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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Tipster Tuesday

Tipster Tuesday this week is for me. I really really really need it. Since Jeremiah has been here ( almost 6 months) I have let my household binder go to the wayside. I honestly have not looked at it much since his birth. This has really sent me into a tailspin, disarray and chaos. I am not a naturally organized person. I can get off track extremely easy.....This has happened. I am in extreme need of structure, a schedule and order. So my tip today for me and you is dust off yours and my binders of orderly home papers and get organized and in order. I don't know about you but 3 of my children have decided to take extra curricular activities this year. The twins are doing t-ball and the 15 year old is doing softball. Which I think will be great for them really great. But this is going to throw a wrench into my already disorganized life unless I get control. So tonight when all is quiet and calm (kids are at dad's house and I only have the baby) I am going to sit down with ol' trusty the binder of my life and organize it dust it off and get reacquainted with him. I am going to do my Wednesday good buys on my binder instead, since I did such huge shopping last week there is no need to shop at all this week. I look forward to showing you ol'trusty. Have a great night, Michelle

Manic Monday-pics pics pics

Jeremiah gardening in the great outdoors!!

Hard to tell but that is my oldest sone(18 almost 19) and Jeremiah the baby!!! Sniffle sniffle I still remember when the oldest was that small, it went by so darn fast.
Jeremiah just havin fun in his new (used many many times) walker.
The oldest child Kriztina (20) and the Baby Jeremiah 5 months, I love this picture!!!
My three crazies and the crazy fun that now makes up my days, Matthew 3, Jacob 6, Joshua 6 !!!
Jacob always smiling!!!
Jacob and little brother Matthew at the park playground where they mostly live hahaha
Jeremiah with his summer hat

Kriztina and Jacob sworn BFF'S forever!!! The raised bed garden made with old dressers, leftover pieces of weed and odds and ends!!!

The potato hole that looks more like a gravesite.
We had a ton of this stone in the corner of the yard just sitting there, it made perfect walkways so we don't step in mud.

Kids pics, our piece together raised bed gardens and potato bed that looks like a grave yikes!!! Enjoy the frugalredneck photo album!!! Michelle

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Saving Money Sunday

Today I am going to talk about my garden. I planted my seedling the beginning of March. And they took off. I planted Tomato, Green pepper, Cabbage, Cucumber, Summer squash, Carrots, Celery, Beans, Peas, Cauliflower, Beets, Jalapenos, Red potatoes, Garlic, Red onion, Green onion, Watermelon and a few others that are escaping my memory right now. Everything grew wonderfully. My daughter is helping this year. We have little money but did not do well last year with planting straight into the ground. So this year with little money we are doing raised beds. With the soil and manure taking up most of our funds we had to get creative with the raised beds. We have spent the last year collecting things that could be used to make them. We had several street finds of old dressers and some of our own that were going to be thrown away. We had some old pieces of wood here and there from fixing up the house. Some dog crate pieces and tomorrow she is heading to the Lumber yard to sift through the giveaway pile. She made 2 raised beds today so far. She is taking pictures tomorrow with her phone and that along with some pictures of the little ones will be my Manic Monday post. I was floored when I went out in the back and saw what she had done with so little. I darn near cried. And the plants she got planted looked so happy in their new home and a little more growing room. We are very excited about this year and getting some larger hauls, Fingers crossed. We know it is a learning process, best of all we are having fun and spending time together. One of the twins Joshua did not want to go to his Dad's today instead staying home with me. And he stayed in the backyard the whole day helping her, Just him and her, he loved it and was soo sooooo excited to show me what he had done. It was great. Have a special time with your kids, Plant something...Anything. Have a great week all, Michelle

Survival Saturday

I just got the mother lode of books in from the library here in town. My oh my do I love inter library loan, I can get darn near any book I come across on the Internet. Lots of times I just put a keyword in amazon and then save the books I want to a wish list, print that list off and search the library for them. That way I get to try the book first and see if it is something I need to put money out for and I want or if there are maybe just a few pages I want to copy and then turn it back in without having to purchase the whole book. This is kind of a funny survival Saturday post. My oldest son and I have been bonding lately. I learned long ago with my boys that if I want to spend time with them and bond I have to think boy hahaha. My oldest son loves Survival and end of the world movies. So I added all I could find on Netflix the other day and we had a late night fest on Friday night. I believe I added 11 movies. We only ended up watching 1 all the way through. Most we just watched the first 15 minutes and deemed it lame. Some just made us mad because from what we have already learned they were completely unrealistic. We ended up watching the Final Storm which was just vaguely apocalyptic, But it was a decent movie. I get a kick out of watching things like that with him. T.V. shows like survivor man etc. We feel like we could be ready for anything that we know alot. Although never put in that situation could be a whole lot different. My son wants to be on the T.V. show the Colony to see how it would feel to be in an apocalyptic situation. Not me ty. hahaha. Anyway we had fun and of course he taught many things I did not know about survival. Have a great weekend all Michelle

