Archive for March, 2009
Tuesday’s Tip Jar – Lego Building Instructions
Legos are my son’s favorite toy. He spends several hours each day building things and playing with his new creations. If you are familiar with legos, you know that when you buy a box of legos, they come with building instructions, to help you make specific lego items, such as buildings, people, vehicles, etc.
When our son started getting into legos, we just kept the instructions with the legos. Most of these instruction booklets ended up getting torn apart and lost, or in such bad shape, we had to throw the instructions away. But without the instructions, there were items we could no longer build. I spent some time searching the internet to see if I could find instructions and discovered you can download building instructions from lego.com.
We actually haven’t printed any out, but I will search for certain ones and then keep them on the computer screen as we build. So if you have lost lego building instructions, or are looking for new building ideas, check out lego.com.
For more tips or to participate in Tuesday’s Tip Jar, go to BlogMommas.com.
Menu Plan Monday
I just finished making my menu plan for this week. For some reason, I was not able to find a specific recipe for Thursday. We will have chicken, but none of the recipes I came across this evening appealed to me. So if you have any easy, simple, healthy chicken recipes that you want to share, that would be great!
Tuesday: cream of broccoli soup with leftover biscuits
Wednesday: tacos and steamed veggies or salad
Thursday: chicken and steamed veggies or salad
Friday: perfect pizza crust (Taste of Home Magazine April/May 2009, page 58) and salad
Saturday: spaghetti and meatballs and salad
Sunday: leftovers
Monday: hamloaf and steamed veggies (never got to this last week)
You can participate in Menu Plan Monday also! Head over to OrgJunkie.com.
Deals This Week: 3/29-4/4
Here are some links to highlighted specials and coupon match-ups. I hope this will help you save some money this week.
CVS at The Coupon Game
Rite-Aid at Sisterly Savings
Walgreens at Mommy Snacks
Wal-Mart at STL Mommy
Giant (PA) at Moms Need to Know
Target at Attention Target Shoppers
Link Love – Home and Money
Sorry for not posting yesterday, time got away from me. I’ll save my food links for next Friday. Hopefully I can set that post up before hand, so it won’t matter if I have time on Friday or not, it can go on automatically. I really should do more of that.
Here are some interesting and helpful links I found over the last week. Enjoy!
Free
Bread Breakthrough Recipe Book at Freebies 4 Mom
11 Free Songs from SXSW at Mommy’s Wish List (thanks to Freebies 4 Mom for linking to this post)
Free Software for your Home Computer at Frugal Dad
5 Free Sun Maid Recipe Books at Sisterly Savings
College
Fund College without a College Savings Fund at Frugal Dad
Money
Free Online Finance Courses at Gen X Finance (thanks to Frugal Dad for posting about this)
Frugality Goes Beyond Frugal Tips at Almost Frugal
Teaching a Three Year Old How to Save at The Simple Dollar
How I Use Credit Cards and Why at The Simple Dollar
Choosing Not to Participate in the Recession at iMommies
Job
14 Tactics for Getting Ahead at Work No Matter What Your Job Is at The Simple Dollar
Income Diversity at Gather Little by Little
The Hidden Costs of Your Job at The Simple Dollar
Miscellaneous
Do You Know How Much Your Printer Costs to Use at Northern Cheapskate (thanks to Freebies 4 Mom for the link)
Great American Bake Sale at Stolen Moments Cooking
A Step by Step Guide to Making Big Goals Achievable at The Simple Dollar
Children
20 Tips for Finding Your Routine with Kids at Simple Mom
Quiet Time Bins at Keeper of the Home
Book Giveaway Links
Today I found several websites with links to book giveaways. I love signing up for giveaways, it’s so great to win books! I recently won God in the White House from Literate Housewife. Thanks so much!
If you enjoy winning books, here are some of the links I discovered today:
Proud Bookworm (Check out the giveaway list is on the left hand side of the site.)
