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Sunday, February 28, 2010

Coffee???

I am a huge and I mean huge, Let's say gross coffee addiction. I need coffee then why when I am pregnant can I not stand the smell of it let along drink it. Every single pregnancy around the first month I cannot smell it or drink it. So I go without it the entire pregnancy never think about it, then bammmmmmm. As soon as baby is born, I am drinking coffee again. Go figure. I have no clue I have never heard of this with anyone before. But I am thinking about at the very least trying to drink decaf if I think I need it after this one. I think I am just strange, But maybe you have had something similar that you can't touch or even look at during pregnancy then as soon as baby comes you actually crave it again. Lemme know so I don't sit here thinking I am the only goofy one, tee hee. I am outta here for today, It is gonna take me all day to make this really easy dinner I have planned, Since I have to take breaks for gagging hahahaha, But I am doing it!!! Happy Sunday to you all, Michelle

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Ahhhh, Feeling better now!!!

I love my new OBGYN!!!! He is super calm, The opposite of me haha, But still very humorous. My personal two favorite qualities in a DOC. He came in and said, Geese you should be able to pretty much do this on your own now, right??? Bahahaha We talked about how I cannot take the prenatal vitamins, And I put together a little vitamin regimen myself which included folic acid. Folic acid is the most important vitamin to take while pregnant because it helps lower the risk of birth defects. So he was good with that. He figured in my due date around the 1st of November. He also said for me to come back in 10 days, March 10th, to see how many if more then one we are dealing with. I am secretly wishing for 1. For many reasons...
I have twins already and it was HARD, hahaha, although worth it.
Having just 1 after a set of wild and crazy twins is a piece of cake!!!
The obvious risks that go up with multiple pregnancies.
I never factor in the cost issue, Because if that was at all a consideration I guess we would not have had any children.
All that being said, No matter how many is in there I will be happy. Just be healthy. I am hoping since I am taking some medication early this time for the severe nausea, Maybe I can get to full term this time.
I started taking the pills right away yesterday and I feel so much better. I could actually eat something today without gagging. I have not cooked a dinner in over a week now, so I am planning a huge big family dinner for tomorrow night when hubby gets back. I am going to put in a salad at every dinner to help get in more folic acid. And for the main course I am going to make my family's favorite, Chicken tetrazini. And my daughter has been bugging me for 2 weeks to make mandarin orange cake. So here are the recipes for those...
Our chicken tetrazini ( very basic, you could certainly add anything to this)
4 chicken breast
1 pint heavy whipping cream
1 stick of butter ( I suppose you could use margerine, I hate with a passion margerine so I only use butter.
2 cups parmesan cheese
2 cups of the broth from the boiled chicken or I suppose maybe 2 cans of broth
( I boil the chicken in 4 cups water, then remove the chicken and strain the broth out and that is where I get my broth)
1/4 bag stale potato chips, Or some bread crumbs or crackers I have used all kinds of stuff
Pepper
2 bags of noodles, Once again I have used all kinds including homemade

Boil chicken, Remove and chop into baking dish. Strain and save broth. Get noodles cooking on the stove while you do the sauce. For the sauce, I just heat up the broth, add one stick of butter 1 cup of parmesan cheese, 1 pint of heavy whipping cream and some pepper. Heat this until all is melted and smells totally fattening,hahaha. When noodles are done drain them and mix with the chicken. Pour the sauce over the noodles and chicken. My recipe always makes double what is needed for this dish. I do this on purpose because I take the remaining half and store in the freezer for alfredo dishes. After this is all stirred in, Take your topping ( chips, bread crumbs, crackers, etc) I use the chip bag and add in the other cup of parmesan cheese and some pepper crush this all up together and sprinkle on top the chicken and noodles. Cook in the oven for about an hour, Until bubbly. This is a comfort dish, It is in no way low fat at all.
THe mandarin orange cake is out of my 4 ingredient or less cookbook and is always begged for around here.
Mandarin orange cake
1 package or 1 homemade yellow cake mix
4 eggs
1 (11 oz) can mandarin oranger(reserve liquid)
3/4 cup veg. oil

Pour 1 cup liquid from oranges into measuring cup. if there is not enough liquid just add water to make 1 cup. If you have extra liquid, I give this to the boys to drink, They love it. Chop up the oranges just a bit. Mix everything together. The cake mix, the eggs, the oranges and the 1 cup liquid. Pour into cake pan, I grease mine just a little. Bake about 25 minutes at 350 or until toothpick comes out clean.
cool cake completely before topping it.
Mandarin orange topping
1 can (20 0z) crushed pinneapple with juices
1 ( 3 1/2 oz) package instant vanilla pudding mix
1 ( 12oz) carton cool whip

Mix all ingredients together and add this on top of cake when cooled. This cake must be kept refrigerated. It is the most moist yummy cake we have ever had. I am hungry just thinking about it.
Well that is it for me today, I have a week worth of scum on this house from not doing very much, that if I don't clean here I am going to have to move!!!!Looking around I think that might just be easier, hehehe. Have a blessed big ol Sunday dinner tomorrow night, Michelle

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Me.

I started this blog to just write about my life and maybe share some recipes or some ideas that I had with others. I never started this blog to make any money. I have not made one dime. I don't care if I ever do. I don't pay much attention to punctuation or writing styles when I write. If this blog is hard for some to read, I really don't know what to say. I am usually writing this holding a kid or doing 20 other things at once, You get spellcheck from me and that is about all I have in me right now. I do home school my children, yes I do. correct?? I can only go by my children to see that I have done well with them. My oldest daughter 19 beat out 91 applicants in our small town for the job of new librarian. 91 people in this economy. A library even. She is 19, has her own apartment and has full benefits making a salary. I don't believe I have done too awful at teaching my children the English language. My oldest son who is 17 has his own computer business and makes fairly decent money for a 17 YEAR OLD. I implore you, do not come to my site if you want perfect E N G L I S H and punctuation, cause it ain't here notice the use of the word ain't, that's the redneck that came out there. My life does not infringe one bit on anyone. This is of course in response to the commenter of the nasty comment on my last post. Don't read my blog I could care less. I absolutely love the people that I get here, I follow their blogs as well. And I hope once they get through my crazy English they still like me anyway. I can warn you (commenter) being this is not a for money blog, I really don't care about offending you or you posting nasty remarks about me somewhere else. I only care about the ones who are bringing something to me and getting something from me, Just to share oops my bad capitalized after a comma. I have just a few followers who are just about the greatest ever, I <<< an I , I had no choice but to capitalize that, They give me answers when I have none, Share new things with me that I never even realized were out there....Scottishtwins you know I am talking about you lol So commenter who is comments anon go bother someone else, Thankfully for you you, you won't have to support my children or me, Now move on to someone elses blog, Because as I have stated now thrice this is not a money blog and I will say whatever I want on it. To my blogger friends, Sorry bout this, I am hormonal and this got me real pissy. Gotta run not feeling well again. Michelle

