Never buy spinach seed again

When my spinach bolts I don't pull it out.  It's not because I am lazy or too busy; it's because I want my spinach to re-seed itself.  I haven't bought spinach seed for several years. 

Here's what I do and don't do.
Do's:  Leave your spinach alone after it bolts. 
Don'ts:  Don't water it.  Don't pull it up. Don't fertilize it. Just leave it alone.  Pretty easy.

The spinach plants will turn brown, dry and brittle.

In the fall you will happen to walk by you spinach patch and see this!

And now you know why I have spinach as soon as the snow melts in the spring.

You may be wondering if the cold weather kills or damages the spinach.  It doesn't.  The spiniach just peacefully grows under the snow.  Pretty easy and amazing, if you ask me.

Do you use Epionce, Skinceuticals, or Skinmedica products?

With the price of their products you really need a promo code.

So here you go! 

 20% off promo codes that can be used at Apothica.com

SKINMEDICA202011

EPIONCE202011

SKINCEUT202011

Attn-Kaysville friends,
Walgreens has marked down their entire selection of Revlon Beyond Natural Skin Matching Make-up from $13.99 to $3.29 a tube.  There were several dark tubes, a fair selection of medium and very few light shades.

Time to pick Concord Grapes!

I pick my concord grapes after the first frost.  You may be like me, swamped with projects.  This translates to not time for grape jelly from my juice. 
Here's what I do during time crunches, I just juice my grapes and immediately process in a water bath.  Hopfully things will slow down and I will be able to find time to make grape jelly in the months to come...we'll see.  If not, the family will enjoy a lot of grape juice for breakfast.

Need Something Free and Fun to Do with Your Little Ones?

Go to the Salt Lake City Main Library on Friday from 7- 8 pm  for

Haunted Library: Night of the Living Books

Celebrate Halloween at The City Library with a spooktacular after-hours event. Hosted by the Phantom of the Library, this family-friendly event is sure to tickle your funny bone and send tingles down your spine. Full of bone-chilling activities, crafts, and other not-too-spooky fun, this program will feature special appearances by the Ghost of Granny (of Grandma’s Attic fame) and other favorite book characters, living and dead. Come dressed in costume for trick-or-treating and ghostly good times! Enter the Children’s Library from the cement stairs in the Library Square Amphitheater.

 

Where I stay when I travel...

Kimpton Hotels!  (No, I am not paid by Kimpton.  In fact, none of my blog postings are sponsored.) Anyway, if you like Kimptons or if you want to try out a Kimpton Hotel near you here's a great deal.  This is their once a year sale; every hotel room is drastically reduced starting price is $99.00, that's about 66% off the normal best rate.

• Starting price $99.00 a night
• Must book before October 30th
• Good for hotel weekend bookings through January 31, 2012

Want another secret tip?  If you decide to dine at a Kimpton Restaurant say, "nutmeg" and you will receive a complimentary appetizer.  Trent and I like Kimpton Restaurant food and you may too!

Assorted Deals

• PBS- 20% off entire site.  Use promo code:FF20.  www.pbs.org
• JC PEnney's catalog get 15% off any order or 20% off an order or $100.00 or more and free shipping if order is $69.00 or more with promo code:BIGSHOUT  (Sale hours are 11-4pm)
• Need a domain?  Go Daddy is offering 30% off with promo code: gdz179bx   www: godaddy.com
• The Board House is offering a fun deal for your snowboarders, any purchase of Rome products automatically enters you for free equipment!  Contest ends 12/25/11

Any size comforter cleaned for $19.99

East Gate Dry Cleaning in Kaysville.

An Important Reminder!

The Strengthening the Family Symposium will be held this weekend, October 28-29, at the Provo Marriott Hotel. See http://www.studentsforthefamily.org/ for full details on the speakers, schedule, and tickets.
This years event includes over 20 student presenters. Professional presenters include
-Lloyd D. Newell, P.h.D-the voice of music and the spoken word
-Dr. Donald Hilton, M.D.-Neurosurgeon
-Marcia Barlow, MPA-Vice President of International Programs, United Families International

Topics of discussion will include but are not limited to dating, parenting, same-sex marriage, and the effect of pornography on the brain.

Preregistration and tickets are available online through Wednesday, October 26. There is a discount available for students, if you enter "student" in the promo code box, you can get a ticket for $8 instead of $12. Otherwise tickets are available at the door.

Frozen Lemonaide

Last night Adam asked if I knew how to make Thelma's Frozen Lemonaide; I told him I had never tried but I would give it a whirl.
Here's what I did-

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup white sugar
4 1/2 -5 cups water (Depending on how strong of a flavor you would like)
And enough ice to make the mixture slushy, about 2 large handfuls
Directions:
Put all ingredients in a blender or food processor and mix until slushy.  The reason why I don't know exactly how much water is I started with 4 cups and everyone thought it was too concentrated so I added some water and forgot to measure how much I added.

