One mama's adventure in "The Compact"

MyFitnessPal

2011-07-05T15:38:00.000-07:00

Are any of you on MyFitnessPal? I just joined last week and have lost a bit by tracking my calories and exercising almost every day. If you'd like to "friend" me, my UN is Smidgeroo-ski (no dash).

What kind of success have you had while tracking calories online?

Happy Birthday

2011-07-01T14:31:00.000-07:00

We don't have any set plans for the long weekend, but I'm hoping we can make a bat house to keep our incredible mosquito population down and a chicken tractor. The chickens have eaten all of the greenery in their coop. We can't allow them to free-range when we're not home since between our cats and the neighbor dog, we only have 6 chickens left (we started with 10) :(

What do you have planned for this long weekend?

My most favorite find this Saturday

2011-06-15T15:24:00.000-07:00

Well, if I'm totally honest, the Liberty Lake community garage sale was a bust. I had the intentions of buying 1 year's worth of clothes for both of my kiddos. I walked away with 2 pairs of sweats and a hat, yikes!

However, it was not a TOTAL bust. I spotted this granite table and 2 solid oak chairs while all of us (8 family members) were getting a little cranky. They wanted $100, but my wonderful mother-in-law bought it for me, as an early birthday present, for $80. It's super heavy and really pulls our kitchen together. I can't tell you how much I love it!! It's bigger than our kitchen nook, that I really didn't like in the first place, but it fit the bill (free and small). We just need 1 more wood chair...currently I'm sitting on the Costco special aka camping folding chair ;) It appears these table retail for $500+

Did you find anything note-worthy while thrifting or g-saleing recently?

Made in the USA...at the Dollar Tree....whaaaaat?

2011-06-10T13:50:00.000-07:00

You might be as shocked as I am, but it's true! I love to buy their twisty crayons (aka unbreakable for Mr. J), but they're not Made in the USA. However, all of these items are!

The clear bins are for holding my dry goods (BPA-Free) like beans, rice, etc. I had an odd assortment of tupperware that was bugging me (didn't match). I would much prefer glass, but we can't afford to spend $10/each on glass containers.

The Quick Erasers are a copy of the Magic Erasers and they are amazing! I clean out the sink at the end of the day in under 20 seconds and it's beautiful and shiny. Then, I just rinse it and re-use it :)

On to the sponges; they're thinner than others, but I don't use them very much since we have a dishwasher :)

Do you buy things at a dollar store? If so, have you noticed things that are made in the USA?

Have a blessed weekend!

The garage sale I've been waiting for...

2011-06-07T19:33:00.000-07:00

...is this Saturday! We're headed to Liberty Lake for their HUGE community garage sales. The plan was just for me to go and The Hubbs would stay home with the kids. However, now my entire family wants to go and The Hubbs is still on the fence. Either way, we'll be sure to score on LOTS of stuff we NEED. I'm hoping to stay away from stuff in the WANT category :)

Here is the link to last year's booty

This is a great article on preparing for a day of garage sales from Apron Thrift Girl. However, I will be packing much more protein-heavy snacks :)

On this year's list is:
Tank tops for the kids and I
Rash guards for the kids
Fall/winter clothes for the kids
Butter dish *have proven SO hard to find*
Socks for the kids
I can't think of the other stuff on my mental list :)

Summer travel budgeting

2011-06-02T07:16:00.000-07:00

Who loves a spreadsheet? This one is great for budgeting for summer travel. Enjoy!

ListPlanIt

Where are you going this summer?
What frugal travel tips can you share?

We're headed to the Washington cost and can't wait!

Thrifting Thursday

2011-05-26T07:44:00.000-07:00

Does anybody else have the camping bug? I do! I do! So, The Hubbs and I have been racking our brains to make a little list of things that would round out our stash of gear.

Here is what I bought today...

Black/Orange mummy-style sleeping bag (for Mr. J) $2.89 & a Ready Bed (retails for $113 *choke*) paid $5.99 (for Miss A)

Chalk $.99, Net mitts $.99, Ping pong paddles $1.99, 7 plates $.79/each

Not really a camping thing, but we LOVE this game and it appears to be brand new, $1.99 (we'll be giving this as a gift)

Another non-camping item, but I was SOOOO excited to find this shirt for The Hubbs, $1.89!

Do you like camping?

If so, do you tent, trailer, or something else?

What's your favorite convenience item while camping?

AWESOME Heartsy deal today

2011-05-25T08:27:00.000-07:00

Do you deal with wet swimsuits, dirty cloth diapers or other wet stuff? Go get this awesome deal on Heartsy for which gets you a $30 credit for $14 :)

Go, go, gangbusters GARDEN!

2011-05-23T12:20:00.000-07:00

21 tomato plants (all heirloom) from local sellers, a 1/2 flat of sunflower starts (free, woot!), and 2 banana peppers. All in all, I spent $49 :)

12 onion starts + sungolds + yellow pears + heirlooms

11 more tomato plants

I'm hoping that in 3 months I'll be taking pictures like these :)

What are you planting this year?

The chicken coop is finished

2011-05-21T14:20:00.000-07:00

And it has been for 2 weeks, errr. The grand total was $26 which was the green chicken wire!

Scratchin' around my garden

After LOTS of zip ties ;)

Scratching around the un-turned garden bed

Gluten Free Strawberry Cupcakes recipe inside

2011-05-12T10:48:00.000-07:00

Picture courtesy of

My recipe is inspired by this cookbook.

Gluten Free Strawberry Cupcakes

Makes 24 cupcakes

1 cup brown rice flour

½ cup tapioca flour

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

3/4 teaspoon salt

1.5 teaspoons baking soda

12 large eggs

1 1/3 cups honey

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1.5 cups finely chopped fresh organic strawberries (plus more for topping the frosting)

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flours, xanthan gum, salt, and baking soda.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, honey, and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients, all at once, to the dry ingredients and whisk together. You can do this by hand or with a handheld mixture. Whisk until all ingredients are well combined.

Fold in the strawberries.

Scoop batter into lined cupcake pan. Fill papers to two-thirds full.

*These can be breakfast muffins too, if you leave off the frosting

All my Fred Meyer Mamas...this is for you!

2011-05-08T13:48:00.000-07:00

As you may know, today started Fred Meyer's Founder's Days Sale. I follow a local blogger, Frugal Chic Living who is a great coupon'er.

Here is her breakdown of the sale and here is the breakdown of the 7th Gen sale.

Tired of being different

2011-05-07T15:31:00.000-07:00

This post from Natural as Possible Mom hit a chord with me :)

Does anyone else feel this way?

Today's chores

2011-04-28T10:05:00.000-07:00

It's 9:59am as I type and the kids are at my mom's for the day and I'm determined to get the house finished up before the weekend is here.

Did you know that you can use dry-erase markers on your fridge? It's awesome! The circles represent how many times I have to do something and the HS packs are these. I just found that site and TOTALLY love it!

What chores are you doing today?

More chicken coop progress + we got our chicks!

2011-04-26T12:55:00.000-07:00

Free roofing = it's doesn't always match

Yup, another 3 kinds of roofing on this side ;)

Seriously love being married to this guy...he has nearly every tool we need :)

3 Araucana + 3 Wyandotte + 4 Barred (Plymouth) Rocks

Why I shop at 2 stores for nearly EVERYTHING

2011-04-25T13:19:00.000-07:00

This sounds bizarre, right? However, it's finally dawned on me that I can "make money back" money by shopping at Fred Meyer and Costco. I shop at Freddy's every week and receive a 1% cash back check every quarter. Plus, I shop at Costco 2-3x a month and we have the executive membership where we get 2% back every year, which should almost cover the cost of the $100 membership. You probably already know what I buy at Costco every month from this post where I listed prices in our local area.

For those of you who are familiar with Fred Meyer you know that they have nearly everything. On top of groceries, they have a great natural foods section, clothing, shoes, toys, games, garden, household, kitchen, bedroom, crafts...and the list goes on. So, if I'm going to spend the money on shoes for Miss A, why not make 1% back? I will say that Freddy's has a nice shoe selection and often has great clearance and good coupons too.

So, back to Costco; we spend about $200 month there, so $2400/year. 2% of that is $48, but I'm going to start buying things there that I've usually bought at Shopko/Target/etc. Things like light bulbs, greeting cards, workbooks for the kids...you get the idea. I estimate that our 2% reward will end up being about $75/yearly.

Yes, I still try to buy as much as I can used...especially clothing for all of us, but sadly there are a lot of items we need that are non-grocery items.

As for gift buying, I have found Heartsy, which is like Groupon for Etsy, but safer because you can use Paypal. They have a handful of stores they feature every day and you can purchase "gift cards" for usually 60% off. I have purchased 4 items so far, which are all gifts and I'm planning to purchase as many gifts as possible from here :)

Do you shop at stores that give you cash back?

Are you an Etsy shopper?

Good Friday

2011-04-22T11:49:00.000-07:00

Courtney at Women Living Well has a great Good Friday post

God Bless you all today!

A giveaway over at Homestead Revival...

2011-04-20T12:17:00.000-07:00

Go now to enter to win a wonderful set of books

How are we supposed to celebrate Easter?

2011-04-19T13:54:00.000-07:00

This question has been rattling around in my brain for the last month. How would Jesus want me to celebrate his death and resurrection? Easter eggs, candy, new clothes, a bunny. Is that what he had in mind? I highly doubt it. Living in the country and time that we do, it is hard to celebrate a holiday without big business getting their profit too.

So far, I'm planning to make a sweet baked good in the morning with a side of bacon, giving the kids each a chocolate cross for their Easter gift and then having an Easter egg hunt. Sometime this week we'll be dying our eggs for the hunt and then on Sunday evening we'll be having our Easter ham dinner with all the fixins.

How do you celebrate Easter?

Gluten free pound cake recipe

2011-04-13T12:44:00.000-07:00

I have to admit something to the interwebs. I have become addicted to the show Cake Boss and have watched all 45 episodes on Netflix. It's a little over the top on the drama side, however, the cakes they create are seriously outstanding. I have become interested in making cakes from scratch in the last 6 months and received lots of cake making supplies for Christmas. On Cake Boss they use pound cake almost always because it's dense and can withstand the man-handling of frosting/decorating.

I tried a gluten-free pound cake recipe last week and it was not very good. Then I decided to make a gluten-free version from an original recipe.

GF Pound Cake

2 1/2 cups gluten-free flour (I generally use a mix of almond and brown rice)
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter - softened
3 cups white sugar (I used a mix organic sugar and honey)
6 eggs
1 teaspoon lemon extract (optional, in my opinion)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk (can use cream, or whole milk in a pinch)

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease one 9 or 10 inch tube pan (or two 9" cake pans). Mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat butter with sugar. Mix in the eggs, one at time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the lemon and the vanilla extracts. Gently mix in flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
Bake in preheated oven for 90 minutes (or 25 minutes of cake pans). When cake begins to pull away from the side of the pan it is done. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
Frost it with your favorite buttercream frosting, fill it with jam between the layers, top it with fresh berries...the possibilities are endless!

