Free Magic School Bus Book (from the EPA).

Our older boys really enjoy the Magic School Bus books.  So I was super excited to see Money Saving Mom's post on the Environmental Protection Agency's giveaway of The Magic School Bus Gets Cleaned Up.  Just call 1-800-490-9198 and request your copy.  When I phoned, my operator did not need the item number, but here it is just in case:  EPA420-K-07-001.  It took less than two minutes and the operator said the book would be mailed in about a week.  Quantities are limited so be sure to hurry--these books are great and spark so many side discussions.  In fact, they are off limits as bedtime books because the boys tend to Q & A me for at least an hour after we read one!  More details are on the EPA's website, here.

Creamed spinach with bacon.

Here in northern Virginia, it is rainy and suprisingly chilly this morning.  So chilly, that as we stepped out the door for school, I had to turn Max around to change clothes.  And, of course, I discovered five minutes before the bus was due that he has outgrown everything--his pants he wore last spring, his raincoat, his fleeces...everything.  We were both kind of shocked.  I told him it's because he's eating his spinach these days.  I recently found a recipe for a creamed spinach dish that the boys gobble up every time I make it (four times and counting the last month alone).  Seriously--I am using the description gobble up to describe how a 6, 4, and 1 year-old are attacking spinach.  Spinach.  It's probably the bacon.  Who am I kidding?  It's definitely the bacon.

 

Excuse the picture.  I'm unsure how to make cooked spinach actually look good.  But taste good?  Evidently, I've got that covered.  Off to online shop for pants long enough to cover ankles. 

Recipe after the jump.  Enjoy!

Click to read more ...

Everyday mac n cheese.

Everyone needs a good mac n cheese recipe go-to.  This is mine.  I have others that I pull out for holidays--ones with crunchy toppings, fancier cheese blends, a little paprika, the whole shebang.  But this one is super simple, yet creamy and absolutely delicious.  And because it's a one dish wonder (unlike most recipes, you do not have to pre-boil the noodles!), it's perfect for everyday meals.

When I say it's a standby, I mean it--last fall and winter, I made it weekly!  And I've passed it around to so many playdate friends that we often get to enjoy it at their homes, too.

Everyday Mac N Cheese

adapted from Family Circle Magazine, March 2007

Ingredients   

• 14.5 oz chicken broth
• 1 cup + 2 Tbl macaroni
• 3/4 cup evaporated milk
• 2 Tbl butter
• 2 tsp flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 1/2 C sharp cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a baking dish (I use a pyrex 9 x 9 with a glass lid), place all ingredients EXCEPT THE CHEESE (sorry for the Internet "yelling" but too many friends added in the cheese before baking).  **When I double the recipe, I use a 9 x 13 pan and cover with foil**.  Bake, covered, for a total of 40 minutes, stirring after the first 15 minutes and again at 30 minutes.  Remove from oven and immediately stir in cheese.  Allow to set up for 5 minutes before serving.  Enjoy!

Couponing.

I think the transformation to full-time homemaker is now complete.  I am officially using coupons in my weekly grocery shopping.  And I am saving a bundle! 

I've tried to use coupons before but always failed.  Miserably.  Does the following sound familiar?  Like a good little saver, I kept the inserts from the Sunday paper with good intentions.  But then there they'd sit, usually unclipped, in a corner of our breakfast nook, piling up, mocking me.  And if they actually did get clipped, it was on a rare occasion that they'd actually make it to the grocery store with me.  And even if I did manage to take them to the grocery store, I'd then stand paralyzed in the aisles doing math, until inevitably deciding that saving 50 cents off the name brand cheese did not save any money when the store's brand was cheaper--without a coupon.  So I wouldn't even use the coupons!  It's no wonder I gave up again and again.

So what's changed?  I'm using the website called The Grocery Game.  It's a resource that lists all of the sales, both advertised and unadvertised, in your select area store.  I chose Harris Teeter as my store--which I'd previously sworn off as too expensive.  But last night, using my list from the grocery game and my coupons, I bought $198 worth of groceries for $104.  I did this by stacking coupons on top of the good sales. 

Every week, the grocery game crosswalks all of the coupons that are "out there" from inserts or other sources with the store's sales.  The list is then color-coded to tell you whether the sale items are at their lowest price for that store's sales cycle.  You look at the list, reconcile it with your coupon stash, and decide what to buy.  You try not to buy things at full price unless you need them.  Instead, the key is to stockpile items when they are at rock bottom prices--before you need them.  That way, you're never paying full retail.  And let me point out that this is different than buying in bulk from a warehouse club!  Because although you may get your name brand toothpaste for a good price if you buy a four-pack from Costco, you're probably not getting it for a steal (e.g., .50 each, which is what I did by buying it on a good sale with a coupon).  Also, I have not paid over $1.75 for a box of cereal in over a month.  Do you know how much cereal the boys devour?    

As for how much time it takes, now that I've got everything organized (I am using Money Saving Mom's method to organize my coupons), I spend about an hour a week to put my list together and pull my coupons.  It took me about three weeks to get a good stash of coupons to use.

