Dumpster Diving 101

For weeks now I have been thinking about outside projects that I have very little skills to "make happen".


A chicken coop was high on the list, since I was really OVER, smelling chicken poo in my garage! I need a compost bin for my garden, and then there was the pitiful plastic table I was using to do all my potting and plantings. It was ugly, completely utilitarian and just not me! But did I dare ask for my husband to think of one more project, when I was still smelling chick poo? No, I kept silent looking on the internet for garden benches, which were over priced and not what I had imagined.

And then on my way home from Melissa's I passed the bench of my dreams, sitting out on the side of the road beckoning for me to take it home.


Except, I don't dumpster dive? Is there protocol? Do you need permission? I had a car full of kids and unsure which home on this dirt road would I ask for permission to reclaim their garbage? Well I called Mike, he should surely know what to do, it is his job. A little aggravated he agreed to come pick up my beast of a find. I trekked an acre up and asked the first person I found to which they said, " If there aint a sign on it, take it." So there you go, you can take stuff on the curb as long as there is no sign??? Who knew!

BEFORE

AFTER

And between this and the coop I have got my paint fix for a while!

The Chicken Coop (5 Days of FUN)

I have eat, breathed and dreamed about this chicken coop for the last 5 days. I have an awesome farmers tan, dirty man hands, and way more construction knowledge than I ever wanted. But my coop is done!! The ladies spent their first night in it and I found them on their roost this morning all huddled together. In fact only half the roost was utilized. A sure sign that there is room for a red chicken or two? hmmmm?

The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler by the Hallmark Channel

I have this recorded and will make copies for anyone who wants one. I watched this with Maddy and there was only one part at the end that was rough when they showed the Gestapo beating her feet. At then end the real Irena talks about how hard it was for the mothers to give up their children. This was a very good movie for the between phase. If they are not old enough to see the deathcamps, but can get a glimpse of this tragedy through a child's eyes. By no means is this watered down, but I watched it first and thought it was appropriate for a tweens understanding. Our book club had just finished Behind the Bedroom Wall and I think this movie helped put a greater perspective on the enormity of the holocaust.

And can you believe Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize compared to her? They were both nominated and he won??????????????????

It's A Hard Knock Life For Us!

Darn I was hoping for a pic of Ethan in his underwear!

Susan Boyle ~Britains Got Talent~ I Dreamed A Dream

This video makes me want to watch Britain's Got Talent, and I AM not an Idol fan!

You, must, must, must watch this... I am not going to give away the secret, but you must see Simon's face. It is 7 minutes long, but oh soooooo worth it!

I would embed it but youtube has disabled the embedding for this video.

Enjoy!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Why Can I Blog this Week?

Because my girls are at the funnest camp on earth....

Could I get some bacon with my tea, ma'am?

It's tax day and to most people in my set it means a refund, little stress, and pretty much a normal day. But how long will our tax days be this benign? With Washington literally spending like a drunken sailor in a whorehouse, how long til that bill comes due? And who do you think is going to pay it? This is not a democrat or republican post because frankly they are both guilty and need to be booted OUT!

I know when Mike and I are in a budget crunch, we just say,"Yep, I think we need to go buy that new boat, and the car to tow it, and a new beachy wardrobe for me and all the kids" Right??

Or maybe we will just print some more money when we run out ;)

So

We are going to a Tea Party

Should I dress up like Pocahontas?

Tea parties are not about taxes, political parties, but about fiscal responsibility. What legacy in America are we leaving our children. You never have to have hard times, big government will take care of you? Our nation was not founded on anything other than rugged individualism and small government controlled by the PEOPLE.

Look for me on the 11 'o clock news!!

I NEED a Chicken

Hi my name is Leisa, and I like to collect chickens.

I think about red ones, and striped ones; black ones that lay double yolks, silvery laced ones, and ones that lay blue eggs.

I wonder why?

Why can't I find a cherry legger or Red Star on craigs list?? I know someone has one, somewhere in Florida is a Black Sex Link or Silver Wyandotte that wants to live in my garage (the coop is still not built).

