What I'm Studying

Here I am AGAIN!!! I have neglected this blog for way too long and I have gone back and forth of whether or not to blog again. Mostly I love to blog to keep a remembrance of our family. Thankfully my DH has done a wonderful job of that over at his blog. Now I must return though. I will attempt at blogging a few times a week to stay up to date but we'll see what reality brings. I've always blogged first thing in the morning (after devotions of course) before my kids wake up but Sarah, in her 3 year old little brain, seems to think that everything should revolve around her at 7:15 in the morning (just as she does all day long) so I'll see if that time will work or not or if I'll end up foregoing blogging again. Stay tuned to see what happens here.

Currently I am studying through a book by Cheryl Broderson, Against All Odds. This is the book we are studying through our Ladies Bible Study. I love studying Old Testament books because it brings so much history to life and paints a very clear picture of our need for a Savior which is fulfilled in the New Testament through Jesus. Ezra is believed to have written Ezra and Nehemiah which at one point used to be all one book. Jeremiah 29 starts out with a letter to the Jews as they are headed into captivity and states that he will not forget them but to live amongst the babylonians, and he will return them back to Jerusalem after 70 years. Ezra starts out by saying:

Ezra 1:1-3

NOW in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem.

God has fulfilled His promise to rescue them out of captivity!!! God WILL do what He says He will do. He will never leave us nor forsake us. He has not forgotten. No matter what my circumstances, He will always be there rescuing me when I fail, when I stumble, when I am weak. There may be times that I have to go through hardship, heartache or loneliness but He always has a plan for my life.

Jeremiah 29:11-13 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

He is listening and He has a plan! Later I will write about what we are studying on Sunday morning and Home Group, 1 Kings.

Safeway Savings!!!!

Woohoo, gotta love a great deal. I have been couponing a lot lately and it really has turned into my new hobbie, just to see how much I can really save and how much stuff I can get for free or close to it. Today I scored a pretty good deal and thought I would finally post one of my deals. I have made some pretty sweet deals, mostly at Safeway, and not posted them but today I finally thought I would take the time to do it. I had to break this up into two transactions to get the most out of the doublers that Safeway has and here is how my deal panned out.


1st Transaction
5 boxes cereal
6 yogurts
1 sour cream
Total = $7.13


2nd Transaction
1 bag chips
2 salad dressings
2 jars alfredo sauce
4 diced tomatoes
1 bag salad
1 bag broccoli
1 bag broccoli stir fry
1 box cream cheese
1 red bell pepper
1 bunch of radishes
2 fruit roll ups (snack for my big helpers for when we were done)
Total=$13.07

Total between both transactions = $20.20

By the way, I am not a huge cereal fan because of all the sugar involved and even in the lower sugar varieties but I figure sometimes it's easier the a hot meal. In a cereal with 6 grams of sugar/serving there is over 6 teaspoons of sugar in an average bowl of cereal (including milk) which in my home spells disaster for our day, usually in lack of focus. I do however make it a rule that when they have cereal they have to use plain cheerios for 1/2 of their cereal consumption so really they are getting a little less sugar then they would otherwise with a full bowl of sugary cereal.

Happy couponing!!!

Tumble Bumble Photography

One of my old high school classmates has become a professional photographer. She is so fun and makes every session a piece of cake (well at least that's what I've been told). She is here locally and she is running a contest right now. If you comment on her blog she will enter your name for a free session and 20-30 edited pictures on a CD which all in total is a $750 value (yes, she really is that good).

Head on over to Tumble Bumble Photography to enter. Oh and do you know anyone getting married? Last I heard she still has openings left this summer.

Potty Training Woes

We're potty training and she can't pull up her pants :))

We Wii, Do you Wii?

We have been out of commission around here because we've been a little pre-occupied. John and I have been pretty desperate about wanting to lose weight because we feel so miserable and know that we could feel soooo much better. I was reading on facebook about homeschool families using a Wii as their winter time activity and someone had said they had a Biggest Loser game for their Wii. We have always been Biggest Loser fans but have NEVER been fans of video games. We have seen too many kids in our adult experience that can find NOTHING to do except play on the nintendo, playstation, x-box, etc. etc. etc...... But after borrowing my sister's Wii & balance board we were hooked. Not for the fun video game experience but knew that this could really help us in our weight loss goals (although the fun family time helped too). So after 3 years of saying we will never have a Wii, we have finally made the move to have one in our home. I do see the addiction that can take place with it and we do have one daugther (not naming names) who has already displayed addictive behaviors. We as parents have to curve that for her. We did decide that we will not be buying video games for it, it will be purely a fitness tool and we can all do that as a family. I am very pleasantly surprised at how many fitness games there are out there. It will be nice to have a variety of "games" to play to achieve these goals of ours.




