Stay at Home mom To Three. What About Me?

Winner Canned am

2008-11-11T13:24:00.002-03:00

Hey canned am you won as selected by my lovely little Eva. you can choose either
a 25 dollar gift certificate to swiss chalet/montanas /harveys gift card (nothing to do with shoppers it is a regular git card) or a 20 dollar gift card for elsewhere

please pm me through frugal on how to collect your prize.

I am so tired.

2008-11-07T07:07:00.002-03:00

sorry i have not been around for a bit. Since i started working some full shifts and training and my husbands commitments and health issues it has been crazy here.

I was working quite a few hours last week training.
Dh had to create a presentation for the Army
DD was once again sick and couldn't breathe. this last time was pretty scary and it is not over yet

I have been going to bed around 7pm trying to catch up on sleep. i normally do not go to bed until 12am .

i have all the training done now and will go live on the floor my next shift. and yes it is alot harder than it looks.

orgainized christmas update is still ongoing and will be updated today.

follower of my blog contest winner will be announced as intended this friday night.

and i have a lot of reading of alot of blogs i have to do. so i best get started.

Dentist-- love /hate relationship.

2008-10-29T12:47:00.002-03:00

A little background on my crazy mouth.

I suffer rom receeding gums and tooth sensitivity. Of times my own breath is enough to cause pain.

So since about four years now i have put thousands of dollars into fixing up my mouth,. but by the time one thing is finished another arises. this morning i went again for a 1/2 cleaning and 2 fillings. these teeth were filled just 2 years ago. i say a 1/2 cleaning because i have to be frozen to do a cleaning. so i can only do a half of my mouth per appointment. I need fillings extended to where the gum line receeds so that the root does not become exposed. which was what had happened

Anyway i love my dentist. i feel no pain or discomfort (except in my wallet) haha I am glad that i found him. Dentistry no longer needs to hurt, not like when we were kids. now it is virtually painfree.
so go!

I told my dentist today if i go in for a visit and i do not have a cavity in the future i want my picture on the wall.! he agreed! lol

Organized Christmas Week One Oct 26- Nov 1

2008-10-27T12:26:00.002-03:00

In an effort to organize our Christmas's here we go.

the preparation is based over 6 weeks

week one: get organized Oct 26-Nov 1
week two: Reality check Nov 2- 8
week three: gifts and giving Nov 9-15
week four: get cooking Nov16-22
week five decorate Nov23-29
week six celebrate week Nov 20- DEC6

Each week then has tasks that are recommended to be done to avoid stress at a later date.

To do this week

Make the promise! During the next six weeks, spend 15 mins a day to get ready for Christmas. To make planning fun, set aside a Christmas planning centre.
Begin a Christmas planner in a notebook or three ring binder. If your using a clear pocket binder, print the cover and spine pages. Add lined blank pages and planner pages from www.organizedchristmas.com
Make or designate a holiday calender. Print the countdown plan calender and add it to your Christmas planner
Begin at the beginning . Review your families holiday values/traditions. record your findings on the printable holiday family values worksheet
Gift-buying looms! Start a master gift list. Print the master gift list form and use it to record gifts as you buy them.
Begin a Christmas card list. locate addresses, and consider a computerized Christmas card address list for maximum time savings, or print Christmas card list forms for your Christmas planner.
Complete the holiday home spruce up exercise and schedule home improvement projects.print the home spruce up worksheet to track progress.
Will your family travel? Make travel plans and reservations this week. Will you host house guests? Make arrangements for overnight guests.
Arrange for family photos for holiday gifts or Christmas cards.
arrange carpet cleaning now.

To buy this week

Christmas cards or supplies for Christmas letters
postage stamps.
supplies for your binder/planner.

So ladies this is week one lets get started!

might i also recommend that we start getting a list of what we have in our gift closets and start brainstorming the ideas for presents. also if you will be buying gift cards as presents you may want to write in your planner to spread out the buying.

A huge consideration for me every Christmas is the cost of postage . my family is spread all over this great country and i usually have to budget almost 100 dollars just for postage, and this year is no exception as the postal rates have gone through the roof again. Now most people think well why not send a gift card. I do not like gift cards for family i prefer to send parcels i picked and wrapped myself. then to send gift cards. but that is just my opinion.

But if you have to send parcels like me you may want to work that into your planner

Orientation at work ( Sunday)

2008-10-27T08:29:00.006-03:00

I GOT A CALL ON Saturday to see if i could come in for a four hr orientation first thing Sunday morn at 8 . i agreed. it was slightly informative.
i got the all important hr forms to fill out. so i am officially hired.

I will get my discount card soon. yay!

hopefully if hours stay where they should . my pay will pay for all food and extras. so that we can get back to saving money and making up for the loss of funds due to the reserves.

we shall see.

Now i do not want to sound like i am glamorizing a cashier job. ( although i have done much worse over the years) I am very excited to just be out of the house. earning some pocket change and keeping my foot in the door in the market place.
When i contacted my references letting them know that the store may be calling. I was offered my old job back.! I declined because it would cost more money travelling the 1/2 hr rather than the three minute drive, also it starts at 5 so Dh and i would have crossover problems and other issues. I would like to work there again . but it simply does not make sense at this point.

But It really felt good to be offered the job .

Last night Dh parents were by for a quick visit. and that concluded the weekend.

First dinner Party (saturday)

2008-10-27T08:18:00.005-03:00

Well i have been busy since Saturday. Most of the day Saturday I spent cooking and cleaning to have our first guests other than family over to dinner.

I made Chicken Mom-esean And we had spinach salad and crusty breads.

Dh was working til 5 so it was all up to me! oh well it was my idea after all. :)

it was a lovely evening We had the bouncy castle out for the kids to play on . Our company had two boys so there was five kids floating around. 17 mo, 2, 4, 5, and 7 and surprisingly it was really good. they were all well behaved and it was no trouble at all.

It was an attempt to make myself become more extroverted. Having friends over for dinner is certainly something i would consider outside my comfort zone. But I forced myself to do it and i am so glad we did. After supper and the kids went home to bed. dh went to our friends house for a few drinks and my friend came over here for a few drinks

I am glad i did this.

Caramel corn!

2008-10-24T18:24:00.004-03:00

I love caramel corn. and i have found the most wonderful recipe.! I have been making this for a few years.

That being said i no longer eat sugar soo.... No caramel corn for me. But that doesn't mean my family can't have any right?

7 quarts plain popped popcorn
2 cups dry roasted peanuts (optional)
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup margarine
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
Place the popped popcorn into two shallow greased baking pans. You may use roasting pans, jelly roll pans, or disposable roasting pans. Add the peanuts to the popped corn if using. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, margarine and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring enough to blend. Once the mixture begins to boil, boil for 5 minutes while stirring constantly.
Remove from the heat, and stir in the baking soda and vanilla. The mixture will be light and foamy. Immediately pour over the popcorn in the pans, and stir to coat. Don't worry too much at this point about getting all of the corn coated.
Bake for 1 hour, removing the pans, and giving them each a good stir every 15 minutes. Line the counter top with waxed paper. Dump the corn out onto the waxed paper and separate the pieces. Allow to cool completely, then store in airtight containers or resealable bags.

I am carrying some to a halloween party next week as well i will make small bags for DH lunches and for the kids afterschool snack.

I Love and miss caramel.

Try it i am sure you will not be disapointed

Really starting to get excited about going to work!

2008-10-23T19:56:00.003-03:00

i have not heard yet about going into sign hr documents or about firming up the training but it is early and we had such a positive interaction i know all will be well.

ahh!!!!!!!!!111111

so who wants to take bets about how long it will be before i start complaining about having to go to work.? i am taking 3 weeks!

ahhhhhhh!!!

I wonder if it will help me lose weight?

Employed?

2008-10-22T20:12:00.002-03:00

Well ia m sort of employed. she has given me the job barring the criminal record check which i know will come back clean.

So i will start training on the 2nd.

I am rather excited to start. thanks for all the good vibes. Gotta go phone my mom and spread the good word.

they offer an employee discount of 10% which is fabulous a discount on food!

Organized Christmas update

2008-10-21T21:48:00.002-03:00

so the challenge is comming!

this week i have gone through and made uo my master gift closet list. So now i Know what i have on hand.

i also have to pick up a book of stamps to address my cards with and try to make up a master list of who we are buying for this year

get your books ready, get your master lists ready, and get some christmas cards out of storage!

Starts next week!!!

Have you ever watched Survivorman?

2008-10-21T21:12:00.003-03:00

I do not often say these words alltogether in one sentence " he is the man"

The "Survivorman" is Canadian filmmaker and survival expert Les Stroud, who must use his survival skills to manage for seven days by himself in various remote locales with little or no food, water, or equipment.

Stroud is completely alone (he is not accompanied by a camera crew and he operates the cameras himself). He is equipped with only his clothes, his camera equipment, his "trusty harmonica , and a Leatherman multi tool . Often, the show begins with a specific scenario in which one might find oneself stranded (such as a car breakdown in the desert; or stranded on a deserted island after a storm). To add to the realism of the "scenario", he is sometimes permitted to have some 'everyday items' that a stranded person in such a situation might possess. He also carries a satellite phone for use only in an emergency.

In each episode Stroud places himself in a unique survival situation. The show is meant to demonstrate how one might survive alone in a remote location with minimal supplies until being rescued. Finding food, water, and materials to make fire and shelter pose the main challenges of each episode.
Part of the tension of Survivorman is in watching Stroud deal with the aftermath of unsuccessful or inappropriate survival techniques and decisions. The reasons for these errors can include time limitations, being unfamiliar with a technique, or misjudging weather conditions, all frequently encountered by people in survival situations. Stroud allows these predicaments to occur for the benefit of the TV audience, rather than simply sitting and waiting to be rescued. While acknowledging the errors and the negative effect on his emotional state that they can create, Stroud remains calm throughout, providing a model of behaviour vital to successful survival.
In addition to the physical challenges posed by each survival situation, Stroud confronts the psychological effects of isolation, physical injury, and exhaustion. Stroud is never without his harmonica, even in the episode where he honed his harmonica to eight sharp points on the hard rocks in an unsuccessful attempt to create a flounder catching device. Stroud's harmonica playing creates an atmosphere in strong contrast to the often dismal nature of the survival experience, and has a noticeable positive effect on the host. Stroud also narrates to the camera, commenting on his physical and psychological state, providing survival tips, or making jokes (such as his parody of an iconic scene in The Blair Witch Project), effectively employing the future television audience as a companion. Stroud also often dismantles available equipment (e.g. bike, snowmobile, airplane) and puts it to another practical use

Except for footage of him arriving at his new setting, and being retrieved at the end of the week, the content of each episode is taped entirely by Stroud himself using several DV video cameras that he must carry with him everywhere that he goes. (He has lately switched to a number of HDV cameras.) The burden of having to carry, place, and retrieve the camera equipment for each shot adds to the challenge and difficulty of each survival situation. His camera and audio gear typically weigh about 50 pounds (22.7 kg) in total. During the "Behind the Scenes" episode, Stroud explains that "setting up or tearing down all of my camera gear takes about 65% of my time," making survival more challenging. The episode also explains that Stroud and his team extensively scout their locations ahead of time and consult with survivalists and natives to the area. The goal is both to ensure Stroud's safety and to sketch out interesting scenarios and techniques that can be illustrated on the show. He later records a voice-over commentary in the studio, where he explains his decision-making process and details of how he accomplished various tasks.

i highly recommend checking out these sites to learn more and i am sure there are youtube videos of his amazing adventures.

http://www.survivorman.ca/

http://www.lesstroudonline.com/

Silk coupons

2008-10-21T20:24:00.002-03:00

Does any of my blog readers use Silk? I have 2 fpcs and 5 1.00 coupons I am looking to trade either a book of stamps or 2 free cheese coupons (the cracker barrell ones cracker cuts).

empoloyment in the future??

2008-10-20T19:41:00.004-03:00

As i have mentioned previously i applied at the superstore for a job . well i have an interview set up for this wednesday.

which is really good timing for us. I haven't worked since my first daughter was born. but I need to do it for the money and for my sanity. but mostly for the money. we are in a tight spot right now and it will come in handy.

My husband joined the reserves last year and since then we have had a 25-30% reduction in our income. that although hopefully only temporary a few more years it is still present nonetheless. we have cut back all we can and the only solution is to bring in more money, I cannot ask dh to take a third job he needs to spend time with the kids. So off to work hopefully i go.

