Frugal Family Times

How to Build Raised Garden Bed Boxes (Growing Vegetables in our Driveway)

2013-05-20T20:07:00.001-04:00

By Ed

Last time we talked about how (and why) we're Growing Vegetables in our Driveway (read Part 1 here)

Today, we're going showing you step-by-step how we built the raised bed garden boxes.

Read more »

Growing Vegetables in the Driveway: A Square Foot Gardening Experiment

2013-05-19T17:55:00.003-04:00

By Robin and Ed

This summer we are embarking on an experiment; we're growing our vegetables in our driveway. We have gardened for many years, but recently our backyard has become unfriendly to garden plants. Our hand was forced - we needed to find an underused, sunny spot to grow our veggies.

Our latest experiment: growing vegetables in our driveway!

Does it sound a bit crazy?

For lots of reasons it isn't for us. For one, we only have one car (and we save over $7,200 a year this way). And two, we have a crazy long driveway (last year we made it weed-free). We've quite easily fit 5 cars in it - such a waste of space for us.

Our hypothesis is that

cars and carrots can coexist in harmony.

But besides the alliterative value of those words, we have some other good reasons to give some of our driveway over to plants:

Our backyard has a big black walnut tree that severely limited what could be grown near it. Do you have one of these? If you don't know about these big, beautiful trees, black walnut's secrete a substance (juglone) that kills many varieties of plants, trees and shrubs. It was easier to move the garden than the tree.

Our driveway is south facing and has near constant sun all day. No other available part of our property has sun like this. In a late spring like this one, we will value every warm day we can get.

We want to try container gardening - in particular Square Foot Gardening. We read about it years ago, but when we had an "in-ground" garden, it made less sense. We are all really excited to have a garden that starts weed-free and is easy to keep that way.

It is easier to get the kids involved. They are older now, and can help more. Plus the container aspect clearly defines where the garden is and isn't, so they won't walk on the tender seedlings while they frolic to and fro all the live long day.

So this summer we will share our Driveway Garden experiment. We hope you'll follow along. And hey - if anyone reading has already done this and will share some tips or "Watch-Out-Fors" along the way - we'd be truly thankful.

Our next post will be how we made the raised garden boxes!

What do you think? Waste of a good parking spot or useful source of produce?

Be Your Own Investment Manager Series ~ Part 1 ~ The Best Time to Start

2013-05-14T21:35:00.000-04:00

By Ed

This is the first part in an 9 part (and growing!) series.

This post was first published in January of 2012.

First off, I don't have the get rich quick scheme. No one does.

(Correction, my 3rd year Finance Prof. said that every once and awhile there really is a stock picker who can just read the market and makes a mint. You and I don't hear about him or her because they work for an institution for a few years, then retire to a mountain villa by age 30. They don't star in Wall Street 3 or write a book telling you how to do it.)

So, I'm not going to write about getting rich. I am going to write about managing your money and general financial literacy. Why do I imagine that I can tell you about these topics?

My undergrad degree is in Finance with a minor in Economics. I passed the Level 1 of the Chartered Financial Analyst (the CFA is a the professional money management designation) Exam before the teaching bug bit me. Actually, it was because I was trying to teach people how to invest and not just telling them to invest with me that made me realize I was doing the wrong thing.

I have been licensed to sell Mutual Funds, Insurance and passed the Canadian Securities Course and IFIC Operations course. All pretty unrelated to each other (if you know the industry) but I just want you to know that I'm not making this stuff up.

I now teach one of the only personal finance courses a high school student can take before he or she gets out into the real world, so I feel compelled to know my stuff. Oh, and the course is optional. Just like when we were in high school, you can't graduate without reading Shakespeare (important, don't get me wrong, I'm not a Bard-hater), but you can graduate without knowing what a mutual fund is or how to write a budget.

I'm glad that is done; I like writing about my qualifications about as much as you probably liked reading them, but I still thought it was important to toss them out there.

Before you get financial advice from anyone,

you need to learn and understand their qualifications.

One final note: I am not working for anybody who sells investments. This may be the single-best thing I have going for me as an investment advisor. When you go to a bank and ask for investment advice, it is like going to a Ford Dealership and asking which is the best car to drive. It is a commission-driven industry and everyone has their own thing they can sell you.

Yes, there are ethical standards and tests and certifications, but at the end of the day, no one will send you across the street to the competition.

So class lets get started. One simple concept to begin with: Time.

