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Thursday, January 11, 2024

Gift Card Buys, an After Christmas & Easter Haul & Chicken Spaghetti Bake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Welcome to Debbie-Dabble Blog!!

 
I am so happy you decided to stop by!!
 
 I now will be posting  2 TIMES A WEEK on MONDAY and THURSDAYS!!!!
 
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 A NOTE ABOUT COMMENTS
 
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And since I have a very busy life, like most of us do, it may take me awhile to return your comments but I promise I will....
 
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 Today, I will be sharing some new purchases and a few other things.....
 
 
In my last post, I shared what my One Little Word for 2024 is.....


 
 
 Along with what my Theme for 2024 is....

 
 
 
Click HERE if you missed that post!!

 
 
 
I want to Thank Angie,over at God's Growing Garden, for choosing my post Anne Marie's Annual Christmas Home Tour, as one of her features from last week's Tuesdays with a Twist Link party!!
 
 

 

 Thanks so much, Angie and Anne Marie also is grateful for the feature!!
 
 
 I also want to Thank Barb, over at The French Ethereal, for choosing my post, Christmas Recap, as one of her features from last week's Share Your Style Link Party!!!
 
 
 
 Thanks again, Barb!!!
 
Please stop by and link up to these charming parties!!


 
 
And now for a few Personal Notes...
 
 


  I am finally getting over the head cold and sinus issues I had after New Year's....

I did something this past Monday that I NEVER EVER DO!!

I stayed in my jammies all day and relaxed and rested....
 
Yes.....
 
I pushed that PAUSE Button....
 
 
 
 For some reason, I am in no hurry whatsoever to take down and pack away Christmas...

If I had a bigger house, I would probably dedicate one room to Christmas year long and if Joe ever won a lot of money on the Lottery, I would love to open up a Christmas Store...

Yes, I LOVE it that much!!

I am not a professional Blogger.....
 
 And one of the reasons why I never considered it is because those that are, have to rip down their Holiday and Seasonal decor as soon as that clock strikes Midnight and move on quickly to the next Holiday and Season....

I like to savor each Holiday and each Season....

Again, I would like to mention that this Blog is more of a journal that I hope someday, when I am long gone, my family can look back on...

And with that being said, what I post about is what is important to me and what is my passion.... ....

I am NOT a child who wants or needs advice from others or is looking for other people's opinions...
 

 I am quite aware that my style is not for everyone and I don't care if it isn't...

I admire lots of different styles but if I see something that I do not care for, I do not comment...
 
Recently, I have had to unfriend and block people on face book and also block emails from people who just can not seem to help themselves when it comes to giving me their advice on what they think I should be doing...

I, personally, would never think of doing that and do not do that to anyone, and especially try not to do it with my own children...

Because I feel it is NONE OF MY BUSINESS!!

 I just needed to clear the air....

 
 
 With the birth of our twin granddaughters, I will admit that I bought them almost nothing...

I did pick up 2 identical sets of Onesies that I gifted them when we went to see the twins in the hospital...

 G Pop had to buy these Penguin's onesies for them...



 
Aren't they cute....
 
 I made sure he bought them in larger sizes because since babies grow out of Newborn clothes so fast, I feel it is a BIG waste of money to even bother to buy them in 0-6 month sizes to fit them.....

 We gave them a monetary gift because I have no idea what they like, need or want for the twins and I, myself, preferred to buy what I liked and wanted for my sons as my parents and in law's also gave us money for our sons.....
 
Again, I am staying out of their business...
 
LOL!
 
 
 
 And with that being said, my son Joey gifted me an Amazon Gift Card for Christmas....
 
Now I am not an Amazon shopper and I do not even have my own account...
 
I do use the gift cards he gifts me to find things that I feel I can not find in Brick and Mortar stores....

So with that being said, so far, I did buy 2 things........

 
I ordered these votive candles because they have a timer.....

 
They will stay on for 6 hours and then off for 18 hours....


 
I also ordered these battery operated taper candles.....
 

 
 
 
They come with a remote that you can set the timer for 2,4,6 and 8 hours on.......
 
 
 
 I can't wait to use them.....


Seeing that brass is coming back in style with gusto, I can kick myself for getting rid of some of the brass candlesticks I once had...

I still have more left on the card so I will be looking for something else to get from Amazon....

