Oreo Truffles {Trust me! These are soooo easy!}

What you need:
1 pkg. oreo cookies, divided
1 pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups of milk chocolate chips

*I seperated my oreo cookies and scraped out the white filling into a mixing bowl. Then I took put the cookie pieces into a large ziplock bag and then crushed them into fine powder with my rolling pin. I just kept rolling over and over again until I liked the consistency. I reserved some cookie crumbs aside so that I can sprinkle them on top of my truffles when I'm finished.

*I poured my cookie crumbs into the same mixing bowl that has my white filling pieces. I took a fork and mashed the white filling in with the cookie crumbs, then added my package of cream cheese; mix until well blended. Make sure your cream cheese is softened. I had to place mine in the mircrowave for about 45 seconds to help soften it.

*I rolled oreo cookie and cream cheese mixture into small balls, about 1 inch in diameter.

*I melted my milk chocolate chips in a small plastic bowl in the microwave in 30 second intervals until it was soft, melted, and creamy. I dipped my oreo balls into my melted milk chocolate chips {I used a fork to help me dip the balls. Just place your ball on fork, dip in chocolate and then let your melted chocolate drain through the fork slits} and then I placed them onto a piece of parchment paper that I had placed on top of a cookie sheet.

*Sprinkle truffles with remaining cookie crumbs {before the truffles harden}. Refridgerate until firm, about 1 hour. Store leftover truffles, covered, in your refridgerator.
ENJOY!!!



I received this recipe from my husbands cousins wife. Thanks Brooke! These are soooo yummy! But don't forget the glass of milk after you're done eating them!

Hunting For Christmas Lights

It's tradition at my house every year that we go out a few nights before Christmas and hunt down the houses with the biggest and most extravagent Christmas decorations. I love making homemade hot cocoa and then I pour it into to-go cups for the hubby and I and then the kids get their sippy cups filled with yummy cocoa too. I always place a piece of peppermint candy cane at the bottom of each cup before I fill it with cocoa. It's tastes so good! We are also always dressed in warm PJ's and then we drive around for an hour or so and look at Christmas lights. It's such a fun family tradition and of course, it's easy on the budget. Sometimes, it's the little things that make Christmas so special!

Thank you!

I love the blogging world. Everyone is so nice, friendly, and appreciative. I want to give thanks to 'Puget Sound Prudence' for giving me the Heartfelt Blog Award. I'm so honored and will wear it proudly :)

I would like to 'Pay it Forward' and give this award to some of my fellow bloggers. They too, have amazing blogs! Here are a few of my favs:

1. Linds over at 'That's So Cuegly'. She has the best crafty ideas and I love her beauty tip Tuesdays!

2. 'Love Actually' is another favorite of mine. She has the coolest ideas for date nights for you and your significant other on a budget. Sometimes even the smallest ideas for a date can mean so much more!

Why I Use Vinegar and Baking Soda........Alot!

Vinegar and Baking Soda are such versatile household items. They're a cleaner, a refresher, an edible ingredient, and much much more. I always have vinegar and baking soda stocked in my home and I use it for many things. Here are just a few:

1. My laundry - I use anywhere between a 1/2 cup to 1 cup of vinegar when I was my dish towels. I have a specific bin for my kitchen rags and such. After a few days, they always get to stinking and that's where my vinegar comes in. Just wash your stinky kitchen towels like normal and make sure to add some vinegar. It removes the smell completely! I no longer have to use bleach on my towels either. Just add a 1/4 cup of baking soda and it will do the job for you! I don't like using bleach for a number of reasons. It removes the color from my towels and it breaks down the fibers of your cloths so they become weak and start to get holes. If you use vinegar and baking soda, your towels will last twice as long, if not more!

2. My dishwasher - Even if I use Cascade Shine to remove the hard water spots from my dishes, my dishes still seem to come out looking dingy. Damn hard water! So, I will add a few Tablespoons of vinegar and a good Tablespoon of baking soda to my dishwasher. It helps remove the hard water spots and it also helps to refreshen your dishwasher.

3. Removing Hard Water - My fridge has a water and ice dispenser on the outside of it. It always looks atrocious due to hard water spots from the water spout. Plus, it's a black fridge, so the hard water spots stick out like a sore thumb. I just pour vinegar into a glass, grab an old and used toothbrush, and a box of baking soda and start to scrubbing. I take my toothbrush, dip it into the glass of vinegar and stick it into my box of baking soda and scrub, scrub, scrub! It works great. I'll even take Q-Tips and get the hard to reach places. Sometimes the hard water spots are so bad I have to really drench the spots and leave for an hour or two, but it works!

