Prayer Requests

My prayer list is long right now. Among the most important things on my list:

• THANKSGIVING: Right around midnight Thursday night, I got the call-- my sister was in labor! Z made his arrival at 10:42am, and everyone is happy and healthy. My new nephew is absolutely adorable, and only my sister could look that good just hours after giving birth. :)
• HEALING: Unfortunately, his birth came just two days after a terrible tragedy for my sister and brother-in-law's neighbors & good friends: their 3 month-old son, Cole, was found not breathing in his crib. My sister and the baby's mother tried CPR, but he was already gone. I am praying for Cole's parents, Nicole & Jason, as well as for my sister and brother-in-law. It's going to be hard on everyone as baby Z grows up, as they had planned for the kids to grow up together.
• HEALING: Today: I received some sad news about my cousin. Apparently his wife of less than a year has suddenly filed for divorce. I knew that this young couple had some trouble adjusting to married life, but I never suspected it was this bad. I'm praying that they will seek counseling and that their marriage can be turned around... they are both very active Christians, which makes this even more surprising.

If you feel inclined to pray along with me, I would appreciate it! "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." Matthew 18:19-20

Sotomayor for Justice?

*I apologize if you're reading this in a feed reader-- for some reason my draft kept going "live" before I was finished writing it!

Check out this article: Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court Nominee: All You Need to Know. I'm already hearing from people who have formed an opinion for or against her nomination. I really don't know much about her, so right now I'm kind of on the fence.

• Politics aside, I have to admit that I like the fact that she's a Type One Diabetic-- that might bring some much-needed attention to our cause. Of course, that really doesn't have any bearing on how she'd do as a justice.


• I don't like that she's yet another politician who is a "cafeteria" Catholic. A White House source is quoted multiple places online as saying that she only attends church for family functions and important holidays. And already there's plenty of talk about another "wafer watch" happening. Ugh.


• I don't like the fact that nobody can confirm where she stands on abortion based on her past rulings. "She's ruled on only three cases indirectly related to abortion and in each case she took the position preferred by the pro-life forces, albeit for reasons unrelated to the merits of abortion." (quote from Is Sotomayor and Abortion Centrist? @ Beliefnet) I'd like to think that as a Catholic it's a given that she'd be proLIFE, but, well... see also: Joe Biden.

What do you think? Would you choose Sonia Sotomayor for Justice?

WFMW: buying good dirt

Paying for "good" dirt?? I know, right now you're probably thinking that I've lost my frugal mind. Hang on, you're reading the right blog! Sometimes, it actually turns out to be the best frugal move to pay more for something. How does that work?

I enjoy flowers, but I am not one of those green thumb gardeners who can make anything grow. We also have a fairly new house lot, with no topsoil and rocky ground, neither of which makes our yard conducive to growing anything.

A couple of years ago I stumbled across this Miracle Grow Garden Soil, and I haven't looked back since. One bag of this garden soil replaces the multiple steps normally involved in planting new flowers or vegetables... no extra fertilizers or repeated feedings are needed. It works for both flowers and vegetables. And, while it costs slightly more than regular top soil, I'm pretty sure I come out even when you factor in the cost of separate fertilizers and the plants I've killed off had to replace over the years.

Last year I used this to fill in a new flower bed that we put in to hide the ugly electrical boxes out in our front yard. By the end of the summer the flowers were so huge that I actually had to prune them back-- amazing! All we did after planting was weed and water throughout the summer. DH and I decided then that we would always use this soil when starting new beds.

The Miracle Grow people aren't paying me to brag about their product (although I'd be open if they're reading this- LOL)... it's just a product that I really appreciate, and it definitely works for me!

