Sunday, May 31, 2009

Clothing Deals

Well, I love a good clothing deal! My personal favorite is Kohl's clearance, and a close second goes to Goodwill. If you like what I'm wearing, chances are it is from one of those two places. But I'm willing to hunt around elsewhere when the deals are lining up. Here are two I will be checking out early this week:



JCPenneys has a $10 of $25 purchase coupon here. Hmmmm, I wonder what is on there clearance rack and in this Sunday's ad. This is only good through June 2nd, so print and shop soon!



Gymboree is having a 30% off "Stuff a Bag" sale. This is for online or in the store. If I understand right, this can also be combined with other coupons you might have. Since I've decided to go a little crazy with coupons, I clipped one from Family Fun Mag that came this week for 20% off my purchase. Well, wouldn't it be lovely to get some matching polos or something for the kids? I will check out there clearance as well. If you are a Gymboree cardholder, you can get an additional 5% off your purchase. And remember that you'll earn $25 Gymbucks for every $50 you spend. I read a really good blog post on outfitting with Gymboree for free or cheap and it looks like this is how it starts. So, I will be checking this sale out, and may be getting a Gymboree card. My thanks to Money Saving Madness for the tip.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Freezer Cooking Recipes


I know I mentioned this before but I didn't stay home to cook. If you look at my spices I have the basics, same goes for pantry items. You won't find any strange ingredients here (well, that is not entirely true. Now that I'm couponing, I am finding lots of new things to try). It is a byproduct of my picky eater childhood. But I do have a fondness for easy. I have enjoyed Taste of Home mags or 4 ingredients cookbooks. And I love mixing up several batches of dishes I have found freeze well. I usually just put the recipe in a gallon freezer bag and lay it flat. Be sure and squeeze out as much air as you can for freshness. So here are two I did with my stock up and one I have planned:

Baked Ziti
1 egg
2 C. Cottage Cheese
16 oz ziti pasta cooked to instructions (undercook a bit if you are freezeing)
1 1/2 to 3 Cups of pasta sauce
10 oz. frozen spinich, cooked and well drained
Blend egg and cottage cheese and add to the rest of ingredients and mix well. Bake in sprayed 3 quart casserole at 350 for 30 minutes.

Cranberry Chicken
1 Can Whole Cranberry Sauce
1 Jar Russian or Catalina Dressing
1 package of Onion Soup Mix (can halve to cut on salt)
3-6 lbs chicken breasts
Mix sauce and pour over chicken in dish (or freezer bag). Bake at 325 for 1 1/2 hours. Serve over rice.

Sloppy Joes
16 oz ground beef
1/2 C. onion
1 Cup tomato sauce
1/2 to 1 Cup salsa
1 T. brown sugar
Brown ground beef and onion and drain. Add the rest and simmer for 15-20 minutes. I have done this in bigger batches with ground turkey mixed in as well.

So now you know what I'm doing with all that Ragu, salsa, and salad dressing from the Meijer sales! I would love some new and easy meals to use in the freezer. Feel free to share them with us here.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Tuesday's Table 5/25/09

The Prof wanted to come with me couponing this week....with 3 young kids....good thing it was a small week of shopping. The Prof and I checked out seperately so we could go past the limit. And we used Register Rewards (10 on one and 13 on the other) to keep our out of pocket lower. So our total for this trip was: 1.56 around 7 - don't know what the Prof did with that reciept). We didn't buy anything that triggered more Register Rewards this week, I don't know if I will regret that in a week or two, I'll let you know.Here is what I did at Walgreens:

8 200 count packs of Kleenex on BOGO
1 2GB SD card on sale for $10
6 Chicken of the Sea Tuna
2 Banana Boat 8oz on BOGO



Well I'm pretty well stocked up over here. After the Ragu sale last week, I picked up some frozen spinich and put together 4 Baked Ziti recipes (yeah, one is baking while I blog). Then I used my free salad dressing to make Cranberry Chicken. This week I wanted to just go in for a few great deals and things we needed. I'm learning to menu plan for a month. Basically I'm making a big list of what I can make from my stash. On the far right side I list anything I still need to make the meal. If it comes on sale, we buy it. If the item doesn't, I might try delaying that menu item a week or so to see if it does come on sale, or it is off to Aldi for that.
This week I was kinda hoping to keep it kinda small and little out of pocket. It was still a fun trip, especially with The Prof watching Two Bits, Cents, and Mite : ) I love when the hubby gets a taste of Mom reality. I found out he defines behaving in the store completely differently than I do. Currently, my goal is to have Cents not have a potty accident and stay in the same aisle as me. So here is what I did:

