Frugal Friday!

Happy Fall!  I am loving the cool crisp weather, are you?  I like fall for many reasons, but I especially love eating soup!

Here is one of my favorite soups... it's easy and frugal.

I found this potato soup on pinterest and our family loves it.  Although, take it easy... it's not good for the waist line :)
Here are the ingredients (I stole this picture from pinterest)
frozen hashbrowns $2
onion $.78
chicken stock $2
cream of chicken (or celery) $0.59 (yay aldi!)
creme cheese $1.89
pepper

garnish if wanted:
green onions, cheese, and bacon

total: $7ish :)

This soup makes a lot.  I threw... err, lovingly placed all the ingredients (except for the creme cheese) in the crockpot before heading to church.  When I got home, I cut up the creme cheese and put it in the crockpot for 1 more hour.  We ate this soup for lunch and then the kids and I had leftovers for lunch the next 2 days.  It's sooo good.  But, don't go fat-free on the creme cheese cause it doesn't melt... sorry!  

The good news is that bathing suit season is behind us :)  So I say, enjoy!

Monday Morning Commentary

Every Monday, Holly Furtick writes a Monday Morning Commentary discussing the message at her church on Sunday.  I think it's a great idea, so I thought I'd do one every once in a while.  

This Sunday, we were in the 2nd week of our series Lost.  Matt discussed being lost in religion.  Our text came from Galatians 2:19-21 "For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.  I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"

Matt talked about the law versus grace:

Law vs. Grace:

The law corrects behavior

Grace changes your identity

The law breeds slavery

Grace brings freedom

The law breeds self-righteousness

Grace breeds humility

Some great quotes I wrote down from Matt's sermon this week were "Don't settle for the law when you can have Jesus Christ" and "rules without relationship leads to rebellion."  

At the end, Matt had us write our names in the blank of this statement:

God loves _______ and gave himself for _______.  

Thanks babe for a great message and your sensitivity to the spirit!  

You can view more messages here on our website.  

My horrible mistake....

Have you ever made a horrible mistake... like a Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov mistake?  Well, I did yesterday.

Let me start off telling you that the 80's were good to me... I was blessed with 80's hair and I love big earrings and bright colors.  The 80's were the perfect decade for me!  But then the 80's were over... and my hair and I didn't belong anymore.

A few days ago, I found another spot on my face that needs to be removed... that makes 3 since May.  Apparently, the hats, facial sunscreen, and foundation with SPF in it weren't cutting it.  So I decided that I needed bangs to cover my scar(s) and to further protect my forehead from the dreaded sun.

Once I decide something, I want to do it immediately.  I'm not the "let's sleep on it" or "give it 24 hrs" kind of gal.  I run with an idea.  So I watched a video on bang cutting on pinterest and 2 minutes later I had bangs.

BANGS!  Not the pretty side-swiped kind of bangs that people with straight hair have, but the "opps my 3 year old sister wanted to play barber shop" kind of bangs.  Plus, going back to the earlier topic... I have curly 80's hair.

Sometimes I just get bored with my hair and want something different.  Well, this sure is different!

The moral of the story: always think before cutting, er... doing.  

Frugal Friday!

This week I have been volunteering at the Indy Kids Consignment sale.  It's been fun meeting new people in my community!  The first shift I worked, I sorted clothes and toys putting them in size and gender order.  The second shift I worked late at night after the first day of the sale to clean up and organize from the busy sale day.  I brought some clothes items to sell and earned $60... and I spent $60 at the sale.  So, I broke even!

For Tynnley, I got an umbrella stroller (I have 2 bulky strollers and was excited to get a small one for only $4!), a winter coat that had never been worn, a pair of pj's, an outfit, 2 pairs of shoes, little people nativity set, 2 sippy cups (yes, I'm that cheap), and a little people castle. 

For Warrick, I got 2 puzzles, a dinosaur that roars, monopoly jr., a spider-man foam floor puzzle, spider-man coloring book and sticker set and 2 pairs of pants.  Some of this is for now and some of this will be for Christmas.  

Here are some pictures of what I got:

If you live in Indy or are in the area, you should check it out.  The last day of the sale is Saturday (open 9a-1p) and everything will be 50% off.  

Happy Frugal Friday!!!

Read or Go To Jail?

I've always known reading was important, but not how important.  

When I was in college I took a Parenting class.  The teacher often talked about the importance of reading to your children and one day went so far to say that if you don't read to your children, they will not enjoy reading and are less likely to become a Christian because they are much less likely to read the Bible.  Geesh... no pressure, right?  I was outraged... what a horrible conclusion to jump to!   

A couple years after my parenting class, I meet a friend who sold Usborne children's books.  In her presentation she would always say that the US prison system would judge how many cells they would need based on the current 3rd grade reading level.  Crazy!!!  

I'm currently reading "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates."  by Wes Moore.  It's a great book!!  I found this quote yet again... 

"Later in life I learned that the way many governors projected the numbers of beds they'd need for prison facilities was by examining the reading scores of third graders.  Elected officials deduced that a strong percentage of kids reading below their grade level by third grade would be needing a secure place to stay when they got older."  (pg. 54)  

So I did some internet searches and found some interesting info.  

"When the State of Arizona projects how many prison beds it will need, it factors in the number of kids who read well in fourth grade (Arizona Republic (9-15-2004)).  Evidence shows that children who do not read by third grade often fail to catch up and are more likely to drop out of school, take drugs, or go to prison.  So many non-readers wind up in jail that Arizona officials have found they can use the rate of illiteracy to help calculate future prison needs."

"Low literacy is strongly related to crime.  70% of prisoners fall into the lowest two levels of reading proficiency" (National Institute for Literacy, 1998).

Like anything else, there are exceptions to every rule.  I don't think that if you weren't read to, that you are going to jail and won't be a Christian.  Give me a break.  And to quote one of my favorite book trilogies, "May the odds be ever in your favor."  :)  

I am thankful that I had a mom that read to me and I'll tell you one thing:  I'm going to read to my children until their ears fall off.  

  

Warrick reading his favorite book at 3 months :)

It's never to early or late to start reading to your kids!  

Happy Reading!