Swagbucks Coupons Work For Me

Are you a Swagbucks collector? What about a coupon clipper? Did you know you can have the best of both worlds by earning Swagbucks when you use coupons? Swagbucks has a page on their website where you can print coupons. The site is powered by coupons.com so if you're a regular couponer you're probably already using many of the coupons available on the Swagbucks site, but not getting credit for them. Today I printed out coupons to save 40 cents on 6 cups of Yoplait yogurt, $1 on Kashi cereal bars, and $1 on Kashi cereal. There are also coupons for Udi's gluten free bread. I have a friend who buys gluten free products so I plan to print those for her so she can redeem them and put some bucks in my account. Go to the Swagbucks website, click on earn and then coupons. You'll find 18 pages of deals to choose from.

If you aren't earning Swagbucks yet, what are you waiting for?!? I've earned nearly $100 in Amazon gift cards in a little over a year just by using the toolbar. That works for me! For a homeschooling mama of two reading machines, free Amazon money is pure bliss! Head over to Swagbucks now to start your account then go to We Are That Family to find out what's working for everyone else.

Christmas Craftapalooza

Two weeks ago we rounded up a few friends and hosted the first ever Christmas Craftapalooza at our house. I love the idea of kids giving handmade gifts for Christmas, but I'm not so much into giving out cheesy toilet paper roll Christmas ornaments or framed handprints (OK the handprints aren't necessarily cheesy, but there's only so many years you can really do those and have them mean something). I'm all about having the kids make GOOD and USEFUL gifts that aren't just pulled out once a year when the grandparents know you're coming over for a visit.

Usually Sport, Spice, and I make these candles every year for my mom and a few friends.

Photo from Family Fun

Obviously adult supervision is required, but they make a nice gift and are fun to create.

We've gotten a bit tired of those though so this year I scoured the internet to come up with some new ideas. Here's a look at what was created at our craftapalooza...

Beaded Rings:

Photo from Family Fun

Spice and I actually made one of these as a make and take on a recent trip to Micheal's. We liked them so much we decided to make more for Christmas. I found  instructions at Family Fun. Our rings were similar, but we used small pearls in place of the silver beads to give it a fancier Christmas look. Unfortunately I did not take a picture of any of the finished products. We had kids aged 5-9 at our event and some were better able to do this than others. I'd recommend it for ages 7 and up as an unsupervised craft. Some of those pearl beads are hard to string!

Cookies in a Can:

Similar to cookies in a jar, but uses Pringles cans instead. (This was one of those spur of the moment "I'm in desparate need of a gift NOW!" ideas I came up with last year.)We wrapped Pringles cans then fillled them with cookie ingredients in Zip-Loc bags. Here's our recipe:

In one quart-sized Zip-Loc bag, combine 2 cups flour, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, and 1/4 tsp. salt. 

In a second bag, combine 3/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup white sugar.

Fill a sandwhich size bag with 3/4 cup chocolate chips, raisins, nuts...We used the peppermint swirl chips for a festive look. They were delicious!

Place all bags inside a 6 oz Pringles can and add a gift tag with the following instructions:

To use combine all ingredients in a large bowl with 3/4 cup shortening, 1 egg, 2 Tbsp. milk, and 1 tsp. vanilla. Form into one inch balls and bake 12-15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Altered Notebooks:

By far the favorite craft of the day was altered notebooks. My kids are still making these. I purchased three-to-a-pack memo sized notebooks at Dollar Tree. These had a plasticy type cover on both sides. One side had a second cardboard cover underneath the plastic layer so I cut the plastic cover off (I was worried the glue would not adhere to it as well) and we worked with the cardboard side. Before the party I traced the cover on a bunch of pieces of scrapbook paper and cut them out so the kids could just pick the paper they liked best and glue it on. Once they had a new decorative cover they were able to add embellishments using paper punches, stickers, and stamps. Some websites give instructions for removing the spiral wire so that the entire front of the notebook can be covered, then making new holes and reinserting the wire. Way too complicated for my tatste! We just glued the paper as close to the wire as possible, leaving a small white edge along the top of the notebooks. I think this worked out just fine and made it much easier for the kids to complete the project on their own. Oh and for all you true bargain hunters out there, I've since found more notebooks at Big Lots that come four to a pack, making these cute little personalized gifts come out to about 30 cents each.

