Shutting down this blog

I've decided to go back to doing my old blog only. I just don't have enough to say about being frugal to maintain this blog.

My old blog isn't what you would consider informative at all--but I do plan to start putting my menu plans on it and maybe including some frugal topics from time to time. Plus, I am always finding new hobbies and I will probably be writing about those when I discover them. :) If you are interested in checking out my "old" blog--mostly just me and my family--it can be found here.

Otherwise, sorry I couldn't keep up this blog! It's just too time-consuming and I don't enjoy it nearly as much as I enjoyed just being me and writing about whatever came to mind during the day.

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Menu Plan Monday Jan 12-18

Remember to take a look at I'm an Organizing Junkie for many, many more menu plans for the week!

Is it really Monday again already? Sheesh--this menu takes us more than halfway through the month of January! How in the world do the days fly by so quickly?

But, alas, it IS Monday and time for yet another installment of Menu Plan Monday!


Monday: Pork Chops in Red Sauce--I'll probably serve it with steamed broccoli (frozen-from Steamfresh), and Au Gratin potatoes.

Tuesday: Soup and grilled cheese sandwiches--soup is on sale everywhere and there are lots of coupons on for it right now so I'm taking advantage of it.

Wednesday: Grilled chicken salad--I put the chicken in a ziploc bag with tequila lime marinade and stuck it in the freezer. After thawing, hubby will throw them on the grill. We'll eat the chicken on top of a salad.

Thursday: Frozen pizza--Thursdays are busy nights for us so I've decided to make it frozen pizza night lighten my load a bit.

Friday: Roast beef sandwiches and pasta salad--I have a coupon for 2.00 off 5.00 deli purchase and decided to use it toward buying roast beef. I buy the little package of au jous seasoning mix. In the afternoon I just put the roast beef and au jous in the crockpot and heat on low until ready to eat. As my husband reminded me last time-don't overdo the cook time. It just needs to be heated. Serve on a crusty roll with cheese if desired.

Saturday: Red beans and Rice--not sure why but I've really been craving real red beans and rice lately. I'll probably use turkey sausage since we are trying to eat a little healthier these days.

Sunday: Spaghetti

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Growing up

After 9 years and 4 babies our crib has been retired to the basement. I considered selling it or just getting rid of it, but the truth is....I don't think I can ever part with it. I'm not kidding when I say it's just part of our family. We bought the crib when we were expecting our oldest daughter who will be 9 next month. We managed to space our 4 children (completely coincidentally, I might add) in such a way that we seamlessly moved one child out and another child into the crib one right after the other.

As though it were yesterday, I can remember the process of searching out just the right crib. I remember poring through my copy of Baby Bargains and reading endless online reviews in an effort to find the most durable, functional, and safe crib for the best price. (Yes, I've always loved to get the most possible for my money) The Pali brand emerged as the winner and I chose the Katie style. This isn't a picture of our actual crib, but it is identical. So simple and yet just an image of it conjures up so many special memories in my mind.
During my last trimester with my first daughter I remember standing at the doorway staring at this crib as I tried to imagine what it would look like to have my very own tiny baby laying in it. Of course, I should mention I failed to picture myself laying in it with my 9 month old who refused to fall asleep by herself-but we don't really plan to have a baby who won't sleep at night, do we? And, of course, before we become parents we never really know what it feels like to be so desperate for sleep we'd do just about anything that afforded us just a few minutes of sleep--even if it did mean trying to sleep in a crib at the age of 29!

Would you believe that after all that it still looks great? I would say that it looks like new, but my youngest son--my 2 yr old woodchuck son--chewed quite a chunk out of the siderails. Oh, I can't miss this opportunity to tell about the day I got him out of his crib and found wood shavings all over his shirt. Ironically enough, his shirt had a picture of a woodchuck eating through a log. It was so funny!! We also have teeth marks in our kitchen table. I'm happy to report he seems to have moved through that phase, but he certainly left his mark on all things wooden.