Everyone enjoyed Michelle's Frozen Lemonaide.  Give it a try and make Lora's Frozen Lemonaide or Chirsty's Frozen Lemonaide, or Nancy's Frozen Lemonaide... you get the picture!

More Jobs!

• Honey Baked Ham
• McDonald's

Both hiring at the University Parkway location in Orem, Utah

•  Domo is hiring (Utah County)
• Zumiez (A snowboard and skate shop) has many positions available throughout the US.  Check out their website- www.zumiez.com

•  Macy's department stores are hiring for seasonal help.

• Many stores in the mall are now hiring for the Christmas holidays!

• I couldn't believe the number of schools I hear of that are in need of teachers and substitute teachers and bus drivers as well as cafeteria help.  If you need a little pocket money I would certainly check out your school district's website and apply!   That's what my daughter did while working her way through college.  She really liked being a substitute teacher and you may too!

Free Activity

Want to learn how Hale Center Theatre creates their theater in the round magic?

Participate in a free backstage tour!

Free backstage tours are offered the first Wednesday of every month from noon-1 p.m. 

Call 801-984-9000 to reserve your seat.

Today is a day for deals!

1. Buy Costumes- Everything is 20% off.  Website: www.buycostumes.com
2. Woolrich- 25% off sale with promo code: F11SS25.  Website: www.woolrich.com
3. L.L.Bean is offering 20% off goose down outerwear for men and women.  Website: www.llbean.com And as always free shipping.
4. Shoes.com is offering store wide discount promocode: TAKE15.  Website: Shoes.com And as always free shipping.
5. Bath & Body Works is offering antibacterial soaps 4 for $15 and 6 for $20 and for $1.00 shipping on all orders of $25.00 or more use promocode: HOLIDAY25.  Website: bathandbodyworks.com
6. PBS is offering 2 for $25.00 on select NOVA DVDs.  www.pbs.org
7. For more daily deals be sure to check out my Queen of Common Cents Facebook page!

Ever need delicious store bought muffins?

Yesterday I needed store bought muffins for a meeting.  I happened to meet Trent for lunch at Cafe Rio and in the same strip mall was a Mimi's restaurant.  To save time I popped in to see if they could beat grocery store  and Sam's Club prices.  Mimi's has extremely large and tasty muffins.  The price for a single muffin is $1.99; unless you buy a dozen then the price drops in half to $12.95.  So next time you need some yummy store bought muffins at a good price, think Mimi's!

Four things this picture represents...

3 year old shampoo containers

The first thing this picture represents is... hygiene needs!
Back in 2009, I decided I wanted to try and build a year supply of toiletries. Well, in order to do that I needed to know how many bottles of shampoo my family uses in a year.  So I whipped out my felt tip marker and when I opened a new bottle of something, shampoo, dish washing detergent, washing machine detergent etc, I would write the date on the container.  After the container was empty I took note of the opening date and the date the container was empty and calculated how many I would need for a year's supply. 

The second thing this picture represents is...recycling!
What I did next was find a salon that offered refills.  Not only do I save a little money per ounce but I also save a little space at the local land fill.

The third thing this picture represents is...guilt!
After three years the plastic in this bottle is as flexible as it was when I first bought it.  It has not oxidized, it has not become brittle, and by no means has is become noticeably more decomposed.  Hum, plastic really is a problem for the environment.

The fourth thing this picture represents is...a need!
I wish Tide or Cheer or Cascade dish detergent came in refillable biodegradable containers.  Or perhaps a grocery store should offer a refilling service of our cleaning product containers like the salon does my shampoo bottles.  Or maybe manufacturers should begin manufacturing our hygiene and cleaning products in old fashioned cardboard wax lined containers that our milk use to come in.  One mulit-use plastic pumping spout sure beats an entire 120 ounce plastic container of washing machine detergent.

So this is what I am going to do later on, I am going to call corporate headquarters of my favorite products, and make a few suggestions!  I'll let you know what they say in a future post.

FREE BASKIN ROBBINS ICE CREAM FOR A YEAR!

It's time for Baskin Robbins annual flavor contest!  Gather the family and create the next Baskin Robbins favorite flavor! 
The prizes include, ice cream for a year, a trip to Boston, and the opportunity to actually create your flavor at Baskin Robbins headquarters.  Below is  the web address:

http://baskinrobbins.com/flavorcontest/flavorcreator.aspx?cmpid=flavorcontest_panel_homepage

Peanut Problems

Home-made wheat bread, peanut butter and home-made raspberry freezer jam!