What are your favorite books to read...

2011-04-10T09:17:00.000-07:00

...to your kids? Or what are their favorite books? We've been depleting the children's section at our local library and currently have 30+ books on our "library book table". I'm looking for your families favorites for ages 2-4 :)

Here is a list of our current favorites:
Bread and jam for Frances
Tikki Tikki Tembo
Duck! Rabbit!
Go Dog. Go!
Hilda must be dancing
Corduroy (any in this series)
Stone soup
Bats at the library
Flotsam
Bob & Otto

The truth about our modern processed foods

2011-04-07T14:29:00.000-07:00

Awesome video about a mother's journey through feeding her family and looking deeper into our food system

Hartke is Online

Chicken coop remodeling lots of pictures

2011-03-31T08:49:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday they passed a new chicken ordinance so we are all legal to get our 13 chicks next month, woot! I've been hacking away for the last week at the large bushes around our old shed. The Hubbs estimates it's about 50 years old. We have never used it for anything other than hose and toy storage.


All the wonderful moss :(

Front door

Even more moss on this side + you can see their chicken door (triangle)

The old hutch...we think a previous owner had rabbits or something

The 1 window

Demo time! The Hubbs tore all of the roofing off of this side!

My job was complete :)

Kinda cool

The Hubbs + power tools = job well done

New plywood and tar paper which was free b/c it was leftover from building J's room

We found this white rope while we were working. When you pull it, it opens the small door to let the chickens out...convenient!

What's next?

New roofing on the whole thing

Power wash it inside and out

New paint on the outside

Put up the fencing (a wonderful man gave us 80' of chain-link for free)

Start buying feed, etc

I'm looking for suggestions on an exterior paint color...

Linked up at Far Above Rubies

How much could a cookie have changed?

2011-03-15T19:56:00.000-07:00

While I ran some errands this afternoon and The Hubbs watched the kiddos, he made some cookies for the family. These are cookies that have been sitting for 3 months on the shelf waiting to be made. They are SO sweet that I didn't want to eat them all, so that's why I hadn't made them. Yet, about once every other week The Hubbs would ask me to.

He saved me 1 because he knows my problem with sweets...I will eat them all. I was thankful to have 1 cookie to eat after dinner, a nice treat. I bit into one and it seemed off-tasting. I couldn't peg it, and I certainly didn't want say anything to him. I then walked by it again and took another bite and The Hubbs comes up next to me and says "They are really sweet, huh?". That is what the off-taste was. It was so over the top sweet compared to what we have been eating. I jumped for joy inside! We were finally rounding a corner I so desperatly wanted for all of us. We have cut nearly all desserts and treats from our diet. We're certainly eating more fruit and it shows. I still make sweet things, but they're good for us, not just sugar and flour.

I'm so happy that our Primal 1-week challenge has had lasting effects :)

Need some fellow list making/spreadsheet mamas and papas help

2011-03-12T14:53:00.000-08:00

We are 99% sure we are going to get 13 chickens soon. Our city is finally passing an ordinance that will allow us to have 1 hen per 2,000 sqft. We have a shed out back that will work perfect, we just need to add some nesting boxes, put up fencing, etc. We're not sure if we're going to get chicks or full-grown hens. Chicks are hard work and we would have to keep a heat lamp on at all times until they get full grown (3mo). However, buying full grown hens is hard too since we don't know if they will have a nice temperament or what they've been fed.

I need some help figuring out costs for feed, scratch, etc. We're going to feed them organic (soy-free) feed and we plan to get that locally. How much does 1 hen eat a day? Can I feed them just once a day? I've got 2 books on hold at the library and can't wait to read them :)

Free shorts for summer...how I did it in 1 minute

2011-03-09T09:44:00.000-08:00

You've likely seen all of the spring and summer clothes at the stores lately. You've probably also noticed the price tag at say, Target, where they average $9.99. If you like better brands, say Gymboree, than you'll pay $22.95 on average. These prices don't take into account sales or coupons, but it gives you an idea. If you're like me and like to have around 8 pairs of shorts for each child, than that runs you $80 - $184 for just 1 child.

If you're like me and prefer to shop used, than you can save some considerable cash. You'll probably pay a max of $2.99 each pair, costing you $24 for 8 pairs. Much more reasonable.

However, a few months ago it dawned on me that I could save even more money by re-using Baby J's knit sweats for summer shorts. This morning I was going through all of his clothes; the stuff he's wearing currently (and making a pile to donate) and the big box of stuff I bought last summer at garage sales. I came across 6 pairs of sweats that currently fit J around the waist, but weren't the correct length. This is where that 1 minute of time = free shorts. The pictures speak for themselves :)

Before

After

I'm going to do the same thing with Miss A's cotton leggings when it gets closer to spring, since she still fits into them. These homemade shorts may not be okay for anywhere except the backyard, but I don't mind. If you're looking to do this for your kids but don't have any leftover sweats/legging, than now is your time to shop. The thrift stores will be full of fall/winter clothes once the weather in your area shapes up and people start buying spring/summer clothes. If you prefer to buy new pants, the stores are clearancing their fall/winter clothes and you can score. The thing to remember about buying pants to make into shorts is that they only need to fit around your child's waist.

What are your favorite brand(s) of shorts for kids? How will you save money on this summer's wardrobe?

Linked up over at Raising Homemakers

Fred Meyer extra coupon = CHEAP shoes

2011-03-07T13:40:00.000-08:00

I really love this time of year for buying next year's clothes and shoes. I headed to Freddy's this morning to do a little grocery shopping and remembered they had a surprise scratch coupon at the customer service desk this week. The coupon can have 20, 25, or 30% off regular and sale prices (not clearance) and I got a 20% off one. I headed straight for the kids' shoes department and scored 3 pairs of shoes for Mr. J. 1 pair of New Balance's, and 2 pairs of Osh Kosh's size 8 for now and size 10 for next fall (and yes, that link to Sears shows them for $9.99, super deal, which means I'll probably stop by there this week). The total for all 3 pair was $36, so $12/pair. I truly love NBs and OK shoes as they are made well, have nice flexible soles and have a nice wide footbed :)

I didn't find anything for Miss A in her size for that good of a deal, but we may find something at Sears.

What are your favorite children's shoe brands? Where do you find the best deals on kids' new shoes?

Homeschooling is on the rise

2011-03-05T14:29:00.000-08:00

From The Old Schoolhouse Magazine

Gray, TN, March 4, 2011, The Old Schoolhouse^®Magazine, LLC -

Boasting an increase of 74% since 1999 and now in its fourth decade, the modern homeschooling movement is gaining followers at an astonishing rate. Homeschool, for the most part an unfamiliar term only thirty years ago when the movement began,has become a household word. U.S. educators from both public and private school arenas are very much aware of the movement and its impact, and today popular media frequently make mention of "homeschoolers," from characters in CBS's #1 show, NCIS, to homeschool grads who appear as contestants on shows such as Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Homeschooling has firmly established itself as a mainstream education alternative.

Homeschoolers are here to stay, because homeschooling works:

Homeschoolers (K-12) score an average 37 points above the national average on standardized achievement tests. (HSLDA, 2009)
"Homeschool students possess higher ACT scores, grade point averages (GPAs) and graduation rates when compared to traditionally-educated students." (Journal of College Admission, citing a 2010 survey of homeschoolers)
Homeschool grads are "more likely to vote, volunteer for political campaigns, participate in boycotts or write letters to the editor. . . . Seventy-one percent of homeschool graduates participate in an ongoing community service activity compared to 37% of U.S. adults of similar ages." (NHERI) Homeschoolers are definitely impacting the political scene, as evidenced not only by the recent election of Jaime Herrera, formerly a homeschooler, as a U.S. Representative (R-WA) but also by the enthusiastic participation of homeschooled students in grassroots organizations such as HSLDA's Generation Joshua.
Research conducted by multiple sources has found "the home educated to be developing as well or better socially, emotionally, and psychologically than institutionally schooled children and youth." Homeschool graduates are excelling in their occupations, contributions to their communities' welfare, and their own families.

The U.S. economy is benefiting too. For example, homeschooling families obviously are committed to equip their students to keep abreast of technological advancements, as statistics show that the use of computer technology in their families nearly tripled that of the average U.S. family, based on national norms. As homeschoolers graduate and enter the workforce, U.S. industries who hire these well-prepared, independent thinkers are thriving.

And there are even more winners-taxpayers benefit as well, because home educators receive no government funding, thus reducing the burden on taxpayers. "If there were 2 million homeschool students in the United States in 2009 and the direct per-pupil expenditure was $10,100, then the homeschool community saved American taxpayers $20.4 billion . . . ." (Dr. Brian Ray, NHERI)

More and more parents are realizing it's their responsibility to educate and mentor their children-it's not the government's job, and statistics gathered in numerous research studies have proven that parents are doing a better job.

Paul and Gena Suarez, publishers of The Old Schoolhouse^® Magazine, the nation's premier homeschooling publication, are confident that the momentum of the homeschooling movement will continue to accelerate: "Homeschooling has earned its reputation as 'education that works.' We all know that the best advertisement for anything is word-of-mouth promotion, person to person, family to family. Homeschooling families are eager to talk about their success-and parents are listening. In today's economy, the homeschooling option is also appealing to families who formerly enrolled their children in private schools but can no longer afford to do that, so they're jumping on the bandwagon too. Homeschooling is here to stay."

About The Old Schoolhouse^®Magazine: Celebrating their 10-year anniversary in 2011, The Old Schoolhouse^® Magazine is recognized as the premier magazine for homeschoolers. View a sample issue here.

How do you know it's Spring?

2011-03-05T07:51:00.000-08:00

I have a few ways to tell it's Spring around here. First, I can't ever get enough sleep when the seasons change. Secondly, the robin's are mating like gang-busters, even after dark. Is this weird to just me? Thirdly and the most obvious way to tell is the new buds on trees and plants. I'm really looking forward to Spring. The sunshine is what I missed most.

What do you love most about Spring?

I need your help, pretty please

2011-03-02T12:48:00.000-08:00

I'm finding myself in a veggie rut and I need your help. For dinner we usually have green beans (garlicky or buttery), peas, or carrots from last year's harvest (all are previously frozen). I don't really care for corn these days since it's considered a grain. On occasion I prepare Brussels sprouts which only I love. For lunch I usually cut up carrot sticks, but J (almost 2) has a hard time getting them small enough to swallow.

So, what are you and your kids' favorite veggies?

My top 5 tips for taking road trips with kids

2011-02-27T20:00:00.000-08:00

We just got home from visiting my brother and his girlfriend in Seattle and while I was driving back today I started to make a list in my head of the top 5 tips I've learned while taking long road trips.

