Minutes4Mom

Goodbye...For Now

2010-03-24T08:29:00.004-05:00

Where have I been? Well I have been at The Modest Mom for one.

You may have noticed that I haven't been blogging in awhile. There has been a reason for my absence. My mother became very ill (she has a terminal health condition) and moved in with my husband and I. We were busy reorganizing our home to fit her needs, move rooms from downstairs to upstairs, and getting our kitchen remodeled. We have also been hunting for a job for my husband, I was helping my sister get her new business started, and I started a little business of my own on the side. Good excuses huh?

During this time I was trying to decide what to do with my Minutes4Mom blog. I've had fun with it. Then I began blogging with my sister at The Modest Mom Blog. I have decided I don't have enough time in my life at present to keep up with two blog postings. For now I will retire myself from Minutes4Mom.

You can still find me blogging here at The Modest Mom Blog. Or you can order a skirt from my sister's business, The Modest Mom, and you may receive a skirt sewn by me.

Blessings to all and thanks for reading my ramblings and post!

Menu Plan for 1-4-2010

2010-01-04T10:41:00.003-06:00

The new year has begun with more snow than I ever remember in December to January and bitter cold. Make that real bitter cold. So cold I have no desire to go outside for some sledding. The thought of it makes me chilled. Right now all I want is a warm bowl of soup, hot cocoa, and a space heater. That will make my day! As you can see with my menu plan I will be making soup and plenty of it. I want my husband to be able to take it to work in his Thermos and give us some to work with as leftovers as well. We have more snow in the forecast. My plan is to run out this evening and get anything we need such as more eggs to be snowbound for a few more days. Some warmer weather, like maybe 30 degrees, will be most appreciated!

Breakfast
Monday- Oatmeal
Waffles
Egg Sandwiches, Applesauce
Cereal
Cream of Wheat Combo & Strawberry Yogurt
Blueberry Pancakes
Cereal

Lunch
Monday-Bean Burritos, Spanish Rice, Apples
PB&J Sandwich, Fruit, Veggies
Leftovers
Chicken Noodle Soup, Veggies, Rolls
Salad w Chicken, fruit, veggies
Leftovers
Salad w Tuna, fruit

Snacks
Blue Berry Muffins
Putter Fingers
Popcorn
Green Smoothie

Supper
Monday-Fiesta Chicken Casserole, Rice, Applesauce
Chicken Enchiladas, Corn, Green Beans
Potato Soup, Corn, Whole Wheat Bread, Green Beans
Leftovers
Chicken Noodle Soup, Mashed Potatoes, Stuffing, Green Beans
Leftovers
Broccoli Cheddar Soup, Muffins, Green Beans

Dessert
Brownies

Menu Plan for This Week

2009-12-28T10:00:00.004-06:00

Weekly Menu Plan
The past week my menu plan was not needed for the most part. We were able to spend the Christmas Holiday with family and enjoyed that greatly. My sister and I had a baking day with many goodies in house for family and giving as gifts to neighbors. While it was all fun to be with family and share we are back at home ready to get back into the swing of normal life.

Without scaring my husband too badly, I have a desire to be eating healthier than we have. I made a Barley Drink for us last week that he said tasted fine, he will drink it. I bought a BPA free plastic bottle at Wal-Mart for $2.00 that holds all 8 glasses of water you are supposed to drink in one day. I know I'm terrible at drinking as much water as I should. This will be an easy way to keep track of how much I'm getting down in a day and encourage me to try for more. You'll notice I don't have any desserts listed this week. We still have a few goodies laying around and that will suffice! My main goals are:

1. Exercise daily
2. Drink 8 glasses of water
3. Take the vitamins and herbs daily
4. Get more raw veggies into our diet
5. Drink barley water several times a week

This will not be a 360 degree turn from the menu plans I have had in the past, just refining how we eat. My sister did give me The Pioneer Woman's Cookbook for Christmas. My husband and cowboy food get along real well. That's the kind of cooking he loves. I must say that is one awesome cookbook! I found maybe 5 recipes we would not want to eat. I plan on working my way through her cookbook, one recipe at a time. Neil took a look through and will be pretty happy to have some of this food on his plate. I have a heart! :-) Now on to this week's menu:

Breakfast
Monday-Cream of Wheat Combo & Applesauce
Waffles
Pan Pancakes
Cereal
Oatmeal w Raisins & Applesauce
Country Breakfast Cereal
Cereal

Lunch
Monday-Salad w black beans, fruit, veggies
PB&J, fruit, veggies
Bean Burritos, fruit, veggies
Baked Potato w Broccoli & Cheese, Applesauce
Grilled Cheese Sandwich, fruit, veggies
Stir Fry Veggies & Rice, Sweet Potato
Leftovers

Snacks
Popcorn
Banana Bread
Celery w peanut butter
Yogurt

Supper
Monday-White Chicken Chili, Sweet Potato, Cornbread
Black Bean Soup, Sweet Potato, Corn
Creamed Chicken over Rice, Corn, Green Beans
Santa Fe Chicken, Pudding, Sweet Potatoes, Salad
Leftovers
Pigs N Beans in a Blanket, Rice, Pudding
Leftovers

Holiday Break

2009-12-26T16:22:00.003-06:00

It's wonderful to take a break and have a Holiday. Christmas Eve began a white Christmas for us here in the Midwest. We headed down to my sister and brother-in-laws house to be snowed in with them. It's been a fun vacation spending these past few days with them. We made it out to The Farm yesterday for Christmas with the family. Those of us with cars got stuck in the snow drifts and were dug, pushed, and pulled out. Last night my parents came down to Caroline and Sean's house for our Christmas celebration. It was a late night when we said good night. This morning we headed out to The Farm again for some winter excitement. The drive had been plowed again and we were able to make it all the way up to the house this time. My husband Neil and his brother Sean have been outside making snow forts and having snow ball fights with my nephews. I went out with my niece Carrianna and pulled her around in the sled before retiring in the house. The wood stove is going and I've been enjoying the best seat in the house, sitting on the fire box next to the stove. We are about to have some potato soup and sip on some hot cocoa.
What a wonderful winter day!

Pinecone Research Accepting New Members

2009-12-24T10:21:00.006-06:00

Pinecone Research is accepting new members at this time. I have been part of Pinecone Research for about four months now. If accepted you will be asked to occasionally fill out questionnaires so they know what product surveys to send you. There is no payment for the questionnaires ,but once you complete a survey you will get a check for $3.00. They have always been prompt in mailing out the $3 for each survey I fill out. It's not much, but it's a fun way to earn a little extra money each month. The surveys take 10-20 minutes to fill out, just depends on how fast you are. You will get products to try out the mail as well.

ONLY ONE PERSON PER HOUSEHOLD MAY REGISTER. Multiple registrations of the same Household will void all registrations. Go Here to sign up with Pinecone Research membership!

My new neice: Olivia Pearl

2009-12-22T09:39:00.002-06:00

I've been a little occupied the last few days. Saturday I was at the birth of my niece, Olivia Pearl. I took this picture of her when she was just a few minutes old. She is so beautiful! Just a precious baby girl who so far is very quiet unless she has a need. Her two older brothers and one older sister were very excited to meet her. My sister Caroline is doing very well and resting at home. I'm so thankful that all went well and this little sweetheart has joined the family.

Giveaway: Three (3) Red Kitchen Aids

2009-12-17T14:17:00.002-06:00

The Pioneer Woman is giving away three (3) Red Kitchen Aids today. I know a lot of people enter her giveaways so the odds are against you to win but I still enter. It just takes a second, and who knows, I may actually win sometime. Too much fun!

Go Here to enter for a Kitchen Aid!

My Animal Family Review

2009-12-17T12:28:00.002-06:00

Recently I picked up at the library the "My Animal Family" series. I have Leo the Lion, Korow the Chimpanzee, Ella the Elephant, and Nanuq the Polar Bear. In each 31 page book the character is a baby animal telling what their life is like. The story lines seem accurate from what I know of each animal. Each book is filled with paintings of the activities being described by the animal in the text of that page. I enjoy the paintings as they are soft but clear. The text is short enough to keep a 3 year old interested and the paintings detailed for the 5-9 year old. An extra bonus in each book is the DVD that is enclosed. For Leo the Lion there is BBC video footage of lions living in the wild being narrated by a child's voice pretending to be Leo the Lion. "I'm Leo and this is my family." Also included on each DVD is a animal facts section and song.

All the little people in my life have loved having me read the books to them then watch the DVD. It makes the story come alive to them. When you buy the books brand new you also get a secret pass word that allows you to enter a interactive web site with various educational games.

The book itself is very well made. The boards and paper are of high quality, the kind that I buy because it would last. The reading level listed is from pre-readers through beginning readers (3-9). The retail price is $12.99 and worth it to me with the DVD being included.

Family Advent Celebration

2009-12-16T16:18:00.002-06:00

I read on Your Sacred Calling a post about celebrating Advent at Christmas. I remember growing up some years at Christmas we would follow along in a Advent book with readings on certain days. My great-grandma had a felt calendar that was an Advent calendar up in her home. When I read this article I asked my husband to read it as well and see if it would be agreeable to begin this in our home next year. I think it's a wonderful way to focus on the "reason for the season".

From Your Sacred Calling on the Advent Celebration:

The celebration was based on the Scriptures, and on the real people who witnessed and participated in the coming of the Lord. As we read more about this traditional celebration, we saw that while the details varied greatly from family to family and church to church, its framework was consistent. Given this, we felt free to be creative; to use the basic traditions so well documented in the history of the Church, but to come up with a “Franklin” version including some new traditions of our own.

The word “Advent” literally means “Coming.” It has been tradition since the time of the introduction of the Christmas celebration in the 4th century for Christians to prepare their hearts to celebrate the Incarnation. Most often this preparation begins four Sundays before Christmas Eve, when the Advent wreath is put on display. The wreath is a circlet of evergreen foliage that contains five candles—four purple and one white. Each of these candles stands for a participant in the story of Christ’s birth. The first is the Candle of the Prophets. The second is Mary; the third, shepherds; and the fourth is for the angels. The fifth candle, the white one placed in the center of the wreath, commemorates Christ.

On each Sunday of Advent, we read Scripture and sing hymns or carols about the individuals focused upon, then we light the candles—one for this week and all the others preceding it. We then pray and perform another of the Franklin traditions: the giving of Advent gifts. There are generally three gifts given by the Franklin parents to each child each year, one for each of the first three weeks of Advent. We’ve chosen the number of gifts to represent the three gifts that were given to Jesus by the Magi.

The first Sunday, for example, we might read the Old Testament prophesies of the coming of Christ, sing “Oh Come, Oh Come, Emanuel!” and light the first candle in the wreath. Each child would then receive his first gift of the season. On the second week, we would read the story of Mary and Elizabeth, sing “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming,“ light both the Mary and Prophets candles and receive our second gift. It goes on in this fashion until all of the candles, except for the Christ candle, have been lit.

This last candle is lit, along with the rest, on Christmas Eve, when the entire Christmas story is read. Papa takes this night to summarize the whole Christmas story, from Creation and the first promise of a Savior, to the Crucifixion and Resurrection. For the Franklins, this night brings a great celebration, for it is the end of the waiting and anticipation of the Advent season. As part of our tradition, Christmas Eve is a time of hospitality to our church, family, and friends. Sharing the Christmas Eve candles, food and fellowship is the height of our holiday season.These four weeks of preparation are representative of the ages long past. We are reminded of the Old Testament patriarchs and of women like Mary and Elizabeth who looked forward, with faith, to the promise of the Messiah. We remember with joy and thanks that as Christians today, we look back and see clearly the fulfillment of that promise in the incarnation of Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection.

In the Advent, we are memorializing the fidelity of a God who promised and who fulfilled those promises. Our family’s ”Month before Christmas” advent celebration leads us to worship and proclaim the wisdom of God in bringing all things to men in His perfect time, and to the glory of His name.

Advent Calendar:

Day of the Prophets (in 2002, this is December 1st)Read: Isa. 9:2-7, Isa. 11, Isa. 7:13-16, Deut. 18:15-19, Psalm 89:1-4, Zech. 6:12-13 (All or a selection).

Sing: “Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel,” “Of the Father’s Love Begotten,” “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus”

Light: The first purple candle. Traditionally (for us), the oldest child lights the candle on this night, and the youngest blows it out.

Go Here to read the complete article and the information on the rest of the Advent Calendar.

This article first appeared in the November/December 2002 issue of Homeschooling Today magazine.

