Christmas Ideas from Christmas past.

Past posts for Christmas ideas when I participated in the Online Christmas Party.

Online Christmas Party - all of my posts

The Ongoing, Never ending Online Christmas Party!

2007

2008

2009

Book Review

I really enjoyed A Place to Belong: Out of Our Comfort Zone and Into God's Adventure, by Lisa Troyer. As a woman who has few friends this book felt like a friend to me. As I was reading it I did feel accepted, affirmed, called to accountability and action. I’ve said for years that true fellowship can only happen where there is true transparency. I feel this is were the church is lacking today. I feel people want to be accepted so much that they fear the judgment of others so they live a pretend life to have the illusion of acceptance. Once we as a church STOP comparing ones walk with another, and actually offer encouragement and support, instead of gossip and withdrawal, we will see true fellowship and church growth.

Wallowing in the past doesn’t help anyone, it certainly doesn’t make one more “holy”. God is gracious to forgive, heal and forget, and we need to do the same. Once you have the Lord’s forgiveness, thank Him for it and move on. Stop dragging the dead with you.

I received this book from B&B MEdia group in exchange for my honest review.

Book Review

Sunrise on the Battery by Beth Webb Hart looked promising. I thought the concept had the makings of a good story. I was left disappointed. The jumping from character to character made a hard read. Just when I really got into the story line of a character and thought I was getting somewhere, the author would switch characters. I really didn’t enjoy the backstory of South Carolina, seemed sort of irrelevant to the story for me. This book doesn’t make me want to search out more from this author.

I received this book from B&B MEdia group in exchange for my honest review.

Cyber Monday!

Black Friday books are still available until midnight.

New books listed for Cyber Monday! Don't miss these great titles!

Don't forget to check out the November Customer Specials to save even more!

Black Friday Sale!

A book is a gift that will be opened again and again! Who is on your shopping list this year? Shop the Black Friday is Book Friday Sale this weekend and fill your cart with Usborne and Kane Miller favorites for less.

Why give books as gifts?

Books can take you places (for a minimal investment), give you memories that will last for a lifetime and provide hours of surprise, escape and discovery.

Visit our Black Friday is Book Friday Sale website first thing Friday morning (sale starts at midnight). There are limited quantities of many of the titles, you won't want to miss it.

Usborne and Kane Miller favorites, such as One Night in the Zoo, Wind-up Pirate Ship, Conspiracy 365: January, Hannah's Winter and See Inside Space are just a few of the titles that will be available at amazing discounts. Additional titles will be added for Cyber Monday specials!

And, a little something for you . . .

. . . when you spend $60 or more (before tax and shipping), you'll receive our Exclusive Usborne Books & More eco-tote FREE! Sturdy, reusable bag measures 12.625"(W) x 13"(H) x 8.75"(G).

Black Friday is Book Friday Sale starts on Friday, November 25 at 12 a.m. and runs through Monday, November 28th at midnight.

Christmas School

Time to start planning your Christmas School this year!

Check out my posts about Christmas School in our home for ideas and links to great Christmas units studies, advent studies, notebooking and lapbooking freebies.

Hospitality Planner

Plan your holiday gatherings, from theme to dessert all on one page.

Click to download-Hospitality Sheet

My Cup Overflows

I am thankful that I am justified by faith.

Romans 5:1 THEREFORE, SINCE we are justified (acquitted, declared righteous, and given a right standing with God) through faith, let us [grasp the fact that we] have [the peace of reconciliation to hold and to enjoy] peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). ~Amplified Bible

3 simple lapbook elements for a thankful lapbook

My Cup Overflows

I am thankful of the fruit I see developing in my family.

My Cup Overflows

I am thankful for my helpful daughters. They are a joy and a blessing daily.

Weekly Menu

Roasted chicken

Hamburger Helper

Pasta

Pork chops

Pizza

My Cup Overflows

I am thankful the abundance of food my family is blessed with.

My Cup Overflows

I am thankful that my family gathered around me

to celebrate my birthday!