1. Kids should be dressed in cotton pajamas. Why you ask? Because they're comfy, thin, and breathable. While traveling you'll likely run into several weather patterns. For instance we started out today in rain, then lots of snow, then sun. The kids had their blankets on or off depending on how warm they wanted to be. I don't care for fleece because it's not very breathable, it's staticky (sp?), and they usually have feet attached. I like to be able to throw on a pair of shoes easily.

2. Keep them eating. I made these and these (keep refrigerated if possible), bought beef jerky, had lots of bottled water and fruit. Now that I've learned my lesson about carbs, I realized that eating animal crackers or goldfish crackers makes me hungrier. This costs me more money when I have to keep buying more food + I have to buy bigger pants ;) If there is an open bag of goldfish while I'm driving, I'll eat the whole thing. However, today I had an open bag of jerky and only ate until I was full. Carbs, for me anyways, just don't fill me up and the same goes for my kids.

3. Take along some favorites and some new things. Bring your kids' favorite toys, books and stuffed animals and bring a few new things. This will keep them occupied longer.

4. Buy or borrow some portable DVD players. My FIL got us 2 for the kids as Christmas presents this year and this weekend was our first chance to use them. They are life savers and I hope we never have to take a long road trip without them. I don't personally agree with having projectiles in the car that can cause injury in the case of a crash, but these ones were velcroed on in two places, so the risk was less in my opinion. They have already been removed from the headrests and we'll only be using them on long trips.

5. Be prepared. Be prepared that if you're visiting family or friends that they won't have enough food to feed your troop. Be prepared when traveling in bad weather; carry chains if needed, extra blankets, a first aid kit and possible snow boots for yourself.

What are your top tips for road trips with kids?

Primal week is over...a wrap-up

2011-02-20T19:56:00.000-08:00

So, let me get this off my chest right now. I had a little honey and chocolate today, and a homemade donut hole from my mom. I made this recipe for The Hubbs because he was being crabby; he's been complaining about this since Monday, even though he agreed to it. I was planning to make it tomorrow, but I'm unpredictable like that, haha. He didn't like it, so I tasted it and really liked it. Like the recipe says, it's not a sugar candy cake. Within 15 minutes of eating it I felt like dog doo, my energy was zapped and I just felt blah. So, that's what 7 days with out will do!

Overall I'm thrilled with the results of this experiment and I may have changed my some people's minds about all the sugar we consume with out really knowing it. When we went to my parent's house today (where I ate aforementioned donut hole) my mom had gotten The Primal Blueprint from the library! We talked about the meals I made and how she could maybe modify what they're eating. I'm now making a much more concise meal plan to include only 1x a day where we eat flour and sugar (like a piece of toast for breakfast to go with our eggs, or a sandwich with lots of meat, etc). Protein is my golden key to staying level, no more roller coaster sugar spikes for me, thanks.

While The Hubbs really did complain a lot all week, I know it opened his eyes. His mom was just recently diagnosed as borderline Type 2 Diabetic. She is a wonderful woman and we all would hate to lose her. She has since lost 20lbs by curbing her carbs and eating healthy protein. The Hubbs has been quizzing her each time we see her about what she can and can't eat. He's soaking it up from her, which I'm happy about.

The cherry on top of this week is my weight loss, I lost 5lbs! I hope to continue this weight loss, especially as we're entering Spring and I can get out more. I want to thank all of you for following me along this week and for all of our comments and encouragement, it has meant a lot :)

What are you final thoughts about a Primal Diet? Are you interested in trying it? If you're a seasoned Primalist (I like to make up words) what words of advice can you share?

Recipe: Salty soaked raisins

2011-02-18T15:48:00.000-08:00

Salty soaked raisins

1 cup organic raisins
1/4 cup of organic salted butter

Melt the butter in a pan over medium-low heat. Add the raisins and stir occasionally, they'll turn amber in color. Once 90% of them have puffed up a little, you're ready to eat. BEWARE: The Hubbs and I may have been fighting over them, they're so good!

Linked to Far Above Rubies: Domestically Divine Homemaking Link-up

Linked to Fight Back Friday @

5 days in...

2011-02-18T12:53:00.000-08:00

We've been eating no flour and no sugar for 5 days and I'm really starting to get used to it. We're eating lots of veggies, fruit, cheese, yogurt and of course meat. My energy levels are up, and no afternoon lag has been present. I've also noticed my moodiness has all but dissapeared. If you know me in real life, than you know I'm an emotional roller coaster sometimes ;) I'm also in the middle of my PMDD "bad spell" and haven't cried or flipped out on anyone this week, woot! So, for me, this diet is kicking butt! I've also lost 3lbs this week with only minimal working out, like going for a walk with the kids. I plan to do my cardio (30 day shred) this afternoon after the kids wake up from nap.

As far as dessert, yesterday I purchased 3 bars of Lindt 85% dark chocolate for us to snack on after dinner, after Monday of course. I found a recipe for grain/gluten free chocolate cake too, which The Hubbs is in love with. I won't be going back to my old ways, so don't think we're going to binge on sugar come Monday.

I love me some Sally Fallon!

2011-02-17T09:47:00.000-08:00

http://blip.tv/file/4770667

She's not talking about primal, but it's certainly pretty close. She's also written quite a few books, my favorite being Nourishing Traditions, again not primal, but so informative.

I love the part where she talks about "Soda in drag" aka flavored milk, hehe!

Thoughts?

Primal carb graph

2011-02-16T20:00:00.000-08:00

One more post today that I couldn't leave out. I just found this on MDA's site...which I love more and more. As you can see, the graph above breaks down the amount of carbs, into weight loss or weight gain. It's no wonder I've never been able to get this weight off. I was easily consuming at least 300 grams per day when I was eating healthy. Whole grain bread, natural ketchup and organic jam are just a few of the foods that come to mind. I haven't eaten any of those foods for 3 days and my carbs for today are 139. I log what I eat over at MyPlate which is great for figuring out how much fat, carbs and protein I'm eating. I'm 16 points above the Weight Loss Sweet Spot, but I'm so happy to have found this graph. It's giving me something to strive for, something to visualize.

I'd love to know how many carbs you've eaten today and I'm going to log my food again tomorrow and see what the difference is :)

Primal menu for Feb 14th - 20th

2011-02-16T12:20:00.000-08:00

Monday
Bkfst - Banana pancakes w/ butter
Lunch - Cheese and apples
Dinner - Snowy volcanoes w/ green beans and salad
To do - Grocery shop: Costco

Tuesday
Bkfst - Eggs and sausage
Lunch - Bologna and apples
Dinner - Shepherd's Pie
To do - Cloth diapering playgroup

Wednesday
Bkfst - Fruit smoothies w/ apples and pb
Lunch - Bologna and bananas
Dinner - Leftovers
To do - Go to a jumpy place and take Frosty to the vet

Thursday
Bkfst - Eggs and sausage
Lunch - Ricotta cheese w/ pineapple
Dinner - Bun-less bacon cheeseburgers with french fries
To do - Veg out

Friday
Bkfst - Yogurt w/ homemade granola
Lunch - Bologna and bananas
Dinner - Chili with beef and sausage (no beans)
To do - Homeschooling playgroup at our house

Saturday

Bkfst - Smoothies w/ apples and pb
Lunch - Cheese and apples
Dinner - Chicken Parmesan w/ garlicky green beans
To do - Nothing on the docket...yet

Sunday
Bkfst - Banana pancakes and sausage
Lunch - Cheese, carrots and homemade ranch
Dinner - Leftovers

To do - Enjoy the Sabbath

Primal food blogs I like

2011-02-15T12:57:00.000-08:00

While researching a primal diet I've come upon a few blogs I really like

BLOGS:
Food for primal thought
Grain-Free Belle
Living Primal
Pretty in Primal
Primal Journey
Primal Kitchen: A Family Grokumentary
The Food Lovers' Primal Palate

It's now Tuesday afternoon, the kids are down for nap and lunch has be eaten. I'm not experiencing any flu-like symptoms and I think that's due to my preparation last week. Last night we didn't indulge in any candy or chocolate either :) I'm finding that as long as I eat meat at lunch, those pesky 2:30pm sugar cravings are all but gone. However, after I'm done blogging, I'll be having a few dried prunes, yum!

I hope these links are helpful to you if you're interested in learning more about a primal diet. Can you recommend any blogs or sites that you like?

Tomorrow I'll be posting our menu for this week :)

We're going flour and sugar free

2011-02-12T16:16:00.000-08:00

I'm anxious for Monday to get here. Wait, that sounds bad. I'm nervous and excited for Monday because our little family of 4 will be embarking on a no flour, no sugar diet for 7 days. Also known as a primal diet, it is free from flour and little to no sugar. We're a mix between a traditional foods diet and primal, currently.

I got turned on to going primal by a new friend, who has been doing TF for about 5 years. She said she still loves to bake and does so with gluten-free flours and raw honey and other healthy, nutritious ingredients.

Essentially, eating primal is like Atkins, only better for your health, the animals and the environment. The animals that we eat should be fed what God intended for them to eat. Cows don't eat grains, pigs don't eat poo, and chickens don't eat feed made from chickens. Sadly, this is what our conventional food system is like today. Try to find grass-fed beef, pastured pigs or free-range chickens in the store, it's virtually impossible. Unless, of course you visit a small health food store with a good butcher. We however, can't afford to pay $6/lb for grass-fed beef at the health food store; we bought our last beef from my aunt. It's the most wonderful beef I've ever eaten. We're almost out and will be now purchasing from a friend of my dad's and this time we're getting a 1/4 of a beef.

I could go on and on about this diet, but seeing as this week I've already lost 3lbs by dramatically limiting my sugar and gluten (in preparation for Monday), I can tell you that I feel better and hope to keep losing :) The point of this 7 day "detox" is to see how much better we feel on Sunday. My hubby has never slept well and I've read numerous times that going primal has solved many sleep issues. We're also moody when we eat crap...like many of you out there, right??? I'll be sure to keep you up to date and later this week I'll be posting a whole bunch of links to my favorite primal websites and blogs.

Does anyone else follow a primal or traditional foods diet?

Where to tithe?

2011-02-08T13:17:00.000-08:00

Where do you like to tithe?

It's that time of year when many of us get tax returns. We're planning to tithe and usually do so in for form of food to needy families or our local food bank/community center.

Getting my hair cut

2011-02-03T13:12:00.000-08:00

How often do you get your hair cut or trimmed? Do you do it yourself, a friend or pay someone else? Do you dye your hair or have any special treatments? How often do you do all of this?

I'm unsure how I feel about how long it's been for me. I got my hair cut in June 2010...that was a long time ago. I got a simple a-line that has grown out nicely and since I have curly hair, there isn't much need for a hair cut. I don't dye my hair, but I'm VERY picky about my cut. My curly and un-ruly hair is a lot for most stylists to handle. I can't tell you how many times as a child I've walked out crying after getting my hair cut. Thankfully, I've finally found someone who gets it. She actually has hair just like mine, so she understands. I'm going to make an appointment with her in the near future to get a trim. Finding an excellent hair stylist you can trust is worth so much :)

I spend $30 twice a year to maintain my hair and for me that's perfect. Granted it's been quite some time since I had it done last time.
How do you save money on keeping your hair maintained?

