Post

I have about a dozen rough drafts of various subjects in my blog, but I never finish them. I either feel like I sound way to pompous or I just can't express in words what I want to say.

This post isn't meant to express any opinion on any political issue but to perhaps address how we treat each other.

Christ calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves. Are we doing that when we treat people with a different lifestyle as if they are a leper? This can go any direction that you can image. Towards someone with less expensive clothes, hair unkempt, maybe smells, has the fanciest accessories, wears a lot of makeup, men with long hair, and the list goes on.

It even means treating homosexuals with love and kindness. You don't have to agree with someone's lifestyle in order to be kind to them. In fact, I think that is just the point. Let me tell you a recent story to hopefully let you know what I mean.

My husband and I were on vacation to Jamaica. On the plane from Miami, I noticed to ladies sitting next to each other in the first class part of the plane. They were obviously more than just friends. I didn't think much of it as we shuffled pass to get to our seat in coach. I also remember an older gentleman with long grey hair, another man of Mexican descent desperately trying to get his extremely large carryon into the overhead bin, and more. The point is that I remember lots of people from the plane. But I really remember the ladies, because we ended up taking the shuttle to the resort with them and being in the same waiting room with them and three other couples as we waited for them to get our paperwork in order and everything signed. We also ended up visiting with them, a couple of different times during our 6 night stay. They have four children and were from the New York area. They had a heavy accent, which I loved. Being from the Midwest and never traveling much it is always a treasure to hear another regions accent. One of them was brave enough to jump off a cliff on an excursion, the other was not so brave, but I almost blame my husband and I for scaring her as we met a man who jumped and bruised his legs severely. Overall they were a very nice couple, just like the many other couples that we met on our trip.

We tell stories of the other couples that we met on the trip. The first was from Conneticut and had children, another was just the two of them and she was a prosecuting attorney. We even met another gal with the same name as mine who was a newlywed from Texas. But we don't tell stories about the ladies. The reason is other people's reaction. Some don't even like being in the same area as a homosexual let alone have a conversation and get to know them. I am a firm Christian and I will not be taking any political stance because that isn't what this is about. It is about shining the love of Jesus on everyone for the whole world to see and obeying his command to love each other as we love ourselves. We never were given the opportunity to share the gospel with them, but sometimes that isn't God's plan. Sometimes we are just a glimpse at what a Christian life is, Love. Not hate or bias. Christ died for all of us and I want to keep the doors wide open for Christ to use me to spread that message. They will know that we are Christians by our LOVE.

We did it!

We are not a special couple and what we have accomplished, many have done and will also do. It isn't the goal of life, but it was a goal of ours. We are out of house debt. This little beauty is all ours, less the taxes we will owe each year and the endless repairs, upgrades, and changes we will make in the years to come. But let's not focus on all the negative, rather the positive. We no longer will have to pay a house payment.

I know that this goal seems so far off for many people, and honestly it should. A house purchase is a huge investment, usually the biggest that we will make in our lives. So how were we able to do it at such a young age (I am 26)?

Here are some of the key defining factors as to how this was possible. All were a gift from God and without His help and guidance, honestly it wouldn't have become a reality.

1. We sold two homes already in our life time, both of which we walked away with a fair amount of cash from. This was possible because we continually upgrade, and renovate our homes, doing the work ourselves saved a ton of money that we were able to pocket when the house sold.

2. Our current home purchase price was probably less than a 1/3 of what we could afford according to the bank, who doesn't really care if you are stuck with that "affordable" payment for the next 30 years of your life.

3. Cheaper home=cheaper taxes every year. This payment to the local government never goes away and we were well aware of that when choosing this home.

4. I decided to become a stay at home mom, so we decided to cut our costs. The house was the only thing that would actually make a difference if we could reduce that. So we purchased a cheaper home. It would not be paid off however, if that was all that happened, at least not this fast, it would have taken another 2 years or so. But my husband obtained a better paying job. (more on this the next point)

5. My husband has a better paying job now. We still live off of his previous income. That means we don't spend more than we did before. The extra money we put towards savings and debt reduction.

There is more, but I will detail that later and include our monthly budget as well.

Digging Ourselves Out- The MASTER PLAN

If you have been following along, this is part 3 of the Digging Ourselves Out post. In this part I am going to give you our plan for getting ourselves out of debt. While everyone's situation is different, I hope that by sharing this it can inspire you to make better decisions for yourselves, so that you may also become financially free.

