New focus

Some of you may follow me on facebook and saw my message about blowing our budget last month.  I am a numbers girl and when I sat down to balance everything out I was shocked (and saddened) to see how bad things were.

The month before we had a big financial thing happen.... we paid off our house.  It wasn't something that was easy but had been a goal for us for awhile.  Before I quit working, during that year of 'trying' to see if we could make it on one salary we put my entire paychecks (minus giving) towards our mortgage and quickly whittled it down.  So for a solid year we made probably three extra payments each month.  It made a HUGE difference.  It wasn't easy but our house is OURS now.  It's a good feeling to know that if something would happen to Nathan or our income, we are not threatened with a payment hanging over our heads to keep the house... we should always have a roof over us now.... heating it may be another question. ha

But because of that I knew coming into December that we had some 'extra' wiggle room and didn't pay as close attention as I would have before.  It really wasn't a good idea. I overspent.  I made a mistake.  But I only did it for one month, I've realized it, and now we are re-focusing for the new year.  I honestly believe that every so often making mistakes are good and teachable moments - they help you to refocus and gain new traction in meeting your goals. 

This year our goal is to pay off my student loans. To easily do that we would need to put each mortgage payment towards my loans each month.  I said to 'easily' do that.....  we also have a couple large expenses we are looking at that isn't going to make it easy.  So I'm going to being pinching pennies... planning ahead better, and really watching every dollar that comes in and goes out.  And I hope to blog soon on our budget and how that works in our house.

I hope and plan to blog more intensely on this and how we are doing each month.  What are your goals for the coming year? Do you have big ones or small ones? Having a goal (no matter how big or small) is the first step towards making a change. :)

***My dear friend who tried to contact me in a comment the other day, because my blog is so basic I wasn't notified and not sure you were notified that I responded......  email me at njbish5 @ gmail (dot) com

Crunch Time

It's crunch time.... T-8 days till Christmas. good gravy. Seriously one week from today is Christmas Eve.  Where did the time go, I thought I had so much time to prepare and then boom, here it is.

I haven't wrapped one gift yet (except for the ones that had to be wrapped for events already taken place) but not one person in my house has their gifts wrapped, nor next door, nor down the street.  Yep I am totally behind! Looking like an all nighter at some point.

Nathan totally hates this time of year. He despises how everything is crazy, and everyone is off schedule, and grumpy, and tired, and naughty, and greedy..... the list goes on.  I think it's made that much worse because we come right off of hunting season.  Which means he's already tired coming into the holiday season.  He's already run raggad because of getting up early, tramping through woods for hours on end, dragging deer out, staying up late cutting and processing the meat.  The kids are crazy cause they haven't seen him in two weeks, they miss him, they aren't sleeping.... it's a vicious cycle for at least a month. whew.

I really attempt to keep things normal and moving along, but the house work, extra baking, shopping, wrapping, visiting, parties, normal school work. It can just get overwhelming for sure.

But the freedom I have in Christ allows me to walk away from some things and NOT feel guilty about it.  To realize that sometimes I have to make choices and when they feel right for my family and our situation I answer to no one but my God and my husband.

So these are the things I have walked away or simplified from:

• Christmas Cards - my mom had 10 left over picture cards that she gave me. I sent out 10 cards this year. If you are upset because you didn't get one then come see me and see the picture in person.
• Baking - I was very selective with my baking this year, I made easy and freezable items. I started sorta early and made big batches of a few things. 
• Gifts - a couple very hard to buy for people are getting food this year. Sure it's the easy way out and a little more expensive, but instead of just buying 'stuff' I know they won't use they will receive something they will enjoy and use! 
• My gift list - it's normally a spreadsheet very detailed, not this year. One little piece with scribbles wrote all over it. Oh and that list that I had for the kids that had everything sorted and organized.... totally lost that. But I decided last night that I'm going to significantly cut down on how many gifts we give them anyhow... which means I already have birthday shopping done. woot! 
• My media fast is still going on and I am really enjoying it. I am taking the time to let my kids paint, complete crafts, and just enjoy them during this time of year. It's a wonderful opportunity to really explain the season. 

Our school memory verse for last week was: Phil 4:4 and I have been repeating it many times through out the day and finding joy in the little things.

I will rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say: Rejoice. 

Amen.

