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It has been pretty quiet around here the last couple of weeks. Mostly just trying to get the bedroom project up and finished before the baby is here.
We were finally able to go and get the materials last week and Hubby was able to get the insulation in the walls. It needed it for sure! No wonder the dang room never seemed to be a decent temperature. Still need to seal the windows a little when we are done. This weekend he started putting up the sheetrock! It's getting closer to completion with each step, sooooo excited!
Since I am getting bigger it is getting harder for me to help out, but I try and we also were able to get some rock for the front of the house and hopefully I can start working on that this week...slowly. Slow is about the only speed I go lately. Ha!
My diet is going well and I feel much better than I did. I've been learning more and more how to cook and eat "differently" than what I am used to and it is helping. No pain is a good thing and I feel like I have a little more energy. The downside to this new diet is that it can be kind of expensive. I've been looking at alternative ways to save a little money on some of the ingredients that I need for cooking. Bountiful Basket is still a great way to save money on the produce I need. And I have found that Amazon.com carries a wide variety at decent prices on some of the grains and specialty items that I have been using.
Cooking from scratch takes a lot of time, especially with a lot of these new recipes that I am not used to, but the end result is a lot more flavorful and healthy. Recently I made pita bread and hummus. The hummus turned out well and I have really been enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. My pita bread did not work out as well. It still is "eatable", but it didn't puff up like I thought it would. The directions that I found off of Pinterest didn't explain very well certain steps and so I figured out what I did/was doing wrong about halfway through. Oh well, live and learn. Next time hopefully it will turn out better so I can use it for sandwiches for myself.
I also attempted to try a recipe for sandwich bread (as another way of cutting cost in my grocery budget) and the first try it was a brick. The dog wouldn't even eat it, so I'm not sure what exactly I did wrong, but tried it again the following day and it worked perfectly. The boys really enjoyed the PBJ sandwich I made them, so it must be good! My least favorite part about slicing the bread is that I can never get even slices. Please tell me I'm not the only one that can't slice straight! I'll have to look into a bread slicer helper or something...haha!
Along with eating better, I have started weeding out things in the house that are really not that great for us, like dryer sheets. Made my own dryer sheets that work just as well and I don't have to worry about the nasty chemicals that are in the store bought ones. Not only are they healthier for us and the environment, but cheaper too! If you know me, you know that I like saving money! When I run out of laundry detergent I plan on trying to make my own. I have done this in the past, but with everything that has been going on since we bought the house, just haven't had the time or energy to try and mix up another batch. Found a different recipe on Pinterest that I plan on trying. The last one did work, and our clothes looked and smelled clean, so I will assume this one with as well.
Other than that, our days have been filled with Hubby going to work and coming home and playing with the boys and working on the bedroom and mine have been filled with baking, playing with the boys and cleaning. We live an extra exciting life around here. When we get the sheetrock done I will post more pictures and another update to the bedroom remodel.
Monday, February 29, 2016
Monday, February 15, 2016
What the...?!?
Its been one of those weekends where nothing has been going as planned (not usually a bad thing) and I have turned into a semi-crazy person!
Friday evening I found those nasty little black sugar ants in one of my cupboards. Anyone that knows me, would understand the chaos that ensued. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, came out of the cupboards. I had stuff piled up on my kitchen island and table along with the floor. Dragged my vacuum over and started sucking those nasty things up, all while growling and grumbling at the annoyance of it all.
After taking the vacuum to them, I started to wipe down any and all cracks and crevices I could find with a vinegar/water solution. Let that dry a little and than wiped everything down again with undiluted peppermint essential oil! I use doTERRA (just ask me how to purchase some of these awesome oils if you are interested, link at the bottom of post) peppermint oil and that stuff is STRONG! But, it worked! The nasty little buggers are no longer in that cupboard. I also ended up tearing up some of the warped plywood that had gotten damaged when we first moved in from a broken garbage disposal...can you say yuck?!