If you're still looking for gifts to put under the tree, get the kids to work and if none of these ideas float your boat, check out Works For Me Wednesday for more last minute gift ideas.

Easy Teacher Gift

It's been a while since I've done a Works for me Wednesday post. I've been planning on making my comeback with this idea for two weeks now, but kept forgetting to post. Guess that's a good thing since today's WFMW topic is Gift Giving. You would think as homeschoolers, we wouldn't have to worry about teacher gifts, but you're wrong! There are co-op class teachers, piano teachers, dance teachers... the list could go on and on. We gave out our first round of gifts the week before Thanksgiving when Sport and Spice's weekly enrichment classes came to an end. Here's what the kids handed out...

a roll of Christmas wrapping paper with a note that says "May your holidays be wrapped in love." We also added a homemade flavored coffee drink mix to this batch. I tried some of it later though and found it kinda gross (guess I should've taste-tested it before we give some out) so I'm not sharing the recipe. I am not a coffee drinker though, so what do I know? Maybe that was how it was supposed to taste. At any rate, we also included a few chocolate dipped spoons with the coffee mix so that should have improved the taste. We will be giving out more of the wrapping paper gifts. They were a big hit and I like giving out gifts that can be used up rather than a cheesy knick knack that does nothing but sit around gathering dust. I found these rolls in the Target dollar spot. I like them because they are shorter than regular rolls, but have a ton of paper on them.

Here is another twist on a popular gift that I blogged about last year (scroll down to the picture at the bottom). We had friends over today for our first ever Christmas Craftapalooza. All of the kids put together a few of these kits, and made some other cool gifts that I hope to blog about in the next few days. In the meantime, head over to We Are That Family for more great gift ideas.

DIY Easy Bake Oven Recipes

I planned to save this post until next week's Works For Me Wednesday, but when I logged onto We Are That Family today and saw the topic for this week was favorite summer recipes I figured I'd better go ahead and get posting. This isn't your typical "summer recipe" but if you're looking for a way to keep the kiddos occupied, these are a lot of fun!

If you have a young 'un with an Easy Bake Oven, I don't have to tell you how expensive the mixes are. Lucky for us, Santa left quite a few when he delivered the oven this past Christmas. We've just about run out though, and honestly, they're not so tasty. Awhile back I came across a website with recipes to make your own EBO mixes. I filed it away in the back of my mind until last night.


Sport is in Louisiana visiting all the grandparents and cousins so Spice and I have been trying to do some girly things. Today she had a friend over so we broke out the EBO and they made their entire lunch in it. Who knew you could make things like pizza, quiche, and quesadillas with nothing more than a heap of plastic and a light bulb? Here are the two concoctions we cooked up today:

Bean and Cheese Quesadilla

whole wheat tortilla
cheese
Frito Lay bean dip
dab of butter
non-stick cooking spray
salsa

First we folded a soft taco size tortilla in half and cut out a circle the size of the EBO pan. (You can get 4 circles out of one tortilla this way.) Spray some olive oil in the bottom of the pan. Place one tortilla in the pan, cover with cheese. Spread about 1 Tbsp. of bean dip on the second tortilla then place it bean side down on top of the cheese. Put a dab of butter on top and bake for about 7 minutes. Serve with a side of salsa for dipping.

The girls gave this a big thumbs up.

For dessert, we made peanut butter cookies:

1-1/2 Tbsp. peanut butter
1/4 cup flour
1 Tbsp. butter
sugar
chocolate chips

Combine peanut butter, flour, butter, and 2 tsp. sugar in a small bowl. Stir until it comes together. Separate dough and roll into small balls (about 1/2 inch). We used natural peanut butter so we rolled them in a bit of sugar before baking to sweeten them up a bit. Place 3-4 balls in EBO pan and flatten gently with thumb. Place 1 chocolate chip in the center of each cookie. Bake for about 7 minutes.They're pretty crumbly when they come out so let sit for a few minutes before removing from pan. This made 12 tiny cookies.