Media Fast Part 2

The last Chip Ingram study I did we completed a 48 hour media fast.... a complete and total removal of all media related stuff.  It was difficult but wasn't too bad since I knew it was only 48 hours.

This study.... he's challenging us to do a 10 day media fast. Um... really?

10 days. 10 long days.  I really have no media in my life except the occasional radio station while I'm driving and even then I never listen to an entire song... I'm a scanner :)

But facebook.... oh facebook, my only connection to the outside world.  Other mommies. Friends. Family. LIFE.   How am I to grow my blog page? How am I to grow Lilla Rose if I'm not on the computer all the time?

I got to thinking, it would actually be easier to completely walk away from facebook for awhile.   But easier isn't what we want to do.  We want hard, difficult, needing Jesus to help us levels.  So I'm going to limit myself.  I'm going to give myself guidelines and time frames. I'm going to make myself stop at a certain time and walk away.  That will be harder.... to make myself walk away each day at maybe two different times then just to shut the computer down and not turn it back on for 10 days.

Make sense?

It will involve a lot more will power than what I have, but that's the point. I am to put off the old and put on the new while renewing my mind.

Redeeming the time for the days are evil. 

Amen. 

My desire is to spend more time on the floor and couch with my little ones.... reading, playing, creating crafts, playing games, just being with them instead of pushing them away.

And I can only do it by God's grace and with His help.  I'm going to give myself 2 hours a day.... that may seem like a lot or it may seem like a little to some people.  But for now it's 2 hours of computer a day - banking, chatting, emailing, etc.  I will have to prioritize and manage my time efficiently.  I'll be popping in to update you from time to time.  

Anyone want to join in?

Finding Joy

As we come into a very busy week at our house, followed by another busy week, and then suddenly Christmas I am starting to feel things unravel. I am starting to feel like I'm losing control.  but.... I know that I do have control, I just have to grab it.  I have to focus on finding joy.

Here's what our week holds.

Monday: Daddy at work, late because of holiday party, will miss dinner at home, must stay up and finish church treasury stuff.
Tuesday: Daddy at work, church board meeting in the evening. Will miss bedtime.
Wednesday: Daddy at work, deer hanging in garage that must be cut up and processed, probably will miss bedtime.
Thursday: Daddy off - hunting all day, arrival time is completely dependent on whet,her the crew gets another deer.  Which also leads to when he might get to go to sleep. :)
Friday: Same as Thursday.
Saturday: Same as Thursday.

And that's just his stuff (I still have all my things that I have to do or attend and participate in), but having him gone really makes the week harder on mama for sure.  And I don't think it's because I have three children, I think it would feel the same if we only had one.  It just that our normal routine is going to be completely off and that makes the entire week rough for families of any size.

Joy.... about that joy thing.  I am trying to focus on the good things and have thanksgiving to see if it helps to brighten my days.

• I am thankful Daddy has a job and can work AND take off to hunt.
• I am thankful for his willingness to serve in the church and take on jobs that no one else wants. 
• I am thankful for the deer hanging and the prospect of having meat for our family in the coming year.
• I am thankful that because Daddy works and hunts I am able to stay home, imagine how bad this week would be if I was also working full-time. By Saturday I'd be in the fetal position. 
• I am thankful that I am not resentful or angry about the time he spends away from us for good things... there could be a whole lot worse things he could be away from the house for. 
• I am thankful that he struggles as well - that he too misses us and wishes he could be home but knows that these are things he must do so because of that I try hard to not complain or be grumpy. I try to put a smile on my face and move forward as much as I can. So that the precious few minutes he may have with me or the children and calm and enjoyable, not adding more stress to him already.
• I am thankful for my friends and family who support me and do listen to me when I am on the verge of going crazy since I'll be spending almost the entire week alone with 3 children ages 6 and under. :) Oh and this pregnant belly I keep forgetting I have which means I end up overdoing it. blah! 

How do you find joy in the every day things?

Old Schedule vs New Schedule

One day a couple weeks ago Nathan and I sat down to have a talk because evenings were not going well and everyone ended up fighting (us), pouting (kids), and just miserable (everyone).

We decided to revamp our evening routine and see if that made a difference.  It will soon be changing again because he starts winter hours (he works at a local university) but while the timing may our new routine won't.


