At My Sink

The ins and outs of Couponing. Part 2

2011-05-09T18:40:00.002-04:00

Now let's talk about actually getting out and putting those coupons to work!

Before using a coupon read it carefully. Some coupons have limits on them, some require you to purchase another item in order to get the discount, etc. All P&G coupons have a limit of 4 coupons per transaction. Always go by the wording on the coupon.

Each week your stores will put out a sales paper. Use that ad to match up with your coupons for greater savings. Some stores also put out store coupons. You may find these in booklets in the store or on their website. It's important to check these out because some stores will actually let you "stack" their store coupons with your MQs. (manufacturer coupons) Check with your individual store before trying this as some stores do not allow it. Food Lion is one store that does NOT allow stacking. However Dollar General and Family Dollar do. Most of my examples in these couponing posts will be using the Food Lion policies and sales as a guideline since that's my main store. Most coupon rules are universal though.

Once you've looked through your ad you can begin clipping the coupons you need and preparing for your trip. You may also want to check out sites online for additional matchups for your store. www.WeUseCoupons.com have wonderful matchups done by great forum leaders each week so most of the work is done for you.

I know what you're all thinking! This is all well and good but let's get to the good stuff! Actually using your coupons.

This is why it's important to stack coupons with store sales. Kellogg's Cereal is on sale at Food Lion this week BOGO. The boxes are usually $3.50-$5 each. At Food Lion, BOGO items ring up half price. So you could only purchase 1 and still get the sale price. There are printable coupons (IPs) at Kellogg's website for $1/3 boxes. Without a sale 33c off a box of $5 cereal doesn't seem great. But if you take the BOGO sale which bring the cereal down to $2.50 and subtract the coupon it brings your final cost down to $2.17. You must buy 3 boxes in order to use the coupon. So if you purchase 3 boxes at $2 each (after the BOGO discount) that's $6-$1 IP=$5.00 or $1.67 each. Pretty good for Kellogg's right?

By now you're probably wondering how you can get free groceries I'm sure. It is possible. Maybe not cart fulls, but definitely some. Let's go back a few months. Bestlife margarine was on sale for $1 a tub. A couple weeks before the sale there was a $1 off any Bestlife margarine product coupon in the paper. See now why it's important to hang on to those MQs? Paired with the $1 sale and you've got yourself free margarine. Another week Propel water was on sale 2/$1 and there was a $1/2 coupon issued a few weeks before that. That means free flavored water!

Some important closing notes before I go.
If the store is having a 10/$10 sale, you do not have to purchase all 10 to get the items for $1 each. If you only buy 1 you'll still get it for $1. Always check the fine print under the item though because sometimes there are limits on how many you can purchase or other qualifications in order to get the discount.

Again, know your stores coupon policy. But never stand there and argue with the cashier. Chances are they are simply doing how they were trained. If they refuse to take your coupons for any reason, check out the coupon to make sure you did indeed meet the requirements of the coupon. Then politely ask for the manager. Most of the time they know the policy and will know if there was a problem with the register or something that the cashier missed. Try to never lose your cool. It's important to stay focused on the situation at hand rather than let your emotions get in the way. This is also when it's important to have a copy of the policy with you, in case the manager also wants to argue.

If you have any stores in your area such as Food Lion, Rite-Aid, CVS, Harris Teeter, etc go to the store or to their website and sign up for a loyalty card. These will give you additional discounts, points, etc.

OK Let's that for now. Feel free to ask questions in the comments section and I'll be back soon with more about the wonderful world of couponing!

The ins and outs of Couponing. Part 1

2011-05-09T18:10:00.003-04:00

Since so many people have expressed an interest in learning how to coupon I thought I would make a post about just that. Couponing is something that takes time. If you don't want to invest the time and energy into researching the deals, clipping the coupons, etc then stop reading right here. LOL It's worth the time if you're willing to do the work.

Let's start with a couple of common misconceptions.
#1 is that you have to be surrounded by stores that double. This is not true. You can have only one store that accepts coupons and still get great deals. Will it take a little more work? Maybe, but you'll soon learn their sale cycles, the staff, etc and it will actually work in your favor.
#2 is that you can start out getting loads of stuff for free. This is more of a half truth than a complete myth. Depending on the sales that week and what coupons you have to start with you might get some items for free/almost free from the beginning. If you've watched the show Extreme Couponing I can tell you this show is not reality. The people on that show do not shop like that every week. In fact most will tell you that they've NEVER done a shop like that before the show and it was simply done for entertainment purposes.

Now on to some basic information. We all know what a coupon is and where they come from. Money off certain item "certificates" that come in the newspaper or are printed from the internet. Using them alone will save you a few cents on the dollar, which is OK any savings is good. However if you pair them with sales, store coupons, clearance, etc you'll save much much more.

The number one rule is to start small! Don't rush into this buying a ton of coupons online or a million newspapers your first week. Pick one store in your town and start there. First item of business, go online to their website and print their coupon policy. Read it, learn it, and most importantly keep it with you. You never know when you will get into the store only to have them argue with you over your coupons.

Now, you MUST get the newspaper every single week. (rule of thumb, unless it's a Holiday there will be at least one insert in the paper, you can find insert schedules online to make sure each week if you want to) The location of the papers will differ in each town. Generally you can find them in the newspaper box out front or inside at the register. Get the paper for the biggest city that is offered. Small local papers have less coupons, if any at all. Important note: if you get the paper from the newspaper box, DO NOT take out more than you pay for. You are not hurting the newspaper company, you are hurting the person delivering the papers because it will come out of their pocket. If you want 2 papers, get one then close the box and put more money in. When you get your papers, take them home and remove all the inserts. Write the date on the front of each insert. When you look up coupon matchups online they will say something like "5/1/11 RP". This means it's from the May 1st Red Plum. Now you can easily go and find the coupon you need. Some people prefer to clip all the coupons from the insert and put in their binder/envelopes or just clip the ones they need and get rid of the rest. Any of these methods will work.

Don't buy an item at full price simply because you have a coupon for it. If you get a coupon for 50c off toothpaste and you don't need the toothpaste right then, leave it. Chances are it will go on sale before the coupon expires.

Part 2 coming soon!

3.5.11

2011-03-05T13:21:00.002-05:00

I rarely remember to post my shopping trips to my blog. But this week I actually remembered. LOL I didn't use many coupons this week since most of what I bought was Food Lion brand as part of their Private Brand Super Sale. But I'm pleased with what I got.

First I went into FL with my list. I had 2 detailed lists on items I wanted to get so I went early before they could get busy. I did trip #1, took those items to the car and then went back in to get the items from list #2.

Trans #1
20oz Mt Dew 1.69 (no sale LOL I was just thirsty)
FL hamburger buns 1.27
2x FL Pudding packs 1.98
2x Propel 1.00 (cost after Q- Free)
FL muffin mix .69
FL seasoning pack .89
FL gravy mix .89
FL bread 1.29
2x FL cereal 2.79 (bogo)
3x FL 2lt drinks 2.85
FL can pineapple chunks .79
FL can pineapple rings .79
2x FL Ketchup 2.00
6x FL yogurt 2.70
FL fries 2.00
Digiorno Pizza 5.00 (after Q- $3)
2x FL biscuits 1.38
2x FL biscuits 1.98
FL gallon milk 3.88
Home360 straws 1.29
Marcal paper towels 1.19 (after Q- $.19)
Home360 trash bags 2.19
Home360 travel baby wipes 1.69
Home360 plates 1.79
Home360 bleach 1.39
Pampers Easy-ups 7.99 (after Q- $5.99)

Qs used-
$1/2 Propel
$2 Pampers Easy Ups
$1 marcal
$2 digiorno FLIP

Got $8.25oyno
OOP- 49.56

Trans #2
FL cherry poptarts 1.79
FL strawberry poptarts 1.79
FL salt .47
FL 1lt Sparkling water .79
3 cans peas 1.80
FL mashed potatoes 1.69
Bananas .99
FL frozen corn 1.59
FL frozen broccoli 1.25
FL waffles 1.99
FL frozen okra 2.39
FL shredded "taco" cheese 1.67
3x FL shredded cheese 5.00
Pampers Easy Ups 7.99 (after Qs- $5.99)
2x Home360 tin foil 2.78
Marcal paper towels 1.19 (after Q- $.19)
2x Colgate Toothpaste 2.79 (on sale BOGO. after Qs- $.79 for both)

Qs used-
$2 pampers easy ups
2x $1/1 Colgate
$1 marcal
$8.25oyno Cat

Got $4.50oyno
OOP- 26.14

Then I ran into Dollar General. I needed some items that are generally a little cheaper there. Normal grocery stuff that I have to get. Coffee, juice boxes, etc.