May 2010- I graduate from college. I am unable to find a great paying job in my desired city. We move back to our hometown area. I am making more money than my husband now, but he isn't able to find a job right away. This is okay, though because we were able to move in with my in-laws and they had enough room to accommodate our family of four.

October 2010- We find a home of our own. It is near the top of our price range, but it was the best choice at the time. Looking back I realized was far too picky. I also quit my job at this time, as my husband has found a full time job that pays better with health care, and we are now expecting baby #3. (I did not quit my job just because he found a job. It was a crap job.)

May 2011- Baby #3 is born.

June 2012- I start working outside the home. I am ready to work, and we found care that we can trust for our children. With this job I pay half to daycare, and the other half, as diligently as I can, I put towards student loan payments.

March 2013- I quit my job for a couple of reasons, the biggest of which- I missed being at home with my children. Looking to the future, we are going to be living off of one income, in a house that is stretching our budget too thin. We make the decision to sell our home, and search for a less expensive one in the area.

June 21, 2013- We find a foreclosed home that is half of the price of our current home. It needs work but we are very handy, and a lot has already been done by the bank. Downside- we are now making two payments. Thankful that we have savings.

August 2013- My husband lands his dream job. He now works for the union making literally twice as much as he was at the last place.

October 2013- Our home sells, and we are given the proceeds, which was a lot- given that we put a lot of work into our first home. We put most of that money into our new home mortgage- About a third of the house cost.

Now that you have our history here is OUR PLAN: My husband now makes twice as much. Save half of his income, and live off the other half. We were already able to have a comfortable life with his previous income, and even more so now that we have a cheaper home. That half that we have been saving, we have split into saving and debt. We now make double payments on our house, and will have it paid off by the end of 2014. Our student loan debt, our only other debt outside the mortgage, will be paid off by June of 2015.

We could have chosen at some point to just spend more, to get nice new vehicles, better house, and everything else we wanted. But we have chosen to spend it on debt, and honestly, it feels better. Each month I can breathe easier knowing that our debt is going away, far far away, hopefully never to come back again.

Digging Ourselves Out Part 2

I mentioned our education debt last time, but this time I want to focus on our debt as a whole.

To start with, we do not have credit card debt. I have my parents to thank for that. They helped me apply for my own credit card when I left to go to college in Montana, far from home in Eastern South Dakota. They only gave this to me for emergency use. They were very strict about it, and warned me to not buy anything with my credit card that I didn't absolutely need. So there is our credit card story. We use our credit cards now when traveling, or making large purchases, all things that we have the money for in our checking account. We just use the credit card for the cash back for things we already have the money for.

Second, we do not have any loans on our vehicles, and never have. This was out of luck, but also out of realistic expectations. We knew it would be in our best interest to buy our cars with cash and not buy more than we could afford with cash. The luck part was that my husband bought a house before we got married, put equity into the house, then we sold the house, and used the proceeds to buy our vehicles. IMPORTANT! We did not go out the next day and buy two cars. In fact my husband was still forced by his frugal wife to bear with the current crappy car he had until it stopped working all together. We also did not spend all of the money on the cars. We bought two cars, spaced about a year apart, several months after the house sale, with far less than the entire proceeds.

It makes me sad to know that there are so many people out there struggling with debt and with spending and saving. I think that Dave Ramsey put it really well when he said

"We buy things we don't need, with money we don't have, to impress people we don't even like"

 

I hope that this can encourage some of you to avoid using that dreadful credit card on things you don't need. Next time I will give you our plan to getting out of debt. 

Digging Ourselves Out

Like so many people our age, we have DEBT. The word just disgusts me, but for the most part, this debt was inevitable. Now I said for the most part, because there are things that we could have done earlier in our lives that would have helped ease this current burden, but we were young, much too young to realize the importance of saving and being frugal. After all we didn't have kids yet, and I did what I was told, which was go to college.

Let's talk about college. Because this decision has played a major role in my life. If I could do it over again, I would still go and do pretty much everything exactly the same. But I was left with debt.
Here is what I have learned from that:

1. Only borrow what you need to go to school. Do not borrow enough so you can get a PS4, or to have just some extra money laying around. You are paying major interest on this money, and you should only take what you ABSOLUTELY NEED. Like Books and Class. Also, and this should go without saying, but I will say it anyways. APPLY FOR GRANTS AND SCHOLARSHIPS! My husband went to a tech school and only he and one other guy applied for the scholarships the school was handing out. That worked better for him, he got more money, but it was sheer laziness why the other guys didn't apply. It doesn't hurt to try, but it will hurt you if you don't.

