Operation $40K

This is such a simple thing to do and very inexpensive! I love how it teaches children the real story of Easter, not just a bunny bringing a bunch of candy and crap to the house. (even though he is coming to our house tonight...) Easter Story Cookies To be made the evening before Easter 1 cup whole pecans 1 tsp vinegar 3 egg whites pinch salt 1 cup sugar zipper baggie wooden spoon tape Bible Preheat oven to 300 degrees (this is important, don't wait till you're half done with the recipe!) Place pecans in zipper baggie and let children beat them with the wooden spoon to break into small pieces. Explain that after Jesus was arrested, He was Beaten by the Roman soldiers. Read John 19:1-3. Let each child smell the vinegar. Put 1 tsp vinegar into mixing bowl. Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross, He was given vinegar to drink. Read John 19:28-30. Add egg whites to vinegar. Eggs represent life. Explain that Jesus gave His life to give us life. Read John 10:10-11. Sprinkle

Karen Lyons! She won our blog giveaway! I know Karen is a facebook pal of mine -- she can just PM me her mailing addy and her goodies will be on their way! Congrats Karen! ***for those of you that did not win, trust me, there will be more goodies coming soon!

Soup is such a great way to fill the belly and soul on a budget! We used to joke at my restaurant " What is today's soup? Cream of yesterday's special !" You can take a few simple ingredients and make something mouth-watering in short time. Potatoes have been about $1.50 for a 5 pound bag lately...add some organic onion, mushroom and celery from last summer's CSA that has been living in my freezer and you have the main items needed for this one time hot seller. I hope you find this as yummy as our customers used to! Swiss Potato Soup 2 large potatoes, peeled and diced 1 small onion, diced 1 cup celery, diced 1 cup sliced mushrooms Cover with water and simmer until veggies are tender. stir in following seasonings: 1/4 tsp white pepper 1/4 tsp nutmeg 1/4 tsp thyme 1 tbsp chicken bouillon 1 tbsp beef bouillon 1 tbsp Lawry's Seasoning Make a roux with 3 tbsp butter and 3 tbsp flour - zap in microwave 30 seconds until "bubbly" and stir into boiling soup.

Yes, I went for more ham today! Roundy's had ham for $.97 per pound, and no minimum transaction. Roundy's also has double coupons on Wednesday - here are my two transactions: 1) 10# Cooks Ham (sliced by meat counter) (on sale for $9.53) bag of Kruncher's Potato Chips (on sale for $3) -$1 coupon doubled 20oz bottle Coke x 2 Extra Gum x 2 (with coke for a $1 coupon that doubled) Philly mini cream cheese (on sale for $1.25) -FREE coupon Fiber 1 yogurt -$1 coupon doubled Crystal Light -$1 coupon doubled Total out of pocket $14.01...saved $21.97 2) 20oz bottle Coke x 2 Recess PB cups x 2 (with coke for a $1 coupon that doubled) Vitamin Water -FREE coupon Buddig Chipped beef x 20 (on sale for $.50) - 2 !1 coupons Philly mini cream cheese (on sale for $1.25) -$1 coupon doubled Fiber 1 yogurt -$1 coupon doubled Yoplait Delites yogurt x 2 -$1 coupon doubled Total out of pocket $10.85...saved $17.73 Grand total...$64.56 for $24.86.....a savings of 62% Not my best weekly deals -- b

The giveaway ends tomorrow night! This is a little Frugal Kit going to a special person... The tabbed dividers help keep those coupons organized if you are like me, and have them in a photo box, sorted alphabetically. I keep them by product name, not company and only stock up on the brands I know I buy...if there is a coupon I really like, I check out the CouponClippers.Com for a few extras (like all those juice coupons from my last post!) Also in there is a set of toothpaste squeezers. They work on hand lotion tubes, toothpaste and more...helping you get the last bit out! Add a set of acrylic birthday stamps -- hand made/stamped cards can really save you money instead of hitting the store for $3-4 a card. I have 18 brothers and sisters -- just add yearly cards for them and that is $65+ a year! Get an inkpad and some cardstock and you can EASILY save $60. OK, here is how you get a chance to win, you can do any or all: - Become a follower (or tell me already that you are) - Share it on

I mentioned before that grocery stores have selling cycles for their meat...depending on the store, it runs 6,7 or 8 weeks before they repeat. If you don't believe me, you can save the weekly adds for your store of choice and check it out yourself. HOW does this knowledge help you? it can cut the amount you spend on meat by 50-70%! Let me show you how: Easter is this weekend, no surprise if you have been watching the calendar -- but Ham is the hot sale item of the week. Most stores will have a deal where it runs about $.88 a pound versus the normal $3-5! Don't just look at this week while you are making the grocery list -- plan ahead a little as it freezes beautifully! First of all, I prefer a bone - in ham. That ham bone, when boiled down makes a fantastic base for soups like bean or split pea. That flavor simply can not be created with soup base! My Easter hams (we cook 2-3 'cuz we have a large family) will all be bone in and then the bones will be frozen after any exces

Before Church today, I did another tv segment for NBC15 in Madison. I get an on air, three minute segment for FREE on the highest rated morning show in our area! If I had to pay for the commercial time - ouch! Become the "expert" in your field...Make sure they know your company and title. It means you have to network, make a lot of connections without knowing where it will lead. I love the people at NBC15 - Amy is a doll to work with. I get to be a repeat "expert" for them, doing 6-10 segments a year on various topics from food to family fun. Enjoy my weekly three minutes of fame, LOL!

I love when I leave church with my brain racing from the sermon of the day! Our awesome head pastor always feeds my brain and spiritual soul... Today, he referenced a family that had just had their third baby and was visited by an associate pastor when still in the hospital. Their three boys were the only grandchildren on each side of the family -- and the story came out during the visit that one set of grandparents weren't happy about the pregnancy. They tried to talk them into terminating it at one point, even giving them literature on how expensive it was to raise a child (from birth to whenever). Pointing out over and over again over the 9 months how they simply didn't have that $200,000 for a third child...and if they DID have it, that would provide a nice summer home. Makes you think, doesn't it? How people really let "stuff" get in the way of what is really important in life. A few years down the road, when they have the rolling giggles of that beautiful to