24-Hour Giveaway: 5 $100 gift cards to the store of your choice!

2009-12-14T15:50:00.002-06:00

If you head over to MoneySavingMom you can enter a great giveaway. ShopAtHome, an online cash back site that she has mentioned dozens of times, is generously buying a $100 gift card for five readers here of her blog. But get this: if you win, you'll get to choose what store you want your gift card to be to. You can choose from any of the stores she has listed. How fun is that?

Go Here to enter the giveaway!

Holiday Baking Day Recipes

2009-12-14T11:33:00.004-06:00

I think a Christmas Bake Day is so much fun! My Mom, sister, our mother-in-law, and I will be having our Bake Day on Wednesday if all goes as planned. We will each come with 2-4 recipes and ingredients and start all our baking. Then we'll take all the goodies that have been made and divide them between the four of us. We'll each keep some but also use what we have to make goodie trays as gifts to neighbors or family. I'm sure there are many ladies who do this. It's fun each year trying to come up with a list of items to bake. The hard part is narrowing it down to 2 or 3 recipes! From my list my husband chose Peanut Butter Brownie Cookies, and Deep Dark Fudge. I chose the Peanut Butter Crispy Balls. I just had them at a church social and they were really yummy. I'm linking to each recipe or posting it here. Maybe this will give you some good ideas for some Christmas baking of your own.

Here's the list I made to choose from:
Sugar Cookies

Chocolate Carmel Bars

Chocolate Waffle Cookies

Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

Snowball Cookies

Peanut Butter Kisses

Chocolate Cookie Sandwiches

Deliciously Dandy Ding Dongs

Deep Dark Fudge

Peanut Butter Brownie Cookies

Peanut Butter Crispy Balls

1 1lb. powdered sugar

2 cups creamy or crunchy peanut butter

1/2 cup butter~softened

2 tsp vanilla

3 cups cocoa flavored Rice Crispy
Mix butter and peanut butter together with vanilla, then add powdered sugar, then rice crispy. Roll into balls and enjoy.

Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 sticks butter softened

Cream together, then add:
2 eggs

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/3 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups oatmeal

nuts if desired
Drop by teaspoonful on greased cookie sheet in 375 oven. If you like a chewy cookie, remove from oven before you think that they are quite done.

Cherry Mash

2 cups sugar

2/3 cups evaporated milk

12 large marshmallows

1/2 cup butter

1 6 oz. pkg cherry chips

1 tsp vanilla

peanuts and chocolate melted together

Combine sugar,evaporated milk,marshmallows, and butter over medium heat. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Pour into pan and chill slightly until you can roll into balls. Dip in crushed peanuts and chocolate mixture that has been melted together with fingers and set on waxed paper to cool completely.

Giveaways Today at MoneySavingMom

2009-12-11T14:31:00.003-06:00

Crystal at MoneySavingMom decided to have another Friday Giveaway Day. Fun! Be sure to stop by her blog and join in the free gifts.

The Happy Scrappy Quilt Giveaway

2009-12-11T10:21:00.002-06:00

These two gorgeous quilts are being given away buy the Marie-Madeline Studio. If you have never visited them you just have to stop by. I love the colors and patterns they choose for their sewing. It's so feminine and bright. Plus they have sewing patterns they created so you can try your hand at a project as well.

As for the Giveaway. The Marie-Madeline Studio is giving away not one but two quilts! Both quilts are twin size, approximately 67" x 90", 100% cotton (with pretty fabric on the back!), machine quilted, and freshly laundered.

Go Here for a chance to win one of these beautiful creations!

Holiday Baking Decisions

2009-12-11T09:40:00.004-06:00

Deliciously Dandy Ding Dongs

Each year my sister, our mother-in-law (we married brothers!), and our mom want to get together and have a holiday bake. This year I'm stumped because I have so many things I would love to bake! Too many yummies, how to choose? I've been thinking about Granny's Sugar Cookies and letting my nephews help me ice them. I like Cherry Mash and my mother-in-law said she has a recipe that taste just like the real thing. I'm a big chocolate fan so some peanut butter with chocolate fudge sounds good. If you visit the Tasty Kitchen Holiday section you may get lost in more ideas like I did. The Deliciously Dandy Ding Dongs look scrumptious! My husband brought home a Hershey's Chocolate Cookbook one day. My, oh my, too many decisions! I finally came to a solution for all this. I'll let me husband pick out our recipes this year. It's a simple and fail proof plan. Done. I'll let you know what Neil picked out. Now I can move on....

Dave Ramsey 12 Day Giveaway

2009-12-09T10:57:00.003-06:00

For 12 days Dave Ramsey is giving away cash and other items. Today he is giving away $2,000!I'm a fan of Dave Ramsey and the no nonsense teaching he gives on getting out of debt and saving money. If you would like to learn more about Dave Ramsey and the 12 day Giveaway Go Here. You can enter the giveaways once a day. He has a number of his books, Cd's and more half off for the Christmas season. Great gifts!

Giveaway: 3 Nikon Cameras

2009-12-04T09:44:00.003-06:00

The Pioneer Woman has something good to giveaway today, 3 cameras!

She said about this Nikon Camera:

Here’s what I love about it:
1. Wide angle (28 – 112) zoom lens. The widest setting can really take some great shots: landscapes, cityscapes, cool angles from the ground. A whole room. Lots of things.
2. Vibration Reduction image stabilization, which really helps get crisp, clear shots—even if you’re shaking from a caffeine overdose.
3. High ISO! You can raise this sucker to 6400 ISO. Basically, this means if you don’t want to use the built in flash and you want to take indoor pics, this’ll make it more sensitive to light and help you out more.
4. It’s a pretty pearly-cream color.

So Go Here to enter!

24 Hours of Giveaways!

2009-12-04T09:26:00.003-06:00

Money Saving Mom is hosting a a Giveaway Day today! (Friday, December 4, 2009). All day long, She'll be posting fun giveaways for products and gift cards which I think you'll love--and find useful as well! So check back all day long and enter to win some great stuff! She has already begun posting the giveaways!

Free 2010 JumpStart Calendars

2009-12-04T09:23:00.000-06:00

You can get a free calendar 2010 calendar from JumpStart-Financial Smarts For Students. They are not shipping the calendars from December 19th-January 5th. Go Here to sign up for your calendar.

Free Printable 2010 Bird Photo Calender

2009-12-04T09:21:00.000-06:00

For those of you who would like to print out your own free 2010 calendar this is a beautiful one! You will have 12 months of beautiful photos of South Dakota birds. Go Here to print your calendar.

Free Betty Crocker 2010 Calendar

2009-12-04T09:19:00.000-06:00

If you sign up with one of three Betty Crocker e-newsletters you can for a limited time also get a 2010 free calendar. Go Here to sign up!

FREE 2010 Oriental Trading Company Calendar

2009-12-04T09:14:00.000-06:00

This morning I was on a hunt for free 2010 calenders. I found some more! Here's the first:

The Oriental Trading2010 Calendar includes:
A special money-saving offer for you each month!
New tips & idea starters to help you plan fun events all year long!
Shopping reminders for guaranteed holiday delivery.
Tons of unique dates to celebrate every month, such as "National Ice Cream Day!"

Go Here to sign up for your free calendar.

Win a New Prize Every Day in December!

2009-12-03T10:00:00.005-06:00

I stumbled across this December freebie giveaway from Woman's Health. The entire month of December they are giving away a free prize, just enter to win. This is today's prize:

A Lole Cuddle Sweater

Go Here to enter and learn more.

Pillsbury Free 2010 Calendar

2009-12-03T09:48:00.002-06:00

I found a fun 2010 free calendar from Pillsbury. When you create a profile and sign up to receive the Pillsbury® or Cooking 4 Two email newsletter, you can access exclusive member benefits on Pillsbury.com, and receive a FREE* Pillsbury® 2010 Calendar! Quantities are limited so Go Here to get your free calendar before they are gone.

Free 2010 Calendar

2009-12-03T09:31:00.003-06:00

I'm already needing to use a 2010 calendar at my house. I thought I would take a look around and see if I could find a free calendar since this one will be used for appointments, church activities, etc. I didn't want to print one of my computer. I found this calendar that will give information on woman's health as well. You can choose the English or Spanish version.

Click here for your free calendar. (US only) You will only be able to get one calendar per household. You can't beat free!

This Week's Menu Plan

2009-11-30T12:32:00.003-06:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. I was amazed that all the food we were preparing was done on time. We are notorious for being late much to the guy's chagrin. This year I fixed the turkey at my house and brought it along. That way the oven at my sister's house was free for the rest of the food still baking. That made the difference!

I'm looking forward to a quieter week here at home. There are no desserts listed as we still have plenty of desserts left over from Thanksgiving meals. What a bounty we have in this land!

Breakfast
Monday- Cereal
Easy Crescent rolls & Eggs
Mama’s Muesli
Cream of Wheat, Banana Muffin
English Muffins, Cottage Cheese, & Applesauce
Yogurt, fruit, bagel
Cereal

Lunch
Monday-Grilled Cheese, fruit, veggies
Baked Potatoes w Broccoli & Cheese, Applesauce
Leftovers
Stir Fry Veggies & Rice, Sweet Potatoes
PB&J Sandwich, fruit, veggies
Mac Chicken Cacciatore, fruit, veggies
Potluck: Lentil Soup

Snacks
Blue Berry Muffins
Spiced Bars
Popcorn
Green Smoothie

Supper
Monday-Chicken Pot Pie, Sweet Potatoes, Green Beans
Quiche, Salad, Corn
Leftovers
Chili, Herbed Potatoes, Juice Jell-O

Visiting
Cheeseburger Joes, Salad, Corn, Beets
Farmhouse Chicken, Corn, Beets, Sweet Potatoes

Tip for Lowering Your Heat Bill

2009-11-30T10:59:00.004-06:00

With winter cold fast approaching I am thinking about keeping our heat bill low. I am cold natured and it is tempting to crank up the heat all day and night. Not so great for our budget however! I seem to be the one in the family freezing at night. My first tip for keeping warm at night is to use fleece or flannel sheets on your bed. Once I put our flannel sheets on the bed my husband and I were amazed how much warmer that kept us. We also use a fleece blanket. Unlike a cotton blanket the fleece won't let the warmth escape. The best thing to wear and stay warm in is a good set of fleece pajamas. A few years ago my Mom bought my sister and I some nice fleece pajama tops and bottoms from Kohls. They are a thick fleece and I can’t believe how warm I stay in those PJ’s! I keep so warm in fact that I only wear them on real cold nights or I wake up in the middle of the night and have to change into something cooler! One night I wore them and was so hot I could only use a sheet instead of a blanket. Wear a nice warm pair of socks and the only thing that will be cold is your nose. :-)

Bundle everyone up on your house with fleece PJ's and fleece bedsheets and who knows how low you can turn the heater down at night! Do be aware with infants and elderly people they can't tolerate the temperature turned down like older children, young adults, and middle aged adults.

Something that has saved us money is having an thermostat that can be automatically set for running specific temperatures at times you schedule. For example if you set it to run at 60 during the night and times when you will be away from the house. Then set it for 65 at the time you normally get out of bed until you normally go to bed. We could tell an immediate cost savings when we began running our new thermostat this way. These are just a few ideas that I hope will be helpful at lowering your heating bill.

George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation

2009-11-26T09:57:00.001-06:00

Yesterday I heard someone refer to Thanksgiving Day as turkey day. As a reminder to all of us as to the meaning of Thanksgiving Day, here is the original proclamation given to the nation by President George Washington.

delivered 3 October 1789, New York

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their Joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanks-giving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the greatest degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the People, by constantly being a government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executived and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Thanksgiving Thoughts

2009-11-26T09:56:00.000-06:00

As I think on the past year I have so many things to be grateful for. The blessings are over flowing. To mention a few that immediately come to mind:

My Saviour, Jesus Christ and the gift of eternal life made possible by His sacrifice.

My husband~ the most wonderful man in the world :-)

My family~ what would I do without their encouragement and the joy they bring?

My church family~I'm blessed to be part of a church that practices charity and desires to be a blessing to the other.

Our home~Neil and I are very blessed to have our own home. We are so grateful to family and friends who have helped us this past year in our needed "to do" projects on our fixer upper.

Our nation~We are a very blessed people to live in a land of such freedom.

Food~While many seem to justify Thanksgiving Day as a day of gluttony and nothing else we could remember as we eat the many of this world who have nothing or near nothing. The food on our tables is a bounty others can only imagine.

