For details you can check out any news website. CNN has a good video you can watch.
I am writing this post not to give details but to ask for my readers to pray for and keep the family members of those troops in your thoughts. As well as all of the other troops, that are in that area and/or going to that area for any reason.
We sometimes lose sign of the troops in the "friendly" nations and concentrate on the ones "deployed". Lets take this time to think and pray about our troops everywhere.
Thank you for Supporting our troops and their families.
Angela
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Busy days...Spring is on the brink--make your own greenhouse
I have been so busy lately. Spring brings new things:
-Longer days
-more sun shine
-ALLERGIES
-time to plants
-Spring cleaning
the list can go on and on and on.
Lets start with Allergies.
K has had an awful cough going on 2 weeks. I took her to the doctor Monday. She took one look at her and said "she has allergies". She could tell by her eyes. I don't have allergies so I don't know this stuff. She was also running a low grade fever. However, the doctor is treating the allergies for now and if her fever spikes or the cough gets worse of not better, we need to go back.
Last night was the first night in 3 nights that BOTH of us have been able to get a full nights sleep! YAY for SLEEP!
Have you started your garden?
I have since I do a container garden (plant everything in pots) and I am starting from seeds this year, I have already planted. I just transplanted the other day :)
TIP:
How to make your own greenhouse and recycle while you are at it.
You will need the bottom of an egg container (I used a 1 dozen one and the cardboard one instead of the Styrofoam one)
Starter soil (or peat) I got a bag at walmart for $2 (I will last you a long time)
Seeds
Plastic sealable storage bag
Fill each of the "egg holders" with the peat-starter soil
Add 3-4 seeds in each and barely cover up (I used an old christmas card cut up to label what seeds where where)
water well but not flooding the seeds (this is best done with a spray bottle)
Put inside a plastic storage bag, seal.
Put it in the sun during the day and leave it alone.
No more watering or anything, the condensation is all it needs.
Transplant when you have 3-4 good leaves on the seedlings, make sure to water well when you transplant.
Here is my current one-- I just transplanted my seedlings from my first batch and I am growing more. :)
Have a great day!
Angela
-Longer days
-more sun shine
-ALLERGIES
-time to plants
-Spring cleaning
the list can go on and on and on.
Lets start with Allergies.
K has had an awful cough going on 2 weeks. I took her to the doctor Monday. She took one look at her and said "she has allergies". She could tell by her eyes. I don't have allergies so I don't know this stuff. She was also running a low grade fever. However, the doctor is treating the allergies for now and if her fever spikes or the cough gets worse of not better, we need to go back.
Last night was the first night in 3 nights that BOTH of us have been able to get a full nights sleep! YAY for SLEEP!
Have you started your garden?
I have since I do a container garden (plant everything in pots) and I am starting from seeds this year, I have already planted. I just transplanted the other day :)
TIP:
How to make your own greenhouse and recycle while you are at it.
You will need the bottom of an egg container (I used a 1 dozen one and the cardboard one instead of the Styrofoam one)
Starter soil (or peat) I got a bag at walmart for $2 (I will last you a long time)
Seeds
Plastic sealable storage bag
Fill each of the "egg holders" with the peat-starter soil
Add 3-4 seeds in each and barely cover up (I used an old christmas card cut up to label what seeds where where)
water well but not flooding the seeds (this is best done with a spray bottle)
Put inside a plastic storage bag, seal.
Put it in the sun during the day and leave it alone.
No more watering or anything, the condensation is all it needs.
Transplant when you have 3-4 good leaves on the seedlings, make sure to water well when you transplant.
Here is my current one-- I just transplanted my seedlings from my first batch and I am growing more. :)
Have a great day!
Angela
Monday, February 21, 2011
Frugal meals and charity
I am always looking for ways to stretch our dollar for my family. I also have a giving heart. I currently give to our local SPCA-BTW we went this morning and I was so teary eyed seeing all those babies that need homes!- Hopefully the dog we fell in love with is being adopted today FINGERS CROSSED! His name is Shiloh and he is a Pyranise mix.. That dog weights more than I DO! lol..
Anyway, here are some of my tips and a couple recipes for frugal meals for your family.
I like to cook a few batches of items about once a month and freeze them. This offers us a meal when I am too tired to cook, or just don't feel like it, or we have something planned and I won't have time to be in the kitchen cooking. Most of these I take from the freezer straight to the oven, (I preheat with the dish in there so it slowly warms and less likely to break), preheat to 350 and cook for 1.5 hrs.. just stick it in and forget it until the timer goes off.