Maxwell House coffee 4.25
Gain Fabric sheets 2.75 (after Qs- -$.25)
2x Pedigree Dentastix 4.00 (after Qs- Free)
Gillette body wash 2.75 (after Qs- $.75)
Sugar 2.25
Honey buns 1.50
Koolaid Jammers 2.00
2x 2lt mt dew 2.50

Qs used-
2x $2 Dentastix
$3 Gain fabric sheets
$2 Gillette bodywash

OOP- $14.25

Chocolate Delight for 1

2011-03-03T13:11:00.004-05:00

One of my favorite desserts is a little baby called Chocolate Delight. It's basically chocolate pudding, cool whip (mixed with cream cheese I think) and graham cracker crumbs layered in a pan. Well recently I found pudding cups at Food Lion called Kozy Shack. Super yummy and healthy! That's a rare combo with prepackaged snacks.

I was inspired to try out a snack for 1 using the pudding after a friend created a Strawberry Pudding Pie for 1. And so, Chocolate Delight for 1 was born.

Ingredients:
1 Kozy Shack pudding 100 calories
2tsp graham cracker crumbs 16 calories
1TBS cool whip 13 calories
(total 129 calories)

Put the graham cracker crumbs in the bottom of a small dish. Pour one entire cup of pudding over the graham crackers. Sprinkle the top with some graham cracker crumbs and top with cool whip. Enjoy!

2.25.11

2011-02-25T16:41:00.002-05:00

What? Another blog post only 2 days after the last one?

So snacks. We go through a lot of snacks around here. It's a big part of our budget, which I hate, and it encourages mindless snacking. I need to start keeping some healthier snacks around the house. I want to take the money I usually spend on snacks and put it toward fresh fruits, especially with the spring and summer coming up. But my husband does like something sweet to snack on after dinner. So I plan to start making cookies, brownies, etc and freeze them in individual portions to pull out for dessert. I can also do things like chocolate pudding and Jello for dessert with just enough leftover for a snack for CJ the next day.

One of my friends Angie posted a recipe for a Crustless Apple Pie snack. It would make a perfect quick dessert that can be easily tweeked for someone that isn't watching their weight by topping it with whipped cream or putting it on top of a graham cracker crust.

Recipe: Crustless Apple Pie Snack

2.23.11

2011-02-23T13:43:00.002-05:00

I can never thing of a good title for my posts. So I've decided to start titling them with the date instead. LOL The weather has been up and down here. I don't think we've ever had as much snow in one winter in my whole life as we've had this winter. But finally we're starting to see some warm days. And so, we've been taking full advantage of it. Monday it was supposed to be in the mid-70s so I dressed CJ and we headed out to the park/zoo with my best friend and her little girl. It was a little chilly when we first got there but it warmed up quickly and best of all the kids had an absolute blast. We saw goats, sheep, llamas, geese, buffalo, turkeys, peacocks and more. The peacocks had their feathers opened and they looked so beautiful. We also spent a couple of hours playing on the swings, slides, merry go rounds and monkey bars. It was so wonderful to get out and enjoy some warm weather.

I've also been trying to come up with some ideas on foods to make with CJ to make lunch time a little easier, more fun and get him away from eating the same foods over and over. He loves to help in the kitchen so Tuesday we headed to the kitchen and made some corndog muffins. They don't taste exactly like corndogs, but they are much cheaper and we loved them

We mixed up a box of Jiffy cornbread mix and cut up a couple of hot dogs. CJ did all the mixing and dumping himself while I cut up the hot dogs. Then he helped dip the mix out into oiled muffin cups. Stick one of the pieces of hot dog in the middle of the cup and bake until they are done. So simple and yet so yummy!

Man I am a slacker

2011-02-14T15:23:00.003-05:00

I am such a slacker blogger. LOL I have good intentions of blogging but then I just forget or I don't have time. But I would love to make a goal of blogging 3-4 times a week. So I'm going to set that goal and we'll see how it goes. LOL

So yesterday we celebrated Valentine's Day as a family. I put my burgundy and off white tablecloth on the table, the closest thing I had to V-Day related LOL, and put cut out hearts all over the table. Our meal consisted of NY Strips, baked potatoes, salad, toast and chocolate chip cookies. It was much better than trying to go out to eat and not to mention cheaper.

My little stockpile

2011-01-18T12:17:00.004-05:00

I've been collecting a nice little stockpile of items through couponing. Most items I got for free or close to it. I didn't pay more than $2 for anything in my stockpile, including the laundry soap.

Guest bathroom sink- 5x Laundry soap and 4x toilet bowl cleaner

Kitchen Sink- 6x Lysol wipes, 4x Lysol spray cleaner, 2x Fantastik, 1 Window cleaner, various kitchen cleaners in the back

4x Glade candles, 3x Lysol Neutra Air, 1x Glade spray, 2x Febreze, 1x big bottle of Joy, 1x Dawn dish soap (and an empty bottle I put soap in for the hubby to use outside), 7x Gain dish soap

9x Axe body wash, 9x Olay body wash, 3x Colgate, 2x Olay soap, 4x Sauve shampoo/conditioner, various half empty bottles of shampoo and conditioner LOL

2x Sauve, 4x Skintimate, 2x Pantene, 20x deodorant

Wordless Wednesday

2011-01-12T11:35:00.003-05:00

I love Wordless Wednesday :D

This is my cleaning bucket. I keep specific cleaners in the room where they belong, oven cleaner in the kitchen, toilet bowl cleaner in the bathrooms, etc. But I have this bucket with all my general cleaners in one basket so I can take it around with me when I'm cleaning. It has my all purpose cleaner, window cleaner, air freshener for a quick spritz when I get done cleaning each room, disinfecting wipes, furniture polish, Comet, gloves, trash bags, a duster, a Mr Clean magic eraser and paper towels. Everything I need to get a room all clean.

Menu Plan Monday

2011-01-10T13:16:00.002-05:00

It's time for menu planning at Org Junkie!

Monday- BBQ Chicken Legs, Mashed Potatoes, Peas
Tuesday- Pot Roast
Wednesday- French Toast, Bacon, Eggs
Thursday- Chicken & Rice
Friday- night off. Will probably grab a chicken & sides from Food Lion since they have an awesome deal on Fridays
Saturday- Sloppy Joes, Mac & Cheese
Sunday- Chili, Cornbread

Update on Week 1

2011-01-10T13:11:00.002-05:00

OK so the fridge didn't get done yet. I did however tackle a smaller project like my baking station. It looks so much better and I have my workspace back again.

Before:

And after:

52 Weeks of Organizing

2011-01-07T09:26:00.002-05:00

Laura over at Org Junkie, same fabulous lady who does Menu Plan Monday, is doing a 52 week Organizing Challenge. You can read all about it here. I'm still working on my list of 52 places/items I want to organize but I have enough of a start to get me through the next few months while I think of more.

And today is Week #1. My first order of business is organizing my fridge. It needs to be cleaned out and organized.

Some other things I want to get done is all my kitchen cabinets and drawers, one at a time, our closet, our dresser drawers and both bathrooms.

Keep checking back to see how it goes and check out this post to watch other bloggers progress with the challenge as well.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-01-05T10:53:00.003-05:00

These are actually from the snow we had the day after Christmas but I've been meaning to share them so what better day to do it?

Flylady round 5,895

2010-12-29T15:56:00.002-05:00

OK not really but I have done Flylady more times than I count. It is a wonderful program that does do wonders for you if you stick with it. I just have issues sticking to anything for more than a couple of weeks. But with a little poking from a friend who is starting Flylady for the first time I decided to give it another go. I need structure and a plan for my house so I'm looking forward to getting started. I have held on to some of the ideas from Flylady even during the time I wasn't following her program so I should be able to just fall right back into place without too much trouble.

And since it's Day 1, it means my first task was shining my sink.

All done :-)

Planning for next year

2010-12-28T14:45:00.003-05:00

Christmas isn't even over for us yet, we celebrate Old Christmas with my parents on Jan 6th, but already I'm getting in gear to plan for next year. Christmas comes on Dec 25th every single year, so why aren't we all better prepared for it? Did you know that if you set just $5 a week aside until the first week of November starting the first week in January you'll have $215. That's a nice little chunk of money set aside to your Christmas shopping. If you can spare $10-$20 a week instead of just $5 you can double or even quadruple your Christmas budget. You can also start with the after Christmas sales to start your shopping for next year. Get a plastic tote and set it in your closet, spare room or somewhere else in your house where you have an empty corner. As you pick up little things put them in your tote and come Christmas you have a nice stockpile of gifts already! Make a list of all the people you normally buy for and keep it in your household binder, Holiday notebook, etc so you can jot down gift ideas, gifts that you pick up for them, etc.

Remember, gift sets on clearance now can be taken out of the packages and put in a nice basket or other container next Christmas and you have a super cheap gift that looks expensive.

You can also buy your Christmas cards on clearance this year so you're prepared for next Christmas. Same goes for wrapping paper, tape, gift tags, etc. It takes a little organization but with some planning you'll be on top of the Holiday season before it even gets here. And don't forget about those stamps! Purchase a couple books of forever stamps throughout the year so you'll be ready to mail those cards without having to make a special trip to the Post Office.

