Our life In 52 Weeks

I love couponing and I swear I can't get enough of it. The other day I went to CVS and got 4 bottles of Herbal Essences. 2 Shampoo and 2 conditioner. I paid 1.00 a piece for them! If it cant be free then I guess 1.00 will do (; Now on to my shopping trip from today. My total was 91.00 and some change. I ended up paying 31.00 and some change. Here are some (not all) of the things that I got: - 3 bags of snausages dog treats. They were 3.19 a bag. The coupons were for 1.00 off  which doubled to 2.00. I paid 1.19 a bag. - 2 packs of baby wipes; pampers. On sale 2/4.00 the coupon was .50 off so that doubled to 1.00 off. I paid 1.00 per pack. - 3 cans of Febreze air effects. On sale for 2.99. The coupon was 1.00 off which doubled so I paid .99 a can. -2 things of Dog food. It was .89 each. You got 1.00 off when you buy 2. That's 2.00 off when you buy 2 so I got both items free ... plus money back!! - 4 bags of frozen appetizer snacks. On sale for 5/10.00. That makes ...

I was thinking about when I started this blog at the start of 2013. I had planned on writing each week. Not really for everyone else but for Steve and I to be able to look back on the year. Well life as we know it is busy and well I have been VERY slack on writing entries on here. Although I don't have an entry for each week to look back on, I still have been looking back and what a year we have had. It doesn't feel like this time last year I was in a wheel chair from my ankle surgery in Kansas. It doesn't even seem like we were living in Kansas last year at this time. Kansas ... something I miss dearly. We have only been back in NC for about 7 months now and what a 7 months it has been. The adjustment of living around a world of civilians is much harder than anyone could ever imagine. Not only are we having to adjust to our new "home life" in NC but also to Steve's new job with the Sheriff's department. And baby Kendall is another HUGE adjustment we are i...

Saving more money --- I went on another coupon trip this morning. HT is having their tipple coupons and I would say that my trip was a success. I only spend $19.48 and got a ton of stuff. -2 packs of baby wipes -2 bottles of Oxi Clean -2 bottles of dish detergent -2 jars of pickles (0.9 each) -3 HUGE bags of tortilla chips (.75 each) Perfect for our gender reveal party! -4 large cans of Campbell's Chunky Soups -4 packs of 4 each Yo Crunch Yogurt -4 Individual things of Yogurt (All free) -2 Things of butter (original and cinnamon, .20 each) -4 bottles of V8 Splash juice .25 each -2 boxes of garlic Texas Toast A very time consuming process but very much worth it in the end!

This morning I went to the grocery store with my mom because they are doing their super double up to 2.00 this week. I have lots of people ask how do I do it? So I am going to tell you how I do it so you can also save money and even get stuff FREE! My trip today consisted of the following: 2 bags of Pedigree Breath busters for the dogs 1 box of IAMS dog treats 1 bottle of Gain fireworks (the smell good things you add to your laundry) 2 sticks of Old Spice deodorant for Steve 1 60 tablet bottle of multivitamin 1 box of Excedrin Migraine 1 Febreze car air freshener 3 bottles of Febreze Air Effects 2 boxes of tampons 2 bottles of Soft Scrub for the house 1 bottle of Zquil 2 things of Crest Complete toothpaste 1 thing of Off bug spray but in the form of a stick 2 bottles of Scope Outlast 1 thing of 3 color Almay eye shadow 2 bottles of dry shampoo 3 large bottles of dish detergent 2 bottles of original Franks Red Hot sauce 1 bottle of Franks Red Hot Ketchup sauce 1 B...

Playing catch up ... Well its been a LONG time since I have been on here. With moving half way across the country, blogging was the last thing on my mind. Our move went great and we are glad to be back home in North Carolina. Although Steve and I miss the simplicity of life out in Kansas. Our house is just perfect for us and our pups are even more perfect. Thanks so much to my dad and Steve's grandpa for all the hard work put into our house. Barbie (Steve's dog that lived with his parents while he was active duty) is getting used to living with us. She is such a sweet and loving dog. Bella is the best little pup. She is almost 5 months old now!! She loves to play fetch and we are working on other training like lay down and stuff of that nature. Life in North Carolina is great. Bowman Gray racing is as redneck as ever and having cookouts at our place just makes it more like home. I started working at my old job again. I really missed the kids, parents, and my co-workers. I lov...

If you know Steve and I then you know we love DIY little projects to keep up entertained. We currently had a 4 person dining room table until the other day. My friend, Neang in Kansas gave Steve and I her old dining room table. It has 6 chairs which is what we were looking for since our new house has a pretty decent sized dining room. The table was in great shape and the chairs were too. The seat cushions just needed to have a little make over. Neither of us had ever re-upholstered anything but we knew it couldn't be too much work. After a short YouTube video and a trip to  Walmart to pick out the fabric, we got to work. Steve's favorite part was of course using the staple gun a million times. This was a super easy job and we couldn't be more happy with the outcome. Now to just get to NC to see what our new table looks like in our dining room. We couldn't be more appreciative of Neang for giving us their old table. We are officially counting down the days until we ...