Our old schedule was that he got home from work and I am frantically trying to have dinner ready and on the table, so therefore I'd have one or two or even three crying kids wanting something - a snack, to help, etc.  I'd try to send them off to play but that's when chaos would ensue and something would happen that I'd have to stop what I was doing and stop a fight, clean up a mess, etc.  Nathan would get home, dinner would be ready, the kids would want to be seeing him, I'd be yelling that dinner is ready let's eat and it was just craziness. pure craziness.  Then because dinner was early the kids wouldn't really be hungry, so they wouldn't want to eat, soon they would be begging to get down from the table and we would let them just to enjoy peace while we ate.  Then we'd clean up and all of a sudden one of them would be hungry, and we'd get distracted with something outside or a project. Soon the evening is gone and the most important thing had not been done - Bible lessons with daddy.

It just was not working out.

So we decided to revamp things a bit. 

Now when Nathan gets home, he greets everyone with a hug and kiss. And we have our 10 minutes of couch time to catch up on the day.  Really that's just where I spend 10 minutes recapping our day here at home, who behaved well, who did I have problems with, funny things happened, etc.  This way he feels like he was part of our day and knows what to expect throughout the evening (no nap=cranky baby or something along that line).  Then after couch time, he heads upstairs to change clothes and teach Bible lessons with the three little ones while I uninterrupted make dinner.  It's wonderful! So dinner is being pushed back about an hour but it's working well.  The children are hungrier so they are eating better, which means snack time before bed is truly that a snack and not another meal.  One thing we are finding with this new schedule is that we are more apt to leave the dishes in the sink after dinner because once we are all done eating it's easier to just go enjoy family time outside instead of rushing to lessons while I clean up.  But summer will be gone before we know it so for now I'm ok with leaving the dishes until after bedtime I'm sure in the winter when activities are inside it will be easier for one of us to clean up quicker.

We are both thrilled with how well this is going, of course not every night is going to happen this way and Thursdays for instance don't because I have ladies bible study that I attend. But knowing that this is our new normal has been extremely helpful in getting things accomplished and makes the entire evening more enjoyable.

It won't work for everyone and that's fine. You have to find what works best for YOU and your family.  I was trying to fit my family into an ideal that I thought I had to and it was a disaster. You as a family have to stand on your own two feet because each of you is so unique that it makes your own family unique and special.

Just another example of how thankful I am for Nathan and our open lines of communication, if we hadn't been willing to sit down and admit that something wasn't working and we needed to fix it our evenings would still be a mess and everyone would be miserable. Praise God for that!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

UnWired Mom Days 2 - 4

I tried to stay off over the weekend (that is my normal routine) but I did want to let you know how it's been going.  And to clear a couple things up.  This is not exactly like the 48 hr media fast I did which is where I completely stayed off social media, movies, tv, etc.

UnWired Mom is about letting YOU take control of the internet and not letting it control you.  Using the internet as a tool not as an escape. It's taking control of your life.  This challenge is 14 days and each day she gives you an activity to complete and something to think about or discover about yourself. It's been very interesting.

So on with how things are going. 

Friday August 9th:
Day two is in the bag.

Yesterday's assignment was to spend one-on-one time with my children and you read how that went.

Today's was to spend some quality time with my husband after the kids went to bed.  From the minute he got home from work we were frustrating each other with lack of communication.

Someone really doesn't want me to succeed at this challenge... ahem... satan - lay off ok.

Saturday August 10th:
I have been struggling with a migraine most of the week, it's been very discouraging. Today was a long day of being away from my home and family to help my Grandma and Mom sell food at an auction.  On the way home I was very determined to NOT get on the internet after being gone all day, I wanted to enjoy my family.  I think I did that... :)  Nathan and I put the kids to be early and enjoyed a Duck Dynasty episode and some ice cream.  It was really nice and more enjoyable then surfing the net.

Sunday August 11th:
Things continue to be a struggle because satan wants me to fail so bad that he is trying his hardest to destroy me and my confidence in myself as a mom.  My children were in rare form today and those are the times I want to ignore them because I'm tired of correcting and training once again after what seems like that's all I've done since I woke up.  It's rough for sure.

UnWired Mom Day 1
UnWired Mom Challenge

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Blueberry Plants

yep that's the title of my post today.  I belong to an affiliate program that when I find great deals and share them with you then I earn a small amount. Normally I would put this money aside for a rainy day.... but I recently was able to score a ticket to a sold out conference - Allume.  And I am super excited, but I need to raise some money to pay for it.