On Thanksgiving Day my family desires to treat it as a day to remember all God has given us. We will sing hymns, have a skit, read scriptures and have prayer. We will also have a traditional Thanksgiving meal. The Thanksgiving hymn I would like to share this year is one of my favorites and expresses the praise I have to God! Have a blessed Thanksgiving and remember all you have been given and enjoy.
Hymn Of Joy

Let us brothers, let us gladly

Give to God our all, our best

Service hearty, thorough, honest,

With a living love impressed

All our duty, all our striving

All our time to Him belong;

Praise Him then with true devotion;

Come before Him with a song.

By His mercy,by His bounty,

By the gift of Christ, His Son,

What great goodness he hath shown us,

What high marvels He hath done;

Let us to Him promply,freely,

Yield our bodies and our souls,

Thankful that his love protects us,

That His wisdom all controls.

Gracious Lord, accept our service

For the sake of Christ, thy Son;

Lo, our hope abideth only

On the travail he hath done.

Bless and save us; help and guide us;

Watch to comfort and restore,

Till in heaven we rest rejoicing,

Praising Thee forevermore.

Black Friday Deals

2009-11-25T13:29:00.002-06:00

If you are planning on joining the crowd at the stores this year for Black Friday then you should Go Here to get the scoop on all the deals. I haven't seen many great deals in the ads so far, however I'm not looking at any big ticket items. I'm very grateful to be staying home on Friday and catch up on some home projects. No place like home!

6 Tips For Easier Cleanup After a Big Thanksgiving Meal

2009-11-25T10:11:00.003-06:00

These great tips were found at Hillbilly Housewife. This is a blog my Mom loves and refers to often for recipes and more. Be sure to go visit!

Does it take you as long to clean up after Thanksgiving dinner as it does to prepare your feast? Being up to my elbows in greasy dishes and dirty pots and pans isn’t exactly my idea of the end to a perfect day.

However, a big meal does produce a lot of dishes. What are some of the ways we can reduce this tedious chore at the end of the day?

1) Use an oven bag to roast your turkey. This works well for me for several reasons. Soaking a roasting pan is a chore I’d rather eliminate and because the nice brown bits don’t stick to the roasting pan, they’re inside the bag, clean up is much easier. Plus, the other upside to roasting my turkey in an oven bag is it captures the juices and browns itself right in the bag. No basting. Saves some of the fussing which wastes time, and saves a lot of the clean up, which also wastes time.

2) Make as many one dish items as you can. If you’re mixing together mushroom soup, milk, and sour cream for a dish, do it all in the casserole you’re using. If when you’re preparing your dishes you see two or three mixing bowls lined up, re-examine your method and consolidate if you can.

3) Consider some disposable utensils. Your best dishes may be sacrosanct for your Thanksgiving dinner, but consider one tiny step to getting rid of a small portion of your clean up detail. How about using small festive paper plates just for dessert? And, don’t forget to remind everybody to hang onto their forks after dinner! Your dinner guests love to accommodate this request, especially when they know dessert’s on its way!

4) Line every casserole dish with tin foil. This is a no brainer for me. I’ve learned long ago to line those stuffing casseroles with tin foil because that stuff really stick to the sides of a dish. You can eliminate a lot of soaking and scrubbing with this little trick.

5) Wash as you go. I must give credit to my Hubby for this one. Before you even begin your chopping and mixing, fill the sink with hot soapy water. Every thing you use goes in and as you move to the next dish, the first thing you do is wash up what you used and it’s done. This is also a nice method especially when you have limited measuring cups, spoons, and mixing bowls. Everything is ready for the next step and nothing piles up.

6) Prepare what you can ahead of time. Of course, anything you can make a day or two ahead of time will help the clean up process. But, don’t forget that something as simple as chopping onions and celery and storing them in a zip lock bag will help, too. Having your cutting boards and knives clean and ready on Thanksgiving morning for other tasks is a real time saver

Thanks Hillbilly Housewife!

Egg Nog Recipe

2009-11-25T09:40:00.003-06:00

I do not like eggnog. At all. Zip zero. On the other hand my husband loves it. I just bought him a eggnog at the store as a special treat yesterday but I would like to try this recipe for homemade eggnog soon. Who knows, maybe if it's homemade I would convert and like it too?

Homemade (Cooked) Egg Nog

-6 egg yolks (do not use whole egg)
-1/4 cup sugar
-1/4 tsp salt
-1 quart milk
-1 tsp vanilla
-1/4 tsp nutmeg (optional)
-1/4 tsp cinnamon (optional)

PREPARATION: Beat eggs, sugar and salt together in a mixing bowl. Whisk in the milk. Cook mixture over a double boiler whisking occasionally. When it is fairly thick and thinly coats a spoon, remove from heat. Remove from heat and mix in the vanilla, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

Thanks Your Sacred Calling!

Let's Say Thanks To Our Troops

2009-11-24T09:37:00.005-06:00

I just read about this awesome program called “Lets Say Thanks” which is a program that gives anyone the opportunity to send a free printed post card to US Military personnel stationed overseas showing our support and appreciation for their service to our country.

Each card was hand drawn by a child. The program chose designs from hundreds that were submitted from all around the country. The fun part is that you can actually choose your design and then pick a message and hit submit. From there your card will be printed and sent to one of the soldiers who are fighting for us somewhere overseas.

I would encourage you to stop and take a few minutes to give thanks to those who are serving their country in the military. I'm sure they appreciate being remembered!

Thanks Painter Mommy.

Thanksgiving on a Budget

2009-11-24T09:24:00.003-06:00

Here's another great post at MoneySavingMom. There were a group of bloggers who shared their Thanksgiving on a Budget ideas for a week. Their main goal was to show you how you could create a simple Thanksgiving celebration for your family without spending a fortune to do so.

Here's what they shared:

A Hassle-Free Method for Cooking Your Thanksgiving Turkey
My Favorite Dinner Roll Recipe
Maple-Roasted Butternut Squash and Almond Pecan Pie
Eye-Pleasing and Inexpensive Food Presentation
Setting a Beautiful Table and Cultivating a Thankful Heart

I would Go Here to read the rest of the post and read over 120 round up post sharing favorite recipes, helpful tips, ideas for simplifying the Thanksgiving menu, decorating how-to's, or special traditions a family has.

Free Thanksgiving Dowloads

2009-11-24T08:55:00.002-06:00

At Money Saving Mom she posted a number of Thanksgiving freebies. I would take a look at her free Thanksgiving Downloads which include cookbooks, crafts, and more. You can't beat free!

Thanksgiving Week Menu Plan

2009-11-23T10:03:00.003-06:00

This is going to be a busy busy week at my home. I'm singing in the Independence Messiah Choir which performs this Saturday with the Kansas City Symphony. We have three rehearsals this week and I wanted simple easy meals to prepare. Thanksgiving Day I will be spending with family. Sunday we have another family Thanksgiving Dinner to be at. Whew. I hope each one has a blessed Thanksgiving celebration with their family this week!

Weekly Menu Plan

Breakfast
Monday-Cream of Wheat combo & Applesauce
Pan Pancakes
Cereal
Oatmeal w Raisins & Yogurt
Country Breakfast Cereal
French Toast Casserole w Blueberry Sauce
Cereal

Lunch
Monday-Bean Burritos, Oranges, Broccoli Rice
Salad w Tuna, Oranges, Applesauce
Leftovers
Thanksgiving: I bring Turkey, Green Bean Casserole, Pumpkin Pie
PB&J Sandwich, fruit, veggies
Salad w black beans, fruit, Chocolate Pudding
Family Thanksgiving: Strawberry Jello w strawberries

Snacks
Popcorn
Banana Bread
Celery w peanut butter
Yogurt

Supper
Monday- Stir Fry veggies & Rice, Sweet Potatoes, Salad
Marinated Steak, Rolls, Sweet Potatoes, Green Beans, Corn
Grandpa’s Delight, Yogurt Cornbread, Champagne Salad
Popcorn & Apples w peanut butter
Salmon Patties, Sweet Potato Casserole, corn
Leftovers
Turkey Tetrazzini, Green beans, Corn

Baked Sweet Potato Casserole

2009-11-23T09:59:00.002-06:00

This is my favorite sweet potato casserole. I really can't bear the sweet potatoes casseroles so soaked in sugar and marshmallows that it's hard to tell you are eating sweet potato too! To me this has the perfect blend of sweet potato and sweetness without being a dessert.

Baked Sweet Potato Casserole
6-8 cups mashed sweet potatoes
1/4 cup softened butter
1 cup honey
1 Tb vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
dash cinnamon
2 eggs

Blend all together until smooth. Bake in a 9x13 pan for 35 minutes.

Champagne Salad

2009-11-23T09:53:00.002-06:00

This is a special treat. So special that this will be the first time in a year we have had it with a meal. :-)

1 8 oz cream cheese softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 10 oz pkg frozen sliced strawberries, thawed
2 bananas sliced
1 large can (20 oz) crushed pineapple, drained
large Cool Whip (12 oz)

Beat softened cream cheese until creamy. Add sugar and blend together. Fold in the strawberries, bananas, and pineapple. Stir well. Fold in Cool Whip. Pour into 9x13 pan and refrigerate or freeze.

Cream of Wheat Combo

2009-11-23T09:50:00.002-06:00

This makes the Cream of Wheat give some nutritional kick. Good way to start the morning! This serves 3.

Soak overnight: 1tsp. flax seed in the pan you will cook in. In a measuring cup add:
3 tsp wheat bran
9 tsp cream of what
5 heaping tsp quick oats
1/4 tsp salt

Stir dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Fill up the pan with about 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add the dry ingredients and cook on low for about 10-15 minutes.

Recipes for Freezer Meals

2009-11-23T07:39:00.005-06:00

As I wrote about in the Freezer Meals & Ready Meals For New Moms post we had a Freezer Day recently at my church for an expecting mom, my sister Caroline.

Caroline & Baby

When you have these meals ready for the freezer don't forget to label the Ziploc bags or freezer containers. Make it easy for yourself and out the baking temperature and time needed on the label as well. That way you don't have to dig or search for a recipe, all the info you need for supper is right before you.

A tip on freezer containers I learned from my mother-in-law. You don't have to go to the store and spend money on special containers. As you go through normal life save any containers you could use for freezer meals. That would be yogurt, butter, sour cream, cottage cheese, dips, and etc. containers that you use. When all is gone wash them out well and save for freezer containers.
Skillet Lasagna Mix:
1/4 cup plus 2 Tb instant dry milk powder
2 Tb plus 2 tsp cornstarch
2 tsp chicken or beef bouillon granules
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp dried parsley flakes
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup dried minced onion
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
3 cups egg noodles

Layer the ingredients in the order given in a wide mouth 1 quart canning jar. Pack each layer in place before adding the next ingredient. Attach a gift tag with the cooking directions. If you aren't giving as a gift it can all be placed in a quart Ziploc bag.

To Make Skillet Lasagna:
Makes 6 servings
1 batch Skillet Lasagna Mix
1 1lb. ground beef
2 cups water
1 (16 oz.) can tomato sauce
2 cups mozzarella cheese

In a large skillet, brown beef and crumble. Drain off fat and add Skillet Lasagna Mix, water and tomato sauce. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring until thickened. Top with Mozzarella cheese 5 minutes before serving. Turn off heat, stop stirring and allow cheese to melt.

Easy Pleasing Meatloaf
Go here for the recipe. Once the recipe is made you can put it in the meatloaf pans with heavy foil or wax paper lining the pans and flash freeze until the meatloaf is frozen enough to hold it's shape. Once it can hold it's shape take out of the pans and cover, put in a Ziploc bag and it's ready to go.

Pizza
Go Here for the recipe for the Pizza Crust. Make the crust first so it can be rising then gather your ingredients desired. The crust will be pre-baked for about 6 minutes then all the sauce and toppings add and frozen.

Potatoes with Ground Turkey
Buy a ten pound bag of potatoes. Peel and dice to bite size pieces. Salt and pepper well then fry up with oil in several large skillets. Put in one huge bowl when done. Have 3 lbs of ground turkey thawed. Use Turkey Sausage recipe to season the meat while cooking in a skillet. Once it is done you will combine the Potatoes and Ground Turkey together and bag desired amounts in the freezer. When it is pulled through the freezer you will thaw it out then cook it up in a skillet with scrambled eggs (and cheese if desired) for a yummy fresh breakfast.

