Flowers For Mom

Since this is our first spring in our new house, it's been fun to see what is blooming around the yard!

My mom asked to see some pictures of the flowers so these are for her...and for you! Enjoy!

**These were taken a few weeks ago; there have been a  few changes since then--more irises, more colors of tulips, more azaleas. Also, I've done very little work in the flowerbeds yet this spring so focus on the flowers and not the state of the beds themselves! :-) **

Frugal Five

It's been a few weeks since I did a Frugal Five post! Days have been busy and there is just not the time to do everything I want or need to do! So sometimes, blogging gets pushed back for a time.

I've been participating in Money Saving Mom's 30 Day Housecleaning Challenge. While I haven't been able to accomplish every single challenge, I've been able to do a lot--more than if I hadn't joined in at all! Each day, I try to do one extra thing in the focus room like cleaning baseboards, light fixtures, ceiling fans, etc.  I have learned that for the most part, I don't usually have time to do the cleaning and blog about it. So I've been choosing to do the cleaning...:-)

Anyways, on to Frugal Five!

1. Harvested lettuce from the garden--lots of lettuce! I planted these plants last December and they never really took off--until a month or so ago. And I was getting ready to pull them out! Glad I didn't! We've been eating fresh lettuce almost every day and it's time to cut some more!
2. Stayed in my grocery budget for the month. I did most of my shopping at the beginning of the month and kept a small portion of the cash for fresh produce and odds and ends for the last two weeks. This seems to have worked well!
3. My sister's family is preparing to for a move halfway across the country. She gave me some frozen fish and a meaty ham bone that she had frozen and probably won't be able to use before they go. I was glad to accept!
4. Found some nice dress shoes(Sketchers)  for my husband-- $3 at the thrift store!
5. Some bananas, milk and celery were getting close to their expiration dates. I took a  few minutes and chopped the celery and bananas to freeze(not together!!) and poured the milk into jars and froze them too. No waste! 

How have you saved money or lived frugally recently? 

Pinned It, Made It: Andes Mint Cookies

I've been trying some new cookie and bar recipes for an occasion coming up and these Andes Mint Cookies looked delicious! I pinned the recipe to my "Yummy, not necessarily healthy" board.

They only have 4 ingredients!

Yes, really!

Similar to the Cake Mix Cookie Bars, only cookies with yummy mint!

If you like chocolate and mint, you should try these cookies. If you are a fan of Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies, make these cookies!

Very good and easy!

Get the full recipe and instructions here.

My notes:

• Use an ungreased cookie sheet. 
• Don't overbake although I would probably bake them a tad longer next time. 
• Let them cool almost completely on cookie sheet before removing them; they are fragile when hot out of the oven.
• I used my cookie scoop and one batch made 2 dozen cookies. 
• They are good right away but I thought they were even better the next day. 
• I think I'll try these in a mini muffin pan next time for little cookie bites!

**This post is part of Pinned It, Made Monday hosted by Country Girl At Home. **

Etsy News

I've had a good amount of business through my Etsy shop lately. Yeah!

My goal has been to have at least 50 items for sale in my shop. I keep getting close but then I'll have a sale or two, bringing the number of items for sale back down. Oh well, that's a good problem to have! :-)

This burlap pillow cover was a recent custom order. Thanks Christina!

I just love the color combination she chose!

The hanging kitchen towels were getting low so I just added another batch to the shop. These have sold very well!  I had more but some friends saw them at my house and bought a few right then and there! So I'll be making more in the near future.

Thanks for looking!

Magic Eraser Substitute

 Before

These mysterious orange spots appeared on my kitchen cabinets about 6 weeks ago. In several places.

Shoes? A toy? We have no idea.

I scrubbed and scrubbed with soapy water. Which did not help at all.

Meanwhile, I decided I would need to buy a Magic Eraser to see if that would help.

A few weeks went by and I still hadn't purchased that eraser. The marks were still there too.

This morning I was reading some of the comments on Money Saving Mom's house cleaning challenge. One commenter said that instead of a Magic Eraser, she used a paste of baking soda and water.

I couldn't wait to try it!

