Frugal Challenge - Time to Stock Up on Condiments

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Part of saving money on groceries is stocking your pantry when prices are lowest. Now that I have been keeping track for a couple of years, this is the time to stock up on condiments. The week approaching Memorial Day is the time buy your condiments for the year. Even more than the fourth of July, I seem to find the best deals on all the things you need for barbecues and burgers, right now.

This year I am going to stock up for the whole year. Over the last year I have roughly kept track of how many bottles of this and that we use in a year, so I will hit the various good sales this week when I am out running errands. I have already begun as you can see. If you don't have the space to stock for the year, then how about for the summer. Combine the sales with coupons and you will pay half if not less than you will the rest of the year.

You can see our most favorite barbecue sauce ever and that is Sweet Baby Ray's. I swear my kids drink it. I will need roughly 20 bottles to last the year.

Linking to:
BNOTP

Teaching Girls About the Little Things

   When I was a teenager and getting ready to start shaving, my mom was old school about it. She handed me one of those scary razors, you know the ones with all the blades and no instruction on how to use it. I proceeded to shave off every bit of skin along the back of my ankle. I did not know to keep the leg stretched out. It bled for hours.

 

   Now that I have four daughters, I have taken a different approach. When a sensitive topic comes up and I need to teach them about how to deal with it, I just lay it all out for them. I use correct terms and give them as much info as is needed. I want them to feel comfortable coming to me with questions, and they know I am always here if they have concerns.

 

   Shaving is a big deal in our house. I allowed my girls to start shaving when they asked to. I did not see any need to hold them off if it was something that was starting to embarrass them. I would show them exactly how to hold the razor and to use shave cream if desired. Of course I made sure they knew to always hold their skin nice and taut so as to not make the mistake I did.

 

   There are always several cans of women's shave cream in the shower and numerous razors. My poor husband. We recently were able to try the Venus Embrace razor. Hands down my girls favorite. It has five blades for a close, comfortable shave and their favorite, the Ribbon of Moisture for a smooth glide and smooth legs.

 

   No one will shave without their favorite shave cream and we love the Satin Care Passionista  Fruit. It has a sparkling, fruity scent and my girls loved it. 

   

   With daughters aged 20, 17, 14  and three, there will be a lot of shaving and other beauty products in the shower for many years to come. Sorry hubby.

 

   Share a tip for tackling tough "firsts" conversations with your kids to be entered for a chance to win a $50 Visa gift card, courtesy of BlogHer and Venus!

 

Rules:

No duplicate comments. You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods: a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry. This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.

 

This sweepstakes runs from 5/21 - 6/30.

 

Be sure to visit the Venus Brand feature page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ reviews and find more chances to win!  If you have a first-time shaver in your home, you should check out some of these great tips from Venus Embrace!

Blogging Goals - Family Time

One of my personal goals for blogging is to pull the posts I do on family and then have them printed up. I am going to do occaisonal posts under family time that will make it easier for me to find the posts in the future. You are so welcome to see what we are up to over here but since we spend a lot of our time on our blogs it is nice to know we will have something we can save and remember from our work.

So here is some family time from yesterday.

When your grandparents buy you a princess dress you have to wear it at your birthday party.

It was from Costco so if you need one for the princess in your life that is where they bought it.

I want to show you how my sister in law takes such care to wrap her gifts. She is a perfectionist and I am always in awe as my gifts are of the basic wrapping.

A tissue paper flower.

Such cute colors she puts together.

The hair band for the gift inside was the bow on this box.

Here's the moist mouth watering chicken. Leftovers for dinner tonight.

Two worn out but happy parents. Two big parties in two weeks. We are so happy they went well but next weekend we can rest.

A little baseball in the front yard.

At her request, a Hello Kitty cake.

Butter cream frosting and candle light. What's more perfect than that?

What are your blogging goals? Please share.

Linking to:
Susie QT Pies

Our Favorite Dinner Salad

Almost every night of the week, we have a fresh green salad on our table. My hubby loves salad and sometimes I think it is the only fresh produce he finally eats in a day as his apple in his lunch seems to keep coming back every day. So if he loves salad, this wife is going to give him one.

Our favorite salad is made of fresh spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, cucumbers and feta cheese sprinkles.
Other items we love to toss in are sliced hard boiled egg and greek olives. Did you know spinach is easier to digest than lettuce and more nutrient rich. So next time try spinach. Even my youngest will eat this salad but gives me all of her mushrooms. Here is the recipe for my easy vinaigrette dressing.

Linking to:
Seasonal Sundays
By Your Hands
Twigg Studio

Update on Gardening Experiments

Time for an update on my garden experiments and my attempt to grow as much of our food in our small city  yard. 