Ever wondered how you can tell where your packaged food items are made

2011-02-02T13:55:00.000-08:00

Ever wondered how you can tell where your packaged food items are made??? Here is a handy tip to easily identify where your food came from. You may now refer to the barcode -
if the first 3 digits are:

690-692 ... then it is MADE IN CHINA
00 - 09 ... USA & CANADA
...30 - 37 ... FRANCE
40 - 44 ... GERMANY
47 ... Taiwan
49 ... JAPAN
50 ... UK

Courtesy of BumbleBar on Facebook

How I organized our homeschool stuff for free

2011-02-01T14:53:00.000-08:00

It's been nagging at me. It's been looking at me every time I walk by, sneering. Stinkin' homeschool supplies were totally unorganized and bugging me but we don't have the money to go buy a whole bunch of storage thingys. Then it dawned on me. What about those 6 plastic shoe box storage thingys that we've kept our bills in for the last 8 years. Ya know the ones we'll never look at again, nor have we popped open a lid in at least 5 years. So, I purged them all. The bills have been taken care of...if you know what I meant.

Now the shoe boxes actually have a functioning purpose and I don't have to be mocked any more anytime I walk into J's room. Before organizing, everything was literally stuffed into the blue thingy (last picture), except for the books. I wrote in Sharpie on top and on one side what the contents are.

I bought this Alphabet at the Dollar Tree

Don't mind the Christmas stuff on the top left corner

Crayons, craft supplies and paint/brushes

Our puzzles

The Kumon books, workbooks, coloring books and plain drawing paper

Foam shapes, play dough toys, and lacing toys

Rest of the stuff: pipe cleaners, extra paint, painting bib and 2 memory games

If you're not familiar with Kumon Books they are AWESOME. I also highly recommend buying your craft supplies at your local $1 store. My Dollar Tree rocks in their "school" section :)

How do you organize all of your stuff?

Choosing homeschool curriculum

2011-01-31T13:44:00.000-08:00

Help me mamas that have or are homeschooling. There is so much to choose from, which is awesome, but it's also overwhelming. I'm starting to regularly do projects/crafts/etc with our 3yr old. What have you used? What did you like or dislike about it? What did you like for handwriting? Science?

Thanks :)

What I decided to buy with my Swagbucks

2011-01-29T13:14:00.000-08:00

It's super duper boring, sorry.

Jif Natural Peanut Butter for The Hubbs and Nutiva Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil. I told you it was boring, hehe.

It's certainly a blessing that they were free though. I love my Swagbucks

Have you tried Swagbucks?

Quick...hurry...$10 of any $10 order at Doorposts

2011-01-23T11:19:00.000-08:00

http://raisinghomemakers.com/2011/10-off-any-10-order-at-doorposts-this-weekend-only/

Enjoy :)

Do you ever feel bad...

2011-01-14T20:46:00.000-08:00

...for "new" friends on Facebook? I am friends with some "old" friends from high school on Facebook and I sometimes wonder about what they think of me. Not in a bad way mind you, just in a funny way. I post about breastfeeding, car seat safety, cloth diapers and the list goes on. Some of these people I haven't heard from in years, so it may come as quite the shock, especially if they don't have kids, since I wasn't "crunchy granola" back then. O well, I'll just keeping snickering to myself about it ;)

Do you ever wonder how your posts come across??

I love Bumblebars and just found a copycat recipe

2011-01-10T14:26:00.000-08:00

I love easy energy bars for errands and late mornings, but many of the packaged ones have TONS of soy in them. I don't like soy. Like my friend Stephanie said "I try to limit it since it's estrogen-based and I'm all estrogen!". I too am full of hormones and don't need any extra ;)

BumbleBars are made in Spokane Valley, WA and they are really awesome, however they're about $2/bar or you can buy them in bulk on Amazon.com for about $1.75/ea.

Here is the recipe I found and here are my changes:
Use honey instead of brown rice syrup and evaporated cane syrup
Use pecans and almonds instead of macadamias and cashews
Add Craisins and mini chocolate chips

Do you have a favorite copy-cat recipe?

What shall I buy?

2011-01-06T12:15:00.000-08:00

I have $20 in Amazon giftcards from using Swagbucks. I have no idea what to buy because I have a laundry lists of books and random things I'd like. However, I'd prefer to get something we need rather than want since money is a bit tight right now. So mamas, what do I need or want?

Click here to learn more about Swagbucks...it really is FREE

If you were in my shoes what would be the first thing on your list?

Will Costco save our family more money?

2011-01-03T20:00:00.000-08:00

The Hubbs and I started debating whether shopping at Costco on a more regular basis would save us more money. We generally shop there every 3 months or so. Together we wrote down what we had just purchased at Costco last week and what it would cost at Fred Meyer, where I shop every week. This short list is just what we purchased last week. At the bottom of this post are current prices on everything we would buy at some point from Costco.

Costco purchases on 12.27.2010
Organic olive oil, 51oz~$10.49
Organic sugar 10lbs~$8.89 *will last more than 1 month
Organic frozen corn 5lbs~$5
Organic frozen peas 5lbs~$5.29
Organic frozen green beans 5lbs~$5.29
Organic strawberry jam 42oz~$6.49 *will last more than 1 month
Tillamook sharp cheese 2.5lbs~$7.55 *will not last 1 month
Tillamook colby cheese 2.5lbs~$6.59 *will not last 1 month
= $55.59

At Freddy's I would pay (I'm comparing the exact same item, but probably diff. brands)
Oil 48oz~$24
Sugar 10lbs~$12.90
Corn 5lbs~$20
Peas 5lbs~$20
GBeans 5lbs~$20
Jam 42oz~$14
Sharp cheese 2.5lbs~$9
Colby cheese 2.5lbs~$9
= $128.90

For a savings of $73.31

So today, like the type-A-list-making nerd I am, I went to Costco with nothing in my mind to purchase but I wanted to make a price list. It was of course packed...1pm on Monday shouldn't be, but it was. So here is what I found, I hope it helps :)

Organic Broccoli - $3.49/3lbs
Tillamook sharp cheese 2.5lbs~$7.55
Tillamook colby cheese 2.5lbs~$6.59
Frigo mozzarella 2.1lbs~$4.29
Organic frozen corn 5lbs~$5
Organic frozen peas 5lbs~$5.29
Organic frozen green beans 5lbs~$5.29
Organic salted butter 2lbs~$6.89
Polish hot dogs 3.81lbs/14 hot dogs~$10.99
Maple syrup 32oz~$12.55 *every other month
Organic strawberry jam 42oz~$6.49 *every other month
Organic peanut butter 56oz~$7.89
Organic Better than Bouillon (chicken and beef) - $6.49 ea? *every 3 months
Steel cut oats - 72 oz/$8.99 ??? *every other monthOrganic olive oil 51oz~$10.49
Organic sugar 10lbs~$8.89 *every other month
Organic animal crackers 64oz~$7.99
Pace salsa 76oz~$5.39 *every other month
Mayonnaise 64oz~$6.89 *every 3 months
Classico spaghetti sauce 64oz~$6.99
Organic tomato paste 72oz~$5.99 *every 3 months
Organic apple sauce 189oz~$8.79 *every other month
Organic quinoa 4lbs~$9.89 *every 3 months
Organic short grain brown rice 12lbs~$13.99 *every 3 months
Listerine 3liters~$9.99
Smokehouse almonds 38oz~$8.69
Jerky 18oz~$11.99 *we only buy this on coupon
Triscuits 38oz~$5.99
Craisins 48oz~$6.99 *every other month
Prunes 50oz~$5.99 *every 3 months
Organic raisins 4lbs~$6.99 *every 3 months
Fruit leather 48oz~$10.65 *once in a blue moon purchase because of the waste created
Trail Mix $9.99 *when the budget allows
Organic Almonds - $9.99/4lbs
Tortillas $4.99/5lbs 14oz (40 large) *the all natural ones
Vinegar (white, distilled for cleaning/laundry/dishwasher rinse) $3.49/2 gallons
Toothbrushes *only on coupon

I'm not including produce because the price fluctuates so much and we try to eat in-season produce. We get our milk and eggs from local farmers and we purchase our meats directly from our local farmers/butchers :)

This breakdown has shown me that I need to adjust our budget and shopping to make Costco more of a priority.

What are your Costco staples? Can you find any comparable products at your grocery store for less?

Posted over at We Are That Family for WFMW

Women Living Well

A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa's

Simple Lives Thursday

Fight Back Friday @

Domestically Divine Homemaking

@ Far Above Rubies

Uh-oh

2011-01-03T10:38:00.000-08:00

So I'm a little disappointed in myself. This past summer I tried to score as many clothes for the next 9 months for both kids that I could. I bought TONS of stuff in their current size and the size up in appropriate seasons...you know the drill. I scored on lots of stuff at garage sales and from friends who have bigger kids. Well, today one of the things on my to-do list was to go through Miss A's "too big" clothes bag under her bed. It's a garbage bag full of clothes and shoes. Well, I couldn't pull anything out. There were 4 pairs of shoes for J Bear to wear this summer, 6 pairs of fleece jammies that are too big for Miss A and a few random things that are still way too big (5t).

She's moving into a 4t now and I remember thinking to myself this past summer that she wouldn't be in a 4t until summer 2011, because she had just moved into 3t in August. So, I have to go shopping soon and the thrift stores have slim pickings right now on in-season kid's clothes. Wish me luck :)

Is anybody else itching for garage sale season to get here???

The Compact 2010 wrap up

2010-12-31T10:46:00.000-08:00

I can't believe the year is over. However, I am looking forward to a date night with The Hubbs tonight...some beer and some Top Gear are in our sights :)

As for The Compact, I got derailed and choose to buy new in a few instances. As I reflect on all of the purchases I made this year, I can't believe how many have been used. I scored at The Army, garage sales and from friends and family. The Hubbs also turned a corner this year with curbing his spending and deciding to buy used more.

This journey has helped me to de-clutter our home. I used to whine all.the.time about how small our home was. It's only 900 sqft for 4 people, 2 dogs and 3 cats. Yeah, I know. But since the de-cluttering bug has hit, our house is much more of a home, than a dumping grounds for stuff.

I want to thank each and every one of you for joining me. I truly appreciated your comments and ideas throughout the year. And of course, the best part is that I made a few new friends along the way.

My 2011 New Year Resolutions

2010-12-29T11:55:00.000-08:00

First off I'd like to thank you all for joining me on this journey. Doing The Compact has opened my eyes to more than I ever imagined just 1 year ago.

This year my resolutions are:

No MSG, no high fructose corn syrup and no hydrogenated fats. We are already doing this as a family 95% of the time, but I want to make it 100%. The 5% is when we eat out and I want to be more aware of how they are making their food.

