My Reading List

I've recently discovered that there are people out there who blog about what they read.

Wow.

There they are in black and white. Hundreds, probably thousands, of blogs about books and reading books. Lots of people blog about the books they're reading. Why this never occurred to me as a good idea, I don't know. Of course it's a good idea. People blog about everything. We blog about our children, our hobbies, our crazy in-laws and the awful smell that comes from having a dead rat in the wall. We blog about blogging, for Pete's sake. Why wouldn't we blog about what we're reading? And this way we can share our good book ideas with each other!

I've even found someone else who loves two of my favorite authors: Jan Karon & Lucy Maud Montgomery. Now that discovery inspired me.

Personally, I am primarily a fiction reader. Well, I am and I'm not. When I read just to enjoy reading, I read fiction. My father read non-fiction of a huge variety; My husband reads mostly non-fiction, but he has a few fiction series/themes that he likes to read. I read fiction. Unless I'm reading my Bible, trying to improve myself, or reading a recipe.

Recently, I've been kinda stumped on what to read because, unfortunately I'm kinda picky in the fiction that I read:

• I like well written books. If it's badly written I get bored - easily.
  
• I generally prefer upbeat books.
• I don't really like suspense; I'm definitely not into gore.
• I don't generally read romance novels (though there are exceptions - we'll get to that later).
• I prefer series books, where I can get to know and "live" with a character for a while.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the Anne of Green Gables series. And I loved reading just about all of Jan Karon's Mitford series. Last year I re-read the entire series of Mitford books. I was planning to follow that with re-reading the Harry Potter series, but my father became seriously ill last Fall and died in November. Harry Potter is just too dark at this season in my life. I need lighter stuff.

SO, on a recent trip to my wonderful local library, I picked up Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen and The Tuesday Club Murders by Agatha Christie. I know, I know, a murder mystery? Isn't that kinda dark? I've gotta be out of my mind - not exactly light stuff here. The thing is, Agatha Christie is familiar. I read a bunch of her books while I was in high school; it was the next series I read after I graduated from Nancy Drew. And I like Agatha Christie. She's not overly graphic or gory. And she uses the same characters over and over. It's like reading a series. And right now, I need books that are comfortable. So, I grabbed Agatha Christie. I've started Agatha first. She's a bit less daunting than Jane Austin. I've tried reading Sense and Sensibility at least twice before and never managed to finish it. Life interrupted. Hopefully, this time I'll finish it. I'll just keep on renewing it until I do!

On my nightstand right now are:

• The Tuesday Club Murders by Agatha Christie
• Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
• Building Faith at Home by Mark A Holmen
• Open Heart, Open Home By Karen Mains
• Amazaing Grace by Eric Metaxas

Sitting beside my rocker in the living room are:

• my Bible
• The Daily Message by Eugene H. Peterson
• Experiencing God Day by Day by Henry & Richard Blackaby

And, I've been reading these books to or with my children:

• 100 Bible Stories; 100 Bible Songs created by Stephen Elkins
• Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems (my daughter's favorite book)
• Kapow by George O'Connor (one of my son's favorites)
• Ker-Splash by George O' Connor (another of my son's favorites)
• The Big Green Pocketbook by Candice Ransom
• John Philip Duck by Patricia Polaccco (my all-time favorite children's author)

That's what I'm reading. In true UnfinishedMom fashion - most of the adult books have been started, but are unfinished at this point. What are you reading these days? If you are a Jan Karon and Lucy Maud Montgomery fan, I'd really like to know of other authors you think I'd enjoy. I'd also love to know what books you're reading to your children.

For more of what others have on their nightstand go here.

Chicken Stir Fry

One of my husband's favorite meals is stir-fry, and I love it because it's fairly inexpensive, healthy and quick to make. It goes together in about 30 minutes from start to finish. That means it's a home run in our family. I usually make it without paying much attention to quantities, but since I planned to post this one, I decided to measure a bit. This recipe feeds my family of 2 adults + 2 small children and leaves leftovers for lunch for the adults as well.

