and the winner is....

Congratulations to #5 Elisabeth! Your Jiffy Lube gift card will be arriving soon.

Giveaway

Only a couple more hours to enter the giveaway posted here! Enter for your chance to win a $35 Jiffy Lube gift card. I got mine this week. I'm glad because I'm really overdue for an oil change AND our AC needs to be recharged! A winner will be announced this afternoon. Enter now!

Resource Review- Jam it, Pickle it, Cure it

I love looking at cook books. Seeing all the pretty pictures of food. Thinking about what it would be like to eat that yummy food. But I rarely actually try a new recipe. We stick with our favorites and slight variations on them. If I do want to try a new recipe, I generally opt for the children's books! The recipes are easy to follow and I usually have all the ingredients on hand.

I've recently discovered a book entitiled "Jam it, Pickle it, Cure it" by Karen Solomon. The twelve chapters in this book will give you different methods of making your own foods and preserving them. Each recipe comes with very clear instructions, including the time involved for the project and prep ahead instructions. But not just recipes are included in this book. There are reference pages that will give you direction in how to can produce, how to smoke meat on your grill, and how to make your own cheese press!

The big question when starting on make it yourself project is if there is actually a cost savings. I've done some rough calculating before starting many projects and have discovered that the answer's not easy. Making something myself is generally less expensive than the comparable store-bought version, but more expensive than the cheaper products I tend to by. Bread for example. Making a yummy whole wheat bread myself is cheaper than purchasing a high-quality bread from store or bakery, but it is time consuming. However, I usually buy cheaper bread at a discount bread store, and that is much less expensive and less time consuming! Since the quality of that bread is fine, that's what I usually do! If you buy your products in bulk or on sale, that also reduces your home-making costs. Ultimately, I'll try just about anything once or twice, as long as there isn't a huge expense of equipment. And if it's fun and much better, we'll keep doing it!

Canning is a whole other ball-game. There's an initial expense in equipment (or you can try freecycle, which is how I got dozens of jars for free!) and using a large pasta pot will work for the water bath method while you're trying to figure it out. Canning produce from your garden or homemade jam is a great way to feed your garden goodies to your family throughout the year. It also makes great gifts. Think about it. Everyone would look at you funny if you gave your child's teacher a can of green beans as a Christmas gift. But if it's green beans you canned from your garden with a pretty bow on it, suddenly it's a great gift!

If you're looking for a book that will show you how to make marshmallows, or your own ravioli, I highly recommend "Jam it, Pickle it, Cure it." Let me know what you think!

Vehicle Maintenance and GIVEAWAY

Where do you get most of your savings? Do you count on your grocery budget to maximize your monthly savings? Or do you also shop thrift stores for clothes, buy floor models for appliances and furniture, and shut lights off when you're not in the room? All of these are great ways to save money. Another way to save money is by spending a little. It's true! Routine maintenance costs money. But we still wash our clothes and have our coats drycleaned. We spend money on putting in a garden bed because it's fun and we'll get yummy strawberries. And we need to give our vehicles proper maintenance, as well. 


Sometimes it irritates me to bring in the van for an oil change when there's nothing else wrong with it, but I know it's paying off in the long run because our eight year old van has over 100,000 miles and has never had any issues. Spending the money on an oil change a few times a year is much better than spending a LOT of money on a major repair. It saves a lot of stress associated with having our primary vehicle in the shop, too! Well, did you know that April is National Car Care Month? It is! And I should totally take our van in for it's over-due oil change.

That's why I was so excited when My Blog Spark and Shell Lubricants offered me a $35 Jiffy Lube gift card to get my oil changed. Apparently April is also National Informed Women Month. What do you know about your car? I for one, have never even popped the hood of our van! If we had a flat tire, I wouldn't even be able to tell a kind Samaritan stopping to help where the tire changing stuff is stored.


