tidy up the car

Do you ever have one of those moments when you look down in your car and notice how much trash you have accumulated? Receipts, gum wrappers and any other miscellaneous items that end up on the floor board. I always say, "When the weather is nice I will clean it out." That never happens.

How can I fix this dilemma?

Grab an empty paper towel roll and some plastic grocery bags. Shove the grocery bags into the paper towel tube. Keep this tube handy in your car, in your glove compartment or next to your seat. When you notice your car filling up with random trash grab a grocery bag out of the tube and collect your trash. Ta-da.

Frugal and Clean

breaking through

Today I was inspired by Breaking Through

In this blog a woman and her husband are celebrating marriage through God's word through the entire month of April. I can't wait to read it! No one's marriage is perfect there is always room to build and remodel certain parts. Everyday Josh and I work on our marriage, we are constantly learning new things and figuring out ways to create a more passionate relationship.

a couple freebies

For both of these freebies you need to sign up for a vocalpoint.com account.

Sign up for a free pint of breve coffee creamer or at least a coupon for it. Usually freebies are never bigger than one serving size so this one is a good one.
http://www.vocalpoint.com/breve/index.html?tdestid=8337&tmemberid=ECE4C3D0-E634-49C2-A3A2-1BAB38E6B451

This one is for a sample of Kellogg's new Touch of Fruit Mini Wheats, which I really like.
http://www.vocalpoint.com/touchoffruit/index.aspx?tdestid=8338&tmemberid=ECE4C3D0-E634-49C2-A3A2-1BAB38E6B451

Freebies are always limited so if you don't get these, there are always others

just waiting

             It is very hard to wait for something you want so bad, that one thing that you feel is missing. Just waiting for the day for it to arrive. But Josh and I have become semi-pros at this game, or so I think. We have been through the 4 years of  waiting for college to be over, we were engaged 2 years before getting married(which felt like a lot of waiting, to me) and have been patiently waiting for Josh to be accepted to grad school. When we get frustrated with waiting for anything we can usually get the other one out of whatever funk they are in. I believe we have a very strong relationship, we understand each others feelings and react accordingly. During the past year we have encountered some new feelings and a new waiting game. What has made this past year different? What have we been waiting for? Children. I never knew trying to create a family could be so challenging.
             Over this past year, we have learned a lot about our dreams and desires for the future and that children will be a part of it, when God is ready. But while he creates the plans I will wait and attempt to do it patiently.

To our future children,

      There is not a day that goes by that I do not think of you

      There is not a moment that goes by that I do not pray for you

      I can't wait to show you all the wonderful things that life has to offer

      I can't wait to see your face, kiss your cheeks and rock you to sleep

      I promise to always be there for you even if I don't understand you
      I promise to always be your mother and support all of your dreams

      I just want you to know that you are always wanted
      I just want you to know I will wait for you, always

easy cheesy sausage and potato bake

Great hearty dinner on a weekday, this was absolutely delicious but next time I am going to double the amount of sausage.

what you need
1 pkg refrigerated diced potatoes or 6 baking potatoes, scrubbed
1/2 bell pepper sliced into strips
1/2 onion sliced into strips
1 tub (10 oz.) Philadelphia original cooking cream (I had a coupon for a free tub, be on the lookout for coupons for $1.00 off, there are no coupons currently listed online)
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
salt and pepper
1/2 lb. smoked turkey sausage sliced thin

what to do
-If you decided to use baking potatoes, place them in pot of boiling water and cover for 20 minutes. Peel and cube. Place in a large bowl
-Mix potatoes, peppers, onion, cooking cream, 1/2 cup of cheddar, salt and pepper in a large bowl.
-Coat 2 quart casserole dish with cooking spray, pour in potato mixture, top with sausage and cover.
-Place in 375 degree oven for 30 minutes, uncover top with 1/2 cup cheddar bake for 20 more minutes.
Enjoy!