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Happy Birthday to me

Well today was the big 39. Most of it I spent sick as a dog. Hubby took over all parenting. They went and got me preggo pops and that was really great. He also made his famous chimichanga's. He makes these, Now that I think about it, every year on my birthday. Other then waffles I think these are the only other things he knows how to make, Hey I was happy, I did not have to cook!!! Everyone loved em, of course.
Chimichanga's Dad's way
10 pack burrito shells
1 lb hamburger (cooked and drained)adding in the seasoning
1 block of cheese(shredded)
1 can refried beans
1 package taco seasoning
1 can chopped olives
1 jar salsa
( you could certainly substitute any homemade "stuffs" for the prepackaged, This is dad we are talking about here hahaha!!!)
So you take your burrito shell, layer in the beans, meat, cheese, sprinkle on some olives and some salsa. Fold up. Put a tablespoon or so of butter in a frying pan, Fry both sides of the chimichanga and that is it.
No this is not "healthy" by any means, But you are talking once a year here!!! He is always quite happy about doing it so I don't pick on him about frying etc. Although sometimes I'd like to hehehe. I don't fry things too much cause it upsets my tummy. I of course could not eat them this year, I could barely stand the smell of em, But everyone else gobbled them up. It was all in all a very nice birthday for me.
I also wanted to add that I had three crock pot meals published in the new molly makes dinners ecookbook. So if you signed up for the Molly ezines following the link on my page, You should get an email soon about the ecookbook. I have to tell you, if you purchase one cookbook this year it should be this one. I was looking through it today and OH MY GOSH, It has a ton of real everyday good foods recipes in all categories, She tested each recipe and gave her opinion on them, It was really well done I thought. My recipes were Crockpot porkchops, Crockpot chunky apples, Crockpot ghoulash, and Crockpot sweet and sour meatballs. I do want to add that I do not get any money for anyone purchasing this ebook. I just love her stuff she puts out, It is real people real stuff we can all use. I would atleast tell you to sign up for her free emails, They are great, and you can also visit her blog for other great ideas. Anyway that is all for me today. Having a great 39th Michelle

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Can you say HORMONAL

Holy moly guacamole!!!! Although the nausea was doable today although still 24/7 it was not debilitating, I am extremely hormonal. Every little tiny miniscule thing bugged the heck out of me. I need a serious reality check. Sheesh I can't even stand myself I certainly can't imagine anyone else can. I am trying to notice them before they happen but they just burst out. I cried 4 darn times today!!! And I think I screamed 20!! Oh the joys of hormones rushing through every ounce of your body. Thank goodness everyone here knows it does pass fairly quickly. Just a few short weeks away and I will just cry at every commercial on T.V. Thank goodness I only watch 1 hour a day. I have alot of guilt over today, I really was monstrous with my emotions. I will have to apologize to everyone tomorrow and I will. And try really hard to keep things in line best I can for the next few weeks. I am hoping that if the vommiting and nausea keep up they will put me on some anti nausea medication again. The last two pregnancies they admitted they waited too long and I ended up in the ER several times for dehydration. I sometimes think that led to the prematurities. I am going to stay on top of it this time and see if we can't get this baby to term. My preemies were fine and they were not micropreemies and did not require any additional hospitalization, But still. Well I am going to go and write some things out for tomorrow to remind me when the monster comes popping out to pull it back in. I hate being ugly. Have a sane night, Michelle

Monday, February 22, 2010

Pregnancy

I am sure it is this horrible nausea, But I am already planning. I have correctly predicted each gender of each child even the twins. The ultrasounds were all correct....except the last one. The Dr. did 6 ultrasounds because I kept telling her she was wrong. She said girl I said hmmmm no I am sure it is a boy. Well she assured me with 150% that is was a girl. I gave all the little boy clothes away and bought all girl stuff, A sea of pink. Not to my surprise but the to the Dr.s surprise out came Matthew Mark., Not a girl. So mad dash to the resale shop to get boy clothes. This time I think we will get the 3d ultrasound just to be sure. I want to be prepared this time. I was thinking about all the baby food I could make from the garden stuff this year. Thinking about things I have never done, Things I have done, and making a list of what I will try to do.
I am going back to cloth diapers. I switched with the last one to disposable and still like cloth better and they are cheaper.
I am going to try and breastfeed this time. I have never breastfed any of my children, I want to try.
I want to make my own babyfood, I have never done this before.
I carried the last baby in a babywearer and was never happier, I will definetly do it with this one too.
This is just my starting list hahaha, You would think I have never done this before. I just know that at 39 tomorrow, This may be the last one and lets go out saying we have atleast given it all a shot once. The breastfeeding has always freaked me out. I am going to do it this time!!! OOp feeling sick again, gotta run good night all Michelle

Yogurt recipe procedure and News!!

For momtoqts I am posting the yogurt making recipe and procedure. This is from the youtube version.

Ingredients
7 cups of milk
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup powdered milk
2 teas vanilla if you want vanilla flavored, otherwise leave it out if you want plain.
1/2 cup starter yogurt, either store bought or from your homemade. I have not had good luck with any other kinds of yogurt except dannon plain. Must be plain yogurt no flavors.

Put your 7 cups milk and 1/3 cup sugar and 1/2 cup powdered milk in pot and using a thermometer bring to 180 degrees slowly on med to med high heat. You want it scalded not burned. When you achieve 180 remove from heat and let cool until to 105-110 degrees.(if you want vanilla flavored yogurt add vanilla while it is cooling). When you start cooling get your 1/2 cup yogurt starter out so it is not too cold. When you are down to the 105-110 add your starter yogurt, mix well. Pour this into glass canning jars with lids.
I make mine 1/2 vanilla and 1/2 mandarin orange. To half the canning jars before putting in the yogurt I add 1/2 can of mandarins drained well to the bottom of the jars, Then pour the yogurt on. I would say make yogurt first just plain or vanilla until you get the hang of it.
Yogurt incubator
I use a Styrofoam cooler as mine. They make some yogurt incubator or makers you can buy but my Styrofoam one has worked perfectly for almost a year.
Here is the most important part of making your yogurt. place a blanket inside the cooler, set your jars inside put on cover. Carefully put your cooler in a nice warm spot and cover the top with another blanket. Tell the kids the yogurt is sleeping and cannot be disturbed!!! After 12 hours (my house is pretty cold) maybe 10 for a real warm house, carefully check your yogurt to see it is set. If not leave for a few hours. Not more then 12 or it will be really really tart. I have tried all kinds of milk, sugar etc. Nothing effects the outcome except the disturbing it while it is "resting", and the temperatures while cooking and cooling. Anyway when you do it once, You'll be whipping it out like nothing!! It is really easy. I make 12 wide mouth jars every 2 weeks with ease.
I just made this past week yogurt Popsicles with some of the last batch of yogurt and the kids gobbled them up.
I also wanted to let you all know that I have been really tired lately and not feeling well. I just wrote this post through a bad bad bout of nausea. I know/knew what was going on. But now I can tell you, confirmed this morning. We are expecting again. I am only a little over a month along but once again just like the last 3 kids sick as heck from the beginning. Please bear with me until this part wears off. This will be #7 if not #7 and #8. I started felling ill at just about 2 1/2 weeks along which would be exactly how I felt with the last set of twins, We shall see when the time comes. I go to the OBGYN on Friday. Hope I feel well and you stay well, Michelle P.S. I am well aware of my age and complications no need to go there as my family did. Hubby and I do not believe in birth control we take what God gives us and we love them. Michelle