Chicken Stir Fry

(printable recipe)

Ingredients:

• 1½ cups of rice, prepared according to directions on bag
  
• 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast - cut into 1 inch chunks
• 1 each of 3-4 vegetables - cut into 1 inch chunks: choose veggies you already have on hand and your family likes or choose what's inexpensive that week. (The picture above includes, onions, carrots, celery and yellow pepper that was on a good sale that week.)

Sauce:

• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 2 T white cooking wine (optional - substitute water or leave out)
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• ¼ tsp ground ginger
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 T cornstarch

Directions:

1. Put rice on to cook
2. While rice is cooking, prepare meat and vegetables. Be sure all meat and veggies are ready before you begin cooking. Once you start cooking this moves very fast.
   
3. Heat wok (or large skillet) on high heat until bead of water sizzles and evaporates on contact (about 2 minutes).
4. Add 1-2 tablespoons canola oi; heat oil until it "shimmers" (about 1-2 minutes)
5. When oil begins to shimmer, place meat in wok (be prepared it may "spit"). Spread it out a bit so all pieces of meat are touching the wok bottom. While the meat is cooking, mix the sauce ingredients together. Cook meat 2 minutes, then stir to cook completely through. When meat is completely cooked through (about 4-5 minutes total), remove from pan to serving bowl. Cover serving bowl so meat stays warm while veggies are cooked.
6. You probably won't need more oil, but if it's looking dry, you can add a bit. Be sure the oil is good and hot before adding veggies. Cook veggies in descending order of how long they will take to get hot-through. You want them crunchy, not soft and squishy. Here's the order I cooked our veggies in: onion, carrots, celery, sweet pepper. I cook each vegetable about 1 minute, stir, move them to the outside, then add the next vegetable. After 1 more minute I stir the vegetables, move them to the outside, and add the next vegetable. This continues until all the veggies are hot, but still crunchy.
7. Pour the meat back into the wok and give everything a good stir. Move meat and veggies around so that there's a small well in the middle of the pan.
   
8. Pour the sauce into the middle and immediately begin to stir. The sauce will thicken quickly and coat the meat and vegetables. When the sauce is thickened and everything is well coated (about 1-1½ minutes), pour the whole mixture into the serving dish.
9. Serve with rice and soy sauce.
   

Notes:
This recipe is very adaptable. Don't have chicken thawed? Leave it out, make vegetarian stir fry. Have an uncooked pork chop? Use that instead. Have a bit of broccoli left? Add it in. Use whatever veggies you have available. These are all veggies I have tried & used at one time or another: broccoli, onions - any variety, carrots, mushrooms, sweet peppers, celery, green beans. I'm sure you could play around with other veggies as well, though I don't recommend tomatoes or potatoes or anything that doesn't stand up to high heat.

Enjoy!

For more kitchen tips go to Tammy's Recipes.

For more frugal, healthy meals, visit the $5 Dinner Challenge.

This post was originally published on my old blog on August 26, 2008.

Make Ahead Day - Results

I finished up this morning. I cut the Granola bars and cleaned up the last few dishes.

So here are the final results:

• 3 pints of yogurt
• 1 medium + 1 small container of granola bars
• 23 muffins
• 1 quart of hot chocolate
• 2 Cup container of grits (enough for a week of breakfasts)
• 1 1/2 container of garlic hummus
• 1 quart bag of coffee-ice cubes
• 1 small, really bad loaf of wheat bread

A few observations and notes from the day:

Yogurt: I need to work on my yogurt-making technique some more. I strained off 2 cups worth of whey before refrigerating it, but this morning my daughter complained that there were "chunks" in it.

Granola Bars: I'm still looking for a recipe for crunchy granola bars that don't crumble. Hubby loves these granola bars, but my son doesn't because they aren't very crunchy.

Hummus: Gotta work on this recipe too. It came too salty, and I didn't chop the garlic small enough.

Bread: Clearly I need work on this one. There were lots of issues. I don't keep "bread" flour, so I used all-purpose; that along with not letting it bake in the bread machine I think meant that it didn't have enough gluten, and therefore, didn't rise like it should have. Definitely more work to be done there.

