Financially Free 4 Ever

Fast and Easy Microwave Egg and Cheese Omleet

2012-02-08T06:00:00.000-05:00

In my Sunday paper, there was a recipe insert and inside of it was this basic recipe for a microwave omelet. You can make this faster than going to the drive-thru at any fast food restaurant.

Fast and Easy Microwave Egg and Cheese Omelet
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. milk
2 Tbsp. shredded cheese
Salt and pepper

Coat 12-oz microwave safe coffee mug with cooking spray. Add eggs and milk; beat until blended. Microwave on high 45 seconds; stir. Microwave until eggs are almost set, 30-45 seconds longer. Top with cheese; season with salt and pepper.

Looking For A Unique Gift Idea? Make Your Own Family Cookbook

2012-02-07T07:46:00.001-05:00

It is that time of year when you hear of friends and family getting married. First there are engagement parties, then bridal showers, and finally the wedding. These parties are special, fun and exciting, yet you are expected to share in the joy with gifts.

There is no better gift than a family cookbook or collection of friend's tried and true recipes. When I got married, my church put together a lovely cookbook, full of tried and true recipes. I have used that cookbook so much! As my daughter grows, her love to cook grows and she is already developing a collection of her "favorite" recipes. I also have some of my extended family relative recipes from close to 100 years ago. What a unique way to preserve a families heritage!

Currently you can make a cookbook for $39. It is a fairly inexpensive gift yet is full of love! That makes this a great gift for those special occasions!

Walgreens Prescription Saving Club Program Review

2012-02-07T04:02:00.001-05:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Walgreens has begun a new prescription program for those who do not have prescription coverage with their health insurance. I personally have not used this program since I do not have a Walgreens that close to my home. However, I was looking over their program and it seems like a very good alternative to costly prescription insurance.

The program costs $35 a year for a family, and $20 for individuals. The family membership covers everyone in your immediate family, including a spouse, dependents 22 and younger and pets.

Other benefits include:

~ Savings on more than 8,000 brand-name and all generic medications
~ Discounts on flu shots, pet prescriptions, nebulizer and diabetic supplies
~ Bonuses when you purchase Walgreens brand products and photo finishing services

There are some restrictions with the program and you can read about them here. I can say that if a Walgreens were in my area, I would certainly consider doing all of my business with them because of this program alone. It appears that if you had several prescriptions that you would fill a year, that this would be a very good value for you and your family.

You can find out all about the Walgreens Prescription Savings Club on their web-site. You can also follow Walgreens on Facebook and Walgreens on Twitter @Walgreens.

Valentine's Day Dinner On A Shoe String Part 1

2012-02-06T14:04:00.002-05:00

As a mom of four small children, finding time to get away for an evening is quite a challenge. So for my Valentine's day dinner, I have decided this year to just cook a special dinner at home for my hubby and kids. Who said you can't celebrate Valentine's dinner with your kids.

What is my plan?

First, I am going to put a table cloth on the table and set out my pretty red cloth napkins that I only use on special occasions. Then I'm going to use my special china and real silverware for the meal. For the meal, I am planning on making Ginger Mustard chicken, rice pilaf and home canned green beans. Maybe I'll make my own dinner rolls but I'm not sure on that yet. Our drinks will be homemade sparkling juice. Dinner wouldn't be complete without dessert, but I haven't figured out what I going to make yet.

I will probably spend more on this meal than an ordinary meal, but it is a special occasion and I believe my kids are going to remember it for years to come.

What are your plans for Valentine's Day?

Organized Cleaning: My New Year's Resolution-Month 1 Complete!!!!!

2012-02-02T09:04:00.001-05:00

I do not like making New Year's resolutions. However, I do like to use the closing of the year as a time of reflection, reflecting back on the year past and what went well, and what didn't work so well. As I look back, one thing that really suffered was the organization and general cleanliness of our home.

2011 started with my being close to 14 weeks pregnant. I have never had such a difficult pregnancy like this last one. My energy was zilch, I was constantly sick, and in the end I was in pain. My husband turned into the chief, cook, and bottle washer, teacher, nurse, maid, business owner and just about everything else you could imagine. We were in survival mode. At a quick glace, our house looked fine, but if you started to open closet doors, look at window sills and door jams, you would find layers of dirt and grime and construction dirt. It was nasty! Nobody else may have noticed it, but I knew that was there.

So, as my husband and I reflected on 2011 and made plans for 2012, we decided that our one goal for improvement for the upcoming year would be to get our house in order. Not only cleaned, but organized. No "skeletons" in the closet as they would say.

My plan was to return to my Flylady control journal from several years ago. My house would be divided up into five different zones. One zone for each week. The work that needed to be accomplished on each day would be written on my husbands ultimate daily to-do list. We would work together, the kids would help, our house will be clean.

I am glad to say that January, month one, was a smashing success! Everything was cleaned just as written. Windows got washed, cupboards get cleaned, window sills cleaned, closets and drawers organized, cobwebs removed. Yes, it took me a while to clean everything since there was well over a year (or two!) of built up dirt and grime. But the house has slowly taken shape. I feel at peace in our home and my mood is much better knowing that my house is finally where it should be. Knowing the we stuck with it for the first month is an awesome feeling!

Here is what my February 2012 cleaning calendar looks like. I hope this inspires you to tackle one of those dreaded items on your list.

NEW H&R Block AT HOME Tax Software Deal 1/30-2/4

2012-01-30T13:55:00.004-05:00

If you missed the wonderful deal on H&R Block At Home tax software that I posted last week, you can still get a very similar deal this week at Office Max.

In the Sunday paper, there was a single coupon insert for H&R Block tax software. This is for in-store purchase only. The coupon is good for 1/29/12-2/11/12 and is for H&R Block At Home Deluxe, Premium and Premium & Business software.

After you make your purchase, there is also a $10 H&R Block At Home rebate that you can submit. You can find it here (Thanks, Laura's Last Ditch)

After combining all of these discounts, you can get H&R Block's At Home Deluxe+State boxed software for only $14.99+tax. That's another great deal!

Those Little Squirrels!!!!!

2012-01-28T15:10:00.000-05:00

My two oldest children are in 4th grade science this year which has them studying North American bird species. As a year long school project, I joined Cornell Project Feeder Watch and the kids have been actively participating. We hung out our two bird feeds and a suet cake and just waited for the birds. It was great! The birds began to come to the feeders every day and we were learning so much about them.

But then......

The squirrels found our feeder as well. I'm not interested in feeding the squirrels but the birds. I've screamed at them, chased them away at lightning speed and thrown rocks at them. I put my feeders on a super skinny pole that I didn't think that they could climb and yet they still made it up the pole. Then I greased the pole...surely that would work, but NO! It didn't even slow them down and they decided that they should invite their friends. But today, they pulled out all of the stops.

I looked outside and what did they do, but they chewed out the hook that the bird feeder was hanging on. The feeder dropped to the ground and they were eating all of the bird feed.

If anyone has any ideas for keeping the squirrels away successfully, I'm all ears. I want to enjoy the birds and not have to keep chasing them away!

Great Deal On H&R Block Tax Software!

2012-01-23T21:42:00.000-05:00

My husband and I complete our own taxes at home and for several years we have used H&R Block's tax software. Since it is that time of year again, I have been waiting for a good sale before purchasing the software.

Today, as I was looking through the Sunday paper, I found that Office Max had their H&R Block At Home software on sale for $34.99. They also send you a $10 Office Max gift card when you purchase the software. That brings the cost down to $24.99 which is a good deal by itself.

However, if you received in the mail a CD copy of the newest H&R At Home software, you will find a $10 mail-in rebate when you purchased the software from any of the retailers listed on the rebate. One of those retailers were Office Max.

So after purchasing H&R Block's At Home and receiving the $10 gift card to Office Max and sending in the $10 rebate to H&R Block, the total cost of my tax software is $14.99! That is one of the best deals I have found for tax software in a very long time!

On a side note, if you have an Ebates account, you can purchase H&R Block's At Home at Office Max through Ebates and earn another $1.05 for the purchase. Ebates is currently offering a 3% return on your purchase at Office Max.

Steamed Cranberry Pudding-A New Year's Eve Tradition

2012-01-13T19:49:00.002-05:00

As long as I can remember, we never did much to celebrate New Year's Eve. That changed though a few years back when I was volunteering to be on-duty from my home for the Emergency Squad. My husband and I decided that we would ask our neighbors to come over and spend the evening at our home playing games.

My neighbors came over bringing somewhat of a New Year's Eve tradition for them, steamed cranberry pudding with hard sauce. I had never tried or even heard of anything like that. As we removed it from the mold, the steam wafted towards us and it smelled delectable! That first bite was wonderful. Tart cranberries enveloped in moist molasses flavored cake, dripping with a buttery hard sauce.

Since that New Year's Eve night, years ago, steamed cranberry pudding has become our New Year's Eve tradition. This year we ended up celebrating New Year's Eve a week and a half late. But we still had our cranberry pudding and an evening of games. I asked my neighbor if I could share her recipe. You will find it below. Enjoy!

Steamed Cranberry Pudding with Hard Sauce

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 Tbsp sugar

1/2 cup light molasses

1/3 cup hot water

1 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups cranberries, washed and drained

Mix together and pour into a greased mold and steam for 1 hour over simmering water on stove top, making sure that the pot is tightly covered. Remove from mold onto serving tray and serve warm with hard sauce.

Hard Sauce

1 cup half and half

1 stick butter

1 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

Heat cream, butter, sugar and salt to a boil. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Serve warm over warm pudding.

Variation: Use eggnog instead of half and half and replace vanilla with rum flavoring.

Dirty Microwave? Here Is A Quick Tip

2012-01-11T21:33:00.000-05:00

I do not remember where I learned this, but it has saved me a lot of scrubbing time. A clean microwave is more energy efficient since the energy just goes into what you are really warming up and not the tiny little, stuck on food particles. You know, those stalactites that you find on the inside of your microwave, staring at you every time you open up the door. But trying to remove those stuck on particles can really take a long time, especially if you want to do a good job.

For the last few years though, I have no longer needed to scrub the microwave when I cleaned it. All I did was fill up a microwave safe container with water. I heated it in the microwave until it boiled and then just let it sit in the microwave, with the door closed for 10 or more minutes. The steam from the water loosens the food particles and you only need to wipe them away. It's easy and it takes very little time to do.

Easy Knit In The Round Infant Hat For Beginners!

2012-01-10T21:06:00.001-05:00

This weekend, I decided to make a new hat for my youngest daughter. She is six months old but has a small head. I found this really easy knit hat pattern. You can find it here. This was the 6-9 month size and the yarn was just some leftovers that I had in my closet.

I didn't have the small circular needles like they recommended so I just used double-pointed needles and it worked out just fine. The hat took around 2 hours to complete from start to finish. It is a great project for using up some odds and ends of yarn.

Tightwad Gazette Giveaway at "Adventures in Thriftland"

2012-01-06T22:59:00.001-05:00

My sister-in-law is hosting a giveaway on her blog, Adventures in Thriftland, of "The Complete Tightwad Gazette". If you are not familiar with The Tightwad Gazette, it is full of tips and hints on stretching a dollar.

This is an awesome book and I remember reading it for the first time when I was a teenager. My mom had purchased her first book in the series and I remember my mom being disappointed when she finished the book. When I asked her why she was disappointed, she said that she already did almost all of the things in the book.

So be sure to visit Adventures in Thriftland and enter the giveaway!

Did Your Mother Mend The Family Clothes?

2011-12-20T20:06:00.001-05:00

Do you recognize either of the items in the pictures? I grew up watching my mother faithfully darn my father's socks and the picture on the top is the one she always used. I thought that everybody mended socks and fixed clothes. But as I grew older and talked about mending, people looked at me like I had four heads. Usually they would say something like, "Oh, my mother use to that but I just through the clothes out". One time, I was on a museum home school field trip when our guide pointed out a darning egg on displayed. She asked if anyone knew what it was. I knew what it was but was too shy to speak up and no one else raised their hand. Our guide then told us what it was and then said that they weren't used anymore and she just throws her socks out when they develop a hole in them.

The truth is that throwing away something that is perfectly good except for a small hole is wasteful. It takes all of a few minutes to thread a needle and mend a garment. The cost is only pennies and your time. If you were to calculate how much you would spend on a new garment and how much time you spent driving there and back, it is worth it to fix the garment yourself.

LG has some great tips on basic mending. There are also lots of Youtube.com videos on sewing on buttons. If you can thread a needle with thread, you can mend your clothes. So the next time something gets a hole in it, don't throw it out but mend it!

Oh, So Easy! Crock-pot Versatile Chicken

2011-12-16T21:22:00.001-05:00

Life is busy around the Christmas season and trying to find time to cook for a family can be quite a challenge. The crock-pot is certainly a very useful tool in helping us feed our family well. I recently discovered a very easy way to cook chicken that can be used so many different ways. You can not ruin this recipe!

Oh, So Easy! Crock-Pot Chicken
1 whole chicken (whatever size will fit in your crock-pot)
Salt and Pepper and Thyme

Remove the giblets from the chicken and rinse the chicken with cool water. Place chicken inside greased crock-pot and season the top of the chicken with a generous amount of salt and pepper. Add a pinch of Thyme to the top of the chicken. Cook on high for 4 hours or low 6-7 hours.

At this point, the chicken is completely ready to eat. However, I usually let it cool and then remove all of the meat from the bones. I then have all this meat ready for casseroles, chicken soup, ground chicken sandwiches or chicken salad. There is so much you can use this for! You can also add onions and celery to the cavity of the chicken before you put it the crock-pot for a more flavorful broth.

Sunny Sunflower In A Pot Birthday Cake

2011-12-10T22:06:00.001-05:00

This weekend we celebrated my daughter's ninth birthday. When I asked her what kind of cake she would like, she said a cake full of flowers. Hmmm....rather stumped at how I was going to achieve the desired cake. I searched the web for some ideas but there wasn't all that much out there that I could qualify as easy. I chatted about my dilemma with my neighbor and she suggested making cupcakes and then shaping them into a sunflower in a pot. This is how the final cake came out...

