Thursday, August 14, 2008

Giveaway: The Laurie Berkner Band Prize Pack



Hurry on over to The Mother Loot and get your entry in for The Laurie Berkner Band prize pack. There are all sorts of goodies included and a fun discussion on you & your children's favorite kid's music! To enter, you must head here!

You can also find me over at Frugal Hacks this week, sharing about our back to school celebrating. Please chime in if you have any special ways that you celebrate their first day back to school!

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Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Healthy Eating, Summer Slacking, Simple Living, & Live Appearances

Did I catch your attention?

This week on WSBT, I got to sit down and really talk about how to eat healthy on a budget. Since I went to school for nutrition, this is an important topic for me and one that I really enjoy sharing about. I hope that you can catch this segment! You can find me on our local news each Tuesday sharing money-saving tips for moms!

On Frugal Hacks, I share with you my disappointing cleaning habits for the summer. I am wondering if other moms struggle during the summer and what ways you have found to keep you on track. Please join me there for a fun discussion!

This month in our local Michiana Family Magazine, I am sharing how simple writings bring simple pleasures. This is a more personal piece for me and I was excited to share it with families in Michiana.

If you live in the Michiana area and have time, please come to the Michiana Family Expo, sponsored by the Michiana Family Magazine, and stop by to say hi. I will have a booth there and will be demonstrating some fun kid's crafts and meeting as many people as I can personally. I will be there on August 9th from 10 AM to 9 PM. I hope to meet those of you who have been so supportive of my work and our family. It has been so great to live in a community like this and I would love to thank each of you personally for spreading the word about our site.

Last thing, if anyone is attending the ad tech conference in Chicago, I am honored to be included on a panel on August 6th from 2:15-3:15 about my experience as a mommy blogger. I will be sitting on the panel with CEO Kate Thorp, of Real Girls Media, whom I have had the great honor of being a part of their Advisory Board. I am very excited about this opportunity and can't wait to share what a wonderful experience blogging has been for me.

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Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Frugal Hacks: 6 Months Until Christmas

Don't you hate me already? Six months until Christmas, everyone! It is time to start thinking about ways you can save for the holiday season. On Frugal Hacks, I am sharing some things that we have started doing to get ready for the holiday season so we can stay under budget!

Two years ago, I actually started a Christmas journal and now I have created a Christmas file folder of the things that I want to do for the next year's holiday. In our little Christmas Memory Journal, I have included the recipes for what dishes our family loved the most, what the children asked for from Santa, what we spent the holidays doing, and tucked inside are the sweet letters and pictures to Santa. Someday I hope to give each of the kids a journal so that they can share those recipes and memories with their own families someday!

My inspiration comes from so many place so I am bookmarking all of the crafts and projects I want to try. My notebook entries are my virtual bookmarks to holiday ideas and have helped me each year with some much needed holiday inspiration.

Here is a round-up of Christmas fun to help inspire you in this July heat!

Christmas Getting & Giving Recap
Christmas With the Clarks (or the Endless Flu Epidemic)
Eve of Christmas Morning Recap
Christmas Morning with the Clarks
Working on My Christmas Countdown
Be A Wrap Superstar: Use What You Have
Be A Wrap Superstar: Wallpaper That Gift, Yo
Be a Wrap Superstar: Tailor Your Gift
The Gift Closet: Wrapping Gifts
Sugar & Spice Nuts
Creating Family Traditions
What to Get the Person Who Has Everything
Making Real Christmas Memories
Holiday Bling Without a Bling Budget
Creating Holiday Traditions
Christmas Drink Mixes
Save More On Your Christmas Shopping
Say Bah, Humbug to Holiday Debt
The Christmas Jar
Bubbly Magnets (for Gifts)
Oreo Biscotti (for Gifts)
Elegant Photo Albums
Painted Children's Mugs (for Gifts)

How do you organize and keep track of your projects and ideas for the holiday season?

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Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Frugal Hacks & WSBT: Summer Fun & Steamy Confessions

Today on Frugal Hacks you can read my sordid confession on returning to the world of television. Here's hoping that you will still visit the site when you find out what I have done.