Cutting my internet usage at nap time from 1.5 hours to 45 minutes. This will help to get those few nagging chores done, read my never ending books from the library, and plan meals and chores for the coming week.

Being much more diligent about saving money. I already clip coupons, shop sales and buy bulk, but I'm talking about plunking money away. Our goal is to save $4,000 this year!

And of course I'm going to continue The Compact, but doing a Lite version this year. My shopping ways have forever been changed :)

New Year Food Resolutions

2010-12-27T20:00:00.000-08:00

Here are some good ideas from Kara @ Taste is Trump

I'll be posting my resolutions later this week as well as a wrap up of 2010 :)

Nordstrom's Rack

2010-12-21T12:26:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been to The Rack? If so, you know you can get good deals on nice clothing, shoes, and plenty of accessories for the whole family. The Rack just moved into the old BB&Beyond last month and I took the kids in today to browse their kid's shoe selection. I was thoroughly impressed compared to the last time I visited a Rack. They had TONS of toddler shoes and many were in season. They had Stride Rites, New Balances, Geox (I didn't like how hard the insole was on these), Bogs (never tried these either), Crocs, Nike, Adidas, and lots of others. I didn't buy any, as the kids aren't in need of any right now. However, I will be back to buy a few pairs as the need arises. They also have "extra sales" on certain colored tags. Today's extra was yellow tags 35% off.

If shop The Rack, what do you love to buy there?

Sweet snacks

2010-12-18T13:22:00.000-08:00

Today I'm making Christmas Crack, Peppermint Bark and Hard Orange Candy minus the corn syrup (same method as cinnamon, but we use sweet orange essential oil instead of cinnamon leaf).

These will be given to the guys at Sherwin Williams where The Hubbs gets his paint, and some family friends. The Hubbs wants me to attempt caramels too, but we'll see ;)

14 boxes of cereal for $14

2010-12-07T20:27:00.000-08:00

And it's not even expired! Mom's Best is on sale this week at Freddy's for $1/box. I bought 14 boxes (this our fave brand of cereal) because money is tight...I would have bought more. Here's The Hubbs putting it away in 1 of our stockpile spots (the stairwell down to the basement) :)

Don't mind the plastic bags...I forgot mine :(

Don't mind the Blue Moon left over from Halloween ;)

December Declutter

2010-12-04T21:30:00.000-08:00

Do you like/want/need to declutter? Want to join my challenge to declutter your home before the New Year? Let's do it! Your list can be as little or big as you'd like :)

Go through garage/deep freezer and organize
Go through kitchen freezer and organize
Dust all baseboards
Wash all walls
Collect large glass pickle jars for storing the rest of my bulk, dry goods
Rearrange toy room and get ready for Christmas toys
Rearrange master bath/declutter linens
Clean fridge
Declutter "cleaner cabinet" under the kitchen sink

I'll be sure to post updates about my journey, so please post your list in the comments :)

An update on the Kinect

2010-11-24T19:21:00.000-08:00

Well, we didn't get it :( We almost bought it and then The Hubbs started reading about the space needed for each "player". We would have to move the couch totally out of the way for us to use it. It wasn't worth it at all. So, my mother-in-law "bought" me 5 workout DVDs on www.paperbackswap.com and we've been using those. Just last night The Hubbs and I did The Biggest Loser's Cardio Max and it was a great workout :)

So, it saved us $150+ in the long run and I'm happy with the decision.

Have a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving everyone :)

How organic is your milk?

2010-11-22T11:34:00.000-08:00

Check out this study done on dozens of organic dairies across the US. You'll see the score difference between a family farm and a factory farm. Spokane Family Farm isn't on there because they are not certified organic. I'm glad they're not CO because with it come some rules that are harsh when a cow gets sick. They law requires them to kill the cow. At SFFs this is not so, they treat their cows like family. So, anyways, as you can see Costco and Horizon organic milks rate at the very bottom for their factory farming ethics.

http://www.cornucopia.org/dairysurvey/index.html

Here is an article I found about SFF
http://capitalpress.com/washington/mw-Western-Innovator-Mike-and-Trish-Vieira-030510

Soapy soap soap

2010-11-19T14:08:00.000-08:00

Around here we used to buy Softsoap at Costco for no other reason than it was there and we needed it. We had the little bottles and would refill when needed. I personally didn't like the soap, but couldn't ever find a decent replacement and honestly I never really looked. I thought all liquid hand soap was the same. Then I heard about Dr. Bronners!

For the past few months (while the last bottle of Softsoap was being finished up) I have been experimenting with Dr. Bronner's liquid soap. I LOVE this soap and a little goes a long way. I bought 3 new foaming hand soap bottles and poured out their contents (the Method brand bottles are best). Then I filled them with 1/3 Dr. B's liquid soap (we got the almond scented one) and the rest with water. The foam is awesome and actually The Hubbs and I use it as our body wash instead of bar soap in the shower too.

Currently, for the kids, we're finishing up our last bottle of Avalon Organics Baby Wash, which we've used from day one with our oldest. It's smells awesome and doesn't have the icky chemicals and it makes a nice bubble bath too. However, I'm going to switch to the Dr. Bronner's Baby Mild liquid soap and make another foaming pump for their baths.

Because I love a good money savings break down, here it is :)
Softsoap Refill, 56oz / $6.89 = $.12/oz
Dr. Bronners Almond, 128oz (gallon) / $35 (I bought at a local store during a BIG sale) = $.27/oz

1 foaming bottle holds about 9oz and I use 3oz of soap per bottle. So, this means that 1 bottle uses 3oz of soap compared to 9oz of the Softsoap. This means that even though Dr. B's is more expensive up front, it's actually cheaper in the end at $.09/oz

As for the safety of the soaps, www.costmeticdatabase.com rates TONS of body care items with 0 being the best and 10 being the worst...
Softsoap rates at 6
Dr. Bronner's Almond rates at 2
Dr. Bronners Baby Mild rates at 1

A catch-up of sorts

2010-11-15T12:28:00.000-08:00

The last month has been a whirlwind filled with good and bad. Today was the cherry on top when I had to go the dentist for an emergency. Well, that wasn't in the budget, sigh.

Slow season is officially upon us, however, we did finish our Christmas shopping 2 weeks ago. We didn't go hardcore Compact, mainly because my husband didn't want to. Out of the total number of presents purchased/made about 25% were bought new from a store. The other 75% were bought 2nd hand or from etsy/hyenacart/made by me. Most of the items we purchased new ended up being cheaper new, instead of buying used. For example, I had been watching some used board games on eBay, but with shipping they came out to be more expensive than at our local game shop. I'm not the kind of person to buy something used even if it's more expensive. I have a budget to look out for, ya know ;)

Miss A's birthday party is this coming Saturday and we're throwing a pancake party. I've been adding up the costs in Excel and here's how it breaks down:
75ish homemade pancakes = $10
Toppings = $6 *I have most of them on hand already*
Milk = 3 gallons = $10 *would be $15 but I have a free gallon next trip*
25 Paper plates & cups = $6
Favors = Free courtesy of my MIL

Grand total = $32 to feed 23 people (14 adults + 9 kids)

Compare this to the $9.99/per child price tag and we're at $100. This does not include feeding the 14 adults. So, it's way cheaper and less crazy to say the least. I always enjoyed it when my mom threw a "home" birthday party for me when I was little. A little imagination will go along ways.

O, and I almost forgot. Since everyone will be eating pancakes, I asked that everyone wear their PJs. Too fun!

A rough 2 weeks

2010-11-10T11:24:00.000-08:00

So, I haven't posted much and probably won't for another week or so. Last week my son had a viral GI bug that caused diarrhea for 6 days. This morning I got a call from my mom with some bad news. My grandma (my mom's mom) fell last night while on vacation in Hawaii. She broke her hip and is now in the hospital for who knows how long. She's in pretty good health otherwise for 76 years. This means that Miss A's birthday party is up in the air. My mom may be flying to Hawaii to stay with my grandma because the friend she went with can't stay. I'm sad that my grandma is in pain and I'm even sadder that she can't make it to Miss A's 3rd birthday party. They truly love each other and A will miss her dearly at her party.

Well, it looks like we'll be planning a trip over there before Christmas to see her :)

Synthetic motor oil

2010-11-01T11:43:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit of a car girl. I've always liked being out in the garage and changing my own oil and doing basic maintenance, etc. When I was 15 and going through driver's ed, our teacher said we had to learn to change a tire. Well, my dad decided I would learn on his Ford Ranger and I realized changing tires is dirty and hard work. I've only had to do it a one or two times since then and I'm thankful. I'm also thankful for the skills my dad taught me to maintain a car, it has come in very handy as it makes me feel useful in the garage.

Recently I was at a Mindful Mamas meetings and we got to talking about synthetic motor oils and how they're better for our foreign dependence on oil because they're not made from oil. While I agree with this, I also don't like all the chemicals that are produced for synthetic, but it seems six one half dozen the other, right? So, I started researching synthetics and found out that they last much longer than conventional motor oil but are pricier. So, I did the math...

O'Reilly parts store:
Castrol Syntec $5/quart (on sale, reg. $8/quart) = $25 for my SUV
Lasts about 7,000 miles
= $.0035/mile

Castrol GTX $3/quart = $15 for my SUV
Lasts 3,000 miles
= $.005/mile

So, it's cheaper to use synthetic + it's better for your engine :)

Are you willing to switch to synthetic?

Yoke's 50% OFF everything

2010-10-24T13:49:00.000-07:00

As we were driving home today from Fred Meyers for our weekly grocery trip, I noticed a 50% off everything sign at the Yokes on Progress/Sprague. We pulled in not knowing what we would find. The majority of what was left was all-natural or organic food (canned, packaged, etc) and body care items. The store is closing and was pretty barren. Here is a list of the things I can remember off the top of my head that we purchased...

2 Seventh Gen dish washing powder (my fave)
3 Clorox washing machine cleaner (my diapers are having major stink issues)
4 Kiss My Face lip balms (Christmas gifts)
2 Biokleen All-Purpose 32oz cleaners (3x concentrated)
2 Maid Naturally abrasive cleansing scrub (made in Spokane)
2 Mrs. Meyers toilet bowl cleaners
3 Kiss My Face bar soap (our fave bar soaps bar-none!)
1 bottle of Citra-Solv
5 Aura Cacia aromatherapy foaming bath soaks (Christmas gifts)
3 cans of organic crushed pineapple
3 bags of Mexican spices (incl. cinnamon sticks)
3 boxes of Annie's mac n cheese
1 box of organic cake mix
1 jar of some fancy brand spaghetti sauce
3 jars of organic strawberry jam
5 boxes of organic tea (Christmas gifts)
8 packs of Tic-Tacs (the kids love these as a treat, just 1 will do them)
10 packs of our fave gum

Twin fitted sheets

2010-10-16T07:54:00.000-07:00

Has anyone else tried to buy these 2nd hand? I've bought 3 twin fitted sheets over the past 10 months and all of them had shot elastic. So, tomorrow morning when we head to Fred Meyer's for their crazy Founder's Day Sale, I'll be picking up 2 new twin fitted sheets. I'm tired of re tucking the old ones :/

Happy Weekend!

