Saving Money in 2009 at Home

In an effort to cut expenses in 2009, one of the things I have been doing is trying to use what I already have first.  This seems like such an obvious step, but a more daunting task than one would think.

My pantry is full of random food.  I don’t know how it got that way, but there it stands mocking me.

How am I going to make dinner out of a 1/2 bag of mini-marshmallows,  a can of corn and a bag of some sort of fancy pasta that I can’t pronounce or spell?

It is going to take some planning, but I am going to tackle that pantry and one by one use it’s random ingredients to create fabulous meals for my family.

OK, I would settle for meals and skip the fabulous.

I am going to have to make some additional ingredient purchases to put this plan into action, but this time I am buying only what I need to get the job done.

I found this article “Bargain Blogs Help Save Cash” through Twitter today.

I like that many of the linked blogs have local DFW origins.

One good local bargain blog that is missing from the article list is Kingdom First.

How are you saving money in 2009?

Do you have a favorite bargain blog?

New Program Takes Argyle Texas School Worldwide

Liberty Christian School started in 1980 in one room of a church. They now have a large, beautiful campus in Argyle that hosts 1200 students. Starting this fall an online program for 7th through 12th grades will take this local school worldwide.

Liberty Christian School has partnered with Point of View Ministries to extend a Liberty education to anyone, anywhere with a computer. This type of program has become very popular among college students and the trend is growing at the high school level.

Liberty Christian School will provide 7th – 12th grade online studies from a Christian Worldview curriculum. The tuition for the program is $6000. This is not a home school program. The students enrolled in Liberty’s online school will be taught by Liberty teachers. There are online groups and clubs. Through specialized conferencing software the online students will interact with each other and their teachers through video, instant messaging and chat groups. The students at home even see what the teacher writes on the white board.

More information and a “campus tour” of the Liberty Christian Online School can be found on Liberty Christian School’s website.

Snow Day. Repeat. Snow Day. Again.

It is the two words that have North Texas children dancing in their pjs while thier frazzled parents try to come up with a plan…snow day.

Yes, it is day two of the big Texas snow storm…ummm.

Well, to be more accurate it is day two of a bit of bad road conditions.

I grew up in Michigan, Nebraska, Washington, Pennsylvania.  These states don’t mess around when it comes to snow…or bad weather conditions.  I remember one day when I was a Michigan Kindergartener, it took my dad 45 minutes in the new 3 FEET of snow to get me the 5 miles to school.  We made it.  We are tough.  School didn’t close for 3 measly FEET of snow.

And then there was that time I had to walk back from school in a blizzard with my sister in our long skirts and bonnet almost getting lost on the Kansas prairie.  Oh, that wasn’t me, that might have been Laura Ingalls…

So here I am complaining about day two of the North Texas school closure.  I need to toughen up.

I am complaining about them being wimpy…

while exposing my own fear of entertaining a house full of children for another day.

Where has my prairie spirit gone?

Alright, I am taking charge!

A plan:

1.  Making cookies or muffins or whatever can be wrestled out of my pantry.

2.  Wii fit olympics should keep us busy for several hours.

3.  Get bundled up and enjoy the “snow”.

4.  Naps and a movie.

5.  A good book in front of the fire.

Throw in a meal or two and a few snacks and I say we have a plan.

What are you doing today?

She’s Losing It: Completion of Week 2

I have been too busy to post on my journey this past week!  Which is a good thing, I think.

I completed Week 2 – Yesterday, January 26th!  And, I survived.

Here is a quick rundown of my week:

Monday:  I actually got forced motivated enough by my husband to get up and go to the gym (on a holiday)!  I did about 20 minutes of walking/jogging on the treadmill and half an hour of different weight training.  I also had an appointment with Dr. Taylor

who is working on my back.  I have lived with aches and pains in my neck and lower back/hips.  He is working with me which is making a WORLD of difference as I start this training program.

Tuesday: No Work Out.  I spoke at the Tour 18 Women’s Club meeting – and did NOT eat as terribly as I really wanted to.  My good friend, Shelby, catered in Salerno’s & if you are local, you know how difficult it was for me to resist just sitting there and STUFFING my face for hours.

Wednesday: Work Out with Laci at 9am. Appointment with Dr. Taylor at 10am.  Did my first session in an Infrared Sauna at ProActiveWorX-  it rocks!  I will be giving you more details on it later because I think it is going to make a difference in my weightloss.

