Tomato Taste Test Results

I attended a Tomato Taste Test at our local nursery this weekend. The results surprised me. ;)

Here are the varieties I tested:

Valencia
Sugar Cherry
La Roma
Cherokee
Black Kim
Burpee Big Boy
Beefmaster
Early Girl
Brandywine
Red Pear

I ate a lot of tomato. I also sampled some cucumber varieties but forgot to write them down. All of the cucumbers were great, but I wasn't a fan of each of the tomatoes.

I commited the worst taste testing offense....I sampled the sugar cherry first. Being a sweet tooth, this ruined me for the whole test. I love savory tomatoes, but sweetness almost always wins me over.

None of them were yuck, and all of them tasted like....tomato. My faves? Sugar Cherry (um, duh?), Valencia, La Roma, Cherokee, and Brandywine.

I was surprised that I didn't favor the beefmaster or big boys. I plant those a lot and love them. But compared to the heirlooms (in today's head to head test,) they were more watery and less flavorful. Granted, it could have been just the tomato itself. Taste varies to much based on soil, water, and time on the vine.

But the heirlooms were special, and different. We planted brandywine this year and LOVED it. Valencia was cool because it was yellow, and tasted great.

The only one I wasn't a fan of was the red pear. It was a little mealy for me.

And La Roma...yep! I need that one in my garden. I battled it out with my husband this year and got one cherry tomato. It was a tough fight.

Next year, I'm going to work with our base of one cherry and try to get one roma. It was so flavorful, and since it's a sauce tomato....hello? I love to make sauce. Hopefully he will hear the argument this year.  If not, one might accidentally fall into our cart.

Those kids are always putting things into the cart.

Who is the Fence For?

In the suburbs, we have to fence our garden or you know what will happen. But recently, neighbors have been commenting on my tomatoes. They have been saying things like "I kept staring at your tomatoes and wanted to pick one, but I couldn't figure out how to get in," and "your tomatoes look super ripe, if you don't pick them soon, I'm going to."

Oh man! I'm all about letting my fruits and veggies ripen on the vine, but do I have to look out for human invaders now too? Luckily, I think they have a bit more impulse control. Or at least they can't figure out how to open the fence.

Free Bob's Country Sauce

Click here to get a coupon good for a free bottle of Bob's Country Sauce. This coupon has been reset so if you ordered this a few months ago, you may be able to order it again. They carry this product at Walmart.

Too much Candy.....

My children attended 3 birthday parties this weekend. Each party had a pinata filled with candy, cake & ice cream, and treat bags to take home. One even had a donut eating contest!

I scraped through the parties with only one bite of cake (yippee!) But my babies came home with so much candy! And you know what they say about taking candy from babies? Of this, I am a master.

And candy is irresistable to me. So....I ate a LOT of candy. Afterwards, I felt so disgusting. I usually eat a fairly whole-foods diet, and this was a chemical onslaught.

I felt so sick and sluggish. And just over all yuckiness. Since I radically changed my diet over a year ago, I've had so much more energy and, dare I say, joy.

But one day (okay 2 days....why didn't I stop???) of endless candy and I felt so gross. I wonder if this is how I used to feel all the time or if my body just couldn't handle the attack?

Moms....steer clear of the candy! It wasn't even chocolate! So not worth it!

I'm setting this post to reappear at Halloween....as a reminder to myself.  

My new candy motto: If it's brown gobble it down; if it's yellow, let it mellow!

Free sample of Kashi Cereal

Click here to get a free sample of Kashi Cereal. Thanks Free stuff times!

Reading Chapter Books to Preschoolers

I used to read one chapter from The mouse and the motorcycle with my son after my daughter had gone to bed. But recently, I decided she was old enough to enjoy chapter books too. 

I decided to try the Little House series. We just finished The Adventures of Laura & Jack today. And we ALL  loved it. We loved it so much we were crying during some of it. Sissy babies! Jack was just such a great dog! I can't wait to read them the whole series. We'll be back to the library today to pick up a few more. 

In my opinion, 3 1/2 is a good age to start chapter books. Their attention span is getting bigger and they appreciate complex stories. They will ask to see the pictures though, so ones like this that do have sporadic pictures are great. And don't toss out the picture books. Little kids still love and need them. 

Any suggestions for other great chapter books for boys or girls, in the early preschool stage? 