Turkey Sausage
3 lbs ground turkey
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp savory
5 tsp sage
3 tsp salt
2 tsp marjoram
1/4 tsp thyme
1 Tb Olive Oil in pan

Mix all seasonings together first in a bowl. Then sprinkle over turkey as it browns.

Farmer's Wife Oatmeal Cookies
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
3 cups oats
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup raisins

Beat eggs and add sugar and butter. Blend well then add the raisins and vanilla. Add the rest of the ingredients. Make small balls and place on cookie sheet. The cookie balls can be placed close together since they won't be cooked at this time. Place in freezer to flash freeze until firm. Take out and place all the cookie balls in Ziploc bags and label. When baked they need 375 degrees for 9-10 minutes.

Creamed Chicken
Go here to this great website for your Creamed Chicken recipe. Once the Creamed Chicken is made it can be frozen in Ziploc bags (be warned that is the messy method) or in freezer containers. When you pull it out of the freezer to use it can be served over rice, biscuits, toast, or noodles. See the recipe for even more meal ideas with the Creamed Chicken. Yummy!

Homemade Breakfast Hot Pockets
The recipe is here along with pictures that show you how to make them step by step. If you are having a Freezer Day I would advise having someone start on these first thing. The dough takes like 3 hours total to be ready to put in the oven to bake. On our Freezer Day everything else was done and in the freezer with all the other ladies able to go home. My sister Caroline and I were still at the church waiting on these to finish. Once they are baked and cooled they can be frozen.

According to Caroline they are worth the work!

ABC Muffin Mix
The recipe is here along with the many variations of muffins you can make with this mix. This doesn't have to be frozen. Instead it can be kept in the cupboard in a large glass or plastic container. It is very handy to have this mix ready to go!

This was our Freezer Day. You can see how wonderful it would be to have these tried and true recipes in your freezer ready to pull out. You can always try a little at a time and build your freezer meals slowly. Last night I put a package of chicken breast in the crock pot with seasoning and plenty of water. I plan on using the chicken to make 3 recipes of the Creamed Chicken. I can use the chicken broth from the crock pot for the recipe. I'll be happy to have these ready to go for a meal later down the road on a busy evening. It can be that simple and quick to begin stocking your freezer!

Freezer Meals & Ready Meals For New Moms

2009-11-20T15:21:00.006-06:00

In the church I attend we have two wonderful plans for helping pregnant mothers and their family after their baby has been born. Several weeks before the baby is born we have a freezer meal day. We have someone each year that volunteers to be the coordinator for the freezer/warm meals for new mothers. The expectant mother comes up with several recipes that would work for their family.That coordinator takes the recipes and buys the food needed for the freezer day. It is announced that we having a freezer day and all the mothers who can make it show up. I'm the coordinator this year and we set a time for 9:30 AM.

I went out and bought the food for the recipes we were using this time. Our budget is $50 per freezer meal day at this point. I made it at $51. If the mother has some extra food she would like to have help getting together on this day she can bring that food along but pay for it herself.

My goal for this freezer meal day was to begin at 9:30 and end by noon. To help expedite the day I put all the chicken in the crock pot and had it cooked up by morning. I kept the chicken broth from the crock pot for the meal we were putting together. I then cut up all the chicken here at home and brought it to church. This freezer meal day was for my sister Caroline. She came up with these recipes she wanted to have made:

Freezer Meals for Caroline:
4 Pizzas
2 meat loafs
3 of Breakfast Hot pockets
3 of Creamed Chicken
3 of Potatoes with Ground Turkey
ABC Muffin Mix
3 of Skillet Lasagna Mix
2 of Pride of the Farmer's Wife Oatmeal Cookies
Homemade Wheat Bread

We had nine ladies who came to help with the freezer meal. Almost all of these ladies have young children they brought with them. Here's how we did it:

1. We took turns watching the children in the fellowship room, 1 mother for 30 minutes at a time before the next mother took over.

2. As we began our freezer day we had several stations set up ready to go with a recipe. There were 2 Kitchen Aids and 1 Bosch Mixer. We had the Muffin Mix ingredients together in one spot with a large bowl for one mother to start on. We had another large bowl with ingredients for the Skillet Lasagna Mix.

3. Other mothers began helping with things that would take the longest in preparing first. For example one lady got started on the pizza dough immediately. This was the meal she prepared from beginning to end. While the pizza dough was rising she helped with other small quick jobs for another meal. Another lady started on the calzone dough for the Breakfast Hot pockets since that would take awhile to rise. While it was rising she made the cookies with a friend and spooned out the cookie dough onto cookie sheets. They had them done and in the freezer to flash freeze before her dough had risen.

4. Have someone in charge of the meal preparations who can try and assign ladies to a certain meal or portions of a meal to keep things going quickly. Several ladies peeled all the potatoes, cut them up, and fried them on the stove in several skillets for the Potatoes with Ground Turkey.

5. Someone can be in charge of cooking up all the meat on the stove.

6. Once all the ingredients have been prepared they can be put in bowls in the fridge until needed to assemble. For example we had all the ground turkey and hamburger cooked before we had to use them. We put them in bowls in the in the fridge separated in the amounts needed for the meals they would go in.

7. Have fun together in the kitchen! I think all the ladies enjoyed the time together and we got done by noon. If you go longer than this you can plan on having each family bring their own lunch or order pizza.

This is the essence of the freezer meals. Now the mom to be has some meals and or mixes to be a blessing to the family for the week before or after a baby is born. There were some ladies who were unable to make it to the Freezer Meal day. For those ladies they can be asked to make something at home them bring it to the church freezer and leave it in there marked for the mother. One lady is making all the bread as she wanted to help but was out of town on this day.

In the past there have been freezer meals made where there was a list of the food wanted and different ladies volunteered to make this in their own homes. No one met at the church at all. One lady made the pizza and put it in the freezer. Another made meatloaf, another the bread, and so on. I personally prefer meeting at the church and getting it all done together in a few hours. Plus when we have it done in the homes the ladies will bear more of a burden financially in making the meal in their own home. It's hard to spread $50 among those who help although the meat is still paid for and given to them. When we have it done in the church kitchen we can use flour, sugar, spices, etc, that are already in the church kitchen without an added expense to those helping us. Which ever way you do it these freezer meals will be a blessing to the family receiving them.

The second part of this gift for a new mother is bringing warm meals for a week. This is very simple. When we know a baby has been born the coordinator gets a list of days the mother would like to have meals brought to their home. It is one weeks worth of meals normally although a mother could ask for it every other day. If there has been some especially difficult situation with the birth or baby bringing in warm meals may last for 2 weeks. You create a sign up sheet of the days the new mother needs warm meals and ask ladies to sign up for one of those days. If you have signed up for a day you prepare the warm meal and deliver it to the new mom and her family at the time they normally eat supper. It is greatly appreciated by the family!

I think this is a wonderful help to new mom's! I'm so thankful we do this at our church. I think it's an idea that should be spread around and implemented in other churches as a way to help families with new babies.

Coming next: The recipes we used for the Freezer Meal day.

Giveaway: (3) Kitchen Aid Mixers & 25 copies of The Pioneer Woman Cooks

2009-11-18T13:00:00.007-06:00

The Pioneer Woman is on a whirlwind tour of the Midwest. Today she is visiting the most awesome state in the union, Missouri. (Okay, I know. Subject to personal opinion, which I just gave!) While on the Midwestern leg of her Griswold Family Book Trip of ‘09 she is being sweet and giving a few items away you might want to try and win.

As The Pioneer Woman says:

Because I love you more’n my luggage, I’m giving away three (3) of these lovely candy apple red Kitchen Aid mixers. They won’t change your life. They’ll just make it a little shinier.
In addition, though it’s not nearly as exciting as the pretty red mixer, I’ll be giving away 25 copies of my cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks, to randomly selected entrants.

I would like to get my hands on one of these cookbooks so I'll be heading straight over to enter the giveaway. See you there! May the best number win. :-)

Go Here to enter the Giveaway.

50 more free custom photo cards with free shipping!

2009-11-18T09:14:00.003-06:00

Here's another great deal on getting 50 free custom photo cards with free shipping.

Go here and order 50 4x8 photo cards. Once you put them in the cart, use the code newbaby at checkout and you should get the cards for free--including free shipping! You must create an account to use the code.
I just placed two separate orders of 50 cards each for a total of 100 free custom Christmas photo cards!
By the way, if you want to order some custom mailing labels to ship out your photo cards with, you can order 140 here for only $3 shipped.
Custom photo cards, envelopes, and custom labels for $3 plus the cost of stamps? Now that's what I call a deal!

Thanks Money Saving Mom!

50 free custom photo cards with free shipping!

2009-11-18T08:52:00.004-06:00

This is an awesome deal my sister brought to my attention. Thanks Freebies4Mom!

"You can order 50 free 4x8 photo cards using the coupon code freebies4mom-1109 (type in that code) at SeeHere by Fujifilm. There is no catch, this truly is a freebie and I'm able to bring it exclusively to my Freebies 4 Mom readers thanks to SeeHere. I ordered my 50 free 5x7 photo cards and my order total of $39.50 was slashed to $0.00 with that coupon code. This coupon code expires on November 30 so you have plenty of time to design your free photo cards.If you are new to SeeHere you can also get 100 FREE PRINTS from SeeHere.com by FujiFilm when you sign-up for a new account using the coupon code prints (but you need to order those 100 free prints separately from the 50 free photo cards)."

This free deal ends November 30th so don't wait to get these ordered!

Go Here to read the complete post and her tips for creating your photo cards.

This Week's Menu

2009-11-16T08:40:00.003-06:00

Weekly Menu Plan

After a week of an unplanned blogging break due to family responsibilities I'm back! While the break was needed due to time constraints I have all sorts of ideas for postings. Last week I was again realizing what a blessing it is to have menu plans. Not only does it save money on groceries since you aren't in the store guessing what food you will need, it is very helpful in keeping everyday life running smoothly. Just so you all know, I do not stick to my menu plan in a rigid manner. I'm very flexible although yes this is the meals we eat in week. It is a general plan. By that I mean if I have spinach that needs used asap then we will have the creamed spinach over salmon patties on Monday instead of Friday. I always work with what I have in the fridge or pantry. If it looks like a veggie is going bad quicker than I planned on, that portion of a meal may get changed with a side from another meal. If I planned on the steak meal on Monday but we will have a very busy evening and need to leave home, then I would decide to do something like the Stir Fry veggies supper instead in that night since it will go so much quicker. Since I am scheduled but flexible in the meals it makes life so much easier. It's not the end of the world on Monday night if I forgot to thaw out the steak. I'll fix another meal on our plan then thaw the steak and have it the next night. So yes, get your meals planned, but give yourself some breathing room as well in there. Then have fun cooking!

Breakfast
Monday- Cream of Wheat & Applesauce
Oatmeal & Yogurt
Cereal
Bread, Egg, & Potato, Yogurt
Bagels, Cottage Cheese, Applesauce
Cereal

Lunch
Monday-Mac N Cheese w Tuna, fruit
PB & J, Juice Jello, Corn Chips
Leftovers
Baked Potatoes w Broccoli & Cheese, Applesauce
Grilled Cheese Sandwich, Applesauce, Veggies
Leftovers
Potluck: Pumpkin Pie Cake, Veggie Tray

Snacks
Popcorn
Apples & Peanut Butter
Cheese & Crackers
Putter Fingers
Bananas

Supper
Monday- Marinated Steak, Rolls, Sweet Potatoes, Green Beans, Corn
Plaza III Steak Soup, Yams in Orange Sauce, Pudding
Visiting
Stir Fry veggies & Rice, Sweet Potatoes, Salad
Simple Chili, Herbed Potatoes, Yogurt Cornbread, Salad
Leftovers
Creamed Spinach Over Salmon Patties, Green Beans, Corn

Dessert
Granny’s Sugar Cookies

Freezer Meals For a Month

2009-11-05T08:50:00.003-06:00

Money Saving Mom has spent the last two days working on freezer meals. The picture is all the food she has been able to prepare and store in the freezer for the coming month. Awesome! At our church we prepare freezer meals for new mother's so they don't have to be up and cooking the few weeks after their baby is born. I think these recipes would be a great plan of action for an upcoming freezer day. I'll have to check with the mom first!