And I also have a Hobby Lobby gift card from Jim and Danielle that I have yet to use....


I finally left my house for the first time since New Year's Eve Day when we helped bring the Twins home the first time ( they ended up back in the hospital a few days later)......

Having the pups here, not feeling well and a 5 inch snow storm, I missed all the after Christmas sales....

YES!!

I am quite aware that I mentioned in my One Little Word post that I intended to "Buy Nothing"!

HOWEVER, I do realize that it will be impossible for me to do that so I will shop with discretion and look for awesome deals....

And NO!

I will NOT even consider getting rid of something I have to make room for something new...

Don't have to and don't want to!
 

After Christmas Clearance Haul....

I was going to save this for a January Rudolph Day post over on my Christmas Blog, A Debbie-Dabble Christmas but I wanted to get it out of the way..... 


Big Lot's....

Went to Big Lot's with a $10 off $40 coupon...
 
Christmas Clearance was 50% off

I go online to the store website and look to see what is still available in the actual store where I shop before I go.... 

 But I was looking for things to use for other Holidays and Seasons....
 

This set of 35 Edison lights came down to a little under $6


They are LED warm white...

 
I even sent Joe back down the next day to buy 2 more sets as I plan on using these to replace the lights that I have had on the garland around my porch railings and front door for over 15 years....


It will definitely be a bit brighter....
 
Again, I did find Edison lights similar to these but only 30 lights in a set on Amazon for $30....
 
I like the price I paid a lot better.... 

Instead of buying a flocked Tree, you can create the snow effect by simply tucking Buffalo Snow into your old trees....

 
I have used this trick for years when changing over my Christmas Kitchen Tree over to my Winter Bird Tree.....
 
You Tuber Joe, from Life with Maryann and Joe, illustrated this when creating a Winter Wonderland in his Dining Room for Christmas.....

This is perfect for my Powder Room for both Christmas and Winter ....

 
 Down to $2.66 from $6.99
 
This Broyhill throw is perfect for Winter...


Was $9.99, came down to $3.80!!!

Now is the perfect time to buy ornaments to use for other Holidays and Seasons....

I bought 2 packs of these red reindeer ones....

 
 Only $ 3.80 for 2 packs...
 
These can be used also for Winter and what is great is that they can be added to wreaths and they can also stand up to be used in vignettes.....
 
I also sent Joe back down to get one more package of these jingle bells as I have seen these made into garlands and added to other bells which are a big thing on You Tube with the "Decorate with Me" You Tubers....

 
Down to $1.89 each!

These just scream Winter decor and can also be added to wreaths.....

 
$5.32 for both!

Great to use in arrangements, clip on to Trees or add to wreaths....

 
$2.66

I plan on using these red bows on my Patriotic Tree in the Summer after adding some small flags to the center of them....


They could also be used for Valentine's Day Trees or wreaths....

 $3.78 for both!
 
 
 
 
 
Only $33 for all of this and almost all of it will be used at other times of the year.....
 
 
 Ocean State Job Lot......

Joe stopped in there looking for something else and called me about these....


 These were in most of the stores for Christmas this year and were quite pricey!! 

They are about 12 inches tall and were $6.99

 
At half price, they were only $3.50 each!!

They have an open bottom so you can put a set of fairy lights inside of them or a votive light like the kind I bought with my gift card......
 




 The red one can be used for Valentine's Day or even in Patriotic decor and the green ones can be used for Winter, Saint Patrick's Day and even in the Summer with a garden themed vignette.....

I sent Joe back down to get this aqua colored one....


 
Which will be perfect in my upstairs Sitting Room for Christmas.....



J.C. Penney's....

I went for my hair cut at J.C. Penney's yesterday afternoon and stopped by their Christmas Clearance.....
 

 
I had my eye on this Gingerbread house for 3 months because I wanted it for Valentine's Day....
 
Originally $100 , which is outrageous....
 

 
Marked down to $24.99 and with a $10 Reward, only $14.99!! 
 
It lights up!!


 
  Valentine's Day Gingerbread houses are selling out like crazy in Hobby Lobby, Marshall's and T.J. Maxx....
 
These pics are of just 2 of these gingerbread houses by of Cashmere and Cupcakes...
 

 
 You see that by adding some hearts to the one I bought I can make it look similar to these that are selling for $50-$65!!
 
And these are sold out even on Hobby Lobby's web site...


