Catch Up Week

I am determined that this is the week I catch up, Lord willing.

It seems like I have been getting progressively more behind since early September when we started trading germs, all got healthy just in time to go on vacation, came home tired, all got sick again with Miss Pear's turning into a sinus infection, started seeing the end in sight, then Santa Ana winds hit, with the fires and the heat, then Miss Pear was allergic to amoxicillin and we panicked over what what turned out to be an innocent heart murmur just disguised as something scary. The allergy left us on stay inside orders for a week, which is just ending today.

All this means that there is no baking in the freezer, not a cookie, not a loaf of bread, not a muffin.

So I guess now I know why I am feeling so desperately behind!

Oh, and my ironing board and iron were rude enough to conk out sequentially. The ironing board seized (could not open and close it) and once we replaced that the iron died. Fortunately we sold a few things in a yard sale that covered their replacement. But not before the ironing pile piled up.

So this is the week we get caught up.

So far we have:

1. Procured the new iron to go with the new ironing board (with coupons and sales of course).
2. Made a sample batch of Supreme Cocoa Mix (thanks to Mother Load for the link!) (We will be making this to give to Miss Pear's BSF teachers for Christmas, 1 recipe makes 2 quart jars, but had to make sure it was delicious - I may have to make about another three batches just to be absolutely certain!)
3. Made 3 loaves of banana bread
   
4. Perfected the Winnipeg Rye Bread recipe (will post it soon)
   
5. Had our regular Tuesday morning BSF, but then went out for lunch just us girls, then came home for naps before running all our errands in the afternoon.
6. Made 4 loaves of 4 Flour Bread
7. Made a batch of Apple Ladder Loaf (yielded 2 loaves)
   
8. Vacuumed the whole house
9. Caught up on the laundry
10. Cleaned the bathrooms.

That is the week so far.

I feel better seeing all we have accomplished, but there is still so much to do!

It will get easier once Miss Pear is over this whole allergic reaction thing from last week and has her energy back, but in the mean time I am adjusting to her needs, so we are snuggling and reading lots!

What are your best tips for getting caught up again? How do you manage with little ones in the house?

Canning Pears

I have always been enchanted with the idea of a full pantry of canned fruit and veggie goodness.

There were just two problems:
1. We live in California so we don't have a basement for a cold room, or room for a real pantry anywhere.
2. I am not so enchanted with all the work of canning, it is really hard, hot work!

But I was determined this year to can pears, pear butter and million dollar relish, which I did!

However, as a girl who loves process improvement I streamlined my Mother-in-law's instructions to a very easy, streamlined, few dishes method.

1. In your on the stove kettle (or you can use a pot and ladle, but this is easier) mix your syrup mixture (double or triple as needed):

• 3 cups water
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tsp Fruit Fresh (or the like)

Heat to a boil and then turn down to simmer.
(It would also work to heat it in your pot and then transfer it to a large measuring cup for easier pouring)

2. While this is coming to a boil make sure your jars and lids are ready.

3. Peal your pears with a vegetable peeler. Use a melon baller to scoop out the seeds, and your knife to slice (in a V shape) the rest of the core out.

4. As each pear is peeled, cut it and place it into it's jar. When the jar is filled with the amount of pears you are putting in immediately wipe the rim of the jar, pour the syrup from the kettle over it and pop the lid on. Work quickly so that your pears do not have time to brown.

5. As soon as you have a pot full of jars, immediately start processing them so that you can make time. (I had the water starting to heat to a boil with step 1) Process using your favored method (I like a covered dutch oven with boiling water 3/4 up the sides, processing for 30 minutes).

6. Remove processed jars from water CAREFULLY (silicon mitt is great for this) and place on cooling rack to, well, cool. Wait for the happy popping sound of the jar sealing.

7. Let sit for about 2 weeks before digging in....I know, but try!

By using this method I was done in a lot less time, and my dirty dishes were about half of the original method that involved blanching the pears, pealing and cutting them all, setting them to soak in a Fruit Fresh and water mixture while you cut so they would not brown, them placing them in jars method!

This method would likely work in canning any fruit that you are suspending in a syrup.

Works for me, and my favorite kitchen tip to share this fall! It worked so well for me that I assure you I will be canning pears next year! Now if I could just fix the lack of real pantry problem......

What would you like to preserve from summer's bounty for the winters?

(Plus, pears are on sale at Vons / Safeway / Pavilions this week for $0.39 a pound!)

Thank you!

I wanted to thank those of you who have ordered stuff by clicking through links of books I post about or through my affiliate links on the right hand sidebar for Biblical Womanhood, Amazon, and Christian Books.

I want to thank you because you help our family so much! We are a family of voracious readers, and any affiliate money we earn goes into our library fund. We do use the library A LOT, but some books are worth buying, and this is what we use our library money for. Also, our libraries in Southern California do not carry a reasonable, or even minuscule selection of God honoring books, so we are often left to try find what we can at the best prices we can.

So I just wanted to thank you for helping us as it really means a lot to us!

Hmmm, yes, I would love one

The Domestic Diva is hosting a wonderful contest! Dyson has teamed up with her to give away a pink Dyson in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month!

This touches on two issues that affect all women vacuuming and breast cancer! I have lost count of the women in my life who have been treated for breast cancer, and am fortunate to say that they were all victorious over it thanks to early or early-ish detection and excellent medical care.

More Vision Forum Contest Fun

I have to admit, I was disappointed to find I had not won Kim's Vision Forum contest...until I found out she was doing it AGAIN with a limit of $250!!!!

This is particularly exciting because we are still stuck inside because of all the smoke and crud in the air from the wild fires. Which is complicated with our daughter still recovering from her allergic reaction last week. So we are loving this distraction of searching the catalog again.

I made my list, and now Miss Pear is reading the catalog and pointing to the pictures.

We were not certain if the drawing was for all VF product, or just the books and CD's, so we have two wish lists, one including a doll and tea set, but if those are not included in the drawing we have a second list of books and CD's only.

So, Version 1 with the doll and tea set!

1. Liberty Doll page 64 (The Evangeline Doll is running the close second, but we are sticking with Liberty!)
2. Beautiful Girlhood Tea Set, page 77
3. Make Your Own Doll Dress Kit, page 76 So that I can make dresses for Miss Pear's doll out of the same fabric as her dresses until she is old enough to make them herself. (At 2 and a half now, we have a ways to go!)
4. Elsie's Motherhood we have books 1-4 and would like to continue collecting these so that we have an excellent library in time.
5. Elsie's Children
6. Elsie's Widowhood
7. A Church in the House- we are just starting family worship in our house, and are trying to truly grow into a family that glorifies God in each part of our lives and home, so this sounds excellent!
8. How to Develop Character in your Children I think this would be very encouraging and helpful!
9. Raising Maidens of Virtue this looks so good, and I am sure it would encourage me too! (I would have added Passionate Housewives Desperate for God, but my copy should be here tomorrow!)

If the doll and tea set is not included in this drawing our wish list looks like this:

1. How to Develop Character in your Children
2. How to Avoid the Destructiveness of a Wrong Self-Image
3. How to Pass On Convictions to Your Children
4. A Church in the House
5. Raising Maidens of Virtue
6. How to Think Like a Christian
7. Elsie's Motherhood (Vol. 5)
8. Elsie's Children (Vol. 6)
9. Elsie's Widowhood (Vol. 7)
10. Grandmother Elsie (Vol. 8)
11. Elsie's New Relations (Vol. 9)
12. Elsie at Nantucket (Vol. 10)
13. The Two Elsies (Vol. 11)
14. Elsie's Kith and Kin (Vol. 12)
15. So Much More
16. 2006 Best of Festival to spruce up our Family Movie Night!

