Mom I'm Bored!

Kids wait all year long to scream out in the halls "Schools Out!" but two days after their home they're whining "I'm bored!" while flicking their brother/sister endlessly! So what to do with them? Well Abbi at Proverbs 31 Living has a great article that you can read: School is out! ~ What to do now!

Go read the article and let me know if you have any more ideas! My stepkids may stay with me for part of the summer, especially since Tim is gone and I have no idea what to do with them. Hopefully we will go camping and me and Kaylin will cook and bake a lot. I would love to get the kids to help me with my garden. It would be nice for them to learn. We live out in the country and it can be a double edged sword. We have a community center that's about 20 miles away but with gas prices that's kind of far. My stepkids are 10 and almost 13 so little kid activities won't work. Luckily they have friends here and that will help a lot as long as the other kids are not at their grandparents!

What are you going to do with your kids this summer?

Thrifty Thursday's

I've realized that my blog is sort of disorganized. I created this blog for the purpose of sharing ways to save money through my journey to becoming a stay at home mom but all I do is tell you about my days. So I want to start sharing money saving tips every Thursday. We'll see how it goes.

My first money saving tip has to do with cooking and the kitchen. The grocery store has tons of products on its shelf that helps you save time, i.e. convenience foods. What they don't tell you is how much more these convenience foods cost you compared to the time you save. Instead of buying carrot sticks, just buy carrots and slice them up. Same thing with fruit, chicken, etc. I know when you are busy, which most moms are, it helps to save a few minutes but you can make your own convenience foods. When you get home from the store, cut up all of your produce and put it in separate baggies. That way you don't have to spend the extra time cutting it up later. Separate your chicken before you put it in the freezer and then you don't waste chicken defrosting it.

What other tips do you have regarding convenience foods. I have, of course, just touched the tip of the iceburg. Share please!

Learning to Cope with Tim being on business

So Tim has to do training in Columbus for 6 weeks with his new Honda job. He's already spent 2 weeks there and I don't like it. I've never lived by myself before and it's definitely different. I get lonely and it's not the same talking to my dog. The only good thing is that I get so much more done when he is not here. Our house is cleaner than it has ever been. I've been working on my routines with FlyLady and I make a minimal mess so I've been making progress. I do sleep on the couch in the living room with the kitchen light on because I'm afraid to sleep in our room. Luckily the strange country noises have been kept to a minimum. I'm also so tired with wedding planning, my garden and cleaning that I fall asleep very quickly. I've also been eating microwave meals (the healthy ones) because it's hard for me to just cook for me and I guess it'll help me lose weight before the wedding. Tim has 4 weeks left and then he'll be back for good. And then it'll be 2 weeks from our wedding! I can't believe it! It's been almost a year and a half since we've been engaged. Very excited! But anyways, I'm very proud of myself because I'm being much braver than I'd thought I'd be.