Wednesday, August 11, 2010

How We Do School


Eventually every parent must make a choice, either conscious or not, about how their children receive an education. We chose public school. Today I'm guest posting over at Life As Mom discussing why. 

UPDATE on the linked post:   As of January 2014, we started homeschooling. My husband had changed jobs and we lived 400 miles apart in two separate states for about 9 months. In order to see Dad occasionally, we needed a flexible school schedule - so we started homeschooling.  We discovered we liked it, so we've stuck with it. 

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Blueberries!

After a friend alerted me that Blueberries were on sale at Aldi for $1.29/pint ... I just had to go out and buy some.


I bought 24 pints! Blueberries are my very favorite fruit - can you tell?

When they are in season I like to pick many pounds of them, unfortunately my schedule and blueberry season had conflicts this year. I only managed to pick about 10 pounds - not enough.  Most of them I will freeze so that in the Fall I can make Blueberry Applesauce for my daughter. I'll also use some in Purple Lava.

But I've also got plans for blueberry jam, blueberry muffins, blueberry scones, blueberry cobbler, blueberry buckle, Blueberry Boy Bait... Hmmm ?? I'm sure more ideas will come to me.

Do you have a good recipe for blueberries you'd like to share? I'd love to add it to my collection.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Washing & Drying Plastic Baggies

Soon, if they haven't started already, moms all over the country will be packing lunches to send off with their children to school. Many of those lunch items will be packed in plastic baggies. Ever wondered how much money you spend on all those plastic baggies? Ever wondered if there's a cheaper way?


The year my son entered kindergarten, I figured I sent him to school each day with two plastic snack bags. Each box of 50 snack bags cost about $1.00. So each bag cost me $0.02. So over the course of the school year that's about $7.20. That's roughly the equivalent of 2 gallons of milk. Now I have 2 children in school, so fresh bags every day would cost about $14.50. Plus there are all the sandwich, quart, and gallon size bags I use. Some of them cannot be re-used (for instance, if they've had raw meat in them), and eventually they get holes in them and become sieves instead of containers.

But, you know what? You really can wash those buggers  baggies out and re-use them.

But the problem is how to dry them? If they're not open as they dry, they tend to stick to themselves.

So, here's my solution:


This rack hangs out in my basement. At the end of each day, when we wash up the dishes from dinner, we also wash the baggies. If we do them every day it only takes a minute or two and the task doesn't become overwhelming. Last year I figured out that washing out my plastic bags saved me about $50.00 over the course of the year.


Give it a try. You'll be surprised how easily you can save a little money.

*Keep in mind, I never re-use a bag that's held raw meat.

This definitely Works for Us. For more ideas on how to save a little money, visit Frugal Friday.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

How to Exhaust a Child

Want to exhaust your children so they'll sleep well?

Take them to the National Air & Space Museum on a day when it's 100+ degrees outside.

Mine slept for 12 hours straight after our visit yesterday.

Mind you - I slept for 9 hours straight too!

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