Menu Plan Monday October 27 - November 3

For some reason I just do not want to go to the grocery store this week. We are tired from this past week's adventures, and the sales are pretty weak while our pantry is pretty full and we still have fruit and veggies. So as much as possible I am planning to eat from the pantry with just a milk and veggie/fruit run.

I also pulled out my More with Less Cookbook (on the sidebar) which I am learning to love - if you have this cookbook, which recipes are your favorite?

There is also going to be some serious baking going on to fill the freezer with cookies, muffins and bread!

Saturday

Breakfast - Toast and Cereal
Lunch - Sandwiches
Supper - Italian Meatball Soup

Sunday

Breakfast - Banana Bread
Lunch - Banana bread and pears (we could not leave the banana bread alone!)
Supper - Chili and Cornbread

Monday

Breakfast** - Waffles and raspberries
Lunch - Cheesy Noodles
Supper - Tortellini

Tuesday

Breakfast - Granola and Yogurt
Lunch - Tortellini leftovers
Supper - Italian Skillet

Wednesday

Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - Tuna Sandwiches
Supper - Rice Pizza Casserole ~ and veggies


Thursday

Breakfast - Granola and Yogurt
Lunch - Tuna Sandwiches
Supper - Tortilla Soup and rolls (using fresh cilantro from our garden - for the soup, not the rolls)

Friday

Breakfast - cereal
Lunch - Chicken Packets
Supper - Garden Supper Casserole~ and veggies

Saturday

Breakfast - Home made bagels or Overnight French Toast
Lunch - Costco Pizza (we must make our Costco run)
Supper - Hamburger Casserole~ and veggies

Breads
3 Flour Bread~
Winnipeg Rye Bread (recipe is getting close, just a bit more tweaking!)
Oatmeal Bread ~


Cookies
Mrs. U's gingersnaps
Chocolate Crinkles
Lemon Cookies
Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin
Granola Chips
Fruit Cocktail Cookies

Loaves and Muffins
Tropical Muffins
Banana Berry Muffins
Berry Oat Muffins
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins
Banana Oatmeal Muffins

Other
Banana Loaf
Granola
Granola Bars

~ from the More with Less Cookbook (can be found on my sidebar if you want to check it out) I am trying to cook through this cookbook a bit, so I am trying to make one thing a week from it but am really not being successful at that with all that is going on.
** During the week it is just Miss Pear and I for lunch, so we eat some strange lunches....

Moms for Modesty

You may notice that my Moms for Modesty button is back on the sidebar. It did not disappear because I changed my mind, but rather because the linking was not working. It is all fixed, thanks to Shannon's post, and I encourage you to click on it to check it out.

You can find the mission statement here and just as a preview, it is about common sense modesty for our girls!

Maybe it is harder because we live in California, or because my daughter is now in a 3T dress because she is tall, but I found that I switched her up a dress size earlier than everything else in order to find dresses of a modest length.

By the way, our standard for dresses is:

• Tea length (below the knees, mid calf) if no bloomers
• knees if it has bloomers

Who would think this was hard!

Where do you find modest, pretty, reasonably priced dresses for your girls? It seems like it is getting harder and harder to get all three!

Life in a Shoe and Vision Forum Contest

Kim is once again hosting a "Woo Hoo There is a New Vision Forum Catalog Contest!" If you are interested, all the details are here!

We almost did not get to play because our catalog just arrived today, so my family and I are playing this as part of our family fun night!

Our current dream order for Vision Forum is:

The Liberty Doll (page 64)

The Beautiful Girlhood Tea Set (page 77)

While Miss Pear is a bit young for both of these we would love for her to have both! We would love to give her the doll for her birthday! And she loves to play tea!

Family Movie Night

The air is much better here than it has been for the last two days. But they are still recommending that children remain inside as much as possible (door to car is okay, playing outside is not).

We already "played" at Target last night, and that was fun, although it was freaky to see the red glow behind the mountains and the fire line at the very top like a ring around one of the peaks. (The fire is moving away from us).

So tonight I am declaring:

Family Movie Night!

Menu:

Homemade Mac and Cheese is already in the slow cooker, I am messing with a recipe so will let you know!

Brownies with Ice Cream for dessert! (I will make them later so that they are coming out of the oven just before supper and are still warm - I am just using a Betty Crocker Triple Chunk brownie mix I got for probably about $1)

Popcorn - our popcorn maker is toast, so I will just make it in a pot and pour melted butter over top.


We are watching a Backyardigans DVD, so I broke out our stash of Backyardigans plastic cups, plates, and paper napkins for the occasion.


What special things do you do for family night fun? It is fun to share ideas!

Bloggy Goodness Part 1

It seems like my bloglines is full of great posts I meant to tell you about, and of course, did not. So today, I am DETERMINED to clean out some of my blogline bookmarks!

It is the perfect day! Miss Pear is just going down for her nap as she is clearly exhausted - we were up a couple times during the night, I think the week finally caught up to her! And my energy level and creativity levels are both a tad on the low side - I think my thankful levels sucked up all their reserves!

So in no particular order I give you my links of bloggy goodness!

Homemade Stuffing Mix! I love stuffing, and every recipe that calls for it sounds great to me! But I refuse to buy it! It is expensive for what you get and full of stuff I really would rather not have. So I was thrilled to find this make it yourself recipe from Tammy!

Callapidder has a great post about how we wives and moms can be such a support to our families in ways that might seem insignificant but are extremely valuable and appreciated!

Mrs. B is a delight, and I had to laugh with delight when I read today's post about how wonderful her husband is. Of course I know that my husband is the absolute best! All wives should think this about their husbands! And it is fun to read other women gush about their husbands too!

It is NO secret that I adore My Quiet Corner, and that I consider her a dear bloggy friend. I am convinced that we would be great friends in real life if we lived closer too! She has had two sweet posts that spoke to my heart and encouraged me! Promise 1 and Promise 2! (Introduced here)

She also has this excellent post about "the rule" they use in working with the youth! It is excellent, and a rule for all of us! Oh, and look here for a good mommy laugh and head nod! Oh, and this one is old, but funny too and excellent for those people who do not understand the importance of Wives/Moms caring for their families and home at home! :-)

And I STILL have this post book marked from last Christmas. And as a former professional/career woman may I say that my worst day at home is still better than my best day at work? It is much easier to handle crying/whining children than whining adults!

More to follow......

Two Churches in the Fire Area

I just wanted to bring to your attention two churches that I know of in the fire area of Rancho Bernardo, San Diego, California.

Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church is confirming that of the families that lost houses in Rancho Bernardo and Poway 57 of those families belong to their church, and they are committed to standing beside those families and helping them rebuild. It saddens me to say that the number is not yet confirmed to be a final number and could sadly increase. They are also committed to helping the other families in the neighborhood. I know this to be a church that is committed to being the hands and feet of Jesus reaching out to both their own and those in the community.

Also, Rancho Bernardo Baptist Church has had their home impacted by the fire with some of it destroyed and some of damaged.

Did I say that?

As a mom I often find things coming out of my mouth I NEVER imagined I would hear myself say.

