frogmama's findings

Character Study Introduction

2011-12-30T07:33:00.001-06:00

I really felt convicted yesterday that we need to start doing a Character Study with the kids. (I have wanted to teach them for a couple years... but no more excuses! We only get one shot at this parenting business!)

I'm sort-of piecing together some resources. We are starting with the Humility packet to kick off the first few days of the year. It seemed to be the best trait to start on around here. I'm really excited! Here is the link to the packet on the Confessions of a Homeschooler website. (she has 10 of these packets, which I immediately downloaded like a pack rat just in case I wouldn't find them when I finally was ready to teach them. ("Humility" does not mean to humiliate oneself or others - these are very positive studies!! Its Christian-ese for "Not having a big head" These cite Bible verses and such, but I strongly feel that these are useful even if you prefer not to use the scripture. These do a very good job of explaining complex, important values that anyone with good character possesses) .

I'm looking forward to our whole family learning these - not just the kids :)

Oh, and please post a comment if you want me to blog about this - It may help me stay accountable to doing this and would love to share what I'm doing and be encouraged by you all.

If there is interest in my blogging about it, I will try to keep it updated about same-time from when I'm teaching it. I know sharing would be a good source to those in Internetville, but I don't want to invest the time right now if it is not helping someone *right now*

(I'm one week into recovering from shoulder surgery and typing is an issue the way it is! For that reason, and obvious energy restraints from therapy and healing and trying to keep the house in order-ish I just can't spend time polishing posts and creating flow right now. Sorry!)

Please consider supporting Lydia

2011-12-19T08:38:00.003-06:00

Lydia lives in China. She is severely disabled because of a fire when she was young. She was abandoned by her family because of this. In China, if you are disabled, you have NO opportunities. Lydia has taken up cross-stiching to try to support herself. Please check out/share this website and see what she can do and consider supporting her.

I will post a permanent link to her store on my side bar as well. Can you imagine living her life? This was not her fault.

Lydia's Threads

Money Saving Tips

2011-12-07T21:44:00.000-06:00

Ways to save some money (mostly grocery related)

-www.coupons.com and www.smartsource.com and www.TARGET.com (yes - way down on the bottom where it says "grocery coupons" in the text) are printable coupon websites that you don't have to pay for (besides the ink and paper). Do not photocopy these coupons as that would be fraud, but usually the system lets you print two. You can pair the Target coupons with the manufacturer coupons you get from the first two websites or the inserts in the Sunday paper.

-look in your grocery ad (usually available online at the grocery store website OR delivered in that free weekly "shopper" paper that everyone ignores) and find the best deals (and look on those products' websites for more printable coupons!)

-where I live, the Star Tribune is the best newspaper as far as coupon inserts go, (so check to make sure it has the coupons in it before buying it) and pick one-or two- up!

-a great resource was mentioned tonight: Fare for All. I don't know how extensive this program is but you pay ahead and get to bring home a box of food on pick-up day that is worth MUCH more than you paid. Look into farmers markets and, if needed, a food shelf to make your grocery budget ends meet. Not sure how to cook it? try www.allrecipes.com - you can punch in the ingredient and it will pull up different recipes that use that ingredient.

-with holiday cooking coming up, this might be useful. Cash Wise Foods has a bulk section in the back of their Natural Foods department... so if you never buy rolled oats but need one cup for a recipe or need 1 teaspoon of cloves, this is the place to go! The costs per ounce/pound may cost more than the pre-packaged, but you are only buying what you will use, so therefore, saving money. A lot of it is fresher and organic, to boot! (most herbs/spices in bulk will cost well under .25 for a teaspoon-tablespoon.

-great coupon websites are: www.hotcouponworld.com and www.afullcup.com. I'll admit, they are quite intimidating at first as to where to start, I'll tell you that, but once you have figured out your way around, you can find a coupon database that tells you if there are coupons out there for certain products (and how to get them), store ads with the coupon matchups are posted, and there are forums for printable coupons and freebies you can request from the manufacturer (which usually come with more coupons!)

-Shopping online? I posted my method on the sidebar because I wanted people to reference it easily, and I'm always tweaking my method - so take a look! There is a lot of money to be saved when shopping online!

Our Thankfulness Tree

2011-12-04T16:20:00.004-06:00

This year we made a Thankfulness Tree in the month of November. We gathered up some sticks from our backyard and arranged them in an old Mason jar. I cut out the leaves on my Silhouette. I printed this thankfulness art from this website for in the jar. I kept it simple. I left the blank leaves a the base of the "tree" contained in an upside-down lid and kept a fine-point Sharpie right next to it. We had a tradition of doing our Thankfulness tree during mealtime (hence lots of meal-related items from some people). I got a kick out of what each person chose. The theme you find in each persons' list shows a lot about their personality and age. I tried not to discourage any suggestions, just merely intentionally duplicating our previous answers. But we all had duplicates. This was so much fun! We may not wait till next November to do our next Thankfulness Tree.

I'll let the answers do the rest of the speaking...

Our 6-year-old daughter:

Art

Beds

Books

Chapstick

Clothes

Cups

Dirty dishes (because otherwise the table would get very dirty at mealtime)

Exercise

Food (twice!)

For a sister

Grandmas

Lights (twice!)

Napkins

Our house

Phones

Piano

Raising hands

Reading

Sending my OCC box (Operation Christmas Child)

That I had a good birthday (twice!)

That Jesus died on the cross

That we have the freedom to do OCC

Toys

Wasn’t sick on first day of school

Water

Windows

Our 9-year-old daughter:

A dog

A piano teacher

Army and Navy

Astronauts

Aunts and uncles

Cars

Doctors

Energy

Family

Food

For having my ears pierced

Friends

Games

Gasoline

Go Fish Guys

Jesus, for coming

Milk

Money

Our garden

Parents

Plastic

Radios

Restaurants

School

Science

Tape

Teachers

The Bible

Wood

My husband:

Artwork

Bed with mattresses

Bible Study group

Cars, for traveling

Church family (twice!)

Garage cleaning

Happy family

Having a job

Health

Internet

Jesus, my Lord and Savior

[our 6 and 9 year old daughters]

Lights

Means and gifts to help others

Medicine

Mommy

Progress on basement

Season changes

Skills God has given us

Sparky

Technology

Warm home

Warm home on cold winter nights

Weekends with family (twice!)

Working from home

Myself:

A gracious God

Family Traditions J

Food

For [our 6-year old]

For Daddy

For [our 9-year-old]

God provided enough for us to give to others

Health

Music

My creativity

Operation Christmas Child

Our garden

Our good friends

Reliable vehicles

Safety

Supportive friends

Technology

That Auntie Robin’s sister had a healthy baby

That Daddy works so hard for our family

That I could be a SAHM

That I found Boggle at the thrift store

That my kids are happy and healthy

That the Gyro meat was on sale!

That this generation of young people know what a true hero is

The Bible

The snow

Torn-up French toast

One last Thankfulness item from me - that my daughter read the leaves to me so I could make this list faster!

A new stage

2011-11-10T12:31:00.003-06:00

Our Thankfulness Tree... a new tradition for us.

Oh boy. Its a new stage of life for me. It always seems like I go through YEARS of longing for the "way things were". I'm trying not do do that now that both kids are in school full time. I mean, of COURSE I miss them and totally KNEW this was coming. Don't get me wrong, but with that part aside, I'm trying to figure out my priorities. I've put myself on the back burner for so long regarding devotions, health, looks, creativity, and accepted lower standards for housework for too long, that it all seems urgent...not to mention doing a better job caring for my family and making meals when they come home (because I'm supposed to have more time, you know...)

I want to ride the exercise bike for an hour a day... but it takes SO much out of me, I don't have much energy to do anything else. OR I'll tell myself the house is too dirty to do my workout and my workout will have to be cleaning house instead.

I really miss being creative. I know that is my calling in life. I told myself that I'd give myself every afternoon a chance to be creative - it would work great to get working on an idea for a scrapbook page and then greet the kids when they get off the bus and while they relax a bit downstairs with me while they watch TV, I'll finish my project and get going on dinner.   And Fridays would be my all-day crafting day (at least for the time being) because I've had crafter's block and part of it is because it is overwhelming with how far behind my goals I am, and I need more time to catch up and be more readily inspired.

Housework. Ugh. All I think about when I'm cleaning is "dog hair on this surface or that ...or ew! one just flew up my nose!" It's disgusting. Never trust a breeder when they tell you "short hair dogs don't shed very bad". It is especially bad in the fall/spring, when the forced air isn't blowing on the A/C or furnace, catching the fine hair in the filter.   My husband is supposed to brush him regularly and wash him ever 1-2 weeks, but I hate nagging him to do it. (that was one condition of keeping the dog).   Never mind the animal lovers that will make me feel guilty if we ever find a new home for Sparky. Like we didn't do enough research...   that's a different post, though.

And then there is my church ministry. I plan music for 1/3rd of the services. Sounds like it would be easy, but it isn't and it is time-consuming. I always have something from it hanging over my head, whether it is the latest powerpoint to do, pulling music and stuffing folders or scheduling practice or being at practices. Church services many times are spent being concerned about sound or handing out folders, catching musicians to ask questions, etc. It really is like having a part-time job that I don't get paid for. I do enjoy doing it, but there is so much flux in the variables with it that make it exhausting.   But someone's gotta do it.   The other two planners have their own jobs on top of this responsibility. I just need to get more organized.

...and then there is the hope to make my home a peaceful, supportive refuge for my family. A place of grace and hospitality. To encourage spiritual growth in my family and maintain family traditions. But it feels like every implement of getting more organized is like one step forward, two steps back.

It is just a lot to think about and is overwhelming to decide what is the most important thing to do each day. I may need to make one of those "laundry on Monday, Bills on Tuesday..." lists.

I'm sorry this is a depressing read. I realize I'm struggling a bit. I like to be spur-of-the-moment but I feel like all my worldly responsibilities are holding me down. I'm not sure what God wants for me.

How to Peel A Tomato

2011-08-27T18:17:00.002-05:00

Did you think I was kidding?!

photo credit: sunset.com

Maybe some other's will get something out of this...humor, maybe :) But I'm posting this mostly to remind myself of this process so I don't have to re-learn it AGAIN next year!

So. Start with a billion pounds of tomatoes.

Start a pot of boiling water on your stove.

Cover your counters with some towels.

Lay a tarp on the floor....

Fill an ice cream bucket half full with ice water.

Get out a cutting board, slotted spoon and a couple of knives (paring and longer blade one)

Put out a bowl for scraps or clear your sink if it has a disposal in it.

Have another pot out to fill with finished tomatoes.

Ok. I should add that I am very messy in the kitchen.

I blame McDonalds.

It was my first job and the place I learned to cook, wash and prepare food quickly.

Have you ever looked in the back at McDonalds?

Washing dishes there was a chore - but they had a stainless steel sink with lots of room, and a dangling hose-sprayer...and a floor drain.

I need one of those in my kitchen!

And forget those pretty wooden cabinets. I need those metal Ikea cabinets that have an indestructible finish on them that don't mind a few missed water dribbles.

Do you think there is a floor drain back there?

Ok, now that no one is left reading, start peeling tomatoes!

Wash in cold water, removing stems

Par off any cracks or bruises. Blossom end rot is ok to use, just cut it off. You shouldn't can blemished tomatoes, though.

I'm scared of canning. I hate to say it. I just am afraid I'm going to end up killing someone!

I've thought of getting a pressure-canner, but I'm scared of pressure-cookers too, so that would be sorta a nightmare, I think :)

I'll stick with making messes in my kitchen, and freezing stuff and praying my freezer dosen't go out.

So now that all the tomatoes are ready for peeling, let the show begin!
(if there isn't much paring to do on the tomatoes, you may be able to pierce the tomatoes while others are boiling.)

Start by making a little "X" on the top and bottoms of the tomatoes. Make sure they are about 1/2 inch big, and bigger than the tough stem part. I put some slashes on the top of my tomatoes that I cut the tops off, because it gives the skin a place to break.

Drop 3 or 4 tomatoes in the boiling water at a time.

Watch with your slotted spoon at the ready for the first skin to start to wrinkle or peel. It should take just a few seconds. Firmer tomatoes take longer, but none should take longer than 20 seconds. If they are too slimy when peeling, make sure the water is at a nice, hard boil and that the ice water is super cold, to stop the cooking right away.

As soon as you see the skin peeling, scoop it out and put it in the ice water bucket. Repeat till all the tomatoes are out of the boiling pot.

Perfect!

Too long and will be a bit slimy.

I prefer to just keep doing this process until my bucket of ice water is full. If you have a helper, they could do this next part.

Now, take a tomato out of the ice water, and start peeling away! Usually, there is a long, vertical crack in the skin and it works perfectly to simply unwrap the tomato. Sometimes, you can even give the tomato a gentle squeeze and it'll slide right out of the skin.

Then I take my longer blade knife and slice the tomato into chunks or sections and put them in the other pot, ready for stewing or food-processing or whatever!

Keep doing process, adding water to the boiling pot and ice to the ice water bucket as needed, pouring off water (NOT on floor!! But if you are prone to spills like I am, have your hubby grab the mop and a bath towel - *cough*).

These tomatoes eventually turned into Marinara sauce. I first stewed them, with some salt, pepper and a bit of a sweet pepper diced up in it, for a few hours (but you should stop at 30 minutes if you are freezing them that way). Then I followed this recipe for Marinara sauce. Yum!

OctoDogs

2011-08-27T15:11:00.002-05:00

A quick post to share what I did with leftovers the other day...

I originally got the idea to slice a hotdog this way from Family Fun magazine - I didn't think of it on my own!

You could totally use Ramen noodle soup instead of broth.

In chicken broth, I boiled one cup of mixed veggies, 1/4 cup of small shell noodles and then sliced three hotdogs BEFORE cooking in the broth.

When everything was done cooking, I took a slotted spoon and scooped the noodles and veggies onto a plate. I tore up some string cheese and laid that on as well. If my kids liked Parmesian cheese, I would have used that instead (for sand)...but they don't. Then, I stuck the (tricky!)peppercorn eyes on the little hotdog guys but went sans ketchup smile, because, well, they were hot! They'd look pretty un-appetizing with dribbley ketchup smiles running down their faces. Then I added Basil flowers for seaweed, since I had just brought in some basil from the garden.

Whaddy'a think?

Kids didn't like them. Flop.

Maybe I'll try again with different flavors, even mac and cheese leftovers. Oh well - at least I blogged about it :)

Coming soon - How To Peel a Tomato! - I bet you are on the edge of your seats!

Bloom Where You Are Planted - my garden pictures!

2011-06-21T13:00:00.055-05:00

I love my vegetable garden. I am so inspired by others' garden pictures that I wanted to share my own.

Our rustic path up the hill, guarded by our "gate"-
with a path wide enough for our wheelbarrow.

