Menu Plan Monday - Week of November 1st!

I apologize for the lack of posts last week, sometimes life and work get in the way!  Anyways, this past Saturday I made this amazing copycat recipe of Bob Evan's Cheddar Baked Potato Soup.  It was amazing.  I served it with some biscuits and it was a hit!  Here is what in on the menu for this week:

Monday - Shake n Bake Pork Chops
Tuesday - Grilled Italian Marinated Chicken & Chopped Spinach Salad
Wednesday - Sloppy Joes
Thursday - Pizza Night
Friday - Eat Out
Saturday - Mom's Night Out
Sunday - Celebrating a Family Birthday!

This post is linked at MPM at I'm an Organizing Junkie!

Happy Halloween!

"To infinity and beyond..."  My boys are all geared up for Halloween tonight.  They will be going as Buzz Lightyear and Woody!  The high temperature is only suppose to be 49 in our neck of the woods, so hopefully I can bundle my little ones up under their costumes!  Hope you have a wonderful Halloween!  Here are a few safety tips for your trick or treaters tonight:

• Children should always go out trick or treating accompanied by a responsible adult. If you have a group of kids going, the parents should choose two or three of them to go along and keep an eye on things.
• Some towns set a curfew for trick or treating which makes it easier for townsfolk to know who's coming to their door. Make sure and stick to the curfew times and stick to subdivisions and areas with a lot of homes so your kids can get in as much trick or treating as possible in a few hours time.
• Plan a safe route so parents know where their older kids will be at all times. Set a time for their return home. Make sure that your child is old enough and responsible enough to go out by themselves. Make sure that they have a cell phone.
• Let your children know not to cut through back alleys and fields if they are out alone. Make sure they know to stay in populated areas and not to go off the beaten track. Let them know to stay in well lighted areas with lots of people around. Explain to them why it can be dangerous for kids not to do this. If they are going out alone, they are old enough to know what can happen to them in a bad situation and how to stop it from happening.
• Instruct your children not to eat any treats until they bring them home to be examined by you. This way you can check for any problem candy and get the pick of the best stuff.
• Instruct your child to never go into the home of a stranger or get into their car. Explain why this is not a god idea and what to do if someone approaches them and tries to talk to them.
• Make sure your child carries a flashlight, glow stick or has reflective tape on their costume to make them more visible to cars.
• Let them know that they should stay together as a group if going out to Trick or Treat without an adult.

Groupon

Have you tried Groupon yet? This is an online deals site where you can buy the daily deal at half off! I have already bought 2 of their offers, which included:


A $37 oil change at Lube Stop for only $18
A One Month Membership to Gymboree for only $39

There are over 160 cities in the US that participate, so you can even look for deals in another city for an upcoming vacation!

They also have a referral program, where you earn $10 for everyone you refer that makes a purchase.

Today’s offer is $49 for Environmentally Friendly House Cleaning Package from EcoMaids of Cleveland!  Hop on over and check it out!  I'm thinking this would make a great gift for a new mom-to-be!

Raising Able - A Book Review

I was recently able to read, Raising Able, How chores cultivate competent confident young people by Susan Tordella. To be honest, I was unable to put the book down and I completed the book rather quickly. The message truly applied to myself and my family since we were currently considering a formal chore and allowance system for my oldest son who is 4 ½. My husband and I were unsure of the direction we were going to take, however this book made me look at chores and allowances in a whole new way. I think my favorite quote from the book was:


“We are a family, a team that can work together using simple practices of family meetings and dinners, encouragement, and natural and logical consequences to develop responsible children who will leave home, and be self-supporting through gainful employment”

In Raising Able, the process is explained how chores and deadlines should be discussed in family meetings. This way everyone can give their input and be held responsible. It also gives children a sense of ownership of the chores they chose to do. Susan believes in the principle of a weekly allowance that is not tied to completion of the chores. You should pay the allowance weekly, no matter if chores are completed. Chores are required as being part of the family. As parents, we do a lot for your children such as cooking dinner and taking them to the doctor and they do not pay us for it. Why should we pay them for emptying the dishwasher and cleaning the toilet?

Susan discusses the difference between praise and encouragement. Encouragement can be so much more powerful than praise in developing a child’s self-esteem. It allows the parents to really look at the details of a situation. As a parent you can provide encouragement whether the outcome was good or bad, this helps the child want to try again.

As a mother of 2 young boys, I can definitely see benefits of implementing Susan’s methods of family meetings, chores, and offering encouragement over praise. With my personality and drive of perfection, I often overlook the chores my boys can do on their own. They constantly ask and want to help, I need to learn to step back and let them. In the end everyone one wins, chores get done and then we get to enjoy more family time together. To me that is what life is all about, spending the most time with your family!

Check out Susan’s blog at http://www.raisingable.com/ where you can order your own copy of the book.


This review was 100% my own thoughts and opinions. I was not compensated to provide this review. I did receive a copy of the book Raising Able for my reading enjoyment and personal growth as a mother.

Menu Plan Monday – Week of October 18th

So my husband got called for jury duty this week, so this should be a challenge in our household. We will see what transpires, but here is my plan!

Monday – Turkey Roast
Tuesday – Shake n Bake Pork Chops
Wednesday – Spaghetti
Thursday - Potato Cheddar Soup
Friday – Fish & Fries
Saturday – A couple of parties today!
Sunday – Eat Out

CoinStar - Counting My Change!

Do you have a lot of loose change around the house? Do you dread counting and rolling all of that change to take to the bank? Does going into the bank something you hardly ever do anymore? Well all of these things forced me to make the decision to test out the Coinstar machine at our local Giant Eagle.


According to Coinstar, the average household has $90 of loose change in their house. So I took this challenge to see what we had lying around. I collected all the coins that were semi-rolled in our cabinet. I emptied out all the change that was in our change jar (aka old cake frosting container) in our kitchen. I also gathered all of the change in our 2 change holders in both vehicles (old baby food containers work great for this purpose).

On our shopping trip I stopped at the Coinstar machine first. You can either choose to cash out your change, (however a 9.8 cent fee applies to every dollar) or you can get an eCertificate to many retailers for no fee. I choose the certificate to Amazon.com since I know I could use this for upcoming birthdays and Christmas.

So after emptying all of my change, plus what was in my wallet, I got a $65.52 gift certificate to Amazon. Not too bad! It was also super easy to do and I had no issues. The whole process took about 5 minutes start to finish counting my $65.52 in change.

There are many certificates that are available, but they vary by region. The retailers include, Amazon, Amazon MP3, Borders, CVS (my machine did not have this option), Gap, iTunes, JCPenney, Lowes, Old Navy, Overstock.com, Regal Entertainment, and Starbucks.

This is a great way to save for Christmas without even realizing you are saving money. Start your change jar now and put all of your change in it, then you will be able to cash it out for gifts!

Bob Evans BEmail

Join Bob Evan's new BEmail and receive a coupon for a free breakfast (with the purchase of another breakfast) in your inbox!  They also have a great kids club in which your kids get a coupon for a free meal every year around their birthday which you can sign up for at any restaurant!