Friday, April 8, 2011

Frugal Friday

Today I wanted to talk about making your own baby food. This is great for several reasons. First it saves sooooo much money, 2nd it is so much better by 1000% for your baby. I made up Jeremiah's first foods this last weekend. Squash, sweet potatoes, bananas ( I do daily), pears, apples. All you need to purchase is 1 sweet potato, 1 squash ( I bought butternut), 2 pears, 2 apples and 2 bananas will last a week or so. Besides that you need a small food processor ( the small ones that are around $4.99, I bought mine free with register rewards from Walgreen's). And the last thing you need is either small baggies or some small little containers that hold approx 2 tablespoons. Apples or Pears Peel and core cut into pieces Boil in water just covering fruit, Boil just about 5 minutes until tender. Keep liquid in pot until you are done blending. Add your fruit to the processor and puree until all pieces are pureed. If it seems a little too thick add some of your reserved fruit water until right consistency for baby. Add 2 tblspoons to a baggie or small container and freeze until ready to eat. Sweet potato Peel potato, chop into pieces, boil in water just covering potatoes. When fork slides off easily ( Just like making mashed potatoes) add to processor. Keep potato water just like with the fruit, You will need it with the potatoes to thin them out a bit. Puree until all pieces are pureed adding potato water as needed. Package same as fruit. Squash Cut squash in half lengthwise. Pour 2 cups water into baking dish. Scoop out seeds and place squash halves cut side down in water. Place baking dish uncovered in oven at 350 until the skins is bubbly and wrinkly. Remove from oven and let cool enough to handle. When cooled scoop out meat and place in processor. Again reserve squash liquid from baking dishes to use to thin out squash. Same mixing as above and same packaging as above. Bananas Cut bananas up, Place in processor, puree and add water as needed to get right consistency. Use immediately as these will brown fast. I made all this in about 2 hours while holding the baby and taking care of the little ones. Quite easy. Now I have premade baby food, I just take out a baggie in the morning set in fridge to thaw and Waalaa. The best part about this baby food is it is nothing but the fruit or veggie and water. No complaints from Jeremiah or any of my other children. * Best containers to use are used baby food jars. So if you know a friend who feeds their baby only store bought and they have used clean baby food jars ask if you could have a few and use these to store homemade baby food in. * I would purchase a food processor to be used solely for baby food. So that it does not get contaminated with any foods you don't want baby to have and be vigilant about cleaning it really well. Don't want baby to get any bad bugs. Have a great weekend. Michelle *** I am so sorry I still don't have my camera fixed yet. My son is working on fixing it. As soon as it is fixed I am just going to do a post of pics lol.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Recipe of the week Thursday

This weeks recipe is Pancakes and syrup. If you are not making your own pancake mix then you really should. It is super simple and the pancakes taste just like Ihop or other restaurant pancakes. And syrup is also really simple to make. You could in 1 hour make up enough pancake mix and enough syrup to last months, depending on your family size. We eat pancakes for lunch and for dinner. I have them on my menu at least 7 times in a 2 week period for breakfasts and at least 2 times for a dinner. Pancake syrup 1 cup water 1cup sugar 1 cup brown sugar 1tsp. vanilla 1 tsp. maple flavoring Put all in a pan heat to boiling, turn heat to medium high and boil until you reach the consistency you like. Longer boiling means thicker syrup. Let syrup cool and store in a mason jar or an old syrup container. I always quadruple this recipe for our size family. Pancakes (Make ahead, big batch) 12 cups flour 4 cups dry milk 3/4 cup baking powder 3/4 cup sugar 2 tbl salt Mix thoroughly and store in airtight container for up to 6 months. I would advise that you freeze your flour for a few hours after you purchase it and you won't have to worry about bugs in your mix. To make pancakes ( This makes about 8 large pancakes) 1 1/2 cups dry pancake mix 1 cup water 1 egg 2 tbl veg. oil Mix all together, Cook pancakes and enjoy!!!! Have a great Friday, Michelle