Happy Birthday to me!

Today is my birthday! My mom and gramma came over yesterday with supper and lemon cream pie! mmm-mmm. Today after church I opened my gifts from my family and Lindy took us out to Olive Garden for supper. It was a good day.

My Cup Overflows

I am thankful that my brother is cancer free!

My Cup Overflows

I am thankful for the blessing of my friends.

They encourage me, inspire me, & teach me.

My Cup Overflows

Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.

Psalm 30:4

My Cup Overflows

Count your Blessings,

Name them one by one,

Count Your many Blessings

And see what God has done!

This year my little "theme" is My Cup Overflows. In the spirit of my theme I have an empty glass candle jar that will soon overflow with our blessings.

Each family member is writing a daily blessing or something they are thankful for on the colored slips of paper. They are folded and placed in the jar. More than one daily blessing is encouraged.

Soon we will have a visual idea of just how many blessings we have everyday. On Thanksgiving we will take turns pulling them out and reading them during our meal.

My Cup Overflows

I am thankful for my gift of free salvation through My Lord Jesus Christ.

My Cup Overflows

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:57

Image(s) courtesy VintageHolidayCrafts.com

Thanksgiving Remembrances

Last year's daily Thanksgiving remembrances. Join me this year, starting November 1!

Menu planning

Baked Chicken

soup or chili

mexican chicken casserole

pasta

pizza

FAR Planning

Printing a list of projects for Emilie to complete last year didn't work so well for her. She needed more set deadlines and a daily task list rather then 5-8 printed pages and "get going" instructions.

So this year I changed things up. It works well for us. Emilie and Olivia still get to choose their projects but I make the daily assignment lists.

Step by Step:

1. I print out each unit as I need it and put in in it’s own 3 prong folder.

2. I color code each mini unit.

3. Each daughter goes through one mini unit at a time marking what projects she wants to do with initial.

4. Then I go through each mini unit and determine if I have the resources, can get the resources, or substitute a different resource.

5. Then I make a list of each project in each mini unit for each daughter. Then I make the decision how many days each project will take, and which week it will be done, whether week 1 or week 2.

6. Then I make out daily assignment cards. For the projects that will take several days I will put how many days they have to work on it, and each consecutive day how many days remain.

7. Each daughter has her own mini index card binder, at the end of each day they turn in the day’s card which is then filed.

Falling Behind!

Happy Fall Ya'll

WOW! It's been a long time since I've been active here. We have started school, Emilie and Olivia are both doing Far Above Rubies. Bella is doing Learning Adventures. I'll post more about school later as the "sisters" ( Emilie and Olivia) need to use the computer for school research.

Menu for the week:

*Cowboy Soup

Hot Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Pasta

Hamburgers

Pizza

* I got this recipe from my mother in law. My husband and Bella made this last year when I was sick and I have since lost the recipe card so what follows is totally by memory.

1# ground meat browned

chopped onion to taste ( I use 1/4- 1/2 cup of onion)

1 can ranch beans ( I use whatever beans I have in the house tonight will be black beans)

1 can corn *UNDRAINED*

1 package of taco seasoning

1 can tomato soup

1 can "rotel" tomatoes and chilies

I honestly can't remember if it is 2 cans of corn and 2 cans of soup. Use your own judgement.

Anyhow, nice on a Fall/Winter day, served with warm corn bread.

*********update*********

well I used spicy tomato sauce instead of tomato soup and didn't add the rotel as I didn't have any. I did add some leftover beefstew, and a can of water. Bella made cornbread. It was really good.

Book Review- Still More Stories!

Grandma’s Attic Books 3-4

I was so glad to discover that the Grandma Attic series continues with 2 more books.

These books are fun to read either aloud to your children as short bedtime stories or read alones. Since these books are actually a collection of short stories, they are perfect for narration. Arleta Richardson has a warm story telling style that is as cozy as grandma's lap.

These books follow some more fun adventures of Mabel as a little girl, her adventures become lessons in honesty, patience and manners.