Sunday, February 21, 2010

No spend month getting real close

I am excited excited excited. I have pumped us all up big time. We paid off (with the use of tax refunds) 11 collections bills in January and February spending just like usual, I can't imagine what we can do with a no spend month. Last year we thought there was no way out but bankruptcy. I just could not do it. For myself I find bankruptcy morally wrong. Those bills are mine, I made them, I chose to no one made me. To just walk into a court and have them say wheeee all your bills are gone!!! I don't think that is true if you really think about it. Because that debt goes somewhere, It is passed on to consumers in higher prices. Plus with the small businesses just trying to stay afloat. I can't be a part of helping them go under. This is once again my standard for myself, I know that alot of people file bankruptcy, there is just no way out for them. Our situation is a little different. My husband makes a ridiculous amount of money for where we live. Our house is paid off, We have no house payment. We have no credit cards. Our debt was from years of living like idiots. Irresponsible spending. I have a confession to make, I was scared into paying my bills. I really never wanted anyone to know this about me. But here goes, I hope it helps someone to understand a little better that things are no longer like they used to be nor should they be. I am a law abiding citizen, I have never had a parking ticket, I have never been pulled over nada zip. This last year at 38 years old I went to jail. We were hiding somewhat from all the stuff coming in, saying we can't pay it so just ignore it. Well there was a summons for me to go to court over a hospital bill. $642.00 . I did not go. One night at 2am they came for me. Two officers came and handcuffed me and took me to jail. I have never seen the inside of a jail, I cannot tell you how scared I was. My husband was at work 4 hours away, He had to be called home to bail me out and get the kids from my oldest daughter. I spent 8 hours there. I was booked. I had to strip down, shower in cold water, Put on jail undergarments ( previously used but clean) and an orange jumpsuit. Then I was taken to my cell where another girl was that did not go to court for a bill. I had to go to the bathroom in front of her and in front of cameras. I cried the entire 8 hours, hysterically at times. The guards did feel sorry for me and the others, saying it was ridiculous that those of us that had never ever been in trouble were in here for a bill, But it was happening more and more. And the bottom line is this was our fault, We made the bill, We ignored it, and We paid the price. When I went to court that next week to pay the balance, The court room in our tiny little town was packed to the hilt with people who owed dr. bills or hospital bills. These companies can no longer let these go, They need the money. I will NEVER go through that again or put my family through again. I don't care how much we have to go without the "extra" things in order to get OUR debt paid off. But by January 1st of 2011 we plan to be debt free. I hope no one judges me too harsh for being honest, No one can judge me worse then I have judged myself over this. I wanted to be honest with you about debt and how the system is changing to force you to pay your bills. I panic every time I hear a car pull up outside now, I can't live like that anymore. I am choosing freedom. Hoping to help one person not go through what I went through, Michelle

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Pics and daily doing's








The pics of my twins Jacob and Joshua are showing off their new haircuts, Obviously I have a ways to go on learning but they thought I did a wonderful job hahaha. I was a bit scared of the trimmers, I think I will get used to them after a few more times though. The second set of pictures are of these organic juices my 3 little ones love, They are called honest kids. I love these for several reasons. First the boys love them and I feel better about giving them to them, They are not any more or much more expensive then say capri sun ( I get them in the organic aisle at walmart). They also have some neat things to do on the website, If you save so many of the pouches and send them in they give a certain amount of money for each one to a charity, Also the kids can collect points and get little trinkets in the mail. The last thing I love about them, Which I just discovered the other day is their versatility. They open in such a manner and lock in place after being opened, That I shoved in some baggies and they kind of latched shut. I love this as a bag holder. I had my son affix two of them to the wall and stuffed em full. When opened they have a nice large opening to get the bags out. They won't last forever, So I holding back 2 packages to use when these are done and will keep doing that so I have 2 on hand. I might find a way to use these for my housecleaning rags too, Putting the boxes in the cleaning closet!!! The last two pictures are of my treasures I found at the consignment mall today. I do not like home interiors stuff. I personally find them rather cheaply made. But I fell in loveeeeee with these and knew I would put them up high where they would not get ruined quickly. I am going to use them to hold all my seed packets. stored up high outta the way but accessible, Love ittttt!!! These were brand new in the box and They were marked $3 for all 3, Then the booth was everything 50% off, So all 3 boxes for $1.50 a great deal I thought. I also picked up a pair of choo choo jammies for one of the twins, That was $1, A 25 piece Thomas the tank engine puzzle for the baby, all pieces there for $.25, A blooming onion maker for $.25, a baggie with 3 of the Moose from brother bear for $.25 ( one for each boy, they loved em) two scooby doo fanny packs for the boys this summer when they go walking for $.50 each. Last thing I found was a gift for me, it is a velour button up jacket with matching pants ( black velour) Looked brand new, It was marked $7.50 but was also 50% off, So $3.75. A very nice haul and the best part was the nice quiet time out. I usually go about every month or 2, To see what new stuff is in or which person has marked stuff down. It did make me think I can't wait until garage sale time here!!!! Happy bargain hunting, Michelle

Friday, February 19, 2010

You might be a hippy organic goofball if...

You might be a hippy organic goofball if.....

Your birthday wish list reads......

organic non gmo garden (survival) seeds
A dehydrator
Organic olive oil
2 bags of organic potting mix
organic seed potatoes
4 yards of organic material to make jammies with
2 boxes of Bob's red mill organic flax seed ( I don't know why I like to chew on this stuff)