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Good Buy Wednesday

I have quite a list for this week, There are some really good deals out there and I have not done any really large trips in awhile. So here goes for my local readers or any who have these stores. Save a lot Shank ham .99lb pork roast 1.29lb Maxwell house coffee 4.99 6 roll paper towels 3.99 hilshire farms kielbasa 1.99 dry onion soup mix .89 whipped topping .89 bleach .99 snak sak cookies 1.29 I regularly purchase sausage links, flour, sugar,brown sugar, powdered sugar, choc chips,and flats of veggies, beans and soups at save a lot and will this time too. I would compare save a lot with aldi's myself. Dollar tree is next I need my monthly items from here 10 packages of flour tortillas 10 packages of corn tortillas 10 boxes of ziploc baggies total $30 Marvin's Grocery Store Birds eye veggies and steamers .78 - all the coupons that are out there from Sunday inserts, I hope to purchase at least 20 of these with coupons. Kellogg's cereal $1.78 each plus my coupons Skippy peanut butter is .98 each limit 2 plus my coupons 10lb potatoes 2.99 act 11 popcorn 3 pk 5/5 plus my coupons post cereal 5/10 plus my coupons Betty crocker muffin mixes and pizza crust mixes 3/1 mc cormick vanilla 1.99 plus coupons mc cormick taco,burrito,enchilada,fajita seasoning 2/1 sargento cheese 2/4 plus coupons sunny d 2/3 5 lb ore ida potatoes 4.99 maruchan ramen noodles chicken 4 (6packs) $5 2 bars fels naptha soap Country Mart (Coffeyville, Kansas) libby's fruit 10/10 idahoan potatoes 10/10 mc cormick ranch or spinach mix 10/10 worcestire sauce 10/10 pie filling 10/10 del monte fruit cocktail 10/10 dole pineapple canned 10/10 mc cormick potato seasoning 10/10 kraft salad dressing 10/10 teddy grahams 10/10 armour peperoni 10/10 boneless skinless chicken breasts $1.59lb ( This is a great price for here, I will be buying 25lbs) Rice a roni 2/1 yogurt 20/10 green and red lettuce $1 Kretchmar ham off the bone 4.99lb xtra lean ground beef $2.59 lb (Good ground beef is scarce around here so when It goes on sale at Country Mart here I purchase large quantities, I will be getting 20lbs) Other then a few extras from Walmart that will be it for this week. Looks like our meals this next 2 weeks will consist of Ham dinner, Ham and potato soup,Ham sandwiches, Meatloaf, Spaghetti, Ghoulash,Chicken stir fry, Ranch chicken wraps, Chicken fajitas, Chicken noodle soup with dumplings, BBQ chicken, Pizza 2 times. I don't usually purchase lunch meat ham. But I found a great recipe for the kids to make and it calls for it. Layer in muffin tin One slice of the ham lunch meat, Sprinkle grated cheese and bake 10 minutes at 350. They love to make things themselves and this is easy and simple. Gotta run baby is stirring. Hope we are past the teething for a bit here until the next one comes in, I have missed blogging. Have a great rest of the week all. Michelle

Monday, April 4, 2011

Monday Madness

And yes it is, Wow oh wow oh wow oh wow. My cute little quiet boy has gone nuts!!!!! He will not have anyone else hold him just screams and cries. And he will not sleep unless I am holding him. We are going through a phase here and it is very hard being by myself and having the other little ones running around. Anyway just wanted to touch base with you all and let you know I will be back regular blogging as soon as we get through this. I can't bear to hear him cry I am not a cry it out mother lol Have a great week all and I miss blogging already but can't leave little Miah to himself. Michelle

Friday, April 1, 2011

Frugal Friday

Well hello all I am still here, The baby has been battling his tooth all week and I am exhausted and he is grouchy. Well he is starting to pull out of it today I think....One tooth popped up and I think the other one is right there. Gripe water has been helping but he still seems fairly miserable. Anyway hopefully for tomorrow I wanted to post all my seedlings pics and my plan for planting, that is if it ever stays warm enough here, Just when I think after 4 days of 80 during the day and 50 at night cold hits again and it is 25 at night. I want to get my little plants in the ground, I am anxious this year, plus some seem to be outgrowing their little containers. I planted a bit of everything and I will talk about that tomorrow. Just wanted to update on where I have been this week. So now to my frugal tip of the week.......... I use so many rags, Sometimes I can't believe how many rags I use in one week. I was buying them but seemed not right to take brand new washcloths or whatever else was on sale and use for rags. So I started saving and cutting up everything. Tablecloths that were useless, Old t shirts, old bath towels just about everything. I just got done cleaning out the baby clothes and everything he had accidents on or I could not get the stain out of became rags. This saves money buy not buying new and re purposing. It saves from using paper towels which are expensive. It is environmentally friendly and it just feels good. I don't feel the least bit guilty cleaning up something terribly gross and throwing the rag away, it served it's purpose. Well gotta run baby is hungry and tired. Have a great weekend all. Michelle