Well stop by www.motoroilmatters.com and take a little quiz to test your motor oil knowledge. (I scored 6 out of 7) While you're there take a look around learn something new about your car's oil. Come back and tell me about it, and you could win a $35 gift card too! That's right, I get to give away one free oil change to a lucky reader! Here's how you can enter (please post a SEPARATE comment for EACH entry)


1. Earn one entry for visiting the Motor Oil Matters website and learning something new. What misconception was laid to rest? What's something that surprised you? What did you learn?


2. Earn an extra entry for being a follower/subscriber to my blog (links on right-hand side of page)


3. Earn a third entry for blogging or posting this contest in another format, leave a link and let me know!


The winner will be selected at noon on April 30th. Good luck!

Resource Review- House Works

Do you know how to clean your house, I mean really clean your house? Or are you and your family up to your eyeballs in piles of paper and heaps of toys? Do you roll your eyes at people who dust their ceiling fans because that is the least of your worries? Me too! I think I'm cleaning-impaired. I know I need help. I have loved utilizing the methods from Sink Reflections in my life and have seen some amount of success over the past couple of years.

House Works by Cyntia Ewer is a great resource for any home, but especially those who have trouble in the cleaning area. The brightly colored pictures inspire me to raise my standards. The before and after pictures of clutter areas help to see how it can be done. There are lists for things to include in your pantry and how long typical items are good for. My personal favorite is the step by step instructions for folding a fitted sheet! With pictures and everything!

Ms Ewer starts the book by examining different clutter personalities. Everyone has stuff that can't bare to get rid of, but do you know why you keep it in your house? I have learned that I am a combination of the hoarder and the perfectionist. Knowing this about myself and having some tips on how to combat my natural tendencies, I will hopefully be able to more thoroughly rid my home and life of the clutter. This first section includes tips for organizing your home, instruction on how to clean like a pro, and a chapter devoted to helping you maintain a structure for ensuring these jobs are done.

The second half of the book takes you through some of the biggies of our home- food, clothing, paperwork, and more. Everything starts with a plan. What is that you actual need and use? What's the best method for storing the items in your home? How do you keep it from becoming cluttered again? All of these questions are answered in a simple logical format. Each page is one tip or idea and makes it so easy to flip through the book and pick one thing to implement today.

I started reading this book last week and have been struck by one particular phrase. "Things should be harder to take out than they are to put away." This will revolutionize the way I think about storage. If it's difficult to take something out family members (especially kids) won't take it out unless they really want it. If it's easy to put away, then clean up is a snap! I'll be going through the kids' rooms and things and keeping this principle in mind as I reorganize their storage space. I'm thinking this will be a useful principle to apply to my desk space, as well!

Has the spring cleaning bug bitten you, yet? What's a space in your home that's a cleaning or organizational nightmare?

Mine is the kids' clothes. We have two dressers packed to the gills for the four kids, and no space for another dresser once the baby moves into their room. The closet is used for out of season, out of size clothing storage with some hanging space reserved for the girls' dresses. Any tips or suggestions for me?

Spring Has Sprung

With spring comes sunshine and beautiful flowers. Open windows and a desire to clean. That's what I've been doing these past two weeks. How about you? I feel like I could be cleaning all day every day and not really make much progress. It takes almost all of my energy just to maintain our household, let alone add in some closet cleaning and pile dumping. But I'm tired of the clutter and ready to get it out of my house. And I wanted it done yesterday.

My kids are good helpers for a little while, but eventually they need their attention turned to something else. So, I'm stuck doing most of the work myself while my kids are playing and messing up a recently cleaned up bedroom. I'm reading a new book right now and a phrase keeps popping out at me: "It should be harder to take out than it is to put away." I'm trying to figure out what that means in my home. The example given is to use a tub for books instead of a shelf. Kids need to flip through the stack until the find one they want, then they just slide it back in when done. We have tubs for the kids toys- small ones for cars and wooden blocks and larger ones for kitchen toys and baby dolls. I thought that these were easy enough to put away. Maybe it's hard because they tend to use the blocks to make buildings and roads, then they each have a couple dozen cars and animals out as well. That's a big job to clean up no matter how easy the work is!