My cake recipe made 29 cupcakes and I made a single batch of pipeable cream cheese frosting. I used Wilton icing food coloring and some basic color chart knowledge to create the colors for the frosting. For the brown center, I used a basic star tip, the sunflower petals were the rose petal tip and for the green stem, I used a grass like tip. The pot was also made out of stars.

The frosting was delicious and was such a nice change from the standard butter cream. However, I ended up using almost three more cups of confectionery sugar than the recipe called for. Even then, the frosting was very soft and didn't work all that well as a pipeable frosting. The recipe did say that it would work better if it was chilled. I did put the frosting in the refrigerator in between colors, but I didn't notice that much of a difference. If I were to use the recipe again, I would consider making the frosting the day before I needed to use it.

The end result was a very tasty, one of a kind birthday cake. My daughter loved it when she saw it. Mission accomplished!

Can There Be Too Many Toys At Christmas?

2011-12-03T21:19:00.001-05:00

Christmas is coming and along with that comes the inundation of TV commercials, newspaper fliers, and radio ads. Everywhere you turn you will find someone trying to sell the newest "Buzz Lightyear" or "X-Box". As adults, we are usually able to successfully tune out most of these ads vying for our attention. However, our children are not nearly as capable and advertisers know this very well. I see it in my own children when I bring in the newspaper on Monday. They rush to the middle of the paper looking for the new Toy'R'Us catalog and together start to circle everything they would like for Christmas.

The older children tend to be more "modest" in their want list and only circle a few of their "most wanted" items, while my three year old wants just about everything in the book. Throughout the course of the day, he drags that book around with him and where ever an opportunities arises to show me what he wants, he is sure to take advantage of it.

As I child, I remember looking through the J.C. Penney Wish Book and just wanting so many things in that book. Oh the excitement that was held up until Christmas day with anticipation to see what kind of toy that I got on my wish list. But by the end of the day, there was this inward disappointment that I did not get everything that I wanted. Looking back, it was certainly a spirit of discontentment that was in me. The advertisers somehow made me believe that I could have whatever I wanted and when I came down to reality on Christmas day, instead of being thankful and happy, I was sad.

Each year that has passed, I have realized more and more that Christmas is not just about the presents but more about being together with family and remembering why we celebrate Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I still love opening presents but my inward spirit has changed. I no longer expect and presume that I am going to get a gift, but am thankful for what I do receive.

Every Christmas, I try to impress upon my children what Christmas is truly about and that it isn't about the gifts. I enjoy seeing them play with their one toy that they received instead of five or ten different toys. They are happy. They are content. One toy is fine for them and that one toy becomes special. So in my own opinion, yes, there can be too many toys at Christmas. I want my children to remember the simple joys of being together with family and friends and that it isn't just about the gifts.

Is there anything wrong with our children longingly wanting everything in the toy catalog? I don't have any problem with them excitedly looking at the book. In fact, it can be insightful to see what is of interest to them. My daughter really loves looking at the sewing/craft/cooking items, while my older son loves the LEGO section. I believe that we need to encourage our children in their natural likes and tendencies and for me, if I can use the "Wish Book" as a tool for me to know my children better, then by all means I will certainly be using it.

So, if you stop by my house on a Monday during the month of December, more than likely you will find my children all huddled around the newest toy catalog. There they will be quietly whispering and planning for Christmas day while I stand back to enjoy listening to their excited voices full of hope, dreams and promises.

25 Days Of Free Music At Amazon.com

2011-12-01T09:01:00.001-05:00

Amazon is having a special promotion of 25 free days of holiday music. Each day they are releasing a new free song so you may want to bookmark the site and check back daily. Last year they had a similar promotion and I was able to get some great music!

Saving Money On Your Online Holiday Shopping

2011-11-29T22:30:00.001-05:00

I have been working on my online Christmas shopping the past week and I have fallen in love with Ebates!

You earn cash back on all of your purchases when you link through their site to the retailer where you are making your purchase. It is a very easy way to save a little extra and if you aren't able to find any coupon or promotional codes, this is certainly one way of saving a little.

I also love the site Wicked Cool Deals!

Here they compile many of the hottest deals and coupons on the web as well as the local grocery and pharmacy circulars for the northeast area.

Both of these sites have been a great help for me. Especially Wicked Cool Deals since they put together the best deals for the weekly Price Chopper circular. If you don't have the time to compare coupons and find good deals, I highly recommend Wicked Cool Deals!

Do you have any favorite money-saving sites? I would love to hear what you use.

Around The Plate: Healthy Eating And Living Site Review

2011-11-16T17:55:00.001-05:00

I do not know about you but maintaining my weight through November, December and January can be a real challenge. For me, it is not the big Thanksgiving meal or Christmas dinner that causes the problems, but all of the holiday festivities with this party here and that party there. It is the disruption of a normal eating pattern filled with temptingly good food and sweet treats.

Around The Plate is a website consisting of many nutrition-focused posts written by registered dietitians and an online community consisting of many nutrition-focused blogs and web sites. The goal of this site it to encourage people to have healthy eating habits with frequently posted articles concerning nutrition. Around The Plate can be followed on Twitter and Facebook. You can also sign-up for their weekly e-letter on their site. All of these tools can certainly encourage you in your journey of healthy eating.

I found many of the articles very interesting, easy to understand and enjoyable to read. Right now, Around The Plate is looking to hear your nutrition story, tips, product reviews, healthy recipes and more. You can submit your story here.

The site is a little confusing with somewhat poor navigation. However, there are lots of good up-to-date articles on the site. There is definitely potential with Around The Plate. So, if you are looking for that little bit of encouragement with staying on track this holiday season, check out Around The Plate!

Puppies Vs. Babies Photo Contest: Vote Now!

2011-11-15T03:02:00.001-05:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Puppies vs. Babies for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

There is something completely irresistible about a soft and cuddly puppy that will curl up on your lap. But take one look at my giggly, smiley baby and there is no competition.

November 12, 2011

Animal Planet is having their Puppies vs. Babies online contest on their website over this very topic. Which is cuter? Puppies or babies? What will America decide?

You can vote at the Puppies vs. Babies contest from now until November 23rd to decide who is cuter! The winning puppy or baby will get $5,000!

It is down to the wire now with only four babies and four puppies left to vote on. Be sure to head over and get your vote in now. I voted for baby Raven and baby James. Baby Raven had a similar birth story to mine with a birth that almost happened in a car! And baby James has an adorable and contagious smile that makes me want to just smile right back at him. Who did you vote for?

After voting for the babies, I headed over to the puppy pictures to see what kind of competition in cute there was. I my own opinion, there is no competition. All of the babies left are far cuter than any of those puppies.

It will be very interesting to see who the winner will be. I will certainly be following this closely the next week or so. Who is your favorite?

Beware Of NYS Uniform Traffic Ticket Email Scam

2011-11-10T04:33:00.000-05:00

I just want to pass along a scam email that I have been receiving lately. I'm not sure if this is localized to New York only. The email says that it is from "New York State Department of Motor Vehicle". Here is a screen shot of the email:

From what I can find online, the attachment contains a Trojan malware program. What made my suspicious about the email that I first received was that it lists all the email recipients in the header. I couldn't imagine an official document being sent to a whole group of people.

So, I just thought I would give you a heads up on this scam. Has anyone else had this problem?

Burt's Bees Natural Skin Solutions Review

2011-11-07T19:06:00.000-05:00

I had received a complimentary Burt's Bees facial care cleanser and moisturizer from BzzAgent for my use and review. I was excited to try the new line of products since I already love their line. However, my skin did not appreciate the change in my face care regime.

I am fully aware that you frequently need to use a new product consistently for several days so that your skin can adjust to the new products and you can get an honest evaluation on the product. I ended up using both the facial cleanser and moisturizer for over a week. What were my results?

My skin became extremely dry, with raised red patches on my chin and forehead. These patches then became very itchy and began to bleed. At that point, I discontinued using the product. All this surprised me considering this product is for sensitive skin. I used both products morning and evening.

I have to say that I am rather disappointed with the results of the products. How I wish that I could write a positive review, but considering my results of using the products, I cannot recommend this skin care line.

If you have tried this skin care line, I would like to hear from you. I would be very interested in hearing your results.

Thanksgiving Planning Part 1: Menu

2011-11-07T15:12:00.000-05:00

This week, I am focusing on planning for this upcoming Thanksgiving. Usually, I have all of my planning done by this point, but with a four month old in the house and homeschooling my other children, I have found myself a little short on time.

Today, I am going to focus on my menu. In past years, I have downloaded Flylady's Holiday Control Journal to help speed me through November and December. I will be doing the same thing again this year as well as digging out my previous year journals. That I way I can see what I served previous years and how to modify it.

I invited 18 people to my home on Thanksgiving but I haven't confirmed that everyone of them will be able to attend. I'll probably plan for 20 just so I have enough left overs to freeze for future meals. Because of the large attendance of folks, I do ask each family to contribute to the meal by bringing one item on the menu. I found that this not only helps my budget and my time in the kitchen, but it keeps my menu more simple. If I had unlimited time and funds, my Thanksgiving would be high calorie and luxurious foods fit for a king and queen. However, being realistic, I currently do not have that much time to prepare such a meal. So I am going to plan on keeping it simple.

Here is my menu:

- Appetizers: None
- Drinks: V-8 juice, sparkling grape juice, water, coffee, tea
- Main Course: Turkey and gravy
- Side dishes: Mashed potatoes, peas, stuffing, fruit salad, sweet potatoes or squash
- Bread: Pumpkin
- Dessert: Apple pie, Pumpkin pie with real whipped cream

Book Review: A Good And Perfect Gift by Amy Julia Becker

2011-11-06T10:21:00.000-05:00

Down syndrome is a life changing diagnosis. It is something that you often do not want to think about, especially when you are pregnant. It is one of those "what ifs" of life, yet for many it becomes a reality. The book, "A Good And Perfect Gift" by Amy Julia Becker is a memoir of one family's life after a diagnosis of Down syndrome in their daughter.

October 2005, Amy and Peter excitedly awaited the birth of their firstborn. A little girl, who was to be named Penny. After an uneventful pregnancy and delivery, Penny was brought into this world. Yet with all of the joy and excitement came a life shattering diagnosis. This baby has Down syndrome.

As you read this book, you are drawn into the story. The realization of how hard Downs can be emotionally, is shocking. This family had no idea that Penny was going to be born with an extra chromosome. All of the expectations of a new mother had vanished. Amy and Peter were left with pieces of their dreams and had to slowly piece together a new dream. A dream that included a special little girl.

I have personally never know anyone with Downs and I was not very familiar with Downs. I was unaware of all of the complications that can occur or how if affects the person mentally. Reading "A Good And Perfect Gift" was eye opening to me and allowed me to have a greater understanding of the syndrome.

I would highly recommend this book to everyone. It was very easy to read yet informative and insightful. This really gives you a good idea of what Downs looks like and how to respond to those parents who have a Downs child.

I received this complimentary copy of "A Good And Perfect Gift" by Amy Julia Becker from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for my reading and review of this book.

Price Chopper Holiday Entertaining Showcase For Bloggers!

2011-11-05T16:59:00.000-04:00

I had a wonderful opportunity yesterday to go to Price Chopper's corporate headquarters and attend a Holiday Entertaining Showcase for bloggers. It was the first event that Price Chopper has hosted for bloggers. I was not really sure what to expect or how to prepare for it. So, I went without my computer or my camera and brought my good friend and neighbor.

My first mistake was not taking my camera or my laptop with me. There would have been so many good opportunities for pictures for this blog. My neighbor had the camera on her iPhone and she kindly let me use that for pictures.

Secondly, I should have brought some business cards or something similar with my name and blog url on it. Some bloggers were exchanging their business cards to further network their blogs but I hadn't thought about doing that.

We had a wonderful time learning more about Price Chopper, sampling endless amounts of food and meeting new people.

A few take away points about Price Chopper were that they want to be the #1 resource for your holiday planning. As a company, they have a passion and love for what they do. This became very obvious to me as we went and visited all of the different food stations. The servers were extremely knowledgeable about the food they were serving and were very happy to tell you all about it. Not only was it fun to taste all the foods Price Chopper offered, it was a learning experience as well.

The cheese station was great! I was raised on only American and Velvetta cheese and have always been afraid of trying different kinds of cheese. Today was my opportunity to become familiar with new flavors and textures.

After sampling from all of the various stations, we had a demonstration on how to make an easy holiday cheese board and we were able to taste even more cheese! Did you know that in a Price Chopper cheese shop, there are over 250 varieties? There are also over 500 varieties available for special order. What was emphasized over and over was that the cheese shop in your local Price Chopper is there to help you find the perfect cheese for whatever occasion. I learned that cheese is best served at room temperature and should be left out of the refrigerator at least one hour prior to serving.

This was the cheese demonstration

After the cheese demonstration, we moved on to an Angus beef demonstration. We learned about the different cuts of beef, which ones are the most tender, and what makes Price Chopper beef better than their competitors. One point that was hit upon was that "Angus" beef is just the breed of beef and not necessarily the quality of the beef. Price Chopper beef is certified Angus beef by the AAA (American Angus Association). Most of Price Chopper's beef comes from small, family run farms with less than 50 cows per farm. The speaker said that the cows are grass fed for 80% of their lives and then for the last 100 or so days of the cows' life, they are grain fed. This process causes the marbling of fat in the meat, creating greater flavor and juiciness.

Following the beef demonstration, we had an overview of the bakery department and all of the services that they provide. They carry several "seasonal and limited time only" cakes. Everything looks SO delicious, but I was trying to be very good and did not try the desserts other than a small cannelloni, which was very good! Did you know that you can buy everything ahead of time and then fill them yourself right before your party so the shell do not get soggy?

The final presentation was on holiday hints and tips for entertaining. We were given a packet of the hints and tips that were touched on in the demonstration as well as several "must have" recipes for holiday parties. Here are some of the take away point that I thought were helpful.
~ Start with planning your menu first
~ Develop a master shopping list
~ Plan on 1lb of ice per person
~ Serve cheese along with fresh fruit
~ If serving a buffet, consider using place cards to identify the foods being served.

Overall, I had a wonderful time at the show and hope that Price Chopper will consider having another Holiday Entertaining Showcase in the near future. I learned a lot from it and also had fun meeting other local bloggers.