I'm happy to report that it worked!

After

No more mystery spots!

Here's how to do it:

• Make a paste of baking soda and water in a small bowl. 
• Apply paste to a damp rag.
• Scrub spot you wish to remove. 
• Wipe with a clean damp rag to remove baking soda residue. 
• That's it! 

There are other scuffs and spots on our cabinets that I haven't been able to remove by regular washing too. I bet this will work!

Baking soda and water are a cheap solution--I'm good with that!

Cleaning Bookshelves

Earlier this year, I signed up with Spring Clean 365: a task a day to keep our homes clean and in order.

I haven't been able to keep up as much as I'd like but I still try to do what I can when I can. Basically, I've been trying to do the daily tasks that I need to do and have time for.

This is difficult for me. I'm an "all or nothing" sort of person. But I'm learning. Slowly.

Anyways, recently one of the daily tasks was to take all the books off the bookshelf and dust well, then replace them.

Before: (Picture taken when we moved in so not all shelves were filled yet!)

This was something that definitely needed to be done! The books also needed to be organized by genre--we just threw them on the shelves any old way to get them out of boxes when we moved in last June and I still hadn't found time or energy to change them.

One afternoon last week when naptime lasted longer than 1 hour, (Yeah!) I started in. I began with the intent of only working on one bookcase but since I was reorganizing the books, I soon started on the other shelves too. I took all the books off, dusted the shelves well and left the books in 3 piles: Keep, Get Rid Of, Maybe.

The biggest pile was Keep.

Once I was done with all 3 bookcases, my husband came in and looked through the Maybe and Get Rid Of piles and put a few of those books on the Keep pile.

I love to read and enjoy books but maybe not as much as I used to. My husband isn't much of a book reader. There are some books that I definitely want to keep but I don't have a problem with getting rid of the ones I don't read and probably won't read again. I can get most of them at the library anyways.

I know some of you are gasping right now that I would so easily part with books! I'm sorry.:-)

One of our bookcases is rather unsteady and the back keeps falling off so I had the thought that perhaps all the books would now fit on the 2 bookcases and I could move the wobbly one out. We could use the extra space too!

After: 

We packed up one box of books to part with and the rest fit perfectly on the two bookcases, including one shelf of cookbooks. That made me happy!

I'm also happy to have this cleaning task done for a while!

30 Day House Cleaning Challenge Day 2

 Day 2's project was to clean the bathrooms!

• Set the timer for 20 minutes and put toilet cleaner in each of the toilet bowls and let it soak.
• Remove any items that don’t belong in the bathroom, put away items that need to be put away in the bathroom, empty the trash.
• Spray and wipe down the sink and tub.
• Finish swishing and cleaning the toilet.
• Shake the rugs outside (or throw them in the laundry) and mop or vacuum the floors.
• Wipe down the outside of the cupboards and clean the mirror.
• You’re done!

I had just cleaned the bathrooms last Thursday so they weren't that dirty.  A little clutter in the master bath (which is hard to see because it's difficult to get photos at a good angle in such a tiny room!)but not anything too horrible.
Before:

I did the regular cleaning she suggested and wiped down the the fronts of the cabinets as well as the doors and part of the walls in the master bath--they were dusty!

After:

Notice the unmade bed in the picture! Well, you can't always get to everything--hahaha!

As you can see, my bathrooms need some decorating help. Or at least nice shower curtains! :-)

Even though we've done mostly regular cleaning so far, I'm enjoying the challenge and it's motivating me to do more little cleaning and organizing tasks around the house. I'm looking forward to getting some of the deep cleaning done and seeing my sparkling house at the end of April!
**For more cleaning inspiration, visit Money Saving Mom!

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

These roasted sweet potatoes are similar to sweet potato fries but are a bit quicker for me to prepare.

I'm all about quick and easy food prep these days!

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

• One medium sized sweet potato per person
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Peel sweet potatoes. Chop into smallish chunks. Place in a bowl or ziploc bag and drizzle some olive oil over the top, mixing to make sure all potato chunks are covered.