So between now and the end of October I'll be trying to earn some extra money to tuck away for this trip.

Which leads me to the title of the post...

I was browsing the program and saw this deal that's out there -



yes.  Blueberry plants. I love blueberries.  Does anyone else? and they say to grow them inside which I'm super excited about.

So if you want to help me out and get some blueberry bushes out of it - please click above for more information. Thanks :)

*******
Ok so you may have clicked on the link above but after trying the deal out myself it's not one I want to share with you. It wasn't clear and very confusing on what you had to buy, etc.  I do not want to do that - I will only share things that I have tried or at least attempted to try (remember the citrus lane disaster?)

But here's another one that might interest those who start Christmas shopping now. :) This is a great deal. I love the deals from Vistaprint and have ordered from here before. Hope you enjoy this one.

Unwired Mom Day 1

What a total and epic fail yesterday for the UnWired Mom challenge.

I woke up at 4:30 fighting an reaction to a bug bite, Josiah got up at 5:30 and by 6:30 Naomi (the baby) was up too. NOT starting out well at all.

I did pretty good until mid-morning when I started watching/trying for an Allume ticket. Went down hill from there.  Till about 3ish I was connected to my computer trying to get everything worked out.  It now is and today starts anew.

I really enjoyed hand writing in my journal last night, it's something I want to try and continue.  I have a big evening tonight, and will be away from my family for a good part of the day tomorrow (Saturday).

Today I am going to make a difference and remove myself from the computer until naptime.  I want to be IN their lives, not just there for it.

Is anyone else doing this? Did anyone else struggle the first day?

I know God has grace He gives freely and for that I am thankful.

The UnWired Mom - Choosing to Live Free in an Internet Addicted World.

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Media Fast recap

Since this technically isn't media I thought I would keep a running commentary of my successes and/or struggles with this fast. :)

7:09AM Tuesday morning - sat down with my cup of tea and thought 'well what do I do now?' Normally I would surf facebook and the web while enjoying my tea in the morning.  I decided to go through a pile of receipts and updated my spreadsheets and file. *Success

Tuesday 6:16pm The electric went off at 10:00am and didn't come back on till almost 5:00pm.  That was very helpful in letting me stay away from my temptations today!  I finally got to check my email and realize how few 'real' emails I get from people, I was hoping for more. :)  I want to check facebook so bad. I will not lie.

Wednesday 7:20am - my son has been up since 6:45am.  After 6 straight years of either being pregnant or nursing a little one I am still enjoying my sleep and like to sleep as much as I can. Good or bad I'm not sure but that's how it is. Very tempted to let him watch a movie but pushed through and did not.  He has struggled the most with the no-movies for 48hours.  I also had a random crazy dream about someone from my past whom I haven't spoken too or even thought about in years.  Dying to get on facebook and look them up. But will refrain and by tomorrow I'm sure it won't seem so important.

Wednesday 2:50pm just got home from a dr appointment. Traveling in the car was a struggle.  I am a radio channel surfer. I never stay on one channel for one entire song, I hate commercials, and just generally skip around continuously.  so that was rough.  I also packed my bible to read Romans 12 in the waiting room, I knew there would be some temptation there with the 'rag' magazines available - I'll be honest and say I'm a bit obsessed with the new royal baby.  Love looking at Duchess Kate on the steps of the hospital looking like she actually just gave birth and not a flat stomach 24 hours after the baby was born!   The children got to spend some time at Grammy's this morning and ended up watching some TV so that's a bummer but it happens.  We'll see how the rest of the day goes.  I'm tired and it's gotten hot again.

Wednesday 3:45pm  I'm checking email and keep going to the next tab to open facebook or just browse the internet.  feeling drained after my dentist appointment and the decisions that need to be made.  Want to escape for awhile. 