My plan to tip layer wild black raspberries

It's late summer and you know what that means! Time to tip layer your brambles. Or at least your black raspberries!

What am I talking about? If you have red raspberries (or a cousin like the golds), they send up suckers each season and that's how they propogate.

Not so with black rapsberries. They send up a new cane from the original crown, but they do not send out suckers. So they do not rapidly multiply and take over your yard like the reds. Oh the never ending berry growth is a beautiful thing...

So if you want bushes in any other location or just want to increase the number of plants you have, then what do you do? It's called tip-layering.

If you let a black raspberry cane grow, it will grow and grow until it tips over and touches the ground. Naturally, the cane will start to root at the tip and start a new plant. But this may not be where you want it, or the tip may not contact the ground and no rooting will happen.

You can encourage your plants to tip root, by bending the cane over and burying the tip in the ground. But it won't stay there. :)

I'm using a large stone to hold my newly found wild black raspberries down (the tip is actually to the right of the rock, not smashed under it.) I couldn't wait until late summer, so I started mine a few weeks ago. I checked on one of them the other day and saw roots beginning to form. Wahoo!

By this simple step, I should be able to double the number of plants that were in my yard. Now if I could only quadruple them.....

I've read you can do this with purple raspberries as well. I have purple royalty so it's more of a red than a black and doesn't respond to tip layering.

More Free Princess Dvds from Fisher Price

Click here to order  Episode 1 of the Fisher Price princess Dvds. It looks like you can watch both Epsisode 1 & 2 online, but only Episode 1 is available for free at this time.

Weed killer in our Water!

OMG did you see this article from the NY times about how much weed killer is being found in drinking water?!?!? Remember my post about theZuvo Water Purator and how it cleans up tap water? I'm thinking I need to contact them and see about getting one! I don't want to drink this (or any contaminants for that matter.)

Check out the map below of the most heavily contaminated areas. You can click on it to enlarge.

It makes me even more happy that there are green gardeners out there that are NOT using these chemicals. Thank you green friends!

My computer bites the dust.....

Well....my computer finally bit the dust. It's not quite as crusty as the one in this picture, but pretty close. I bought the cheapest computer I could find 2 years ago, and well....I got it! Sometimes you really do get what you pay for.

So I brought it in to the geek squad just before my tomato testing today. My husband offered to take the children to the first birthday party alone, so I seized the opportunity to go out on my own. It was an occasion, and I dressed up for it.

By dressed up, I mean I wore chapstick. Okay, I actually wore some jewelry, a cute top and a little mascara. Pink must be a good color on me because I got a few mentions. Most notably, the computer fixing guy (who is probably reading through all my emails as we speak...)

I got the "so what school do you go to?" and "do you play sports...you look really athletic." Now that could swing either way, but I'm taking it as a compliment.

Obviously, my sparkly bracelet and newly applied mascara must have made me appear like this:

When I told him I was actually a mom, I instantly became this:

And then he told me he'd have my computer ready in 3 weeks. 3 WEEKS!! The sparklies had obviously worn off by this point.

So there you have it. I am without a computer for a few weeks. Actually, I can randomly use my husbands now that's he's back home. But emails will be few and far between. And I lost all my pictures and all that other stuff. I figured since I can't remember what was on there, I'll be fine. Maybe. And my husband has most of our pictures backed up. Phew. Thank goodness for responsible husbands.

It's perfect timing, actually, since I have 7 reviews coming up (a few with giveaways.) But I'll muscle through it and someday get to do this:

Oh you know I never would. I'd recycle it properly...but I'd be thinking violence all the way to the recycling center.

Bear with me was I await the return of my piece of junk computer. I'll be back and blogging in full force in a few weeks.

$20 in Star Fine Coupons

Take this survey to get $20 (Five $4 coupons) good for any star fine foods products. I personally love their olive oil!

I made my own Cruise Ship Towel Animals

Ever since we went on a cruise this summer, I've wanted to make the fun towel animals you see on the ship. So I added it to the list. I have a long list of all the things I want/need/have to do, and the animals kept getting shuffled toward the bottom.

But not today! Walmart had a sale on towels ($1 per towel, yippee!) so I picked up a few and this is what I made:

Be advised...if you are a guest in my home, you will wake up to a towel animal on your bed. ;)

Shopping at Sams Club - Giveaway Reminder

There's still time to enter the $25 Sams Club giftcard giveaway. You have until 9/4

Since posting about shopping at Sams, I've received some great emails and comments. One of those came from Brandy at the Prudent Homemaker. She has a great post dedicated to saving money (while still eating healthy) at Sam's club. Head over there to check it out.

