Pizza Tonight - With Help

I made homemade pizza's tonight and with the help of my little boys, we got alot accomplished. Sometimes I just need to relax and let them help out more with cooking, even though it takes twice as long to make things.  Here's a photo of Silas LOVING the olives!  He had fun putting them on his fingers.

Here is Zechariah helping out my "rolling" out the pizza dough.  I think he enjoys the flour the most, no matter where I tell him to put it, it ALWAYS ends up all over the place.  But he did a really good job tonight in helping out.  He also loves to put the pepperoni and cheese on the pizzas.

And here is our final result of our supreme pizza.  This is the best pizza that has ever come out of our oven!  We love to double the recipe so that we can have tons of leftovers!  I don't have the recipe on hand right now, but I will post it soon.

Garage Sale Saturday

My family and I got a chance to go garage sailing again this morning, and let me tell you, it was HOT out.  We didn't go to very many because either the sale was not worth it, or because alot of people didn't have sales because of the weather.  

Our total spent was $12.40.

There was a pretty decent sized sale at a church, but it was outside, so didn't stay too long.  That sale had the lamps, and books, and games, and a vase that will match perfectly with my newly spray-painted lamps.  

The swim shorts and shirt are for Silas, because Jason thinks that he needs a bigger size than the ones that he's been wearing.  What can I say, I like to see short shorts on my little boys! :)

Let's see...what else...oh yeah, our neighbor down the street is moving to a home, so she had a company have an Estate Sale in her home on Friday and Saturday.  So today we went and my husband found Woolite for carpets (which is what we've really been needing lately with our boys and carpet), he also found a glow stick (not sure what for yet), and I found all those Scotch Tapes for $1 total!!  

So overall, it wasn't a bad day garage sailing with the family!

Family Fun

My family and I had a great night for a bike ride.  The weather is finally bearable outside, so we scarfed some dinner, and headed out on a long bike ride to get some ice cream.  It felt so good to be outside again, after being cooped up in our house for about 4 days because of the unbearable heat outside. Yuck.  

So we strapped the boys in and took off.  It was a great feeling, one of the best outings I think we've had so far this summer.  (A close compare to last Saturday's Garage sailing!)  

I just want to encourage you to take the time to enjoy your summer and look for those opportunities to sneak away and enjoy your family together. 

Update on Project

Well, here is the good news and bad news about my reupholstering project.  

Bad news first: our staple gun is not working anymore!  I will be borrowing one from my sister this weekend, so until then, my project is at a standstill.  The good news is that I pretty much am finished with the ottoman!  (all I need to do is finish stapling the fabric to the skelton, then I'm done!)

Grocery Trip - with hubbie

Total spent: $68.20.  With a grand total of savings of: $28.14.

County Market

Corn Nuts (from the clearance bin) = $.75 ea.

Nut Toppings (from the clearance bin) = $.50

Granola Bars = $2 ea. minus $1 off 2 boxes = $1.50/box

Life Cereal = $1.99 ea. minus $1 off 2 boxes = $1.50/box

Bananas = $.39/lb.

Bananas Reduced = $.25/lb. (will cut these up and freeze for smoothies!)

Green Peppers = $.50/ea.

Onion = $.79/lb.

Wine (for hubbie, not included in our grocery budget) = $3.50 ea.

Total = $18.22

IGA

Shredded Cheese = $.99 ea.

Grapes = $1.83/lb.

Yoplait Yogurt = 20/$8 minus $1.60 in coupons (we only got 12)

Bleach = $.99

Total = $11.49

Schnucks

Snack packs = 10/$10 minus our $1 off 3 coupon (we only got 3) = $.74/pack

Lettuce = $1/lb.