Thursday: No Work Out.  Thursday was not that great of a day for me.  I was pretty overwhelmed with work, kids, and life.  It is really tough to eat right when you are stressed!  I just wanted to drive through Sonic and scarf down my stress.  So, I did. Sorry Laci!

Friday: Work Out with Laci at 9am.  We mixed it up and did a boot camp style workout on Friday morning. We even ran around outside for a while.  My body had a bit of a culture shock with that!  I did another session in the Infrared Sauna.  (Sauna rhymes with Shauna, you know.)

As of Friday, my weight was down from 160lbs to 155lbs.  5 POUNDS, BABY!  Yay!

Stay tuned for a video blog later this week!

1st Annual Burbmom.net GREEK WEEK – Winner!

Update: THIS CONTEST HAS A WINNER! It is the local mom who writes My So Called Life. We are making arrangements for the snack exchange…

We are thrilled to announce the 1st Annual Burbmom.net GREEK WEEK!

What is better than re-living your sorority days or creating them for the first time as a grown woman? I can’t think of much…or maybe I can…

We are so excited to see Burbmom.net growing in leaps and bounds. And we would love to reward you for recruiting inviting your friends to participate with a BOX FULL OF SNACKS!

Little Debbie is graciously offering this wonderful prize to the Burbmom who recruits the most local friends to join Burbmom.net during GREEK WEEK (January 19-January 26).

Get on your pledge pins and start scouring the ‘burb for our newest members of BM…ok, so we may not be using our initials in this sorority.

Recruits will be counted through our NING Social Networking site…www.burbmom.ning.com – Make sure your friends list you as their Recruiter!

Winner will be announced on January 26th, 2009!

LookyBook: Bibliovores Beware!

Thanks to my friend Chandra, I found the greatest website called LookyBook and it is soon to become a favorite site of yours, I’m sure!

LookyBook allows you to click your way through children’s books with great detail. Enough to read the book yourself & see if it’s worth buying. Enough to even share with your child online & not have to buy the book! If you click on the little orange eyes at the top right corner of each book, it will take you to the LookyBook website to see a larger version of the story!

What a fantastic resource to have on hand! Granted, they don’t have some children’s titles. My first two searches for Where The Wild Things Are and Shel Silverstein came up empty.

BUT…there are tons of ideas they offer you, as well as a nifty search box that turned up great books when I searched for “insects” and “family.”

I looooove Patricia Pollaco!

Abraham Lincoln’s birthday is coming up on February 12th. No luck finding a book at the library…everyone already checked them out? No worries! Check LookyBook…

Working on a seed study, but not sure if a Gail Gibbons book is too young for your kiddo? Flip through it, give it a look…see if it’s a good fit!

I am so excited about this website! What a wonderful resource…thank you Chandra for sharing it!

When Heather isn’t snuggling on the couch reading books with her son, she can be found sharing homeschool stories at Reese’s View Of The World.

For the Love of Peanut Butter

If it were not for the peanut, my two youngest children would be withering away. Peanut butter is my family’s lifeblood. Ewww…I am not sure peanut butter and blood should be mentioned in the same sentence.

Reid (5) is a pb&j man. He has one for every breakfast. Sometimes he asks for an additional one. Sometimes he has a side of breakfast cereal. Every once in awhile he mixes it up and has peanut butter and honey. He would then have pb&j for lunch and dinner, but I have a one pb&j-based-meal per day rule.

Rhett (2 1/2) is more of a peanut butter renaissance man. There are no rules when it comes to peanut butter. If a little is good, a lot is better. If something tastes good. If you dip it in peanut butter it will be much better.

Lately Rhett has become a picky eater. He requests “cinnamon bread with raisins, toasted, with peanut butter and raisins on top” for every meal. He is also a fan of the raisin. My one cinnamon-bread-with-raisins-toasted-with-peanut-butter-and-raisins-on-top-based-meal per day rule really cramps his style.

A few nights ago I had the audacity to make the boys grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. You would have thought I was requesting Rhett to ingest dirt. I suggested dipping the sandwich in ketchup. That wasn’t good enough.

Then I remembered my favorite lunch at a little restaurant in Vail. It is a 3 cheese grilled cheese sandwich with microgreens and a side of cherry chutney. HEAVEN. The cheeses are creamy and white, almost brie-like and it tastes amazing dipped in the cherries.

Let’s try dipping your grilled cheese in jam!

