Check these out! October 31, 2009

I frequent many different websites and blogs on a daily basis to find out about all the great deals out there.  I snag awesome coupons, get great tips and learn about all the FREEBIES!!  I also go to many different sites to learn organizing tips, cooking/baking tips and recipes, how to live life more frugally, plus a lot more!! I wanted to share with you some of the websites that I go to.  There are hundreds and thousands out there, so you have a vast array to choose from.   But, if you start with these, you’ll find yourself learning about more and more!

I have no affiliation with these websites/blogs……just love them!

Here are a few:

Money Saving Mom

Frugal Living Online

Frugal Coupon Living

The Pioneer Woman

Organizing Junkie

Coupon Cravings

Deal Seeking Mom

The Finer Things in Life

Passionate Homemaking

Tammy’s Recipes

Enjoy!

Faithful Friday–He Will Carry You October 29, 2009

Do you ever feel like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders?

Are you weighed down by your worries, fears and insecurities??

Are you hurt, struggling or burdened??

Do you feel like there is more on your plate than you can handle?

How DO you handle it???

Well, I’m here to tell you that YOU don’t have to handle it alone.

Let God carry you.

Here is an amazingly uplifting, inspirational song.

I URGE you to listen to the words and hold them close to your heart.

Don’t Forget! October 29, 2009

It’s the end of the month!!  Make sure you visit Coupons.com one more time before the coupons change on the 1st!!

(Can you believe it’s almost NOVEMBER?!?!?!?)

You can click HERE

Tip Tuesday October 27, 2009

Pumpkin/Squash Puree

It’s that time of year!!  Pumpkin and squash are abundant, and, for, relatively, great prices!!  I am in the “baby-food-making-mode” right now, especially since we have apples galore, too!  Homemade applesauce is already abundant in our freezers and so is pureed pumpkin and squash!!  What a healthy and super FRUGAL way to feed your baby!  Plus, you can also use those purees and your homemade applesauce in recipes for the whole family!

So, on that note,  I have a super easy, stress-free way to puree your squash and pumpkin!  There are many different ways, and all are efficient, I’m sure, but here’s how I do it:

1.  Wash the outside of your squash and pumpkins (small pumpkins are the best for purees), and remove the stems

2.  Set them on a baking sheet whole

3.  Poke several holes in them

4.  Roast them in the oven until a knife easily inserts into all of them  (Depending on how many, and the size, I usually do about 300 degree for an hour or so)

5.  Let them cool

6.  Cut them in half and the seeds will easily scoop out

7.  It will be so tender, that the “meat” will literally fall off the skin!  Scoop it into a blender/food processor/vita-mix.  (You may have to add a little water)

8.  Blend it up!

9.  Choose a One-cup measuring cup and scoop your puree into freezer-safe bags.  One cup per bag.

10.  Flatten your puree, just to the “zipper” and zip it up.  Look how flat it lays!!  (You can definitely choose to do more than one cup per bag, but it doesn’t flatten as well, and,  if you’re using it as baby food, one cup at a time is best!)

11.  Note on the outside of the bag what it is/date and pop it in the freezer!

Voila!  There you go!  It’s THAT easy!

Menu Plan Monday October 25, 2009

It was another BUSY weekend!  But, a great one!  Hope you all enjoyed yours!!

Check out our Menu for the week:

Monday:  Roasted Pork Chops, Garlic Parmesan Orzo, Green Beans

Tuesday:  BLT’s, homemade Oven Fries, Smoothies

Wednesday:  Bourban Street Chicken, Sticky Rice, Veggies

Thursday: Mexican Rice Casserole, Spinach Salad

Friday:  Homemade Pizza, Smoothies

For other great ideas and menus, check out www.orgjunkie.com

Vaccines October 25, 2009

I do not want to start a vaccine debate.

I do not have all the answers.

I simply want to encourage ALL of you to become FULLY educated on the subject before you make the decision to vaccinate your children, or not.

