Hamster Maze

The girls build Sugar a Candy Land Hamster Maze. She did very well! 

“Camping”

 We camped, kinda. More like ‘glamping’ 😆
I did a LOT of camping as a child, with my family and the girl scouts. My family asked what I used to do, like I’m some kind of expert. 😄
One family tradition was to use burnt wood and leave your mark on your campsite. 💖

Sewing Again

Felicity also wanted to try her hand at sewing. Here’s her new teddy bear, Cuddles. 

E’s First Quilt

Elizabeth wanted to try her hand at sewing a quilt. I tried to get her to do something simple to see if she liked it. Of course she wanted squares which was not in my game plan, but it all came back to me after 20 years. She was very patient and did very well. She still won’t press the pedal on the sewing machine, but did everything else.  😆

Spring Baking-Clean Out the Freezer

Zucchini mini muffins, apple crisp, and sourdough bread. A little baking to warm up a chilly house this morning!  I’m in love with sourdough bread.  I thank Brittany for introducing me❣️

Women’s Beaver Hockey

Giving High 5’s to the players as they came out 

Fizz loved the hockey game! 💚 Asked a LOT of questions though! 😁

El Cheap-o to the Penny Pinching

I'm cheap, thrifty, careful, stingy...whatever.  Pretty much always have been.  I don't mind spending on others, but for myself -- the knock-off brand, on sale, with a .50 manufacturer's coupon is good enough for me.

Since I quit my job my new goal was to save $ where I could, especially groceries.  The first few months were tough settling into a new home because even though we had everything we needed, it was amazing how many NEW things the new house did need.  So when we had to buy a new $100 toilet right off the bat since this one was broke, I like to try and justify the spending by the savings.  

Some months I do very well and others...not.  Some months the grocery stores have everything I use. Other months they don't have anything I use and I end up paying full price.

Sundays: I used to buy the newspaper to clip the coupons and read the paper, but w/ littles around I don't take the time to read the paper, and sometimes the coupons aren't enough to justify a $2 paper. Instead I go to free coupon websites and print out my own.  I then checkout the grocer ads of Marketplace, Lueken's, Walgreen's, & Walmart online.  They may have an item on sale for .50 off then I have a manufacturer's coupon for another .50 off.  Walgreen's has a lot of items B1G1 free or 50% off and they have a lot of groceries too.  I use my Walgreen's customer (not credit) card and save up points -- I got $50 off my bill in September by saving up my earned points.  Marketplace uses stamps that can be traded in for $1 off per filled card, and Tuesdays are double-stamp day.

Even with our special diets, we can get a lot of items on sale when looking close enough.

Many of my meal ideas come from sale items.  If ground beef is on sale, that's what we're having.  However watching prices helps too.  Some places had B1G1 free turkeys in Nov, but they were >$2/lb.  December they were under $1/lb.  Sounds too good to be true, and it was once you realize it wasn't a good buy.  I found an awesome butcher shop today and went crazy on home-smoked bacon, wieners, and beef.  It was slightly more expensive, but better quality meat.  I also bought Chex cereal on sale so we'll be eating that for breakfast as well as experimenting with making puppy chow, per my husband's request.  

My kids clothes come from my gf's garage sale or I buy out of season.  Today I saved $4 on snow pants for E for this year/next year because they have their winter items marked down. 

Gas: I buy Walmart gift cards and use them @ the gas pumps and save .03/gal. Plus Murphy Gas is usually .03+ cheaper than other places in town anyway -- so that's a .06/gal savings.
I started a spread sheet to keep track of my savings to see if it was worth my time Sunday nights. Nov I forgot to document until mid month.  Turns out it is worth my time when I save between $127 to $197/mo.   I also like to look @ the % I'm saving on my total bill.  Love it when I can save 40% on my grocery bill!!

October	MarketPlace	$40.00
4	MurphyUSAgas	$0.20
12	MurphyUSAgas	$0.52
10	Office Max	$7.28
9	MurphyUSAgas	$0.57
7	MarketPlace	$40.00	26.00%
12	Walgreens	$33.00	34
16	MarketPlace	$45.61	27.00%
15	Menards	$20.00	freezer
17	murphyUSAgas	$0.60
23	MarketPlace	$9.00
26	murphyUSAgas	$0.45	$197.23
November	MarketPlace	$64.00	35.00%
23	Walgreens	$21.05	22.00%
23	MarketPlace	$18.10	29.00%
23	Wal-mart	$3.00
23	Lueken's	$21.75	34.00%
			$127.90
December
2	Walmart	$1.00
2	MarketPlace	$43.23	38.00%
2	Luekens	$19.73	40.00%
11	Lueken's	$12.81	11.00%
14	MurphyUSAgas	$3.55
15	MarketPlace	$30.62	38.00%
18	Walmart	$7.50
23	MurphyUSAgas	$1.54
26	MurphyUSAgas	$1.56
26	Wal-mart	$12.11	groc
26	Wal-mart	$31.44	household
			$165.09

Moo! Trunk Show

Felicity & I went to our library and met the author & illustrator or the book "Moo!" They even did a puppet show & signed books afterwards. The library gave us a free copy the day before at the library reading circle. Poor Elizabeth was in school, but is getting a kick out of the book. The place was packed. This is their 58/59 library tours. Lots of free-bes & lots of fun!  My busy-body even stayed still to soak it all in today. 