Here are a couple of links for more EBO recipes. Soon I hope to have the kids cooking dinner with the thing.

EBO Recipes

Frugal Easy Bake Oven Mixes

Homemade Cake Batter Ice Cream

 

I admit, I have a thing for cake batter. My favorite flavor snowball is wedding cake. Even when I tell myself over and over that this time I'm going to order something different, I always cave at the end and go for the sweet taste of cake. On those rare occasions when I set foot in a pricey ice cream shop, the only thing that can tear me away from peanut butter and chocolate goodness is cake batter. If cake batter is on the menu, I'm ordering it. If I had been in Marie Antoinette's shoes, I would have shouted, "Let them eat cake...BATTER!" So I may be a bit biased when I tell you the kids and I whipped up some homemade cake batter flavored ice cream Sunday and it was awesome! It would have been even better if I hadn't scorched the mixture ever so slightly. It was barely noticeable though and the kids had no complaints. I'm sure if you asked them, they'd say they're used to mom burning stuff. But a day later there wasn't the slightest trace of ice cream left and Hubby wasn't even here to get in on the action. I hope to get
more made up for the 4th. It just isn't the 4th of July without homemade ice cream and this will make a nice change from boring old vanilla. Guess I'll have to replace the leftover red and green Christmas tree sprinkles we used for a topping with something a little more American though! I found the original recipe on All Recipes and made a few changes. Here's my lightened up version:

1 cup milk (I used 1% Hood Simply Smart)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 egg yolks, beaten
3 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups evaporated skim milk
3/4 cup white cake mix, sifted

Whisk all ingredients together in a saucepan until well blended. Cook over medium-low heat until mixture reaches 160 degrees F. Stir constantly! I only stopped stirring for a second to put the milk back in the fridge and the mixture was already beginning to stick to the bottom of the pot. Remove from heat and cool in the refrigerator or freezer.

Pour the chilled mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's directions. Once it has the texture of soft-serve ice cream sneak a little for yourself all the while telling your kids it's not ready and needs to harden some more. Place whatever's left in the freezer in your ice cream maker's container or in a lidded plastic container to harden.

Next time I will double the recipe since this only made about 8 small servings. I also want to try cutting the sugar down to about 1/3 cup. As is, it was not too sweet, but I think the sugar could be reduced some without it making much of a difference.

This post is being linked to Balancing Beauty and Bedlam's Parade of Foods and Works For Me Wednesday.

Learning All Summer Long - Board Games

A while back I decided to clean out our game/puzzle cabinet. Here's a before picture of all the games and puzzles. This doesn't include the stack hidden behind the couch...



Sadly, the after shot didn't look much different. The fact is, we LOVE to play games (and do puzzles) so while our game cabinet is bursting at the doors, it's really hard to clear out too much when we really do play them all. I've bought pretty much every one of our games at garage sales or thrift stores, or picked them up for free at one of our homeschool swaps, so for us board games are a way to have a lot of fun at a very low cost. I lean heavily towards games that have an educational purpose. That's just my way of sneaking in a little more learning each day. We use board games regularly in our homeschooling as well to spice things up a bit.

I think all board games provide an opportunity for learning...patience, focus, winning and losing gracefully...but some teach much more than others. Here's a look at some of our favorite educational games:

Smath
Consider this a math version of Scrabble. Instead of spelling words, players create number sentences using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Though it is difficult, Spice plays this game too. I have access to her tiles and will guide her in coming up with equations, but leave a certain # out for her to figure out for herself. For example, I'll say, "Place your 3 tile before the addition sign, place the four tile after it, add an equals sign and the answer." She'll look through her tiles and find the 7 to finish off the equation.

