My name is Jessie and I'm a celebrity gossip junkie.

I think that my celebrity gossip habit is a great habit to have.  It's free and non-addicting :)  I know way too much about things I don't need to know about but that's ok.  I'm ok with it. 

With that being said, doesn't this child look just like Heath! Holy moses, no doubting her parentage!

Free Cookie Dough at Papa Murphys for Leap Day!

http://www.bargainez.com/printable-coupons/free-cookie-dough-with-the-purchase-of-any-pizza-at-regular-price-papa-murphys-printable-coupon/

I've got my Ass Bank Girls coming over for dinner and we are going to have ourselves some yummy pizza and I guess some cookies!  Yay!

Petsmart

I found a great deal!  Now I love my dog... most of the time.  When he's not peeing/pooping on my floor.  Which he has gotten much better at but this morning he was a very naughty dog so he's not on my good list right now.  Anyway, I love my dog but I don't like to spend tons of money on special dog foods and getting his liver functions checked twice a year to make sure he'll survive past 20.  I just needed to get his rabies vaccination updated and that is all I wanted.
I heard that the vet clinic in Petsmart does vaccinations for pretty cheap and when I investigated it I found they have a coupon for a free vet visit!  All you had to do was fill out a little information with your name, address and that mumbo jumbo and print out the coupon.  So I called up there to be sure it wasn't a fake sort of thing, which it wasn't.  I took Luca up there on Saturday and since he just needed the one vaccination, his vet visit only cost me $20.50!  And he's good for the next three years on rabies! 
I LOVE saving money in weird spots!  I just wanted to let you all know in case you want to penny pinch as well.

DIY Laundry Detergent

When I first heard of DIY laundry detergent, I fully dismissed it.  The second time I heard about it, I was much more willing to look into it.   I had fully dismissed cloth diapers and now look at me... 9 months disposable free and it's so much easier than I thought.  I figured this might be the same.

So after some searching around, I found a very simple "recipe" and it looked very easy to do so yesterday I gave it a try.

I got all of the ingredients at Walmart.

Borax $3.38

Arm & Hammer Washing Soda $3.24

Fels-Naptha Laundry Soap Bar $0.97

1/2 in dowel $0.87 (I had to get this to stir, I had nothing long enough at home.  A yard stick would work though.)

First you shred the Fels-Naptha bar.  I did this with a cheese grater, not sure how else you would shred it.  This was the most annoying part of the process for me because I don't exercise and my arms got tired, haha.  Looked like grated cheese when it was finished.  Smelled good though.

 Next, you add the grated Nels-Naptha to 4 cups of water in a medium saucepan.  On medium-low stir until the soap is completely dissolved.

 The gal I got this recipe from (http://www.mykitchenescapades.com/), says to use a 5 gallon pail but as I had none, I had to use a 30 gallon garbage bin (cleaned out of course).  Put 2 1/2 gallons of hot water in the pail and add 1 cup washing soda, 1/2 cup borax and your dissolved soap mixture.  Stir until everything is dissolved.  Then add another 2 1/2 gallons hot water and give it a good stir.

 Then you let it sit overnight.  In the morning, it is rearing to go! 

 It turns into this gelatinous, jello-y muck.  Don't worry, this is how it is supposed to look.

 Since I stupidly threw away my laundry detergent bottles, I had to use what I could find.  Fill your container up with half the soap mixture and half with hot water.  Give a good shake and you are ready for laundry!  Use 1/2 cup to 5/8 cup with a top loader.

This "recipe" will make enough soap for 220 loads with a top loader and 660 loads with a front loader.  Please tell me this isn't worth the effort to do?  And it was barely any effort.  Took me less than a half hour to do.  I think my total ended up being less than $2 to make (since you don't use anywhere near all the borax and washing soda) and Max says it probably will save up to $40!

I tried out my new soap this morning and it works great!  You can always add different essential oils to your mixture if you want to add a different scent but I liked the scent it had already.  No need to add more cost for this gal.

Blogging Take 2

Welcome welcome!  Back from the dead in a new form.  My old blog was giving me problems that I didn't know how to fix so here we are, the new one! 

I hate blog titles and coming up with name for everything so I just went with the first thing that came to mind.  Since I am pregnant, it is no surprise that it was food related. 

My 2nd attempt at blogging will mostly be about my life as a momma, a wife, a photographer, a soon to be stay at home mom, a soon to be daycare provider and, as always, a penny pincher.  Seems that posting ideas for recipes, DIY projects, decor (basically everything on pinterest) is all the rage, I will attempt to do the same.  I am no cook but I always told Max (the hubs) that once I stay at home I will actually attempt to cook.  We will see how that goes. 

So, hello old friends that used to read my blog when I was actually writing in it and hello to new friends if I am so lucky as to get some new ones!  I'm happy to hear any comments or ideas or what have you that you would like to tell me.