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“Happiness resides not in possessions and not in gold; the feeling of happiness dwells in the soul.” - Democritus

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Name: Jen
Country: United States
State: Minnesota
Metro: St. Paul


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Member Since: 2/2/2001
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OSTARA'S WORLD


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Friday, June 26, 2009

Can you Believe Your Eyes????

Read all about it.....TOMMY'S ROOM IS CLEAN!!!   Since I was unexpectedly off of work yesterday, I put my afternoon to good use.  I shoveled out cleaned Tommy's room!   Two garbage bags of toys made there way to goodwill.  Four grocery bags of clothes given to a friend and two grocery bags to the garbage!!   These pictures are prrof that I *do clean his room!  I hope it stays this way for a while. 

tom's room

As you can see I am still not done with painting in Tommy's room.  I finished his pirate blanket for his bed and gave that to him for Christmas.  But the last mural on the wall has not been worked on in a while.  It is my plan to have it all done before school starts!!   The only other thing left is to sew some curtains 

  toms room 2

The shelves are still a bit messy, but they are better.  I need to go through the books and donate some more to the school library!

tom room 3

Trust me this is a vast improvement to what it was looking like.  You can now even open the closet without an avalanche.   Such small improvements make me happy!  I am trying to get things pretty clean around here before we leave on vacation.  I hate to come home to a messy house after a nice relaxing vacation!!!

Have a Great Day!!!


Thursday, June 25, 2009

Looking For A Good Book......

Nothing makes a book better than to receive it for free!!!  LOL!   I wanted to let you know I posted two book contests over on my Book Blog that I found on Booking Mama's book blog!   Stop by and enter to win.  Both books look like great beach reads.  There is no better way to spend a summer afternoon.

dairyqueen_gif  Looking For Salvation At the Dairy Queen by Susan Gregg Gilmore - details to enter this giveaway  can be found on my book blog, ReadinginWBL.com

  summeraffair

A Summer Affair by Elin Hilderbrand - details to enter to this giveaway can be found on my book blog, ReadinginWBL.com

Good Luck!!!


Sunday, June 21, 2009

Black Bean Salsa

1 can (16 oz.) black beans
1 can (12 oz.) shoepeg (white) corn
1/4 cup cilantro
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1 medium purple onion, chopped
3-4 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped (discard seeds for mild, leave seeds for hot)
1 T. canola oil
Juice of one large lime
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. garlic powder

Drain and rinse black beans and shoepeg corn. Place in a large mixing bowl. Add cilantro, green pepper, purple onion, tomatoes and jalapeno pepper. Blend well. Drizzle the canola oil and lime juice over the top of mixture. Add salt and garlic powder and mix well.

Cover and refrigerate for 2-3 hours. Serve with baked tortilla chips.


Grocery Shopping......

Well I didn't stay within my budget today very well.   Hubby and everyone have been complaining that there is no snack food in the house and I also bought pop.   But since I only buy pop once a month, my next shopping trip should be less.   Taking Tommy shopping with me sure didn't help out much either. 

Pop, Snack and few groceries at Walmart = 41.82 (scrip cards used)

Aldi - $94.40

Festival - $39.55 (scrip card used)

Total Spent = $175.77 or $87.88 per week for a family of 5

My goal is to stay within $80.00 per week for our grocery.  I genreally budget $100 a week and I use the extra for things I need during the week or if we happen to eat out once.  

We will be moving to a family of 6 full time starting in August.  I hope to keep the budget the same.  We will see how that goes.   Right now I am buying stuff for my BIL to make lunches to take to work. These are convenience foods I would not normally buy so that has increased our food expenditures. 


Menu Plan Monday - June 22nd

 WHAT WE ARE EATING THIS WEEK.....

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Menu Plan For
June 14th - July 2nd 

Thanks to Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday. Go and check out more great menus!   Menu planning will help you have more time with your family and enjoy your summer. 

Sunday, 21st - Grilled Honey Balsamic Chicken, Corn, Rice A Roni  (add to Website)

Monday - 22nd - Sloppy Joes (crockpot) chip and dip

Tues - 23rd - Lasagna Roll Ups/ Garlic Bread  (Add to Website)

Wed - 24th - Crockpot Cowboy Stew, Savory Mexican Cornbread ( not great)

Thurs - 25th - (book Group) Frozen Meal - Chicken Alfredo

Fri - 26th - Hamburgers, Curly Fries

Sat - 27th - Grilled Honey Mustard Pork Chops, Pasta Salad, Carrots. 

Sun - 28th - Two Sticky Chicken, Mashed Potato, Veggie 

Mon - 29th- Tater Tot Hot Dish

Tues - 30th - Chicken Parmesan Burgers,(double for my family) Fries, Veggie

Wed - July 1st - Frozen Meal - Spaghetti

Thursday - July 2nd - Teriyaki Chicken Over Rice (Crock Pot 4 to 5 hrs) *Taste of Home Simple & Delicious  July/August 2009 - pg 19

Friday - Leaving on Vacation!!!!  Vacation Menu plan to follow.  We rented a house so I will be making all our meals to save a bit of money.   I will be cooking for at least 8 of us each day, plus guests that stop by. 

Blessings !!



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