Still Picking up the Pennies

When the calender says it is back to school time, my brain says start planning. As we all now once school starts we all now how times seems to fly. Before we know it, it will be Halloween time. Halloween is a quick one day ordeal, but I never seem to be able to do it frugally has I hope. If you have never visited costumediscounters.com , I suggest you do. I was very surprised by the prices of many of their items. When I was presented an opportunity to review a Halloween costume from costumediscounters.com I jumped all over it. What tween does not love Indiana Jones? Well, mine sure does. After looking at all of the boys costumes, Joel chose the Indiana Jones Distressed Jacket . Even grown kids love to play dress up and mine are no different. Costume Discounters has many movie character costumes . If your sons are not in the movie character costumes, they also carry a great variety of boys costumes When the costume arrived, Joel was so excited he put it on. I had the camera ready...

We love summer time with the great warm weather we are having. We would so love to go on a real vacation, but instead we have resorted to day long trips and excursions this year. We were all in the mood for a day trip to Copper Harbor, MI. If you have never been there, go! It is one of my very favorite small towns in the world. Copper harbor is about 2 hours from where we live. We stopped at every little site seeing opportunity along the way. This is a snow-o-meter measuring the local area's record breaking snow fall in one year 390.4 inches. Can you imagine!? It still snows a lot up here but I am glad I have never seen that much snow. Our next stop was at Fort Wilkins' State Park. There is a ton of history at this fort. My boys really enjoyed seeing how and where the soldiers of that time lived and worked. Joel setting off the cannon. Noah shopping getting supplies for making cookies, he is my cookie monster!! The ammo depot. Then to Mount Brockway, it sure do...

We are sticking to the plan! No extra trips with the cars anywhere. No drier usage at all, I have even been hanging out socks and underwear on the line. I usually give myself permission to splurge in the area, so that is huge for me. The plan to get in 40 hours a week is just now working out as I thought it would. I am getting more hours then in the last 6 months, but due to unpreparedness on other people's parts it just is not happening. I may be getting more hours as we all work together and get our acts together as a team, the season is young so there is hope. I am submitting time sheets to both jobs with more hours then usual, so I am looking at it as a victory in that aspect. I was able to make payments in full to two bills that had sent me bills with the same amount on them two months in a row. That is also a small victory. My oldest son is spending time with my parents this week. We have been trying to do a few extra special things with the youngest without spending mo...

I have to admit I took yesterday off from blogging so I am a day late. Please forgive me! We had such a wonderful weekend, we hosted a small family BBQ on Sunday, only 38 people attended, and that was just immediate family. My darling husbands family is BIG, and so fun. But the plan for the week is very simple, we are in complete summer mode around here. Monday - was leftovers. Tuesday - Lasagna rolls and veggies. Wednesday - something chicken. Thursday - Meatloaf, potatoes and a veggie. Friday - We are having a picnic at a park near my parents house with $5 hot and ready pizzas. The park is named Chutes and Ladders, the name says it all, and it is so much fun. Saturday and Sunday - I am not sure about. I am working on a post about frugal father's day presents and birthday party prep, so stay tuned in for those. I also want to remind everyone to enter my Sunny Saturday give away that ends June 1 that is TOMORROW :) Good luck everyone! For more yummy menus visit orgju...

I cannot believe it is May3 already. Spring should feel like it is in the air; but I put my boys on the bus this morning with winter hats and jackets. It was 32 degrees! It is suppose to get up to the low 60s and I hope it does. My yard could use some raking. We were worried about one of our hens, she had been gone for about 4 days, no sign in the yard of a struggle. On Monday there she was, acting like nothing was wrong. She looks a bit skinny and was really going after the caramel popcorn I was throwing out for them. Then it dawned on me, she had to have a nest she was sitting on some where. I looked and looked, we finally found her and her four eggs. She had picked a nice warm place, in between the bales of hay but it is not safe. So, my darling husband fixed up the dog kennel in the garage for her. She will be safe there. Maybe in 21 days we will have baby chicks, we are not sure of old Black Jack is doing his job or not. In prior years, we let one of our hens sit on the eggs, th...