SET
This is an awesome critical thinking game! Players lay out 12 cards and race to make sets of three. Sounds simple, but it's not. I have been making a real effort to teach Sport to FOCUS on one thing at a time. This game is excellent for that. If you're not giving it all of your attention all the time, you're toast! Spice has not played this with us yet. (It's hard!) But the last time we played, she watched and did call out a couple of sets of her own so maybe she's ready.

Boggle Jr.
This game helps preschoolers learn their letters and beginning words. Players roll the letter dice and try to find all the letters needed to spell the word on their card. Players can see the word they are trying to spell to make it easier, or the word can be covered up for added difficulty once the child becomes more proficient at spelling and sounding out words.

What's Gnu
Similar to Boggle Jr., but geared towards early readers who can put together three letter words. Instead of dice, it uses a cool sliding dispenser thingy that kids love to spit out letter tiles. Spice could just sit and play with that part all day.

Scrabble Junior
Like the grown-up version, but has words already spelled out on one side of the board for players to match their letters to. More advanced players can turn the board over for a blank slate.

Yahtzee
Not much explanation needed here, but we use it for math practice. I let Spice count the dots on her dice when needed to add up her score. For Sport, I quickly scoop up the dice and have him add or multiply in his head.

Uno
This may not seem like an educational game, but if you have a preschooler it's great for reinforcing numbers and colors. When Spice first started playing, I pretty much knew every card in her hand so I easily could have run her over, but sometimes it's not about winning the game, but providing lots of practice on certain concepts instead. (I have to remind myself of that often.)

Go Fish
Another one that's good for number and color recognition. Even those he's mastered those skills, Sport still likes to play this game. That darned fishing pole is just too much fun!

Monopoly Jr.
After I played my first game of Monopoly Jr., I knew I'd never go back to the grown-up version. Monopoly Jr. is fun, easy to follow, and most importantly, doesn't take 3 hours to play. This is a favorite of Sport and Spice. In the beginning, Sport was our banker, but lately, Spice has taken over that role and is getting in tons of math practice.

Trivial Pursuit for Juniors
I picked this up at an estate sale in my neighborhood recently and much to my surprise, the kids have really enjoyed it. There are questions that are easy enough for Spice to answer, but sometimes if she gets one that's too hard I might rephrase the question or make up a different one altogether. No one's ever the wiser. The science questions are much more on my level too! Most importantly, both Sport and Spice have been able to spout off facts they remember from the game.

Wiz Kidz
There are two decks of cards, one with a set of topics like "a piece of furniture" or "something found at the mall" and another deck with letter cards. Two cards are flipped over at the same time and players try to be the first to come up with a word that fits the category and starts with the correct letter.

Money, Money - A Discovery Toys game that is no longer produced, but if you see it at a garage sale or thrift store snatch it up. Players make their way across a board earning or spending allowance on every space for things like recycling cans or feeding the fish. The player with the most money at the end wins.

Math Magic - A self correcting game by Ravensburger that focuses on addition and subtraction.

Don't forget old fashioned favorites like dominoes (great for math skills with all of its different scoring versions), checkers, chess, and a good ol' deck of cards. Sport and Spice have been hooked on Solitaire lately (another one that I hope will improve Sport's attention span.) I think there is a Bingo game available for pretty much any subject too. We probably own about 95% of them - addition, division, ABCs, human body, Spanish...

This post is linked to WFMW's "Mom I'm Bored" edition.

Learning All Summer Long - Math

We Are That Family is hosting a special boredom busters edition of Works For Me Wednesday this week. We keep boredom at bay around here with lots of games, preferrably educational ones. Over the next week or so, I plan to write a series of posts about how we keep learning all summer long.

Did you know in Singapore children attend school 25o days of the year? Japanese students log 243 days, while those in Scotland, The Netherlands, Israel, South Korea, and Thailand total 200 or more. Heck even the French spend more days in school than Americans, and their countrymen are on vacation for more than a month out of every year. Is it any wonder our students lag behind the rest of the world in so many areas?

