Extended Family Christmas Gift Exchange

You might remember the post I did last year about our new, extended family gift exchange.  It seemed to be the perfect plan for our family and everyone seemed to enjoy it.  While I was training for the 10K race last fall, I spent many a brain cell trying to think of a theme for 2013 family gift exchange.  When My Man and I were engaged, someone threw us an Around the Clock wedding shower where each guest was assigned a time of day.  Their gift had to reflect that time.  I borrowed that idea and used the theme of Morning, Noon, Afternoon and Night to assign to the 4 Payne "Kids" for our gift exchange. It was lots of fun trying to come up with a good family gift that would be enjoyed by toddlers to teenagers and parents alike.  Here are the gifts that we exchanged.

For BREAKFAST, my little sis gave us homemade granola, homemade cinnamon cocoa mix (both in reusable containers), a Jesus Calling devotional book, flavored coffee and personalized mugs for all 10 of us!

(Sorry these are a little out of order.) 

For NIGHT, my older sis got us a funnel cake kit with 2 packs of paper plates, powdered sugar, a Pampered Chef shaker (love that!), Monsters University DVD and a cute bag to reuse. 

For AFTERNOON, my SIL got us this great Thirty-One bag (she sells them and they are awesome!) with all the things to have a baking snack of cupcakes, icing, sprinkles, candy toppings, cupcake stencils, baking cups, flavoring, mixed nuts, cupcake decorations and a mini spatula.

I was assigned LUNCH and since I assumed they all had picnic baskets, I found these fold up stools that have a cooler attached to it and straps to carry like a backpack.  Inside I had picnic ware of plastic table cloth, utensils, plates and napkins, frisbee, jump rope and bubbles, and ingredients for an Italian meal.

We had lots of fun with our gift exchange and I already told the sisters that next year we will do seasons, since there are 4 of us.  That way we can shop clearance items and save more on post-season sales.  I was assigned WINTER and got some great sales after Christmas so my shopping is done already.

Thanks sisters for awesome Christmas gifts that we can enjoy as a family!  Love them all!

Balloon Birthday Party on a Budget

Ruth had her first ever friend party when she turned 9.

As much as I love to craft and love a good Pinterest party, I resisted.  As I mentioned in our family blog, all the time, effort and money that goes into amazing pinnable parties are really not for the kids, but for the parents.  But I do love them and ooh and ahh over them and love to pin them.  There are so many great, creative ideas.

When AB was in 4th grade, I threw her a big Webkinz World party.  It was awesome, big, expensive (for me) and lots of fun to plan and execute.  But when the fun was all over, my sweet daughter looked at me and said, "Mom, thank you so much for everything you did.  It was really lots of fun.  But next time do you think I could just have a couple friends over instead of a big party?"  

As funny as that was to me, it also struck me how important it is to actually keep the Birthday Boy/Girl in mind as we go about planning parties.  Had I really thought about the personality of my daughter, I would not have gone out with a loud, fun, crazy party with lots of girls.  

So this time I considered the personality of my little Ruth.  Loud, fun, crazy....yep, that's her!

Because I didn't want to spend a boo-koo of moolah on this party but wanted it to be fun for her, I decided (with the wonderful help of my professional party planning 7th grader) to do a balloon party.  Balloons are fun, bright, colorful and CHEAP!!  The more I thought about it, the more ideas we came up with to go with a balloon theme.  It's a great idea for boys or girls.

The front door was decorated with a cloud and streamers that we had on hand and a coat hanger form with water balloons blown up with air for a wreath. 

I got over the fact that mine didn't look like this one on Pinterest.  I was just glad my balloons didn't pop in the 20+ degree weather.

First the girls arrived and we sent them to our bonus room for a craft.  I found this one on Pinterest and loved it.  We had 11 girls plus siblings.  I got compositions notebooks at Dollar Tree, milkshake straws from Etsy and 5 rolls of Duct Tape on sale.

 AB made this backdrop in our doorway from plastic table cloths and balloons (Dollar Tree) to do a Photo Booth using dress up clothes.  It was lots of fun.

 The party favors were the duct tape notebooks, a baggy of candy and animal balloons that my son made from a Dollar Tree kit, plus game prizes.

 Decorations were tissue flowers, paper heart rainbows, balloon table cloth, streamers, centerpiece, and paper products and of course lots of balloons...all from Dollar Tree.

After the craft we played a bunch of games using balloons. 

1.  Fill small balloons with flour and set them on top of your feet which are close together.  Waddle like a penguin from one end of the room to the other in relays.

2.  Tie a Balloon around your ankle on a string and pop everyone else balloon while saving your own.

3.  Relay race to run to the other side of the room, pop a balloon by sitting, stomping, etc. and run back

4.  Make a sandwich by going back to back with your friend with a balloon between you and run to the end of the room and back without dropping it.

