Thrifty Tuesday Tip: Coupon Chief

Do you coupon?  I have to admit there was a time when I was a pretty good couponer and regularly devoted time to collecting and organizing my coupons and USING them.  Since we moved here a year and a half ago I have pretty much stopped.  Some of that has come from our local newspaper doesn’t have the hoards of coupons that our previous one did; also my shopping style has changed a lot.  I do a lot more shopping online, which is why I was very interested when I was contacted by Coupon Chief  and asked to check out their site. 

Most of the coupons I do use these days are from online sources. The Coupon Chief  site has codes for thousands of online retailers…even ones I had no idea had coupons!  One really neat thing about this site is that members comment, rate and validate coupons.  I can see this being a huge time saver as I tend to find deals that don’t work online which is a total time waster.

Also, Coupon Chief offers members users a way to make some money by sharing the great deals they find in their Pay to Share Program. It is hard to find every coupon/deal out there so members are invited to contribute and get paid for it!  The Coupon Chief offers 2% revenue earned made with any coupon you submit.

It works like this:

Coupon Chief Pay to Share Program

Coupon Chief is on Facebook!!!!

I hope some of you great, savvy online frugalistas can reap the benefits of all the great deals you find by sharing them with Coupon Chief!!!!  I know I really appreciate saving any where I can.

Update on my Little Man

Yesterday we finally got to see a Pediatric Neurologist at MUSC.  They also ran a short EEG.  Fortunately, that EEG showed nothing irregular! The Dr. ordered a longer 72 hour EEG.  I should hear from them sometime next week for scheduling of that test.  DS2 will be able to do it from home rather than stay in the hospital which is GREAT!

What I do know from the results of all the tests DS2 has had is… he is healthy as a horse; for that I am so thankful.    So, we have no definitive diagnosis on what caused the seizures.  I am so relieved that we have found nothing wrong with my sweet little man, but also find it unsettling not to have some concrete reason why. 

Why are we so much more comfortable with black and white answers?  I want something that says 2+2=4, not a “we may never know why this happened.”  BUT, that is where faith comes in.  I believe God has His hand on this child of mine.  He is feeling great today and I am going to stand on that!

If you need to catch up on what started this journey

check in out HERE

More from St. Helana Island, SC

After we left the State Park we headed over to the other side of the island to see the Chapel of Ease constructed in the 1740s ....

The Chapel of Ease was constructed so that the Planters that lived too far from the "city" churches could worship closer to home.  What remains is an example of a construction method  called tabby which creates a concrete out of lime, sand and oyster shells. It was, during it's hey day, called the White Church because of the white color brought by all those shells.

It is really amazing to see these ruins and think of all the families that passed through the doors when it was still a place of worship.  It was abandoned by the white planters in 1861 just prior to Northern invasion when they left the area. Afterwards it is said to have been used by Union forces and later freed slaves before it met its destruction in a massive forest fire in 1886.

 It is a beautiful and mysterious place and the cemetery is still somewhat intact, although most of the graves have become almost indistinguishable.  There is also an open mausoleum, which is a bit unsettling to take a peek into!

One plot in the cemetery contains the graves of several children, the oldest being 7, from a single family. The children all died within days of one another in 1839.  I can't help but wonder what kind of illness swept through and envision the heart broken parents standing in that cemetery.

Of course, a place like this can't help but have all kinds of legends and stories connected to it.  This a great video that shows you more Chapel of Ease, St. Helena Island, SC or this web page for more details on the haunting stories The ghost of St. Helena's Chapel of Ease and Land's End Light

 After visiting the Chapel of Ease we headed on to Fort Fremont at the end of the Island.  It was quite an impressive, albeit creepy, structure built in built in 1899. "It  was one of six fortifications designed to protect the southeastern coast during the Spanish American War. The original Fort site had 170 acres and was manned by a force of 110 personal. The main weapon systems consisted of Battery Jesup which had three 10-inch breech-loaded disappearing cannons and Battery Fornance which had two 4.7-inch rapid fire guns." ~Fort Fremont History

Fort Fremont was deactivated as a military installation in the early 1920s.  It was sold into private hands in the 1930s and fell to the undergrowth and thick St. Helena's Island vegetation and to vandals.  Currently it is owned by Beaufort County and is it is open to the public. It is a massive structure  and completely open to explore, although I would encourage you to bring flash lights as most of the rooms are underground and very dark (thus creepy). 

From the coastal side you couldn't even tell the Fort was there as it is hidden by the bluff.  Amazingly it rests on the shores of the most beautiful and quiet beach.  The park currently has has 900 feet of beach frontage on Port Royal Sound.  We were just stunned at how pristine and lovely this beach was.  It was a hidden gem. You can find more information about the Fort at this link Fort Fremont.

I hope you enjoyed coming along and seeing what fun

we had on St. Helena Island!