Weekend wrap up

2008-10-20T08:40:00.003-03:00

Well this was a weekend i am sure glad is over. first off i was on my own DH was gone with the Army to New Brunswick. so it was just me and the kids.

Friday my oldest day came home puking from school with a high fever. she vomiited on everything in the house i swear. poor thing she was some sick. and poor me i am sick of doing laundry. She seems to have made a full recovery though,

Whatever germs they get at school is certain to be brought home to my asthmatic youngest dd.

well she was okay friday night but come saturday morning she was gasping for breath, and not sleeping. she was just to the hospital for this two weeks ago, and they gave us some advice on what to do ( such as giving her more requent higher quantity of puffs of her rescue puffer. the puffer seemed to be working but the cough from the cold and the runny nose certainly were not helping. So gave her tylenol cough and cold and that seemed to do the trick to get a few hours sleep.

I was watching for the take me to the hospital warning signs i know all too well. but with the methods i used i was able to keep her breathing steady enough to not warrant it.

Why is it they are always sick when you are on your own.?

Anyway she seems to be better today , still raspy and there is a tug on her cheast but she is a lot better and i think we may have weathered this cold and asthma attack. The doctor told us that the family has to get the flu shot. does anyone know when they start giving those out. i will have to make an appointment for sure as soon as they start. i cannot even imagine that.

and chances are they get sick again when i am on my own. Of course lately, that could be anytime!

"Why didn't I think of that?" Household tips.

2008-10-19T09:10:00.005-03:00

Som of th biggest changes to my budget have come from household tips that i read in newsletters, books and websites.

here are a few new ones i have found and liked. I have been working on this post and a ew others like it for a few days now. why i have been so quiet i guess. anyway i hope there is one in here everyone can implement.

1) Sprinkle cinnamon on aluminum foil and place it in a hot oven, leaving the door open. As the cinnamon heats, the cinnamon will permiate the house

2) Spray the inside of a mayonnaise jar white. Store it in the refrigerator as a hiding place for money or valuables.

3) Did you know you can freeze milk? Next time it is on sale, pick up several gallons and freeze it!

4) Brown sugar will not harden if stored in the freezer.

5) Potatoes will take food stains off your fingers after your food preparations. Just slice and rub a raw potato on the stain and rinse in clear-cool water.

6) Shop for items BEFORE you run out of them. If you run out of an item you'll have to pay whatever the store is charging that week.

7) Nearly everything can be cut in half -- use only half a dryer softener sheet, half the recommended amount of detergent, half a cotton ball, etc. Try it on anything you can think of - if it works, you save money, if it doesn't, what do you lose?The same idea goes for quick dinners. If you're putting together, for example, Hamburger Helper (or another "instant" meal), consider using a 1/2 pound of meat per box (or just make up 2 boxes at a time, with a full pound of meat). Most of us actually get far more protein in a day than we need, so cutting back to a 1/2 pound of meat doesn't hurt any of us. How about instant drink mixes? If you're buying mixes that don't have the sugar added (which, by the way, is cheaper than buying the mixes with sugar already in them), think seriously about how much sugar you mix in. Do you REALLY need to use a full cup of sugar with that small packet of flavoring? Or could you cut it back to 1/3 or 1/2 cup and decrease the amount of sugar your children are getting in each serving? The next time you're simply following directions on any grocery item, take a moment to evaluate the claim before you do as it says. You may save yourself some money!

8) Use an egg slicer to slice apples or mushrooms.
9) Leftover pancake batter makes good fried onion rings. Separate and let soak in batter for fifteen minutes. Fry in hot oil. 7. Don’t throw out leftover coffee. Freeze it in icecube trays, and when you don’t want to make an entire pot, you can get your cubes out of the freezer and pop them in the microwave.
8. Dry Mustard will remove onion odors from your hands or cutting board. Rub in, then rinse off. 9. Use plain baking soda or salt as a fire extinguisher.

10. Put rice in your salt shaker to keep the salt from getting hard. **Thank you Lisa!

11. Remove odors from your fridge by placing a vanilla extract soaked cotton ball inside. Another popular method is to leave a cup of baking soda or a slice of lemon in the fridge at all times

12. Cleaning behind your refrigerator will keep it running longer and more efficiently. Another fridge cleaning tip: Make sure the unit is level. An unlevel refrigerator works harder than it needs to and wastes energy.

13. Store plastic wrap in refrigerator - it will prevent it from sticking.

14. A good trick when you go away on vacation is to place a baggie with a few ice cubes in the freezer. If a power failure occurs while you are gone and the food thaws and then refreezes you will know about it when you get home.

15. Use a powder puff to dust flour on rolling pins, pastry boards and cookie sheets. Store puff in a margarine tub with a small amount of flour for quick dusting jobs.

16. Leftover Safety - If food has been contaminated with germs from a person's mouth, it should be tossed. For instance saving baby food when you have fed the baby from the jar is hazardous.

17. You can reheat small portions of leftovers in the same pan. Wrap individually in foil and place in enough water to cover the bottom of the pan.

18. When converting your favorite recipe for microwave cooking reduce the liquid by one-fourth. Liquid does not evaporate in a microwave as much as it does in a conventional oven.

19. To save on electric and water only run your dishwasher when full. When adding dishes take a handful of baking soda and sprinkle the dishes and bottom of dishwasher to absorb odors. When you run the dishwasher there is no need to add detergent to the first cylce receptacle only to the 2nd one that stays shut until the second cycle starts. The baking soda will take the place of the detergent in the first cycle.

20. When you have a spill in your oven, sprinkle some salt on it right away. Then when the oven cools wipe it off.

21. Spray your Tupperware with nonstick cooking spray before pouring in tomato-based sauces--no more stains.

Organized christmas Challenge and contest

2008-10-17T21:10:00.003-03:00

have you heard of http://www.organizedchristmas.com ?

A lot like the organized home site. there are fabulous craft ideas, recipes, and printables glorious printables!

they have a 6 week Christmas organizing plan you can read about it here. http://organizedchristmas.com/christmas-countdown
there is so many wonderful things on this site. if there is anything you particularly like or find useful please post back here so we can all check it out.edited to add pics of my binder from last christmas. there are tons of pages from it I can use again this year like my address pages or my idea sheets for ideas for presents for people i may not have used from last year."
I am challenging anyone who wants to join in the organized christmas event on my blog
what does it involve, you need to create yourself a workbook either using the printables so generously provided at the site.
create yourself a space where you can stay organized and on budget.
see pictures of mine here http://stayathomemomtothreewhataboutme.blogspot.com/2008/10/organized-christmas.html
each week is broken down into small tasks for you to accomplish in order to stop the stress of christmas from building and overwhelming you this season
What do you really want for Christmas? More time, more joy, and less stress? A calmer, more centered holiday celebration is easy when you simplify your holidays with the Christmas Countdown!
The Countdown is a free six-week Christmas organizing plan from OrganizedChristmas.Com. By breaking Christmas preparations down into small, easy-to-take steps, the Countdown gives you a holiday headstart for a stress-free Christmas season. List, gifts, decor and food--you'll be ready for Christmas with time to spare.
Follow The Plan: During the Countdown, we'll follow a six-week organization plan from the last week in October through the first week in December. Goal: to complete holiday planning and preparations by the first weekend in December.
Six Weekly Themes: Each week has a special theme to focus Christmas organizing.
Week by week, we'll zero in on gift-giving, take charge of holiday budgets, organize Christmas cards, plan holiday meals and decorate for the holidays. Find each week's assignments at the weekly themes pages:
Daily Messages: Each day during the Countdown, you'll read an inspiring daily message on front page of our site. Daily messages bring a dose of inspiration, the day's assignments, links to checklists and printable holiday planner forms, along with recipe, gift and craft ideas for a jolly holiday.
Print A Free Christmas Planner: During Get Organized Week, we'll begin printing more than 50 printable forms, calendars and checklists and build a personal Christmas planner to streamline holiday cleaning, cooking, gift buying, and decorations. Use our printable pages to journal holiday memories, organize preparations and track gift-giving.
Christmas Countdown: Get Ready For Christmas!
On my blog www.stayathomemomtothreewhataboutme.blogspot.com ! will weekly post what the ideas are for the week we can all check in and post how we are doing on our tasks and our budgets. if you stick with it til the end there will be a very special surprise for a lucky winner ! no hints will be given. earn extra points for posting pictures of your organizer. either here or on your blog (if you have one)
Join what do you have to lose. nothing
what do you have to gain? a nice relaxed christmas thats what!

the spice of life.

2008-10-16T20:35:00.002-03:00

I found these drawer spice racks at the store today for 10 dollars each. so I bought two and now all my spices that used to be in jars as shown in picture. it is much easier to see what i am doing now. and it looks fabulous! just look at its beauty... just kidding.

Dh is going on expedition again this weekend so he will be gone from tomorrow morning til sunday night. we will miss him. but we will still have a good time here on our own.

anyone have any plans for this weekend?

Recipies for Household cleaners

2008-10-14T20:10:00.001-03:00

i hardly ever buy cleaners anymore, as it is one of the type of items that are heavily couponed or try me free and so on. but since i started making my own laundry soap. i am going to start making my other cleaners too. as i have 3 kids in my home . the less toxins the better, and with the constant talk of cleaners having known carcinogens in them, i feel better not using them at all.

Anyway, here are some recipes i have found.

Before you get started mixing things up, you’ll need a couple of spray bottles to put your concoctions in. You can get inexpensive bottles in the travel section of stores like Wal-Mart or you can reuse spray bottles from commercial cleaners as long as you thoroughly clean them out to prevent unwanted chemical reactions. Be sure to label what you make to prevent accidents.
You’ll also need some old rags, sponges, or cloths for scrubbing purposes. I use an old fashioned sponge for the heavy scouring work and micro-fiber cloths for cleaning surfaces like counter tops. Micro fiber cloths can be rinsed/washed and reused over and over, making them an inexpensive choice if you don’t like rags or old washcloths.

Now that you’ve got your basic supplies, on to the recipes!

Window/Glass cleaner: Mix equal parts water and distilled white vinegar in a spray bottle. You can use a rag to wipe the glass, but a sheet of newspaper does even better.

Floor cleaner: Pour 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar into one gallon of water. Mop as usual.

Counter tops: Mix equal parts distilled white vinegar and water in a spray bottle. Spray and wipe down countertops with a sponge or cloth. For stubborn stains, scrub with baking soda.
Tubs/sinks: Straight baking soda works well for scouring away soap scum and mildew. Sprinkle it into the tub and add just enough water to make a paste. Then scour away. Spray the chrome with the counter top mixture (above) of vinegar and water then wipe down to make it shine. If you have heavy mold or mildew, straight vinegar sprayed directly on the affected area works well for loosening it.

Toilets: Sprinkle straight baking soda into the toilet and swish around with a brush. Let it stand for a few minutes, swish a final time, and flush.

Fabric softener: Pour 1/4 cup of distilled white vinegar into the fabric softener dispenser or add manually during the rinse cycle. This softens clothes, removes excess detergent and does not leave a smell behind.

Carpet deodorizer: Sprinkle straight baking soda on carpet, using more in heavily trafficked areas or where pets stay. Vacuum after 20-30 minutes.

Powdered laundry detergent: Mix 5 cups soap flakes and 7 cups of Borax and shake well to mix the flakes and Borax. Store in plastic container or old laundry detergent box. Use 1/2 cup per load.

Exterior house wash: If you have vinyl siding, this cleanser will get rid of mold and mildew. Mix one quart of bleach per gallon of water in a hand sprayer. Add 1/4 cup of dish washing liquid (hand washing liquid such as Dawn or Ivory, not dishwasher liquid). The dish washing soap just makes the mixture “sticky” so it will adhere to the wall long enough for the bleach to do the work. Spray on the walls and then rinse with a garden hose or light pressure wash.

Drain Cleaner: Pour 1/4 cup baking soda down the drain. Follow with 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar and plug the drain until the fizzing stops. Pour one gallon of boiling water down the drain to flush out the clog. Prevent clogs by pouring a pot of boiling water down the drain once per week.

Dishwasher Rinse Aid: Pour distilled white vinegar into the rinse agent compartment and wash as usual.

Furniture Polish: Mix 1/4 cup olive oil or mineral oil with 4 tablespoons distilled white vinegar and 20-30 drops of lemon essential oil. Pour into a spray bottle and shake well before using.

