I'm here

kind of.

I had a busy week last week and my birthday was this past Friday so I was blessed with a wonderful weekend of celebrating.  I'm exhausted and will get back to posting this week, I promise :)

Monday's most favorite links

This week has been a very good week in the blogosphere.  I've been reading great stuff from a large range of blogs that I follow and here are some of my most favorites...


Keeping your house picked up: New Nostalgia


Which sunscreen: Pure Natural Diva

The new Britax Marathon 70 car seat: Carseat Blog


How to make yogurt: Frugal Granola


Natural sap remover & hand cleaner: Frugal Granola


Homemade strawberry freezer jam: Simple Organic

Another free $10

Kohls must really like my business even though I've only spent a whopping $1.50 or so there. Today I received another $10 gift card in the mail, which brings my 2010 total to $30 worth of free stuff.  So far I've purchased The Hubbs some undies and some undies and a bra for myself.  I'm currently on the hunt for a new bathing suit and may buy one new if I can find one in a long torso with an underwire (a very TALL order).  If not, I'll keep looking on eBay and buy some more undies for The Hubbs :)

Breaking The Compact

I may be breaking The Compact for some of these items.  It may seem petty to some, but I believe in raising awareness for Military Families.  I'm going to get a window cling for myself and one for my father.  He has a big soft spot in his heart for those that serve :)

FREE free FrEe

Yes, I'm talking getting stuff for free!  Around here we don't pay for garbage pickup.  It's too spendy.  Instead we bought a small trailer and The Hubbs takes it about once every 2 months.  I on the other hand am in charge of taking the recycling.  We have three separate LARGE bins; 1 for newspaper, 1 for plastics (think TONS of milk jugs) and 1 for glass and tin cans.  The milk jugs always fill up the fastest because we go through 4-5 gallons a week.  I end up going about once every month and can fit all three bins in the back of my Montero Sport.

The recycling section at our "dump" has a chemicals area and you can take anything that has been donated for FREE.  Last month I scored a 4/5 full 5-gallon bucket of latex primer.  The Hubbs is a painter, so he's using it on homes when needed.  Today I recycled everything and meandered over there and found 4 gallons of interior paint.  I got 1 gallon of Sherwin Williams (the brand The Hubbs uses) Promar 200, 2 gallons of Behr and 1 gallon of Ralph Lauren.  The colors aren't the greatest, but surely I or The Hubbs will be able to find a use for them.

Do you recycle?  What items do you find yourself recycling the most?

Cashing In...

If you're not aware of Swagbucks and you want free money, than I hope you'll click the Swidget 1.0 about SBs on the left and find more information about them.  It's a search engine, just like Google, but you get awarded with SwagBucks and then you can cash them in for goods/gift cards/etc.  I just cashed in 2250 SBs for $25 in Amazon e-gift cards. 


What should I buy?  I'm thinking of body care stuff, but I'm really just stumped.  I'm obviously limited to what I can buy since I can't buy much stuff new...

Sherbet recipes

Since I've gotten our ice cream maker recently we've made 2 batches in 2 days.  First we made a Lemon Buttermilk recipe Karen sent me and it was out of this world.  Dave isn't a citrus man when it comes to sweets, but he really enjoyed it!

Lemon Buttermilk Sherbet

*serves 4*

2 cups buttermilk
1 cup sugar
1/4 fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp lemon zest

2 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk together all ingredients in a bowl and chill until cold.  Place in frozen ice cream maker and turn on for about 20-25 minutes.  Remove sherbet from ice cream maker and place in freezer safe bowl and place a piece of freezer paper/wax paper on top and then put the lid on.  Freeze for up to 1 week or at least 1-2 hrs and EAT!

Strawberry Sherbet  *any soft fruit will do: cherries (pitted), raspberries, blackberries, peaches etc*

*serves 8*

3 cups whole milk
1 cup cream
1 1/4 cups strawberries (homegrown or farmer's markets are best)
1.5 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract

Mash the strawberries and sugar in a large bowl to your desired consistency.  Add milk, cream and vanilla and mix until well blended.  Add to the frozen ice cream bowl and let it mix for 20-25 mins.  Remove sherbet from ice cream maker and place in freezer safe bowl and place a piece of freezer paper/wax paper on top and then put the lid on.  Freeze for up to 1 week or at least 1-2 hrs and EAT!

Mint Chocolate Sherbet

*serves 8*

3 cups whole milk
1 cup cream
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tsp peppermint extract/essential oil (or mash 2-3 mint leaves into a paste)
1 Tbsp vanilla extract

Mix the cocoa powder and sugar.  Add milk, cream, vanilla and peppermint and mix until well blended.  Add to the frozen ice cream bowl and let it mix for 20-25 mins.  Remove sherbet from ice cream maker and place in freezer safe bowl and place a piece of freezer paper/wax paper on top and then put the lid on.  Freeze for up to 1 week or at least 1-2 hrs and EAT!