Call it "brain drain" "education eraser" or "loss of learning" the 2-3 month summer break students so look forward to only makes matters worse. It's estimated the average student loses 2 months worth of learning each summer. As homeschoolers, we could easily school year-round, but we don't. I admit, I like my summers and haven't been able to give them up completely although they do keep getting shorter. : ) Our summer break officially started last week, but being the sneaky mom I am, I continue to sneak in all kinds of educational activities for Sport and Spice. Sometimes they're on to me, other times they're clueless. This post will focus on the subject that seems to suffer from "brain drain" the most...math.

Sport will be reviewing his multiplication and division facts everyday. We could go the boring old flashcard drill route, but why do that when you can have FUN! Here are some of the ways we practice basic facts (any of these games can easily be adapted for addition, subtraction, or division):

Target Practice: Choose three (or more) multiplication facts for your child to practice (sixes, nines...) and write each of those numbers on a separate sheet of paper. If you want to go all artist like, draw a bull's eye on each piece of paper and write the number in the middle. Remove all of the number cards from a deck of cards. If you have a deck for each person, even better. Players stand behind a line and take turns trying to hit the targets with their cards. If a card lands on any part of the target, the player has to multiply the number on the card by the number on the target. If correct, the player earns that many points. If incorrect, the opposing player gets a shot. Set a number to play to and the first player to reach that # wins (200 works well for multiplication). As the child improves, make it more fun by adding in the jokers as wild cards. It's tempting to use the joker to create an easy equation, but a thinking student will realize a harder equation likely adds up to more points!

Football: Draw a rectangle on a piece of paper. Mark off 2 end zones and 10 yard lines. Randomly label the yard lines with the numbers 1-10 (or whatever facts you want to practice). Make several footballs out of cardboard or heavy cardstock and label each with a #. Player 1 selects a football (without peeking). Starting at one end of the field, the player multiplies the # on the football by the # on the field. If correct he continues across the field. His turn ends after scoring a touchdown (and earning 7 points) or committing an error. Player 2 then takes over with a new football from his end of the field. Set a time limit in advance to keep things exciting and keep the game moving quickly. The player with the most touchdowns at the end wins.

Multiplication War: Using only the # cards from a deck of cards, two players flip their cards over at the same time. The first player to correctly multiply the two numbers together and call out the product wins the pair. The player with the most cards at the end of the game wins.

Use a clock to practice the fives times tables. Point to a number on the clock and have the student quickly call out the number of minutes it represents.

There are tons of websites and software programs that offer fun math practice as well. One of our favorites is Quarter Mile Math. Sport loves to race against his previous scores to try and set a new personal best time. Students can choose horse or auto racing. Parents get to set parameters to determine exactly what is practiced, for example addition facts for the numbers 1-5. The best part about it is both of my kids can use it. QMM topics range from kindergarten to 9th grade. At the kindergarten level, letter recognition is covered as well as numbers. Spice often practices finding what letter comes before/after another and identifying vowels or consonants. Sport has tried everything from multiplication, to fractions, decimals, division, and estimation.
QMM is offering a $5 discount to anyone who orders the software using the following link:


Another favorite around here is Timez Attack. This program offers a truly entertaining way to practice times tables, but at $30 or more, is a bit pricey considering it only tests multiplication. We have enjoyed the free basic download available from the website though.

Hope this post gets you to thinking about how to sneak in a little learning this summer. Check back tomorrow for a look at some of our favorite educational boardgames.