I can not believe that April is nearly over!! Although we were lucky enough to enjoy very wonderfully warm weather today. The kids and I with Grandma went to the park and had a wonderful time. The boys and I had such a busy day today but we did sneak in some fun. But Noah had his eyes checked. A doctors appointment, she said she thinks he has aspergers instead of the autism that this school thinks he has, so the ride with that is not over. Joel had a dental appointment. I did a mystery shopping. It is my step-dad's birthday today so the boys and I brought subs and cupcakes over to eat with my parents. After we had the 68 miles drive home, the boys rode the mini-bike and four-wheeler around the yard. In the house just in time for showers and bed time for school in the morning. So if I sound like I am out of breath that is why, I am. But we had a wonderfully productive day. The meal plan for this week is Monday - sandwiches Tuesday - Ham and potatoes Wednesday - Burgers T...

So today was just a normal sort of day, until the boys got off the bus. That is when Noah announced that he received all stars through out the day and was even picked Student Of the Week!!! YIIPPEE!!! I am so proud of my youngest little ball of energy. As a special reward, he will be featured on the bulletin board at school, leader in line ALL week and he gets to read a special story to the principal. He is so proud of himself and this is a HUGE step for my little ball of energy so we are playing up as much as we can. We went to get ice cream of choice from the corner store as a snack. We had pizza for dinner and tv fest on netflix and a slumber party in the living room all in celebration.

Over the spring break I gave myself a budget of $50 for a bit of 'extra' fun with the boys. Come Thursday I did not spent a cent of the $50 and decided we needed a change of pace, I called around to local hotels. I found a decent one with a indoor pool for $45.35, so we stayed there Friday night. We got to lounge around in the hot tub and the boys LOVED swimming and I stayed with in my budget. I just love when I can see big bright smiles like this on my familys' faces and stay in budget.

I feel so refreshed after this weekend/spring vacation, after all I got to spend my time with my three favorite guys, which always does my soul good. We took a night away from the rest of the world on Friday. I booked a room at a local resort - hotel casino about 20 miles from here. We swam and sat in the hot tub for hours. I put $50 in our spring break vacation fund. By Thursday night I had not spend one dollar, and I knew the hotel had a special going on. So for $46.35 we got our room, and each adult got a casino package($5 cash to play the slots, and a free drink coupon). We all enjoyed the pool and hot tub. But as a special bonus - DH and I had a "free little date!" After the littlest was fast asleep, we had Joel practice calling the cell phone from the room, just in-case he needed us. We turned the TV on for him. DH and I went to play our $5 each in the slots and had a drink together. It has been years since we were able to do such a simple thing, but we sure enjoye...

I have signed up for about 100 different weight losing challenges before, but I really, really think I am ready to do this one. Michelle at Fun on a dime is hosting it, to see all the details and to sign up go here . I am so ready to not be out of breathe after a tiny little family hike, and have a fun, active summer with my boys. I don't want to be the fat mom sitting on the side lines of life anymore. So this is it. I am going to try to post my updates here daily. I will take a picture of my current weight on the beginning date April 4th and on the end date. But like Michelle says it is not about the number on the scale, but I am hoping to see some lose.

Hi all, we are enjoying our spring break We have a 4H meeting in a little bit, we are eating pizza and making mosaic tiles. Not sure how many will be there, I could only get a hold of one other parent. So maybe it will be a low-key meeting, but also hard to plan for. Tomorrow is a 4H workshop day ALL day. Joel is going to make a book:write, illustrate it, type it up and learn how to bind it. Then digital photography. Noah and I are sticking together: Wooden toys, fondue cooking, Easter Crafts, cool candles. then we will all be together for cooper tooling. It will be a fun, fun day. And I am not in charge so I can have fun too No evening plans, but we have been having lots of outside time. It is starting to feel like spring, finally.

We had such a wonderful weekend. We spent the night Saturday night at a hotel, we swam and lounged all weekend. My darling husband works from 2:30pm til 10:30pm Monday through Friday; which means our family time is really limited. I try to make sure we only have fun things to do on Saturday and Sunday, so we all can enjoy our time together. This weekend we had a wonderful time. But it is Monday and time to get back to the grind. So here is the food plan Monday - Burgers and fries Tuesday - is a Burger King night, it is book fair time at the school. Wednesday - Fish with noodles Thursday - meat loaf and ........ Friday - is always pizza night Saturday - Chinese food at home Sunday - tacos. For more yummy menu ideas go over to orgjunkie.com

I am very thankful for a lot of things today, one of them is having such a mild day to haul more wood into the house. DH is not feeling well and there is no school today, so that means it is the boys' and my job to haul some wood into the house. It is 37 degrees in the UP today on March 1st, very warm sunny day. We have about 4-6 more weeks at least of cold weather and our wood load was nearly depleted in the house, after spending the afternoon outside in the sunshine with my hard working sons, we will be staying warm for at least that long. I am also thankful that I got in a very tiring work out at the same time. God is good! Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers !

