Ten on Tuesday

{1}

We hit 70 degrees today;
a sandbox worthy day for sure.

{2}

This is my latest project, and it is a doozie!

{3}
I saw Titanic twice when it first came out in the theater (fifteen years ago?! Has it really been that long?), and I've seen it countless times since.

Still, I would love the opportunity to see it on the big screen again.

That first full shot of the ship is positively mesmerizing!




{4}

"And the walls came tumbling down!"

In order to pour our backyard patio the steps off our back door must go.

Drill, baby, drill!

{5}

I think we have effectively alienated our new neighbors with the jackhammer racket on Saturday morning and again this afternoon.

But seriously, is there ever a good time to listen to a jackhammer?

I think not.

{6}

Don't judge me.

I downloaded an all Britney Spears running mix from Rock My Run this week.

Between Britney and Hair Guitar I may not be rockin' to the hippest tunes, but they have helped me log 37.4 miles in 2012 already.

I'm working up to three five-mile runs per week.

{7}
What did we do before iPods?



{8}
Speaking of healthy living, this Green Monster Spinach Smoothie is a delicious post-workout treat. Its a great dose of protein and greens, and just one lasts me until lunch - even after I give Kendry half a cup to enjoy for himself.


I'm tempted to do my evil mother laugh every time he slurps it down.
 "That's right....eat your spinach, my precious!"

{9}

My ever-growing reading list and the Kindle lending library might just be the death of me. I'm a few chapters into five different books right now.


I might have ADHD.

{10}

This Week's Blessing:

Remembering Palm Sunday and hearing a great message on the story of Lazarus.

I leave you with this video our church played on Sunday:

Becoming a Money Saving Mom

As a Money Saving Mom reader, I was delighted to be selected to review Crystal Paine's new book, The Money Saving Mom's Budget, on audiobook.



The first thing I loved is that the book is read aloud by Crystal herself. I think this allows the listener to get a better glimpse of Crystal's personality. Honestly, its what I have seen of Crystal's personality on her blog that drew me to this book in the first place. The 'budget' theme of the book wasn't a huge pull for me because the hubs and I have figured out our budget pretty well. That being said, I didn't doubt that Crystal would have some great advice that I could still apply in my own life and home.

Crystal covers topics like constructing a budget spreadsheet, beginning couponing, menu planning, simplistic living, organizing, and executing a successful yard sale. While she doesn't dive super deep into each of these topics, I feel like she provided sufficient information to spark my motivation and pursue some of these money-saving options on my own.  And I feel like that was truly Crystal's intent in writing this book - to help readers identify some of the day to day ways they can save money, in addition to following a budget.

I was excited to find that some of Crystal's money-saving tips were things our family is already putting into practice; but listening to her book also inspired me to tackle a few more arenas, like making our own homemade bread, constructing a time budget for myself (for the first time in 10 years I just bought a day planner), and making a habit of regularly purging each room of our house to minimize clutter.

I particularly love Crystal's attitude toward simple living and being content. This is a theme that resonates throughout her entire book. If you have clutter in your house that you aren't using, give it to someone who can use it. Check out movies and books from your local library instead of buying them. If you find yourself stressing at 4pm each day what you're going to make for dinner, plan ahead! Set aside time each week to plan your menu and buy the necessary groceries. These are just a few of the simple tips Crystal highlights.

I think everyone can glean something from this book.

If you have never visited Crystal's blog, you can check it out HERE.

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Are you looking for ways to be more frugal in your day to day life?

Here are some actions our family has taken to cut unnecessary costs:

1. We ditched our DirecTV subscription a few months ago when our contract expired. We get only a few basic channels now, but can watch most of our favorite shows online. Not only is this saving us cash but we also have the TV on less. This does mean that the hubs misses a few of his favorite sports aired primarily on the 'luxury' channels, but we make do. For instance, he paid $4 to watch March Madness online.

2. We haven't had a cell phone plan for years. We ditched our individual cell phones and overpriced plan back in 2007 and replaced them with a single pay-as-you-go phone. We pay about $26 every 2-3 months to recharge it and try to only use it for emergencies or on trips. We use our landline through Vonage for the majority of our calls.

3. We monitor our thermostat. The hubs has our programmable thermostat set to drop a few degrees during the day while we're at work; it heats up again around the time we get home. He also has it set to drop a few degrees at night. Those few degrees can add up to a big difference on your utility bill.

4. I make my own liquid laundry detergent. In the last six months we have spent a mere $10 on the necessary ingredients to make liquid detergent. Each batch makes two gallons of detergent. I anticipate that $10 worth of ingredients will produce 8-10 gallons of detergent before I need to restock. (This isn't for everyone - I have a friend who tried it recently but her sensitive skin didn't like the detergent. For us, however, it has been a fun and easy way to save a few bucks.)

