Thursday's picture perfect deal...

The picture...

Last year we had snow which made everything look like a fairytale.  This is a view out my front window of my garden shed.  (It also doubles as a squirel hotel in the Winter) I'm not complaining, but it sure looks a lot different this year.  Hopefully this Spring we will get buckets full of rain so we don't have any issues with fires.

The deal...

What's so great about the second half of February? Easy...great candy and great prices!  Its an opportunity to splurge a little on Godiva Chocolates.  Godiva is having their after Valentines day sale on all their seasonal candy, up to 40% off!  The expressions of love gift set, which comes with an adorable stuffed bear with 8 pieces of dark chocolate and a 29 piece heart shaped box is marked way down from $100.00 to $59.00.  My personal favorite is their coffees, and they are on sale now too.  You can get either their set of three which includes the Chocolate Truffle, Caramel and Breakfast Blend Coffees for $35.00, marked down from $42.00 or individual bags of the Breakfast Blend, Caramel, Chocolate Truffle, French Vanilla or Hazelnut Cream for regular price of $14.00.   There is free shipping if your order is between $75.00 and $300.00,  just use coupon code SHIP75 when you check out.

Hope you are having a great Thursday!

C.Q.

Tastefully Tueday...

Nothing says Valentines Day quite like chocolates so why not save some cash and make them yourself this year?  I found this great recipe at All Recipes and its super easy to make these little gems.

Luscious Chocolate Truffles

3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract **

In large saucepan, melt chocolate chips with sweetened condensed milk. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Transfer the mixture into a medium bowl. Cover and chill 2 to 3 hours or until firm.      

Shape mixture into 1 inch balls; roll in desired covering and/or decorate them. Refrigerate in a tightly covered dish.

**For more variety divide the chocolate mix into four even parts and add 1 Tbsp of different flavoring (in place of the Vanilla) to each batch.  Chill each batch separately, they will cool faster that way too.

Makes about 70 candies, prep time is only 10 minutes, but the total time needed is about 3 hours.

Coupons:

$0.50 off one bag of NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Morsels

$0.50 off any Simply Organic Extract or Flavor

Today's no cook options are from a couple of places.  First, Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream is offering a free scoop if Stephen Colbert's AmeriCone Ice Cream today only between 5:00 and 8:00 at participating locations.  The other coupon is from Boston Market; they are offering a free dessert when you buy an individual meal with a drink.  This offer is good for today only and you need to print the coupon to bring in with you and give to your server when you order.

A big thank you to everyone for stopping by yesterday for my first ever blog hop, I hope you will all come back next week and meet another great blogger.  Have a great Valentines day.

C.Q.

Thursday's picture perfect deal...

The picture...

I took this picture at our local train museum last year.  They show a short movie on train history in the museum and the seats that are there are from the 1920s.  I loved the look of them, even though I think they would be a bit uncomfortable to sit in for any length of time.  In the 20s a film over a half hour was very rare so the seats were designed to be comfortable by putting cushioning in the back and forming the seat.  I can just imagine someone sitting here watching a Charlie Chaplin film.

The deal...

Here are a couple of fun deals for Valentines.  First get 30% off your order of $30.00 or more at Fannie May until 2/3/12 (need to hurry for this one).  Who doesn't love chocolates?  They have so many choices, from the standards of the Chocolate Assortment box or Mint Meltaways to gourmet Truffles or Deluxe Berry bundle.  Just enter coupon code 23304 when you check out.  Shipping is $4.99 on any size order.

The second idea is from F.Y.E. and is super fun and original.  Put together a personalized CD for your Valentine, you choose from over 4 million songs.  The first track is $3.99 and each track after that is $1.19, you can fill up to 75 minutes with music for your sweetheart.  When you are all done you get to design the cover and add gift wrapping if you want.  If you order before 2/7/12 and use coupon code VALENTINE12 you will get free standard shipping, a $5.00 value.

Hope you are enjoying your Thursday.

C.Q.

Thursdays picture perfect deal...

The picture...

These two towering rocks are the reason for the name Split Rock.  My hubby and my niece and her boyfriend went for an early spring hike in Split Rock Lighthouse State Park and walked all the way to the end to see the two spires.  The once volcanic rock was shaped by the glaciers as they scraped along the surface forming the Great Lakes Basin and the water of the lake is causing the rocks to change even more over the eons.

The deal...