I didn't garden last year. And in this neighborhood, we fight thistles like crazy. I am always pulling them out of my garden, but they have very complex interconnected root systems (think: horseradish) so unless you are willing on pulling all-out biochemical warfare on multiple fronts for long-term periods of time, you have to deal with them. That doesn't mesh well with my organic farming practices :) Since we didn't garden last year, I allowed my husband to wage such an attack, but he lost, due to time constraints and his carpal tunnel getting so bad he had surgery and recovery over the summer. ...so the thistles are worse than ever!

And the battle continues...

gate made with leftover fencing and a stake.
I just shove the stake in the ground to hold it open or closed :)

Here is what I get to open when it is time to garden. I love my primitive "gate". It is the epitome of simplicity. I love how my garden fills me with contentment. Sure, I could have wood-framed fencing around my garden with mulch around my organically-fertilized plants in my perfectly and meticulously weeded garden beds, and it stands as a gem in the corner of my perfectly manicured fescue.

But that's not happening here.

This is organized chaos!

see the little pumpkin plant starting in the center?

Like my top "bed" which is outside the parameter of the fencing. I plant my vining plants up here. Mainly pumpkins. They have to grow with the weeds up here in the native clay soil instead of the black dirt in the beds. (like the volunteer tree in the fencing we have to move?)

I love marking my garden with primitive sticks that probably only make sense to me. It's easier that going back to the garage when I realize I need some more stakes. I just grab anything that has fallen nearby, or is unused in my garden already, like this old splintered and cracked bamboo pole that held up my beans two years ago. Now it is split in four, marking where I planted my rows of corn.

Along the front of this bed is my row of peas, ready to start climbing up on my hog panels I bought at the local farm store this year. I'm so excited to see how they work - especially on my tomatoes! This corner of my garden was filled with crab grass and we didn't quite get all of it when we tilled it. But pulling it out will have to wait so I don't kill the delicate pea plants.

cabbage and baby seedlings off to the upper right of the plants.
Peas in the foreground.

Way in back, I have my rhubarb, which is doing ten times better than it ever had been (thanks to harvesting wisdom I've been heeding) and in front of it I had some room leftover, so I planted some old cabbage seeds in the ground. A few weeks later, I still didn't see any plants coming up so when I saw cabbage plants for half off at the greenhouse, I bought them. Sure enough, right after I planted them, teeny cabbage plants started growing from the seed! I guess I'll have LOTS of cabbage this year! I teased my husband that I'll be having to make sauerkraut!!

This spring, I shoveled-and-turned 2 of the beds which took almost 5 hours to do because I attempted to sift the thistle roots out of it. This was one of the beds. I just weeded the thistles out again yesterday. But at least my plants got a good jump-start ahead of the thistles. I still had to be very careful not to pull up my plants and hopefully I didn't kill too many! I have lots of stuff in this bed! I'm bummed that my celery plants died, though - they are one of my FAVORITE plants to have in the garden because of how rarely I use fresh celery, and this (for the cost of one bunch at the grocery store) keeps all summer long!

more tomatoes, basil, cilantro,
(dead) kohlrabi, (dead) celery :( , peppers and eggplant

And that is a whole twelve foot row of tomatoes planted along the front, there. I hope they don't overgrow the hog panels. For those who want to know the difference, hog panels are about 36- 40 inches high, with closer spaced wire at the bottom. Cattle panels are more like 50-54 inches high and have the same six inch grid spacing. Both types of panels cost around $20 each for a 16 foot panel. And of course, for the indecisive, you can get combination panels that combine the spacing of the hog panel and the height of the cattle panel and cost about $30 each. (and please forgive my measurements - Its been awhile since I bought them and don't recall the exact measurements)

Lots here - lavender, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, Brussels sprouts

The next bed has another row of Roma tomatoes planted along the front, along with lots more greenhouse plants.

Strawberries, chives and Red and Yukon potatoes in back

My second-from bottom bed has my strawberries in it. I have let them take over one half of the bed, all though, we had to till up strawberry plants that had creeped to the other side of the chives and into the bottom bed as well. I usually have these covered with an old, very thin, loose weaved blanket to keep out the birds, but I left it off so the strawberries could re-pollinate again. I'm not sure the bees and bugs could really get though that blanket freely. Making a better cover for the strawberries out of chicken wire might need to be my project for next year. On the other half of the bed I have some space for a pea-house, though I haven't planted the pole peas with the girls yet and them potatoes (reds and youkons) behind it.

Hopefully will grow 4-6 rows of carrots with seed-taping.

Last but least, I have my carrots. I had prepped the seeds by seed-taping them last spring but then decided against planting after that, so these guys have been in my garage since. In all honesty, I've had a little trouble with the seed-taped plants in the past. But its about the only way I'll plant something such as tiny carrot seeds. I put them in the bottom bed to help the soil stay moist so they will hopefully germinate and grow out of that TP and flour-glue that they are stuck to.

You can plant a seed. You can water it... But only God can make it grow.

In addition to my garden, we planted a new apple tree (Honeycrisp) because the old one got eaten by deer and rabbits.

We have our blueberry bushes covered with oh-so-stylish plastic crates to protect them from the rabbits by the house. I'll have to brainstorm a better barrier for them for next year. They were pretty-much chewed down to the ground this spring, so for now they fit under the crates.

We moved (and subsequently killed) our very healthy grape vine to the other side of our A/C unit to plant under a trellis on our pergola - so we have 2 new grape vines growing this year.

And we have our patio project we have been working on this spring...

We just planted a flowering crab tree last weekend! This will shield the western sun (eventually) from the patio. Lots of work to do here - staining the deck steps and waterproofing/staining the trellis, building the planter by the house, adding the locking sand to the patio and patching the grass with seed.

home-made Topsy-turvey planters out of Hawaiian Punch 1+ gallon bottles.

And I gave my homemade topsy-turvey tomato planters another try this year. They are wanting to grow UP, though. Hopefully the weight of the tomatoes won't snap them. Maybe I should gently weigh them down a bit? Other than that, they are doing really well - better than they did last year. I'll have to post on how to make these if they do ok.

...I think I'm going to have to find some of these a new home!

Oh, and last but not least, I did the same thing with the new Asparagus as I did with the cabbage! I've never grown asparagus before, but I couldn't pass up giving it a try in my old garlic pot (half sand, half soil). I bought some asparagus roots on clearance, taking a chance on them since they looked so dead and dried out. A week after planting them, DD5 decided to play in what she thought was an empty planter and dug up half of them!! So when I saw actual asparagus plants on clearance, I bought those and planted them with the roots. This week, I have both!! The whispies are the planted asparagus, and there are tiny asparagus spears coming up from the dried roots! (the pot is currently weighing down the tarp covering our extra sand from the patio project)

Hubs and DD8 shoveling dirt a few years back - 2008?

I love gardening because there is always more you can do, but it is so rewarding to get a crop with very little effort. Don't get me wrong - I'm not talking about building the garden - that obviously took a LOT of work (thanks Hubs!) and hauling wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of dirt up the hill to the beds - but you can start with the topsy-turvy planters. You can start with herbs in a pot. I think it reminds me of how little I actually AM in control of things. I can't help it if it hails. I can't help it if it gets too windy, and sometimes it is just too dry or I'm too busy to water and plants die. I think we have lost our touch with the earth and agriculture that our ancestors had. It puts us in perspective...and it will go on and on - people have been farming for thousands of years and they will continue to. It just gives me peace that everything is going to be O.K., one way or another. I can't explain it.

What really makes it worth it for me is to have an abundance for out of season - to know where it came from and to share it with others. There is always another project around the corner, or an idea that might make something work better, or a new veggie to try. Sounds crazy, but I find contentment in that. I know (especially from last year) what it is like to not have the garden. And I appreciate everything it gives me and my family. I find it a peaceful and rewarding process.

That's it for now! I hope this inspires you, too!

Garden 2011 - Bloom Where You Are Planted

2011-06-21T12:05:00.003-05:00

It has been a long, LONG time since I blogged. Last year seemed like rock bottom in many ways - I was trying to figure out what stays and what goes in terms of hobbies, must-dos and don't-wanna-do,-but-really-should-do-because-someone-is-counting-on-me dos. So I didn't blog, didn't coupon, didn't even really garden. I have some ongoing personal-life concerns that deserve and take much of my attention when that person needs it, and that is more important than most of my other responsibilities. At the end of the summer, I took on a new role at church, planning a third of the music for the year for our services. It was quite time consuming at first, but now it seems to have found it's rhythm. I have just focused on my family and their needs and my new responsibilities at church. I really missed those outlets I cut out but there simply wasn't time for them and I'm glad I cut them out for a season. It reminds me of how God instructs the Israelites to take a break every seventh year - to not plant fields, to celebrate and to reconnect. Last summer was our 4th in our home, sixth in this town relocated to, so I guess we wern't far off!!

Speaking of seasons, this summer is my final season of being an at-home mom with a kid home with me all day, most days. My youngest starts all-day, every-day Kindergarten this fall. People have asked me if I'm going back to work or what and I have been saying "No, I'm just going to try to do what I do, better."

Better to me, means:
--devotional time
--planning more meals
--being more timely in fulfilling favors to people and other responsibilities.
--scrapbooking moments, not memories (i.e. something special the kid did rather than a Christmas page, Birthday Page, etc.) and other creative endeavors
--keeping the house cleaner
--being more on-top of the kids' responsibilities (cleaning rooms, chores, discipline and trying to start devotional time with them as well)

I am not gifted with kids. Sounds crazy since I'm a mother. That's why I don't have 19 kids. I enjoy mine, but I know, KNOW, I will benefit from some quiet, uninterrupted time each day to take care of some of those outside stresses and to-dos, so I can be more present, relaxed and purposeful with my kids when they are home. That's why I've been focusing on building in some "me" time rather than jumping into the workforce. Whether I do or not, or return to college to finish my degree is up to God - and so far He is not leading me down that path.

I guess this was longer than I thought it'd be - I'll post my garden pictures on the next post!!

Perfectionism

2010-03-19T09:51:00.002-05:00

I know, growing up, I had perfectionistic ideals. But I never really considered myself a perfectionist because I knew I was far from perfect or the desire to be perfect. But I think God has been showing me otherwise lately.

I am the type of person who needs to explore every option before I settle on a choice. Like when I chose a font for a particular scrapbook page - I have to go through all 1000+ fonts on my computer, sometimes applying the best contenders to my paragraph that has been copied/pasted several times so I can see my options side by side. Even when I'm 90% sure I've found the one that I know will do the job. I've always just figured that's how I'm happy operating.

But lately, I have this desire to make my scrapbooking count. Of course, any type of scrapbooking counts. I'm quick to point out that for the person that feels that THEY think that their work isn't worth it because THEY think they aren't as talented that they always include very heartfelt journaling (even if it is just in Times New Roman).

But I am keenly aware that this trend of paper scrapbooking can get out of hand. I, personally, use their scrapbooks more as photo albums - all of their pictures will be kept in the books, whether they are "scrapbooked" or just stuck efficiently on a white page. I try not to do single picture layouts because it is a waste of space - most of my layouts have as many pictures as if I had just left them as 4x6's and taped them down on a grid, like in a photo album. When I'm dead and gone, my (hopefully appreciative) kids will have several books each. (plus the family one that they will have to split or copy) But what if they marry someone who's mother has done the same thing? Now they have half a bookshelf of heavy scrapbooks. And yes, my grandkids may like looking at them, but what happens when THEY inherit them? Who has the room to store so much, 2 or 3 generations down the road? I don't want the books to be a burden. I know I need to not dwell on it. I need to just scrapbook because I enjoy it and want it to speak to my children when I can't. I just know that our current culture has so much storage (both real and digital) at our disposal that we just don't know how to par down to what counts. I'm trying. Like deleting the 800 pictures taken in 2009 that were duds, repeats, etc. before I archived my 2009 pictures (which still numbered over 1000). And it seems like I'm always paring and purging - which feels good to do, but it takes a lot of time and gets to the point that it is overwhelming before it gets done.

I haven't been couponing much, either. So I haven't been grocery shopping much. I hate paying full price for things when I know if I'd just do my homework watching the sales and clipping the coupons I could cut my grocery bill in half. Yes, half. I can be a very savvy shopper. And since I'm a at-home mom, I feel like it's almost my job to. Especially since we are working hard at paying off our debt. Last Sunday, with over half of the month left and only $150 left in grocery money, the weather was so beautiful that we decided we wanted to grill at suppertime. We were driving home from church at 11:30 with 2 hungry kids in the back of the car when my husband mentioned that we were out of charcoal. Rather than turn around and go back to the discount department stores that would have charcoal cheaper we opted to go to the more expensive store on our way home and cut our losses, since we were on a time crunch. My husband came out with a bag of charcoal that was $12. !!!

TWELVE DOLLARS! I was prepared for $8.

On sale, with coupons, right around Memorial Day or the Fourth of July, I could get that same bag for $5.

I sent him back to town later that day and he bought twice as much charcoal for $15 at the discount store. The other bag is in the back of my car with the receipt waiting to be returned.

See?

*sigh*

But I felt like we don't have much of a choice if we want to make a good effort stick to our budget.

Which leads me to this quote:

A man would do nothing, if he waited until he could do it so well that no one would find fault with what he has done.--John Henry Cardinal Newman

I do nothing.

That's bad.

Not that I'm worried about what OTHERS think - it's holding up to my own standard. And that's where I get the perfectionist thing from. But I feel like there is no other way.

But I don't think I have high standards...

I'm not a polished person. I don't wear makeup, my clothes are washed out, my house has migrating piles of clutter that I can't seem to get rid of any easier than the dustbunnies under my refrigerator. And anyone who's been to my house knows I'm not a fan of housework. I know I can be practical, like publshing this paragraph without polishing the flow and grammar. I will try to remember to spell-check, though.

But something is debilitating. And it's called Perfectionism. And it robbs people of joy and peace. It adds to feelings of depression and self-worth. And it's gotta go.

Still no Pop and Treasure Trove of Local Saving Websites (local to MN)

2010-01-20T09:43:00.007-06:00

These are some local websites I subscrbe to or check often for local deals. I really don't know what to call them but "Savings Vouchers" but as far as I know, I have three radio stations that do their own version of them. Since doing my post way back at the start of my blog, I have since learned that Hutchinson MN's KARP radio station also does these vouchers (though as of right now there is no way to "subscribe" to the website, grr). I hope to add these to my sidebar at some point ---->

Savings Voucher websites:

St. Cloud, MN's Spirit 92.9 radios' Shop N' Save

St. Cloud, MN's WJON radios' Value Connection

Hutchinson, MN's KARP radios' Wheeler Dealer

(in order of user-friendlyness)

Other Local Coupons:

(which seems good to me because you can see what my local flyer drawer looks like below!)