Crockery Cooking: Marinated Chicken Thighs Recipe

2011-10-24T22:52:00.000-04:00

I love my crock pot! There are so many things that you can cook in it and not to mention how easy they are to use. I received my first crock pot as a wedding gift. Since then, I have gotten two larger sized crock pots. At times, I have actually had all three of them going at the same time.

Tonight, I decided that I was going to make some baked beans and just let them cook overnight. The recipe that I used came out of "Mable Hoffman's Crockery Cooking" cookbook. There is no need to soak or precook the beans for this recipe. Just throw everything into the crock pot and let it cook for a long time. It took me less than 5 minutes to assemble.

Tomorrow morning, I am going to being cooking my other favorite recipe for crock pot: chicken thighs. This recipe is so easy that I never need to write down.

No Need For A Recipe Chicken Thighs
Chicken thighs or breasts
Soy sauce
Italian dressing

Mix together equal parts of soy sauce and Italian dressing. I use 1/3 of a cup of each. Place chicken inside of your crock pot and pour sauce over it. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until cooked through. You can also cook this on high for 4-5 hours. If you don't want to wait that long for your crock pot, you can cook these in your oven or on the grill. If you choose to cook these any other way than the crock pot, you may want to marinate these overnight so the chicken can absorb the flavors.

D.I.Y. Kirby Generation 3 Vacuum Repairs

2011-10-10T09:17:00.001-04:00

Twice this week, I have had vacuum troubles. First of all, my Kirby Generation 3 decided that it was going to start sounding very loud and shake. After a little while of that, it began to smell hot while it was running. I cannot live without my vacuum and a broken vacuum makes me very unhappy.

I grew up with my mother's Kirby Heritage II and when I got married, my mother gave me the vacuum. It worked great but I ended up upgrading to a Generation 3 after I found one at a garage sale for $15.

Having grown up with a Kirby, I am somewhat familiar with some of the common issues that a Kirby can have. So attempting to repair my own vacuum seemed logical. I mean, how much harm can I cause by just removing some screws and taking a look at the inside of my Generation 3? And that is exactly what I did. I removed the outside housing around the motor and took a look around. The fan assembly, the part that spins and causes the suction, looked very beat up and had several cracks in it. I wasn't sure if this was my problem but thought I would do some research on Google and Bing.

I found some great Youtube videos on D.I.Y. Kirby Generation 3 vacuum repairs. The one that I posted below was very helpful to me in successfully removing the fan assembly.

I called my local Kirby parts dealer to purchase a new fan assembly. However, they were going to be closed for the next two weeks. I didn't want to wait that long and decided to check on Ebay to see if I could find what I was looking for. They did and since I had $10 in Ebay bucks to spend, my total cost for the repair parts was a little over $3.00. The parts arrived three days after I ordered them.

I installed the new fan and washers, but when I put it back together, the fan would not spin. Clueless how to fix that problem, I explained everything to my husband and had him look at it. As it turns out, one of the new washer parts was slightly bigger than what was there originally. So we put the old washer part back in since it was in fine condition and then reassembled the vacuum. To my joy, it worked.

The total cost of the repair was approximately $3.00 and one hour of my time. That was far cheaper than having a repair shop fix it and then all of the time it would have taken to drive it there and back.

So, do not be afraid of attempting your own repairs. The web is a great source of information and there are so many great D.I.Y. videos on Youtube.

Review:"T.G.I. Fridays Entrees For One" Does It Make The Grade???

2011-09-23T23:01:00.001-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of T.G.I. FRiDAY'S for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
Do you like T.G.I. Friday's eatery? If you do, you may want to try the new T.G.I. Friday's "Entree for One" frozen meals. They have launched several new bold and exciting flavors. To celebrate their new frozen meals, T.G.I. Friday's has created the Fun Freezer Contest. You can enter here at: Fun Freezer contest
I decided I was going to try their new Sizzling Chicken Fajitas with grilled white meat chicken, seasoned strips of bell peppers and onions paired with a side of cheesy rice. Three tortillas were included with the meal for you to fill. I have never eaten at a T.G.I. Friday's eatery before, but I have heard from several of my friends about their good food. I was curious to see what they had to offer with their frozen meals.
The box was eye catching and the picture on the front of the box just made my mouth water. I was really excited about trying this frozen meal!

From September 22, 2011

The heating instructions were fairly easy to understand and in under four minutes you had a delicious, ready to serve entree for one.

From September 22, 2011

My first response was shock at the bewildering amount of ingredients, many that were not able to be pronounced. This is far from an all-natural, preservative-free dinner. The food itself was ok. It wasn't outstanding but not bad either. For me it ranked in the middle of the scale. The cost for this frozen dinner at my local grocer was $3.99. I would have expected more food for the amount it cost. And quite frankly, there are other frozen meals out there that are healthier, more filling and satisfying, that cost less that the T.G.I. Friday's Entrees For One. My husband shared this dish with me and had very similar thoughts on the product.

From September 22, 2011

Would I purchase this again? Maybe if it was on sale and I had a coupon. It probably won't be my first choice in the line of frozen meals.
You can find at more about T.G.I. Friday's "Entrees for One" here: T.G.I. FRiDAY’S “Entrées for One”

Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake Annual Garage Sale: I Can't Wait For Tomorrow!

2011-09-23T13:26:00.000-04:00

I am so excited! Tomorrow is our town wide garage sale and there are tons of families participating. We decided not to be one of the families having a garage sale but to do some last minute shopping before the weather turns too cold and the sales are over for the year. This is by far the highlight of the year for me!

The 4th Annual Garage Sale

It's happening in neighborhoods all around
Burnt Hills and Ballston Lake!

Date: Saturday, September 24, 2011
Time: 9AM to 3PM

Also on Saturday the 24th you can:
- Visit the Ellms Family Farm & Corn Maze!(Great for Kids!)
- Get your fresh apples at Knights Orchard
- Have lunch at Focastle Farm or Lakeside Farms.

Spend all day here!2011 Garage Sale Map

Beautiful Butterflies-Monarchs

2011-09-16T16:24:00.003-04:00

How many butterflies do you see?

Today has been a beautiful day and I decided that I was going to head out to the garden and weed. When I went out to my back garden, I saw many Monarch butterflies flying around and landing on my Zinnias.

I called for my kids to come and see these beauties and I was able to capture their excitement in the video below.

We have been studying the life cycle of insects in school the past few weeks. Seeing the Monarch butterfly in person made everything that we have learned come to life. There are lots of really nice informative web-sites about Monarchs. One site that I like in particular is Monarch Watch. If there is anything you want to know about Monarchs, this is the place for you. The one particular page that I liked a lot was about tagging Monarchs and tracking them. I have already missed the deadline for ordering a tagging kit this year. My kids would love to do this though, so maybe we can do it next year.

The Happenings At My Son's Birthday Party

2011-09-14T11:45:00.001-04:00

This past Thursday, my son turned seven years old. He had spent the night at his grandparent's house which allowed me to get ready to make his cake. He went out for a birthday breakfast and then spent the rest of the day just hanging out with Grandpa.

Everyone was supposed to come to our house for a birthday cake party in the evening. When they arrived, we gave John his birthday present. It was a shiny new bike.

John was rolling his bike out to the front porch posing for pictures for Grandma when I quickly ran inside to get my camera. Before I knew it, John was crying and holding his eye. He had tried to take the bike down the three porch stairs and he had fallen on top of the bike. He was screaming and holding his eye and it was bleeding.

To make a long story short, John spent three hours in the emergency room at Albany Medical Center where he underwent minor surgery to repair his torn tear duct in his upper eye lid.

This is what he looked like about ten minutes after the procedure.

He did such a great job holding still for the doctors and I am so proud of him. It was a really long day for him and when we got home, he just crashed on the couch and was ready for bed. What a very memorable way to spend his seventh birthday!

A Fort And Cannon Birthday Cake

2011-09-12T19:42:00.000-04:00

This year, when I asked my son what kind of birthday cake he would like, he quickly said that he wanted a cannon cake. I immediately thought, "How am I going to pull this one off?"! Looking on the web for some help on designing a cannon cake I found very little to help me. I was going to be on my own with this one. I decided that I would start with a chocolate cake roll for the barrel and two large cookies for the wheels.

I started out with making my normal chocolate birthday cake recipe. I then poured part of the mixture on a greased, parchment paper lined 10x15" jelly roll pan. I baked the cake for about fifteen minutes or until it was cooked through. I had leftover batter so I ended up pouring that into a loaf pan and cooking that. While the cake cooled for ten minutes, I dusted a kitchen towel with lots of powdered sugar.

Then I carefully flipped the cake onto the prepared towel. Slowly, I rolled the cake, starting on the short side. I then let the cake cool for about thirty minutes before unrolling it and adding the filling.

As soon as I unrolled the cake I knew that I had problems. The cake began to have large cracks in it. I decided that maybe my filling would hold the whole thing together so I proceeded to apply the filling to the cake. The filling was homemade marshmallow fluff. You can find the recipe here.

After the cake was covered, I began to roll it back up. Needless to say, the filling didn't hold the cake together and as soon as I had finished rolling it, the cracks just split right apart and everything started to ooze.

My husband took one look at me and said "Janelle, don't cry. We can fix this." I had to cook all the food for the birthday party and now my cannon barrel was completely ruined.

Trying to keep myself together, I ended up taking this *blob* of a cake and placing it in the middle, on top of an inverted cookie sheet that was lined with foil. I leveled off the top of the loaf cake and then cut it into two perfect squares to make the forts. The left over pieces from the loaf were made into small slices to fill in the gaps on the cake.

I made a very small batch of buttercream frosting and used that to lightly coat the top of the cake as well as the top and sides of the forts. I stuck small pretzel sticks to the sides of the forts.

For the grass on the cake, I took approximately one cup of dried coconut and added to it a mixure of 1 tablespoon of water mixed with green food coloring. I placed a lid on my container and shook everything together. That made the green coconut grass. I had to make two batches to cover enough of the cake.

For the final touches, I used Sweet Tarts for the cannon balls, LEGO cannons and Stratego games pieces for the soldiers. My husband and I made our own flags by coloring pieces of paper and adding them to long toothpicks.

The cake didn't turn out how I had orginally planned, but my son loved it and I had fun using my creativity to make it.

Make Your Own Oh So Easy! Marshmallow Fluff Recipe

2011-09-09T19:28:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was my son's 7th birthday and as I do for every birthday in my house, I make whatever kind of cake they request. This year, the request was a "cannon" cake. I will be posting on the cake design in my next post. For now, here is the recipe for the filling inside the chocolate cake roll. I ended up making my own marshmallow fluff filling making the cake like a super huge Little Debbie Twinkie. It was MUCH cheaper than buying marshmallow fluff and it took all of six or seven minutes to make. I found the original recipe here.

Oh So Easy! Marshmallow Fluff
3 egg whites, preferably at room temperature
2 cups light corn syrup
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups of confectionary sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract

First, put the egg whites, corn syrup and salt in you stand mixer. My mixer is a 6 quart size and this worked perfectly.

Beat on high speed for five minutes. The mixture should be very thick and almost doubled in volume.

Stop the mixer and add the confectionary sugar and vanilla. Mix on low until well blended.

Use immediately or store in covered container in the refrigeratore for up to two weeks. This makes a very large quantity.

Blender Bottle At BzzAgent

2011-09-09T15:50:00.002-04:00

Have you heard of BzzAgent? I joined BzzAgent a few years ago and have received a few items to try in exchange for my review and telling my friends about the product. Just recently, BzzAgent has started to do things a little differently which includes daily items that you can request to try instead of you waiting for them to choose you.

Today, the newest item to try is the Blender Bottle by Sundesa. This is what BzzAgent has to say about it:

The patented BlenderBottle by Sundesa is a great way to mix protein and meal replacement drinks while on the go, but it's also handy for mixing pancake batter while camping, mixing salad dressings and marinades, or just using as a water bottle. The BlenderBottle is the best-selling portable mixer simply because it works. No batteries, no cord, no hassle. Mix It Smooth--Anytime, Anywhere.

I personally think that this item is super cool! I am an avid fan of making your own salad dressings and marinades and this seems like an easy way of doing that. It looks so easy that my kids could probably use it do a review on the item. I am hoping that I get chosen to do a review for this product and can let all of you know what I think of it. Have you ever heard of this product or tried it before? I would love to hear your own comments about it.

One of Those Days!

2011-09-07T16:20:00.001-04:00

Kindle, take me away!!!!!

Help! I Have Too Many Jalapeno Peppers!!!!!

2011-09-02T15:49:00.001-04:00

I'm looking to of my blogging friends for some ideas on what to do with Jalapeno peppers. My plants are covered and I do not have very many tomatoes to make salsa. I also have a mixed variety of hot peppers and lots of banana peppers. Should I freeze them, can them or give them away? I'm also looking for some links to good uses with Jalapenos. I can't wait to hear from you!

The Power And Freedom Of Purging And Organizing: My Story Part 1

2011-08-19T17:01:00.000-04:00

I know that I have been M.I.A. lately but I have a very good reason. I decided that it was time to once and for all to purge, organize and clean my 3rd floor. My 3rd floor is pretty much all storage right now, but it used to be a bedroom. You see, our home was built in 1901 and there is very little closet space in the bedrooms or storage anywhere else in our home. The basement is made out of the old field stones and is VERY damp in the summer so you can't store anything down there. So that leaves our 3rd floor for anything that we want to keep.

The Reality
We bought our home some six years ago and I *didn't think* that we had all that much, but slowly the 3rd floor got fuller and fuller. Almost to the point where you either had to high step or move stuff out of the way to walk around up there. It was embarrassing. It was disorganized. And lastly, it weighed very heavily in the back of my mind. There were times that you knew you had something, *somewhere* up there but couldn't find it and either did without it, or even worse, you had to go and buy it. With me being pregnant, I really couldn't tackle the job, but this week I decided it was time.

Day 1
I wasn't going to tackle the entire 3rd floor but just do a little straightening. The more I straightened, the more I realized that I just needed to go through everything and to start purging. I start with the kids clothes. Mountains and mountains of kids clothes. Sorting. Folding. Tossing. Stacking. It took me an entire day and when it was done, much to my horror, I have not just one box of boy 2T clothes, but I have THREE!!! I guess I'm going to have weed out some more of the clothes.