Today our summer activity list makes the cut for WSBT on our segment on, "Fun Summer Activities." Hat tip to Whatever again for this fabulous idea! You can get a closer look at what we have planned this summer and the frugal family ideas we came up with.

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Friday, June 13, 2008

Where Else You Might Find Me?

This week, you can find me on Frugal Hacks discussing ways that you can begin connecting with others.

I also contributed a new article to Michiana Family Magazine with tips for surviving the grocery hike. The June issue is on newsstands everywhere so be sure to grab your copy! Betsy does an amazing job with this magazine and there are lots of great articles this month.

Blissfully Domestic has my, "We Need to Work on Our Letters" posted on their site. There are tons of great comments, sharing tips and websites that have helped parents build their children's reading skills. Don't miss it!

Kenmore has put all of their experts together for a piece on how to throw an Asian-inspired BBQ for the Olympics this year. I shared some fun ideas for crafts and activities to get the kids involved as well as thrifty tips for maximizing those leftovers for your get together. This one was a ton of work and research so I hope that you will check it out and that it will add a little inspiration to your outdoor entertaining! Next month, we will be sharing tips for family vacations so I will be sure to share when that article is posted! You can view all my articles here and I will continue updating you when new things get added to the site or you can subscribe to their newsletter to get the tips delivered directly to your email.

I took a little break from my WSBT segments because my kids were sick, but the crew came out this week and we filmed seven more segments for the summer months ahead. I am looking forward to sharing more frugal mom tips with all of you!

In case you missed it, be sure to check out my interview over at Blog Coach. I just want to thank you for all of the sweet comments and another thank you to Angie for asking me to do her first interview. What an honor!

PHEW! That's it this week, folks!

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Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Frugal Hacks: Simple Writing Brings Simple Pleasures

Today on Frugal Hacks, I share how much reading about the simple life has inspired me and how it can inspire you in your everyday life. I am pretty proud of this piece and I hope you will swing over and check it out!

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Tuesday, April 15, 2008

You Can Find Me Here Too!

This week on Blissfully Domestic I am sharing a few tips for dressing your kid like a celebrity...or die trying! You can see a picture of Ethan in his favorite, "Rock Star" t-shirt!

Over at Frugal Hacks I am sharing how we plan to beat the bad weather days this summer and am opening the floor up to see how you keep your little ones entertained when you are stuck indoors.

On WSBT this morning, I shared tips for keeping those birthday parties fun & frugal! We are all about making our celebrations affordable and I share a ton of ideas to make your next birthday party a heck of a lot cheaper!

Tired of me yet? I sure am!

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Thursday, April 10, 2008

New Article- Goodbye, Old Friend: Asking Jealousy To Leave

I have added a new article to our website called, "Goodbye, Old Friend: Asking Jealousy to Leave." If you read my articles in Michiana Family Magazine, you will find this same article there, in their April issue. It was a more personal piece for me, but I wanted to share how I struggle with jealousy too and ways that I have found to be helpful to put that negative thinking elsewhere.

You will also find me sharing about card games over at Frugal Hacks. My article isn't half as interesting as the comments. There is an awesome comment on there about using a deck of cards to do workouts- don't miss it!

Finally, this week on WSBT, I also shared my tips for spring cleaning. Speaking of, where in the world are my printables? I did take a break with the kids on spring break and my whole mental breakdown this week... hopefully I can get back to it this weekend, but it is not far from my mind! No worries!

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We are running TWO new giveaways this week! Dr. Mindell has written a book called, "Sleep Deprived No More." This is an autographed copy of her book sharing tips for getting pregnant mommies to sleep better and tips for early motherhood. If you would like to win a copy of this autographed book, please leave me a comment here by Friday (04/11) and I will include you in the giveaway. If you have a sleep tip you would like to include that has worked for you, please let us know!