Read more »

Quick and Easy Crustless Quiche Recipe for Mother's Day (or any day!)

2013-05-10T16:27:00.001-04:00

By Ed

Robin does not like eggs, but she does have a few egg dishes she loves. When I asked the kids what they wanted to do for Mother`s Day Breakfast, they said her absolute favourite egg dish: Quiche.

This simple, crustless quiche is great for days (and dads) who want to make a fancy, delicious breakfast, but with little labour and clean-up (its early in the morning, damn it).

A Free Cookbook: Deliciously Healthy Family Meals

2013-05-07T09:40:00.001-04:00

by Robin

Sometimes the hardest part about feeding your family is finding the right meal idea. Do you agree?

At our house, we ask a lot of our recipes. We want them to be:

Healthy,
Affordable and
Simple to prepare.
As if that wasn't enough, we also want our family to enjoy eating them!

To make our meals easier to plan and make, we created our Master List of Meals. These are our "go to" meals that meet all the criteria above. (You can check our Master List out here.) And even though our family's Master List has over 20 meals on it, we are often looking for more ideas.

But, I don't want the expense or clutter or too many cookbooks, so when I found a free cookbook that fit with our style of cooking and eating - I was thrilled.

It's Deliciously Healthy Family Meals. It's put out by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). It's really good! We've made the Hawaiian Huli Huli Chicken with rave reviews at our table.

This cookbook is also laid out really well, with great added features like:

Healthier Classics
Leftover Friendly symbols
Chef in Training Tips
Healthy Eating Two Ways - to modify the meal for different palates.

What's your "go-to" source for family friendly recipes?

May the Fourth Be With You. Simple Ideas for Family Fun.

2013-05-02T09:01:00.001-04:00

by Robin

For a family of Star Wars nerds it surprises me that we haven't celebrated this momentous day before: May the Fourth Be With You! I love building traditions into our day to day lives and this day feels like a perfect fit for us.

I plan to surprise the kids with some fun and frugal ideas for a May the Fourth celebration.

Here's the simple, low-prep ideas...

Read more »

Saving Money: DIY Wine

2013-04-30T16:07:00.002-04:00

By Ed

Robin and I enjoy, with most meals, about a half bottle of wine. Were we to buy from a store, this would easily run a more than $30 a week. $120 a month! Clearly, we don't buy it from a store.

Since university, we have made our own wine. At that point it was a Costco kit, brewed in our small apartment's kitchen/dining room/foyer, and bottled one afternoon using a beginners siphon method that left Robin sleeping one off and me hung over at a night class. Not exactly sure how much made it into bottles that day.

We've evolved since then (in so many ways.)

This post is my home wine making tips and break the cost down for anyone thinking about turning their basement into a wine cellar.

Read more »

Our Menu Plan: April 28th to May 4th

2013-04-28T16:12:00.003-04:00

by Robin

What's on our Menu this week:

Sunday:
Pork Souvlaki Kebabs (sorry, no recipe - these are a pre-made packaged item that were on for a ridiculous deal), roasted potatoes with olive oil and garlic with a simple green salad.

Monday:
Soup and Make-Your-Own Sub Night. This is a fun new addition to our Master List of Meals.

We stumbled upon this meal idea after we had some leftover roasted squash and heaps of sandwich toppings. Last time, I made a simple squash soup. For the subs, Ed picked up some fresh Ciabatta buns, which our son thought were called "Chewbacca Buns", which made them awesome to him.

Tuesday:
Slow Cooked 40 Clove Chicken. I found this recipe last year through Laura at OrgJunkie.com. It sounds completely insane to use that many garlic cloves, but it turns out amazing. We spread the cooked garlic cloves on fresh bread. I won't be making the gravy - not really our thing - but the rest of the recipe turns out wonderfully.

Broccoli and Couscous Salad

Wednesday:
Oven Fried Fish, noodles and peas.

Thursday:
Kids Pizza Chefs

Friday:
Indonesian Chicken in Peanut Sauce (in the slow cooker) with rice.

This was a hit when I tried it a few weeks ago. Once again, I renamed it for the kids - around here it's now called: "Peanut Butter Chicken". Boring name, but appeals to their sense of food adventure (i.e. boring - for now...). I'm going to adapt this to be a Freezer Meal and a touch healthier - I'll post the adaptation here.