Place potatoes in a  single layer on a  cookie sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Roast sweet potatoes for 30-45 minutes,stirring occasionally until potatoes are soft on the inside and brown and a little crispy on the outside.

Yum! We love these!

30 Day House Cleaning Challenge: Day 1

Today's project was:

• Set the timer for 15 minutes and pick up and put away everything that’s out of place. Bonus project: Find 7 things to get rid of.
• Next, wash the dishes in the kitchen (if there are any), wipe down the countertops and surfaces in the kitchen.
• Finally, vacuum the living room.

Due to spring break this week, my work schedule is a bit lighter so I'm taking advantage of the longer nap times to get as much cleaning done as I can!

**I neglected to take any before pictures today! Just afters.*

What I accomplished:

Living room: I had just cleaned in here late last week so not a lot needed to be done. I went ahead and dusted everything well and vacuumed.

Kitchen: This room needs to be cleaned every few days because it sees so much use! I had just cleared the counters so not much to do there today. Thankfully, because I tend to be a piler! Empty counter space? Let me put a pile of papers or something there! I cleaned the countertops with homemade granite cleaner, wiped off the stovetop, and cleaned the sink. Then I swept the floor. I wouldn't have done it today had it not been for the challenge but it seems to always need to be swept! Once Baby Boy is mobile, I'll need to get back to sweeping the floors every day again! It looks so nice all swept and clean on a Monday night.:-)

Extra: We had the windows open today--a lovely day here in South Carolina!  I wiped up the space between the window and the screen--it was nasty! Since I was cleaning anyways, it was easy to just get that done too!

Decluttering: I found 7 items to part with plus a few recyclables.

I'm happy with what was accomplished today and look forward to tomorrow's project!

To join in, visit Money Saving Mom!

Frugal Five and Five Splurges

Today for Frugal Five, I'll not only list 5 frugal things from my week but also 5 things we splurge on.

When reading frugal blogs, sometimes it may seem as though we never buy anything or do anything truly fun that costs money.

Well, here's the thing. Frugality isn't so much about not spending as it is about being mindful and deliberate in where and how we do choose to spend.

So yes, we have some splurges at our house. While we do look for good deals on these items and try to spend wisely, for the most part we feel these things are worth the extra cost. Provided we have the wiggle room in our budget, of course.

So, should we do frugal first today? Or splurges?

I vote splurges.

Five Things We Splurge On: 

1. Grass-fed and pastured meats. They are so much better for us and we've gotten used to the flavor too. Yes, it costs more than what I paid before. At this time, we probably get about 75% grass-fed/pastured meat and about 25% conventional meat to even out the budget. We buy from a  local farm; they started with grass-fed beef and have more recently added pastured pork and chicken as well. I get some meats at Trader Joe's too--not all grass-fed and pastured but a step up from grocery store "pink slime".
2. Iphones. Yes, I have an iphone!  Is it a necessity? No. Is it fun to have? Yes. They are really helpful for our businesses but if finances were really tight, we would rethink this. Once my husband got his and added the data plan, mine was only 99 cents with no change to our bill. 
3. Taxes. We pay someone else to do our taxes. This isn't really cheap but it is worth it to us for both our sanity and the health of our marriage. Because we are self-employed and have so many little cottage industries, Turbo Tax would throw up all over itself and probably go offline! We trust the man who does our taxes and know he does a good job. He is a Christian man and approaches personal finances much in the same way we do.
4. Better haircuts. We used to get our hair cut at a very cheap place. After trying another, little bit higher-priced salon, my husband decided it was worth the extra money for a nicer haircut. I have a clippers and want to learn to cut his hair myself, but in the meantime, we've found a place he likes. I only get 1 or 2 cuts a year for myself and am currently growing my hair out but when it's time,  I think a better stylist would help my head of "unruly hair" too.
5. Parmesan cheese. Call us food snobs, but we really like the chunks of Parmesan you shred yourself instead of the green can! We don't eat a lot of it but it's a treat to buy a small chunk of good Parmesan cheese occasionally.  Trader Joe's has specialty cheeses at reasonable prices.