We are so excited to be offering FIVE Kodak Sport Cameras up for grabs! This giveaway will end next Monday ( 04/14) at 8 PM. To enter, please share one of your favorite tips for getting a great picture or a description of one of the best pictures you have ever taken here! I especially love to hear tips for capturing those dreaded family photos or how to get your child to stand still for any length of time. Of course, the winners will be chosen at random, but I look forward to your responses. Good luck, everyone!

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Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Taking A Day Off, But...

I am taking a day off from our spring cleaning series, but you can get lots of ideas for cleaning and printables for your tasks from my post yesterday.

I got an unexpected opportunity to share about going green with my mom's group so I spent yesterday afternoon preparing for that and then spent the evening hanging out with my great friends!

This morning, I got to do an interview with Elastic Waist (which will be posted tomorrow at noon!) and share some tips and ideas for spring cleaning your home. What an honor to score an interview with them! The remainder of my evening was spent preparing for that.

I will finish out this week and then will probably take some time off from the series with spring break approaching and a mini-vacation for me next week!

If you are looking for more material from me today- you can check out my post on Frugal Hacks on simplifying entertaining or find me on Blissfully Domestic sharing ideas for repurposing the sandbox.

PS- Are there any other mommy bloggers heading to NJ for the Johnson & Johnson Camp Baby event? Please let me know! That is where I will be next week!

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Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Frugal Hacks: Organizing Your Spring Cleaning Supplies

Today on Frugal Hacks, we are continuing our discussion on spring cleaning and starting at the beginning...with your cleaning supplies. I am sharing some of the tools that I use to help keep our home in shape and, of course, I am wondering what I might find in your caddy of goodies. Please head over there to share and check the site often for lots of great wallet-friendly ideas for your family!

I also wanted to thank everyone for entering our giveaway. We have a winner! Please check The Motherloot tomorrow for another new and exciting giveaway (valued at $169). I am lining the giveaways up left and right so make sure to check often for your chance to win and read reviews on some really great products.

Somehow I also managed to tape six more segments on saving money for my weekly WSBT feature, am putting together a very exciting guest post for tomorrow, and have an awesome interview that I am piecing together with an author (to be shared on Friday). I also finished a riveting piece for our Baby Steps series on staying fashionable on a budget (it literally took me three days) which I will be posting! I have lots of great stuff in the works for your reading pleasure so be sure to keep checking back here!

I am now throughly exhausted so I am going to try and squeeze in a nap before visiting with our family who have come here from out-of-town!

More from me tomorrow!

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Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Frugal Hacks: Spring Cleaning & Organizational Hurdles

Today on Frugal Hacks, I wanted to explore what might be preventing people from entertaining in their homes. I reflected that if people were anything like me, it might be because chaos and disorganization can rule the roost and I am too embarrassed to have anyone over. Does this ring true with anyone else?

Please head over to Frugal Hacks and share what your biggest challenge is in your home! I am going to be working through these issues in my own home and try to share some helpful tips for creating a space that you would want to entertain in. As I tackle my spring cleaning, I can share my experiments through embarrassing photos and wordy descriptions. Who wouldn't come back for that?

It should make for an interesting month!

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Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Frugal Hacks: Inspiring Family Nights

Each Tuesday, I write for the Frugal Hacks blog and share some ideas for entertainment on a budget. Today I revisit the topic of having a family night with some really great ideas I have recently come across for creating a fun family night with your kids. You won't want to miss this for some added inspiration so please head over there and share your ideas for how you create a fun family night in your house!

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Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Frugal Hacks: Frugality Superiority Complex

Today on Frugal Hacks, I wanted to talk about something that I refer to as the, "frugality superiority complex." This is just a phrase I came up with to describe something that I sometimes find myself doing when it comes to discussions on saving money. I immediately feel like I know the answer, like I have been around the block a few times (and saved a few dimes) before I even know what the other person might be talking about.

This idea has been floating in my head for so long that it was almost therapeutic when I was able to finally share my feelings in writing.

I hope I am not building it up too much, but I am just thrilled to share this piece. Please join me over at Frugal Hacks for my frugality journey.

