Brian broke his hand!

On Friday, Brian broke his right hand while at work. He works for Rob Hamilton, his brother-in-law, of Hamilton Heat & Air. The accident happened while he was drilling a hole using a corded drill. The paddle bit caught in the wood and stopped but the drill continued to rotate along with Brian's hand. His sister took him to Solantic to get an x-ray. They referred him to an Orthopedic surgeon so now we are waiting to get an appointment to find out how it will be repaired. Please pray for a speedy recovery. Thanks!

Sneaking in the Veggies

My boys are really picky eaters, especially when it comes to vegetables. Sometimes I sneak them into different dishes. Last night I made mashed potatoes (it's a hit-or-miss too!) and snuck in some cauliflower. I steamed a whole head then pureed half to add to the potatoes. I did still offer them the florets with just a little butter, garlic salt and pepper. To my surprise, Little B tried the cauliflower without being asked and said it was terrific! He even asked for a second helping. He wasn't as excited about the mashed potatoes. J Man had the opposite reaction. He had no problem eating up the mashed potatoes but only tried a little of the cauliflower.

For lunch today I pulled out the Organic mac and cheese box and pureed Organic carrots (aka baby food). The boys aren't too familiar with eating mac and cheese from a box so they really didn't have any expectations. I  followed the directions on the box and when it was time to add the cheese mixture I added half the pouch of carrot puree. They both finished their bowls without any suspicions. I ate some too and could barely notice the carrots. Next time I think I'll try adding the whole pouch.

Win a Goodbyn Lunch Box

My friend Linsey is running a contest on her blog and the prize is an orange Goodbyn Lunchbox! She is asking for suggestions for a subtitle or tag line for her blog. Check her post for all the details. I have one Goodbyn but would love one more for Jace. While you are there take a look at all her cute ideas for making healthy bento lunches for your family. Contest ends January 25th. Good Luck!

Amazon $20 Gift Card for $10 (or possibly FREE)

Living Social is offering a $20 Amazon gift card for only $10. This deal is only good for today. You should recieve an email letting you know when your gift card is ready tomorrow. I believe the gift card will be a code that can be added to your Amazon account and used whenever you shop next.

$10 is a good deal but free is better! When you purchase your gift card, Living Social will give you a link to share with your friends. If three of your friends buy today's deal then your deal is FREE!

All my Swaggernaut friends can earn 280 Swagbucks for getting this deal. Here's how:

• Log on to Swagbucks
• Click on the "Special Offers" tab on the lefthand side
• Once on the Special Offers page, click on the "Trialpay" tab at the top.
• Scroll down the page until you see the "Living Social" offer and click through to their site. (A different deal was featured on my page but it still worked.)

Your Swagbucks will be credited right after you make your purchase.

Free ebooks from Kaplan, Today Only!

I just found out Kaplan is offering FREE ebooks and today is the last day. They are available for the following e-readers: Barnes and Noble Nook, Amazon Kindle, Apple iPad and Sony eReader.

If you are like me and don't have any of those readers you can still take advantage of this freebie. Download Kindle for PC and you can read the ebooks on your computer. The Apple iPhone also has a free Kindle app for that!

The ebooks that I downloaded right away were The Teachable Moment: Seizing the Instants When Children Learn and Math for Moms and Dads: A dictionary of terms and concepts...just for parents. See a full listing of the ebooks available here.

Thank you Freely Educate!

Attacking the Clutter





Before and After



It's Monday and that means another round of "Around the House" for me. This is the third week that I've played this game at my house and it has been paying off.

My game plan:

I've divided my house into 12 areas: Living room, Kitchen/Nook, Dining room/Entryway, Playroom, Braden's room, Jace's room, Laundry area, Computer room, Master bedroom, Master bathroom, Guest bathroom and Garage. I set my timer and spend 15 minutes in each of these areas decluttering/organizing. The timer really helps me not to get obsessive about one area and as FlyLady says "You can do anything for 15 minutes." I normally try to concentrate on one area at the top of every hour (9:00, 10:00, 11:00 etc.) and can usually double up during nap time if I get off schedule.

Doing this every Monday has helped my week get off to a good start. It's also helped attack any clutter that's accumulated during our weekend. As the weeks pass I'm sure I won't need the full 15 minutes in each area. I look forward to that day! That's my plan for getting rid of the clutter in my home. It's time to start my timer again so that's all for now.

FREE Egg Beaters coupon

Sign up for a coupon for FREE Egg Beaters! They usually only give out a certain number of these so request yours right away. The coupon comes in the mail and will take up to 4 weeks. I have used Egg Beaters in the past to make omelets but I really didn't care for them. I plan to use mine to bake something for the boys.

Thanks Southernsavers!

Winter Jam 2011

The Hubby and I are headed to the Winter Jam concert tonight in Jacksonville at the Memorial Arena. It's the largest annual tour of Christian music and tickets are only $10! We've gone almost every year since I was preggo with our first. (Side note: Not sure if that has anything to do with his  love of music. lol) The concert starts at 7:00pm but the Hubby wants to be there at 6:00pm when the doors open. He likes to hear every song including the up-and-coming artists who play at the beginning. This concert always renews my soul and date nights are good for a marriage. It's a win-win!

The Beginning...

Welcome family and friends to my new blog. This is my second attempt at a blog. I started my first blog 2 years ago and only kept it for a few months. It was based solely around couponing. If you know me then you know I love a bargain and I soon became just a little obsessed with couponing. It wasn't to the extreme that was portrayed on TLC's Extreme Couponing Show but it was consuming too much of my time and thoughts. I was going to try to revamp that blog but decided I wanted a fresh start instead.

I'm on a quest to find balance in my life. I can be just slighty obsessive (lol), so this will be no easy task for me. I'm hoping this blog will help me stay accountable while staying connected to my family and friends. If I contribute a little to the household income through affiliate links at the same time that's fine too. Enjoy!