Boy's room -dressers

We got the boys new dressers today. We've been keeping an eye on Craftsman rolling tool chests for a good sale price, and finally today we looked and there they were, the bottom four drawer cart for $81.99 and the middle chest for $49.99, Yesss! We got two of each. The sale price was for the black and not the Craftsman red we had originally wanted, but for $30 less than the red, black it is!

 Boys are notoriously rough on their stuff, so we thought why not use a tool chest as a dresser, not only does it look cool (and it really, really does!) but its very sturdy, and comes with a warrantee. It also gives them more space than their previous dressers. Oh, and you can move them easily for cleaning, because they are on wheels!


They are also going through a kick where they love to get stuff they can use when they are adults. It started when we got a lifetime hunting and fishing license for M (the middle boy) for his birthday, They should be able to use these tool chests for tools when they grow up, a fact which they loved.

Their room is on the small size and with two dressers, plus their bunk bed there isn't much room for anything else. I'm moving the bookshelf to their brother's room across the hall for the time being.  Their toys have again accumulated in their room, and when replacing their dressers I'm going to purge clothes and the toys. The toys we are keeping will be rehomed downstairs to the toy room. They will get to keep their Legos, their cars, and maybe their monster trucks in their bedroom.

They absolutely love antique cars and hot rods, so with these as dressers especially, that will be my inspiration for their room.

They are already planning on giving their room a name. M came up with mini man cave, E came up with the secret hideout.
I'll be blogging the whole way.   I am also planning on doing some DIY artwork for their room and some photography.

Facebook Free February

A friend and I decided to go Facebook free in February in order to spend more time with our families and with God. It seems like I spend too much time on Facebook, and the internet in general. My cousin gave up Facebook for Lent last year and I figured, if she can do it for all of Lent I can surely do it for a month! I also have to catch up on my yearly Bible reading plan... I've been slacking.

Anyway, I'll be blogging about Facebook Free February here and tell you all what adventures we've been in instead!

Latte Loving- espresso

Part of making a great latte like I posted here is the espresso. Trust me, if you try a good shot and a bad shot you CAN tell the difference. If you want to make your own espresso at home and have it taste like a coffee shop I can tell you how.  First, the coffee grind for espresso should be a few notches finer than a 'normal' coffee grind. you should fill espresso cup for the brewer and lightly tamp down the espresso lightly is the key, if you go too hard the water won't stream through well. affix the espresso cup and brew.  when a properly brewed shot is done there should be three distinct parts, with the top layer being crema (a light froth) this is created from the tamping down process. The shot of espresso should be used or drank immediately, as the quality of the espresso will decrease rapidly (15 seconds and its rather gross) a fresh proper espresso shot should be rich and caramelly and smooth... you can taste the difference if its not done just right!

I posted about the cost here

spending $200 a month on groceries for our family of 7 meat and dairy tips

I was posting on a facebook page I belong to, and we were talking about grocery budgets, I said for a family of 7 we spend about $200 a month on groceries... The uproar was amazing... everyone asked how we do it, what our tips are. I don't usually coupon, so that made it even more interesting for people. I thought I'd share some of our tips in a series of posts.

We shop between five stores. The majority of our shopping is done at Hannaford grocery store and our local IGA. IGA has the best prices on meats, cold cuts, deli cheese and bakery breads. Hannaford is good for everything else, unless IGA has a sale. they frequently do 10 for 10 or something similar. When those sales are going on we stock up.

Meat and dairy are the most expensive things in our grocery budget. We go through at least two gallons of milk each week. That's $16 off the top of our grocery bill, we generally buy milk at the gas stations that sell at state minimum pricing, and get the generic of our favorite brand. They are bottled in the same place, and are the same milk, but Smileys is sold at gas stations for state minimum, and Oakhurst is sold at grocery stores for more.

Meat, we buy pork at no more than $1.99 lb. pork chops or cutlets we can often find for less, but tenderloin or other pork roasts we buy when its on sale for 1.99 and stock up. We buy boneless chicken breasts at no more than $1.99lb as well. Lately I've been getting it for 1.79 lb and stocking up. Hamburger we only get when it goes on sale, and we buy the large family pack to get additional savings. Beef roast we can get for 2.99 lb sometimes and we stock up then. we often buy the reduced steaks (the ones that are about to expire) and cook them that night, other than that we buy London broil or sirloin steak cuts that are less expensive but not as tender and we marinate them.

The biggest sales on meat are generally around Thanksgiving (turkey), Christmas (ham, roasts), and Easter (Ham) we stock up seriously around these times. one good sized turkey can feed our family for a week easily, often longer than that, same goes for a ham. I'll post more about tips on making a turkey last here and more about making a ham last here.

Latte loving- Make your own coffee shop lattes at home

I posted about saving money by making coffee shop lattes at home for myself and friends here now I'm going to tell you how to make a great latte.

As stated in my other post you need an espresso machine. I guess you don't really need an espresso machine. you could microwave the milk instead of steaming it and make espresso in a regular machine or keurig, but no promises.

Turn the espresso machine settings to steam so they heat up, when its ready steam the milk (about 20 ounces of it for a large, or venti, 16 ounces for a medium or grande, 12 ounces for a small or tall). start steaming the milk

Then get espresso ready, fill espresso filter cup, and lightly tamp down the ground coffee (coarser grind is better for espresso) attach to espresso machine and brew into two shot glasses. While brewing pump five pumps (or capfuls) of syrup into your large (20 oz or above) cup, 4 pumps (or capfuls) for your 16 oz  drink or 3 pumps or capfuls for a  12 ounce drink.