Menu Plan Mon...errr...Tuesday

OK, the holiday threw me off a day... better late than never, though, here's my plan for the rest of the week:

• TUESDAY: crockpot lasagna, tossed salad, dinner rolls
• Confession: tonight's "lasagna" is totally an experiment! I'm using up some things I have on hand: dry spinach ravioli, a giant can of tomato puree, a pound of browned sausage, a can of diced tomatoes, about a cup of cottage cheese, and shredded cheddar cheese. I layered all of that in my crockpot and turned it on low around 1pm.
• 6pm update: success! It came out yummy! My two year old actually cleaned his plate, which is very rare. :) Next time I think I would puree the cottage cheese (the lumps don't look nice but taste fine)... otherwise, I would make this one again. I love it when my experiments work out!
• WEDNESDAY: breakfast for supper: bacon, eggs, and pancakes
• THURSDAY: chicken tacos (chicken pieces + taco seasoning + salsa, cooked in the crockpot all day and served in tortillas with cheese, lettuce, etc.)
• FRIDAY: smoked sausage, alfredo noodles, steamed broccoli (kids' request meal)
  
  

The Real Memorial Day

Memorial Day is here. For many, myself included, it means cookouts and maybe a trip to the cemetery to put flowers on the graves of all of our loved ones who have passed away. But the real purpose of Memorial Day is to honor all those who gave their lives in service to our country. It's not Veteran's Day, it's not "remember everyone who has died" day... it's a day when we are supposed to pause and remember those in uniform who made the ultimate sacrifice. Take a moment today, at 3pm if possible, to pause and just remember.

Spring Reading Thing: One for the Money

One for the Money (Stephanie Plum, No. 1)

by Janet Evanovich

my rating: 4 of 5 stars

Stephanie Plum is desperate for a job, any job, and she winds up working for her cousin as an amateur bounty hunter. Hunting down criminals is one adventure after another, especially when it turns out that the big case she's assigned is a man from her past... and he's keeping tabs on her, as well. This is a tale of crime and murder, but it's light reading, as it's missing the detailed blood and guts that we're accustomed to on TV these days.

This was a quick read- I finished it in two evenings. A friend loaned me this book and promised I'd enjoy it- she was right! I'll probably read the rest of the series eventually.

Linkage:

• Click here to view all my book reviews at Goodreads.
• You can visit the home of the Spring Reading Thing HERE.
• And HERE is my updated reading list for the Spring Reading Thing.
  
  
  

WFMW: Diaper Cake

My sister is due with her first baby any day now... it's so exciting! We threw her a shower a few weeks ago, and I made a diaper cake... it served both as a decoration and as my gift to her.

I had seen diaper cakes before and always thought they were cute, but figured they'd be really hard to put together. Wrong! This whole project only took me about an hour.

I started by collecting things for the cake for the last few months... using coupons and sales, of course. ;) The cake included two packages of diapers, two boxes of rice cereal, baby lotion, baby bath, plastic links, booties, socks, and a couple of small toys. To put it together, I used two cardboard cake rounds, thin rubber bands, and three receiving blankets.

To start, I took all the diapers from one package and rolled them up, then secured with a rubber band. Then, to form a layer, I stood the diapers on end and grouped them together in bunches of 6-7, held together with rubber bands. I placed several of these bundles around the tall cereal boxes to form the first layer of the cake. I used the extra package of diapers to form the base and add height to the cake. After all the diapers were in place, I wrapped a receiving blanket around the whole layer. I secured this with clear bandage tape, but diaper pins would look really cute if you had them!

Next, I repeated a layer of diaper bundles directly on top of the first layer. Since my cereal boxes were tall, they served as an anchor between those first two layers-- I simply wrapper the rubber bands around the boxes as I went. I repeated the process one last time to make the top layer. In between the top two layers, I used a rolled-up receiving blanket as the anchor.

Finally, the fun part- decorating with the cute little baby toys. I pulled up that receiving blanket in the top layer and inserted the big duck (a faucet cover) on top of it to hold the duck in place. The rest of the toys were just tucked in or secured with craft ribbon.

A unique baby gift... that definitely works for me! Check out Works for Me Wednesday for more fun tips!

Menu Plan Monday 5/18

Another busy week here, so I'm sticking with family favorites. All of these recipes are tried and true!