I really appreciated her hard work. I'm going to go back to Sams and see if we can't benefit from some of these savings as well. Thanks Brandy!

Tomato Taste Testing! Wahoo!

Our local nursery is having a tomato taste test this weekend. They asked if I wanted to come...umm....yeah! Tomatoes are the ultimate and I'm so excited to try them all! I'm so not eating before I go. Okay, I'm still eating, but I'm still tasting every tomato!

I'm going to squeeze this in between 3 (yep that's 3) birthday parties we're attending. Thank goodness for all my 75% off gifts. I don't even have to run to the store! And now I'll have the perfect excuse not to eat any cake. Sorry...I need to save room for tomatoes. :)

Free Fruitabu smooshed fruit product

Click here to sign up for the fruitabu smooshed fruit squad. Make sure and click the box to join the squad and they will send you a coupon good for a free fruitabu product. Last time we got a full box of fruitabu smooshed fruit. And it was yummy!

Grocery shopping - Under $20 for a family of 4

Last week, I shopped at Sams Club...to pick up a few essentials. This week, I decided to jump on the blogging bandwagon and learn how to menu plan.

It's been harder than I thought (I'm hopelessly disorganized), but I went shopping in accordance with my menu plan.

Can you guess what I'll be making? Don't worry about our lack of pretty much any protein or other ingredients. I have a lot stocked up from previous sales. :) You can see all my weekly shopping trips by clicking here. I'm also swimming in fresh veggies from the garden. I have 200 tomatoes on my counter right now, and don't even get me started on the zucchini.

So how much did I spend? $19.36 What were the spendies? An 8oz bottle of vanilla, whole wheat flour, organic egg roll wrappers and olive oil. All the rest were great deals! I used $9 worth of coupons for a savings of 32% (not my highest savings, but that's okay.)

Just so you know....fresh produce CAN be super inexpensive. The peppers (for fresh salsa...so excited) were only 2 cents. Yes, 2 cents! The cilantro was 50c and the lettuce and carrots were 99c each. The garlic was 22c. The bags of cabbage were on sale for 50c each. Ordinarily, I would cut my own fresh cabbage but this price can't be beat. You CAN buy a lot of great ingredients for just pennies! Check out my weekly shopping because this is what I do all the time!

Fridays are Mega Swagbucks Days!

Today is Mega Swagbucks Friday! When you search on Fridays, you have the chance to win Mega swagbucks. They give out 10,000 swagbucks in Mega denominations (3, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100). I've won a few 3's and 5's. I'll let you know if I get a 10 or higher. Last week Mrs B won a 10!

If you haven't signed up for swagbucks yet, you can do so here.

Funny Burglary Video

Check out this funny burglary video. My father-in-law sent it out. He said it made him think of me. Too funny! I like the cat in the video.

What kind of mom does this....

What kind of mom lets her children play in a dirty fire pit? The kind that loves to wash incredibly dirty laundry! The kind that knows you're only young once!

I ate 48oz of Hummus in One day!

Can there be such a thing as too much hummus? I didn't think so, but now I'm not so sure. Every time I buy a 16 oz jar of hummus, it's gone in 2 days. I love it! So I decided to make my own.

I bought the ingredients (you can see some of them here) and grossly underestimated how much they would make. The ingredients cost me $9. I thought I'd get 32 oz of hummus. I only used half my ingredients and I made 48 oz. And I ate it ALL. Okay my daughter ate some, but she's a bird, so I ate probably 47.9 oz.

I'm still waiting to saving up swagbucks for a food processor, but because I bought tahini instead of sesame seeds, I could use the blender! Yay! My blender...not so yay! It smoked and roared, and well...it's almost ready to retire.

Aside from the blender mishaps, hummus is actually super easy to make. All you need are chickpeas, garlic, tahini (or sesame seeds), lemon juice, olive oil, vinegar, and water. You can buy the chickpeas in a can, or you can go the route I did and soak your own. You get more bean for your buck this way....plus you know what's in them. The math is fuzzy though. A 16oz bag of chickpeas does not equal a 15-16oz can of chickpeas. There is a lot of expansion folks! That's how my math ended up so fuzzy.

