$10 Kohl's Card Arrived!!

While we were away having an awesome time at Winterfest, my Kohl's gift card arrived in the mail. YAY!! I was going to take a picture of the card, but I forgot before I used it and the sales clerk kept it. Yes, it was "burning a hole in my pocket" and I have already used it.

I was in need of a new black belt and I found one I liked on clearance for $8.80!!

If you are lost as to how I received a FREE $10 Kohl's card in the mail, you can read all about it HERE.

Blessings,

Tara

*I am having one of those moments where I am forgetting to tell you all something--just thought I'd share that thought with you.*

Winterfest 2009

Have you even been in an arena with 20,000+ teenagers worshipping God? That is what I did this weekend.

I had the honor of attending Winterfest, a youth conference in Tennessee, with our church's youth group. This is my 3rd time attending Winterfest and I have to tell you that each year I come back truly amazed at the ways in which God blesses these kids.

Winterfest is a conglomeration of music artists, drama and dance teams, ministers, and other individuals coming together for one purpose: Seeing young people's lives transformed for the glory of God. This years' theme was 212^ (degrees) because:

At 211 degrees water is HOT...

At 212 degrees water BOILS...

which produces steam which can power a train..

Just ONE degree!!!

How much more can God do, if we step it up just ONE degree??!!??

Jentzen Franklin, Tommy Bates, Reggie Dabbs, Eddie James, Excalibur, and Casting Crowns (just to name a few) were all in the house!! Talk about exciting!

Jentzen Franklin preached the first night and made sure to get the audiences attention from the start. He talked about the Spirit of Python, accompanying him on the stage was an actual python! He explained how a python literally sucks the life out of his prey. He related this to several people that society considers as "having it all." Kurt Cobain was one example, he had a group come out that resembled Nirvana and then he showed Kurt Cobain sitting on his couch and how he eventually turned to suicide to end his pain. Jentzen even read Cobain's suicide letter. This was just one of many scenes he created to present his point.

Eddie James and Excalibur performed the 2nd night. Eddie James is an anointed man of God with a love for teens that is hard to match. He and his ministry have taken in teens from all walks of life. He has over 40 teens living in his homes. They have all become saved, they have walked away from drugs, alcohol, homosexuality, prostitution, etc and are serving God. They are some of the most talented kids I have ever seen.

Every speaker, musician, and drama team member did a phenomenal job. After Tommy Bates spoke on Saturday night, kids were praying everywhere. Our kids were standing on the arm rests to reach other kids in our group just to be able to pray for them. Remember, this was stadium seating, people don't just go around standing on arm rests--that was God.

There is always a service on Sunday; however, our youth pastor chooses to do a service with just our kids at our cabin before we leave to come home. This always adds an even more personal level to an already amazing weekend. As a part of our service, he opened the floor to anyone that wanted to give a testimony of the weekend. One-by-one several students and adults stood to tell what God had done for them this weekend.

I won't disclose the specifics of what some of these kids are going through, but I will tell you this: Kids (teens) go through SO much more than we can imagine. We have kids in our group that their parents don't go to church and they have to beg on a weekly basis just to be able to come on Wednesday nights, kids whose parents curse God with no regard to their children, kids who seem like they have it ALL together yet they contemplate suicide, kids who think that they are not beautiful or good enough because they don't feel like they fit the image that society tells them they should, and the list goes on and on.

This experience changes their lives and our lives. The first thing my wonderful, God-fearing husband did when we got home last night was to sit down on the kitchen floor and hold our daughter. He had her look into his eyes and he told her, "YOU are Daddy's princess. You are beautiful and I LOVE YOU."

That is what kids need--PURE LOVE!! They just need to be loved through every mistake, every hard time and to know that there parents believe in them. They need to be inspired to reach that extra degree but NOT rebuked and held to a standard of perfection that is unreasonable.