My birthday is in 5 days, I will be 39, and that is my birthday wish list. Everyone in the family said, Since everything I want is for the family anyway I could have $100 out of the state tax check for my presents. They are also going to fix all the meals that day and clean, I will probably go crazy like all prior years, As they try to keep me in my room and not doing anything. I am allergic to doing nothing!!!! It is not in my nature, I don't even like to sleep, it seems like a waste of time hahaha. Anyway I think it sounds like an awesome birthday and of course I loveeeeeee the presents. My daughter wants me to go to the casino with her, I might. But she gets mad cause I don't want to spend money. I stick in $3 and think gallon of milk...gone. She is making me take $20, Oh well at least I get out of the house for a bit.
Today I have been quite busy, I have felt really tired the last few days and today I feel really good. I organized my kitchen today, And I transplanted most of my seedlings to the organic pots I can stick right in the ground or planter, I also transferred them using the organic potting mix which will feed them for the next month. I made the boys ( which they loveeeeee) yogurt Popsicles, I took my homemade yogurt and mixed them with choc. powder, raspberry jelly and strawberry jelly. Then I poured that mixture into dixie cups and stuck a craft stick in it and froze it. They have gobbled up 3 each so far. I also took apart my downstairs bathroom, It was gross and a mess, A couple nights ago walmart they had all those really neat organizing things a few months back in their ads on clearance. I got the brown striped 24 pair shoe organizer for $6. I really needed that in that bathroom, It is just a closet bathroom and has no storage. It looks all spruced up now. Tonight is the monthly hair cutting for the boys, Last month for free at Walgreens, I got the Chopper 2 in 1 styler for free using a $5 off coupon and register rewards. So I am excited to see how their comes out. My oldest son also wants me to do his hair.
Tomorrow my oldest son is taking me to a huge consignment mall in the next town over, Just him and I, I can't wait, Get ready for pics of the great stuff I find!!!! Have a great weekend all, Michelle

Thursday, February 18, 2010

No Go on the house

No, no go on the property. It could have been worked with, for the money they were asking, But as we were looking, 3 older neighbors came up and started telling us, If you buy this property we don;t like this and we don't like that, And you have to have this so much from our fence. No thank you, No place is worth that, We have that now. So we keep looking for what we are looking for. No biggie. I am feeling icky tonight gonna go be lazy daisy on the couch, Have a great night all, Michelle

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Update on property

It was dark by the time we got out there tonight, So we are going back tomorrow afternoon to talk to the guy and take pics. It is about 3-4 lots in size, It has an old huge barn on it, But the barn is quite sturdy. The chicken coop is huge and appears to be a walk in coop. It has 6 bunny cages. The house is not in good shape on one side that we can see, We will know tomorrow, But the house does not really interest me. Anyway will keep you all updated as I get info. Michelle

Update $5000 property

From $5000 house to $5000 property???

I have no idea how I stumble upon these $5000 properties, But I like em!!!! I found in the throw away paper today a property, It is the last street going out of town in the city where my hubby works, Nothing behind it but acerage. The paper says 6 large lots, house, big trees, privacy, all utilities, barn, chicken house, garden spot $5000. I WANTTTTT IT. I am going this evening to look at it and make an offer. I don't have $5000, So maybe we could work a trade with the house we are in now or possible I could pay him so much a month till paid off, Whatever I want it. We could definetly homestead on a lot that size and what a plus with a barn and chicken coop and garden area!!! I am quite excited about this, I know others are saying, Oh the shape of the house, Don't care, if It can't be repaired we tear it down and build what we want or I bet the property is in terrible condition, So what hard work does not deter me one bit, After what this house looked like when bought it, Not a problem. I will post about it when I get back and I will take pics when I am there, Wish me luck my friends!!! Hoping good things come your way too, Michelle

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

OHHHHH what a glorious day!!!!!!!!!!!




Oh did I ever have the best day ever, (Quoting spongebob there). I did a little and I mean a little research this morning (BTW Scottishtwins over at www.intendedtemple.blogspot.com got me all excited about organic)I found a family farm just 5 miles from me that sells all natural, hormone free, anibiotic free, free roaming, bug eatin eggs. OHHHH I was so excited. I got the price before I went out and they are $12 for 5 dozen. These come packaged in their own egg containers made for their family farm. I told him what I wanted and he said to give him an hour so he could pick those puppies off the ground and put em in the carton!!!! I took my 5 year old twins out with me see the farm. Steve Mitchell was the absolute nicest person I have met in a long long long time, He was so genuine and welcoming I felt like I was talking with an old friend, He loved seeing the boys and asked us to please come back when the weather was nicer and let the boys run around on the farm and see all the animals and chase the chickens and to run around with their wheaton terrior. Their website is www.mitchellfamilyfarm.us/ . I have to tell you I got these eggs home and I have never seen such large eggs before, I held them up to my store bought eggs and they are twice the size, We cracked two open and the color was beautiful, Nice and bright orange. The shells cracked perfectly in half and were very sturdy shells, These will perfect for planting plants in to transplant to the garden!!!
Also this morning while doing that search I found a farm that sells meat, They do not give hormone shots or anitbiotics or anything like that, They do eat some corn, The only all grass fed farm anywhere close was 65 miles away (Does that make any sense living in kansas??? haha) Anyway I was happy to have this meat so close, 10 miles from me, The meat was a great price only minimally more expensive then Walmart and for now I happy about feeding this to my family. I made two of the Ham steaks tonight and 1 ham steak fed my hubby myself and the twins. The ham steaks are 1 inch thick and gorgeous. You can see the one in the picture is in my biggest frying pan, and cooked ( I overcooked it actually, I was chasing baby while cooking!!!) but it still took up 3/4 of the pan fully cooked. It tasted wonderful, Like I suppose meat should taste. I bought the meat from The Clubine family farm, Mr. Clubine told me that his wife makes the best meatloaf by mixing the 1 lb of the ground beef with 1 lb of the ground sausage and he just won't eat meatloaf any other way again, So we are having that for dinner tomorrow night!! Their family website is here www.crosscranchbeef.com . They were equally as nice like a family friend, They told me that starting in March they will be bringing orders for My town to a parking lot for people to pick up so they don't have to drive out, Just call in your order and pay for it and pick it up at the parking lot, They will also be every Saturday at the farmers market in my town, And the first Saturday of May they will be cooking hamburgers for everyone!!!!
I found these local places by searching www.localharvest.org and Checking out my city's website. It really took me no longer then 20 minutes and a phone call. I am really happy I did this. I would of course like to eventually travel the 50 or so miles to get the grass fed meat + I could not find anyone close that sold Raw milk or even goat milk. I can't even find any organic milk around here that is not ultra pasturized. But I am starting and on my way. I have to tell you all that think like I did that it would be too expensive to purchase meat like this. The ranch I went to, Has their own "store", You could go there everyday if you wanted and just buy meat for dinner. A few things you need to consider, This meat does not have fillers, So when you buy a lb of beef, you darn near end up with a lb of beef cooked. It does not shrink down. Plus the healthy factor. THe prices are as follows for what I purchased:
Lean ground beef $3.05 lb
Stew meat $2.80 lb
Rump roast $3.95 lb
Fresh ground pork $2.59 lb
Pork steak $2.79 lb
Ham steaks $2.09 lb
Compared to the meat I get, Some were below what I pay at Walmart and the grocery store, Some were a bit higher, But the quality is way better, The few extra cents per pound were worth it to me. I had a ton of fun in the process, Met two of the nicest people, Chatted a bit about farming and farm life, and got some tips on gardening, Plus Steve from Mitchell family farms asking us to bring the boys out to play, and to give me more gardening tips, He also said I could purchase some of their excess garden this year if I wanted to supplement until my garden got going!!! This girl is going to bed tonight with a smile on her face!!!!! Happy farm hunting, Michelle

March NO SPEND month!!