If you want to buy dried chickpeas and soak them yourself. It's really not that hard, but it does take patience. You need to let them soak overnight. I wanted my hummus as soon as I unloaded the groceries, so for me....I might try canned next time. Well...not next time, since I still have 1/2 a bag left.

Here's a quick recipe:

• 2 cups cooked chick peas
• 3 Tbsp. tahini (ground sesame seeds)
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 clove garlic, halved
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3-4 Tbsp water (to achieve desired consistency)
• 2 Tbsp vinegar

Blend it all up until it's nice and smooth. If you cooked your own chickpeas, then a quick warning: warm hummus is a little yucky. Toss it in the fridge for awhile before eating. More waiting? I know, I know! But you'll be glad you did!

Play around with the amount of salt, garlic, lemon, and other spices you use until you get the flavor you like best. I added a bit of paprika, and a little cumin to mine.

Making Money from your Online Shopping

Do you shop online? I do. But did you know that you can make money from your online purchases? Check out these websites: Mr. Rebates and ebates. Both give you a % back when you shop at your usual stores but stop through their site first.

They often have special coupon codes listed on their site as well. I've made about $28 from one and $18 from the other. You certainly won't get rich with either of these sites, but every bit helps.

Free sample of Denta Burst

Click here to get a free sample of dentaburst. Thanks moneysavingmom!

Free EOS USDA Organic Lip Balm

Click here for a free sample of EOS lip balm. It's certified organic!

The ultimate FREE massage!

If you've never had a massage, I highly recommend it! I'm not big into pampering or primping, but a good deep-tissue massage can relieve so much muscle tension! At least for awhile, and that's the rub (no pun intended). Massages are expensive and can be inconvenient (you do have to get time alone and remember to wear normal undies after all!)

So if you aren't able to get a massage because of timing, children, modesty, or money....I have the perfect solution for you. Most moms already own this tool (or at least your kids do). Ready for it? It's a ball. A small hard ball is the perfect, free alternative to a deep tissue massage



I'm warning you now, it will hurt, but in a good way. The more it hurts, the more you really need to use it. Here's what you do: put the ball down on the floor, then lie down on top of it. If you have a sore back, push your back into the ball and roll around on it. You can use it for your neck, back, shoulders, arms, legs, and feet. It works great!

If you don't have a ball this size (mine is about the size of an orange) you can always use a golf ball or even a baseball bat. Anything that is hard and rolls. Obviously the smaller it is, the more it can really dig into your knots. A golfball actually hurts quite a bit. And although a bat or a foam roller work great for a large area, I find the orange-sized ball to work the best.

I got mine in the dollar section at Target a few years ago. I'm sure you could find something similar at your local dollar store....or better yet, for FREE in your child's toy chest!

$15 Amazon Gift Card Winner

Click here to see the winner of the $15 Amazon Gift card! Thank you to all that entered. I expect more giveaways in the near future, so come back and enter again. :)

Free Swagcode Hurry!

Click over to free snatcher to see how to get a free swagcode! If you don't have a swagbucks account, click here to start off with 3 free swagbucks.

Go Green with your Yellow (urine...that is!)

Brazil is running an ad campaign to encourage their citizens to "go" in the shower instead of the toilet to conserve water. An interesting idea. So we were going green when I had my son pee around the strawberries? It was an okay organic pet deterrent (for a while.) Dual purposing...I like it.

First found at Crunchy domestic goddess.

Want to host a review on your blog?

You can click here to get a Free baseball hat from You Never Call. The catch? You have to give them a review on your blog and on their site.

Found on free stuff times.

Free Fitness Routine ~ Do it at home to get in shape!

Have you ever used this excuse? "I can't get in shape because I don't have access to a gym!" I'm here to tell you that you CAN get fit without a gym. Let me count the ways....unlimited!

Today I'm going to give a glimpse of a workout plan that you can do anywhere at anytime. Um...well, almost anytime. If you travel, you can do this in your hotel room. If you are a stay at home mom, do it with your kids right next to you! You could do it in the house or outside or in a box or with a fox.... Sorry about that!

I'm talking about bodyweight exercises. What is that? Bodyweight exercises are strength training moves that use only your own body for resistance. They require little to no equipment and will provide you with a challenging workout that builds strong, sleek muscles...not big, bulky ones. Can I get an AMEN?