Saturday:
BBQ hamburgers, salad and leftovers

This week's Lunch Box Baking:
My daughter and I will bake Blueberry Pie Bars for her Brownie "Fly Up" ceremony this week. We made these on Saturday to take to friends' for dinner. They are fabulous! My girl decided we HAD to make them again. No complaints here. (If there's any leftover, I'll put them in lunchboxes for a treat, but I don't really see that happening.)

I'll be linking up to Menu Plan Monday at OrgJunkie.com. Check out this weekly link-up for many, many more menu plan ideas!

What's on your Menu Plan for the week?

The Key to Easier Gardening - and how to get it cheaper! (Spoiler Alert - it's Mulch)

2013-04-25T18:38:00.001-04:00

by Robin

You can take any flower bed from ho hum to fabulous with mulch. Until I learned this simple step I was wasting a lot of time and water to make my flowers happy (i.e. still alive) and the beds attractive (i.e. not completely full of weeds).

But, ordering a truckload of mulch can be a tough on a frugal family. We have a large yard and I have a penchant for planning and adding new flower beds. That calls for a lot of mulch. When we last did the beds, two years ago, we used 10 yards of mulch. 10 yards! (We were blessed with the truckload as a generous surprise thanks-you gift from my dad. I wonder if the truck driver had ever seen anyone cry tears of joy for a delivery before? I seriously wept. He looked at me like I was completely cracked.)

This year we are trying something new. We've found an inexpensive source for mulch.

Read more »

Our Menu Plan: April 21st to 27th

2013-04-22T09:54:00.001-04:00

by Robin

What's on our Menu this week:

This week's Lunch Box Baking:
Today will be fun! I'm getting the kids to bake their own cookies - start to finish (with heaps of supervision). They will be excited/nervous to do this, but that's what makes it great. I'm setting them up for success by simply tweaking a store bought cookie mix and they'll get to pick how they adapt it.

Sunday:
A surprisingly sunny day! BBQ hamburgers, salad and a mess of leftovers

Monday:
Dinner Out - look out Ikea - here we come! (I've got ideas to hack some sort of cupboard with drawers into a window seat for my daughter's room.)

Tuesday:
Our Fish Stick Hack with peas and mashed potatoes (we're making extra mashed potatoes for a "Planned Over" meal later in the week)

Wednesday:
"Sauce Chicken" (aka Chicken Stew with Curry Sauce) served with cous cous

Thursday:
Shepherd's Pie (with "Planned Over" Potatoes from earlier in the week and LGB helper)

Friday:
On the BBQ: Simple Marinated Pork Chops with noodles and Roasted Parmesan Cauliflower

Saturday:
Dinner at Friends! Yay - love doing this! I'm still dreaming up ideas of what to bring - maybe some of our fresh 5 Minute Bread bread? Maybe Best Brownies Ever?

I'll be linking up to Menu Plan Monday at OrgJunkie.com. Check out this weekly link-up for many, many more menu plan ideas!

What's on your Menu Plan for the week?

Host a Dinner Party for under $40

2013-04-19T10:10:00.000-04:00

by Robin

Earlier this week I spoke at a local food event about Cooking with Your Kids. It went well and I really wanted to share some tips and tricks with you here - you know to manage the mess and keep your cool while cooking with eager little ones. (Not always easy things to do.) Well, the post is written, but some behind the scenes blog coding stuff (that I have nowhere near a clue about how to fix) has made the post I wrote go funky. So, it's coming!

First, Ed needs to get home from his Business Educators conference - he knows significantly more about code than I ever will, or want to.

Ed's been away two days - which I forgot about when I made this week's menu plan. So yesterday, after a long day at work, I treated the kids to dinner at their favourite fast food joint. I had a Harvey's coupon, so it was not such a costly slip up.

Had we made our meal planning appear ultra-perfect in the past? Nope, we mess up from time to time, but we roll with it. The key is to give yourself some grace and get back to it. If we dwell on small errors it can be hard to get back on course. It's not an all-or-nothing sort of thing.

This week we shared some ideas for an inexpensive, real dinner party at The Loop:

Host a dinner party for under $40

Entertaining can be fun, but it can also be costly. With a little planning and creativity, an impressive dinner party doesn’t need to be expensive. Here are some ideas, course by course, to make an evening for friends that won’t put you into overdraft. We’ve planned a dinner party for six for less than $40, including wine and dessert.

Keep reading...