2. Work. If you can, which pretty much everyone can, find a job and work while you go to school. Everyone says that they can't get a job, because school just takes too much of their time, and if they had to work their grades would suffer. These are also the same people that would frequent the bars and frat parties. They had time for that apparently. SOAPBOX WARNING: I was a wife with two children while I attended school, and my grades were better than my peers, far better, and that is because I used my time wisely. And by time, I mean the small amount of time that I got after my kids went to bed and before I went to bed.

3. Save. If you are working, then save, save every penny that you can. Because when you get done with school, you are going to have to find a job, which will probably require you to move to another city, which will cost money, and if your loans were deferred until you graduated you only have 6 short months to get your budget lined up to accommodate these new loan payments you will have to make. SHOCKER! You may not be able to find a great paying job in your field immediately after you graduate. You may have to put in some time at a lower level position somewhere, that pays crap, until you get experience or your big break and land you dream job. I was at the top of my class, but because the economy was tanking, no one was hiring. Saving money while in school will ease this stress.

I know that the information above should be a no-brainer, but I hope there is someone out there that can benefit hearing it from someone who has come through to the other side.

Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies

These cookies are yummy, with just the right amount of sweetness.

Ingredients
3/4 cup butter softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups quick-cooking or regular rolled oats
1-3/4 butterscotch chips

(this is the same recipe found on the back of the Hershey's Butterscotch Chips bag)

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F
2. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar in a large bowl until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat well. Combine Flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until well blended. Stir in oats and butterscotch chips. Mix well
3. drop by heaping teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly, remove from cookie sheet onto wire rack
 Makes about 4 dozen cookies

**It took me between 11-13 minutes for baking.**

Gallery Wall 2

Besides enjoying the beautiful outdoor weather, I have been busy creating another gallery wall for my living room this time. This one took a little longer, as I had to move furniture and take down a tv before I could start.

I did not take pictures of the process but I have the end result.

 

To begin, I took frames that I had in my Thrift Store find Collection. I laid them out on the floor and then decided to add a piece of my art. Taking color inspiration from the art and other pieces in the room (that you cannot see in the picture) I chose my colors. I painted the frames separating the colors and mixing them up a bit.

I saw this idea on Pinterest: take newspaper, cut out the shape of your frames, mark on the paper where the nails need to go, then tape to the wall. I did this and it was awesome. I was able to tape them to the wall, like I had them on the floor, then after getting them all taped, I stepped back. I was able to see that overall it would be better to raise the entire collage up about 8 inches. and that was easy to do with tape. Once I had it where I wanted them, I simply nailed through the paper right on the spot, and peeled the paper off. (I also used 3M picture hanging strips that are like Velcro for the mirror and smallest upper right frame, as these two did not have a hanger on the back, and it worked great) Yes it took extra time to start to cut out the paper (I did not do a perfect job, and it was still fine) but overall I think it saved me time and a lot of headaches.

I left openings for future installments, because my family never slows down!

Happy Crafting!

Gallery Wall

Today I am going to tell you about one of my past projects, my gallery wall! My inspiration came from a pin on pinterest, where a lady purchased old frames from the Thrift Stores and painted them the colors she wanted. So taking that idea, I headed out.

Found the frames and the mirror, for less that $1.00 each, and I believe the total price was less than $5.00 for everything (excluding the picture prints) So here is the break down.

I picked out which frames I wanted to use that would fill the space nicely. Next I picked four colors I liked together, grey, coral, teal. and cream. Using these four colors I painted the frames.

How I made the "Z". I have seen a lot of different string art on pinterest, and found some aqua yarn in my stash. First I found the "Z" that I wanted to make online. Then using my ruler I recreated it on a piece of paper the same size as the board. (the board was the back of a frame that has a boy blowing bubbles.) Once I had my letter Z drawn out, I measured evenly around it where the nails should go, then I taped it onto my board, hammered in small nails, then wrapped the string around the nails to give the look I wanted. (When wrapping the yarn around the nails, it was mostly trial and error, if I liked it that portion stayed, if I didn't like it I would undo some and redo it until I did like it) I used 3M strips that come off clean (the velco kind) to hang it on the wall.