Wednesday 4:28pm  I'm surprised how many times I find myself drifting towards the computer to check facebook. only to realize it's not open. Now I can see how easily I get distracted. hmmmm

Wed 6:19pm really. not one email since 3:28. geez

Wednesday 8:48pm.  The fast will be over when I wake up in the morning. I'm pretty excited (which I realize is really shallow but true).  Below is a list of things I learned and/or are going to change:

• I definitely need to set limits for myself with facebook.  Maybe some time in the morning, and then in the afternoon during quiet time for the children.  Or from a set time say - 7am-7pm no facebook, or something like that... but I think it needs to be more than just facebook.
• No movies first thing in the morning for the children too. Josiah is going to be one of those kids that has his school work done by 9am most days.  He does so much better at things in the morning.
• I never thought I was truly 'addicted' to media but boy this fast has been good for me.  I highly recommend Desperate: Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe and Living on the Edge: Dare to Experience True Spirituality
• I felt absolutely disconnected from the outside world.  I never realized how much I use facebook to connect with others, emails is almost too much work anymore.
• I think I might start trying to do this every weekend.... might. Or at least 48 hours each month at some point.  I feel like I really learned a lot and needed to do some intro-perspective as well.

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48 Hour Media Fast

pro·cras·ti·na·tion
[proh-kras-tuh-ney-shuhn, pruh‐]

noun
the act or habit of procrastinating, or putting off or delaying, especially something requiring immediate attention. Also known as Facebook. 

A friend of mine posted that the other day on facebook.... and for me it could not be more true. I struggle with this daily.  I have a tendency to get sucked in when I only meant to check my email or send someone a quick message. I know a couple other friends who have the same issues. 

Last week during my weekly bible study I am attending the book challenged us to a 48 hour media fast. gulp. I had sorta hoped the leader would glance over that section and ignore it.  No such chance... near the end of the study she brought it up. 

And we agreed as a group to do it.  For 48 hours we would not let the outside media influence us.  But that also meant I'm going to miss the Giant Eagle deals being posted.... and if you know me that's a big deal! ha 

So starting Tuesday morning at 7:00am I will not be accessing the Internet except to check my email and even then the only emails I will open will be from individuals that I personally know, no sales ads, no special deals, no blog updates, etc.  I also allowed myself the phone because well it's a home phone and I can't be tempted to jump on the Internet with it. Only to make and receive phone calls.  We don't have cable or dish so watching TV will not be a problem either (but I do like Hulu!).  Even though it's not the same thing I am also giving my children a 48 hour no-movie fast.  It could be a very long 48 hours. Those movies are very influential and even though we screen them carefully I am still noticing phrases and attitudes that my children have picked up from movies.

The weather had better be nice so we can be outside lots. :) 

If you're interested in the study we are doing here is the name of it - Living on the Edge: Dare to Experience True Spirituality The book is by Chip Ingram.

So if you post a comment, or something on facebook I'm not ignoring you I just won't be responding until Thursday morning after 7:00am.  This is going to be a huge test for me.  I may just shut the computer down and so that I'm not even tempted. 

Have any of you ever done this? Do you have these same struggles? Where do you find the balance? 

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Zucchini Boat

Before we were able to find a couple of our own zucchini my uncle gave us some of his.  Now his garden is one that I will admit to coveting... :) It's just down right amazing.

The ones he gave me were bigger than my calf and I had no idea what I was going to do with them. I made these amazing oatmeal bars (will post later).  Out of one zucchini I got 4 batches of bars and 2 quart bags of grated zucchini. yes they really were that big.

I see all these awesome recipes on facebook lately and I want to try them but when it's time I can't find them again.  So I had to wing this one with the help of my best friend who I was stalking while she was traveling for a weekend away :)

I basically just cut it in half, scooped out the seeds and some of the pulp.

Sautéed some chopped peppers and onions in coconut oil and then threw in some chopped chicken sausage. It wasn't the Italian sausage that I would have preferred - this was links that I cut into pieces.

I rubbed some olive oil and season salt on the outside of the zucchini and then stuffed them with the filling.  I took a piece of foil and sprayed it before I covered the filling side of the zucchini.

Preheated grill and grilled filling side down for 10-12 minutes, once it started to get soft I flipped them over and removed the foil.

I then spread some seasoned bread crumbs and Colby-jack cheese over the filling while it continued to cook. They sure looked pretty!

I wasn't totally impressed with them - I thought they were bland - needed something.  But they were healthy so I will be attempting them again.

What are your suggestions for seasoning or spicing them up a bit?