However, the ant invasion was not over with that one cupboard. I should have known better, but being pregnant and blonde, I forget things. Went to pull one of my pots out of a different cupboard this morning to make everyone oatmeal for breakfast and they were EVERYWHERE inside. Major freak-out ensued once again. Hubby started laughing until I glared at him and was almost in tears (hormones!). So he stopped chuckling and started helping. Smart man my husband :)
Again, everything came out of any remaining cupboards that "they" might be in and I wiped everything down with the same process as before. The peppermint will clear your sinuses just from smelling that stuff and it's not as stinky as the chemical sprays you can buy at the store. I think I have won in the kitchen, but I know that I will need to do some serious defense on the outside of my house this coming week. Guess I'll be buying some spray to use on the outside of the house along the foundation.
I hate bugs...But my kitchen smells lovely ;)
Here is the link to my doTERRA website: http://mydoterra.com/kathleenparker1
Friday evening I found those nasty little black sugar ants in one of my cupboards. Anyone that knows me, would understand the chaos that ensued. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, came out of the cupboards. I had stuff piled up on my kitchen island and table along with the floor. Dragged my vacuum over and started sucking those nasty things up, all while growling and grumbling at the annoyance of it all.
After taking the vacuum to them, I started to wipe down any and all cracks and crevices I could find with a vinegar/water solution. Let that dry a little and than wiped everything down again with undiluted peppermint essential oil! I use doTERRA (just ask me how to purchase some of these awesome oils if you are interested, link at the bottom of post) peppermint oil and that stuff is STRONG! But, it worked! The nasty little buggers are no longer in that cupboard. I also ended up tearing up some of the warped plywood that had gotten damaged when we first moved in from a broken garbage disposal...can you say yuck?!
However, the ant invasion was not over with that one cupboard. I should have known better, but being pregnant and blonde, I forget things. Went to pull one of my pots out of a different cupboard this morning to make everyone oatmeal for breakfast and they were EVERYWHERE inside. Major freak-out ensued once again. Hubby started laughing until I glared at him and was almost in tears (hormones!). So he stopped chuckling and started helping. Smart man my husband :)
Again, everything came out of any remaining cupboards that "they" might be in and I wiped everything down with the same process as before. The peppermint will clear your sinuses just from smelling that stuff and it's not as stinky as the chemical sprays you can buy at the store. I think I have won in the kitchen, but I know that I will need to do some serious defense on the outside of my house this coming week. Guess I'll be buying some spray to use on the outside of the house along the foundation.
I hate bugs...But my kitchen smells lovely ;)
Here is the link to my doTERRA website: http://mydoterra.com/kathleenparker1
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Remodeling Saga Part 1
Ever since we moved into this house, there have been a couple of things that have been the "WTF?" of the house. One of which is in our bedroom. I'm not sure if the original builders decided to put in the crazy bench/window seat/storage, but whoever did needs slapped.
I have HATED this part of our bedroom from the beginning. Finally decided that it needed to go with baby #3 on the way, we knew that the baby would be spending the majority of the time in our room to start and with the way our room was situated now, there just isn't enough space. Even though we have both been sick, we decided to start the demo of the weird bench thing anyways to at least see what we are dealing with and if we needed to prepare for any major "disasters".
Not only did this bench need torn out, but we needed to insulate and drywall BAD! You could feel the cold air in the winter coming through the walls, which made for some rather unpleasant nights. As we started to strip everything off the walls we finally discovered what was behind the strange "columns" that are on either side of the bench. This little 3 foot section may have been an after-thought or an addition because the columns actually turned out to look like they may be cornerstones on that end of the house.
Can't take those out! But that's ok, at least the bench is gone and the horrible paneling is off the walls and we can finally see what we are dealing with better. The next plan of action is to remove the bed frame from the bedroom and to store it temporarily in another part of the house and to than tear out all of the carpet from the room.
Eventually would like to put down laminate flooring, but lots of rugs to shield us from the cold concrete until then.
I'm sure a good weekend worth of work, once we have all of the supplies and materials, should have the walls back up (insulated and sealed this time). And then I can go around and fill in holes with the drywall putty before I sand and paint. It will be nice to have our room looking like how we want with the way that we would like it arranged. Both of our hopes is that this well give us extra space in the bedroom so we won't feel quite so cramped. I also hope to upgrade our 2 dressers into one larger one eventually and hopefully that will help it to not feel so crammed full of stuff as well.
