Gods Wonderful Blessings!

O Give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. Psalm 107:1

I thought I would share with you all a wonderful blessing I received yesterday from our Lord!

We moved to our present home three years ago and with our new home came electric heat. Not a good thing with the rising cost of electricity.

We decided after the first winter to purchase a used pellet stove and we placed it in our basement.

Last winter was pretty cold and the pellet stove did pretty well keeping us warm but the bedrooms are located on the other end of the house over a garage so they tended to stay much cooler.

Now regularly I like to sleep in a room that is a little bit cooler but now that I have not been pregnant :) I am much colder at night. It seemed like I just could not get warm enough and I could never fall asleep.

The rest of the family never complained about being cold but my feet would be so cold even with two pairs of socks on that I could never fall asleep until late into the night.

I must say that I tried many things. I even tried taking a heating pad the kind you warm up in a microwave to wrap around my feet!

I finally told my husband that I could take no more so he had a wonderful idea and we brought out his thermal sleeping bag and that is what I would slip into at night under the other blankets.
This did the trick and I was able to finally get some sleep.

Well now it is summer and hot and those cold nights were long forgotten until yesterday when my husband came home from work with a surprise for me.

A kind gentleman from his shop asked him if he would be interested in having a beautiful queen size duel temperature heating blanket! PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!

How excited I was to see how my God was already taking care of this winter for me!

With rising heating costs I know that many of us have been turning down the heat to reduce the cost. It is easy sometimes to say Lord how much more can we endure? I know that our God is able to provide all of our needs even when things seem impossible from a humans point of view!

Praise the Lord for his goodness!

May I always remember to Praise Our God for his Wonderful Blessings!

Psalms 109:
27- That they may know that this is thy hand; that tho, Lord , hast done it.

30- I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among the multitude.

May we always remember to give God all of the Praise!

God Bless, Kathy

The Wild Side of Gardening!

A little beetle "dancing"

Gardening on the Wild Side!
Enjoying the beauty of God's world.

This lovely Lilly is in my neighbors garden, but it is very close to our Veggie garden, so we are able to enjoy it too!

This praying Mantis visited our Garden 2 years ago. We were very surprised to find such a large one!

These beautiful pink rhododendrons grow in the front of our house

This is a favorite! My brother, Collin caught the little guy in our yard. Then he found the bigger one in a little pond!

This is one of our first red tomatoes from our Cherry Tomato plant!
Our garden is doing really good!

This is a Cicada, we find their shells all over our yard. In the top picture (on the left) is the skin that this Cicada shed. Isn't it amazing how wonderful God made these little guys?

This a bloom from the Wisteria vine.

Wisteria is a favorite of mine! They have a beautiful scent and the flowers resemble a bunch of grapes.

Collin is holding a monarch butterfly!
(he caught this himself too!)

This is my little sister's tulip. It grew very large and had a gorgeous purple bloom!

This photo is one of my pride and joys!
I have a normal Digital camera, and so this little guy had to let me get close! He kept flitting around and finally relaxed and let me take his picture! He is only 3-4" long!

Some Cute little Buttercups!

3 little Robin chicks snuggled down for a nap!
We got to see them learn to fly this spring too!

Well, here is our last picture!
Collin has a frog that he caught in our garden!

I hope that you all can enjoy the beauty of God's creation this week and every week!

God Bless
~Rebecca~

Our Menu this week for a Family of 10!

Hello to all!

I thought I would post our menu from the groceries shopping trip for this week.

So here it goes:
Our weeks menu started today.

Saturday:
Breakfast- Whole wheat (homemade) toast with jelly, and cereal
Lunch- Grill cheese, and pop corn (My husband and I had some fresh corn on the cob instead)

Supper- Whole roasted Chicken in crock pot , Alfredo pasta 2 pkgs, homemade butterhorn rolls, sweet corn on the cob and of course the Ice pops Daddy bought for desert.

My Husband made these this morning don't they look yummy!

Sunday:
Breakfast- French toast (with white bread, I was brought up this way and I just like the white bread better for french toast)
Lunch-Cheese Raviolis ,meat sauce and some more of those yummy butterhorn rolls. Corn sounds good too!
Supper-On Sunday night we eat something easy so we can go to church so Children will
probably have that special treat cereal Coco Pops something we rarely buy. The rest of us sandwiches.

Monday:
Breakfast- Cereal and toast
Lunch- Sandwiches and fruit
Supper- Chicken breast BBQ, fries, quick yeast bread, veg from garden (summer squash)

Tuesday:
Breakfast- Bagels with cream cheese
Lunch- Chicken nuggets and buttered bread, canned fruit
Supper- Finger sandwiches (ham, bologna, cheese) Homemade banana bread from banana's
in freezer and chips

Wednesday:
Breakfast- Instant oatmeal 2 boxes ( we usually use about 1 & a half boxes)
Lunch- Mac and cheese
Supper- Pasta, bread

Thursday-
Breakfast- Chocolate Chip Muffins homemade
Lunch- sandwiches (peanut butter and jelly, or bologna and cheese)
Supper- Hamburgs and Hotdogs, Chips

Friday-
Breakfast-Coffee cake (called overnight coffee cake)
Lunch- left overs
Supper- Pepperoni Bread and Cheesy bread ( My children love this for a meal it is a real treat)

For Snacks we have some extra cream cheese to go with toast (whole wheat homemade)
Pretzels (My oldest son loves these)
Free popcorn from Kettle corn!
crackers and cheese spread

We usually have bananas and some apples too but this week I did not see any apples at Aldis and the children are getting tired of bananas so I thought I would give them a rest.