I just need one more chicken, just one more that likes to lay lots of big brown eggs, everyday... Is that too much to ask?





Oh where are you my next chicken?

Signed,

The Chicken Addict

Cracker Barrel at Home

We had a Cracker Barrel night at home. I found this awesome recipe from the Southern Plate for their grilled tenderloins. It was a hit at my house so here is the recipe.

Cracker Barrel Chicken
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into tenderloins
1 cup Zesty Italian dressing
2 tsp lime juice
3 tsp honey

I doubled the recipe. Combine ingredients and pour in a ziploc bag, add chicken and let marinate at least an hour. Overnight would probably be the best.

Pour mixture and chicken in a deep skillet and let reduce down to a glaze on medium heat. This will take 40-50 minutes.

and then I had to make Peach Cobbler, just because I wanted to.

Peach Cobbler- the easy way!

1 box golden cake mix (with a coupon it was recently on sale for .60)
2 cans peaches in syrup
3-4 tbsp cinnamon, sugar and dash of nutmeg mixture
1-2 tbsp butter cut into tiny tiny pieces

In a 13x9 pan butter it, dump in peaches, top with cake mix (make sure the juice soaks into mix so it doesn't come out powdery. You may have to press it into the juices) Top with the cinnamon/sugar mixture until top of cobbler is covered. ( I just kept adding until it looked right.) And then add little pieces of butter on top all over. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes until crust is brown and crunchy.

Serve with ice cream, yum-yum!

Freebies or just awesome deals at Publix

This is just a sampling of coupon matchups available this week. For the full list check out Jenny at www.southernsavers.com

***** The printables are like free money. The Yoplait coupon makes it FREE


Mueller’s Pasta 12-16 oz box save up to $1.39
-.55/2 Muellers printable or SS 3/01 (buy 2, makes it .42¢ ea)
-$1/3 Muellers printable (buy 3, makes it .36¢ ea) (thanks Ashley!)

Juicy Juice 100% Premium Juice 64-oz bot. save up to $3.49
-$1/2 Juicy Juice March All You Mag. or printable (makes it $1.24 ea)
-$1 off Harvest Surprise Juicy Juice printable (if carried at your store) (makes it .74¢ ea)
-$1 off any Juicy Juice Brain Development printable (if included)


Kraft BBQ Sauce, 16.25-18-oz bot. save up $1.59
-.35/1 Kraft BBQ Sauce coupon on select bottles (makes it .10¢ ea)

Ken’s Steak House Marinade or Buffalo Wing Sauce, 16-oz bot. save up to $2.79
-$1 off Ken’s Dressing or Marinade SS 3/08 (makes it .40¢ ea)

Pam Cooking Spray 5 or 6-oz can, save up $3.39
-.55/1 off Pam store coupon Yellow Advantage Buy Flyer
-$1/2 or .55/1 Pam Spray SS 3/29(stack store and manufacturer coupons makes it .59¢ ea)

Yoplait Yogurt 6pk 4oz cup save up $2.79
-$1.50 off any Yoplait Kids printable (IE) or printable (FF) (makes it FREE plus overage)
-$1/2 Yopliat Kids printable
-$1/2 Yoplait Trix, Fizzix, Go-Gurt printableor SS 3/22 (either $1/2 coupon makes it .89¢ ea)