So, we are now cribless--my baby is now in a toddler bed and doing well. He transitioned nicely just 2 weeks ago and we've had minimal problems with it--so different than when we transitioned our first. But, that would be a post all of its own-I'll spare you the scary details.

And yes, I have stood and stared at the disassembled crib and tried to picture my babies laying in there looking so tiny and sweet. Don't worry, I didn't allow the images of them screaming to get out when they should be napping to intrude my happy thoughts. :)

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Reminder for us all--Use caution when shopping online!

A friend just called me not long ago to get my opinion on her dilemma. She had just received a shipment of two pairs of Ugg boots and something just didn't seem right about them. She said they didn't feel as comfortable as a pair she had tried on at the store, they stunk like cheap plastic, and the stitching looked bad. I went online to take a look at the website she ordered them from--www.uggkings.com--and the low prices immediately set off the alarm bells in my head.

Caution #1: If the price seems too good to be true--it probably is! Of course, this is not always true, but if you do find a price far below what you find everywhere else then you should use extreme caution before proceeding. Thoroughly check into the website and look for website reviews. Many of the high-end manufacturers have a minimum price limit on their products--that means authorized retailers are not allowed to offer the product for less than that set price. This is also the reason coupon codes can't be used toward particular brands.

I volunteered to call www.uggaustralia.com's customer service number to ask if uggkings was an authorized retailer because my interest had been piqued. Even before looking at the website the CSR was able to tell me it was NOT! (he did look at the website to verify his initial reaction was correct)

Caution #2: If a website uses a copyrighted name brand in the website's name it is not an authorized retailer for the product (unless, of course, it is the official website of the company): The CSR said that legitimate companies operating in the US would not be able to use the "Ugg" name in the website name because it would infringe on copyright laws. Unfortunately, if a company is operating in another country they do not have to follow the same laws on copyrighting and selling authentic merchandise. To be honest, I was very surprised to find that a legitimate-looking website could sell fake merchandise. In my naivity I thought it was impossible without being caught and prosecuted.

Caution #3: Carefully check the contact info and return policy before making a purchase: The CSR I spoke with at Uggaustralia.com went on to say that if a website ONLY provides an email address for contact info then he will usually look elsewhere. He made a good point that if you do have a problem with the merchandise then it's so much more helpful and convenient when you can speak to a person instead of going through email. It was also interesting that the contact info on that website was written with poor grammar--be sure to look at that kind of thing! Checking return policy is something you should always do before making any purchase, in any store.

I have now had the opportunity to look at the Ugg boots my friend received today and while they look a lot like real Ugg boots they do not feel like them at all! I can now understand why she called asking my opinion--the sole seemed to be made of cheap plastic and was very rigid. We compared them to my Ugg boots and there is a very big difference in quality.

I feel really bad for her and I hope she is able to get most (if not all) of her money back. I know this could have easily happened to me. I do alot of online shopping and I'm always looking for the best deal, but this will be a reminder that "if it's too good to be true, it probably is". I, personally, will be scrutinizing online retailers much more closely before making a purchase from now on. I'll try to remember to give an update when this issue gets resolved. I did advise her to take pictures of the boots before packaging them and to ship with a certified and insured method for return.

One little note about ebay: I think we ALL know that when we buy from ebay we are taking a chance. There was a time when I loved ebay and I bought from there often. But, I personally don't enjoy ebay anymore. The prices are not so different from actual retail these days and if I'm going to pay anything close to actual retail I'd rather just buy from a reputable retailer who I know I can trust.

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Menu Plan Monday Jan 5-11

So here it is a day late-nothing like starting the new year off running behind.

Monday: Quick Chicken Divan--I was so impressed with this recipe-although I did make some of the suggested changes in the comments section. I added extra lemon juice and I also added the bread crumb/butter mixture to top it. I'm also very proud that I came up with this as a last minute meal. I had leftover broccoli florets from our new year's party. I also had chicken. I went to allrecipes.com and entered chicken and broccoli in the ingredients search. I have a good bit of cream of "something" soups on hand because of the recent soup sales and coupons. Perfect!! So, I was so happy with this because it tasted good and I used up some stuff I already had on hand!