My oldest daughter likes to eat lowfat cottage cheese for her snack so that is for her.

By the end of the week I will hear those pleas of "When are you going grocery shopping Mom?
We have nothing to eat!"

There are times that I try to stretch a few more days before I shop again. We will see!

God Bless, Have a wonderful day with the Lord! Kathy
Photo by Norman Rockwell

SmileBox of our Museum Trip

Make a Smilebox photobook

Here is a SmileBox for our trip to Peabody, they are
alot more beautiful pictures of some of the exhibits,
some exhibits that I didn't even mention in the post.
I hope that you enjoy it!

God bless,
~Rebecca~

Our Trip to Peabody Museum

It was vacation time for us last week and this
was Our Frugal trip that we made.


Our Trip to Peabody Museum
(for FREE!)

Peabody Museum
Free passes into Peabody are currently on Thursdays only,
between 2-5pm. We couldn't pass it up!

Well, our trip started with rain! As soon as we were all set to go the heavens
opened up and it began to pour! My brother, Collin managed to get soaked
even though he had two big umbrellas!
What a gentleman!

About 10 minutes on the road I noticed this!
It was raining so hard that it began
to come into the van!!

My little brother, Caleb, fell fast asleep! The trip took at least 45 minutes,
and since it was close to nap time. . . Caleb took a cat nap!

Our first glimpse of Peabody was this big statue of a Torosaurus.
( We thought it was a Triceratop, but Triceratops's horns curve up)

The entrance to Peabody Museum!

We looked up and this guy was there to greet us when we first walked in!
My younger siblings really liked it!

I love history and museums, but I had not been to Peabody in about 8 yrs!
I was happy to share my excitement at seeing
the huge fossils with all my younger siblings!
And of course seeing their reactions!

The Stegosaurus in the Great Hall.
We had seen "Night at the Museum" a few months ago,
The film enhanced my siblings interest and delight in seeing the museum.
It was sad to see so much evolution everywhere in the museum.
So my parents and I kept telling the younger children,
"Look at all the creatures God made!"

Everybody's favorite!
My sister was disappointed that the museum
only had the head of a T-Rex. He's still very impressive though!

This exhibit was exciting! My brother and I are in this picture,
We thought that this deer must have had big "headaches!"

My brothers in the Native American exhibit

My younger siblings were not to sure about this
Goliath beetle statue.
(if you look closely you can see another brother of mine,
he's being reflected by the glass!)

My sister, Stephanie, looking at a exhibit on bugs and insects!

A sarcophagus on display in the Egypt exhibit.

A Mummy!!
I always liked Egyptian history, and my siblings
were really excited to see a real Mummy!

My brother, Jeremiah, imitating a seagull in the hall of Birds.

A picture of me with my favorite kinds of birds,
Hawks, eagles, falcons and ospreys!

My Mom and brother, Matt, looking at wood ducks!

Stephanie with an Ibis.

There are a lot more great pictures in the Peabody SmileBox,
Which will be posted very soon!

Isn't this a great way to have fun, and save money?!

God Bless
~Rebecca~

Check out your local Museums maybe they offer a day and time for free visits !

Shopping for 10!

After reading the post from Moneysavingmoms yesterday about the MSN article which talked about groceries and shopping on $117.00 a week for a family of 4 .

I decided to post about what a family of 10 could buy for groceries for a week. I read the post from the women who stated that she had two small children and spent over $200.00 a week! I can believe this in a normal grocery store not using any coupons and just buying what ever they wanted.

I followed Crystals advise and began with a menu. I than went to Coupon Mom I love this website!

I checked out the deals at Shoprite one of the stores in our area. Sadly we do not have any Krogers here up north!

I than went and checked out my coupons for the items that she had listed as the best deals. I usually will only look at the items that are at least 50% off or more. Usually I like the 60% or more!

I printed out the deals she mentioned and than I made an Aldis list of items I usually buy there.

We have two Aldis nearby but they are both about 15-20 mins away. I choose the one that has the Shoprite just in the next plaza to Aldis. Have to save gas too right!