Our Menu Plan: April 14th to 20th

2013-04-14T15:47:00.001-04:00

by Robin

Tomorrow is going to be a busy night for us - we have our simplest meal planned that Ed will make while I'm away. When you're parenting single handed, a simple evening meal is essential, don't you agree?

The reason we're so busy is that I'm teaching that evening at a local food event. I'm excited to talk about one of my favourite topics: Cooking with Kids! I'm a little nervous. Not about the speaking so much, I do it often. I'm worried that I'm going to speak a kilometre a minute (- isn't that what we Canadians should say?). The reason: I have so much to share and only a half hour to do it in! I'll try and do the topic justice in such a short time.

I strongly believe it's important that we give our kids skills in the kitchen and show them that cooking can be fun. I'll be back here on the blog later this week to share some of our tips and tricks for cooking with kids (without losing your cool)!

What's on our Menu this week:

Sunday:

Kids Pizza Chefs

Monday:

Breakfast for dinner (so helpful for a busy night!): French Toast with Peach Sauce

Tuesday:

Simple Sweet and Sour Meatballs with Rice

Wednesday:

Easy Chicken Fingers, Corn, Kid's Choice Vegetable TBD

Thursday:

Bean Burritos with peppers and Easiest Guacamole Ever

Friday:

I'm trying a new recipe! I'll adapt it like crazy to fit our tastes and make it a wee bit less salty/cheesy (my son hates melted cheese - the little weirdo.) I'm starting with this basic recipe:

Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf Muffins

Saturday:

Roasted Pork Tenderloin (recipe coming soon!), Broccoli with 5 Minute Bread.

This week's Lunch Box Baking:

Best Ever Chocolate Cookies

I'll be linking up to Menu Plan Monday at OrgJunkie.com. Check out this weekly link-up for many, many more menu plan ideas!

What's your favourite thing to cook with your kids?

DIY Harry Potter Marauder's Map T-shirts (with Printable!)

2013-04-09T21:21:00.000-04:00

by Robin

Before we left for our Spring Break trip to Florida, we made some super-nerdy-awesome t-shirts with the kids. If you couldn't tell from the Harry Potter Gryffindor scarves I knit the kids, we are massive Harry Potter fans. So far, we didn't have anything summer-weight for the kids to wear to shout their allegiance to everything Hogwarts.

Until now! Together we made some simple t-shirts.

Don't you wish you had a Marauder's Map? That technology is beyond our reach, but we are inordinately skilled at making t-shirt transfers.

Ed has been part of making hundreds (thousands?) of things with Iron-On Transfers. Once or twice a year he teaches an Entrepreneurship class to Grade 11 students. Their major project is to work together to be a company and create a project to sell. Not just plan it - make it and sell it. Eight times out of ten they choose a product that is customized with an Iron On Transfer.

This man has skills. And we're passing them onto you - below are the simple steps of how we made these Marauder's Map t-shirts - and we're sharing the printable template for you to make your own!

Read more »

5 Simple Ways to Speed Up Your Old Computer (...and save you money!)

2013-04-04T20:04:00.004-04:00

By Ed

Depending on who you ask, a computer "should" last anywhere from 18 months to 5 years.

The bottom end of that scale shocks me, and I assume it was from a teenage gamer messing up the curve. But truth be told, I find the top end of the scale a little low, too.

We have two desktops in our house. One was just recently retired from front line duty; it was the one we used for the first 6-8 months of writing this blog. It is 7 years old. Its replacement is only newer by virtue of the hardware upgrades it received before we got it as a hand-me-down. Much of it is 5 years old. Both are still doing just fine, thank you.

Today, I'm talking about how you can get your computer to last for as long as possible. The longer you can stretch out the life of your computer, the more you save, right?

My tips range from the simple to the moderately-skilled geek. You can likely do most of this with stuff you have laying around the house/toolbox.

Read more »

Saving Money Tip: Why Buy Postage Stamps? You Can Make Your Own!

2013-04-01T00:01:00.000-04:00

Our Menu Plan: March 31st to April 6th

2013-03-31T20:23:00.005-04:00

by Robin

Are you part of a blended family?

As if getting dinner on the table wasn't challenge enough, add a blended family to the mix and you've got a recipe for frustration. Menu planning to the rescue! It becomes even more important to have a plan that works.

Rita from This Sorta Old Life wrote a great post about her experience with menu planning for her blended family. She's got great ideas, you can read her guest post over at Go Gingham. (We were honoured to be mentioned as part of her inspiration and method for planning!)