On today's schedule is chopping up and freezing the red peppers.

For future "Make Ahead Days" I'll be making chicken stock and pancakes. I've almost got enough bones saved and frozen to make stock.

To see the saga of the whole day from beginning to end, go here.

Make Ahead Day - Part 2

Well, as I expected, the afternoon was not nearly as productive as the morning. Once my kiddos get home there's just too much else going on to be concentrating on cooking much. That's part of why I plan the more complicated things in the morning when I can have the kitchen to myself. Here's how the rest of the day went ...

2:30
My daughter decided she did not need a nap today, so I had a little "help" in making the grits (her favorite breakfast). We started on them at about 2:00 and by 2:30 they were done.

I then worked on the hummus while she played by herself for a while. This was a new recipe I found here via Tammy's Kitchen Tip Tuesday. I don't cook with beans at all, so this was really new for me. I guess it turned out okay. It tastes good to me, and will be a great quick lunch or snack. But I'm not sure the rest of my family would enjoy it. I'll have to work on my technique a bit.

A little after 3:00
I got the food processor and dishes washed up from the hummus and was ready to move on. Of course, this was when my little helper returned to the kitchen and played a great game of "Hide & Seek" in the cabinets, all the while telling me this amazing story - which I totally loved at the time and can't remember a word of now!

Noticing an unusually large amount of coffee left from this morning, I poured it into an ice-cube tray and popped it in the freezer. Those coffee-ice cubes will be used to cool my coffee in the morning or make a frappocino when the mood strikes.

I realized I had less than an hour before my son got home from school, so if I was going to use the bread machine (bought at a yard sale for $20.00), I had to figure out what to do.

I opted for a 1 lb. loaf of whole wheat bread. I figured this was pretty basic - I couldn't mess it up too much. However, I decided I wanted it to look a little more normal, so I set the machine to just do dough and, then I would bake it in the oven. So, I got all the ingredients together, dumped in the bread machine, set it and let it do it's thing.

4:00 PM
Then it was time to take my daughter to the bus stop to pick up my son. After we got back and I checked his backpack for homework, the machine beeped, I pulled the dough out, put it in a small bread pan and then set it in the oven.

Well, let me tell you... This was a flop. I made the tinniest, most dense loaf of whole wheat bread I've ever seen. I'm too embarrassed to even post a picture! I won't throw it out. I guess it'll be good for french toast, or if all else fails - croutons & bread crumbs. But, man. This was just not good. The number of things I could have done wrong is endless. I won't go into that now - that's a whole other post. I've got a lot to learn about making bread.

A this point I decided not to cut up the peppers for freezing - that will have to wait until tomorrow.

While it was cooking I bagged the muffins and got them into the freezer and put the granola bars into the refrigerator to cool some more.

5:15 PM
Time to start thinking about dinner. I'd planned leftovers from the night before, but needed to add one veggie. So, I heated up dinner, we ate, and hubby went off to his rehearsal.

6:45 PM
The yogurt is ready to come out of the crockpot - it looks really good on top. However, when I spooned down a bit it seemed too liquidy. So, I started straining it through cheese cloth in batches.

7:15 PM
the kids & I relaxed for a bit, then it was time for a quick 10 minute "toy pick up" and then off to bed by 8:00PM.

It's now 9:15. I'm still straining yogurt and I need to cut the granola bars, but all the dishes I can do are done and the kitchen isn't a total disaster!

The final results with the whole shooting match will be posted tomorrow morning.

To see the saga of the whole day from beginning to end, go here.

Peanut Butter Granola Bars

As promised, and because you've asked so nicely, here's my granola bar recipe...