These are the recipes Money Saving Mom used:

Here are the final tallies along with links to the recipes:
2 dozen Whole Wheat Waffles

2 dozen Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

2 dinners' worth Freezer Mashed Potatoes

2 batches Granola

3 dinners' worth of Turkey Meatballs

3 dinners' worth of Slow Cooked Pepper Steak

3 dinners' worth of Farmhouse Chicken

8 dinners' worth of Chicken Tetrazinni (I made two different varieties since we really like this!)

4 dinners' worth of Chicken Broccoli Rice

All in all, we now have 21 dinners in our freezer plus at least 14 breakfasts and some snacks and sides. That will most certainly cover our dinners for the next month (and we still have some meals leftover from last month's Freezer Cooking Day!) plus a number of breakfasts, too. What a great feeling!

Before you start your own freezer day I would encourage you to go read this post and another one here. These post will explain how Crystal planned these freezer meals and what she would do differently next time.

Free Holiday Address Labels

2009-11-05T08:28:00.003-06:00

I really like Vista Print. They have some great deals, including free business cards with your payment on the shipping. Right now you can get 140 Holiday address labels for free from Vista Print. You just have to pay shipping and handling which is around $3. That is still a really good deal because you can upload your own picture and personalize them.

Just visit VistaPrint.com. Once there:

Look on the left hand side under Home and Family
Click on Holiday.
Then click on labels.
You can then choose from return address labels or Photo return address labels.

Thanks to Penny Pinching Diva.

Giveaway: two (2) sets of Le Creuset cookware

2009-11-03T09:36:00.002-06:00

The Pioneer Woman is at it again. Giving stuff away. For free. I'm loving it!

She's on her cookbook trip right now. While on her trip she decided to give away two (2) sets of Le Creuset cookware in this gorgeous “Caribbean” shade.

Each 6-piece Le Creuset set includes:
• 10 1/4″ Square Skillet Grill
• 5 1/2-Quart Round French Oven with Lid
• 2 1/4-Quart Saucier Pan with Lid
• 11″ x 8″ Roaster

If you would like to win this beautiful cookware Go Here to enter!

This Week's menu Plan

2009-11-02T08:03:00.003-06:00

We are going to be very busy this week taking advantage of a burst of good weather to get our last home projects done outside. I wanted to have a simple menu plan for this week and limit the time spent in the kitchen. This was the result!

Breakfast
Monday- Cereal
Overnight Egg Brunch
Cream of Wheat, Banana Muffins
Baked Oatmeal, fruit, yogurt
Pan Pancakes, fruit
Waffles & Eggs
Cereal

Lunch
Monday-Visiting
Hot dogs, Baked Beans, Mac N Cheese
Salad w Black Beans, fruit
PB&J, fruit, veggies
Potato Soup, fruit, veggies
Leftovers
Potluck: Scalloped Corn

Snacks
Blue Berry Muffins
Pumpkin Choc Chip Muffins
Spiced Bars
Popcorn
Bananas
Apples w Peanut Butter

Supper
Monday- Leftovers
Sweet & Sour Chicken w Rice
Spaghetti, Green Beans, Corn, Garlic Bread
Chicken & Noodles w mashed potatoes, Scalloped Corn, Green Beans
Pizza, Applesauce, Salad
Salmon Casserole, Beets, Green Beans
Leftovers

Dessert
Chocolate Oatmeal Cake

Chocolate Oatmeal Cake

2009-11-02T07:53:00.002-06:00

This is moist and delicious. You need to try it once!

1 1/2 cups boiling water
1 cup rolled oats
2/3 cups butter
1 1/2 cups sugar or Sucanat
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tarter
1/3 cup baking cocoa
1 1/3 cups whole wheat flour

Topping:
1/2 sugar or Sucanat
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
1 cup unsweetened coconut
2/3 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat over to 350 degrees. In a large bowl combine water, oats, and butter then let it sit for 20 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and stir until just mixed. Pour into lightly greased 13x9 pan and bake 30 minutes.

Combine topping ingredients in a small saucepan and heat over very low heat until melted. Spread topping over hot cake. Return cake to oven and broil until top is bubbly. Topping will harden a bit while cake cools.

Scalloped Corn

2009-11-02T07:49:00.002-06:00

This recipe is good and a great way to use up some extra crackers you have around.

4 cups fresh or frozen corn
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
1 cup saltine crackers (about 30 crackers) divided
3 TB butter melted
1 Tb sugar
1 Tb finely chopped onion
salt and pepper to taste.

In a large bowl combine the corn, eggs, milk, 3/4 cup cracker crumbs, butter, sugar, onion, salt and pepper. Put in a greased 1 1/2 quart baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining cracker crumbs. Bake uncovered at 325 degrees for 1 hour or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Serves 6

Salmon Casserole

2009-11-02T07:46:00.003-06:00

I use Cheddar Cheese for this recipe as I'm not a big fan of Swiss. It turns out well to my taste buds!

Salmon Casserole
2 cups mashed potatoes
1/2 cup grated Swiss Cheese
1 egg yolk
1 cup medium white sauce
15 1/2 oz. salmon
buttered bread crumbs

Line a greased baking dish with mashed potatoes. Add cheese and egg yolk to white sauce and pour 1/2 of it over potatoes. Drain and bone salmon. Flake fish and add over potatoes pouring the remaining sauce on top. Sprinkle bread crumbs over mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Becoming a Work-At-Home Mom: Starting with Small Things (Part 2)

2009-10-30T13:21:00.003-05:00

I think this series on working at home mom's from MoneySavingMom will be well worth following. This is Part 2:

Last week, I left you hanging in the Becoming a Work-At-Home Mom series at the point where I'd just found out I was pregnant. Let's pick up from there...Those two pink lines changed my life forever. Not only because they meant I was going to be a mom, but they also were the impetus for me to become a work-at-home mom.

It's easy to say that becoming a mom also propelled me to become a work-at-home mom, but believe me, it wasn't anywhere easy. In fact, I had no idea just how hard it was going to be.
I was sick from week five to week twenty-one in my pregnancy. I never had to be hospitalized for dehydration, but there were days when I could barely get out of bed because I was so nauseated. I wanted to be a mom more than just about anything in the world, but I had no idea how miserable morning sickness was going to be!

Needless to say, my jobs as a mother's helper were abruptly ended. And therefore, our income was drastically reduced as well. When I was working four days a week as a mother's helper, we were scraping by, without that income, it seemed impossible we could ever pay all of our bills.

I remember how helpless I felt so many times during those long weeks of my early pregnancy. I knew there had to be something I could do to earn an income from our little basement apartment, but what? I wracked my brain for days and weeks on end. I prayed, I worried, I cried, and I prayed some more.

As thankful as I was to be pregnant, I couldn't help but also wonder and fret over how we were going to eat and have a roof over our heads. And I couldn't even begin to try and figure out how we would pay for the extra expenses of having a baby, too. How would we survive for two more years of law school?

At that point, I had no idea. But I did know one thing: God was watching over us. He had called us to step out in faith and get married, move to Topeka, KS, and God had clearly opened up the doors for Jesse to go to law school. I also knew that God had given us this precious baby and He was going to take care of us.

And you know what? He never failed us or forsook us.

Go Here to read the rest of the post.

Give your Child Some Work to Do

2009-10-28T08:48:00.002-05:00

All right parents. You need to start out your day by reading this excellent article on raising children with responsibilities. I like the phrase, which I would avoid as a description for any child of mine, that she gives: kids with attitude, little accountability and an insufferable sense of entitlement. Please read!

Mama Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Deadbeats

By Mrs. G.

In 1999, Mr. G. got a great job offer and Mrs. G. and her family had to pack up their lives and move from Raleigh, North Carolina to Seattle, Washington in three weeks. It was collectively exhilarating and traumatic. Mrs. G. daughter was a little over two and her son was soon to be conceived. She didn’t know a soul and, truth be told, she was lonely. One day, Mrs. G. saw an ad in a local weekly written by another transplanted mom with a two-year-old looking for a friend and playmate for her son. Mrs. G, despite her lifelong fear and apprehension of befriending a serial killer, picked up the phone can and called the woman. Mrs. G. and Faye became fast friends and, best of all, their kids liked each other too.

One afternoon, Mrs. G. and Faye were hanging out when the kids came in from the backyard and wanted snacks. Faye pulled some green grapes out of the fridge and Mrs. G. proceeded to peel them for the kids. Faye looked at Mrs. G. like she was of unsound mind, cracked.

Faye: What are you doing?

Mrs. G: Peeling the grapes so that the kids don’t choke on the skin.

Faye: Woman, you are setting yourself up for a lifetime of unnecessary labor. We’re right here in front of them. If they choke, we’ll give them the Heimlich. I forbid you to peel those grapes. I don’t want my kid getting any ideas.

Not only did Faye become Mrs. G’s best friend for life (the kind who’d help you move across town…and move a body), Faye taught Mrs. G. that from an early age, kids should be gently taught independence and given age appropriate chores that render them a proud, invested and valued member of the family.

So when Mrs. G. started homeschooling, she knew from the get -go that teaching her children life skills was as high on her priority list as academic skills. She wanted her kids to be able to be as familiar with running a household, handling finances and managing their time as reading, writing and arithmetic. Plus, she wanted a half hour a day to lie on the couch eating a Snickers bar and reading People magazine. Kidding. Kind of.

Mrs. G. is only going to lightly nudge her soapbox, elbow it only a little today and tell you she thinks, by and large, many parents (homeschooling, public schooling, private schooling, college schooling) today expect way too little from their children in the area of personal responsibilities and chores. She often feels children of the 21st century have been placed on a pedestal for parents to serve, and speaking as a mom whose house has always been “where friends land and raid pantry central” and a woman who has taught inside and outside of schools, she sees the effects of parental servitude: kids with attitude, little accountability and an insufferable sense of entitlement.

To read the rest of this great article and see the list of resources Mrs. G shares Go Here.

Too Good!

2009-10-27T15:10:00.007-05:00

I had a talk with my husband. I said, "I think I will try to limit the desserts that we eat to one a week. If we go to potluck on Sunday that will be our dessert for the week. I want to really make sure we aren't eating too many sweets." It was an actual conversation we had. Very recently. As in last night.

This morning I woke up and looked around my kitchen. I just happened to have six apples in my fruit basket that were needing to be eaten asap. The logical thing to do would be to start eating them. There was one problem. I had a recipe stuck in my head. There's this apple cake called, Apple Cake in an Iron Skillet ,that is the best cake I've ever had. It calls for, yep, you guessed it, six apples. My mind was made up. I made the cake.

It's so good a little boy I babysit was anxiously waiting for it to get out of the oven. (He got a little taste of the batter.) I told him it needed to cool. He came back several times asking if it was cool yet. After we ate some of the cake he wanted to keep on eating but I told him no that was enough. He could have some more tomorrow. When it was nap time he dragged the stool over to the stove and stood there looking at the cake. Then he got a kitchen towel and put it over the cake "so I wouldn't eat the rest while he was sleeping." Smart. Very smart.

Win a Kitchen Aid & Five Pioneer Woman Cookbooks

2009-10-27T09:38:00.002-05:00

This is a really awesome giveaway! The Pioneer Woman is giving away today two of these anniversary-edition candy apple red KitchenAid stand mixer....

And each winner will get five (5) copies of her new cookbook!

Go Here to enter in the giveaway!

Cheap Playskool Sit n' Spin

2009-10-27T09:23:00.003-05:00

You can buy the Playskool Sit 'n Spin for $6.52 after using the $10 coupon found at Coupons.com at some Walmart stores (please note that prices vary at Walmart and many readers are seeing higher prices at their store). Walmart has it rolled back in price from $19.96 to $16.52 at some stores. I remember playing on this when I was little and spinning until I was dizzy I had to stop. They are a lot of fun! This would make a great Christmas present at a great price.

Thanks to BabyCheapSkate!

Go Here to see her list of favorite Playskool coupons that can be used at any store that accepts printable coupons. A good way to stock up for Christmas of other occasions!

How to Protect Your Child From The Danger of Abduction

2009-10-27T09:13:00.002-05:00

Last night my husband and I were watching one of the Duggers shows on DVD. In this episode one of their little boys very briefly got lost in an airport on his way back from the bathroom. That would be very scary for any parent to go through, however short the time frame. I ran across this great post on protecting your child from the danger of abduction. The Painter Mommy gives a list of resources that you can check into.

Go Here to read and prepare your child as best as you can.