I love reading books about cleaning and organizing. My favorite so far has been Sink Reflections. I'm reading another one right now that's looking really good. What are your favorite resources for keeping your home in order? How does your spring cleaning system work? What jobs do you wish you had the time and energy to tackle?

DIY- Raised Garden Bed

While at Sam's Club recently, I saw a kit for making a raised bed garden. It was pretty sophisticated. It had built in trellis pieces that you could raise into place and a pump and sprayer for automatic watering. Even with all those extras, I would not be willing to pay the $150+ that it was priced at. The one without all the accessories was still close to $70. We built our own raised bed this week, and I took pictures just for the purpose of sharing with you! Our cost? A mere $25 for the wood and fill dirt. And a little bit of work for my husband. :)

Raised beds are great for small yards (like ours). Having an area contained for the garden also helps teach the younger children where they're not allowed to walk. The garden is clearly defined and it's not a nebulous line between yard and garden. First, pick a spot to put the garden. We already have one raised bed, and thought we would put the second near it. In fact, there's enough space to do three beds across the back of our lot by the alley, so we'll probably be adding another one next year. Our first bed is 4 ft by 4ft. We've utilized the square foot gardening method for this bed and have managed to have quite a nice salad and salsa garden. The second bed will be home to some transplanted strawberries. Make sure to call your local digging hotline before beginning any work. Expect them to take a week or so to come out and mark things.It's hard to see the flags in the pictures, but where we wanted to dig our garden is about a foot away from the lines.

Building your box is relatively easy. Go to the local lumber store and purchase some 8 foot boards of treated lumber. Saw in half and screw together. Now you've got a square!

Digging up the sod is probably the toughest part of the job. It takes some elbow grease for this part! Put your frame where you want your garden to be and mark out where you need to dig. We reused the orange flags to mark our corners! If it's good weed-free sod, it can be reused in your yard if you have any areas full of weeds to dig up. We have lots of "helpers" for this part of the job. They were mostly on worm rescue!

Once you have your sod out, it's time to put the box in place. Our spot was on a slight incline, so Greg pulled out his level and dug a little more. If the box is nice and level that means you'll have a good level planting area. Water won't pool in one corner or wash away your seedlings.

Next it's time to fill your garden with dirt. We filled ours with a top soil and compost mixture. The top soil was purchased at the store and the compost was free from the dump. Now is a good time to treat your soil if it has any special needs. You can see the stakes put at the corners of the first garden. During the growing season, we wrap chicken wire around the garden to keep the bunnies from eating my lettuce!

Now, you're ready to plant your garden! This box is home to about 20 transplanted strawberries. They've been living in a plastic sack all week. I hope they perk up soon. And I'm really looking forward to fresh strawberries this summer!

The finished product! Just a pile of compost we'll use to fertilize the yard and some sod scraps that we'll use to patch some weedy areas. Now it's time to dig through my seeds to determine what we'll be planting next month. Should I focus on salad or salsa this year?

Shopping One Friday Morning

It was a beautiful morning in Nebraska. One mom and her five children decided to head to the stores. First it was Sam's Club. They climbed on top of the cans of tomato sauce. Ran into other people's cards. They hid behind posts. The lack of free samples gave her nothing to bribe her children with. Luckily, she had a few powdered donuts that had been leftovers at the previous day's MOPS meeting. "If you're good in Hy-Vee, a donut for each of you!" While this mom was digging through her coupons in the yogurt aisle, the kids were poking the eggs. While she was trying to figure out which pop was on sale, they almost knocked over a display of wine. She didn't even make it to frozen foods, instead deciding to check out and be done with it. While she piled the items on the belt, the kids rearranged the candy. Finally, she had enough, "Sit down with your backs on the wall and your hands on your knees." She had been hoping to fit one more store into their morning, but alas it would not be. Amazingly, the man bagging the groceries complimented the behavior of these naughty children of hers. As she paid her bill, she sighed, at least she had gotten some good deals!

HyVee does have some good deals this week. These are the ones I took advantage of. I'm so frazzled that I can't even tell you if these are weekend sale items, or they will be going through Tuesday. If you plan to hit the store on Saturday, you should get these same prices. My total for this transaction was $21.37. I had around 12 dollars in savings from coupons alone! How awesome is that?

