weeks ago, I was craving some good old traditional Barbequed Chicken...I was in the condiment aisle of the grocery store and stumbled upon this:

Stubb's All-Natural Chicken Marinade...they have an entire line for all your different meats, but this one rocks...It's a nice blend of brown sugar, onion, garlic and citrus flavors. 

It seems that with most marinades, you let the meat sit for 30 min-2 hours.  Stubb's actually suggests marinating your meat for no less than 2 hours, so I let the chicken sit in the fridge all day.  The flavor was AMAZING!  It grilled up really nicely and even had the black crispies on it...yummmmmm :-)

For a store-bought sauce, it doesn't taste like it.  If you were really sneaky, you could probably convince house guests that it was a homemade marinade!  And at $2.99/bottle, the price can't be beat and I'm pretty sure we'll never use plain jane BBQ sauce again.

4th of July and Our Engagement Story

Happy 4th of July, everyone!

Happy Engagement Anniversary to us!

2 years ago, Justin's family was planning a reunion over the 4th of July weekend in Dallas.  As Justin's best friend and old roommate Isaac, lived in Dallas, Justin decided we just HAD to go.  I was not at all surprised that he wanted to go see Isaac but the excitement over the family reunion surprised me.  What 26-yr-old guy gets excited about a family reunion???

As the reunion drew closer, Justin decided we had to take HIS car to Texas.  To say the least, I was not thrilled at the idea as my Altima gets close to 35mpg on the highway but if he was willing to drive the boat in Dallas traffic, it was all on him.  Part of me was also convinced that he just wanted to show off the stupid car to all his cousins.  *Sigh...*

Justin's 1980 Cadillac Sedan DeVille that he restored

We woke up bright and early the morning of July 3rd to roll out of town.  Justin went to move his truck into the driveway and we noticed someone had totally hit the rear fender--it was bad enough that it was going to need the auto body shop.  We called the police to come do a Hit-&-Run report, but Justin got impatient and headed to the store in his car and left me standing in the driveway...the officer shows up, is slightly confused as to why the vehicle's owner left (as was I) and realized the dent was not fresh.  It'd been there a while.  Great, Justin--you're just now noticing something this obvious?!

Grrrrrr....I loaded up on coffee in hopes it would improve my mood and we hit the road.  It was a beautiful morning and I have to admit, the Caddy just glided down interstate.

We stopped for lunch in Only-God-Knows-Where, Oklahoma...we hopped back in the car, got back on interstate and within minutes, the Air Conditioning went out.

Seriously?!  It was already blazing hot (and humid) and now we have no cold air?!  All I could think was "I told ya we should have taken my car!"

We eventually pulled into Dallas later that day with all four windows down and my hair resembling a birds nest.  Isaac's apartment felt so refreshing!!!!

The next day was the family reunion on the other side of the metro.  We headed out without any directions as Justin was confident we could find the place--after all, Isaac knew how to find the suburb and we'd just call for directions when we got closer.  Well, we found the suburb without a problem but no one was answering their phone...so we drove around for another good hour or so in the sweltering heat with no AC until his cousin finally picked up and gave us the much-needed directions.

A bbq'd lunch came and went and I was just baffled by how weird Justin was acting around his family.  He wouldn't sit down and frankly, was just plain driving me nuts.

When he and Isaac told me they were headed into town to pick up more ice with the suggestion that I stay back to socialize with everyone, I wasn't surprised.  My immediate thought was, "Yeah, drive me ALL the way down here in this horrible heat and ditch me at your own family reunion!  Oh, boy, you got it coming to you when we get back to Kansas!"

Well, the ice "run" took a good hour-and-a-half.  When the boys got back, I was livid...LIVID.  My clothes and hair were soaking wet with sweat and I had just spent all that time making small talk...while they were out goofing off. 

As soon as Justin got out of the car, I gave him "The Look."   The look must have killed because he went inside the house and didn't come back out for another 15 minutes or so.  He finally came out to where I was sitting and attempted to be nice.  By that point, nice wasn't good enough.  I just wanted to go back to Isaac's to shower and call it a day.

All of a sudden, Justin raised his voice to get everyone's attention and started introducing me to his family.  All I could think was, "Hello, you idiot.  I've been sitting here by myself for the past 90 minutes and I already made sure to introduce myself and get everyone's names."  Why was he doing this?!

As all the family was right there, I decided to play nice and actually listen to him--even though I really, really wanted to tune him out by this point.

Good thing I decided to pay attention--after just a few more seconds of senseless rambling, Justin pulled a ring box out of his pocket and asked me to marry him!

I have to admit--I was not expecting it AT ALL.  Especially considering I wanted to strangle him just moments before he proposed...but obviously I said yes!

In hindsight, everything makes sense now.

To Justin, what better than showing off your new fiance and your restored car to all your family???  That definately explains his excitement for a family reunion.  Luckily, Justin has matured some and now cares less about showing off that stupid car :-)

Now I get why Justin (and even Isaac, to an extent) was acting so neurotic.  The ring was in the glove box during the trip down to Dallas and Justin was incredibly worried that I would stumble across it.  Isaac was the only other person who knew that Justin was planning to propose and almost let it slip out a few times...or so he claims--I didn't notice at all!

