Whew

Things have been so very busy, trying to get organized for the holidays, working, kids...things are just crazy. And of course when it gets like this I soon end up with me having a hard time falling asleep.

Anyway, I believe I have discovered part of my reason for my troubles, which of course is worry. As I fall asleep I think too much, my mind starts to race about what I have to do the next day (or two, or three), or what bills I need to pay or just what has been going on during the day.

Sooo what I have come up with is a small desktop calendar which I've put on my book case and when I head to bed I take a look at it, making notes about what I need to do. I write down any appointments or notes about bills I have to pay, even just jotting down something about the day. It's become sort of a mini-journal. I can put my thoughts down and then I don't have to think so much as I'm falling asleep.

I've also put a mini-flashlight next to the clock so that if I am thinking of something that is bothering me or needs done I can quickly write down my thoughts and let my mind drift off to sleep easier.

So far it has helped a lot and I seem to be falling asleep much more quickly.

New Beginnings

Going to try and start over. Life got complicated and things happened, but it all happens for a reason.

I'm working on trying to get more organized so I'm sure that will be the majority of my posts at this time. For now I'm going to try this idea that I found here to help reduce some of my dishes. We don't have a dishwasher so we do them all by and and the more that I can reduce the number of things to wash the better.

So we are going to use the idea of a "parking place" for cups.

I got the idea here: Parking Places for Cups.

I think I may extend this to some baskets in our entry way as well since things seem to get thrown down by my son all the time and maybe I can corral his stuff better.

Update

Ok, so sometimes life gets in the way of good intentions and things get off kilter and that has happened in my life lately.

We have been planning a vacation (our very first ever) and so a lot of my time recently has been planning and getting things ready. I have to make sure we have everything we need, plus make sure grandpa has food and clothing ready to go too.

I've only flown once before and the kids never so figuring out what to take and how much we can fit into a carry on has been a interesting task. Talk about paring things down to essentials!

Anyway when I get back I am going to attempt to do my first giveaway to EcoStore.

Garden Flowers

I was taking some pictures of the flowers in our flower garden yesterday. I think they turned out pretty neat. I'm working on figuring out aperture on my camera, and I think I have it set pretty good for this type of shot.

Much Better Dinner

Ok here is my dinner from last night. I had much better results than the last dinner I posted about!

Here's where it all began....grilled chicken.



Then topped with some Montery Jack cheese and sauteed mushrooms, side with new potatos and a green salad. Yum!

Dinner was a flop

So last night's dinner was a flop. I tried to use up some things I had in the fridge and I ran across a recipe - well not really a recipe more like basic instructions for a quick dinner idea. I had the meatballs (the premade ones from the freezer) and crescent rolls, and some marinara sauce which were all that was required.

Basically I wrapped up the meatballs in the crescents and made a little "roll". Baked it according to the roll instructions and then served it with the marinara to dip it into. They weren't the most horrible things on the planet, but they were flavorless, boring and even my son didn't care for them. He's a human garbage disposal so that was a shocker. And grandpa didn't want any seconds - which is a surefire way to know if what I cooked was decent or not.

So that recipe will definitely be scratched off the list of "easy things to make for dinner" unless I can come up with a way to make them better tasting. Any thoughts on how to make it better tasting? I thought about stuffing some cheese in them too, but figured that would end up being super messy to try and do.

Samples

First I want to warn you. If something looks too good to be true it probably is, so you have to be careful before starting your search for free stuff. A lot of sites will state they give away free stuff (they are usually high dollar/full size products), but they have sponsor requirements that have to be fulfilled before you get the free things.

If you want to do that type of thing I suggest you peruse my friend Brenna’s website for some details about doing that type of thing. NaturallyFrugalMomma She does a really good job at explaining how to do this type of thing and just scored a $500.00 gift card from IKEA.

My other recommendation before starting is to set up a “junk” email account. Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail whatever you like best works fine. You will use this email account only when you are filling out forms for the free items so you don’t get inundated with spam. Also I rarely use my real birthday. I have chosen a special day that I use for this. I don’t know why I’m uncomfortable posting my real birthday, but I just am. And make up a new password that you us only for this type of thing too. That way you can remember it easy and it doesn’t give away your password for other more important places (like bank accounts, etc.) in case the information is compromised for some reason.

After all that, the sites I visit most often are:

Wal*Mart

Kraft First Taste

http://www.nojunkfree.com/

Start Sampling please use "amazeofgrace" as you referrer when you sign up!

Slick Deals

Fat Wallet

FreeFlys (sign up then close the window to ignore all the referring stuff, go into the email they send you and you can skip all the referral sites)

Other ways to get freebies are:

Check out product websites directly for freebies and coupons/deals. Sometimes you have to sign up for their newsletters etc, but it is worth it. Dove, Oil of Olay, Tide etc are always giving away free samples of their products. A good one is Proctor and Gamble…they send out free stuff through their newsletter often.

As always use SWAGBUCKS to search for free samples or free stuff while earning money that can be redeemed for awesome stuff. I LOVE this website and recommend everyone sign up!

Here are a few samples I came across on the internet today while writing this up.

Free MaryKay Sample

SoftSheen Hair Products

Tide

Splenda

FlixSticks

Playtex Sport


Always remember though the items you get are usually just samples…so don’t expect huge bottles of products for your time. I’ll tell you though I have used the samples when traveling and for an emergency kit in my car that have really saved me some money. Plus I have found some great products that I now use on a regular basis.