Still Picking up the Pennies

Disclosure: We received a copy of this book to facilitate our honest and unbiased review. All thoughts and opinions stated are of those of the Still Picking Up the Pennies family. No financial compensations was received.    Hand Lettered Truth by Debbie Bratton is beautifully illustrated with quotes from the Bible. I used this book to enhance my daily devotional time.  I have enjoyed this book of daily encouragement so much I sent a copy to a family member who is experiencing a difficult time right now. The book is hardcover and is of great quality. One of my most favorite details is a gift-giving page with a space to write the person given to and from, along with the date. #HandLetteredTruth  @ellieclairegifts @handletteredtruth.

Yesterday morning we woke up to a dusting of new snow, May 8! New snow in May is beyond crazy. We have enjoyed a few warm spring days, so all hope of warm weather is not lost. I received a new camera for my birthday and I finally took it out of the package and started learning how to use it. This is a sure sign of spring in the Upper Pennisula of Michigan, the first spring visit by a Robin. Even if there is still a few snowbanks in the yard.  Most of the winter the chickens stayed inside the coop, so seeing them free-ranging the yard is also a sign of warmer weather. Also, we are thrilled to start getting eggs from our girls again. We have gotten spoiled by having fresh eggs.  My Grandmother has lived with us for the past two years, and she loves watching birds. I purchased this bird feeder . I look forward to taking more photos as birds migrate north. So far we have seen a Blue Jay, Startlings, and Chickadees.  I cannot believe tomorrow is Mot...

I have really stunk at keeping the blog updated, my apologies. Life has been crazy busy. In February, we packed up my Grandmother's apartment and moved her 5 hours into our home. Things are going very well and my spur of the moment road trips 5 hours away are now none existent, which is the biggest frugal win of the entire year so far. My youngest son was confirmed into the congregation of our church. this is a huge blessing because our beloved pastor is due to retire next month. My son has graduated from High School. We all survived his party, whew so glad to have that done. It was fun to see everyone, but a bit stressful. I graduated with my Bachelor's in Health and Human Services from my online college. Also, I have started my Master's in Public Health. Which all may sound expensive but my employer offers tuition reimbursement. Now for the frugal wins for last week. I put in our 'garden' which consists of a few little rows of green onions, spinach and tw...

Even though yesterday was a day of leisure, I had a lot to do. It is time for the church's annual pie social. I made pistachio cheesecake, chocolate cheesecake and a banana cream cheesecake. Fool proof Cheesecake(If I can do it,you can!) 1 graham pie crust 1 cool whip 8oz cream cheese(softened) 1 small box jello 1 splash of cold milk In mixing bowl mix everything but pie crust, mix until it looks pretty smooth. Dump into pie crust. Chill until firm. Enjoy! After making 3 pies, we headed to a nearby bigger city to enjoy water, warm water. While the boys enjoyed the pool, I enjoyed the hot tub and sauna. Then we headed to Perkins for dinner. Kids eat free on Saturday nights. After a nice dinner we went to MooseWood for a walk through the haunted bog. It was very fun, the boys did jump out of their skins once or twice. What a nice day.

If you have a Twitter account, here’s a very simple and easy way to get a free $5 Amazon Video on Demand credit: *Go to this page on Amazon.com and click on the orange “Tweet and get $5″ button. *Follow the steps to connect your Amazon account with your Twitter account. *When you’re finished, you’ll be credited a free $5 Amazon Video on Demand credit. P.S. If you get a message of "We're sorry. An error has occurred. Please try refreshing this page. If the problem persists, please contact Amazon Instant Video support below." Simply refresh the page and it works. It happened to me and I just refreshed. We have streamlining through Netflix which we all love, but sometimes Netflix does not have the movie we want. This is where the free credits from Amazon come in handy!