One of the concerns I often hear about the recipes that use vinegar is that the vinegar will leave a smell behind. Let me assure you that once it dries or runs through the rinse cycle in the washer, it no longer smells. One of the benefits of homemade cleansers is that most leave no scent whatsoever behind, so your home does not smell like a hospital. If you want to add some scent, you can experiment with essential oils such as peppermint or lemon.

concern is that these cleansers don’t kill bacteria. The Heinz company has found that vinegar kills 99 percent of bacteria, 82 percent of mold, and 80 percent of viruses, so if you want to disinfect without using harmful antibacterial chemicals, vinegar is a great choice. Tea tree oil is another great disinfectant and can be mixed with water and used on counter tops and in sinks, tubs, and toilets to disinfect.
As with any sort of cleanser, test your creations on inconspicuous areas to make sure there’s no discoloration, scratching, or other adverse effects. And two final words of warning: First, never use vinegar on natural stone such as granite or marble because it will scratch and pit the stone. Second, never mix bleach with vinegar because it will give off a toxic gas.

Using homemade cleansers is just as effective and much less expensive than using commercial cleansers. Once you’ve mastered the basics, don’t hesitate to experiment with the concentrations and added scents you use to find what works best for you. Just remember to always test anything new before using it widely.

14 great books as recommended by frugal people.

2008-10-14T09:37:00.003-03:00

When i started a thread over at FS over a year and a half ago. these were some of the books that were suggested as recommended reading

1)the tightwad gazette 1
2)The Tightwad Gazette 2
30the tightwad Gazette 3

4)The millionaire next door
5)The Wealthy barber David Chilton

6)Don't Spend Your Raise by Dara Duguay
7)Financial Freedom without Sacrifice by Talbot Stevens

8)Vinegar, Duct Tape, Milk Jugs & More: 1,001 Ingenious Ways to Use Common Household Items to Repair, Restore, Revive, or Replace Just About Everything in Your Life by Earl Proulx and the Editors of Yankee Magazine.

9)Frugal Luxuries by Tracie McBride
'10)Money Drunk/Money Sober' by Julia Cameron

11)Miserly Moms Living on one income in a two income economy.Jonni McCoy.
12)Saving on A Shoestring [i]How to cut expenses Reduce debt Stash more Cash[/i Barabara O'neil

13)Not Buying It by Judith Levine.
14)America's Cheapest Family Gets You Right on the Money authored by Steve and Annette Economides

please feel free to add your favorites.

Is being Frugal now ' all the rage"

2008-10-14T09:18:00.003-03:00

Everywhere you turn now people are talking about living more simply. that is certainly not a bad thing to me. it is just surprising.

I joined a website after i had my son 7 years ago. it is www.frugalshopper.ca the site was really new then but it has grown a lot over the last almost 6 years.

I have learned a lot about living simply there. but it is more centered on getting good deals than it is about alternate less costly ways of doing things. The friendship/comradery factor is high and the thought of missing out on a good deal keeps me going back.

has living simply become the new fashion? Living simply has always been the fashion at my house because of both necessity and desire. It really is a part of who we both are. And i like to believe i am passing that along to my kids.

will update with some books for recommended library reading

DEAD matchstick promo, fragrance samples and a SDM gift card contest

2008-10-13T12:46:00.002-03:00

http://www.fatalattractiontocutesample.com/

check it out!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-10-12T12:41:00.002-03:00

Happy thanksgiving everyone.

right now i am thankful for timeshifting. i am watching corrie that i missed earlier. so i got to see John get his thumping. I remember when Rosie was born, never knew she would grow up to so be troublesome. :)

Happy thanksgiving everyone

Cola can Oil lamp. check it out! In case of emergency

2008-10-11T21:36:00.002-03:00

Oil & Cola Emergency Lamp.

What will you do this winter when the lights go out? Hopefully you've got your emergency flashlight, radio, food and water supplies. If the power will be out for some time, however, you may want to know about this easy oil lamp. Great for camping too.

The parts needed for this lamp can be found in virtually every household.

empty aluminum cola can,
an old cotton sock,
and about a tablespoon of cooking oil are all you need.

First stab an empty cola can in the middle and cut around the circumference until you cut the can completely in half. Use a pair of gloves to hold the can halves, because the metal is very sharp. Use the bottom half of the cola can, and cut half inch deep slits spaced each half inch along the circumference of the can. Fold over to make a safe rim along the edge. Now take the top half of the can and work the pull tab off the top by pulling up and side to side. Work the tab back and forth with upward pressure, until it pulls off. Dispose of the top half can into the recycle trash. Next cut a one inch by 3/8" slip of material from the old sock. Roll the material into a thick rope and feed it into the pull tab attachment hole. Pull through about half an inch so it sticks up while the pull tab rests upside down. Now pour a cap full of cooking oil into the bottom of the can. Place the upside down pull tab with the wick in the middle of the can and drape the cotton wick so it pulls the oil from the edge of the can. The length of the wick pulled through the tab hole will determine the height of the flame. A good quarter inch of wick will give a good flame with virtually no smoke. Now you can light the wick and it should last about three to four hours with each tablespoon or so of corn oil.

pictures

Free christmas gift tags added pics

2008-10-10T21:56:00.003-03:00

With all the expenses we have at christmas time this is an area we can all cut back on. last christmas i made tags for this year out of the christmas cards i received last year.

here is another great alternative. You can print wonderful little tags off the internet here is a few links,

http://holidays.momsnetwork.com/gifttags.shtml

http://holidays.momsnetwork.com/gifttags5.shtml

http://holidays.momsnetwork.com/gifttags6.shtml

http://images.transcontinentalmedia.com/canadianliving/crafts/CL_christmaslabels2.doc

http://images.transcontinentalmedia.com/canadianliving/crafts/CL_christmaslabels1.doc
although tags are not very expensive, why buy what you do not need. It also allows you to have something unique to your family.
some coloring pages and more fun things.
enjoy

Indoor camping.

2008-10-10T20:00:00.002-03:00

Dh has set up the tent downstainrs and the kids are camped out down there eating popcorn and watching a movie. they are having a ball.

So indoor camping it is for the kiddies. i will post a picture later

SEARS DEALS

2008-10-10T14:42:00.003-03:00

http://www.sears.ca/gp/product/B001FAJHEY/sr=1-97/qid=1223660106/ref=sr_1_97/002-1309246-9457606?ie=UTF8&searsBrand=core&mqnodeid=492665011

electric guitar
mini 37-key keyboard
6 demo songs
play along feature
3 sound effects
try me function
electric guitar with 13 notes
4 drum sounds
tempo control
play/record/stop functions
batteries included
ages 4 years and up
while quantities last

Please specify the quantity between 1 and 99
clearance - save 40%

outlet price: $17.94

Sears regular 29.99

they are also clearing out some vitamins.

http://www.sears.ca/gp/browse.html/ref=sc_bb_l_0_492609011_13/002-1309246-9457606?ie=UTF8&node=492624011&no=492609011&searsBrand=core&me=A10FHFRJZ0GJG3

HALLOWEEN treats

2008-10-09T20:09:00.008-03:00

Do you have a certain type of thing you give out every year? are you a chips person, a chocolate bar person, candy?

I usually do the bags of items. some chips a few suckers, a pencil a few candies.

now last year being the first halloween we had in this house in a family neighbourhood. I thought for sure we would have a couple hundred children so i prepared for that. oh boy we had about 70 . I still have things left over from last year!

this year i am going to do chips and a bar.

But i also like to make up little bags for the littliest ones with a playdoh and a few other things.

But this year i am just going to do chips and a bar and make special bags for my kids friends. with hot chocolate, chips bar, halloween magnet and some lollipops.

i am only going to prepare for 100 kids this time and after that all out! Jeez that is gonna cost enough as it is. I really love Halloween . my husband walks the kids around about 3/4 and i do the last bit. i stay home and hand out the treats. i love the little kids comming to the door

Although i have to say last year i had about 20 kids from about 8 pm til 930 pm that were old enough to drive a car if not vote. i just open the door and give them whatever because it is not worth my car or house getting egged over lol the last halloween i went out as a kid was when i turned 13 . What about you?

excited to share this Smart money Holiday Spending worksheet.

2008-10-09T12:08:00.003-03:00

I am sure over the next few months there will be many posts and entries about
Christmas.

i found this and i am so excited to share it. it is http://www.smartmoney.com/consumer/index.cfm?story=holidayspending3333#

please scroll down the page and take a look for yourself. you can fill it all in save it to your computer. it is awesome and much easier than making one for yourself.

check it out

small blurb

"WE'LL ADMIT IT: creating this worksheet was an eye-opening experience.
If you're like us, you've emerged from past holiday seasons considerably poorer than you expected to be. It's no wonder: With a bewildering array of expenses bombarding you at once, it's difficult even to list them all, much less keep track of them.
This worksheet makes the process a whole lot easier. Gone are the days of wondering where the $100 you had in your wallet moments earlier disappeared to. (Holiday cards, stamps, pictures of the kids and wrapping supplies will burn through most of it — and a nine-foot Fraser fir will surely send you running back to the ATM.) Now, you can account for all of your expected and unexpected costs without driving yourself crazy. Our worksheet covers everything from holiday gifts to movie tickets, wrapping paper to highway tolls — and you can add anything else we might have forgotten. (Our advice: If you simply must have that $30 yule log candle this year, count it as a miscellaneous item in the "Decorations" section.)
MORE ON PERSONAL FINANCE FROM SMARTMONEY.COM
3 Open Enrollment Tips Beating the Budget Crunch Bouncing Back After Being Laid Off
The true beauty of our worksheet is that it's savable. You can enter as much information as you wish today, massage your budget numbers and then track your results over time to see how you're doing. At the end of the season, you can tally up the totals — and spare yourself the annual shock of January's credit-card bill.
Consider it a gift, from our family to yours. "

Sears Outlet site online

2008-10-08T21:16:00.004-03:00

This time of year I always keep a good eye on what sears outlet has on daily special and on their kids and toys section. you can sort by brand or price. I prefer to sort by price.

SEARS

this is a good deal Sportsillustrated trivia game

Supermanreturnsrocketlaunch

and much more.

they will also wrap gifts and send to your recipient for a small fee. (cheaper than mail in a lot of cases lol)

check it out.

Dentist says all clear for cavities or the kids.

2008-10-08T20:16:00.004-03:00

I took the kids to their bi annual visit to the dentist today. they both got great reviews and bill of dental health.
love my dentist. he is awesome with the kids and my husband and I the hygenists are friendly and not that fake friendly you see sometimes. And the receptionist is a wonderful person who makes going to the dentist fun.

I have pretty serious issues with my teeth, i have teeth sensitivity issues breathing in to ast can make my teeth hurt violently, i used to have to use ambasol just to brush my teeth, receeding gums, and a propensity for cavities.

so i go to the dentist a lot.

Now i am not neccessarily anatic with my kids teeth but i am quite strict about it. i do not want them to suffer like i have.

good (relatively) dental health is attainable for all canadians so take advantage of it or your kids even/especially when they are little.

If you could only pick three channels to watch...

2008-10-07T23:07:00.007-03:00

if you could pick only three channels to watch on your television. what channels would they be?

i am a major fanatic for cooking shows, documentary and home living

I think i would pick

1) food network
2) tlc (although i rarely watch that now)
3) and heaven help me the CBC!!

growing up in small town NFLD the only TV we had was in our living room and the only channel it got was the CBC so i watched a lotof Dallas, Tommy Hunter, Kate and Allie here , threes company here and anything else that came on CBC ( all of the previous shows i LOVE. (Tommy hunter and his old doc brown stories at the end of the show is a great family memory for me.) But taking all the good and the bad. Some of my most beloved shows ever were on the CBC Road to Avonlea, North of 60, and so many more. This is what i maintain; that with the cbc you kinda have to take the boring with the good. I guess I just wanted to throw a little props out there to the CBC .

The most important thing being, that they have been showing Coronation Street since I was a baby and I have been watching it faithfully for over 25 years all on the CBC so thanks for that CBC!

Organized Christmas

2008-10-07T14:34:00.005-03:00

http://www.organizedchristmas.com/

A lot like the organized home site. there are fabulous craft ideas, recipes, and printables glorious printables!

There are also great things there for Halloween! http://organizedchristmas.com/topic-halloween

they have a 6 week Christmas organizing plan you can read about it here. http://organizedchristmas.com/christmas-countdown

there is so many wonderful things on this site. if there is anything you particularly like or find useful please post back here so we can all check it out.

edited to add pics of my binder from last christmas. there are tons of pages from it I can use again this year like my address pages or my idea sheets for ideas for presents for people i may not have used from last year.