Steve and I finally picked out a name for a little puppy. Bella! We already are going to have Steve's little dog, Barbie so we thought Bella and Barbie would be cute. My mom has had her for a few weeks now. We have got the chance to face time with her and Skype with her. We have also seen some really cute pictures. Everyone who sees her says she is a doll baby. Steve and I can't wait to get our hands on her. My mom says she is a little fierce one. She will find my dad's ball caps and try to carry them around with her. It is like double the size that she is. She loves trying to bite my mom's hair also. Just her playing around. We picked out her a dog bed and a bowl this week. She is spoiled already. Steve is in trouble if we ever have a little girl! We also had our friend from back home give us one of her dog bowls that she wasn't using. She said that Bella can fit inside the bowl she's so tiny. Thanks so much to my mom she almost has Bella potty trained. Steve a...

Well I've been a little slack lately. There's not really that much to talk about. We are getting hammerd with snow in Kansas as we speak. We have close to 10 inches outside. Steve and I went out and went for a walk in it earlier and took some pictures. The weather in KS has been really crazy lately. On Sunday it was really pretty and warm out and now we have tons of snow with Fort Riley and everything else closed. Steve and I are getting ready for our big move back to North Carolina. We are really excited about coming home. It is 45 days from today that Steve starts his terminal leave. Our house is coming together room by room. My mother in law sent me some pictures last night of the dining room. My dad and Steve's grandpa have been getting the dining room ready for a while now and it is really beautiful. Steve joined the Army Reserves recently. His new unit will be in North Carolina. He will have to report one weekend a month and two weeks during the summer time. His n...

Steve and I couldn't be more thankful for our new house in North Carolina. We can't say thank you enough to grandma Jane and grandpa Wayne. With a huge yard, pond in the back and right next door to Steve's parents, we are beyond ready for April to get here. Did I mention the two old barns in the back? They would make for some amazing photographs. Being that it is an older house it needed some work but free is free! We were up for the challenge and thankfully so was our support system back home. We don't know what we would have done if it wasn't for everyone who has helped in one way or another. Thankfully my dad is retired and so is Steve's grandpa so they spend most of their time at our new house working. Everyone else pitches in here and there as their schedule allows. The other night Steve and I were on the phone with my dad talking about the house and he said thank goodness for Kay (Steve's grandma), she is always cleaning up behind them. I think they ...

As many of you know I love making my own products to use at home. There are many reasons why I have decided to make my own items. I am sure that you know the obvious like saving money and well for being "natural" but by natural what do I really mean? Before we get started let me add that I am NOT against store bought products. I can promise you that I have a bottle of store bought dish soap right now at my sink. I will continue to buy store bought products but only certain things and at certain times. I mean after all who doesn't want to use a good coupon when they have the chance?  Have you ever read the ingredients in items that you buy. There are so many added things to store bought products. For example in dish washing soap when you make it all natural from home there are no bubbles that come along with it. Trust me it takes some getting use to but over time you know the right amount to use without "looking for the bubbles." The thing that make soap bubble...

Its at the very end of week 3 but I have a really good reason/excuse for not blogging sooner. Steve and I had a little getaway this weekend. We drove two hours to Wichita. We had a blast of course. Friday consisted of lots of shopping (my husband is great at spoiling me) and then we went out to dinner. Did I mention that we saw a guy relieving himself in the middle of the mall parking lot? Yep, out in the open where everyone could see him. Ha! We spent our Friday evening in the hot tub and just have great conversation. Well until the creepy old guy came and got in the hot tub with us. Thankfully he left after about 4 minutes of being in there. Saturday was full of museums and sightseeing. We went to the museum of National Treasure. It was tons of artifacts and history from all the wars. It was very interesting. But then again Steve and I are big history nerds! We also went to what was call Old CowTown. This was like a Old Salem back home except it was western like and as Steve...

Well here we are in week 2 of 2013. Not much has changed since I last blogged EXCEPT I can almost walk on my own for a whole day. My physical therapist is very pleased at the outcome so far. He said that I am ahead in my recovery process which is great. My grandfather (my mom's dad) went into the hospital on Monday morning very early. If you can please take a minute and pray or him and his healing process. Thanks y'all!  You are probably wanting to know what the title of this blog means. What is Ben's Bells? Well my mom's experience with Ben's Bells started out like this. She was simply trying to get a newspaper when she saw this beautiful wind chime inside the paper rack. She read what the paper said and it told her to take it home and pass on the kindness. Over thousands of these have been passed out over different states. It started in 2002 and is still going strong today (since today is when mom found her's)  The story behind Ben's Bells really...

Week One: January 1-7 Happy New Year. I decided to start a new blog to let you experience the life of the Dillards week by week for a whole year. We will see where this year takes us but for right now only our Lord and Savior knows where our life will be in January of 2014. Steve and I started out the year right. When the clock struck midnight we had the usual midnight kiss but along with that midnight kiss we were both enjoying a big bowl of snow cream. You heard that right, snow cream. It snowed all day on New Years Eve in Kansas.  It was very beautiful to sit and watch everything slowly become covered with that pretty white stuff. Unfortunately I didnt get to sit all day and watch the snow fall. I had my first physical therapy appointment . The doctor is awesome. I think I will really enjoy going to see him or at least lets hope so because I have to go see him for 4 to 6 weeks for 2-3 per week. If I need more therapy after that he will send a referral into Tri-Care and they ...