What's on our Menu this week:

Sunday:
Happy Easter!

On the menu tonight was a Glazed Spiral Ham, Corn and Mashed Potatoes. (Ed made extra potatoes for Planned-Overs later this week.)

Monday:

Ikea Hack meatballs, Rice, Peas and Spinach Salad

Tuesday:

Dump and Dash Slow Cooker Chili (recipe coming soon!) with Skillet Cornbread (yep - this one's coming soon too!)

Wednesday:

Shepherd's Pie (with "Planned Over" mashed potatoes from earlier in the week and LGB helper)

Thursday:

Roasted Pork Tenderloin (Also, recipe coming soon! We really need to get posting some more of our recipes.), Noodles and Carrots.

Friday:

Jelly Chicken with Broccoli and Cous Cous Salad

Saturday:

Peachiest Pork Chops with 5 Minute Bread and Kid's Choice Veggie.

This week's Lunch Box Baking:

Good Old Rice Krispie Squares.

I'll be linking up to Menu Plan Monday at OrgJunkie.com. Check out this weekly link-up for many, many more menu plan ideas!

What's on your Menu Plan for the week?

Easter Fun: Kool Eggs for Kool Kids

2013-03-29T09:28:00.001-04:00

by Robin

This post is republished from last year. It was so much fun, it's worth revisiting.

Is your family decorating eggs this Easter? Pretty much every year we test out a new idea for dyeing. This one smelled the yummiest!

Read more »

Frugal Family Trip to Florida (aka you don't have to go to Disney to have a great time!)

2013-03-26T06:36:00.001-04:00

by Ed and Robin

If you follow us on Facebook, you may have noticed we won some money. On a whim Ed entered a contest sponsored by a new (and really great) website called Family Kitchen. He wrote a quick description about why and how we cook with our kids; something we make time for and they enjoy like mad.

Turns out, the folks at Family Kitchen enjoyed his entry and he won the grand prize: $2,500 in grocery gift cards! With our groceries paid for for a few months, we had some room in our spending plan to fit in a sunny Spring Break trip.

Florida!

We have traveled as a family before and really enjoy it, but this trip had us a bit nervous. The source of our anxiety: theme parks. We pictured 7 days of jostling crowds, endless lines, expensive greasy food...not our usual travel style. Not by a long shot. How were we going to make this trip work for us? How could we make it:

Fun for kids and grown-ups
Active, but with some quieter days
Affordable

We ended up being wonderfully surprised. We all had a great time and we didn't have to spend a fortune to do it.

What follows is how we saved our money and our sanity on our Orlando theme park vacation...

Read more »

Our Menu Plan: March 17th to 23rd

2013-03-17T17:35:00.002-04:00

by Robin

We were away on a family trip to Orlando, Florida last week. It was so much fun! And though we didn't post it, we did indeed make a Menu Plan. Traveling with our kids is important to us, but my-oh-my it is not cheap. Over the years we've developed our frugal ways of traveling and one of the key's is to make as many meals "at home" as we can. We ate a total of 4 restaurant meals the whole week we were away! An enormous money saver.

We plan to share a post soon of our thrifty travel tips - it is possible to travel well without totally emptying your bank account.

Though I didn't realize it until I pulled this post together - this week's menu has a "Breaded Brown Lump" theme. The kids will be in heaven. I could take or leave breaded stuff, but like most kids, ours are big fans. You may have noticed our Fish Stick Hack makes it onto our plan almost weekly? That is the only way we've gotten fish into our little people. We'll inch toward something more adventurous with them soon, but for now, I am just happy for the Omega 3 fats they are getting this way.

What's on our Menu this week:

Sunday:
Happy St. Patrick's Day! Tonight we're making Green Shamrock-shaped Pancakes. As I write this Ed is adding food colouring to our usual Simple Blueberry Banana Pancake Recipe.

Monday:
Easy Chicken Fingers, Mashed Potatoes, Kid's Choice Vegetable TBD

Tuesday:
A new recipe! Indonesian Chicken in Peanut Sauce (in the slow cooker).

With a favourite: Roasted Parmesan Cauliflower

Wednesday:
Simple Sweet and Sour Meatballs with Rice

Thursday:
Our Fish Stick Hack with noodles and peas

Friday:
Better Thank Takeout: Baked Chinese Chicken with Lemon Sauce

Saturday:
Lasagne. Last time Ed made this he made double and froze half. Such a treat to just reheat and eat. (Oh, aren't I rhyme-tastic today?)