This Week's Frugal Five: 

1.  I had the day off on Good Friday. Instead of spending money, we stayed home and worked around the house. Got a few small projects done that either didn't cost money or we had already bought the supplies for!
2. For a movie night, we watched a movie we had, instead of renting. One that had been given to us a long time ago and we hadn't ever opened!
3. This is the time of year when I start using up more of our home canned and frozen items. We've been adding frozen peaches to our almost-daily smoothies and eating home canned peaches and applesauce. I have some beets and pumpkin I need to start using as well. 
4. Last week was the end of the month-- I cleaned out our cash envelopes and added the loose change and some $1 bills to our 10th anniversary fund. I counted $15 to add this month. Woohoo! I write more about saving our change here.
5. We've had a few warmer days again! We've been opening windows instead of turning on the A/C!

What frugal business have you been up to this week? What do you splurge on? Tell us in the comments!

Natural Lemon Air Freshener

 This morning I put several sliced lemons and water in my little crockpot. I placed it in our hall bathroom and turned it to low since that room needed freshening first. :-). It smells incredible! I will be moving it to different rooms in the next couple of days. I've read that adding a sprig or two of rosemary is wonderful with the lemons--I'll have to buy some when I grocery shop this week!

**As always, take necessary safety precautions when using anything hot , especially around children. Make sure to keep water in the pot and turn it off when leaving the house! **

April: The Month To Clean

There's just something about spring that makes me want to fling open the windows and get things cleaned. This is a big deal for someone like me who really doesn't care for cleaning all that much!

I'd rather declutter!

This month, I'm joining in with Crystal's 30 Day House Cleaning Challenge. Her challenges are always so much fun and easy to follow, perhaps because every assignment is a bite-sized piece. I don't know about you--but I simply cannot spend hours spring cleaning each day during this season of my life. Minutes, however, are doable if I plan for them!

I'll be sharing several times weekly how I'm doing with the cleaning challenge. Maybe you could consider joining in too and we can all clean together!

I'm looking forward to getting my house cleaned, organized and freshened  this month!

Can I stick it out for 30 days? We'll see!

Today

 Some pictures from today...

The calendar may say March 27, but the thermometer still said 33 degrees at 9 am this morning! So coats for everyone!

The wheatgrass that the kids and I planted is growing in spite of me being rather forgetful with keeping it watered.

Too cold to play outside this morning, we opted to paint. We all enjoyed... oh yes we did!

What did you do today? 

"Let us rejoice today and be glad."  Psalm 118:24

Frugal Five

Let's see if I can come up with five frugal accomplishments this week!

1. Sold a bunch of stuff at a yard sale this past weekend. Had my two big ticket items (a laptop and a tablet) not sold, it wouldn't have been as worth it. But they did sell which was super nice! Plus I sold a lot of 25 cent and $1 items! (I took 6 boxes of stuff and came home with 3!) This money is going into our 10th anniversary fund.

2. Stayed in budget for groceries this month. Shouldn't have to go shopping until after the first of April.

3. Made some homemade cleaners.

4. Had a few "lemon ice cubes" that I made last spring that I found in my freezer. Impressive that they made it through our move last June! Although maybe a bit weird that I kept them! Instead of throwing them out, I plopped them in a saucepan with a cinnamon stick and cloves. Made a lovely air freshener!

5. Used a big flat box from a recent purchase to make a play area for the toddlers one chilly afternoon. I cut one side off the box so that it was open like a sandbox and filled it with plastic Easter eggs (yard sale purchase from last year for $1). My goodness, they had a good time. They were so excited to see it when they got up from their naps!

How have you saved money this week? I always love reading your lists!

Spinach Cheese Casserole

I tried this recipe over the weekend and it was a hit. Even those who don't care for spinach said that it was pretty good.

Super easy too!

I got this recipe from a local magazine and wanted to share it here with you too.

This casserole would work very well for brunch or a light lunch or as a side dish to a heavier meal. Broccoli or any other kind of greens (such as collards) can be substituted for the spinach if you prefer.