A favorite story is about the “slop-tot” Mabel. This story teaches the need to be aware of what one is doing while eating in order to avoid embarrassment.

I really love these books, great books to share with your children and pass down to grandchildren.

Thank you B & B Media for the review copies in exchange for my honest reveiw.

Penmanship?

It seems like with the age of keyboards handwriting doesn't seem necessary. But like scissor cutting, it helps coordinate/organize the brain, and helps with overall small muscle development. Because it is a much more physical way to get information on paper, that information is more readily/easily stored and recalled.

Also not always, but I have found messy handwriting can be a discipline issue in other areas as well. Sloppy work, messy rooms, not focusing on task at hand, rushing to get done, chores not done completely or properly, you get the picture.

Another note of interest a couple years ago a friend stated about need to be able to read/write cursive so one would have the ability to read historical original documents for self rather than have to take the word of some "educated" persons for what is says. I had never thought of that before.

Do I have children with great penmanship? No, not at all. I wish I had spent more time with the skill/discipline of handwriting.

Missing Link?

I was asked the question recently about having more fun in the day. Here is what I shared with my friend.

"I'll share what I see in my kids and see if maybe it might be your missing link.

My girls have a lot of "head knowledge" as far as Bible, but we are lacking in the outward doing. We have because "fat on the Word" as Joyce Meyer says, lots of hearing but not a lot of doing. So we are going to take some steps of faith, smalls one cause my girls are so timid, to do things for the Lord. Last week we ( Emilie, Olivia, and me) took a quiz to find out spiritual gifting and areas of ministry. Emilie scored super high in Encourager. Olivia was high in Proclaimer. I was high in teacher.

Emilie wants to have friendships, she enjoys encouraging others but, lacks the boldness to talk in Sunday School and Youth Group. ( you could prayer for them in this area if you feel lead) So I'm having her start a "card ministry". Each week she is to pick a girl she knows, write them a notecard and pray for them. She has just started with her first card this week. I'm praying the girls she reaches out too are blessed and accepting of her outreach. I know this sounds so tiny that it seems unimportant, but it is a big thing for Emilie to put her faith out there to be accepted. She has been "burned" several times by "Christian" girls in the area of friendship. It makes me cry.

Olivia likes and is talented in doing things on the computer. I plan on having her make inspirational "slide shows"( aka powerpoint) for church.

Our church is doing a new thing during quarterly Business meetings, the kids are sharing their talents with the church for the glory of the Lord. Last time there was singing, piano playing, and scripture reading & memorization. Olivia did a slide show with music with the pictures of Jr Camp and High School camp. We just posted those on FB, I think they will be shown at the next business meeting. I'd like her to do more with this as well, like some Psalms. Emilie enjoys writing poetry so I'm thinking they might work together on something like this.

Often our church lets the young people play the offertory music. Bella will be doing that.

I'm the leader of the girls ministry at church called Faithgirls. I'm teaching homemaking skills and trying to find ways to use them to minster to others. So this fall we are learning to crochet. We are collecting plastic shopping bags and will be crocheting them into sleeping mats for women in Uganda, and I hope we get enough for do some for the local homeless too.

The book Start Here, Doing Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris (former homeschoolers ) and their first book Do Hard Things, which I don't have yet, has really inspired me in this area. I'm praying that soon the girls will think of their own "hard things" to do for the Lord.

Doing hard things/ministry doesn't mean no fun. Sometimes if might be scary at first as the comfort zone gets stretched. But then the once hard thing becomes an easy thing, and then you can stretch your tent a little bigger. Is 54:2 "Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes."

So I guess I'm writing all this for you to ask yourself is it really "fun" you think your missing, but practical ministry opportunities to do together with the knowledge, talents/gifts you and your family has. You might be surprised what ideas they dream up."

Dealing with leftovers

I like to find creative ways to deal with leftovers rather than just reheating them.

I bought 4 whole chickens on sale. I cooked and deboned 2 of them, divided all the meat into 4 ziplock bags for later use. I also divided and froze the chicken broth. I roasted one chicken and froze the other for roasting later.

