FREE sample of Redken

Thanks Mashupmom!

I never buy salon hair products EXCEPT for conditioners for my daugher (and her nearly three feet of long, thin, tangle-prone hair). They say save your money on salon shampoos and once and a while splurge on the pricey conditioner which is generally really high quality (try Sally's Beauty supply or coupon your heart out at CVS where you can get some pricey ones for a steal!).  I never pay for shampoo since I am sitting on over a year's supply right now I not only got for free but MADE MONEY ON via couponing.

Get your free samples here: http://www.redken.com/whats-hot/enter-to-win/style-connection-giveaway/

Free Nivea bodywash at Target

UPDATE

I wanted to share that I did actually do this deal. And when I got home, I discovered that the clerk, who was an older guy and not really paying much attention, actually put back all my coupons back in the bag with my body wash. I have a feeling he thought once he scanned them they weren't able to be used anymore! He did keep my raincheck. He kept saying "I can't believe you are getting these for free!" I tried the orange scented wash, and to be honest, it's just OK. It has a strange consistancy, more like lotion than soap, and it doesn't suds that well, which is unusual. I had to check it again to make SURE it was body wash and not skin lotion. Technically I could go back and get two more bottles for 99 cents each, but I didn't like them enough to bother.



There probably won't be a bottle left by the time I get there, so ya'll get out and go go go.


$2.99 Nivea wash


-$2/1 Nivea bodywash (from the 1/3 insert)
-Printable Target $1/1 coupon (go here)


= FREE (tax only)


REMEMBER: it is Target's POLICY to take ONE manufacturer's coupon AND ONE Target coupon per item.

FREE J&J soap

I was lucky enought to convince my co workers to give me their coupon inserts and snagged 3 $1/1 J&J baby item products. I saw over at Mashupmom that she was able to get free J&J Buddies soap at Target with those. I drove by their the other day and had my coupons (keep them in the car!) and snagged three free soaps myself. It was fun!  In fact, the soaps were 97cents and the q's were $1/1 so I got a few pennies overage towards the birthday card I was buying.

The kids love the smell of the soap. I'm waiting to see if DS with his sensitive skin has any reaction to them before I consider buying some more $1/1 q's off ebay and snagging a few dozen more.

And the El Paso giveaway winner is: ROSE

Rose, congrats on winning the El Paso Giveaway. Congrats!

Since I did not hear back from Becca by noon, I went ahead and drew another name at random and Rose is our winner.

Rose, your El Paso Giveaway pack is on its way!

Creamy Spanish Chicken and Salsa

This looks very yummy, but I am wondering if it can be made in the crockpot? I would substitute chicken thighs for breasts (boneless and skinless) since they crockpot better, and add the sour cream at the very end (unless of course you like YOGURT chicken!) I've blogged about our own crockpot chicken here.

Recipe from here.


Cook Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:
4 each skinless boneless chicken breast
1 package taco seasoning mix
1 cup salsa
1/4 cup sour cream

Preparation:
Place chicken breasts in a lightly greased shallow baking dish; season with the taco seasoning mix. Pour the salsa over the chicken; bake at 350° for 35 to 45 minutes, or until chicken is tender. When ready to serve, remove the chicken from the casserole, stir sour cream into salsa, then return chicken. Serve sour cream chicken and sauce with warm tortillas and Spanish rice.

This chicken breast recipe serves 4.


Update: so I made this last night for dinner and it got two thumbs up, although my husband noted that he preferred it in a torilla shell and not over rice. Both kids ate it. In hind sight, it doesn't really taste any different than my other chicken tortilla recipe link above since I serve that with sour cream anyway.

Giveaway this Thursday!

Don't forget to enter my El Paso giveaway here.

I just received my package today from General Mills/MyBlogspark and it is very cute. I can see using the ceramic dish (which is a lot bigger than I expected) during football season. There are even little "pockets" on the side to hold dip.

One lucky winner will be chosen at 8pm CST on Thursday, January 15th so enter today.

(This prize package was sent to me from General Mills/MyBlogspark.)

Ficus trees not for the faint hearted

Tis the season of the great leaf drop.

I have written before about the ficus benjamina that stands over 7 foot tall in my living room. A $30 "please take me" plant from an apartment dweller overwhelmed by its size, this ficus came home to us stuffed in the back of a minivan October of 2006.

A ficus is a deciduous tree, meaning it drops its leaves come fall and the change of sunlight, just like the oaks and maples do outside. Only ours begins the great leaf drop around November and continues into January. It's been worse this year due to the real lack of winter sunlight. We've gotten very little variety to the overcast grey skies that have marked this winter.

The ficus is not for the faint hearted. It will lose lots of leaves. LOTS. Just now I swept up two enormous piles from the carpet. Mostly these are interior leaves that drop due to lack of light. This shouldn't be confused with exterior leaf drop or yellowing, which is often a sign of under watering. My big guy sits in a 26" diameter pot and gets one gallon of water per week (for those of you playing the home game).

But don't worry. He'll be all right. come March the new leaves will begin to bud and he'll fill out in the center and be all happy again.


Oh, and in case you're wondering, this is how big the ficus benjamina would get if outdoors in its native southeast Asia (as opposed to its non-native midwest USA!)