How I made the chevron. I own a miter saw, which makes this much easier, but there are other ways to do it as well. Here's how I did it. I had left over 1"X2" wood from a previous project. All of the angles are 45 degrees and if you look carefully all of the angles go the same way. So I cut 6 pieces the same length, with 45 degree angles on each end. To assemble I used a biscuit joiner and wood glue. IF you don't have one of these, or even know what that is, you may be able to find something (such a metal plate) at your hardware store to attach them all together in the chevron shape. Then I painted it, drilled two holes into the back for hanging on the wall. (You could also use the 3M strip here as well)

Excited to start working on my next gallery wall!

The Dirty Diaper Resolution

I regret to inform you that I can no longer find the link that I used to potty train my child. But I do remember the process and if you use a search engine and say you want to potty train a child in 2-3 days there are several places to check out.

So here is the method that I used. My daughter was just one week shy of her 3rd birthday. I had the time and energy to do it, so I went for it. Starting on Monday morning, after breakfast, I took my daughters diaper off, and left her bare bottom. I told her to use the potty if she needed to. I made a simple "Good Job" potty chart with a marker, one sheet of notebook paper, and a package of stickers.

Now here is the boring part. I sat with her the entire morning. Watching her, following her, so that if she started going I could rush her to the little potty chair I placed downstairs. (our only bathroom is upstairs) In addition every 15-20 minutes I would tell her to try to use the potty. (I gave her a sticker for trying as well, as she is a stubborn child and didn't want to sit until I offered up that reward)

After a few hours of nothing (hey! at least no accidents!) She finally did it! Then, now this is me and my idea, I gave her a little candy treat. (This method of treat giving worked for the first two children, although it sometimes back fires later when you try to take the treat away) I figured at this point I would deal with that later.

It has been two weeks and for the most part she is doing really well. No #2 on the potty yet, but that will come. We put a pull up on her when we drive in the car, or to church, but she treats it like underwear so it works for now.

This method may not work for you, every child is different. All three of my children were, are, different, but I hope that this will give you encouragement to try something new in your adventure into potty training.

The Dirty Diaper Conundrum

Conundrum:

A riddle whose answer is or involves a pun or unexpected twist

A logical postulation that evades resolution, an intricate and difficult problem

So here I am, a 25 year old, intelligent (or at least that is what my diploma said), mother of three beautiful children, taking on what could be the most difficult task in the last 6 years of my life. Potty Training my youngest daughter.

First off, do not tell a parent how to handle a parenting situation with something that you read somewhere. No matter how intellectual the source. Second, if you don't have children, or have not yet gone through what they are experience, your thoughts are useless. I mean the above two in the most loving way, because as you will soon learn, once you have kids, and have read a couple of books, its that you actually still will know nothing of this parenting game.

You could have 100 kids, and each one of them would be different. How they respond to discipline, how they get potty trained. There is no FORMULA! For me as a math nerd is terrifying and exciting. Trying to figure out a solution

*** Update! I only made this article as a draft and never posted it, but I thought it would be good now to do so. As of right now we are successfully getting our daughter to use the potty! I will add to the next post as to exactly how I did that and my inspiration!***

Here we Go again!

So after a 3 month break of crazy house renovations, I am back. Although I don't like blogging, I feel so full of myself doing so, I do like to share my success and failures of projects to hopefully inspire others.

I have been busy with many projects but this post for now is just a reintroduction. So what is to come? Well art projects mostly, renovation progress, and a kitchen island.
So lets get started.

To be or Not to be... A Vegetarian that is.

For the month of February I have decided to take on a vegetarian style diet. I was hoping to gather information such as energy level, mood, and weight loss and compare it to the diet we usually eat as a family. Here are the results thus far.

Day 1: February 1
  I had cereal with milk for breakfast and then made it until 11:30 when I finally had chicken pot pie. Completely forgetting that I couldn't eat meat.

Day 2: February 2
  Cereal for breakfast then off to church. It was potluck after lunch and sure enough being a small town Minnesota church, there was only meat and noodle hot dishes to eat. So I stuck with a salad. Blah! Then a meatless pizza was brought out, which I ate plenty of like a starving ravenous wolf.
  That night, we ate out at Pizza Ranch, for those who don't know is a sit down buffet with pizza, fried chicken, potato sides and salad. Well I couldn't resist the all meat pizza so again I failed.