The meal I did this week is Shepherd's Pie = 2-3 meals for a family of 4 (more for my family)
Ingredients:
5lbs potatoes ($2.50)
1/2 onion ($.25 roughly)
1 pd ground meat/turkey ($3.50)
1 can or package of frozen green beans ($.65 for can $1 for frozen bag)
15 oz can of crushed tomatoes ($.98)
$7.88 (if canned veggies are used) $8.23 if frozen
roughly $3.94 per meal (if you only get 2 meals out of this) less if you get more meals.
Boil whole potatoes in large stock pan until fork tender (you can use instant if you prefer)-mash in mixer using milk and butter like normal.
while potatoes are boiling soften onion in a sauce pan, add ground meat, cook until browned, drain.
add crushed tomatoes stir together, let simmer for about 10 minutes, remove from heat.
Mean while, cook green beans according to package directions.
once everything is done, layer in a casserole dish that is sprayed with cooking spray:
Meat mixture
Potatoes
greenbeans
top off with potatoes
Freeze
If you want when you cook it you can add some shredded cheese to the top before you put it in the oven.
Pasta Sauce enough for 1-2 lbs of pasta- 2-3 serving for a family of 4.
Pizza Sauce enough for 4-6 medium to large pizza crusts (more if you like less sauce on your pizza)
Large Can crushed, whole, or diced tomatoes- doesn't matter which ones. Crushed are fastest, if you use the others you will need to use the food processor to crush them. But I use what is cheapest. ($1.10)
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp Dried oregano
1 tsp dried parsley
(you can use fresh if you have it use slightly less since it's more flavorful fresh) (Free because you most likely have in your house) $0.00
salt/pepper
----1 tsp of sugar if you are making pizza sauce (brown or white) unless you like your pasta sauce sweet. $0.00
Total: $1.60 for the can of tomatoes, garlic and onion if you have everything else on hand!
$.53 for pasta sauce per serving (freeze what you don't use)
$. 40-$.26 per serving for pizza sauce (freeze what you don't use)
cook onion and garlic in olive oil until tender
Mix in the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 30 min - 3 hours (the longer the more tasteful)
You can make a few batches of this and/or double/triple the recipe to freeze so you can have ready, or can them if you can stuff. This make is cheaper and healthier than store bought and just as fast!
I also bake my own bread and freeze it as well. I'll post more about that at another time.
GIVING TO CHARITY on a budget
Our favorite Charity to give too, is the SPCA. We are animal lovers!
I chose to give food rather than monetary donations. How I do this is with coupons and sales. I combine the 2 when I can and get free/cheap dog and cat food and cat litter.
Today we just dropped off 3 bags of Hills Science Diet food we got $1.41 a bag (regular $9.99-$11.99)! Petsmart had a sale and Hills Science Diet website had coupons! It can be done you just have to do your research.
If you have frugal meals you want to share or how you score deals for your local charity please let me know. I am always looking for more ideas!
Have a great Week
~Angela
The same can be done to donate to a local food bank.
Anyway, here are some of my tips and a couple recipes for frugal meals for your family.
I like to cook a few batches of items about once a month and freeze them. This offers us a meal when I am too tired to cook, or just don't feel like it, or we have something planned and I won't have time to be in the kitchen cooking. Most of these I take from the freezer straight to the oven, (I preheat with the dish in there so it slowly warms and less likely to break), preheat to 350 and cook for 1.5 hrs.. just stick it in and forget it until the timer goes off.
The meal I did this week is Shepherd's Pie = 2-3 meals for a family of 4 (more for my family)
Ingredients:
5lbs potatoes ($2.50)
1/2 onion ($.25 roughly)
1 pd ground meat/turkey ($3.50)
1 can or package of frozen green beans ($.65 for can $1 for frozen bag)
15 oz can of crushed tomatoes ($.98)
$7.88 (if canned veggies are used) $8.23 if frozen
roughly $3.94 per meal (if you only get 2 meals out of this) less if you get more meals.
Boil whole potatoes in large stock pan until fork tender (you can use instant if you prefer)-mash in mixer using milk and butter like normal.
while potatoes are boiling soften onion in a sauce pan, add ground meat, cook until browned, drain.
add crushed tomatoes stir together, let simmer for about 10 minutes, remove from heat.
Mean while, cook green beans according to package directions.
once everything is done, layer in a casserole dish that is sprayed with cooking spray:
Meat mixture
Potatoes
greenbeans
top off with potatoes
Freeze
If you want when you cook it you can add some shredded cheese to the top before you put it in the oven.
Pasta Sauce enough for 1-2 lbs of pasta- 2-3 serving for a family of 4.