Super Pretzels = 3/$4

Trix Yogurt = $2.50/ea. minus $1 off one package

Smuckers Magic Shell $.75 ea. with coupon (thanks Coupons St. Louis)

Frosted Mini Wheat Cereal = $2/box minus 2 $1 off coupons = $1/box

Michelen Frozen Meals = 10/$10 (we only got 5) (thanks to Coupons St. Louis)

Total = $21.82

ALDI

Instant Rice = $1.35

Tuna = $.59

Green Beans = $.49

Hamburger Buns = $.79

12 Grain Bread = $1.69

Corn = $.25 ea.

Peaches = $.45 ea.

Walnuts = $4.99

Pita Chips = $1.59

V8 Splash = $1.99

English Muffins = $.99

Cream of Chicken Soup = $.59

Gala Apples = $3.49

Total = $27.56

Goodwill curtains $4 total

I finally got around to trimming the curtains that I got at our local Goodwill for $4.  I LOVE the material and colors...and I've been looking to make curtains for our bedroom for a couple years now.  The material is almost silk-like and the colors make the room nice and warm-glowing in the morning. 

This is a shot of our window as you're walking into the bedroom.

And here is a close up of what the colors are really like.

Reupholstering Project update

Thought I would update you on how my reupholstering project is coming along.  Today I finished striping down the ottoman with only one tragedy...I accidently knicked my thumbnail with the screwdriver, and it hurt like nothing else!!!  

Here's what the ottoman looked like before:

And here's the ottoman after being stripped:

Here's a photo with the top cushion taken off:

Here's a photo of the underside of the cushion on the ottoman....

I'm a little nervous about this part of the reupholstering.  

So, I'm just glad that I've made some progress, and I think this blog is keeping me accountable to keeping up with my promise to get it done by July 4th!

Redbox Free Code 6/22-6/23

If you have a Redbox near you, don't forget to check out a free movie on 6/22 - 6/23 only.  Use the promo code rbxthxu6 when you checkout.  Happy movie viewing!

Father's Day

Here we are enjoying our free pass to the local pool for Father's Day.  Zechariah really loved having dad there and here they are flying over a water fountain!

Happy Zechariah!

And here's a grumpy Zechariah when we had to go home. :)

Garage Sale Saturday

So my two little boys, husband, and I ventured out this morning at 8 am for some garage sailing!  My oldest was SO excited to go to garage sales, I think it's mostly cause he can play with other kids toys! Here's what we found after about 8 sales:

Total spent $8.25 for the above items.  The frames and mirror were all $1 each, and the lamp shade was also $1.  We also scored LOTS of tupperware for $1.  The brown lamp was $2!! I was excited to find that (and it came with an energy efficient light bulb!), I feel that we always could use more lighting in our home.  And the green little car cost $.25.  Everything else was in a free bin. 

Here's another find that my husband did not want me to get.  But I convinced him otherwise.  It is a cute little sofa chair and ottoman (on wheels) for $5!!!  I've always wanted to re-upholster a chair, and I think this is my opportunity.  I'm a little nervous about it, but I'm sure it'll be fine.  My goal is to have it done by our 4th of July party.  

I'll keep you posted on how the whole process is going.  Wish me luck!

Tour of Dairy Farm

Today was the day that we going the Mothers and More Tour of the University of Illinois' dairy farm.  It was very warm, with the weather forcast for 94 degrees and sometimes it feeling like 103 degrees.  Yikes!  So it was very warm to say the least!  Here we are inside the barn where the cows are fed.  

Little Silas enjoyed seeing the cows, especially the baby cows.  He kept saying "baby cow", and for him that's really good, putting two words together like that. 

Zechariah pretty much stuck by daddy's side the whole tour.  I think that he liked the puddle in the parking lot the best. 

So we learned how cows were fed, we learned how cows were milked, we learned how cow's milk was stored, and then we learned how the cow's milk gets picked up and sent to Prairie Farms, and then to our grocery store.  

We had a great time, and I'm glad that we were able to go and see what a cow's life is all about.  I'll leave out the part where we got to see a hole inside a cow....yuck, I'll spare you the details!

Grocery Trip

So I've been procrastinating a little bit on grocery shopping for the past couple weeks.  I finally sat down and looked at the ads and figured out what coupons and deals matched up.