Start the Bed Making Habit

One thing I've always wanted my kids to do automatically is wake up each morning and make their beds. I learned from FlyLady a freshly made bed can make a huge difference in the appearance of a room and the sooner it's made, the better. But face it, in the morning rush getting the bed made is usually low on the list of priorities.
I know, I know...we're homeschoolers so sending the kids back upstairs to make their beds before starting work for the day shouldn't be a problem, but you'd be amazed how a simple task like going to make the bed can turn into a 20 minute ordeal, what with all those Legos and books around begging for attention. So it's a job that rarely gets done at our house, by the kids anyway.
Now that summer's here, I plan to change that. I've been priming Sport and Spice to wake up and make their beds as soon as they jump out of it. This has been especially exciting for Spice who just moved to a big girl bed this weekend. I've made a bit of a competition out of it to see who actually remembers to make their bed before coming down for breakfast. So far, Spice has been spot on each morning. Sport has needed a reminder here and there, but at least he hasn't. And at this point, if he gets lost in Legoland for an hour or two, who cares? Today we had friends come to play unexpectedly so I took the opportunity to point out how good they must have felt by having a neatly made bed ready and waiting.
My hope is by the time summer is over this bed making bit will have become a nicely formed habit and once we start back to school, making beds will be as natural as eating breakfast in the morning.
Hope this idea works for you. Head over to We Are That Family for more helpful hints and tips.

Free Summer Movies

School's almost out and that means finding new and exciting ways to entertain your kids every. single. day. for the next 12 weeks or so. When it gets too hot outside, head over to Regal Cinema for their Free Family Film Fest. We are not big movie watchers around here so we don't run to the theater every time a new kiddie movie comes out. The free movies are a real treat for us because we get to see new shows and not be too disappointed if one's a dud.

If you have kids who are easily spooked like mine, check out thorough reviews of each movie here beforehand.

This post is linked to We Are That Family's Works For Me Wednesday.

E-mealz

If you're a fan of the Dave Ramsey show (Hubby says I'm addicted), you've no doubt heard the commercial for e-mealz. You know the one that promises to cut your grocery bill by hundreds of dollars a month for only $5 a week. I was tempted by that commercial daily for over a year before I finally couldn't take it anymore and broke down and subscribed for three months. I tried to find reviews of the program before signing up, but didn't have a lot of luck so I decided to share my opinion in case anyone else is out there wondering how it all works.

I'll start by saying e-mealz is a wonderfully convenient service. Each week an e-mail arrives in your inbox with next week's dinner menu all planned out and a shopping list to boot. There are many options available when starting out, such as selecting how many people you need to feed each week, choosing your favorite grocery store (Kroger, Publix, Wal-Mart and Aldi to name a few), and deciding if you'd prefer low-fat or vegetarian dinners.

We started with the basic Kroger menu. Not all menu preferences (low-fat...) are available with every store, otherwise I would have chosen a low fat Kroger menu. I do not cook on weekends. E-mealz plans a meal for every day of the week so I was able to cross out the two least appealing meals from the get-go. After using the program a couple of weeks though, I came to the conclusion there was simply too much meat involved for our family. We usually have 1 or 2 meatless meals a week. With the e-mealz plan, there might be a pork roast on the menu for Monday night, chicken for Tuesday, a rump roast for Wednesday... Honestly, one roast can last us an entire week and we were ending up with a lot of leftovers - some of which never got eaten - so there was simply too much waste going on here. Our family of four includes two kids - one of whom is a very picky eater and rarely wants anything to do with meat that isn't deep fried, so I came to the conclusion we were spending more than necessary on meat with this menu. I also don't cook a lot of weird meat. We pretty much stick to ground beef and chicken around here with an occasional roast. Just because Boston butt is on sale for the week doesn't mean I want to eat it.

A few weeks into my subscription, I switched to the Publix low-fat menu. This did reduce the amount of meat being called for each week, but there were still some issues for me. It didn't take long to figure out low-fat and healthy don't always mean the same thing. I try to stay away from things like canned biscuits and pizza crusts because of all of the preservatives. These were staples with the low-fat menu though and we're included at least once a week, as were a lot of boxed, convenience type foods for side dishes. And there was still a lot of chicken cooking going on - typically twice a week. E-mealz plans your menu based on weekly sales at the store you select. I love this feature, however I prefer to buy organic meats so it didn't really do my pocketbook any good to serve chicken two nights a week because regular chicken was on sale for $0.99 a pound when I was going to be forking over four or five times that much for the organic variety.

