We survived our first week of school, even if it was only 3 days worth!  Noah, our kindergärtner is having a tough time waking up in the morning–but once he gets going he’s full of steam.  All three are loving it so far, which makes it so much easier to send them  away all day.

Breakfasts:

• Oatmeal
• Fruit Parfaits
• Breakfast Burritos

Dinners:

• Sunday: Threw some ingredients in a skillet and called it dinner!
• Monday: Enchiladas. Refried Beans. Spanish Rice.
• Tuesday:Lentil Brown Rice Casserole.  Fruit Salad. Tri Color Bread Braid. {didn’t make this last week}
• Wednesday: Curried Chicken Salad in HM Pitas.  Pasta Salad.
• Thursday: Meatball Subs on HM Hoagies.  Green Beans.  Copycat Olive Garden Salad.
• Friday: Popcorn/Pizza/Movie Night.
• Saturday: Leftovers.

Be sure to check out Menu Plan Monday for over 300 menu plans!

Menu Plan: Week of August 22-28th is a post from: Getting Freedom From Debt

Please take a moment and visit our Sponsors:

Fashion Cents For Mom Deals and Bargains for the Fashionable Mom
Pennies and Blessings Spend Wisely. Live Well.
Groupon Local Deals. 50-90% Off!
Mint.com Your FREE Online Money Manager
Flirty Aprons Makes Daily Tasks Enjoyable!
FiveJ's Design

Ever heard of Groupon before?  If not here is how it works:  Groupon is a free service that sends out daily emails for a city near you.  Each one has a different offer for an item/service anywhere from 50-90% off retail!

I was quite please when I received today’s Groupon and noticed it was good nationwide!

Groupon’s Deal of the Day 8/19: Get $50 worth of GAP apparel and accessories including sale items for only $25!

Perfect for back to school shopping!  Notice that it is also good for sale items, so check those clearance racks first!

Groupon: Half Off at GAP! is a post from: Getting Freedom From Debt

Please take a moment and visit our Sponsors:

Fashion Cents For Mom Deals and Bargains for the Fashionable Mom
Pennies and Blessings Spend Wisely. Live Well.
Groupon Local Deals. 50-90% Off!
Mint.com Your FREE Online Money Manager
Flirty Aprons Makes Daily Tasks Enjoyable!
FiveJ's Design

 They grow up too fast.  Today is the first day of school, and I’ve officially got a Kindergartener, Third Grader, and a Fourth Grader–as well as an almost 3 month old!  *sigh*

Linking up to Wordless Wednesday.

Four Kids: Wordless Wednesday is a post from: Getting Freedom From Debt

Please take a moment and visit our Sponsors:

Fashion Cents For Mom Deals and Bargains for the Fashionable Mom
Pennies and Blessings Spend Wisely. Live Well.
Groupon Local Deals. 50-90% Off!
Mint.com Your FREE Online Money Manager
Flirty Aprons Makes Daily Tasks Enjoyable!
FiveJ's Design

Meatless meals are a great way to shave a few dollars off of your grocery bill. If you use enough seasonings, and the right ingredients, meatless meals can be incredibly tasty and fulfilling.  An old favorite of ours is Lentil Brown Rice Casserole, but we’ve added a new one to the line up that is packed with Italian flavor; Penne Pasta and White Beans.

This is obviously not penne pasta, instead it’s shells.  That is all I had on hand–and it worked just fine.

Penne Pasta with White Beans

8 oz. penne pasta

2 (16 oz.) cans white beans- or cooked dried beans.

1 (7oz.) jar roasted red peppers; drained

¼ cup Olive Oil Balsamic Dressing

1 Tbsp Basil

½ tsp. black pepper

½ tsp. salt

Cook pasta according to package directions.

Combine the cooked pasta, white beans, roasted red peppers {Don’t have any?  This dish is very forgiving.  Sauté red peppers, or even a pepper mix, in butter/olive oil with a dash of pepper.  Tastes just as good!}, balsamic vinegar, and seasonings in a casserole dish.  Bake for 20 minutes in a  350° oven, or until warmed throughout.  Top with mozzarella cheese; if desired.

This post joining in with all the other great recipes over at

• $5 Dinner Challenge
• Tempt my Tummy Tuesday
• Tasty Tuesday.