This is not just pertaining to the recent Swine Flu vaccine, but, to ALL vaccines.

This is heavy on my heart, because our sweet Anna has had some pretty “severe” reactions to just just TWO of the vaccines that were given to her at her 2-month check-up.  And, not only that, but, she was supposed to have EIGHT vaccines done on that same day.  EIGHT.  EIGHT?!?!?!  Plus, our darling Ava has a severe neurological disorder, Speech Apraxia.  Is this due to vaccines?  I don’t have that answer, and I probably never will.

I am now choosing to EDUCATE myself before I let a doctor inject one more vaccine into my children’s bodies.  I don’t know our decision, yet, but until I do, I’m not going to freely and naively let my children be injected one more time.

Again, I am not saying you SHOULD or you SHOULDN’T vaccinate your children.  I am saying:  EDUCATE yourself, FULLY, before you decide.

A website that has been helpful in my mission to educate myself is:  www.vacinfo.org

And, I haven’t read this book, yet, but was recommended by my Chiropractor:  Vaccines–Are they Really Safe and Effective, by Neil Z. Miller

Here’s an awesome quote from Alan G. Philips, Attorney at Law:

“God created us with a perfect immune system!  He gave us fever to burn a virus, vomiting and diarrhea to eliminate a virus and we’ve allowed man to teach us to suppress the fever, suppress the vomiting, suppress the diarrhea.  Then, we allow man to convince us to bypass God’s defense mechanisms and directly into the body, inject biological toxins to create immunity.  We’re literally allowing man to play the role of God.”

Couponizer! October 21, 2009

It was quite the chaotic day around here yesterday, therefore, I really had no energy to post a Tip for Tip Tuesday.  So, now I’m trying to play “catch-up” and here’s a little something for you!

I don’t know if this is a tip, exactly, but it’s a great product that I’ve been wanting to share with you for months!!

Here it is:

The wonderful.

The Amazing.

COUPONIZER!!!

I just have to say, that, I am IN LOVE!!  My dear sister, Martha, gave me this amazing coupon organizer for my birthday and I can’t tell you what a beautiful thing it is!!    It is so perfectly simple, yet, does the job better than any other coupon organizer I could imagine.

If you remember back to my post HERE, I had a pretty good, (kind of OK—now looking back on it—not too great) way of organizing all my coupons.  It worked, yes, but was it a pretty beautiful sight like the COUPONIZER?!?!?!  I think not!!

Truly, this has changed my couponing life!!

The Couponizer is a booklet with 18 different coupon pockets with categories, four non-grocery pockets, three gift card/catalina pockets, and shopping/checkout pockets.  It also came with scissors, a tear-pad shopping list, a pre-sorting mat, and a carrying bag!  It also has an elastic closure strap.  I LOVE IT!!!

Here’s a few shots of what mine looks like:

This coupon system is so easy to use, so straight forward, extremely portable, and set-up in a way that helps us save money!!!  I’m convinced there is no better coupon organizer out there.  Check it out!

Fruit Flies October 19, 2009

With all the fruit we’ve been picking and bringing in from the yard, the tomatoes that we have sitting on the counter hoping to ripen, and all the different veggies that have been brought in from the garden—-Fruit Flies are ever-abundant in our kitchen!!!  Do you have this same issue?  I guess, ’tis the season, but, it’s actually quite disgusting.  I really, really don’t like the little buggers.  Doesn’t it seem like they appear out of thin air?!  It’s quite amazing, actually.

So, in my quest to get rid of them, I came across a super EASY and super EFFECTIVE way to kill the poor guys.  (Or gals?)

This is all you do:

1.  Get a small bowl

2.  Pour in two tablespoons of Red Wine Vinegar

3.  Pour in 1 or 2 tablespoons of dishwashing soap

4.  Mix, ever-so-slighty

5.  Set it on your counter and watch them FLOCK to it!!

Here’s a picture of my bowl, and this is just 10 minutes after I set it out!!  It’s got some flies in it…..I know, kinda GROSS….but I wanted to show you that it really works!