A trade off? Your thoughts?

2010-10-14T11:42:00.000-07:00

So, The Hubbs and I have been contemplating joining our gym again. It would be about $400/year for the 2 of us. I would go in the evenings after the kids are in bed and he would go before he came home for dinner. We both need some regular exercise, so this seemed liked a good fit and we like the gym's atmosphere.

Speed up to 2 nights ago when The Hubbs was surfing the net. I walked by and he started talking about the Kinect, a gaming system similar to the Wii or PS3, but cheaper and better (or so we believe). It doesn't require controllers of any kind, but you can buy heart rate monitors that strap to your arm, etc. The system is only $150 and comes with a free game. We also like The Biggest Loser Ultimate Workout game and Your Shape: Fitness Evolved. The only caveat is that we're not sure if this will provide enough "pumping iron" for my better half. If it doesn't, than we'll reevaluate and he may end up joining the gym by himself.

So what does all this have to do with The Compact? Well, we're going to buy it new, in fact we're going to place a pre-order soon with the games. We're still deciding where the best deals are, as some of the retailers are offering gift cards, etc if you buy from them.

So, how am I justifying this? Well, here's my defense :P If we go to the gym every other night for the next year we will be wasting gas and electricity (at the gym). If we stay home and exercise we won't be. See, The Hubbs plays his Xbox 360 most nights after the kids go to bed, so it would be on regardless. Plus, we're hoping to have more motivation to do it since it's in our home. It's also a big money saver, seeing as the system and 2 games = $250 vs. the gym membership at $400/year.

I'll keep you posted on when we make our final decision and I'll be sure to write a review too :)

How do you make exercise a part of your regular life?

No comment

2010-10-12T12:40:00.000-07:00

Well I haven't had a comment in quite some time, so it may be time to let this blog go. If you'd like to continue to read about my journey, than please leave a comment.

Happy Sunny Tuesday everyone

Reorganizing and buying new things

2010-10-04T12:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning was spent cleaning up and organizing my sewing area. I've decided I'm done indefinitely and that we could move my stuff downstairs. I ended up having 2 garbage bags worth of fabric that I'm trading to a friend. She's going to fix a few of my diapers in trade :)

Currently The Hubbs is in a small office/den area (5' x 9') with all of his video games and DVDs up on shelves. He plays his Xbox 360 after the kids go to bed and before we sit down and watch our favorite TV shows. I've pined after that space for a few months now for a homeschooling room, but we didn't have anywhere to move him. Until now. He's moving into the bedroom and in order to do that we had to buy a TV bracket for mounting it in the corner of our room. I'm thrilled to get him outta that room so I can put up stuff I've been saving. I'll also have lots of shelving for my homeschooling books, lacing toys, etc etc :) The possibilities are endless!

Another project that has been 2 years in the making is a new back door. Back in the summer of 2008 we went to Lowe's and purchased a new front door and a new back door. Our home was built in 1925 and the doors we had were literally 1 ply plywood in the main body. Anybody wanting to get in could just kick their way through. That summer The Hubbs and my dad installed the new door (I LOVE this new door) and it took all day long. Again, our home is 85 years old and doesn't like to be remodeled. So, the back door has sat in our garage for 2 years untouched.

Last week The Hubbs kept mentioning installing it and I just brushed it off. Then he started asking what kind of doggie door I'd like to have in the new door. Um, something energy efficient would be great, I said. So, last night we headed off to Home Depot to look for a new dog door (we checked Craigslist with no luck). They were $135 and $250 for the ones we wanted. The Hubbs started getting...well, he was mad. We were both astonished as to why the doggie door was going to cost more than our new door. So, we headed to Lowe's and found the same exact models for $85. We bought the Ideal Pet Door.

The Hubbs has now installed the dog door in our new back door and he's planning to hang the door this afternoon. We're hoping the back room (where the computer/washer/dryer all hang out) will be warmer and that we can save some money on our gas bill through the winter.

Are you doing any fall organizing?

How to throw a frugal Halloween party

2010-09-30T11:41:00.000-07:00

Only 1 month until Halloween! We love Halloween at this house and we're going to be hosting our 3rd annual party this year. We set up in the front yard with the outdoor fireplace full of warm fire, hotdogs to roast and plenty of snacks of course. As the kids walk past we pass out candy and tell them how cute they are. We don't do anything demonic or scary, we just love to celebrate the cold weather and I like to throw a party and spend time with family and friends.

I have no idea what The Hubbs and I will be, but we'll figure it out probably the day before ;)

Here's how I break down our party to-do list (expecting about 20 people)

Invites: I invite everyone through www.evite.com for free

Costumes: A new friend of mine just gave us 2 costumes last week. Miss A will be a dalmatian and Little Mister will be a cow.

Food: Last month Fred Meyer had a huge sale on Hebrew National hot dogs so we stocked up. I'll be buying the hot dog buns at the bread outlet a day or two prior to the party. I will likely buy a few bags of chips and make a few sides

Candy: This year I'm going to buy the 5lb bag of Yummy Earth lollipops

Drinks: We'll have plenty of warm apple cider and a few adult beverages too

Preserving

2010-09-28T20:10:00.000-07:00

There has been a ton of blogging going on about preserving, e.g., canning, freezing, drying and pickling. I've done all the above this summer and truly love it. Some might say I'm a little addicted even :) But I haven't seen anyone talk about juicing. We recieved a Jack LaLane's juicer for free from a dear friend over a year ago. It was taking up space on her counter and when she offered it to us, The Hubbs jumped all over it. I was much more hesitant solely for our lack of counter space. It now sits on top of the frig with all of my other "machines". We juice fruits and veggies to make fun and tasty concoctions about once a month and all of us enjoy it. Lately though I've been thinking about how I can preserve this harvest even more. I got a box of apples from the farm 2 weeks ago and they were pretty small, so I decided to juice them. I got 4 quarts of juice that are now sitting in quart size freezer storage bags in the freezer.

Yesterday afternoon I went and foraged at my in-laws for grapes. They have this yummy variety of seedless green grapes that grow over their fence from the neighbors. They are seriously delicious. I brought home a bunch and juiced them and got 2 quarts of juice. We'll be heading back there later this week to pick the rest. I'm pretty sure we'll pick at least 10 gallons worth and we'll eat to our hearts content and then juice the rest. My mom also offered up about 10lbs of Italian plums and I took them all. I juiced them tonight and got 2 quarts of juice.

What are we going to use this juice for? Well, we don't drink soda in this house very often, and we don't drink juice very often either. So, when the craving hits, I'll dilute it down a little and we'll enjoy it with breakfast or something.

Do you have a juicer? Do you love it or hate it?

Update on Christmas shopping

2010-09-24T12:05:00.000-07:00

We're about 1/5 of the way done with fall/winter birthday and Christmas shopping. This is our 4th year of having a goal where we get all shopping done BEFORE Thanksgiving. My mom's Christmas gifts are all done except for the body care items I'm going to make. Today I scored on a BUNCH of stuff at a garage sale and at the Salvation Army...


Nine West real down vest $3.89, retails for about $30

SigTac jacket for The Hubbs (resembles CarHartt) for $4.89, retails for $65


Glo jeans for me $4.89, retail for $20 at Kmart


Chicos shirt for my mom $1.89, retails $55

I also got Little Mister the rest of his 2t wardrobe for early next year for $7. Tons of light long sleeve shirts, khakis, jeans and more. I got Miss A 2 footed sleepers and a long sleeve shirt for $1, woot!

What you scored on recently?

Fruit Seasons

2010-09-20T08:56:00.000-07:00

Good morning all!

I just came across this wonderful site while searching for fruits and veggies in season
http://fruitseasons.com/

Happy Monday my peeps!

Autumn baking & cooking

2010-09-18T11:36:00.000-07:00

Enjoy the sweet and savory links below!

http://www.mybakingaddiction.com/pumpkin-oatmeal-cookies/
http://www.mybakingaddiction.com/spiced-zucchini-cake/
http://www.mybakingaddiction.com/corn-chowder/
http://www.mybakingaddiction.com/beer-bread/
http://joyofbaking.com/barsandsquares/PecanSquares.html
http://laurasbestrecipes.com/2009/10/butternut-squash-apple-cake-w-ginger-streusel.html?ref=nf
http://www.goodlifeeats.com/2010/08/black-bean-and-sweet-potato-chili.html
http://janessweets.blogspot.com/2010/09/kahlua-cream-shortbread-sandwich.html

Frugal Homeschool

2010-09-16T13:31:00.000-07:00

From Penniless Parenting (click the link to read the entire post)

...Most states have developed a standard curriculum. I assume that this is because they want to ensure that all children graduating within that state have covered certain core subjects.
Lucky us, because many states have made their "curriculum standards" available online. To find these curriculum standards, you just enter curriculum standards and the name of a state (i.e. "Washington Curriculum Standards") into the search box and search away. Being a native Ohionan, I searched and found their curriculum standards online.
I came across a few different state's curriculum standards, but the one I liked best (because it is easiest to figure out and understand) was the one I found for Tennessee. Tennessee Curriculum Standard- if you click that link, you'll see a list of different subjects as well as Early Childhood, each of those being links to pages with curriculum standards for each grade...

I personally really enjoy the Tennessee link :)

Toy organizer: Part Two

2010-09-15T09:17:00.000-07:00

I finally snagged one today and I'm so thrilled with it. It cost me $25 and retails at Target for about $65. It's in excellent shape, doesn't appear to ever been used. After dinner tonight we unloaded the old toy chest which is an heirloom that my great grandpa made back when I was a kid. It's now in Little Mister's room with a few toys in it. I refuse to let it overflow like it had in the living room, errrr.

So.much.better!

The art box

How do you organize toys and art supplies?

We're back

2010-09-14T11:47:00.000-07:00

We're back from vacation...actually got home Saturday evening. We had a wonderful time and stayed within our lenient budget too. We drank plenty of wine, good beer and The Hubbs had a few Pepsi's too while we played board games and enjoyed the wonderful peace and quiet outside. Here are a few photos :)

Guard dog, ha!

Gus and Vern playing

Prickly palm trees

One of the dozens of tiny toads

Wait, what?

Turkeys, turkeys everywhere

One of the two bald eagles

He's being a goof ball :)

What does Labor Day mean to you?

2010-09-06T15:11:00.000-07:00

If you're reading this we're on the road to vacation, Happy Labor Day 2010!

I used to think Labor Day was just another day off when I was a "working girl". It was nice to enjoy a long weekend as summer was winding down, but I didn't think much of it then. Now that I'm a stay at home mom and I watch my wonderful husband go to work every week, I can truly appreciate it. The Hubbs works his tail off, especially in the summer, usually with painting the exterior of homes mostly. He has been very busy this summer, probably his busiest ever in the 3 years he has owned his own business. He's thankful that currently he's booked though October and hoping for good weather to finish up a few more exteriors before the snow flies. He was raised to work hard by both of his parents and takes his craftsmanship seriously which is why he is still in business.