Penne Pasta and White Beans: Meatless Meal is a post from: Getting Freedom From Debt

Please take a moment and visit our Sponsors:

Fashion Cents For Mom Deals and Bargains for the Fashionable Mom
Pennies and Blessings Spend Wisely. Live Well.
Groupon Local Deals. 50-90% Off!
Mint.com Your FREE Online Money Manager
Flirty Aprons Makes Daily Tasks Enjoyable!
FiveJ's Design

These next few days are all that remains of our summer.  Hard to believe that on Wednesday I will officially have a 4th grader, 3rd grader, and a kindergärtner! Where has this summer gone?!

I’ve planed a menu for this week, but with all the craziness that the new school year, it’s subject to change.

Breakfasts:

• Oatmeal
• Cereal

Dinners:

• Sunday: Penne and White Beans.  Copycat Olive Garden Salad.
• Monday: Lentil Brown Rice Casserole.  Fruit Salad.  Tri Color Bread Braid.
• Tuesday: Beef Paprika.  Corn.  Homemade Rolls.
• Wednesday: Tex Mex Tator Tot Casserole.  Black Bean Salsa/Chips
• Thursday: Beef and Brocolli Stir Fry. Oriental Noodles.  Salad.
• Friday: Popcorn/Pizza/Movie Night. Making our new favorite Fruit Pizza for Dessert.
• Saturday: Leftovers.

Be sure to check out Menu Plan Monday for over 300 menu plans!

Back to School Menu Plan is a post from: Getting Freedom From Debt

Please take a moment and visit our Sponsors:

Fashion Cents For Mom Deals and Bargains for the Fashionable Mom
Pennies and Blessings Spend Wisely. Live Well.
Groupon Local Deals. 50-90% Off!
Mint.com Your FREE Online Money Manager
Flirty Aprons Makes Daily Tasks Enjoyable!
FiveJ's Design

Fantastic Time Saver for Birthday Parties, or even just a neat treat: Pre-Scooped Ice Cream

Simple Treats to Beat the Heat

Banana Split Dessert: I made this for a church function on Wednesday evening, and it was gone in a flash. Tastes just like one!

With Project Major Home Addition in it’s last stretch, I’ve been on the lookout for new decorating ideas. This is something I would love to do: A Mirror Makeover

Family Mission Statements are something I would really like to think more about.

Linking up to Saturday Stumbles.

Extra! Extra! Read All About It! is a post from: Getting Freedom From Debt

Please take a moment and visit our Sponsors:

Fashion Cents For Mom Deals and Bargains for the Fashionable Mom
Pennies and Blessings Spend Wisely. Live Well.
Groupon Local Deals. 50-90% Off!
Mint.com Your FREE Online Money Manager
Flirty Aprons Makes Daily Tasks Enjoyable!
FiveJ's Design

Many of you have asked how our home addition was going, so I thought I’d throw in a quick update.

Honestly, it’s not going near fast enough.  Our house was supposed to be done mid-late July, and it’s not.  The outside is mostly done, except for a few loose ends, and a deck on the back.  The inside however, is only framed  up.  Willie has ran all of the electric, and the heating and air is as far as can be at this point.  But, we’re still looking at roughly 5 more weeks! Ike!

The next 5 weeks are going to be the hardest, too, which is why this job really needed to be done before school started again.  Our initial plans were for me and the kids to move back to our hometown and in my mom until the “hairy” parts were over.

And by “hairy” parts I mean:  An entire exterior wall of our current/old home is to be removed so that it opens up into the addition/new part of the house.  Talk about dust and yuck galore!  And then they will begin to sand and finish the sheetrock–which is another crazy messy job.  I definitely do not want Blake around all that dust, not to mention the other kids.  Also, once they take down that wall–we will be in the same space as the workers, which will make living rather tough!  Not exactly sure what we are going to do now with school starting next week!

Anyway, here is a look at the before and after of the exterior of the house:

Front Yard

Before

After

Not sure if you can tell by the photo or not, but we got all new windows (the ones on the existing house ended up being bigger than the old ones), new JamesHardie Concrete Siding (which we adore!), as well as new roofing.

Back Yard

Before:Back of House

Before: Back Yard.  This picture begins where the other ones leaves off.

After

I know that it’s really hard to see what is going on in these pictures!  Our addition goes from the back of our home, and attaches to the garage that was already there {but useless}.  We included a covered carport/breezeway since the one we had was enclosed {see above before and after}. A deck will run from the edge of the carport to the 2nd door you see on the left, my current dining room/kitchen {soon to be ALL kitchen!}, which is also all under roof, and then over to the 1st door, which is my laundry room.

If you were to walk through the breezeway, and turn around, this is what you would see:

Aaahhhh.

Someday it’ll be finished.