Fanning the flame,

Tara

Publix BOGO's beginning March 12th

Here are the Buy One Get One Free deals at Publix starting Thursday, March 12th:

1. Banquet Original Breaded Chicken
2. Curly's Baked Beans
3. Bertolli Pasta Sauce
4. Planter's Trail Mix
5. Kellogg's Fruit Snacks
6. General Mills Cereal
7. Barilla Pasta
8. Uncle Ben's Rice
9. Post Cereal
10. Bertolli Olive Oil
11. New England Coffee
12. Vlasic Pickles
13. Stubbs Marinade
14. Kraft or Seven Seas Salad Dressing
15. Cheez-It Baked Snacks
16. Thomas English Muffins
17. Orville Redenbacher Popcorn
18. Hershey's Kisses, Reese's Miniature Cups..see complete listing in online ad
19. Lay's Chips
20. Sea Pak Frozen Shrimp, Fish, etc
21. Breyer's Ice Cream
22. Tai Pei Dinners
23. Kodak Power Flash Camera
24. Electrasol Automatic Gel Detergent
25. Lysol All Purpose Trigger Spray Cleaner

WOW!! 25 BOGO Deals!! There are some items this week that I have never heard of before, but I am excited about some of these. For example, I just received coupons in the mail this week from The Sea Pak Shrimp Company.

Have fun shopping!!
Tara

Fabulous Find of the Week

I am getting ready to go out of town, but I thought I would do a simple post just telling you one of my fabulous finds this week.

I was in Walgreen's getting pictures developed since they were on sale 50 for $5, or 10 cents each--that is a fabulous find in itself. Anyhow, as I was checking out I noticed they had Valentine's Candy marked down which we don't need considering both of our heart-shaped boxes are on top of our fridge. However, I decided to still peek in the basket and I was glad I did. There were some really cute pencils and two cute plastic heart baskets.

The pencils were 3 cents each and the baskets were 19 cents each!!

The pencils were originally 39 cents each and the baskets were originally $1.50 each. A small transaction but a great price.

Publix BOGO Deals for this week

Here is a list of Publix's Buy One Get One Free (BOGO) deals for this week. These deals will end at closing time on Wednesday, March 11th.

A1 Steakhouse Marinade
General Mills Cheerios Cereal
Hellmann's Mayo
Keebler Chips Deluxe Cookies
Kellogg's Cereal
Ken's Steakhouse Dressing
Klondike Ice Cream Bars
Kozy Shack Pudding
Kraft Mac n Cheese
Le Petit Pain Grille Mini Toast
Mars Chocolate Bars
Monster Energy Drinks
Mrs. Paul Fish *(see note at end of post)
Mt. Olive Sweet Relish/Pickles
Nabisco Cakesters
Nabisco Ritz Crackers
Nathan's Beef Franks
Ocean Spray Juice or Juice Cocktail
Ore-Ida Steam n mash Potatoes
Publix Allergy Relief Tablets
Ragu Pasta Sauce
Ruffles Potato Chips
Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce

For additional info. on these BOGO deals and other great deals at Publix this week, visit the Publix site at http://www.specials.publix.com/ to view the complete ad.

*Visit http://www.therealmealdeal.com/ for a $5.00 savings offer when you purchase 5 Mrs. Paul's, Lender's, Aunt Jemima, Hungry Man, Van de Kemps, or Duncan Hines products.

Thrift Stores, Goodwill, Consignment Shops

I don't know about you but some folks just have an issue with going to Goodwill or anywhere similar. Not me, nope, nada--my motto is: "When I become rich I pray that I will still be humble enough to realize that there is nothing wrong with these places."

For instance, yesterday I stopped at one of my favorite little shops which I am reluctant to share the name with all my local friends. It is one of those best kept secret-type things, except my savings buddy, Krista, we both love this place. OK, I will tell you but you gotta leave me some good deals when you go: Repeat Boutique.

I love this place because all money goes to the Pregnancy Support Center. I find this to be a good way to support a charity without the commitment of a monthly contribution. I am a huge book reader and that is my main reason for frequent visits to Repeat Boutique. Yesterday, I found bin of "Love Inspired" Inspirational Romance Novels for 25 cents each. I bought all 17 of them for $4.25, one of these books in stores is between $5.50 and $6.50!!
These are all in excellent condition. BTW, these are good, clean romance novels--nothing yuck about them.