Day 3: February 3 and Day 4 Feb 4
   Didn't even try. :(

But then a revelation. Last night at a friend's home we came up with the plot to both be vegetarian and see who can last the longest. Being the competitive person that I am, I could not refuse. So coming this March, we will be partaking our own MARCH MADNESS. Stay tuned. :)

Until then I will continue working on our house projects, and updating you along the way. Our kitchen is almost complete!

Jewelry Board

This post has been inspired by an item that I saw in a magazine. It was a Jewelry Board, in which you would tack pins to a decorative board and hang your jewelry from those pins. It was a lovely idea. It was not a lovely price tag. $80.00 for this little treasure. I could hardly justify it, since the jewelry that would be hanging from it, barely totaled the same amount.


I decided to make my own! But as I started thinking of all the work it would be, and money and supplies it would take to build the frame, add a back board to push the pins in, paint or fabric for the board, I became overwhelmed. And decided it wasn't worth it.

So the months passed... I reopened that same magazine, and found that same project. This time I was determined to make it. But soon I remembered why I stopped.

I told my wonderful husband my dilemma. He, being such a clever man, told me a simple solution. Use a cork message board and decorate that. GENIUS!!

So here is what I did...

I took my cork message board, acrylic craft paint (white), leftover fabric, and some spray adhesive and got to work.

First I painted the frame of the cork board. Then cut my fabric. Sprayed the back of the fabric with the adhesive spray (I would think another type of glue should also work, so long as it wont leave bumps). Applied the fabric to the frame. VOILA! Jewelry board complete. To hang my jewelry, I stole some pins from my sewing stash and they work just fine, as my jewelry isn't very heavy. I am sure that there and pretty push pins in the home office section of a department store that would be more sturdy and handle heavier jewelry.

What is your Worth?

 

I have been seeing things such as the picture below for quite some time. An insurance man even tried to use this to get me to buy more life insurance. What is a stay-at-home mom worth? 

 

 And to go with it, what is a working mom worth. Make sure you add your actual annual salary to the figure shown below.

 

If you visit their website you can see what YOU are worth as well. They have you enter in your information and they use their calculations to assign you a value. Although I was very skeptical, I decided for the sake of research to do it as honestly as I could.

 

First I entered in my three children aged 5 and under. Then I entered in my zipcode to give them an idea of how much the median income is for my area. Although I did not agree that the local low for annual income is $86,732.00, I decided to trudge on. (the local low is probably much lower)

 

Next they give you a form, and you fill in how many hours per week you spend on each activity such as housekeeper, cook, van driver, laundry machine operator etc. Some were a bit extreme like nurse staff- RN, CEO, and Interior Designer. I mean, really. Putting a Band-Aid on my child's boo boo, or deciding which curtains to hang in the living room, hardly qualifies me for such positions.

 

So for the sake of this blog, I skipped the ones that didn't pertain to me. I ended up with these results.

 

Housekeeper, 8 hours.

Laundry machine operator, 3 hours

Daycare educator, 5 hours

 

I only included hours spent on each activity as a direct result of having children. So doing my own laundy, cleaning my own messes, regular cleaning such as toilets, floors, etc, book keeping, and cooking I didn't count. Regardless if I had children or not, I would still do these tasks.

 

Well my result was nothing like the poster. I am worth $8,239.00. I had to laugh at that figure. Because it gave me such joy. I don't want their to be some big dollar amount slapped on me as to what I am worth. Because I am worth nothing. And I am worth everything. I am worth nothing, in that no amount of gold, dollars, magic wishes, would ever be able to replace me to my family. But I am worth everything, because I know that God loved me so much that he sent his one and only son to die on the cross, so that my sins would be forgiven, and I would be able to go to heaven some day.

 

You could give me a million dollars a year, or more, and I would never give up staying home with my children. I wouldn't even give up one day. There are some things in this life that you can't buy. One of them is time, and any moment could be your last. Live it to the fullest. (and I don't mean skydiving. I mean snuggles, kisses, and hugs.)

 



Make your own Foaming Soap

I first saw this pin a long time ago. At first I thought it was going to be this elaborate recipe for making me own soap, but it is actually quite simple. And with three children washing their hands, it helps for two reasons.

1. kids use too much of everything, when doing anything.
2. they also fail to get the suds going before putting their hands under the water. Result: all the soap gets washed down the drain without ever fulfuilling its purpose.

So here it is. A money saving alternative to buying your own Foaming Soap.
Here is what you need: A foaming pumper. (I bought this with soap in it the first time and have reused the same one for over a year, still works great) Large jug of your favorite hand soap, or if you are like me the least expensive, decent smelling soap. And hot water.