Spinach Cheese Casserole

1- 10 ounce package frozen chopped spinach (I used 16 ounces and it worked fine.)
3 eggs, lightly beaten
8 ounces cottage cheese
3 Tablespoons flour
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 pound sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook spinach according to package directions and drain. Place in medium bowl and add eggs. Stir in cottage cheese, flour, butter and cheddar cheese until well mixed.

Spoon mixture into a greased 9 inch square baking dish. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until very lightly browned.

Enjoy!

 

Frugal Five

Once again, it's time to share five frugal things from my week.

Here goes...

1. We had really warm weather over the weekend. We opened the windows instead of turning on the AC. Today we're back to cooler temps.

2. Combined some errands to save gas $$.

3. While at the dump, I noticed some boxes of glassware on the "Free Paint" table. I noticed some plates in one box; I am looking for some extra plates for hosting our Sunday fellowship. The attendant said I could help myself to whatever I wanted. I picked out 4 plates that weren't chipped and left the rest. Not really my style but will certainly work until I find something else! 

4. Went to a few yard sales on Saturday. Found some curtain fabric in the shade of purple we're planning to redecorate our bedroom in for $3. At the next sale, I found a bathroom rug in the same shade for 50 cents. So a frugal master bedroom/bath redo is on the horizon!

This shows the paint colors we're looking at.

5. Used some coupons-- Earth Fare sent out some good coupons for free cheese (with $5 purchase) and 1/2 price sausage this week; we were going anyways so we took advantage of the deals. Used a Deal Saver coupon (a local Groupon-style site) for lunch on Saturday--other than the tip, we spent nothing out of pocket! We love buying Groupons for restaurants we enjoy; it stretches our eating out money significantly since it's often 50% or more off the purchase price.

How have you saved money this week?

A Few Kitchen Tips

Today, a small collection of kitchen tips:

We enjoy eating leftovers but I like having them organized instead of hanging out all over the fridge. A while ago, I began using a plastic shoebox to hold small leftover containers. This works really well; we can see at a glance what we have to use up. Any larger containers of leftovers are stored right beside this box.

I discovered by accident one day that the lids from the 5 pound sour cream  and cottage cheese containers from Sam's Club fit perfectly on my soup/cereal bowls. They seal pretty good, making it possible to fill these bowls, cover them with lids and stack them in the refrigerator. Who knew?

We inherited almost brand-new granite countertops when we purchased our home. My first thought upon moving in was, "How in the world do I clean these?" I was used to using simple homemade cleaning products (like straight vinegar!) and couldn't find anything at first that was completely safe for granite. I used some purchased granite cleaner for the first little bit then was happy to find this homemade recipe. It works really well and is cheap! I like to add a little peppermint essential oil for a pleasant scent.

Do you have any kitchen tips to share?

Vintage Laundry Art

A few years ago, I got an embroidered vintage laundry bag from my mother-in-law. It was during a time that both her parents and aunt were seriously downsizing and this was in a pile of various things she wanted me to go through.

Of course, this hand-embroidered piece immediately caught my eye! I loved it right away. Her headscarf, the apron, the tiny embroidered clothespins....

We don't know who made it  and I'm not sure if the bag was ever technically finished since there were no drawstrings or anything at the top. And there are a few stains but nothing terrible.

My laundry room is rather dark--hope to lighten it up with paint one day. When we moved into our house, I hung this laundry bag in there for a bit of decoration. I hung it with two thumbtacks for a quick fix but I knew I wanted to do something nicer with it-I just didn't know what yet.

Last week, I had the thought to stretch it over a canvas. So next time I was at Hobby Lobby, I got a 16 x20 canvas. (A 2-pack is $7.99 plus I was able to use a 40% off coupon!)

I cut into the backing on the bag so it would fit the canvas on all sides and used thumbtacks to attach it.

Seriously--that's it! I don't know that this can technically be called a craft project!

It's simple but I really like my one-of-a-kind art piece!

Fudge Brownies

Ok, so these brownies aren't healthy by any stretch of the imagination but they are a yummy treat every once in a while!

They're quick to mix up and bake and work really well when you need an easy dessert for hospitality. And most people love brownies!