Like today at the doctor - "Oh, the doctor just wants to take pictures of your heart because it so pretty! Oh look, there is the yogurt we had for breakfast.....and that is what your tummy sees when it looks up at your heart! What a pretty heart!"

But what takes the cake today is: "After supper we can go for a walk at Target and play there." Yup, I just called Target a play destination. But when you cannot take your children outside because of the ash and smoke, and they need to blow off steam, you get...ummmm... creative!

Praying for Noah

If you have not had a chance to click on the button on my sidebar and hear about Noah, I would really encourage you to check out his family's blog and pray for him. He has a serious health problem, and now has a serious infection too.

We are almost boring!

I never thought I would be happy to say that!

Miss Pear does have a soft heart murmur but it comes from having a bicuspid aortic valve (two flappers instead of three), and 1 in 100 people have this, it is common and does not impact a person's lifestyle or life-expectancy. So while the pediatric cardiologist (who was wonderful!) says she is fine and there is no reason to restrict her activities at all, he does want to see her in a year to monitor her as a precaution! We are absolutely thanking the Lord for answering our prayers that this be nothing to be concerned about.

Fire update - well, there is no wind here right now, which is a HUGE blessing to the fire fighters, although it does mean that our city is raining ash right now and filled with horrible smoke - a small price to pay to make the fire more fight-able and give the fire fighters the help they need. Although there are still so many parts of Southern California (including our city and area) where people are evacuated and where homes are at risk, so we are still praying fervently for cooler weather, no wind, and moisture of any kind! As well as for the fire fighters who are working to the point of exhaustion.

Also, most of our friends are back in their homes, and all have homes to return to.

So with that said, we return to our normal bloggy schedule!

Thank you so much for your encouraging kind words this past week and all your prayers for our daughter and safety. They helped SO much.

Oh, maybe later

I was going to post a couple blog entries to distract myself, but that is not going to happen, so here are the highlights!

This is something I am excited about - Crystal's sale on Passionate Housewives Desperate for God (15% off) and Supermarket Savings 101 (50% off for 48 hours only). The book looks excellent, and the class helped me tremendously, and I was already doing a few of the things, but I definitely learned how to do them better.

I am going to wait until next week for the WFMW that I have rolling around in my head as I am pretty sure that everything is going to sound weird right now. And I just cannot get excited about airplane activity bags, although they were a key point in our vacation going so well!

The fire fighters and officials have been wonderful, and so have the residents have been so quick to bring whatever is needed that they have actually had to ask people to hold off on donating things like food, water, blankets, etc as they have too much for right now!

I was going to post about things that are rarely thought of as being needed but that i have heard evacuation centers say they need, and how to accumulate this stuff frugally and where to be donating it to so that it is there in times of need.

Boring would be good!

Once again I begin by saying we are safe, our home is safe, our friends are safe, and our friends homes are safe. It feels like a miracle that I can say this!

This morning we woke up to this view:


That street you see on the bottom of the picture is the street our house is on. And the smoke looks much closer than it actually is. But it startled us nonetheless!

Yesterday my husband was evacuated from work when the fire came down a little finger of canyon, so that was excitement we could have lived without! But his work is safe, and it is business as usual there today.

We are not having business as usual at our home, and it has nothing to do with the fires. We took Miss Pear to the doctor this morning for an allergic reaction, and she is indeed allergic to one family of antibiotics now, so that is disappointing. However the part that has me chewing my nails was that when they listened to her heart they heard something that was not there last week and they heard it immediately. We even had a second opinion. So we are being referred to a pediatric cardiologist, and we see him tomorrow morning. Our doctor said that if we did not get in today or tomorrow we were to call her and she would get us in. So while I am trying to remain calm, and remind myself that these things can appear when the body is fighting stuff off (like illness and hives), my mommy heart is freaking out.

Fortunately our Lord is Sovereign and understands our fears!

For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:15-16

Southern California Fires

Before I say anything, let me say that our family is safe, and our home is safe.

Many of our friends are being evacuated in San Diego County, and our old church is right on the evacuation line, so it is hard to say. Had we not moved in June, we would be on evacuation alert (as in be prepared to go).

We are south of the Malibu fire, and even though there are a few smaller fires around us, they are contained and just giving us smoke.

These Santa Ana winds are brutal. On the plains they would be no big deal. Here with the canyons they get funneled and whip around and over things making them treacherous. Add on top of that the humidity can easily drop, I have seen it as low as 8%, and it is a horrible situation. It fuels fires, and they start easily in this situation. Factor in the dry brush and the microclimate fires have themselves, and it is a scary situation.

I will not be here for a while, we may have friends evacuating to us, and I my attention is needed elsewhere right now.

Please pray for the winds to die down and the fires to be contained as well as safety for everyone in the area.

Rebates equal Library Money

One line item in our budget that we all agree we would like to have more money in and just do not because we are trying to SAVE money, and keep me home indefinitely is the library fund.

While it may seem odd to have an actual Library Fund, let me explain to you why it is so important!

1. We are a family of voracious readers, and reread favorites all the time, including Miss Pear's picture books, so books are a good investment around here!
   
2. We live in California, so the libraries carry almost no books that honor God or illuminate the Bible. But are filled with trash I do not want our daughter exposed too! (Same can be said for garage sales and thrift stores! not that we have those here in any abundance)
   
3. Our library fund covers our home schooling expenses. Currently that means quality read alouds, counting and alphabet books.
4. We are a family that actually uses commentaries, Biblical Dictionaries, and Greek and Hebrew books on a regular basis and are trying to slowly build a decent reference library both for the us and for the purpose of home schooling.

So we are creative in our methods.

One thing I do is that when I am shopping I do not calculate the rebate check from certain items into my shopping expenses. For example, I just filled out a form to get $5 from Tylenol for purchasing 3 tylenol products in their Fall Medicine Cabinet stock up. I just waited for a good deal to get them. When the check arrives, I will deposit it and the money will be allocated into the library fund.

The only time I do not do this is with Walgreens where I get my rebate as a gift card to get the 10% bonus and keep rolling it, or any time the rebate is issued as store credit (unless of course it is a book store!)

While it is not a huge amount, every little bit helps, and it motivates me to deposit those little checks into the bank in a timely manner! (Fortunately there is a branch of our bank in a supermarket I frequently shop at!)

How do you creatively boost your library funds?

Of course, I then try to make my library money go as far as possible by watching for best prices, coupons, and sales!

We made it!

We made it through our week of just Miss Pear and I! Her sinus infection seems to be finally getting a little bit better, and her energy level seems to be rebounding a bit too. So it feels like the end is finally in sight!

We played with friends this morning, and that made for an excellent nap after a morning of so much fun!

This afternoon we ran a quick errand to get milk and to gas the car up so that Mr. Pear would not have to tomorrow morning.

Now Miss Pear is hopefully in bed for the night (but I am not holding my breath as she is still stuffy which makes it hard to fall asleep), and I am just waiting for Mr. Pear's arrival home!

CVS Planning and Shopping on a Slow Week

We have been talking about saving money a lot on this blog lately, and I think that is for two reasons, first off, Crystal over at Money Saving Mom is talking about it exclusively and after taking her Supermarket Savings class I am determined to do a better job, so I am working on it a lot and I blog about what is going on, hence saving money. The second reason is that I have had emails back and forth with a few readers about getting started in saving money, a couple in particular about CVS. And when I was starting examples helped SO much.

So here is what I did this week. Keeping in mind I only went because we needed Little Noses Saline Drops for Miss Pear so that she can actually breathe!