So dealing with leftovers....
I had 2 different containers of leftover mac and cheese. I made a chicken sauce, with 2 cups broth, thickened with 4 TB flour. I added the leftover mac and cheese and a package of the deboned chicken, & frozen peas. Topped with buttered cornflakes. Baked at 350 for 20 minutes.

Other add ins could be chopped pimentos, mushrooms, mixed vegs, extra cheese.

Ask yourself

Before posting, messaging, or emailing ask yourself-

"Is it true? Is it helpful? Is it encouraging? Is it building? Is it something I would want sent to me? Is it something I would be ashamed of and need/want to hide? Is it something Jesus would write or read?"

I have this posted on each of our computers to remind us that even online we represent Christ.

Coupon Organization

I've gone from binder to box, back to binder and now I'm back in a box.

The binder is very time consuming to maintain, so I when to a box, but the kind I had the top wouldn't always be secure so it flipped over twice in parking lots. So I went back to a binder, but then I got 3 weeks behind in clipping coupons and knew I sure didn't want to have to fill that binder.

So I read *this* about how one gal organized her coupons in a Caboodle makeup case.

I bought my Caboodle today and have all my coupons transfered. I like that it zips shut, has little pockets for a calculator, pens, and scissors, and clips and room for my wallet. I can just stick it in and take it in any store and not feel so stupid lugging a binder. The box fits nicely in the cart too.

Here is Crystal from Money Saving Mom, showing her coupon box.

Here is another coupon box.

Menu June 20-24

Chicken tacos- chicken in crockpot with Pace sauce, and extra spices.

Hamburgers, chips, apple sauce, some sort of veg.

Grilled Smoked Sausage, potato salad, baked beans, fruit

Roasted Chicken, rice and veg

Pizza

Taco Seasoning Mix

6 tsp chili powder

4 1/2 tsp cumin

5 tsp. paprika

3 tsp onion powder

2 1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper

Mix all the ingredients and store in an airtight container. I just use an empty spice shaker bottle. This is pretty strong in flavor, use wisdom when using this substitute in place of prepackaged seasoning mix.

Transform Leftovers

Mac & Cheese leftovers stay leftovers in my house. No one wants to eat it, I don't really blame them, leftover boxed Mac & Cheese needs a lot of help.

I make Macaroni Salad with my leftovers.

Just add Miracle Whip/Mayo

chopped onion and green/red peppers

I've been known to make this macaroni salad fresh when I'm in a pinch and need to take something to a summer potluck or picnic.

Summer Movie Clubhouse

All 10 movies can be purchased in advance for $5.00, or can be purchased separately at the box office for $1.00 per show. $5 Series punch cards are limited and are now available only at the theatre box office while supplies last. Admission with a series punch card is limited to one person per card per movie, and valid only at the theatre where purchased.

All films that have been selected are rated either G or PG.

Click HERE for details.

Gramma's Ice Cream

3/4 cup sugar

2 TB flour

1/4 tsp. salt

2 cups milk

cook over low heat until thicken

Temper 2 beaten eggs, then add to the above "pudding"

cool then add 2 cups heavy cream 1 1/2 tsp vanilla.

ready for your ice cream maker.

For a "carmel" flavor ice cream, use brown sugar instead of white.

My Provider

I practice stockpile moderation. For *me* the desire to have more, more, more, becomes overwhelming at times. Envy and even jealousy can rear their ugly heads. For me it has become a spiritual discipline to not spend/get something just because I *can* if I already have plenty. Do I really need another body wash when I have 15 already? Do I know someone who needs it? Will I even actually give it away, or will it just be stockpiled with good intentions? These are questions I have to ask myself. Sometimes I do get anxious about skipping good deals, "what if I can't get it again? what if I will have to actually go without for while?" But *I* have to remind myself that the Lord has always provided for my family in the past, we have never gone hungry, had dirty clothes, or had body odor. :) He is/and does continue to provide for us, I don't need to get worried, if I miss the good deal or choose to skip a good deal. Yes, using coupons is being wise, stockpiling is also being wise, but *I* have to remind myself that it is always the Lord who is ultimately providing.