I'm one of those people who loves brownies from a mix--it took me a while to find a homemade brownie recipe that reminded me of the boxed brownies! In my opinion, so many homemade brownies tend to be dry and not very chocolate-y but these are very moist and fudgy!

Fudge Brownies

1 cup butter (2 sticks), melted
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
4 eggs
1 cup flour
Optional--1 cup chopped nuts

In a  bowl, mix butter, sugar and cocoa. Add eggs and mix well. Stir flour into egg mixture and mix. Add nuts if desired.

Pour batter into a greased 9 x13 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until brownies test done in middle. Cool in pan.

Makes approximately 18 brownies.

**I prefer brownies with a little gooey center so I only bake these about 25 minutes. Don't over bake!**

Best eaten fresh--within a day or two.

Good with or without frosting. This homemade chocolate frosting is delicious and easy. Or you can use a tub of ready-made frosting from the store--I've found that the chocolate is usually pretty good! For the brownies pictured, I used a can of Aldi chocolate frosting which is extremely yummy for $1.29.

Homemade Chocolate Frosting

1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup cocoa
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Pour all ingredients into mixing bowl and beat until smooth.

Enough frosting for one 9 x13 pan of cake or brownies!

Brownies to celebrate a friend's birthday!

Frugal Five

 Some frugal things this week:

1. Used a Groupon we had purchased to get lunch one day. We had paid $10 for a $20 Groupon to a local restaurant. We got enough food for two full meals for both of us by only paying 26 cents extra!

2. Used some coupons-- FREE yogurt parfaits at Chick-fil-a, 40% off coupon at Hobby Lobby!

3. Andy had some postcards from his business that were outdated. They are only printed on one side so I rescued them from the trash and put them with my scrap papers--perfect for daily and weekly to-do lists! He has also been saving the tear-off daily calendar sheets from his desk calendar; we won't need to buy note paper for a very long time.

4. We purchased new eye glasses online for a fraction of the price of buying from a local vision center. I will be sharing more about this in another post, but I received my order yesterday and they appear to be very good quality.

5.  Made homemade laundry detergent. We've been using this for at least 2 years now and are still very pleased with it. And it's cheap!

How have you saved money this week?

Funnies

1. Conversations between my husband and I at Lowe's last weekend:

Me: "Look at this--the "roundy" one with whirring!"
Husband: "Your use of technical terms astounds me."

Me: " Oooh, this one has thingies!"
Husband: "Again, your use of technical terms astounds me."

2. The little ones love Starfall.com.  I find it a more interactive sort of entertainment than plopping them in front of the T.V. The letter 'B' has a picture of a boy who says "I am a boy." that they both really like. So now when they see the laptop, Toddler Girl asks for the "puter boy". (Computer boy).  Even Toddler Boy comes along saying, "Boy, boy."

3. Me: "We need to take down our snowflakes and winter art and put up Spring stuff!"
Toddler Girl: "It would be fun! We go to the store and buy springs!"

4. Toddler Boy: "Eff, eff, eff."
Me: "I have no idea what he's saying."
Toddler Girl: " He say 'eff'' for tree."
Me: "Hmmm...good to know!"

5. Toddler Boy: Jabber, jabber, jabber, "Kit Kat!", jabber, jabber, jabber."
Me: "Kit kat!"
Toddler Boy: "Kit-TY cat! Meow. Meow."

6. Toddler Girl: "I have pick-ups again." (Hiccups)

Wisdom and Picking Up Toys

Almost every morning during my quiet time, I ask God for wisdom as I deal with the little ones that day. And I usually don't think much more about it.

Yes, there are "incidents" throughout the day that require me to stop again and ask for His wisdom on how to handle them but I guess it's not always forefront on my mind.

This morning, I prayed for wisdom as usual and then the day started.

Breakfast is cleaned up. Diapers are changed and the potty is visited. Boo-boos are kissed. Redirection given.one.hundred.times! Baby is fed.

And while this is going on, every toy within a certain toddler's reach is moving towards the floor. And the other toddler loves to do whatever the friend is doing....

Another morning--this photo even catches our little culprit in the act!