Day 2
My goal is to sort through the adult clothes and odds and ends of household items. The adult clothes went quickly and I started right in on the household pile of boxes. What did I find? Things that I had forgotten, didn't even know that I owned and just was completely overwhelmed at everything. My husband says that there is lots of progress but I don't see it. I have worked on it for over 8 hours. I'm tired. I'm dirty. I'm discouraged. And now my allergies and asthma are raging out-of-control. Not only is the 3rd floor a mess, now the mess has spread to the 1st and 2nd floors. Maybe getting some good sleep will help. Let's hope...

Day 3
I slept well considering I have a newborn (she only got up once). The house is still a mess, but I head up to the 3rd floor to see if I can map out a plan for the day. I feel encouraged. I do believe that maybe today, I can finish the upstairs. What is left are those little items that you just aren't sure what to do with. Sure, I could stuff them into a box to do later but as Flylady says, "Clutter is a delayed decision". I need to just bite the bullet and make some decisions on those last few items.

Day 3 at 4pm
How much longer will this last?! It seems to be never ending. Decisions need to be made to either keep or toss. If you keep it, what do you do with it. Do you make a box of odds and ends and put it in that? I am at a stand still and am now wondering if there is any hope to getting this done tonight.

My husband is home. He has lots of energy and is excited to help. Strange how he finds this cleaning excited. I can't say that I am joining in.

You can follow our progress on Facebook or Twitter @2LiveFree4Ever.

Book Review: George Washington Carver by John Perry

2011-08-15T14:11:00.000-04:00

Are you looking for some light summer reading for you or your kids before school starts? Why not read about George Washington Carver by John Perry.

This short overview of George Washington Carver's life is a great way to brush up on some early 20th century history. In this book, you will read about how George's early years were formed and how he was raised more as his masters son, rather than his slave. The natural hunger George had for knowledge was fed by his master's wife as she taught him how to read and write. And because of his constant respiratory illnesses he was forced to remain around the farm yard and learn about running a household. During his free time, he loved to study nature and the world around him. This love for nature is what drove him for a higher education that eventually led him to Tuskegee Institute to become a beloved teacher and botanist.

John Perry has done a nice job writing this book. He has covered a lot of details of George's life yet keeps it from getting boring. I was surprised how the author brought out about the obvious tension felt between Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver.

The size of this book (7" x 5") is great for tossing into your handbag and being able to read this whenever you are waiting somewhere. The front and back cover both have folded in covers (like a dust jacket) so you can easily use these to mark your place in the book. I would think that this would be a good addition to a home school book list for students 6th grade and up.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Cool Deal On The Old Schoolhouse Magazine

2011-07-26T13:27:00.000-04:00

I've decided to try out this magazine since the price is so fabulously low right now. Check it out!

The Old Schoolhouse Deal!

Clearing out the Warehouse Special!

$104.75

NOW $25

While supplies last, help us clean out the TOS warehouse and purchase $104.75 worth of products for only $25! Here's what you'll receive:

• SEVEN TOS back issues ($69.30 value)

• Homeschooling with Heart tote bag ($24.95 value)

• Surprise bonus gift

• Free Shipping ($10.50 value)

Enjoy hundreds of pages of practical content . . . designed by your fellow homeschoolers—for you! Grab some encouragement and fill your shelves with a box of seven inspirational TOS back issues (publishers' choice)!

PLUS you'll receive our versatile TOS Homeschooling with Heart tote bag perfect for a trip to the beach, library, or support group meeting. AND receive a surprise bonus gift!

Want an even better deal?

Spread the word about this promotion on Facebook, Twitter, down your list of friends or on your blog and receive up to four additional bonus surprise gifts. You'll receive one additional item for each mention you make. Share on Facebook and receive ONE additional surprise item. Tell your Facebook friends and tweet about the clearance sale, and you'll receive TWO additional surprise items.

Talk about the sale on Facebook or blast it down your email list (support group or large list of homeschooling friends), tweet it and write about it on your blog and you will receive FOUR additional surprise items. To receive your bonus gifts, you MUST note in the comments section of your store order (or you can use the dropdown box provided there) to share how you told your friends and spread the word about TOS Warehouse Wipeout. We will then toss in your goodies to really round out your mystery box!

Save money and help us clear out our warehouse to make room for new items. Don't wait . . . supplies are limited. Tell all your friends,* then . . .

Order your box today!

*Don't forget-receive up to four additional bonus gifts by telling everyone you know about this special. To receive your bonus gifts, mention in the comments section (or dropdown) in your store order whether you shared this crazy offer on Facebook, Twitter, your blog and/or your email list. We'll then get busy selecting your extras to go in your tote!
Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery.

Zucchini And Yellow Squash: Did You Know...

2011-07-21T20:50:00.001-04:00

Did you know that when you are baking, you can easily substitute yellow squash for zucchini? In fact, yellow squash blends in with bread recipes so nicely, people will ask you what your secret ingredient is, since they don't see those lovely green flecks.

You can also steam your yellow squash until tender and then puree it and use it in combination with oil when you are baking bread or muffins. In her book, Deceptively Delicious, Jessica Seinfeld has several recipes that include yellow squash puree.

So, if you are overwhelmed with yellow squash and zucchini and you are just simply tired of having it for dinner every night, maybe it's time to puree some of it and freeze it to use in your quick bread recipes. It's just one more way to use these abundant vegetables.

Easy Marinated Zucchini Slices

2011-07-18T13:27:00.000-04:00

I went out to the garden this morning and what did I find? Huge zucchini and yellow squash. I had checked the garden on Saturday and there was nothing ready to get picked, but just like that, the squash and zucchini grew and now they are on the large side. So far, we are keeping up with all of the produce. Today, I decided that I would like to try some cooked zucchini on my sandwich. I am so pleased with how it turned out that I thought I would share the recipe with you.

Easy Marinated Zucchini Slices
1 large zucchini or two smaller ones
Italian salad dressing

Cut off both ends of the zucchini and then in half. Take one half and stand it upright on a cutting board. Using a sharp knife, very carefully slice 1/2 inch slices down the entire length of zucchini. Repeat this until you have sliced the entire zucchini half, about 4-5 slices. Place slices in a shallow dish and add Italian salad dressing, turning zucchini to evenly coat it. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Preheat skillet until hot and the pan sizzles when you add a drop of water. Carefully place slices of zucchini in hot pad. Cook for two minutes of each side. Slices will be crisp, tender. Each side should sear nicely and give it a wonderful flavor. Remove from pan and add to your favorite sandwich.

How To Stay Cool During A Heat Wave

2011-07-18T08:52:00.000-04:00

It's July and here in Upstate New York we have just started to get some really hot weather with high humidity. It's very challenging to stay cool without an air conditioner and with humidity levels like this, but it isn't impossible. Here are a few things that we do to try to stay cool.

1. Purchase a fan, preferably at a garage sale and use that in the room where you will be spending the most time. Fans work to cool our body by evaporating the moisture on our skin. I can comfortably tolerate 80+ degree temperatures as long as I have a fan in the room.
2. Open all you windows in the evening and let the cool air into your house. If there is no breeze, you can stick on your fans and place them right in front of an open window and pull the cool air into your house.
3. Close up your windows in the morning before it gets to hot out. Close the shades as well to keep the hot sun out.
4. Make your own Popsicles and eat them in the heat of the day. I also like to make frozen smoothies for the afternoon. They are cold, refreshing and healthy.
5. Still can't cool off? Take a cool shower or just soak your feet in a cold bucket of water.
6. Visit a friends pool or you local free swimming area.
7. Remember, the most important thing you can do is stay hydrated! Your body is going to be using a lot of fluids to cool you down. If you don't keep them replenished, your still exhibiting symptoms of heat related illnesses.
8. Eat cool salads for dinner and try not to bake or cook on really hot days.
9. Do your hardest work in the early morning while it is still cool.

You maybe wondering if I even own an air conditioner. The answer is yes, I have a small window AC unit that I use in our 2nd floor bedroom. I try to use it as little as possible and so far this year, I haven't used it all. However, I am an asthmatic and money can't buy my health so there are days for breathing purposes, I need to turn it on. Usually when it hits high temperatures with high humidity and high pollen counts.

So, how do you stay cool on a hot, summer day?

Book Review: Same Kind Of Different As Me by Ron Hall & Denver Moore

2011-07-17T11:07:00.000-04:00

Who knew that two people for different walks of life could be used by God so powerfully? This story is about the life of Denver Moore, a modern-day slave and Ron Hall, a very wealthy art dealer. The book is written in such a way that you go between the two men and their lives and how God used one woman, and her desire to help others, to bring these men to becoming sincere friends.

The beginning of the book takes some time to get into and to start understanding where it is leading to. I found it slightly confusing and slow in the beginning. About halfway into the book though, you start to realize that you are reading about the two seperate lives of Ron Hall and Denver Moore and that they are setting the stage for the rest of the story. Don't give up or skip the beginning of the book, because you need to understand who these men are and how much they changed.

Reading this book was a very moving experience for me and how just simple acts can change the lives of others. The wife of Ron Hall just followed her desire to help others, with no expectations of anything to result from it other than to make the lives of the homeless a better place. Ron Hall agreeded to accompany his wife, but never really felt the desire to help others. Who would have ever expected two men to became best friends.

When I finished the book, I had a new look on helping people and being willing to be used by God. I very much enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to everyone.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The Great Bread Experiment Update

2011-07-16T23:55:00.000-04:00

This is a guest posting by my husband.

A few weeks ago I said in a blog posting that I was going to do an experiment to find out how hard and time consuming it is to make bread. I was hoping to do this experiment right after the birth of my daughter, but as you may have guessed, things have been quite busy and I am now just getting back to writing about it.

This is how the "Great Bread Experiment" has gone so far. Right after my daughter was born, I made two loaves of bread. Then we started getting meals from people at church like they always do to help those who have just had a baby. After the meals started coming, I did not want to make bread because we had a sufficient amout of food and I did not want any of it to go bad.

Conclusion (so far):
It is easier to make bread than it is to find time to blog.

I hope to continue the "Great Bread Experiment" in another week or two.

When To Harvest Zucchini And A Few Easy Recipes

2011-07-14T13:46:00.001-04:00

It is that time of year again when the zucchini plants begin to produce profusely. You go from having nothing in the line of squash and zucchini, and then *BAM*, you have so much of the stuff, you don't know what to do with it. I just picked my first zucchini and yellow squash a few days ago, but I know that this is the beginning of getting overwhelmed with the stuff.

The big key to harvesting zucchini and yellow squash is to pick it early. These babies love to grow fast, especially with some fresh rain. This zucchini is just a little bit bigger than I would like.

This is about 12 inches long

This yellow squash is just about ready to pick. Any bigger and the skin will begin to get very tough.

My general rule of thumb is to pick sooner rather than later. The fruit will always be more tender the smaller it is.

Here are two recipes from some previous posts that use zucchini.

Lowfat Chicken with Roasted Tomatoes

Zucchini Parmesan

The Newest Addition To Our Family!

2011-07-03T20:07:00.000-04:00

I am very pleased to announce the safe arrival of:

Lydia Rose

7lbs, 13oz

June 24, 2011

3:34am

I had precipitous labor that started at 12:40am and ended with her being born about 2 hours and 50 minutes later. We left our house at 3:12am and she was born at 3:34am. Did I mention that the hospital is a solid 20-25 minutes from our house!!! She was almost born in the car, but out of sheer will from the nurses and attending, they managed to get me to a labor and delivery room just as she was born. It was a crazy, crazy night. My husband was fabulous and managed to stay very calm and collected during the entire drive to the hospital.

On a side note, my husband has started to make bread this week and is hoping to post some of his thoughts on that process. I hope to return to blogging on a more regular basis now that Lydia is here, but I supposed that mainly depends on how much sleep I manage to get the next couple of weeks. :) Please stay tuned.....

How To Grow Rhubarb In Your Garden

2011-06-23T18:31:00.000-04:00

Rhubarb is one of the easiest grow with minimal care plants. My parents have always had rhubarb since I was a baby, and when I moved into my own home, rhubarb was one of those plants that I couldn't live without. Don't settle for those dried out stalks that you find in your grocery store, grow your own!

What variety should I buy?
There are many varieties of rhubarb available both locally and online. My personal preference is to get a root cutting from a friend who is dividing up their rhubarb patch. I have some plants that have nothing but the solid green stalk and other plants with red and green stalks. I haven't noticed any difference in the taste and quality, but personally like the red/green variety since it adds some really nice color to my baking recipes. Also, if you get a root cutting from someone locally, you know that that particular variety will do well in your area.

When should I plant a root?
Once the soil has warmed up enough for your vegetable garden, then it's time to plant your rhubarb. You can plant the root anytime during the summer up until the end of August. Anytime after that, you run the risk of the plant not getting established enough and dieing over the course of the winter.

Where should I plant my rhubarb?
The beauty of rhubarb is that it looks great as a landscaping plant. You don't have to just plant it in your vegetable garden, you can add to your flower beds. Just remember that if you use a chemical weed prohibiter such as Preen on your flower beds, you may not what to plant your rhubarb there since you will be eating the stalks.

Sun or shade?
Rhubarb does well in full sun to partial shade. If you live where it gets extremely hot, you may want to consider placing the rhubarb in a more partial shade environment. Rhubarb produces well until the temperatures start to hit the high 80's. Then the plant will start the wilt in the heat and the stalks aren't very tasty.

How to plant your rhubarb
Honestly, dig a good size hole maybe three to four times the size of your root. Add lots of aged manure and compost and mix everything together. Plant your root two to three inches deep, right on top of the manure mix and water well. If it is a hot time when you are planting, you may want to do some mulching around the plant so the soil doesn't dry out so quickly.

How to care for rhubarb
Once you plant your root, make sure that it gets enough water to get established. If your root has leaves, watch the leaves and water when they just start to wilt. Don't plan on harvesting any stalks that first year since you want all the energy to go into getting the plant well established.

When to harvest
Once the stalks get about the size of your pinkie finger, you can start to harvest the stalks. Never take all of the stalks at one time though, since the plant needs some of the leaves and stalks to produce more stalks. I usually will harvest up to 2/3 of all the leaves and stalks and then just let the plant rest for a few weeks. Spring harvested stalks tend to be sweeter and more tender than later season stalks. You can either gently pull the stalks out of the ground or you can cut it level with the ground. If you use the pull method, just be careful not to pull the plant out of the ground.