5 1/2 pound Whole Porkloin for 1.59/lb
2 pkg of Soft Pretzel at half price
3 Milk
3 Chi Chi salsas
1 Triscuit
5 Meijer salsa (clearance at .35, I couldn't resist)
7 nectarines .99 per pound
I Can't Believe its Not Butter Sticks 1.34
1 Crystal Light


Then to pay I used coupons that printed out at prior trips worth $12. And I got a new one for a free Meijer sugar with a purchase of 20 kool-aid envelopes. My total out of pocket was $8.69, my savings was $52.28. I was telling a friend about Savings Angel and how it was helping us with the grocery bill and just felt empowering today. If you want to learn more: Click HERE to cut your grocery bill in HALF! 30 days FREE!">here. I promised to get her some of the recipes I use for freezer cooking so I will have to do that soon.


Sunday, May 24, 2009

More Local Free Museums


Do you have a membership to any of the Grand Rapids museums? Don't forget the reciprocal months. The Prof's parents were in town and generously took us to the Grand Rapids Chidrens Museum. We quickly crunched the numbers and decided it was worth the extra $21 to make that a family membership. I was completely sold when told about the local reciprocal relationship with other Grand Rapids locations. May was the month you can also visit the Fredrick Meijer Gardens for free. The limit is 2 adults and 4 kids. Thankfully Mite is too young to need to pay admission. So we have been enjoying a little staycation this weekend. June is the Gerald R. Ford Museum, July is the Grand Rapids Art Museum, and August is the John Ball Zoo. There is information about this on the GRCM page, but not on the others. So call first and see if the museum you are a member of, or becoming one is participating in the Cultural Membership Exchange. I did some more checking and they seems to have the best plan for this.

Grand Rapids Childrens Museum
Gerald R. Ford MuseumGrand Rapids Art Museum
John Ball Zoo
Frederick Meijer Gardens

Decoration Day


I talked with my Dad today. He is 82 years old and was in the Navy at the end of World War II. Here he is with his 28th and youngest grandchild, my little Mite. He was telling me how Memorial day used to be called Decoration Day. He used to go to the cemetary with Grandma Buck (his Mom; remember, he was Two Bits as a boy) to plant flowers on the family graves on Decoration Day. As a young boy he learned about the "Decoration of Independence" at school and so connected the two days together. I suppose kids have been saying cute things for as long as there have been cute kids. My little Cents has been full of them the past week or so. We were out with our strollers, Mite in the one I was pushing and "Ariel" in her little stroller, when we ran into a mom we know from down the block and her two sons. Cents told the boys she "would really appreciate if they would come and play at my house." So down the block we went together. Cents was chatting it up with the Mom along the way when I heard her answer the question about whether we walk our babies together often with, "I don't ordinarily take my baby for a walk." A few days later we visited the GR Children's Museum and spent some time together in a triangular mirror tunnel. Cents and I had fun counting how many Cents we could see. Then we began counting Moms when Cents said, "lets get out of here, this is disturbing." Honestly, this girl has a better vocabulary than I do. I'm often stuck on: "can you bring me that thingy over there on the, the, ummmm, the table." I'm certain these kids have helped themselves to whatever brains I once had - and they are using them against me! : )