Then it was time to clean up and we all know how popular clean-up time is! These little people who are so bright and can repeat everything they hear us say even from several rooms away suddenly have no idea what to do. If they hear me at all, I am given an absolute "deer in headlights" look. Otherwise, they carry on oblivious or one is clearing shelves as fast as we get anything put back on them.

Typical scene in Toddlerville, I know!

This morning, without even thinking about it, I began to sing a new "clean-up" song. It was, in fact, so new, that even I had never heard it!

I sang it about five times, while starting to pick up the toys, with minimal help. Suddenly, something clicked and I had two little people scurrying around picking up toys as fast as they could, smiling and laughing and clearly having a wonderful time.

We finished up and I ushered two happy little children to the kitchen table to play with playdough.

It was all so different than usual and suddenly I knew that that little song was one of God's answers to my prayer for wisdom that morning. Singing, even a silly little song about picking up toys, brightened and brought peace to the moment and set the tone for the remainder of the morning.

James 1:5 says "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God ,who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. "

Thank you, Lord!

This is just a small example of one way God answers prayer and gives wisdom for dealing with little daily things. He is a personal and practical God and He loves it when we come to Him with our needs!

Are you needing wisdom today? Ask Him!

Frugal Five

Thankfully, not as much spending happened around here this week!

Five frugal things for the week:

1. Got some deals at Target.
2. Stopped at some thrift stores this weekend and scored a few good things I'd been looking for: a booster seat (for the table) for the littles ($3), some rain boots for me ($3.99), a beautiful Shabby Chic sheet for sewing ($2.99), a variety of organizing containers (25 cents - $1) and a few other things. I'd been looking for rain boots for me for a while and had priced them new--way more than $3.99! They are super cute; I'll try to post a picture soon.
3. Made asparagus soup using this recipe as a guide. I used the woody ends I had saved and didn't have nearly as much as the recipe so I scaled it back considerably and it made two bowls. Just enough for the two of us! It was quite good!
4. Needed a basket to store some things on top of our bathroom cabinet. I had a wire basket that fit the space just right but the handle were too high and they don't bend. I thought about this a moment, then took the handle off. Perfect! No need to buy another basket and I can put the handle back on if I want to use it at another spot.
5. Started saving banana peels for fertilizer for my roses and garden. We go through quite a few bananas around here so I should have a nice collection soon. The link on that pin is no longer found; google something like "banana peels for fertilizer" and you should be able to find out more information. Toddler Boy's mom said that her parents put a banana peel in each hole before planting their tomatoes and it makes a big difference in the crop and health of the plants.

How have you saved money this week? 

How To Wash Lettuce

In my recent library pile was the book, In The Green Kitchen: Techniques To Learn By Heart by Alice Waters.

I enjoyed this book since I love reading cookbooks and how-to's. This book is a combination of the two.

One of the "how-to's" instructs how to wash lettuce. I knew I could learn from this!

Now you may be thinking, "Who wouldn't know how to wash lettuce? It's just putting lettuce in water, for Pete's sake!"

Anyways, while I knew the basics of washing lettuce, her instructions walked me through the simple process and left me with dry lettuce leaves instead of soggy ones in a very short amount of time. I also learned that smaller batches in the salad spinner do much better than stuffing it full--who knew!?!

So I thought I'd share "How To Wash Lettuce" with my readers.

How To Wash Lettuce

Fill a large bowl/basin with cold water--your kitchen sink can also work. Separate leaves, put them in the water and swish them around a bit with your hands. Let soak for a minute or two. The dirt and sand will settle to the bottom of the bowl. Lift leaves out of the water; drain in colander. Or do as I do and shake them a bit to get the water off.

If lettuce is still gritty or dirty, change water and soak again.

To dry lettuce: Put lettuce in salad spinner, no more than half full and spin leaves dry. Empty water after each batch.

No salad spinner? Use a colander to let leaves drain before proceeding. Or you can use this method. :-)

Lay leaves out in a single layer on a clean dish towel.

Roll it up. I let it sit for a bit like this. I think if I read the directions right, you can put your lettuce towel roll in the fridge.

Cut or tear your lettuce leaves for a salad or refrigerate until ready to use!