5. We cut the boys' hair at home. To be fair, Justin has pointed out this savings for a few years now, and I admit that it wasn't until a few months ago it finally occurred to me we were saving at least $20 each month by doing home haircuts. Thats over a quarter tank of gas in savings each month!

6. We menu plan and take our lunch to work. We usually plan a monthly menu and do one primary shopping trip, with a small trip two weeks later to replenish our perishables like dairy products and produce. Since both Justin and I work full-time, it relieves a lot of stress knowing ahead of time what we're eating and when. I have found that we eat much healthier when we menu plan; not only do we have vegetables planned with each meal, but if dinner is already in the crockpot at home we are less apt to go out to eat or pick up a pizza. Then we take the leftovers for lunch.

Put these all together and they add up to some great savings! 

What fun ways have you found to save some cash?

Linking up here:

Ten on Tuesday

{1}

Augh! It feels like I am only posting Ten on Tuesdays anymore.

I have got to come up with some new material.

{2}

Our family is jumping onto the 'make your own bread' bandwagon. We have had a bread machine our entire marriage (thanks, Momma B!) but rarely use it. After listening to Money Saving Mom's new book this month, and discovering that my older sister makes her own bread as well, I was feeling inspired. So we made this beauty:

It was unbelievably delicious, and I can tell you exactly what went into the loaf - a big plus in this day and age, wouldn't you agree?

This inspired Justin to make his own sourdough starter for some sourdough bread, his loaf of choice. I'm trying not to give him a hard time for using up the rest of our yeast in the process.

If you are interested in giving homemade bread a try, here are a few links to help get you started:

Homemade Bread for Beginners

Create a Great Loaf in 5 Minutes a Day

{3}

I went to The Hunger Games with my mother-in-law, sister-in-law and nana-in-law on Saturday. It has been a long time since I've seen a movie that did the book some justice.

It has also been a long time since I've watched a movie a mere five rows from the screen.

Totally worth it though.

{4}

The date for the official 3rd birthday party has been set.

Bring on the party planning!

{5}

And bring on the concrete while we're at it.

We're working on getting our concrete patio poured before the party.

Yahoooooo!

{6}

This weekend we made our Easter garden...times two since we plan to bless someone by giving one away closer to Easter.

No sooner did we drop the grass seed on it than we realized our only spray bottle was broken. Doh! We have sinced picked up a replacement at the $1 store, but our grass seed went without proper watering for the first 48 hours.

Here's hoping we used super resilient grass seed.

{7}

If our kiddo looks a little drugged in the photo above,
thats because he is.

Not only was he running a bit of a temperature tonight, but he crashed and burned on the asphalt during a sprinting lesson with mommy and really gauged his knee. If you look closely you can see the giant band-aid on his right leg.

{8}
Parenting Milestone #244:

Sanitizing and bandaging your kiddo's bleeding boo-boo while he sobs crocodile tears, screams "Don't touch it, Mommy!" between his crying hiccups, and flails his body to keep you away.



{9}
I ♥ my Kindle Fire, and I am totally hooked on Words With Friends.
My username is jojo8082 if you want to play me.

{10}

This Week's Blessing:

A gorgeous Sunday.
We have been swamped with rain lately, so every little ray of sunshine deserves a celebration.


 

Hello, Spring!

Yesterday evening we had a brief hiatus from the rain.

Happiness is:

a little boy getting dirty.

 



Ten on Tuesday

{1}

Spring is here,

and the yard sale season has begun!

My first purchase of 2012:

{2}

Thanks for the encouragement on my 10k last weekend.

The last two miles were a little rough but I managed to stay under a 9 minute mile pace.

Then I went straight home and took a nap.

{3}
Anyone have a grocery shopping app they recommend?
I'm looking at Mighty Grocery right now, but I am open to suggestions.

{4}
I have granny smith apples with a touch of cinnamon dehydrating as I type this.
The aroma is heavenly.



{5}

We Justin got a new saw.

And yes, I am itchin' to get my hot little hands on it.

Apparently I'm not the only one.

Don't worry, we didn't really let Kendry operate it; we just thought it made a cute picture.

{6}

My Weekend Creativity:

a jewelry organizer!

This was my first time working with chicken wire. I followed fellow bloggers' advice and used leather gloves while snipping it down to size and stapling it into my frame. This precaution paid off - I came away with only one scratch.

This organizer was made entirely with supplies I had on hand:

old wooden frame

chicken wire

spray paint

metal hooks


Do you have any fun projects in the works?



{7}
Ain't this the truth!


Facebook



{8}
Somehow I got signed up for a subscription to SKI magazine.

The last time I went skiing was in 2002.



{9}
My baby turns 3 in less than 2 months.






{10}
This Week's Blessing:
Renewing my membership at the gym.
Gosh I have missed lifting weights.