Saving Money Ideas

Menu Plan Monday: 12/28-1/3

{ December 27, 2009 @ 10:49 pm } · { Food, Organization, Recipes }
{ Tags: menu plan Monday, menu planning } · { Leave a Comment }

Tuesday: family dinner, I am taking a cookie tray

Wednesday: Slow Cooker Beef Bourguignon (never got to this last week)

Thursday: vegetable lo mein (never got to this last week)

Friday: cheese and corn chowder (More with Less, page 202) never got to this last week and biscuits (from freezer)

Saturday: fish and leftovers, steamed veggies

Sunday: pita bread pizza (unless I am adventurous and try this new pizza dough recipe), carrot sticks

Monday: popcorn chicken, steamed veggies, perhaps homemade french fries

Menu Plan Monday

{ December 21, 2009 @ 5:40 pm } · { Food, Organization, Recipes }
{ Tags: meals, menu plan Monday, menu planning } · { Comments (1) }

Tuesday: slow cooker beef bourguignon

Wednesday: hamloaf and steamed veggies

Thursday: vegetable lo mein

Friday: taking baked corn and cookies to my parent’s Christmas dinner

Saturday: Christmas brunch at in-laws, not sure what I’m taking, sandwiches and/or leftovers for our meals at home

Sunday: cheese and corn chowder (More with Less, page 202) never got to this last week and biscuits (from freezer)

Monday: fish and leftovers

Free Shipping Day – December 17

{ December 15, 2009 @ 11:05 am } · { Free, Shopping }
{ Tags: free shipping, Free Shipping Day } · { Leave a Comment }

Free Shipping Day is this Thursday, December 17. Over 600 retailers will be offering free shipping and guaranteed delivery before Christmas. Be sure to read the fine print, apparently some retailers will still charge a “handling” fee…For more information, go to FreeShippingDay.com.

Coming Back Slowing and Menu Plan Monday

{ December 13, 2009 @ 8:40 pm } · { Food, Organization, Recipes }
{ Tags: menu plan Monday, menu planning } · { Leave a Comment }

It has been a long time since I have blogged. Life has just been super busy and it was too stressful for me to try to maintain this blog, so I took a break. At this point, I don’t know how often I will blog, but I will try to do Menu Plan Mondays, and more, if/when I can.

I would like to share that our family received a referral for a little boy in the Philippines. I cannot post information about him online, but we hope to travel to pick him up late winter or early spring 2010.

My menu plan for this week:

Tuesday: New Potatoes with Peas and Ham (More with Less, page 140)
Wednesday: Spaghetti and Meatballs, and salad or steamed vegetables
Thursday: Vegetable Chowder (More with Less, page 200) and whole wheat biscuits
Friday: Chicken Pineapple Skillet (More with Less, page 182) with rice
Saturday: leftovers
Sunday: dessert (for family Christmas dinner) and sandwiches for supper
Monday: Cheese and Corn Chowder (More with Less, page 202) with salad or steamed vegetables and whole wheat biscuits

100 Bible Stories, 100 Bible Songs – Book Review

{ October 7, 2009 @ 8:50 am } · { Book Review, Books, Children }
{ Tags: Bible story book, book review, children's book, Thomas Nelson Publishers } · { Leave a Comment }

100 Bible Stories, 100 Bible Songs is a children’s Bible story book, that includes two CDs, each with 50 songs for children. The book is divided into two sections, the Old Testament and the New Testament. Each story is approximately one page long, beginning with a Bible verse. Following each story, there are some short comments, summarizing what God did in the story and how the reader can obey God. Cute color pictures help to illustrate each story.

The two CDs are filled with short Biblical songs that are easy for children to sing along to.

This is the first children’s book I have reviewed. I used this as a devotional book for my 4 year old son. The stories are short and he had no problem being attentive. I really liked the summary statements after each story. It seems beneficial to bring it all together, to help children understand what they just heard.

The book is hard cover and is good quality. The illustration was well done, colorful and catching the attention of children. The stories were simplified versions of Bible stories. The stories stayed in line with what is in the Bible, just making it easier for children to understand. I recommend this book to parents with young children, probably around age five and under.

Offworld by Robin Parrish – Book Review

{ September 12, 2009 @ 1:36 pm } · { Book Review, Books }
{ Tags: book review, Offworld, Robin Parrish } · { Leave a Comment }

Offworld, written by Robin Parrish, is an intriguing story released this summer. This is Parrish’s fourth book, but first stand alone novel, and yes, it can stand alone. Although I would be interested in knowing what happens to the main characters after this book ends…

I chose to begin reading this novel blindly, not reading any reviews or even the back cover. I wanted to be surprised as I read the story, trying to figure out what I thought would happen, instead of waiting for what I knew would occur, had I read more about the plot. For this reason, I will not go into much detail about the storyline, in case you choose to do the same.

Four astronauts are on their way back to earth after a significant mission on Mars. The story is about their trip back, as well as the arrival back on earth, a land greatly altered since they had left years before.

The characters are interesting and relatable, and the reader gets to know all of the main characters fairly well, which I found helpful and unique. Many books typically concentrate on a main character and do not allow you to get to know the other characters as well.

This book is one of my favorites for this year. It was well written, easy to visualize, exciting, and a fast read. Whether you are looking for a book to read or not, pick up a copy of Offworld, published by Bethany House Publishers, you will be happy you did.

Undecided

{ August 24, 2009 @ 10:58 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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My apologies for not posting any new posts last week. This summer has been busy and it’s probably pretty obvious that I have not been taking the time to post regularly for most of the summer. For now, I will post when I feel there is something I really want to share. I am contemplating ending my posts on this blog and possibly starting a new blog that would encompass more of what I am interested in now – eating well, recipes, local food, books, reading, etc. Saving money is still very important to me, but my thoughts have shifted quite a bit from when I first began this blog and not sure the title is completely accurate right now.

So for now, please bear with me as I decide what I want to do, as well as the not so regular posts. Thanks!

Tuesday’s Tip Jar – Laundry Tip

{ August 11, 2009 @ 7:23 pm } · { Clothes, cleaning }
{ Tags: laundry, laundry tip, Tuesday's tip jar } · { Comments (2) }

I am new to the clothesline side of drying laundry. (we recently installed retractable clothesline) So perhaps this is obvious and/or something that everyone does, but I would like to suggest that when you hang up clothes, hang pairs of things together, such as socks. When I take the socks off the line, I fold them and drop them into the basket.
I had thought of also folding items as I remove them from the line, but haven’t gotten that far yet. I’ll need to be more organized when hanging the items up in order for this to work well.

Do you have other clothesline tips?