I start my CVS planning by calculating how many ECB's I have to spend ($26.58) which ones need to be spent this week so they do not expire ($0), and if I have a gift card balance ($25). The gift card is from Miss Pear's prescription being filled on Monday as their current promotion is a $25 gift card with every new prescription, if you have the coupon.

Next I write down the items I will be picking up noting the cost, the coupons, and any ECB's they will generate.

Here is how this week's list looked:
5 x Gatorade and Propel (2 x $0.50 coupons) = $4 ($2 ECB)
1 x Tylenol Rapid Release Cold and Sinus $4.99 - $5 coupon = free
1 x Caress Body Wash $3.49 - $1 coupon = $2.49 ($2 ECB)
1 x Gillette Fusion Razor $9.99 - $2 coupon manufacturers coupon - $2 CVS Coupon = $5.99 ($5 ECB)
2 x Secret Deoderant $2.99each -2 x $0.50 coupons =$4.98
1 x Little Noses Saline Drops = $4.19

The nose drops were not on my list or part of my original calculations. Rather than recaluclate and try to make my ECB's work, I just decided to pay the overage with my gift cards as I had to run out the door to run my errands and be back for supper.

Total after sales and before coupons was: $33.64
(Savings from sales was $11.75)
Taxes were $0.67 for a total of: $34.31
Minus $4 of $20: $30.31
Minus Coupons ($12): 18.31
Minus 2 x $2 off $10: $14.31
Minus $10 ECB = $4.31

Which I paid with my gift card. If I had shopped from my list I would have owed less than $0.20, but like I said, we were out of saline drops, and I would have gone just for that! :-)

ECB's earned:$9
ECB's remaining from previous stash: $16.58
Gift Card total remaining: $20.96
Total savings this trip, not including $4.31 paid with gift card: $41.75
Plus another $4 off $20 printed

Not bad for what everyone is calling a very slow week for deals!

Two things to remember about CVS:
1. You can stack their coupons with manufacturer's coupons like I did on the razor, you get these store coupons on the bottom of your receipts with your ECB's.
2. You can stack $4 off 20 and $2 of $10 as long as you are indeed over those amounts and the codes on them are different. However if your order is $21 you cannot use 2 x $4 off 20 because after the first one your order was not over $20. The amount is after sales and before manufacturer's coupons. These are available on their web site occasionally, but usually you get them on the bottom of your receipt, in the mail, or on your email.

Hopefully this helps others with their planning, and I think they calculate their taxes on the taxable total after CVS coupons but before manufacturer's coupons.

Updated to add: The prescription coupon was in the fliers a while ago, plus our store was doing a promotion and handing them out this past week. Oh, and I also had them print out at the bottom of my receipt. You get a maximum of 4 cards.

Pavilions Soup Deal

This afternoon we were going stir crazy, plus we needed more saline nose drops, so we went to CVS (more on that later) which shares a parking lot with Pavilions, which has a branch of our bank in it, which I needed.

After doing our banking I decided to take advantage of the Progresso soup deal. Here is how it plays out:

5 Progresso Soup for $10
Minus the instant $5 savings if you buy 5 taking us to 5 soup for $5.
Minus the $0.50, $0.50, and $0.25 coupons I had from the paper with the first and last being doubled for an additional savings of $2.
So 5 soup for $3

Of course, our store is still doing the Grand Reopening 10% off your order bonus, so I received an additional $0.43 off bringing my order to $2.57, an 85% (or $14.38) savings, and we love soup when we are sick, like now.

You can get crackers instead of soup, but this is be best deal with the most savings as far as I could tell.

This deal is good until at least Wednesday as their sales run Wednesday to Wednesday, and, of course, you must have a store loyalty card. This deal is also being offered at Vons (confirmed), and I think Safeway too as they are all the same company.

Printable coupons $1 on 2 and $1 on 3 Progresso Light
and $1 off 2 Light
I could not find any printables for the regular, let me know if you do and I will update this!

Knitting Tips

I learned to knit two years ago, and I love it! Actually, I learned when I was in Brownies when I was younger, but did not really take to it, but now with a daughter to knit goodies for I wanted to learn again.

I quickly learned two tips that make knitting easier:

Casting On is always a challenge, it always wants to be loose! Makes me crazy! So if the pattern calls for #7 needles, I cast on with #6 needles, knit the first row on #6, and use a #7 on the second row. This results in much better results for me!

Casting Off has also been a challenge as sometimes it is just too tight! So for my cast off row I use a needle a size larger for my finishing row of stitches, in this example I would have my knitting on a size 7 needle, but be using one size 8 needle for my finishing row to make sure it was not pulling.

Works like a charm, and that works for me!

For more knitting tips I highly recommend my favorite books for knitting tips and instruction:
The Knitting Experience: Book 1: The Knit Stitch (The Knitting Experience)
The Knitting Experience: Book 2: The Purl Stitch (Knitting Experience Series)

It isn't working right....

I am very late for Kitchen Tip Tuesday, it is after 10PM, and I finally got my sick little stuffed up girl to sleep after using the saline drops and aspirator for the second time - hard to sleep when you cannot breathe (even with two pillows per the doctor's suggestion!)!

Any way, my kitchen tip is easy, and something I just benefited from. It is this:

Keep track of where all your small and large appliances were purchased, and if you have to buy new like we do, factor in follow up service before purchasing. And when the appliance is not working right, CALL, not matter how long it has been!

In our neck of the woods thrift stores are non-existent or antique stores, and yard sales are scarce. So we are left with saving up and buying new. But I like to make my money work well for us. Interestingly enough, my beloved Williams-Sonoma has been becoming more and more price competitive. This is important to me because for many things it is worth getting the good stuff to save money, time, energy, and frustration in the long run.

Let me just tell you the story to illustrate my point.

Two years ago we were given money for Christmas to get a rice cooker from Williams-Sonoma. It worked great for a while, but then the time delay function started acting funny. With all the chaos I just thought it was me. Well, chaos is over, and it is still acting funny, it is not me.

So I called, and today a brand new one arrived to replace my defective year and a half old one.

Small and large appliances are expensive, and more and more companies are recognizing that these purchases are ones that require sacrifice of hard earned money, so we take them seriously. As a result, regardless of what the warranty paperwork says, a lot of companies will stand behind their product. Also, companies like Williams-Sonoma are usually no more expensive for the same item, but will stand by it longer, check to see if they have the item. It will be worth it if it breaks.

And I am the happy new owner of a brand new fuzzy logic rice cooker!

While it may seem frivolous to have a rice maker, let me tell you, it helps me manage my kitchen so much better! I can set the rice up any time during the day, and then just set it to be ready for supper, one thing done ahead of time!

This might be a long week

We had a very long night as Miss Pear's cold suddenly got a whole lot worse during the night. So we took her to a doctor this morning, and it has turned into a sinus infection. So we are now on antibiotics, but it could be 48-72 hours before we see an improvement.

Plus Mr. Pear is leaving for a business trip today.

Either one of these makes for a long week.

Combined.....oh dear.

I am canceling all the things I had planned to occupy Miss Pear while Daddy is away plus our usual stuff (no play group this morning, no BSF tomorrow, and we will see about the Wednesday Costco trip, and Thursday morning play date.)

So much for my plans of getting the house back in shape because we were done being sick, and getting lots of writing done.....

