Jan 30, 2009

The Goodie Bag

Some freebies and deals to kick off the weekend!

A Full Cup

National Home Gardening Club Get a free gardening guide, just in time for spring!

Download the Dogpile Toolbar and rescue pets while you search. Get the Toolbar here! If you haven't heard of it, Dogpile is a universal search engine, when you type in your search it hits all of the major search sites (Yahoo, Google, Live Search and Ask) and gives you the best results across all of the sites.





Not yet a Snapfish customer? Get 50 free prints with a new signup!

Get a FREE two week guest pass to Bally Fitness

Bath & Body Works Free shower gel with a $10 purchase! Expires Feb 11th.
AND....get a Free fragrance item with a $15 purchase! Expires March 1st.

DSW Shoes is offering $10 off a $50 purchase with coupon! Expires Feb 28th.

Get an extra 20% off your purchase at Reebok outlets - this coupon is good until the END of 2009!!




Jan 29, 2009

When life hands you lemons...

Photobucket

Make an award!

Justine over at Justine's Grocery Brags gave me this great award! She's one of my regular reads and does some amazing magic at the grocery store. Be sure to check her out!

The Lemonade Award is given out by the previous winner to 10 people who have shown a great attitude or gratitude this week. Its an awesome way to let some people know just how much you appreciate them!

Here are just a few of the great blogs that know how to take life's lemons and make lemonade...or where to find the vodka :)

Punky Monkey's
A Letter to Xander
Cheaper than Therapy
My Absent Mind
The Homesteading Housewife
Signe Says
Mom of 3 Girls
Baby Boogers
A Womb at the "Inn"sane
Jiggety Jigg


Jan 27, 2009

Menu Plan Monday - Jan 26th '09


Ok, so I'm late posting this AGAIN...forgive a girl with pregnesia and late afternoon sleepies :)

The good news is, we stuck to the menu plan last week and I even got the baking done! There wasn't much new on the menu, but I hadn't actually gotten around to making the Spinach Lasagna, I forgot how easy and tasty that was! We have plenty in the freezer for a night when I don't feel like cooking from scratch too :)

I'm making a real effort to buy as little as possible this month - hubby found out he's getting his hours cut in half and we're getting ready to move into a new apartment...not the best timing, but I think we can muddle through while he looks for other (or just more) work. I have enough muffins in the freezer to serve as breakfast and snacks for the week, so baking will be at a minimum until next week.

So here's our table for the week - don't forget to visit I'm an Organizing Junkie for the MANY other participants! No shortage of menu ideas there!

monday - Italian Dressing chicken, Betty Crocker mashed 'taters, cheesy broccoli ($5.13 for 4 servings)

tuesday - Meatloaf, green beans, corn ($3.71 for 4 servings)

wednesday - Enchiladas, corn ($6.38 for 4-5 servings)

thursday - Leftovers - Free!

friday - Chickpea Stew with rice ($3.44 for 8 servings)

saturday - Homemade Pizza ($3.04 for 6 servings)

sunday - Superbowl Party! Woo!

Jan 26, 2009

Free Movie Monday!

Start your week off with a free movie! Get a free one-night rental at Redbox with this promo code:
57VH9L

Just choose "rent with promo code", select your movie, and swipe your card! Movie must be rented by midnight tonight and returned by 9 PM on Tuesday to avois being charged for an additional night.

Visit www.redbox.com to find a kiosk near you!


Jan 24, 2009

Eating on the cheap and other deals!

How does $25 worth of yum for $3 sound? Restaurant.com is having a 70% off sale! Just visit the site, choose the gift certificates you want, and at checkout use the promo code "SAVE"! The sale ends on Monday, January 26th!

Free small popcorn with a fountain drink at AMC theaters - good until Jan 31st!

Bath & Body Works Free shower gel with $10 purchase - expires Feb 11th

Having a Superbowl party? Get 20% off any purchase at IParty! Expires Feb 2nd

Get 40% off a regular-priced item at Jo-Ann Fabrics - good until Jan 31st

Get $5 off a $30 purchase at Sears! Expires Jan 31st



Jan 20, 2009

Menu Plan Monday - Jan 19th '09


Yes I KNOW this post is a day late....blame it on my pregnancy and a LOT of stuff going on right now! Seriously...I forgot that the little person inside isn't just growing, he/she is also sucking my brain dry of my smarts. I occasionally lose command of English, so being late with my menu plan is a small boo-boo in the grand scheme :)

In spite of being without a computer for a few weeks, I did still keep up with making menu plans, but I had been so tired at the end of every day (and nauseous....like clockwork, every day at 4pm) I didn't have much tolerance or energy for cooking. Hubby stepped in and rescued me a few times, and we had enough leftovers and frozen stuff to get by for the other days. But as I'm coming to the end of my first trimester, I'm back in the saddle!