4 Dr Pepper 12 packs 4/$10 w/coupon from circular

2 Russet Potatoes $1.18 for 5 lb 

2 Betty Crocker Potatoes 5/$5 used $1/2 MQ from Con Agra booklet

1 Wesson Canola Oil reduced to $2.99 used $1 off MQ from Con Agra booklet

1 Nestle Chocolate Chips at $1.69 with circular coupon also used $.75 coupon (from Nestle Baking Club?)

1 Yoplait Yogurt FREE w/MyBlogSpark coupon

1 Philidelphia Cream Cheese Minis FREE w/First Taste mailer

1 Bunch Celery $.58

1 C&H Sugar $1.88 w/circular coupon used $.50 MQ from online (not sure where I printed this)

2 Blue Bonnet Margarine $.77 each

2 Betty Crocker frosting tubs $.89 each used $1/2 MQ from Con Agra booklet

I hope I have a chance to get to Super Saver this afternoon. It might have to wait until Greg gets home, so we don't have a repeat of our frustrating morning! They have 4 pounds of strawberries for $4.98. Add that to the bananas and blueberries I picked up at Sam's and we'll be enjoying some cheap smoothies. I love spring! Any other good deals this weekend? Let me know!

We Have a Winner

Thanks all for entering the Yoplait giveaway. I got my free yogurt at the grocery store this morning, and wish that I could be the one to eat it. Alas, I got a cherry cobbler for Greg. We'll see how he likes it. The winner of the My Blog Spark Yoplait giveaway is comment number 6- Mrs Rohlf. Congratulations! Once I confirm your address, your package will be on it's way. Don't forget, you can get a coupon for Yoplait yogurt here.

Do It Yourself

I have a hard time spending money. Especially on things that I feel I should be able to do myself. Pay someone to install our new floor? No way! Someone to landscape my yard? My kids can dig a hole, and I can stick a flower in it! It's easy to see how one could save money by doing the bigger projects yourself, but what about the small things? How much money are you paying someone to do some easy, but time consuming tasks? You may not think there any, but if you look at your grocery list, I bet you can find a couple! It's easy to make refried beans and chicken stock for pennies. It's a fun family project to make and can salsa and pesto.

The types of projects I'm thinking about are the ones that women used to do more frequently, things that used to be considered common knowledge. The first time I made refried beans, or canned a jar of pickles, I spent hours at the computer or leafing through library books. It's tough to take the knowledge of the written word and transfer it into a kitchen or garden setting, at least for me! My favorite cookbooks are the ones for children because they include a picture for each step. I'm going to do that for you! I'm not a crafty or handy person, so I figure if I can do these projects, anybody can! On my list of projects to share with you this summer will be the following items. Most of these are ones that I do on a fairly regular basis:

how to can salsa (and other food items)
making refried beans
making a good broth or stock (chicken, beef, ham)
what to do with that broth or stock (soups and gravies)
building a raised bed garden
what's up with square foot gardening?
frosting- why buy a can?
cornbread from scratch
pizza dough in your mixer
baby food in your blender
my husband brought home a deer, now what?
grinding sausage
drying jerky
turn a can of tomato sauce into something edible (marinara, soup, pizza sauce)
blanching vegetables
dividing plants

I have spent the last couple of years figuring out how to do these things. It's been a struggle, and I'd love to share what I've learned with you, and see if you have any tips for me. I'm always up for trying something new, though, and would love to add to my list of things we make ourselves. What kinds of things do you wish you knew more about? Let's learn together! Leave a comment and I'll add it to my list. I'm looking forward to a great summer of working in my garden and reaping the harvest. Are you?

Resource Review- Down Came the Rain

This week's resource has nothing to do with finances, or time management. At least not directly. But it's one that I think is important for all women to read, or at least be aware of the issue that it addresses. I'm recommending that you pick up a copy of Down Came the Rain by Brooke Shields.