What else can you do now to get ready for Christmas 2011?

Commercial Breaks

2010-12-19T22:36:00.003-05:00

In our roles as moms we sometimes have periods of time where we just get burnt out and unmotivated to do anything other than laze around spending time online, watching cartoons with our kids or mindless TV while the kids play and playing cars or tea party. There is nothing wrong with that and we all need breaks from the housework. But let's face it, when you're the only one taking care of the house we can't take but so many days off. And after 1 day off, it's easier to turn it into 2 days, then a week and that just can't happen if we want to be able to find our way out of one room and into another. LOL So like anything we need to find a way to get our toe back in the water to get motivated again.

So that's what this blog post is all about. Dipping our toe back in the water with Commercial Break houseworks. The average commercial break is what? maybe 3-4minutes long. Imagine all you can get done during the commercial breaks of a 1 hour TV show. I've made a short list of chores for each of the "public" rooms in the house to start with. Do 1 or 2 chores during a commercial break and before you know it you have a whole room clean!

Bathroom-
Wipe down toilet
Wipe down sink, counter and mirrors
Wipe down bathroom
Sweep & mop (I use a Swiffer type mop so it only takes a second to mop the floors)
Empty trash

Living room-
Dust surfaces & knick-knacks
Vacuum
clean the TV screen and inside the windows
Tidy up the room

Kitchen-
Wash a sink full of dishes
Dry & put away the dishes
Wipe down counters
Wipe down stove
Wipe down Fridge/freezer
Sweep
Mop (again I use the Swiffer mop)
Clean off the table
Wipe down small appliances
Take out trash

Laundry-
Sort the dirty laudry
Put on a load of laundry
Switch the laundry in washer/dryer
Wipe down the tops of w/d
Fold & put away laundry

You could also get a quick workout in by walking in place, jumping jacks, crunches, etc or get the kids involved by having them pick up their toys or put away their clothes. The possibilities are endless!!

Next time we'll talk about my cleaning bucket. It makes my housework so much easier!

Christmas to-dos

2010-12-08T13:30:00.002-05:00

I know I know. I'm back to posting and it's all about Christmas. What can I say? This is really my favorite time of the year. I still have lots to do to get ready for Christmas. I have lists in my Holiday binder of all the things I want/need to do and get so I thought I would share them.

Houseworks-
Clean spare room
move corner storage unit from Boo's room to spare room
switch dressers from our room and spare room
take any donation items to thrift store
hang garland on porch
clean walls

Food-
Sugar cookies 10 dozen
Double layer pumpkin pie
Cupcakes/Cake
Plan Christmas morning breakfast
Plan Christmas Eve supper

Other Christmas-y Stuff-
Order Christmas pictures
Sign Christmas cards
Address Christmas cards

Christmas Traditions

2010-12-07T12:27:00.002-05:00

I just love all the traditions that come with the holiday season. Over the past few days I've really been thinking about the traditions that my little family has and the new traditions I want to start. From cookies and milk for Santa to staying up late and wrapping gifts on Christmas Eve to looking at Christmas lights all the way. It all just makes me so giddy and feel like a child again. I remember when my husband and I were engaged, it was our first Christmas together and he said "you know I don't really like Christmas that much". I just thought Are you kidding me? How can someone go through the holiday season without feeling all the love and magic that comes with the holidays? Lucky for him I stuck it out even though he was a Scrooge. And over the last couple of years since our son has been born I've noticed every Christmas he gets into the Christmas Spirit just a little bit more than the year before. It feels my heart with joy. And then there is our little one. This year all the magic is really alive for him. Even though this is his 4th Christmas, this is the first one that everything is starting to come together for him and he really GETS Christmas this year. Every morning he is so excited to open the next window in the Advent calender. Even though I know it's only because he wants the chocolate it's still so cute to watch him get excited about it. Next year I plan to start earlier and make our own Advent calender with activities in the windows rather than candy but I didn't think about it until too late this year.

When we happen to be out past dark his eyes light up at all the Christmas lights. I can't wait to take him out riding just to look at lights closer to Christmas. It's going to be awesome.

So until next time..
Happy Holidays!

25 Days of Christmas

2010-12-01T11:18:00.002-05:00

The 25 Days of Christmas start today! This is my favorite time of year and this year is especially fun because CJ is REALLY into the holidays this year. Christmas morning is going to be such fun and I can't wait. Yesterday we made a foam gingerbread ornament together to hang on the tree. It is proudly hanging front and center, though if it's anything like the rest of the ornaments it will have a new home on the tree shortly.

I've been burning the Glade Winter collection candle in Sugarplum. I got it at Dollar General for $0.67. Totally worth full price though, it smells so yummy and really scents up the whole house.

Today we also started our Christmas countdown calender. It's a chocolate Advent calender that we found at the Christmas Shop at the beach. CJ was so excited to open up the first window and get the chocolate out of it. He wanted to open all the windows to get all the chocolate out of it though. LOL

The 25 Days of Christmas start tonight on ABC Family tonight. Even though we've already been watching Christmas movies for a couple of weeks, ok all year, I can't wait to curl up at the end of each day with my little family to watch the featured movies.

I'm anxiously planning out holiday parties and activities in my Holiday notebook and looking forward to all the family time in the weeks to come.

Last Day of November

2010-11-30T17:18:00.002-05:00

Wow It's been a while since I've blogged huh? It's been a hectic few weeks around here. I've recently started getting back into couponing focusing on shopping at Food Lion and Dollar General. I've gotten some amazing deals like free bottles of Gain dish soap, Secret deo and Olay body wash, $1.25 bottles of Axe body wash and boxes of cereal for around $1 each just to name a few.

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving, ate lots of great food and spent time with our families. And thanks to some great co-ops, sales and Black Friday Santa is officially done with gifts for Boo. The house is decorated for Christmas, stockings hung and tree decorated. Not to mention the yummy smells of the holidays are starting to fill our home.

I'm going to start making it a point to blog a little each day so keep checking in!

Time 4 Learning Review

2010-09-29T16:44:00.002-04:00

It's time to review our trial with T4L.

What can I say about T4L? We LOVED it. CJ asked to play on it and caught on to the games really fast. He never wanted to turn it off. I was really impressed with the quality of the games and how easy they were for him to navigate. I'm really no good at detailed reviews so take my word when I say, it's a wonderful program for kids and we really enjoyed our time with T4L.

Am I late getting my post up today or what?

2010-08-16T13:27:00.004-04:00

Wow I am super late getting my menu plan and my 5 minutes a day post up today. Goodness. So let's just merge them into one big post today shall we?

First let's do our menu plan for this week. As usual we're doing Menu Plan Monday over at OrgJunkie.

Monday: Baked Potatoes, Salad
Tuesday: Marinated Chicken, Green Beans
Wednesday: Cheeseburgers, Fries
Thursday: Beef chuck steaks, butter beans
Friday: Meatball Sandwiches, Fries or Mac & Cheese

Breakfasts:
Pancakes
Chocolate Chip Muffins
Coffecake Muffins
Toast

Lunches:
Hot Dogs
leftovers
Teriyaki Noodles

And now 5MAD!

Today's task is to clean out your kitchen sink and wipe it down.

What we had for dinner

2010-08-15T19:05:00.003-04:00

I've been slacking a bit with my blogging and I apologize. There hasn't been much going on to blog about. Tonight I figured I'd at least get some kind of post up so let's talk about what we had for dinner tonight. Yesterday we went to the grocery store and they had whole chickens for something like $1.39 a pound. I really should've bought more than one and I might run back and get 1 or 2 more before they go off sale. I got a while chicken for less than $3. Yes they are smaller chickens but we'll get at least 2 meals from one.

I put the chicken in the crockpot and put 2 big pats of butter under the skin and 3 small pats on top of the chicken with some herbs. I used Penzey's Bavarian Style Seasoning but any mix of herbs will work. I let it cook in the crockpot all day until cooked and tender. Man did it make my house smell good! Then for the sides I chopped up some potatoes, carrots and onions. I put them in a pot of water with some butter and some seasonings. (I used Penzey's Bouquet Garni Seasoning. And no these aren't affiliate links, I just happen to love Penzey's) I also added a cup of the juices from the chicken. I brought it up to boil, put a lid on the pot, turned it off and let it sit until we were ready to eat. They were nice and tender but all the veggies held their shape really well.

Come back tomorrow for MPM!

8/13 5 Minutes A Day

2010-08-13T08:32:00.003-04:00

Good Morning! Here comes the weekend. Are you doing anything exciting? Well before you take off to start your weekend activities let's do a 5 minute task.

Today we're going to spend 5 minutes cleaning/decluttering a spot in your house that collects clutter.

So excited!

2010-08-12T10:25:00.002-04:00

I’ve been invited to try Time4Learning for one month in exchange for a candid review. My opinion will be entirely my own, so be sure to come back and read about my experience. Time4Learning can be used as a homeschool curriculum, for afterschool enrichment and for summer skill sharpening. Find out how to write your own curriculum review for Time4Learning.