Once your rhubarb plant is established, you should have very little problems. Depending on how much manure and compost that you used when you planted the rhubarb, you shouldn't have to do all that much to the plant for probably five to ten years. You may wish to add some occassional fertilizer, whether it be a liquid or granular. You will know when you need to add some fertilizer because the plant will start producing very small stalks and it just won't thrive like it did when you first planted it.

So what are you waiting for? Start asking your friends for a rhubarb root cutting and grow your own!

Hubby's Bread Experiment

2011-06-22T13:35:00.000-04:00

This is a guest post written by my husband:

I have been surprised over the past few months how many people think that making bread is extremely difficult and time consuming. I thought of an experiment that I am going to try. I am going to have my wife teach me how to make bread over the course of one week. We are going to take a fairly simple recipe, using normal ingredients that most people have on hand, and we are going to see if someone with no cooking ability can learn how to make bread and make it well. If I can do it, anyone can.

I will attempt to blog about my progress. This will be occuring immediately following the birth of our fourth child. Please be sure to follow our progress. You can also follow along on Facebook and Twitter. I hope that this will encourage you to start your own bread making.

I'm Not Sure How This Happened!

2011-06-20T22:43:00.000-04:00

My husband found this in my garden tonight as he was pick rhubarb. I'm not sure how it managed to get so big, but when we measured it, it was 41 inches long!!!

Beat The Heat: BLT Salad Recipe

2011-06-09T09:45:00.000-04:00

I originally posted this recipe last summer but completely forgot about it until yesterday, when I was chatting with my neighbor and she mentioned that I could make this recipe for dinner. Needing something fast and cool, I thought I would make this again. Wow! It was a hit with everybody and I loved how fast it went together. Here is the recipe below. You can view my original post here.

Because of time and what I had available to me, I ended up using Rozoni Quick Cook pasta which cooked in 3-minutes. Also because of the time of year, I didn't have any fresh tomatoes so I ended up using some canned quartered tomatoes that I had canned last summer. I drained the juice and save it for another use and then just chopped up the tomatoes. They weren't firm like fresh tomatoes, but I liked them just as well. Enjoy!

BLT Pasta Salad

1/2 cup Miracle Whip (I just used Hellman's Mayo)
3 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar
3 cups cooked elbow macaroni (or any other shape you might have in the cupboard)
1/2 cup chopped seeded tomato
2 tablespoons chopped green onions
3 cups shredded lettuce
6 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled

In a large bowl, combine the first four ingredients. Add the macaroni, tomatoes and onions; toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate. Just before serving, add lettuce and bacon; toss to coat.

The Chicks Have Moved

2011-06-08T16:45:00.001-04:00

I'm happy to report that the chicks have grown so well that they had to finally be moved out to the coop. :( I have to say that I was happy to see them grow, but was very sad to see them leave. I know, they are only two houses away, but it isn't the same as having them right here in the house. Every morning, the first thing I would do is check the chicks and say good morning. I would talk to them all the time and just hang out with them. Who knew that I could get so attached to just some little birds. :(

Anyways, they are happy in their new home and I hope to get some pictures of them in the next day or two. The all white chick (Jif) has a TON of white feathers and is so beautiful. Gimpie is turning this beautiful brown/red color. I'm not 100% sure, but I believe we have three hens and one rooster.

So, after seven weeks of starting this whole process, the chicks are now pretty much on their own. For anyone interested in doing this themselves, I would say go for it! I have had a blast and the only down side to it is how attached you can get to the chicks. But, if you are going to just keep them for yourself, then you will be all right.

Protect Those Tender Young Pepper Plants From Cutworms-Paper Collars

2011-05-26T10:32:00.000-04:00

In past years, I have had problems with cutworms attacking my tender pepper plants. I then discovered a great way to prevent their damage. Make simple paper collars to put around the base of the pepper plant when you first transplant them.

Start with 1" wide strips of newspaper, cut in about 6" lengths.

When you are ready to transplant your peppers, gently wrap the paper around the very base of the stem. Than place the dirt right up around the paper.

Cutworms are definitely more of an issue with tiny seedlings like mine rather than the large plants that you can purchase at local greenhouses. However, this works like a charm for protecting my plants.

Chicks 2-Week Birthday!

2011-05-25T10:16:00.000-04:00

Can you believe it!!! We have had our chicks for two weeks now. They are doing very well and doing what chicks do best: eat, drink and make a mess in their box. Yesterday, we took them outside for a little while so we could clean up their box. Here are a few pictures of them.

Jif

Moses, Gus and Gimpie

Jif, the all white chick, has gotten lots of feathers on this wings and tail already. The other three chicks have some feathers on their wings, but not as many as Jif. The brown chick, Gimpie, is the chick that had foot problems when it first hatched. It's doing great now and you would never know that there was any problem with him. He is also our most personable chick. He loves to be held and just kind of hang out with the family. Who knew that I could get so attached to little chicks.

How To Use Mulch For Weed Control In Your Garden

2011-05-18T16:59:00.002-04:00

Mulching in the garden may seem like a waste of time with no visible benefits to you or to your garden. But I can testify that mulching is one of the best techniques that I have ever learned.

There are several different mediums that you can use for the purpose of mulch. If you know someone is a farmer, you can use hay for your mulch. I use grass clippings and newspaper for my mulching purposes. Wood chips will also work. However, they may not break down completely in one year and depending on the wood used, they may change the PH of the soil.

Why should I mulch?
My biggest reason for mulching is for weed control.  I personally like a garden that looks neat and doesn't have many weeds. But other than weeds looking bad, weeds steal important nutrients from the soil instead of allowing the garden plants to get them. Mulching also helps retain moisture in the ground and allows you to not have to water as much. This is important when you are having a dry summer.

When should I mulch?
I start to put my mulch down as soon as my husband starts to cut the lawn and bag the clippings for me. I start with my pathways first and then slowly move around to the plants. I usually try to wait for my plants to be fairly well established before applying mulch to the ground. If you apply the mulch too early, it slows the soil from warming up. This is a very important fact for tomatoes and peppers.

How should I mulch?
Mulching can be as simple as just laying down hay on pathways and around the plants. I found that I personally have had great success with laying down a layer of newpaper and then applying a layer of grass clippings on top of the newspaper. The paper works as a barrier to the weeds and the grass clippings weigh down the paper. By the end of the year, most of the paper has turned into dirt and all I have to do is rototill everything back into the soil in the spring.  If I don't have enough grass clippings to mulch the entire garden at the same time and weeds have started to sprout, I take a hoe and loosen up the weeds before applying the newspaper. I don't want any of those weeds trying to come up through the mulch and making me have to pull it out.

Mulching saves me hours of work all summer long.  It may be slightly labor intensive in the early spring applying all the mulch, but the benefits far outweigh work. I'm always so thankful for not having to spend hours weeding or watering in the heat of the summer.

Baby Chicks Update

2011-05-13T21:47:00.000-04:00

JIF (the chick in the back) and Moses (the front chick)

It's been a few days since I have posted an update about our baby chicks.

Yesterday, our fourth and final chick decided to hatch. Everything seemed to be proceeding smoothly until about an hour after hatching, when the chick started to bleed all over the incubator. Rather panic stricken, I quickly "Googled", "bleeding chick" but couldn't find much about it, especially after the chick has hatched.

At that point, I just wanted to burst into tears. The last couple of days have been rather tiring with all the care of the chicks and hand feeding, etc. and with all my pregnancy emotions, just the thought of losing the chick was heart breaking to me. I decided to just proceed with my afternoon nap and hope for the best.

About an hour later, I checked in on the chick and the chick seemed weak, but alive. It was trying to walk around a bit, but because of the bleeding, the poor thing was absolutely filthy. Not wanting to handle the chick and restart the bleeding, I left the little thing in the incubator for the night.

The next morning, I went to go check on all of the chicks and there was the one in the incubator, staring out the glass window in the side, chirping like mad. It seems that he knew he was separated from all of the other chicks and was none to happy about it.

This morning, I also noticed that our newest chick seemed to be having some eye issues. He walked around the brooder with his eyes closed and couldn't seem to find the water or food. I "Googled" this as well, but couldn't find a whole lot out there on this either. I ended up taking a wet wash cloth and very carefully wiping his eye lids. It seemed to work because after a few passes of the wash cloth, he opened his eyes. This needed to be done several times throughout the day today, but tonight it seems like it may be getting better. Has anyone ever had that happen to them?

I'm amazed at how much I'm learning from these birds just by observing them and doing reading online about raising them. It really has been enjoyable and the kids really liked naming them and picking favorites.

Oh, and one more thing before I go to bed. The little chick who seemed to be having the foot/leg issues is doing 100% better. I'm not sure if it was because of the splinting device that we used with him, or if his feet would have naturally resolved the problem. Whatever the case, he seems to be doing much, much better but his name, Gimpy will stick forever.

Incubation Day 24: Three Successful Hatches, One On The Way

2011-05-11T23:34:00.000-04:00

Today was a interesting day, caring for chicks for most of it. We started out the morning with making our brooding box for the newly hatched chicks. That took almost an hour just trying to find all the equipment. Then we noticed that one of the chicks seems to be having problems with one of the legs and his lack of ability to get around. Our 2nd chick is up and around, eating and drinking but the other chick is not.

So, every hour or two, I have been having to take him out of the brooder and help him get a drink of water. He still hasn't eaten any food, but from what I read online, that should be ok for another day.

While we were out to prayer meeting this evening, our third chick hatched and another shell cracked. So far that makes three hatched chicks and one on the way.

Our very first chick to crack it's shell did not survive and was unable to exit his shell. It was sort of sad, but the kids took it well and they are happy with the three that we have so far.

I never knew how busy one could be just by tending baby chicks. I'll try to post some pictures of all of the chicks. Right now, it's just too late.

Incubation Day 23: Two Have Hatched

2011-05-10T22:48:00.001-04:00

Today was a day of lots of progress in the incubator. Our first chick to have pecked a hole in its shell is still working on escaping. However, around 8am, another chick cracked it's shell. Then another chick did the same thing around 1pm. The one at 1pm was our fastest chick to emerge from his shell. He hatched around 5:30pm.

We went to out to dinner and when we got home, much to our surprise a 2nd chick had completely hatched. So, we currently have two completely hatched chicks, one chick still working on the shell and another shell is getting pecked at.

The two chicks that are out and becoming very noisy with all of their chirping. Here is a video that I took when only the one chick had hatched.

Stay tuned for another update tomorrow. Follow me on Twitter and Facebook for more frequently updates.

Incubation Day 22: One Shell Has Cracked!

2011-05-09T20:43:00.001-04:00

One of our eggs has made progress and now there is chip in the egg shell. If you look at the picture, the chip is at the base of the egg, just above the water dish.

The chicks are still peeping away, and in one of the eggs you can hear the chick pecking away at the shell.

Here is a video of the chicks peeping. So cute!

Incubation Day 20: Video Of Movement

2011-05-07T22:49:00.000-04:00

Today is incubation day 20 and there really hasn't been any changes with the eggs in the last 24 hours. They are still moving around a lot with only a few chirps coming from the shells. I'm not sure you can see it all that well in the video but some of the eggs are moving. In the very beginning of the video, the egg in the far right corner starts to shake. Then you can see the two middle eggs on the left wall start to shake as well.

My kids woke up this morning, convinced that the little chicks would have hatched, but much to their disappointment there were no changes. :(

I'm not sure if I'll have a chance to post tomorrow, but I will definitely update you on Monday.

The Chicken Eggs Are Moving!

2011-05-06T22:23:00.000-04:00

Tonight after coming in from my evening walk, I went upstairs to check the incubator and much to my surprise, I found five shaking, moving and chirp eggs. I am so excited, I'm not sure I can sleep tonight!

I'll try to get some pictures and maybe a video tomorrow of the movement so stay tuned in for more excitement!.

Tovolo Spoons And Kitchen Gadgets

2011-05-04T10:34:00.000-04:00

Last year, I had received this spoon as a Christmas gift. It was a unique concept, but I wasn't sure how much I would like or actually use it.

Well, it's been a year and a half and I LOVE this spoon. This is my "go to" spoon whenever I cook and I'm always disappointed when it isn't clean and I can't use it.

Why do I like it so much? Well, the actual spoon is metal and the red part is a silicone coated. What makes this different from other spoons is that the silicone extends maybe 1/4" past the metal part of the spoon making it have the property of a bowl scraper or spatula. Because of this feature, I'm able to not dirty a spatula and use the spoon for everything.

So, where can you find this spoon? Amazon.com now carries it and a whole line of Tovolo kitchen gadgets. I've also added their line to my Amazon.com store. If you are interested in purchasing them, I certainly would appreciate your support of this blog if you were to purchase it though my Amazon store.

Do Your Kids Have Too Many Toys?

2011-05-04T10:14:00.000-04:00

Today is a very rainy day for us, here in Upstate New York. And quite honestly, keeping the kids occupied on a rainy day without the use of electronic media, i.e. TV, Wii, computer, is a very challenging task.

My husband went upstairs though and brought down three boxes of forgotten toys for the kids to use today. It made me think about how many toys are too many. There are no hard, fast rules for how much children should have, but I often wonder if we have too many. Think back to the children raised in the 1800's...what was their most prized possession? Usually the only toy they owned. Children learned valuable lessons from not having much, such as how to take care of their stuff and showing respect for others toys.

I don't know about you, but the more toys my children have, the more they fight and argue. Their rooms don't stay clean because there is just too much stuff and because they have so much, if they lose something, they really don't seem to care. I've heard of families that only allow two toys per child and whenever a new toy was acquired, one of the other toys would be donated or given to another child who could use it.

I'm not sure that we have found a good solution to this dilemma, but back a year or so ago, we decided that we need to do something with all of the toys that we had. We ended up weeding out the toys that we didn't like or care about and that our children didn't play with. Then we left a few, and only a few toys for them to play with and took the rest and placed the in boxes, labeled them and put them up on our third floor. When our children are done with one of the toys that we left down for them, they ask if they can "exchange a toy" for a different toy upstairs. The "exchange a toy" only can happen once a day. And as in the case of today, we brought down a few boxes of different toys for them to play with. They will have to pick them up by tonight and the boxes will return to the third floor.