Since it's Memorial Day, let me tell you a new story I learned about my Dad and his time in the Navy. He chose to graduate early so that he could enlist before being drafted. By the end of the war, they were drafting by the 18th birthday, so some schools arranged for summer school and early graduation so that they could go to war with their diploma completed. Following in his big brothers' footsteps (that would be the original Buck and Half Buck), he chose the Navy. After some time aboard a ship and some testing, the Navy sent him to U of M for training in engineering. That is where he was when Truman dropped the bombs that ended the war. He has always been thankful, as he feels this saved his life. After the war, he returned to U of M to finish a degree, and served in the Naval Reserve. It wasn't until recently that he was able to tell this story, as it was deemed classified. Basically he was sent to language school at nights as a reserve to learn Russian and codebreaking (there is probably some technical term for this, but you would need to get it from Cents). After several months, his day job needed to send him out of state for a few months, so he checked in with his superior officer and recieved permission to miss his training and take the assignment out of state, with the understanding that he would continue training when he returned. Upon his return, he simply couldn't find the class or the instructor. It appears they were called up to active duty while he was away!!! And that is how my Dad didn't become a more active part of the Cold War! This was just fascinating to me because of the "what ifs" it entailed: if he had been called up to active duty, he wouldn't have been around to meet my Mom....and then all eleven of us wouldn't have been around! Those of us raised on movies like Back to the Future can spot these turning point moments where our life could have gone elsewhere, but didn't. I could have been fading away right out of the photo to be replaced by some resonably sized family. But he met my mom, had 11 children, giving Mary 5 a Russian nickname, and being really interested when my hubby and I went to spend a year in Russia when our own little Buck was a year old. He even gave me some books to help us out. But he never told us of his time studying Russian. It was only two years ago, when he looked into his military record and found that the this informations was no longer classified, that he passed the story on to me.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

A New Adventure


Did you ever have something that you were just too intimidated to try? For me it was vegetable gardening. Somehow, as my friends either dug in and grew loads of salsa gardens or tentatively began with an herb garden, I kept buying those tasteless substitutes at the store. Now that they were all up to speed, I felt like I couldn't catch up with everyone else, and so chose to not even try. My mother-in-law has a green thumb, and years ago helped me get started on some perennial gardens. Over the years she has visited enough to help begin, tame, and begin again at new homes. She has saved those same gardens from going to ruin....at three homes. If she didn't get out there and help me, it was the shame of what they look like that had me cleaning even my garden before her spring visit. This year, 5 kids kept her so busy she didn't get to even see the gardens. This was somewhat planned. It's a good thing, because the tree saplings are trying to take over one bed. I need to get on it before I have a forest. But we never tackled veggies together. I think she figured out this is not where my strengths lay. And the longer I didn't try it, the more intimidated by it all I became, so I never tried it on my own.

However, this is my year. For a lot of things: blogging, uploading pictures, and in general bringing my computer skills up to the 21st century (even my 11 year old asked me for help on the computer today!); and now starting a small vegetable garden. Today I picked up 5 tomato plants for a buck at a garage sale. The motivation has finally struck. So Cents and I headed out into the yard where the mosquitoes are thick. Can you see the little bit of blue on my hip? That's my Off clip-on deal in action and it worked pretty well. Cents loves tomatoes, and she is my only hope of remembering to water those puppies. Now I would love some basic, doable advice for growing tomatoes. I staked em, but I don't have chicken wire yet. I did my old trick of putting some hair clipped from Mite tonight on them. I'm hoping that will be enough to keep the bunnies away for awhile. Shoot, I should have taken his picture too. Maybe tomorrow I can add that one.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Free Museums and Free Bowling


Summer is coming! Isn't this our official kick off, cook out, parade watch, first sunburn, corn on the cob, watermelon taste of it? And after this weekend, I know I will be thinking: now what. I'm starting my summer planning now, with you on this blog. If you have affordable and fun ways to entertain the kiddos this summer....let me know. This summer I'm facing the challenge of entertaining Buck at 14 to Mite 1 and a half. My biggest challenge is that The Prof will be very busy with 2 summer school classes to teach, AP tests to grade, and jury duty. So, I have basically lost my very able and willing day time summer assistant. Not to worry, I have recruited him for evening and weekend assistance. And we have some fun time together planned as well.

Here are a couple things I've found so far:

Target is working with over 40 museums to provide free days. Click here for a list of locations and dates. While there aren't any listed near where we live, perhaps there are some where you live or where you are traveling. We enjoyed a free week of museums in Chicago a few years ago by making use of free museum days.
Thanks to Money Saving Mom


Another new find for me has been a free bowling program called Kids Bowl Free. Click here for a link to there site. It is free to join and your only cost when you bowl with these coupons is for the shoe rental. They also have a pass you can purchase for parents, but these are limited. I found this a couple of months ago, so I'm not quite sure where, but I think the thanks goes againg to Money Saving Mom.