Owning a home is no easy task that's for sure! Along with remodeling the bedroom, we have been working on the yard. I'm not a fan of bushes...at all. And these bushes were never well cared for before we bought the house so they have just been wild and out of control. Not too mention, they harbor bugs, like scorpions, wasps, and spiders. I plan on ripping them all out! Once they are all gone, I will put down weed tarp, sand, and white rock. Hopefully that makes it nicer to walk by and won't harbor the nasty things. Our poor yard has for sure needed some serious TLC and hopefully we can do more this year with it. I'm excited to see the final project.
The front of our house has need of an overhaul as well. I dug up, thinned, and replanted some of the wild bunch of irises that were growing in front of our house.
I plan on doing the same thing with the front where the irises were with the weed tarp, sand, and white rock. Hopefully it will help widen the path in front of our house when people come by for a visit. And less mud during the monsoon season :)
I have HATED this part of our bedroom from the beginning. Finally decided that it needed to go with baby #3 on the way, we knew that the baby would be spending the majority of the time in our room to start and with the way our room was situated now, there just isn't enough space. Even though we have both been sick, we decided to start the demo of the weird bench thing anyways to at least see what we are dealing with and if we needed to prepare for any major "disasters".
Trying to figure out what is behind the sheet rock that we discovered behind the paneling
Not only did this bench need torn out, but we needed to insulate and drywall BAD! You could feel the cold air in the winter coming through the walls, which made for some rather unpleasant nights. As we started to strip everything off the walls we finally discovered what was behind the strange "columns" that are on either side of the bench. This little 3 foot section may have been an after-thought or an addition because the columns actually turned out to look like they may be cornerstones on that end of the house.
About halfway through the demolition!
Can't take those out! But that's ok, at least the bench is gone and the horrible paneling is off the walls and we can finally see what we are dealing with better. The next plan of action is to remove the bed frame from the bedroom and to store it temporarily in another part of the house and to than tear out all of the carpet from the room.
Oh look what was under the carpet...crappy 1960's glue down tile! At least it came up easy!
Eventually would like to put down laminate flooring, but lots of rugs to shield us from the cold concrete until then.
I'm sure a good weekend worth of work, once we have all of the supplies and materials, should have the walls back up (insulated and sealed this time). And then I can go around and fill in holes with the drywall putty before I sand and paint. It will be nice to have our room looking like how we want with the way that we would like it arranged. Both of our hopes is that this well give us extra space in the bedroom so we won't feel quite so cramped. I also hope to upgrade our 2 dressers into one larger one eventually and hopefully that will help it to not feel so crammed full of stuff as well.
Owning a home is no easy task that's for sure! Along with remodeling the bedroom, we have been working on the yard. I'm not a fan of bushes...at all. And these bushes were never well cared for before we bought the house so they have just been wild and out of control. Not too mention, they harbor bugs, like scorpions, wasps, and spiders. I plan on ripping them all out! Once they are all gone, I will put down weed tarp, sand, and white rock. Hopefully that makes it nicer to walk by and won't harbor the nasty things. Our poor yard has for sure needed some serious TLC and hopefully we can do more this year with it. I'm excited to see the final project.
The front of our house has need of an overhaul as well. I dug up, thinned, and replanted some of the wild bunch of irises that were growing in front of our house.
The attached flower bed that the irises will be going into soon.
Starting the digging process!
This area is where all of the mud and water collects during the rainy season and makes it hard to walk to our front door without getting soaked.
I plan on doing the same thing with the front where the irises were with the weed tarp, sand, and white rock. Hopefully it will help widen the path in front of our house when people come by for a visit. And less mud during the monsoon season :)
Saturday, February 6, 2016
Saving some Moola!
Who doesn't like saving money? Only crazy people that's who!
Being a stay-at-home mommy I do my best to keep our biggest expense down as much as possible: groceries! For a family of 4, soon to be 5, we all tend to eat a lot. My youngest eats more than I do most days! I try to make healthy meals that everyone will eat, but now that I am on a restricted diet, it makes it a little more challenging.