Organized home

2008-10-07T14:20:00.003-03:00

This is and the following posts are very similar but i thought that they really deserved different posts.

www.organizedhome.com

I have been visiting this website for years and it's sister site organized Christmas for 3 years. making Christmas a truly organized affair.

There is everything on this site. tips tricks, ideas, decluttering suggestions recipes and printables that will organize your home. http://organizedhome.com/printable-planner-forms

You will probably be mad at me for posting this as you will spend a half an hour there browsing around before you even know it.

You can even customize and print your own household notebook http://organizedhome.com/household-notebook

check out the http://organizedhome.com/fall-cleaning-chore-checklist and get started on your fall chores.

I hope you all find something on this site that you like if you do please post back your favorite part so others can check it out too.

I got my order of Ladybugs and lullabies hair clips

2008-10-07T12:07:00.002-03:00

They are too precious for words. they work wonderfully. now i just have to teach dd not to try and rip them out of her head. you can order some here www.ladybugsandlullabies.ca i ordered using a coupons code for a 25% of using the code autumn08 not sure it is still valid but you can give it a try. i recommend them for the quality for sure. and the cuteness factor is out of this world!

Become a Follower of my blog and WIN

2008-10-07T08:56:00.004-03:00

I will be running this contest for the month of October, become a follower and receive an entry . encourage others to be a follower on your blog for a chance to win and get 5 entries. and the prize is sure to be a help with Christmas gift giving or just a booster for your household budget.

The prize is a 20 dollar gift card to a store of your choice!!!!

wow an easy way to win 20!

contest closes Halloween night. So the faster you get the entries in the better so it does not get forgotten.

many thanks for making all my giveaways a success.

FPC's and giveaways

2008-10-07T08:34:00.004-03:00

AS they should be arriving, if not already received they will be shortly, please post that they are received. so i can cross it off my list.

Marlaene, I need you to contact me about your win. Thanks

Free sample of bounce awakenings

2008-10-06T21:22:00.000-03:00

https://pgpromotions.archway.com/bounce_ca/?language=en&utm_source=awakenings_bouncesite

go here for free dryer sheets.

homemade laundry detergent.

2008-10-06T20:39:00.003-03:00

I have been making my own laundry detergent and fabric softener sionce i read these postings over at That british woman blog here and here. and i love it! thanks so much for posting it.

i add some lavender essential oil to it for scent. it is so inexpensive and so easy to make. I am making a bucket full as we speak. I highly endorse the recipe for cleanliness . i have an he washing machine and use this.

spring / christmas cleaning - year round.

2008-10-06T20:05:00.003-03:00

I always like to do a major clean leading up to christmas to donate toys and things to charity shops. to clean for visitng friends and to make room for new things. (if santa should leave some)

here is an article i found.

Typically, heavy duty cleaning and organizing is done once a year. When spring rolls around it is nice to open the windows in your house and clean up after hibernating all winter. But why wait until spring to thoroughly clean your home? Follow these tips to help tidy up your home in a few easy steps.
Tackle one area at a time: You will be able to get more done, more effectively by focusing on one room/area at a time. If you try to multitask during cleaning then it actually takes you longer to get your chores done. Also, try starting with the more difficult areas to clean such as the bathroom or kitchen, and then move to easier areas. Getting the more difficult rooms done in the beginning allows you to save some energy for the rest of the home.
Get Rid of Stuff!: Getting rid of items that just take up space in your home can make you feel better and can even earn a little money. Again, work on one room at a time. Start two piles in each room: a sell/donate pile for items that are in good shape and a trash pile for items that are in poor condition. Don’t be afraid to get rid of stuff! Chances are that if you have not used it in the past year, you will not miss it when it is gone. This is especially true for clothing, kids toys, kitchen accessories and old books. You will be amazed at the new space that you will have once you get rid of the old and unused.
Deep clean: After you have sorted, purged and organized it is time to clean. Again, tackle one room at a time. This is the perfect time to do those biannual cleaning chores such as cleaning the carpets and washing the inside of kitchen cabinets and drawers. Once those chores are done, you can move to daily/weekly tasks such as dusting and vacuuming.
Other helpful tips:
Sort your paper documents such as bill stubs, medical documentation, etc. Shred any unnecessary documents and neatly file away important documents in a filing cabinet or other storage container.
For out of control craft supplies, separate supplies into logical piles. Since I scrapbook and make hand made greeting cards, my piles were paper, rubber stamps, and miscellaneous craft tools. Consolidate into an easily accessible storage container such as a toolbox on wheels. Many craft stores sell craft storage containers that are perfect for keeping your items organized.
Sort through bathroom cabinets and get rid of any expired medicines, make up, and other toiletries. Using expired items can make you sick!
Keep a purge mentality all year long. This will make your job much easier when the time comes to clean and organize again.
After you have finished, kick up your feet and enjoy your freshly clean home.

another weekend flown by!

2008-10-05T20:20:00.002-03:00

Well i didn't get as much done today as i had envisioned for myself. but i am proud of what i did accomplish. and i will do the rest tomorrow or the next day. i did however manage to fit it time to make a pot of butternut squash soup. yum!

does anyone know of a good website builder that is little or no cost. i have no html experience. and i want to make a simple site. i have tried Microsoft frontpage and dreamweaver and they both require more knowledge than i have. i need something as simple as blogger is. and i am not sure that actually exist

how much can a list save you at the grocery store?

2008-10-05T13:58:00.002-03:00

A grocery shopping list can be the front line tool you use in saving money on your grocery budget each month. There are several more sophisticated ways to save grocery money, but none is easier or faster to implement than the lowly grocery shopping list.

Interestingly, this is a tool that almost everyone knows about, yet very few people actually use it in a systematic and reliable way. For those folks who are not convinced of a grocery list's potential power in household management, here's what happens when you DON'T use one. -- You lose money. Without a grocery shopping list, a shopper is at the mercy of "what looks good" in a grocery store. Believe me, if you shop this way, you WILL find something that looks irresistible. And costs more than you might have spent with a list. Why? Simple. It is the grocery stores' job to entice you to spend money in their stores. That's how they stay in business. There's no problem with that.

But it's YOUR business to get the best value for your money...unless you don't care how much you spend on your groceries each month.

You lose time. Using a grocery shopping list means you can enter your favorite grocery store, fly up and down the aisles one time, and be ready to check out in the fraction of time of another shopper who uses the 'browse' method of grocery shopping. And if you're under the mistaken impression that you'll need to spend lots of upfront time figuring out what to put on your grocery list, well, you don't.

Hang your grocery list in a prominent place in your kitchen and train your family to use it. Then your list will be ready to go shopping when you are. -- You lose nutrition. Using a grocery shopping list means you get EXACTLY what you want at the store; and that includes the nutrition you want for your family. You call the shots on how much fat, salt and sugar your family consumes. You can decide to emphasize whole grains and whether raw vegetables, frozen or canned will grace your family's dinner table. In short, with a grocery list, you are in control. -- You lose efficiency. Ever stand in your grocery store and think to yourself, "well, I know I need some frozen veggies (or broth, or canned fruits, or favorite mixes, etc.) to keep on hand for that easy throw-together recipe my family likes. But I can't remember what I already have at home. I'll just get a couple of bags of SOMETHING to keep on hand." Fast forward to the night you want to actually COOK that wonderful food for your family. You discover you've got two bags of frozen broccoli and three bags of frozen stir-fry veggies, but what you NEED is a bag of frozen corn. A grocery shopping list could have helped you bring home the corn. Without the extra stir-fry. Using a grocery list means you have what you actually need in your pantry when you need it. Plus, you'll end up with less throw-away food, too, since you're purchasing what you know your family will eat within a given period of time.

Bottom line, if you're serious about saving money at the grocery store, the first thing you'll want to use is a grocery shopping list. It's easy and you can start using one today. Whether you're a college student learning how to grocery shop for the first time, a newly married couple establishing a budget, or a mom whose family has grown and the grocery budget has developed a mind of its own, the place to start to regain control is the lowly grocery shopping list.

EVER FEEL LIKE A MAID... except without the pay?

2008-10-05T12:04:00.003-03:00

Well that is me today miss molly maid. i have a ton of cleaning to do. just regular old stuff but a lot of it. normally it is clean and tidy here all the time but the last couple of days I have not quite been in the mood for cleaning and then the amount of mess three kids can make is overwhelming and you don't know where to start.

right now it is actually tidy here just a lot of things need to be done that i call behind the scenes. the floors need mopping, the beds need to be changed, dusting, cleaning the kitchen, bathroom and a pile of laundry are all waiting for me.

and i still have to few groceries i just bought to cram into the fridge. there seems to never be enough room in the fridge.

Then i was thinking that after all the cleaning is done it might be a good time to invite the in laws around for dinner. they Haven't been around in about a month,. so two birds with one stone and the place is clean to boot.

Not sure if inviting them over will fly with dh, he is working til five today (dang Sunday shopping) so i will have to pull it all together myself and usually it is never very pleasant here when they do come over. I will run it by him when he checks in. I think mil will call today to see if they can visit anyway. our relationship with them could fill a whole blog in and of itself.
Anyway better get to cleaning.,,, happy Sunday!

Tips to organize your Kitchen

2008-10-04T21:53:00.004-03:00

tips on organizing your home.

Let's start with the kitchen: Pantry or food shelves: Put like items together, soups in one place, and canned vegetables in another and canned fruits all together, pasta in one place—you get the idea. Everything has its place so when you need it you will save time and easily be able to see what you have. (It just might scream 'take out' pizza night.)

If you haven't done this for awhile it is a good idea to make sure the cans or bottles are still good by checking expiration dates and check to see it is bulging. If it is, it is definitely spoiled and you need to get rid of it. Snacks: Place them in a basket at a convenient level to grab and go. Or if you have family members that you don't want to get into them, hide them.

Lids: Do you have plastic or glass bowls used for storing left-overs? If the lids are always all over the place, put them in a basket by themselves which makes it easy to match to the bowl and eliminates hunting for the matches. If you keep the lids on the container that takes up a lot of space in your cupboard. Dishes: Do you have enough room for all you have? Get metal stacking shelves that can double the amount of space in your cupboards. They come in many sizes and there are corner ones as well as straight ones that are adjustable. It is a good time to determine if you like or need all the dishes you have. If you see you never use some as you don't like them or you have too many for your needs or space; then donate to a charity.

Silverware drawer: Place the silverware in a container made for that purpose. Larger serving pieces can be placed next to it. Does your container slide back and forth as you open the drawer? A simple solution is to use sticky Velcro on the underside of the container—works great for bathroom drawers too where containers tend to want to slide about.

Pans: Place the ones you use most frequently toward the front of your shelf (if you hang them you have no problem with finding the right size when you need it).
If you have pans with a finish that can be chipped or scratched paper plates between the pans prevents this from happening.
If you have medicines in the cupboards check their expiration dates and make sure little children can't get into them.
Kitchens are often the hub of the home so a well organized one makes everyone happy. While you are waiting for Spring, or if you live where it is already Spring check out those cupboards, take an inventory and Get Organized now.

Winner picked for a tims card or a book of stamps.

2008-10-04T21:26:00.001-03:00

marleane is the winner as selected by my little cutie! marlaene please contact me on frugal as to whether you wish to have a book of stamps or a five dollar tims card. and your address I will put a window of a week for you to get back to me. or the prize will be forfeited to another contest.
congrats!!

New Jeans

2008-10-04T20:48:00.002-03:00

well, i was trying to get dressed today and i could not handle my old jeans anymore. they were just too big in the legs and thighs. i was not going to buy a new pair of jeans till i hit 30lb lost. but i have hit 25 so close enough i will have to set a new shopping reward or 30 lbs. i hate to say sizes because everyone body is different and numbers shouldn't matter but that being said, i went down 6 sizes!!!!

anyway it has been years since i bought a pair of jeans. the last jeans i bought were old walmart ones. the ones that stretch so bad they are all misshaped and everything. So i got it in my head that i would stop in old navy at er picking up DH from work. i was in the store 15 minutes and walked out with a pair of jeans. wow jeans are expensive. 39.50 wow! oh well i am just happy to have a pair that fits and kinda looks good. i hope though that in 3 months time i am out buying another pair and having the same too big problem. lol

i am starting to become more comfortable with my new lifestyle eating has become easier and a lot more diverse. i still strongly believe that success relies in finding healthier ways to make our comfort foods is the best way to keep ourselves on our "diets"

but enough about that. it was my sil birthday today so this morning the kids and i brought over a tray of pastries and a card and put them on her doorstep knocked and ran away. it was our way of giving her breakfast without the inconvenience of an early morning visit from three rowdy kids and myself. I hope she had a great day. Happy birthday sil

My two new favorite things!