Tuesday: Hamburger soup-This time around I made this with a big bag of mixed veggies instead of corn, onion, celery, etc. Two reasons for this--I was feeling lazy and I had mixed veggies in the freezer that were begging to be used for something!

Wednesday: Cola Pork Chops-Haven't tried this recipe yet and I'll admit I'm a little reluctant. But, nothing ventured-nothing gained. My freezer is depleted and pork chops were on sale--this recipe looked like an interesting way to make pork chops. I haven't decided what I'll put with it--probably some glazed carrots and rice mix. I have a big bag of baby carrots that need to be used.

Thursday: Frozen pizza

Friday: Rehearsal dinner for my brother-in-law and soon-to-be sister-in-law.

Saturday: Wedding Day and I'm not cooking! Congratulations to the soon-to-be newlyweds!!

Sunday: Our usual Sunday fare of spaghetti

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Getting back into the groove and a few changes

At some point near Christmas I made the conscious decision to let blogging slide until after the kids returned to school. Of course, I know I should have come here to let everyone know, but it's another one of those little things that just kept getting pushed to the side until it was too late to even worry about.

Starting today, though, I am getting myself back to the blogging. One important thing I want to share is that I am kind of shifting gears with the content of my blog. I get a little bored with only writing about frugal living--I enjoy writing about my thoughts, feelings, experiences, etc as well. As with any mom in the world, I also enjoy writing about my children. So, my blog will likely become more of an eclectic mixture of whatever is going on in my little world at the moment. My husband once said to me "your hobby is finding new hobbies". So, my readers will get to see that in action--aren't you lucky? Now *you* get to see the slightly off-kilter way my brain works, too. :)

I've debated within my mind about whether or not I should change the title of my blog. But, in the end I think I've decided to stick with it. I will continue to share frugal living information because frugality is one thing that is just part of me now and with the current state of our economy I don't see it going anywhere anytime soon! So, I'm still a frugal mom and well, who doesn't want a happy family. Although, don't be surprised if one day I just change everything and title my blog "Crazy Mama of 4".

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year. And, best wishes for a terrific 2009!

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Menu Plan Monday: Dec 15-19

Since I never got around to typing out last week's menu plan, I decided I had to really force myself to find time to get it on here this week! So here I am...

This week the budget is tight so I'll be using a couple of frozen meals. I also used the "ingredient search" on Allrecipes.com to find a meal for tonight using mostly ingredients we already have in the house. Between the freezer and utilizing food already in the house I was able to buy groceries for only 30.00 this week!!

Sunday-Lasagna I had a whole tray of lasagna frozen from a previous night.

Monday-Chicken Tetrazzini--Although I would probably call it chicken spaghetti. I found a recipe on allrecipes.com and then tweaked it to my own. I really liked it! The kids were a little hesitant, but I think it's because of the veggies and because it was something different. What is it about kids and veggies? Why couldn't all the nutritients kids need come in a pudding pack? Sheesh-it would've made our lives sooo much easier! Oh, and this is a good one to double for the freezer. Just be sure to make two completely different batches to go in two completely different pans. One batch completely fills a 9X13 baking dish.

Tuesday-Chili-straight from the freezer and cornbread from a little blue box. When I make this recipe I don't even have to double it. It makes ALOT of chili-enough for 2 meals, I think.

Wednesday-Soup and Grilled Cheese sandwiches--soup straight from the can and well, I'm betting you know how to make grilled cheese.

Thursday-Sausage jambalaya--we use Zatarain's box mixes

Friday--To be determined. The last couple of weeks I've been planning Friday and Saturday and end up not needing both so I'm leaving this one open. There are more options in the freezer if we need it.

Saturday-Frozen Pizza

Sunday-spaghetti

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