restoring our faith

Josh and I were both raised in Christian families and we both grew up attending church. But for the past few years we have not faithfully attended any services. When we would visit our families we would always go to church and attend service if we were visiting during a holiday. It became something that just fell at the wayside, not something that was of up most importance. I knew that the decision was mine, whenever I was ready, whenever I wanted to I could simply go to a church and worship the Lord. I have had some different views on religion and the definition of church. While I was in high school I was more involved with church than anything else in my life but I felt as though I was required to do so. I was required to attend Sunday school, Sunday morning service, Sunday teen choir practice, Sunday evening service, Wednesday evening visitation, Wednesday evening service and a Saturday teen activity along with any other events going on at the church. I was required to have friends from church and discouraged from having friends at school. I was required to listen to southern gospel music; I was required to follow a certain dress code. The more and more I thought about this the more and more I became confused. Loving and worshiping God should be something I want to do and out of wanting it I would develop a need for it. Some might say that this was rebellious that I was becoming backsliden. But in reality I was becoming myself---I was searching for the desire to do all the things that some required me to do. In the process I developed a fear of getting back into a church family. I wanted a place that I could feel comfortable to be myself ,where I could be a part of a great group of people that are solely gathering for love of the Lord. Not to gossip about what someone is wearing or what so-and-so was supposedly doing last night. I was in search of something and afraid to do the work to find it. My younger brother inspired me to get myself in gear. He had posted numerous things on his twitter page about going to church, attending youth activities and simply stating phrases from his Sunday service that spoke to him. All of these things reminded me of...me, but he was choosing this. He wanted to go to church, he wanted to attend youth activities, he wanted it so much that he could feel God's word speaking to him. I knew that if he could do it that I could, too. I searched online and found a nearby church called Vineyard Church Northwest. We attended service this morning and I have to admit I did have some butterflies in my belly as we pulled into the parking lot. We were greeted immediately when we walked in by a teenage boy standing in the lobby, we grabbed a coffee at their coffee bar, walked into the auditorium and took a seat. The message was about commitment---committing yourself to God and overcoming the fears you may have while doing so---a perfect message for us! I can't wait to head back next Sunday to hear more of God's word and worship with my husband.

accidents happen.... it's how you fix them that matters

            So I need to give you a little background information to fully understand this story. A couple weeks ago Josh was getting ready in the bathroom and thought the it would be a good idea to prop his behind up on the counter so he could get a better look in the mirror and not have to keep his body in an awkward position. Needless to say this cracked the bathroom sink. When I came home and heard about the incident i couldn't help but laugh. As the days went by the crack got worse and worse, we were trying to think about what we were going to do so that we didn't have to spend a bunch of money and were slowly realizing that whenever we move out of this apartment we just won't be given back our security deposit, oh well. It's not like we had any plans for that money but it would have been nice to get it back. However, when I woke up this morning and saw how awful the sink looked I knew there had to be something done.
            After we returned home from our venture to Xavier University I jumped on the computer in hopes of finding a great deal and at first was very disappointed. I had measured the current sink and ran a Google search on "31 x 19 oval recessed bathroom sink," and found that prices varied from $97 to $300. I quickly resorted to another idea, Menard's, a store that just opened in Hamilton. Their jingle on their commercial states, "save big money at Menard's!" I thought, that's it, they are bound to have better prices than people on the internet, nope. They were just as, if not, more expensive than the other sinks I found. I then searched on Lowes website, figuring they would be pretty pricey but could not find the sink we needed. So I searched Home Depot and there it was for $64! In stock? Sure was, 2 in fact. Off to Home Depot we went, but before we did Josh removed the old sink so that we would know exactly what we needed for the job.

The old sink

our sink-less bathroom

             Fixing this ourselves was a slight risk but never once did Josh not know what he was doing, I guess he had a couple pretty great men in his life that he learned a thing or two from. Coming home from Home Depot our bill looked like this:

-31x19 vanity top    64.00

-11p wrench set      22.88

-plumbing tape          0.98

-sealant clear             5.97

-caulk gun #67D       4.97

        tax                    6.71

        total              105.51

The new sink

Sink is in place, now to reconnect the plumbing lines and fixtures

Ta-da!

Now, what makes this frugal? If you can do it yourself, go for it. You will cut out costs for installation and you won't have to schedule your day around waiting for someone to come fix the problem. Also, we were able to return a couple items. The wrenches ended up being the wrong size so he borrowed the right size wrench from a neighbor and the caulking gun was as good as new. 

Refund receipt:

-11p wrench set   - 22.88

-caulk gun #67D    - 4.97

     subtotal           - 27.85

     tax                    - 1.82

     total                - 29.67

So.....

Initially spent       105.51

Refund                 -29.67

Actually spent        75.84

and Josh's ego got an added boost of confidence.

In essence, accidents happen just be smart with how you fix them.