STEP 1: Add a small amount of soap to the bottom of the pumper container. I add about as much as shown in the picture.

Step 2: Add HOT water to the pumper. It will foam up with the soap. I keep adding water until the foam bubbles are only a few on top.

Step 3: Replace pump, screw on secure, and shake until the soap is dissolved. This is easier to do with a colored soap, but if you use a clear soap just shake well until it all appears liquid. 

 

Voila! You have your own foaming soap! The container of bulk soap in the background I believe I got at Menards more than a year ago for $4.00 for 128 oz. Judging by the size of the pumper, I filled it about 1/8 full of the soap which equates to about 1 oz of soap. So that $4.00 will last me 128 refills approximately. Which is about 3 cents for each pump filled. The kids get their hands cleaner and it saves me money. Hooray!

Pinterest FAIL- Infinity Scarf

Background: I am very good at crocheting, you know with the hook, and at knitting, with the two needles. I am good enough that for a time I sold hats I made by crochet out of my home. People really liked them, and I felt I was pretty good and creative. I could just look at a hat, or animal, and create that hat without a pattern, just from sight.

I created this hat for my daughter this year. With knitting needles, my first attempt at fair isle knit, and no pattern.

 

So onto Arm Knitting. Something that I thought would be completely simple and easy given my past knitting experience. Got my yarn. 

 

Followed the video as best as I could. Picture one, my first attempt. Not so glamorous, so I started over, and this time looked at a different video for reference. 

 

Try number 2. It looked better? I think? She told me to keep going, that it would turn out in the end. 

 

Well it turned out as something. Below is the finished product. I don't know about you, but to me it looks like a rat's nest.

 

Here is what it is supposed to look like! Doesn't she look fabulous? 

 

 

Well I hope that if you have tried this project that you have better luck than me. I think perhaps a mistake was only using a single cord. The project had you use two cords. So perhaps failure to follow directions played a part. Good luck!

Heath Bits Peanut Butter Cookies

This recipe comes from the Heath Toffee Bits Bag. I found the Heath Bits in the baking section next to the chocolate chips.

Step 1: Gather your ingredients

1/2 Cup shortening
3/4  Cup Peanut butter
1-1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 egg
1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup Heath Bits

Step 1: Heat oven to 375 degrees F
Step 2: Beat Shortening, peanut butter, brown sugar, milk, and vanilla in large bowl until well blended.

 

Add egg; beat just until blended. 

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt

 

Gradually beat the flour mixture into the peanut butter mixture. Stir in the Heath Toffee Bits. 

 

Drop heaping teaspoons about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. I used a baking stone. Bake for 7-8 minutes or until set, do not overbake. NOTE: I have noticed that using a baking stone and my particular oven with the hidden element on the bottom, my bake time was 9 minutes.  

 

 

Remove cookies from the oven. Cool 2 minutes on the baking sheet. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Makes about 3 dozen to 3.5 dozen cookies. HELPFUL HINT: If you try to take the cookies off immediately they tend to fall apart. Leaving them on the cookie sheet for those two minutes allow them to set, and will prevent them from falling apart. 

DIY Roman Shades

A friend of mine had already done this in her home, and I really liked the way it turned out. I also liked that she told me it was easy to do. So here is my how-to. Please forgive the beautiful wood work around the window. It is in need of some attention as well, but privacy has been placed above the aesthetics for now.

Helpful Hints: The amount of fabric needed depends on the size of the window opening. Measure the size of the window opening, both width and length. Add a few inches around on each side. Make sure that when purchasing fabric, to take into account some fabrics have a certain pattern that dictates the top. As seen in the picture below. Be sure to follow this advice.

 

Step 1: Gather Supplies

        Supplies List
                Fabric
                Scissors
                Ruler
                Tacky Glue
                Hot Glue
                Pencil
                Vinyl Blinds



 

 

 

Step 2: Measure the windows opening. Mine was 35" wide X 40.5" long

 

Step 3: Measure and cut the fabric. The blinds I purchased were 35" wide according to the package but actual measurement was 34.5". I added 1" to the width to allow for the hem/ folded over fabric. For the length I added two inches. So I cut my fabric a total of 35.5" wide X 42.5" long.



 

Step 4: Once the fabric is cut I marked my lines. These are the lines that will mark where each blind will go. Since the length of the window was 40.5", I rounded down to 40 and decided to make a fold every five inches for a total of 8 folds.