After baby number five was born, I was really struggling with my emotions. (You can read a little bit about my story here.) This book was recommended to me from two different sources. So I finally broke down and picked it up. Then I let it sit in my bag for a few days. It wasn't until after I had been to the doctor that I felt brave enough to give it a read. What I read was a story of excrutiating pain as Brooke describes her journey to first become pregnant and then to enjoy her mother hood.

She writes in such a way, that I now feel as if we're friends :) It's an easy read- I read the whole thing in one long afternoon. It can be emotional at times, as she describes the pain and emotions that she was feeling. She also does a really good job of explaining what her husband and close friends and family were seeing. It would be a good book to read so you can recognize the signs of post-partum depression not only in yourself but in a woman you love.

However, if you are currently struggling with post-partum, I hesitate in offering this as a resource for you. I read this book after I had been to the doctor. My fears had been confirmed and I was diagnosed and treated (read about my treatment here). Two days later as I was reading this book I kept thinking, "well maybe I'm not so bad, maybe I don't really have this." Can you believe it? part of the struggle is in the depression itself, you don't really think it's that bad. And even Brooke describes a very scary time when she took herself off of her medication. Another factor is that her depression was very acute and dramatic while mine was the weight of impending doom always hanging over me with a few moments of anxiety and a panic attack mixed in.

Understanding post-partum depression is important for women everywhere. Some of the new things I've learned is that it can hit at any time. While you're still pregnant, several months after giving birth, when you stop nursing...pretty much any time there's a potential for a hormonal imbalance! Get the knowledge you need to keep yourself and your loved ones safe. Read this book about one woman's struggle and talk to your doctor if you have any concerns.

School Time

A couple weeks ago I shared about our morning routine. I think that doing the same thing every morning has offered my children some stability. Every day looks a little different, but we try to start out the same. Here's a peek into our school time.

I found a great resource from World Book of what they should know at each grade level. I would love to be the kind of mom who could take that and teach my kids very naturally throughout the day. Unfortunately, I no longer have the brain power to be able to do that. There are plenty of resources out there, though, to help me teach my kids in a manner that fits us.

Reading/Language- I think it's pretty important for kids to learn how to read. Once they can read, they are able to find out anything they want to. But my boys hated sitting still long enough to get this very basic knowledge into them. I read a great book by Ruth Beechick (A Home Start in Reading) that helped me to see that reading is not the all there is. It's more important to teach kids about the world around them (science) and allow them to build a thirst for knowledge. Once I stopped pushing on the reading, things really improved.

Math- I am perfectly comfortable teaching my kids their math without needing a text. We do word problems in the van while running errands. We play counting and simple math games while setting the table. But math is so sequential that I was afraid I would miss something. So, we have a text, but it's more for me to see what they should be learning than it is for them to work from. I'm discovering that while my method is teaching them their math skills just fine, they don't really understand the written equation- we'll work on it :)

Each of these topics takes about ten minutes per child. Usually the kids are all playing on the floor. I'll call one over to me and we'll do a lesson from their book. Recently, Zachary's language lessons have involved drawing pictures of each season, so all the kids did that with him. Or I'll be working on patterns with Veronica, and the boys will want patterns, too. More often than not, I'm even folding laundry during this time, as well! It's pretty laid back, but I like the structure that the books we have chosen give us. For these lessons, there's little to nothing to prepare ahead of time. This makes it easy for Daddy or Grandma to do a lesson, as well.


Bible Study- We're always doing something different for this. Right now we have a Character Building curriculum that we're really enjoying. Sometimes we just read through a whole Bible. Other times our unit study is more Biblically based and we have a lot of projects that we're working on. Our favorite of all time was reading through the Jesus Storybook Bible.

Unit Studies- What about everything else? Science, history, geography, etc. We have chosen to immerse ourselves in one topic at a time and study it from all angles. There are many great programs that offer unit studies. We are currently using Konos. The units are based on character traits and are multi-level. All the kids study the same thing at the same time. Many times during the school year we don't do this part and just check out stacks of library books. It serves the same purpose- to introduce the kids to a variety of topics and to enjoy the learning process. Using Konos is my way of being intentional about choosing the topics and projects and the other method is the kids picking out what they're interested in. Both are valid methods of teaching and we utilize them both.