Free Fun at CoCo Key Water Resort

2009-10-27T08:57:00.003-05:00

If you enjoy water parks you can't beat this awesome deal. Go to the Sheraton Kansas City Sports Complex for a visit to CoCo Key Water Resort and find free fun! Visit CoCo Key Monday - Thursday before 5pm and admission is FREE! That's right...all you have to do is come early and you will enjoy no cost entrance to CoCo Key. It's the place to be and its absolutely free! Just don't forget your towel!

This free deal last until the end of October. Go Here for more information.

Menu Plan For This Week

2009-10-26T08:25:00.003-05:00

This week was very very busy at my home. I wasn't even sure when I would fit my menu planning into my Saturday. However, I was running a garage sale and it was a slow morning. I grabbed my recipe box, piece of paper, and started planning. After many interruptions I got it done! Now I need to take the recipes and go thru my pantry and freezer. I write down any ingredient I need to purchase, and regular stock items like flour or salt that may need to be replenished. It really does go fast and is so helpful in keeping food on the table as needed.

Breakfast
Monday-Pancakes & Cottage Cheese
Oatmeal & fruit
Cereal
Cream of Wheat & Applesauce
Waffles & Eggs
Bread, Egg, & Potato, Yogurt
Cereal

Lunch
Monday- Cheese Pizza, veggies
PB &J Sandwich, Juice Jello, Corn Chips
Stir Fry & Rice
Mac N Cheese, Peas, carrots, Banana Bread
Grilled Cheese Sandwich, Applesauce
Potluck: Pumpkin Pie Cake, Veggie Tray

Snacks
Popcorn
Apples & Peanut Butter
Blueberry Muffins
Putter Fingers
Bananas

Supper
Monday- Quiche, Sweet Potato, Applesauce, Salad
Velveeta Cheesy Pasta Casserole, Green Beans, Sweet Potato
Fiesta Chicken Casserole, Green Beans, beets
Simple Chili, Herbed Potatoes, Yogurt Cornbread, Salad
Plaza 3 Steak Soup, Vanilla Pudding, Green Beans, Yams in Orange Sauce
Leftovers
Creamed Spinach Over Salmon Patties, Green Beans, Corn

Dessert
Pumpkin Pie
Granny’s Sugar Cookies

Pumpkin Pie Cake

2009-10-26T08:18:00.003-05:00

My mother-in-law made this some time ago and I just loved it. I'm a big fam of pumpkin and this recipe reminds me of a Cherry Dump cake in Pumpkin. I make it with 2 15 oz. cans of pumkin and it's more pudding like. If you want the thicker texture just use 1 15 oz. can of pumpkin. So far at church potlucks the 2 cans of pumpkin is the most popular version.

Pumpkin Pie Cake
4 eggs
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 15 oz. cans pumpkin (use only 1 for thicker cake)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp salt
1 can evaporated milk
1 yellow cake mix
2 sticks butter, melted
1 cup nuts (optional)

Mix eggs, pumpkin, sugar, spice, salt, and milk. Pour in ungreased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle cake mix on top. Pour butter on top of cake mix and try to spread over all the mix so its covered with butter. Sprinkle with nuts.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes.

Creamed Spinach

2009-10-26T08:07:00.002-05:00

It's been awhile since I have used this recipe. If you could see my very full recipe box, you would know why. I'm trying to rotate more, instead of using the same old thing so often. I have a large variety of recipes! I do remember this recipe being quite yummy over salmon patties.

3/4 cup milk
2Tb powdered milk
1/2 small onion
1 to 3 TB butter
3 TB whole wheat flour
3 quarts fresh spinach, washed, drained, and chopped (3 small bunches)
1/4 tsp salt
pinch nutmeg
2 Tb Parmesan Cheese
Blend milks together and set aside. Chop onion finely and saute in butter in skillet.
When the onion is clear, stir in the flour. Cook and stir gently for 2 minutes. Don't let the flour brown. Add the milk and bring to a boil stirring. Stir in the spinach a handful at a time, adding more as the spinach cooks. Simmer gently until tender, seasoning with salt and nutmeg. Add cheese. Makes 3 cups. Serves 4 to 6. Serve over potatoes, noodles, salmon patties, or rice.

Herbed Potatoes

2009-10-26T07:57:00.003-05:00

2 lbs small red or brown potatoes
1 Tb. butter
1 Tb chopped parsley
1 tsp snipped chives
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Scrub potatoes and peel in a ring around the centers. Boil 20 minutes. Drain and transfer to bowl. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat, or in microwave until melted. Add the parsley, chives, salt, and pepper to the butter and stir. Pour over potatoes.

Simple Chili

2009-10-26T07:49:00.002-05:00

I love this chili recipe. It is simple and fast. Repeat. Simple and fast. Oh, and it taste good too. What more can you ask for?

Simple Chili
1 lb. hamburger, browned
1 can tomato sauce
1 can Italian diced tomatoes
1 can dark red kidney beans
1 pkg chili seasoning

Simmer together for 10 minutes and serves with cornbread.

Make Your Own Yogurt in Your Crockpot

2009-10-24T08:35:00.003-05:00

Now this is something I want to try right away. I had forgotten all about trying to make my own yogurt in my crockpot. Something about life at home being a wee bit busy. It must have slipped my mind. I was excited to see this recipe and tutorial on making your own yogurt in a crockpot at A Year of Slow Cooking blog. We use plenty of yogurt around here. I would love to try this in the next few days!

Relief for Morning Sickness

2009-10-23T10:07:00.003-05:00

I personally know of a few ladies who could use some help with morning sickness right now. I found the Psi Bands a few weeks back and remembered a friend who has worn these and found them to be helpful. Psi Bands (pronounced "Sigh Bands") are acupressure wrist bands for the relief of nausea due to morning sickness (pregnancy), motion sickness/ travel, chemotherapy, and anesthesia. When Neil and I went on our anniversary trip in the winding Ozark hills I came close to loosing it with the motion sickness. We pulled over and let me sit still for awhile. If these would have worked I could have been spared a few hours of misery! Since I am certainly prone to motion sickness traveling in the car I wouldn't mind trying these for that reason alone. Go Here to read more about these acupuncture wrist bands. They are $15 for two, which really isn't bad if they work for you.

Preserving Fall Leaves

2009-10-23T09:47:00.003-05:00

I have plenty of leaves in my backyard and thought it would be great to have some fall fun. It has been raining around here so we can't make a big pile of leaves and jump in them yet. That happens to be one of my favorite fall memories from childhood. We can however save some of these fall leaves. I found a post on preserving leaves at Yankee Foliage. Go Here to read the complete post.

Here are a few of our ways to preserve the color:

1. Start by selecting the best specimens. Pick a sunny day and collect only dry leaves. Avoid leaves with any damage because these imperfections will be accentuated when the leaves are dry. Try to find at least four or five leaves from each species so that you will have a good representation.

2. Place each leaf between two layers of paper towel or blotting paper (found in art-supply stores). If you do this step within 30 minutes, the leaves won't dry out or lose too much color. The trick to keeping the colors sharp is to remove the moisture as quickly as possible. Gently press the leaf (with its paper). You can buy a press to save your leaves, but putting them between the pages of a large book will do the job. When I was a child, we used a big phone book, but I prefer a large coffee-table book -- the pages are thicker and therefore more likely to withstand moisture. And when it comes to adding weight for pressing, a big hardback book is less likely to shift and damage the leaf. Keep at least ten pages between leaves, and don't put in too many -- if you have a lot of leaves, use a second book. Stack at least five more books (at least five pounds of pressure) on top, and let them sit for ten days or more. Keep the books in a dry room (no humidifiers). For the best results, change the blotting paper after the first few days of pressing.

3. If you have just a few leaves and want quicker results, try ironing them dry. Set your iron on medium (no steam) and place the leaves between single layers of absorbent paper or paper towels. Press for at least ten minutes, turn the leaves over, change the paper, and press the second side for about five minutes. To prevent scorching, keep the iron moving constantly.

Have fun!

Stretching Your Dollars Online with Coupons and Cashback

2009-10-22T08:50:00.003-05:00

Incredible as it may seem Christmas is coming up in the next few months. I am almost done with my Christmas shopping. Although we keep gift giving in my family very simple, the real reason I'm almost done is because of my Gift Box. Throughout this year I have been buying gifts on clearance or at garage sales that would be something various family members would like as a gift. At this point I have a gift to buy for my niece and something for my Dad. Otherwise, I'm done. I love having my gifts prepared in this manner and I never have a huge budget crunch in the month of December. Actually my goal this year is to have some money set aside for day after Thanksgiving sales and after Christmas. Most people are probably strapped for cash at that point but really I'm a year ahead! If I can handle the in store madness I'll score some good deals.

This was a good post on the subject at Money Saving Mom:

Christmas is coming and with that comes a flurry of shopping. As most of you know, I'm all about keeping it simple. I think we're often guilty of over-materializing this holiday to the point that the true meaning can get buried underneath all the wrapping paper and bows. If you're already starting to feel stressed about Christmas, take a deep breath, step back, and go read this post.

If, on the other hand, you've got your Christmas budget in place and your gift list made and you're ready to begin shopping, here are a few ways to make your money go farther when shopping online:

Go Here to finish reading.

Your Child's Name: Wall Words

2009-10-22T07:14:00.002-05:00

Ever wondered what your child's name means? I found a neat website that has beautiful wall words for your child's nursery or bedroom. At Wall Words they have the top 50 boy's names and top 50 girl's names with the meanings for you to purchase. I've always been interested in the meanings of names, just for fun. So this site caught my attention.

Celebrate Your Birthday for Free!

2009-10-21T07:49:00.002-05:00

Having a birthday is fun, but even more fun when you can get some free birthday gifts! Why pay on your birthday when you can get it for free? Join the Birthday Freebies now and start planning for your big day today! I registered at Birthday Freebies. In my zip code area there are a total of 25 freebies I could get on my birthday. I had signed up with Sheridan's and got a treat there for free. Now that's a great freebie!

Go Here to sign up!

Becoming a Work-At-Home Mom: In the Beginning... (Part 1)

2009-10-21T06:52:00.003-05:00

For those of you interested in having a home business you will want to follow the Work At Home postings at Money Saving Mom. Having followed Crystal's business ideas from the beginning (at least what I think was the beginning. I'll find out!) I've been impressed with her hard work and tenacity over the years that have followed. I know she has a great deal of real life learning experience to share with what may or may not be helpful in trying to run a home business. She shares:

I am a firm believer that, with God's blessings and lots of hard work, anyone can successfully work from home. However, I will be the first to tell you that working from home is just that--it's work. I'm by nature a positive person but I won't sugar-coat the truth when it comes to working from home: if you are not prepared to put in lots and lots and lots of time and effort, working from home won't work for you.
I'm sure many moms could look at me and want what I have--the ability to make a good income while staying at home, choosing my own hours, and taking care of my husband, home, and family first. I can take a day off (or even a few days off!) whenever I like and the money continues to come in at about the same rate because of the many multiple streams of income I've set in place.

All this might sound really wonderful (and it is!) but what most people often don't add into this equation are the countless hours, days, weeks, months, and even years I've spent working, learning, and experimenting to get things to the point they are at.

The effort has paid off and I'm now reaping the fruits of my labors (though I'm still making lots of mistakes and I'm sure I'll continue to do so until the day I die!), but I won't ever forget the struggles I had to go through to get where I'm at or the mountains I've had to climb along the way.

Go Here to read the rest of the post.

Giveaway: three (3) Cuisinart Prep Plus 11-cup Food Processors

2009-10-20T13:29:00.002-05:00

Today The Pioneer Woman is giving away three (3) Cuisinart Prep Plus 11-cup Food Processors. Yes, not one or two but three!

Here’s what comes with the Cuisinart:
• 11-cup work bowl.

• Touchpad dough control with metal dough blade.

• One-piece wide mouth feed tube holds whole fruits and vegetables.

• Touchpad fingertip controls.

• Stainless steel medium slicing disc (4 mm).

• Stainless steel shredding disc.

• Chopping/mixing blade.

• Metal dough blade.

• Small and large pushers.

• Detachable disc stem.

• Spatula.

• How-to DVD.

• Instruction/Recipe book.

Hurry on over Here to enter the Giveaway! What a treat it would be to win. Like Christmas in October!

Walgreens: Deals for the week of October 18-24, 2009

2009-10-19T09:49:00.002-05:00

Here are the Walgreens deals for this week. Go Here to see the complete list at Money Saving Mom!