Image from lanitaslegacy.blogspot.com/2010/09/jehovah-jireh.html

Money Saving Meal

Tonight we had chicken tacos/fajitas

chicken .77¢ pound

green bell pepper .50¢

taco shells .60¢

cheese .99¢

salsa free

torillias free

sour cream free

onion forgot price

Leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Menu planning

By shopping sales *and* combining/using coupons I have a small stockpile started. My menus are based around what I have in my stockpile and what is on sale.

*Beef Lo Mein- sale $3.00

*Chopped chicken BBQ sandwiches-chicken .77¢ pound, KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce .78¢

*Homemade pizza

*Hamburgers-extra lean ground beef sale $2.88 pound + it was marked down an additional $3.00 per package since it was 9pm.

*Buffalo Chicken Lasagna-Bella's birthday supper-chicken .77¢ pound, Franks Hot Wing sauce used 1/.55¢ got it for $2.33. ( Not a super good price, but it is for Bella's birthday supper.) Spaghetti sauce from my stockpile.

Mother's Day!

My husband cooked breakfast for me, and then my family made dinner. Bella gave me a pedicure and Emilie brushed my hair. Very nice to be pampered. I'm so blessed with a wonderful family!

Taco Rice

This is an excellent way to stretch ground meat for tacos, burritos, nachos or taco salad.

1 pound ground meat ( beef, *chicken or turkey)

1 cup diced onion

1 package taco seasoning

16 oz canned tomatoes

2 cups cooked rice, brown or white

Brown meat and drain. Combine meat, onion, seasoning, rice and tomatoes in saucepan, simmer until thick, about 30 minutes.

Use anywhere you would use taco meat.

*I've also made this with cooked shredded chicken too.

Yearly grocery sales cycles

January- diet foods, super bowl snack foods, oatmeal, chili, soups, soda

February- canned food, hot foods such as waffles and oatmeal, dog food, chocolate, Chinese food

March-frozen food: dinners, waffles, ice cream, veggies, etc. Easter items go on sale too depending on when the holiday falls such as eggs ham, etc.

April- other years you’ll get your Easter items here: eggs, ham, candy, sugar, cookies, Jewish foods, also Earth Day promotions for organic foods.

May- Summer kickoff begins: BBQ items, hot dogs, hamburger, condiments, produce, grilling items such as charcoal, outdoor items such as sunscreen & allergy meds.

June- National Dairy Month: milk eggs, cheese, butter, yogurt, ice cream, etc. Father’s Day promotions including BBQ items, grilling meats

July- even better BBQ sales: grilling meats condiments, chips, bread products, produce, ice cream, baked beans etc.

August- Back to School: breakfast bars, cereals, Kellogg’s promotions, Lunchables, juice boxes, snack items, peanut butter, jelly, and school supplies, many years ago (like 24) I worked at Walmart and feminine hygiene products seemed to be a back to school item, double packs. Along with make-up & deodorant, and shampoo

September- back to school continues: pasta, pasta sauce, tomatoes, and baby items such as diapers, creams, feeding products, etc.

October- Candy chocolate, pumpkins, and fall baking items.

November- Thanksgiving items: turkeys, stuffing, sweet potatoes, pies, and marshmallows, canned vegs, hot cocoa, oatmeal, soups, baking

December- Holiday baking and dinner items; frozen rolls, green beans, potatoes, cream soups, ham, butter, flour, bread, pie crusts, turkeys


information gathered from The Power of Coupons by Sarah Roe.
Excellent book, highly recommend it.

weekly Menu plan

Roasted Chicken

Beef Roll Ups

Chicken Divan*

Tacos

Pizza

* Chicken Divan

5 cooked Chicken Breasts ( I usually don't cook the chicken before hand, I throw it in frozen)