Right now, Bible study and unit studies are done altogether. Crafts and science can be done by all the children- each to their own level of skill and understanding. Some things we've already covered twice and I anticipate covering them again. The baby needs to learn about Adam and Eve and how weather works, too!

Add in a little playtime and doing a couple chores and it's lunchtime! My how the day flies by. How do you structure your day? Do you do any structured activities with your kids?

Menu Plan Monday

I usually love having meals together with other families. Whether the menu is planned out, or it's just a regular ole' pot luck, I love them all. I love weddings and graduations parties. Pretty much anything that means I don't have to cook for my family. :)

One of the worst parts about not eating dairy because of baby is having to avoid food of all sorts that I have not cooked (and I barely trust that!). I don't know that I have a point to all this complaining, but it has certainly made me more conscious of the food issues that other people may have and has altered the foods I bring to events, even when I'm not nursing a baby. Now, when I have a brunch to attend, I bring a hot item that doesn't contain cheese. When it's my turn to bring snacks, I'm opting for fruit salads and peanut butter on celery sticks. And when we have a pot luck to attend, I bring along a sandwich.

This past weekend we went to a wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony, but I kept wondering what would be served as the meal. It turns out that I could safely eat about half of it, so I was fine. (I had a granola bar along, just in case!) This summer is probably going to be filled with church potlucks and picnics since we are putting the finishing touches on a building and everyone is looking forward to doing that sort of thing. (I am not.) What do you do when attending an event where you know you won't be able to eat the food? Any tips for me?

Monday- Tuna Casserole (mine made separately without cheese)
Tuesday- Roast
Wednesday- Fried Rice
Thursday- Sausage and potatoes
Friday- Pizza Night (mine made without cheese)
Saturday- Leftovers
Easter Sunday- Dinner w/family

Check out more menus at orgjunkie.org

Yoplait Giveaway

March is almost over, how are you doing on your New Year's Resolution's? I didn't make any this year. I was a little busy with the new baby. :) But I have hit the point in post-pregnancy weight loss where I'm no longer losing weight quickly and easily. If I want to lose any more, I have to do something pro-active. 


That's why I was so excited when My Blog Spark and Yoplait offered to send me an "Outsmarting Temptation" gift pack plus a coupon for a free yogurt sample. I love the lunch tote that is included with this pack. It's so pretty I want to use it for more than just lunch! And the journal will be very helpful to track my eating habits. It gives me a place to record the foods I eat and it's nutritional content. 


I have to say that Yoplait has done a pretty good job with their yogurt's in the past, and their new flavors seem to be a great alternative to a sugary, fat-filled dessert. Red Velvet Cake and Blueberry Pie are two of the offerings on the menu. (Check out all flavors and get a $1 off coupon here.) Unfortunately, with baby's dislike of anything dairy, I won't be able to try these flavors any time soon. But my family is sure to like them!

I am pleased to announce that My Blog Spark and Yoplait have given me the opportunity to share a gift pack with one of my readers! One lucky winner will be selected at random. You will receive a Yoplait Light "Outsmarting Temptation" gift pack, which includes an insulated gourmet lunch tote, a food journal and a travel utensil set. 


Leave a comment as your submission along with a way for me to contact you. A winner will be announced at noon on April 2, and you will have 48 hours to respond with your mailing address. Leave a separate comment for each submission.


1, Leave a comment with what flavor of the new Yoplait Light you'd like to try.
2. Become a follower or subscriber and leave a comment letting me know. [How to become a follower: click the link on the right of the blog that says "follower" to follow using blogger. Click the link that says "subscribe to posts" to choose another reader.]


A winner has been announced!

How to Get a New House Without Moving

I love my house, really I do. We live across the street from a park. We have a living room and a tv room, which is pretty cool. The bedrooms are HUGE. It's about fifteen years old, which means that we don't have a lot of repairs to make. But it also means there's not a lot of character. We have a townhouse, which is great because it takes about forty minutes to mow. But it also means there's not a lot of room for the kids to play.