Here is my purchases from Shoprite:

4 Boxes of General Mills Cereal on sale for $1.88 each- had a 1.00 coupon on two so they came out the 1.38 a box.

6 Lipton WG Alfredo pasta on sale for .94 each coupon makes them .61 cents each

12 Hunts Ketchup 24 oz on sale for .88 cents each coupons makes them .38 cents each

8 Betty Crocker brownie mix on sale for 1.25 each coupon makes them .75 cents each

2 Scrubbing Bubble Bathroom Cleaner on sale for 1.00 coupon makes them .99 cents each

2 Huggies Toilet wipes on sale for 2.49 each coupon makes them .99 cents each

6 Ziploc Bags on sale for 1.39 each coupon makes them .64 cents each

1 Pert Shampoo 3.29 after coupon .29 cents

1 pkg of Chicken breast on the bone on sale for .99 cents a pound (this was forgotten in the photo)

my bill before coupons came to 61.17 After coupons 33.47!

These pictures are from the whole shopping trip at both stores

Next trip to Aldis

Now Aldis does not take coupons but their prices are so much better than any grocery store around here. I am so thankful to the Lord for this store.

I purchased many items for our weekly shopping as you can see in the photo because I purchased some of the things at Shop rite that I usually buy at Aldis I was able to save money there.

My total at Aldis was 106.44

Total altogether 139.91

I must say that on the way home we found a vegetable stand that was selling fresh corn! We could not resist after all we are on vacation right! We bought two dozen which was 5.00 a dozen.. Up here that is a really good deal for fresh corn. Yum!

Now I usually do not like to spend even this much per week but last week I only spent around 80.00.

I did buy a few things like ice pops as a treat because my husband was with me and he wanted to treat the children since he is on vacation this week.

Well it was more than 117.00 but still not to bad for a family of 10.

I will try to post our weeks menu with this food to give you an idea what I can make for our large hungry family!

God Bless, Kathy

CVS Savings this week!

Super Savings Saturday!

The Lord has been so good! I prayed for some wisdom this week for my shopping trips and decided that I would try to do a couple of trips. Here is how they worked out.

2- CVS Training pants 12.00
1-CVS 5Ct Tampons 1.49
2-CVS pantiliners .99 each
6- Loreal Vive Shampoo and Conditioner - 4.99 each on sale for B1G1 free
2- Edge Shaving Cream- reg 2.99 each used a Walgreen coupon so they were 1.99 each
1- CVS wipe 2.00

Coupons
1/2.00 on 10.00 CVS products
3/B1G1 free Loreal Vive Shampoo coupon
$15.98 ECBs from last weeks deal on the photo books

Total out of pocket- $3.47
Ecbs earned $3.47


2nd Day shopping trip

I realized when I got home that I had not reached my 15.00 in CVS baby products to get my 5.00 Ecbs but that was okay.

First order was as follows:
1 CVS baby wipes 2.00
3 Powerades 1.00 each

I used 3/1.00 Powerade coupons
1.98 Ecbs
Paid 2 cents oop



Order number two:
4 Clearasil facial cleanser 3.79 each
2 All Laundry detergents B1G1 free ( I needed these for my front loading machine) 6.49
2 Loreal Hair spray B1G1 free ( another item we needed) 4.99each
2 sure deodorants 2.69 each
43.50 total

coupons
4/2.00 clearasil coupons
2/1.00 All coupons
2/1.00 Loreal Hair spray coupons
1/B1G1 free sure deodorants coupon
1/ 1.50 Walgreen coupon for Sure deod.
5.00 Ecb from precious order (Diaper deal)

oop 9.15

I received 8.00 in Ecbs

So I spent 12.64 Out of pocket and received 101.89 of merchandise! Praise the Lord!

Thanks to Crystal and you other women who let us know the great deals that are out there.
I am so thankful to the Lord for all of his blessings and provisions!

Tomorrow I hope to share with all of you my grocery shopping savings!
God Bless, Kathy

Frugal Friday!

Clothes on the Line!

I am sure that many of you have probably written about this in the past but I just had to write about it myself. I must say that I LOVE to hang clothes on the line to dry!



My family often laughs at me but I think it is so exciting to see a whole line of clothes blowing in the breeze not to mention the wonderful smell after they come off the line.



The Lord greatly blessed me. About three years ago we moved to our present home and on the back of the house we had a sunroom with a large sliding window. The clothes line was not up but as I was walking along the property I found the clothes line lying on the ground in the back yard connected to a very large pole. Yes I never noticed the pole!

My husband looked around and lo and behold there was a place on the house by the large sliding glass window that used to have a reel for the clothes line!
I was so excited! We bought some new heavy duty rope and reels and quickly reinstalled the clothes line.

Now all I have to do is open the window and hang out the clothes!


As you can imagine we have a lot of laundry to do with eight children and two adults!
In the summer the clothes dry so quickly that I am able to do several loads a day and hang them out! One load can quickly fill the line!

The Line is nice and high so it does not interfere with the children playing out side either.

This has hopefully saved us a lot with the rising electricity costs. I feel that it is one small way to help my honey with saving money!

Now I just have to try making my own laundry detergent that Crystal mentioned and we will be doing great!

The only problem now that I have to remedy is having enough clothes pins. My children help me hang clothes and they all seem to disappear! They are not very good one I do not seem to be able to find really good clothes pins. Walmart does not really have a great selection! I will just have to work on this one!