More Saving Information from Jenny

Jenny’s website, Southern Savers, is a must see for anyone wanting to learn to save big on groceries through couponing. The beauty of it is that Jenny does all of the work for you! I log on and click on where I want to shop. Jenny lists each sale item and if there are coupons available for that item. Many times the coupons are printable online and all you have to do is click the link right next to them to get your coupon! She points out hot deals and lets you know when you should stock up if a deal is unbeatable.
Southern Savers has also introduced me to my new favorite “sport”, CVS-ing. CVS offers Extra Care Dollars on many of their transactions if you have a Extra Care Card. Using a system of purchasing these extra care items and using your extra care dollars to pay for them (Jenny explains how to do all of this here) I have begun stockpiling great household items such as toothpaste, personal care items, shampoo, mouthwash, body wash, and more - FREE. Sometimes I have to pay a little out of pocket, but I leave with store credit when I do!
I know this sounds too good to be true because I honestly didn’t believe it until I began trying it for myself. There is no catch and Southern Savers offers all of these resources free of charge so be sure you go check it out and look into it for yourself.
Here is a little introduction to the basics from Jenny
How to Save over 50% on groceries, the condensed version…
First couponing isn’t just cutting your paper up and handing over a few coupons every now and then. If that is what you think, then you will save $5 or $10 dollars and become discouraged that it is not worth your time.
True couponing is cutting those coupons from your paper and then saving them until the product you want to buy is on sale. Doing this you can get items for 50-100% off regular price (yes that’s right - FREE).
How?? It is really putting two concepts together:
1. Product prices fluctuate on cycles normally 6-8 weeks long. When an item is at its lowest price in that cycle you want to buy enough of that item to get you through until it comes back on sale. An example, your family eats 1 box of cereal a week, so you buy 6 boxes when it is on sale to get you through the sale cycle.
2. When it is a rock bottom price you use your coupons to reduce the price even lower. Grab some extra copies of coupons that you will use a lot of by purchasing more papers, getting friends papers, or buying the individual coupons online.
That’s the basics! Pretty simple and yet so many of us have never put these things together.
If I don’t have you convinced let me spell it out with money.

You can buy 1 box every week for 6 weeks, or buy all 6 boxes on sale.
That’s one product and you have saved $20.34. Now think of the other 200 products that the average family buys a month. Even if you didn’t have coupons for all of your items, if you wait until the product is on sale to purchase it you are still saving.
Want some more tips to save even more?
Most stores let you “stack” store coupons with a manufacturer coupon. This means you can use 2 coupons for one product!
Give up any brand loyalties. If you can get something for 10¢ versus $1 there isn’t much to make you loyal!
House brands are rarely the best deal. There are not many coupons for house brand items. Stores have trained us to think that their brands are a deal, but really the store makes the most profit off their own items. An example, you can buy house brand frozen vegetables for.88¢ on sale, or you can get a name brand for FREE.
Buying at bulk stores is not really a savings. This is the case for two reasons. First, the bulk stores do not take coupons. Second, the large boxes are usually two or three little boxes together. If you could use a coupon you would do better using 3 coupons on 3 little boxes than 1 coupon on a big box.
~Thank you, Jenny, for such a great introduction!~
If your head is spinning, don’t worry, Jenny does all the work for you and explains everything in details over at Southern Savers!

Check out the full article at the Southern Plate . Yummy recipes here too!!

10 Free Trees for Arbor Day

Become a member for 10.00 and they will give you a choice of 10 free trees. Free Shipping and Handling and 30-56% off the Tree Store. The deadline for spring orders is 4/16.

Our choices for Florida were

10 Live Oaks
10 Evergreens
5 Crepe Myrtles

Go here for more information

Free Movie Monday

Redbox, which is located in the Walmart arcade area, offers free movie rentals on Mondays with a special code. Sign up here for weekly codes emailed to you.

Here is the list for current movies available.


And here is todays code J89LA2

Couponing 101 from the coupon QUEEN!

Ok, the breakdown of this Publix trip with coupons).

* 18 cans of beef and chicken broth (32-36 cents a piece)

*10 Land'O Lakes butter (1.50 a box)

* 9 Wheat Thins & Artisian crackers

* 6 Duncan Hines Cake Mix

* 2 bags of Lays Chips

* 2lbs ground beef

*6 Real Mayos (1.90 stock up for summer)

* 3 sour cream

*4 Miracle Whip

* 2 Velveeta macaroni shells

*4 Tropicana 50 OJ

* Coffee

* 5lb bag potatoes

* 5 kraft Salad dressings (.04 cents each)

* 5lb Sugar

* Poptart box

* 2 bag of marshmallows

* 1 gallon milk ~~~~~~~~~~

Walgreens : 5 Playtex tampons, 2 colgate toothpaste

4-palmolive dish soap

total- 8.00

So after getting free toothpaste, soap, shampoo & conditioner. I cannot imagine paying full price ever again. Tampons are 5.99, yet you can wait for a sale and stack coupons to get them 1.99. Then stock up at that price! Sale patterns can go 4,8 or 12 weeks before you see rock bottom prices again.