This week's Lunch Box Baking:

Aganetha's Healthy Cookies Baked these this morning and gave some to our neighbours as part of our thank-you gift for caring for our cat and fish last week while we were away. Gotta love those neighbours!

I'll be linking up to Menu Plan Monday at OrgJunkie.com. Check out this weekly link-up for many, many more menu plan ideas!

What's on your Menu Plan for the week?

Spring Break Ideas (...when you're stuck at home and it's still winter outside)

2013-03-14T18:38:00.000-04:00

Is it Spring Break where you are? It's the tail end of the week where we're from. The forecast calls for snow. It's not sounding too spring-y any time soon.

Sure, it's more affordable to stay at home for the week, than to travel to warmer southern places, but does it have to be dull? Are house-bound, budget-wise parents doomed to hearing..."I'm bored."

No way! With a little creativity, and not much money, the week can be fun. We've shared a few low cost, low prep ideas to bring some fun into a Spring Break at home! Check out our list of ideas over at The Loop.

DIY: Make a Huge Frame for WAY Less money.

2013-03-05T21:34:00.001-05:00

by Robin

There are so many reasons we wanted to hang this giant Empire Strikes Back poster.

We are super Star Wars nerds. (Ed knew he wanted me to bear his children from the moment I called him a "Scruffy Looking Nerf Herder".)
This poster deserved better than spending the last couple decades rolled up in one closet or another. I'm told it's worth a lot of money.
It holds some fun memories. As a kid, I won it in a colouring contest at the local video store. When I went in to pick up my prize, the owner apologized, all he had was this Empire Strikes Back Poster. He kindly offered to find me a poster for something girlie instead. I insisted he didn't need to bother. I only had eyes for Han Solo, even as a kid.

Armed with a 60% off framing coupon we finally went to give our treasured poster a more fitting home. I don't know how much we thought Michael's would charge for a frame for this, but we were not prepared to pay over $350! That was the quote WITH the discount. The main problem is that it's a very odd size - 23" X 53". Custom framing was our only option, but we were not willing to pay that much. Back to the closet for you, dear old poster friend.

Until a recent trip to Home Depot, by poking around we found all the elements:

This trim has a nice profile to become a frame, plus the perfect gap to sandwich a piece of glass and a backing. Score!

Next we found this acrylic sheet. We could cut it to size ourselves, plus it wasn't glass - we didn't have to worry that some rec room rough housing would end with a visit to the ER. Safer!

And, because sometimes we have DIY horseshoes up our butts - this inexpensive hardboard was the PERFECT depth to be the poster's backing. Sold!

So, that's the details on the materials: perfect fit and the price was right. This frame cost us hundreds of dollars less than the quote that sent us reeling.

For the step by step instructions of how Ed made this oversized frame, check out Ed's post on The Loop!

Our Menu Plan: March 3rd to 9th

2013-03-03T16:24:00.000-05:00

by Robin

We've got ultra simple meals planned for the week. We are busy putting together the last details on our March Break trip. I'm working some overtime, so that I can afford the time off next week, so that makes preparation time, and our menu plan, that much more precious.

Next up today, haircuts! Do you cut your kids' hair? I have since they were born. It's a great money saver and so convenient. No appointments necessary. I keep offering to take them to have a cut at a hair salon, but hey both vehemently refuse. I am not sure what they believe would happen at such a place, but to their minds is akin to bamboo-under-fingernails. I had a funny conversation with my daughter the other day:

Me: "Would you like to get your next haircut at a salon, honey?"
Daughter (9 years old): "No, Mom, why do you keep asking us?"
Me: "Well, I just wondered if a salon might do a better job cutting your hair."
Daughter, in her most reassuring voice: "Oh, Mommy, you do a beautiful job."

I don't. But I'm glad she thinks so!

What's on our Menu this week:

Sunday:
Cashew and Pork Stir Fry with Fried Rice (made with leftover Pork Tenderloin from last Thursday)

Monday:
"Sauce Chicken" (aka Chicken Stew with Curry Sauce) ~ made even quicker with leftover chicken from last Friday's Jelly Chicken~ served with cous cous

Tuesday:
Our Fish Stick Hack with corn and peas

Wednesday:
Hard Tacos (made with our Taco Seasoning Packet Mix) with fresh peppers and Easiest Guacamole Ever

Thursday:
Kids Pizza Chefs

Friday:
Leftover Buffet

Saturday:
On our March Break Trip!