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Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Frugal Hacks: Fun Valentine's Day Ideas for Families

Continuing with my theme earlier today, I wanted to share some linkage to some really great sites and ideas for celebrating Valentine's Day in a fun way with your family. You can find me sharing on the "entertainment" category each week on Frugal Hacks. All of the contributers do such a great job so I hope you will take a look around while you are over there reading it!

In this entry there are tons of great links to printables, crafts, and ideas for making your Valentine's Day extra special with your family. I hope it will inspire you to create and share a new tradition for the holiday.

Ethan and I will be spending time working on making our Valentines together this weekend and I look forward to sharing what we come up with. He is finally at the age where he has the attention span to really enjoy doing things like this so we are getting to a fun stage for doing some serious crafting. It will be great to have a partner in crafting crime, but hopefully he is better at it than me!

Please head over to Frugal Hacks and read my ideas for enjoying a fun & frugal Valentine's Day!

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Friday, February 01, 2008

Frugal Hacks: Take a Vacation? Why Not!

Editor's Note: This was written on Tuesday, but we have had some technical difficulties on Frugal Hacks. We are up and rolling now!

Today is my fun day because I get to do the news segment AND I get to guest write for Frugal Hacks. A magazine I got in my mail today gave me the idea for our topic. I am sharing frugal ways to vacation in your own state.

I am also looking for the best Miss America answer for what makes your state so great. I know, I know... but anyone who saw the Miss America pageant this year knows that this question is much better than asking our contestants questions about their feelings concerning Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, or Britney Spear's sister. Seriously? Seriously? How about an African American running for office? How about a woman running for office? How about the war in Iraq? How about educating our children? How about...Well, you get the idea. I think there are far more important issues at hand. Modernize the pageant, sure, but our women can still be smart AND hip!

Head over to Frugal Hacks and share your thoughts on your state there. If you have thoughts about the Miss America pageant and the lame questions this year, leave 'em here!

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Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Frugal Hacks: Is Being Frugal Entertainment?

Today I wrote about the art of being frugal being a form of entertainment for myself and our family. It truly has been an adventure figuring it all out and I wonder if other die-hards feel the same way? Stop over by Frugal Hacks and read today's post and share your adventures in frugality!

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Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Frugal Hacks: Choosing a Hobby Wisely

Each Tuesday, I get the opportunity to guest blog on Frugal Hacks. My specialty is the entertainment category and what could be more entertaining than exploring your hobbies and passions?

It is a goal for me this year to get my craft supplies back in order and really make some time for myself to explore the hobbies that make me happy. I love to do crafts and make gifts, but my family and the website take up the majority of my time and I don't have the time to really devote towards crafting it up.

As you can see in my notebook entries each week, I am constantly fascinated by creating crafts and the people who have made those passions a priority.

I hope you can check out this post and share some of your own tips for organizing your craft supplies and what hobbies you are interested in doing!

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Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Frugal Hacks: Happy New Year (On a Budget)

Today on Frugal Hacks, I am sharing my recipes and tips for preparing a fancy dinner at home. I put together a cost breakdown of our New Year's feast and why dining at home can be oh-so-nice!

Thank you for sharing your New Year's plans with us! It sounds like everyone had a fun & festive celebration planned. I hope it was wonderful and that you all had a happy and safe NYE!

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Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Frugal Hacks: Entertaining Instead of Grocery Shopping

Today on Frugal Hacks, I share a few ways that you can bypass time at the grocery store and spend it getting ready for all of those holiday guests.

Now if only I could find a way to bypass all of the cleaning that needs to be done too!

PS- Our last family member, my dear husband, has been struck with the stomach flu. Now that we have all had it, hopefully we can enjoy the rest of the holidays without illness. Fingers crossed for quick recoveries!

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Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Frugal Hacks: Themed Gift Baskets

Head on over to Frugal Hacks and you can read my ideas for themed gift baskets to give for the holidays. These are one of my favorite things to give (AND to receive!) so I hope it will help spark some ideas for the gift-giving season.