I am really excited to see how CJ does with the T4L website as I have heard great things about the program.

8/12 5MAD

2010-08-12T08:11:00.002-04:00

Good morning! Isn't it a fabulous Thursday? I haven't had much time to blog this week but tomorrow I'll do a longer post about our week.

So today's task is to clean out your refrigerator. Or at least work for 5 minutes on it. Clean out all that old food and mystery containers and make room for fresh groceries.

8/11 5MAD

2010-08-11T07:52:00.002-04:00

Are you ready for our 3rd 5MAD? Did you finish yesterday's task? My front door is looking extra pretty!

So today's task is simple. I want you to take 5 minutes and go outside and enjoy your surroundings. Take a deep breath, look around and just enjoy the world around you.

I will definitely be doing that today as we're about to head out to spend the morning in the water! Have a great day!

8/10 5MAD

2010-08-10T07:50:00.004-04:00

Good Morning fabulous ladies! Are you ready for a new 5MAD? Did you complete yesterday's task?

Today's task is to wipe down your front door.

5 minutes a Day

2010-08-09T13:29:00.004-04:00

5 minutes a day is a daily series I am going to be doing here at At My Sink. The goal is to do one small task every day that takes around 5 minutes to complete but helps to improve your life and home. Make sure you have a timer handy. I hope you all will join me. Be sure to leave a comment letting me know you're playing along!

Todays "5MAD" task:
Set the timer for 5 minutes and dust the walls in one room.

Menu Plan Monday 8/9

2010-08-08T22:08:00.005-04:00

It's that time again! Time for Menu Plan Monday. :-)

Monday: Sloppy Joes, fries
Tuesday: BBQ Chicken, mashed potatoes
Wednesday: Baked Mac & Cheese, Salad
Thursday: Homemade Pizza
Friday: Marinated Chicken, roasted carrots

Check our our new series "5 Minutes A Day"

And don't forget to "like" our page on Facebook! When we hit 100 fans there will be a giveaway. At My Sink on Facebook

Totals for this week

2010-08-08T15:34:00.002-04:00

I went to 2 different stores this week, Food Lion on Friday and WalMart on Saturday.

Food Lion $32.44
5# sugar
Pop-Tarts 2 boxes on sale for $2 each
potato chips
Baked Beans
hamburger buns
hamburger 4.5#pk
chicken breasts 2pks
lettuce
fries

Walmart $59.48
toilet paper
paper towels
5# sugar
coffee
clothes hangers
tea bags
salad dressing
sour cream
popcorn
chef boyardee
flavored powder for milk
macaroni noodles
spanish rice mix
cheese
carrots
butter
cilantro
cereal
green peppers
cucumbers
lettuce
tomatoes 3pks (pack of 3 tomatoes for $1)
hot dogs
limes
bacon bits
bbq sauce
taco sauce
bananas
tortillas
hot dog buns
hamburger buns
bread
tee-shirt

Coffee with Friends

2010-08-06T10:14:00.003-04:00

Good morning friends! I just found the most wonderful little blog called Home Sanctuary and she has a series called Small Things. It's all about doing the small things to make your home into a sanctuary. I am thrilled to be participating.

Tonight for dinner I'm planning on making Pioneer Women's Tequila Lime Chicken. I love all things mexican food so I am so looking forward to making this dish. Topped with some fresh pico de gallo and sour cream. YUM! For now though we're about to head out to the lake.

Funny how life works out

2010-08-05T15:10:00.002-04:00

Do you ever have one of those weeks where you plan to do nothing and then all of a sudden you have something every single day? That has been us this week. It's our first week of school so I had a planned a quiet week at home getting CJ into a nice little routine but as is life, that has not happened. Monday and Tuesday went basically as planned. Tuesday I was just exhausted though! Do you ever have those days? You wake up tired and nothing you do makes you have more energy? Well that was Tuesday for me. We did spend an hour or so up and down from the table coloring and practicing writing his name. We started writing the letter C but he insisted on finishing it out and writing CJ instead, but that's ok by me. I did little to no housework Tuesday though. Wednesday we made a day of it and went down to see my Mama. My van has been in the shop so I went to pick it up and spent the rest of the day with her. We went and got some goodies from a local bakery and met a cousin to loan her a Moby wrap for her new little one. On the way home I picked up KFC for supper (Thanks Mama!), came home, ate supper and did little else the rest of the day.

So then that brings us today. My husband was unexpectedly home today so I took advantage of having an extra pair of hands and got a few things done that I couldn't do myself. The backseat of our van has been sitting in our living room since we moved into our house in June and CJ's bed frame has been sitting on the front porch waiting on a 2nd coat of paint. It's just been way too hot to get it painted though! Both of those things are now in their proper homes. Then last minute we were invited to lunch with his parents for his aunt's birthday. My house was a mess and I needed a shower so I opted to stay home and clean while he took CJ with him to lunch. My house thanks him for it too. I had about 6 loads of laundry to do, dished piled up and a living room that looked like a tornado went through it. I'm almost done with my to do list though, just waiting on the washer and dryer to do their thing, so I sat down to plan next week's menu and blog.

Tomorrow we're planning to spend most of the day out at the lake with my best friend and her little girl and have a picnic lunch, then CJ is supposed to spend the night with my parents so I might get to enjoy my clean house for at least a day!

Days 1 & 2

2010-08-03T14:16:00.003-04:00

We completed day 2 of preschool today. So far so good. We worked on writing the letters A,B & C, we colored a picture of a farm, worked on recognizing letters and practiced walking in a straight line touching toe to heel. Here's a few pictures from the last 2 days.

Kitchen organization

2010-08-03T10:08:00.002-04:00

The kitchen has to be one of the hardest rooms to organize. It needs to be functional while still being pretty. Ours serves not only as a cooking space but also our dining area and school room so I'm constantly trying to figure out a new way to make it that much more organized. One of the hardest things to organize are my spices. I have lots of bottles of spices but they are just kind of everywhere. I can't use a spice rack because all my bottles are different sizes and shapes. So currently my most used spices just sit on my counter and the rest are in a plastic container on top of the fridge.

Today the plan is to get in the kitchen and do a little more organizing so I'm not constantly back tracking and everything flows a little better. So tell me how YOU organize your kitchen to make it more functional for you and your family.

Week 2 Detailed Guide

2010-08-02T19:56:00.003-04:00

Here is our Week 2 detailed guide.

Theme- Under the Sea
Life Skill- Table Manners
Physical Skill- do the Hokey Pokey
Cooking- Help make muffins
Vocabulary- Letters D & E
Reading/Oral Language- Read a book out loud together
Math- Numbers 1-5
Hands on- Trace Square
Handwriting- D & E
Craft- paper plate Fishbowl

Monday-
Introduce life skill- Table Manners: sitting at the table properly, asking to be excused, etc
Handwriting- Show how to write letters D & E. Practice writing these letters
Coloring- Color a picture of sea life. Talk about different types of sea life

Tuesday-
Physical Skill- Dance the Hokey Pokey
Vocab- Recognize letters. Worksheet- find and circle the letters D & E

Wednesday-
Math- Sort shells into groups of 1-5
Reading- Read a book outloud. Encourage child to repeat words or sentences.
Craft- Make a Paper Plate Fishbowl (color a plate blue and draw fish or use stickers)

Thursday-
Hands On- Trace Squares
Cooking- Make muffins together
Bible Lesson- Read the story of Jonah. Color a picture and talk about the story.

Friday-
Review the lessons for the week

Menu Plan Monday

2010-08-01T08:38:00.007-04:00

Yes I realize today is Sunday. But I'm putting my menu up now while I have a minute since we have company coming later. Over at orgjunkie.com Laura has Menu Plan Monday. I will be participating in MPM this week! Any blogger is welcome to join so if you menu plan I recommend joining.

Sunday- Beef chuck steaks, mashed potatoes, Eclair Cake
Monday- Taco Salad
Tuesday- Chicken & Rice
Wednesday- homemade Pizza
Thursday- Sloppy Joes, homemade fries
Friday- marinated chicken, potato salad

And just a little self promotion here. lol We have a brand new Facebook page if you want to become a fan HERE

And one last thing, We are raffling off a Red Bilibo on AMH! Bilibos are great toys to get your child(ren) using their imaginations. You can find out more info HERE

Adding Bible lessons and some worksheet links

2010-07-31T11:05:00.007-04:00

I decided to make a change to our Thursdays. I am adding a Bible lesson to this day. We are using the Alice in Bibleland books as the guide for our lessons. If you don't have these books or don't want to use them you can easily use the Bible to read the story or any other Bible story books.

So week 1 we are going to do the story of Creation. We will read the story, do a coloring page and talk about what the story was about.