On days like today, I'm thankful for the "new" toys and keeping the kids busy. But I'm curious what others have found to work with keeping the toys under control. Any thoughts?

Hoop House Update And Garden Pictures

2011-05-03T09:50:00.001-04:00

A cherry blossom on our pie cherry tree

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about the hoop house that my husband built for me. Well, we have been using it for one month and so far, it has been working great.

My lettuce is about four inches tall and thriving. The onions that I have in flats have really taken off and the pepper seedlings...well, they are ever so slowly progressing. I'm thrilled to have all of the flats outside and not in my house taking up space.

Lettuce in the hoop house

Spinach, parsley and squash in the hoop house

My flats of peppers, tomatos, zinnias and marigolds

The one caution I have about the hoop house is that it doesn't do that great of a job keeping things warm if the temperature drops lower than 30-31 degrees. The first week that I had put my peppers out in the hoop house, the temperature dropped and I lost SEVERAL pepper and tomato plants. I've talked to my neighbor about the problem with keeping the heat inside the hoop house and we came to the conclusion that maybe the best way to keep the plants warm would be to put some bricks or cinder blocks inside when it gets really warm in the day time and then let them act like a radiators at night. I haven't needed to try my theory since the weather has been fairly warm. The other option would be to cover the hoop house with several blankets at night to help with the warmth.

Overall, I'm thrilled with my hoop house and really love how it has given my plants a head start. As with anything, there is definitely a learning curve to using it but I have been very pleased with the results so far.

Fuzzibunz? Bum Genius? How Do You Choose A Cloth Diaper?

2011-05-02T14:13:00.001-04:00

http://www.bumgenius.com/

http://www.fuzzibunz.com/

How did you decide which cloth diaper you were going to use and why?

Back when I had my first child, I was totally committed to cloth diapering but after six weeks of having continual soak throughs and massive amounts of laundry with standard prefolds and diaper covers, we gave up on it. But now, with all of the new products out there, we are thinking of trying once again the cloth diapers.

The initial expense of buying the diapers will definitely be a lot. However, I do believe that it is cheaper than constantly buying disposables and then having all of the trash that goes along with them.

So, I'm asking for any opinions either for or against using cloth diapers. What did you use and would you recommend them?

Making A Homemade Egg Incubator

2011-04-27T23:19:00.001-04:00

I have always wanted to incubate some chicken eggs but never had the time or equipment to do it. This year I decided that I just wanted to do it and I did a lot of reading. There's a lot of ideas out in cyberspace on how to build your own incubator, but the most useful site for me was at Minnesota State University. The article is full of easy-to-understand information.

After doing as much research as I thought I needed, I shared some of the different designs that I found for making your own incubator with my husband since he was the one making it. The total cost to make our incubator: $0!!!!!

We used a small size styrofoam container with a lid. The inside of the container is big enough to hold one egg carton and a container for water. My husband found a basic household lightbulb socket with electric cord on it. He made a small hole on the inside of the cover to hold the bulb. Then he tacked is a small, household thermometer to the back of the inside of the incubator. On the outside, he cut a small piece of glass and then cut a hole in the side of the styrofoam and glued the glass into it. We also put in three ventilation holes on two sides of the styrofoam.

The biggest challenge we have found so far is that the temperature inside the container really fluxuates A LOT. We have a 7-watt light bulb on the inside, but sometimes the temperature will get up to 102-103F and then drop down to 96F.

I'm not sure how successful our attempt will be with the hatching of the eggs.

Stay tune! The eggs are due to hatch May 8th or 9th.

Receiving Blanket Giveaway@KdBuggie Boutique

2011-04-21T20:37:00.000-04:00

KDBuggie Boutique is hosting a giveaway for a homemade receiving blanket here.

With me expecting #4 in June, I can tell you that having a new receiving blanket would be great!

Trimming Concord Grape Vines

2011-04-16T08:17:00.000-04:00

When my husband and I moved into our home almost six years ago, our property included a well-aged grape arbor. I personally had never had any experience with grapes and really wasn't sure what to do with them and how to care for them.

To me, it looked like one giant pile of twigs all stuck together and a lush greenery in the summer that the Japanese beetles seemed to enjoy. But to my disappointment, that first year we pretty much had no grapes and what grapes we did have, had this nasty disease on it, making the grapes inedible.

As I did more reading on grapes and the care of them, I realized that what grapes really need is good ventilation to keep disease from being carried. That's why you find grape vines on a arbor. The air is able to circulate around the grapes and keep problems at bay. My problem was that my arbor was so overgrown and hadn't been sufficiently cared for that there was no ventilation whatsoever. Every year, I've trimmed a little bit more aggressively but this year, I think I really trimmed the vines.

Most of the commercial grape growers have only one main stem with two vines branching off from it...think of it like a " T ". I'm hoping that this year will produce some great grapes. Last year, I got so many grapes that I didn't even have time to process them all. I did find that one of my vines had died so I think I'm going to purchase a new vine to put in there. I guess grapes take a long time to get established, so since I don't need another vine yet, I would rather plant a new vine and let it get well established.

I did have time last year to try a Concord Grape Pie which came out delicious! You can see my blog post about it here.

I'm really curious if the grapes will do well with this much aggressive trimming. But as I have already found out, grapes seem to be one of areas of just trial and error.

GIVEAWAY: Ends 4-22-11 Nice n' Easy Color Blend Foam Hair Color Coupon $13.99 value

2011-04-14T20:50:00.001-04:00

Please spread the news and share with your friends.

Today's giveaway is a coupon for a free box of Nice 'n Easy Color Blend Foam hair color. It is a $13.99 value.

You have four opportunities to win a coupon for hair color: 1. Leave a comment on this post. 2. "Follow" this blog. 3. "Like" me on Facebook. 4. Follow @2LiveFree4Ever on Twitter. You must leave a comment for each action you do for it to be counted in the drawing.

Entries close April 22 at 6pm EST.

Book Review: The Boy Who Changed The World

2011-04-14T13:53:00.001-04:00

Have you ever thought about how your actions affect others around you? Maybe you thought that nothing you did could change anything, but read "The Boy Who Changed the World" by Andy Andrews and you will see how one simple action and choice can have a powerful effect upon others.

I had received a complimentary copy of "The Boy Who Changed the World" by Andy Andrews from BookSneeze.com in exchange for my reading and review. This book is perfect for ages five and up. The illustrations by Philip Hurst are very colorful and eye catching and printed on lovely glossy paper. The text isn't overly wordy and I found it very easy to read to my children. Even my three year old found the book entertaining, although I think he is probably to young to actually grasp the concept of the book.

What is covered in maybe 25 or 30 pages, are several short portraits of little boys, who through certain choices they made, made a huge impact on our world as we know it today. The names of those boys includes George Washington Carver and Henry Wallace.

If you are familiar with the butterfly effect, then you pretty much know what this book is about. This has been nicely written for children and I have enjoyed reading it to my kids and reviewing it.

Best Ever Blue Ribbon Dill Pickle Recipe

2011-04-12T10:54:00.000-04:00

Last summer, I made this pickle recipe and throughout the winter, we have been enjoying them. By far, these have turned out the best over many others that I have tried. These have a strong dill flavor to them and if you process them correctly, they will come out crisp, just like what you get at the store.

Blue Ribbon Dill Pickles
Brine:
8 1/2 cups water
2 1/4 cups white vinegar
1/2 cup pickling salt

Wash jars with hot, soapy water. Rinse and fill with hot water. Set aside. Fill canning kettle 1/2 full with hottest tap water. Set on burner over high heat and cover with lid. This will help raise the temperature of the water faster. Allow it to come to a boil.

In a medium saucepan, place lids and rings in the pan. Cover with water and bring to a simmer on the stove. In a large saucepan, bring water, vinegar and salt to a boil. Turn off the heat and set aside.

Filling the jars:
Working with one jar at a time, dump the water out of the jar. Place a layer of dill at the bottom of each jar, along with one clove of garlic. Then TIGHTLY load the cukes into the jars. Add a few tiny spriglets of dill on top of the cukes with another garlic clove. Pour bring over cukes, leaving 1/2" head space. Cover with simmered lids and rings. Continue until all of the jars are filled.

By now, your large canning pot of water should be boiling. Using your jar rack if you have one, place jars into the canner with the water JUST to the neck. The water will probably stop boiling...that's OK. Keep the heat on high (you may want to put the cover back on the pot) and as soon as you add the jars, immediately start counting for fifteen minutes (the water will probably just start to boil by the end of the 15 minutes). Immediately removed the jars from the water. Cover the jars with a dish towel and allow to cool. Check for a seal when cool.

These are best when you let them set for at least 6 weeks prior to using them. Enjoy!

Free Coffee Grounds At Starbucks For Your Garden Or Compost

2011-04-11T14:11:00.000-04:00

I can't say that I have ever been in a Starbucks coffee shop, but a friend on mine stopped by today and dropped off a five pound bag of used coffee grounds from Starbucks. Apparently Starbucks, bags the used grounds so people can add them to their garden or compost pile. I'm not sure if this would apply to all Starbucks, but the next time you're in the area, you may want to swing by and see if your local Starbucks has something similar.

Beautiful Weather = Planting The Garden

2011-04-09T21:56:00.004-04:00

Picture from Wikipedia

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day! My husband doesn't work on Saturdays, so I took advantage of him being home and had him do some of the labor intensive yard work. Usually, I will tackle most of the yard work myself, but being eight months pregnant I find it a little challenging keeping up with my normal spring pace.

We were able to get grape arbor trimmed and raked out, rake the leftover fall leaves, and clean up the back garden. In the back garden, I planted about 10 feet of peas and hubby moved and rotated the compost pile. While he was digging around in the pile, something start to move. It turns out that he found a family of moles, not just one mole but FIVE! The kids thought that it was great but I didn't want them in my garden. So I had the kids put on some work gloves and along with my husband, they took the family and relocated them to the back woods.

For my front, side gardens, my husband brought in a wagon load of manure/compost and shoveled it in. I lined the outside of the garden with garlic plants and Egyptian onions. In my winter reading, I found out that if you line the perimeter of your garden with Allium plants, such as anything in the onion or garlic family, it should keep those pesky rabbits and critters about of the garden. I'm hoping it will work since I just planted in my non-fenced garden, lettuce, peas, kale, spinach and beets.

Because of the need to rotate my tomato crops, this year I'm forced to put my tomatoes in the back fenced garden and my "other" vegetables up near the house. I'm going to be really, really disappointed if I loose the plants that I just planted, but I don't have many other options.

I also read that dried blood will supposedly keep out critters too. I don't have any of that around. Have any of you had any experience with keeping out critters without fencing?

With my husband's help, we were able to get a lot of yard work done which I'm ever so thankful for! Now, I'm going to turn in early and look forward to a really good night's sleep.

Homeschooling With Little Ones

2011-04-06T10:12:00.000-04:00

Today, I was reflecting back on the 2010-2011 school year for our family. This upcoming school year will certainly hold some new challenges with teaching 2nd and 4th grade, along with occupying my three year old and having a newborn. But this past year, as challenging as it was, turned out to work out pretty smoothly.

I found out that if I was willing and able to spend maybe ten minutes with my then, two year old with some type of "school", usually consisting of coloring or glueing, he would be content to play by himself while I taught the other two kids. ABeka has these really easy arts and crafts books that you can purchase and they have lasted the entire school year. The books have a list at the beginning of the book of all of the supplies that you will need for the entire year (I love that!). Most of the time, you just need maybe a paper plate or paper bag, some paint and glue, crayons, scissors and maybe one or two other items. I also have a special "Arts & Crafts" bucket that I keep all of my supplies in so everything is in one place.

I can honestly say, I have no idea how things will work out next year with the baby and a three year old. But I do know that with a little bit of creativity and planning ahead, I think we can have another successful school year.

Please share any ideas that have worked with you!

Directions For Building A Simple Hoop House

2011-03-31T00:00:00.001-04:00

I realized after my last post, that there were some basic details missing about the hoop house. Since I wasn't involved in the actual building, I had to ask my husband how he made it. The rest of this post is written by him. Please feel free to leave any comments and I will try to answer them.

My wife told me basically what she wanted, so I went into the upstairs of the garage/barn where the miscellaneous wood and scrap lumber is stored. I found five 2x4's of the same length (about 7 1/2 feet) and 2 sheets of four feet by four feet plywood. I took the plywood measured up about a foot from the bottom edgeG and then I drew a half circle so that it looked like an upside down "U". I then cut it out with a scroll saw. I took 2 of the 2x4's and nailed them to the bottom of the upside down "U's"; one on each side with the 2x4 spanning them. I went up about 18 inches from each board and nailed 2 more, and then one at the top. Then it was time to cover it. I took a roll of painter's plastic and covered it and tacked it down so it was tight and would not blow away. That was about it.

The total cost of the project was about $0.20. All of the materials came from garage sales and auctions in the past. I bought nothing special for the project.

My description of the building of the hoop house may sound a little confusing, but do not let that keep you from trying. You do not need to make it the same way I did. Just look around your house, garage, yard, attic and if you are brave, "Free piles" on trash day. Get creative and have fun.

The Hoop House Is Complete!

2011-03-28T22:41:00.000-04:00

I'm very excited to report that the hoop house is completed and is sitting over my garden, warming the dirt. It has been over the soil for over a week and the soil is definitely warming up. We have been in a bit of a cold spell, here in the Northeast so I haven't put out any of the plants that I have started inside since I just wasn't sure they would make it through the cold nights. But from what the weathermen are forecasting, it seems that the warmer weather is finally coming back this week and I have plans to start planting some lettuce and spinach under the hoop house.

As you can see in the pictures, we still have a fair amount of snow on the ground where ever the sun hasn't shined for long periods of time. However, when I finally made it out to my back garden, I noticed that my garlic plants are just starting to come up. Spring has certainly taken a long time to get here, but I think it has finally arrived!

My Seeds Have Sprouted And Making A Hoop House!