2008-10-04T12:27:00.003-03:00

Well thanks to Gill squash soup recipe. it is now one of my favorite things. the family didn't like it much but i loved it so more for me!

my second favorite things. is a new comfort food for me sugar-free style. (yes it has natural sugars)

one of my favorite things are raspberries. and they are super good for you in moderation, high in fiber.

when i started eating no-low sugar one of the things i had to learn to live without is ice cream and my goodness i love ice cream and all things refreshingly cold. so i have discovered a new way to get that ice cream comfort. frozen Europe's best raspberries right out of the freezer. with some heavy cream poured onto it and allow to sit long enough to get the frost to warm up and it to melt a little i am telling you it is so good.

free bottle of Dove body wash hurry

2008-10-03T19:22:00.001-03:00

http://www.wakinguphannah.ca/freebodywash/

submit your email and wait for an email back. while supplies last
go go

Nighttime feeding wins the poll

2008-10-03T13:27:00.003-03:00

certainly not my favorite part either so not surprised it led the way.

Feeling very tired today my youngest has a cold and whenever she gets a cold she has asthma attacks the last couple of days was no exception. at the hospital with her till the wee hours. but she is much better now. and we will all hopefully make up for the lost sleep tonight.

i will be posting the winner of the stamps/ Tim's git card after school when i get the kids to draw a name.

and i have exciting news about a new contest i will be throwing. i have had so much fun passing out fpc's and codes and things. that i just want to take it up a notch. details to come soon.

gift closet pictures

2008-10-02T10:06:00.001-03:00

Hey Rocky , watch me pull a gift out of my hat!

2008-10-02T09:14:00.004-03:00

Ahh..... the topic was bound to come up eventually. Gift giving, parties, toys oh my!

Do you have a gift closet? For those from frugal this needs no explanation, but for others new to the subject I will explain.

A gift closet is a spot where you pick up items you see at considerable discount, in anticipation of using it later for an event. for example. I have a lot of toys in my gift closet that are age appropriate for friends of my daughters age group or friends of my son's age group. so I a party comes up unexpectedly or there are several at the same time and multiple presents are not in the budget. or Even if shopping for presents can represent a time crunch for you.

So in a nutshell that is a git closet ( can be a tote a box does not have to be in a closet lol) it can be one geared towards kids, Christmas, charity, ( I buy toys throughout the year that is good for the toy drive at Christmas)

now my gift closet is an area behind my furnace room door and it is messy there right now because I was searching for something yesterday. but I will brave all this and post a picture. it will be a little later on this morning, I challenge everyone who has a gift closet to post your pics.

In amongst my gift closet I also put the items I have for goody bags for parties I throw or things I use for gift baskets (another favorite thing of mine to do) will post more on that in the future.

Lunchmate code up for grabs.

2008-10-01T20:05:00.003-03:00

The last time i posted a code it was used without the courtesy of a 'i used it" so this time I am offering a code and but will email the code to the first commenter that wants it.

I hope this works out better.

You should be the Einstein in your babies life.

2008-10-01T13:09:00.004-03:00

Do you remember that feeling you had when you found out you were going to be a parent for the first time ahhhh such excitement, such happiness, such joy such ......spending.....

i was sparked to think about today about all the silly things we filled the nursery with when we were expecting our first. Almost like we were not prepared unless we had a bottle warmer, diaper genie and baby Einstein videos.

and for the moms and dads reading this that went on to have more than one child we all know how very little you really need to prepare for baby's arrival.

my own nursery for my first had, enough clothes for ten babies., 12 towels for example, i washed clothes so often i only ever used two of the towels that kept getting put back on top. it had bouncy chairs , swings, jolly jumpers, 12 bottles of shampoo, bottle warmer machine, bottle sterilizer for the microwave, and so on and so on.

what i really needed was some diapers, a tub, food, crib and blankets plus a bit of clothes.

So where do all these messages come from that we need this and that. ? it isn't from our parents, they never had half of these items either. Is it from our friends that have a year of baby bliss down. probably not, because i they were anything like us after our first year being parents, We looked around the nursery with such regret for everything we bought that was unused. And we passed this along to any new parents to be. Buy as you need it. you do not have to have a nursery like a picture out of a magazine in order to tell yourself you are ready for parenthood. That comes from within not from making sure you have a Noah's ark comforter set with a matching lamp, curtains, diaper bag. Not saying that is wrong just not necessary.

so that leaves the various forms of media, print radio and TV. they are showing us all these wonderful ways to be good parents to our babies. or at least it is showing us how at a very young age to be trying to buy our kids happiness with fancy toys, pricey learning videos, and name brands upon their chests. I fell into this thinking with my first but i could not be brainwashed with the following two, i decided that i would try to be the best parent i can be , by playing with them instead o expecting them to be happy with new toys, and I (how novel) would be the one to teach my child it's alphabet. ! insert gasp!

I think we, as a society, need to get back to basics forget the doodads and start be the DO--dads and moms

okay moms , lets talk.........playdates!

2008-10-01T08:58:00.002-03:00

My daughter is going for a playdate today. her first one. and although i am not nervous for her. but it does give me reason to stop and look at my daughter and give her that look that says

" my little baby is growing up' my questions are do you like to host play dates? would you prefer to have your child go out for a play date? how old would your child have to be to go on a play date without you?

My daughter is going to a friends house so i know the mom so that takes a lot of the worry out of it. but i would be less inclined to send her to another classmates house of a mom i did not know on an outside of school basis. Am i being silly with that? I imagine that it will start becoming less of an issue the more parties she is invited to an the more parents i meet. Surprisingly there have been no invites home yet. i can hardly wait to send hers out they are so precious. little fairytale princess books. trust me there will be lots of photos of that in the future. i guess i just wanted to gauge your thoughts on play dates. please share your experiences

today's new food. Dandelion greens

2008-09-30T16:07:00.003-03:00

Did you know:::

Dandelion is in the top 4 of all green vegetables and is one of the most nutrient rich vegetables on the planet.! Dandelions are natures richest vegetable source of beta carotene and the third richest source of vitamin A after cod liver oil and beef liver

Today is a veggie-rific day. we are having besides our normal salad. butternut squash and dandelion greens.

Dandelion greens are a nutritional powerhouse. The plant has been used since antiquity as a diuretic, a liver tonic, to treat skin conditions and a whole host of other health problems.
They are packed with vitamins and minerals. One cup of cooked dandelion greens has more calcium than a cup of cottage cheese but only 34 calories. It provides 12% of the fiber, 19% of the iron and 28% of the Vitamin C that (averaging for adults and children) the USDA suggests that we get in our diets each day. Dandelion provides more vitamin A than an equal amount of kale, collard greens or summer squash, giving you 85% of the daily recommended intake.
The one cup serving also contains 2.1 grams of protein, many minerals including potassium, magnesium and phosphorous as well as vitamin E, thiamin, riboflavin, B-6 and folate

i am making dandelion greens three ways.
First is a simple boil in salted water
second they will be in their raw natural state as a side salad
thirdly sauteed

recipe

Sautéed Garlicky Dandelion Greens

Ingredients2 lb dandelion greens, tough stems removed and leaves cut crosswise into 4-inch pieces 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 4 large garlic cloves, minced 1/2 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes 1/2 teaspoon salt

Method Cook greens in boiling water for about 4 minutes, and then drain in a colander. Rinse under cold water to stop cooking and drain well.
Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium low heat; add garlic, and gently cook for about 10 minutes making sure garlic does not brown. Increase heat to moderately high, then add greens, and salt and sauté, about 4 minutes.

growing up in Newfoundland i often heard about "dandelion soup' i had no idea that something so simple could be one of the worlds greatest superfoods.

will update this post more after supper. yummy

okay so supper is done. verdict. boiled dandelions are so good. just like the greens i used to have back in nfld growing up. sauteed in garlic and evoo was also good. dandelions as a salad green was not great. It was a lot like arugula except it's bite was a lot sharper than that of arugula. i think it would be great in a mixed greens salad. but as the only green it was too in tense.

we will definitely be having it again.

some more good information to know about dandelions they are great for liver detoxification, stimulates the production of bile helping with indigestion and heartburn. also helpful in the treatment of diabetes . it contains inulin which is a naturally occurring soluble fiber known to have a positive affect on blood sugar. it also has pectin which also in relieving constipation and lowering your cholesterol. it is a natural diabetic great or pms.

i bought my dandelion at petes frootique 1.99 for what is pictured.

On to the squash. i roasted it simply with evoo and salt and pepper. iT WAS SO GOOD!!!!

because i have not had any sugar for a very long time. ( june 16th) squash tasted like candy to me. it was so yummy and i have a whole bowl in the fridge left to eat hee hee

researching buying a new oil furnace.

2008-09-30T12:57:00.003-03:00

That is what i am doing this afternoon. oh boy they are expensive. But the furnace in this house is so old it is costing a fortune. our furnace is really old and is running at about 70% efficiency. not good. last winter it was costing us approx 700 dollars a month. !!!

we have made the decision to put in a new one because it should cost about 100.00 a month to finance it and that is also about the amount of dollars in oil we will save. so i would rather have a new furnace that runs efficiently than be blowing all the heat out the chimney.

so I am on the phone with the third company now that installs and services oil fired furnaces in my area.

what kind of home heat do you have and how expensive is it.? inquiring minds want to know.

Zellers bonus points offer coupon / want it?

2008-09-30T09:22:00.003-03:00

i have a earn 5,000 hbc reward points with the purchase of any 2 truly items. ( no restrictions on what truly product.) valid until october 25th 2008. this is not a computer pritout. it is the smartsource ( or the other booklet) offer.

If you want it let me know and it will be in the mail.!

post a comment and it is yours.

What the heck is jicama? And should you be eating it.?

2008-09-29T20:02:00.006-03:00

well, i know what jicama is . but i have never tried it till tonight.

We have a store here called Pete's Frootique where you can get the more obscure fruits and veggies. And i found Jicama!

Jicama is a root vegetable that is used alot in Mexican food. Some people have characterized it as a cross between an apple and a potato. it looks like a turnip has a thin brown skin you can peel. it can be used in a zillion different way.

jicama is a low calorie, low-fat, high fiber food. it's mostly water about 90% yet a cup o it contains more than 6 grams of fiber. that alone makes it one of the worlds healthiest foods. but jicama also has calcium, magnesium, potassium, vitamin c, vitamin a and beta carotene. with a measly 49 calories per cup.

You can bake or broil a jicama like a potato, or slice it into stir fries. great raw. i mixed it into a berry-fruit salad for my snack later. i had a few bites and it is really satisfying.

so a new recommended superfood. jicama. Try it !

Picture picture on the wall who's the fairest of them all ....... or not.

2008-09-29T09:09:00.003-03:00

In this digital age , technology has made picture taking easier, less expensive and a higher quality. being able to make sure you have a great pic beore the picture taking moment is over is priceless.

as a mom to three kids , with a digital camera from the start. I have thousands of pictures. probably a tenth of them are what i would call quality shots. ( i really need to go through them) Oddly enough for a mom of three , with thousands of pictures in her possession, i have one or two actual pictures around the house.

has the technology of digital cameras given us the ability and ease of taking thousands of pictures that we rarely see?

Dh has our computers set up to have a screensaver that shows pictures from our photos documents. it is like have a 15 inch digital picture frame in our living room. every now and then a picture will flash by that i have not seen in years that makes my heart melt.

But getting back on topic.... do you have less actual framed pictures than years ago. Do you distribute less pictures of your kids to family and friends. or has the method of delivery of the pictures just changed. instead of mailing off a school pic to aunt jan you email her one. And is that somehow less exciting as it sits on her computer rather than under a strawberry magnet on her fridge?

I started thinking about this when my kids had their school pics done the other day and i had to sit down and pick out a package. while trying to figure that out how many I wanted to get to pass to aunts and uncles and so on. I realized I do not have any pics of my 5 nieces and nephews. now i can see them all on facebook. But seriously, has it really come to that? do i have to log on to the Internet in order to see pictures of my family.?