5.  Stand on 4 balloons and a flipped over cookie sheet and stack as many people on the cookie sheet as possible without popping a balloon.

6.  Balloon Ping Pong - we used badmitton rackets and played 2 on 2 elimination until 1 was left.

7.  Keep your balloon moving and in the air - without letting it hit the ground - elimination.

8.  Guess how many Skittles are in the pint jar - winner keeps the jar of candy

After each game I gave the winner a prize, mostly from Dollar Tree, like lip gloss, headbands, stickers, candy, erasers, pencils, etc.

Ideas from Pinterest

Pinterest idea

After the games we went to the kitchen for an ice cream sundae bar.  I bought a couple gallons of vanilla ice cream with 3 toppings, whipped cream, cherries, sprinkles and small candy with lemonade to drink.

We opened gifts, took turns in the photo booth and played outside until parents arrived.  The party was 2 1/2 hours and perfect timing.

The balloon party was a hit!  The girls had lots of fun and it didn't break my budget.  Simple and easy!

Stockpile Low

My stockpile has been dwindling since I have not been couponing. Today I went to CVS to help fill up our stash. Laundry detergent, body wash, deodorant, toothpaste and toothbrushes were all on my list. My total was $112.  I handed her my coupons and paid $77 out of pocket. I got $15 ECB back for my next visit. Now that's good savings!

Back to Saving

I haven't used coupons in well over 3 months.

Last night I decided to make a run to Harris Teeter, matching items with a handful of coupons, and grab their B1G1 deals and their B2G3 deals.

I got $300 worth of groceries for only $150!  The cash register had an over-ring because the savings was so high!  SCORE!

That was enough to get me motivated to start saving again.

Have you checked out HT's big savings this week?  Better go before they end.  Last day is Tuesday.

They have lots of cuts of meat for B1G1 that I got and the cashier told me their shrimp was B2G3 which had almost $100 in savings.  I might need to go back!

Hot Cocoa

Sometimes I just buy the Hot Chocolate mix packets because they are easy. 

But sometimes it's just cheaper and easier to make it homemade.  

Have you ever had it homemade?  It's yummy.

I just use my recipe from Betty Crocker.

Here it is.  Give it a try!

Lost & Found....The Sequel

You might be wondering how my Lost and Found box turned out.

Well, it worked!  And it's still working.

After my box filled up, one Saturday I told the kids it was Clean-out-the-Lost-and-Found-Box Day.

If their items were not claimed and paid for, then they would be donated to Goodwill.

I dumped the box in the middle of the floor and each Fish Stick made their pile of belongings (apparently there were items they weren't ready to pay for but items they didn't want to get rid of).

I made a list of the amount of money they owed to reclaim their things.

Then they were given the option to pay up or work it off.

Some kids opted to pay....the ones who actually have money and don't allow it to burn holes in their pockets.

Others wanted (or needed) to work it off.

I pulled out my trusted Home Management Notebook and pulled up the Paid Chores pages.

I ended up having my garage pressure washed, cleaned and organized and my Lost and Found box emptied all in one Saturday.  Everyone was happy.  Well, maybe not everyone was happy but I was happy and all Fish Sticks have since been TONS better about keeping their personal belongings picked up!  My Lost and Found box has never been so full again.

It's working....try it!!

Paid Chore List

Clean Garage!

New Year's Day Fish Traditions

Cheese ball with crackers

 New Year's Day has always been a big cooking day for me.  I cook a large variety of our favorite appetizers and of course New Year's Punch.  We feast at lunch and supper with our spread of goodies.

Today we've had sickness plaguing us since Christmas.  It seems to be the flu.  Thankfully not many folks have lost their appetite and the traditional meal was still very much anticipated. 

Star Anise Waffle Cookies - reminds me of our days in Singapore

Hummus and veggies

Asparagus Beef Roll Ups - my favorite!!!

Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts - DELICIOUS!

Lime Fruit Dip with fresh fruit

New Year's Punch

 Here's my recipes in case you want to try some!

May your year be filled with lots of quality family time around the table!

Blender Jar

I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, but close to it. 
This blog hasn't been what I had intended it to be and I've dropped the ball in many areas. 
Right now, I'm contemplating closing shop over here at Feeding the Fish Sticks and just focusing on our family blog.  Still not sure yet, but thinking....

So in the mean time since it's been over a month since I've posted, here's a post I planned a while back but never actually wrote.

My blender jar was broken by a Fish Stick putting dishes away.  The company that I ordered the replacement from sent the a jar with no lid that my old lid didn't fit.  Then they sent another jar with no lid instead of just the lid.  Then they finally sent the lid.  During all this rigamarole that I had to deal with, we were without a blender for a LONG time.  Too long for this family.