I am going to try to explain this NO SPEND month the best I can. I have never done an entire no spend month before, We have done weekends and week before. First thing I did was make a list of stuff for us to do during no spend month, Lots of projects etc. I posted this list on a previous post, I have also added to it. I have 3 jars of change saved already and plan to save all the change we get until April 1st, This is our reward for No Spend month. I think everyone has it narrowed down to two things, Either a trip to the Tulsa zoo or a trip to the Museum of natural history in Wichita Kansas, Whichever it is the jar money has to cover all costs. Ok back to no spend month. I also have spent this passed month ( and will up to March 1st) getting all the supplies I will need for the month of march, I have my stockpile built up fairly well, But don't want to use it all up either. I am not grocery shopping this month at all, Just purchasing things we will have to have....
Paper towels were top of my list, We are paper towel wasters I might as well admit this now, The shame. Well no more I tell ya no moreeeeee. I have taken paper towels off the list, I have spent the last week making a huge rag bag, outta of old scraps old t shirts etc. We shall see how the mass takes to this, Actually they have no choice muhahahaha. The other things on my list are:
Powdered milk- I use alot of this, But I have ordered some different "organic" types for us to try during the month.
garbage bags,Laundry supplies-2 bars fels naptha,1 box borax,1 box washing soda-With this I can make up two 5 gallon containers of my laundry soap. $50 kerosene, coffee, flour, sugar, brown sugar and eggs. This is what is left that I have not purchased yet.
We also kinda use the envelope system, We use the checking account for bills. And the household budget oney goes into these envelopes. I will put in just enough to cover the Gas for the car, Regular milk, Fresh produce. That is it. I can't buy enough of this ahead of time.
That money will already be in the envelopes before any of the March paychecks come in. This No spend month is turning into two things, Not only so we can see how much we nickel and dime our selves and spend on crud, But also exactly how prepared are we, Becuase we think we are pretty darn prepared, We shall find out, All a learning experience.
NO SPEND MONTH
The entire paychecks,Tax refund check from state ($550) can only be spent on current or back debt, That is it, That is final. No ohhhh darn I am out of butter, Run to the store and get some, I have planned for this and have heavy cream stored in the fridge in smaller containers just in case. And I have also researched alternatives to everything. If we run out of toilet paper ( which we won't due to stockpile, but you never know) I have some old flannel shirts cut up into squares and ready to be utilized. Although I have tried to prepare in every way I know I have not, And that is good, I want us to run out of something, Have to make due. We can't learn if we don't. We are really hoping this goes well and we understand how much we could pay down debt and still live the "good life", We want a homestead worse then anything, And we want to pay cash for it like we did this house. The only way to do that is to pay down debt and save alot of money quickly. If all goes well, I plan on doing this every 3 months. With my plan, we could pay off our debt, save enough money for the land we want paying cash by the end of the year. Then we could start building our house next year, Put this house on the market and get outta dodge so to speak!!!
Also the change jars are incentive to the kids to not ask or want to spend, With the option that this is completed without too much argument or resistance an entire day trip somewhere, Well this they are quite excited about. If you have any more ?'s about this just ask and I will answer them for you. I am going to post twice weekly during march as to how we are doing, what we have done, all the experiences good and bad. Happy saving and no spending, Michelle

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Potatoes Potatoes and more Potatoes

These french fries are easy, Just cut them how you like your french fries, soak for 30 minutes in cold heavily salted water, Drain well, Place in baggies. Being soaked in the heavily salted water they do not turn brown on me. My potato soup recipe I have posted before, mmmmmmmm.

These are just diced tossed with oil, Salted and peppered and baked at 400 until done.






At our local market, Last week I found 25 lb red potatoes (which I love) for $2 a bag, I bought 4 bags, So 100# potatoes for $8. I took one bag today and used my new potato/veggie slicer and make 15 sandwhich size bags of french fries. I then made diced potatoes cooked in the oven for potato burritos and my son's fav from taco bell, Cheesy fiesta potatoes, Lastly I made up a big pot of potato soup. We will be having the potato soup for dinner, With a salad because I have been craving my ranch dressing Plus I went ahead and matchsticked all my carrots while I had the veggie cutter out. I will also make some buttermilk biscuits and everyone has been bugging me for tapioca pudding.

Tonight I have on my to do list:

Make yogurt-We go through about 6 quarts a week and I am down to 1 left.

I also need to work on my last shopping trip coming up the last week of the month, So I can be completely( I hope) prepared for the NO SPEND month in March!!! I think I am probably already prepared other than powdered milk and regular milk. We have already spent all but $1000 of next months paychecks, In out budget I mean. I think if we can do 3 more NO SPEND months this year, We can have almost all of our bills paid off, With the exception of about $3000 in DR. bills. I am so excited about paying off the bills-Our goal is to pay them off and purchase a piece of land with cash-We can get about 12 acres around here for $6000-$8000. Then as soon as we figure out what kind of house we will build we will start that next year. I am researching straw bale houses(http://www.balewatch.com/ has some ideas), I also like the shipping container houses(http://www.shippingcontainerhousedesign.com/). We also checked out at the library a couple of books on building your own log cabins. I am more leaning toward the straw bale houses, I love the curved edges inside the houses< href="http://www.lifeunderablueroof.blogspot.com/">www.lifeunderablueroof.blogspot.com They have such amazing details for house and a chicken coop etc. I really love this blog. We found a few properties that are owner finance that we are gonna go look at in the next few weeks, That would also be an option, Then we could start building sooner rather then later.

Well off to finish up cooking, Happy

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Up all night!!!






















Well I have been resting off and on so much over the last few days with being sick, I knew all the rest would catch up with me!!!! All kids are doing better and recovering, I am feeling quite a bit better tonight, Finished up the last of the cleaning, So I am feeling less like I am surrounded by dirty germs hahaha. Tonight I will be working on Laundry, I stripped everything from every bed every pillow everything and am in process of washing it. Plus I have not done laundry in a week, So I have mountains to do. I should at least get it all washed tonight. The only thing I could not get was the baby's "Pretty" that is what he calls his blankie, Which is probably the starting point of disease!!!! I am going to try and sneak up in a few.....borrow blankie for 1 hour, wash disinfect with some vinegar in the wash....dry as quickly as humanly possible.....get back in his arms before he smells it is gone!!! Wish me luck with that. I always thought kids having a blankie was too cute, And at first I thought it was adorable that he did too. Ok I still do, But when we have to drag that thing everywhere and some people look at me like put that thing out of its misery and I have to beat it with a box of spaghetti in the pasta aisle cause it growled at someone(bahahahaha, Oh well he loves it, makes him happy!!!