So . i have decided that everyone will be mailed a picture. and i will be hinting at getting an actual physical one back. seriously let's not be forgetful-lazy- about this anymore. lets get back to sharing photos.

Dh is back

2008-09-28T22:43:00.003-03:00

Well dh's weekend was good and he came back in one piece so i am a happy wife. and the kids ae back to school tomorrow so it will be somewhat quiet here, there is still gonna be one baby here after all;) but at least there will be very little fighting and scratching unless dh and i get into it! i have to say that the hardest part of having kids is the constant fighting.

It is very windy and rainy here right now. we are experiencing hurricane conditions. it is blowing like crazy out there right now. A few years ago we were hit with hurricane juan it was devastating. i am hoping we can really avoid that this time. so if anyone out there from the east coast is reading this sit tight and stay safe.

gotta get some lunches ready just in case there is school tomorrow.

Free Kashi Honey Almond Flax flavour

2008-09-28T15:45:00.002-03:00

get a free box for a limited time at

www.foodforchange.ca

go get yours!

i have liked all the kashi products i have ever tried.

The 150 healthiest foods on earth- jonny bowden

2008-09-28T10:18:00.003-03:00

Ever since i started eating healthier to change my life and lose some weight. I started reading books about food trying to learn how foods affect our mood our bodies and ultimately our happiness. there are two books that really stood out to me . this one and another i will speak about later in another post.

I urge you to check it out of your library you may find it has a wait list. yes, it is that good.

My family has had the book for a few weeks now. when we sit down to eat we read the book along with eating. learning how the vegetables we are eating is boosting our bodies and minds. the kids really enjoyed it. this is the amazon spiel written better than i ever could.

Product Description
A complete guide to the healthiest foods you can eat - and how to cook them!
Why get your nutrients from expensive supplements when you can enjoy delicious, nourishing foods instead? From almonds to yucca, readers will find out what nutrients each of the 150 featured foods contains, what form contains the most nutrients, if it's been recommended to combat any diseases, where to find it, how to prepare it, and how much to eat - plus wonderful recipes using these sometimes obscure foods! Indexes by nutrient, by disease, and by food make finding what you need a snap, and the at-a-glance format makes the information as easy to digest as the foods themselves

.About the Author
Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., M.A., C.N., C.N.S. is a nationally known expert on weight loss and nutrition and is a and the author of the best-selling "Living The Low Carb Life: Choosing the Diet That's Right for You from Atkins to Zone" (winner of the Consumers Choice Award for Best Nutrition Book of 2004), as well as Jonny Bowden?s Shape-Up! The Eight Week Program to Transform Your Body, Your Health and Your Life. He is the host of a popular call-in health show heard nationwide on the Health Radio Network. Jonny frequently appears on television as a health expert (including Fox News, CNN, Deborah Norville Tonight, MSNBC), and is a popular speaker at media events and seminars. He has been featured in The New York Times, The New York Post, Bottom Line Health, Chicago Sun Times, and countless other publications. Visit www.jonnybowden.com.

http://www.amazon.com/150-Healthiest-Foods-Earth-Surprising/dp/1592332285 read the reviews and make your own opinion. but i do highly recommend you read this book. This book is what i call a buyer. i liked it so much i will buy it to have. there are only a handful i have felt that way about in my life.

EXPLANATAION OF FPC

2008-09-28T07:32:00.003-03:00

Since several people have asked me what the fpcs are. I wanted to clarify.;) I have fpc's for cheese, dove chocolates, healthy request soup, coffee mate and maple leaf foods.
I sealed all the envies up with a fpc in it. When one is won i take a envelope. i no longer know what is in it. but it will be one of the above. address it and mail it out. So what you will receive is one of the above. If you are unable to use the fpc there is a trading area on frugal or a karma section I will not be insulted if you choose to trade it or give it away it is your to do as you wish. and the issuance is random .

When i am hiding things like pampers points, pin lunchmate buck. the codes will be listed please post if you use it so others do ot waste their time trying to use it.

Don't forget to vote in the daily poll contest. check under momming daddyig poll post for information.

what do you like to do in your spare time?

2008-09-27T20:02:00.002-03:00

We are mostly all mommies here, so we do not get a whole lot of spare time. but is there something that you make time for that is a hobby, social group or crafting hobby?

i don't really have any set thing. i like to make cakes, gift baskets and plan parties. and i have very much enjoyed writing in my blog. it is nice to put my thoughts down on paper. i am always open to new ideas on how to use my free time lol

Lunch with a friend.//Shopping

2008-09-27T15:00:00.003-03:00

i mentioned somewhere back that i ran into a Friend i knew in university since the star of the new school year. Also the same one that asked me if i wanted to go downtown this upcoming weekend . well anyway we got together for lunch today all five kids in a room. i was really very nice. i hope to have many more lunch dates like that in the future. We have a lot in common. besides kids.
Dh is out i the woods with the army still . He will be back tomorrow night. he called and is having a good time.

Went to Walmart today for some of the anniversary sales and left with only coffee. i wasn't in the mood to shop today. toting three kids with you takes the fun out of it.

although i am going to need to go out soon and get some new jeans. I have almost reached my goal for new pants. I can hardly believe it. However i will not go int detail here but i have lost a silver anniversary's amount of weight. yay me. still a "weighs" to go yet. though another 15 on to that number ad i will be a happy girl. it is slow going but it is happening i am also going to need a new bra. is there a way to make them smaller? i am only familiar with extenders lol j/k never used one of them.

How to make an easy Pinata !

2008-09-26T21:45:00.006-03:00

i recently posted showing a pinata we used for my son's party. it was a checkered flag.

it was so easy to make involved no papier mache. and took just a little while .

tools/materials needed.

a cereal box i used rice krispies the 700g one.

some rope/twine

some heavy duty tape- duct tape or other

pinata filler

some not so strong tape masking little bit of packaging tape.

some paper for filling the inside.

some stickers/paper/markers printed sheets for decorating the outside.

how i made mine.

I took the rice kripie box and strenthened the bottom of the box with a couple passes of duct tape. i punched two holes in it through the tape to push the string through for hanging the pinata.

then turn box over and fill alternating favors with balled up paper so that when it opens it does not all fall out at once.

when filled close the box. using whatever tape you decide .

decorate the exterior. to make our checkered flag one we taped on black Bristol board and pasted individual white squares to it.

it was so easy we made two one for the girls and one for the boys.! it ended up being really strong on the sides making the only way to get it open through the bottom so please keep that in mind when taping it up.

it is the personal touches that make it memorable.

Kids birthday parties. i am in a birthday mood.

2008-09-26T14:49:00.008-03:00

I recently threw a party for my son's birthday. it was a racing theme. the kids had a great time. we made up diferent racing themed games lots of prices and they decorated their own t shirts it was a ball . some pictures to follow. I had so much un planning this with him and making the crats and decorations. also making the pinatas was a blast. there was very little on the market here in the theme of racing. i even had to get the balloons of ebay.!

anyway some pictures.

Happy 50th birthday to my Bil David/ inservice

2008-09-26T10:43:00.004-03:00

Happy birthday dear Bil. hope you find a surprise in your mailbox.;0

today is an inservice day. Do you have those professional development days? so we are having a three day weekend. perfect timing with DH gone away and all lol.

so my babies are all enjoying a lazy day with no planned activities. One is in front of the computer playing games and another is watching tv and the other is reading a book. Tomorrow however is another fun filled day of running them around. and then to an event that is local. should be fun!

I got to meet both of my kids teachers recently. They both seem like very patient women. with high hopes for the school year and for my kids. and the children seem to like them. Do you like your children's teachers? do your children like them? i guess the latter being the most important. The school they go to seems very much like a positive learning environment and that they really are interested in going above and beyond. So i am happy. my son's class has been given permission from their teacher to bring in cushions to sit on. for use on their chairs as the chairs are quite uncomfortable. ( the same type we probably all had the molded back with the hole in it.) so i have to remember to send one in on Monday. other than that all is going good so far.

i am glad all the fpcs are being passed out and that people are having fun with it. I like that people are reading this blog as writing it is a great stress reliever and a great way to collect my thoughts for the day ahead or the day passed. a lot of you i have been familiar with for a long time on frugal and it is Nice to "see' you outside of there as well. there will be another fpc up for grabs today as well as a shick pin. keep your eyes open lol

don't forget to vote daily in the poll contest find ans to this in the poll blog entry from yesterday. you can vote everyday in the contest. but only once in the poll.

Foods we think are good,

2008-09-25T20:46:00.003-03:00

I received a leaflet sometime ago about foods that we think are good but they are really not. it came from the nutrition action newsletter. it attacks ten foods for it's unhealthiness.

1) sun maid yogurt raisins -- sugar and saturated fat
2) tim hortons hot breakfast sandwiches high calorie saturated fat a days worth,
3)presidents choice sheppards pie-- high calorie high fat
4)weight watchers whitman chocolate candies malitol sweetener high calorie.
5) macdonalds milkshakes 1130 calories!!!! 28 g of fat. that is the calories of three quarter pounders and the fat of two .
6) starbucks venti white chocolate mocha with whole milk and whipped cream.high calorie high fat.
7)campbells regular condensed soups loaded with salt. one can contains a person dietary intake of salt
8)sunny d-each cup only contains a tbsp of real juice. the rest is pure sugar.
9) wendy's southwest taco salad. 700 calories 19 grams bad fat 1600 mg ofg sodium
10) Stouffers macaroni and cheese.- days worth of sodium half a days worth of saturated fat high calorie

not that i would have ever really considered any of these 'good foods" but do we really know how bad some foods are that we are putting into our systems.

it has been quite a few years since i have had a macdonalds milkshake. and i have never bought my kids one. but if in the situation I could possibly have. and i never would have thought it was That bad.

are there any other food you can think of that you thought were good or not so bad but have discovered it was horrible for you?

Budgeting. Do you have the right tools?

2008-09-25T13:02:00.005-03:00

when i started 8 years ago to get my finances in order to start a family and to figure out how my family was going to make it as one income and myself being a stay at home mom. I didn't know where to start! i was lost. i did some web searching and i found a website that i really loved and that i got a lot of value out of.

It has a lively writer named grandpa terry, terry rigg. he writes articles that are filled to the brim with experience and trial and error wisdom. I personally have learned alot from his emails over the years. and the tips from the readers included inside them are iinvaluable.

Garandpa terry, has created some forms that makes budgeting, credit card payment, and bill payment organizing a breeze. i bought the program 4 years ago and still use them. i am no whiz with computers. so when it is the choice of these inexpensive forms or trying to figure out how to make a form in excel . my money is best used with the premade forms.
If you want a Budget that only takes a couple of hours to setupand a few minutes on payday to maintain, you have to have The "New" Complete Budget and Bill Organizer. If you've ever tried other budgets that have 15, 20 or even 50 different categories that you are required to keep up with everyday, you know it's next to impossible. You don't have time for that. Get the simple budget system that's easy and it works!

budgetandbilltools!!!

grandpa terry's website is http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/ take a look around there are lots of free things to download great articles to read and sign up for the email. i have been getting the email now for 7 years!

New poll; Hardest part of the mommying daddying job the first few years.

2008-09-25T09:06:00.002-03:00

Well for me personally the hardest part in the early years was certainly the night time feedings. i have never felt so drained in all my life as those first few months. trying to function the next day was the worst and of course it just got harder with the more children i had. no sleeping when the baby sleeps then. Not that i ever could there was just too much that needed to be done! haha

my littlest still wakes up sometimes at night. but now dh gets up with her. it is rare. but i am burnt out when it comes to getting up in the middle of the night, even if i am only up for a minute or two it is disastrous to my feeling as if i had a full nights sleep. I think the 7 years of not getting a full nights sleep has certainly traumatized my body. and my mind and now any interruption ruined me lol. so anyway on the occasion should one of my children wake up dh takes care of it. Thanks hubby.

Giveaways, fpc, and more prizes YAY

2008-09-24T21:08:00.004-03:00

I will be giving away more coupons and codes on my blog. The first Fpc being given away today to Anastasia who found the hidden fpc. and two pampers codes were given away successfully yesterday. I hope that finding them is as fun as hiding them, tomorrow i am going to start a contest for those that comment on my new poll. Should be up around lunch time. all you have to do to enter is say vote under the blog entry discussing the new poll. You can vote once per day. that many entries will be put into a hat and one of my lovely children will select a winner. The winner will receive a book of stamps. or a five dollar tims card their choice. stamps could come in handy for the christmas card exchange that I will be starting up on frugal again this christmas season.;)

Thank you to everyone who voted on the last poll.