While I love the concept of e-mealz, I came to the conclusion it just was not a perfect fit for our family. I tend to be a thrifty shopper anyway so I didn't find I really saved any money with it. E-mealz provides dinner for a family of 4-6 for about $80-90 each week. This is about what I was spending anyway on my regular shopping trips that also included toilet paper, breakfast, lunch, snacks, shoes, Hello Kitty headbands from the Dollar Spot...(There are reasons why you shouldn't grocery shop at Target.)

Even though it didn't work for our family, I do think there are some families out there who could really benefit from the service. Newlyweds who don't have a clue about running a household (like me many moons ago) or new moms who are trying to figure out how to accomplish a thousand new things in a day would probably love the service, as would families in which both parents work and dinner time is always a mad dash. I think it would also be helpful for anyone new to the idea of menu planning to help them get into a groove as well as those families you hear about who spend $700 a month (ACK!) on groceries for their family of four. I admit it was freeing to not have to worry about what I was going to cook for dinner tomorrow night or even next week and the pre-made shopping lists were the best thing since sliced bread. If e-mealz were to come out with a truly healthy/organic menu, I would even be willing to give them another try.

If you've been wondering if e-mealz would work for you, I hope this post gave you some insight!

Free Stuff

Here's two free deals that are good for your wallet and good for the earth...

Take a break from tax day and head to Starbucks for a free cup of coffee. Customers who bring in a reusable travel mug on April 15 - that's tomorrow! - get a free cup of fresh brewed coffee.

Once you have your coffee in hand, head over to Kroger's website and design your dream reusable shopping bag. Once you submit your design, you'll receive a coupon for a free Kroger reusable bag.

Free works for me! See what works for others at Works For Me Wednesday.

Beginner Sewing Project

Spice has been showing a lot of interest in sewing lately so I decided it as time to set her up with a few projects. We started off with a beginner needlepoint kit from JoAnne's, but it has proved to be a bit more complicated than we bargained for so I made up some projects of my own for her.

We started off with a set of mesh coasters from Dollar Tree. This rubbery "material" is also found in the shelf liner section. I originally went in for the shelf liner, then saw the set of 4 coasters and thought they were the perfect size for little hands. I used a Sharpie to draw a simple flower shape on the coaster in red and purple for Spice to embroidery with yarn.

 

We have a couple of large plastic kid's sewing needles on hand, but if you don't have any, I've seen kiddie needles fashioned out of pipe cleaners. Spice "traced" around each shape with her yarn then I tied it off for her.

 

 

She had a great time with this project, completing it over 2 days, and is very proud of her work!

 

Next up, a rainbow!
Check out Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family for more fun ideas.

Box of Socks

Get a jump start on Christmas shopping for 2010! Here's a simple, but cute (and not to mention thrifty) gift for any young ladies on your list. Pick up holiday themed socks throughout the year, then box them all up and give as a gift.
I gave sock sets to both of my nieces this year and they were a hit. I found most of them at the Target Dollar Spot or Dollar Tree. For the Christmas pair, I splurged at Big Lots and spent $2 per pair for the big fuzzy socks, bringing my total to a whopping $7 for gifts that will be used throughout they year. Once I had all of the pairs, I tucked them into a recycled shirt box and made a fancy label like "Spice's Box O'Socks".

 

 

If you want to make this even more economical, wait until each holiday is over and score some half-price socks. I went ahead and made like a big spender though because I didn't want to chance missing out on any particular holiday.
When Christmas rolled around, I was kicking myself for not making sock boxes for Spice and her cousin so I've already started to work on that. I have noticed it is a little harder to find themed socks for little girls. Most of them come in ladies sizes. Why? Who do you honestly think would prefer to wear socks covered with shamrocks or skeletons? Anyway, I have had good luck with smaller sizes at Target. It just requires a little more digging.
Hope you find this idea useful even if you think it's a little soon to be thinking about Christmas! For more great tips, visit We Are That Family for Works For Me Wednesday.

