POOR WOMAN'S GUIDE

Well, my bread machine is on it last leg... It is having trouble mixing the dough... I have to keep working and poking it with a spoon until it finally gets to where it can take over with the rest... what a pain! I read somewhere once about making bread in the food processor. Think I'll have to look into that. If I had a dough hook for my mixer, I would just do it that way.... I guess I could always just break down and do it the old-fashioned way... preferably not, though! LOL.

Speaking of bread, I am on day 4 of "breeding" my sourdough starter. Seems to be coming along fine... can hardly wait to taste the first loaf!

Oh, and before I forget, I have recently entered a contest that All You Magazine is doing. It starts on June 13th and basically it is a contest to see if you can sucessfully spend  no more than $25 per person per week and feed your family for a month. For our family of four, this means we can spend $100 per week. You have to keep all receipts and if you eat out, you have to include that in the total as well (which considering the cost of fast food these days... eating out is completely out of the question!). The people that are successful are entered in a drawing for a $1000 grocery gift card and more. It would be awesome to win, but mainly I just want to do the challenge to see if I can do it. We normally only spend around $350 a  month on groceries but we also tend to eat out a lot when we are running around. So, I am very curious as to whether we can actually make it for a full month with only spending $400. Having the garden should be a big help and the fact that we do mostly from scratch recipes instead of using a lot of convenience foods will definitely make a difference. And, we have a well stocked pantry and the chickens laying eggs.... guess if we run out of money we could always eat one.. LOL..... TOTALLY JOKING!

Later,

Pam

I am getting extremely anxious for all the seeds I planted to pop up out of the ground! I generally do not plant seeds and opt for plants instead, but this year I decided to try planting seeds. They were definitely a lot cheaper but now I am worried that they aren't going to grow. It has been a week since I planted them and nothing is up yet... this could be normal I suppose, but I am somewhat of a person that expects immediate results. I guess I just remember that bean seed that they planted on some show when I was little and then they showed it popping out of the dirt and growing into this big plant in a matter of about 30 seconds....

Oh well, I am hopeful that something will start growing soon. I did plant quite a few plants as well.... I think I am going to surround them with newspaper and put compost (or maybe just leaves... I have a lot of leaves that I haven't composted yet.... wonder how that would work?) on top of them today to try and prevent weeds. I have carpet down for the walkways and all, but I have a really big garden and not enough carpet to cover the entire garden, and well, I really, really hate pulling weeds. A few weeds aren't so bad but when it turns into an all day affair... I would rather just skip it altogether. Hence the reason we had to trample through the weeds to get to our veggies last year... LOL.

Happy Gardening!

Pam

P.S. Update: Most everything did come up finally... with the exception of bell peppers and a few herbs were problematic.

I just discovered a great new website thanks to Rachael Ray... It is $5 Dinners and is loaded with tons of great frugal recipes. Erin, the woman that runs the site was on RR the other week. Anyway, I'm in a hurry so I will save the gab for later... check it out here: www.5dollardinners.com

Have a great day!!!

Pam

Lately, I've been having a great run on terrific grocery deals! The other day, I went to Albertson's to pick up a few items and get this.. For a mere $29 I got 18 lbs. of boneless pork loin chops, 3 boxes of kellogg's cereal, a gallon of milk, a loaf of orowheat bread, and 3 half gallon cartons of Donald Duck orange juice. Not the best sale I've ever hit at Albertson's but pretty close! The night before I think I may have done even better at City Market since they had ground beef rolls for a $1 a pound and Kroger Ice Cream for $1 for the half gallon cartons. The Kroger brand is one of the only generic brands that we actually like... there isn't much taste difference between them and the good stuff... for most things anyway. For mac and cheese though, when I have to buy the boxed stuff, which lately is all we can afford since cheese is too expensive these days to make it from scratch, we get the Shur Fine brand that they sale and Big D in Florence or at Hilltop in Canon. It actually tastes better than Kraft! And, we always buy it when it is 25cents a box so we really stock up on the stuff. We make all sorts of main dishes out of it buy adding ground beef or hot dogs and veggies.

I just found another link for green cleaners. There are several recipes listed that I haven't tried before. I use the baking soda and water for cleaning the bathrooms and I have used the vinegar and water to clean the mirrors. There is a very interesting liquid dishwasher detergent recipe that I want to try out. Anyway, check them out!

http://mommysavers.com/boards/simple-green-living/48385-homemade-green-cleaners-post-find-recipes-here.html

It looks like spring is finally here... the days are getting warmer and things are getting greener. It's time to start spring cleaning, but momentarily, I am too far behind on everything else to start! I plan on taking spring break with the kids next week since I have that week off from school so maybe we can get started then (and maybe completed!).

FYI: Redbox is giving out free rental codes on Wednesday's in March. All you have to do is check out their blog on Wed. and look for the code. You can get to the redblog at: http://blog.redbox.com/

Have a great day!!

Pam

We have just finished registration for our 2nd Annual Minor Family's Lemonade Stand!  We hold this lemonade stand to help raise money to fight childhood cancer for Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation. Alex was a brave little girl that raised over a million dollars with her lemonade stands and with the help of others before she passed away in 2004 at age 8.

Our lemonade stand is going to be held June 13, 2009 from 10 am- 3 pm. You can visit our fundraising site at: http://www.alexslemonade.org/stands/7864 where you can sign up for updates and more.

Thank you for your support!

The Minor Family

Okay... funny moment of the day:

My son was getting ready for Cowboy/Cowgirl night at AWANA today. He was searching for a pair of jeans that would be just right for his outfit. At the same time, I am going through and folding laundry. Well, I came across his black pair of jeans and told him,"oh these will be perfect." So my son runs upstairs to change into the jeans. A few minutes later, he comes downstairs, very slowly I might add, telling me he doesn't think they are the right pants. I turn around and see my son holding this pair of pants up around his waste and realize that I gave him his dad's jeans.   I have yet to stop laughing.......

Today we learned about the Gettysburg Address and the meaning behind Lincoln's words. This speech always moves me no matter how many times I hear it.

I was at a friend's house yesterday... they already have their garden ready to go, field plowed and all. I feel a little behind even though none of the crops I generally plant will be ready for planting for at least another month. My garden however needs to be cleaned before new growth begins to take over and I need to get my fencing moved a little further out. And, we desperately have to get our apple tree trimmed back... it is growing all over the place! I also need to get my chicken coop ready and... well, the list is neverending really. Today is such a gorgeous, warm day and I fully intend to get some work done today at least... especially with compost.  Really, I am just ready for spring and fresh vegetables and even being able to hang my sheets and towels out on the clothesline again (I love that!).