However, I have some apps on my phone that I use along with coupons that do help keep the cost down. Usually our household grocery bill for the month ranges from $300 to $400 per month. It's a challenge because we do live in an oilfield area so the prices on everything are marked up and my options for shopping are limited because there are literally 3 grocery stores in a 45 minute drive from us.
I use couponmom.com for my coupons. It's a really great site and it's FREE! Free is always a good thing. I try to check it at least once a week because some coupons are only on the site for a week before they are taken off. Granted they don't have coupons for fresh veggies or fruit, but I can get coupons for other staples like almond milk, coffee creamer for the hubby, or graham crackers for the kids. I've been trying REALLY hard to make their snacks, when they get them, as healthy as possible. Or just make homemade snacks like muffins. With my new diet, we always have fresh fruit and veggies around that they are all starting to eat more of, so that's one plus!
For my fresh fruit and veggies, and even our whole grain bread if I'm not making it myself, I use Bountiful Baskets. If you haven't looked into this program yet, do it NOW! I order ours on either Monday or Tuesday of whatever week they run to Hobbs and will pick it up on that Saturday. I know that I will be getting a ton of food that is really good quality for waaaaaaay less than what you could buy at the grocery store. Just the plain conventional basket is only $15 and it comes with a ton of food. All total this week my total basket contribution was about $55, I also bought 5 loaves of bread that are not pictured. Because of this program, I rarely buy any produce at the grocery store, except bananas, I think my youngest is part monkey.
The apps on my phone that I use are the Wal-Mart Savings Catcher. It does help, even with the limited competition in the area I still end up with money back of some items. My goal with this one is to gain enough money back to have Christmas paid for this year. I'm getting there and should have no problems by November/December :)
Ibotta is a pretty cool rebate app that has everything from alcohol to fresh fruit and veggies. You can look through it either before you go shopping and select the rebates that you know you will use or after and snag the ones that you did. I sometimes only have 1 or 2 rebates, but they do add up. Ibotta is store specific, so you would need to make sure you are in the correct store section before checking off rebates. Also with Ibotta, the more people you have on your "team" the more money you make faster. If you want to sign-up with my referral code it is iphfxoy. Hopefully it works. Ibotta pays out through paypal once you reach the minimum amount of money.
Checkout 51 is another rebate app I use, but it is NOT store specific so you can use it with anyplace that sells what is on the app. As long as it lists the name of the item and the price on the receipt, you'll be golden. The rebates renew every Thursday. I haven't made as much money with this one, but I'm still up to almost $7 for only using it a couple of months. Unlike Ibotta, they do not have a "team" feature.
I recently downloaded Shopkick which gives you "kicks" for just walking into certain stores and scanning (don't even have to buy anything) certain items on their list. If you link your cards to it you can also get points for every dollar. Being that there isn't much competition in my area, I have only used it in Wal-Mart, but it's not too hard. I even get "kicks" for opening the app everyday. Sometimes it's only 1 kick, other times its 4 kicks! The more kicks, the more money towards a gift card of your choice on their list. I'm working towards a Wal-Mart card for Christmas. With Shopkick you can add friends and earn kicks. My link is http://getshopkick.com/cone71089 to be a friend with me on Shopkick.
The last app that I recently downloaded is BerryCart. It is for organic/Non-GMO kind of foods. I figured it would be a good one to try out with my new diet. I haven't had to use it yet, but it sounds like you can earn money with a "team" like Ibotta. My referral link is https;//www.berrycart.com/rf/nQCmRBpmzq. For every friend that signs up with my link we each get a $2 bonus. Don't know if it works, but never hurts to try :) BerryCart pays out through either gift cards or PayPal. Hopefully I can use it more this year.
The other thing that does save a lot of money, but I haven't done it since this summer, is a meal plan for either the week or month. It's amazing what happens when you go through your cupboards and freezer and find food you can use for recipes without having to buy any extra at the store. Hopefully my butt will get in gear and I can start meal planning again, because it really does help, just takes time.
Being a stay-at-home mommy I do my best to keep our biggest expense down as much as possible: groceries! For a family of 4, soon to be 5, we all tend to eat a lot. My youngest eats more than I do most days! I try to make healthy meals that everyone will eat, but now that I am on a restricted diet, it makes it a little more challenging.