• SUNDAY: crockpot BBQ chicken drumsticks, corn on the cob
• MONDAY: meatloaf (made ahead & frozen), Mexican Twice Baked Potatoes, peas
• TUESDAY: broiled pork chops, rice, steamed broccoli
• WEDNESDAY: *Breaking in the new grill!* my hamburgers & potatoes
  I'll be using my mom's recipe for grilled potatoes: Take as many baking potatoes as you have people. Make cuts width-wise through them every inch or so, but don't cut all the way through- leave half an inch or so attached at the bottom. Place pats of butter and thick onion slices into the cuts. Wrap in foil and grill until potato is cooked through and becoming crispy on the edges. Yum!
• THURSDAY: kielbasa, alfredo noodles, corn
• FRIDAY: roast chicken in the crockpot, mashed potatoes, green beans
• SATURDAY: a chicken casserole of some sort

*My parents generously gifted us with a new grill for Christmas. I can't wait to get it put together and start using it this week! :)

Check out more menus and share your own at Menu Plan Monday.

Spring Reading Thing: Building Better Families

I recently shared my review of Building Better Families: A Practical Guide to Raising Amazing Children by Matthew Kelly over on Goodreads. Since this is one of the books on my list for the Spring Reading Thing, I thought I'd share it here, as well!

My review

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I read this book for a discussion group at church... had it not been for that, I would have quit after the first few chapters. A 35 year old man who has never been married and never had kids has no business telling me how to raise mine.

One whole chapter is spent describing his own family, including personality traits of each of his many brothers... why on earth did I need to read that?

Kelly's theory that everything in life can be decided by asking whether or not it will help you become "the very best version of yourself" is interesting... but his attempts to relate this to parenting are lacking in reality. I literally laughed out loud when he suggested that young children's questions can always be answered by posing some version of this question. When my child asks for a snack, I'm to answer by asking her if that food will help her to be the best version of herself, or whether there is another snack food that might be better. Seriously??? I get the idea-- encouraging healthy choices-- but clearly he has never faced a hungry child who wants a snack, not a philosophy lesson.

Kelly's general ideas are ok, but I didn't find any practical advice or any realistic plans for how to impliment these ideas in daily life. I generally don't write such negative reviews of books, but I really wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.

A few links if you're a fellow book lover:

• Click here to view all my book reviews at Goodreads.
• You can visit the home of the Spring Reading Thing HERE.
• And HERE is my updated reading list for the Spring Reading Thing.

Sunday Scrappin' 5/17

TA DA's: I have been crafting over these last couple of months, but I've also been working on Sundays, so I haven't posted anything for my own Sunday Scrappin' meme in quite a while. So today I'm showing you a sampling of some of my recent projects:

As you can see, I've been pretty fond of these Diagonal Double folded pocket cards lately. I've made even more of them than I'm showing here, because they're just SO quick and easy!

CHALLENGE: Last week's challenge was to use flowers. I completed this mailbox last weekend, so I'm counting it for the challenge. ;) Inside the envelopes were earrings and a necklace for my sister's birthday.

TO DO's: This week I need to make two birthday cards, and come up with some super quick end-of-the-year gifts for DD's bus drivers and teachers.


This week on Wednesday I'll be posting the photos and directions for the diaper cake I made for my sister's baby shower... come back then to check it out! :)


If you do any sort of paper crafts, come and join us for Sunday Scrappin'!

Crockpot Bliss

Anyone who has been in my kitchen knows I love my crockpots. I use one an average of three times per week, often more. So, when my big one broke about two weeks ago, I was hurting. We've picked up more fast food and eaten more frozen dinners than usual. I talked to DH about it Tuesday and he told me to go get a new one.. and to "get a good one", in his words. :) Coming from him, that's high praise... he's willing to let me spend a little more because he knows I'll get plenty of use out of it.

After some debate, I ended up with this Hamilton Beach Set 'n Forget 6-quart model.

And let me tell you, I LOVE it! It has all kinds of bells and whistles, including a meat probe that's built in. It will cook the meat until the temperature you set, and then it will turn itself down to "warm" to avoid over-cooking your meat. How cool is that? It also has timed cook settings and a even a manual mode, so you can use it like a regular crockpot if you don't want to mess with all the extra features.

This is not a paid review- I just wanted to share my cool toy in case anyone else is in the market for a new crockpot.
P.S. I'm linking here to Amazon so you can see what I'm talking about... but just between you and I, I paid less than Amazon's price at a local store that starts with Wal- and ends with -Mart. ;)

Join me! How My Garden Grows Fridays

Here's what I've been up to this week.... getting my "garden" going and working on my flowerbeds. We're putting in two new flowerbeds this year and I'm trying Meredith's idea of layering in newspaper to help control weeds.

