Sweet Kisses

 

I don’t do this often, but I’m inspired today!

Over at I Heart Faces today, the assignment is KISSES.  The kissing theme is in honor of Valentine’s Day.  Oh yeah, I guess there is a Halmark Holiday coming up!  (we’ll be going to a Blue Jackets hockey game thanks to my friend Beth!)

Anyway, here is the photo collage that came to mind when I saw the topic today.  It’s quite possibly my favorite collage I’ve made of Jack so far.  I didn’t do any touching up to the photos, so I’m sure it could look better, but the joy comes through loud and clear.

Becoming Thrifty

Since I’ve become a SAHM, and since we’ve gone from two really good incomes to one pretty good income, I’ve done a lot of things to try and save our family money.  It’s been a ‘baby-steps’ process for me, but it’s coming along, if I do say so myself.  I was inspired by this post by a woman who’s blog I’ve read for a year or so now.  She listed how her grocery list has become shorter (and therefore cheaper) because of all the food she’s making from scratch now.   Here are just a few things that I do to save us money.

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  We use cloth diapers.  I LOVE them, and I could go on and on about how adorable, easy, and practical they are,  but I’ll spare you my spiel.  After just a year, we’ve already saved money on diapers. 
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  I am starting to make my own bread now.  I have gone through spurts of making bread, but they never seem to last.  I usually get discouraged, because we eat the bread so quickly, that I end up making bread every other day. It seems the time I save from having to make it every other day is worth the cost of the healthy bread from the store.  But really it isn’t.  Bread without high fructose corn syrup is expensive!  Organic anything is expensive!  So, if I make it myself, we get the healthy bread for a fraction of the cost.  Hopefully I’ll stick with it this time.
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  I’ve finally figured out how to make yummy garlic bread on my own.  It may be a no-brainer, but it took me a bit of experimenting to figure it out.  I add a couple cloves of minced garlic and some Italian seasoning to melted butter, brush it on my bread, then broil it until toasted.  SO SIMPLE!  But I couldn’t get it figured out for a long time.  Garlic powder just doesn’t work the same.  I imagine it would be even better if I roasted my garlic, but who has the time for that?
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  My newest adventure is making my own pasta.  I’m not there yet.  I have only tried it once, and it needs some work.  But I can tell that this could become a good thing for us.  It’s fun to make it, super fast and easy, and I’m hoping worth the effort.  We’ll see.  I may have to get back to you on this one.
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  Rick has always made his own cocoa mix.  He uses cocoa powder and sugar.  Imagine that.  It really is simple, and he makes it by the glass, so I don’t have to worry about storing it.  It’s a small thing, but in the winter time, it saves us a bit of change.
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  I make my own pancake mix.  I’ve found a yummy Buttermilk Pancake recipe mix that I love.  I suppose it’s not all that healthy, but it’s homemade, so it saves us money.  I should make a whole wheat recipe, but that’s going to take a little time.  Saving money is my first priority, then eating healthy is the second. (at least when it comes to yummy pancakes!)
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  One big thing I try to do is not eat out at all.  Dinners are easy enough for me.  I meal plan and have a good dinner every night.  But lunches are another thing.  Jack and I go out almost every day, and it’s such a temptation for me to stop at a drive thru and get something quick to eat.  I take it one month at a time.  I don’t stop for anything for a month, reward myself with a fast food lunch, then do it again for another month.  I know, it’s a little corny, but it works for me.

This list seems simple enough, but I think it’s helping us in the long run.  Rick said we came in under budget for the month of January!  Now, I could go through another list, just as long of how I’m NOT saving us money –like every time I return something to Walmart I spend even more money on other things.  But let’s not focus on the negative, and stay proud of the positive. We may switch to cloth napkins someday and even stop (or cut WAY back on) using paper towels.  That’d save us money, right?

What else can I do to save us money?  Any suggestions?

If you read this entire post, you should be rewarded…so here are two pictures from Jack playing (really he just stood there) in the snow yesterday. 

Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs...

So, have I told you recently that I have the smartest 12 and a half month old on the block?  Yes, it's true! Okay, so I'm his mom, and I would say that even if he couldn't point to his piggies, belly, hands, nose and tongue.  I would even say that if he couldn't make the sounds of a duck, dog, cow, sheep, elephant and lion.  But I have to be honest with you.  He is impressing me!

When he was just starting solid food at around 6 months, I was determined to teach him sign language.  I started with 'more'.  That's all I worked on for weeks and weeks.  Then, I slowly added in 'all done'.  I just knew he would be signing 'more' in less than a month.  When 8, 9, 10 and 11 months rolled around, and he hadn't shown any signs of improvement, I decided it wasn't worth it.  Every once in a while I would sign 'more', and pretty regularly I would sign 'all done', but I basically gave up on my son ever learning sign language.  I wasn't consistent, so I figured he would never catch on.

BUT I WAS WRONG!

Just the other morning, during lunch, he did the 'more' sign.  I looked shocked and squealed a little.  He ended up laughing, because I reacted so much.  I gave him more banana, and he was happy! I kept asking him if he wanted more - signing it- and he kept doing it back to me.  I'm not sure if he really wanted more after a while, but every time he did the sign, I would give him more. He even did 'more' and then pointed to the cupboard where I keep the Cheerios!  I was amazed!

Needless to say, every chance I get, I'm teaching him more signs.  He has signed all done, more, milk, eat, and vegetable.  He may not remember them all tomorrow, but we'll keep practicing them every chance we get.  I'm so proud of my little Boozle!!!!

 

More

All done

Eat

(with two hands, because he started to do 'more' but then fixed it to 'eat')

Milk

I Won!!

If you know me at all, you know I love to read blogs.  I love to see what is going on in other women's lives, and see how other moms survive.  Every once in a while I come across a giveaway or two that look like something I'd want to win.  In the few short months I've been blogging and reading others' blogs, I have entered my fair share of giveaways.  I've won three things!  I won a CD - that probably won't get a ton of playing time in my CD player, but is interesting to say the least- a onsie that has a picture of a pirate on it and says "AAARRRGG!  Surrender Yer Booby!" - that I have YET to receive, and it's making me really sad, because I ordered it in the size Jack was just going into, but he has since grown out of - and a hand painted sign that says "FAITH"- which is the reason for this post!!  *deep breath - that was a LOOOOOONG sentence!!

One of my first non-friend/non-family readers Mandy from Mommy Musings,  just had her one year 'bloggaversary' and decided to do a giveaway to celebrate.  She has been a regular commenter on here, her little girl is only a few months older than Jack, and she has given me two awards (one of which I have yet to post about - maybe I'll get to it this month).  She hand painted some signs that say WELCOME, PRINCESS, FAITH, and COUNTRY.  I won FAITH!  How exciting!!  (so glad I didn't win Princess. Hehehe)


I just thought I'd say thank you to Mandy, and introduce her to any of you who like to find new blogs to read.  Her little girl is SO STINKIN' CUTE!  Her pigtails will make you giggle out loud!

So, thank you, Mandy, and I hope you have many more years to celebrate! Who knows, maybe one day you'll be as big as The Pioneer Woman!