2011-03-16T18:59:00.000-04:00

I've been really excited because my peppers have finally sprouted, the onions were fairly successful in the sprouting process and my tomatoes are just emerging. The only bad thing is that I have completely run out of run to put all of these seed trays. My treadmill holds four of the large trays and I had to put one of the completely sprouted onion trays down stairs on top of my chest freezer. Needless to say, I'm not sure how I'm going keep all of the plants in my house.

While browsing the web for some gardening ideas, I stumbled across this video for a hoop house.

I showed the video to my husband and he thought that making one for my garden right next to the house was completely doable. We are having to make a few modifications since we couldn't find flexible enough PVC piping for the curved frame. My husband cut the ends for me today and found some 2x4 boards for it, so tomorrow we hope to get most of the hoop house assembled.

The kids shoveled all the snow out of the side garden and with the warm temperatures the past few days, ninety percent of the snow has melted off and we are done to plain garden soil once again. I'm hoping that I will be able to stick my seedlings in the hoop house starting next week and free up the space in my house. But I also read that I can start my lettuce directly in the soil. I couldn't be happier! I've waited all winter for some fresh lettuce.

To be continued...

Applesauce Cranberry Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies

2011-03-05T12:49:00.000-05:00

The last couple of weeks, I've been on a mission to clean up those odds and ends of food laying around. One of those items have been cranberries left over from the holidays. They were a little dehydrated and I did need to pick over them to make sure there were no bad ones, but amazingly enough, most of them were still fine to use. Looking for a healthier/cheaper version to oatmeal raisin cookies, I found a recipe that seemed like it fit the bill and then modified it to my likings. All I can say is "Wow"! The cookies came out fantastic and my kids loved them. I hope you can enjoy these too!

Applesauce Cranberry Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies
4 Tbsp butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 2/3 cup rolled oats
2 cups flour
1 cup raisins
1 cup fresh cranberries, finely chopped
1/2-1 cup coconut

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a stand mixer, cream butter, sugars, and vanilla. Add eggs and applesauce, mix together. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and oats. Mix well. Add raisins, cranberries and coconut. Mix only until incorporated. Drop by rounded teaspoons on greased cookie sheets. Bake until slightly golden, about 10-12 minutes. Cool on wire racks. Stores great in airtight container for up to two weeks.

Save $10 off $25 at JC Penneys Through Tomorrow ONLY!

2011-02-25T21:37:00.000-05:00

JC Penney's is currently having a great promotion of save $10 off any $25 or more purchase. You still have to pay shipping or have it shipped to store for free. I was able to score two new shirts and some undies for $23.00 which reflected a 75% savings!

Make sure you use the code LUXURY when you check out to receive your discount. Also, if you shop through E-bates you will get another 3% discount. I'm not one to buy things new at stores, but sometimes you just can't get what you need at sales and thrift shops so it's sales like these that I try to get those items I need most.

I Finally Did It...I Cooked Lima Beans!

2011-02-24T19:00:00.001-05:00

When I married my husband 9+ years ago, he told me that he loved lima beans. I always cringed when he would talk about them since I had bad memories of my mom's frozen mixed vegetables containing lima beans. When she would serve them with dinner, I would quickly chase down those little limas as fast as I could.

Imagine my lack of enthusiasm when we were cleaning the food cupboard today and found a stray can of lima beans. My husband holds them up and exclaims that we can have them for dinner. I tried to hold my tongue since I don't want my kids to get a preconceived idea that they wouldn't like them.

So this afternoon I searched the Internet for some type of recipe to try to make the limas palatable. I looked for a while but didn't find anything that sounds all that good to me. There was one recipe that looked pretty good, but I didn't have all of the ingredients.

Here is my recipe for lima beans. I amazingly thought these came out really good and even had a second helping. Maybe you'll like them too.

Spicy Garlic and Bacon Lima Beans
4 slices bacon
1/2 of small onion, finely chopped
1 stick of celery
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 can lima beans, drained
Salt and pepper, to taste
1-2 tsp chili powder

In medium sized skillet, fry bacon, onion, garlic and celery until bacon is crisp and onion and celery are tender. Add drained lima beans. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix in chili powder, adding as much or as little as you would like. Heat through. Serve immediately.

Honey Wheat Bread

2011-02-24T13:19:00.000-05:00

My family really enjoys this recipe for wheat bread. In the past when I have made wheat bread, it usually just comes out very dense and just lacking any flavor. But this recipe is such a wonderful change to that. It uses honey instead of sugar (a huge plus in my mind) and contains very little fat. This is wonderful toasted or sliced for sandwiches. Enjoy!

Honey Wheat Bread
1 cup warm water
1 Tbsp yeast
1 Tbsp melted butter
2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp honey
1 cup white flour
2-3 cups wheat flour (The finer the grind, the better)

In mixer with dough paddle, add water, yeast, butter, salt, honey and white flour. Mix on speed two for about 30 seconds. Add wheat flour one cup at a time until dough pulls together and forms a soft, but not sticky dough. Cover dough and allow to rise about 1 hour or until double. Punch down, shape and place in greased loaf pans. Let rise again until dough is about 1/2"-1" about loaf pan. Bake in preheated 350F oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown and it sounds hollow when you knock the top of it. Allow to cool before slicing.

How To Find Inexpensive Meat At Price Chopper

2011-02-21T20:32:00.000-05:00

Everyday, Price Chopper sends out one of their meat counter workers to restock their prepackaged meat counter for the morning. Almost every time, there is "day old" meat that needs to be reduced for quick sale. So, the worker will slap on "money off" stickers on those packages of meat. This usually happens around 9am-10am and this is usually the best time to do your grocery shopping. These stickers are usually close to the price sticker and are usually solid black with the price off in white.

Last week, I went to Price Chopper twice since I was in the area and was looking for some good meat markdowns. The first day I went at 8pm and the second day I went at 11am. On the second day I found boneless, skinless chicken thighs for about $.93 per pound. But my best deal were these boneless, fully cooked Hormel 81 smoked hams. Originally, they were $3.99 per pound but had been repriced to $.99 per pound. On top of that, they had a $5 off sticker on each ham. That brought the cost of each ham, after the $5 coupon down to $.29 to $2.50. They had six of the hams marked down and I bought all of them. The sale date was 2/29/11 so I still have plenty of time either freeze or use them.

I was THRILLED with such a deal. How ofter do you get five plus pounds high quality ham for $.29?!?!?! You never know how you will score, but it definitely pays to go shopping in the morning instead of the late afternoon.

No Cost Plant Label Tags

2011-02-19T22:23:00.000-05:00

Today I started more of my garden plants. I planted four different varieties of pepper plants. In past years, I didn't label the containers and by the time I went to plant them in the spring, I forgot what plants were what.

So, this year I decided that I was going to come up with some way to keep my plants more organized. I didn't want to spend any money on this so I searched my house for something that would work. It needed to be plastic so it wouldn't rot and shrink away. I checked out our recycle bin and found a plastic gallon milk jug.

I cut off the spout first, and then cut strips from the top to the bottom of the jug with each strip being about 1/2" wide. Then I cut the strips across the bottom to make 8" strips. I cut those strips in half. With a permanent marker, I wrote the variety on the strip and placed it in the seed containers.

Voila! Instant plant markers and it didn't cost anything. Try it! The whole project took less than five minutes.

Saving Money On Gas Here In The Northeast

2011-02-16T21:40:00.000-05:00

As much as I would like to deny it, gas prices have really started to climb once again. Uggg! We have two cars, one being a Ford Focus wagon and the other being a Pontiac Montana minivan. And because of the location of where we live and the close proximity to everything that we need, we really don't go through that much gas. But when you start to hit $50 to fill up the tank, that's starting to hurt the wallet.

Here in the northeast, Price Chopper has a really cool gas cents-off program. That can really help slash that gas bill! How it works is for every $50 you spend at Price Chopper, they give you $.10 off every gallon of fuel you purchase at participating gas stations. You do have a time limit on how long you can hold onto your cents-off before it expires, but usually it is a couple of months. I haven't really found those participating gas stations to be more expensive than other local stations, either. Between all the money you can save with Price Chopper coupons and this promotion, it works really well.

The other online tool that I use for saving money at the gas pumps, is GasBuddy. It's a free service for all 50 U.S. states and it also has a app for your phone. Type in the zip code that you will be in and it will list all of the gas stations and their gas prices. Tonight, I typed in all of the different zip codes we were driving through and found that by shopping around, I found a $.08 difference in gas prices. It may not seem like $.08 is all that much, but if you put in fifteen gallons of gas, that is almost a $1.00 savings.

A non-conventional way of saving gas is by walking to your destinations. Our library is about 3/4 mile walk so frequently for exercise we will just walk. Winter time makes it a little harder to walk all the time, but we still try to make it happen on the nice days.

My favorite way to save money is to just not drive anywhere. I'm a real home-body and love to cook at home, so not driving anywhere is just my cup of tea. If I need something for the house, I frequently shop online, making sure that I get free shipping.

Saving money on gas is not the easiest thing, but it can be done. What do you do to save money?

Onions: Starting Them Indoors

2011-02-15T16:30:00.000-05:00

I was so excited yesterday when I got my mail and saw that my Gurney's seed order had arrived. It seemed like it took forever for them to arrive, but in hindsight they actually came very quickly compared to usual.

Among the many seeds that arrived were two packets of onion seeds. One is a red onion and the other is a yellow storage onion. I had my husband pick up some seed starting mix and this afternoon I decided I was going to start my seeds. I planted 120 onion and am trying to decided if I should plant more.

In the past when I have tried onion seeds, they have never done well for me. But through some research online today, it appears that onion seeds do not last more than one season so maybe that was my problem a few years ago. I know that my neighbor doesn't seem to have any problems with starting onions, so I'm here to give it a try. I'll keep you posted!

Thrifty Idea: Soap Slivers and Bar Soap

2011-02-14T10:40:00.000-05:00

I was doing some cleaning today and came across this very interesting article about how to make common cosmetics and soap out of household items. This one I found particularly interesting and useful since we almost always have soap slivers around our house. I haven't tried it out but am curious if anyone else has ever tried it and how well it works.

Patchwork Soap Bar
5-6 (1 1/2 to 2 1/2-inch) soap bar slivers
1/4 cup water

Put soap bar slivers in a 1-quart microwave-safe bowl. Add water. Microwave on high for 45-60 seconds. Drain water and slide soap onto a square of aluminum foil. Push slivers into a bar-shaped stack. Making a "sandwich fold", wrap foil around stack. Push top and sides of foil package so that soap slivers are mashed together. Let package cool completely before peeling off foil. Makes 1 bar.

Cooking For Crowds: No-Boil Lasagna

2011-02-12T20:32:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, I was in charge of organizing a mid-winter banquet at our church. We had almost 80 mouths to feed and prepared all of the food by hand. Part of the day was having 20 kids, mostly ages 9 and under, prepare the food, decorate and prepare the facility for the evening.

For the main course we made No-Boil Lasagna. The recipe was very easy and great for the kids to make. It baked up beautifully and served well.

No-Boil Lasagna
1 1/2 box dried lasagna noodles
3 lbs ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1/2 cup dried parsley
1 lb mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese
1 #10 can prepared spaghetti sauce
1 1/2 lbs beef/sausage meat mix

Cook meat well. Drain. In a large sauce pot, add sauce and meat mixture. Allow to warm and simmer while you prepare the rest of your ingredients. In a large bowl, add ricotta cheese, eggs and parsley and mix until blended. In a 12x20 disposable pan, spray well with non-stick cooking spray. Place enough sauce in the base of the pan to lightly cover the bottom. Add a little water to the sauce in the pan (about 1 ladle full). Place 9-10 lasagna noodles on top of the sauce. You may need to break the corners of the noodles a little bit so they are snug. Layer 1/2 ricotta cheese mixture over noddles. Top with 1/2 of Parmesan cheese and 1/3 mozzarella cheese. Top with more sauce. Repeat layers with noodles, cheeses, sauce and more noodles. Top the third layer of noodles with sauce. At this point you can cover the tray with plastic wrap and refrigerate the pan until you are ready to bake it. When you are ready to bake the pan, pour 1 cup of water around the edges of the pan on top of the lasagna. Top with the remain mozzarella cheese. Cover the pan with foil and seal well. The lasagna needs to "steam" in order for the noodles to cook all the way through. Bake in preheated 350 F oven for one hour. Let stand 10-15 minutes before serving. Serves approx. 20 medium size portions.

We Got WHAT Off Of Craigslist?

2011-02-11T06:48:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I posted about how to use Craigslist and save money. Well, interestingly enough, last night as we were just sitting down to eat dinner, the phone rang. It was someone from Craigslist letting us know that approx. 220ft of oak, hardwood flooring was out by the curb.

You see, back about a week ago I had seen this post on Craigslist advertising free wood flooring. It was about 20 miles away from our house and I personally was leery about driving that far for flooring that probably was a mess. But my husband decided to call the phone number on the listing and get more information. It turned out that the flooring had already been promised to a number of people, but the owner said that he would call us if there were no shows.

Quite honestly, I had totally forgotten about the flooring since we hadn't heard anything from him. I guess from what my husband said, that the owner ripped out another small section of floor beyond what he had listed the week before. Since he had our phone number, and it was only a small amount of flooring, the owner decided to contact us.

All that said, my husband drove to his house and picked up the flooring and was super happy with it. It was beautiful oak flooring! Our son's bedroom is rather small and has this horrible gray carpet in it. At some point in the future, after we finish the kitchen and a few other misc. projects, we hope to gut his bedroom and put in new wallboard and flooring.

For the time being, we are going to store the flooring in the upstairs of our barn. I'm excited since that is really going to cut down on the expensive of that remodeling project. It always amazes me what you score for free if you only stay alert for such opportunities.

Total savings: $1,000+

Using Craigslist.com To Save Money

2011-02-10T11:18:00.000-05:00

Have you heard of Craigslist? It's pretty much a free classified online service, broken down by states and the local areas. There are tons of ads on the site and you can get swepted into browsing the ads for hours. However, you can use Craigslist to save you money. How?

My favorite Craigslist catagory is their "Free" section. Ever day, people post their free items for people to come and claim. On the good items, you need to move fast or you will not get it in time. But frequently, you can find basic housewares and furniture completely free. I was able to score a great set of matching wingback chairs. The upholstery was faded but otherwise in very good condition. These chairs are highend chairs and were very expensive when they were purchased new and are super study.