Add the two shots of espresso to your 16 or 20 ounce drink and one of the shots to a 12 ounce drink unless you want it strong. Then fill the cup with the steamed milk. (milk should be between 140 degrees farenheit to 180 degrees farenheit. Then you sit and enjoy!

Latte Loving - the cost

One of my favorite items in my kitchen is my espresso machine. My mom got it for us for our wedding. I am the only coffee drinker in the house, but I have an addiction.... to the dirty S expensive coffee word. I Love Starbucks! Nate HATES the price.

I still get one once or twice a week, but to supplement I buy the syrups at Starbucks and make my own. I did this before, when I was living in Wisconsin, an hour away from the closest Starbucks and no local coffee shops to make my yummy latte for me. I used that espresso machine (one I bought from Starbucks) so much that I burned the motor out in a year. Now I do it here, whenever I want.

  When Nate and I met I was buying one or two (sometimes more) Starbucks a day, at $4 a pop that's 8 dollars a day, $56 a week, $224 a month. This couldn't continue once we got married because our budget was stretched further.This is a great way to save money and still get that Starbucks treat.

 the syrups cost about $12 apiece and you can get at least 30 venti size drinks out of it, which is $.40 per drink

You can find pretty reasonable espresso makers, ours was a gift, but it would have more than paid for itself with the savings.

Espresso roast coffee or really any dark roast you can get reasonably, but if you want Starbucks espresso roast you can find it for $12 a pound. Other espresso roasts and dark roasts you can get reasonably, I even scored some Starbucks French Roast and Café Verona at a local discount/salvage store we have here at $3 for a 12 oz. package. For a venti you need two shots of espresso which is about half an ounce of coffee. at $12 for 16 ounces that's $.75 an ounce or $.38 for a venti size drink.

Milk at $4 a gallon is the only other necessary ingredient you can get 6.4 venti size drinks out of one gallon Which is $.63 per drink. I'll teach you how to make a great latte in another post.

That makes  $1.41 for a venti drink, instead of the normal $4-$5.

We have friends over at least once a week, on Fridays, and make lattes for everyone. I keep at least two syrups on hand, vanilla and cinnamon dolce. Cinnamon dolce is the hit on our Friday night get together, I made 5 lattes with cinnamon dolce syrup last Friday. I use the inexpensive Starbucks dark roasts I found and fabulous Haitian coffee that one of my friends got on a mission trip to Haiti, so mine usually costs even less to make. Hear more about her trip in a future post. I also buy the chai mix that they use at Starbucks, Tazo chai concentrate occasionally to make chai lattes. I have found it at another discount store for $2.50 a carton, it usually goes for about $4 per carton. I like my chai lattes with cinnamon dolce syrup in them too.

Introductons

I guess I'm a little late with the introductions, that probably should have been my first post.

I am a mom, I love Jesus, reading, baking, shopping, and COFFEE, lattes, espresso, or the regular stuff, flavored, or dark roast are my favorites, shoes, and coach.

Nate is my hubby, and best friend. He just went back to work as a planner. He loves cars, snowmobiles, 4 wheelers and the like. He's a bit of a gear head. He is also a financial guru. He really is great at finding good deals and making finances work, even with a little budget. He's helped me to become more financially aware and although its a struggle I'm continually working toward spending less, and I'll be sharing some of my struggles with this and some of his tips for financial health, and what we've done. He's also helped friends with their budgets and spending, and some have told us his plan worked better than that other financial guy out there.

  We have 5 kids as I've mentioned before.



I have a beautiful 12 year old daughter, She's a bit of a diva, she loves to read and she dances, she's on the competition team.

 I have three stepsons (life gets a little crazy with them).

E is a 7 year old. He plays soccer and has yet to decide on any other sports, He loves animals and is the enthusiastic helper around the house.

M is the mad man of the house, a bull in a china closet, but very, very caring, he plays soccer and basketball so far, I'm sure there will be more sports for him.

C is mostly sweet, a bit OCD, ok very OCD, He LOVES watching football and hockey. Loves wearing sports outfits, and plays soccer, I'm sure there will be more sports in his future.

The baby S, is 15 months old and he's ours. He's a sweet little boy that loves to get into everything, snuggle with momma, play with his siblings and his animals. He also loves to play with balls and cars, and to eat!

We have a crazy life because there are so many of us, and so many of them are active boys. We also have two dogs, a cranky ten year old Papillion, Toby (he's mine I had him before we got married). We have a Black Lab, Mari Alice Tibbetts, she is the best family dog ever. She tolerates every torture dished out by the kids with a thumping tail and a smile. We also have a cat, Puffy, a tiger kitten who is wild and crazy, yet sweet and snuggly. Our outside pet is a sweet unassuming goat named Junie, she's aDS Nigerian dwarf doe. We also have chickens.

We just recently lost our other goat, Mayo and our mini potbelly pig, Johnny cupcake within a week of each other to an illness, which was so, so sad. We are so glad that Junie lived through it, but is very lonely without her friends.

This summer I want to start doing more than just egg chickens. I'd like to try some meat birds. We've been talking about getting another potbelly pig... One that will be more like a dog. Johnny cupcake was getting more friendly but wasn't socialized enough as a piglet so never would have been the dog like pig we wanted, but we still loved him lots. Mayo was a baby goat that was taken too young from his mother, he was not the most healthy of goats to begin with, but I loved him and bottle fed him myself.

 

 

This is us, I hope you keep coming back to get to know us better!