What does Labor Day mean to you?

The history of Labor Day

A frugalish vacation

2010-09-05T20:14:00.000-07:00

We're headed to vacation tomorrow for a week long relaxation that we all deserve. My MIL is graciously paying for the house, we're so blessed. The four of us, plus my MIL, BIL and his fiance are staying in this lake house.

I took meal planning very seriously and my BIL was a little taken a back thinking that money is extra tight around here. He didn't think it was necessary to write out a grocery list and plan everything down to the dollar. Bless his heart, I love him like a brother, but he isn't a planner like me. Thankfully money isn't too tight right now, but I still try to scrimp and save whenever possible, especially when I have 7 mouths to feed. We split up the grocery bill amongst us and I'll be doing 90% of the cooking, which I will thoroughly enjoy. We could have easily spent $400 to feed us all, but I've got the bill right at $230. Now, that doesn't include meat, because we're just going to take from our personal freezer since we have a stockpile. However it does include wine and beer, not in a large amount though.

Tonight I spent a couple hours baking 2 huge loaves of banana bread and a dozen banana bread muffins + 1 huge loaf of blueberry/zucchini bread and a dozen muffins. These will be served for breakfast most mornings, but I'll also be bringing some cereal. We're not doing a "big breakfast" because we're limited on space in the cars...we're all bringing our dogs. So, I'm trying to keep ingredients at a minimum. I'm going to take a gallon ziplock full of dry oatmeal w/ craisins and sunflower seeds to make one morning too.

We are going out to eat one night to one of the local burger joints likely, or one of us may just pick it up and bring it back if we're feeling extra lazy. There is also a farmer's market about 30 miles away which I'm hoping to visit and pick up some fruit and veggies. We won't be doing any souvenir shopping or typical touristy stuff...just relaxing, hiking, swimming, reading and LOTS of board games.

We're all excited to go, especially Miss A. She keeps saying "Can we sleep in my sleeping bag at the lake house?". Too cute. The weather appears to be mid-70's all week which is a bummer for swimming, but you can bet your last nickel I will be in the lake every day, probably multiple times. I LOVE to swim no matter the temperature...well maybe.

Have a great week everyone and I'll check back with you next week

Toy organizer

2010-09-05T07:03:00.000-07:00

Since the cooler fall weather is upon us I'm looking to de-clutter our living/play room and streamline it. The kids will be spending more time inside and I don't want their toys to be a sore point for myself. Right now we have a toy box that was made by my great grandpa back when my brother and I were kids. It's beautiful, and holds lots of toys, but that seems to be it's down fall too. You can lose all the pieces to a toy in the bottom and virtually never find them again. So, we're looking for a toy bin/organizer/whatchamacallit. They seem to be pretty popular on Craigslist, so when we get back from vacation I'll be planning to snatch one up. They retail from $40 to $100+ new, but are going for about $25 on Craigslist.

How do you organize toys and games?

Cloth Diaper deals

2010-09-04T15:12:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been wanting to change up my cloth diaper stash. I have about 12 fitteds and 8 pockets (all are one size) who are made by a local mama, Primm n Proper Baby + some red-edged prefolds for when it's laundry day. Last week I happened upon a Craigslist ad for 14 Kissaluvs fitteds (size 2) and 2 Imse Vimse (size large) covers for $5. Not $5 for each diaper, $5 for ALL of it :) The Kissaluvs have seen better days, but they work just fine for around the house/backyard.

Today I went searching on Craigslist again and found a mama who is selling some Thirsties covers and Mother Ease one size fitteds for pretty cheap. I'm hoping to pick those up today.

My tomato soup recipe

2010-09-01T13:34:00.000-07:00

Tomato Soup

1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 carrot, diced (optional)
2 lbs ripe tomatoes (I used Dry-Farmed Early Girls), roughly chopped
1 c. chicken stock
1 clove of garlic
5-6 leaves fresh basil, chopped (or 1 tsp dried)
1/2 - 1 c. heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat butter and olive oil over medium heat in a large dutch oven or other heavy pot.
Add onion and saute for 1 minute; add carrot, salt & pepper to taste, and saute for 2 minutes more.
Add roughly chopped tomatoes (do not seed or peel), crushing lightly between your fingers.
Add the stock and herbs; reduce heat to medium. Let simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until the tomatoes are softened and have released all their juice. Re-season, if necessary.
Remove the soup to a strainer or food mill. If using a strainer, allow the solids to drain for at least 10 minutes, stirring and pressing every couple of minutes.
Using your food processor process all of the "solids" until pureed
Add to the strained soup and mix thoroughly
Add the cream and serve (or freeze)

I multiplied this by 8 and made 2 gallons last week

My favorite Etsy stores

2010-08-31T20:58:00.000-07:00

With Christmas shopping in the early phases around here I've been window shopping on Etsy lately. Here is a link to my favorites page, well it's actually 6 pages ;)

http://www.etsy.com/people/Smidgerooski/favorites?type=shops&ref=favorites

Enjoy!

Who are some of your favorite Etsy artisans? Do you have a certain artisan you buy from time and time again?

So Funny!

2010-08-30T13:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday The Hubbs went grocery shopping with us. Kinda weird, but very nice indeed. I usually go on Monday mornings, but he said we should all go together. As I was zooming around the aisles while he had the kids in the cart, he randomly picked up a can of bread crumbs. I stood there waiting to hear why he picked them up and then he said "What the heck. Look at ALL these ingredients in the BREAD CRUMBS. Aren't they supposed to be just bread crumbs? It even has hydrogenated oil in it."

I seriously love that guy and he makes me laugh all the time :)

*the can had about 30 ingredients in it*

Christmas ideas

2010-08-29T09:07:00.000-07:00

*A helmet should be worn while using these bikes*

I first saw a balance bike a few months ago at a garage sale. It wasn't for sale, but was being used by a 3 yr old to ride around. It looked so cool, yet so easy. The boy was having a blast and had a lot of control while using it. So, this year we're looking to buy one for each kiddo for Christmas. There are no used ones to be had on Craigslist or eBay right now, but I will be watching both closely.

Another option would be for my hubby to modify the current toddler two-wheeler we have to make it a balance bike and buying a second one at thrift store and doing the same.

Have you heard of these bikes? Do you own one? If so, what do you like/dislike about it?

Frugal, Non-Toxic Cleaning

2010-08-28T22:14:00.000-07:00

This is an awesome, fact-filled post :)

http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2010/08/back-to-the-basics-frugal-non-toxic-green-cleaning.html

Written by Emily McClements, Contributing Writer

Homemade disinfecting wipes

2010-08-27T13:14:00.000-07:00

I ran across this article and thought some of you would like to read about it. I'll certainly be doing this :)

http://www.liverenewed.com/2009/09/homemade-clorox-wipes.html

A sale, A BIG GIANT SALE

2010-08-26T12:35:00.000-07:00

Let me start off by saying I'm excited! See, around here naturally living is finally getting off the ground and becoming a bit more popular. If you're a local reader than you're likely aware of the store Huckleberrys and probably love it. If you don't love it, than I'm sorry, because I really freaking love it.

Saturday the 18th, Huckleberrys is having their bi-annual Natural Living Sale and all non-food items are 35% OFF. This is a screaming deal. I've already pre-ordered (you have to pre-order before Sept. 1st) a gallon of Dr. Bronner's Almond 18-in-1 liquid soap and a gallon of Giovanni Shampoo. Here is the rest of my list and if you're wondering, yes I already made it into an Excel spreadsheet with AutoSum at the bottom. I may or may not reveal the total to you. The Hubbs will be "editing" it later tonite after he chokes a little at the number ;)

Giovanni Sunset Styling Lotion

Dr. Bronners Almond

Giovanni Shampoo

Country Save

Bac-Out

Bac-Out drain

Maid Naturally abrasive scrub

Citrasolv

7th Gen disinfecting wipes x2

Child's cough

Chewy vitamins

Henna

Foaming soap x3

Burts Bees lip balmx5

Sea Fresh toothpaste x3

Mouthwash x2

Deodorant x3

Probiotics

Pest control spray

Do you stock up on sale like these?

What is your favorite "natural" care item?

Creativity abounds

2010-08-25T20:12:00.000-07:00

I came across this book last week and surprisingly our library had it. So, I reserved it and picked it up yesterday. WOWza is it awesome. It's going to be awesome for gift giving this year. So, if you're a personal friend, you'll likely be getting some body/facial care items for Christmas *wink wink*

I've made simple milk baths, soothing soaks, and body scrubs in the past, but this opened my eyes to the many possibilities of toners, cleansers, massage oils, and lots of etc.

On to cooking, or whatever you'd call this...

Watermelon Sorbet

My dad goes to Hermiston, OR a lot for work. He picked us up 2 LARGE seeded watermelons and they are delish. Seeded watermelons are the bees knees if you ask anyone in our family :) So, now that we're all a little full of watermelon I'm going to make some sorbet.

I've adapted this recipe from here

Ingredients

3 cups water
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup lime juice
5 cups cubed, seeded watermelon

Directions

Heat water and sugar in a saucepan over medium-high heat until sugar has dissolved, stirring occasionally. Allow to cool. Place watermelon in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Whisk watermelon, lime juice and syrup together in a large bowl. Cover and chill in the refrigerator.
Pour the chilled mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's directions until it reaches "soft-serve" consistency. Transfer sorbet to a one- or two-quart lidded plastic container; cover surface with plastic wrap and seal. For best results, sorbet should ripen in the freezer for at least 2 hours or overnight.

This week's wrap up

2010-08-21T13:45:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we got a call from my BIL at 10:15pm. He had quite a bit of joy in his voice when we answered and he said there was a wooden playground across the street in a free pile. He was calling to make sure we wanted it and of course we did. He said he was going to back up his truck and push it in and we'd deal with it in the AM. That morning we went and picked 5 gallons of plums while the men strapped it in the back of the truck. It's awesome! I've put a twin sheet across the top for some shade and it fits perfect. The men nailed, screwed, and tightened everything down while the kidlets were chomping at the bit to get up there.

Today we headed to Famous Footwear to get the kids some fall shoes. They didn't have anything we really wanted so we wandered around a bit window shopping in our favorite stores for upcoming Christmas and birthday ideas. I've already started our Excel spreadsheet for gift giving and I'd be happy to share it with you, just send me an email at fvcwft at gmail dot com. We headed over to Sears because The Hubbs wanted to drool over a tool or something. Before we left, I suggested we look at the Sears' kids shoes. We ended up walking out of there for $67 + tax for 4 pairs of shoes. WOOT!