Weekend Road Trip: St. Helena Island, SC

This past Sunday we decided we had gotten a full 3 weeks into 2012 so a ROAD TRIP was in order.  I do believe we have a bit of gypsy in our bones and we catch wander lust from time to time.  This trip was inspired by a show we saw (about 3 weeks ago...hmmm?) about St. Helena Island, South Carolina and the wonderful Gullah Culture that is rooted there along with a unique style of art and food.

I did mention food, right????

 Our first stop was for sustenance

because you can't explore on an empty stomach. 

We found our way to Gullah Grub.

 It was a  real treat! Chef/Owner Chef Bill Green
has been cooking for nearly a half century
and has been featured on Martha Stewart Living and
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.

 Inside the restaurant is filled with great Gullah art and artifacts...

including the snarling gentleman in the corner.

 We all came away full after stuffing ourselves with sampling yummies like Shrimp & Grits, Shrimp Gumbo, BBQ, red rice, lima beans, cornbread and the best collard greens I think I have ever tasted.

After getting nourishment for our journey we headed over to Hunting Island State Park to visit the lighthouse.  The Hunting Island historic lighthouse is the only lighthouse open to the public to climb in the state.  It was tall.....

 Did I mention the plan was to climb to the top?

 up....up....10 stories, as the stairs got narrower

 and narrower with each story

 The view from the top.

See that dot on the ground?  That would be me...yep, I chickened out about 3 stories up.  I had to go back down.  I didn't realized that I apparently have a thing about heights, or maybe small steps???  But don't I look just tiny in this photo?

Check back for my next post continuing all the fun things we saw while visiting Gullah Gullah Island (do any of you remember that show?)

A Wow Mommy Moment

Source: browse.deviantart.com via Bob on Pinterest

You know those Mom Days when you really think boarding school sounds really good?  I had one of those yesterday with my oldest DS.  He got in trouble because he let his grades slip…which on my radar is a pretty high offense.  This is a song and dance I have done regularly with this child as he isn’t crazy about the whole book learning part of school (the social scene is a totally different thing, trust me he is really good at that…)  So yesterday I pulled out the big guns and laid down some pretty hefty consequences that I intend to stand behind.  He got mad…heck, if I were 15.... I would have gotten mad too. 

But this afternoon, after he did his homework, he came into my office and said the words that almost took my breath away.  He said, “Thanks for caring.”  Of course, I was stunned and ask about what and then he said, “About my school and all.”

Wow, just wow……

Chewy Chocolate Cookies & Cream Cookies!

This past weekend I baked Jaclyn @ Cooking Classy's Chocolate Cookies & Cream cookies.  I had planned to try these before Christmas but didn't manage to get around to it.  Though I did try 2 other cookie recipes from Jaclyn (Peppermint Brownie Cookies & Marshmellow Brownie Cookies) and they were both devine! 

So, I have to fess up, these aren't for those trying to cut calories but they are soooo good (I am channeling Mr. Food here, folks!)  My DH, who is a professed chocoholic, fell just a little bit more in love with me after he had these....seriously girls, they put a spark in his eye!

Chocolate Cookies & Cream Cookies

Ingredients:

1 (18.3 oz) pkg brownie mix 

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3 Tbsp packed light-brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

2 large eggs

2 Tbsp milk

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 recipe vanilla cream frosting, recipe follows

12 Oreos, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a cookie sheet  with non stick spray and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together brownie mix, flour, brown sugar and salt. Add in eggs and milk and stir with a large spoon. Add in melted butter and vanilla and stir until well blended. Spoon dough by heaping tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet (you can fit 12 per sheet). Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before frosting. Once cool, frost each cookie and sprinkle with chopped Oreos.

Vanilla Cream Frosting

Ingredients:

4 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

6 Tbsp heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 salt

In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, whip together sugar, butter and cream until fluffy. Stir in vanilla and salt, blend well.

Word of the Year...Intentional

2012 rolled into our lives when things were a bit (understatement) chaotic and for the first time in a long time I didn't even consider resolutions or goals or even spend much time looking back on 2011, which has always been my way.  So, when I came across Layla's @ The Lettered Cottage Word of the Year Linky Party it got me thinking.  Not new thoughts but thoughts that have been rolling through my head continually since we almost lost our precious youngest son on December 27, 2011.  The word that seems best to sum up what I am thinking and feeling is Intentional. 

Intentional is defined as: Done on purpose; deliberate. 
Synonyms are: deliberate - wilful - willful - purposeful - intended

I have always tried to be an intentional person; someone who pays attention and doesn't miss the details. But somewhere along the line I have become distracted and realize that I have become someone who does miss the details and doesn't see and appreciate the small stuff.  Sometime, some how...I just stopped focusing on what is really important. I stopped seeing the beauty in each moment.  Maybe I just got too busy, maybe I just go too lazy, either way...my desire, my prayer, my goal for 2012 is to live more intentionally.

I want to live on purpose, I want to be deliberate in my relationships.  I want to be willful in showing love. I want to be purposeful in my prayers, actions and even in my quiet moments. 

Do you have a Word of the Year?