Sound Off: If you could pick a gift basket to receive, what would it be filled with? Remember, Santa just might be reading!

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Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Frugal Hacks: Never Miss a Christmas Show Again

Today on Frugal Hacks, I am sharing tips for recording all of your favorite Christmas specials and movies on television this year. Who would want to miss any of their old favorites? Plus, they added some great new favorites (did anyone else love the new Shrek Christmas special?) for the year too. Be sure to check out my post so you can set those recorders for some fun family nights together!

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, we checked out some of our old favorite movies and I happened upon a movie that we had not seen before called, "The Holiday Inn." This has become my new favorite Christmas movie and I would recommend checking it out for your family this holiday season. There is lots of great singing and dancing in this film and although there is some political incorrectness for our time period, it is an excellent movie that really made us smile! Interesting enough, it was also the inspiration for the hotel chain name...Holiday Inn.

I am curious, what is your favorite holiday movie? Do you have any obscure holiday movies that might be overlooked by most families, but that is a favorite in your house?

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Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Frugal Hacks: Ornament Decorating Fun

For today's installment on Frugal Hacks, I am sharing crafty ideas for making holiday ornaments with your children. I have been spending some time surfing the internet to come up with some ideas for Ethan & I to do together so I thought I would share them with you too!

In this picture is our ornament making station that I made for our special ornament-making days. I purchased a vinyl tablecloth and loads of fun crafty supplies from the dollar store. Right now they have wooden ornaments that come in a ten pack for decorating that would be a wonderful decorative addition to any gift.

I just love decorating the Christmas tree and thought it would be a fun discussion to share your favorite ornaments that you hang on your tree each year.

I have two special ornaments that I absolutely love and that bring a smile to my face each time I get them out. One is a beautiful painted light bulb that one of my co-workers purchased for me at my very first "real" job. I was working as an administrative assistant and this gentleman was the head of the sales department and told me if I worked extra hard, he would secure a position for me in the sales department. So...I worked my tail off and did extra projects for the group and he gave me this special ornament right before he told me that he never got permission to hire me as an assistant and then I eventually was laid off after a brief promotion as a marketing assistant...WAIT! This is a horrible story! Why the heck is that my favorite ornament?

In all seriousness, the ornament represented one of the first times in my life where I felt like a grown-up and I felt valued as an employee. I felt like a smart woman and I had struggled through school (getting by on my fine social skills, mind you!) so it felt good to feel appreciated and valued as an employee.

My other favorite ornament is a Dunkin' Donuts ornament that I won in an ornament exchange. When we lived in Massachusetts, every single day I would buy myself a cup of joe over at our local Dunkin' Donuts. Our first home, a small townhouse, was situated behind a Dunkin' Donuts and we would get bagels and muffins from there all of the time for our Saturday mornings.

Right after I had Ethan, I was determined to get my baby weight off, and we had an amazing bike trail right outside of our home so I would walk it for miles trying to get the baby weight off. On my way, I would stop at the Dunkin' Donuts to pick up an iced mochachocalocaroca that I thought tasted like a little bit of heaven. It was my little reward to myself for working so hard to get my weight off.

But my weight wasn't coming off. And I was putting on weight. How was this possible? Um, did the smart & educated woman check to see how many calories a mochachocalocaroca has in it? No! Despite a background in food and nutrition, I never thought twice about the gazillion calories I was taking on my athletic walk. But, oh, what a taste of heaven that was!

The moral of the story is, every ornament has a story. Go ahead! Ask your grandmother about the ornaments on her tree- I bet she will have a story to tell!


Sound Off:
Please share your favorite ornament on your tree! I would love to hear your stories!

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Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Frugal Hacks: What Will You Be Doing On Black Friday?

Guess what I won't be doing on Black Friday?

You can read my post on Frugal Hacks and discuss your Black Friday routines!

I hope you will share freely and don't let my lack of shopping get you down!

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Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Frugal Hacks: Getting Ready for the Holidays

I ran out of hours in the day yesterday, but I wanted to make sure that I posted a link to my entry yesterday on Frugal Hacks. I shared some of the ways that I am trying to get ready for the holidays.