However, I have some apps on my phone that I use along with coupons that do help keep the cost down. Usually our household grocery bill for the month ranges from $300 to $400 per month. It's a challenge because we do live in an oilfield area so the prices on everything are marked up and my options for shopping are limited because there are literally 3 grocery stores in a 45 minute drive from us.
I use couponmom.com for my coupons. It's a really great site and it's FREE! Free is always a good thing. I try to check it at least once a week because some coupons are only on the site for a week before they are taken off. Granted they don't have coupons for fresh veggies or fruit, but I can get coupons for other staples like almond milk, coffee creamer for the hubby, or graham crackers for the kids. I've been trying REALLY hard to make their snacks, when they get them, as healthy as possible. Or just make homemade snacks like muffins. With my new diet, we always have fresh fruit and veggies around that they are all starting to eat more of, so that's one plus!
For my fresh fruit and veggies, and even our whole grain bread if I'm not making it myself, I use Bountiful Baskets. If you haven't looked into this program yet, do it NOW! I order ours on either Monday or Tuesday of whatever week they run to Hobbs and will pick it up on that Saturday. I know that I will be getting a ton of food that is really good quality for waaaaaaay less than what you could buy at the grocery store. Just the plain conventional basket is only $15 and it comes with a ton of food. All total this week my total basket contribution was about $55, I also bought 5 loaves of bread that are not pictured. Because of this program, I rarely buy any produce at the grocery store, except bananas, I think my youngest is part monkey.
This is just the straight conventional basket ($15). It is different every time.
This is with all of the "add-ons" that I purchased. Lots of yummy-ness to eat for the family!
The apps on my phone that I use are the Wal-Mart Savings Catcher. It does help, even with the limited competition in the area I still end up with money back of some items. My goal with this one is to gain enough money back to have Christmas paid for this year. I'm getting there and should have no problems by November/December :)
Ibotta is a pretty cool rebate app that has everything from alcohol to fresh fruit and veggies. You can look through it either before you go shopping and select the rebates that you know you will use or after and snag the ones that you did. I sometimes only have 1 or 2 rebates, but they do add up. Ibotta is store specific, so you would need to make sure you are in the correct store section before checking off rebates. Also with Ibotta, the more people you have on your "team" the more money you make faster. If you want to sign-up with my referral code it is iphfxoy. Hopefully it works. Ibotta pays out through paypal once you reach the minimum amount of money.
Checkout 51 is another rebate app I use, but it is NOT store specific so you can use it with anyplace that sells what is on the app. As long as it lists the name of the item and the price on the receipt, you'll be golden. The rebates renew every Thursday. I haven't made as much money with this one, but I'm still up to almost $7 for only using it a couple of months. Unlike Ibotta, they do not have a "team" feature.
I recently downloaded Shopkick which gives you "kicks" for just walking into certain stores and scanning (don't even have to buy anything) certain items on their list. If you link your cards to it you can also get points for every dollar. Being that there isn't much competition in my area, I have only used it in Wal-Mart, but it's not too hard. I even get "kicks" for opening the app everyday. Sometimes it's only 1 kick, other times its 4 kicks! The more kicks, the more money towards a gift card of your choice on their list. I'm working towards a Wal-Mart card for Christmas. With Shopkick you can add friends and earn kicks. My link is http://getshopkick.com/cone71089 to be a friend with me on Shopkick.
The last app that I recently downloaded is BerryCart. It is for organic/Non-GMO kind of foods. I figured it would be a good one to try out with my new diet. I haven't had to use it yet, but it sounds like you can earn money with a "team" like Ibotta. My referral link is https;//www.berrycart.com/rf/nQCmRBpmzq. For every friend that signs up with my link we each get a $2 bonus. Don't know if it works, but never hurts to try :) BerryCart pays out through either gift cards or PayPal. Hopefully I can use it more this year.
The other thing that does save a lot of money, but I haven't done it since this summer, is a meal plan for either the week or month. It's amazing what happens when you go through your cupboards and freezer and find food you can use for recipes without having to buy any extra at the store. Hopefully my butt will get in gear and I can start meal planning again, because it really does help, just takes time.
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