Pizza Sauce enough for 4-6 medium to large pizza crusts (more if you like less sauce on your pizza)
Large Can crushed, whole, or diced tomatoes- doesn't matter which ones. Crushed are fastest, if you use the others you will need to use the food processor to crush them. But I use what is cheapest. ($1.10)
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp Dried oregano
1 tsp dried parsley
(you can use fresh if you have it use slightly less since it's more flavorful fresh) (Free because you most likely have in your house) $0.00
1 cloves of garlic minced ($.25)
1/2 onion ($.25)
Olive oil $0.00 -you probably have already as wellsalt/pepper
----1 tsp of sugar if you are making pizza sauce (brown or white) unless you like your pasta sauce sweet. $0.00
Total: $1.60 for the can of tomatoes, garlic and onion if you have everything else on hand!
$.53 for pasta sauce per serving (freeze what you don't use)
$. 40-$.26 per serving for pizza sauce (freeze what you don't use)
cook onion and garlic in olive oil until tender
Mix in the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 30 min - 3 hours (the longer the more tasteful)
You can make a few batches of this and/or double/triple the recipe to freeze so you can have ready, or can them if you can stuff. This make is cheaper and healthier than store bought and just as fast!
I also bake my own bread and freeze it as well. I'll post more about that at another time.
GIVING TO CHARITY on a budget
Our favorite Charity to give too, is the SPCA. We are animal lovers!
I chose to give food rather than monetary donations. How I do this is with coupons and sales. I combine the 2 when I can and get free/cheap dog and cat food and cat litter.
Today we just dropped off 3 bags of Hills Science Diet food we got $1.41 a bag (regular $9.99-$11.99)! Petsmart had a sale and Hills Science Diet website had coupons! It can be done you just have to do your research.
If you have frugal meals you want to share or how you score deals for your local charity please let me know. I am always looking for more ideas!
Have a great Week
~Angela
The same can be done to donate to a local food bank.
Menu Plan Monday
I have had a busy morning. But here is my menu plan for the week. We have a busy week and it's just me and K still sooo..
Monday: Pasta Carbonara (I made the bacon already when I made breakfast this morning)
Tuesday: Leftover Pasta Carbonara
Wed. Shepherds Pie (I made 3 batches of this, this morning and put in the freezer)
Thurs. Leftover Shepherds Pie
Friday: Pasta with red sauce (using the rest of the sauce from the Shepherds pie)
Saturday: Leftover Pasta with red sauce
Sunday: any leftovers we may have or soup and sandwiches
Have a great week!
`Angela
Friday, February 18, 2011
Free Family Activity this weekend
Watch your back yard for at least 15 minutes today - Monday and record the birds you see. This gets a real time snapshot of where the birds are currently in the country. Fun for all ages and Free.
Click Here for more information.
Have Fun!!!!
Angela
Click Here for more information.
Have Fun!!!!
Angela
Monday, February 14, 2011
Menu Plan Monday
Monday: Leftover Tuna Steaks, Mashed potatoes and Mustard Greens (our Valentines day dinner from Yesterday)
Tuesday: Leftover Tuna Steaks or Smoked Chicken, mashed Potatoes and Mustard Greens
Wednesday: Pasta Bolognese and salad or greens if there are still some
Thursday: Leftover pasta
Friday: Brinner (breakfast for dinner) if there aren't any pasta leftovers
Saturday: Soup (I made stock from the chicken carcass from Saturday) and sandwiches
Sunday: Pasta Carbonara
Have a good week :)
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
BLOOM super doubles and Farm Fresh cereal deal before it's gone!
I went shopping early this week since BLOOM had super doubles and I wanted to get the cereal deal at FF again.. and I needed some snacks for SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!!! :)
I know the picture isn't great quality but I can NOT find my camera and had to use my cell phone.. ugg
Produce
Clementines -$1.99
Apples: $1.99
Bananas:$1.41
Lettuce: $.85 ea
Coffee Mate x3 $.50 each after coupon
Kotex tampons x2 $.39 ea ($1.50 coupon for 2 doubled)
Kotex panty liners x2 $.39 ea ($1.50 coupon for 2 doubled)
Lubriderm lotion $.79 after coupon ($1.50 doubled)
Tums $.99 after coupon
Marrow Bone dog treats $1.50 after coupon
I got a few more great deals but can't think of them now.. the receipt is hard to understand lol
Total before coupons: $93.64
Total OOP: $46.42
total saved: $47.22
I am SOOO Happy!!!!!! This is the best I think I've EVER done!!! LOVE SUPER DOUBLES!
OK and here is Farm Fresh
They still had the cereal deal, and I used the get a free single serving MILK coupon when you buy 1/2 gal or gallon of milk.. They still had grapes, cucumbers and bell peppers on sale!
Total before coupons: $42.92
Total OOP: $35.60
Total Saved: $7.30
not as good as BLOOM but it's Tuesday and FF only doubles up to $.99 :)
How did you do?
Angela
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