 You can make something similar our of older Christmas village houses maybe bought in a Thrift store.... 

 
 I also spied these high end looking trees originally pieces at $50, crazy expensive!!!

 

 Again, these were all the rage this Christmas....

 Marked down and with another $10 Reward that I had....$15 for both!!! 

Will be perfect for Winter decor!!



Dollar Tree.......
 
 A Dollar Tree is right next to the Big Lot's that we shop at so I stopped in because I was on the hunt for these after seeing them on the "Shop with Me" You Tube videos.....
 
 

I always say that you can never have enough bottle brush trees.....

And Dollar Tree has a ton of them for Easter!!!

Look at these beauties!!!




 
I will be adding a few more eggs to these as they also sell the small eggs......

I loved these small ones in the pastel colors......




 
 And because they have a bit of sparkle to them, they can be used for Christmas too!!!
 
 
 
 AND they also had Carrot ones too!!!
 
 

Love these larger standing ones.......


 
A package of 2 smaller ones that can be used for ornaments.......

 
And packages of even smaller ones.......


 
And I also bought this too!!


They actually had more Easter merch than Valentine's Day merch!!


Gabes.....

I had a $5 off $25 coupon from Gabes but was very disappointed in their Christmas Clearance which I considered not to even be Clearance at all!!
 
Christmas Merch was only marked down about 25% off or less.......
 
Definitely no deals there on those things....

We did use our coupon to by 2 things....

 I have been looking at lap desks on Amazon because I rather use a lap top over a phone any day! 
 

 
 I found this in Gabes and since we bought 2 items, the coupon took an additional $2.50 off the $14.99 price...
 
 
 
I love this and it was much cheaper than what I saw on Amazon for $35 to $50, which I find is usually the case....
 

 
It has a light and even a little fan!!!
 
 
 
Joe took this picture and you can see by my red nose and red eyes that I still was not feeling well.....



This is perfect for me to use when watching TV......



For months now, I have been looking at recipes for a Chicken Spaghetti Bake...
 
 There are tons of them out there on You Tube and Pinterest...
 
I decided to try it but combined a few different recipes and omitted any vegetables as Joey would not eat it if there were veggies like peppers, onions, etc. in it...
 
 
 
 I used a Sam's Club Chicken, a half a jar of Ragu, cream of mushroom soup, cream of chicken soup, spaghetti and cheddar cheese and a lot of different Seasonings...
 
It was delicious and Joey ate 2 bowlfuls and took some home...
 

 
Joe, who hates anything Italian, in a casserole and with a lot of cheese, said it was "okay"....
 
I will definitely make this again....
 
 And that is it for today....

I will be back on MONDAY and will hopefully be sharing how I changed over Christmas to Winter on the Front Porch.....


So I hope you will stop by to visit again on MONDAY!!!  
 
 
 Stay safe, healthy and most of all, HAPPY!!

Thanks to those who took the time out of their busy day to spend a little bit of time with me!!

If you do not have a blog, PLEASE  give me some way to reply to your comment, maybe by including your email in your comment.  If I can not find a way to reach you, I will reply on the post where you commented so please check back......


I am linking up to these parties:
 
 
Happy Heart and Home Tuesday 
 
  THURSDAY
  
 Please take some time to visit these terrific hosts and all those joining in on the fun!


12 comments:

  1. Glad you're feeling better. When you mention the twins, I can't help but remember how hard my 3.15oz newborn was let alone two. My husband and I felt like zombies from sleep deprivation which is why it's nice Jim is able to stay home as well. You may have mentioned it, but do you go to thrift stores for your decor? It's amazing what some YouTubers find at the good ones. No such luck where I live though. Take care.

    ReplyDelete
  2. PJ,
    Thanks again for stopping by!! Jim never left Danielle's and the baby's side during both admissions to the hospital...When they were born, he never left and the first time he was home was when they brought the babies home. when the twins were readmitted they were able to stay in the room with them as they were in a special "twin" room so neither of them left their sides until they were discharged back to home again...And even now, he took a month long paternity leave and they are both managing at home with no outside help whatsoever....I am so proud of my boy!!
    Funny that you would mention thrift stores....About 10-12 years ago when I really started to have trouble walking, I stopped going to yard sales, flea markets, estate sales and thrift shops..I would leave work on a Saturday morning with a map in hand and hit about 20 - 30 yard sales before going home after working all night...I regularly shopped Salvation Army and Volunteers of America thrift shops....I would venture to say that about 70-75 % of the stuff I have in my house was thrifted....And Now it is such a big thing and very popular to do because of the environmental impact from clothes to furniture to home decor.... I do have a Salvation Army right down the road from me...I was actually thinking of starting to check it out again like I used to....
    I hope you have a great week!!
    Hugs,
    Deb