Remember I was going to attempt to grow potatoes in a large pot. Here they are last month.

 Look at them now. They are huge. When the plants start to die back I will see what I have in there.

Remember the celery ends I planted. One died but another is doing fine. I have even started some by seed which is exciting as I have read it is hard to germinate.

There's those baby stalks now.

Now here is my continuing frustration, my grape vine. I planted it four years ago and I still have not seen any grapes or any sign of them. I have asked the nursery and they said it takes a few years but I am losing my patience with it. I WANT GRAPES.

See the little vine starting up in the pot? That is the sweet baby watermelon I am attempting to grow from a pot. It can ramble through the planter but the soil is poor here. I just mulched it with some home made compost. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Linking to:
Sunday Blog Love
Seasonal Sundays
BNOTP
The Morris Tribe
Fishtail Cottage

Busy Busy

I have so much on the docket for this month I don't even know what day it is. June isn't looking much less busy either. Saturday we celebrate Q's birthday. We gave her our gifts on her actual birthday but Saturday is for family and friends.

She was so thrilled to open her gifts. How special it is to see such joy. Just sitting around and enjoying her fun.

When we have her party on Saturday we will be cooking up a bunch of barbecued chicken.

Our recipe for moist bbq chicken is here. 

My third daughter said good bye to her little class of kids at Awana. She prepared a little gift for each of them. I love how she always makes it special with a little ribbon.

I am off to get the oil changed in the truck, and head to the store and order a birthday cake. Have a wonderful day!!

Adding Color to Any Area of Your Garden

We all have those problem areas in the garden where nothing will grow. Last year I shared how I added greenery and color to the side of my garage.

You can see that post here.

This year my challenge was a spot in my garden between trees that is impossible to grow anything in. Hard as a rock soil full of shallow roots. This year I decided it was going to be beautiful. My solution was lots of pots.

I gathered all sorts of unused pots and just filled the entire space. I included a very old beat up wagon.

I tucked some Swiss chard in there behind the flowers and have little pots of wheat grass planted for the chickens. That way when they visit this area they tend to leave my petunias alone.

I chose red petunias for all the pots so there would be a cohesive look to the eye.

It does require daily watering but I am out there every day filling the dogs water bowl and the hose is in this area so it gets a splash when I am doing the dog and chicken chores. The secret to pots that grow full and flower long is time release fertilizer mixed in with the soil when planting. I am an organic gardener for all my beds and veggies but for pots you cannot beat the time release granules.

Linking to:
Open House Party
Delightful Order
My Romantic Home
Frugal Friday
SNS 134

A Decision Made

 First off aren't these gorgeous? A gift from my oldest for Mother's day. I have to just say I have been wrestling with a decision in my life. Why as mother's do we question our instincts? I am a home schooling mom. I have been for all of my mothering life. It is what I believe in and make sacrifices for. Why then would I think because my youngest, who came ten years after my third child, would have to go to school because of her birth order? Why? I was letting others tell me she needed to have more time with this or that and blah blah. But you know what? That is crap. I am going with my own advice to always follow my instincts as a mother.

Q will be home schooled just like her sisters. Maybe not always and forever but for now. I have one daughter who will enter high school next year and she will be my only that has ever stepped foot in any sort of "structured" school. It will be on a semester by semester basis. She knows that if I see any negative changes in her that cannot be resolved, I will encourage her to come home. I have graduated two kids already, I know how to do high school. I want her to have a wonderful experience but how nice to know you have options.

Now I am not saying that my youngest doesn't need social interaction. That she does and gets now, but jeez did every farm girl or boy end up socially retarded because they lived a mostly isolated life. Of course mine won't be isolated as we attend church and Awana and home school groups and dance and the like. You get where I am going. I just needed to listen to that voice and know that the reason it wasn't feeling right before is because for us, it wasn't right. If at all you have the chance to home school, try it. You will be blessed with a wonderful life with your kids. I did it for eighteen years while working too, part time, but it can be done.

I in no way am putting down the other options of schooling out there. That is not my style. I feel we all have to choose our own path of parenting. But for me and my house, I had to make a decision for my youngest and feel at peace that once again the old books that had been boxed up and ready to pass on just weeks before I found out I was pregnant with her, will once again be opened and used and shared at the kitchen table.

Linking to:
Raising Homemakers

Black Bean Corn Salad

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On Mother's Day I made this dish early for our supper. It is a perfect summer salad. Healthy, crunchy and delicious.

