Who doesn’t like to come home from work or from a busy day running errands and have dinner waiting in a slow cooker. Just walking in the door and smelling the aroma of a delicious home-cooked meal is so inviting. Well, Food Network has eleven tips for slow cooker meals that are definitely worth checking out. I already see one tip I need to remember, the one that talks about how it’s better to fill a slow cooker halfway to two thirds full.  Also, here are eight simple slow cooker recipes from Food Network that sound so good!

.
With the holidays coming up, a lot of us will be taking desserts, dips, snacks and appetizers to parties. What better way to keep them warm than in a slow cooker. If any of you have eaten at Qdoba’s and love their queso, here’s a recipe for a lower-fat version of Qdoba’s 3-Cheese Queso.

.

Don’t have a slow cooker?  Check out these from Amazon.  I’ve started ordering from Amazon more and more the past couple of years after realizing how easy and convenient it is.  And I nearly always find the best price on something at Amazon plus a lot of items qualify for free shipping which saves money! A lot of you probably figured this out a long time ago.

…

.
.

.
I love saving money, finding bargains, and using really good coupons.  Just ask my family!  I am excited to learn about PromotionCode.org because here is a good way to save money and find coupons online.  It’s so easy!

Here’s what I did. I went to the website for Promotion Codes.org.  On their homepage is a section called “Newest Promotion Codes.”  That interested me because I wanted to see what the latest coupons were for Skechers.  So I went to the page for Skecher’s coupons.  I looked through the list and found a coupon that sounded really good.  Here are the details:

.

• 40% off coupon
• Coupon last reported working 4/7/11
• 66% success rate for the coupon
• 22 comments about using the coupon

The comments were very helpful because I found out several things about the coupon from actual users.  The coupon is actually for 25% off which is still a great coupon for Skechers.  Also, you have to buy two pairs of shoes in order to use the coupon and it’s not good towards buying Shape-Ups.  As you can tell, the comments are really helpful.

The site lists a lot of categories, 25 to be exact.  There are a lot of coupons to look through as you can tell from the number of categories.  Quite a few appealed to me (and would to our daughter too), and here are some of them:

.

• Clothing, Shoes, & Accessories
• Food & Drink
• Gifts
• Health & Beauty
• Hobbies
• Home & Garden
• Shopping
• Toys & Games (we have two small grandsons plus I’m a teacher)
• Travel

They also have several categories that would appeal to my husband, our son, and our s-i-l.  Computers and electronics would definitely catch their eyes as well as some other categories.  There are also categories that offer services such as automotive, financial & professional services, and telephone services.   These promotion codes definitely cover a wide range of products and services, and they help save people money.  I like that!

I wonder how many of you are planning on going to the Black Friday sales early this coming Friday morning, and I do mean early! We are planning on getting up before dawn and going to several stores to get some really good deals.  What makes Black Friday so fun?  I guess it’s being with family and/or friends, shopping at a crazy time during the middle of the night, and being on a quest to find the best bargains out there.

I was excited when a large box arrived on my doorstep, and when I opened it…this is what I found!  I knew that Family Dollar was sending me something, but I had no idea it would be this big!

Inside this beautifully wrapped package were all sorts of goodies. There were things for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas!


In my gift basket for “Halloween Happiness,” there were Spooky Lollipop Rings and Halloween Suckers plus a Halloween pumpkin. (Family Dollar has good prices on their candy for trick or treaters! Note the Lollipop Rings are just $2.) For Thanksgiving, there were several things: an apron (a bib apron with two large pockets AND with DuPont Teflon fabric protector to protect from stains), two holiday dessert recipes from the Family Dollar Holiday Recipe and Coupon Booklet, and a fall leaves bowl.

By the way, you might want to get the Family Dollar Holiday Recipe and Coupon Booklet to help with your entertaining needs and your budget.

The “Christmas Corner” included a Family Dollar Christmas Toy Book which has 24 pages of value packed Christmas toys, affordable for every family.  Our daughter (Christi from Frugal Novice) was visiting when I opened my Family Dollar “Fall Entertaining Toolkit” basket of goodies.  When she saw the toys they sent me, which are in the Family Dollar Toy Book, she was impressed and said that she would definitely be going to Family Dollar to purchase some toys for gifts.

They have $5 toys for kids of every age, and they feature popular name brands like Hot Wheels, Disney, and Bakugan.  In fact, they sent me a Bakugan toy.  I have to admit that I had no idea what that was, but our daughter was very familiar with Bakugan toys.  When I gave it to our grandson (Christi & Brian’s three year old), he was fascinated with it.  In the picture, you can see our grandson, dressed in his red pajamas, playing very intently with his new toy. He liked it so much that he slept with it that night, and even went to sleep with it clutched in his little hand.  It was definitely a hit!

.

Family Dollar has everything from kids’ favorites like full-function Radio Control Kid Cruisers to $5 board games to Kidget clothing for newborns-toddlers to hot-priced electronics.  They have play huts for $10 such as the Disney’s Tinker Bell and Disney’s Princess.  They have something for everyone!  What is really impressive is their great selection of $5 toys and gifts.  Also available are wrapping paper and seasonal home decor accents at great prices. No wonder they’re one of the fastest-growing discount chains in the United States and also a Fortune 500 company.

If you visit Family Dollar.com, you can enter the Family Dollar Holiday Dream Dash Contest for a chance to win a 90 seconds holiday shopping spree in one of their stores.  You can enter now through November 19, 2020.  Be sure to go back and vote the week of November 22nd.

Note:  Family Dollar offers a 10% discount on bulk toy purchases of $100 or more, perfect for the charitable gift-giver!

This is a ready-made meal and would make a whole meal for us, but if you wanted to then you could get some frozen veggies and cook them in no time at all.  Here are the freebies for this week:

Buy this:

• Central Market Rotisserie Chicken

Get these free:

• Family Size Caesar Salad
• French Baguette

That saves you $7.68, and you can feed your whole family for the price of the chicken and maybe a veggie.

If you don’t know about this, you’re probably thinking, “She’s crazy!”  And I must admit it does sound crazy!  But hey, I’ll dress up partly like a cow for a free Chick-Fil-A entree on July 9th.  Everyone who comes dressed up partially like a cow gets a free entree, and for those who come completely dressed up like a cow get the whole meal free.  You can RSVP on Facebook if you want to, but you don’t have to.

Here’s more info about where to download free printable cow ears, spots, etc.

If you can’t tell already, I’m a huge fan of Chick-Fil-A…our whole family is.  And would you like to know why? (By the way, this is not a paid post.   It’s strictly my opinion)  Well, let me tell you anyway:

• We really like their food!
• Chick-Fil-A’s food is top quality!
• They have awesome waffle fries.
• Their new spicy chicken sandwich is so good!
• They have a super fast drive-through (One time during the lunch rush, the line wrapped completely around the building and I was at the end of the line.  I timed it and it only took me 5 minutes to get up to the window to get my food.  They’ve always been consistently fast.)
• They’re closed on Sundays for faith and family.
• They give out an enormous amount of money every year in scholarships.

Yes, there is free food at Chick-Fil-A this FRIDAY but there is a stipulation.  You have to dress like a cow…I’m not kidding!  Their website explains all the Cow Appreciation Day details. If you dress partly like a cow (and they even have a link to download their starter kit so you can print off cow ears, cow tail, cow spots, etc) then you will get a free entree.  However, if you dress completely like a cow from head to toe (cow PJ’s are acceptable) then you get a free meal.  We’re not doing the free meal thing, but we will put on cow’s ears and spots for a free entree.   Kids can even enter a contest.  Sounds like fun!