Cleaning Up After Sick Kids

It's been a rough couple of weeks here in the GroovieMom household. A stomach virus has taken its toll on each of us one by one. I'll spare you all the gory details and get right to the topic at hand. Here are my top tips for saving your sanity with sick kids in the house:

Keep everything covered! This is especially important if you have little ones in the house. Spice for one has not mastered the art of aiming. I kept her bed lined with lap pads like these that I have held on to just for this purpose. This way if she throws up during the middle of the night, all I have to do is change out the padding, rather than completely strip all sheets off the bed and start over. I also keep the couch covered with several layers of beach towels for the same reason.
If you have older kids like Sport, who may have mastered the art of aiming, but still don't have the timing down, keep a small wastebasket nearby at all times. I line a trash can with several plastic shopping bags so if the urge strikes all I have to do is remove the offending bag along with the one beneath it for extra protection (I learned the hard way a lot of those shopping bags leak), dispose of it and reline the can. Makes for a much more easier and less nauseating clean-up. Just close your eyes, hold your breath and pack it away. I keep a trash can by Sport's bed when he's sick along with a couple of towels underneath it for extra protection.

These tips work for me when things in our home are at a low point I hope they can help you too. Visit We Are That Family for more WFMW tips.

Homemade Microwave Popcorn

A new year has begun and that means everyone is dusting off last year's resolution to lose weight and get in shape and starting over again. I found this recipe in All You magazine a few months back and have been using it on a regular basis since then. I love microwave popcorn for a quick snack, but let's face it the prepackaged kind is not the healthy treat popcorn is meant to be. If you've been forking over the big bucks for organic/all natural microwave popcorn like me, here's a recipe your wallet will love as much as your waistline.

Pour 1/4 cup of popcorn kernels in a brown lunch bag. Add 1 tablespoon of oil (olive or canola is best) and 1 teaspoon of salt. Shake well, fold over the top of the bag, and cook in the microwave for 3-4 minutes.

The real beauty of this recipe is you can easily forgo the salt and add other flavors like brown sugar, cinnamon, garlic salt...mmmmm, I better go get popping.

This post is being linked to Balancing Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday and We Are That Family's Works For Me Wednesday.

Baby's First Gift

If you have any new little ones in your family this year, consider this idea for baby's first Christmas gift: Purchase a basket or bin and fill it with some of your favorite children's books to get baby's library off to a great start.


You can buy pre-made book gift baskets online, but they are uber expensive. I hit upon this idea a few years ago and it has become one of my favorites for welcoming a new baby and one that is greatly appreciated by new parents. This is also an easy gift to plan ahead for. You've got a good 8 or 9 months to get things together right? Be on the lookout for book sales and you can put together a great gift for very little moolah. Some of my favorite places to pick up gift books are Scholastic's Book Club or warehouse sales, Target's dollar spot, and Kohl's. The Kohl's Cares For Kids program offers classic children's books in hardback for 5 bucks. Right now they are selling the Laura Numeroff series If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, If You Give A Pig A Party, If You Give a Cat A Cupcake...This is a great deal! I picked up the last few titles we didn't already own to add to our collection. You can also snag one of the stuffed animal characters to fill out your gift basket.

We also love to make homemade gifts around here. Here are links to some of our favorites:

We make a couple of these ice candles from Family Fun every year.

Spice and I have been making treasure soaps similar to these for her Little Flowers group. We put silk flowers inside.

I love these coasters! I'm making these for the kids' teachers. You would think with homeschooling we would not need teacher gifts, but that's not the case. There are church teachers, dance teachers, tennis coaches, co-op teachers... I think these make a beautiful gift without breaking the bank. One tip though that I learned the hard way: If you take on this project, use very thin coats of sealer. Don't even worry about covering the entire tile at once. Just spray a light mist, let dry and go back and hit spots you may have missed. I ruined 2 sets last night by getting the tile too saturated on the first spray. I was not a happy camper standing there watching all of my ink run together.

We Are That Family's special gift themed WFMW post has a ton of other ideas if you're just getting started on your Christmas list.