Goal-Making Monday!

"The important thing about having goals is having them."  

Geoffrey F. Albert

Usually on Monday's, I will sign on facebook and read everyone's statuses about how it's Monday again and they hate Monday's etc.  I'm beginning to think that only stay-at-home parent's can really appreciate Monday's.  I enjoy getting back to the  routine of the week.  Is there anyone else out there that enjoys Monday's?

Here are my goals for the week:

Homemaking:
Keep the ledge from my living room to my kitchen clear.  This ledge is always cluttered and it drives me crazy.  It's so easy to put things on it, but I am going to make a conscious effort to keep it clutter-free.

Here's what it looks like now... and this is a good day :)

Print out our vacation itinerary and put all info in a folder.  We have it all planned and I can't wait :)  

Continue to help Matt clean out the garage and get things ready for the garage sale in May.  Can you believe it's almost May???  I am ready for some warmer weather!

Making a lot of new recipes this week that I'm excited about.  

Intellectual:

To start a book and read the majority of it.  One of my goals for the year is to read 24 books by the end of December.  And so far I've only read 4 books.  I'm seriously slacking.  

Spiritual:

Continue reading everyday in Acts.  I found this reading plan called "Deeper Into Scripture" and it's been really cool, but more time than I usually take.  But that's a good thing.  Here is what you do:

     Read the passage 4 times. 

       First Reading: Enter. As you read this passage of scripture for the first time you are simply "entering in"

     or familiarizing yourself with what God is saying here.   Notice the circumstances, people, places, etc.

Second Reading: Impress. As you read the same passage of scripture for the second time, notice what word, phrase, sentence or verse makes an "impression" upon you.

Third Reading: Pray. As you read this passage of scripture for the third time through, begin by spending a few moments in prayer thanking and praising God for His Holy Word. As you read, be prayerfully interacting with God about the text.

Fourth Reading: Live. In this final reading of the passage ask God to show you how he wants you to live based on this scripture. Is there something he would have you start doing, stop doing or continue doing?

What are your goals for the week?

Frugal Friday! Let People Know.

Sometimes if you have a need, big or small, you just need to talk about it.  Let people know.

Just last weekend, I was on a mission to find a cheap toddler bed for Tynnley.  I went to 3 Once Upon a Child's in order to find one.  None of them had one.

I just happened to be talking about it during Saturday night set-up at church.  Someone overheard and said "I have a toddler bed you can have for free.  I will bring it next week to church."

I'm so excited!  We have generous people at our church and I feel blessed.

Don't get me wrong, I have friends on facebook that are ALWAYS looking for free stuff and it's rather annoying.  I'm not saying be like that, but it's ok to share your needs with others.


Oooo... and I got cute clothes for the kids garage sailing this morning!  I spent $4 on it all.  I found boys 5T pants with no holes in the knees, this is unheard of.  Each summer I try to get the kids fall wardrobe.  Last summer I got so many cute name-brand clothing for Warrick that never looked worn and he's the best dressed kid in preschool :)  

Happy Frugal Friday!!!

Frugal Friday!

I have recently learned about The Prudent Homemaker... she's my new frugal inspiration.

Here's a quote from her blog, "We built up our pantry while our income was good. When it stopped for 8 months, we lived from our pantry without shopping for food--for over a year. Our income since then has been cut by 70%. It's been 5 years. We continue to live primarily from our pantry and garden, find ways to lower our expenses, and make due with what we have."

Wow.  If that's not inspiring, I don't know what is.  And she has 7 kids.... 7!!!

Every week, she blogs about her frugal accomplishments.
Here are mine for the week:
1) I had a $5 off coupon for meijer if I spent $50.

2) On Monday night, I made broccoli cheese soup and cheese quesadillas.  My family loved it, it was a super frugal meal and no one said "Where's the meat?"  :)

3) My husband completed a laundry room project that I was really excited about.  This cost a little bit of  money, but it will keep me more organized and less time sorting laundry.  And time is money, right?
     

     before:                                                                                                           

                                                                                                            

after:

4) This morning I went to a few neighborhood garage sales.  It was cold, but I got a few good deals.  I spent $5 and got 2 summer pjs for Tynnley, 2 shorts for Tynnley, maternity capris, a shirt for Warrick, 2 sippy cups, and a snack catcher (pictured below).  I'm in love with snack catchers.  Otherwise, we have fish crackers all over the car :)

What were your frugal accomplishments this week?

Frugal Friday!

Happy Frugal Friday!  Did you miss me?  :)

This morning I made tortillas.  And they were good, so I decided to share them.

I doubled the original recipe and made 32 tortillas, which I plan to freeze for later use.  I'm planning on making chicken fajitas this week and my kids are fans of cheese quesadillas, so it will be perfect!  

These took longer than I expected... and next time I make them, I will wait until Tynnley is napping or Warrick is at preschool or the kids are in bed.  There was a lot of pausing on my part to clean up spilled milk, break up a marker fight, and just general screaming that I had to deal with.  :)

I love making things and being able to know all of the ingredients that go into it.  I have been at the store and am very unimpressed by all the extra ingredients in tortillas.  And the organic ones are EXPENSIVE, in my opinion.  So this was the perfect solution.  And super frugal, but I'm not sure how much they cost though, since I had all the ingredients on hand.

Here are the ingredients:

• 5 cups whole-wheat flour (I used Meijer natural white whole-wheat flour)  
• 1 cup oil (I used olive oil)
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cup warm water 

Instructions:

1. Mix together flour, oil, and salt.  Beat until crumbly (3ish minutes).  Use a dough hook if you have one, but I don't and it was fine.  
2. With the mixer running, gradually add the warm water and continue mixing until the dough is smooth, about 3 minutes.
3. Take out the dough and divide it into 32 equal sized pieces. I do this by making the dough into a big log shape, then cut it in the middle. Then I cut each of those pieces in the middle and so on until you have 32 pieces.
4. Using the palms of your hand roll each piece into a round ball and flatten it out on a baking tray or board. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for at least 15 minutes.  
5. Heat a griddle or pan to med-high heat. 
6. On a lightly floured board or counter top, use a rolling pin to turn each ball into thin tortillas.  Be careful not to use more than a teaspoon or two of flour when rolling out each ball into a tortilla because too much excess flour will burn in the pan or griddle.
7. Grease the pan with a touch of oil and then carefully transfer each tortilla, one at a time, to the pan or griddle and cook until puffy and slightly brown, about 30 to 45 seconds per side. Set aside on a plate to cool slightly. Eat within an hour, refrigerate or freeze.

I got this recipe from here, and edited it slightly.  

Here are some pictures:  

rolled out and ready to be cooked:

 cooking on the griddle:

Breakfast:  spinach, egg, cheese, and sauteed onions and pepper.

Finished product... MMM.
I loaded it too big and it wouldn't shut.  Don't judge... it was 11:15am before I was able to eat breakfast.  And it was really good :)

Have a great weekend!