A huge reason I like it is because now I can have a fully stocked pantry without cutting back on all the fresh produce, seafood, and meat we love.  Although I cook five nights out of the week, pretty much from scratch, I still enjoy having some prepackaged convenience items, like rice packs, soups, marinades, and so on, on hand.  I am picking those things up at a steep discount--sometimes they are even free.

The service kicks off with a free four week trial.  After that, it is $5 a month for your first store and $2.50 more for any additional stores--they bill you every two months.  And just so you know, I'm not an affiliate or anything (though I believe there is a referrer program).  Just a happy customer so thought I'd spread the word.  And, yes, I know you savvy savers out there can cobble this sort of information together through other various online sources.  But I tried that and never seemed to find the time to pull it all together.  Plus, I don't know prices well enough to know whether a sale is a must-buy sale or whether I should wait it out--The Grocery Game does all of that for you.  So I'm okay paying $7.50 (I subscribed to Walgreens, too) for the convenience of accessing everything in one place.  Especially since last month I saved just under $500 (!!!) on my grocery and household purchases--and I've made a large dent in stockpiling our necessities.  If you give it a go, make sure to do it the full four weeks before deciding whether it's worth it.  As the holidays approach, I think we could all use a little extra wiggle room in our budgets.

 

Icee cozie with a short how-to.

      

Although I bake treats nearly every day for my brood, do you know what works them into a tizzy without fail?  Icee pops.  Yes, the artificial flavored water you can always find at the dollar store.  I like to think it's because I don't let the boys eat them too often.  But honestly, it's probably because I went a little heavy on the flax in the most recent round of muffins.

So.  They love icee pops but won't hold them because they are ICE and thus--yup--freezing.  Sick of paper towels constantly unwrapping (not to mention the waste because I finally switched the household to cloth napkins) I whipped up some cozies out of craft felt.  I made a dozen or so for our neighborhood Labor Day block party.  But then it started raining and the entire party moved indoors (as in our indoors) so I put the kibosh on the icee pops. 

I meant to make these all season but never got to it.  And I just should have done it because the cozies took all of 12 minutes to make.  Since summer is technically over (sniff), instead of looking at this as something I never got to, I'm going to spin it as "wow, I already crossed something off my summer craft list for next year." 

 1.  Find some spare felt.  I have a ton of acrylic felt laying around because I'm hooked on using wool felt for most of our crafts.

2.  Determine how wide to make the cozies.  There are wide and skinny icees--go figure.  We have somehow acquired both so I marked accordingly.  You certainly could just wing this but I knew I'd forget to make different widths.  I swear my short-term memory has still not recovered from my pregnancies.

3.  Sew.  I used a bright colored thread in a wide zig zag for contrast.  That is as fancy as I got.

4.  You need two rows of stitches on the inside lines because you will cut between them (see below).  

5.  Cut your cozies apart.  Up to you whether to stitch the bottoms closed (I did).

6.  Put the icees into the cozies...now they are ready for little fingers.

Happy day.

So Rachel over on One Pretty Thing linked to my post on reverse applique!  I'm sure many of you visit her wonderful blog several times a day, just as I do.  It's really my lifeline to checking out so many amazing, and usually new-to-me, blogs.  I am simply over the moon to be included!  And I've just received a few emails asking where's my follower link or email feed.  What?!  Well, that requires an upgrade to my basic squarespace account but I think I'll do it--thanks for the suggestions.  I also need to figure out how to put her cute button on my sidebar.  I am so computer challenged it is sad.  But I don't care because I was featured on One Pretty Thing.  And yes, I've already said that aloud to no one in particular as I shrugged off a bugaboo that would normally make me crazy.

In case I don't post before the weekend, happy Labor Day!

      

Update on Saturday, September 5, 2009 at 9:31PM by Sandra

ETA:  I did add a followers link and an email subscription service--check the sidebars.

Art organization.

If you are like me, you cherish your children's artwork but struggle with the sheer quantity that accumulates.  At the end of the year we try to file away special pieces--each child has his own flat storage box that keeps things sorted and safe until later.  And by later I mean until they are in their 30s and I'm pestering them to clear out their rooms because their dad and I are downsizing in our retirement.  And we're buying a fabo townhouse in the city!  Where we'll walk to everything!!  And we won't need much space because we'll be out and about traveling and visiting our kid's kids!!!  And we'll.....oh, wait.   

Back to a mountain of art, bless their little creative hearts.  Before the purge, this is where a lot of the artwork lives.

 

I'm sure you've seen it before.  It's a couple of affordable curtain rods (mine are from Ikea) and curtain clips, hung on a wall in our basement play room.  And just so you know, I fought every fiber of my perfectionist-being to not sort that rod and instead shoot a picture of its jumbled reality.  As you can see, you can fit a ton on there and there are some favorites that the boys have deemed evergreen, or appropriate for any season, that they will not let me take down.

Recently, I've seen some blog posts on additional art storage/display ideas, which have sparked some thoughts of my own.  But first I need to hit up some thrift stores, so my grand plans will have to sit until the smallest two munchkins start preschool and pre-K.  Which, in case you're counting, is in 7 days and 17 hours.  And yes, I'm a little freaked about baby Will starting preschool.