2 pkgs chopped broccoli

Sauce: 4 TB milk, 4TB chicken broth, 2 tsp. lemonjuice, 1/2 cup mayonnaise ( I have used Miracle Whip no problems), 2 cans of cream of chicken soup ( or 1 chicken soup and 1 cream of celery soup)

Place broccoli in 9x13 pan chicken on top, cover with sauce and parmessan cheese, bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Freebie

From RIGHT NOW until midnight tonight (EST) you can get 31 Days to Clean – Having a Martha House the Mary Way FREE just by using the hashtag #31daystoclean in a tweet and linking to 31daystoclean.com OR by blogging about the ebook!

Click HERE for details.

Book Review

The Grandma's Attic Series, by Arleta Richardson is a wonderful set of short stories as told by Grandma Mabel to her granddaughter, Arleta. These funny and heartwarming stories are about Mabel's adventures growing up on a farm in Michigan. These stories also present Biblical truths is a very engaging way making it easy for children to grasp and making them excellent stories to practice "narration."

These books are part of the Sonlight homeschooling curriculum Core K, Core B&C, & Core C

These stories have been a favorite of my daughters over the years.

Thank you B & B Communications for these review copies in exchange for my honest review.

One of those weeks

It's going to be one of those busy weeks, with something everyday which will make me feel as if I've done nothing.

Monday- Monday Night Moms

Tuesday- Faithgirls

Wednesday- AWANA

Thursday- Monthly Ladies Meeting

Friday- driving my Gramma to Corsicana

Saturday- The Fuse garage sale

Sunday- church anniversary potluck

Menus for the week-

BBQ meatballs, leftover scalloped potatoes, green beans

lemon chicken

Hamburger Helper

spicy chicken strips

pizza

He's Alive!

It's Friday

Money, Menus and shopping.

So Emilie and Olivia needed some summer clothes. So I decided to split my remaining grocery budget money in half to spend one weeks of grocery money on shorts and other wardrobe items. It was $120.

Olivia got a shirt that was on clearance for $5, and a pair of denim shorts $20! EEEKKK, she likes plain denim nothing froufrou with embroidery. So I asked if we could just get some $10 jeans at WM or Target and cut them off? She was fine with that. Scored some on clearance for $9 and a pair of pajama pants for $3.00

Emilie got a pair of $9 clearance jeans for shorts too. I got the girls 3 bras on clearance at Target, and we ate at Chick-Fil-A.

Then we went to to Albertsons, where I got 3 Crystal Lights, 3# apples, 4# Land O' Lakes Butter, and 1 pineapple. Stopped by the bread store and got 2 loafs bread and a package of cinnamon rolls for $2.00.

At the end of the day I had $27 dollars left to round out a menu plan for next week. I got a roast, carrots, bananas, lunch-meat, store brand "Ritz" crackers, corn chips, pretzels, cereal, and toilet paper. I had coupons for the cereal, that doubled that made it only .99¢, a coupon for the lunch meat, coupon for the toilet paper, and I got a free roasted chicken. So at Brookshires I only spent $24.00, $3 left for milk later in the week.

So here are our meals for the next week,

Chicken Nachos

Roast

Poppy Seed Chicken

Tacos

something else chicken

homemade pizza

I sew like I cook. I read the directions and then do my own thing. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

Everything's Coming Up Roses

My roses are really doing well.

Weekly Menu plan

Cheesy Chicken Cups

BBQ Chicken

Grilled Chicken sandwiches

Spaghetti

Pizza

Lots of chicken this week, I've gotten a lot of good sales on chicken the last 2 weeks so stocked up. I'm hoping to avoid grocery shopping this week for next week (except for milk and bread) so I can use that money to buy some shorts and pajamas for Olivia, and shorts for Emilie.

Saving Money

In my quest to help my husband, I am doing all I can to get quality and quanity of good food for our pantry and freezer. I've been doing pretty good, not to the extreme as those on Extreme Couponing but I'm staying under our monthly grocery budget, which for us includes HBA, paper products, and dog food.