I will keep you posted as I find them.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Off Clip on Deal


Well, I'm posting this one for Sister Mary 4 whose children have a bad reaction to mosquito bites. I don't know if this product works, but if it is like their lantern, I will love it! Click here for a coupon for a free refill when you buy the clip on repellent. Now take that on over to Walgreens with the coupons for $2 off the Clip on and $1 off the refill from the Smart Source insert from 5/17/09 with Steak and Shake on the front. At check out you should get a $3 off your next purchase. Remember that you can only have as many coupons as products. So throw in one more item without coupon. I actually wasn't able to use the $1 one, because they said one coupon per product. Oh well, my total was still under $5. My thanks to moneysavingmadness for the coupon idea.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Cooking Club

When I was a new Mommy, waaaaaaaay back when, I went to a 30 day cooking seminar. I loved it. I really didn't come home to keep house and cook, I came home to be with my kids. I find the laundry, kitchen, and cooking just need to be done again tomorrow. There isn't that paycheck, or a "job well done", or even a "I finished it" moment. This can sink me into the blues, especially come January, that only spring can fix. So cooking ahead and having it done really appeals. While I don't do it all the time, I do use several adaptations that work for me.

One involves food and friends: Cooking Club. I kept hoping we would come up with a better name, but the folks and food sure are good. Once a month 4 friends come over hauling their coolers with them. We go through a rotation with 2 of us making a chicken dish, 2 of us making a beef dish and one of us making a breakfast or pork dish. We let each other know, gently, how our broods liked the meals from last month, chat like there is no chance tomorrow to finish a sentence, and swap meals in ziplock bags ready for the freezer. We simply label the front with the name and any cooking or heating instructions, attach any toppings in a seperate bag taped to it and stack these up like cord wood in our freezers. An assortment of children accompany the moms and enjoy the play time too. My big boys, Buck and Half Buck clear out while this is going on. But when the door closes on the last guest, they want to know what meals are being tucked into the freezer. Once a week I have something new and ready to go. They get to try something new. If I like the recipe, I shoot of an email or phone a friend with a compliment and request for the recipe.

Do you have one of those bread makers gathering dust somewhere. I know there are some of you with allergies or on a health kick that are using it regularly. But mine was just taking up needed grocery staples space before Tina taught me this trick. When I make a loaf of bread, I make 10 to 20 or so. I simply measure the dry ingredients of my favorite recipe into a bunch of 1 quart bags. They sit in a basket in my pantry waiting for a crockpot kinda day. When I start up the crock, I take 2 extra minutes and load up the bread machine too. I don't have to mess up the kitchen or see if I have wheat flour on hand. The house sure smells yummy when we return. After trying cooking for a month, I wonder, did I ever make lasagna one pan at a time. If I'm making one, why not make 3 or 4. I have found,over time, that I usually have something for that family that needs a meal due to illness with little extra effort on my part. I don't have to say "I can't this week, I'm too busy." Meals ahead in the freezer are something I can share.

I would love to hear from you what helps you get ahead on the meal game. Let me know and I can add it to my blog.

Meijer Deals 5/17 to 5/23/09


I thought I would show you a couple great Meijer deals I'm planning on this week, in case you're going to the store before me. Just so you know, you can go to these coupon sites and print 2 coupons each per computer. Sometimes the back button on the computer works to make it faster.

Kraft Singles (1/2 price)
($1/2 here)
($1/2 meijermealbox)
Kraft dressing ($1.49)
($1.50 SS 5/10)
($1 here) and stack with
($1 meijermealbox here)
Triscuits or Wheat Thins (3/$5)
($1 here)
A-1 Steak Sauce
($1 here)
stack with $1 off 2 meijermealbox

The Meijer coupons are on the right side of the page in the box. Choose your coupons under "Specials," then go to the shopping list and the print link should appear. You can print as many of these as you like. And I like. My thanks once again to Savings Angel.