Winter is over, Spring cleaning is done and many of you are working on your Summer gardens.  Why not treat yourself to a little indulgence?  Fannie May's Customer Appreciation Week is going on now through May 15th, and you can save up to 50% at their online store and have it delivered right to your door!! Some of the best sellers are on sale including the Mint Meltaways and the Pixies, but if you can't decide you can always get a box of assorted chocolates.  If you spend $30.00 you qualify for free shipping by using coupon code 36022.

Hope you are all having a great week so far, hang in there, the weekend isn't far off.  Remember to enter my giveaway for a free Freschetta Pizza and cutting board.  I have super low entries, only three folks so far have told me what they would get for their free pizza so your odds are great, just pop over and leave a comment with your choice.

C.Q.





 

Meet February...

Hello to you all, I would like you to meet February. February is known for romance, chocolates, National Black History Month and the big game, but did you know February is also….

AMD/Low Vision Awareness Month: AMD stands for age-related macular degeneration; a disease that affects part of the back of the eye called the macula, and can cause the center part of your vision to become blurry or wavy.  Prevent Blindness America has a great short quiz to find out if you are at risk. Coastal Contacts is offering a coupon code for 15% off your entire order, just enter code RMNFEB15 at checkout, they also have free shipping on orders over $38.00.

Deaf History Month:  Miracle-Ear has locations nation wide and a printable coupon for a free hearing test, however the actual hearing aids can be very costly.  Hearing aids are available at low or no cost to people that qualify though.  You will need a doctor's diagnosis is necessary to qualify for hearing aid assistance, plus they are great sources of information on the products and services available to you.  Another option is to contact the hearing aid manufacturers directly, like drug companies, many of them will help with the cost, especially for families of children.

Bake for Family Fun Month : How about every one's original favorite, Original Nestle Toll House Cookies?  These would be great for the game this weekend too. Here are some coupons to help you out:

$1.00 off any Arrowhead Flour
$0.50 off two .Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
$1.00 off on any 8 oz. or 16 oz. Organic Valley Butter
$0.50 off Imperial Sugar Extra Fine Granulated Pure Cane Sugar
$0.50 off Imperial Sugar Light Brown, Dark Brown, or Powdered Sugar
$0.75 off Organic Valley Eggs
Or you could save the mixing and get $0.75 off Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough

National Hot Breakfast Month:  Save $1.00 at Target on Multi pack Quaker Instant Oatmeal, or you can get a buy two get one free coupon from Better Oats Oatmeal, just find them on Facebook and then go to the promotions tab and click the like button to get your coupon.  More into Cream of Wheat?  No problem, get $1.00 off Malt-O-Meal When You Buy 2 Malt-O-Meal® Cereals 12.5 oz or larger.

National Pie Month and Sweet Potato Month:  In honor of these I found a wonderful Sweet Potato Pie Recipe from Paul Dean for you.  Did you know that despite a physical similarity and a frequent confusion with their names, yams and sweet potatoes are not even distantly related. They are in two different botanical families. Yams are actually related to grasses and lilies!

National Bird Feeding Month: Petco is having their Bird Feeder sale with 15% or more off, plus they have free shipping on all orders over $60.00.  Wonder whats coming to your feeder?  WhatBird.com has an incredible app for $29.99.  Although that may seem a little high take into account that you can carry this with you easily and you can hear the actual bird's call, something no guide book can do for you.  Once you have identified your bird you can check it off either on the app or you can download and print a free state by state check list, especially nice of you are going bird watching on vacation.

National Care About Your Indoor Air Month: Receive $10.00 back by mail with the purchase of any Filtrete Room Air Purifier by 3M.  Just Mail in the rebate form along with the original UPC code from the package and the original cash register receipt dated between March 15, 2010 and March 31, 2011, submissions must be received by April 30, 2011, one per household.

Festival of Camellias Month: If you want to start getting info on your summer flower garden, check out this beautiful flowering shrub.  You can purchase a wide variety of Camellias for your garden from the Camellia Forest Nursery.  The  Burpee Seed Company has the Pink Champagne variety only but you can use coupon code take10 at check out for 10% off your total order.

Chocolate Lover's Month: Somehow this was not a surprise.  Godiva has some beautiful Valentines chocolates this month as well as a few great coupon codes.  Note all of these codes expire on February 8th so act quick.  Coupon code LOVE will get you $10.00 off your order of $60.00 or more, HUGS will get you free shipping on your order of $60.00 or more and HEARTS will get you upgraded guaranteed Valentine's Day delivery on your order of $75.00 or more.  Remember to check out Godiva's free Rewards Club as well, its a nice little program that gets you a free piece of chocolate each month as well as free shipping on all your on line orders and some other very nice perks.