Crow River Sudden Values

My Gr8 Deal.com

National Websites with Local Deals:

Zip2Save.com (this site is new to me - but you can browse local flyers by zip code and get restaurant coupons, etc)

(my restaurant flyer/phonebook/household phonenumber book/church directory/community ed directory/school information drawer) -- I could do without all those pesky restaurant flyers with the microscopic expiration dates - I'm sure I have some from last JUNE in there...)

If you aren't local to central MN, maybe these websites can give you ideas as to where to look and what to look for in your area. Feel free to send me links!

Oh, and I've now gone FOUR months now without pop! (Yes, I know I said "pop" and not "soda", you'll have to deal with it :) ) It took 2-3 weeks of headaches (I quit cold turkey) and a while of craving it every day, then only when I saw it, and now pretty rarely. I miss it to sip on when watching movies or scrapbooking. I encourage anyone to try quitting-even for 2 weeks or a month, to help you figure out WHY you drink it. I realized I'd drink it for any of these reasons: tired, headache, thirsty, I "deserve" it, too hot, bad taste in my mouth --even to help open up my bronchials when really my athsma was bothering me and I should take my albuterol!! Obviously, it has helped me get to the root of my habit on WHY I drink it and more pro-active ways to deal with the root of the craving.

I have taken to instant English Toffee cappiccino mix or chai tea, but were getting there. (I have NEVER been a coffee drinker - in fact when I was still drinking pop, these cappiccino mixes would be too coffee-y for me). I guess since I'm almost 30 now, it was a good time to get old and drink "coffee", lol. The holidays were hard since that was about all that was served at people's houses besides black coffee and water (and you hated to interfere with the cooks to find a glass and fill it with water and be in their way) but I did it.... by drinking some water and eventually a wine cooler, lol. Maybe now that it is the new year, I'll allow myself a glass/can of pop during these times - especially when it feels the only alternative is alcohol. It seems silly to stick to the pop rule only to drink alcohol (not that I have a problem with an occasional adult drink--when I actually WANT one!). I keep telling myself that the only opinion on this no-pop subject that matters is my own personal convictions -- unless I start drinking 32+ oz. a day of regular pop again, that is.

Steamed Winter Veggies (and an update!)

2010-01-04T09:30:00.019-06:00

(Recipe is below)

Wow - it's been a while since I've posted! Since I've posted last, I've been cooking from scratch more - I made a quadruple batch of sweet potato pancakes for the kids to toast for breakfast during the busy Thanksgiving - Christmas stretch (we'll address the gallon of syrup used another time!). Can you tell I've been perfecting my batch cooking technique?

I've also been perfecting my home made bread recipe and adapting it to a loaf pan instead of using the bread maker.

We had a crazy Christmas getting snowed in at our in-laws (we left home a day early to avoid the weather and came home to THIS!)

See? That's about a foot and a half of snow. At least. Even the snowplow driver got in the Christmas spirit and left us a 3 foot tall present! I bet he enjoyed delivering those gifts Christmas morn! All I can say is thank you Lord that the 20+ year old snow blower worked! (it didn't last snowstorm)

I spent the last 2 days archiving my 2009 photos (I always seem to get duplicates when I'm downloading batches) and went through and deleted over 400 of the 1300 pictures I took (wow!) - that includes some duds, too. But I came across some pictures of recipes I intended to blog about months ago but never did - like this one!

My blog friend, Erin, started her $800 Annual Budget again for groceries/eating out this year. And she stocked up on some winter veggies to get her started for this year. So I thought it would be a good time to share it (finally!)

Steamed Winter Vegetables (I can't think of anything more creative for a name, sorry! ...I usually refer to these as my "steamer mixed veggies" or "steamed veggies"...real specific, I know!

Ingredients:

Potato, unpeeled
1/2 onion (baseball sized)
handful of baby carrots (these were frozen but can be fresh)
1-2 TB water (depending on how wet the veggies are)

Season with your choice of rosemary, 1 TB butter, seasoned salt or regular salt.

Sometimes, if I'm eating this as a meal, I'll double the ingredients - they cook down quite a bit.

I got a Pampered Chef 1 qt. steamer (gulp!) 10 years ago as a wedding shower gift that sat practically unused until I started making this a few years ago - and now I bought the 2 qt. steamer to go with it! If you don't have one, you could probably just use a covered casserole dish - just check the liquids 4-5 minutes into cooking it.

I just chop these veggies into bite sized pieces and toss with some rosemary (fresh from my garden in this picture!) or dried. Pearl onions are really good in this as well - frozen ones are your best friend! (no peeling tiny onions!)... If you don't have the rosemary you could also use Italian seasoning. Or you could omit the herbs and just use some seasoned salt. Then throw in a pat of butter and a pinch of salt and some water. I then snap on the lid and give it a shake (while holding it over the sink to catch any drips) to combine. I then microwave on 70% power for about 5-7 minutes.

There - now can you really call that a recipe? This is one you write down just so you don't forget about it. I've made this as a meal for myself many times. I may today to update the title picture. It's yummy! Enjoy!

ETA: Had some today with the pearl onions - and got a better picture of the finished dish!

disclaimer: I have no idea why Blogger makes it such a pain to format posts. Sorry, but I'm calling it good!

Super Yummy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (that are healthy, too!)

2009-09-25T14:12:00.006-05:00

Ok, I've been going on and on about this recipe I found online for a healthy oatmeal raisin cookie... so here it is!
It is so chewy and yummy, you'd never guess its low-fat. I made a few variations to the original recipe, so I'm sure that changed the nutrition facts, but the original recipe (that calls for no cinnamon or cloves and uses regular flour, unsalted butter and light brown sugar) says it has a serving size of 2 cookies (rounded teaspoonfuls size) with 2g protein, 94 calories, 1g fiber, 2 g total fat and 10g sugar (hey, its a cookie - and some of that comes from the raisins)

When I think of the breakfast cereal that we would consume in this house, back when I bought it, even that is not as nutritious as these (which is why I've let my kids have a couple for breakfast once and a while, and even occasionally refer to them as breakfast cookies)

Applesauce Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
originally from www.foodfit.com, but I've made some changes:

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt (used salted)
2 Tablespoons butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar(used dark)
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cups quick cooking rolled oats
1/2 cup raisins
just under 1 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of ground cloves
(cooking spray)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375°. Spray 2 cookie sheets with non-stick spray. (even with this I needed a sharp spatula to get these off)

2. In electric mixer bowl, cream the butter and sugars together for about a minute, until smooth.

3. In separate bowl (while mixer is creaming) combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

4. In mixer, when butter/sugar is done creaming, add in applesauce, egg and vanilla and mix until blended, about 2 minutes. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and the cinnamon and ground cloves and mix well. Add the oats and raisins, mixing by hand, if needed.

5. Drop rounded teaspoonfuls (I used a disher that makes a ball about the size of one of those large gumball machine gumballs, or about 1 Tablespoon). Space about 2 inches apart.
6. Bake until slightly golden, about 11 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes on cookie sheet and then remove to baking racks.
--I'm trying out freezing the dough balls and will let you know how they do--

--oh my gosh, if you wanted to totally make these bad for you they would be so good sandwiching a glob of cream cheese frosting!--

--if you only have regular cooking oats, you might want to let the dough sit in the fridge for a few hours and then try it. The first time I made these all I had was the regular rolled oats and the oats didn't absorb really any moisture so the texture was a bit off, but the flavor was the same. --

These are so very soft and chewy - and they stay that way for a few days in a ziploc bag. You can't even taste the applesauce in them. I made home made applesauce a week or so ago and used that - so yummy! I actually made a double batch of these today.

No-cost fun!

2009-09-08T18:48:00.007-05:00

My little DD3 was feeling left out today when her big sister got home from school today. DD3 doesn't start preschool until next week and told me she wants to go to her big sister's school (which also offers preschool) instead. So to help her think of all the fun she will have at her preschool, I copied a low/no cost game they had there...

I call them "I Spy Things" (real creative, I know!)

What you need:

Clear water bottle/soda bottle (I have 2 milk bottles from Burger King)
dry, non-perishable food, like rice (others that MAY work might be plain popcorn, or craft sand or maybe beads - I think dried beans might get corroded by sharp objects in the bottle)
Lots of knick-knacks that won't melt, rot or deteriorate

I kept my girls' bottles virtually identical because I didn't want them claiming one. I know that wouldn't stop the older one ("My alphabet bead has a "B" on it - not an "H"!! This is YOUR bottle!" so I had to make it clear that they aren't to be claimed. *sigh* kids.

Anyway, with two bottles, they can play I Spy with them. If you just had one made, you could write down or take pictures of each item and list them or cut them into cards. It depends how you want to use them. Mine will be (tightly sealed) in the car.

The preschool ones had Monopoly pieces and tiny animal figurines, quarters, etc. I'm too cheap for that - I used pennies :) Once I got going on our bottles, I was getting really inspired.

Types of I Spy bottles:

You could go with a theme (like office supplies for a fun stress-reliever for a co-worker) or legos and Knex for a little builder.
You also could spend a day or two looking for treasures on a walk around downtown or on a trip to make a fun keepsake or something.
Another idea, for a harder game for tweens and teens would be to put one of each letter of alphabet beads in the bottle and they could hunt out the letters to spell a word.

The more rice and the smaller the pieces (or similar color to the rice), the harder it is to find "new" pieces in the bottles.

Ours had about 20 items in that little 1 cup bottle such as:

Buttons (one each of 2 colors)
paper clip
a stick pin
popcorn kernel
small lego
piece of ribbon
sparkly bead
alphabet bead
craft eyes
penny
matchbox car wheels
small silk ribbon flowers
some scrapbooking charms

Some other ideas: Marbles, stray game pieces or toy parts (like that Polly Pocket's leg that has been floating around the house? lol), pop-tabs, pen cap, screw/nail, fishing lures, pebbles (pick a few colors!), acorns, etc. ..Don't forget the buttons that come on your clothing tags or a old shirt!

I tried to keep my objects identifiable to the kids to lessen the "need" to ask Mom a question while she is trying to drive.

If you make one of these I would LOVE to see a picture! I almost wish I hadn't made them with the kids because they would have made great stocking stuffers. But now I can make a set for my nieces and nephews for Christmas.

2009-09-08T16:38:00.008-05:00

If you haven't been to Crafts Direct in St. Cloud, MN - you're missing out! They are hosing this scrapbooking/papercrafting weekend this weekend! I'm going to this with my SIL Sarah. I am SO looking forward to it! They said there are still a few spots available! Does anyone want to join us? --click the picture

Stuffed Green Peppers, in the crockpot

2009-08-27T16:11:00.013-05:00

Our garden is producing all kinds of peppers right now - I used the skinny ones to make breakfast burritos for my hubby and made stuffed green peppers for our family.

Our ancestry is German. I plan on telling that to the kids when we eat it for dinner. I'm sure that won't matter - now if I told my oldest that this is what they eat in China (she is obsessed with China) she would probably gobble them up! I disliked these when I was a kid, but was secretly amused that you used the pepper as a "bowl" for the meat. Now each year, I have to get my late-summer fix of these things. No one else around here does, lol.

My mom used to always make them in the oven. I avoid using my oven whenever possible. I have made them in the microwave too... This year I decided to try the crockpot since it seems like this would be the perfect recipe to do in the crock.

This is my mom's recipe, from who-knows-where, but she likes things mild(she never ate the peppers and probably omitted the onion), so I'm sure you could add some oregano or something and it will be even tastier. I gut the peppers, removing all the seeds, but I think they add more spice, so chop up the guts and add them to the meat if you like...I think :) )

Stuffed Green Peppers

6 green bell peppers
1 pound LEAN ground beef
1/2 cup uncooked rice (I use brown minute rice)
2 T. of chopped onions
1 small can of tomato soup (I used tomato sauce - about 5-6 oz - but you could use ketchup or paste too)
1/2 c. water (1/4 c. for in crock)
dash of salt and pepper
cheese for top

Cut tops off of peppers, about 3/4 inch from top, remove insides. Spray sides of baking dish with cooking spray for easier cleanup. Place peppers in crock or baking dish, removing tops and laying them in the same order as in the dish (makes matching easier later). You can ball up foil or use toothpicks to help them stand up better if you need to.

Fill full with beef mixture. If you have a little extra meat, just put in in a ball in the pan next to the peppers... it'll be fine. Replace tops and cook (directions below). When cooking is completed, add some cheese to top of beef and replace tops, serve hot.

Be careful removing pan from oven or microwave - there will be lots of juices! You may want to pierce the lower side of the pepper first to allow juices to run out a few minutes before removing from the pan. And remove carefully because the peppers will be fragile.

"Pressure-cook for 10 minutes" --Huh?! Hmm. I guess Mom pressure-cooked these... what a versatile recipe! I'm sure in the oven you'd just cook at 350 for about 45 min?

Cook on high in crockpot for about 4 hours...

My microwave instructions:

Place peppers in microwave roaster pan (or just a microwave-safe baking dish), using toothpicks to prop up if necessary. Cover with wax paper or use roaster cover, loosely. Cook on "High" for 13-17 minutes, rearranging after 1/2 of cooking time.

The verdict:

Kids resisted them, I'm not sure if they really ate much. I let them pick the "vegetable"... they picked corn. I used 80% lean beef which is usually much higher fat content than I'm used to. I'd use a max of 85% lean next time. The beef always comes out moist, so you could use any lean meat (even venison, I bet). Its like a real most, peppery meatloaf. My garden peppers were not as sweet as store-bought bell peppers, but I'm sure they have much fewer chemicals on them. I didn't use any type of fertilizer or soil augmentation, so I'll do some research and see if I can get sweeter ones next year. I have about 4-6 more bell peppers growing on my plants so I'll probably make another batch for the freezer when those are ready.

A few tweaks I'll take note of... It needed a bit more tomato flavor, so I'd probably use "paste" next time or a larger can of sauce and omit the water. I think this would be tasty with about a 1/2 tsp. of crushed red pepper flakes. Cooking time probably could have been 2-3 hours. I'm not that experienced with the crock to know how long it takes to cook a 2 inch ball of meat stuffed inside a pepper.

Thanks for reading!

my heart is inside out right now...

2009-08-07T15:09:00.007-05:00

I have a heavy heart. A soldier has lost his own personal battle. My nieces and nephews will no longer have their Dad. The timing... oh, the timing. I have so much anger, frustration and sadness right now for them, him, his parents. I really don't know what led up to this, but I'm sure depression did.

I have struggled with depression most of my life. I have even had times I wanted to end it.

I have had a song stuck in my head today, called "Inside Out".

It's a Christian song, and like depression, I find that whatever thoughts we fill our heads with, our heart takes on. If you fill your thoughts with junk, your heart will inevitably have it too. So rather than listening to regular radio, since I am prone to get songs stuck in my head (who don't!) I listen to the Christian radio station. And because I was listening to that, I got this wonderful song stuck in my head, and the lyrics refresh me...