I have lots of things to do on my list. Here are some of the things that I am working on:

1. We need to take a family picture that we can use for our Christmas cards this year. I like to get photo cards from Sam's Club and I use the sticky labels with the addresses printed on them to save time.
2. For our grandparents, I do a year of pictures for them as a gift of their grandkids. I pick my favorite pictures from the year and get them printed and make each of them a photo album. It was a hit last year and should be a hit again this year.
3. I would like to make all of our Christmas tree decorations this year. I am gathering ideas and materials to make ornaments with the kids this year. I want to do a popcorn garland and make cute decorations for the tree this year.
4. I am hoarding my toilet paper rolls for our Christmas crackers in a drawer for the kids. I got some fun wrapping paper and am saving our Halloween candy to fill them. These will go in the kid's stockings.
5. I am going to try and get my wrapping done this weekend on the gifts that I have bought. I am done with the kids and finished buying their stocking stuffers last week. I also need to wrap the last of my countdown to Christmas treats. I found the last three days at the dollar tree.
6. I am working on make-ahead goodies for Thanksgiving dinner. I am in charge of the appetizers this year and I am going to make some of the goodies from my list.

There are tons more things to be done, but I am sure it will all come together!

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Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Frugal Hacks: Practicing Thankfulness

Today's post on Frugal Hacks is all about implementing holiday traditions into the Thanksgiving Day feast and spirit. Unfortunately, we are without any great holiday traditions yet for this holiday, but I am opening the floor to see if anyone has any great things they do for the holiday.

Please join me over at Frugal Hacks and share your family Thanksgiving traditions!

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Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Frugal Hacks: Movies On a Budget

Today on Frugal Hacks I share some different ways you can watch movies on a budget. I hope you can join me over there and read my post for the week!

We are always looking for new ways to watch movies inexpensively and recently I have become a big fan of just searching for movies using a search function that we have on our DVR. It has been so nice to find holiday movies on television and just tape them for our enjoyment over the weekend.

We also rent a lot of movies from our library because the price is just right for a family on a tight budget! Children's movies and nonfiction movies are free at our library and all other movies only cost us a quarter a day.

We also happen to live just a mile down the road from a second-run theater and I love to go see movies there. $1 admission can sometimes be even cheaper than renting them from the movie rental store and I get the movie-theater experience for the same price.

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Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Frugal Hacks: Soup Supper

I don't have a lot of restaurant weaknesses because I enjoy the food we cook from home a lot more, but I have been giving into one weakness recently...Broccoli & Cheddar Soup from Panera Bread.

After ordering it twice in the past month, I knew I needed to figure out how to make this from home and after trying a couple of recipes, I have finally found THE recipe that tastes just like this soup from the restaurant.

If you have a craving for Broccoli & Cheddar Soup, make sure to give this recipe a try and see what you think! I followed the instructions exactly and it was absolute perfection! A bowl of cheesy goodness with a yummy loaf of crusty bread. It reheats well and would be wonderful to entertain with!

In the spirit of good soup and chilly nights, be sure to read my post over at Frugal Hacks about throwing a special soup supper of your own.

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Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Frugal Hacks: All Things Pumpkin

Today was supposed to be my son's field trip to the pumpkin patch. He had been talking about this for weeks and we had even been doing a countdown to the day when he would get to go to the pumpkin patch.

The morning greeted us with rain and gloomy weather. We received the call that the trip had been canceled, minutes before we were to set out for our day. His little heart was broken this morning and it broke my heart for him. Despite my lack of enthusiasm for braving the elements this morning, I knew how important it was for him.

I promised him that we would take him as a family, provided the weather clears up, and he could pick his very own pumpkin out. He had kept asking if his dad could go with him, on his field trip, but I had explained that he would need to work instead. Now we can all go together as a family and enjoy a day trip together.

A promise of cocoa (with extra marshmallows) when he gets done with school also was helpful in relieving the tears.