Periodically, I look at houses that are listed online and I dream about moving. I love seeing the different styles of houses, and what the lay-out is. I would love to have some land for the kids to run and have some animals and a garden. I can become quite discontent with what I currently have and where we live.

Recently I realized what it is I like about looking at those pictures. I love that they're all clean! The paint isn't in need of a touch-up. The dishes are all done. The toys are all put away. The table tops are not buried under mountains of stuff. There are not boxes of more stuff piled in corners. I had a revelation. I don't need a new house, I need to get the junk out of the one that I have! A new house appeals to me because of the thought of everything being fresh and clean. Well, I can replicate that here!

So I have been on a mission this week. The kitchen is being cleaned and organized. Stuff is being thrown out. (I have done this to the kitchen before, so this was an easier room to start with.) I will progress through each room until all of my stuff has been gone through and determined if we really need it. I'm dreading the closet that goes under the stairs and the decisions that will need to be made with that stuff... But I'm looking forward to a clutter-free home. Here is the main "working" counter. You can see how cluttered it was in the above picture behind my son's head. :) I moved my mixer and blender under the cabinets and got rid of a few items that have been stored (and not used). It's actually been fun to clean up after dinner this week!

I'm excited to see where this takes me and my family. Already, the kitchen feels lighter and airier. It's pleasant to be in there whether I'm working or resting. I can't wait for that calm, relaxing atmosphere to overtake my entire home! Do you have any other tricks for making your house the home you want to live in? I'd love to hear them!

Resource Review- Fix-It and Forget-It

We all have to eat. Most of us have to cook. I once heard a speaker refer to her crock pot as her "hand maidens" (from Proverbs 31). I have a desire to use my crock pot more, but typically make the same four things over and over again. The Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook series offers a little bit of help when it comes to finding quick and easy meals for your crock pot. 


This book is divided into the typical sections that cookbooks are divided into: Breakfasts Foods, Breads, Soups, Main Dishes, Vegetables, and Beverages are a few of the chapters. Each chapter contains recipe submissions from folks around the country. There are also tips for using your slow cooker interspersed throughout. 


I love that most common recipes have several submissions, allowing me to find one that works for me and my family. The recipes are easy to follow with common ingredients. The meals are hardy and filling. 


This book is a handy tool for getting out of that crock pot rut. The are available spiral bound, which I highly recommend. Mine is not and it's binding is very stiff and hard to keep open. There are several more titles in this series, including 5 Ingredients, Diabetic Diet, Low-Fat, and Entertaining. Grab one today!


Do you have a favorite Slow-Cooker recipe or cookbook? I'd love to try it out!

Menu Plan Monday

We have quite the varied menu this week. It changed from my original plan when I was at the store and saw how good and fresh the bok choy was. And the cabbage was so cheap, I had to buy a head and figure out what to do with it! So here's our plan for the week!

Monday- Bean Burritoes
Tuesday- Pork Chops and Potatoes
Wednesday- Corned Beef and Cabbage
Thursday- Chinese Dumplings and Rice
Friday- Pizza Night
Saturday- Brats and Chili Dogs (Birthday Party)
Sunday- Eat What You Want Night

Check out orgjunkie.com for more menu ideas.

How We Start Our Morning

I recently posted a review of the book So You're Thinking About Homeschooling. I love how the book is designed with each chapter giving you a glimpse into one family's life. It helped me see that there are as many ways to homeschool as there are reasons for doing so. I hadn't started, yet, but found these illustrations to be very liberating. We didn't need to say the Pledge of Allegience every day for school to be happening in my home. I think that we have a pretty laid back approach to schoolwork. Many days we don't pull out our books at all! But my kids are learning and growing in all areas of their lives. So, here's a brief look at how we get the morning started.