Peanut Butter Granola Bars

(printable recipe)

Ingredients:

• 1 C butter
• 1 1/2 C packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (I think I forgot this, this time)
• 3 C rolled oats (quick oats or regular)
• 1 C wheat bran
• 1 Cup chopped walnuts (optional)
  
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2/3 Cup peanut butter (optional)
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325; Grease 10x15 (jelly-roll) pan.
2. In large bowl, mix oats, bran, baking powder, and salt.
3. In medium pot, melt together butter, brown sugar, and vanilla.
4. Pour butter mixture over dry ingredients and stir to completely coat.
5. Dump mixture into pan and press evenly into prepared pan
6. Bake 20 minutes at 325.
7. Melt 2/3 Cup peanut butter in small saucepan
8. When bars come out of oven, slowly drizzle peanut butter over bars; then using a large bent spatula spread peanut butter in a thin coating over the bars.
9. Cool overnight in refrigerator, then cut.

Notes:
Steps 7 & 8 are optional. If you like peanut butter, which my husband lives for, you can do this, but it's not necessary.
Last year when my husband was suffering with reflux on a daily basis he practically lived off of these granola bars. At that time, I was making 2 batches every week to keep him satisfied.



For more recipes using whole grains, visit the Ultimate Recipe Swap.



This recipe was originally published on July 28, 2008 on my old blog.

Make Ahead Day - Update

It's now 5:25.

I've made the grits, hummus, and "something in the bred machine".

However, as I was getting the bread into the oven my son got home from school. At that point it's time for snacks, homework, dinner and a little down time with the kiddos.

So, I'll have a more detailed update later (with pictures - I hope).

Please come back later tonight for the final results.
To see the saga of the whole day from beginning to end, go here.

Make Ahead Day - Part 1

Here's how Make Ahead Day goes for me...

The Night Before:

• Clean up all dishes
• declutter kitchen counters
• make sure the list is ready
• find all recipes that I plan to use (sometimes this means searching the web)

The Morning of:

• Wear comfortable shoes & clothes
  
• Have two timers ready; one that counts up is very helpful.
  
• Tie my long curly hair back in loose pony tail (hair in food? - very unappetizing!)
  
• Wear an apron (I'm a messy cook)

10:30 Progress report:
I had to wait till my daughter left for preschool about 9:30, then I did a quick clean up of a few breakfast dishes and gathered the ingredients for the yogurt. The milk went on the stove just before 10:00. It's now in the crock-pot, wrapped in a beach towel, incubating for 8 hours. Next up... Granola Bars for hubby.

11:10 report:
Granola bars in oven (My recipe to be posted here). Dishes washed up. Grabbed a quick snack. On to the Muffins!

11:45
Granola bars cooling; these will cool for several hours, then I'll put them in the frig, probably overnight, before cutting. I find that they stay together better when I do this. Whole Wheat Banana Chip Muffins are in the oven, dishes are washed for next batch of muffins. Must get last batch in oven and hot chocolate ready before daughter gets home at 12:45!

12:10
Banana Chip Muffins cooling, Blueberry Muffins in oven. Washing dishes.

12:40 - Time for a Break!
The Blueberry muffins are out of the oven and cooling And the Hot Chocolate is ready for when my daughter gets home. Now it's time for a real break. The baking part of the day is done, so I've turned off the oven. I've washed a "bazillion" dishes and my hands feel like the Sahara. My daughter will be home from preschool in about 5 minutes. This is a good time to sit down, have some lunch and visit with her for a bit. I'll pick back up on the rest of the list after she goes down for a nap at 2:00PM

Stay tuned for more later in the day.
To see the saga of the whole day from beginning to end, go here.

Make Ahead Day - The Plan

I'd been planning a "Make Ahead" Day for Wednesday anyway when MoneySavingMom stole my thunder posted about her bi-weekly Baking Day today. So, I decided I'd go ahead and post my plan and then I'll post some pictures and blog about it tomorrow as the day continues. I'm doing several things in advance so that we have them for quick breakfasts and snacks as well as making meal preparation easier. I tend to do Make Ahead breakfast things rather than dinner things because I am really NOT a morning person and don't want to think that much in the morning. Heating it up in the toaster or microwave is about all I want to do.