#5 & #1 for Locks of Love

Before. Elizabeth: 3 1/2 years

After. Mom's 5th and Elizabeth's 1st ponytails for LOL.

Before and after pics of our Locks of Love donations.  Mom: 11", Elizabeth: 6"

My little photographer taking Mom's pic of cutting off the ponytail.

E's first, first, first ever haircut. The night before I cut a curl for her babybook.

Pretty similar in color.

Sending a little rainbow their way.

Stylin'

"Mom, I like Donna.  When I get big she wash my hair in the sink."

Both of our postcards "Thank yous" from LOL.

Homemade Greens

My chiropractor friend recommended more greens in my diet. It is so hard to get the recommended daily values so I decided to dry them (@ a low temp to avoid killing vital nutrients), use a coffee bean grinder to grind, & use a scoop in my morning smoothies. I dried chard, spinach, kale, carrots, tomatoes, & bok choy. I can definitely see why greens are expensive, it takes a lot of greens to make a little container of dried greens. I think I'll use my leafy greens from the garden this year & stock up. So many times I have an over-abundance of chard. Now I know how to preserve it better. 

Follow-up: I ground my greens slightly large to put in my smoothies. If I pulverized them into a thin powder, they still didn't mix well in thin-liquid beverages and the powder got everywhere, including me inhaling it. 

Holiday Cooking is Under Way

Gluten-free: pie (no crust pumpkin) choc. chip cookies & Spritz

My helper, who loves to cook!

Coupon!

I label this "hobbies"...because I'm a nerd and I like couponing.  The other day I spent $207.54 and total savings was $100.94 -- a savings of 33%.   No, I'm not as good as some eXtreme couponers, but I also don't buy 33 tubes of toothpaste that I dislike the taste of either.  However, I do have 10 boxes of cereal on my pantry -- but I have a toddler and spouse who love kiddy cereals and go through them quite often.

This is just by clipping the Sunday paper's coupons and doubling them up with items that are already on sale -- so I buy an item on sale or use an in-store coupon and also use a manufacturer's coupon.  I've never tried printing out my own coupons because some stores don't accept them.  Maybe someday I'll look into it. But for most things that I buy: if its not on sale and it could be, we don't buy it (unlike milk which is rarely on sale).  If it is...clear a space for 10 of them! :)

Locks of Love - Ponytail #4

I label this "hobbies" because I guess for me it is. Just about every 2-2.5 years I cut off a 10" ponytail for Locks of Love. I started January 2005 & here you see tail #4.

Baby Food Update

Elizabeth and I made baby food peas today. I have the baby food attachment on my Kitchen Aid and it is WONDERFUL! It shelled all the peas and made for a creamy baby food. I didn't realize how hard the shells were until I washed everything out and had all the shells (emptied of their pea contents) in the bottom of my sink. I love Kitchen Aides. Thanks T&H for the awesome wedding present!
I froze my pea cubes and looked at my previously-made yam cubes. (I want to wait to introduce solids, so Itty Bitz hasn't even tried the cereal or the yam cubes I made last month). As I inspected my yam cubes, I noted that they were crystallized -- on their way to freezer burn. I removed them from their cheap freezer bag & vacuum packed them, since we won't be using them for another few months or so. I hate to do all that work for them to go to waste.
So, for those of you who are planning on making your own baby food, I'd suggest vacuum-packing or using a really good brand-name freezer bag to avoid freezer burn. I'll be vacuum-packing from now on.

David's New Toy

David got a "new" toy from his parents house a few wkends ago. I'll let the picture talk for itself. :)

Flowering Plants

I have had my Christmas Cactus for 7 years. It has been to Goodland, Hibbing, LaCrosse, Winona, and back to Hibbing and for the first time this year it finally bloomed. My African Violet is super happy lately too!

Weekend: Paint, Clean, Trim, Mow, Fill, Dig

Weekends fly by when you spend them cleaning another house. We've been going to the Keewatin house just about biweekly to clean, cut grass, and get rid of the, ahem, garbage that was left. (It's amazing how some people "live".) This entire weekend was spent priming, painting, fixing, filling & mowing by day and rubbing sore muscles at night. I'm looking forward to going back to work on Monday. :) (Yes, probably with painted forearms. LOL) I did get my laundry done and a movie watched Saturday night ("9" by Tim Burton, kinda cute.) I finished the Rainmaker by John Grisham, not as good as his other books, but still an "OK" read. Yawn, time for the Brooks' to hit the hay. 5:00 comes fast.

I Play My .. Gui-tarrrr

I'm teaching myself the guitar. Slowly. I know A, D & G. Luckily those are just the cords for "I Keep Falling in Love With Him" (Christian music). I kept playing and falling in love with him over and over again and now my fingers are pooped out. Just taking a 5-er to stretch them out before hitting it again.

Locks of Love - Ponytail #3-12.5"

http://www.locksoflove.org/

Dad's Tee

Apparently I saw myself as crafty or a potential clothing designer as a child. Or someone with too much Puffy Paint and one of her Dad's shirts. Either way, I found this hanging in Dad's closet. He saved everything sentimental.