This week I'm not trying any new recipes, but I am going to make double Spinach lasagnas on Friday - one will get cut in half and go directly into the freezer for future meals. I've got to get in the habit of doing that more, I want to have several meals frozen and ready when the baby comes in August but if I wait until summer to start making that part of the plan it will never happen. I've also got plans to make blueberry and cranberry muffins, to capitalize on a really good fruit sale this week.

So here's my return to the MPM fold, don't forget to check out all of the awesome participants over at I'm an Organizing Junkie!

monday - Tomato Basil Penne Hamburger helper, green beans ($3.25 for 4 servings)

tuesday - Obama's Chili (fitting for Inauguration day!) and homesteader cornbread ($8.97 for 10 servings)

wednesday - Sausage and Penne bake ($7.45 for 6-8 servings)

thursday - Thai Chicken, couscous ($4.65 for 4-6 servings)

friday - Spinach Lasagna ($8.47 for 8-10 servings)

saturday - Homemade pizza ($3.04 for 6-8 servings)

sunday - Family party - FREE!


Jan 19, 2009

Getting back on ye olde horse

Man...first trimester pregnancy is DEFINITELY in full swing! I have been a total space cadet this past week, slacking on postings, running out of steam at the end of the day... MUST. FIGHT. BACK.

So since today is my birthday (I'm 28....for the 7th time...no really) I thought it would be a good day to whup my sorry pregnant butt back into bloggy shape. Here's the game plan for this week:

*Get Menu Plan Monday post done tomorrow. I have to make a viable shopping list tonight and I'll be hitting up the stores early tomorrow to get everything done before our Doc's appointment. With a little luck, the Boy Wonder will give me enough naptime to get the post AND the recipes up!

*Put up another Bricklaying post - I'm almost to the end of the old posts and need to start some new ones for the series...brainstorming time!

*Share some of the great blog posts I have been reading over the last several weeks. I can access my Google reader from work but not Blogger, so until we got our computer back I was a hapless bystander in the blogosphere. But I flagged some good posts with info worth passing along, I just need to organize!

*Buy maternity pants. Apparently my body is having TOTAL RECALL and decided to expand nice and early. Ugh. Not blog related, but I needed to vent :)

I did a quick budget check with my online banking, and as of now I've spent $148.88 on groceries (which, by the way INCLUDES toiletries, paper goods and diapers) - that leaves me with just over $50 to spend if I want to stay within the $200 mark, but with only 12 days left in the month that is actually within reach. There are some good meat sales this week so I might choose to go over budget a little, just to add to the freezer stock.

Tomorrow we have our first ultrasound! I'm hoping the Bean takes some good photos so that I have something to share :)

And I actually had a date night with my husband on Saturday! We finally got to use some Cheesecake Factory gift cards that have been gathering dust in my desk, and my mother in law took the Boy Wonder for a sleepover....oh the joys of ACTUAL adult time! We got there and were told that it was an hour and a half wait...if we weren't going to be eating basically for free I might have opted for another restaurant. But then I realized that the waiting area is also where the cheesecake bakery display is. So I did what EVERY birthday girl should do....I bought a slice of cheesecake and had dessert before dinner :) Key lime cheesecake....ooh the yumminess :)

We had a chuckle when the meals arrived - I ordered the Miso Salmon, which (according to the menu) came with "snowpeas". To me, this means a side portion of veggies. But this is what arrived to the table:


Photobucket


FIVE snow peas. Was I wrong to feel a little jipped?

Here's a fuzzy pic of hubby laughing at my snow pea disdain:


Photobucket


And here's my birthday present!


Photobucket


It's a steampunk-style ring from Catherinette Rings - I've been admiring his designs for months now and was pleasantly surprised that hubby was paying attention :) Be sure to stop by his Etsy shop and check out his work! You can also read his Steampunk Rings blog for new design info!

Wish me luck, I need to go make a shopping list!