Anyway, here's the plan:

• Yogurt (using this recipe)
• Granola Bars
• Banana Chip Muffins
• Blueberry Muffins
• 1 pot hot chocolate (ready for when my daughter gets home from preschool)
  
• 1 batch grits
  
• Garlic Hummus
• Freezing red peppers (found on a great sale this week)
• Bread in the bread machine.

To see the saga of the whole day from beginning to end, go here.

Goals & Coupons

I know I said I wanted to get the coupons clipped this week.

If I just sit here at the computer reading about all the great deals other people have made and all the great ways to save money - do you think the coupons will clip themselves?

Hmmm. Maybe not.

Okay. I gotta go.

10 Things I Learned from The Tightwad Gazette

This post was originally published on my old blog. It has been edited and updated since that time.

About a year ago I borrowed "The Complete Tightwad Gazette" by Amy Dacyczyn from our local library. I can't remember how I first learned about this book. It may have been from MoneySavingMom or it may have been from a subject search at my library. I also cannot begin to list all I've learned from this book. As we began to live more frugally, this book served as both a source of inspiration for new ideas and an encouragement to continue the journey.

The book is over 800 pages and I'm no speed reader and I didn't come close to finishing it in the allotted 3 weeks. So, I renewed it. And then I renewed it again. And again. Evidently, at the time no one else in the whole county wanted this book. If had been requested at all, I would not have been allowed to renew it so often.

Over the course of the several months I had possession of the book these are some of the things I learned (in no particular order) ...

1. Wash out ziploc bags and reuse them. Never reuse one that's contained raw meat, but otherwise until it has holes or has held raw meat there's no reason to throw it away.

2. Stop using so much extra dishwasher soap. I'd been filling the cup up completely, but after reading the Tightwad Gazette I realized for most loads I only need half the amount of soap. What a waste this had been.

3. The power of Yard Saleing. At the time of the articles in the TWG Amy bought the overwhelming majority of clothes for her 6 children at Yard Sales. I had never been much of a Yard Saler before, but TWG inspired me, and since then I've made several great finds of my own!

4. Keep a Price Book. This means keeping track of the sale prices on the groceries you use most. This was a bit overwhelming to think about at first, but after I started it I found that I began to remember the lowest price, even without my price book. The simple act of writing down the price and figuring out the price/ounce or price/each was helping cement it in my leaky brain. This particularly helps me when I'm comparing the price of a store brand item to a name-brand with coupons. Sometimes the store brand is cheaper. Sometimes the name-brand is cheaper. (I'm a bit out of this habit at the moment because life went crazy when my Dad got sick, but I'm working on getting back into the habit. There are several particular items I definitely need to start pricing soon as we're beginning to run low.)

5. Make your own bread crumbs. Using the heels of the bread loaves - which no one in my house wants to eat - I can make my own bread crumbs and never have to buy them. Simply let the pieces dry out for several days, or toast them. Then place them in a ziploc and crumble them with a rolling pin. Stored in an airtight container or in the freezer they will keep for a very long time.

6. Comparison shop. Compare prices. Comparison shop some more - for everything from bank accounts to ziploc containers!

7. Get over the "it has to be new" attitude! It really doesn't. There are many things that can be bought used and in great condition, much less expensively than bought new. It all depends on your own attitude. I found a wonderful used china cabinet last fall for $100. It is exactly what we need right now and it didn't break the budget!

8. Cooking from scratch is often, but not always cheaper. Making pizza from scratch is cheaper than buying Papa John's (even with a coupon). Boxed mac & cheese bought on sale is cheaper than making it from scratch.

9. Baking soda is a great cleaner/degreaser for many surfaces, including kitchen counters. And, combined with white vinegar it's also a great drain de-clogger. It's also much cheaper than my old products.

10. Air dry clothes whenever possible. I don't do this with everything because we're used to the softness from drying in an electric dryer. But, I've started drying socks & underwear on an indoor rack and honestly, no one's complained!

The book is loaded with many more good ideas on how to live a more frugal life. If you want to live more frugally, I suggest borrowing this book from your local library, borrow it from a frugal friend, or if all else fails buy it used on Amazon or Barnes&Noble.com

For more frugal ideas go to BiblicalWomanhood.