I've also got hard water spots on my shower heads. Here is fun easy tip! I take a ziplock bag and pour vinegar into it along with several TBS. of baking soda. I place the ziplock bag over the shower head and seal with a good rubberband. Leave it there for a day or overnight. Come back and wipe with a washcloth and toothbrush. Waa Laa!

4. Cleaning your humidifiers - My humidifier has calcium build up after everytime I use it. Now that it's cold and flu season, I'm using it alot! To help clean the calcium build up {which almost resembles sea shells when you break it off}, I just soak the area for several hours with straight vinegar.

5. Glass cleaners - There are many different ways to make your own glass cleaner, but lets say you don't have time to make your own stuff and you'd rather just buy Windex. If you buy your own glass cleaner and you notice it still leaver streaks and fogginess behind, just add a few TBS. of vinegar. DON'T MIX VINEGAR WITH BLEACH!! Make sure you read the label of your glass cleaner. If it contains bleach, mixing that with vinegar can cause some harmful vapors. I've never seen a glass cleaner with bleach, but HEY! You never know......

These are just a FEW of my favorite uses for baking soda and vinegar. There are so many more, but I thought I would share my fav's!

* Let It Snow * Let It Snow *

Thanks to Leelou Blogs, I was able to put delicate snow drifting down my blog. It's beautiful and festive. Go HERE to see how to do it to your blog. It's really easy and it took me about 10 seconds to put on.

HaPPy HoLiDaYs!!

Plastic Jungle

I was reading one of my magazines the other day and stumbled across an article that mentioned a fabulous website that has absolutely fascinated me. The website is called Plastic Jungle. I can't believe I've never heard of this site before. It's like Ebay for gift cards. Plastic Jungle allows you to buy, sell, or trade gift cards. It's completely legit and safe too.



SELL - So, if you have a gift card that you received for a birthday or {HEY!} maybe Christmas, and you don't think you'll ever use it, then put it on Plastic Jungle. You fill in your gift card info and they will give you a USPS shipping label for you to print out. Shipping is free and they will send you a payment. SWEET!

BUY - There are some great gift cards ranging from restaurants, retail store, and more. You can buy a new or used gift card for a fraction of the price. You can get a discount up to 40% on some these babies. If you're giving a gift card to someone, they'll think you spent WAY TOO MUCH on them......but you really didn't! Ha Ha!

How Cool, huh? You should really check it out!

Make Your Own Gift Bows

I was looking for some frugal ideas the other day and came across a great blog. It's called 'How about Orange' and she gave me a great tutorial on how to make your own gift bows.







Made with matching Christmas paper too!



Made with a magazine page

I even took a couple of my magazine made bows and spray painted them with silver. They turned out great!


Check out some other great ideas over at 'We are that family' and see WWFMW

Paper Snowflakes

Sometimes I forget how much the little things in life can be the most memorable. I remember when I was a child and making paper snowflakes to hang in our windows during Christmas. This year, I'm so excited to make paper snowflakes for the first time with my children. I've had to wait for Ty to be old enough to handle sissors and now we get to make these new memories together.

During Christmas, I always try to find fun ideas and projects for my family that won't break the bank. This is a perfect one to start with.....making paper snowflakes with your children. Place them in your windows, on your walls, or hang them from your door frames or your ceilings. When was the last time you made paper snowflakes? Even as an adult, they are a blast to make! If you want to get super creative, go HERE to learn how to make 3-D paper snowflakes.

WooHoo!!

I finally got my computer back {*P*H*E*W*} and was able to upload some of the great website thingy's that I designed. Now, my blog officially feels like Christmas! I have a great post coming soon on how to make your very own Christmas bows. Yeah! Also too, I'm planning on posting another Coupon Class. As soon as I have time, I'll let you know when and where. Just to give you a heads up, the Coupon Class will be in Pocatello this time :)

My Computer Crashed!!

Don't you just love the cyber world? As soon as I have some things figured out and I'm doing great with "Computer Stuff", my computer decides to catch a HoRRiBLe Virus. I just want to warn many of you, that this "new" virus that is hitting several people is bypassing any Anti-virus protection or Spyware Protection that you may have downloaded onto your computer. It's a nasty bugger and I have lost a ton of very important documents and downloads because of it. I have to start from scratch and try redownloading everything and fixing some things. So, it may be a while before you hear from me again! Lucky for me, I was able to do a hostile take over of my friends computer and work on some things. Thanks Bree!