I hope you have all enjoyed meeting February, I have enjoyed sharing the introduction.

Have a great weekend everyone!


C.Q.


 

Thursdays picture perfect deal...

The picture...

This beautiful little Snow Bunting was our first harbinger of Winter this year.  We were surprised to see it eating seed in our yard all by itself since they usually travel in large flocks.  In the Spring the males go back up North to the high Arctic area.  During the Winter the males rub off all the colored parts of their feathers on the snow so that they are almost pure white by the time the breading season starts in April, then they molt back to the brown, black and white colors.

The deal...

Didn't get your favorite treat for Halloween?  Don't fret, Fanny May is having a terrific sale!  40% off their Chocolate Club, that means that you or someone you choose can get new chocolate treat for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, and Mother's Day.  If you go to a relatives house for Thanksgiving this is a perfect gift to give because the first box chocolate, Fall Stripes Pixies, will show up before you do to say thank you for dinner.  The regular price for this is usually $22.99, an already good price, but with the 40% off sale the price is reduced to $13.75.  Hurry though, this offer expires on Sunday, November 14, 2010.

I hope you are all having a great day!!

C.Q.

Easter basket bucks...

Easter is fast approaching and that usually means family gatherings for Sunday services, Easter egg hunts and ham dinners. As you start to plan I hope this blog will give you some easy savings and fun ideas.

Most of my Easters involved getting up early to see what the Easter bunny left for me. Putting together baskets is something I have always loved doing and quite often its a lot less expensive than getting one that is pre-made. I love to go to Walgreen's for children's Easter basket items. There are printable coupons this week for 2 bags of Nestle Nest Eggs, Lifesavers Jellybeans and Betty Crocker Fruit treats. Walgreen's also has a sale on DeMet's original Turtles - 2 for $6.00 and Reese's king size peanut butter cups - 3 for $3.00. Target has great sale prices right now on Webkinz plush toys for younger kids, and initial pillows by Fashion Angels Luv for older kids as well as other stuffed toys for your basket.

If you are creating a basket for an adult (because Easter baskets aren't just for kids), then you can include things like a coffee and tea, wine and chocolate, or camping and fishing supplies. For the coffee and tea basket you can find coffee at several on line retailers, The Coffee Beanery is offering 15% off your order with coupon code CB15COUPONS until 3/13, Honey Bean Coffee is offering $4.00 of any order over $41.00 with coupon code 4if41 until 1/1/11 and Precious Provisions is offering 10% off any order over $60.00 with coupon code MCCOFFEE10 but this one is only good until 3/28 so you need to act quickly. Rogers Gourmet Coffee and Tea Market is a great place for both coffee and teas, they are offering 10% off your purchase with coupon code MCGC10, good until 4/15, and they have free shipping for orders over $50.00. Tea Rocket offers almost every brand of tea and using coupon code 1STTEA10 you can save 10% off your order of $25 or more of Stash Tea.

For the wine and chocolate basket there is a coupon for Wine.com that is good for $15.00 off your online order of $250 or more the code is MARCH15, or 5% off your gift basket order using coupon code MARCH5. Shari's Berries is having a sale on their 6 chocolate covered Easter strawberries with either a plush Easter bunny, Chocolate Easter bunny or an Easter apple for $34.98, regular price of $44.98 and using the link at Retail Me Not you can save an additional 15% at their site. Godiva has a couple of coupon available right now, code HOP is good for free shipping on orders over $50.00 and code SPRING2 is good when you buy 4 select treats you will get a free chocolate bunny, you have to look for the flower icon to find the items that qualify for the deal. See's Candy has two coupons also, use code A1020016 to receive $2.00 off your $20.00 purchase or code A1023333 for $4.00 off your purchase of $40.00 or more, they also have a free upgrade on their shipping until 3/31.

To put together the outdoor camping and fishing basket look for smaller items like tent stakes, lures, water purifiers, dried camp food and shorelunch. Gander Mountain has a great camping checklist that you can print out to give you ideas or tuck into your basket. Gander Mountain coupon code GME0318 is good for $15 off of $50, $30 off of $100, $45 off of $150, etc., they also offer free standard shipping. Bass Pro also has a coupon code for $20 off of a $100 order, code SAVE20A.

This weeks picture is from Southern Livings article on living Easter baskets, a wonderful gift for anyone that is into gardening or if your just trying to be green. Its a wonderful article with another way to be creative.

Hope this gives you some fun ideas to for a wonderful non stress holiday. Have a great weekend everyone.

C.Q.