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame
In my heart, in my soul, Lord I give you control
Consume me from the inside out Lord

I really wonder how my life would have turned out if I hadn't become a Christian. I had such angry thoughts. A school shooter? Maybe. Suicide? Possibly. Thankfully, the sister that I always fought with in our younger years shared what she learned about Christ with me on one of her college breaks. And 15 years later, I have that faith inside me that when I feel turned inside out, I can lean on Him. I don't have to walk the road with depression and not as perfect health as I'd like alone. Its not about being religious. Its not about being weak. It's about realizing our world is imperfect, full of illness, sin and selfishness. Its full of sin. And so are we. But we are given Grace. Don't get me wrong, the world is full of a lot of beauty too - I'm reminded of that whenever I look at my kids, witness kindness and grace, or walking in my garden--even the weeds, lol. But to imagine heaven, where there is no pain, no illness, no sadness, nothing remotely sinful. The thoughts we will have will have nothing to do with having an achy body, a broken heart or any other daily struggles to deal with...

Hillsong United lyrics - From The Inside Out

album: United We Stand (2006)

A thousand times I've failed
Still your mercy remains
And should I stumble again
Still I'm caught in your grace

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame
my heart and my soul, Lord I give you control
Consume me from the inside out Lord
Let justice and praise become my embrace
To love You from the inside out

Your will above all else, my purpose remains
The art of losing myself in bringing you praise

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame
In my heart, in my soul, Lord I give you control

Consume me from the inside out Lord
Let justice and praise become my embrace
To love You from the inside out

Chorus 2x
Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame
And the cry of my heart is to bring You praise
From the inside out Lord, my soul cries out

Jon was 26. He was a soldier in the Army. He had three (beautiful) children as well as their older sister, "S". He was home on leave from overseas when ... he decided he didn't want to go back there, I guess. There are a lot of people hurting because of this. If you could, would you please pray for these people? Thank you.

Food for thought...

2009-07-27T08:46:00.009-05:00

I have been cooking from scratch a lot recently. I have a lot of reasons why, and my reasons change every day, it seems!

Why:
--Healthier
--I know what's in it
--I enjoy making it
--Cheaper
--Self-sufficiency -- I'm not reliant on stocking a special product to make something.

If you looked at our dining out budget this time last year, you would see an embarrassingly high amount in the dining out category. And not that I budgeted for it - we would just blow it by colossal proportions every month. I know its partially our phase of life - young kids (recently cheap to feed, lol) and lots of big house projects. But then there were the legitamate dining out expenses: a special (rare) date, event or a birthday in addition to the just plain exhaustion and not knowing what to cook drive thru experience. I hated how much was spent on drive thru food. The kids didn't appreciate it at all - they liked the instant gratification of fast food and fought with us about why they couldn't eat it *every* day. By meal planning and cooking double of what we eat (and controlling everyone's portions of the food groups) it has helped our budget, waistlines and mostly our attitude about food. The kids no longer look at the kitchen as a vending machine for food, expecting it NOW. They now see what is involved in cooking it. They see the whole food before it is processed into what they are familiar with and have been willing to give more foods a try. I have to admit - dining out is still a luxury we enjoy but now we tend to have better behaved kids in the restaurant (because its more special) and its money spent more deliberately at times we try to plan on instead of defaulting to a drive thru. (sorry readers, its a rough paragraph, but parenting calls :) )

I've found a few helpful websites that I've been following to get frugal and creative recipes that I've been referring a lot of people to lately. I'd like to give them proper credit and list them here:

Hillbilly Housewife - did you know you can make your own tortillas and bisquick?!
Mommy's Kitchen - lots of yummy stuff here
All Recipes.com - I love how I can adjust the serving size to fit what I have on hand.

There are several more, and I'm a follower of them - you can see many cooking blogs listed in my profile if you want. If you have any website suggestions for me, feel free to leave a comment! Thanks.

50% off Shop N' Save Discount Certificates!

2009-07-20T11:58:00.006-05:00

When I go to St. Cloud, MN - which is about an hour away - I LOVE going to Craft's Direct. It's very similar to a Hobby Lobby. I scrapbook, so I go there for crop nights a lot.

Right now, you can get a $25 certificate for Crafts Direct for $12.50.

Wow!

Now imagine if you paired that with a 40% or 50% coupon (they take competitors coupons).

Did I mention they even have a nice fabric department?

I've never used these certificates at Crafts Direct before - so hopefully they would allow purchases with coupons (and credit my purchase to my Passport discount card too!). The only restriction it posted online was that it has to be used all at once - no change will be given. I'm hoping they will also let me use it on my crop night fees :)

Once of my favorite home decor stores, Wooden Hearts is offering $10 certificates for $5. I might have to get those too!

If you live in Central MN, its worth taking a look at what other deals you can find - there are probably over 100 offers! Click the logo above to go to the Shop N' Save website.

3 GALLONS of fresh blueberries and 2 lbs. bananas for under $24!

2009-07-12T12:41:00.006-05:00

At Cash Wise!

Pints of blueberries are on sale for .98 each - so I bought 2 flats (or 24 pints)
The free item after $25 purchase is 2 pounds of bananas.
You can count the value of the free item towards the $25.

SO...

(24) x .98 = $23.52 for blueberries
(2 lbs ban.) $ 1.24
--------------------------
$24. 76

--usually they will let something that close slide, but if you don't have anything else, just make sure you have a little over 2 pounds of bananas.

But the 2 pounds of bananas will be free, so you would get this all for under $24.

If you are wondering why I am buying so many blueberries, its because (1) the freeze well and (2) they are an anti-inflammatory food. For you who don't personally know me, I have Crohn's Disease, which is an autoimmune, or inflammatory disease. I am on more medication than my grandma (most likely, anyway!) because of inflammatory issues. Many times if you are lucky enough to have one, you more than likely have several (like my asthma, eczema, allergies and arthritis). I am even undergoing a round of Entocort, an oral steroid, to give me some relief to my symptoms, and once I'm done with that, I am hoping I will have the courage to change my diet to a more anti-inflammatory diet so I don't need such high levels of daily medication. Prayers are welcome! Thanks for letting me share a little about me. It could be MUCH worse, right? I try to remember that.

YUMMMM! Deep Dish Chicago-Style PIZZA!

2009-07-06T18:25:00.005-05:00

I made this for dinner tonight! Yumm!!! It has been YEARS - gosh- can I say - a DECADE since I last had this kind of pizza (at Green Mill, here in MN). Now I feel old. I dont like talking in decades, lol. I have been trying to cook from scratch recently, and this is one of the MANY new recipes my family has been subjected to (though no one complained about this one, lol)

For those who don't know, a Chicago-style pizza has the cheese UNDER the sauce. It came out very light and airy, and I LOVE the tomato chunks in it from the diced tomatoes. I even got to use my own basil from my garden!

I remember having to watch The Frugal Gourmet as a kid. It was one of the cooking shows I think my mom watched. I dont know. We only had 4 or 5 channels. Maybe this was the best thing on. I still remember his pinstriped apron and thinking "frugal" was such a weird word, lol. So, this recipe is based on The Frugal Gourmet's recipe from 1987, or so, but I made some adaptations since things have changed a bit in 22 years...

I'll post my variation of the recipe, but the original is all over the internet, including HERE.

Dough

1 OR 2 packages rapid rise dry yeast
2 cups warm water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup cornmeal
5 1/2 cups flour

I have a KitchenAid mixer with a dough hook, and that is what is recommended to use with this recipe. I don't really know how you would make this without it or a bread machine with a dough setting... The dough is pretty sticky. But it makes two batches of dough, so its easy to split with someone if you make it at their place or something... you only use the mixer for about 15 minutes.

SO here is where I made changes. It tells you to beat the yeast with the liquids but my yeast packet told me otherwise. Since the yeast is so important to making the crust, I felt those instructions trumped the original recipe. I had some extra time this afternoon and some fresh packets of dry yeast, so I thought I'd try it with just one packet. The dough was done rising in two hours, so I think thats a change I will keep. The amount of yeast just affects how long it takes to rise, as I understand it.

SO, in my mixer (with the dough hook, but you could use the whisk) I put the flour (spooned into cup, not scooped out with the cup!), cornmeal and yeast packet and mixed at a low speed for a few minutes while I worked on the liquids.

In a microwaveable bowl, I put the two cups of water and the oils and mixed them together and microwaved it and mixed thoughly before measuring with a candy thermomiter to bring the temp up to 125°.

Then with the DOUGH HOOK in the mixer, add the liquid to the dry ingredients on low speed. Once combined, increase speed slightly, if desired. It will look sticky. But when I stopped the mixer and used a spatula to make sure there was no dry ingredients on the sides, the dough was elasticy and sort-of came away from the bowl side pretty easily, so maybe that is a helpful guide to use on the consistancy. I stirred it for a total of about 5 minutes.

Next is the rise. I plopped it on my clean, lightly floured laminate countertop (my recipe said "plastic" countertop, but mine was fine, lol) and covered it with a big plastic bowl (here, my recipe said METAL bowl) but it didn't matter. It doubled in bulk in a matter of 40 minutes or so. I punched it down and folded it up again, putting a little more flour under it and covered it again. About an hour later I checked it again and it was ready. I don't think I needed to even let it do a second rise, just give it more like 60 minutes and that should be good.

Since we are a family of 4, with small kids, I didn't think I needed to use my big 18" deep dish pan. I used a 9x13 instead. I thought the two cake pans that were suggested would be too small. I put half of the dough flattened out in a floured gallon freezer bag and stuck it in my freezer. Hopefully it will come out ok when I use it in a few weeks.

I oiled my 9x13 pan with a little olive oil and learned the hard way that you should NOT oil the sides. I also sprinkled some cornmeal on the bottom to help the dough not just sit in the oil. I pressed out the dough into a rough rectangle before I put it in the pan and tried my best to keep the though about 1/8 inch thick, as suggested.

Now for the toppings! What makes this pizza so yummy is the cheese UNDER the tomato sauce, so be sure to try it made that way at least once. Here is what you need:

Topping (in order):

1/3 pound shredded mozzarella cheese (or sliced)
2 cups diced canned tomatoes ( I used some "crushed" as well)
1 teaspoon basil (I used my FRESH basil from my garden - yum! -about 1 tablespoon fresh)
1 teaspoon oregano
2 cloves garlic, minced
whatever toppings you like
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (I just used more shredded)
3 tablespoons olive oil drizzled over top
Salt to taste (sprinkle a little salt on the crust edges - they were a little bland)

Put these toppings on in this order on the list. Just try it once this way. Its very yummy.

Bake in a 450° oven for about 35-40 minutes, depending on toppings, until golden brown.

I am so excited to can some tomato sauce again this year! I like how you can customize the texture when you can your own and I LOVE the diced tomatoes in it. Hopefully my tomatoes will grow. My goal is to eventually supply ALL the tomato sauce for our meals, but with us eating out less and me cooking from scratch more, I doubt my little garden could handle that.

Life

2009-07-06T13:44:00.009-05:00

After a morning of squabbling with each other, they ask if they can take a nap together. They were reading in DD3's bed while DD6 read to DD3 from her Pony Pals book. So sweet.

I harvested my garlic this week. My biggest one is about the size of a ping pong ball. I have them drying on my front porch because my resource I've been learning about growing from says they need to dry out in a shady place with good air circulation. I have no idea why it underlined so much of that paragraph, but I'll have to leave it because my sleeping beauties just woke up....
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Yesterday, when I was tending my garden, I twisted my ankle again....

I sprained it about 3 weeks ago.

If you want to see a picture of my foot, keep scrolling...

If you don't, I completely understand.

There is nothing more to see on this post besides the picture.

Ok...

Here goes...

I thought the bruising towards the back there was pretty cool, actually. I had trouble getting a good picture by myself, though. Now it hurts all over again *sigh*

2009 Garden pictures

2009-06-29T18:38:00.002-05:00

Don’t bother clicking “view full album” because each set of three is all that’s in the album… I just like this LO. Clicking will show you a bigger pic, though.

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1. “Red Riding Hood” Diplodania plant that I got on clearance last year for $3 (with the trellis) – it seems to really like the spot I put it in… and of course, a few plants I never got in… I seem to have those every year.

2. My pathetic banana plant. Its just fun to have, but I think it needs to be cut back and repotted. Oh, and the “spinny” is from my niece, Callie :D

3. DD next to my garlic pot. Its ready to harvest any day now. Behind her is some volunteer tree that started growing in my planter. Maybe a maple?

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1 & 2. The start of my “Mommy’s Garden”. I had the landscape fabric down last year but it got sun-rotted and the weeds set in pretty fast. We want to move our generic rock in the front of the house back here and replace the front with some reddish granite chips or something. I won a $75 gift card from a farm store last year so I got a lot of perennials for this garden. Landscaping is next summer’s project.

3. My grape vine in its third year, but this is all new growth. It died and got chewed on the first two years but it came back this year and now its growing like crazy!

Here is our two blueberry bushes. Originally, I got a vine for DH for father’s day last year that also got chewed and never regrew. So I thought I’d try two different varieties of blueberry bushes instead. They are right next to the grape vine.

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1. My white and yellow onions. Aren’t they enormous?! I really should have put a ruler by them so you could see. They’re huge.

2. My fence around my vegetable garden. We fenced in about 4 feet to the left of the garden so we could just put a gate at the top and bottom instead of a gate for each bed.

3. My carrots. See? Yeah. I don’t see them either. I seeded them twice. *sigh* I always have a tough time with carrots! spinach didn’t come up either (behind where the carrots were supposed to be)

1. Bottom bed: Before we fenced, we planted a pole bean and sunflower house for the girls. Not doing so hot, so I’m not that concerned that they wont have a door for it anymore, lol (its blocked by the fence)

2. Second bed: My herb bed, standing right by those gigantic onions. You can see lettuce, chives and dill right up front.

1. A teeny-tiny strawberry from one of the transplants from my friend’s garden. (we traded a portion of my chive plants for some of her strawberry plants)

2. This picture is from the side, so the front of the bed is the left side where the strawberry plants are. In the back of the picture I have a rosemary plant growing in front of the lettuce, a cilantro plant, then two basil plants, and a spot for leeks (that never came up) and 4 red onions that I just recently got in.

1. Third bed: My bed of peas and corn. Supposed to be three rows of corn, room for about 30 stalks, but only about 10 are growing.

2. About half my peas came up, but they are flowering and starting to get pods, so hopefully we will have a harvest big enough at once for at least one meal of fresh peas.

1. My fourth bed has potatoes in back (red and yukon gold) and along the front I have some sugar-snap peas, salsa peppers and heartland tomatoes (that aren’t growing).

2. Bell peppers and two egg plants (just for fun) and the heartland tomatoes.

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1 & 2. Fifth bed: Some more tomatoes along the front of this bed too, with an empty spot for the cantaloupe plant that didn’t come up (but I have a volunteer one growing in my potatoes). Broccoli and cauliflower plants growing with Rhubarb and pickle zukes growing right by it. Crowded but I planned on the rhubarb and cauliflower plants being gone halfway though the season to give the vines some room.