Pictured above is a shopping trip from IGA, Schnucks, County Market, and Aldi's.

Then I realized that I had forgotten to unload another bag, so here are the extras.

I found the most deals at IGA, because they had a special coupon to take $3 off a purchase of 5 items from General Mills.  So I got 4 Totinos Pizzas for $1.25 each, and then I also got Gardettos for $1.67 (for the hubby).  I was also excited to see Hamburger Helper on sale for $1/box, and then there's a coupon here to get $0.80 off 3 boxes. (which made them $0.73 a box).  I was also excited to see that there is a NEW Hamburger Helper out there....Asian!!! So I got some boxes of fried rice and noodles, that I'm excited to try out.

Simple Things

So today I was inspired to change the look of our two lamps in our family room.  I have been reading a new blog to me, The Nesting Place, and she inspired me to change the color of our lamps. Here is a snapshot of our before lamps:

I was very excited to try out a new color, so here's the work in progress:

And then here is the final product of my creativity!  

I like it a lot! It's a colonial red, and it will go well with the fabric I picked out for our new curtains in our family room!  Yea for color!

Snack Time!

We have a couple extra boxes of Cheerios (thanks to County Market), so Zechariah and I found our Cheerio cookbook and we picked out a recipe to make for snack time.

Here's a closeup of the recipe we came out with:

If you'd like a copy of this recipe, here it is:

Snowball Surprises

1/3 c. sugar

1/2 c. light corn syrup

1/2 c. creamy or crunchy peanut butter (we used creamy)

3 c. Frosted Cheerios cereal (we used plain Cheerios and they came out tasty!)

1 to 2 tablespoons candy sprinkles

20 small candies

-------------------------

1. Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper.

2. Pour the sugar and corn syrup into a 3-qt. saucepan.  Heat over medium heat, stirring frequently, just until the mixture starts to boil.  Remove the saucepan from the heat.  Stir in the peanut butter until the mixture is well blended.  

3.  Stir in the cereal until it is evenly coated.  Cool for 5 minutes.  While the mixture is cooling, place the candy sprinkles in a shallow dish.

4.  Lightly spray your hands with cooking spray (I sprayed my hands every two snowballs).  For each snack, shape about 1/4 c. of the cereal mixture into a ball around 1 small candy.  Immediately roll the ball in the candy sprinkles to coat.  Place the balls on the cookie sheet.  Cool completely, about 30 minutes.  Store the snacks in a loosely covered container. 

P.S. - I totally forgot to add the candies in the middle and they tasted so yummy!

Simple Things

My family and I went to a wedding today that was outdoors.  It was the first outdoor wedding that I had ever been to, and I have to say it was the most simple wedding I have ever been to.  I really enjoyed being outside, surrounded by trees, with thunder rolling in the distance, and my boys playing in the rocks.  

We had the option of sitting on huge logs or sitting on metal chairs.  We thought it would be more fun for the boys to sit on a log.  I love how they lined the logs with flowers.  It was so simple and elegant at the same time. 

So beautiful.  I think that if/when my hubbie and I ever renew our vows, we'll have to do something similar. 

Saturday Garage Sales

I snuck out of the house again at 6:45am 

to check out the early 7 am garage sales.  

Here's what I found:

Dark Purple Iris' for $8.  

This is a picture I got off the internet, 

I got about twice as much as the picture above.  

I planted them around our mailbox and some by the house.

I got most of these items for $1 a piece.  

And most of them are from The Children's Place.  

Which is a great find because they are expensive in the store!

This is my favorite shirt that I got for $.50.  

Zechariah will be wearing this to a wedding we're going to tomorrow. 

I'm such a sucker for nice boys clothes! 

Pillow Inspiration

As I mentioned in my earlier post, I bought a pillow at a garage sale for $1 and it inspired me to update our other pillows that I also got at a garage sale earlier this Spring.  Here is the before picture of our pillows:

And here is the after picture - with our "new" pillows!