Make the first mark 2" down from the top, 1" to fold over and 1" for the top rail. This line is to mark where the bottom of the top rail will be.

The second line will be marked 4.5" down from that. I have included the extra half inch that I previously rounded down on.

The remaining lines will be 5" inches from the second line and the remaining previous lines until you reach the end, in which there should be one inch left below the last line. You should have a total of 9 lines.

 

 

Step 5: Prepare the blinds. Cut the skinny strings that allow for the blinds to rotate. Keep the thick cords that pull the shade up and down in tact. Once the strings are cut, remove the bottom slat and all but 7 mini blinds. Place the bottom slate back onto the pull strings. Place the blinds on to the upside down fabric, we will be working from the back.

 Pull the strings down until the plastic stoppers reach the top rail.

 Add the Bottom Rail and pull the strings taught and mark just above the bottom slat. Slide the bottom slat up, and tie a knot on the mark. Slide the bottom slat back down onto the knot.

 

Arrange the top rail, the 7 vinyl slats, and the bottom slats on their lines. To look as the picture below. 

Use the hot glue gun and tack the fabric onto the vinyl slats, the top rail and the bottom rail. NOTE: Before doing this or just after tacking the top rail down, make a small slit where the draw strings can be threaded through to the front. Then thread the strings though. This will keep them out of the way.

On the top slat, make a cut by the bottom and fold the fabric in and glue down as shown in the picture.

Use the tacky glue between the slats, and behind the slats so that they remain in place along the fabric.

Install the clips that came in the vinyl blinds package into your window frame and hang your shades. There will be plastic clips to hold it in place. I made a cut at the top so that they could be slip in. A grommet can also be added where the strings come out the front side for better appearance.

Once the shade is dry, you will need to "train" the shade to make pretty folds. To do this, pull the string up so that the shade is open. Then pull the folds out so that they are even, as shown in the pictures below. Leave it open for awhile so that the folds will come back the same next time it is opened.

 

 

If you have any questions let me know. I would love to help! 

Financial Advice Grocery Shopping

Here is a tidbit about myself. I have a bachelors degree in Economics with a business emphasis and a minor in Accounting. For everyone out there, it is a fancy degree that pretty much means that I love numbers, money, and things of that nature.
Recently an idea was presented to me to help me save money. I usually despise others giving me financial advice. I like to think that I have more knowledge and understanding of handling my money than someone who has less education on the matter. Regardless, I decided to run with their idea. After all, I do like saving money when possible, like every other normal human.
So here we go:
   Suggestion: You should drive to Watertown (a neighboring city) to Wal-Mart once a week to buy groceries. They are much cheaper than your small town local grocery store.

So today I had the opportunity to test out this theory. I was actually really excited for the results and tried my best to make a fair assessment of the situation. So I picked name brand foods, something that is carried at both stores, even if I don't buy the name brand of that item. Also I tried to use some items multiply times, such as noodles, cheese, juice, and others that I usually buy in larger quantities.

I could give you my entire list, but to save my fingers I will give you the totals. If you are interested, I have a break down for each individual item as well.

So the total for Local Grocery was $118.22.

The total for Watertown's Wal-Mart Store was $104.28

So it is clear that Wal-Mart did save me money, or so it seemed.

Local grocery is in Minnesota. Which means NO food tax. Watertown is located in South Dakota and has a tax of 6% on food. So now Wal-Mart's total is up to $110.54. Not such a great difference now.

Also it is 5 blocks to Local Grocery for me, and sometimes I even walk it and take a stroller cart. Watertown is 60 miles away and my van gets 20 miles to the gallon on average. So that is a total of 120 miles round trip. I used 6 gallons of gas using math at $3.29 per gallon, total fuel cost was $19.74.

So here are the final totals: Local Grocery= $118.22   Wal-Mart= $130.28

For my conclusion, yes, Wal-Mart can save me some money and if I am going to Watertown for a different reason in addition to groceries it can pay off. BUT it is also important to note that Local Grocery employs my friends and neighbors, provides me with goods that I may need on short notice, and saves me two hours of driving time. I love the community I live in and so I support it. Whether it is more expensive or not. I would rather pay more and live in small town Minnesota, than pay less and live in a bigger city.

PS my Local Grocery store bags my groceries and loads them into my car for me. An amazing feature for a mom with three small children who has enough to handle as it is.