Free Suave - Today Only

Okay, this is a deal worth sharing. Unfortunately it's only good for today. You can get a coupon for a free bottle of suave - no kidding. To get your coupon go here. I just filled out my form with no hitches, and no problematic questions.

Thanks especially to MoneySavingMom for the heads up. You can visit her website for more detail.

Permission to Grieve

Today is shaping up to be one of those thoughtful days. They come every so often, without planning, without announcing themselves ahead of time, they pop up and push me back into my chair.

I didn't expect it, but I can't say I'm surprised either. It's been almost two full months since my father died. Tomorrow is my mom's birthday - she died 8 years ago. And, today I'm home alone. The kids are at school, hubby's at a meeting all day.

I'm home.

Alone.

With my thoughts.

And my grief.

Something about getting close to anniversaries, and having time alone seems to bring out my grief. Today, in the shower, it was a flood of memories; well not really a flood, more like a movie trailer where the highlights flash before you without any continuity. Anyone watching for the first time wouldn't understand, but those who have seen the movie know whats happening in the moment, what happened before, and whats going to happen after. It tends to bring up many emotions.

... The family meeting when they told us they couldn't do more to treat him ... Watching him lay there in the hospital bed seemingly sleeping, but not really knowing ... his doctor's face ... another doctor's face ... the tone of his voice in a brief conversation years before (the words elude me) ... the doctor commenting, "his nurse is highly invested in his care" .. the male nurse who took extra time to be sure he was not just taken care of medically, but comfortable too ... my brother's face as we talked casually while waiting for doctors to come ... my sister asking the incredibly brave question, "Could he be cared for at home?" ... and more .... and more ...

How can anyone else understand? Honestly -- they can't. Every relationship is different. Every person's grief is different. My grief, my memories are different from my brother's. They are different from my sister's, though we do share some memories. Our reactions to our loss are different. And our grief is different from others who have lost their father. Because our father was different. Our relationships were different.

I've been told, give yourself permission to grieve. This is incredibly wise, freeing advice. It was first given to me after my mother's very sudden death in June 2000. A kind, caring friend sent me a series of books (Special Care Series) by Doug Manning of In-Sight Books. I cannot begin to tell you how helpful this series of books were for me at that incredibly difficult time.

And so, as I find myself walking this road again, I've begun to re-read them. The first booklet, "Discovering Permission to Grieve" comes about a month after the death. It reminded me to go ahead and grieve as I want to grieve. Allow yourself to feel and express the pain. Do not hold it in or try to pretend that it's less than it is. Grieve. In whatever manner works best for you. Grieve.

It also encourages you to find friends with whom you can grieve. People who don't judge. Who don't limit your grief. People who will above all, listen.

But, I find myself in a place where life is busy. Incredibly busy. My friends, my family, the people around me, even Christian friends, they are busy. They have their own lives, their own issues going on. I don't want to intrude on them. And, they wouldn't understand (that's what I tell myself) . Because grief is very personal. It is different for me than it is for them. Can I really begin to describe all that's going on in my head? in my heart? I don't think I have words for that. They just won't come.

But, I need to grieve. I need to express this pain. I need to get it out or I may explode.

So, here I am. Grieving on the Internet. Will I do this again? I don't know. Probably. Writing seems to be cathartic for me. I think it helps. I think taking the time to write it out forces my brain to slow down long enough that I can actually find some words to express the pain.

So, for me ... for now ... for this moment ... grieving on the Internet -- works for me.

Honey Garlic Chicken

This recipe is one of my family's absolute favorites and always gets compliments when I serve it to guests.

Honey Garlic Chicken

(printable recipe)

Ingredients:
6 Chicken pieces
1 ½ tsp garlic powder
3 tsp salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper
1 egg yolk
2 Tblsp honey
4 Tblsp margarine/butter – melted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Place rack in baking sheet with lip. Spray rack with oil.
3. Mix garlic powder, salt, pepper. Rub mixture into chicken pieces.
4. Place chicken skin side down on rack.
5. In small bowl, beat egg yolk, honey and butter. Brush over chicken.
6. Bake 30 minutes at 350.
7. Turn chicken over and baste with remaining butter/honey mixture.
8. Bake at 400 for approx. 15 minutes or until internal temperature equals 180.