Free movie Monday!

It's time for another free Monday movie rental courtesy of Redbox!

K6W3G4

Use this promo code for one free rental...as always, it expires at midnight tonight and you must return the movie by 9 pm Tuesday to avoid being charged for another day.

Visit www.redbox.com to find a kiosk near you and check out the movie selections!

Jan 16, 2009

So many meds, so little time...

It's no secret that moms have the uncanny ability to know EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING...or so we allow our unsuspecting families to believe. The truth is, we aren't just worrying about the things we know are going on, we spend a lot of time wondering what's falling through the cracks. I'll be the first to join the 12 step group for Overcommitted Anonymous :)

Having a husband with diabetes, a toddler in tow, and a pregnancy in process means I have a LOT to keep a handle on - especially when it comes to medications. Hubby has Type 1 Diabetes, which means he has insulin, testing and treatment supplies, and the looming possibility of blood pressure and other meds to keep his body working as it should. The Boy Wonder has escaped any major illnesses so far, but I overanalyze anything that goes into his body when he IS under the weather. And all the mommies know how pregnancy puts you on high alert for EVERYTHING that goes into your mouth, especially medications and supplements.

Enter Drugs.com. Not nearly as unseemly as it sounds, this site has become a FANTASTIC resource to me and my family. The main site is a comprehensive search engine for medications - you can search by condition (which lists most common prescribed meds for a given diagnosis), by drug name - they even have a Pill Identifier which lets you describe the pill and helps figure out what the mystery med might be...handy if you are helping an elderly friend or relative sort through bottles that may have lost labels, or meds that may have become separated from their bottles.

Not sure if the information is reliable? Drugs.com "is powered by four independent leading medical-information suppliers: Wolters Kluwer Health, Physicians’ Desk Reference, Cerner Multum and Thomson Micromedex. Individual drug (or drug-class) information content compiled by these sources is delivered complete and unaltered by Drugs.com." (from their "about" page). Every day I work, I see a doctor, nurse or pharmacist using the PDR and Micromedex to help them in treating patients, so I trust the sources and have no reservations using Drugs.com as my own reference tool.

I used it right off the bat to look into prenatal vitamins. I have an issue with high iron pills (my insides don't react well) but I know that folic acid is important for spinal cord growth. I was able to go into my first prenatal appointment with some real information and work with my doctor to find a vitamin that met all of my needs.

Drugs.com also has a neat little feature called MedNotes - an award-winning online medication log that allows you to build profiles for your family members, input any medications they are taking, as well as allergy and medical history info. The site will track drug interactions, provide user reviews and FDA alerts, and even send reminder emails for refills or renewals! MedNotes even has a few report tools - if you or a family member change doctors, or is hospitalized, you can easily print up a comprehensive medication list for the treating doctor. This feature alone is worth the time setting up an account - I work in a hospital, and I can't tell you how frustrating it can be to watch a nurse try to unravel a patient's medication history, which usually involves interviewing several family members, trying to obtain records from primary care offices, and wasting a LOT of precious treatment time.

Creating an account is free, and once you're in the site is extremely easy to navigate. Setting up the MedNotes profiles for all my family members took just a few moments, and updating information is quick and painless. Try it out!


Jan 15, 2009

Bargains are everywhere

I had to share this, it's a great example of how a willingness to ASK for a better price can pay off!

My Sprint cell phone contract was up for renewal next month. I had been loosely shopping around, but hadn't really done anything about renewing or switching just yet. That was, until I saw this past week's Best Buy flyer....they were selling the Blackberry Curve 8330 for $50 with a new Sprint contract! Now, I've been a Sprint customer for 5 years, so "new agreement" deals don't usually apply...unless you ask the right people :)

I first called customer service to make sure that I could renew my current calling plan exactly as it is (our nights & weekends start at 7pm, and we have a really good minutes plan with cheap overage charges). Turns out I could, which was good news. I then called my local Sprint store, and asked if they would price match the Best Buy deal. At first, they said no, and gave me the "new agreement" spiel again. Bollocks, I said! (ok, not really...)

I asked them if it would be easier for me to have my husband come in, start a new agreement with our same phone numbers, and get the phones at the price I wanted, or if they'd play ball. I also reminded them that I was a repeat customer, and would hate to take my business (and my referrals) elsewhere. Turns out there was a very nice manager who decided that as long as I had a copy of the ad, they'd honor the price match. Sweet!