3. Very top of the garden, not really a bed but we needed the room. Loosely referred to as the sixth bed. Pumpkins, watermelon and squash are supposed to be here. DH and the kids planted this one so I really don’t know what’s what.

My pretty (fake) stone I got at Craft’s Direct on clearance for about $6. I keep it by my bottom gate and smile every time I see it. I’m looking forward to landscaping the front of my garden with some flowers and vines to cover the (ugly) fence next year!

I think next year we will get some compost delivered and I will mulch over the seed rows to help keep water in the soil. I really hate using our city water to water and we had a very dry spring. Carrots and spinach are planted very close to the surface so that's my guess why they didn't come up. I also want to look into some sort of soaker hose system because my sprinkler doesn't water the sides very well, and really doesn't do the trick once the growth gets really high. There is always something to do when you have a garden, and I enjoy it.

And guess what DH's father's day present was this year?! A gas-powered weed-whacker with a cultivator attachment! (that part is for me, lol!)

Thanks for checking out my garden tour! I’m having lots of fun!

Banana-Rhubarb Whole Wheat Muffins

2009-06-26T20:22:00.006-05:00

I had another overripe banana I had to use. I still have about 2 c. of that Kashi-Nasti cereal that I've been saving for cooking those muffins again... I am trying not to throw out food... like I did today Frosted Mini Wheats crumbs (about 1/2 cup!) at the bottom of the cereal bag today. I didn't even think about it until it was too late and the bag had been thrown out (although still technically retrievable) into the nasty garbage can germ abyss.... I digress.

Anyway, I searched on Allrecipies.com again (my favorite recipe/ingredient search website) for banana and found this recipe.

If I hadn't thrown the cereal crumbs I probably could have used them in place of the whole wheat flour and some of the sugar. Oh well.

One thing I like about Allrecipes.com is that you can adjust the serving sizes, so since the recipe called for 3 bananas and served 12, I cut it down to a serving of 4. I had to put in a partial egg, but that's not hard. Just scramble it and remove a tablespoon or so.

I left a comment about my changes on the website and I'll post them here as well...

"I had a lone overripe banana to use and a pathetically small rhubarb plant that I wanted to make at least something with. Found this recipe and reduced the serving size down to a third of the original (for the lone banana) and doubled the rhubarb (like many did with the strawberry component) and made muffins with it (start with about 20 min for baking time). I don't know if it helped or not but I coated the chopped rhubarb in some of the sugar first to sweeten it a bit while I prepared the rest of the ingredients. Next time I will add a pinch of salt, too, I think."

And here is the original recipe link --it is very simple with very few ingredients. Enjoy!

Garden pictures coming soon!

2009-06-24T14:49:00.001-05:00

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Quick & Crunchy Ramen Stir-Fry

2009-05-30T13:25:00.018-05:00

I had heard of people using Ramen noodles in their stir fry before. Occasionally, I've had a pack of Ramen laying around that I don't know what to do with. Allrecipies.com has tons of cabbage salad recipes... but I'm not really into cabbage. We do like stir-fry though (though the kids dont) My husband and I like going to a make-your-own stir-fry place called Mongo's Grill in St. Cloud, MN when we are there - its wonderful (and like $20+ for just us two). If your in the Twin Cities area and like traditional Asian food, try Kahn's Mongolian Grill - that place is yummy too... But in our small town there is nothing like that for at least an hour drive. So this is what I made. Its super fast, cheap and yummy! I'm sure there are similar recipes to this, but this is my own creation. I call it...

Quick & Crunchy Ramen Stir-Fry
Prep: 5 seconds. Cooking time: maybe 10 min.

Using some of the dry noodles in the finished stir-fry adds an almost nutty taste to this quick stir-fry. You can use what veggies/meat you have on hand, of course, but the frozen stuff is what makes this quick to make.

pre-cooked garlic-flavored chicken, in chunks, frozen
( I make up my own batches of this stuff)
frozen stir-fry veggies
Ramen noodles, oriental flavor
1-2 T. olive oil (or other oil)
up to 1 cup water

I used a non-stick skillet for my stir fry. You aren't supposed to pre-heat those pans with nothing in them, but obviously a stir-fry needs a hot pan before you add food. So this is what I did (and saved myself some dishes):

Heat pan to almost full heat, immediately add about 1/2 cup water.
Add most of package of ramen noodles, reserving about 2-4 Tablespoons of dry noodles.
Add handful of frozen chicken.
Add some of seasoning packet.

(I made a half-batch today so please double whatever you see in the picture to match the recipe)

Let noodles cook and chicken thaw in water as the pan heats up.

When the water is mostly gone and noodles are fairly cooked(about 2-3 min) and pre-cooked chicken warmed though, add 1 "turn" of olive oil and bag of frozen stir-fry veggies, add the rest of Ramen seasoning packet. Stir to coat.

Allow to cook for about 2 minutes without stirring(I have a hard time with this, lol). Give a good stir and allow to cook another 2 minutes or so. Add some more water if pan is drying out before desired cooking is acheived.

Crumble remaining noodles into stir fry pan, stir to coat and pour into dish.
Just for fun (and to save scrubbing the pan) Deglaze pan with water to get all the yummyness out of the pan and pour over your stirfry. Make sure you do your best Julia Child impression when you say "And now we will deglaze the pan..."

Serve to hard -working hungry husband and then politely demand a few bites of this yummy stir-fry!

Box-tops/ School fundraiser organizer boxes

2009-05-26T14:25:00.006-05:00

I know this is at the very end of the school year, but maybe this will make a fun summer project to keep the kids busy…

This would be a fun gift kids could make for their grandparents to support their school, too… just an idea.

I am posting a formal set of instructions on how to make the label organizers, enjoy! (My original post is here)

I used to keep various Campbell’s labels, Box Tops, poptabs, etc. in Ziploc sandwich bags in a shallow basket above my microwave. Although it worked well, it wasted space and I needed something that I could just pop the item in and not have to use both hands – and I needed it in a place the kids could help out with. This was my solution…

Note: I really expanded on the methods to make this adaptable to whatever people have on hand and make this an easy project.
Depending on where you want to put your organizer boxes and what you plan to put in them (like the milk tops are bulky, for example), and how often you want to have to empty them, you may choose a different sized box or choose to place dividers in the boxes. I have 2 full boxes (pop tabs and milk tops) and 2 with a divider in them that open on both ends (Campbell’s/BTFE and generic UPCs (2 brands)). I used generic corn bread boxes (about the size of Jiffy mixes) If you don't think using a shallow drawer like I did will work for you, consider this:

Standing up the boxes for deeper drawers (such as bread drawers) and use noodle boxes (bonus -you could leave the window uncovered to see how full it is!) or mac n' cheese boxes.
lining them up on a shelf near your kitchen, like books. "Helper" boxes might work well for this or larger noodle boxes.

Wherever you pick to store them, try to make them accessible to the kids, so they can help out. My kids never have complained about dropping them into the boxes!
I will give instructions for using a shallow drawer (3.5 inches), but adapt these for whatever application you choose to use.

Here are the instructions:

Make a list of collectable items. For my area it is these items. If you aren’t sure what to collect, contact your local elementary school to find out what they collect.

Pop tabs for McD’s
Campbell's UPCs, etc
Box Tops for Education
Kemps milk lids
Our Family generic line UPCs
Food Club/Top Care/Full Circle/Paws/Top Crest generic line UPCs (from Cash Wise- UPC starts w/ 368)
Econo Foods receipts (I tuck these between the box and drawer front)
...I also collect Cash Wise general rental receipts, Land of Lakes milk tops, Coke Rewards (I redeem these on the computer right away for myself, but these can be collected by schools as well) and a few others but these don't have "homes" in the boxes because I rarely have them.

Evaluate how much room you need for each of these items to be able to empty the boxes only a few times a year, ideally, based on your particular consumption.
Measure how wide and tall your drawer is. Figure out how many divisions you need and bring your ruler and notepad with measurements along with you to the grocery store. Have fun measuring for the ideal box. Be sure to pick sturdy, non-crushed/damaged boxes. In addition to the types mentioned above, consider pop tart, cheese, animal cracker or Breton cracker boxes or even foil/plastic wrap type boxes (but these may not take advantage of the height of your drawer as well, and you would have to remove or tape over the sharp edge).
Before starting, check the fit in your drawer to make sure they will fit correctly! Carefully open boxes and remove contents. Either make the contents or copy/scan/photograph the instructions and label the packages before starting!
Gather a glue stick (or other dry-type adhesive), scissors, duct or other tape, sharp craft knife and paper to cover your boxes with to make them all pretty.
Cut rectangles out on the tops of the boxes (I used about .25 inch by 2 inches on most). You can just freehand it or completely open and flatten the b ox, measure and cut with craft knife. For the two without dividers, I simply held the open end shut for stability and cut out the rectangle. You will have to open the box completely to glue in the dividers, though, if you’re going to need to divide boxes.
You may want to re-enforce the openings you just cut with duct tape or other tape and repeat cutting a hole in that as well.
Reassemble boxes if necessary.
Now pick your paper you want to cover the boxes with. I chose to cover the boxes to compliment my decor. You could cover your boxes with scrapbook paper, newspaper, gift-wrap, kids' drawings, or even wallpaper or fabric. Cardstock-thickness paper might be a little hard to work with, though. Also, if your covering is thin or light-colored, you may want to completely open your box and cover the "inside" and re-assemble it inside-out.
Apply glue to the top of the box with the cutouts on it. (if you are using a flattened box, do one section at a time, allowing for the folds.) Firmly press box onto the center of the wrong side of paper. Continue "wrapping" the box by gluing one side at a time and putting the seam on the bottom. Important! Neatly cover small side tabs on the ends of the box that will be on top when the box is in place. By having those on the outside instead of the larger flaps, you will have a neater presentation when they are all lined up in your drawer. Carefully re-cut holes and cut apart flaps, and re-assemble box if necessary.
I decided to put some nicer paper on the tops of my boxes. To do this, I used a tiny bit of glue on backside of the paper(just to hold it in place) and adhered it to the top of the box. Then, I used a pencil and let the tip of the pencil trace the outline of the slot on the inside of the box. I removed the decorative top and cut out the pencil shape on the wrong side of the decorative paper and re-adhered it to the top of the box, lining up the slots.
To hold the ends closed, you can simply wrap the sides of the box with a rubber band, or paperclip the boxes together (ignoring my flap tip above). I got a little fancy and used 2 brads and a baby hair band to hold them shut the first time I made these. You could also try velcro.
Try lining them up in your drawer! You may find they want to fall over. There are many ways to remedy this. You can try:

Putting some sort of weight in the bottoms, such as a few small stones or marbles
Lining the front and/or bottom of the drawer with a strip of magnet or velcro and doing the same with the boxes (or be cheap and cut up all those excess business card magnets on your fridge and use those instead)
Or do what I did and use an old tension curtain rod (or string and 2 small adhesive hooks) in front of the boxes to keep them up against the drawer front.
Of course you could tape them as well but that may gunk up your drawer.

Label the boxes by each slot, adhering a picture of what goes in there if need be and let the kids fill them up. Enjoy harnessing the clutter and doing a good deed for your school!

This post was posted on Tip Junkie's Tip Me Tuesday and FEATURED! Woo-hoo!

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Seed Taping - how I did it

2009-05-13T08:32:00.008-05:00

First things first, I'm going to appologize for my crappy picture placing. Still haven't figured out how people get them so nice on here!

This is a fun project. As I was doing it I was thinking of the original linked post I shared with you with that cute little girl helping out with it. Then I was thinking (because our community garden plots are close to a senior living complex here) that this would be a great project for seniors at a retirement home or something (if you can put together a puzzle, you can probably do this). I'm really not crazy about planting seeds in the garden. Your fingers get dirty, then you try to reach in those little packets, sometimes they spill. Sometimes its windy, and then its so hard to get the spacing right and get them where you want them in the trench, esp. the little guys, like carrots. (And of course, I always forget to thin them!). So seed taping is practical and convenient and I plan to never do my seeding "in the trenches" again! I'm even going to do my corn this way, lol

So here is what I did:

First, I got these things out:

-yardstick
-plate
-2 paintbrushes (I used a waterbrush for one, the other one is for the "glue")
-roll of single-ply, textured TP (but this is preference)
-small rubber band or hair band
-pen
-small bowl (custard dish or empty yogurt/pudding cup?)
-2 T of flour
-glass of water
-seeds
- (optional) Medicine dropper or clean condiment/travel bottle with pointed tip or even a pastry bag?

Then I sat comfortably at my chair and scooted another chair back up to me (to hang the finished tapes to dry on)

I wrapped my rubber band around the roll of TP (needs to be snug) like this.

Then the rubber band tore the paper down the middle as I unwound one side, pulling it gently towards the rubber band.

Rather than moving the rubber band I left it and had this narrow pile of streamers when I was done. Haven't thought of a use for it.... Maybe you could TP your bonsai tree? Teach your pet hamster to be domesticated? Who knows.

Since my garden is 12 feet wide I made my strips 3 feet long (made sense with the yardstick, lol)

Mix a roux of flour and water to a mustard-like consistency

Carrots: Every 2 inches I placed a small dot of flour/water mixture about a 1/3rd from the top edge of the torn TP (for closer-spaced seeds, it was easier just to run a bead of the glue).

Then I used my waterbrush (or use a wet paintbrush tip or even a chopstick or something) and dabbed a seed off my plate, and stuck it on the glob of gew. I got good at getting 3 or so seeds on the brush and rotating the brush so only one would stick to each blob, saving me some time)

Then I folded over the TP and smushed each blob into the top layer. I labeled the strip and then took my water brush and ran it along the top open edge of the strip to seal it a little better.

Next!

For larger seeds, like peas and corn: after I placed them on the "glue" dots, I dotted the tops of the seeds with more of the glue mixture before folding. From my experience, I'd recommend doubling up the paper on those as well.

Since I'm doing a modified square-foot method of gardening, I've allocated about 1 foot all along the front of my raised bed for carrots and will place about 3-4 rows of these strips in it and cover them. Depending on the plant, you may want to adjust the spacing of your seeds a little bigger to accommodate a alternating grid of seeds in your space.

Plant at the regular recommended depth.

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This worked really well for me. It may not be a huge time saver as much as a convenience. The day of planting, I bound like strips together with those skinny strips left over and placed the bundles in a shoebox. It was windy the day I planted and all I had to worry about were the long strips, not individual carrot seeds blowing everywhere but where I wanted them. I didn't have to worry about spacing, loosing seeds, or anything. Just had to worry how deep to plant the strip. IN FACT I found another bonus of this method - I had "planted" some seeds in the wrong spot. With the regular method, you'd be stuck with them there, but since I hadn't watered my garden yet, I could gently pull up the strip and put it in another place! Yep, I'm doing this every year for now on!