I planted some more seeds today, The other day I found some cute as can be metal planters from dollar tree. I planted some more lavender because I knocked over my other one and the seeds did not germinate. I planted tomatoes, lavender, vidalia onions and more green peppers. My window is getting very full. I love looking at it and all my seeds growing. The other night I found a link to $20 off $40 from http://www.gardensalive.com/ I have been wanting some organic seed non gmo to plant. I purchased
organic bean bush blue lake
organic Nantes carrot
organic renegade spinach
organic sweet cucumber
organic baby sugar watermelons
organic progress peas
organic broccoli
organic Paris romaine lettuce
organic hales best melons
organic big max pumpkin
organic fordhook giant Swiss chard
organic luscious corn
Total: $32.85 including shipping

The only one I am skeptical about is the corn, I thought I had read somewhere unless you buy heirloom corn, you can't be sure it is not GMO. I am gonna have to do some research on this one. I may be returning that one.

I am so excited about this year's garden, Last year being my first and my learning year, I did not do to well. I have spent this past year researching, learning and reading all I can. I think I will do alot better this year, Especially with some container gardening and the raised beds. I am still not rushing out to purchase all the canning supplies needed until I see I am doing better with this garden. It would be a dream come true to have my pantry stocked full of my own garden goods all canned by me!!!! Happy wishing for spring to come soon, Michelle












The sickness of '2010

This will be remembered as the sickness of 2010, I hate hate hate it!!!! I get a bit angry when we get sick, Which is not often. I drove daughter to work today and just looked at everyone like germ breeders (aren't I a lovely ray of sunshine today!!! hahaha) I do not like to be sick, It is a waster of time, it is expensive if serious and I hate to feel cruddy and worse breaks my heart to see my babies sick. The baby is doing fine, He is all but over it, Myself and the 3 older ones are doing better but I still feel way worse then I want to feel. The only ones not to get this are the twins and hubby, Hopefully they just avoid it all together, I scrubbed every inch of this house with bleach to kill everything and I doubled them up on Vitamin C , D3, ecchanacia and probiotics. Anyway just wanted to let everyone know I will probably be back in full force tomorrow, One more night of resting here for me. Have a quiet evening all, Michelle

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Round 2

Uggghhh Round 2 scarlet fever. I am $275 in so far this week in Dr. bills and prescripts. Last night 3 more of us came down with it, Myself, My 17 year old son and my 14 year old daughter. I did get the Dr. to agree to just call in antibiotics for the older kids and myself, But she said if the 5 year old twins come down with it she will have to see them in the office, But will only charge for one visit. I can't for the life of me figure out how people do it with no insurance. We knew going into having a large family that alot of our income would go to medical bills and insurance. We do write off alot at the end of the year which helps. My oldest who went in the other day with the baby has no insurance right now, She just got dropped of ours and has to wait 90 days before her new job's insurance kicks in. I haggled with the Dr. which I often do and got her $80 doctor visit down to $60 and after explaining the situation to our pharmacist at Walgreens she found a coupon that took $30 off her prescription, So medication and Dr. visit for her cost $90. Now I realise that I have a large family, But I encourage all to "haggle" with their doctors and make those pharmacies work for you. I often get discounts from these places just for asking. In November My hubby had nasal polyp surgery with the ENT and the same Ent then did the baby's Thyroglossal duct cyst surgery a few weeks ago. I told him that I was going to have a hard time paying him for what I already owed him, Could I just call in after the baby's surgery and tell him he was doing well. I already know how these things go if all is going well, It is 2 minute look to tell you everything is good and costs $80 visit plus for us it is a 100 mile round trip to this particular Dr. so we add in gas and it gets pricey. The Dr. laughed and said I'm glad more people don't know to haggle with me, He said we owed him enough to just bring him in and the office would comp the visit, And I was right, We drove all that way and the Dr. was in the room exactly 1 minute 45 seconds. Not all Dr. will do this, But I have only ever run into a few that would not. When my twins both had their tracheal surgery I joked with the Dr. could I get a BOGO hahaha, She laughed and said well not on the surgery but she only charged me once for the scope and office visits, That saved me over $200 in copay's. Stay well , Michelle ( Going to wash the house down in bleach to kill this bug)

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Scarlet fever
















Okay I just got done saying in a comment to the last post about the baby, He has had this low grade fever since Thursday, I attributed it to teeth or just fighting something. He never slowed down. Then on Saturday he started not eating very well, But he is 2 he has days where he just throws everything cause it is more fun. Then Saturday night he got this "cold" sore thing. Then Sunday he got another "cold" sore thing. Then today he woke up from his nap covered and I mean covered in this rash. It kinda freaked me out, So we called the DR. , He wanted us to come in asap, and to come in the back entrance. What in the world!!! I said okay. We get there, Dr. comes in looks at the rash, looks at his throat, and says hmmmm has he been eating well. I said well no. She says his throat and the inside of his mouth is covered in blisters. He has scarlet fever. I did not know people still got scarlet fever. I was horrified. Then she said how contagious it is, Then I thought Oh no, My oldest has been sick with sore throat for 2 days, We took her in, Yep scarlet fever!!! You have to take augmentin for 24 hours at least before going back to work or school or out until you are not contagious anymore. She works at the public library, The administrator of course did not want her to come back in until Thursday. I honest to god, Never ever ever would have thought scarlet fever, I would have been less shocked if you hit me with a brick. Apparently it runs quite ramped in hospitals, And they can only assume that he picked it up at the hospital 8 days ago when he had his thyroglossal duct surgery. Scarlet fever is a Strep infection, It is Strep on steroids. Have any of you heard of or known anyone to have scarlet fever in the past 100 years, haha. Anyway he will be fine as long as he drinks, If he gets dehydrated he will have to go to the hospital and that is no problem for him, he is drinking and eating Popsicles like mad. The rash just looks horrible. The only thing is the contagiousness of it, I am watching everyone cause there is a good chance as far into this as we are, Everyone may get it. I also have to wash everything in the house down with bleach water, wipe on, Don't rinse. I asked about vinegar, But I guess that this is one of several viruses vinegar does not kill. I did get out of pain killers or anything for the throat as far as medicine, She totally agreed with the salt water, gargle or swallow little bits. Or sipping on , Hot water mixed with apple cider vinegar and some honey. She also said that yogurt and even better my homemade yogurt is awesome for cleaning out the virus in the stomach, intestines and other organs, The probiotics are good for all that. YEAHHHH Those two things cut out two prescriptions for him, and allowed us to go natural, That made me very happy. Unfortunately I understand he needs the antibiotic for the scarlet fever itself.





I was going to post on something else tonight, But will save it for tomorrow night.