So today I hopped down to the store, and picked up TWO new BlackBerrys for $100. Total. The data pack we needed to go with the phones wasn't much more than what I was paying for features on our old phones, and there's SO much more I can do with it, so our bill won't change much but we're all gadgety and stuff now :)

Yes, I would have gotten an upgrade credit because I was on the tail end of a 2 year agreement...but even WITH the current sale price and my $150 per phone upgrade credit, I STILL would have had to pay $180 per BlackBerry if I hadn't pushed for the price match. Did I mention that these phones normally retail for $550???? That means I saved OVER 90% off the regular retail. Crazy!

Now I just have to figure out how the darn thing works :)


Jan 13, 2009

Brick #5 - Spice it up!

I don't have a one-note palate when it comes to food. I love variety and I love FLAVOR. But I read through gourmet cookbooks and magazines, and I get disenchanted. I don't buy into the idea that I have to invest in a bunch of exotic ingredients if I want to deviate from the basic meat and potatoes, or chicken and cream of *whatever* soup casserole. Budget does not have to equal bland!

Believe it or not, meal planning becomes easier (and a lot more fun!) once you realize that you can build a perfect companion to your stockpile of food when you start viewing seasonings as an investment in making inexpensive dishes more interesting...

Brick #5 - Invest in your spice cabinet

There aren't many things I'd feel ok about paying a little more for. But good seasonings are one of those things - kind of like that pair of shoes you spent good money on, that end up lasting forever and going with everything you own. With a good set of base spices, you can make one dish take on many personalities.

The cost of spices can be a little daunting. But most basic spices can be found at your local discount or dollar store for a buck or less (for a pretty big container!) and aren't any lesser quality than the brand names. The ones I find most commonly are pepper, cinnamon, paprika, oregano, basil, bay leaves, onion salt, onion powder, garlic salt, garlic powder, and parsley. These alone would provide you with a solid seasoning foundation, especially when you add in liquid seasonings (soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, vanilla) which I usually get at my local discount grocery store for a buck a piece.

But to really get the most mileage out of the food you prepare, you will want to invest in a few more expensive items. The ones I have gotten the most use out of (aside from the list above) are rosemary, tarragon, fennel, thyme, curry, nutmeg, cardamom, celery seed, and dill. If you compare some of your favorite recipes you may find that a few seasonings carry over into multiple dishes - those would be worth adding to your arsenal as well. Just don't be afraid of the price tag. Most recipes call for 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of the more expensive spices, because they are richer and a little goes a very long way.

Of course, if you are lucky enough to have a green thumb (I killed a chia pet - don't trust me with your houseplants!) you can grow many herbs either in your garden or on your windowsill, and get all the goodness for free! And the only thing better than inexpensive is FREE :) (I haven't found that fresh herbs from the store are cheaper than bottled, plus they go bad before I can finish using them.) I have also heard that some whole foods stores will sell bulk spices by the ounce, you can bring your own baggies and just get a little instead of buying a whole package. Haven't found that in my area yet but I'm looking! Investigate your spices the same way you are investigating your food prices, and find out where you'll get the most bang for your buck!

If you've been following along this series, you already know what your "pet" foods are - now you can scan your recipes and figure out what groups of seasonings appeal to your family's tastes. Start building with the things you will use most frequently, and then you can add to your arsenal slowly. Choose one pricey spice to try out, and experiment with it a couple of times before you add something else. You'll expand your culinary knowledge as well as your spice rack!

Next time, we'll look at ways to make sure your stockpile lasts long enough to reach the table!

Here are a few base seasoning combinations that will take you on a little trip around the globe:

Mexican: chili powder, garlic, onion powder, salt
Oriental: soy sauce, garlic, onion powder, ginger
Italian: oregano, basil, pepper, fennel and/or rosemary
Indian: curry, garlic, onion powder, sesame seeds, cardamom
Szechuan: soy sauce, ginger, garlic, onion powder, red pepper flake

These are just starting points - with the right spices in your arsenal you can adjust any basic dish and make it as exotic as you like!

Some additional resources:

Ten herbs and spices that will make simple foods pop!

Homemade seasoning blend recipes

Spice substitutions if you don't have the exact seasoning for a recipe

Recipezaar and AllRecipes both have ingredient search options - if you want to try out a new spice just plug it in along with any other ingredients you might want to use, and see what comes up!