I heard yesterday that the U.S. peanut crop has been hit hard, by the weather and with disease, resulting in a poor harvest. I translate this news to mean higher peanut butter prices and higher prices for anything that contains peanuts.  You might want to consider adding a few extra jars of peanut butter to your grocery cart over the next few weeks before the price increases.  Remember to check your expiration dates so you have time to eat the peanut butter before the jars expire.

And as always, "Eat what you store and store what you eat!"

Free ski/snowboard rental passes

Adam doing a trick on the slopes of Mt. Hood this summer

I received 2 free ski/snowboard equipment rental passes from a local business, here in Utah.  There are restrictions as to the days of the week they can be used.  I don't see a "Non-transferable " clause so I am assuming they are transferable.  If you would like to try and use them the first person to message me on Facebook can have them.

Chick Talk

Rachel, Adam and Grandma V. loving the Gold Sex Linked hen chicks

Did you know you can make a chicken go broody?  I didn't until I was faced with a difficult situation.  As many of you know, a few days ago I received my order of 1 day old chicks.  I was very excited; however, this is the wrong time of the year to raise chicks.  My chick order was 8 weeks back ordered.  What to do?  Well, I thought I would attempt to make one of our 4 hens go broody (Broody is a slang term for a hen that is setting on eggs, fertile or not.)

I bought a dozen eggs and placed them in the nesting box.  I then waited, said prayers, and in 4 days one of my hens took on the responsibility of hatching those eggs.  Yes, she went broody!  Two days later the chicks arrived in the mail.

Here's what I did next, I separated the other hens from the broody one (Chickens are highly territorial and often times kill other hen's chicks)  Next, in the middle of the night I slipped the eggs out from under her and replaced them with chicks.  Viola!  I should mention that I also have a heat lamp in the coop and of course a chick feeder and waterer. 

P.S. Once the chicks are with the hen you must leave them alone or the hen may reject the chicks.

Rachel and Grandma V. getting some chickie love before being tucked under the hen.

Employment Opportunities

• JC Penney
• Macy's
• Tuesday Morning

NOW is the time to buy winter squash

Winter squash stored on wood boards in a cool place will last for 5-6 months!

Every fall, after we harvest our winter squash, I calculate how many more I will need to get us through the winter.  This year I need 20. As you have probably guessed, I eat squash several times a week. To store winter squash, such as butternut, acorn, carnival, spaghetti, hubbard, turbin, buttercup, banana etc., all you need to do is place wood boards in on the cement in your cold storage room, for us this is a 16 x 4 foot space in our basement under our front porch, and put the squash on top of the boards.  Do not cover the squash. 

Our squash last through the winter until March or April.  Any squash that is beginning to change in texture I cook up and freeze so that we don't waste.  Remember, store what you eat and eat what you store and you will save money, time, and effort!

Winter squash is on sale this week for 0.69 cents a pound at most associated food grocery stores. In 2010, the lowest price for winter squash was 0.69 cents a pound.  I am speculating that this will be the lowest price of the season.  Yesterday I bought 20 squash and they were beautiful and locally grown.

For my Kaysville followers, in the above picture you will see a 25 pound bag of onions next to the squash.  Bowman's has 25 pounds of yellow onions for $3.99!  $3.99 is the price I recently paid for 3 pounds of onions.  These are locally grown onions, they are small but regardless of their size, they are worth it for the price and flavor!  I buy them every year and they hold up well in my cold storage room.

Also, yesterday at the Harmons in Farmington they had the most beautiful, plump, and fully dressed roaster chickens for 0.99 cents a pound.  It was a managers special and they looked like mini turkeys!  I have enough chickens in my freezer so I didn't buy any; however, it was tempting to say the least.

Thinking outside the box for discount coupons

Just the other day we went to the doctor and he prescribed some medications, one of which was Advair, which is on the pricier side. Guess what I did? I asked my physician if the drug representatives had left him any discount coupons.


Why did I do that? Because in the past drug representatives would leave discount coupons with pharmacists; but, unfortunately that practice is dwindling; therefore, I speculated that the discount coupons must now reside with physicians. Sure enough, that's what's going on!


My physician gave me a fabulous discount coupon that reduced the price of the Advair by $50.00 and to top it off it was a revolving discount that would reduce all refills through December 31st by $50.00!


We have very good insurance coverage, but even with good insurance my medications were going to cost over $72.00. After using the discount coupon I walked out paying only $22.58 for both an antibiotic and the inhaler!


Here's another suggestion-
Talk to your doctor and tell him your situation in life. For example, my daughter is without insurance and came down with a horrible sinus infection. The medicine was going to cost several hundred dollars. Being a poor college student she doesn't have extra hundreds of dollars lying around. We told her physician that she did not have medical insurance and he went into the back room and came out with enough free samples for her needed course of treatment.
Last suggestion-
If you are on any along term medications ask your physician if there are any new medications that will treat your condition and that are offering promotions or discount coupons. Why do drug companies do this? To boost sales! This is a common practice when new drugs come on the market, or when older drugs are losing sales.

