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Labels: Blog

...to check out my new post with great deals and freebies on my new site!

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Labels: Blog

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Meanwhile, enjoy this video in honor of my dad - engineer and cat lover.

Labels: Blog, Viral

We Are THAT Family is running a themed Works for Me Wednesday today - the Frugal Edition!

I thought I'd just do a link round up of past tips and tricks.

8 Ways to Save on Produce

Powdered Milk? Yuck!

Girl's Birthday Party for Under $40

How Much Do You Save By Baking Bread? In my case, almost $10 a week!

Holiday Travel with the Dollar Store

Save Money By Eliminating Invisible Clutter

Don't forget to check out my Food Stamp Challenge on my right sidebar! Feeding all 10 of us for less than $140 a week - $2 per person, per day!

Which article is YOUR favorite?

For more frugal posts, check out Works for Me Wednesday this week!

Labels: cooking, Frugal, Works For Me Wednesday

The CDC recommended schools close if a student tested positive for the H1N1 flu aka Swine Flu.

Schools closed. Interestingly, I don't know of a single for profit daycare that closed. And I reallly don't think that every infected student had a SAHM.

Not a single US citizen had died from the flu, and it appeared to be a relatively mild strain. The media switched sides and started trumpeting the 36,000 people die from regular flu every year talking point.

The CDC then clarified that the schools and daycares should close for TWO WEEKS.

The schools delayed their re-opening dates until the end of May.

A Texan died from H1N1.

The CDC changed their minds, and decided that schools shouldn't close, after all.

Schools are reopening tomorrow.

Does anyone in Washington (or Atlanta) have their act together?

Labels: health, In The News, Natural Disasters

I continued to spend a little more this week to stock up the pantry with a month's worth of basics. My weekly average this year is still well under $140 a week, though.


There was a glitch. I bought 2 gallons of milk, but 2 gallons of milk did not get unloaded from the car. So we'll either do without or I'll go back and get some more!

I spent: $173.05 (Monday, April 27- Sunday, May 3)
Weekly average so far: $122.00

I got:
2# bok choy, 4# white onions, 9# apples, 3 pears, 5# tomatoes, 1 head Romaine, 10# potatoes, 6 cucumbers, 6# bananas, 2.6# grapes, 7# frozen veggies, 6 avocados, 10 mangoes, 10 ears sweet corn

12 cans picante sauce, 6 cans Ranch beans, 4 cans corn, 5 cans refried beans (15 oz), 3 large cans peaches in syrup, 4# white rice, 24# white sugar, 4# brown sugar, 6 oz. ground cumin, can of iodized salt, half gallon apple cider vinegar, 3# dried garbanzo beans, 4# dried black eyed peas, 2 purse size bags of peanuts, 1 box Capri Sun breakfast juice (it's a new product, so I had a good coupon and it only cost 77 cents!)

20 qts. powdered milk, 2# butter, 6 dozen eggs, 4 gallons of milk (but had to toss 2 gallons!), 16 oz. Mexican blend cheese.

100 corn tortillas, 2 loaves whole wheat bread (24 oz. each), 4 boxes Frosted Mini Wheats.

4# pork butt roast, 6# pork chops, 2 chickens, 6 packages hot dogs, 12 oz. chorizo, 9# boneless beef steak.

We're eating: (UPDATED 5/7/09 to reflect some changes. Husband dear is doing most of the cooking, as I had to go to the hospital for contractions and now I'm on meds that make it difficult to do much of anything, especially at the end of the day.)
Sunday: oatmeal, bananas
sandwiches, apples
fajitas, refried beans, corn on the cob

Monday: Mini Wheats, apples
curried chickpeas w/ chard over rice
Beef and Bok Choy Lo Mein, fried rice w/ green onions and eggs

Tuesday: oatmeal, mangoes
leftover fried rice and lo mein
Burrito bowls

Wednesday: oatmeal, bananas
leftover beans, tortillas, and pico
Grilled steak, hot dogs, veggies