What deals are you taking advantage of this week? Are there some good sales or deals we shouldn't miss? Let me know and I will share them, and give you the credit, on this blog.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Tuesday's Table 5/19/09



Well, I'm holding off on Meier until my in-laws come later this week. They usually take us grocery shopping and pick up the tab. It is a bonus to their visits! Helps defray all the cleaning I will need to do this week. Why did we pick this week to paint paneling in the family room? Oh yeah, the Prof is between classes. But I don't know where I will put the food just now. The pantry doors have a rubber band tying them shut. It keeps Mite out of the stock of crackers, cereal, spices, and popcorn. (The crackers and cereal are his real quarry; the spices and popcorn are just good "shake-a-shake" toys.--Prof) I stocked the freezer with all those hot dogs and buns last week. I think I'm actually stocking it faster than Buck and Half Buck can eat it. Since Buck bypassed the Prof this spring, that is no small accomplishment. I can't wait to show them what I've been up to with coupons. So here is a look at what I did at Walgreen's and Rite Aid this week. Now, before you go thinking I'm hitting every store in town....okay, sometimes I do....I don't always. Rite Aid is near piano lessons for Two Bits and they had a couple free items with coupons. So, since I had no kids with me....I thought I would just check them out.

2 Vitamin Water 20 oz (.99)
($1 off SS 4/5)
1 Corn Pops Cereal ($1.99)
($1 off printed a couple weeks ago)
2 Detangling Suave spray ($2)
($1 off 2 RP 3/1)

You could also try
Kraft BBQ sauce
(coupon here)
They were out, so I picked up a rain check.

Now on to Walgreen's, my haunt during preschool on Monday mornings. I like going there early in the week, because their best deals do go fast. It was Cents last day at preschool, so we were going to the party at the park afterward. Today I had to leave checkout because Cents decided to walk out the door without me! Yep, I walked away from my purse, my Mite and my deals all to chase my girl in the parking lot. This was after I shamed her down from the alarm monitors by the door that she was shimmying up like a monkey. Sometimes shopping makes you sweat. Well, now that I'm typing about it, she left after the ice cream treat time to go back to the playground alone. Mite and I were looking all around for her while the other little girls were getting their photo taken with the teacher and saying their goodbyes. And Mite wasn't really looking for her, he was cleaning up on any ice cream bowls left unattended. I think I have some kiddie rules to review.

Okay, back to Walgreen's. They have a program of Register Rewards coupons that you receive at check out. There are a couple things to know going in. You can only get one per transaction. These are store coupons good for 2 weeks. If you use the RR to purchase the same thing, you will not get another one printed. Also, their computer is picky: only as many coupons as items you buy. So you can't buy toothpaste and deodorant with 2 coupons and then use RR to take the total down. You have to have an item without coupons. Well, milk is usually 2 bucks there, and they have a clearance aisle. I can always find something for 50 cents or less that we need or will use. So here is this weeks trip:

Dry Idea Clinical ($5.99)
($2 coupon here)
Huggies Swimmers ($6.99)
($1.50 SS 5/17)
Lipton Tea (2/$5)
(.60 RP 3/15 or .50 RP 5/17)
2 jello on clearance (.25 ea)

I then bought the Dry Idea and 2 jello again in another transaction. I used $6 RR from other trips to help pay for it, paid $7.12, and got two $5 off next purchase from the Dry Ideas.

Here are a couple other items that are free this week with RR or coupons and RR:

Right Guard Professional Strength
($1 SS 4/19)

Colgate Visible White 4 oz

One more deal I want to tell you about before you recycle Sunday's paper to the Gators all over town. Lowes' ad has a $10 off a $50 purchase and a $25 off $250 coupons in this Sunday's paper!!! Guess how we got the paint for the paneling?

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Crossing Guard Duty II


Well, rats. I suppose it shouldn't surprise me that if there was an easy fix they would have already done it. But when it's your kids....you just want it fixed, and now. Jr. High kids won't use a crossing guard - they intentionally avoid them. Who knew? (So much for the volunteer position I was going to take.) And they will cross where it is most convenient for them, not where it is safest (you know, the intersection, a stop sign). Not really sure what solution is realistic in a big budget cutting year. Can't bus everyone. Well they heard me out, gave me an education, and were really very nice. I sure hope I gave them a couple things to think about, and I think they even liked a couple of them.