Coupons are like free money when you walk in the door to the grocery store. Publix accepts competitor coupons. Food Lion, WholeFoods, WinnDixie, Albertsons, CVS, Walgreens. They want you to shop with them...

Mike ran to get some last minute deals today and asked the store manager about pickle relish and if it was buy one get one. It was not, but the manager gave him the deal anyway! All of this by just asking. Mike bought 4 boxes General Mills cereal, 3 philadelphia cream cheese, 4 kraft shredded cheese, 2 kraft block cheese, 1 head of cabbage, 2 jars of pickle relish, 2- birds eye frozen peas, 1-bacon, 2- onions, 1 green pepper, the total was 21.00 after 20 dollars in coupons. That is a 50% savings.

Ok, so now how do you do this??? Read this whole page on coupon 101 & the coupon binder

Then check my side bar for updates from the sites that matchup the weekly deals. There is a 2-3 week learning curve, but when you start cutting your grocery bill in half. It's worth it. Now I do get my eggs, and vegetables from local growers and my garden.

Fiddledeedee does have organic Friday matchups, and Food Lion often puts out meat, and produce coupons that Publix accepts.

Can We Talk About How Much I Hate American Idol?

Well, not really hate I just have never watched it and cannot see how it is sooo interesting. I mean please the judges are ridiculous, and for the show to go on and on season after season....yuck!

Okay I secretly used this topic to enrage all my friends and get them to read this post, so now I will talk about what I really was going to post about.

Yeah, I got nothing... It's pretty boring over here. We are watching our garden, chicks, and flowers grow. I love getting up in the morning and checking out all the new growth. I even have some green cherry tomatoes.

I took the girls to Blizzard Beach yesterday. The high was like 79 in the sun, so you know I had a blast. The girls earned the trip with Circle in their co-op so Mike and I fought all weekend about who should take them. And I lost! Normally I happily take them, but well a cold front, does not make for fun times in my book....

But suprisingly it was fun, the kids loved it. I didn't freeze too much, and for the first time I let Maddy run off with 2 other girlfriends and check in every third ride... Yikes, I have a pre teen...

Liv loved the kid area so I camped out there watching her slide a bazillion times. I think we will purchase the Flordia after 2 water park tickets. It is for either park and is only 62.00 for adults and 50.00 for kids. It only took us 30 min on the 429 to get there and the passes are good for a year.

Well I am off to grocery shop and get some .24 glass plus, and COFFEE, I'm out!

See yall at the park

Twilight Fix

Green Acres Is the Place To Be, Farm Living Is the Life for Me!!

Our two Americauna chicks, they lay blue eggs once grown

Liv named her chick Sparkles, and Maddy named hers Manny-Petty

This is a picture of what my three Barred Rock Hens will look like once grown
this is how they look now

Ethan's boo boo

Boots checking it out

Time change has kicked my butt!

So, here is a blog that has a writer that is getting sleep, and is not eat, sleep, and breathing Sonlight Core 4

Scroll down a few posts to her urban chicken post!! Too funny!

It's 10:30 and I'm doing SWR! HELP!!!

Train of Thought Post

My thoughts and life have been very, very busy this spring, so hang on cause we are going ALL over the place.

We have been "doing" school for the last three weeks non stop. As in everyday of the week, 6:30 AM until usually evening off and on. We have gone through 20 spelling lists, 5 almost 6 books and covered from after Lewis and Clark up until the Civil War. It has been a wild, informative and at times trying couple of weeks. This crazy pace is a good lesson as why we should stay structured and do our daily work!! But really this year I have not had the energy to get back on it until now, and that is just going to have to be ok!! Because I said it is ok ;)

With spring coming I am starting to feel less sad days remembering my aunt and more days of peace. I know the business of a young family helps to keep my mind occupied. It seems hard to believe that just this time last spring we had no idea of what was to come.

