One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1397 of 2143 - I am your typical housewife living in high maintenance suburbia. I have a handsome husband, 2 kids and a flock of pet chickens. I try and feed my family with $100 a month. With the help of coupons, gardening and bartering I am able to squeeze the most out of our grocery budget and still manage to have a little fun along the way.

Dog Treats and Blood

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By Mavis Butterfield on November 22, 2013 · 28 Comments

Yesterday, I ran errands. And one of those errands was stopping by my local pet store to pick up some treats for Lucy the Trouble Puggle. When I pulled into the parking lot the only space available was next to one of those giant blood donation buses. Luckily, when I got out of the car the lady standing out front was busy on her phone so I was able to walk on by.

But leaving the pet store was something totally different. The volunteer lady immediately tried to strike up a conversation with me as soon as I was about 50 feet from my car. {CRAP!}

It was cold, and I didn’t want to be rude, so I stopped to listen to her spiel. The next thing I know, I’m wearing a I ♥ donating blood t-shirt and handing over my driver’s licence and filling out medical forms.

Have you ever given blood before? This was my first attempt, and let me tell you Bob, it was actually kind of cool. Maybe I’ve been living under a rock for the past 20 years but did you know they make little temperature strips that fit under your tongue? How did I not know this?

Anywho, after the Q&A the nurse took a sample of my blood to check my iron, I passed with a score of 13.3 {whatever that means}. Cool, I’m going to do something good here I thought to myself, I’ll be helping someone by giving them my blood, and, as a bonus, I’ll get some juice and a free cookie. What more could someone want on a typically Thursday afternoon?

Then, she took my blood pressure.

And then I was booted out of the blood bus.

Apparently you can’t give blood if you have low blood pressure. What.a.rip.off. I had invested a good 20 minutes sitting on a bus and now they didn’t want my blood. I even volunteered to run around the bus a few times to get my heartbeat up a bit. But the nurse lady wouldn’t let me.

I felt like a total failure.

I even tried to give my free I ♥ donating blood shirt back but the lady wouldn’t take it. Instead she just told me to come back next month and try again.

Hmm.

Any suggestions?

~Mavis

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Amazon Deals, Bacon Gifts, Take Along Guides, Pectin Deal, Coffee and Soup Coupons

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By Mavis Butterfield on November 22, 2013 · 1 Comment

Brrrrr. I think it might be too cold to go outside today. {Darn!} I guess I’ll have to build a fire and drink cocoa instead of working in the garden. Did I ever mention how much I love winter? 😉

Have a great weekend everyone and stay warm!!

♥ Mavis

Okay, so the mannequins are a wee bit creepy, but these Pashmina Animal Print Scarves have excellent reviews and prices start at just $7.99 each. They’d make a perfect gift for someone on your list. {I bought to give to my favorite cashier!}

My daughter ordered a few of these Retro Owl Necklaces to give to her peeps this Christmas and they are BEAUTIFUL!

Know someone who loves bacon? Here are a few ideas:

If you are looking for an educational gift, these take along guides are lot’s of fun. The whole idea is for kids to “take them along” on nature walks to help them identify things in the great outdoors.

Birds, Nests & Eggs $5.03
Caterpillars, Bugs and Butterflies $7.15
Tracks, Scats and Signs $7.15
Trees, Leaves & Bark $7.16

Don’t forget the binoculars!!

Check out these deals:

Get an 8 Pack of Sure-Jell Fruit Pectin for $12.06/$1.50 each when you use subscribe and save.

Get 2 baking mats for only $13.36. This is an AWESOME price!!

Have you ever received Shari’s Berries before? Holy cow are they good! We like to send them to my parents and in-laws for special occasions. Place your Shari’s Berries order now for the holidays before the prices go up.

Discount Mags is offering a 1 year subscription to Bon Appetit Magazine for only $4.99 a year when you use code MAVIS at checkout. This deal will expire tonight 11/22/13 at midnight EST so be sure and grab your subscription before then.

I’m thinking about making this Chicken Casserole with Mashed Potato Topping for dinner tonight. Have you tried it yet? It’s on the the HH’s favorite dishes.

Here are a few deals on heaters:

Lasko Ceramic Heater with Adjustable Thermostat $24.87 {Top Seller!}
Optimus 9-Inch Dish Heater $21.40
Lasko Ceramic Tower Heater w/ Digital Display and Remote Control $49.99 shipped
Lasko Ceramic Tower Heater with Remote Control $41.82 shipped

Amazon Gold Box Deal of the Day – Up to 60% Off Transcend Flash Memory, Flash Drives, and Hard Drives

Groupon has the Ovente French Press on sale for just $8.99. We have this french press in the lime green color and love it! The HH especially likes to use it when the power goes out and his coffee maker doesn’t work.

New to Groupon? Join Groupon Here!

More Coffee Deals:

Eight O’Clock Colombian Peaks Ground Coffee, 33-Ounce Bag $14.19 with Subscribe and Save

Eight O’Clock The Original Ground Coffee, Original, 36-Ounce $14.19 with Subscribe and Save

Print a coupon good for $0.75 off any TWO (2) Campbell’s Homestyle soups

This week you can expect to find 2 coupon inserts in your Sunday paper. 1 Smart Source and 1 Red Plum insert. See all the coupons that should be in the inserts HERE.

Don’t get the Sunday paper? Check this site for great deals for newspapers in your area. In many areas you will be able to subscribe to only the Sunday paper if you’d prefer.

Find More Printable Coupons

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Savory Garlic and Herb Corn

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By Mavis Butterfield on November 21, 2013 · 3 Comments

This corn packs some punch. It’s not your typical lame corn side dish at Thanksgiving. It’s corn on crack. And what I love most about this dish is that you can make it the day before and then quickly reheat it right before you put it on the table. Saves you a bit of time on one of the craziest days in the kitchen!

Ingredients

1 pound corn kernels {I used frozen from the gift that keeps on giving!}
1 cup water
4 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
1 clove fresh garlic, minced

Directions

Bring corn and water to a boil in a large saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until corn is tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and stir in remaining ingredients. Serve hot. Enjoy.

Looking for more awesome side dishes? Check out Best American Side Dishes. It’s by the folks at Cooks Illustrated Magazine and it rocks!

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Mavis Garden Blog – Frost on My Plants and Warm Oatmeal for the Chickens

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By Mavis Butterfield on November 21, 2013 · 8 Comments

This morning when Lucy the Puggle Dog and I went outside to fed the chickens, we discovered the whole backyard was covered in frost.

Lucy loved licking the frost off the garden boxes and barking at the grass. 😉 What a nut!

It was so chilly outside I decided to make the chickens some warm oatmeal for breakfast. Chickens living in suburbia have it rough, don’t they?

This being my first fall growing fava beans, I’m not exactly sure what I am suppose to do. Since fava bean plants can grow to about 4 feet tall, I wasn’t planning on putting a row cover over them. But now I’m second guessing myself. Have you ever grown fava beans in the winter? Does the frost and cold temps bother them much? Is there something I should be doing to protect them?

Check out the beets! They look so dark and mysterious.

And the leeks too.

It might be time to pull them, what do you think?

I’m new to this whole winter gardening thing and would love any advice I can get.

~Mavis

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.