1 vote for sahm is not for me.
2 votes for i need both to be happy
2 votes i want both
9 votes for being a sahm is enough for me.

14 votes total that is fantastic turnout!

the next poll should be fun.

Is rising food prices frightening the pants off you.

2008-09-24T08:26:00.006-03:00

If it is, you are one of the Canadians who have noticed the dramatic increase at the grocery market registers.
With everyone so focused on rising oil prices and prices at the pump food companies and grocery stores are hiking prices on another necessity of life, food . While Canadians are focused on energy costs and transportation costs soaring. they may not have noticed that rice has tripled in price and the cost of flour has at the very least doubled. Leading to higher prices for the very basic in life.

A lot of people in a forum I frequently visit www. frugalshopper.ca have noticed, and we are reacting with measures to keep our food budgets buying what it was before. But a lot of people are still not quite in the know. It seems logical that unless you paid attention to what the prices were before it is hard to know how much it has jumped. Consumers just look blankly at the grocery bill wondering what they bought that put their weekly grocery bill 20+ dollars higher than it was two weeks ago. they look at the chips and cookies or ice cream and think aha! that must be the culprit! chances are it is the things like rice, flour products, milk, vegetables and meats. in fact a lot of the snack food type items are still setting lowest price ever records.

Another thing to note is even if the prices on your favorite items have not gone up you should take note of the package size as that may have gone down. A popular example of this is the big bricks of cheese. it used to sell for 4.99 on sale for 600g. And it still occasionally goes on sale for this price the package size is now 520g sneaky sneaky!

first thing anyone can do is look at what it is they buy and note what it costs. knowing your prices is key. without knowing what it regularly sells for you will not know when you come across a good deal. ie if your families favorite bread normally sells for 2.29 and you do not know this when you buy it on sale for 1.69 you may pass up the opportunity to save money by buying a few extra loaves and freezing them.

There are lots of other things you can do as well such as menu planning, stocking up , coupons , and more. but if you are new to this at first just focus on what are you paying for your favorite things . when you have that knowledge the door opens to saving money on your families groceries. Then you have the money to spend on fun things for the family or to pay for those ever rising gasoline prices.

gift wrapping station craft and challenge

2008-09-23T22:11:00.008-03:00

With our new house we have to rebuild /organize the laundry room. in the laundry room plans dh is building me a gift wrapping station. it is super cool. but sadly it will not be ready for this christmas season.

Now i like many of you have an organizer bin i put all my wrap into ( that i usually buy after christmas) it is a big plastic thing i bought for it. but when i get ready to start wrapping. i usually sit on the floor with a few rolls some tape and scissors. during the wrapping i look for my scissors twelve times. get up 6 times for ribbons and bows. and tags.

so this christmas and for other holidays. i am making a gift wrapping take along organizer. I saw this on hgtv

one that i can load up with my things. and take with me to eliminate the time wastage and help ensure perfect parcels.

if you want to make one as well. you will need some common around the house items.

Materials:
sturdy corrugated cardboard carton

two or three cardboard cores from bathroom tissue

two or three small boxes (cut-down tissue boxes, etc.)

scissors

stapler

dowel (1/4 iuch or 1/2 inch in diameter)

Note: The size of the carton and the individual small boxes is arbitrary. The carton need only be high enough that when you stand rolls of gift wrapping paper up in it, they will not tip out. This carton was about 14 inches high, 14inches deep front to back and 12 inches across. If you want to house more supplies, use a bigger carton.The directions are for cutting and assembly. You will no doubt want to paint and decorate the carton in some way and cover the inside cardboard containers, as well, with paint, fabric, or Con-Tact paper.

i will be getting my supplies together this week. if you want to join in the crafting fun. get your supplies together and we will make it together. post a pic of your finished product and journey on your blog sending me a link and picture and be entered in a draw for a mystery gift. and look forward to a less stressful wrapping season.

EdITED TO ADD LInk

http://www.hgtv.com/cr-occasions-gift-wrap/gift-wrap-center/index.html

What kind of Sahm are you?

2008-09-22T09:56:00.006-03:00

Being a sahm is not all its cracked up to be y'know. lol I guess it can sometimes depends on why you are a sahm. In the first place. If it's because you want to, I imagine it is fabulous and all that you want and hoped it to be,
But if you are a sahm because it is either the economical choice or the pressured guilt choice by you peer group or parents. Maybe it is a little less desired. or a little less fulilling.

i imagine those woman have quite a different take on it on what being a sahm means to them,
. i am not ashamed to admit, that I am somewhere in between economical- want- and guilt. And that is in order of driving factor.

Economically my family cannot afford to pay for daycare for 3 kids. it just is not possible and i would rather be home with my babies than work for peanuts.

want. from the begining i have wanted to be the one to teach my kids things and be there or the booboos and i am glad i have been here or that.

guilt part of me feels that it is the thing i should do. so that the kids are happy and feel safe and secure. untill they are all off in school.

does your role of sahm have any of these factors rolled up into it? it has taken me years to come to terms with the fact that it is okay to say this is not enough i need more. I felt guilty for years wondering how come i am not fully satisfied when everyone around me was insiting that i should. Well ladies, i no longer feel guilty. i know it is only a human response. just like we don't all like pickles. So i am no longer harbouring any shame. I am out and i'm proud. and you can be too.

now all that being said. My only role right now is a sahm. I know very little action for someone with awful big words one paragraph ago! it will work out for me. I know it will but those factors i mentioned are still there and they are strong. but since i have allowed mysel to be honest. everything has changed. and oddly enough i'm happier even though nothing has changed.

not every mom is comfortable talking about the challenges of being a sahm mom because we are 'supposed " to be loving it. but it is not the case for everyone. Now i am not saying being at home with the kids are a nightmare. i am just saying something extra is needed to feel fulfilled.

Long week ahead,

2008-09-22T09:03:00.003-03:00

well today is the start of a very long week. The kids are in school, hubby has work and army, and then he is gone on an expedition all weekend. So gone from 9am friday til sunday eveningt.

Which means no days off and a long week ahead. i want to detest the army commitments. but i find it hard to hate something he loves. i do however detest the fact that it takes away from the fact that it just makes me even more certain that i cannot schedule anything for myself. Alot of the army commitments. come up with only about a week's notice. or at least that is when I hear about it! Not really sure if he is holding off telling me or they don't tell him, But it aggravates me because it just again reinforces to him that there is never a reason to take my needs into consideration because I am always here no need to consult.

This, although true, still makes me feel taken advantage of. This is why i have sat back for so long and allowed myself to be pushed to the back burner. But i have to reclaim my life or at least a small part of it. i have to do that for the good of my family.

a typical week at my house is. dh works 5 days at his full time job and 2 days of that are extended for purposes of the army takes him out till midnight . so two days he is gone from 9 am til midnight. then on the weekend. this one for example, he has to take the two days off from his regular job and use them to go with the army. which in turn effects the next week days off. so one could argue that this week I am on my own. so then i use a week like this to talk me out of trying to organize anything for myself outside the home. almost like it is destined to become unmanagebale. So my own thinking is sabotage. But there has to be some basis for this thinking. don't you think? I mean really where can i fit in a part time job. or a social group. ?

I guess the other part that gets me down is i know that he has to go away this summer for training, Yup that's right folks all summer! 8 weeks. oh boy! i cannot focus on that right now.

another reason to not get involved in something. i am afraid I may become dependant on that emotional/ social support, and then be worse off when it is taken away. I am also afraid that having to give it up ( should i start something) will make me feel more deprived/ taken advantage of.

oh boy what a conversation today!

.

Sundae sunday

2008-09-21T20:34:00.002-03:00

I feel like having a sundae! so i ate a few strawberries with some home whipped whip cream on it. Killed the craving. We had a relaxing day today. went for a drive in the morning and then my friend came over for the afternoon and we had coffee and a bitch session ;) she just purchased her first home and while she will be moving 2 hours away it will be good for her and i am excited about it for her.

i will have to drive farther for our chats but it will be worth it i am sure.

It is only a few weeks into the school year and i am already sick of making lunches. It has to be a cold lunch no microwaves or thermos' . I try to make them healthy with a little treat. and the kids are usually pretty good at giving me ideas. but it is still a little stressful. but they are made ir another day. So i will not dwell.

Tomorrow will be a slower paced day, monday is a big cleaning day . DH is working at night so he will be here in the am and he can help.

I am looking or tap shoes size little girl 8 anyone know where to buy them.?

Saturday night at my house.

2008-09-20T20:39:00.003-03:00

Saturday night at my house is usually the same old thing. Which i like don't get me wrong. dh and i usually watch a movie have a drink or two. and sometimes listen to music. we get a chance to reconnect and talk about our week. it's nice.

my husband and i have been married for 6 years this past July . and i believe we are still as much if not more in love now than the day we got married. We have been through a lot and we are still standing so i guess that is a testament to something.

my husband is a hardworking man. A great provider. He is an excellant husband to me and a wonderful father to our kids. I am a lucky woman. i bet he would say he is the lucky one, the cornball. :)

don't let all the love stuff fool ya, we can still fight with the best of them. a common theme is usually not having any free time to myself and so on the usual. we always come out of it smiling . arguing can be very cathartic. it doesn't happen often though.

We have very similar personalitites and usually feel the same on most subjects. It can be like talking to yourself sometimes. haha. but i wouldn't want it any other way.

Busy mommy-ing

2008-09-20T12:31:00.005-03:00

Well after shuttling sarah to dance and chris to drawing and then to soccer all with my littliest in tow. i am fatigued. it is on saturdays so of course dh works every saturday so it is all down to me. But to see them trying new things and meeting new people is so worth it. These are opportunities i never would have had as a kid. I went and got Sarah little ballet slippers while she was in dance class. although they were too big. i will have to look for smaller ones. they would also like her to have tap shoes. but i never saw any even remotely close to her size.

Chris said he really liked his drawing class. He is a fantastic little artist. and draws wonderul pictures so i thought that class would be great for him. Then he just walks down the hall to the gym where soccer is. Our recreation department offers fantastic opportunities for a great price. maybe your local recreation has things they offer to.

so what super foods are we eating today: organic broccoli, cauliflower, salmon, and mxed veggie salad( spinach, bell pepper, cucumber, red onion, button mushroom, grape tomato. and more.

vitamins i am now taking are omega 3, and a womens one a day. i am thinking of starting a b12 vitamin. but am still researching it. Any thoughts on vitamins.

I am in the market for a recommendation for whey protein, if anyone has one they want to recommend.

Do you eat artichokes?

2008-09-19T20:20:00.006-03:00

I am trying new vegetables all the time. but i am intrigued by artichokes. i have never had then before. If you eat them how do you prepare them? fresh or canned or bottled. any ideas would be great.

Today has been one of those days that seem to go on forever. The kids generally go to bed 7;30 and i was looking at the clock at 6pm waiting for some quiet time. lol

so i put up the bouncy castle and they went nuts for an hour on it, They love that thing. I got it in the spring from a special sale walmart had in ontario, I got mysister to send it down. it barely made it under the weight capacity Canada Post has. i pull it out as a treat and use it for birthday parties. anyway stressul times call for inflatable measures. I am happy to say we all made it to bedtime happy campers;)

Dh came home and said the veggie bouquet is a huge success and everyone loved it. i am glad i never know what to send to those things. So now we have a winner. yay!

What are your favorite things to send to a potluck.?

Funky Friday

2008-09-19T12:19:00.006-03:00

Well another school week is over. my son is in grade 2 and my daughter just started primary. this is the first day of school. and the walk to school.

I just wanted to post up a couple pics of my kids.

I posted up some pics on yesterdays post of the veggie bouquet i made for Dh work. It came out fantastic. I am very happy with it.

Today nothing big going on Dh was home all morning so i skipped to the grocery store got a great deal on sliced black forest ham, Too high sugar content for me but dh and the kids like it a lot. it was .87 per 100 g better than half price. dh has since gone to work now and the baby is sleeping. I have about an hour to myself and here i am. got to go get the kids in a bit. it is a nice although chilly day here.

The kids start their saturday extra curricular activities. my middle has dance and my boy is in both drawing and soccer. they are looking forward to it. i am not looking forward to running them around but it is a small thing for them to be happy. my littliest is to small for any programs but i am hoping to get her in a playschool next fall. she will be three then and potty trained. which i have to start. i am so sick and tired of changing diapers. they say you change 10,000 diapers on average per child. It certainly seems like i have changed 30,000 diapers and the most of them smelly i bet!