I'm lovin www.plangarden.com!

2009-05-06T21:33:00.004-05:00

Ok, I know I sound like an infomercial, but this website I found is awesome! I revised my garden plan from the previous post and added a few other plants that the kids and hubby wanted... and a sunflower "house"... Anyway, I came across this part of the website which is really helpful because I hate trying to keep all the seed packet planting info straight! Now if only my garden would dry out I could start planting!

Vegetable Planting Guide - Graphic

		Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Bean - Pole	Del
Cantaloupe	Del
Carrot	Del
Cauliflower	Del
Celery	Del
Corn	Del
Cucumber	Del
Eggplant	Del
Gourd	Del
Leaf Lettuce	Del
Leek	Del
Onion	Del
Pea	Del
Pepper	Del
Potato	Del
Pumpkin	Del
Summer Squash	Del
Tomato	Del
Watermelon	Del
Rhubarb	Del
Broccoli	Del

Legend
Start Indoors
Start or Transplant Outdoors

2009-05-06T07:23:00.004-05:00

I discovered a neat garden planning tool that was fun to play with last night. I have a 45-day free trial (but its $36 for a 3-year subscription) that has lots of tracking capabilities - none of which I will probably use. Not sure if I'm going to subscribe or not, but it was fun.

http://www.plangarden.com

a winner

2009-04-28T17:17:00.004-05:00

Ok, I'm not a bean person. Honestly, I'm not even crazy about green beans. But I know they (not green) are nutritious and cheap and I need to try to work them into more meals. I'm trying to put the memories of third grade boys at lunch going "BEANS?! Beans make you ****," etc.

I was actually looking online for a crockpot chicken "processing" recipe that I can just throw a bag of frozen breasts in with some spices and cook, cut up and re-freeze to use in my meals, but this looked good and I had the ingredients so I thought I'd try. We don't eat Mexican-type food much because the oldest is so dang picky, but I figured she'll have to sit though a meal she may not like tonight so we all can try it. It got 3 votes for "really good" and a "umm, its good. Maybe make it again so I can try it again and decide" from said picky eater.

So I wish I had taken a picture of the girls eating this meal tonight. It was really cute and I think they liked that they got to eat tortilla chips as part of a meal. I usually don't (knowingly) make super un-healthy meals like this, but once a week its fine by me :) It was easy!

I identified it as "Cheesy Chicken with tortilla chips" to the kids because something like "Santa Fe chicken" would conjure up weird excuses not to eat it.... and comments about Santa, lol.

Easy Chicken Santa Fe

1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained (mixed in 1/3 can, served the rest on the side)
2 15.25-ounce cans whole kernel corn, drained (I used 1 c. frozen)
1 cup bottled thick and chunky salsa (used 1/2 cup - all I had)
5 or 6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 8-ounce brick cream cheese (good use for a frozen one)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. In a 3.5 or 4-quart electric slow cooker, mix together beans, corn, and 1/2 cup salsa. Top with chicken breasts, then pour remaining salsa over chicken.

2. Cover and cook on high heat setting 2.5-3 hours or until chicken is tender and white throughout. Do not overcook or chicken will be tough.
Remove chicken and cut into bite-sized pieces. Add back to slow cooker.

3. Add cream cheese (cut into cubes to melt faster) and add shredded cheese - turn cooker to high heat. Heat until cream cheese melts and blends into sauce. Serve over rice(I served over broken tortilla chips instead).
Serves 4.

original recipe link here

A bit personal

2009-04-21T13:31:00.007-05:00

So I've kept this blog pretty impersonal. Not because that was my intention, but because I don't have the time for blogging like I hoped when I set this up (no regrets though!). But I feel the need to vent and this IS my blog... so here goes...

I am a SAHM (stay-home mom) and have been since having my oldest 6 1/2 years ago. Now that my younger one is going to possibly start preschool next year (which would make 2 years of preschool for her) I am considering the long-term picture of my kids' education and my career. I attended college for 3 semesters, and thankfully got into the architecture program at NDSU for my sophomore year. The program has changed a bit (Masters instead of Bachelors - still same length of time though) but if I finished up (assuming I wouldn't have to re-take anything) I'd be done in 3.5 years. OR I can go for the pre-professional degree and be done in 2.5 years, which might be ok too. NDSU is 4 hours from my house, though. There are only about 6 universities that meet my criteria that I'm considering and all would require re-location. That's a pretty big jump for someone who has been a SAHM for so long and relying on one income (that would possibly have to change, unless I go to K-state, then one/both of us would have big commutes). Arg.

On the other hand, I can get an architectural drafting degree (AAS, I think) in about 2 years, but I'd have to commute a 2-hour round trip each day. Which would mean possibly enrolling my kids in THAT school district and taking them with me each day. (I wouldn't want both of us parents being an hour from them[in different directions] should anything happen). And of course, I'm feeling like that drafting degree wouldn't be as fulfilling, artistically or financially (down the road, anyway). And who knows if I'd have to start all over again to get the arch. degree. Ugh.

And of course, I can keep doing what I am doing. I had a hard time the first few years with feeling validated being a SAHM when the world around me continued on. I really had to give my career to God (several times, lol) and finally felt peace about it only when I decided I was going to wait for an opportunity to basically fall in my lap. Then I'd consider it and His will for it. Recently a opportunity presented itself (in a rather informal way) that got me thinking again.

I like being a SAHM, but as much as I like my peace and quiet, I don't know if it would be good for me to be home THAT much. I know I'd enjoy it at first (who wouldn't!) but after a school year I'd probably be bored. Which brings me to my other first concern: The kids' education.

Ideally, I'd like to limit how often they move, geographically or even just their school districts. It may be inevitable for our older one but I'd like to complete whatever educational/geographic goal there is before our younger starts Kindergarten. As a kid, I was born and raised in the same home (my parents built it shortly after marrying) until we moved when I was 16 (but stayed in the same school district). That continuity really meant something to me. Sadly, with how our culture is, that isn't as easy anymore. Especially now. People are lucky to stay at a job for 5 years.

When my husband and I first married, we made the choice to finish his degree first (1 year vs. my 3 1/2). We couldn't do them in the same town. Then he was offered his job where he is working today, commuting an hour each way to his job 4 days a week (thankfully he can work from home on Mondays). He is going on 8 years of service at that company now. He thinks he may be able to work from home more often in a few years if we had a more ideal setup (such as finishing a bonus room above a garage). Right now, in our current home, there isn't room for a quieter office. I usually try to get out on Mondays with the little one, lol.

Our older daughter has lived in three homes now. Our first home, near our hometown, and then when we decided to relocate to a better commute for my husband, we moved into an apartment (which was supposed to be less than 6 months but turned into 16) and then our home now. She probably doesn't care as much as I do but it would be nice to live somewhere long enough to re-decorate! Arg!

Funny, when my husband and I chose to get married, our theme verse was "Be still and know that I am God" (ps. 46:10). Yeah. I think I'm kinda bad at that! Can you do me a favor and pray for us if you like? I'd appreciate it!

Let the garden grow, part 2

2009-04-18T12:50:00.009-05:00

Well, we got the dirt shoveled out of that bottom bed this past week. That was about 25-30 wheelbarrow-fulls and thankfully, we had this weekend's rain coming as our motivation to hurry up and get it done before it all got soaked (and a lot heavier to move!)

See my chives coming up on the third bed on the right?

So here is our plan for this years garden, although I'm not sure about the watermelon, cantaloupe or squash, and am planting the carrots after all. I might try some new techniques to help with spacing(seed taping) and try lasagna gardening, too. I also had to try growing leeks (I've never even knowingly eaten them!). Oh, and by the way, my garlic is growing well in that pot. I have 5 coming up for sure.

What do you think? This is year three of gardening for us. I honestly would appreciate constructive criticism. I don't know if we will be able to afford compost this year, so I might back fill the planted plants with some of that black dirt that had been resting in our bottom bed all last year. Or I might take some of the loam from under the trees at the perimeter of our property, come to think of it.

Let the garden grow!

2009-04-15T22:24:00.016-05:00

Can you guess which one is going to be the tallest?

So spring has come early to my house. We had some March snowstorms that were absolutely depressing to see. I was bored and snowed in (more or less) so I had to do something. I planted peas in an empty egg carton. They grew and grew and I transplanted them to my windowsill garden. The girls saved their empty yogurt containers and we planted pumpkin seeds and gourd seeds and flower seeds. We added crushed eggshells to everything (that pic above is my little one helping me out with that). I also saw my friend Michelle's blog about how a friend is growing garlic at her hobby farm and got me wanting to do the same. So I did some research and planted some in a big pot around the third weekend of March (when it was around 30 degrees) and took my chances that they would have enough of a dormant period to come up. They are! (it helps that one of my cloves I planted already had started to sprout in my cabinet! Hopefully that is ok!) I will have to post my garden layout soon. I've had it done for quite some time. But here are some pictures of what I've been up to lately. Not grocery shopping. Ugh! Sorry I haven't posted deals lately. I guess you can see where my priorities are... As for the dishes... there is a saying that I'd like to quote. "Thank God for dirty dishes!"

So the pea plants put all that sample dental floss you get to good use! I strung some floss between 2 command adhesive hooks at the top of my window (and one in the middle for support) and tied on individual strands of floss, one for each vine. I then anchored the floss strings into the dirt by tying them onto some long screws we had left over from a project and stuck the screws into the soil. That has worked pretty well at keeping the strings where they should be. Then I did the pain-in-the-butt task of training all the vines onto the strings (and re-training... they seem to like the string next to them more then their own!). Ta-da! They are now 2/3's up the kitchen window now. Not sure if I'll transplant them or what. I did take the time to put my screen in the window and wash my kitchen window before putting up the vines in case I feel like letting these guys hang around all summer. But they block my view and its annoying. But it got me through the last weeks of winter!

This is of my pot outside with 2 of the garlic cloves starting to poke up. Its a 50/50 mix of sand and potting mix, so its pretty light dirt for them. I've come to the conclusion that while harvesting the food is nice, I like to just have something to putz around with and try new things to see if they will grow. I guess that's my Grandpa in me :)

FREE burger shots at Burger King

2009-03-14T11:41:00.002-05:00

Sorry, I forgot about this, but if you get to BK before 2pm TODAY you can get one free per person. Were going to go get a mini-lunch right now!

If you miss this but want a free Roast Burger at Arby's, you can email us and we'll email you a coupon for a free one with any soft drink purchase, thanks to my husbands job being a supplier for Arby's :) That one is only good today too.

A Necessary Evil - Chair pads

2009-03-04T12:44:00.017-06:00

The alternative is banged up chairs right where the backs hit the table. We got this table (thanks Grandma!) last November or so and right away knew we were going to have to do something about the chair backs to protect them. They even hit the table on a corner, so its not distributed across the width of the back frame. Within days I sandwiched fleece between two strips of fabric and tied them on just to get them protected.

But close up they looked like this after a few months because they wern't sewn and the fleece was too long.

I finally made a better (nicer looking) version. Here's how to make them...

1. Select fabric ( I needed about a total of 1/2 yard of fabric for 5 chairs) My strips were about 17 x 3 (times 4 per chair)

2. Find "sandwich" material. Don't buy anything special, you wont see it. Use old socks, towels, sweatshirt fabric... felt... whatever.

3. Measure the circumference of the chair post you wish to wrap, and subtract about 3/4 inch. Cut your "sandwich" material that long and make it about 2 inches wide (or 6...)

4. Take your outer fabric and cut (I tore it for a more casual look) about 2 1/2 or 3 inches wide and about 12 inches longer than your "sandwich" strip (so you can tie it). If you choose to use Velcro or something instead of tying it, adjust length accordingly. I didn't have enough of the red fabric so I selected another plaid and made that one about 1/2 inch wider than the red so it would show slightly.

5. You may want to run your strips through the sewing machine to keep the fabric from fraying. I did.

6. (optional) Consider sewing non-stick bumpy shelf pad foam to the backs of the ties before you make the "sandwiches" so you don't have to sew through the thickness. I was worried that the shelf pad stuff might discolor the finish and was lucky enough to have the "X" back land right at the right place to support the strips and keep them where they were supposed to be so I left it out. You might want to though.

7. Use glue or just sew the sandwiches together, centering the filling fabric. You just need to hold that sandwich fabric in place. I put a few phone books on top of them to help everything adhere for an hour or so.

8. (optional) Sew sides of strips together leaving about 1/4 inch seam allowance from the raw seams. I did not turn the fabric, I just left the raw edges show. You could use a straight stitch or a zig zag or other decorative stitch, depending how much you want the sewing decoration to show. I didn't. I zig-zaged around one set and it looked too much like pads for a defensive lineman more than a "decoration" so I just opted for the 1/4 seam as mentioned above.

9. Tie on chairs.... VERY tightly (they'll loosen). See Girl Scout Manual to learn how to make a correct square knot (or click here).

10. Leave the leftover length on the chairs for several days in case you need to re-tie them tighter, then trim to desired length. Enjoy!

They may not protect the chairs completely, but at least they should keep the finish from wearing off. This is my final product (minus trimming the ends)

Now to make matching place mats :p

Waste not, want not -- Want never again - Kashi Vive cereal!!

2009-03-02T18:52:00.001-06:00

I got a free box (vanilla-ish twigs and bark variety) from Vocalpoint a few months ago. I thought I'd tolerate it or let the kids pick through it as a trail mix. No go.

So today I had one lone, overripe banana and a (old) bag of dried blueberries that I wanted to put to use. I looked online and found this recipe

I modified it, replacing the raisin nut bran with the Kashi Vive, and added the blueberries instead of the raisin component. The batter was VERY dry (maybe because I had packed the cereal into the measuring cup) so I added about 2 Tb. of water. It had a very thick brownie batter constancy.

I was going to make muffins but forgot since I was paying such close attention to the original recipe. Even while it was baking in a loaf pan in the oven and the kids asked what was baking, I said "muffins", lol. I'd make them smaller. I have just over a cup of the cereal left so I am probably going to do a half recipe with some frozen blueberries and make muffins with that batch.

I served it warm at dinner with butter. The kids gobbled it up, haha

This is what I did with the recipe:
(I bolded the changes I made to the original)

INGREDIENTS
(originally Delicious Raisin Nut Banana Bread - Allrecipes )

2 cups Kashi Vive cereal, slightly crushed (I had dd pick out white balls first to keep her busy and added them at the end with the blueberries - didn't make much of a difference though)
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour ( replaced 1/2 c with whole wheat flour)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed banana
1/3 cup or so of dried blueberries (craisins would be good, or fresh blueberries)
(optional) you could also fold in some nuts( 1/4 c) or flax seed if you wanted, but I didn't. Wouldn't taste bad though
about 2 Tb. water

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease the bottom of a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
In a large bowl, have toddler remove white balls and save for later, if desired. Stir together slightly crushed cereal and milk. Let stand 5 minutes, until cereal is soft.
Stir oil and egg into milk mixture until well combined (I added banana to this mixture). In a separate bowl, combine flour, white sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir flour mixture into milk mixture and fold in mashed banana(if you haven't already) and fold in berries and remaining cereal, if any; pour into prepared loaf pan. Add water if necessary to make batter a thick brownie batter consistancy.
Bake 50 to 55 minutes, until top springs back when lightly touched. Let cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.