Notes:
I found the original recipe on allrecipes.com, but wanted more garlic so altered it to the above recipe. I often use chicken thighs and legs; if you use breasts you may want more of the spice rub. I also suggest lining the pan with foil as this makes a sticky mess as it bakes. This recipe would also be good on the grill.

Goals for the Week 01/12/09

I am a self-professed disorganized mother. In particular the efficient use of my time is frequently a problem. It was a problem long before I ever became a mom; being a mom just made it more obvious (at least to me). It is also one of those things I am constantly trying to improve about myself.

SO, in the interest of self-improvement and trying to be honest with myself, here is the list of things I am going to try to accomplish this week while my children are at school ...

• Quiet time with God, daily
• Clean kitchen sink & stove top daily
• Make bed daily
• Give bathroom a swish and a swipe, daily
• Finish the laundry I started on Saturday (4 more loads)
• Deposit paycheck and pay current bills
• Finish filing the 2008 paperwork
• Set up the file for 2009 paperwork
• Take down Christmas Tree and put away all ornaments
  
• Meet my sister at my Dad's and begin cleaning out his house
• Begin Thank You notes for funeral & Finish Christmas thank yous
  
• Clip and organize coupons
• Grocery Shop
• Help Hubby pack for 2 day trip

Some of the above are habits I am still trying to establish with a little help from the FlyLady in order to reign in the CHAOS. I'll check back at the end of week and see how it went.

Frugal Beginnings

Over the past several years, for a variety of reasons, our finances became very tight. As things became tighter we worked at reducing our expenses. In the beginning here were some of the things (in no particular order) we began to do which helped reduce expenses:

1. Eat out less, cook at home more
2. Shop for less expensive insurance - home, car, health
3. Borrow books from the library instead of buying them
   
4. Learn to cook more from scratch instead of pre-packaged/processed foods
5. Borrow videos from the library instead of Blockbuster
6. Go to the mall much less (it helps that we don't really live close to one)
7. Turn the thermostat down 1 degree from the previous winter
8. Stay home more, go out less, combine errands to save on gas
9. Use what we have rather than upgrading unnecessarily
   

There are many more things I've learned about living frugally. These are just a few from the beginning of the journey. I'll be sharing more over the next several weeks. How did your journey to living frugally begin?

Beginning Again

I've been contemplating this new blog for several months now. The old blog (Journey to Frugal) just didn't seem to fit where I was going. I liked blogging about being frugal. But there was so much more I wanted to blog about.

So, I'm beginning again with this new blog. I wanted to blog about the many things I am truly passionate about - cooking, kids, parenting, my faith, taking care of my family, as well as some of my other interests and things going on in my life - grief, perpetual organization issues and a host of others.

But, as I contemplated this new blog I got stuck on a name very quickly. I am no expert at any of the things I do. I'm not a parenting expert or an expert cook. I've been a Christian for over 30 years, and consider myself a mature Christian, but I still have many questions and the occasional crisis of faith. I am definitely not the most organized of persons. I have much to learn in all these areas. And so, after much contemplation and exploring many options I finally settled on "Unfinished Mom".

I am a work in progress. That old saying "Be patient with me, God is not finished with me yet!" certainly applies. But, as the verse in the header states - "God began a good work in me and He will be patient to complete it." He will be patient to complete His good work in you too. There are so many things I'm still learning about being a good mom, a good wife, a good Christian woman. There are some things I've learned that may be helpful to others. But mostly, I want to share my journey... what's happening in my life, where I've been, and occasionally where I think I am going. I'll gradually be bringing over some of the recipes and posts from my old blog. But there will be a lot of new thoughts to share as well.

So, that's where I am. If you are on this journey as well, please join in, and share your thoughts from time to time.