Thrifty Tips

If you are looking for a new hobby that will be both entertaining and lucrative while feeding your love of lists and control over a world of chaos, COUPONS are for you.

I love the couponing game.  

I love that I get to tell the Wal-Mart cashier what I want to pay for an item.

I love that I can beat "the Man" at this game.

Oh, and I love to be in control...of my grocery budget :)

While I am still a novice at the couponing thing, a friend of mine has taken me under her wing.  She has shared some awesome tips with me!

If you want more information on how to begin saving money with coupons, check out:

http://www.hip2save.com/

http://www.couponmom.com/

If you are a bibliophile (like me) and want to read up on it, I suggest:

(source)

I have been reading it, and it really is helpful!

So, here is my tip.  It is not earth-shaking or brilliant, but I am still excited.  I am easily amused, obviously. 

My family and I are leaving for vacation next week (I won't say where, but I will say tar balls), and I have been collecting provisions for a couple of months.  Using every coupon I could that didn't say "excludes travel size," I scoured the stores for mini everything.  I ended up with all of this:

Each of these items were either free or close enough. 

Score.

I capped that vacation spending faster than you can say "BP."

A Juicy Weekend

I haven't been keeping up with my blogging this weekend, as I have been doing this:

Juicing stuff with my new juicer, sitting on the back deck enjoying the sunshine, reading a book that sucked and a book that doesn't (so far). 

In my juice:

• spinach
• cucumber
• basil
• apple
• pear
• ginger
• lime
• JOY.

So, Menu Plan Monday didn't happen.  I don't have a plan yet, but I am sure we will not starve. 

See you tomorrow, if I can tear myself away from the juicer. 

Book Review: Mothering Heights

I finished Mothering Heights by Keitha Smith and Susan Brereton.  It would be an excellent book for new Christian mothers who are looking for encouragement, direction in figuring out their new role, and suggestions for how to cope in the difficulties of motherhood.  Most of the information was untimely for me, as I am not a new mother.  It wasn't really a new concept, as I have read other books on the topic of motherhood. This did strike me as inarguable true, ever timely, and challenging:

There is perhaps no position or situation more in keeping with the servant nature of motherhood.  We are not suggesting that you are to become slaves to your children, for they are not your master; what we are suggesting is that you are unlikely ever to have an opportunity to demonstrate God's love more fully and more completely than you will have as mother to your children.  It is a God-given opportunity too precious to squander (Brereton 63).

If you are looking for a really good read on motherhood and womanhood in modern culture, check out this book:

It is quite a different approach to the subject, but still a thoughtful, intelligent, and honest assessment of the challenges women face in a post-feminist world.