I wanted to share this with everyone so they know this is still going around, Incase they were uninformed as I was. I am also posting a picture of the baby, So you can see what scarlet fever looks like on him. He had no rash going into his 1 hour nap and woke up with it, So it appears fast, Mostly on the face and torso, And like marbelizing on the extremeties.
Scarlet fever left untreated can cause liver failure, kidney failure, heart problems, deafness, and death. Scarlet fever may be a high temp, But often is just a low grade temp that lasts for several days erupting into the rash, The rash is just a symptom, a later symptom. God bless to all tonight, Michelle

Monday, February 8, 2010

Organic

I stumbled upon this video the other night, I was searching the documentaries on netflix, I love documentaries!!! I saw this one called Food Inc. I watched it, And I was horrified. I have been contemplating organic for some time, The price always set me back. I was watching the kids play a little bit after watching the movie, And I started thinking about all the ways we all waste money every month, I have been thinking about this anyway hence the NO SPEND next month. We waste alot on stupid frivolous things. I went to walmart last night. I took my grocery money for the two weeks, $200. I spent $150 of it. It was hard to find organic fruits and veggies mainly because I learned from the movie it is just not natural to have fresh fruits and veggies during the winter. Which is why a canner is on my list for this summer, So I can can our garden this year. Back to the organic. I did find milk, cauliflower, broccoli, juices etc. I definitely found less and got way less in my cart then a coupon/sales trip, But I felt better then a regular grocery trip. Alot better. I felt like buying organic could really help the twins and their adhd, What if buying organic helped to get them off their horrible medications?? This alone would be worth it. I found some places online to purchase organic stuff in bulk at fairly decent prices. I would most definitely need to take trips down to Tulsa, Ok to Whole Foods maybe every two months. I have found a few organic farms down by Tulsa also, Where I can get grass fed beef, and other organics. Since reducing what we eat in the past couple of years I think that this is doable, Financially. We have cut our eating in half. Just cutting in half has helped all of us lose weight. All of us except the 3 little ones are overweight, But losing as we eat better and less. I am going to purchase organic seeds next shopping trip. I have some organic seeds, But most are just cheapy ones, $1 a package, And organic seeds are $2 a package. If you don't have netflix you can watch Food Inc. on www.youtube.com . Happy organic eating!! Michelle

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Loveseat redo!!

This is the after picture of the love seat/hidabed. The plaid pillows are from the couch, Which is the exact same as the pillows. This blue matches perfectly plus will hold up better to the children. The ottoman fabric color I think looks good with it, So I did not recover it, But it does need to come off and be cleaned, The kids loveeee the ottoman.

This was the before picture of the love seat/hidabed. It was my first try at recovering. It was okay, I loved the fabric until I put it on, Then I did not like it and it matched nothing. But there were holes in the couch before this, And I did not have the money for new heavy duty fabric, So this did in a pinch.

I have made part of my "Keep busy list" during next month's "NO SPENDING". Here is what I have so far.....
1. Plant more seeds
2. Start getting lumber etc. for the raised beds.
3. Call extension office to do soil test.
4. Treat soil, rototiller, Put in raised beds.
5. Paint living room a coffee color.
6. Make new drapes for living room with material bought at walmart closeout sale.
7. Deep clean and oil old wood floors downstairs
8. Paint the stairs. ( I saw this in a magazine and loved it, Would never have considered painting inside stairs).
9. finish up boys room, Painting and decorating.
10. Work on 14 year olds room , redecorating and painting.
11. Repaint our room.
12. Repaint 17 year olds room.
13. Get sheers out for dining room windows, Wash and iron for spring and summer.
14. Last week of march, Get all kids spring clothes washed up and ready to go in drawers.
15. Pull our fridge clean and dust.
16. Cut everyone's hair ( I do this once a month anyway)
17. Clean out my ugly place, haha, My printer sits on a microwave cart underneath is a cupboard I refer to this as my ugly place, Every piece of paper I do not want to deal with has gone there!!!
18. Get all the outside toys cleaned up and ready for spring.
19. Order new tires for the little ones wagon. ( This is one of those step 2 wagons, My husband uses this to take the 3 little ones all over town in the spring and summer)
20. Clean oven.
That is my list so far, I hope to be very very very busy. I have already started gathering and purchasing some of the things needed for all this. Most I already have. Just have a few more items to get. I had to plan down to the last nail. I do not want to spend one dime!!!! Wish me luck, Michelle


Yeast Correction in pizza recipe

Thank you to Shaunta for catching my mistake. I had one eye on the baby with his fever last night and one eye on the blog. The recipe should read 2 TEASPOONS of yeast or one packet. I use 2 Tablespoons of yeast in my bread dough recipe, And that was in my head. Of course you don't want your pizza recipe like a loaf of bread, although I think my family would still eat it!!!! But I would not haha. Also the baby is doing fine, Fever gone. I think it may have been teeth, He has been chewing and wanting to bite things lately haha. Thank you again Shaunta!!! Michelle

Friday, February 5, 2010

Flat tire,pizza jar mix,fever, and decluttering/rearranging

What a Friday!!!!! The baby has a fever today and I am not sure why, He does not seem sick, But none the less it worries me, only a week after surgery. He is napping right next to me, So I can keep an eye on him.
My oldest took my car today since I would not be using it, She took her lunch break to pick up some groceries at walmart, Went out to leave and flat tire. We knew the tires were bad, We are replacing them one a month because the tires cost $170 each. That was not an expense I was looking forward to this week, But what are ya gonna do, Fix it.
This morning I made pizza mixes up, In canning jars of course since they are my new favorite things. This family loves pizza and I mean loves it, But making it never appealed much to me, It seemed so time consuming, I don't know why I thought this. So I broke down last night and found a yeast recipe online and made it up. It made 2 12 inch pizzas and it was soooo easy. I thought holy cow I can make this even easier. So I made up 4 jars full of the dry mix, I can grab this in the morning, mix it up, knead it for 5 minutes, slap it in a bowl to rise. When done I will roll it out, top it, and put it in the fridge for dinner time. This sounds so easy to me I am going to dedicate one night a week to homemade pizza. WHeeeeeeeee easy easy dinner!!!!!
I also could not stand my living room anymore, I spent the last few nights, spackling the area underneath the DVD shelf that we put up, Where the unusable fireplace is. I have decided I want to paint my living room a burnt orange type color. So I am getting it ready to paint. So I rearranged the furniture around today and cleaned places that had not seen a broom for awhile. Tonight after the kids go to bed, I am recovering our hide a bed that we use as a love seat. I purchased some heavy duty fabric at a local walmart that is discontinuing their fabric dept. I got 15 yards of this fabric for $8.22. I will take before and after pics and post them tomorrow. I recovered it a few months ago, But I just used some scrap fabric and the fabric is really thin, It turned out nice, But with 6 kids it did not hold up well. This fabric will match my existing furniture really well too, It is dark blue so will hold up to dirty hands too.
It was also the monthly time to declutter and organize my two home school/bookshelves. That was quite a task. I can
t believe how much clutter gets piled up in one month. All in all today was productive.
The last thing I did was make my list for next month. Next month we are having our first NO SPEND month. I am going to post twice per week next month, dedicated to just this NO SPEND. My to do lists to keep busy, Meals and recipes using our stockpile etc. We have alot of debt. We do not want to file bankruptcy, Because it is our debt and we want to pay it. So we started last year, We did not make our goal by this January of having as much paid off as we wanted to, So we are gonna do this NO SPEND month in march and hopefully again in May to get back on track and actually get a bit ahead. I want to keep myself really busy and the kids really busy next month, So we don't even think about going out!!!! Then hopefully toward the end of the month we have a nicer day and for a reward for our no spending, I am going to plan a huge picnic at the park/zoo (free) for the entire day. Everyone is really excited about that. Gotta run and check on the baby, Happy Friday, Michelle

Pizza recipe
In bowl mix
2 3/4 cup bread flour
2 Tablespoons yeast or 1 packet
1 teaspoon salt
Mix this up and store in jars, This mix will make 2-12inch pizza's.