Jimmy Johns Deal


There is a new Jimmy Johns in Hudsonville at the shopping center at 28th and Port Sheldon. From 11 to 3 this Saturday they will are offering a dollar sub per person on menu items. See you there. We may pick ours up and picnic at the park.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Tuesday's Table 5/12/09


Well, I have been seriously couponing for just over 2 months - but today was my best Meijer trip. I'm going to try to post a picture as well like I have seen on other web sites. Am I bragging? You bet I am. If you got a coach purse for 25 bucks, you would brag about it? So here is what I got for $26 at Meijer today. But I'm also really excited that others can do this too. My biggest help by far was Savings Angel. But if you don't want to use them, or don't live in an area I'm in, you can still save a lot of money by matching coupons with the sales. So here is what I bought at Meijer this week:

12 packs of Oscar Meyer Hot Dogs
6 packs of 12 buns
5 ketchups
3 jello pudding packs
2 pounds strawberries
about 2 pound banannas
3 pounds apples (forgot to get those in the pic)
6 mac and cheese
6 kraft dressing
5 loaves of bread
3 Ritz
2 Triscuits
3 8 oz brick of Kraft cheese
2 nestle chocolate chip cookies
3 Miracle Whips

Cost without any sales or coupons: $147. 58
My price before coupons: just over $94 (this didn't show on reciept, just on computer before he began taking off my coupons)
After coupons: $31.08
Plus: $2 and $3 off next purchase printout at checkout
Total expense was: $26.08

Monday, May 11, 2009

Crossing Guard Duty


I feel so, so, well, civic. I went to the school board and spoke tonight. I was kinda nervous because I'm allergic to public speaking. I don't get the hives or anything, I just cry. Anything worth talking about in front of a crowd is very important to me and therefore very emotional. So, I'm so relieved that I didn't bawl, but my voice sure shook. I mean, I was talking about the safety of our elementary children crossing a busy road to go to programs only offered at the Jr. High. And this one is personal. How many years of street crossing do I have? I can't do the math. Okay, I'm perfectly capable of doing the math. It just depresses me and makes me feel I can't climb this parental mountain ahead of me. But today made me feel like I walked to the foot of it and said "I will take you on if I have to for my kids sake." And I got invited to meet with the superintendent and the Jr. High principal. Wow, hope I'm not in trouble.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

I Want My Mommy

Little Mite doesn't like me to leave him. At 18 months, he may leave me, but not the other way around. Although he doesn't say it, I know quite well that his cry is saying: I want my Mommy. I know the feeling.


She flew up to Heaven on the wings of angels
By the clouds and stars and passed where no one sees
And she walks with Jesus and her loved ones waiting
And I know she's smiling saying Don't worry 'bout me

That's from an Alan Jackson song that makes me cry every time I hear it. Mom's day is still - I might cry for any reason - hard for me. Yep, chocked up during the Mom song video at church this morning. If you haven't seen this one, it really isn't a tear jerker, but it is really funny.

My Mom has been gone for 16 and a half years. Sometimes I think people think the pain should have faded. It has some. Today, just today, I look at it another way: she has been gone 20 grandchildren, including a funeral for one of them and the adoption of another....she has been gone for 4 daughters' weddings and one son's as well....she has been gone for one of their divorces (well, so there is a good side)....she has missed first houses and job changes and firings and illnesses. She isn't there to consult about a recipe, the chickenpox, marriage, teething, sulky teens. And today is the day that I allow myself to have a big old pity party about it.

Since I made my serious entry into a big family with the surprise pregnancy of little Mite the same year I turned 40, I've really felt her absence. There are just not loads of people who have 5 or more, who have children in 3 to 4 different schools, who are simply inundated with laundry loads of socks alone. I was sincerely freaked out when we realized our 5th was on the way. He was quite a shock to us. I felt just like you would expect an expectant mom of 4 when the income consists of one part time job per adult with a 3-bedroom ranch and mortgage and the big 4-0 looming. It took us 5 months 'til we told even family, and I was seriously waiting for them to take me to task. Instead my sisters, the Marys, were thrilled and excited. "Terrific?" I said, "It's terrifying!" "Because we are getting a little older?" asked Sister Mary 1, who is 10 years ahead of me. Crying by now, "Because there are so many of them." I just wanted my Mom. Suddenly I could see her face throughout my childhood and I knew what she was feeling: overwhelmed, tired, hormonal, chained to family, wondering when this season would end or get easier.