How do you work out using just your own bodyweight? Oh so many ways, my friends!! Here is a short list of so many wonderful free exercises available to each and everyone of us at ALL times of the day:

Jumping Jacks

Box jumps

Squats

Lunges

Push ups

Planks

Spiderman Crawls

Dips

Running

Walking

Skipping

Stairs

And many versions of all of the above! Please do NOT let lack of a gym membership or even lack of fitness equipment stop you from getting fit.

You may do any and all of these on any day of the week. If you are just starting out, you may only be able to do a few. But if you are ready to build a routine and actually start "working out," then let me introduce you to my workout routine.

2-3 days a week, I do strength training. I use bodyweight exercises for 90% of all my strength training. And the following video shows you the way to maximize your efforts.

What you just saw was a routine utilizing bodyweight exercises in a circuit sequence (also known as turbulence training.) You do not rest between reps (or very little....just enough time to break up a fight). This entire workout should take you less than 20 minutes (ideally 9 minutes).

Who doesn't have time for a 9 minute workout that requires no equipment? Oh and...you only do this 2-3 times a week. You won't be able to do it more often. :)

I'm sure you thought the video looked simple and probably wouldn't cut it as a real workout. But did you try it? Obviously, he doesn't complete the full set of exercises for you, but I guarantee if you write down the exercises he recommends and complete the routine... all the exercises, no breaks between reps, and a short break between the 3 sets, you will be toast!

Never mind, I typed it out for you.

1) 60 Jumping Jacks
2) Spiderman Pushups 10-15
3) Walking Lunges 10-15 for each leg
4) Spiderman Climbs 20 total
5) Squat Hold on Wall 45 seconds
6) Plank Hold for 60 seconds
7) Burpees
8) Running High Knees in Place 25 per side

Rest One Minute and then do it 2 more times

Optional: If you are not totally blasted after this, then add in 15 minutes of intense cardio on a treadmill or other piece of cardio equipment.

Do not wear sweatpants EVER when you complete this workout! Even in a cute little outfit, you will be pouring with sweat. You should have a tough time breathing and the next day, you should ache all over. After a few times, you won't ache anymore, but you'll be able to do so much more!

A word to any newbie exercisers: take it easy. If you can't do a full pushup, do a girly one. The point of all this is to get moving. You'll eventually be able to do all the moves.

This first video is the beginner video. The easy one. In order to do any of the others, you need to "graduate" from this video. You need to be able to complete all the exercises, all the reps, all the sets in 9 minutes.

Holy Sweat! 9 minutes! It can be done, but just not by me. I considered myself graduated at 12 minutes and I happily perform his 200 and 300 videos as well. You can find them on youtube (type in Craig Ballantyne or turbulence training.)

I actually mix up my own workouts too. I just need the variety. Why can't I get to 9 minutes? I think it's because of my mini-distractions. Just today, I was kicked in the face with a rollerskate while doing the spiderman climb. And I need to break up fights randomly throughout my workout. But is 12 minutes of fitness so much for a mom to ask for?

A few notes on equipment. You will notice in some of his videos, that Craig has a strong bar he hangs from to complete bodyweight rows. Wish I had one. Bet you do too.

Since I don't, I perform plank rows instead. This does require free weights. If you have a resistance band, you could come up with an alternate rowing exercise with that. Or you could do a bent row with soup cans. It's possible to do some version of every one of these exercises.

So give this form of exercise a shot! I'd love to hear your comments if you tried the video. What kind of time did it take you? Were you sweaty and fully exhausted? Did you think strength training without weights could kick it to you like that?

And FYI, if you do strength training without rest, it IS cardio! Double bonus! I workout to improve my everyday life, I don't want working out to BE my life, so I love it when I can do 2 things at the same time (strength train and cardio, read and take a bath, vacuum and eat chocolate...hey wait a minute.)

Don't be afraid to strength train! You will NOT get big and bulky (especially with no weights.) But you will get stronger. You will most likely get more energy and you'll feel better too. Past

30, we lose 1 lb of muscle and 1% of our bone density every year. Total barf! You CAN slow down the loss and up your metabolism by weight bearing exercise. And this is a great way to go about it! Good luck to you!

Zuvo Water Purator vs Bottled Water

I'm not going to lie to you...we buy bottled water. But after reading more and more about the environmental and economic costs, I don't want to anymore.