When Zachary was smaller, he woke up before 6:30 every morning. Thankfully, that has passed! My kids wake up around 7:30. Each morning they need to get dressed and clean up their room before breakfast. This means picking up pillows, animals, and blankets that fell off the beds during the night and putting jammies away. When everything is in order, they can come downstairs for breakfast. Afterwards, everyone cleans up their own dishes and is allowed to play for a little bit.

We start our mornings off with Bible time. During this time, the kids are being trained in the discipline of having a daily time spent reading the Word and praying. Everyone sits with a Bible and all is quiet for twenty to thirty minutes. I spend some of my time training Eleanor to sit on her blanket and some of my time handling whiny kids and some of my time reading my own Bible. Afterwards, everyone shares something they learned from the story they read. Usually, these have been more content-related, but I'm hopeful that as they get into this habit and get older they will be learning life-changing lessons from their Lord. Sometimes, I'll read a story to them, as well. We're reading through the Jesus Storybook Bible for the second time (best Bible ever!)

From there, it doesn't matter where our day goes, we have started the day on solid ground. We have a varied schedule that includes book work, projects, and field trips...but I'll talk more about that later. Establishing a morning routine is important not only for my own sanity, but also for the children to know what's expected of them. It's so fun to watch Eleanor run to the Bible shelf when I announce that it's Bible time, and Zachary is making his own reading spot, of course it's under a table!

How do you start your day with your kids- whether or not you homeschool? What are the things you think are most important to teach your children?

Go Green, Use Cloth

The big buzz phrase right now is "Go Green." Everyone, everywhere is finding new and interesting ways to be kinder to our environment. I find it interesting that most of what we're doing as a society is simply stepping back to the way things were one hundred years ago (or so). Luckily for me, there are many ways to Go Green that are actually helpful to my budget.

My firstborn son is about to turn seven. I can hardly believe it. It seems like it was just yesterday that we were painting the baby's room and picking out names. We had many decisions to make during that time. One decision we made was to use cloth diapers. We thought it would save on our monthly expenses and we even decided to wash them ourselves rather than hire a service

This was before it became all the rage to use cloth diapers. It took forever to find a store that sold diaper pins! Of course, now there are a lot more choices in both diapers and diaper covers available. We do use disposable diapers when we are out and about and for overnight, as well. I typically spend less than $5 per month per child on diapers. We recently had our fifth child. We have been primarily using cloth diapers for the past seven years on about two children at a time. Oh, the money we have saved!

I have turned old diapers into cleaning cloths. After diapering five children, sometimes that material just gives out. We rip them in half and store them in buckets under the sinks. When it's time to wipe down the bathroom, that's what we use. No more sponges or paper towels for many of the jobs in my home.

Another place to use cloth is napkins. It's just as easy to set the table using cloth instead of paper. In times past, we have left one napkin per place on the table throughout the day. We keep a basket in our kitchen for dirty towels and rags, and we just toss these in there after dinner, ready to be washed with the next load.

Going Green in your home doesn't have to be a budget-killer. Take one thing at a time and make the switch. You'll soon see how easy it is to do, and you'll never buy paper again!

For more tips and ideas check out Works For Me Wednesday.

Resource Review- So You're Thinking About Homeschooling

Are you thinking about homeschooling? Are you wondering what it looks like? Wondering about how much work it is? The costs involved? This book by Lisa Whelchel is a great place to start.

So You're Thinking About Homeschooling is not a book about curriculum choices or scheduling your day. It's a book that gives a great overview of what it could look like to homeschool your children. Each chapter is designed to give you a glimpse into the day of one family. You learn why they made this choice and what motivates them to keep at it. You learn about different curriculum options, but not the details of it. You learn about how it can look in a variety of situations. If you think you know what it means to homeschool, this book can help shake up some of those ideas and help you think outside the box.

I love Whelchel's writing style because you really feel like you're walking beside her as you visit different homes. This was my first introduction to her work, and I began reading her other books, as well. All are great reads! She passes along information and, in some cases, Scriptural truths in a manner that makes you feel like you're chatting with your best friend.

Have you read this book? What did you think about it? What's one book you would recommend to someone thinking about homeschooling?