Stone Soup has giveaways almost every week. I signed up this week, I’d like to win The Shack. I actually won it last year, read it, and thought it was very good. My husband was over halfway through this book when our dog chewed it up. So I would like to get another copy so my husband can finish it and then be able to lend out to friends.
Do you know of websites that regularly have book giveaways? If so, please share! Thanks!
Booking Through Thursday – Best Bad Book
The opposite of last week’s question: “What’s the best ‘worst’ book you’ve ever read — the one you like despite some negative reviews or features?”
I read this question this morning and since then have tried to figure out what my “Best Bad Book” is… It seems to me that every book has people who love it and people who hate it. So here are a few books that I enjoyed, that I know some people thoroughly hated:
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (I have read quite a few of her books and like all of them, although in varying degrees.)
I love all of Jane Austen’s books. Again, it seems like people either love or hate her works.
Even Now by Karen Kingsbury (This was my first book by this author and I thought it was good. Definitely not a favorite book that I will re-read, but it was a decent story. Before I read this book, it was my understanding that this author wrote “cheesy Christian books”, but I don’t think that is the case.)
Check out more responses to this question at Booking Through Thursday.
Works for Me Wednesday – Macaroni and Cheese
Macaroni and cheese is one of my favorite meals. It’s easy to make, uses only a few ingredients, tastes great when reheated and freezes well. My mom gave me this recipe:
Macaroni and Cheese
1 cup noodles (I normally use elbow noodles, and actually use a whole box, 16 oz)
1 cup milk
1/2 lb extra sharp cheddar, grated or cut into small chunks
2 tablespoons flour
Cook noodles in boiling water 7-9 minutes. Drain. Stir in flour. Add milk. Stir in cheese. Cook over medium until cheese melts and the sauce becomes thick. Watch closely. (When I use extra noodles, I usually add some extra milk, flour, and cheese. Sometimes I only have sharp cheddar on hand, and that works fine. Other types of cheeses work well also, it depends on what taste you want.)
I normally also make stewed tomatoes to go on top of the macaroni and cheese.
Stewed Tomatoes
Cut up one large tomato, put in blender. Add 1 tablespoon cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Cook until thickened. (If you use more tomatoes, add more cornstarch and sugar. Use less sugar if you don’t want the stewed tomatoes to be sweet or vice versa.)
Check out more Works for Me Wednesday tips at We Are THAT Family.
Tuesday’s Tip Jar – Mugs for Storage
A few years ago cleaned I had a major drawer cleaning in my bathroom where I keep my makeup, toiletries, etc. I needed some small containers to hold some of my smaller items. I decided to take some of the mugs out of our kitchen that we never use and put them to work in my bathroom. So I have two mugs in my bathroom drawer holding items like eye liner, mascara, lip gloss, and other items that fit well in the mug. My drawer is now tidy, and I don’t have lots of items flying around when I open and close it.
If you have extra mugs or cups that you don’t use for drinking, look around your house to see if you can use them organize. They also make good pencil holders.
Check out more tips at Blog Mommas.
Deals This Week: 3/22-3/28
Here are some links to specials and deals this week. Happy shopping!
Target at Attention Target Shoppers Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5
CVS at I Heart CVS
K-Mart at The Centsible Sawyer
Rite-Aid at Sisterly Savings
Walgreens at Being Frugal is Fabulous
Wal-Mart at The Centsible Sawyer
Menu Plan Monday
My menu plan for this week is:
Tuesday: oriental chicken over rice and salad
Wednesday: We have a dinner meeting, I will be making biscuits to contribute to this meal.
Thursday: hamburgers, steamed veggies, maybe homemade french fries
Friday: hamloaf, steamed veggies, salad
Saturday: tacos and salad
Sunday: hotdogs (for my son and husband), leftovers for me
Monday: My parents invited us for dinner because some friends from out of the area are visiting – I will probably make a side dish or dessert for this meal.