To see previous pictures, you can also check out this Progress Post.  Which for reference, the trash pile in those pictures, is the same one in the picture above.  Well, same spot anyway.

I’m still Lovin’ It, though!

Project Major Home Addition Update is a post from: Getting Freedom From Debt

Please take a moment and visit our Sponsors:

Fashion Cents For Mom Deals and Bargains for the Fashionable Mom
Pennies and Blessings Spend Wisely. Live Well.
Groupon Local Deals. 50-90% Off!
Mint.com Your FREE Online Money Manager
Flirty Aprons Makes Daily Tasks Enjoyable!
FiveJ's Design

Tonight for dinner I had fully planned on making one of our family favorites, Cashew Chicken.  The rice was cooking so I could make up a quick batch of Fried Rice, when it hit me.  I think we ran out of Soy Sauce months ago.  Who runs out of Soy Sauce and forgets to replace it for this long? Sure enough–no Soy Sauce–no Cashew Chicken.

Ack!  Tonight there was no Plan B, or so I thought.

In a hurry to get something thrown together, I decided that a casserole of some form would have to work.  After many different concoctions crossed my mind, this is what we ended up with.  Boy was it good!

Cheesy Ham and Rice Casserole

1 ½ cups diced ham (or more if you prefer)

3 cups cooked, lightly seasoned brown rice (I season ours with salt and pepper)

½ bag fr0zen peas

1 cup chicken broth

½ cup milk

handful shredded cheese

Add the cooked rice, peas, and ham to an 8×11 casserole dish and mix up.  Mix up the milk and the chicken broth and pour into dish.  Top with cheese.

Bake at 350° for about 30-45 minutes.

Linking up to:

• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
• Tasty Tuesday

Cheesy Ham and Rice Casserole is a post from: Getting Freedom From Debt

Please take a moment and visit our Sponsors:

Fashion Cents For Mom Deals and Bargains for the Fashionable Mom
Pennies and Blessings Spend Wisely. Live Well.
Groupon Local Deals. 50-90% Off!
Mint.com Your FREE Online Money Manager
Flirty Aprons Makes Daily Tasks Enjoyable!
FiveJ's Design

I disappeared again.

Sunday morning we received a call from my mother informing us that my beloved grandmother had lost her {second} battle with cancer.  Our hearts were empty.  My family and I loaded up and began the 8 hour trek to Iowa Monday afternoon.  We arrived at our destination shortly before 1am.

We remembered the life of an amazingly strong and loving woman.  She didn’t have much, but she was always giving.  As we were looking through some of her things, it was evident that she focused on the Finer Things in life.

While we know that her life on Earth is over, we all have a peace that she is whole again, and she is smiling with our Savior in Heaven.

My heart still has regret.

In true Phoebe-form, I procrastinated mailing pictures of Blake.  I just knew that tomorrow was coming, and I would do it then.

But it wasn’t, and I didn’t.

My grandmother-of-many never got to see her youngest grandbaby.

Live for today.  Not tomorrow.

“What will be, will be.” ~Grandma ‘Natta

Live For Today is a post from: Getting Freedom From Debt

Please take a moment and visit our Sponsors:

Fashion Cents For Mom Deals and Bargains for the Fashionable Mom
Pennies and Blessings Spend Wisely. Live Well.
Groupon Local Deals. 50-90% Off!
Mint.com Your FREE Online Money Manager
Flirty Aprons Makes Daily Tasks Enjoyable!
FiveJ's Design

I’ve been busy with Vacation Bible School this week–as well as random things for Project Major Home Addition.  This week I’ve not been able to read as many blogs as I would have liked, but here are a few of my favorites:

How to Make a Child’s Chef Hat: I’m putting this on my Christmas-To-Do List.  If it’s as easy as some of the commentors say–I’m thinking of making them for my children, as well as my nieces and nephews.

Ham and Potato Pockets from Once a Month Mom. Need I say more?

A great post on breastfeeding from JessieLeigh.

I meant to make this bread this week, but didn’t get a chance. What a great way to use up some of that extra zucchini from the garden.  Cream Cheese Zucchini Bread.

Linking up to Saturday Stumbles.

Extra! Extra! Read All About It! is a post from: Getting Freedom From Debt

Please take a moment and visit our Sponsors:

Fashion Cents For Mom Deals and Bargains for the Fashionable Mom
Pennies and Blessings Spend Wisely. Live Well.
Groupon Local Deals. 50-90% Off!
Mint.com Your FREE Online Money Manager
Flirty Aprons Makes Daily Tasks Enjoyable!
FiveJ's Design