Fabulous part time job opportunity with BENEFITS!

Rarely do part-time jobs come with benefits.  Here's one you won't want to pass up

Become and Nutritonal Education Assistant with USDA EFNEP

• 20 hours a week
• $9.65 per hour
• Benefited position

http://utahefnep.org/htm/job-opportunities/

Mostly Employment Opportunities

Restaurant Discounts-
GoDealGo is offering Pepperbellies restaurant vouchers for 50% off today.

Employment Opportunities-
Fresh Market in Kaysville is hiring courtesy clerks, high school students are welcome to apply.
Fresh Market in Kaysville is hiring bakery help 20-30 hours per week.
Zumiez in Layton Hills Mall is hiring.
United States Post Office is still accepting applications for data entry.
The Home Depot in Layton is hiring bi-lingual Spanish speaking employees.

Bath & Body Works On-line Sale

1. Buy 3, get 3 free signature collection body care
2. 4 for $15 or 6 for $20 antibacterial soap
3. Up to 50% off select items
4. Shipping $1.00 on purchases $25 or more with promo code: EVENT25

Great time to stock up on Christmas stocking stuffers or teachers gifts!

Need a good window cleaner? Check out my first newspaper article!

House cleaning- the never ending job!

http://desne.ws/nUdyDK

Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert with Jane Seymour and Nathan Gunn

You can obtain your free tickets to this fabulous concert by registering for random ticket selection beginning Saturday, Oct. 8, at 12:01 a.m. at lds.org and continue through Monday, October 17, 11:59 p.m. Those without Internet access can register by phone at 801-570-0080 or 1-866-LDS-TIKS Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Click here for more details.

Home Canning Sale at Cal Ranch Stores

• 21 quart water bath canner $19.99
• 33 quart water bath canner $29.99
• 25% off all canning supplies

Today's Deals!

1. Fresh Market- Chicken thighs 0.79/pound!
2. 25% off sale shoes at www.shoes.com- Promo code: 25SALE
3. Go-Travel:Get a flight and 3 nights each in Venice, Florence, and Rome, breakfast, and train travel -- all from $999*. Valid select dates, November 1, 2011-March 31, 2012.    Must book by October 18th.  Promo code: TTIT6
4. LLBean: 10% off October 6th-10th on orders and as usual free shipping!

Buy 2 bottles get the 3rd bottle free

My children use DaVinci Gourmet syrups all year long, snow cones in the summer, hot chocolate in the winter and smoothies, frappes and unknown concoctions any time of the year.

Discount code: HP1011

www.davincigourmet.com

1,000,000 seats from 19'99€. with Vueling!

This deal is offered about once a year by Vueling.  I especially look forward to it if I am planning on a trip to Europe.  The price can't be beat if you are planning on country hopping,  When I am not planning a trip to Europe, all it does is make me Wish I were going to Europe.

www.vueling.com

Black peaches are the pits!

Over ripe and bruised fruit turns black when dried

I received a question regarding peaches turning black after drying.  The woman said she soaked her peaches in sweetened lemon juice; however. they turned black while drying them.  Why?  Because she either had fruit that was overly ripe or bruised.  The blackening is caused by natural enzymes.  Even soaking fruit in lemon juice will not halt over ripe fruit from turning black.  Also, if you are going to try to dry bruised fruit, for best results, cut away the bruised areas or they will turn black as well.

PBS program Prohibition

A Non-alcoholic cherry rickie

PBS is airing a new program titled Prohibition tonight.  PBS typically does a very nice job.  The time is 8/7 central.  Check your local listing for your time zone.

Single serving sizes taste better?

My son Adam had oral surgery yesterday and as such requires soft foods, gelatin, pudding, scrambles eggs, applesauce etc. When my children were little I had one child that insisted on home lunches.  About that time single serving Jell-O and pudding cups we on the grocery shelves.  I was not going to pay $3.99 for single serving Jell-O to go in her lunch when I could make up a box of Jello-O for $0.57.  So I made pudding and gelatin and poured it into my re-usable single serving plastic ware and all was good.

After all these years of putting gelatin in singles serving containers I should have known better, but I didn't and made up Adam's post surgery gelatin and pudding in large bowls.  You would have thought I committed blasphemy.  Everyone threw a fit when they saw what their horrible mother was attempting to do!  I actually had to re-pour the hot pudding and gelatin into single serving containers to prevent mutiny.  Crazy but true!

Why pay $3.99 when you can make your own single serving gelatin for $0.57?