Cutest little boxer I ever did see :))

Lunch

I came up with a new lunch concoction the other day. I have been trying to save more money around here and bread is NOT cheap. I have been buying bread at the "used" bread store in Albany but I don't go to Albany very much anymore so I have to come up with another alternative. I have never liked making homemade bread for sandwiches so I decided to try something new. I would make a loaf of bread, cut off a chunk of it and make a PB&J dip. I mixed the two together and the girls would take a spoon and just spoon the mix onto their bread. The girls loved this, they thought it was so different and fun.



Then there is this cutie that has nothing to do with sandwiches except that she consumes them (except the crust)

How do you make lunch interesting?

Riding Lessons

Like every little girl Emma has been drawn to horses. She loves to read about them, watch them, and dream about them. For her birthday last year we gave her a membership to a Horse Lovers Club in Brownsville. Both of her grandmas also pitched in to give her some horseback riding lessons. Now she still enjoys lessons every Wednesday evening and this spring she will start showing. Her coach Brittney is great with Emma and just enjoys having her out to ride. I think this spring we will start doing some showing, which will be some good experience for Emma.

Getting Hugo ready for his ride

Warming him up on the lunge line

I guess this picture shows action. She was trotting I think. She loves to canter and trot. She says she wants to go as far as learning how to jump (there you go Brittney, your challenge of the year, LOL)

Missing Tooth

My second born is growing up. It's one thing when your oldest enters into a new stage, potty trained, school, lost tooth etc etc etc....but when your second born enters that new stage it's kind of weird like you actually have a family who is in that stage. Riah lost her first tooth the other day and she has been so excited.

While I was saying goodnight to her she said "wait mom, what about my money". I looked at her and said "well you just have to wait, your tooth has to turn into a dollar overnight", knowing very well that she wouldn't believe me. See I just wanted to appease her for a moment so I could get out of the room and just make her wonder. We give $1 for the first tooth and $.25 for each tooth after that. None of this inflation thing over the years, losing teeth is fun, not making the kids rich while making the parents poor.

The next morning she came out of her bedroom and said with a very shocked look and sounding very worried, "Mom when I woke up, I looked under my pillow in the little plastic tooth and found a dollar but couldn't find my tooth". I looked at her and said "See!!! It did turn into a dollar" We don't do the tooth fairy here or at least they know that the "tooth fairy" is mom and dad but now I think I stumped her.

Isn't she just adorable!

The next day Emma lost a tooth and still has one more really loose one to go. We may not be extravagant in our loose tooth funds but we might have to start taking out of our retirement fund for this.

Artscow, What a deal!

Here is a deal for you!!! I have never used Artscow but always been curious. Here is the deal they give away, WOW, it's screamin', smokin', get yo gloves on cause it's HOT!!!! Just for signing up with arts cow you are given DOZENS of FREEBIES.

Currently, when you join Artscow you get 1200 free prints credits (both 5×7 and 4×6), 3 8″x8″ photo books & other great photo gifts credits – while they don’t specify the “other great photo credit” (I think they vary by when you sign up), they should be great. You'll definitely be pleasantly surprised at how many free gifts you get, HOLY COW, there are a ton!!!

Some Working Codes

FREESHIPPING30 – FREE Shipping on $30 worth of purchase (you shouldn’t need this code. You will have A LOT OF FREEBIES.) Expires 1/11.

DISCT35OFF - 35% off all personalized gifts. Expires on: 1/11. (You probably will not need this code either.)

2010CLNDR12M – $4.99 calendar shipped.

CAMCASE399 – $3.99 Digital Leather Camera Case shipped.

When you log in, use the code 2010BOOKS and get 10 FREE 5×7 20 page photo books. (Thanks, Saving with Amy)

With all the FREEBIES you will come across, you will have to pay shipping. I've heard the shipping is a very reasonably prices.

Get started HERE.

Thanks Frugal Coupon Living

Have any of you ever used Artscow?

Eat from your freezer challenge

You've heard of the Eat from your pantry challenge, and the Month of no spending challenge? Well I'm doing the Eat from your freezer challenge and it's all made up by me. We have too much stuff in our freezer that is just taking up space. John is hunting this month and Lord willing we will be able to fill our freezer up with elk meat so we need to clear this baby out. Here is our menu of eating from our freezer. It really should help with the budget this month too.

Monday 1/4 - meatballs & rice
Tues 1/5 - minestrone & bread
Wed 1/6 - chicken & apples (crockpot)
Thurs 1/7 - leftovers
Fri 1/8 - carne Asada w/ rice & beans
Sat 1/9 - salmon Burgers & sweet potato fries
Sun 1/10 - ham & Potatoes
Mon 1/11 - ham casserole & salad
Tues 1/12 - sausage corn chowder
Wed 1/13 - terriyaki chicken & rice (crockpot)
Thurs 1/14 - leftovers
Fri 1/15 - taco pizza & movie night
Sat 1/16 - turkey pot pie
Sun 1/17 - taco Quiche
Mon 1/18 - homemade fish sticks, coleslaw & fries
Tues 1/19 - baked chicken, pete's potatoes & salad
Wed 1/20 - lemon pepper chicken & rice (crockpot)
Thurs 1/21 - leftovers
Fri 1/22 - pepperoni pizza & movie night
Sat 1/23 - chicken soup & bread
Sun 1/24 - spaghetti, garlic bread & salad
Mon 1/25 - makeover nacho bake
Tues 1/26 - ham hocks & beans w/ bread
Wed 1/27 - roasted chicken, salad & green beans
Thurs 1/28 - leftovers
Fri 1/29 - salmon burgers & sweet potato fries

John gets paid on the 29th so I'm not planning beyond that. I have also changed our leftover night to be on the same night as our Thursday night church which should help too. There has already been some variation with our menu but the purpose is to use up the meat in the freezer so if I'm sticking with that than it's ok. Will you join me or plan for next month?