The ice run--Justin didn't want to leave the ring in the car once we got to Dallas.  It had accidentally been left behind at Isaac's when we headed out for the reunion so they had to drive CLEAR ACROSS the metro to go back and get it.  Hence the 90 minutes it took them to pick up "the ice."

Once everything clicked, my annoyance slowly dissipated.  We were getting ready to start a new phase of life together and why ruin it by dwelling on what went wrong?  I think it also helped that on our way back to Kansas, there was a significant temperature drop and it was actually fun to cruise down interstate with the windows down!

Whenever 4th of July rolls around, I always think about our "engagement story" and laugh about how the trip started off so rocky but in the end, it ended up being something to celebrate. 

A lot has changed since then...

There's now 2 rings, instead of just 1!

And some things still remain the same--there are days where Justin still manages to drive me up the wall...and I still think we should have taken my car ;-)

One Way to Save--Laundry Detergent

I'm all about trying to save a buck here and there.  Even though I am in awe, I'll never be like those people on "Extreme Couponing."  That takes too much time and energy.  Deep down, though, I've always longed for a membership to Sam's Club.  However, with it just being the two of us and living an hour away from the closest one, I'm not sure if we'd even end up really saving anything...???

I have started using Dillon's digital coupons--that way, they're always with me and I also download any coupons that may be of use in the event that the brand I'm loyal to is out of stock, etc...

The other day, I ran to Dillon's to pick up some fabric softener.  I had a $.75 digital store coupon and a $2.00 manufacturer's coupon...I was about to get the bottle of Downy for $2....woot woot!

Ummmmm, turns out Dillon's doesn't allow you to "stack" meaning you can't use a store coupon AND a manufacturer's coupon together.  The real kicker--they would only accept my $.75 store coupon and told me I'd have to use my $2.00 manufacturer's coupon at another time.  Way to rip me off, buddy!

I came home with my now $4 bottle of Downy and decided I was going to find a better way of saving money on laundry products.  If Dillon's wanted to be difficult about it, I was taking my business elsewhere.

Hello, Amazon.com!!! 

At Dillon's, Tide is anywhere from $.22-$.50+/ounce.  It all depends on which size bottle and variety you want.

On Amazon, I found Tide with a Touch of Downy for $.11/ounce--half price!  And--it included free shipping!  It did require that I buy 4 bottles at once to get the low price, but at the rate we do laundry, I'd rather stock up than pay full price little-by-little at the grocery store.  Oh, and should I mention my total savings was $58???  Eat that, Dillon's!

Check it out yourself at http://www.amazon.com/Tide-Touch-Lavendar-Actilift-Bottles/dp/B002V1H2WA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1309709252&sr=8-1

Some Tacos for All That 'Slaw

Remember the coleslaw recipes I shared earlier this week? 

If you read far enough down http://taddylonglegs.blogspot.com/2011/06/coleslaw-crazy.html to find that I mentioned the slaws were the perfect topping for tacos, you're my newest favorite person ;-)

And I don't mean just any "regular" tacos, either.

One of my go-to staples has always been seasoned taco meat for tacos, burritos, Mexican lasagna, whatever it was we had on hand that would constitute a meal.

Fast-forward and Justin and I can no longer handle seasoned taco meat.  If he wants his stomach to get upset and my GERD to get out of control, it will definately make that happen!

As a result, we have become Taco Snobs. 

We're so done with that straight-out-of-an-envelope seasoned meat junk.  And my god, no boxed taco shells purchased from the grocery store either!

The trick to a good taco--wait, nearly amazing taco--is this:

A good old corn tortilla.  Fried in some hot oil!!!  A flour tortilla would be good, too, but there's just something about a fresh corn tortilla (we prefer the white corn variety) that can't be beat.

Make sure you don't fry your tortilla too long--you want to be able to fold it in half.

Once it's out of the oil, it's time to stuff it!

If you made the Spicy Taco Slaw, the best taco filling is:



Oh, yeah--that's right...Good, old processed Cheez Whiz!  I saw the combination over at http://life-as-a-lofthouse.blogspot.com/ and was slightly curious so we had to try it.  While your tortilla is still hot, spread a little Cheez Whiz on the inside, top with your ground beef and onion mixture and our personal touch, the Spicy Slaw.  You'll be in taco heaven.

When we made our Mexican Coleslaw, we had chicken tacos with it...once again, it's easy peasy.  All it requires is:

Dump it all in your crock and cook until the chicken easily shreds.  Fry up your tortilla, stuff with some chicken and Mexi Slaw...but to really set it off, add a spoonful of fresh salsa.  None of that jarred junk--skip it, it will RUIN the yummy-ness!

Trust me--make sure you add some corn tortillas to your shopping list next week and give the tacos a try.  The old boxed shells and enveloped seasonings are likely to go out the window!