Just thinking about my first car today...

2009-02-12T22:15:00.003-06:00

(thanks to http://frumpyprofessor.blogspot.com/2005_12_01_archive.html for the pic of the '81 Citation)

I got an '84 Citation (II?) in 1995 as my first car. Off-white, 4 door. My dad actually had an '81 4-door that got totaled around '89. Brother fixed it up and bought a few other citations as parts cars (light blue ones)... so by the time I got mine, we had 4 of them!

Funny story - My dad bought it for $200 (talked down from $250) from a monastery - it was a car available for monks to use. Meticulously maintained. Perfectly detailed maintenance records. However, they forgot to clean under the seats - the first time I had to slam on the breaks in that car an old whiskey bottle flew out from under the seat!

2 years later, it broke down on me on the 3-hour trip through the middle of nowhere on my way to college. Dad tried to fix it to be more reliable, but finally gave up.

He sold it.

For $250.

Ironic.

Depression Cooking

2009-01-20T14:27:00.003-06:00

I was checking out a blog called Fun Foods on a Budget and she mentioned this cute 90-some year old lady on YouTube making Depression-era meals. I had to check them out -- She's so cute! I think I'll have to make the Egg Drop Soup or one of her others - after all - they're cheap recipies - what do I have to loose?!!?! :)

Click here to view her "channel" on YouTube

I hope this will post the egg drop soup video, but be sure to check out the others!

Another Cub day

2009-01-02T09:55:00.003-06:00

I had a good one yesterday.

First of all, I live no where near a Cub Foods but was visiting a friend for the new year that lived near Monticello, MN Cub, which takes 3 m. expireds. DH gets a free Honeysuckle White fresh or frozen turkey each year(no size/price restriction) and that q was expiring yesterday (wasn't going to chance THAT one) I had put in a special order for a 22-24 lb one but it wasn't in yet so I had to settle for a little 15 pounder. so... this is it

(2) Compleats with 2/$4 cub q and (2) 1/$1 mf. q's
(1) $1 Idahoan potato packet - .60 mq.
(4) Special K/smart starts - $2.50 ea - (3) $1 mq's
(2) $1 produce - free after wyb 2 kelloggs (select varieties) cereals q
.68 english muffins
.68 dozen eggs
.68 bacon
(forgot the .68 oj)
(2) Capri sun 100% juice - (2) $1.50/1 peelies
A&H deod on sale for $1 - .50 A&H deod q
$21.39 frozen honeysuckle white turkey - FREE!
-----------------
$52.77

-$3 holiday bucks
-$$5/50 Cub q
-$5 Supervalu credit coupon (for a complaint)
-and all the mq's
---------------------
$2.90 OOP!!!! (plus I got another holiday buck!) (saved 95%)

Yes that decimal is in the right place. I felt like I was getting away with highway robbery! I was in a hurry and didn't even plan for that close oop, I got lucky I stayed in the black! The cashier complained to me she was going to get audited for my transaction. Oh well... thats her job. I still couldn't keep myself from grinning ear to ear like an idiot as I was leaving the store, lol.

And just to let you know, its not robbery of course, the coupons will all be reimbursed by the manufacturer (and I suppose the stores can write off the store coupons as a promotional discount)

Saving money part 2 - Being creative

2008-12-05T12:50:00.000-06:00

www.freecycle.org and www.craigslist.com are great sources to use! People have gotten greedy on Ebay... thats not always the best place to find things anymore. I am surprised how generous people are on Freecycle. I signed up for my local freecycle though that link above, and am subscribed so it emails me daily with the new posts. So it takes hardly any time at all. Its the perfect place to find another charger for your cell phone, snow pants for your nephew visiting from Florida (or your own kid, of course), back issues of magazines.... toys.... the list goes ON and ON! People are always posting bags of clothes that their kids have outgrown. All you have to do is email the person that you want it! And you can request specific things too! And its all free - and free to join, of course. Craig's List is similar except that there is usually a monetary request for the item. Like a chest freezer. $25. Works.

Which brings me to my next "be creative" item!

Freeze it!

Did you know you can freeze milk? How about cheese? Bread and meat? Of course! I buy an extra turkey around Thanksgiving and keep it in my freezer until spring (when I'm no longer sick of turkey) I cook it, have a meal with it, and save the breasts in freezer bags with some of the skin and juices to reheat for another meal. I pick off all the "shredded" meat and separate it by color in meal-sized portions in sandwich-sized freezer bags. Next time I make soup... I add a bag of dark turkey meat. Next time I make a casserole? I add a bag of white turkey meat. I estimate that a turkey that was .58c a lb costs about $1 lb after its cooked and off the carcass. Not bad!

I do the same thing with ham. I dice it and freeze it for 1/2 hour on a cookie sheet and put it in a freezer bag. Then I have it to add to omelets and other dishes.

http://www.hotcouponworld.com/ has a long list of things you can freeze in addition to my own.

Grow a garden!

No room? How about a container garden? How about a city plot? Or a friend's house? Start with what costs you most in stores. Usually tomatoes and herbs. Those can be grown in pots! We grow pumpkins because we (sort-of) have the space and a $1 packet of seeds produces our pumpkins that we used to pay $20 for in the fall... plus extras - this year my girls actually MADE almost $20 selling our extra pumpkins!

Windowsill Garden Update

2008-12-05T10:25:00.002-06:00

So here it is...

I think the cold air from the window is making the plants want to hibernate! I stuffed some rags between the back of the gutter and the window to insulate it and am now trying to think of some sort of heat source. I don't know how hot heat tape gets, but thought I might be able to get some used on Freecycle. Or I thought a small string of Christmas lights, but that might be a little distracting / tacky, lol. Especially after Christmas! Any ideas?

I have ANOTHER GDA for you!

2008-12-04T14:14:00.005-06:00

Hasbro.com is running a deal a day - 10 days , $10 each!

(free shipping with a $50 order). Also, it took the "HOLIDAY25" coupon code for 25% off - so that was actually $7.50!! I think the free shipping is on $50 AFTER discounts, by the way.

Today is my older DD's favorite line of toys - My Little Pony "Ponyvilles"

Of course, she already has this one :p (and I think she paid $22 for it) But I thought I'd share!

The RollerSkate Party Cake

http://www.hasbrotoyshop.com/ProductsByCategory.htm?CD=183&BR=704&ID=20801&src=GENEMHT25923

Ok. I told you I'd post a free or GDA... here's one!

2008-12-04T13:08:00.005-06:00

This is from the freebie forum at www.hotcouponworld.com . Have I convinced you guys to join yet? Seriously. I can't copy the whole website onto here!! :p

Enjoy!
-------------------------------------------
From Cheapo at www.hotcouponworld.com

Free Playtex starter nurser (bottle)
Playtex is the leader in infant care and wants to address the growing public confusion about plastics used in baby bottles. Playtex offers a broad selection of BPA-free infant bottles, pacifiers and cups. The links on this page provide more information about the materials used in our infant feeding and soothing products.As a demonstration of our commitment to you, we are offering free samples of the Playtex® Drop-Ins® Original Nurser System, which are BPA-free.Please fill out the form below to receive your free Playtex® Drop-Ins® Original Nurser System.Please allow several weeks for your free sample to arrive. We are increasing our inventory as quickly as possible. In the meantime, you can purchase Playtex® Drop-Ins® Nurser Systems at most major retailers, including Babies ‘R Us, Target, Wal-mart, and many major grocery stores, and drug stores. Thank you for your patience.Please limit one per e-mail and one per household.Link
http://www.playtexbaby.com/bpafree/info.html

Inside this sample is a coupon for $1 off... the drop-in liners - if I remember right. These are the older style bottles, but with my experience using both, I really preferred these over the curvy ones.

Starting to save... first tips

2008-12-03T18:12:00.005-06:00

Ok, I'm still new to this whole blogging thing. I have a lot to learn about blogger yet. So like everything else, I'm going to start small.

People always ask me how we save money. We are definitely NOT role models (just look at our dining-out budget!) Here are some tips for getting started.

Stock up when it's on sale. Before last spring, when cereal went to $2 or lower, I'd stock up, especially if I had coupons. I've been able to cut that figure almost in half now, usually getting cereal for $1 box or lower, thanks to knowing how to use coupons now. We go through a lot of it. On my expired trip to Cub a few weeks ago, I got cereal for .35c a box. On average, though, I pay .75-$1.25/box. My goal is to never, ever pay more than $2 a box.

Name your top 5 or ten.
Make a list of things you go though a lot of, spend a LOT on, or that you know have significant sales prices. Start out with those as your top priority to save on. These, in our house, have been:

Diapers
Peanut Butter
Bread
Eggs
Meat
Uncle Ben's Wild rice

Generally, anything under .20c a diaper was a good deal, and a stock-up deal if it was around .18c. Little one had a sensitive butt and couldn't use generics, and Pampers and Luvs leaked, so we had to be brand loyal to Huggies (regular or Supreme) or the Pampers Cruisers, if we had to. (funny our older one couldn't use Huggies, lol!) Make a mental (or actual!) list of these figures for these products in your market. And stock up....see next item!

Use the Expiration Date as a guide. Estimate how much you will use of that product before then and load up and don't be shy. I did this with the Uncle Ben's wild rice boxes that usually run $2 a box when I could get them for .75c/box. They had an 18 month shelf life so I bought about 10... to last until April 2009. Guess what. There is only one left in my pantry from that purchase. Another example. Last spring around Earth Day, there was a sale on Poweraide. Since DH wasn't drinking pop then, and we had lots of outdoor projects to do for the summer, I knew we were going to be getting a lot of it. Last year I paid $1 a bottle for it because I hadn't prepared. This year I looked at the "x" date of Nov. 2008. Figured 1-2 bottles a day and came up with 180 bottles. That was a little out of our budget, so we got 90... At .70 bottle, AND a free 24-bottle case of Dasani bottled water for EVERY 10 poweraides. (and if I bought 20 powerades and 2 cases of water, plus the free items (loaf of bread and a re-useable bag) I hit the $25 mark and got the free items... so I did that 4 times!) $63 for 90 32 oz Powerades, 9 24-pk cases of Dasani, 4 loaves of bread and 4 re-useable shopping bags. Too bad Cash Wise limits their free items to one per family now :(

Many people just buy 2 or 3 of the item when its on sale instead of one. Really think about it. Every time you do this you are locking in that good price instead of going out and buying it at full price when you find out you need it. (of course, you have to weigh the savings against how good the sale is, how frequently it goes on sale, how much room you have to store it, and how much cash you have) This used to mean spending a LOT extra money for us. Now, not so much, because we can live off our pantry for a while while we spend our cash loading up on another item. We also save time because I don't HAVE to go shopping every week. We started small. Mostly with those things on the list up there. And don't kick yourself if you realize you "messed up" and didn't take advantage of the deal or paid too much. Its a process. In the next round, you'll do better!

Oh, and one last thing:
WIC. I miss being on WIC. Please people. If you qualify for it.... GO FOR IT! You wouldn't deny yourself a tax write-off, would you? If the WIC is available for you, use it. Their primary focus is nutrition, and it was easy to have the nutrition bases covered when we were on it. Yes, we could have gotten by without it, but it gave us the ability to make our $$ go further, which is always a blessing. For those of you who don't know, if you are pregnant or have a child under 5 you may qualify. When you qualify you get free formula (9 small cans/month) several gallons of milk, a few pounds of cheese, eggs and peanut butter. I found a way to use all of that stuff, even if I didn't think I needed it. I'd use the Peanut butter in the next time we had to bring a dessert... Cheese on tortilla chips instead of some other snack, etc.

I haven't even TOUCHED the issue of coupons yet but I better call it quits!

Wow -- Peanut butter really DOES work!

2008-12-03T12:39:00.002-06:00

I've thrown out a few pair of socks thanks to a water-proof bandage adhering itself to the inside of the sock instead of my toe... Then I tried it. Peanut butter. I put a big glob on my dry sock, rubbed it for a few seconds and let it sit overnight. Next day, I ran warm water and lightly peeled at the glob of PB... and the gew from the band aid came off as well (there was still foam attached to the gew, so I'm guessing that helped). Wow. I'd call that SAVING MONEY!

Stay tuned... I'm going to put together a post of deals that are very easy "free" or "GDA" (gosh-darn AWESOME) for all my friends that say they don't have time for couponing or don't know where to start.

2008-11-30T13:56:00.002-06:00

http://www.fireproofthemovie.com/main.php

Wow. I saw "Fireproof" last night. That was a great movie. Very well done and I was gripping my seat though most of it! Not bad for a movie with a small budget. It's a great movie for anyone, especially married folks or those who want to BE married... or anyone who wants out.

Save money - dont get a divorce! LOL

be careful what you wish for!

2008-11-21T09:12:00.003-06:00

This is a direct quote from a member of HCW - but I had to pass this on:

"Yesterday 10:58:58 AM mminnich51207

Not sure where to post this, but it's helpful: I wanted to give everyone a heads up that if you tend to give gift cards around the holidays, you need to be careful that the cards will be honored after the holidays. Stores that are planning to close after Christmas are still selling the cards through the holidays even though the cards will be worthless January 1. There is no law preventing them from doing this. On the contrary, it is referred to as 'Bankrupcy Planning).

Below is a partial list of stores that you need to be cautious about.
Circuit City (filed Chapter 11)
Ann Taylor- 117 stores nationwide closing
Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug ,and Catherine's to close 150 stores nationwide
Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January
Cache will close all stores
Talbots closing down specialty stores
J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbots)
Pacific Sunwear (also owned by Talbots)
GAP closing 85 stores
Footlocker closing 140 stores mo re to close after January
Wickes Furniture closing down
Levitz closing down remaining stores
Bombay closing remaining stores
Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January
Whitehall closing all stores
Piercing Pagoda closing all stores
Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January.
Home Depot closing 15 stores 1 in NJ ( New Brunswick )
Macys to close 9 stores after January
Linens and Things closing all stores
Movie Galley Closing all stores
Pep Boys Closing 33 stores
Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores
JC Penney closing a number of stores after January
Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores.
Wilson Leather closing down all stores
Sharper Image closing down all stor~s
K B Toys closing 356 stores
Loews to close down some stores
Dillard's to close some stores

endquote.