I am trying very hard not to mope, and to look forward to the impromptu movie night I just planned, and to all the extra reading we will get to do, which means extra snuggling, which makes my mommy heart swell to twice the size. I just really hate it when my girl is sick, and we all dislike these business trips.

On the plus side, our pantry is well stocked, and our bookshelves are full, and we have medication that will put Miss Pear on the road to recovery, so we will be just fine.

Call me crazy...

(updated at the bottom)

...but I am really thinking about picking up more pears for canning at Henry's this week - they are on sale for 2 lbs for $1.

And we really like them canned.....

Plus, I will be right there because I need the green peppers that are on sale, plus they share a parking lot with Walgreens who is having a great deal on Tylenol this upcoming week.

I may just have to can more pears....is it strange that 25 pints of pears will not last the winter for a family of 3?

What is your favorite fruit to store for winter? What is your favorite method?

I love to freeze strawberries for jam and syrup, plus the pears of course...

Updated to add: Walgreens is not accepting this coupon for $5 off any Tylenol product on Benadryl product, regardless of what it says on the coupon.

And we did get a dozen pears for $2.18 so I will be canning more pears! :-)

Weekend Shopping Deals

This was just one of those shopping days where I had to share some of the great deals I found because we all need help finding those good ones! I don't have pictures like Crystal, but still had to share!

Oh, and we really did not need much (we have lots of milk and fruit from last week, and more fruit and veggies are the boring stuff noted), hence a few treats, plus Mr. Pear has business trips this week and next week, so I was planning a couple treats for Miss Pear and I as we miss him so much. (We have a couple "treat" items that I only get when they are free or at a rock bottom target price, so the timing was great!)

Pavillions (Vons/Safeway, sales good until Wednesday)

Supercoupon puts Cheerios at 3 for $3, then I had a coupon the doubled so -2 =$0.33 a box. Plus each box has a Pamper's coupon for $1.50 off, which of course I will be using!

Curve's Cereal are 2 for $4 minus the 2 x $1.1o coupons I printed from CouponPages.com, which were each doubled to $1 so I made $0.20.

Oh, and Lucky Charms (guilty secret) were 2 for $4 and I had a $1 off coupon that was doubled making them $1 each, the magic price to buy them at.

Best sale was buy 10 cans of Campbell's Tomato Soup for $6 minus coupons of $1.50 (2 x $0.50 coupons where one was doubled) for a total of $4.50 and when you buy the 10 cans of Tomato soup you get a free Theraflu for an additional savings of $5.79

Oh, and Jello Pudding is on for $1, and I need 4 to make the Hot Chocolate I will be giving Miss Pear's BSF teachers this Christmas (shhh, It's a secret!). Again, this is my target price for Jello Pudding.

I got some other boring stuff, and spent $24.72 (savings recorded at the bottom of my receipt was $70.05)

Albertson's

They have there buy 10 items for $25 deal on, and when you actually buy 10 they give you another $15 off, so 10 items for $10

I got:

3 x Betty Crocker Warm Delights Mini's 3 at $1 each minus 3 x $1 coupons = free
1 Betty Crocker Brownie Mix at $1 minus $0.40 coupon = $0.60
2 x Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls (fast Sunday morning breakfast) 2 at $1 each minus 2 x $0.3o coupons = $1.40
4 x Pillsbury Toaster Strudles (another quick Sunday Morning Breakfast and guilty secret) 4 at $1 each minus 4 x $0.50 coupons for a total of $2.00
So 10 items for $4.30

They had their 8 oz block of cheese on sale 3 for $4 with the super coupon, so we got that too.

Plus, the items I need to make the hot chocolate because they were on sale - Powdered Milk, Coffee Mate (big can was on sale for $4.99) and Jello pudding (I went here first, and if I had realized that the target price on Jello Pudding should be $1 I would NOT have bought it here!)

I paid with a gift card I was given by the store. So my shopping trip was free overall.

CVS

2 x Purell Hand Soaps @ $3.79 each, minus 2 x $1.50 coupons
2 x Palmolive Oxy Dishsoap @ 1.49 each, minus 2 x $.25 coupons
3 x Palmolive Dishsoap @ $1.49 each, minus 3 x $0.40 coupons
1 x Playtex tampons @ $4.99 minus $2.50 coupon
1 Muskateers chocolate bar $0.50 (I needed filler at the last minute)

Total after sales and before coupons:$20.52
Minus $4 off $20 coupon = $16.52
Minus manufacturer's coupons ($7.20)=9.32
Minus Extrabucks ($1,3,5.49)=-0.17
And taxes were $0.18
T0tal = $0.01

I still have $16.58 in ECB's from previous trips to use, plus I earned $10 from this shopping trip.

See Crystal for more shopping deals!

Frugal Friday - Coupon Bar Site

I am always on the hunt for a new coupon site. With so many now deciding that we Mac users are not worth their while (yeah, I'm talking about you Smart Source!) I am branching out!

While I have the list from Crystal's Supermarket Savings class, I am always looking to add more, and this week I stuck gold...er, coupons.

Coupon Bar is a great site that has a list of coupons, often of a higher value than I have seen elsewhere including the paper. You click on the link you want and you can print it!

Very helpful!

What is your favorite source for online coupons?

Definitely not rocket science

So we are still sick, and I still start too many posts with the word So.

And the decongestant we use for Miss Pear has been recalled. So I have a call into her pediatrician, but this reminds me that I have yet to decide on one in our new city.

And now I have to return a platter to a friend, and am loath to return it empty because that is just not polite. So what to do. Brain cells are all sleeping or want to be....then I looked out the window, and saw my lettuce!

My lettuce that needed to be harvested so that it would keep producing! Problem solved! I quickly picked a bag of lettuce and I am set!

Am I the only one who cannot return a platter/dish empty?

What do you usually do?

Katharina Von Bora: A Reformation Life

Before all the chaos of trying to manage Mr. Pear's 80 Mile commute, and then finally moving, and getting settled in our new home I read a book I wanted to tell you about, it was:

Katharina Von Bora: A Reformation Life

I loved reading about a woman of the reformation, how she was such an asset to her husband, how she cared for her family, and how she clearly and cleverly used her brain in each and every thing she did. The way she care for her family inspired me. The way she used everything she had on hand to the maximum potential and did without if they did not have it challenged me. And the way she practiced hospitality is nothing short of phenomenal.

She faced hardship with grace and determination, never forgetting exactly what her purpose was.

If you are looking for an excellent biography of a strong woman who was an integral part of the reformation by being a keeper at home, I cannot recommend this book highly enough! It is an excellent biography and is wonderfully written! It has solid scholarship behind it without the flat writing that usually accompanies scholarly writings, in fact, it is exceptionally easy to read!

From the reviews I have read this is the first comprehensive biography in English available about her, and is roundly praised as excellent.

What other wonderful biographies are out there? I loved reading about Katie Luther, and would love to read about other women of the reformation! Please include the full title so that I can hopefully find it too!

Entertainment for a sick family....

Oh, is it Wednesday? Oops.

I have had no idea what day it is all week, and that is just not like me! But the cold is not helping, and our daughter being sick is not helping either. But is quiet around here - I don't have a voice....

But there are a few children's books that are definitely helping us out right now (I am using the Amazon blocks so that you can see the pictures of the front of the book as that helps!):

Karma Wilson's Bear Series:
She is a Christian who in addition to some sweet Christian books writes a sweet series about Bear and his friends. This series is a favorite, and the new one fits us this week, it is:



Bear is sick, so his friends take care of him, and then they get sick so he takes care of them!