I was very excited about this new craft, because I've never done it before.  

I think they turned out pretty well.  And the task only took about 30 minutes!

Here is my inspiration pillow along with my "new" pillows:

Garage Sale Finds

Got up early this morning - 6:45am - and hit the sales!  Here's what I came out with:

Everything in this picture was $0.50 each, making my total $6.50.

This is my inspiration pillow that cost me $1. 

It is my inspiration to bring these colors into our family room this summer.

Here's the picnic table that I picked up for my mother-in-law.  

She mentioned the day before that she was looking for one, 

so I found this for $15!  

County Market

Here at County Market, they have Penny Pinching coupons which made this grocery trip a good deal.  You're only allowed to use so many per customer, so I bribed my husband into shopping with me and being my "secret shopper".  So he went to a different lane to check out, and had most of the same items that I had in my shopping cart.   Total spent = $47.45.

My husband was most excited about the chips that he got for $.99 a bag!!  There were $2 off coupons on the bag, so he is a big chip eater, so these will go fast!

Cheerios = $0.99

Purex = $1.69

C.M. Chicken = $2.50

Sugar = $0.99

Cheese &  Shells = $0.88

Swanson Chicken = $1.74

Apple Juice = $0.99

C.M. Frozen Chicken = $3.49

Hot Dogs = $0.99

Blueberries = $3.49 (for 2)

Raspberries = $3.49 (for 2)

Carrots = $0.77

Potatoes = $0.99

French Bread = $0.99

Steam Veggies = $0.69

Eggs = $0.69

Soap = FREE!

Aldi Grocery Trip

Went to Aldi's tonight with the family, because we found out from a friend that strawberries were on sale for $.50/lb!!!  Of course there was a limit of 5 per customer, so we only got 5.  And cheese was on sale for $2.79 this week.  So we got some for pizzas and to use with our eggs. 

We'll be using the walnuts for banana bread later this week.  Total we spent $41.83.

Meatballs $1.99

Soft shells $.99

Strawberries $.49

English Muffins $.99

Trail Mix $1.99 (this was for Zechariah cause he was ubber hungry!)

Broccoli $1.49

Olive oil $3.69

Cheese $2.79

Chili Beans $.59

Pineapple $.89

Olives $.99

Applesauce $.99

Walnuts $4.99

All Purpose Flour $1.59

Raisins 6pk $1.19 (the boys have recently been eating raisins like they're going out of style!)

Raisins $1.79

Yogurt (strawberry & blueberry) $.43

Yogurt (key lime) $.39 (Zechariah only eats green yogurt)

  

Making Pretzels with the kids

Today, since it was rainy, I needed to find a craft or recipe that could entertain the kids for awhile.  So I found a recipe for making pretzels.  

I have to admit that they aren't the tastiest pretzels, but it was fun making them.  And it was fun seeing what kind of shapes the kids would make. 

Here's the recipe if you'd like to try them out.  We used whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour.  

3 c. unsifted flour

2 T. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 pkg. active dry yeast

1 c. water

1 T. margarine

1 egg yolk, beaten

1 T. water

-Mix one cup of flour, sugar, salt and yeast.

-Heat one cup water and margarine to 120-130 degrees.  Gradually add that mixture to the dry ingredients and beat for 2 minutes on medium speed with a mixer.  

-Add half a cup of flour and beat at high speed for 2 minutes.  Stir in enough additional flour to make the dough soft.  

-On a floured board, knead for 5 minutes.  Set in a greased bowl (turn to grease top). Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for 40 minutes.  

-Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and roll into a 12-in. rope.  

-Now shape the pretzels into any form you like.  Kids will develop wonderful new shapes.  Place on greased cookie sheets, cover, and le rise for 5 minutes.

-Mix the egg yolk and tablespoon of water.  Brush on pretzels.  Sprinkle with coarse salt or omit.

-Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until done.  Cool on racks.