The truth is, my husband doesn't like the taste of tap water. I rationalized our use of bottled water because I repurpose and recycle all of the bottles. And I always buy them on sale. But the cost of shipping them, recycling them, and even making them in the first place is just too much.

I barely ever drink bottled water, but I drink a TON of tap water (running will do that to a girl.) Every quarter we get a report from the city, listing all the contaminants. I thought toxic tap water was just a risk I'd have to take.

Now, I'm not so sure. Take a look at the Zuvo ZPS140 Water Purator. At first sight, the cost freaked me out a little. But we're all capable of looking at the bigger picture. Sure you might find a 24 pack of water on sale for $3. But you aren't going to buy just one pack.

It's estimated that bottled water costs $1/gallon. Purifying water with the Zuvo Water Purator costs about $.06/gallon.

And it's not all about the money either. I have a filter on my refrigerator. I think that does a pretty good job for most of my drinking needs. Or does it?

The refrigerator only filters out certain chemical contaminants. The Zuvo uses UV radiation and ozone to kill bacteria and microbes, plus it takes out those same chemical baddies. Hmmm.... And I hardly ever (okay, never) use our refrigerator for cooking water. And sometimes....well...our ice tastes a little yucky...because of random freezer items. Chicken soup anyone? Ew...not in my ice.

In the interest of keeping it green, I'd like to see our family go bottled water-free, Zuvo or no Zuvo. But I think it would be easier on my hubby (taste being a concern) and on my conscience (gotta love that mommy guilt) to do it the zuvo way.

Who knows. Maybe I'll get a chance to try the zuvo. Maybe there will even be a giveaway?

What's your take on buying bottled water? Would you like to see a Zuvo giveaway on this blog?

What do you think of tap water? Leave me some comments sharing your insights on greening up (and cleaning up) our drinking water.

And remember....an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. For your health and our environment. Recycle your batteries and CFL bulbs properly! Keep them out of the trash! If you need help in this area, contact me.

No compensation or products were received for this review. All views and opinions are my own

Free reusable shopping bag!

Click here to get a free reusable bag from Chi-Chis. Must have 2 chi-chi Upc codes.

Thanks free stuff times!

My children got married this morning....

My children came running into my room this morning and asked if I would please put on some music. They wanted to get married and they needed music for the wedding.

As I turned on some classical music, my son opened the drapes for proper lighting. Then, they began dancing. My son said that twirling was essential to getting married so they swirled and twirled for a few minutes. Then he ran out and returned with 3 different sized balls.

He put them in descending order (like a snowman) and said "now it's time for cake". They each took a ball and smashed it in each other's faces. Where do they get this stuff? "Now, we're married!", they announced. It was the most fun I had ever had at a wedding. :)

The wedding was over and it was time for the marriage. They instantly started fighting....

Free Almond Tin ~ First 50,000 ~ Hurry!

Click here to fill out a quick almond survey and receive a free almond tin. It's the perfect size for "right-size" snacking.

Thanks to Money Saving Mom!

Monday's Menu Plan

I'm jumping on the blogging bandwagon and trying my hand at menu planning. Anyone that knows me, knows that I'm a wing it (thats WING IT not WINGNUT!) I don't like to be organized or scheduled. Plus my last few weeks would have said zucchini, zucchini and more zucchini.

But I came across this post at orgjunkie and decided to give it a try. I found it by accident because I thought it meant organic junkie, but there are no accidents, right?

So here's our first planned menu:

Breakfasts

Potato/Chives/Peppers/Salsa/Eggs skillet

Oatmeal with apples, raisins, and nuts

Veggie omelettes (zucchini, peppers, tomatoes)

Homemade Whole wheat-almond waffles and sausages

Cereal & milk

Yogurt & Granola & Flaxseed

Lunches

Homemade Mushroom Pizza

Chicken, corn, and black bean quesadillas (using leftover chicken)

Leftovers--many times

Tomato Sandwiches

Lunch at birthday party

Dinners

Homemade baked egg rolls

Vegetarian Chili

Vegetarian Fajitas (with fresh homemade salsa, guacamole,and whole wheat tortillas)

Roasted chicken with potatoes and carrots

BBQ ribs, brown rice, and sugar snap peas

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Grilled Salmon, Grilled Zucchini and leftover brown rice

Snacks

air popped popcorn

hummus and chips (or sliced veggies)

almond butter and apples

Trail mix (raisins, walnuts, and cheerios)

clementines, bananas, cherry tomatoes

Sliced veggies (cucumbers, carrots, celery, zucchini)

Sams Club - Box Tops BigClip - $25 giftcard giveaway - 5 Winners!