Also in the series is:



Her funny book:

is also helping a lot. We have yet to read a book of hers that we do not love. She has a great Christmas one too!

We are just hanging out and reading, those are at the top of the list as well as some great counting and ABC books that are only available in Canada for some reason, and a few others.

We are also reading lots of Lynley Dodd's Books:



Oddly enough, most of her books are only available in Canada and the U.K. very strange, but we love her anyways.

Of course, fatigue and crankiness has also driven is to the lovable:



Super Secret Super Spy is such a funny James Bond take off!

So while we are having fun, we are not exactly breaking intellectual records over here, hence the show and tell WFMW! Sometimes when we are sick we all need a little mindless entertainment! But I am getting lots of knitting done!

However we have managed to get our morning Bible reading in before we both run out of steam for the day!

What children's books could you read again and again?

(Oh, and I tried to hide the prices as I am not trying to advertise, just show you the covers of the books and DVD's, but Amazon is not letting me! So annoying.)

Passionate Housewives: Desperate for God Giveaway

Did you hear? Crystal is hosting a giveaway that will bless 10 readers with this book:

Head on over here to enter before October 13!

Kitchen Tips for Soup

So it is official, I start way to many posts with the word "So", but often edit it out in the end, and I am not in a rut, I am sick, again. We shared sinus colds before our trip home to visit, and now we are sharing the plugged up nose/chest colds. Sigh.

So today I punted my original meal plan and am making Italian Meatball Soup in the slow cooker using ground turkey for my meatballs.

But this got me thinking about the things I do that make soup making a snap!

Which naturally brings us to:

Soup Pasta

I love all those fancy little shaped pasta you can get now, and they often go on sale! When they do I stock up on alphabets, stars, orzo, and whatever other little shapes grab my fancy! But I hate having all those little open bags roaming around my cupboard! They are so unorganized, they spill, I forget what I have, little bugs can get into the bags, etc. It makes me a little bit nuts!

So I open one of each bag I want to be using, pour them all in a bowl, mix them, and then fill glass jars from things like mayonnaise, pasta sauce, etc. Then, when I make soup I just have to measure out the appropriate amount and I always have a variety!

Stock

When I make a roast chicken I keep all the bones, skin, etc that we would not eat, and use it to make stock. I usually just keep dumping parts into the slow cooker while I am carving the chicken and then let it simmer over night in the slow cooker so that I do not have to worry about finding room in the fridge for it. Then in the morning I cool it and freeze it in 1 cup portions as it usually ends up being very concentrated. Then when I make soup I pull out 1 cup, add about another 2-3 cups of water and I am set!

Soup Veggies

I am sure that I am not the only woman who as found vegetables that are still okay, but not the freshest variety around, and then realized that I cannot use them all up in time! When this happens I just chop them up and freeze them in soup sized portions. That way I am not throwing money away, and when I want to make soup I can just open my freezer and pull out vegetables that are ready to go! Sometimes I freeze a variety in one bag, sometimes I just freeze one thing, it all depends on what is in the fridge. (Plus I always keep diced tomatoes in the pantry and frozen veggies in the freezer for variety!)


I have to confess that I felt so horrible this morning that if it had not been for these tricks I would have been in big trouble today, but now we will have a healthy, hearty meal for supper. I will pair the soup with oatmeal bread!

What tips do you have for making homemade soup easier?

In a Rut...or maybe just tired

I am feeling like I am in a rut.

My household schedules are off kilter but things are still getting done.

Our suppers are still nutritious, but nothing really sounds that great.

Grocery shopping is becoming a chore, costs are discouraging, and this article certainly did not help me muster any encouragement (although it is nice to know it is not me!)

My quiet time is flat, but I keep with it, and do my BSF lesson.

My books don't interest me, Miss Pear's books don't interest me which is depressing because we found some great ones on vacation.

Our vacation was great, but I just cannot get motivated to blog about it.

I was writing the freezer series with plans to make it into an e-book, and as you may have noticed, postings are vague on that.

I am working on the book we had the contest for, and well, don't ask.

The whole redoing of my library list has stalled as those books don't interest me when I pick them up.

I have a list of great books for children that I was going to blog about, and obviously that has not happened.

I think I am in a rut.

Actually I cannot figure out if I am in a rut or just run down from being sick and sharing illnesses for over two weeks, then going on a whirl wind vacation home, getting home tired, then Miss Pear getting sick again, then Mr. Pear getting sick and here we are. Oh, and when we got home I had to do something with the pears we got on sale that were not ripe before our vacation but almost too ripe when we got back - hence 6lbs made into pear butter and 22 canned into 15 pint jars.

Maybe I am just run down, that would be better than being in a rut.

And a rut is not good, I have so much to do! Lack of motivation or interest is not good as I have so much to do!

On the plus side, my sweet neighbor has invited me to Project Wednesday - a two hour thing about every second or third Wednesday where she gets together with another friend to get stuff done. This week is scones and pie crusts.

So we are getting out of the house - an hour Monday morning for play group, BSF Tuesday mornings and the occasional Wednesday. The nice thing about Monday and Wednesday is I still have time to do our household chores before we go!

So any ideas on how I snap out of this???? It is lethal now that we are in the Official Holiday Season (in our house it starts with Canadian Thanksgiving and ends with New Year).

Menu Plan Monday October 6-13

We are Canadians living in the US so we like to celebrate both Thanksgivings. With the cold bug in our house again we are planning on celebrating on Wednesday - two days late, but not bad.

We are also just back from vacation, and HONESTLY! We got home Monday, had BSF Tuesday morning and long naps Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday I had to can the pears I bought before we went on vacation that did not ripe - 6 lbs into pear butter, 22 pears into canned pears, and Thursday Miss Pear woke up sick, which took care of Thursday and Friday. Sunday Mr Pear woke up sick and I woke up tired, again. So the menu plan is to take it very easy on myself and make life easy!

I am also making a concerted effort to keep Saturdays light too. Nice family day is the goal!

Saturday

Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - Sandwiches
Supper - Pizza

Sunday

Breakfast - Toast and cereal
Lunch - Pizza Rolls
Supper - Meatballs with Pineapple sauce and rice

Monday

Breakfast** - Toast and cereal
Lunch - Cheesy Noodles
Supper - Italian Skillet (freezer)

Tuesday

Breakfast - Granola and Yogurt
Lunch - Sandwiches
Supper - Asian Beef Kabobs

Wednesday

Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - Hopefully Asian Beef Leftovers.....
Supper - Canadian Thanksgiving - Chicken with dressing, mashed sweet potatoes, carrots, rolls, and Mars Bar Square for dessert


Thursday

Breakfast - Granola and Yogurt
Lunch - Chicken salad sandwiches
Supper - Slow cooker French Toast Casserole (Cannot find the link, but have messed with it so much the original poster may not recognize it anyways!) with a side of pears I canned all on my own!

Friday

Breakfast - cereal
Lunch - French Toast leftovers
Supper - Cheesy crock pot macaroni and veg

Saturday

Breakfast - cereal and toast
Lunch - Not sure, I think I have a baby shower to attend in the morning which would mean sandwiches
Supper - Something nice and easy.....