Is just one cookie ever enough?

2008-09-18T20:23:00.001-03:00

On June 16th I made a momentous decision to start eating healthier. Being more accountable to eating foods that were going to give me more energy and a more positive moods. and of course like most people over the age of 30 i had 5 -10lbs to lose ;) So i did some research. I realized that i was eating a lot of sugary foods to try and get that energy i needed to get through the morning , afternoon evening. but then the inevitable crash would happen and i would once again need a boost of sugary energy. the things i thought were giving me energy were actually dragging me down lower than where i started.

So the best lifestyle for me to try and adapt to my life would be one where i get rid of all the sugar that had been dragging me down. so starting the 16th of June i have not had anything sugary up to an including today and tomorrow too. high carbohydrate foods are also off the table as they are quickly changed into sugar in the body giving the same insulin response and the rush-crash starts all over again. so most carbs are also something i have not eaten.

i have read a lot of books trying to learn about what to eat what not to eat. and most importantly why,

one book i read called sugar shock ! was a huge eye opener. i recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about the effects of sugar. or anyone who is curious as to why everywhere we look now children are becoming more and more overweight. adults are tipping the scales higher than ever before. Obesity is an epidemic. A very recent epidemic in my opinion and i believe it has a lot to do with HFCS high fructose corn syrup.

HFCS

'Trying to save money, food companies introduced High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) into the food market in the 1970s. Sweetening manufactured foods this way is profitable, because it is less expensive and much sweeter than sugar, yet easy to transport because of its liquid state. Today HFCS is found in a variety of foods from soda pop to ketchup, fruit drinks to salad dressings, cereals, breads, flavored yogurt, and sauces. What is Fructose? Fructose, a monosaccharide, is sometimes called “fruit sugar” because it is naturally found in fruits. Fructose is also found in honey, and is a component of table sugar (sucrose), which is a disaccharide composed of fructose and glucose.

When we eat most carbohydrate foods, the blood sugar level increases and insulin is secreted to transport the sugar into the body’s cells. Besides helping to transport blood sugar, insulin also triggers the release of a hormone called leptin. Leptin helps control hunger by signaling the brain that the body is full and therefore to stop eating. The interesting fact about fructose is that it is metabolized in a totally different way than other carbohydrates. It does not stimulate or require insulin for transportation to the cells. Since there is no need for insulin release, there is also no secretion of leptin. Therefore the feeling of satiety is altered—you continue to eat and possible overeat"
it is recommended and i agree 100%

Whenever possible, avoid food products that contain HFCS and refined table sugar. This is not a magical cure for weight loss, but the preliminary research indicates that it may play a role. These foods often have little—if any—nutritional value.
Take inventory of your refrigerator, freezer, and pantry. Start reading the fool labels. If HFCS is one of the main ingredients (which are listed in descending order on the food label), scratch it off your grocery list—permanently.
Try to limit foods that have “sugar” as one of the first ingredients.
Start shopping around the perimeter of your grocery store; this is where you will find the foods in their natural, unprocessed state.
Fill your grocery cart with low fat dairy products, fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats, eggs, beans, peas, lentils, nuts, seeds, whole grains, cereals and breads.

food for thought. calorie free

What to do today?

2008-09-18T14:01:00.001-03:00

I started out writing a post this morning about my schedule for the day, or the lack of anything to put on it. and then i decided to take a walk to the grocery store to get vegetables to make another vegetable bouquet for my husbands work. Took the baby. ( of course)

it takes about 35 minutes to walk there, no sidewalks so a bumpy go. and well it takes 50 minutes back on account of the weight of the groceries and fatigue It is rather cloudy so it was a nice walk. i got a lot of superfoods, radish's , cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms, grape tomatoes, baby carrots, snow peas. and more will post a pic later. so i got a lot of exercise today.
and i still have to go get the children from school.

my husband is working all day and he has the army tonight. He is a 2nd Lieut. in the reserves. Artillery. he enjoys it . It takes him out 1-2 nights a week. and some weekends. He is really enjoying it. this is a part of the reason that scheduling is so hard for things like part time work. But i am finally gonna try and fit something in.

when my daughter started primary , a little boy in her class was actually the son of someone i met in university, since school started we have had coffee and chat frequently. It is nice to have someone to chat with sometimes. she invited me to a girls night out in October. I haven't confirmed i would go but it is tempting. it is downtown and i haven't been downtown in 8 or more years, i can hardly imagine it. but i am thinking of it seriously.

New poll. Is being a SAHM enough?

2008-09-17T21:23:00.001-03:00

I have added a new poll because i am curious what other women think about being a sahm. personally there are a lot of things i like about it and then there are the days where i feel trapped and unsatisfied.
I like being the single biggest influence in their lives. I like having to not deal with schedule conflicts all the time. Being here if they need me. and not missing a darn thing special and normal that they do.

then there is the woman in me that just wants to do something outside the house that is recognized by peers. contributes to a future career, as kids are only little while and then you have to get back out there.

When i was working before my babies I was the go to girl for information. i was comfortable and confident in my position and I felt integral. Not that i do not feel any of those things now. It is very different.

For the last 6 years i have been home , tending to the house and to the babies. i feel as if my twenties just slid by unmarked. my thirties are upon me now and again i feel as if these years are slipping away, I joke with family that my thirties are gonna suck but my forties will rock., I really believe that this is gonna be a very long decade. But hopefully , we will all come out the other end.

I have almost always wanted to go back to work part time. just to get out of the house, it has never come to pass though. there is the scheduling issues as well as schooling as well as cost of daycare. I guess you can find a lot of roadblocks if you look long enough. these are some very real issues though.
now that I have two kids in school it seems like it may be more of a possibility in the future. Although now our schedules are tighter than ever. But i did put an application in today to the superstore. I am really hoping to hear back so i can get out for a few hours make a little money to add to the pot. and just become more complete. so cross your fingers for me.

Superfood (s) of the Day!

2008-09-17T15:55:00.000-03:00

Today i am making a veggie and fruit bouquet.

it will have apples, grapes, grape tomato's, cucumbers, green pepper and spinach.

Have you ever seen one of these vegetable creations? do a google search. they turn out so pretty. i have a half of a cabbage as the base and about twenty different skewers they will be half veggie and half fruit. 2 each! Just a little fun way to make supper and desert fun. I also wanted to practice it as i will be making one for a potluck at dh work this Friday. Tonight is a get together at my children's school. they are boiling corn and serving hot dogs, not exactly nutritious, so the reason for all the fruit and veggies when we get home.

I personally am on a low/ no sugar healthier way of eating. Otherwise known as a low carb, but i find when i say low carb people get the wrong fly by night impression so I say no sugar diet. so i eat a lot of salad and rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. Post more on that later.

Quiet time!

2008-09-17T13:17:00.000-03:00

well, i am actually sitting here in the quiet of my living room, in the daytime! two kids are at school and my baby is sleeping ahhhhhh. I can get used to this.

i have to skip out and go get them soon. but i wanted to write a little something before all my quiet time comes to an end.

Firstly, I fell the need to tell you that i am not an eloquent writer. I jump from thought to thought, i am the queen of the run on sentence, and my laptop is old and is missing some important keys resulting in misspelled words as well as lacking needed capitalization.

Now that that is out of the way. i can get down to destroying all written English rules.

have you ever had one of those days that you just feel like you are always treading water and never really getting anywhere. I have been feeling that way lately. We are a one income family with two income bills. we are not extravagant. In fact we are very frugal. i have no shopping addiction. no collections, no fancy electronics or a fancy car. i have had the same winter coat for four years for example. but we do own our house., upgraded last year to a single dwelling, it has not made us house poor but the oil for our heat sure has! it has an older furnace and is costing 600.00 a month in heating oil. it really is killing us. all spare monies go to it and it is still behind. anyway, a tale for another day. I really cannot think about it to much right now.

Healthy food, at your fingertips.

2008-09-16T21:37:00.000-03:00

A part of being a good mother has to be making sure my kids are eating enough, getting their vitamins and minerals, experimenting with new vegetables and meats. and learning to stick to a certain, loose, schedule of eating.

Allowing kids to make choices as they get older is a great chance to teach them about healthy choices and to see how much they have learned from you already.

Now that doesn't mean that it is all healthy all the time. I treat my kids too. and in turn they always give me the benefit of the doubt when i ask them to try something new and different.

I have been doing a lot of reading lately on what exactly makes a food healthy or you.
what we think may be healthy is sometimes not the case especially when most ruits and vegetables are covered in pesticides.

my first recommendation is to buy a fruit and vegetable wash. they are commonly available now. i bought one in the natural health section of my local grocery store. my second recommendation is if you can buy organic. do so. if it is not available or out of your price range give your fruits and veggies a good wash.

here is the Environmental working group shoppers guide for level of pesticide use.

top 12 highest level of pesticide.

Peaches
Apples
Sweet Bell Peppers
Celery
Nectarines
Strawberries
Cherries
Lettuce
Grapes - Imported
Pears
Spinach
Potatoes

are your families favorites on this list? Some of my families are. now I cannot afford to buy all organic vegetables and alot are not even available in my area, so i wash them in a natural wash and use them sparingly.

conversley

top 12 least high in pesticides are
Papaya
Eggplant
Broccoli
Cabbage
Bananas
Kiwi
Asparagus
Sweet Peas-Frozen
Mango
Pineapples
Sweet Corn-Frozen
Avocado
Onions

alot of my favorites are here too so we eat alot of these.

my idea will be to post a meal idea everyday using one of the 150 of the worlds healthiest foods . Today we had grilled fennel, spinach, tomatos, onions,mushrooms, peppers, chicken, and more

it is not hard toincorporate at least one superfood everyday. A superfood is a ood packed with nutrition. low in at and and usually high in fiber.

What is my 'profession'

2008-09-16T18:53:00.000-03:00

While setting up this blog one of the profile questions is occupation. Usually if given the opportunity i select homemaker. (as archaic as that sounds to me.) But here there was no one classification that i fit into. instead it seemed I fit into all of them.

As a stay at home mom I am a kind of a Jill of all trades, you know the rest of the saying and 'master of none".

these were my options. I believe that i am all of them. Let me explain;

chemicals----- cleaning and the removal of chemicals or safety purposes starts at 9 months and never ends.

communications or media -- teaching your children to communicate starts before they are born. and trying to communicate your p.o.v never ends. Having to try new and innovative ways to get the message across.

construction it starts with building blocks and never ends. the building supplies may change but the need to be a construction expert is always called upon.

consulting -- Children always need your take on things. which is great. one of my favorite parts of the job.

education -- we start educating our kids right away and it is ongoing. one week it is letters the next week could be dinosaurs.

engineering -- important or construction ;)

environment-- teaching our children to be good to the environment is a necessary thing. also helping them to clean their 'environment" (room) is a conversation you will have many many times .

fashion-- Although we will never be in style our selves it seems to be our duty to make sure they are.

government-- I am the govt in this house. haha

human resources-- this is the one i selected. i have changed it mentally to precious resource manager!

Internet -- teaching them to use it and then keeping them of it all the time and keeping them safe,.

investment

banking-- i there is any let after fashion!

law --- respecting the Law and rules of any situation they are in. using good judgement.

law enforcement or security-- self explanatory

manufacturing-- everything from Halloween costumes to three meals on day. and everything in between.

maritime -- that's where i am haha

marketing-- I market vegetables to the kids all the time. i also market to them that homework can be as fun as playing games. I do both adequately. I need to work on my marketing.

military self explanatory

museums or libraries visits, visits, visits,

non-profit the entire job is non profit monetarily, oh but the joy i get is more than enough profit

publicising reports and drawings

real estate-- buying a house than a bigger house and making improvements to the house are never ending.

religion-- some of the hardest questions to field.

sciences-- all kinds of sciences are covered in this employment opportunity. Biology, chemistry, geology, health sciences, and more.

sport or recreation-- constant

student-- your children are your students but you also are their student. both have much to learn.

technology-- we have to buy it and then figure out to use it , thus finding out how cool it is and knowing inside we will never get a chance to use it before it eventually gets lost or broken

telecommunications -- learn to answer the phone and say, ___ it's for you! ALOT

tourism --- we need to know where all the hot spots are to go to on family vacations. Those same vacations everyone will be bored at and it will be your fault.

So This is what i do. I am sure there are more subcategories not covered.

above all I am a multi tasker

transportation. --Well this one is to obvious or clarification.