This week's Lunch Box Baking:
Best Ever Chocolate Cookies

I'll be linking up to Menu Plan Monday at OrgJunkie.com. Check out this weekly link-up for many, many more menu plan ideas!

I'll be working on our Menu Plan for our holiday - we're headed to Florida. We've rented a house for the week, so we can make many of our meals (a huge travel money saver).

What do you like to make when you're away from home? Do you sneak food into theme parks?

iPhone for under $250 - Including an unlimited data plan

2013-02-27T21:15:00.000-05:00

By Ed

Actually, I'm pretty certain you could do this for under $200, but it would depend on your Kijiji/Craigslist skills.

Anyhow, Robin has been fishing for an iPhone for a little while now. There are real reasons why it makes sense for her/our life; texting seems to be something that isn't going away, a phone that takes pictures is handy for a blogger and we are already knee deep in Apple stuff anyhow, so App Store purchases would transfer over for free.

Checking the weather while on the road could be useful. I guess.

I decided to get her one for Christmas. My goal was to make it easily reproducible for anyone else out there looking to Smart Phone up their life. The actual steps are pretty easy, but to get to them, you'll have to sit through a rant... or skim to the bolded headings to the steps. At least humour me and pretend you read the rant. Either way, read on.

Read more »

Our Menu Plan: February 24th to March 2nd

2013-02-24T17:23:00.002-05:00

by Robin

I am never more thankful to have a Menu Plan than on week's like this past one. Things have been quiet on the blog, but noisy in our home. Around here it's been runny noses and achy heads. Ed and I swapped being sick - he first, then me. I suppose that's a blessing: we weren't really sick at the very same time. However, caring for each other (and the kids, house, work) left no time for blog writing.

Thank goodness we had a plan in place for meals!

There's a few meals we didn't get to last week, that are back on the plan for the coming days. We veered away from the plan a bit last week, we made some simpler meals (though nothing we ever make is ever very complicated). A couple easy-pinch-hitter type meals were subbed in: bean burritos and french toast with peaches.

Here's to a healthier week ahead!

What's on our Menu this week:

Sunday: Ikea Hack meatballs, Rice, Peas and Spinach Salad

Monday: Easy Chicken Fingers, Mashed Potatoes (making double for a "Planned Over" later in the week), Kid's Choice Vegetable TBD

Tuesday: Dump and Dash Slow Cooker Chili (recipe coming soon!) with skillet cornbread

Wednesday: Shepherd's Pie (with "Planned Over" Potatoes from earlier in the week and LGB helper)

Thursday: Roasted Pork Tenderloin (recipe coming soon!), creamy noodles and broccoli

Friday: Jelly Chicken with Broccoli and Cous Cous Salad

Saturday:My mom's birthday dinner - her choice!

This week's Lunch Box Baking: Aganetha's Healthy Cookies

I'll be linking up to Menu Plan Monday at OrgJunkie.com. Check out this weekly link-up for many, many more menu plan ideas!

What do you make at your house, when the cook is sick?

Our Menu Plan: February 17th to 23rd

2013-02-17T11:55:00.000-05:00

by Robin

It's Family Day weekend here! We've got three days at home together and we are mostly loafing about, which is kind of our favourite thing to do. I'm usually the first one to get stir crazy with that, so I have some baking and crafting - both with the kids - planned for the afternoon (while Ed is seeing The Hobbit with a friend).

But, first, sharing our Menu Plan for the week!

What's on our Menu this week:

Sunday: Roast Chicken with onions, carrots, potatoes

Monday: Dump and Dash Slow Cooker Chili (recipe coming soon!) with skillet cornbread

Tuesday: Our Fish Stick Hack with potato wedges and peas

Wednesday: Simple Marinated Pork Chops with noodles and broccoli

Thursday: Bean Burritos (since the kids were little we've marketed these as: Diego Sandwiches!) with peppers and Easiest Guacamole Ever

Friday: Jelly Chicken with Broccoli and Cous Cous Salad

Saturday: Having company - will plan this meal after chatting with them about their preferences

This week's Lunch Box Baking: Apple Cranberry Muffins from Canadian Living

I'll be linking up to Menu Plan Monday at OrgJunkie.com. Check out this weekly link-up for many, many more menu plan ideas!

What's on your Menu Plan for the week?