My first harvest

yesterday I told the story and showed pictures of my destroyed garden. 

today I tell of the redemption :)

Saturday morning I ventured down to start really looking into the plants and see what was going on.  My dad came down to help, the first thing I saw was my cauliflower plants.... disgusting. They must have gotten too much rain, they were rotted through, so out those came. I think I got to salvage one and half heads.  But we got to looking at the broccoli and found 6 heads... big heads of that.  I was pretty excited and it gave me hope. 

Then I moved on to my peas and beans.  Couple pea pods were found (those are mostly eaten as they are picked), and another 3 or 4 handfuls of beans were found, ok my pile was getting bigger that was good.

Moved on to the hot peppers and found a ton of them but not quite ready to be picked but they survived the storm so that is encouraging.  Still only have 2 small green peppers on my 12 plants but I don't blame that on the storm just bad plants.

My dad decided he needed an onion for his lunch and pulled one.  Rotten.  what???  ugh... found a couple more that were rotten and it was decided then and there that they almost all needed to be pulled now instead of letting get super big.  Or so I thought.  As they were piling up I realized that they were much bigger than what I thought so that gave me some joy.  And my dad admitted that he was impressed - he was never able to grow onions :)  So we picked an entire laundry basket and then hung them out to dry.

Then I ventured down to my zucchini plants.... oh man were they in bad shape.  But I did find 4 zucchini and up to that point I thought they were a total lost cause, we did end up having to pull one plant out so I'm not sure if they will produce any more or not.

I pulled a couple stalks of corn because they were bent to the ground and then we discovered they were starting to tassel so I'm not sure I screwed up there or not but we decided to leave the rest and see what happens.

Next up was the cucumber plants that were basically buried by the knocked over tomato plants - I found 9 cucumbers!  but it took me 5 minutes to try and find my way back out after getting in there. :)

Lastly were my poor tomato plants.... we decided to just leave them because there really isn't anything we can do and they are loaded with tomatoes right now.  What as first I thought was a problem to have so many plants so close together may actually be a blessing.  They were able to sorta cushion the ones that got knocked down. 

God is good. 

here's my Vanna White photo of our bounty!

I was so upset on Friday when I saw what had happened, but our garden wasn't and isn't a total loss yet and that is such a blessing and reminder of God's goodness and faithfulness in ALL things.

What has God taught you lately?

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A Setback

I posted about my garden here and how excited I was about it.  If you didn't see the pictures be sure to check them out. I was pretty proud of it.

Then last week we got a freak hail storm. This weather has been crazy.  Thursday I was on my way home from bible study and ran into a storm, by time I got home I knew it had been bad.  A tree in our neighbor's yard had been snapped apart.  I didn't even want to see my garden. The next morning I ventured down with much hesitation.

*tear*

My garden was a mess.  The tomatoes were on the ground... entire posts just pushed over - some on my pepper plants and cucumbers.  Random parts of my corn just looked like they were pushed over by a person.  My peas were smashed into the ground, most of the tops off my onions were broke off.  Oh my zucchini plants.... destroyed. Absolutely destroyed, the leaves just ripped to shreds.

It was heartbreaking to be honest. I had invested so much time and energy into this garden.  I just walked away and couldn't bear to even deal with it.

Later that day I got to thinking about how I've been complaining about conveniences and how much are they really a blessing to us.  Well I found out, because my garden was destroyed did not mean our family would starve to death this winter.  We still have the option of going to the grocery store and buying food that will sustain us over the months.

That is a blessing for sure.  Be sure to come back tomorrow to find out what God continued to teach me through out the weekend. :)

A Tip to Expand a Meal

So in the past I would have cooked one package of sweet Italian sausage, sauteed some peppers/onions and served those for dinner.  That would have been 5 sandwiches (normal amount of sausages in a package).  And one really isn't enough so each of us would eat two, and then suddenly one isn't enough for leftovers and Nathan is eating the third.  Well that's not exactly good for him and I would be upset that we used the whole package of meat for just one meal.

Then I had a thought..... what if I chopped up the sausage?  So I removed the casings, chopped up the meat with my favorite Pampered Chef tool, cooked a much larger amount of veggies and voila - I had a huge skillet of dinner instead of five sandwiches. I normally just serve these in hot dog or hamburger buns. We were both able to eat a satisfying meal, plus had enough leftovers for two lunches. SCORE!