Today the boys and I had a fun frugal Friday, we made flubber (with out Borax). My boys are not in to the mucky muddy things that most boys like, but they did admit to enjoying this flubber making. First is Noah my 8 year old, next is Joel the 11 year old. I thought for sure this activity would not be enjoyed by Joel but he did enjoy it. For dinner we will have homemade pizza and our family night movie, which is Marmaduke. UPDATE on the circulating pump, the repair man was here for nearly two hours, not sure what the bill will be yet. We opted for a new pump and a bit of maintenance work be done. Here is a look at the new, quieter pump. She's sure tiny. One more thing, I am part of the Purex Insider team and I received my first product to try today. I am so excited to try the Purex Complete Crystals Softener. I was sent a sample and a freebie coupon for a full size product. I cant wait to try it, I love fresh smelling laundry. I may be given a few e...

I was one of the lucky ones to be chosen to host a Coffee Mate Game Night Party. My family and friends had such a wonderful time. I want to thank Coffee Mate for such a wonderful box of goodies to share with my guests. Here are a few photos I took of the fun. Here is some of the snacks I served: cake balls Fresh bread with homemade blue berry jam. Again CoffeeMate thank you for such a great time.

Romance does not have to break the bank. I am trying something new for my DH this month, the 14 days of romance. It starts today. I have made or will make little homemade cards to go with each day. Today is "a sweet for my sweet" day. He works from 2pm to 10pm, so when he gets home he will see the big cookie I made for him and open his card.

Today my boys had a half day of school, so I wanted to do something fun for the afternoon. The rules were we could not spend any money but could use some gas from the truck. So we decided on taking Mother nature up on her beauty she provided about 3 feet of new snow over the past week. We went sledding. My son is the one being pulled backup the hill in the blue and black jacket. We brought cocoa and hot dogs from home and invited a few cousins along and had a bonfire. This is a look down the hill. My crazy and one of my favorite sister in laws road down the hill together and nearly peed our pants laughing. It was a great day!!

I have been following Laura's site at Heavenly Homemakers for a while now. I love her simple, yummy sounding recipes she posts! She is a true inspiration to me. Today my boys had a half day of school and they were not going to eat lunch at school. I wanted to make a fun lunch for them and remembered having a few hot dogs in the freezer and just got a corn bread Jiffy mix. So I did corndog muffins and they were a huge hit with all three of my boys, including DH! He even asked me to pack some in his lunch box!! YAY! Laura thank you for a great recipe!

So I did a lot of things right this year but a lot incorrectly. One of the biggest things I did wrong was the lack of prep work I could have spaced out all year long. That is where I am going with this post. I am going to try to work on one craft idea a month in preparation for gift giving for Christmas 2011. January's project is going to be oven mitts. As I need them and everyone uses them. So I will post a few photos after the boys and I have a few hours on the sewing machine. I also should say that a constant goal of mine is to increase my boys sewing talent. The two ideas go hand in hand. If you have any ideas that a mother of two boys with normal gift giving list could use please post in the comments.

I am borrowing this post "Sign up below and you’re on your way to receiving free books in exchange for your honest and thoughtful book reviews! You can also win cash prizes, autographed books, iPods and other great awards! For full details on how the Blogging for Books program works please visit our FAQ page. http://www.waterbrookmultnomah.com/bloggingforbooks/sign-up *USA only, book reviews are due within 30-90 days, can only request 1 book at a time." but I just got an email stating that my book: The Dragon and the Turtle by Donita K. Paul and Evangeline Denmark; illustrated by Vincent Nguyen has been queued for shipment, I should have it in 7 to 10 days. Just in time for Christmas break reading with the boys. I love new kid's books that my boys will love for free.