Here are some coloring pages you can choose from:
http://www.coloring.ws/creation.htm
http://www.theideadoor.com/Coloring%20pages/fr07feb33_creation.jpg
http://i2.squidoocdn.com/resize/squidoo_images/-1/draft_lens9573001module85423571photo_1266469126Genesis_coloring_pages.jp

And here are some worksheet printables that we'll be using this week as well.
http://www.kidzone.ws/prek_wrksht/pre-print/pre-print-horizontal.htm
(except cutting we'll be tracing)
http://preschoolpalace.org/images/scissor%20skills%20-%20straight%20line%20fall%20theme.gif
http://www.ziggityzoom.com/images/activities/letter_A.gif
http://www.ziggityzoom.com/images/activities/Alphabet_b.gif
http://www.ziggityzoom.com/images/activities/letter_C.gif

Grocery budget for this week

2010-07-31T07:48:00.004-04:00

Last week I was over in our grocery budget. I spent $75 (including the chicken I posted about the other day) at Food Lion and $17 (pullups and a few snacks for the house) at Dollar General. We opted to save the gas money from driving an hour to Walmart and stick to shopping near home. It cost a little more but it evened out with the gas.

This week however I was visiting my family so I was already near WalMart. I did pretty good this week. I spent $72 but that includes some school supplies and sunscreen that I needed as well. I stuck to my grocery list though so I'm proud of myself!

What I bought:
Lettuce
Tomato
Bananas
bell pepper
2 big packs of top sirloin that were on sale for $5 each
loaf of bread
box of tea
bag of rice
cheese
gallon of milk
cool whip
Jello (4 boxes, to make Jello jigglers)
Jello pudding (to make a chocolate eclair cake)
graham crackers
pack of cookies
chocolate frosting (for the eclair cake)
bottle of marinade
paper plates
plastic cups
box of apple pies (groan. My son begged for an apple pie all day long. I don't know where he say apple pie or why he wanted some but all day he asked to eat apple pie. So I picked up a box of those apple pie snack cakes)
2 cans chef boyardee
pk of juice
tortillas
2 pks toilet paper
jiffy cornbread mix
salsa
pencils
modeling clay
folders
glue
paint
paper bags
notebook paper
sunscreen

Rotisserie chicken

2010-07-28T20:09:00.002-04:00

When I was grocery shopping this weekend I decided to make a little "splurge" purchase. We're trying to cut down on our eating out but that doesn't leave a night off for me and we all know that we moms need a night off once in awhile. So I stopped by the deli and got a cooked Rotisserie chicken for $7. Then I picked up a package of Uncle Ben's rice that you cook in the microwave for 90 seconds for $1.25. The chickens are on the smaller side so our family of 3 ate half the chicken and the pack of rice for supper that night for a total of $4.75. Much better than a meal out at a restaurant that usually costs around $20.

The other half of the chicken I shredded up for some chicken soup. I didn't have any egg noodles but I had half a box of lasagna noodles in the cabinet , so I took the lasagna noodles, broke them up into smaller pieces and put them in a pot of water with the shredded up chicken. I added some chicken bouillon, garlic powder, onion powder, and some herbs and let it cook. The total for this meal was around $4.50 or so when you add in the price of the spices. Our family of 4 (we have a house guest, Chris' 10yr old cousin, this week) ate out of this soup and there is at least enough for one more meal, most likely a lunch for me, CJ and our house guest this week. So that brings the cost for one meal of the soup down to $2.25.

So this $7 splurge item gave us at least 3 meals. I think I'll have to "splurge" a little more often.

Chore Chart

2010-07-27T12:46:00.006-04:00

I have been toying with the idea of making a chore chart for CJ. He loves to help do things around the house and he loves sticker charts so I decided it was finally time to give him his own chores. I took a piece of poster board, cut it down a little and used my yard stick to make a chart. I left empty spaces so that I can add new chores without making a new chart. I decided to go with the little star stickers because I can peel them off at the end of the week and start over. You can get a pack of 400+ for around $1 plus $0.50 for the poster board so it cost a total of $1.50 to make this chart.

Right now his chores are:
Get Dressed
Make Bed
Brush teeth (he gets 2 stickers each day for this one, one in the morning and one at night)
Pick up toys (2 stickers here as well, we do toy pick up after lunch/before quiet time and before bed)
Put clothes in hamper
Set Table (there is a possibility to get 2 stickers here as well, one at lunch and one at supper)

He also has some other "chores" that he helps me with during the day but I decided not to add those to the chart because they aren't consistent every day things he *has* to do, if that makes sense.
Sort clean silverware and put in drawer (forks, spoons, measuring spoons and butter knives only)
Take clothes out of dryer
Help Vacuum
Fold wash clothes and dish rags

One more thing I also started this week is quiet time after lunch. CJ gave up naptime way before he was even 2 and by mid-afternoon he is super cranky. So today I set the time for 20 minutes, turned on the TV in his room and put him in his bed. He stayed in there for the whole 20 minutes, laying quietly on his bed so I'm hoping this will help with the crankiness.

Last note- I'm going to be making a few changes to the curriculum guide tonight. I will leave up the old guide and repost the new one when it's finished. It's basically the same with just a few tiny changes.

Preschool Week 1 Detailed Guide

2010-07-22T22:01:00.005-04:00

This is our week 1 detailed guide for Preschool.

Theme- Animals
Life Skill- Proper Hand washing
Physical Skill- Walk in a straight line touching toe to heel
Cooking Lesson- Make PB Sandwich
Vocabulary- Letters A,B&C
Reading/Oral Language- Read a book about animals out loud together
Math- Numbers 1-5
Hands on Skill- Trace straight line
Handwriting- letters A,B&C
Craft- Animal Paper Bag Puppets

Monday-
Introduce new Life Skill: Show child how to properly wash hands. Continue to teach this lesson throughout the rest of the week until it becomes habit.

Handwriting: Show child how to write letters A,B&C. Practice writing these letters together using a dry erase board (or paper/pencil)

Coloring: Color animals together. Practice staying in the lines. Talk about each animal and their sounds as you color.

Tuesday-
Physical Skill: Demonstrate how to walk in a straight line touching toe to heel. Have child repeat the action.

Vocab: Worksheet- Find & Circle letters A,B&C on the page. Alternatively you can use pages from a magazine, newspaper, etc.

Wednesday-
Math: Count out loud to 5, Worksheet- color groups of animals. Count the animals while coloring.

Reading: Read a book about animals together out loud. Encourage child to repeat sentences or certain words.

Craft: Make animal Paper bag Puppets. [Supplies needed: paper bags, construction paper, glue or glue sticks, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, etc to make faces]

Thursday-
Hands on Skill: Trace straight lines

Cooking lesson: make PB sandwich

Friday-
Review handwriting, vocab & math lessons from the week.

These are some sites I like for Worksheets:
http://www.tlsbooks.com/preschoolworksheets.htm
http://www.kidslearningstation.com/
http://www.first-school.ws/theme/handwriting.htm

These are some additional items I'll be purchasing to use as an addition to our curriculum:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006JZCG/ref=oss_product
http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Deluxe-Wooden-27-Piece/dp/B000GIJ4Y4/ref=pd_sim_t_5
http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Lace-Trace-Shapes/dp/B000O7KR0W/ref=pd_sim_t_3

Preschool Curriculum

2010-07-22T16:31:00.003-04:00

I have been searching and searching for a curriculum for our 3yr old. But everything I found was either too expensive or not what I was really looking for. So I decided to throw caution to the wind and create my own. Afterall, isn't that one of the advantages of homeschooling? At first I was hesitant about doing a more structured curriculum with CJ but again, one of the joys of HSing is being able to adapt the schedule as needed. This guide that I have created is just structured enough to give me a plan for the day rather than a set in stone curriculum.

So here's how it's broken down. Written out in a list like this it's going to look like a lot but it's spaced out over the entire week with no more than 3 lessons a day. It would be easy to change the days around, adjust the lessons for your child's needs, etc. My personal goal is to have the lessons done before lunch so the afternoon is free for free play, etc. Each week will also have a theme.

Overview of the week-
Life Skill (personal care, manners, new chore, etc)
Physical Skill
Cooking lesson
Vocabulary
Reading/Oral Language
Math
Hand's on lesson
Handwriting
Craft

Monday-
Introduce new Life Skill
Handwriting
Color Page (that goes with the week's theme)

Tuesday-
Physical Skill
Vocab

Wednesday-
Math
Reading
Craft

Thursday-
Hand's on lesson
Cooking lesson

Friday-
Review of the week's lessons

The except to this guide is the last week of the month. (or every 4th week) This entire week will be a chance to review all the new things we have learned. So it will look something like this:

Monday-
New Life Skill
Coloring Pages

Tuesday-
Review Physical skills for this month
Review letters/words

Wednesday-
Review numbers (or math lessons)
Reading
Craft

Thursday-
Review hands on skills
Cooking lesson

Friday-
Fun Day!!
This day will be dedicated to focusing on doing something fun.

I will post the first week's detailed guide soon.