Then I want peanut butter!

And that is how Rhett dipped his grilled cheese in peanut butter and jelly.

And that is how Rhett dipped his chicken nuggets the next day in peanut butter and jelly.

And that is how everything I serve the boy from this day forth shall be dipped in peanut butter and jelly.

Spaghetti and meatballs anyone?

When Holly isn’t trying to coerce normal food into her three boys, she is exploiting their excapades on her blog, June Cleaver Nirvana.

Cool Burb Find!

Living the Vida Lola – Part Three

It was great fun to meet Misa Ramirez at the Barnes and Noble at the Shops of  Highland Village for coffee.

How did this happen?

How does one write a book in the midst of marriage, career and 1, 2, 3, 4, yep…5 kids?

*Holly shakes her head just thinking about the exhaustion*

Misa and her husband grew up and lived (until their recent move to Argyle) in California.  She majored in English in college and spent her career teaching.  She and her husband started a family.  And more babies came.  In the midst of her very busy life she started writing.  At first it was children’s books.  She had some early success with the publishing of The Flight of the Sunflower, but then found that the children’s book market to be cut-throat and saturated.  She continued writing for awhile…and then got tired.

Later one of her girlfriends suggested that they start meeting weekly at a local coffee shop to write together.  It sounded like a good excuse for adult conversation and writing time.  They used prompt exercises to facilitate creative writing.  At first, Misa continued to write in the direction of stories for children.  She soon became frustrated and realized that she didn’t want to write for children.

One night she just wrote.  Wrote about what was on her mind.  Wrote about adult subjects.  Wrote about sex.

*gasp*

And the character Lola was born.  Over the next few months each week she continued the writing prompt exercises with her dear girlfriend in a local coffee shop writing about Lola.  The writing about Lola Cruz lead to the writing about Jack Callaghan which lead to a mystery which lead to a romance which lead to a book.

It wasn’t all that simple.  She went through 3 agents and 5 years, but she is now here.

Here is a pretty good place.  Her novel Living the Vida Lola is being released today.  The reviews have been good.  The book signings scheduled.

And that is not all.  The story of Lola Cruz is a series.  She has already completed the second book, she is working on the third book and has ideas for the fourth.

Misa, her husband and 5 children moved to Texas this summer for a lifestyle change.  Misa wanted the ability to quit her day job to concentrate on her writing.  They wanted a home where each of the kids could have their own room.  They wanted to take a deep breath and spread out.  There have been a lot of adjustments, but as her husband says, “it was a God thing”.

Misa’s local book signings:

• Feb. 6, 6:00-7:30 at The Barnes and Noble, Denton.  This is the official book release and signing party.
• Feb. 21, 2:00-4:00 at The Barnes and Noble, Shops of Highland Village.
• other signings in the DFW listed here.

You can sign up for Misa’s email newsletter by emailing her a request:  misa@misaramirez.com.

You can join the Misa fan club in the burbmom social network!

Now GO!  Go get her book…

She’s Losing It: Week 1

I have completed my first week of training and transformation!

I want to note a few significant changes this week: both in my habits and my health.

1.  I have starting eating something every few hours.  I stocked up on protein bars, water, fruit & veggies, skim milk, yogurt & berries, protein enriched granola & so on.  I will eat about every 3 hours.  It makes a big difference in how I feel all day.  I have more energy.  I don’t get grouchy when I am feeling starved – because I just dont get to that point.  Which also means that I don’t make terrible food choices when I am hungry.  This has always been a big problem for me.  Very hungry=Big Mac.  Very Hungry=Taco Bueno Muchacos.  Etc, etc.

2.  I had a visit with Dr. Ozzi earlier this week and there were a number of things discussed – you can see a short clip of the visit here (check out those arms with the blood pressure cuff…I will have to get this video done again when the arms get back in shape!):

The main thing that we discovered in my visit was that I may have a physical adversity and/or an allergy to Wheat and/or Gluten.  Not cool.  I love gluten.    But, I am trying to get healthy so I am cutting it out as much as possible.  I am already seeing RESULTS from this!  It is crazy!  I have had Excema on my hand for YEARS.  It has cleared up significantly this week!  Skin allergies can be associated with Gluten allergies.

3. I feel better and have more energy this week. I have been sore from my workouts on Monday & Friday but this is to be expected.

4. I have not seen any physical changes yet but I am sure we will see them soon!

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