Company Girl Coffee

Good afternoon everyone. I'm a little late in posting this, it's been crazy around here. If you want to know what we've been up to scroll down for some pictures from the last couple of weeks.

This week Rachel Anne encouraged us to try a new recipe. I love this Small Thing, especially since I had a recipe I had been wanting to try out for a couple of weeks.

On Monday we had Chicken Saute with Artichokes, Lemon & Mint. It was great. Very easy to fix, 30 mintues, and a wonderful lighter meal. I will definitely make this one again.

Here is a picture of the finished dish.




I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Talk to you soon.

More pictures

Noah showing off his karate moves.




Noah on his first field trip to a local dairy farm.

Here are a few more pictures of our adventures the past few weeks.

Kids

I know it's been awhile since I posted some pictures of the kids. It's not because I don't have any, but because we have been so busy I haven't had time to get them downloaded from my camera.

So without further ado.....
Noah fishing with his new fishing pole, Easter

Jared showing the kids how to cast their line.


Riley trying out Seth's new bicycle


Noah showing off his new bicycle

Company Girl Coffee

Good morning everyone. Rachel Anne at Home Sanctuary has asked us to post some of the things we do to save money. My list is long. It started 6 years ago when my husband and I did the Dave Ramsey get out of debt plan, this has enabled me to stay home with my kids and while we don't have room for many luxuries in our budget, we do have a good life.

Secondly, I work at the YMCA two shifts a week. Here in Nashville the YMCA is the place to work out, in all of the places I have lived, the YMCA has not had as big of a presence as it does here. The kids are able to go to work with me (free childcare) if I work during the day or they are home with their dad if I get an evening shift. I only work about 8 hours a week, but it pays for our membership, and I get a 50% employee discount on all activities for the kids, i.e. soccer, swimming lessons, karate, and many others.

Coupons. I have been using coupons for most of my adult life and I can't even begin to tell you how much money this has saved us over the years.

Phones. Seven years ago we turned off our land line phone and have not had one since. I was working full time and going to school at night. My husband was working a full time and part time job. We were hardly ever home so cell phones were the answer for us. We also keep our phones for several years (we don't have the latest and greatest phones, but we can use them to call or get calls from others)

Homemade cleaning supplies. About 6 months ago I started making our laundry detergent. I was a little scared of this at first, but now I can't imagine paying that much money for a bottle of detergent that lasts me a few weeks. Our clothes are clean, they smell good, and it costs me about $.01 a load. A word of caution, I tried this with homemade dishwashing detergent and it did not work good. For now I sticking with laundry detergent and hardwood floor cleaner.

Cook from scratch. Almost everything I cook is from scratch and most of those ingredients I got on sale. I use very few box mixes and only when those are on sale and I have a coupon. We also limit how often we eat out. This also is aided by the vegetable garden that we grow every summer.

Here is part of my list. At first, doing these things might seem hard, but if you are looking to save some money they have worked well for us and once they become part of your routine they are easy.


P.S. For anyone interested, I got the laundry detergent recipe from the following website.
http://iamfrugal.blogspot.com/2008/11/homemade-dishwasher-detergent.html

Good Friday

What do you say on a day like today? I am overwhelmed today with the thoughts of the wonderful, gracious gift of Jesus. We are having storms today in Nashville, big ugly storms with tornadoes. This is perhaps very fitting weather for Good Friday; dark, scary, fear-inducing; and yet for believers we are able to rest in the assurances and safety of our God. Today marks the beginning of our salvation through Jesus. Our salvation which would not be possible without the tremendous sacrifice that Jesus made on a Friday thousands of years ago, just for me and you.

My Good Friday Gratitude list:
1. Jesus Christ, who died for me.
2. A wonderful church family.
3. A wonderful family.
4. Good friends
5. A sturdy house to keep us out of the storms.

I hope you all have a blessed Easter weekend. I pray that while we enjoy the fun things of Easter we are also remembering the real reason for this celebration.

Tricycles

Last week Riley figured out how to peddle her tricycle. She of course wants the biggest tricycle we have, even though her feet don't reach the peddles while sitting on the seat. Here is a short video of her riding her tricycle.

Mama, I thought you might enjoy seeing this.

Big bed, little girl

This week our 2 1/2 year daughter started sleeping in her "big" bed. We were not in a hurry to move her out of the crib and waited until she asked to sleep in the big bed. She did great. The first night she laid awake for over an hour, but we never heard a single sound from her. Every time I would check in on her, she was looking at the door with her eyes wide open. The next day she went around telling everyone that she had slept in her big girl bed, and she has never gone back to the crib.

Can you find the sleeping 2 year old in these picture?

Company Girl Coffee 4/3

Good afternoon Company Girls, friends, and family. I hope you all are having a great Friday. It has been a good, busy week here. My husband was able to get quite a few seeds planted in the garden, in another couple of weeks we will get the tomatoes and peppers planted, I can't wait.

An interesting thing happened this week. My parents moved us from Texas to KY many years ago. I left behind some wonderful friends, and while we stayed in touch for several years, I eventually lost touch with all but two of them. I am still friends with those two wonderful women still, as of now we have been friends for more than 25 years. But, I have often wondered what happened to everyone else. This week I was able to find out. One of those friends found me on facebook and within a couple of days I had reconnect with 4 friends. I had looked for them last summer when I joined, but had not looked in several months. It has been wonderful getting back in touch with my earliest friends. We have spent this week emailing and catching up with each other. I have loved every minute of it.

Gratitude Friday:
1. Spring weather
2. Reconnecting with long, lost friends.
3. Welcoming a new family member.
4. Starting a nightly devotion time with the kids.
5. My Mom to Mom group at church.
6. A loving God.
7. A wonderful family.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and enjoy simplifying your life today.