Top left: New Balance tennis shoes (6w) for Little Mister = $28
Top right: New Balance tennis shoes (10w) for Little Miss = $12 *clearance*
Bottom left: Fila (look-a-like Keens) for next summer (6, they run BIG) for Little Mister = $12 *clearance*
Bottom right: New Balance tennis shoes (8w, for next year) for Little Mister = $15 *clearance*

Little Miss also has her New Balance water tennis shoes and she'll wear those until she outgrows them. I also hit up the See Kai Run 1/2 off sale a month or two ago. I got Little Mister 2 pairs and Little Miss 1 pair. All we have left to buy are snow boots, but we don't plan to do that for at least 2 months.

Have you ever scored something from a free or garbage pile? What brand(s) of shoes do you like to buy for your kids?

1950's baking

2010-08-19T12:57:00.001-07:00

I posted this on my personal, private blog, but thought some of you may be interested in it too :)

Yesterday I headed to Costco to grab $100 worth of groceries...icheewawa. Anyways, I went down the baking aisle and saw a big box of 1950's Devil's Food Cake mix (with a frosting packet too). For the life of me I can't remember the brand, but I didn't buy it because we don't have room for such a large box in the kitchen right now. The reason I'm posting about this is because it didn't contain any high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, or hydrogenated/partially hydrogenated oils (aka trans fats). If you look below, the first picture is for Betty Crockers Devil's Food Cake mix which contains many of the ingredients that are bad for you.

This next picture is for Betty Crocker's Dark Chocolate frosting which also contains many of those same ingredients.

I'm an avid label reader, and not just the nutrition facts, but more importantly the ingredients.

Patagonia Capilene for $.97

2010-08-16T11:57:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are familiar with the Patagonia brand name, then you're probably wondering what I got for $.97. Maybe some socks, maybe a hat or something.

Well, I got a 2-piece men's XL Capilene (their base layer line). It's navy blue fleece and the top is a long sleeve henley and the pants remind me of thermals (you wear under your pants). These will be for The Hubbs, unless they don't fit.

I was looking for a stock pot at The Army this morning and may have accidentally scooted over to the 75% OFF rack, whoops! I was just browsing and came upon this gold mine and then saw it was an XL. WoOt! I am so stoked! The Hubbs' long underwear (thermals) have been looking tired the last 2 years, so these will be perfect :)

The top retails for $59 and the pants retail for $49!

*My camera is in the car, with a dead battery, so these are examples*

I got me something special

2010-08-14T14:41:00.000-07:00

I'm way to excited about the household gadget I got today from Craigslist. It's round, gets hot and makes something delish! Can you guess what it is? I bet you're thinking crockpot, but you'd be wrong (more on that later).

I scored a brand new Waring Pro YM350 Professional Yogurt Maker for $35! It retails online for about $70. It rates at 4.5 stars on Amazon so that's a plus. I opened it when I got home to find it came with plastic jars, I was super bummed. Then I looked in the sink and saw 2 small canning jars (glass) and it struck me, I could just replace all the plastic with my glass, but only if the lids fit! And guess what...they do! I'm so happy right now! I'm going to read the instructions in a little bit, but I plan to have fresh yogurt in the AM for enjoying on our homemade pancakes :) Happy Sunday morning to us!

It makes 48oz of fresh yogurt which will likely take us 2 weeks to eat. I'm guessing though, that my family will ask me to make them some too, which I will be happy to oblige :) I'll keep you all updated on how it works.

Some of you may be wondering why I don't just make it in my crockpot and I've tried. I tried it about 2 months ago and used an entire gallon of our milk to try. Yeah, I'm a dork that way. I wouldn't want to try a small batch...noooooo. O well, it didn't work. My crockpot stayed too hot and it never made it to yogurt.

As for my kitchen being crockpot-less for a month now, I finally replaced it, temporarily. I bought a standard sized one at Thrifty Living this week for $7. My old one was a huge 5-quart and I LOVED it. I could make a ton of beans, a HUGE roast, etc etc. This one is probably 3 quarts and will do for now. I'll be keeping my eye out for a larger one or I may decide to replace my original stoneware down the road, we'll see.

*No pictures today, sorry. Blogger doesn't want to upload any.

Quiz: How Frugal Are You?

2010-08-10T09:55:00.000-07:00

From Penniless Parenting...
http://www.pennilessparenting.com/2010/08/quiz-how-frugal-are-you.html

Monday's thrifting finds

2010-08-09T12:08:00.000-07:00

I went looking for a crockpot because my brand new one already broke. Well, the stoneware broke. So, I've been crockpotless for 3 weeks now and am really feeling the effects. Anywho, I didn't find one, but I did find all of this for under $22!

The outfits on the far left are going to be a gift for a friend who just had a baby boy. I'm also going to send her the HA sleeper I got a while ago (if I can still find it) $.98 for both

The red pants are Silva (or something) $.89 and the Gap overalls for A were $.45. 4 pairs of leggings for A $1.89/all. 2 shirts and a romper $1.45/all

A Landsend lightweight fleece pullover for me, $1.45.
Striped tank for me, $1.99
Ruby red flowy skirt $2.29

My library discard finds totaled $9/all. These will be wonderful additions to our home school library down the road :)

What have you found at the thrift stores or garage sales lately?

Another free $10

2010-08-09T07:22:00.000-07:00

I seriously can't believe this. I just got another $10 Kohl's gift card in the mail. I'm shaking my head in disbelief and thanking God for blessing us with these. So far this year I've received $40 free from them. I have never given my information to them when they ask for my zip code or phone number when I make purchases. I have no idea what I'm going to buy with it yet, but I'll be sure to post here with what I got for free :)

*This picture is of the first card I got this year. I didn't feel like taking a picture of the one I just got ;)

I need some wedding gift ideas

2010-08-08T12:03:00.000-07:00

Please help me everyone :)

We are attending a wedding of a dear friend of mine in 2 weeks. I can't hardly wait to see her finally tie the knot!

They have been together for a few years and have all of the stuff they need, but of course are registering for things they want. Who can blame them? Anywho, their Target gift registry is full of items for the kitchen and bedroom (linens). Do I dare buy them a used KitchenAid food processor? Or a set of used Pyrex dishes? They aren't necessarily frugal or into the whole "buy used" movement. I don't want to insult them with my used gifts, but I won't be buying anything new either.

So here's where you guys come in. I'm open to nearly anything :)

I'm around...just not here really

2010-08-06T21:36:00.000-07:00

I went out of town last week and I've not been very active inside the house lately. The weather around here is hot and we're enjoying the outdoors while they last. Here's hoping for an Indian Summer :)

Anywho, the only thrift shopping we've done was today when we picked up 2 board games for a family member's birthday present. The grand total with tax was $.97! WOOT! Can't beat that :)

Have a nice weekend everyone...I'll be back next week

World Breastfeeding Week

2010-08-04T12:18:00.001-07:00

It's World Breastfeeding Week! I'll be celebrating by whipping them out all.week.long :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qceifvgguE&feature=player_embedded

Homemade dairy

2010-07-28T09:58:00.000-07:00

You've heard me shout from the rooftops about our local milk. I won't bore you with the details of it again. However, I will try to entice you by showing you all of the things I can do with this awesome milk. It's not homogenized (we get 8oz of cream on every gallon) and it's low vat-pasteurized. That means it kills the bad bacteria but keeps all the good stuff including vitamins and minerals. Conventional $1.99/gallon milk is often made of powdered milk, is ultra-pasteurized (kills every.thing.), they add the vitamins back in, and the cows never see the sunshine or are treated properly. Whoops, I bored you again didn't I? Sorry ;)

Homemade butter with a food processor or blender & with a stand mixer
Homemade yogurt in a yogurt maker (the crockpot recipe was a bust :(
Homemade sour cream & homemade cream cheese

I've got my eye on a few used yogurt makers on eBay and may stop by the thrift stores tomorrow to see if I can find one.

We go through a 1/2 gallon of yogurt, 16oz of sour cream, 1lb of butter, and 8oz of cream cheese a week. That's on top of the 4-5 gallons of milk we drink. The milk costs $5/gallon (my 10th gallon is FREE and I've already recieved 2 free gallons). The 1/2 gallon of yogurt is $4.89, the sour cream is $2.89, the butter is $2.50 and the cream cheese is $3.00. None of these are organic or all-natural because we can't afford it. It bothers me when we can't buy organic for something we eat so frequently. So, the above recipes and the yogurt maker will ease my mind and certainly taste better :)

One mama's adventure in "The Compact"

MyFitnessPal

Happy Birthday

My most favorite find this Saturday

Made in the USA...at the Dollar Tree....whaaaaat?

The garage sale I've been waiting for...

Summer travel budgeting

Thrifting Thursday

AWESOME Heartsy deal today

Go, go, gangbusters GARDEN!

The chicken coop is finished

Gluten Free Strawberry Cupcakes *recipe inside*

All my Fred Meyer Mamas...this is for you!

Tired of being different

Today's chores

More chicken coop progress + we got our chicks!

Why I shop at 2 stores for nearly EVERYTHING

Good Friday

A giveaway over at Homestead Revival...

How are we supposed to celebrate Easter?

Gluten free pound cake recipe

Directions

What are your favorite books to read...

The truth about our modern processed foods

Chicken coop remodeling *lots of pictures*

How much could a cookie have changed?

Need some fellow list making/spreadsheet mamas and papas help

Free shorts for summer...how I did it in 1 minute

Fred Meyer extra coupon = CHEAP shoes

Homeschooling is on the rise

How do you know it's Spring?

I need your help, pretty please

My top 5 tips for taking road trips with kids

Primal week is over...a wrap-up

Recipe: Salty soaked raisins

5 days in...

I love me some Sally Fallon!

Primal carb graph

Primal menu for Feb 14th - 20th

Primal food blogs I like

We're going flour and sugar free

Where to tithe?

Getting my hair cut

Ever wondered how you can tell where your packaged food items are made

Courtesy of BumbleBar on Facebook

How I organized our homeschool stuff for free

Choosing homeschool curriculum

What I decided to buy with my Swagbucks

Quick...hurry...$10 of any $10 order at Doorposts

Do you ever feel bad...

I love Bumblebars and just found a copycat recipe

What shall I buy?

Will Costco save our family more money?

Domestically Divine Homemaking

@ Far Above Rubies

Uh-oh

The Compact 2010 wrap up

My 2011 New Year Resolutions

New Year Food Resolutions

Nordstrom's Rack

Sweet snacks

14 boxes of cereal for $14

December Declutter

An update on the Kinect

How organic is your milk?

Soapy soap soap

A catch-up of sorts

A rough 2 weeks

Synthetic motor oil

Yoke's 50% OFF everything

Twin fitted sheets

A trade off? Your thoughts?

No comment

Reorganizing and buying new things

How to throw a frugal Halloween party

Preserving

Update on Christmas shopping

Fruit Seasons

Autumn baking & cooking

Frugal Homeschool

Gluten Free Strawberry Cupcakes recipe inside

Chicken coop remodeling lots of pictures