Craigslist also has many other categories for items that are being sold. Not all the time, but frequently you can score some really good bargains for a much better price than you could find anywhere else. I like to watch the "household" section and the "farm and garden" section. There's also a search tab so if you have something in particular you are looking for, you can seach their site to see if anyone is selling it.

In the summer time, people often list the entire contents of their garage sale leftovers. You can score some really great stuff then, but in the winter time the pickings are a lot more slim. You'll never know what you will find!

Have fun shopping!

Save Money On Gym Memberships:Work-out At Home

2011-02-09T11:29:00.000-05:00

Several years ago after the birth of my son, my husband purchased for me a year membership to Curves for women. It was less than two miles away and part of my gift was that he would watch the kids for me three times a week. I loved how much toned I became and lost my baby weight. In fact, when that year was up, my husband renewed my membership for another two years. My particular club was very personable and I had so much fun just working out and participating in their challenges.

Unfortunately, as the economy made a down turn, my local Curves was no longer able to stay open and closed down a year and a half ago. I was crushed. Not sure how I was going to be able to keep fit, and I ended up not doing anything. I hated how I felt and certainly didn't like how I looked. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that a good amount of the what I had done in the gym, I could do just as easily at home.

Not only was it just as convenient to work out at home, it actually saved time. Instead of making a separate trip to the gym three times a week, when I went outside to the garden, I would just do a few exercises while I was out there. Not to mention that I could time myself for a minute or two and see how many times I can bend over and pick up weeds in that amount of time. I accomplished work and exercised at the same time. The kids could join in the fun with jump ropes, skipping, hopping and more.

My problem now is that it's winter time and I'm six months pregnant. I find it rather challenging to find snow clothes to go outside in. But there has been one thing that I can do outside for a little bit of exercise and that is shoveling snow. Lately, we have had so much snow, there has been no lack of shoveling. I admit that I don't shovel every time there is a snow storm since some days I don't feel as well. But on my good days, I can go out and shovel for 20-30 minutes and get a very good workout.

So, my point is that if you can't financially purchase a gym membership or your family situation doesn't allow for you to have that kind of spare time, you don't have to sit down an allow yourself to turn all flabby and unfit. There are ways you can stay active at home and it doesn't have to break the bank.

The Gardening Seed Catalogs Are Here

2011-02-07T21:34:00.000-05:00

The last few days, I have been hunting out all my seed catalogs that arrived over the month of January. I usually order all of my seeds from Gurney's and have had great success with them in the past. This year, I turned immediately to Gurney's once again, figuring out what I wanted to order, and was very surprised at how much the total came too. I have a $25 off $50 coupon that I can apply to my order but the total still came to over $60 for garden seeds. In past years, the most I've spent is $50 and that includes the purchase of a fruit tree and this year I hadn't added that to my total.

I thought that maybe Gurney's had raised their prices and decided to check out some of the other popular seeds catalogs including Burpee, Henry Fields, Park Seed and a few others. To my disappointment, I found out that even their prices had gone up. Gurney's was still my best choice. I'm still not happy with the cost of all the seeds, but my husband reminded me of how much enjoyment my garden brings to me and how much food that $60 brings.

So, I'll probably be putting my order in over the course of the next few days. If you know of any good deals with a seed company, please let me know. I'm currently ordering bush beans, wax beans, slicing tomato, paste tomato, cherry tomato, zucchini, yellow squash, yellow onion, red onion, banana peppers, jalapeno peppers, sugar pea, leaf lettuce, head lettuce, beets, carrots, parsnips, basil, dill, parsley, zinnias, cosmos and echinacea.

This is one of my favorite parts of winter, the planning and contemplating my garden. What kind of gardening planning have you been doing lately? I would love to hear what you have been working on.

Beef or Pork Herb Rub Recipe

2011-02-05T20:18:00.003-05:00

I've decided that I am a foodie. I love saving money through cooking my own food and love cooking with whole foods. My neighbor somewhat shares my passion for food and passed this recipe on to me. Frequently, we will share a small amount of recent food that we have cooked so we can taste each other's cooking and try new recipes. She had found the recipe below and let me try a piece of the cooked pork she had made. All I can say is "WOW". I absolutely loved it and what it did to an inexpensive cut of meat.

I hope you will consider trying this recipe as I am giving it a five rating. You can find the original recipe here.

Herb Rubbed Sirloin Tip Roast

1 1/4 tablespoons paprika

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 (3 pound) sirloin tip roast (I used pork sirloin roast)

In a small bowl, mix the paprika, kosher salt, garlic powder, black pepper, onion powder, cayenne pepper, oregano, and thyme. Stir in the olive oil, and allow the mixture to sit about 15 minutes. I spread this mixture all over the roast and wrapped it with plastic wrap and refrigerated it until I was ready to bake it.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
Place the roast on the prepared baking sheet.
Roast 1 to 1 1/2 hours in the preheated oven, or to a minimum internal temperature of 145 degrees F (63 degrees C). Let sit 15 minutes before slicing.

MLM Home-Business: Can They Save and Make You Money?

2011-02-05T15:59:00.000-05:00

Back in 2007, I decided that I was going to join Watkins Home Business Opportunity. At the time, I had only two kids and my husband's business wasn't not doing all that well and decided that maybe I would try my hand at multi-level marketing (MLM). My mom had joined Watkins maybe ten or fifteen years ago and I grew up with her using some of their products, mainly their vanilla. Loving the vanilla myself, and looking to save a little bit of money, I ended up joining too.

You may wonder why I am posting about this today, but I was reminded about this when I went to place an order and had to renew my membership for another year. It made me re-evaluate whether or not it was worth it for me to pay $32 for my renewal fee. So, here is a little bit of my thought process.

First, I wondered if it would save me money. Well, if I am just ordering for myself and since I am a member, I receive a instant 25% discount off my order. Of course if I worked the business harder and placed larger orders, I could a high percent off but right now I am just at a flat 25%.

So, I save money by being a member, but does it add up to a $32 or more of yearly savings? Figuring that I regularly use their soup and gravy bases, Grapeseed cooking oil, vitamins, vanilla and black pepper it comes out that I'm breaking even or maybe ever so slightly ahead. Not to mention that I can't even find products in the store that meet my satisfaction like the Watkins products. That doesn't include that I can order for friends who may need a product or two occasionally and I can make a 25% profit on their purchase.

Today, I discovered that Watkins had on clearance some of their organic spices. One of the spices on clearance was ground cloves for $2.49! I was super excited since ground cloves at the grocery store is almost three times as much. They also had a promotion of purchasing two soup and gravy mixes and get a third for half price. On these sales I try to stock up to make the items last until the next good sale. Many times, the only reason I will place an order is because of their sales and promotions. Beyond their monthly specials, which some months can be outstanding, they also have a rotating clearance section. Sometimes I will purchase these clearance items for gifts to have on hand, since the quality is so good and you can't beat the price.

This all said, I decided that yes, it was worth it for me to renew for another year. What about other MLM companies like Mary Kay, Avon, Melaluca, Tupperware? Could you possibly join them not so much for a business but to save some money? Maybe if you are totally committed to the brand. I really couldn't tell you about any other MLM company, but it may be worth your time and consideration. Why not save yourself some money and maybe make a little bit of pocket change on the side?

Click Here Learn More About The Watkins Business

Groupon.com: Barnes & Noble Coupon Today!

2011-02-04T21:25:00.000-05:00

I have never used Groupon.com, but today in my inbox I noticed this deal for Barnes & Noble. For $10 you would receive $20 for Barnes & Noble. I have been needing a book and haven't been able to find any good sales and deals. So when I saw this come in, I was rather excited.

Barnes & Noble also has a special of spending $25 and receive free shipping. I hope that after I get my certificate number that everything will work smoothly. I'll keep you posted!

Entertaining Your Kids Does Not Have To Break The Bank! Paper Mache

2011-01-26T10:16:00.000-05:00

This winter, we really have been inside our house much more than normal. If you have kids, you know how stir crazy kids can go if they don't have something to keep them busy. But oftentimes, in the midst of keeping our kids occupied, we lose focus of costs and saving money. There are lots of things that you can do in your home to keep your kids busy. Here is one idea that we did yesterday.

I have a first and second grader. They are studying in science about the earth. For one of the their projects, they began to make a paper mache globe. This is a super cheap project and lots of fun (and messy) for kids.

Peter didn't approve of the mess everywhere, especially on his balloon!

We started with the "glue" which is basically equal parts of flour and water, mixed together until it was smooth and not very thick. I found that I used a little bit more water than flour.

For our form, we used some left-over birthday balloons. Make sure you use the round balloons and not the gourd shaped ones. Then I cut up pieces of newspaper from the recycle bin to dip in the glue. You can have one child help mix the glue, while the other child is cutting up the newspaper.

Carefully dip a piece of newspaper in the glue, wiping off the excess glue before applying the paper to your form. Smooth out any wrinkles in the paper after applying it to your form. Continue the process with the newspaper and glue until your form is evenly coated with paper and glue. You don't want too many layers on your first coat or else it will take forever for your project to dry.

After you are finished, let your project dry which for us took about 24 hours. If your paper mache needs to be really stiff, you may need to add a second coat of paper mache by repeating the process above. If not, you are ready to paint and decorate it.

We haven't gotten to that step in our project so I'll be posting our progress photos later.

Easy Oustanding Roast Beef

2010-12-22T14:42:00.001-05:00

Easy Outstanding Roast Beef
1. Season your roast to taste

2. Let sit out of refrigerator 30 minutes or until room temperature.

3. Preheat oven to 500 degrees

4. Place roast in a shallow baking pan. Turn oven down to 475 degrees and roast for: 5 minutes per lb = medium-rare or 8 minutes per lb = medium

5. Turn off oven and DO NOT open the oven door. Let sit in oven for 2-3 hours.

You CAN Eat Like Royalty Even On A Limited Budget

2010-12-22T14:35:00.001-05:00

My blog is mostly about saving money and one of those ways that I save big is how and what I cook. Repeatedly, I have had people tell me that we must practically starve since we spend so little on our grocery budget each week.

In all honesty though, we really eat like royalty. We eat organic fruits and vegetables, fresh homemade bread and the whole range of meat from chicken to beef to fish. What more could we ask for?

One of my biggest savings is by NOT visiting our local deli every week. You may ask, what do you serve for lunch every day then if you don't visit the deli? Many times we eat a hot lunch that is freshly baked and sometimes we'll serve left-overs if we are blessed with a great abundance. But I admit, I certainly do love deli sliced meat and how great a sandwich it makes. That's why my husband purchased a meat slicer at a church rummage sale. He maybe paid a dollar or two and yes, it is a beautiful 70's yellow color but it works well.

So what do I use my slicer for? Often times, I will purchase a cut of meat that is on-sale and cook it myself and then slice it. Last week at Price Chopper, they had their top round roast on-sale for $1.98 a pound. The cuts of meats were gorgeous and were perfect to make roast beef out of. When you compare $2/lb to the average price at a deli being $8/lb, that is a $6/lb savings. Sometimes, Hillcrest Foods of Vermont will have a great special on 40lbs of cheese. The only down side is that you have to slice it, but for under $2.00 a pound I'm willing to take the time to do that.

I realize that for some of my readers time is money and it probably isn't cost-effective to actually do all this food prep at home. I'm a stay-at-home mom and I personally LOVE the kitchen so I get to eat like a queen because I'm willing to do the work.

WINNER: Fabri-Tac Craft Glue!

2010-12-21T15:04:00.001-05:00

Congratulations to Rosemary! Your number was picked to win the two bottles of Fabri-Tac craft glue!

Reminder: Low entries!!! Ends TONIGHT!Beacon Adhesive Fabri-Tac Craft Glue Ends 12/15

2010-12-15T12:34:00.000-05:00

Don't forget to enter my giveaway tonight for the Fabri-Tac Craft Glue. It has SUPER low entries so be sure to enter before 6pm EST!

Make Your Own Blueberry Syrup

2010-12-10T13:24:00.001-05:00

It shocks me how expensive just a good basic pancake syrup can be at the grocery store, let alone a fruit syrup topping. Today, my daughter turns 8 years old. I was feeling well when I woke up and decided that I wanted to make a very special brunch for her.

When I was a little girl, my family would take me out for a special breakfast where I could order anything that I liked. Finances are a little bit different for us now, but that didn't mean I had to make a less than par brunch. I decided that one of my favorite treats for breakfast was when we went to this upscale restaurant and would order a fresh Belgium waffle with whipped cream and strawberry syrup and a slab or two of sausage or bacon. Yum!

So today, I made from scratch fresh waffles with real homemade whipped cream and homemade blueberry syrup and crispy bacon. I had never made my own blueberry syrup, but after looking around at several different recipes, I came up with my own recipe. It was super delicious and for a "gourmet" breakfast at home, I maybe spent all of $5.00 for all of us to eat. I know, that is a lot for a breakfast at our house, but considering that this was a special birthday brunch and we wouldn't need to be eating lunch I think the cost was well justified and was worth the memories.

Here is my recipe for the blueberry syrup. I hope you enjoy it as much my family.

Easy Blueberry Pancake or Waffle Syrup
1 pint frozen blueberries
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 Tbsp cornstarch mixed with 1 Tbsp water

Place blueberries, sugar and water in small saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat and stir occasionally until it starts to boil. Smash some of the berries with the edge of your mixing spoon. Cook for about 10 minutes. Add cornstarch/water mixture to berries and stir. If you prefer a thicker syrup you can add another mixture of cornstarch. We found that the 1 Tbsp of cornstarch was just right with the frozen berries, but that could be different from season to season with the berries. Let simmer for no more than 30 minutes until ready to serve. Makes six juicy servings.

Boxed Hallmark Cards for $1.41

2010-12-04T19:43:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Wicked Cool Deals and their giving a link for a Hallmark coupon, I was able to score a box of beautiful Hallmark Christmas cards for only $1.41. The coupon was for $5 off $5 or more. The boxed cards were initially $11.99 but were marked down 50% and then I used my $5 off coupon. Somehow, I had forgotten to by Christmas cards at the end of the season last year and didn't have enough for this year.

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