So this is one of my favorite tips for expanding a package of meat for meals. It saves money and the waist line. :)

Here's the tool that I use for almost everything, chopping hamburger, sausage, you name it and for only $11 it is so worth it!!! The Pampered Chef Mix N' Chop :)

*the above links are not mine nor do I receive any compensation for them. They are the links to a friend's business page. Thank you.

The jungle update or also know as my former garden

This is my first year basically planting and growing my garden on my own. In the past my dad would have helped but he's been working out of town and not around as much. So my mom and I started some plants indoors, and then moved them to a redneck greenhouse (cement block/old window panes) and grew some mighty looking fine plants. :)  I am so thankful this year and am trying not to get discouraged because of the craziness.  My dear husband can tell when I'm losing the faith so he got up super early on Sunday and went to weed my garden before church.  I was and am so grateful for him! He is truly a blessing to me in many ways.

Then planting time came and I grew a little ambitious.  My garden is FULL... very very full.  So full you can barely walk through it. Not good. Anyhow, here's a couple pictures to give you a feel for it.  Note my daughter will be six in October and I could probably lose her in it.

Our potato pots.... we could have kept laying dirt but we were tired and it was getting expensive so we just stopped and are anxious for fall to come so we can see if they worked!

From a distance.

A little closer.

From left to right - onions, peas, cauliflower (sorry for the picture - blogger is being crazy and won't flip it - anyone know how???)

My first hot pepper!

Our watermelon patch that had to be added later cause I ran out of room in the first garden!

These are my tomatoes.... my dad did not think our plants from seeds would grow so he had my mom buy some at the store.  Yes, those are mine in the back that are much taller then his... and now we have WAY too many cause he told me half of mine would die.

I will admit a mistake here and say that I did not pay close enough attention to my cherry tomato and regular tomato plants, we have a very poor ratio.  And every cherry tomato plant looks like this.

In the past onions haven't made it past the 'green' onion stage around here, but because my dad has been out of town they have gotten a chance to grow and hopefully grow some more!

My beautiful bean plants!

The insane zucchini plants.  These things have not produced but have completely taken over my garden :( And I've even had two people ask me for zucchini - oh my.

And the random sweet corn down the middle. Anyone else go by the rule 'knee-high by the fourth of July'? If so we were in business! :)

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Our growing garden

My post today is about something new that I've never done - growing potatoes.  Many years ago I bookmarked this link from Heavenly Homemakers, one of my favorite blogs. I've hung onto this print-out for a couple years, moving it here and there. Finally my mom found an article too and got interested so boom we were on a mission.

About two weeks ago we made our potato pots, four in total, bought some seed potatoes, used some old chicken wire we had laying around, old newspaper to line them, and some bags of potting soil/compost.  The cost really wasn't that much for how many we ended up planting.  The basic theory is to plant some seed potatoes with eyes, let them sprout, once the plants get to a certain point, cover with another layer of soil, wait for plants to grow again, cover again and repeat... once you reach the top, you let the plants grow and blossom.  Wait a couple weeks after the plants die and turn yellow and then clip the the plastic ties used to hold the pots together and VIOLA pounds and pounds of potatoes to store for the winter!  I'm thinking digging through the dirt for all those treasure is going to be an excellent job for my little ones.

There does seem to be some disagreement or confusion over at what point we put another layer of soil over the plants.... one of the bonuses of the internet - you learn how to do things and then you learn there are many ways to do the same things.  Some say 1-2 inches, others say 7-8 inches... big difference there.  We might try one of each since we have multiple pots. Don't know how it works but supposedly it does.


We'll play it by ear this year and make changes for next year. :)  Have any of you done this before?

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Clutter-Busting Challenge: conclusion

I'm just not good at following through on things.... I know this blog will never be a huge success if I don't spend more time each day building it and I think I need to accept that it's not going to be a huge success right now because I just don't have the time to devote.  This clutter-busting challenge was such a good idea and I jumped right in to it and enjoyed it but couldn't keep up with the posting every day. 

The goal of the challenge was to get rid of 7 things every day during the month of May - 217.  I surpassed that amount quite awhile ago.  We are having our huge community yard sale this Saturday - it's always the first Saturday in June.  This challenge just got me up and moving and once I got started I couldn't quit.  I barely posted on the amount of stuff that is being shipped out my door.  My husband could not be more thrilled! :)

The challenge that comes now is not bringing the stuff back into the house when the sale is over and it hasn't sold! I am a bit of a hoarder and don't like to actually throw stuff away.... it will take lots of will-power to not save it for the next sale.