Magazines at Repeat Boutique are 1o cents each and many times, yesterday in fact, I found a March 2009 Martha Stewart magazine. Also, several of the current month's magazines that I find also have coupons in them that I can use for my grocery savings.

NOW, if you are reading this and thinking I am some lunatic for all my savings antics--well maybe you are right but this is something I enjoy. Sure I enjoy the occasional shopping sprees where I buy at full-price BUT why would I pay $4.99 for a magazine when I can get it for 10 cents??!!??

Yes, I did mention Goodwill and this is why. Goodwill, at least the one in Valdosta, gets Target and Old Navy mark-downs. They may not tell you that if you ask but it is quite obvious if you just take a few minutes and browse the store. I know it can smell like a dusty warehouse, but if you find a nice set of new Target lamps still in the box, and they just happen to match your decor perfectly--hello--I think we can find a way to rid them of the warehouse smell. AND--from a friend's recent experience at a wholesale market, which is where most companies get their NEW merchandise that they mark-up considerably for you to buy, those wholesale markets just so happen to be dusty warehouses with gorgeous findings yet, when you purchase it at the store you don't seem to find any of that dust or smell...hmmm...just a thought.

So, am I one of those people that hits every thrift store and consignment shop at least once a week? No, but more power to those who do. I am just a girl that loves to find fabulous deals and these are places that I think you can do that. I realize that not everything in these stores is a good deal. You need to "know your stuff" before you go. I don't buy something for a quarter just because it is a quarter. I think you get the point.

Blessings,
Tara

$467.43 in clothing for ONLY $37.10

Don't panic and run to the vision store just yet, you are reading this correctly. Monday my Pastor's brother came to the office (I work part-time at my church) and he had a slew of very nice dress shirts from JC Penney's and at a price I LOVE: $2.97 each.

After work my sister, Anna joined me for one of the funniest shopping trips in a VERY long time. For those of you who don't know, my husband is 6'5" and skinny compare that to my 5 feet even and you can really get a laugh. Anywhoo...we have the hardest time finding dress shirts for him but JC Penney's has the best selection of "Tall" shirts so I was really hoping we would find a few of those $2.97 deals and find them, we did.

We found 4 very nice Van Huesen Wrinkle Free shirts, each originally priced at $50.00; however, they were all $2.97 each. My sister found him a long sleeve Dri-Fit shirt which will come in handy for all the softball we play at church, originally priced $30.00 marked down to $2.97 and we found a Braves Player Tee originally $25.00, you guessed it $2.97.

After stocking-up my hubby, we decided to walk the perimeter of the store on the prowl for little green square signs with these fabulous numbers in bright yellow: $2.97, $3.97, and $4.97.

My sister found a beautiful halter dress originally marked $60.00 on the $4.97 rack. This is added in my total because I bought it for her since she was so sweet to join me and she shared her Beijing Cafe lunch with me (the best Chinese in Valdosta, BTW).

Continuing on, I got an Arizona brand hoodie sweater (very nice), not for the original price of $42.00 but yep, $2.97 and two Ana Brand shirts, priced from $36.00 each to the low, low price of $2.97 each.

Tax and all: $37.10

Moral of the story: Obviously, JC Penney in Valdosta is having a GREAT sale!! Make it easy on yourself and walk the perimeter of the store searching for those signs AND do it with a relative or close friend. Saving was great but spending time and having fun with a loved one was the most fabulous part!!

Note: If you have a JC Penney credit card, you also have the opportunity for additional savings at checkout.

Blessings,
Tara

Kidz Clothing & More Sale--1/2 Price Day

Today is the last day of the Kidz Clothing & More Sale at Mathis Auditorium in Valdosta, GA.

All items NOT marked ND ( No Discount) are 1/2 price today. They will close at 6 p.m. This is a good chance to purchase gently used, quality spring and summer outfits and shoes for your child. They usually have car seats, bedding, and small furniture items, too.

Happy Shopping,

Tara