Ricola--2 for $3 after in-ad couponBuy 2 and use BOGO coupon from the 10/11 SmartSource insertUse $0.50/1 coupon from Walgreens Healthy Savings coupon booklet (should take off $1)$0.25 each after coupons

Starbucks Frappuccino--$1.29 after in-ad couponUse $1/1 printable coupon--IE link or FF link$0.29 each after coupon

Ester C 500 mg (90-count)--on sale Buy One, Get One Free (2 for $10.99)Use two $5/1 coupon from 10/4 RedPlum inserts$0.49 after coupons

Rice Krispie Treats--$1.75Buy 2 and use $1/2 printable coupon here$1.25 each after coupon

Quilted Northern Toilet Paper (9 rolls)--$3.99Use $1/1 printable coupon here or from the 10/11 RedPlum insert$2.99 after coupon

CVS: Deals for the week of October 18-24, 2009

2009-10-19T09:45:00.002-05:00

Here are the CVS Deals for this wee. Go Here to see the complete list at Money Saving Mom!

******WEEKLY ECB DEALS******
Buy 1 Glade Reed Diffuser or Soy Candle at $6.99, Get $6.99 ECBs (Limit 1)Use $3/1 coupon from the 10/4 SmartSource insert or from the August or September All You magazine Free plus $3 overage after coupons and ECBs
Spend $20 on select Candy, Get $5 ECBs (Limit 1)

*****Deal Idea #1*****
Buy 3 Nestle Fun Size Bags at $2.50 eachBuy 4 Hershey's Fun Size Bags at $2.50 eachBuy 3 Trident Gum at $0.99 eachUse 3 Nestle $1/1 printables hereUse 1 B3G1 Hershey's coupon from the 10/18 SmartSource insertUse 1 $1/3 Hershey's coupon from the 9/27 SmartSource insertUse 3 $0.75/1 Trident printables here$0.67 per item after coupons and ECBs (Thanks, Jenny!)

*****Deal Idea #2*****
Buy 4 Nestle Fun Size Bags at $2.50 eachBuy 4 Hershey's Fun Size Bags at $2.50 eachUse 4 Nestle $1/1 printables hereUse 1 B3G1 Hershey's coupon from the 10/18 SmartSource insertUse 1 $1/3 Hershey's coupon from the 9/27 SmartSource insert$0.94 per bag after coupons and ECBs

*****Deal Idea #3*****
Buy 8 Hershey's Fun Size Bags at $2.50 eachUse 2 B3G1 Free coupons from the 10/18 SmartSource insertUse 2 $1/3 coupons from the 9/27 SmartSource insert$1 per bag after coupons and ECBs
Buy $15 worth of Revlon Cosmetics (prices start at $3.90), Get $7 ECBs (Limit 1)Use $1/1 from the 10/11 SmartSource insert

*****Deal Idea*****
Buy 4 Revlon products at $3.90 eachUse 4 $1/1 coupons from the 10/11 SmartSource insert$1.15 each after coupons and ECBs
Buy $20 worth of select Health Products, Get $10 ECBs (Limit 1)Products included: Advil--$4.50; Centrum Ultra--$10; Chapstick--$1.50; Dimetapp or Robitussin--$5.50

*****Deal Idea*****
Buy 3 Advil at $4.50 eachBuy 1 Robitussin at $5.50Buy 1 Chapstick at $1.50Use 3 $2/1 Advil printables hereUse 1 $2/1 Robitussin printable here$0.40 cents per item after coupons and ECBs

Home Made Simple Coupons

2009-10-19T09:19:00.002-05:00

Home Made Simple has released another coupon booklet with over $30 in savings! They make this available every so often, so if you have requested this coupon booklet before, you can request it again. I have used these coupon books several times in the past. A great bonus is the buy it for free coupon for a product they include at the end. You can't beat free!

Diaper Coupons at Coupon.com

2009-10-19T09:11:00.002-05:00

I have to say that diaper coupons are hard to come by. When they are out make sure you print them our ASAP! Coupons.com has just released yet another really good coupon. This is for Huggies diapers:

Save $3.00 on Huggies Pure & Natural diapers.Save $1.50 0n Huggies Little Snugglers or Little Movers diapers.

The Pure & Natural diapers priced at $9.99 at my local Wal-Mart so this will give you a good deal.

This Weeks Menu Plan

2009-10-19T08:49:00.002-05:00

Breakfast
Monday- Pan Pancakes, fruit
Cereal
Overnight Egg Brunch
Baked Oatmeal
Cereal
Mama’s Muesli
Cereal

Lunch
Monday-PB&J Sandwich
Pizza on English Muffins
Egg Salad Sandwiches, veggies, fruit
Lentil Soup, fruit
Grilled Cheese Sandwich, veggies, fruit
Baked Potato Bar, fruit
Potluck: Lentil Vegetable Soup

Snacks
Blue Berry Muffins
Juice Jell-O
Spiced Bars
Popcorn
Bananas
Apples w Peanut Butter

Supper
Monday- Fettuccine Alfredo, Rolls, Corn, Applesauce, Olive Garden Salad
Cheddar Macaroni Beef Casserole, Green Beans, Beets
Three-Cheese Baked Spaghetti, Corn on Cob, Green Beans, Garlic Bread
Salmon Casserole, veggies, rolls
Leftovers
Quiche, Baked Sweet Potato Casserole, Salad, Chocolate Pudding
Leftovers

Dessert
Apple Cake in Iron Skillet

The Baby Bloak

2009-10-19T08:02:00.002-05:00

What an ingenious idea! I love the thought behind the Baby Bloak. No buttons, sleeves, or zippers to deal with for a convenient way to keep your baby or toddler warm in the car seat or stroller this winter. With the Baby Bloak you can quickly wrap your child in a warm fleece blanket and be able to easily buckle them in. There are a number of great colors and stylish patterns. To check it out for yourself Go Here.

How To Keep Winter Gloves Organized

2009-10-15T14:32:00.003-05:00

I can't stand having disorganized gloves and hats. Each winter, even when they are in a box, a glove goes missing. I don't know how but it happens. Since it is already feeling like early winter days here in the Kansas City area I'm thinking about gloves. I found this awesome idea for keeping gloves organized at Painter Mommy:

I cannot take credit for this awesome Organizational Tip.? My mom was the one who shared this with me a couple years ago.? She is my mentor and also an organizational genius!
I have always dreaded Winter with small children.? It is so difficult having to bundle them up with coats, hats, scarves, and mittens.? And then once you get to your destination the kids take them off and they get thrown somewhere and many times lost – never to be found again (especially the gloves). I kinda wish they made them on strings like how they do for babies.
Anyway, once we get home after an outing, the hats, gloves and scarves get thrown all over the place.?? I used to have a big basket that I would put everything in.? But eventually when it was time to go out again, there would always be a glove missing.? I would go crazy trying to find it and then finally give up and let the kids go out without any gloves at all.? (I know…bad mommy I am…)
So, when my mom shared this idea with me, I was thrilled!

Go Here to read the rest of her post.

Freezing Peaches

2009-10-15T09:33:00.004-05:00

At the Grocery Shrink blog she has a good post on freezing peaches. Step on over read her post.

I love peaches and it would be great to have some in the freezer ready to go. While your there take look at her Crumb Top Peach Pie. Hmm...making me hungry!

Apply to host a free Betty Crocker Cookie Mix House Party in December!

2009-10-15T09:20:00.002-05:00

Over the Money Saving Mom I saw this posted and wanted to share it with you as well. I just signed up to be a hostess for both parties. I think it would be an absolute blast to host one of these parties! Hope to be picked! :-)

"Not only can you apply to host a free Hershey's Kiss Cookie Exchange Party in December, but you can also now apply to host a Betty Crocker Cookie Mix House Party!
Go here to apply. I just did so and it took me about 3 minutes to fill out the application.
If you're accepted as one of the 1,000 hosts, you'll get everything you need to host the party plus some freebies to share with your guests. I've never hosted one of these parties before (this week was the first time I've ever even applied!), but I've heard rave reviews from people who have about the fun and free stuff they were given and the great time they had hosting a House Party."

Free 1 Year Subscribtion to Parenting magazine

2009-10-15T08:41:00.000-05:00

Target: Deals and freebies this week

2009-10-15T08:26:00.002-05:00

Here are the best deals at Target this week. Don't forget that you can now print the Target Corporate Coupon Policy here on their website and carry it with you.

TARGET WEEKLY DEALS
Danimals Crush Cups (4-pack) or Light & Fit (6-pack)--$1.50Use $1/1 coupon from the 8/30 SmartSource insert$0.50 each(Thanks, Brenda!)

Market Pantry Frozen Vegetables--$0.89

Market Pantry Sandwich Bread--$0.90

Large Grade A Eggs (dozen)--$1.09

Market Pantry Cheese (8 oz. chunks or shreds)--$1.50

Go Here to see the complete list of deals for Target at Money Saving Mom

Giveaway: Two Sets of Le Creuset Cookware

2009-10-13T11:31:00.004-05:00

Here's an awesome giveaway! The Pioneer Woman is giving away two (2) sets of Le Creuset cookware in this gorgeous “Caribbean” shade.

THE RULES
One entry per person, please.
No entries after 8:00 pm Pacific Time Tuesday.
Winners will be selected at random and announced Wednesday morning at 8:00 am Pacific Time.

Each 6-piece Le Creuset set includes:
• 10 1/4″ Square Skillet Grill• 5 1/2-Quart Round French Oven with Lid• 2 1/4-Quart Saucier Pan with Lid• 11″ x 8″ Roaster
(I’m madly in love with Le Creuset—there’s really nothing like it on earth.)

Go Here to enter and win!

One Year Ago Today

2009-10-12T14:01:00.007-05:00

One Year Ago Today~we were exchanging our wedding vows at this time. It was a Sunday afternoon with dear family and friends before us. They had not only helped in more ways than I could describe to make this day special, but part of our great joy was in sharing this time with them. Neil and I were making our covenant to each other and God to be faithful to the end in our marriage. I'm sure we will continue to have our trials in life, but this first year has been the happiest of my life. What a blessing my husband is to me!

Our wedding day

On "our anniversary moon" weekend trip. October 2009

My sweetheart and I October 2009

Fall Fun: Leaf Coloring

2009-10-12T11:40:00.010-05:00

I remember my Mom doing leaf colorings with my brother, sister, and I when we were little. It was so much fun to me. It's really simple to do with your children and I assure you they will have fun.

Step 1: Go aside and gather some leaves. You want them to be fresh leaves, not dry crumbly ones. Get several different kinds. Gather the children around the table. You will need white paper and crayons.

Our collection of leaves from the yard.
This is a good leaf to use. The texture of the leaf is strong.

Step 2. Place a leaf under the paper with the texture (bumpiest side) facing up to the paper.

Step 3. Get a crayon and start coloring over the area where the leaf is.

Here's our first leaf coloring.

You can move the leaf to other areas of the paper and use other crayon colors.

This is one finished paper of leaf coloring.

All the children working on their leaf creations.

They loved this!

Free:PaperBackSwap

2009-10-12T10:52:00.000-05:00

I love, love books. It's just a weakness of mine. Our home library is already large by other's standards. Though I have weeded out some books I made the effort to buy excellent books that aren't in the library system. I came across a new way to get books, without buying them.

At the PaperBackSwap they help members Swap, Trade & Exchange Books with each other for Free. Mail a book. Get a book. Any book you request is yours to keep, share or trade. No late fees. No processing charges. No hidden charges. Every time you mail a book to another member, you can request one for yourself. Choose from 4,036,025 available books! I thought the PaperBackSwap was only for paperback books. They are not! You can enjoy trading Hardbacks, Audio Books, Textbooks and more. You just can't beat a deal like this.

Oh, dear. This sounds dangerous. Very dangerous.

This Weeks Menu Plan

2009-10-12T07:49:00.000-05:00

One thing I do to save money with my menu plans is to carry over an item that didn't get made for one reason or another into the next menu week. We may have been unexpectedly invited over for supper by family or friends. Since I never made that meal I still have the ingredients sitting in the house. I might as well use that food up rather than go off and buy more food out of my budget. So if you see a meal or food that you recognize from the previous week that is why. It may be that we had more leftovers than I expected from a meal, or we had to run out the door and only ate a little bit when we came home. I try to make do with what I still have on hand. So with that explanation, here is the menu for this week.