I am thankful for this challenge and the motivation it gave me to get up and get going with clearing clutter - my mindset was totally different while prepping for our sale. I was focused on clearing out as many items as I possibly could because I knew someday I would post on it. I will take some pictures once the garage is set up and you can just see how much clutter I actually had. 

Now let's see what the next project I'll get in to will be? Any suggestions?

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Clutter-Busting Challenge by Money Saving Mom

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Clutter-Busting Challenge: Days 13-20

I'm still working on this challenge (my mud-room proves it right now) but I just haven't kept up with posting as much as I would have liked. So today I thought I would post on days 13-20... that's 8 days, which should have equaled 56 items.  I happen to have totaled 127!

I posted yesterday about where I might want to take this blog and I'm still thinking on that. In addition to my three children this week I also have my two nieces and one nephew... I'll probably be cleaning after bedtime this week.  So there has been a couple bumps in the road for sure but that's ok as long as you pick yourself back up and keep going.

I concentrated on the upstairs of our house during this challenge.  Although I still haven't touched my closet or the side-attic which are two that desperately need attention. Our community yard sale is only 2 weeks away and I still want to go through the rest of my stuff.

Here's a small list of the items from last week:

34 items of garbage - expired medicines, empty or almost empty hair stylers, broken ponytail holders
3 pairs of shoes
1 beautiful ball of pink yarn that I had high hopes for (sometimes you just have to pass on projects)
1 full box of  embroidery thread
1 embroidery frame
6 packages that each had 6 pieces of partially completed squares for a quilt (that I may have started ahem 10 years ago before I got married)
2 completed pillowcases to match the quilt
and the rest was just weeded out junk, miscellaneous items

Total tally of items: 413

Clutter-Busting Challenge by Money Saving Mom

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Clutting-Busting Challenge: Days 6-12

When I started this week I thought I would try and finish 7 days at once... boy was I surprised how far it actually went.

Well 7x7 does not equal 49 in this house! It equals 227.  I've already surpassed the total number for this challenge (217) and I can't wait to see what my final tally is! I focused solely on the kitchen area yesterday with the mindset to weed out as much stuff as possible!!!  It was a huge success, my goal was to see how happy I could make my husband - the larger the pile, the happier he would be.  I also took lots of pictures to share! :)

Here are the highlights:

7 soup bowls I've never used in 8 years of marriage
22 utensils/kitchen tools
14 misc cups/sippy cups
3 cutting boards
4 place mats (family outnumbers them)
15 pantry items that I haven't used or won't use
3 shot glasses - never used
29 silly bands - who invented those things???
6 knives
58 garbage items

Grand total though - 227!!!

Here are a before and after of my utensil drawers (see just a little bit of organization makes a huge difference!) And a picture of my cutie who was 'helping' me.

Here's my slightly full crock of wooden spoons, and spatulas... seriously who needs that many? And my utensil holder.

No she's not going out with the garbage but she was 'helping'

Oh the dreaded plastics cupboard.... this one is my worst at keeping up with... normally I just open the door - throw stuff in and hope it stays shut!

All 227 items that are either being sold (yard sale), given away, or thrown away! Whew... I can't wait to start upstairs now!

Total tally of items: 286

Clutter-Busting Challenge by Money Saving Mom

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Clutter-Busting: Day 3, 4, 5

Today was a good day, I'll only claim  21 items for now as we still have a large amount of toys to go through this weekend and I'm pretty sure I might be able to knock off the entire next week on Monday. :)

I don't post on Saturday and Sundays normally so I combined those days with today's post.

The toys I threw away were mostly broken ones - wands that were bent, a lonely dress-up shoe that was missing it's mate, numerous 'happy meal' toys that no one ever plays with, an educational toy that really was just in the way, some play money that we spent more time looking for then playing with, some leftover dominoes from the last cleaning party we had missed, some baby toys that none of my three kids ever played with so why was I keeping them, and so on and so on.

It felt great doing that and I'm sure when we go through the large box that has been sitting in the mudroom for awhile now the number will be much large on Monday. WOOT!

Loving this clutter busting challenge.  What have you gotten rid of? Are you keeping track?

Total tally of items: 59

Clutter-Busting Challenge by Money Saving Mom