Jan 12, 2009

She's Baaaack :)

That's right - I am typing this post on MY computer in MY house! We got it back this afternoon and I am SO relieved :) Turns out it was a nasty virus that managed to sneak past McAfee, so we didn't lose any data other than programs that had been downloaded (Honey, that means keep your D&D programs to a MINIMUM now!). That alone was a huge relief and a wake-up call...if they hadn't been able to recover our data I'd have lost the Boy Wonder's entire first year of photos. We will definitely be investing in a flash drive or external HD to store the important stuff.

I'm going to try and get back in the swing of posting over the next day or two, so be patient while I fight through Pregnesia and try to write coherently :) Forgive me if I occasionally lose control of the English language...

I did some reviewing of our spending for the end of the year...it looks like I went about $75 over between November and December...not bad, considering that I took a few opportunities to stock my freezer and I'm poised to cook mostly out of the pantry for the next several weeks. But I definitely want to see those numbers improve!

On the preggers front, things are moving along swimmingly! We had our first doc's appointment this week, and it looks like Player #2 will be arriving around August 9th. This baby has decided to mess with my olfactory senses...beef smells rancid to me even when it's fine, and I can smell other people's dinner half a block away. That's me, SuperPrego! Able to eat a stack of grilled cheese as tall as a building. In a single bite. Yeah, it ain't pretty.

Before I ramble any further, thanks for sticking around! Glad to be back in the mix :)


Jan 7, 2009

Brick #4 - Give a little Sweat Equity

I had rockstar dreams. Once upon a time, I was going to be a famous actress/singer/dancer and live in the lap of luxury, with a team of dedicated employees to cater to my every whim.

Right.

Now I am the caterer...and taxi driver, personal shopper, accountant, maid, butler, activities coordinator...I should get paid by the hour! Then I could live in the lap of...oh nevermind.

With all of that going on, don't I deserve a little convenience in my life? Perhaps. But I had to sit down and take a hard look at where the small amount of money we had was going, and somewhere along the way it occured to me that HUNDREDS of dollars were disappearing out of our wallets because we were buying convenience food.

Let me clarify a little bit - in my book, "convenience food" includes ANYTHING that I could make for myself, but I choose to buy a pre-packaged version. Yes, that includes bread, pancake mix, soup, precooked meats, shredded cheese. Anything that I could DIY in my meager kitchen. There were two thought processes going on:

1. What am I buying just to avoid putting some time in at the stove?
2. What is the benefit if I did it myself instead?

The answer to the first question was a long list of prepared meals, breakfast foods, snacks, and easy dinner solutions. The answer to the second question was short: I save a LOT of money, and I KNOW what is going into my family's mouths - no fillers, preservatives or extra junk. This required me to put firmly in place another brick:

4. Give a little sweat equity in the kitchen, gain a lot in the wallet

Let's dispel a few myths about making things homemade:

It takes too much time
My breakfast muffins take 10 minutes to mix, 20 minutes to bake (while they're baking, I can do other things!). I often throw some together before I go to work in the morning, it's that easy. Same goes for most dinners that I make. Ten or fifteen minutes of prep, and I can go about other business while things cook. Especially in the crockpot - I've been known to toss ingredients into the 'pot before work, set it, and dinner's done when I get home. Easy Peasy! At first things took longer to make, but that was just me re-acquainting myself with the stuff in my kitchen :)

One of my biggest time savers was making extra portions of a meal and freezing them - I haven't yet ventured into once-a-month cooking, but making extras while I'm already in the kitchen has been a lifesaver on nights when we aren't getting home until later in the evening. Sometimes those freezer meals are the only thing standing between me and the temptation to order out. That alone saves me almost 20 bucks a week...more if you include the fact that our leftovers often become lunch at work!

I can't cook.
YES YOU CAN. You don't need to be Julia Child in the kitchen, you just need to be able to operate an oven/crockpot without breaking something. It's really just following basic instructions, if you could program your iPod you've worked harder at that than you would in the kitchen! Two of my favorite recipe sites, Cooks.com and Recipezaar.com are chock full of simple recipes with minimal ingredients. A good basic cookbook (my personal favorites are How To Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food and The Best of Cooking with 3 Ingredients (Flavors of Home)) can be your best friend and help in areas you aren't comfortable with - I always had questions about cooking raw meat...now I roast with the best of them!