Weekly Menu Plan

Breakfast
Monday-Creamy Wheat Cereal, Vanilla Yogurt
Cereal
Waffles w peanut butter, strawberry syrup
Oatmeal, Cottage Cheese, fruit

Tasty Pancakes
Country Breakfast Cereal & applesauce
Cereal

Lunch
Monday- Egg Salad Sandwich, fruit, veggies
Stir Fry & Rice
PB&J Sandwich, fruit, veggies
Cheese Pizza, veggies
Mac N Cheese w Carrots, veggies, fruit
Leftovers
Potluck: Blueberry Dump Cake, Salad

Snacks
Popcorn
Apples & Peanut Butter
Bagels & Cream Cheese
Carrots
Celery w peanut butter

Supper
Monday- Chicken Pot Pie, Tapioca Pudding, Salad, Rolls
Cheesy Potato Soup, Salad, Beets, Green Beans
Pigs & Beans in a Blanket, Salad, Beets
Chicken Enchiladas, Salad, Mexican Rice
Leftovers
Spaghetti, Garlic Bread, Corn on the Cob
Plaza 3 Steak Soup, Salad, Homemade Whole Wheat Bread, Green Beans

Dessert
Chewy Cocoa Brownies
Pumpkin Pie

Blogging Vacation

2009-10-08T20:52:00.000-05:00

For the next three days I will be on a blogging vacation. My husband and I will be celebrating our first wedding anniversary this weekend at a cottage in a undisclosed location. I'm very excited to take some time off to spend with my husband, who in my estimation is the most wonderful man on earth. Call me biased, but it's true I tell you.

I'll share share the details of where we went, and some photos, when I come back. Stay tuned...

Confession: My Home

2009-10-08T08:39:00.000-05:00

I have a confession to make. My house is not always picture perfect clean. There. I said it. For those of you who don't know me that may be an obvious statement. However, for certain family and friends they seem to think it always must be perfectly clean. Just to prove my point here's a few pictures.

The Sink

The Living Room

The Playroom

You see during this day I have three little ones here. Yes, they can make a mess. Then before nap time we clean everything and put away. The dishes get done and the counters cleaned up. The vacuuming does wait until they leave. Might as well wait till all the little crumb people have left. So there you go. This is reality. My house is clean during the wee early morning, it's clean during the evening. During the day. Well, I figure let's all have our fun and play. It will be messy, but hey, it will all get taken care of later.

The Freecycle Network™

2009-10-08T08:28:00.000-05:00

My sister introduced me to freecycle awhile back. It can be a neat way to get some things you need want without spending any money on it. Free is always good to me! How does it work?

The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 4,830 groups with 6,574,000 members across the globe. It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. So when you sign up for your local freecycle you will begin receiving emails from them. In the email list will be all the items people have posted for free. Caroline has gone to people's houses and dug out flower bulbs, rose bushes, got baby items, and more.

A great benefit to freecycle is the fact this stuff is not ending up at the local dump. You know the saying, "one man's junk is another man's treasure".

Go Here to take a look at their web page and sign up. To sign up, find your community by entering it into the search box above or by clicking on “Browse Groups” above the search box. Have fun!

Giveaway: Boca Beth Kids Spanish Educational Beginner Backpack. 2 Winners!!

2009-10-07T12:10:00.003-05:00

Over at the Frugal Girls is a good giveaway if you want your children to learn Spanish. Since I can count the Spanish words I know on my ten fingers this wouldn't be a bad idea to win and learn along with the children.

This is included in the giveaway package:

I like Animals DVD
My First Songs in Spanish CD
Boca Puppet
Bilingual Coloring/Activity
BookBoca Beth Backpack

Go Here to enter and win.

Giveaway: Anyone Wanna Go to Scottsdale?

2009-10-07T10:45:00.002-05:00

Okay, A vacation giveaway can't get much better than this.

At The Pioneer Woman she is teaming up with The Scottsdale Convention and Visitors Bureau for this Giveaway:

The Scottsdale Convention and Visitors Bureau is having their own Scottsdale Getaway Giveaway in which they’re awarding ten Scottsdale vacation packages this December. However, because they know a) how much I loved my trip there, and b) how much I love yous guys, they are giving away one (1) Scottsdale vacation package here this week. Yahoo yippety!

Go Here to enter the giveaway.

The Family Facts Pregnancy Planner

2009-10-07T08:53:00.003-05:00

The Pregnancy Planner comes highly recommended being chosen by Disney editors to be included in the TOP 10 Parenting Essentials Top Product List. It was also an iParenting Media Award Winner.

I'm the type of person who likes to be organized with to-do list, notebooks, and more. Any well made product that keeps my life organized I would be interested in looking at. This day planner is supposed to make the life of a pregnant mom easier. Now, you are the only one who could judge if it did make life easier. This planner lets mom's deal with pregnancy by including a 16 months calender, room to record events for each trimester, and key pregnancy/baby planning information. Since it is a 16 month calender I'm assuming you could keep on using the planner for general life once baby has arrived.

Go Here to take a look for yourself at The Family Facts Pregnancy Planner. While your there take a look at the other planners they offer. It looked like they had some awesome ideas for family planners.

Free Child Safe Kits

2009-10-07T07:46:00.004-05:00

According to statistics its possible as many as 2,000 children a year go missing. That would be any parent's worse nightmare. There's a great free help to you in regards to having your child's information all in one spot. It's the Child Safe Kit. The Child Safe Kit will let you keep your child's vital information organized in one spot in case you ever need it. The kit includes an area to record specifics of your child's identity, allergies, health problems, a photo, and record fingerprints.

Go Here to order your Free Child Safe Kit

Coupons for Troops

2009-10-06T08:59:00.002-05:00

I think this is a really great idea. I know I always have plenty of coupons left over that get thrown in the trash.

Coupons for Troops started in 2008 with the goal of providing expired and non-expired coupons to military families stationed overseas. The prices in overseas commissaries are significantly higher than those in the States and military families do not always have access to coupons in newspapers and inserts.

Military commissaries overseas accept coupons up to six months past the expiration date.Military Commissaries accept manufacturer coupons as well as Internet printed coupons. The Commissary is a grocery store so only "grocery" coupons are needed. Families cannot use store specific coupons (i.e. Target, Walgreens, Kroger).

Go Here to read the rest of the post and sign up.

Nose Wipes, Oh, Diaper Wipes

2009-10-06T06:25:00.000-05:00

What a cutie she is. This niece of mine was caught in action.

She goes for the wipes.

Then wipes her nose with one. No matter if she really needs it or not.

Caught you little sweetheart!

Nap Time for Children with Quiet Time for You

2009-10-06T04:49:00.001-05:00

It is my humble opinion that children thrive best in a home that has some general structure to it. That was the home I grew up in. My mother had a general structure for our day that included plenty of play time, reading, singing, devotions, coloring and so on. One part of the day I vividly remember was nap/quiet time. Well, I really can't remember the nap time, but I do remember the quiet time part of my life. Since I happen to think my Mom had a good idea I am following the tradition in my home.

With the children I take care of, or my nieces and nephews when they are here, nap time/ quiet time comes in general at 1:00 PM. There are exceptions to this such as playing outside, being at a park, day trips, etc. but in general that's the time. First we go around the house and pick up all the toys and put away all the books. This is a learning process. There is one child in my care who will readily do this without much fuss on any given day. Another child seems to think it's a new concept almost daily. Even if nap time comes a little later I try to deal with any attitudes or refusal to pick up toys at that time. After time out (if refused to help, threw toys because mad, etc.) we go back to what needed done in the first place, picking up the toys.

Babies and little ones who are still needing some sleep will have nap time. I don't ever try to make a child sleep or punish a child for not sleeping. That's not the point. It will happen if they are tired. The point is to have a section of the day for rest, sleep is a plus for them if it comes.

Little ones are required to stay in bed. They will have time out if they have been warned and continually get out of the bed. Toddlers and above who are past the point of needing or taking a nap most of the time have quiet time. With quiet time they are allowed to look at books, play and talk with animals or dolls, watch an appropriate VHS or DVD, or listen to a story tape. All this happens in their quiet time spot. Just because they aren't going to fall asleep doesn't mean they can roam around the house. One of my nephews loves to watch Mr. Fixit Bible stories during quiet time.

One little girl I watch actually wants to take a nap 99.9% of the time. To this day she amazes me. She's a little nap miracle! She came to me today and said she was finished picking up her toys and that she wanted to take her nap. She already had the stuffed animals she wanted to sleep with and was trying to crawl into bed. On second thought maybe I shouldn't be telling this story. I don't want to make any mothers envious. Hmmm....

One child I watch is a light sleeper. I'm telling you it would never fail that she would be falling asleep and someone would start mowing their grass or get a chain saw going to cut down a tree. (I kid you not!) After sometime I came up with this helpful solution: the Wind Tunnel Fan. If this fan seems a little pricey to you in the store I must say it's worth it. This fan generates a great deal of air and fan noise, therefore blocking out other pesky neighborhood nosies. Works great!

The Wind Tunnel Fan

Now while all your little ones are taking a nap or having quiet time what are you up to? The general idea would be to rest yourself. I will make an admittance here. During nap/quiet time I rarely (and I do mean rarely) ever rest myself. Instead I keep on working. I'm catching up with laundry, housework, dishes, emails, blogging, and I don't want to admit to anymore. In short, I work during rest period. That has been the source of minor contention and irritation for my mother and sister who will periodically call and check up on my "quiet time". So my advice is to do what I say, not follow what I do. You will feel better at the end of the day. I promise to reform someday, not sure when or how, but I have promised. (Age 70?)

I hope to encourage you in adding this nap time and or quiet time routine to your day. Your children may not verbally thank you for it, but their little bodies all rested up will. If you take the time to rest yourself all of you will have cheerful smiles and happy days. The when it's time for them to wake up. Aww, that's another story all together. Have fun!

One little angel sound asleep.

One little sweetheart sound asleep.

One little boy, oh so awake.
He's listening to a story tape and contemplating becoming the next President of the United States.
No wait, that's the little sweetheart who's asleep.
He wants to be President George Washington. No kidding.

Kitchen Aid Mixer Giveaway

2009-10-05T12:09:00.002-05:00

Someday I may win one of these. Wonder when? Hum. in the meantime I will let the rest of the world know (and reduce my chance of winning) The Pioneer Woman is giving away another Kitchen Aid Mixer. Yes, another one. My, my.

She writes:

Today, in celebration of KitchenAid’s 90th anniversary, I’m giving away one of these sweet 90th Anniversary Edition mixers. I don’t know what to say about it except that it’s candy apple red, shiny, beautiful, lovely…and for the love of all that is good and holy in the kitchen, the bowl is glass, people. Glass. Excuse me while I go dab my eyes.

Go Here to try and win this beautiful Kitchen Aid Mixture. Almost makes me wish I had a kitchen in red. Almost.

GiveAway Extravaganza October 1st- 31st!

2009-10-05T08:44:00.000-05:00

If you enjoy giveaways, you'll *love* The Frugal Girls Giveaway Extravaganza!! She has a solid month of fabulous giveaways in store for you... you'll be able to enter to win some amazing prizes!!

Mark your calendars... The Giveaway Extravaganza will begin on 10/1 and will continue through the entire month of October. Don't miss it!

Menu Plan for This Week

2009-10-05T08:40:00.000-05:00

For some reason this week the menu came together quick and easy. We have already enjoyed the Dutch Apple Pancakes, a great start to the week ahead.

Breakfast
Monday-Dutch Apple Pancakes, Cottage Cheese
Oatmeal, fruit
Tasty Pancakes w Peanut butter, Applesauce
Oatmeal, Yogurt
Cereal
Cinnamon Rolls, Scrambled Eggs w Cheese
Bread, Egg, & Potato, Chocolate Pudding

Lunch
Monday-Stir Fry & Rice
Grilled Cheese Sandwich, fruit, veggies
Egg Salad Sandwich, fruit, veggies
PB & J Sandwich, fruit, veggies
Grilled Cheese Sandwich, Chips, Applesauce
Mac N Cheese w Tuna, Corn, Green Beans, Rolls
Peanut butter & Apple Burritos, Chips, Chocolate Chip Cookies

Snacks
Blue Berry Muffins

Juice Jell-O

Spiced Bars

Popcorn

Supper
Monday- Southwest Chicken Skillet, Green Beans, Beets
Chicken Pot Pie, Chocolate Pudding, Salad
Leftovers
Mustard Glazed Meat Loaf Special, Baked Potatoes, Corn, Green Beans
Plaza 3 Steak Soup, Salad, Rolls
Baked Tortillas, Broccoli & Cheese Rice, Green Beans
Fettuccine Alfredo, Rolls, Green Beans

Dessert
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Apple Cake in Iron Skillet