Repurposing

Yesterday I was going through my pantry a little and pulling all the old bread bags, you know the ones with all the heals or the hamburger bags with only one bun in it. Around here when we only have one or two of something left we can't really use it because everyone wants it so we end up with all these things in our pantry that only have one or two left in them and they get forgotten. So when I was pulling these out I threw them in the garbage and when I was just about to close the door I realized that I could have made that into bread crumbs.

So they came out of the garbage, (they were still in their respective bags) and got out my food processor and quickly made up some bread crumbs. There have been a few recipes lately that I have needed bread crumbs and haven't been able to make them but now I can. Now I have a small bag in the freezer ready to go.


AND NOW
A small photography lesson for you for those of you who want to know a little more:

This picture I did not use a flash (which is how I prefer to shoot) and the food processor is actually running, do you notice that the crumbs are a little bit of a blur? They are moving and the amount of light that is needed to expose the picture correctly kept the shutter open a little longer than normal so it made the crumbs blurry as they were moving around.

Here I used a flash and the shutter didn't have to be open but a split second so it looks like the crumbs are standing still. I tell you this because sometimes we do want a little movement in the picture and this is how to achieve it.


My early morning helper


She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family.... Proverbs 31:15

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

While trying to be wiser with our money I have made a menu for the entire month of January already. We have all the meat in the freezer from different sales and I just built my menu around that. I haven't done all the grocery shopping to go with it but I'll do that weekly which should make for minimal grocery shopping. So yesterday was Meatballs w/ rice, Salad & Green Beans. I am extra cautious around my children with meat. I have never let them touch, come near, see, smell, even think raw meat but yesterday I finally decided that I guess I have made such a big deal of this that I could let them help me in the kitchen. So Emma cooked up 2 lbs of taco meat and Riah helped me form 75 meatballs. I couldn't believe that I actually let Riah form the meatballs but she actually did a very good job (I wish I had a picture). She was so cute, she kept looking up at me with her cute eyes and saying "Mommy, I'm gonna be a mommy just like you", made my heart melt. After all that work and we didn't even end up using them last night. I just had an idea, the movie Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs comes out today, maybe we'll rent that and eat our meatballs tonight.

But I have to tell you about the outfit Riah came out in yesterday. Riah is my dress up, always wanting to where dresses, fashion diva. She always has to have something in her hair, always asking if she looks cute, and wants to where a summer dress when it's 20 degrees outside. So last night she comes out with her easter dress from last year which is pink with white polka dots, black tights, white summer shoes and a purple poncho with hearts, diamonds and stripes on it, and the thing is a size 2T (she wears a 7). Wow, it was snazzy, another time I wish I would have gotten the camera out (I have this fancy camera, I need to use it!!!!). I told her she looked like Minnie Mouse and she didn't seem too bothered by that.

Yesterday's post was about debt and letting debt just build over time. I think I made it sound like we are in debt over our ears. If we didn't have large tax refunds that might be the case but because of all the tax breaks we receive it should take care of most of our debt besides our house and car. There will be some debt left over but we will plug away at that for a few months and hopefully by next Christmas it should be paid off. This has just been more then we have carried for awhile. What I would really like from the whole Money Makeover would be the amount in savings built up. When our washer broke a few months ago, it would have been really nice to be able to just buy it with our savings account. But somehow over the course of each month the cost of things add up and they are not usually frivilous things which makes it hard to put anything into savings. We'll see if we can do it this month.

Money Issues

I've been reading Kelly's blog about their money makeover. They are doing the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University. I'm not sure if they are doing it online, through a book, watching his TV shows or attending a class but it's inspired me to want to pay attention to our bottom line a little better (well OK I need "a lot better" but we'll start here). Their situation sounds very similar to ours and our spending habits seem similar as well. I have always been one to watch sales, try to find a deal, not go over board on what we 'need' in our home but it's also been a place of weakness in me. At one point we actually had all of our debt paid off (except the house) but little things have crept in here and there and now all of a sudden we are looking at debt some how we need to get rid of. It seems so overwhelming to just say "start chipping away at it" but I know that's the only way to do it. I guess I'll let you know what we come up with and maybe post our progress here. And maybe I'll actually become transparent in our amounts, blessings, and failures.

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
2 Corinthians 12:9

Now just a cute picture from the other evening just for your viewing pleasure.