I just can't relate to the advice or experiences of the Mom of 2 very well....except as a distant memory of when I thought I had this job in hand. (In fact, all I can often do is smile indulgently and hope they fare better than I.) I need someone who knows they are in waaaaaay over their head and has thrashed their way to shore and can throw me a line. Okay, okay, I know it is our personal ocean to survive, but I would just feel good knowing that they lived to tell the tale. I sometimes think my Mom didn't live to tell the tale. She died when her baby was 21. She didn't get all those perks of watching us all really take flight in our adult lives. She didn't get to enjoy her years of rapidly increasing intelligence in her kids' eyes. And she sure did earn it.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

A Free Lunch?!?

If you like KFC, they are offering a free lunch! Go to http://www.unthinkfc.com/ or http://www.oprah.com/index and click the link in the hot topics line. You should be able to print out 4 coupons per computer for 2 pieces of grilled chicken, 2 sides and a biscuit. Hope you didn't miss the coupon in the Parade from 4/23/09 for one free piece of grilled chicken. Enjoy your free lunch!

That's a Good Idea


I have loved going to some Beth Moore studies; she feels like a friend. Or someone you want to be friends with. In a recent video of her I saw, she shared how she chooses what to share or say. Basically if she thinks it's interesting, she figures someone else will too. So along those lines I want this to be a place where I can share things that helped me, the good ideas I've found recently or along the way.

I love Potato salad and have this great recipe from Russia. Of course every salad in Russia seems to have potatoes in it. So usually a recipe is named for the special or unique ingredient in it. So this is actually called Meat Salad in Russia, and that is where I got the recipe. My hubby (now called The Prof) and I spent a year there in 96/97. But peeling and boiling up and dicing sure takes a lot of time. So I only used to make this for special occasions. So here is how I just learned to make my potatoes, thanks to my sister, Sister Mary 4 (I think I'll just number all those Marys since they also may apply for a job someday). Basically, wash them well, but don't peel them. Score them around the middle with a knife, making sure you cut through the skin all the way. Then place in boiling water for about 15 minutes. When the potatoes are done move them to a bowl of ice water for about 10 seconds. The skins should now just peel away by pulling on each side. I tried this last night for the first time and it worked like a charm. It was way easier then peeling them all and I didn't loose chunks of potato in the water. Here is link to see it done. If I get my tech act together, maybe I will learn how to post the video! But don't hold your breadth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4W0qIPJmoo

Meat Salad


1 pound sausage or ham
1 carrot
3 hard boiled eggs diced
1/2 bag of frozen peas (don't cook)
2-3 pickle spears diced
6-8 potatoes
mayonnaise to coat.

Boil potatoes and carrot together, dice. Cut other ingredients and mix all together. Use mayonnaise to coat.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Naming Names


I don't mean to name names...but I get to name my blog! This feels like naming a baby. How will I like this name in 10 years. Okay maybe not that long. Is there a book to consult? Maybe I should yell it from the front stoop a couple times to try it out. This is how we discovered that Titus really wasn't a good name for our 4th boy. The cultural mandate of unique obviously stands. It took a couple tries for a URL that wasn't taken already. So now I feel I've made a unique choice. It is a start - no, it's my start.


So as long as we were talking about names. My hubby thought I ought to use nicknames here if I talk about our kids. Sure don't want this blog to be what haunts them when they go out job hunting. You will likely be reading about Buck, Halfbuck, 2Bits, Cents, and Mite around here. Please don't read into the values here and have a RikkiTikkiTemboNoSaremboCheriBeriRuchiPipPerriPembo fit. They are all priceless to us, except on the days we want to sell them. The nicknames begin from my madien name. And you know how it is once you start a pattern. It is why some of us have kids named aftet towns in Texas, or Bible folk, or all starting with the letter Z. The compulsion to finish a pattern led to seven Marys in my family! I figure my kids are getting off easy.