To dry mix, add 1 cup warm water and 2 tablespoons oil, I have used veg. and olive and sunflower, all work well. Mix this up until ball forms. Turn onto floured surface knead 5 minutes, put in floured bowl to rise, 2-3 hours. Roll out dough to fit pans, Poke holes in the dough with fork to keep bubbles from forming. Spread on sauce, We have used spaghetti sauce, homemade sauce, pizza sauce from the store etc. anything works. Add your toppings, Whatever you like. Bake 25-45 minutes until done. ENJOY!!!!

Our pizza sauce
3 large cans tomato sauce
2 tablespoons oregano
2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
2 tablespoons red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon chili seasoning mix

Put all in a glass jar or canning jar, shake shake shake, Use what you need for your pizzas according to how much sauce you like. Store rest in fridge for up to 2 weeks, Use as needed for pizzas.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Not frugal

I read some things that people do that are completely not frugal at all. Most everyone has them I am sure. My hubby is a cokeaholic. This is not negotiable with him. I do get it with coupons and use mycokerewards.com, But it is still a non frugal expense. I do play games on down time at pogo.com, They have a place to play for free, But I use mycokerewards.com to play the pay side except I use free month codes from mycokerewards so I don't have to pay anything, So I do stretch that coke out alot. We also recycle the cans, although you have to have alot to get a buck!!! When I can't get coke on sale , I will buy the generic, Or I will buy Pepsi etc. This week I got 15 packs of Pepsi/mountain dew, 3 bags of Doritos and 2 bags of baked lays chips for $30 after register rewards. This amount will last a long time.
Our car is not frugal in any way shape or form. I loveeeeeeee my car. We did buy it used. We have a 2001 fully loaded YukonXL. We bought it a year ago. It was a great price, It was the dealerships owners car. It was in perfect condition. It is the first vehicle we have owned that fits all of us at one time. We did not pay cash, But will have it paid off in 3 years total, so 2 more to go. It takes alot for gas, But we don't leave town that much. I would defend this purchase to my death hahahaha I love this car!!!!! And by taking care of it, we plan on having it for a long long time.
By doing the frugal things I do, I can do a few non frugal , things we like things, This works for me. Most of what we do is frugal. And we give up things that other's never would. We don't do vacations, Only vacation we have ever done is when we moved from California to Kansas, We planned a little something in each place we stayed, But all were free or donation museums etc.
We never go to the movie theaters with the exception of a few times when I get tickets for free, But that is rare. We don't miss these things. Don't even think about them.
I thought for a few years my kids were wishing we were different, But I learned that was not the case. My oldest who moved out on her own at 18 ( 1 year ago), Uses coupons, buys clearance, calls me to tell me where this or that is on clearance or when something is an amazing price somewhere!!!! She dumpster dives for furniture then cleans and polishes it up. Her latest frugalness that made me smile was.....She purchased a couch she really liked for $5 at the thrift store, But hated the material and the holes in it. She went to walmart who is getting rid of their fabric department (makes me sad) she purchased enough material to recover the couch for $10 including the price of the couch. It looks awesome!!!! Along with her dumpster recovered coffee table all polished up, and her thrift store decor, The room looks great!! She loves loves loves clothes, Although she buys all her clothes on sale, She likes new clothes. She has learned that if she does frugal things she can afford the clothes she wants.
My 17 year old son has been a dumpster diver since he was old enough to haul things home. I think he has gotten me more of my furnishings then we have. He has an eye for good stuff. He has self taught himself to fix computers. He has run a little business out of our house since he was 14, People from around town bring their computers to him. He lovessssss computers. By learning how to fix computers and update them etc. He has made enough money to have a brand new computer, purchase all the upgrades he likes using eBay for parts, and purchase his own laptop. He has learned to do something he loves to get the things he wants.
My 14 year old shows the most resistance but she is learning.
My twins are the cutest to date, They ask if there is a coupon for everything!!! The love my coupons, They find coupons everywhere, They can smell em. On packages, in stores, everywhere. They love the used stores. Jacob loves clothes. He will walk into a used store and come up with a complete outfit including sweater and shoes!!! He has been doing this since he was 3. At five years old, They have already learned that they can save and be frugal too.
They are our can savers. We purchased one of those can smashers and that is their job. They get to keep the money and spend it. They get completely bent out of shape when someone throws a can away.
This makes me very proud of my kids. They don't waste stuff. They are trying to be green and save money. They all want to own their own houses with no house payment, or a piece of land (my 17 year old). My daughter is going to look this year for a house. She just started her new job yesterday, She is our town's newest librarian. She has worked at walmart for the last 2 years. She is so excited about this new job, She loved it yesterday. She was making $7 an hour at walmart getting only about 30 hours per week. With the librarian job she makes $25,000 a year, with medical and dental insurance. The library is one block from her apartment, so she can walk. She is 19 years old, I think she is doing very well. The administrator said there were 91 applicants, She beat them all out, Mainly because of the two managers at walmart who gave her stellar references, Although they did tell the library they did not want them taking her away from them!!!! hahaha.
She has reaffirmed to me that what I am doing is good, It is right. Happy child rearing, Michelle

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Life insurance, car insurance,contents insurance.

Today we are getting the last of the health checks for our life insurance. We have never had life insurance before, We are also switching our car insurance and getting contents for our house insurance. Our house can't be insured because of the roof, So we are doing $100,000 content insurance. Anyway we always meant to get life insurance, with 6 kids this is needed I believe. We had some good friends, Mark and Diane Cadigan, They had no health insurance, no insurance at all. Diane died from complications due to diabetes, And Mark died 2 weeks later from a heart attack. They had 8 kids, The oldest was 19 the youngest was 4. The kids did go on extreme home makeover and got the family house completely redone and some money for college for the kids, But the oldest kids had to hold down jobs to take care of the little ones. I don't want my kids to have to do this. We are getting 1 million on hubby and $500,000 on me. If something were to happen to both of us, My older kids would have no problems taking care of the little ones with that. With my husband almost 42 and I am turning 39 this month, This insurance will give me a little peace of mind. You never know what could happen, And I can't stand the thought of my oldest daughter struggling to raise my children. She would, And has said no ifs ands or buts, She would raise them, But how nice if she did not have to worry at all about money. I have seen my friends children once since they died, They live in California we live in Kansas, They are doing well but struggle. I would encourage anyone with children, Don't wait, Get insurance!!!! Gotta run the nurse is here to take blood!!!! Happy Tuesday Michelle