Well I can officially let out that I am going to be an aunt in October. My sister is pregnant and it is KILLING me that she is so far away!! Hopefully she will be back home this time next year if all goes well with relocating their jobs. I am terribly excited and can't wait to be the most favoritest aunt ever!! And a pretty cool sister-in-law, I might add!

We should be done with our 5th grade curriculum by the end of June if we stay on this accelerated schedule. I have pretty much just have hunkered down and we eat, sleep, and breathe school. If we take July off we will go to the lake for a few weeks to be with Lyns, and then start back up school mid August.

Liv is just starting to read and is very excited. It has come very easy to her, and can I just say, AMEN, thank you Jesus!!! I needed an easy reader. After Maddy, I just might have given up if Liv was hard to teach to read. I am sure that the most of the problem with Maddy and reading was because I didn't know what I was doing. In fact as first born she will be my guinea pig, poor Maddy. It will be a wonder if she comes out ok at all. Sadly I was also a firstborn and know the injustices of being first!

Well the economy is in the toilet and I cannot believe how many people I know are out of work. I guess I take a lot of comfort in the reality that I hold a nursing license and could go back and work if it gets really bad. I volunteer monthly with a low cost food program out of our church and our orders doubled this month. The demographic has usually been retirees and fixed income families. However this month it was more middle class young families all with the same story of losing jobs. It has really started me thinking on shoring up our ship for any stormy weather! Hey the nautical reference is likely because we just finished the book All Set Sail. It was nautical nightmare of 1800 terms and salty dog sea jargon! My kids thought it was so funny every time I said the captain was on the "poop". I would get snickers every time and believe me there was many references to the poop deck!

And since I like to garden and do crafty pioneery type projects I have launched the biggest spring garden project to date. I am planning on reserves to can, and freeze. I am also soaping in my free time ;) Just kidding didn't you read above, I have no free time til July.

And in the midst of all this Mike has reconnected with his biological fathers side of the family. They have been so nice and kind and it was through them I have received some of those baby pictures I posted. It is a long story involving an Indian Pow Wow, and a death that happened 10 years ago, and I will leave you hanging on that until next time.

So now you are caught up

I know this is blurry but does anyone see Ethan here?

Can you pick out who cloned Liv in this picture? She even has the same expression as him!

Yummiest Soup EVER!

Thai Coconut Curry Soup

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped carrot

1/2 stick butter to sautee onion and carrot in

diced chicken if wanted

1 cup vermicelli broken up

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 cup coconut milk

1/2 tsp curry powder

2 tsp fresh grated ginger (I used 1 tsp )

1/4-1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 carton of College Inn Thai coconut curry broth

1. Cook onions, carrots, ginger, curry, red pepper in a deep skillet in butter. Add noodles, broth and lime juice once veggies sauteed.

2. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 7 minutes or until noodles are tender. Stir in coconut milk and heat through.

Recipe is on the back of the College Inn broth box.

This took 20 minutes to make and was AMAZING!!!!

Planting Friday

So we went to the Indian Pow Wow and it was neat. It wasn't crowded and the kids were able to see a Bald Eagle, Red Tail Hawk, and Great Horn Owl literally just feet away from them. Everyone was very informative and we stepped inside TEEPEE's that were very authentic.

**********
But the best part was I found a local beekeeper that was selling honey very cheap, 15.00 for a half a gallon, and 9.00 for a loaf of beeswax.

I was so excited and immediately began thinking up recipes for soap, and lip gloss..

Well I started my seeds for my spring garden today. I have enough for at least 3 families gardens. Mike is not crazy about the idea of alotting anymore backyard space to a garden area. I really need just one more very long bed right behind the pool. I planted my herb garden and green onions in containers, and will probably have the beans climb the back fence.

Well Ethan helped plant, but decided he prefered gardening in the buff!

Practice makes Perfect!

I'm ready to babysit!