Black Bean Corn Salad
Half a bag of frozen corn
One can of black beans drained and rinsed
Half a bunch of chopped cilantro
4 radishes chopped
One cucumber chopped
Some chopped fresh chives and parsley
Half green bell pepper chopped
Lemon or  lime juice and olive oil for dressing
salt and pepper
dash of cumin
Cumbled feta (optional)

Thaw frozen corn just a bit then dump all the ingredients in the bowl and mix. Juice of one lemon or two limes and drizzle with olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste. Make this early in the day so the flavors have time to really meld.

Ready for Summer?

I know summer is just around the corner when I wake up to bright sunshine streaming in the windows. Days already warm when I head out to let the chickens out.

Are you ready for summer? You know what? I am more ready this year than in years prior. My 14 year old has her last day of school this week so I am looking forward to the break for the summer. I have my lists of to do things with the extra free time and may not get too many of them but good intentions are there.

I am ready for picnics even if just in the yard. We have already bought our first box of Popsicles and every day my little one asks if it is hot enough for a one.

Time for sweet corn on the cob. This kid can eat three ears at a time and then I will give them to the chickens.

And time for camping. I hope we can squeeze more than one trip in but our summer is so busy this year. I just love taking our little trailer out and enjoying time away from all electronics with the kids actually unplugging and sitting around chatting and playing frisbee.

Meals outdoors just taste so good.

So what are your summer plans?

Linking to:
Met Monday
The House in the Roses
Lisa Leondard
A Stroll Thru Life
A Bowl Full of Lemons
BNOTP
SNS 134

Happy Mother's Day Wishes and Some New Finds

Went shopping yesterday with Shelly (who dearly needs a blog) and Patty of Lemon Lane Cottage. We went to a few antique shops and the Goodwill. Such fun with these gals. Shelly pointed out a thermos to add to my growing collection. It is the red one in the middle.

 Adding to my Pyrex collection. I have just started collecting to add to pieces I had from my mom.

These three are new. The top with yellow flowers is not Pyrex I don't think. No markings. The bottom one is and so is the cute blue fridgie with the rooster.

So cute and I love that these are practical items to collect. I use them all the time.

Here are two of my new juice glasses bought at the Goodwill. There is a third around here somewhere.

Oh, and the sweetest is this early Mother's day gift from my girls. I had been wanting this chalkboard from Country General Store in our downtown and they remembered. I was so thrilled when I opened it.

Happy Mother's day to all of you moms out there and those who are celebrating their mom. I never miss my own sweet wonderful mom more than on Mother's day. The day is so much easier to handle these days now that almost ten years have passed but boy the first few Mother's days were torture. I felt the reminder she was gone was everywhere you went. But thankfully time has healed that wound to where the day is enjoyable again and I look forward to not cooking dinner and being as lazy or spending as much time in the garden as I want. Of course spending it with my kids is the best part. They and their father are what shapes my world and the reason I wake up every day. So thankful to be in this little family of mine. Best wishes to you all. Enjoy!! And kiss your mom for me!!!

Linking to:
Seasonal Sundays

Evening Light

Timers are my best friend. All over our house I have lamps and little lights set on timers. Makes my life so much easier to have them click on in the evening and click themselves off at night. It also means our house looks lived in when we are not home and a light is on when we come home after dark.

Here are a few from around my house last night.

Linking to:
The House in the Roses
BNOTP

Garden News

Have you seen this lavender yet? It is called Baby Blue and it is so petite and sweet but the best part is that is has the best smell of any lavender I have ever owned. I usually plant it in the garden but this will go in a pot by the back door so we can smell it as we brush by it. It is so small in scale that it is perfect for a pot and lavender does not require as much water as other potted plants in our summer heat.

Transplanted some flowers from my pots last year in November. They were too woody for the pots so in fall I cut them way back and stuck in empty spots in the garden. The pink one below is taking off and blooming nicely. Don't throw all those plants away when you are done. Some may thrive in the garden with more space.

Remember the ONE coleus I bought last year? Well here it is. I took a cutting last fall and stuck in a pot and it is taking off now. I have already put cuttings in other pots. So these would be the children of the original right or the grandchildren. Talk about getting your money's worth.

In chicken news I had read that pumpkin seeds ( thanks to Fresh Eggs Daily) are a natural de-wormer for chickens and I had one small pumpkin still rolling around the yard from last fall. I cut it open and ground up the guts and seeds in the food processor and fed to the chickens.

They loved it and ate every bit and lots of the pumpkin too. I want to have my eggs be as healthy as can be for us so I don't want to have to use commercial wormer which is harsh and you cannot eat the eggs for a while afterwards. Yuck! So I read to give them pumpkins a few times a year as a preventative. Can't hurt anyways.

Barn Hop