My son remembered that a long time ago we had seen on Pinterest that you can use a Mason jar as a blender jar.  The mouth is the same size for most blenders. 

It was perfect...especially when I was making a 1 serving smoothie.  I just drank straight from the jar.

So just in case your blender jar breaks and the company messes up your replacement order....now you know you can just use a Mason jar.  You're welcome.  :)

Plucking and Waxing

I'm almost embarrassed to write this post, but I'm getting over it.  :)

There are several things I have figured out to do on my own so we don't have added expenses by paying professionals to do it.  One is cutting hair.  I learned how to cut hair in high school and have given all the male haircuts in our family and trimmed the girls hair since marriage.

This post is about the other skill I've taught myself.  Waxing eyebrows.  Now I realize that some of you women were born with naturally, pretty, defined eyebrows.  Others of us were not so fortunate and sport caterpillars above our eyes.  Interestingly enough is that it took me years to even realize I had big, bushy eyebrows.  When I was a young mom of 2 babies I got into a conversation with 3 friends over plucking/waxing/threading eyebrows.  (If you don't know what threading is, google it.  It's fascinating!)  Up until then I don't think I had ever noticed eyebrow shape.  Then I got paranoid.  Were my eyebrows defined or bushy?  My good friend (because only a good friend would do this) plucked my eyebrows for me and I was hooked!!  Wow - I did have huge, bushy eyebrows and now they looked so much better.

So for a few years I was a regular plucker.  Then another friend told me about waxing.  I went to a salon for the first time to have my eyebrows waxed and realized how much easier it was to wax them.  $12 later though.  My second eyebrow waxing didn't turn out near as good as the first and it was then that I decided I could do just as good of a job.  I bought my first Sally Hansen waxing kit and have never looked back.

For only $5 you can easily wax your own eyebrows over and over.  I will tell you that in my 11 years of waxing my own eyebrows, only once have I waxed one of my eyebrows almost entirely off.  It really was awful but became a funny joke with my close friends and family whom I disclosed this to....as if they couldn't notice I only had one eyebrow for a month!

First buy your waxing kit (sorry it's sideways but you get the picture).

Here's what the wax looks like.  Microwave it until it's pasty and warm, not runny and too hot.

Here's my beautiful "before" photo.  They don't look that bushy because over time of waxing, they actually never come in as bushy as they once were.  It's more touch-up waxing after a long time of waxing.

Using a popcycle stick, spread the warm wax just where you want it - CAREFULLY!

Cringe and yank in the opposite direction of the hair.  Then use tiny tweezers from the box to get any scragglers.  It also comes with a nice lotion that has some pain reliever in it.  Put your make-up on and voila!  You've saved yourself over $10!!  So easy!  Wanna see a photo of my bushy eyebrows?  I'll consider posting it....maybe.

Using Up Those Boxes of Cereal

After I got so many good cereal deals, the Fish Sticks were kind of getting tired of the same ole ones.

I had the idea to make rice crispy treats out of the Cocoa and Fruity Pebbles that we had in plenty.

They are more sweet than regular rice crispies but didn't stay around long.

I used the entire box of cereal, the whole bag of marshmallows and 3 Tb. butter.  

Melt the butter and marshmallows in a big bowl in the microwave, add the cereal and stir well.

Press into a 9x13.  That's it - the 5 minutes snack.  I stick my hand in a plastic sandwich bag like a glove to press it into the pan so it won't stick all over me.  Try it!

Yummy Chicken Dish

Sorry it's not the best "food photo."  It tastes better than this photo looks.  :)

Since we are so busy right now with eating on the road or needing meals to be ready when we walk in the door late from a ballgame, I have dreamed of making a cookbook just for busy moms during the sports seasons.  I find myself really having to look thoroughly through recipes to find something that I can cook easily, package well and try to keep it hot (but it still tastes good if it turns lukewarm) to take on the road and eat during this busy season of 2 football teams and cross country.  

I made this last week in the crock pot and love it although I would like to change the name to Taco Chicken because that's more what it tasted like.  It's easy.  It's inexpensive and everyone loved it.  Give it a try!

recipe

Deals & Steals

I took a break from couponing for a few weeks just to limit my running around.  Yesterday I picked it back up and swung by CVS and Walgreens while my daughter had dental work done.  I was pretty happy with the deals that I got.  I didn't separate my photos based on stores like I normally do but I will separate telling you about the deals!