I won't really save any money because I have to buy the ingredients
OK - most people know that is about as false as Tammy Faye Baker's eyelashes. But I do actually know people who think this way! They figure that buying ONE of something over TEN somethings makes the ONE something cheaper. But most of the time, the raw materials that you use will add up to a LOT less when you consider that you're buying enough to make SEVERAL somethings instead of just one meal.

Investing some sweat equity in your kitchen is ESSENTIAL to successfully feeding your family on a small budget. I am a working mom (anywhere between 32 and 48 hours a week) and my husband works as much or more. My son is a mini-hurricane right now. I DID NOT think I had the time to do the home cooked meals thing every night. But I knew that I could make the same thing as packaged meals for a fraction of the cost, so I made the choice to TRY.

I started just making the effort to plan very basic protein-veggie-starch dinners. The more I did it, the easier it became to branch out and try new recipes. If you stick to recipes with less than 10 ingredients (and follow your price book!) most of your dinners will end up being under $7 for 4-6 portions. That's an ENTIRE WEEK of dinners for less than 40 bucks.

Getting familiar with the flour jar will also cut major costs. I make homemade muffins, buns/rolls, and pizza dough just about every week. ALL THREE of these recipes cost me $2.73 COMBINED. That's six muffins, 12 dinner rolls and a whole pizza pie. There are a TON of cheap recipes for muffins, breads, breakfast bars and such out there, just find the ones that appeal to you! The only think I don't bake myself right now is sandwich bread - only because I get it SO cheap at Price Rite. If I can figure out how to make it for less than 75 cents a loaf, I'm all over it.

I even make our own version of 100 calorie snack packs. I buy a BIG bag of the snack of choice, and divvy it up into snack baggies. The cost? Around 5 bucks for about 20-30 servings. Those snack packs at their CHEAPEST are 2 bucks for SIX. My cost for the same number of servings - $0.25.

The added benefit of all this work? You know EXACTLY what's going into the mouths of your precious family. No fillers. No added preservatives, extra sodium, or things you can't pronounce. I don't know about you, but it makes me sleep better at night. And my husband is healthier than he's ever been, in spite of his diabetes....there's something to this "home cookin' thing"!

Next week we'll spice it up! Literally ;)

Some great resource sites:

Make ahead recipes - Your Own "fast" food

$5 Dinner Mom - awesome recipes, all for 5 bucks or less per meal!

Saving Money with Homemade Convenience Mixes - everything from breads to sauces to seasonings, and tips on making homemade even healthier.

Grab and Go foods

The Crockpot Lady - if it can be done in a crockpot, she's tested it! Another awesome recipe site.


Jan 4, 2009

Temporarily MIA!

I am sitting at my mother-in-law's computer right now...it seems that our laptop decided to take a permanent vacation, and just before the holidays...which means that we didn't really have a lot of time to take it to ye olde repair shoppe before Christmas Crazies set in!

The good news - it's going to the 'puter doctor's tomorrow and I should be back up and running by the end of the week. In the meantime, I wanted to wish everyone who stops by a healthy and prosperous New Year! Here are some of my goals for the coming year:

- Continue to work towards a consistent $200 monthly budget. I am pretty sure I went over a bit in December, though I was able to stock up for January. But I'd like to see that number more regularly once I review the spending.

- Use more of my savings towards donations. I am thinking in terms of hard goods (toiletries, non-perishables, etc) that I get free or super cheap. We made some good donations to the food bank before Christmas but I would like to make that a monthly effort instead of a once-in-a-while event.

- Put $5000 in the bank on top of our current savings by the end of the summer. Hubby will *hopefully* be starting school in the fall and that would cover half the total tuition for the program, then we can save the other half over the next year. This is going to require real diligence in saving, as we have been taking a few opportunities to enjoy ourselves with our extra cash instead of saving ALL of it.

- Get ready for one more addition to the team :) We found out a few weeks ago that we're having another baby!! My first doc's appointment is Tuesday so I don't know a due date for sure yet, but I think it will be sometime in early to mid August. Aside from regular new mommy excitement, I'm really looking forward to figuring out how to make this new mouth have as little impact on our food budget as possible. I will breastfeed just like I did with the Boy Wonder, but I also have a brandy new food processing attachment for my blender that I think will be getting LOTS of use once the new little one starts eating solids :)

Happy new year!!!


 
Photobucket