Breads
3 Flour Bread~
Winnipeg Rye Bread (recipe is getting close, just a bit more tweaking!)
Oatmeal Bread ~


Cookies
Mrs. U's gingersnaps
Chocolate Crinkles
Lemon Cookies
Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin
Granola Chips
Fruit Cocktail Cookies

Loaves and Muffins
Tropical Muffins
Banana Berry Muffins
Berry Oat Muffins
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins
Banana Oatmeal Muffins

Other
Mars Bar Square
Granola
Granola Bars

~ from the More with Less Cookbook (can be found on my sidebar if you want to check it out) I am trying to cook through this cookbook a bit, so I am trying to make one thing a week from it but am really not being successful at that with all that is going on.
** During the week it is just Miss Pear and I for lunch, so we eat some strange lunches....

Eddie Bauer Sale

Okay, I know, I never blog on the weekend unless it CANNOT WAIT!

Don't tell Mr. Pear, but I did some Christmas shopping for him that will be from my parents.

Eddie Bauer is having their fall sale, and the jeans are the best price they every offer, and then only once or twice a year!

Jeans are on sale for buy one get one 50% off. These are the only jeans Mr. Pear likes as he is tall enough that finding great fitting pants is not the easiest thing in the world, and they last for ages!

Then if you buy pants, the belts are $5 off. And guess who needs a new black belt.....

So I did great shopping with Mom's money, and she is thrilled, and come Christmas, so will Mr. Pear!

They have a lot of other stuff on sale too, but this was the only part that interested me, and it was such a great deal I had to share.....

Oh, and I am almost done my Christmas shopping too, please excuse me while I do my dance of joy!

Mars Bar Square

One of our favorite desserts that I make for special occasions is Mars Bar Square. In the US you will probably have to substitute Milky Way bars as I have never been able to find the Mars bars with the black and red labels, so we import them when we go back to visit and when company comes down! I plan on making this for Christmas again this year! Oh, and you can double the recipe quite easily so it actually makes it to Christmas!

Mars Bars Squares

4 x Mars candy bars cut up
1/2 cup butter
3 cups Rice Crispies

Topping
1 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup butter

To make the cake: Heat candy bars and butter together to melt in a large sauce pan, stirring often, until melted. Remove from heat and mix in Rice Crispies. Stir to coat cereal.

Press into greased 9x9 pan

Melt chocolate chips and butter in a small sauce pan over low heat or in a double boiler until melted and smooth. Spread over cake.

Let cool and cut into small squares as a little goes a long way!


This is recipe is incredibly easy, especially when you taste the results! And it freezes well, should it actually last that long!


Updated to add: If you can get the Mars Bars that do not have almonds in them, that are black labels with red writing, those are the ones you want! If you find them in California please let me know where, I have been looking for over 8 years! If you cannot find them then you can substitute the Milky Ways, or do what I do and beg for your family and friends in Canada to take pity on you! :-)

Cold Supply Savings and Rebate

The topic of cold supplies is currently near and dear to my heart. Before we went on vacation I got a horrible sinus cold, and then Miss Pear got it, and we were very grateful for our stash of cold supplies and kleenex.

Our vacation was wonderful, and we were healthy the whole time! Even flying was not a problem with our recovering sinuses!

However, we got home Monday afternoon, and yesterday Miss Pear woke up with a horrible stuffy nose. She caught the cold the baby sitting next to us on the way home had. And it is all in her nose.

I am so grateful for our stash of cold supplies as I did not have to run out and buy anything full price.

But it did make me want to revisit this post from earlier in the week.

CVS had the special on cold supplies, and I shared that this was my shopping:

2 x Advil cold and sinus ($4 each - $2 coupon Crystal links to)
2 x Robitussin ($6 each - $3 coupon Crystal links to)
2 x Crest Prohealth ($3.29 each - $1 in this past weekend's P&G coupon insert)
1 x Dawn ($0.99 each - $0.50 coupon in this past weekend's P&G coupon insert)
1 pair Save the Day glasses selected by Miss Pear - Children's Binoculars - $3.99 on sale for $0.39, and my girl picked them out all on her own, already she can spot a good deal!

Total before coupons, after sales was $27.96.

After coupons $15.46

Minus ECB of $14.95

Pre tax total of $0.51

Tax was $1.01

So I paid $1.52 for what was originally $44.63 before sales, coupons, and ECB's.

Plus I have $10 in ECB's for the Advil and Robitussin, $6.58 in ECB's from the Crest, and $3 in ECB from my third quarter spending.

(The links I refer to are available in the original post by Crystal)

When I went through the coupons for the two weeks we were gone I found a rebate form from the makers of Robitussin and Advil in the 9/23 coupons. If you buy 3 products you can get a $5 rebate! This just made the deal all that much sweeter! (If you buy 2 products you get $2 back)

So if you took advantage of this offer at CVS this week - check your coupon flier!

If you have not yet taken advantage of it yet, might I suggest you do?

As always, Crystal has some great tips over at her site for Frugal Friday!

Update: I have been searching to find the rebate form online, and I am striking out. I know that it was in the 9/23 paper, and that they are selling them on ebay, and maybe coupon clipper has them, but again, you have to pay. I cannot find a free source. Sorry!

The quick post vacation shop

When we returned from our vacation we needed fruit and milk. I could complete our menu from the pantry and freezer as long as I had those items (the joy of a well stocked pantry and freezer meals!)

So without further ado we headed to Pavilions to shop. And for those of you saying that without CVS it is hard to get the really good savings, let me share my shop with you!

In order of my receipt:

Scott Extra Soft Toilet double roll paper 4 pack - regular $3.69 on for $3.50 minus $0.75 coupon that was doubled. Total $2.00

Milk - not on sale, no coupons $4.59

Minute Maid Frozen Drinks - 4 @ $1.50 each (savings of $1 total) Total $6

Hawaiian Mango Juice $1.50 (savings of $0.49)

Natural Yogurt 4 pack - regular price $2.59 on sale for $1.69 minus $1 coupon, doubled up to maximum value of item, so the yogurt was free.

Lysol Toilet Bowl cleaner - BOGO, so 2 for $3.29, minus first $0.50 coupon which was doubled, minus second $0.50 coupon for a total of $1.79

Plus our apples, bananas, and grapes.

Then there is a promotion where they take 10% off your total order.

Total coupon savings: 4.69
Total sales savings: 11.44

Grocery total: $20.88

This was with a list of milk and fruit in my head, and a quick glance in the flier on my way in. I have been watching for the minute maid to go on sale, and try to buy a 4 pack of toilet paper whenever I can get it at or below $0.50 a roll after coupons (pretty much the best price around here).

This time my savings were 44%. I used to be thrilled with a number like that, now my goal is over 60% savings with nothing less than 50% at the grocery store. By planning my menu with what I have on hand, then shopping the sales to stock my pantry and freezer this is usually achievable. I still shop at Costco for groceries as well, but watch for prices that are better as it does happen once in a while.


If you have an Albertson's in your area, and you live in California (possibly other states too), there are some great sales from 1-9PM today only:

$1.49 per pound if you buy 5 lbs or more of fresh, boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 lbs of bananas for $1
2 x 8 oz blocks of Albertson's cheese for $3.

So you know what i will be doing after supper.....