Taco Soup

To continue on my previous post here is recipe 2 from the same source.
Taco Soup
1 1/2 pounds ground beef: we usually only use 1 pound
1 envelope taco seasoning
2 cans (15.25 ounces each) whole kernel corn, undrained
2 cans (15 ounces each) ranch-style or chilli beans, undrained- we use chilli beans
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes, undrained

In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, cook beef until no longer pink; drain. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until heated through, stirring occasionally.
This soup is great with cheddar cheese and sour cream. Warm flour tortillas or tortilla chips are also very good.
We have also used deer meet, venison, as a substitute for the beef and it also tasted good.
I have made this recipe for many people and it was a hit. Enjoy!

Enchilada Chicken Soup

For the past few days I have been a busy chaperone with our youth in St. Paul, which means my husband was a busy father at home with three children. First off, he is a great dad. Second,he is a terrible cook. I could tell you many hilarious cooking mishaps he has endured while I was away, but instead I am going to tell about his successes instead. Pay in mind he made these without help or supervision and since he did it, I know you can too.
Recipe 1 From Taste of Home's 2003 Quick Cooking Annual Recipe Book
Enchilada Chicken Soup
1 can (11 ounces) condensed fiesta nacho cheese soup, undiluted: we used Campbell's
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
2 2/3 cups milk
1 can (10 ounces) chunk white chicken drained: my husband used a cooked chicken breast instead
1 can (10 ounces) enchilada sauce
1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilles

In a large saucepan, combine all ingredients and mix well. Cook until heated through. Garnish with sour cream if you like. Tortilla chips are also very good with this soup.

Crayon Art

If you have spent any time on pinterest, you have probably seen crayon art. The pictures where they glue crayons to a canvas, apply heat with a hair dryer and let the colors drip down. Some are very creative, while others are more basic.
I did complete this project, but I only scanned over the various pins for inspiration. Here is what I did.
Gathered my supplies:
  1. hairdryer
  2. canvas
  3. oil pastels (pretty much adult crayons)
  4. paintbrushes
  5. inspiration (photo of a mountain range)

Going into it I knew I wouldnt be doing what others had. I wanted to create something I could hang in my home. So i used the oil pastels and sketched and filled in the canvas. The coloring was blotchy, and rough. Then I heated the canvas with the hairdryer and blended the colors with my paintbrushes. It turned out really nice and I like the outcome. It was a pretty straight forward pin, and took about 1 hour.

Homemade Playdoh

I have used this recipe before with great results. The inspiration of course came from pinterest and credit is due to New Hampshire Mamas for their post. The recipe can be found following the link below.
 http://www.nhmamas.com/2012/03/perfect-homemade-playdough.html
To begin with you add all the ingredients to the pot on low heat. Her recipe does make a large amount, but I also have three kids and so I madethefull recipe.
When stirring I noticed the mixture was chunky. That doesn't seem to matter at the end. Be sure to keep stirring and scrap the bottom frequently. Once the mixture gets the point where it isnt so sticky take it out of the bowl and knead it a little. You can now seperate it into smaller amounts and add color if you didnt do that yet. So far the kids have been playing with it for over 2 hours. I highly recommend this recipe. Enjoy!

Birthdays

Birthdays are a very big deal to me, and I enjoy making it a special day for those I love. Today is my son's fourth birthday, and where better to find birthday surprise inspiration than pinterest? 

The first surprise of the day was hanging balloons outside my son's door to greet him when he woke up. I originally got the idea from Casey Mullins and her article on ways to keep December birthdays special.

http://www.babble.com/kid/december-birthday-ideas/?pid=1419

He really enjoyed the balloons, and the pancakes that followed. It was a simple idea, and easy to do. I used fifteen ballons for his doorway and hung them with tape and ribbon. The have since been taken down and played with throughout the house. Definately helped set the tone for a special day ahead.

For Porpoise

To start with, this is a blog written by a woman searching for a meaningful way to spend her days. As a mother of three children ages 5, 4, and 2, other parents can attest that as a stay at home mother I am already doing something meaningful.
But this is more than that. It is having something just for myself, something that I really enjoy doing. Despite popular belief, I do not enjoy stinky diapers, loads of laundry, and piles of dishes. But I do enjoy my children, diy projects, and pretty much anything pinterest. So here we are the 'porpoise' of this blog. To research, do, and report my struggles, successes, and tips for various pins. Enjoy!