Walgreens:
3 Edge Shaving Gel for $1.25 each
3 Purex detergent for $1.50 each
Nice Water bottles for $2.49 (we use these to take to ball games)
Skittles for 50 cents each (I plan on passing these out to my kids at the football game today and saving from the concession stand)
Softsoap for 99 cents a pump (we were out of soap!  Need to stock up!)
Large Softsoap refill BOGO for $7.79 for both
Dial Foam Soap BOGO for $3.29 for both (this is a larger bottle than the regular pumps and foam usually lasts much longer - trying something new)
3 Capt. Crunch Cereal (a favorite) for $1.76 a box
Cornflakes for $2 a box (saw a recipe for cornflake cookies on Emeals blog this week that I plan on trying.  Only peanut butter, corn syrup, cornflakes and sugar - no bake!)
2 Domino 4 lb. sugar - $1.61 each

CVS:
3 boxes Cheerios for $1.38 each
3 boxes of Truvia for $1 each
Ajax for 49 cents
Charmin for 2 for $9 (we were out of TP!)
Nestle spring water for $2.49

I found these at CVS in the 90% off bin.  They are little cosmetic purses, coin purses, mirrors and notebooks.  I got enough for 8 stockings for girls!  The notebooks were 19 cents each and the bags were 49 cents each.  A steal!!

Call Me Mean

I am a broken record.

I tell my kids this but that means nothing to them in the age that they are growing up in.

My Disney Peter Pan record had a big scratch right when the Indians captured Wendy.
"And a band of indians....
And a band of indians....
And a band of indians.....
And a band of indians...."

Over and over until we knocked the needle a bit to get past the scratch.

I don't know if they will ever understand that analogy but I find myself repeating myself over and over.

Pick up your clothes off the floor.

Put your shoes in the mudroom bench.

Who left their socks scattered in the kitchen?

Put your school folder in your backpack.

Don't forget to clear off your cereal bowl.

I drive myself crazy so I'm SURE I drive my kids crazy.

I know what my problem is.  Say it once.  Expect obedience.  Punish disobedience.  Obedience the 2nd time is disobedience.  It sounds so simple, but for me....well, I must be hard-headed or just extremely merciful which is coming back to bite me.

I'm the queen of new systems to maintain order in my home.  Charts.  Stickers.  Reward systems.  Prizes.  Praise.  Ask the Fish Sticks.  (Rolling of the eyes...."Mom's got a new chart, everyone.")  They are fleeting and it's because of me.  I just can't seem to keep them all up.  OR they lose their motivation with my Fish Sticks.
 
So what's new in the Fish House?  The Lost and Found Box.  New Rule:  Every night after kids are tucked away, I pick up the house....all over....bedrooms included.  Anything OUT OF ITS PLACE gets put into my Lost and Found Box.  No daily reminders.  No repeated directions.  No mercy.  I'm not nagging.  I'm not aggravated.  Just a happy sweep of the house at 8:30.

So how do they redeem their prized possessions that they neglected to put where they belong?  They have a choice:  pay 25 cents per item (that would be 50 cents for a pair of shoes) OR do a chore that is equivalent to 25 cents (I keep a list of pay-worthy chores in my home management notebook.).

This is week 2.  I think 95% of the things you see in this box were collected on Days 1-4.  I think that means its working.

Call me mean, but the needle has been pushed off "And the band of indians...." and I think I've become sweeter because of it.  And what's better than a sweet Mama.....with a picked up house?  :)

Lost and Found Box

Witches Brew for the Fall

I have come to LOVE herbal remedies.  They work for us and I've enjoyed learning about the healing nature of herbs that God gave to us and I think it's fun making the concoctions....call me crazy...it's o.k....you won't be the first.

So with cold season fast approaching, I'm getting prepared to make some herbal remedies.  My son, years ago, teased me and called my herbs Witches Brew.  My Man liked the term and it's tossed around in the house regularly.  I'm not sure if I should laugh, pout or make them the most bitter concoction I can and make them drink it! 

My friend said that Nettle Leaf Glycerite works well for seasonal allergies.  My Man has such a rough time with allergies that I was interested in trying that.  I have run out of the amazing, homemade vanilla extract and made up another quart of that.  I decided to make a healing, first-aid salve and sell it in small jars to help with our adoption fundraising.  I call it Boo Boo Better.  It's great for cuts, bruises, bites, stings - all things first-aid.  Each jar is $5 and I have only sold half of my stock, so let me know if you want some.  It's great to keep in your purse, your kitchen, your bathroom and pass out to friends and family.  And last I am making an immune boosting tincture.  At the first onset of symptoms, I give it to all the kids.  It helps knock out the symptoms and prevent it from spreading to everyone.

My 4 jars of Witches Brew

For my Boo Boo Better Salve, I had to heat the oil-infused herbs in my crock pot for several days until the oil was pretty and dark green.  Smelled so nice!...at least to this Herbal Girl.