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'd be proud of him too. Those girls will know their daddy was there when it mattered and he will be the first man in their lives. Thanks for sharing

      Delete
  3. So glad that the babies and their parents are home. Wonderful that dad can spend some extra time with them. My daughter (a nurse) said she was putting her newborn twins on a schedule and by gosh she did! It was still a job, but I had a lot of envy for her organization. I had mine one at a time and I was a mess, LOL. My tree isn't down yet either. I am surprised when people mention it. When I feel like it, I will take it down. I am so jealous of your Big Lots. I have tried to shop the sales and ours was almost empty before Christmas! It is a smaller store and I don't think they get the amount of stock that your store gets. You sure found some bargains!!!

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  4. It's great your got to bring your grandkids home! :) You got so many awesome savings buy shopping the sales as well! I've never seen easter trees for sale here but they look really fun, and I picked up a couple of decorations in the 50% off sales after Christmas too. We have already packed away all our Christmas decorations, but we didn't have much out this year, as there have been some sad times int eh family. I look forward to properly decorating again and really getting into the spirit this year.

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  5. What wonderful celebrations you make for your family! Best best best to your little girls and to all your family…what an exciting and blessed time for you all….very lucky little girls to have such a lovely family! You always amaze me with your decorations, trees, tables, and landscape! The purchases you make with crafting and improving in mind is awesome…you have such a great eye for things! Love your word and phrase for this year….brilliant and thoughtful…we should all follow these wise words. Thanks for sharing. You will have a happy new year, I’m sure with your expanding family.
    God bless. xox, V.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. V.,
      Thanks so much for taking the time t o stop by!! I truly do appreciate it...Happy New Year to you and your family!!!
      Hugs,
      Deb

      Delete
  6. Pause is a good word. I do like your Easter things -- I might be in the market for something like that. The only Christmas things I bought after were a few rolls of wrapping paper and a couple of mugs that are more winter than Christmas that I am using as a party favor for an upcoming lunch. Trying hard to buy little if anything unnecessary!

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  7. I have to tell you, I love the bottle brush trees in the Santa mugs! It looks like you are getting prepared for the upcoming holidays, I hope you share it all with us! Thanks for sharing with SSPS, take care.

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  8. That is one motto I try to live by; especially when leaving blogging comments! And if I truly can't think of something nice to say I just don't comment or try a different post by the same blogger. Those Penguins onesies are so cute!! The spaghetti bake looks delicious. I have one boy that doesn't like any sort of casserole (or cheese!) so it can make it hard to cook one meal for all of us to enjoy. But I'm perfectly content to make one meal most of us enjoy and let the odd man out (sometimes that's me!) prepare their own food for a night.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I really enjoyed seeing your pictures of your grands and bargains! I got a few of the carrot trees--I want to make Halloween trees for the dollhouse out of them eventually! Maybe I will enjoy them for Easter first! I enjoy thrifting as much as clearance shopping. I wish we had more Salv Army's and others nearby; Goodwills are SOOO overpriced here in Maine. I was blessed that my kids learned to love veggies when my mother (Babci) babysat for them when they were little. Pat STILL says her chow mein was better than mine--same recipe!!!! I could talk them occasionally into going for Chinese instead of MacDonald's! We went to one PTA potluck; I let my kids serve themselves with the proviso that they had to eat what they took. Pat had piled 8 (yes, eight!) kinds of pasta (lasagna, spaghetti, American chop suey, etc.) on his plate--and ate it all, too! Miss those days; enjoy the grands!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kathy,
      Halloween trees!! What a great idea!!! I am a pasta lover.. I did not grow up with eating a lot of veggies as my mother had colitis and did not buy them as they bothered her terribly...Unfortunately, I inherited her GI issues...I used to shop Salvation army a lot but have not in many years...I just may have to start going back to it...I hope you are having a great week and thanks so much for visiting!!
      Hugs,
      Deb

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