This week's menu and budget total

2010-07-11T20:07:00.002-04:00

Let's start with the menu for this week.
Sunday- Tacos
Monday- Chicken & Rice
Tuesday- Swiss Steak
Wednesday- Cheeseburgers, Fries
Thursday- Homemade Pizza
Friday- Baked Potatoes, Salad

Lunches:
Corn dogs, Hot dogs, Pasta, Leftovers

Snacks/Desserts:
Magic in the Middle Cookies, Chocolate chip pound cake

And now on to the grocery total:
Walmart-
1 gallon milk 3.18
freezer bags 2.48
juice boxes 1.68
cheese 1.96
bacon 2.08
hot dogs 1.50
sour cream 1.12
salsa 3.00
tortillas 1.14
pasta .88
bell pepper .98
3lb onions 2.98
Angel Soft 1.18
juice 3.47
pull ups 8.47
paper plates 2.48
plastic cups 3.00
5lb flour 1.58
5lb sugar 2.54
cheese 2.50
can pineapple .67
juice boxes 2.88
1# hamburger 2.48x2
tomato sauce .56x2
tomato sauce .26x2
carrots .88
corn dogs 4.47

total 63.70

5/10-5/16 menu plan

2010-05-11T18:09:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I had plans to make a birthday dinner for my hubby. But since he had to work late that plan was nixed. I ate soup and grilled cheese and CJ had pizza at my mom's. I am glad we celebrated his birthday on Saturday with the family rather than waiting for his actual birthday. I'll just have to save his birthday dinner for this weekend.

So here is the menu plan for this week.
5/10- Grilled Cheese & Soup
5/11- Sloppy Joes, Mac & Cheese, Baked Beans
5/12- Roasted Chicken, Sweet Corn
5/13- Pot Roast, Potatoes, Carrots
5/14- Tacos, Mexican Rice
5/15- "At home date night" Pizza & a movie
5/16- Maple Glazed Salmon, Rice, Broccoli

Saturday we will be having a yard sale as well. I am sorting through our entire house and doing a major declutter in preparation for our move at the beginning of July. It is such a wonderful feeling to be freeing the house of all our unused items. I am really looking forward to a house without all the clutter and am wondering what took me so long to do it. lol

I also wanted to share something we got in the mail on Friday, Laptop Lunch boxes. I purchased an LL before but never got around to using it. I think when I bought my first one CJ was really too little to really put it to good use, especially with me being a SAHM. So now, with the arrival of our second LL, we will each have one and I hope it makes lunch time around our house more varied and healthy. I put his lunch in it Monday and he really seemed to enjoy having his own little lunchbox with a variety of foods in it to choose from. I can't wait to put it to use again tomorrow. (We skipped today bc he was back and forth between our house and my mom's house all day)

Until next time...

Birthday week & Menu plan

2010-05-05T19:35:00.007-04:00

My hubby's birthday is Monday. So in the spirit of a tradition I started this year with CJ we are celebrating his birthday all week. Monday afternoon CJ and I decorated the kitchen and the table with birthday decor. The living room still had the decor up from CJ's birthday in March. Opps. Saturday night we will go out with our families and have dinner for his birthday as well as do a little shopping. I still haven't decided what to get him for his birthday though. So I think instead of a gift I'll make him his favorite cake, a special dinner and have CJ help me make a homemade gift for Daddy.

Now for the menu plan for this week:
Monday 5/3- Pioneer Woman's Sloppy Joes, Chips, Baked Beans
Tuesday 5/4- Chicken Tenders, Waffle Fries
Wednesday 5/5- Beef Tips with Gravy, Mashed Potatoes
Thursday 5/6- PW's Cajun Chicken Pasta
Friday 5/7- Tacos, Mexican Rice
Saturday 5/8- Dinner Out for Hubby's Birthday
Sunday 5/9- Family Mother's Day Dinner ~Cooking Glazed Carrots & Neiman Marcus Bars
Monday 5/10- Hubby's Birthday Dinner ~Maple Glazed Salmon, Rice, Broccoli, Refrigerator Cake

Menu Planning for a family of 3

2010-03-04T10:23:00.002-05:00

Let's talk about menu planning. This is one area that took me a little while to master but now that I have it down it has helped so much. I started writing out one week's meals at a time and I gradually increased to a month's worth of meals. This will be especially helpful when we move because we will be an hour away from WalMart and around 2 hours from Aldi.

So what I do is first I go through my freezer and pantry and make a list. Then I write down enough meals using those items and our family favorites to cover the whole month, minus each Sunday as it has become a family tradition to watch a movie and have pizza on Sundays. I tentatively set each meal with a day of the week, but I use it more as a guideline for the week/month switching around meals as needed.

Then I go through the first 2 weeks meals and write down every single ingredient I will need for each meal. I check off each ingredient that I already have on hand and write my grocery list using the items left. So basically I'm shopping for 2 weeks at a time.

I keep a copy of that month's meals in my household binder. I bought a wipe off calender from the Dollar General for $2.50 that sticks to the fridge, it isn't dated, but it has spaces for each day of the month. I write my meals on that as well so I can see what the plan is at a glance.

And now here is March's Meal Plan-

1- Sloppy Joes, fries
2- *Take out* (had to work a double and got home late)
3- Ribs, Mac & Cheese
4- Tacos
5- Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes
6- Pork Loin, Green Beans
7- Pizza
8- Cheese Quesdillas
9- Baked Potatoes, Salad
10- Breakfast
11- Swiss Steak
12- Sloppy Joes, fries
13- Sandwiches
14- Pizza
15- Roast Chicken, Sweet Corn
16- Tilapia/Salmon, Boiled Potatoes
17- Turkey Wraps
18- Cheeseburgers, Fries, Beans
19- BBQ Pork Sandwiches, Chips
20- Tacos
21- CJ's 3rd Birthday and his Party *planned take out day*
22- Salads
23- Chicken & Rice
24- Soup & Sandwiches
25- Baked Chimichangas, Mexican Rice
26- Beef Stew
27- Sloppy Joes, Fries
28- Pizza
29- Breakfast
30- Terayki Chicken Legs
31- Pork Loin, Potatoes

February in Review

2010-02-28T16:03:00.002-05:00

Hello there my dear friends,
After months of not blogging, creating a new blog and then taking a break from that one I have decided to unearth this blog and make a fresh start. No more big plans for the blog either. I just want a place I can talk about everything and nothing in particular.

So let's start with this last month in a quick review. Actually it will be more like 2010 so far in review.

To start, I went back to work. From 2000-2006 I worked as a waitress at my grandparents seafood restaurant. And this year when it opened for the season I said why not go back and help out the family and make a little extra money. So that's just what I did. I miss CJ terribly during the day but I do enjoy being back at work. When we close again in April I won't return to work, I'll continue to be a SAHM but for the time being I am enjoying it.

Also in big news, we are planning a move! By April we will be out of our current house and into a new one. I am hesitant about leaving my family, I will be an hour away, but I am looking forward to a new chapter in my little family's life. I am using this an opportunity to free our home from all the clutter that we have been collecting for the 4 years we have lived here. If we don't absolutely need it or love it, its going out of here! And then even some of that stuff is getting tossed as well. The Salvation Army will either love me or hate me for the next few weeks.

And now onto something equally important. My Budget/household finances. I created a new household binder right after Christmas and it is a must have for any Domestic Goddess. I will do a detailed post about my binder later. I also have been menu planning again and it has made a huge difference in not only my day but my grocery budget as well. I have almost cut my monthly budget in half since 2009! I will post about menu planning later as well. We do need to seriously work on the amount of money we spend on junk food, eating out and other "treats" but I also know with the move that will take care of itself.

Now here are my totals for February.

Grocery: 205.24
Health & Beauty: 15.94
Pet: 48.60
Treats/Misc/Eating out: 206.61
Clothing: 58.49
Holidays: 76.40
Diapers: 9.01

Notes:
Under Misc- New Bedding, Ink for printer, workbooks/craft items for CJ
Holidays- 4 birthdays and Valentine's Day
Clothing- Not typical to spend this amount. But I purchase a new pair of shoes, some shirts on sale for $1, several items from the thrift store as well as a pair of rain boots (aka Wellington's) from Target for $25

Meal Plan- Sept 14

2009-09-13T17:50:00.002-04:00

I'm putting this up a little early in case I don't get time in the morning.

Monday- Swiss Steak, homemade rolls (didn't have it last week)

Tuesday- Cheeseburgers, homemade fries, baked beans

Wednesday- Foil Pack Chicken Fajitas

Thursday- Pork Chop Stuffing Bake, Sweet Corn

Friday- Chicken Tacos, Mexican Rice

Saturday- Baked Potatoes

Sunday- Beef Stew, Homemade rolls

Dessert/Snacks:
Gram's Best Brown Sugar Cake
Lemon Blossoms

Wordless Wednesday

2009-09-09T09:12:00.001-04:00

Foodie Tuesday

2009-09-08T10:10:00.003-04:00

Today I'm going to participate in a few different blog events.