Wow. Thats crazy! I've noticed a lot of stores offering the "buy $100 giftcard, get a $20 giftcard free" but now I'm not so sure!! I'm bummed about Bombay. I like their stuff and never get to go there. I wonder if they are closing our JCPenny's. Its totally worthless for toddler clothes and 4-6x girls clothes. That store is about 3000 square feet. I knew it was bad when they let a farm store move in to anchor the mall's other end, lol... Maybe JCPenny's IS closing!

grocery shopping

2008-11-15T22:06:00.004-06:00

Ok, so I got a lot of chuckles from family this week when I made a special trip to a grocery store a half hour from my parents house to do some expired coupon shopping. Expired shopping is really not that much harder than regular shopping... I have a little shoebox with cereal box cardboard dividers (4) that I put each months worth of expireds in. Each month I remove the oldest month and rename it (with pencil) and put in my "recent adds" in it and label it (so the end of this month, I will remove the August ones, and take my november "recent adds" (from earlier in this month) and put those in that August one along with my late-november expireds and rename it to November. Lots of the Cub Foods in the cities take expired coupons, up to 3 months usually. And to let you know if it was worth the gas.... I used about $50 worth of expired coupons on that trip. Thats $50 I wouldn't have had if I had just shopped at the St. Cloud Cub Foods. and many of those did not have current coupons for those products/values. I loaded up on cereal (small boxes) for ... average about .35c a box, I'd say. We go through 1-2 of those each day. so thats really only about a months worth!!

BUT... if its been a little while since you cleaned out your coupon file, you might find some expired Post $1.00/2 coupons. Rumor has it that Cub (or any grocery store??) will give you a catalina (checkout coupon) for $5 off your next giftcard purchase... which I just buy a grocery store card for that amount with it.... This past week, Cub was selling many post cereals for 5/$10, with 2 of those (expired) coupons, my total was $8... and then I got a $5 giftcard. Not bad! remember, though, it has to be one of those in the cities.

I took pictures but I'm just to plain tuckered out to post them tonight.

ETA on 12/3: Little late, I know. This pic was my first trip. I had to leave my parents with a box of Turkey oven bags and a box of Honey Bunches of Oats Chocolate cereal as a thank you for their grand-baby sitting while I was out shopping... Otherwise, its all there! All $46 worth, haha.

THEN... at the St. Cloud Cub I got 30 half-gallons of Wild Harvest Organic skim milk. They had to raincheck it because they had to special order that quantity. Now 20 of them are in my freezer downstairs. I had practically unlimited $1/1 any Wild Harvest Organic item coupons from the Wild Harvest website... and the 1/2 gallons were on sale for $2.67. So I paid $1.67... Thats cheaper/same as conventional milk! And its organic! You'd never know by my sugar-cereal stash that we are trying to transition to organic... lol. One step at a time.

The Deli Select will be free after rebate-- more about that in another post.

Let it snow!

2008-11-07T10:43:00.007-06:00

First snow of the winter today - 6 inches at at 8am, and still coming!

Ahhh, I got my new camera. My old one was a Kodak EasyShare CX7430 (4 MP) that served us well. We got it for our 2004 Christmas present to eachother. It was time... I was having to do so much editing to the pics just to make them useful... we actually put up with it being quirky, taking fuzzy, messed-up color pics for over a year... it was time.

The pic above is from our new camera -- my favorite part? Its UNEDITED! (except to make it smaller for the web) Our new camera is a Canon PowerShot SD870 IS (8MP). It was one of the highest-rated compact digitals at www.cnet.com . The most important feature to me was the shutter lag time, or "click-to-capture". My old Kodak did pretty well most of the time with this... I was surprised I couldn't find a "faster" camera, 4 years later.

So I've been doing some canning this past summer. It was a pain to get it out of our basement (currently under construction) off of our stacked washer and dryer... cleaning it, (sometimes even GETTING to it was a challenge!) So I put it on top of my kitchen cabinets as a piece of decor. Here is a sign I made for it. I like it so much I will probably leave it up year round. I am planning on finding an acorn for the center of the cluster on the top-right for it... and I need to find the dot for the "i"...

Fall punkins

2008-11-01T23:43:00.016-05:00

Punkin.. that was my nickname when I was a kid...

Here's my Punkins...

They sold about 7 of them - not bad considering most were chewed by moles! I think they netted about $16.

Though we don't celebrate halloween, we always have fun carving pumpkins. I was proud of Kate for picking a green one - I love how she dosen't mind being a little different :)

I did the Counting Our Blessings one (I love the surface carving stuff), and L-R, DH did geek-speak for "home", Kate carved a moon and stars and I helped Ava with a butterfly.

Funny tip - DH bought these weird mellon-ballers for our neice's school fundraiser a few years ago. They are completely useless. Except to gut the pumpkins - WOW!

I guess they are called Progressive Fruit & Vegetable Scoops.... er, I call them worthless-except-for-carving-pumpkins circley-thingies.

Cha-ching!

2008-10-31T13:35:00.004-05:00

When I was a little kid, I remember my parents always hushing us when they had the AM news radio station on - WJON. They were listening for the Value Connection deals... I'm so glad I don't have to do that - I have the internet!

Don't forget to check out your area's radio station for savings vouchers. They work like a gift certificate that you buy a $10 voucher for $6 or something like that. I am even subscribed to my areas stations that do that so I receive their super-hot limited time deals in my inbox. Works great for those admission fees at places and oil changes.

Here are the two I know of that are available in central MN. You can pay online and have them mail them to you or pick them up.

WJON's Value Connection

Spirit 92.9's Shop N' Save

Don't know of any around you? Try calling one and asking if they know of any. Many times radio stations are owned by parent companies and a sister station might offer these deals.

Ta-da! My Indoor Windowsill Garden!

2008-10-29T08:59:00.006-05:00

Well here it is! I can't wait for it to start growing! While the seeds are germinating, I am misting it twice a day with a spray bottle and covering it with a wax paper "tent". Boy, this was a lot of work! The window is 58 inches wide. I live in a split-level, so I kept having to go from the garage up to the kitchen to try the fit, then when that was done, I was out of foil, so I got some down from on top of my kitchen cabnets (I had it all along the top for plants, but now I just have 2 up there, so thats where I got 60+ continuous inches of foil, lol! ). Then I had to get the rocks from outside... Then some dirt from my mound outside... This used about 1/2 a 5 gallon bucket full of dirt! Thats a lot to shovel in the box with the little garden shovel! But it will be worth it and now I just have to sit back and enjoy!

a look at the assembly. Rocks, straws, dirt. I hope my straw idea will work.

While you're waiting...

2008-10-28T12:39:00.009-05:00

This is a great book. Linnea's Windowsill Garden is a fictional first-person journal of a little girl who lives in a big city and does some very creative gardening inside her apartment. I found it at a secondhand store and thought of it being a tool to help my kids get into gardening.. but then I read it cover to cover and its currently sitting on my bedside table! Its really cute.

I assembled my gutter. Ours are aluminum, and I had some hesitation because they are rather large, but hopefully it will look ok. They look a bit like a piece of coving, so I figured I don't need to add any decorative wood box around them. Just the ends look a bit goofy because of the endcaps on the outside. I can always put a plant that will drape over that to cover them.

I used some silicone caulk. I didn't think to look at the store for some sort of food-grade sealer. I may line them in alum. foil or something. As for drainage I think I will just borrow some rocks from our landscaping and line the bottom inch with and and add some vertical straws though to help the bottom "breathe." I can't wait for the caulking to dry so I can plant it!

All and all, I paid a whopping $2.50 for the endcaps, so if this is a beta-version, thats ok by me!

Windowsill herb/salad garden

2008-10-28T09:01:00.003-05:00

Me again. This is fun - in a way this keeps my thoughts organized! So after that last post I realized just how much we have benefited financially from having the garden, even if it was less than $50 (eventhough it was around $300 to put in, lol). When choosing what to grow I took into consideration how much it is in the store. Namely the celery. I usually would buy 2-3 stalks of celery in a year, and waste 90% of each one. I'd only need 2-3 ...sticks (?) for a meal here or there. At the greenhouse, they were selling 4-packs of seedlings for $1.18. That might be the cost of ONE stalk of celery. I really enjoyed going out there and grabing just what I needed for a pasta salad or soup or whatever.

So now I have a winter garden project idea. Many times lettuce goes to waste in this house. With the short shelf life and my Crohn's always being an issue, it dosn't get used up. Last year I grew lettuce, and it was "good" for quite some time, as long as it was in the dirt. So I am brainstorming a windowsill lettuce 'window box' and adding a little cilantro and basil too (and transplanting some celery). I hope you can grow lettuce indoors. I'm willing to try.

AND I mentioned to DH that a section of rain gutter would be just right for our windowsills, and then I'd build a decorative exterior to it and he reminded me we have extra gutter up in our garage! Yay! So I just have to buy a couple ends and I think we have a tube of caulking around here somewhere. Still trying to figure out the drain pan. I think I am going to try to rig up some self-watering/seeping system to keep the soil moist enough (esp. since it will be winter). Then the only problem will be where to put the plants that are currently on my windowsill...unless I take over DH's south-facing home office window, LOL! Hey, they say plants enhance your work morale, right?!

Ok, time to get cleaned up and go to the store!

My quirky organizational fetish

2008-10-27T09:26:00.008-05:00

Ok, so I am an avid box tops-milk caps-Campbell's soup label-store brand UPC-poptab-earn-money-for-school collector. And I used to keep a ziploc sandwich bag for each in a basket above my microwave for it. Well, I went and bought several generic cornbread muffin boxes (made best use of the depth of my drawer) of muffin mix and made and froze the muffins. Then I carefully opened each of the boxes and covered them with some extra scrapbook paper I had, cut slots and put dividers in some. I re-glued them and put a brad on the flap on the end, and one on the long side of the box and folded in the flaps and secured with an infant hair rubber band on each one (I find lots of uses for those!). Now, it only takes less than 2 inches of depth of my drawer in the kitchen and the kids can help put the things away! I love it - but I need to replace the boxes now (this is an old picture!) Guess I gotta get more cornbread muffin mix!

Continue on to this post for step by step instructions and more details...

My garden

2008-10-26T21:59:00.014-05:00

I love this garden. It's 12x25 (each terrace is 5 ft deep). This past spring, we added 2 more courses to the logs because it was too far into the ground (hard to work the ground that way). I do regret using treated timbers, as we are growing organic. Its all we could afford. We did line the bed walls, but still...

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Anyway, here are some pictures!

staked out in the background - Sp. 2007

-Our dirt in our area is full of clay. When we dug in to start each bed, we were digging in clay that you could practically throw a pot with. We were planting late already, so we used our clay for dirt - nothing really grew - got about 4 pumpkins, a few meals of corn on the cob and very small potatoes. Oh, and some lettuce and peas and beans. And I forgot to thin the carrots.

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Sp. 2008 after add-on, before dirt
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Dirt. Supposed to be 10 yds black, then we were going to get 5 yds. compost. So much for that - the guy delivered WAY too much! We only could use 4 beds this year because we didn't get to the pile left in the bottom bed. Put it this way - after each bed was filled with 8 more inches of dirt, that pile didn't look much smaller! (We are storing quite a bit on the TOP of the hill now - ugh - lots of work!)

-is is just me or is the neighbor's grass GREENER? LOL (DH had just de-thatched)

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2008- Harvesting pumpkins -- 22 0f 'em. Too bad moles got to most of them.

2008 harvest recap:

Apple tree died, but looks like it wants to resurrect itself as a bush. Need to transplant it though because its too close to the playset we just built)
blueberry vine never took
grape vine I thought died regrew - hoping the blueberry one will do that next year
22 pumpkins (about 14 chewed by moles)
3 squash (too many to count chewed by moles)
LOTS of Roma tomatoes (canned 4 spaghetti sauce, 4 pizza sauce and made lots of bruschetta! -- AND ketchup - the kids love it too - and I know whats in it!)
about 35 red potatoes
Lots of chives, celery
peas and beans had an early demise due to deer and a storm washing an avalance of dirt onto them from that surplus dirt pile.
4 cantaloupe
3 heads of Broccoli (didn't know it would regrow - but the plants were crowding out the peppers and celery anyway) -- WOW! This was the best broccoli EVER! (first time growing it too - i guess this is one thing that FRESH is definitely best!)
Onions... did ok. They fell victim to little toddler size 6 pink crocks stepping on them, though.
Forgot the thin the carrots (again). Used about 6 in soup, etc, the rest (scrawny ones) fed to some deer at the sanctuary
not enough rhubarb to do anything with (still planted in clay, though)
about 4 peppers. Enjoyed inviting parents out for Stuffed green peppers, as a thank you for sharing all their knowledge on canning/gardening with me (as well as helping put it in!)
Corn... this is embarrassing - I planted FEED corn by accident!! We always buy our seeds at the farm store that has chicks in the spring (as a thank you for letting my kids handle/maim/infect them, lol). I bought it out of a bushel basket that I could have sworn said Sweet corn. So...First meal, early season, was a little chewy...thought maybe we picked it too early. A few weeks later canned/froze several (like 10 cobs worth) and have 4 more cobs that evening for dinner and was WAY rubbery! Then I knew.....

Looking forward to an even better growing season next year!

2009 - plans

I am planting twice as many tomatoes, as the canning was fun
4 broccoli instead of 3, I think
SWEET CORN next year, duh.
Want to get in a little 3x3 bed of strawberries (I'm the only one that likes them)
Transplanted the rhubarb already
Planting a little extra corn
Might skip carrots. I always forget to thin them and the grocery store always has them as the free item, or cheap anyway.
Thought about skipping the potatoes since we aren't real big potato eaters and they take up a lot of room -- and are cheap to buy.... But then my picky eater found she liked them pan-fried (I know I know, fried -- BUT she eats them with MY ketchup!)
Watermelons by special request from said picky eater.
and pumpkins, of course! (fun to grow, and MUCH cheaper to grow your own!)

I have this all drawn out on graph paper - I'll try to post that sometime.

Can you grow garlic? In zone 3-4??

I wanted to get that bottom bed cleared out but never go to it. Its getting kinda late to do it too - we had our first snow flurries today!

It's obvious that this garden is too small. When we were putting it in we debated about making it 16 feet wide, but I wanted to conserve the middle of the hill for sledding and open play area. There is not much room to add on on the top or bottom. We are planning on putting a terrace on the top with our fire pit and maybe eventually grow our grapes on lattice up there, for a privacy fence. On the bottom of the garden, it is low, and I was thinking about putting a dry "riverbed" garden there and try to grow some asparagus there as well as flowers.

Yes, eventually moving out to a hobby farm is a dream - but I like the challenge of making it all work on this city lot -- and I don't think I could convince my DH to put in another raised garden again!! (I LOVE it!)

Thanks for reading my mega-post!

2008-10-26T19:45:00.000-05:00

Wow, I'm here. My blog. Where did the word "blog" come from anyway? Hmmm... Weird word. Anyway, so maybe I'll post my photo archive here... or shopping deals. I always think of emailing my great deals I find on www.Hotcouponworld.com to people, and sometimes do, but really, I might as well post them here and let people come check for them/subscribe for them. Lets see how this looks.