This giveaway has ended. There are 5 winners in this giveaway. Congratulations to #106, Jennifer J,  you have won the $25 gift card and a free pass. The 4 winners of the 1 day membership passes are #95, Jennifer lyons,   #328, Jennifer Overy,  #300, kngmckellar,  and #73 JRS0020.  Please check your e-mail, so I can send you your prizes.

Right now (from August 15 through September 4th), Sams Club is running the Box Top BigClip promotion. You can get even more boxtops on your favorite back-to-school brands.

Participating brands include: Cheerios, Ziploc containers, Ziploc sandwich bags, Honey Nut Cheerios, Pillsbury Chocolate Chip Cookies, Fiber One Oats and Chocolate Bars, Nature Valley Bars, Scott Paper Towels, Huggies Baby Wipes and Kleenex Facial Tissues.

My blogspark and Sams Club asked me to head to Sams and see how many Box tops I could get in my visit.

So what did I buy? I eyed up the huge boxes of Nature Valley Granola bars and Fiber One chocolate bars for quite some time. But A certain somebody has a huge problem with portion conrtrol and thought it best to move along. I also had to run past the toilet paper aisle. So much toilet paper in one place gets me in the mood to buy....I know, I'm weird.

So, I ask again....what did I buy? Lots of diapers, baby wipes, and ziploc bags! Um....are we seriously going down this road again? Thankfully, no. But my brother is, and I always give practical gifts, so happy birthday to his new baby, and look away...because these bad boys are your present!

All in all, I was able to collect 22 box tops. And what about box tops? This is the first year one of my children will be going to school, but I've been collecting them for years. Once a year, I give them away to a neighborhood child and you wouldn't believe how excited they are. I give them a lot!

I guess kids have contests at school and classrooms compete to get boxtops. It's a super big deal. So this year....my son should have a lot to bring with him. 22 more just from shopping at Sams.

In the interest of full disclosure, Sams did provide me with a free membership but I paid for my own groceries. :)

But that isn't stopping them from wanting to pay for your groceries! There will be 5 winners in this giveaway!

I will select one winner to receive a $25 Sams Club giftcard and free 1 day membership. I will also select 4 other winners; each to receive a free 1 day membership.

Here's how to enter:

Leave a comment letting me know how you would spend your $25 Sams Giftcard

Want extra entries?

1. For 1 Extra Entry! Become a subscriber or follower. Then leave me a comment letting me know you subscribed/followed. If you are already a subscriber, let me know

2. For 4 Extra Entries! Blog about this giveaway!

3. For 2 Extra Entries! Grab my button! Then come back and leave me a comment with a link to your blog. Then leave 2 extra comments. :)

This giveaway will end on September 4, 2009 (the same ending as the BigClip promotion.) Winners will be selected by random.org

No compensation was given for this review. I did receive a sams club membership pass to gain entry to sams club during the bigclip promotion. All views and opinions are my own.

Free Wisconsin Cheese Cookbook for Kids

Click here to order a free Kitchen Kids cookbook from Wisconsin Cheese!

Thanks to free stuff times!

Making Money Blogging: My blog actually made money!

I started this blog as a way to get out all the things I ever wanted to say. :) I'm an insomniac and I generally spend hours "talking" to myself and since starting my blog....my mind has been so much clearer. I just write down what I'd like to say, blog about it, and let it go! Phew! So much easier for me...and my family and friends! Blogging is nice because they can pick and choose when they want to listen. :)

But I put up ads on my blog, just because. Every penny counts, right? Well, amazingly, I got my first check from blogging today! I made $116.70 through shareasale. They were willing to accept my blog, even when it was so young. They did take a few weeks to respond to my application, but it was worth the wait. They have a $50 payment threshold and tons of great ads that don't require people to buy anything. I'm happy with that.