In honor of our day at the pumpkin patch, I pieced together anything and everything you could possibly want to know about cooking a pumpkin, decorating a pumpkin, and fun pumpkin projects. You can read more about these ideas at Frugal Hacks. Just visit my entry entitled, "The Great Pumpkin."

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Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Frugal Hacks: More on Hosting the Unexpected Guest


Well, I got a great response from last week's column about hosting the unexpected guest. I am not sure if it is because people love cleaning tips or if they just love talking about what a pain it is when people just drop in.

I got a great question though on what one can cook for their unexpected dinner guests so that helped to inspire this week's post.

I hope you can swing by Frugal Hacks and check it out! Take a browse around while you are over there. There is a lot of great information and I love the collaborative efforts of the writers in supplying great family-focused content and practical information on frugality.

Is there anything else you would like for me to write about on the subject of entertaining on a budget?

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Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Frugal Hacks: Getting Ready for the Unexpected Guest

My cleaning caddy needed a little reorganizing and as I was working on this yesterday, I began to think about my "faux cleaning" routine that I do before we have unexpected guests.

Since I get to cover the entertainment category on Frugal Hacks, I thought it would be fun to share my quick tips for making your home look clean without really cleaning.

I am the first to raise my hand that I have been embarrassed when an unexpected person shows up and my house is a complete disaster. I try very hard to maintain things around here, but with two children under five, I often feel like all I am doing is damage control.

I am also a perfectionist and I hate for anyone to come over here without me being prepared for them. Even among friends and family, it is important to me to feel in control of a situation.

Having a website that helps moms stay organized makes me feel like I should be even more zealous in my attempts to keep up with the house.

Let's face it though, I am only human! We do the best we can throughout the week, but when that unexpected guest comes knocking, it feels good to have a game plan to fake them out with your cleaning routine.

I hope you get a chance to read the post and can share your own routines with me! As moms, I am sure we can all use a little help in this department.

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Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Frugal Hacks: A Fun Brunch Discussion

Today's entry on Frugal Hacks is all about why brunch can be best and this actually came from a recent brunch that I had this past weekend. It was such a fun way to entertain and the dishes I prepared were very budget-friendly, compared to a more expensive dinner option.

For this brunch, I included a fun breakfast tray for my guests. I draped a pretty red & white dish towel across the tray and then filled it with lots of fun coffee goodies. I made a good pot of coffee and then poured it into my coffee carafe (purchased from a thrift store). I also included pretty coffee mugs, sugar, flavored creamer, flavored coffee syrups, and an assortment of teas. Since my table is long & narrow, I used this as my centerpiece for this brunch. It looked so pretty and it made it easier to clear the table when were done.

A quick clearing of the table and the ultimate Turbo Edition of Cranium (purchased for $1.50 at Goodwill) and it made our time together even more fun, while still keeping it easy on the wallet.

I hope you can swing by the Frugal Hacks blog and read more on this fun entertainment option!

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Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Frugal Hacks: Hosting a Game Day Party

Today at Frugal Hacks, I am discussing some great ways to host a game day get together without spending a lot of money.

I will be doing a piece each Tuesday and discussing creative and frugal ways to entertain and be entertained!

Is there anything you have in mind for discussion? What is not budget-friendly in your house, when it comes to the subject of entertainment?

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Thursday, September 13, 2007

Entertainment On a Budget


Kim, from Frugal Hacks & Life in a shoe, has asked me to guest blog on Frugal Hacks and I am so excited to be joining their team of bloggers. She has put together some really great writers and we each are covering a topic of our choice.

Meredith from Like Merchant Ships will be covering the topic of Cheerful Frugality each Monday. The Headmistress of The Common Room will be discussing What is In My Hand? each Friday. My topic, each Tuesday, will be discussing Entertainment & Entertaining on a Budget.

I have posted my little introduction today, but will begin our entertainment posts on Tuesday. I hope you will join us and add us to your feed! It should be some great discussions and all content will be unique from each of our blogs.

Is there anything you guys would like me to cover on this topic?

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