Meal Plan Monday October 18, 2009

It was a great, busy weekend!  Lots of things got done around the house!  Mark and I re-organized EVERY, SINGLE cupboard and drawer in the entire kitchen and pantry!!  It wasn’t outrageously out of control, but we haven’t re-organized them, fully, for quite awhile, so, it was delightful……once it was all done!!    Oh, how lovely and organized it is!!  We also did quite a bit of cleaning and organizing in the basement, and I organized three of our freezers, and we’re defrosting the fourth. Yay!

We also had some great family time together!!  We did quite a bit of shopping and errand running on Saturday—grocery shopping, Goodwill, and costume-hunting for Luke.  (Ava already has hers.)  We had a great time looking and trying costumes on Luke, it was pretty hilarious!!  We finally found one—-A Monkey!!  (Luke likes to think he’ll be Curious George!)  He’s sooooo excited to wear it!

Ava and Mark picked lots more apples in the yard and Ava helped me make, probably, my best pie, to date!  My pie-making skills still have a long way to go, but, it was pretty delicious and my homemade crust was pretty great, too!   I also made apple-cinnamon muffins, and more applesauce!

After dinner this evening, we took a family walk together and the kids had so much fun picking up sticks and looking at all the different kinds of leaves on the ground……..just seeing their wonder and amazement and joy, was so special;  so beautiful.  Being together as a family, no matter what we’re doing is……so special.

(I also have to give big “props” to our sweet Anna…..she’s just a content, happy, lovely little lady.  She is still sleeping 7-8 hours straight every night, and sometimes more!!  She smiles constantly, is cooing and squealing, and is almost reaching out for toys!  We are just so blessed to have this little miss in our lives.)

So, now on to a crazy, busy, busy week!!  I don’t even want to look at the calendar, because I don’t want to be too overwhelmed!!  Whew!  I’ll take it one day at a time……

So, here’s what I have planned for our busy week:

Monday:  Lasagna (already made….Thanks, Martha!!!), green salad, homemade wheat bread

Tuesday:  THIS Cream Cheese Potato Soup (I made it today and it’s DELICIOUS!!!), Buttery Rolls

Wednesday:   Tuna Noodle casserole, roasted carrots, buttermilk biscuits

Thursday:  Dinner with Martha!

Friday:  Meatloaf (from my freezer stash), baked potatoes, and green beans

Here’s to another great week!

Keeping Track of Milestones October 17, 2009

Any suggestions????

Back in “the day” when I had just one child, and life was a little bit less hectic, I actually had TIME to do things, like, write down EACH AND EVERY little thing my sweet Ava and Luke did, from day one!!  I kept super detailed accounts of, pretty much, every breath they took!!!  It was crazy, but I felt like I needed to chronicle every little second of their lives, hoping I wouldn’t miss one detail!!  Actually,  I started writing in a journal from the moment we found out we were pregnant with each of them.  I decided I wanted to write down all my feelings, emotions, and goings-on throughout my pregnancies, as well as, detail everything about the first two years of their lives.   I love looking back and reading them;  all those memories flood back to me!  I will eventually give them these journals, one day, so that they can look back on them, too, and have them to share with their kids.

But….whoo, boy…..not enough time for that now!!!  I feel like I’m short-changing Anna!!!  I am in the process of writing up her Birth Story, but I have never started a journal for her like I did with Ava and Luke, and now I’m regretting it!  I don’t have all the details of my pregnancy with her like I did with the other two, and I haven’t started writing down her milestones, yet, either!  She’s obviously quite young, so I know there’s still time to write down milestones, but I feel so overwhelmed to think about starting another journal.

I’m wondering how you keep track of all this???  I already feel so behind!!  Are there any tricks or easy ways of doing it that I’m not thinking of???  Or, maybe I’m going overboard and don’t need to be so detailed?  Any tips or suggestions would be SO MUCH appreciated!!