I also have adsense ads on the side. These make pennies a day, but I still think they're worth it. I pick up pennies I find on the ground, so I why wouldn't I let my blog pick up pennies. :) I'll keep you updated when I get my first Adsense check! You have to pass a $100 threshold, so it may be awhile. As an FYI--please don't click the adsense ads unless you are genuinely interested. And don't click them wildly, google discredits those. Thanks. :)

I'm also gaining little by little with Amazon. I love books. Okay...LOVE....books and I read a ton. Some books I read just for fun, but I usually read to learn something. All of the books in my Amazon Sidebar are books I LOVE. These are ones that I think everyone should read, at least once. But I'm not a big book owner. I only own 5 or 6 of these. I would recommend checking to see if your library has any of these books. If the wait is short, get them there. If not, you can always get them online, or go through my Amazon sidebar. :) I'm even a book reviewer now, so you'll see a book review (followed by a giveaway...love it!) on at least a monthly basis....I can only read so fast. :)

I also have a JuiceBoxJungle box on the right hand side. I have no idea how to tell if/when this ad network pays out, but if I ever figure it out...or I randomly get a check in the mail (lol), I'll let you know. I'm all about telling it like it is, so I'll let you know what I find out about making money with your blog.

I recently added a coupon bar on the right. You can Print Free Coupons just by clicking on the blue and red box to the right. They will also offer you a free newsletter that will update you when new coupons have been added. They have a lot of high quality (and high value) coupons there. This is where I print most of my coupons. So far, this seems to be a penny maker as well, but I'll update you when (and how much) they pay out. The coupons are hosted through commission junction. I originally applied to them and was denied. They accepted me the second time around.

In case you are wondering, my blog is about 3 months old (as of this post). I get about 7500 unique hits per month. Why they only focus on unique visitors is beyond me. I value my repeat readers! Amazingly, a lot of my traffic comes through google searches. Who knew? A special thanks to my sister-in-law who initially taught me how to set up google analytics for blog tracking.

But one of the coolest things about having my blog? I've met a ton of great "like-minded" people. People who like to save money, but are also concerned about waste. :) I've checked out their sites and found more great recipes (love it!) and new ways to save!

I'll keep posting the randomness of my life (cuz that's what I do) and a few deals here and there. Why do I post the deals? Well....it started out being an easy way for me to tell my sisters (and sisters in law) about great deals. It was easy just to post rather than retype and fill up their inboxes. Now, I'm hoping that they are beneficial to my readers too. :)

Why don't I post every deal I find? There are already tons of freebie sites and places to find freebies. I actually get most of my freebie deals from my own inbox, thanks to company newsletters. But I don't sign up for most freebies. Not all of them are legit and a lot of them are redundant or wasteful (see more here.) I only post about the freebies and deals that I personally sign up for.

I will post the occasional rebate. I fill out rebates, but not as often as I'd like. We have a very unreliable mailman, so I limit my rebates to things I really need. :)

If anyone wants to know more about my ad networks or has had success with a newbie blog, feel free to leave me a comment. Any advice? I'm always open to that!

Free 3 Year subscription to Marie Claire Magazine

Click here for a FREE 3-Year subscription to Marie Claire Magazine courtesy of RewardsGold.

Thanks to freestufftimes!

More free coupons

Did you know that you can download eCoupons from Upromise? We only have 2 stores that accept the Upromise coupons, but maybe you'll be more lucky. CVS is one of those stores and the coupons attach right to your CVS card so they deposit into your account automatically. There are $40 worth of coupons available for August.

If you haven't signed up for Upromise, click on this link: Join UPromise and Save for College - Win $10K in our College Dream Sweepstakes! Right now if you use the code DOMINO5 you can get a $5 bonus in your account (for new registrations.)

You can save money towards your kid's college just by doing your usual shopping.

Enter to Win a $250 Grocery card

Hellmann's and Best foods are teaming up to offer the Sandwich swap 'n' share. A program where you can create online sandwiches and help Feed Ameria. For every sandwich you make on Facebook.com/hellmans, they will donate 7 lunches to Feeding America.

And as if that isn't nice enough, every sandwich you create will automatically enter you for a chance to win a $250 grocery store gift certificate. And for every friend on Facebook that you share your sandwich with, Hellmann's and Best Foods will donate an additional 7 lunches to the charity.

So get cooking and good luck!

Today is Mega Swagbucks Friday!

Today is Mega Swagbucks Friday! When you search on Fridays, you have the chance to win Mega swagbucks. They give out 10,000 swagbucks in Mega denominations (3, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100). I've won a few 3's and 5's. I'll let you know if I get a 10 or higher. If you haven't signed up for swagbucks yet, you can do so here.