Next year I'm hoping to try Square Foot Gardening. There are lots of great books and websites out there, so I'm going to read up on it and then see what I can do.

Those of you with large gardens are probably amused by my little tomato and pepper patch, but, hey, it's a step up from the container gardening we've done since we moved into this house four years ago. :)

So... what about you? Have you planted any flowers? A huge garden? A tiny plot? A pot or two? I'm thinking of starting a meme here on Fridays to show off our amateur gardening efforts.... leave me a comment if you'd be interested in joining!

WFMW: using those reusable totes

I've been making a real effort lately to use reusable totes when I go shopping. We always had a giant bag stuffed full of plastic shopping bags hanging around our kitchen, and it was a source of constant annoyance for me. Sure, we used them to tie up stinky diapers and to line small trash cans, but still, it seemed that I was constantly picking them up or moving them around. Plus, I didn't want to spend money to get the reusable bags when the plastic ones were free.

Now, have three big bags that I received for free, I remember to take them (nearly) every time I go shopping, and the stash of plastic bags I have to store at home is nearly gone.

My super-secret trick to making sure that I use them? Store them in the trunk of my car. I know, it's brilliant, right? ::smacking self on forehead:: LOL!! I'm not sure why it took me so long to think of that, but, hey, at least it's working for me now.

If you're considering making the switch, there are plenty of free totes for the asking. Here are a couple I found with a quick Google search:

• Kroger shoppers, create a design for a free reusable shopping bag on their website and you'll get a coupon for a free reusable bag to pick up in your local store.
• Fill out the survey to become a member of the Rice Select Flavor Club, and you'll receive a free tote and a coupon.
• Green4Better will send you a bag in the color of your choice just for asking. (Note: when I clicked on this one it sent me to a second page with a coupon offer. I clicked away from the coupon page... hopefully the bag will still come!)
• If you can sew or knit, here are 35 free patterns to make your own bags.
• Or, maybe you can sew some cool placemat totes like my friend Sarah recently made.

Actually remembering to use my reusable totes instead of plastic bags... that definitely works for me! Check out more great WFMW tips HERE.

Kmart alert

My local Kmarts are finally participating in the double coupon sales for the first time. For months now I've been reading about other areas getting the big deals with double coupons up to $2 & I've had a little bargain hunting envy. My area still doesn't have the super doubles, but if yours does, there are some pretty good deals to be had-- check out the lists here and here.

If you do head out to Kmart, keep your eyes open for this special coupon booklet. I found these last week hanging near medicines, which was odd, since they're full of $75 worth of beauty product coupons. Most, but not all, of the coupons are manufacturer's coupons, meaning that you don't have to use them at Kmart- they're good anywhere.

National Scrapbooking Day Freebies

It's National Scrapbooking Day! It's been months since I've scrapped anything, but in honor of this special occasion, I'm planning to finally make the leap and try hybrid scrapping. If I come up with any finished projects I'll have my results up on Sunday for Sunday Scrappin'- check back then!

As you may have guessed, there are plenty of giveaways and fun things going on online. Here are some of the best I've found:

• My long-time friend Chere is an awesome digital designer. For the month of May, she's giving away a great desktop design- it's beautiful!
• Smilebox is giving away a free 8-page premium digital scrapbook- get this one before midnight tonight!
• Jessica Sprague is giving away free online classes & other goodies.
• Designs by Sarah has some digital freebies for NSD.

I'm sure there are some other online celebrations going on- pleave a comment if you've found any other NSD links we should be checking out!

Thrift Store Finds

In addition to my new purse, I also had a pretty good day at the thrift store Tuesday afternoon. I found:

• two summer shirts ($3.49 each) for myself
• a pair of blue dress pants -a major find since I wear tall sizes, and can rarely find those at thrift stores- ($3.xx) for myself
• two wooden Raggedy Ann & Andy figures -I love raggedies, and the kids' bathroom is decorated in a Raggedy Ann & Andy theme ($.99 each)
• and my best deal, a Fisher Price car toy for my son (Only $1!)

I feel kind of selfish for buying myself several things in one afternoon, but it's rare for that to happen, and they were all good deals... so I guess I'm ok with that. ;)