To Do List Update

On Tuesday, about 24 hours ago I posted this to do list:

To Do list for the week in no particular order:

• Last load of laundry - done
  
• Ironing
  
• BSF lesson daily along with quiet time daily! - so far so good
  
• Sort all clothing into fits now and is too big for Miss Pear
  
• Baking bread, muffins, cookies, granola and granola bars (we are out of stock from being too hot and then sick!)
• Plan Thanksgiving Menu for Canadian Thanksgiving (Monday)
  
• Canning Pears (they were too green before we left but are now just right) - done
  
• Making pear butter (same excuse as above for not being done before) - in process
  
• Find top of desk - it likes to disappear on me.
• Purchase and organize binders for: BSF, BSF for Miss Pear, Gardening, Homeschooling Resources for Future, Homeschooling things to be working on now (Children's Catechism, BSF memory verses and hymns, guess this can be with Miss Pear's BSF binder)
  
• Type up recipes still waiting to be typed
• Sort through Christmas present purchases already made and make shopping lists (we start the official Christmas shopping season with Canadian Thanksgiving, even though much shopping has been done throughout the year, and wrap it up for American Thanksgiving so we do not have to brave the crowds and can focus on enjoying the season! - in process
  
• Write tons of thank-you notes for gifts, hospitality and wonderful kindness from our trip
• Restore general order to house including some extra cleaning - in process
  
• Start new daily schedule
• Update cleaning schedule to include zones
• Finally organize the guest room closet
• Update crafting lists
• Finish the afghan for my parents for Christmas (shh, it's a secret, and will not likely be done this month, but I keep putting it on the list so I work on it!)

Well, here are some of the things I got done yesterday afternoon and this morning:

• Trip to CVS - unplanned but worthwhile yesterday afternoon
• Canned 15 pints of pears, and all of them sealed!
  
• Delivered thank you gift to our neighbors who looked after our house
  
• Pear Butter is simmering in the slow cooker and should be done around supper tonight
• We did that last load of laundry yesterday
• We almost started our new schedule - Miss Pear is really out of sorts and tired after the time changes and too much on the go fun.
• I did my quiet time yesterday and our devotional time today, something I am making a priority so that it gets done in a relaxed fashion and not on the go in a rush!
• I have started thinking about Christmas presents and looking at what I have and still need, no lists though
• Some cleaning to get back on track, but a long ways to go.

Basically I am making this list to make myself realize that I lots has been done, even though I look around and see much more to do!

Thank you to all of you who are answering my WFMW question, you are encouraging me so much!

WFMW - Homeschooling Hopeful

I am thrilled that today is Backwards WFMW! I have a question! Actually I have a couple questions!

We feel the Lord impressing upon us that His plan for us is to home school. This is big because my husband went to private Christian school, and I was in the public schools, and we just assumed we would use one of the same methods, but the Lord is showing us that He wants us to do something different. While my husband's mom is supportive as she sees this as us doing the best we can for our daughter, the rest of our family is either un-supportive or outright resistant. They sight socialization as concerns or view this as us just trying to be rebels and do things differently because we like to do things differently (I think this refers to how we live as Christians, but am not sure, it might just refer to us not doing things precisely as that family member would like).

So how do you handle this lack of family support?

We do not have a good model for home schooling, no one we know does it. So we are just feeling around right now. Our daughter is 28 months, so we read a lot, are doing BSF together which means we are learning hymns together as well as scripture memory. We also have our morning Bible reading time and are working on the Children's Catechism which is a simple version of the Westminster Catechism.

What other ideas do you have for us?

What curriculum companies / publishers would you recommend checking out?

And finally, what would your best advice be to us?

Money Saving Mom

Crystal over at Biblical Womanhood, who is the queen of maximizing your family's grocery and household budget, has started a new blog - Money Saving Mom, and she has some great stuff on there!

One thing she shared before we left for vacation was the CVS for beginners, or as she calls it, CVS 101 which is a tremendous help if you are just getting started there!

I was going to skip CVS this week because today was really the only day I would have the car and be able to go, and did not have time to sort through the flier and two weeks of coupons that have not been clipped yet! But I read this post and Crystal graciously did all the work for me!

So following what is now # 2 and 3 (#1 was added after my shopping trip) I got the following:

2 x Advil cold and sinus ($4 each - $2 coupon Crystal links to, I printed 2)
2 x Robitussin ($6 each - $3 coupon Crystal links to, I printed 2)
2 x Crest Prohealth ($3.29 each - $1 in this past weekend's P&G coupon insert, I had 2)
1 x Dawn ($0.99 each - $0.50 coupon in this past weekend's P&G coupon insert)
1 pair Save the Day glasses selected by Miss Pear - Children's Binoculars - $3.99 on sale for $0.39, and my girl picked them out all on her own, already she can spot a good deal!

Total before coupons, after sales was $27.96.

After coupons $15.46

Minus ECB of $14.95

Pre tax total of $0.51

Tax was $1.01

So I paid $1.52 for what was originally $44.63 before sales, coupons, and ECB's.

Plus I have $10 in ECB's for the Advil and Robitussin, $6.58 in ECB's from the Crest, and $3 in ECB from my third quarter spending.

Nothing so sweet as home

We are home! We had a wonderful time!

Travel was fine with no flight delays of consequence, a happy flying child who would like to request that all planes be blue, pleasant flight attendants, and just enough time in the airports to find our gate and get the wiggles out.

Our visit was a treat, we got to see so many of the special people in our lives, and had a great time. (More details to come)

I realized that aside from people, most of what I miss most about Canada can be fit into the categories of season changes, things I eat, and things I wear. So we stocked up on all of it, and introduced Miss Pear to the joys of jumping in piles of leaves. On the plus side, the leaves were nicely mulched and compacted for raking (a snow shovel skimmed along the grass works great too!).

As much fun as we had, it was a special joy to return home Monday afternoon.

So far we have:

• Finished all but one load of laundry - new red sweatshirt and dress need special handling
• Attended BSF this morning
• Picked up the milk and fruit (along with free yogurt, toilet paper (at my target price of $0.50 a roll) and toilet bowl cleaner (below my target price of $1.50).
• Planned a menu exclusively from the pantry and freezer
• Unpacked all the suitcases - bit of organization still needed

To Do list for the week in no particular order:

• Last load of laundry
• Ironing
  
• BSF lesson daily along with quiet time daily!
  
• Sort all clothing into fits now and is too big for Miss Pear
  
• Baking bread, muffins, cookies, granola and granola bars (we are out of stock from being too hot and then sick!)
• Plan Thanksgiving Menu for Canadian Thanksgiving (Monday)
  
• Canning Pears (they were too green before we left but are now just right)
• Making pear butter (same excuse as above for not being done before)
• Find top of desk - it likes to disappear on me.
• Purchase and organize binders for: BSF, BSF for Miss Pear, Gardening, Homeschooling Resources for Future, Homeschooling things to be working on now (Children's Catechism, BSF memory verses and hymns, guess this can be with Miss Pear's BSF binder)
  
• Type up recipes still waiting to be typed
• Sort through Christmas present purchases already made and make shopping lists (we start the official Christmas shopping season with Canadian Thanksgiving, even though much shopping has been done throughout the year, and wrap it up for American Thanksgiving so we do not have to brave the crowds and can focus on enjoying the season!
• Write tons of thank-you notes for gifts, hospitality and wonderful kindness from our trip
• Restore general order to house including some extra cleaning
  
• Start new daily schedule
• Update cleaning schedule to include zones
• Finally organize the guest room closet
• Update crafting lists
• Finish the afghan for my parents for Christmas (shh, it's a secret, and will not likely be done this month, but I keep putting it on the list so I work on it!)
  

I am not confident that this is a complete list, but it does get me focused on getting moving!

So I am back, but playing vacation catch up.

But oh, it was worth it!