Thursday: scrambled eggs, toast, fruit
sandwiches, frozen green beans (yeah, we eat 'em frozen. They're green little popsicles!)
Crockpot pork roast w/roasted root veggies (potatoes

Friday: oatmeal, apples
taco beans and rice
vegetarian tamale pie (I'll try anything once)

Saturday: pancakes or eggs
leftovers from week
pizza (whole wheat crust topped with olive oil, cheese, and tomatoes)
Kids ate all the tomatoes and husband was pretty liberal with the cheese this week.
Pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw.

When we do "Burrito Bowls", I pretty much copy cat Qdoba or Chipotle. I lay it out "bar style" and everyone can customize their bowl or burrito. I make a pot of black beans and onions, some rice w/ lime juice and cilantro (add chopped cilantro after cooking the rice!), diced tomatoes, pico de gallo (jalapenos, onions, and tomatoes), cheese, avocado slices or guacamole, sour cream (well, if it was on sale), and corn. This week I might add mango salsa for kicks.

Labels: cooking, Food Stamp Challenge, menu

I've got a bloggy secret! Find out next week!

I really like my OB. At this week's appointment, he had some extra time (most patients cancelled due to flooding) and we got to talking. We had an hour long conversation about the causes of skyrocketing STD's in the teen population, air quality on airplanes, Christian witness in a professional setting, and more. It was so much nicer than when Mr X was born - that OB practice had 8 docs and 4 midwives, and it seemed I never saw the same person twice until I had complications and "my" doctor started seeing me consistently. But when X was born, the assisting midwife was someone I had never even met.

Some friends of mine sent me a virtual baby shower. Now I'm in the market for a sling. I have one with rings, but I've never really LOVED it. Are the mei tei/Asian style wraps really as good as they say? The Maya wrap? I want to not drop the baby, nurse, and not get a backache. The sling with rings went over one shoulder and the weight wasn't distributed evenly. I also felt like I needed to keep a hand on the baby because he just didn't feel secure. But front carriers/snuglis aren't really nursing friendly. Recommendations, please!

Speaking of baby slings, Consumer Reports recommends against them. 4 babies have been hurt in the last FIVE years from falling out of them. They recommend using a stroller or infant carrier. The Common Room has some good points about Consumer Reports bias - and some mothers do actually want to touch their babies! Besides, a stroller's not exactly nursing friendly.

Wonder when they are going to recommend against parents using their arms to carry infants? I'm sure babies have been dropped at least once per year.

I found a new site with great activities for littles! Preschool Post offers lessons, printables, and and activities based around a theme (current theme is Spiders). I don't think 3 and 4 year olds need to sit at the school table and do worksheets all day, but it's nice to have something "schoolish" for them to do when they want to join their siblings in the classroom. I'm planning to print out some of the sequencing cards, and the Spider theme has lacing cards for littles to make their own spider web.

More thoughts about the swine flu. I'm not as worried about the swine flu decimating our population; so far, it seems to be about equal or even milder than the common flu.

I'm more worried about how people will react to the sickness. The National Guard has been called out in Wisconsin, there's talk floatiing around about mass vaccinations (of a vaccine that hasn't even been created yet), and states are declaring emergencies (possibly to get funding.) I applaud the aggressive, proactive approach to preventing the spread of the illness (although why do we need the National Guard, but don't need to close the border?).

However, "proactive" can easily cross over into mass hysteria, and that's why I stocked up on children's ibuprofen and other things. If people go nuts, I'm not going to want to go to the store (if it's open). Mexico has shut down government offices, schools, restaurants, and public gathering places. The same happened during last year's hurricane. There was rationing at the grocery store! Are you prepared for that?


I've got a bloggy secret! Oops, I already told you that!

Labels: 7 Quick Takes, education, Freebies, In The News, preparedness