Chicken Caesar Wraps

Prep Time: 10 min Total Time: 10 min Makes: 4 servings

3 cups shredded romaine lettuce
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
4 slices OSCAR MAYER Bacon, cooked, crumbled
1/4 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese
1/4 cup croutons
1/2 cup KRAFT Classic Caesar Dressing
4 flour tortillas (8 inch)

PLACE first 5 ingredients in large bowl. Add dressing; toss lightly.
SPOON onto tortillas; roll up tightly.

Meal Plan Monday- September 7th

2009-09-07T17:35:00.006-04:00

Its time for menu plan monday! I'll be adding recipes tonight so come back then!

Monday~ Cheeseburgers, Homemade fries
Tuesday~ Swiss Steak, potatoes and carrots
Wednesday~ Chicken Quesdillas
Thursday~ Taco Bake
Friday~ Homemade Calzones
Saturday~ Chicken Caesar Wraps
Sunday~ BBQ Beef Cups

*Make-Ahead items:
Boil Chicken for Quesdillas and Chicken Wraps at one time
Split cooked bacon & ground sausage. One half for Calzones, the other half for Cheddar, Broccoli Pull-aparts.

Deb's Buggy Covers is closing

2009-09-07T16:14:00.000-04:00

One of my best friends owns Deb's Buggy Covers. She makes cart/high chair covers. I have one and we still use it.

She has decided to close her shop. She will not be taking orders after October 7.

Deb is trying to clear out inventory, and is offering $10 off any instock shopping cart cover!

Use the code THS at checkout to take advantege of this offer!!

www.debsbuggycovers.com

Park, Acorns and good deals

2009-09-06T21:06:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I ran into the local Dollar General and they had alot of stuff for half price. I picked up a few things for Christmas and got CJ a new outfit. They had alot of cute clothes half off but the biggest size they had was 3T and my big boy is barely in a 3T now. So I just got one outfit. :)

I paid $12.25 for everything shown above. (originally $24.50)

And today we took CJ to play at the park. It was really crowded today and he would rather play than let me take his picture so I only got a few shots.

Some sites I use

2009-09-04T12:20:00.002-04:00

Here are a few sites I use to get activities, coloring pages, etc for CJ.

http://www.everythingpreschool.com/
http://www.dltk-kids.com/
http://www.preschoolcoloringbook.com/
http://www.preschooleducation.com/
http://ittybittylove.blogspot.com/
http://belladia.typepad.com/crafty_crow/
http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/preschool_activities.htm#Dolly
http://almostunschoolers.blogspot.com/
http://funwithmama.blogspot.com/

Menu Plan 8/28-9/4

2009-09-03T15:45:00.002-04:00

I am late posting this but I wanted to post our menu plan from this week.

VELVEETA Cheesy Chicken & Broccoli Rice
Sloppy Tacos, Fries
Slow-Cooker Lasagna, Salad, Breadsticks
STOVE TOP One-Dish Chicken Skillet, fresh sweet Corn
Super Stuffed Potatoes

VELVEETA Cheesy Chicken & Broccoli Rice

Prep Time: 10 min Total Time: 25 min Makes: 6 servings, 1 cup each

What You Need!
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) chicken broth
2 cups instant white rice, uncooked
1/2 lb. (8 oz.) VELVEETA Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen chopped broccoli, thawed

Make It!
COOK chicken in large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat 5 min. or until chicken is done.

STIR in broth. Bring to boil.

ADD rice, VELVEETA and broccoli; cover. Remove from heat. Let stand 10 min. Stir until VELVEETA is completely melted and mixture is well blended.

Sloppy Tacos

Prep Time: 5 min Total Time: 20 min Makes: 8 servings

What You Need!
1 lb. ground beef
1 jar (16 oz.) TACO BELL® HOME ORIGINALS® Thick 'N Chunky Medium Salsa
1 pkg. (12 oz.) hamburger buns (8 buns)
1 pkg. (6 oz.) KRAFT Singles

Make It!
BROWN meat in large skillet; drain.

STIR in salsa; cook until heated through, stirring occasionally.

FILL buns with meat mixture and Singles.

Slow-Cooker Lasagna

Prep Time: 15 min Total Time: 6 hr 15 min Makes: 8 servings

What You Need!
1 lb. ground beef
1 jar (26 oz.) spaghetti sauce
1 cup water
1 container (15 oz.) BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Ricotta Cheese
1 pkg. (7 oz.) KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, divided
1/4 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese, divided
1 egg
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
6 lasagna noodles, uncooked

Make It!
BROWN meat in large skillet; drain. Stir in spaghetti sauce and water. Mix ricotta, 1-1/2 cups mozzarella, 2 Tbsp. Parmesan, egg and parsley.

SPOON 1 cup meat sauce into slow cooker; top with layers of half each of the noodles, broken to fit; and cheese mixture. Cover with 2 cups meat sauce. Top with remaining noodles, broken to fit; cheese mixture and meat sauce. Cover with lid.

COOK on LOW 4 to 6 hours or until liquid is absorbed. Sprinkle with remaining cheeses; let stand, covered, 10 min. or until melted

STOVE TOP One-Dish Chicken Skillet

Prep Time: 5 min Total Time: 25 min Makes: 6 servings

What You Need!
1-1/2 cups hot water
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine, melted
1 pkg. (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken
6 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1-1/2 lb.)
1 can (10-3/4 oz.) condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/3 cup BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream

Make It!
MIX hot water, butter and stuffing mix; set aside.

SPRAY nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Add chicken; cook on medium heat 5 min. on each side.

MIX soup and sour cream; pour over chicken. Top with stuffing; cover. Cook on low heat 10 min. or until chicken is done (165ºF).

Super Stuffed Potatoes

Prep Time: 30 min Total Time: 30 min Makes: 4 servings

What You Need!
4 small potatoes (2-1/4 lb.)
1 lb. ground beef
1/4 lb. (4 oz.) VELVEETA Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 small tomato, chopped
2 green onions, sliced
1/2 cup BREAKSTONE'S Reduced Fat or KNUDSEN Light Sour Cream

Make It!
PRICK potatoes in several places with fork. Microwave on HIGH 14 min. or just until tender, turning after 7 min.

MEANWHILE, brown meat in large skillet; drain. Add VELVEETA, tomatoes and onions; cook until VELVEETA is melted and mixture is well blended, stirring frequently.

SPLIT potatoes; mash insides with fork. Top with meat mixture and sour cream.

Display board

2009-09-02T15:51:00.002-04:00

I have been trying to find a way to display CJ's coloring other than the fridge. Especially now that we're doing coloring pages to help learn letters. So I took a piece of poster board and let him color it. Then I attached some ribbon and hung it up on the wall. Now each week when he colors his "worksheets" for that week's letter we can hang it up where he can see it. When that week ends and we move on to the next letter I'll put the last week's pages into a binder so we can still work with them.

Also my mom and I went to a new thrift store today and I got a brand new Birthday celebration cake plate and server for $2!

Holiday gift giving

2009-09-02T10:09:00.003-04:00

I can not believe its the middle of the week already. Or September for that matter! Time is flying by. Soon it will be Thanksgiving and then Christmas. Speaking of Christmas, if you plan to make any of your holiday gifts now is the perfect time to get started.

When making your own gifts its essential to use the talents you already have but its also a great time to learn new crafts as well. Some good ideas for homemade gifts are Mix in a Jar (homemade food mixes layered in a glass jar), dishclothes, scarves, and decorated picture frames. I also like to make themed baskets. You could do a scrapbook basket filled with stickers, scissors, embellishments and a new scrapbook; Movie night basket filled with candy, poporn and a new movie or movie rental gift certificate; or even a cooking basket filled with dried pastas and/or beans, new spices, sauces and a new cookbook.

What I like to do is sit down and make a list of everyone we need to get a gift for. Then I think of each person's likes and dislikes and start writing down ideas for gifts beside their name. Then when I'm ready to make or buy their gift I have a handy go to list to refer back to.

Men on the list are definately the hardest to get gifts for, so for most of our guys I go back to the no-fail gift, Food. Homemade candy, cookies, brownies, etc are always a win with the men on our list.

Lemon and Black Bean Pasta

2009-09-01T22:34:00.000-04:00

Heres the recipe I created for the Vegan Recipe Challenge at AMH.

Squash and Zucchini:
Preheat oven to 350* Slice one squash and one zucchini length wise, brush with oil and salt to taste. Bake on a cookie sheet until done.

Pasta:
Boil water seasoned with salt and garlic.Cook 1oz spaghetti until al dente.

Sauce:
1t basil
1t oregano
1/8t Cayenne pepper (more or less depending on your taste)
4t lemon juice
1/4t Garlic powder
1/3c black beans
1/2 onion diced

Sautee onion in a bit of oil until done. Drain and rinse beans. Add pasta, beans, lemon juice and spices to the pan with the onions and toss. Cook on low just until beans are warm.