My week so far: Dollar General- 2 body washs, 4 toothbrushes, 1 box envelopes- spent $7.31/Saved $5.00
Super 1- 2 3# bag chicken breasts, 3 boxes poptarts-spent 10.98/saved $14.90
Albertsons- 4 pastas, Mircle whip, eggs, Dryers Ice cream, 4 Red Baron Pizzas, 2 kraft cheese, 3 limes, 2 cantaloupes, 2# green beans, 2# apples-spent $24.48/saved $29.72
WAGS-BOGO large bottle multip vits, One a Day multip vit, BOGO vit C-spent $24.97/saved $28.98 got a raincheck for Purex
current spending $67.74/saved $78.60
still have WM and Brookshires

Food and flowers

Today's stuff

Supper in Crock-Pot

Roasted chicken in the crock pot.

paprika, kosher salt, black pepper, poultry seasoning,

lemon zest, juice of lemon, celery seed, ground cloves

(sounds weird I know but tastes really good with chicken)

Azaleas are blooming

Changed out wreath to spring flowers

Decorated living room for Easter.

I've also mopped the kitchen, and cleaned the oven.

Budget & Menu

Last week I spent- $113.54/Saved- $111.09. This includes HBA stockup products, toilet paper. The hamburger that I'm using this week was bought on sale back in January. I love the "pantry principle." Stocking up on items while on sale. Then making your weekly menu from the stock you've bought at low prices.

Saturday- hamburgers

Sunday- pork chops

Monday- Chicken spaghetti for the family I'm going to Monday Night Moms for soup and salad.

taco soup or chili

roast chicken

stroganoff meatballs

pizza-homemade

In the Kitchen

Oven Chicken Fajitas-I just threw frozen chicken breasts in the oven with a package of fajita seasoning and about 1/2 cup water and frozen peppers and onions mix. It cooked for an hour and then I just shredded the chicken.

Have I put pictures of our stock on here before?
shelves next to freezer in laundry room.

Big cabinet above washing machine. Lots more room here!

Plus I have a closet pantry in the kitchen, mostly canned goods, flour, sugar, drink mixes, it's running low right now.

Shopping list for the week:

Walgreens-

Coffee-mate-q

Dove products-q

Ban deodorant-q

Speedstick deo-q

Colgate toothpast-q

Bic Razors-q

Charmin-q

Target-

2 Purex Crystals-q

2 Clorax wipes-q

1 Soft Scrub-q

Albertsons-

2 Red Baron Pizzas

1 KC Masterpiece-q

1 A1 steak Sauce-q

1 Simply Orange juice-q

2 Kraft Cheese-q

3 Grands biscuits-q

McCormick Jerk seasons-q

free gallon milk

Brookshires-

2 bags chicken breast-q

pork chops

mission torillas

3 poptarts-q

Family Dollar-

Delmonte Canned Vegs

Barilla pasta if they carry it.

Endust-

$5 store coupon when purchase $25

wonderful time

We had a wonderful 4 days with my mom in Austin, Texas. It was very relaxing for me. Anytime I'm not in charge of cooking is relaxing. Don't get me wrong I like to cook most the time, but it is the thinking about what to cook all the time that isn't all that great. So anyway, we enjoyed ourselves. The girls spent time in the woods and Bella loved on the dogs. We did a mosaic project, and looked at model homes, shopped at World Market and hit a bookstore.

Bluebonnets on the way home.

Tonight is the monthly Faith Ladies meeting. We are having a friend of mine come teach us about extreme couponing. I've been couponing since January. I have seen a big difference in my budget, and my stock, which we affectionately call "the store."

Monday Night Moms Bible Study is going well, we are doing a study called Sacred Parenting.

Started my garden last week. I turned over nearly all of my little plot, and was sore for 3 days. I could hardly move. I planted 6 tomatoes so far. I still have some cucumbers, and a pepper plant. I'd like some green beans, and I'd really like to try Strawbale Gardening.