Arrange Squash and Zucchini on a plate. Top with pasta and serve.

Notes- Any bean could be substitued for black beans. You could also add some diced chicken and some parm cheese to the top if you aren't going vegan.

Crafty Crafty

2009-03-13T10:13:00.000-04:00

I love earrings. I don't wear them anymore but I still buy them. LOL They were all in a drawer in my jewelry box and I could never find the ones I wanted. I was looking at earring holders on Etsy and decided to give one ago myself.

Heres the result:

And yesterday's craft with CJ was Shamrock banners for St. Patrick's Day. I cut out the shapes and he helped punch the holes and string them on the yarn.

Pretty Pops

2009-03-03T23:31:00.000-05:00

CJ and I made Lollipop Flowers yesterday. I found the directions at Full Circle. I cut out the circles and he helped punch the pops through the paper and crunch it up around the lollipop.

And heres my new table setting. All ready for Spring! The napkins and placemats I got on sale at Walmart and the candles/holders CJ and I put together.

Also, I made Zucchini Chips. This was actually my first time even eatten Zucchini and I must say they turned out SO GOOD.

I cut up one Zucchini and tossed the slices with olive oil and garlic powder. Then I spread them out on a cookie sheet and baked them until they were almost done. I then sprinkled some cheese on them and let them bake until the cheese was melted and alittle crispy.

2 of my favorite blogs

2009-02-27T10:33:00.000-05:00

I don't have alot of time this morning, the Boo and I are going to lunch with my best friend. So I'll just share 2 of my favorite blogs to visit.

Bakerella and Cake Wrecks.

I'll have a longer blog and picture to share this afternoon when we get back.

Playdough and Paints

2009-02-26T10:27:00.000-05:00

My friend Mandi turned me on to some new blogs full of toddler activities. On one of those blogs was a link to homemade bath paints. So CJ and I set out to make them this morning. He had fun mixing them up.

But in the tub he didn't care much for actually painting with his fingers

Instead he turned them into boats:

Next time I'll bring out the paint brushes, I think he'll like that better. You can find the recipe for the bath paints as well as many more ideas at Pepper Paints

A few weeks ago I participated in a Craft Swap with my girls at AMH. I received my box of crafts last weekend, and yesterday we pulled out the Playdough made by Jennifer and CJ had a blast playing with it.

Tacos, Eggs and cake

2009-02-25T09:53:00.000-05:00

I'm alittle behind so let me start by showing off my Taco Salad.

Lettuce topped with taco meat, cheese and homemade Taco sauce.

Heres the recipe:
INGREDIENTS

1 can (8 ounces) unseasoned tomato sauce, preferably no-salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons dried minced onion
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Cayenne pepper or hot sauce to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl. Let set for at least 30 minutes to allow flavors to blend. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed. Serve with Beef Tacos or in Mexican-style dips and salads.

Monday night I made a Caramel Pumpkin Cake for playgroup.

I'll share the recipe for that later. I always leave off the frosting/glaze.

Last thing on the food subject. My breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs with cheese, onions and peppers and bacon on the side. Yummy.

I'm off to play with the little one for awhile and start tidying the house. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

He's not a baby anymore

2009-02-23T17:00:00.000-05:00

Where does the time go? I'm constantly amazed at the things my son can do and the new things he discovers. Everything is new and exciting to him. Recently he learned how to drink out of an open top cup without spilling anything. He can also climb up the steps just holding onto the rail, no more crawling up them on hands and knees for him! And he's so opinionated. When I tell him its time for a diaper change and he's not ready he very clearly and firmly tells me "not yet". I could go on and on about all the new things he does, but I'll stop. LOL

Today as a treat I got him an ice cream cone from Dairy Queen. He looked so grown eatting his cone.

Oh and the ice cream in his hair? That was my fault. LOL I stuck the cone in his hair climbing the steps into the house.

Well I'm off to finish up the Tacos and get the kithen tidied so I can make a Caramel Pumpkin cake for our playgroup's potluck tomorrow. :)

Meal Plan Monday

2009-02-23T15:26:00.000-05:00

Its Meal Plan Monday at OrgJunkie.com

Monday~ Tacos and Taco Salad
Tuesday~ Tilapia and Crunchy Green Beans
Wednesday~ Pork Chops and Mashed Cauliflower
Thursday~ Pot Roast, potatoes and carrots
Friday~ Breakfast for supper
Saturday~ Date night
Simple Supper Sunday :) (either frozen pizza and salad or leftovers as I'll be gone to a baby shower most of the day)

Head on over to OrgJunkie.com for more menu plans!

Parmesan Breaded Tenders

2009-02-23T09:43:00.001-05:00

Friday I made Parmesan Breaded Chicken Tenders. I took some parmesan cheese, basil and garlic powder, mixed them together in a bowl. Then I took one package of chicken tenders (boneless, skinless) and dipped them in an egg that had been beaten and then into the parm mixture. Then I "fried" them in the oven in a glass pan with alittle bit of oil until done.

They turned out so great. We had them for supper friday night with baked beans. And then Saturday I had the leftovers on a salad with lettuce, peppers, onions, bacon bits, Provolone cheese and Ranch dressing.

When the going gets tough.......

2009-02-19T10:07:00.001-05:00

the tough gets going! Some friends and I are doing our own Biggest Loser contest. We just had our 5 week weigh in today. I've lost 7lbs since we started, and then today.... I gained around a lb and a half. I could easily lay the blame on circumstances beyond my control. But I'm no longer making excuses. Excuses turn into more excuses that turn into more excuses. This week I was pretty lazy about my workouts and definately about my eatting. I made bad choices. But thats in the past now. Today is the start of a new week. I'm working to better my life, make myself healthier. I have a wonderful support system both online and "irl".

So with that... Onward we march.... I have big plans for the day. First on the list is to throw away all the candy thats left in the house from Valentine's Day. With the exception of my hubbys candy, half of that will go into his truck and the other half will be put in a tupperware container in the top of the cabinet. If I don't see it, I forget about it and therefore I don't eat it. I also need to take a much needed trip to the Post Office to drop off 20+ packages. *yikes* Its alittle cool outside today but perhaps I can talk my sister into taking a walk with me as well.

To my Mama

2009-02-18T08:45:00.000-05:00

I had a whole post written out about how much my mama means to me and all the things we've been through, especially in the past few months. But today is a day of joy and it was a pretty depressing post since most of the things were bad ones. So I'll simply say HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mama. I Love you.

Provolone Burgers

2009-02-17T20:08:00.000-05:00

I'm just starting a Low Carb program. I say program rather than diet because its not just a diet, its a lifestyle change. Tonights supper was Provolone Burgers and salads.

I cooked the burgers in a frying pan with a little onion and garlic powder. When they were done, I topped them with a slice of Provolone cheese, some lettuce, onion and One Carb Ketchup. On the side I had a salad with lettuce, onion, pepper, cheese and ranch dressing and a pickle spear.

Tonights total was approx 8 carbs.

Sauteed Shrimp and Strawberries

2009-02-17T17:57:00.000-05:00

Last night for supper the hubs requested Shrimp. So I sauteed threw an onion and half a bell pepper in a pan with a TBS of oil until they were almost done. Then I added a bag of shrimp and a sprinkle of garlic powder. Cooked it all until it was all done and YUM-O. Hubs had his over a bed of pasta. For the side dish I cooked up some squash with onions. *drool*

And then to complete the night...... Strawberries. I mashed up some strawberries with 3 packets of Truvia and topped it with some Redi-Whip.

Here I am...

2008-12-02T19:53:00.000-05:00

When I first started blogging over 2 years ago I was newly married and we had no children. I believed I needed to be the perfect wife and housekeeper. And in the beginning I was pretty good at it. My house stayed spotless, supper was done when my husband came home. I had my days all planned out in lists and notes kept neatly in a binder. Eventually it becomes hard to keep perfect lists and still have a real life. Especially once a baby comes along. My old blog was still a reflection of the person I used to try to be. This one is a fresh start. A chance to have a clean slate and show the real me. The messy housewife and crazy mom. I have lists galore but they're hung on the fridge or get on sticky pads covered in scribbles drawn by a toddler who now fills my days with fun and exciting things to do and learn and messes to clean. But would we would really have it any other way? I know I wouldn't.

Instead of a perfectly vacuumed floor its now scattered in crumbs and toys and coloring pages colored outside the lines. I no longer have a constant need to keep my house in perfect order. I keep it as tidy as a tornado named CJ will let me. Its rarely "company ready" but thats ok. So this blog won't be filled with stories from a perfect housewife and stay at home. It will be filled with stories of the person I am today. I spend a great deal of time at my sink. Washing dishes, sitting with CJ at the bar beside the sink coloring and playing with little cars, or crafting on the counter. Its where I do my best thinking. Its like the clouds clear and my mind can just be free. All my thoughts are in order when I'm at my sink. And all those thoughts will be brought right back to this blog. And my hope is that everyone that reads it, enjoys a glimpse into my life.