Paper Bag Tacos

This week is crazy busy! Our Family Fun Friday will have to take place on Saturday instead, but it's the fun that counts! This time we will be making tacos in paper bags and having a picnic in the living room while we watch a movie.

Paper Bag Tacos:

-corn chips
- taco meat
- shredded cheese
- lettuce
-diced tomatoes


Place ingredients in a ziploc bag inside a brown paper lunch bag and enjoy!

Third time's the charm?

I must admit I do this blogging thing in spurts...I start out strong and them life happens and I forget about blogging. I sure would like to have a blog and share and connect with so many of the other wonderful bloggers. Maybe I'm not meant to be a blogger, maybe I need to spend those precious minutes on other things. But what a gift it would be to be able to look back and recall some of the fun things my girls and I do together, and to share them with others. So here goes one more shot...

Make This Monday - Refried Beans

This takes canned refried beans to a whole new level!

4 slices pre-cooked bacon
Several onion slices
2 cans refried beans
½ cup water



Cook onion and bacon together for 5 minutes. Add beans and water and simmer together until smooth.

Family Fun Friday

This past summer we started haveing a few themed "fun days". Princess 1 really enjoyed them, and I did as well. A couple of themes that I used were lemon day, picnic day, and hula day. We would dress accordingly, do a craft, and have a related snack. Nothing fancy but it made for some great memories. I am working to implement some more of these days soon and would like to share them here to inspire everyone to take the time to make things extra special for your families. Check back next Friday for the first installment!

Thrifty Thursday - Hem Your Own Pants

I am a petite gal, which is fine except when I need to buy pants. It is a rare occassion to find a pair of pants that aren't 4 inches too long. When we moved here, one of the wardrobe items I needed to purchase was a warm pair of workout pants so I could go for walks. I found a nice pair of fleece-lined columbia workout pants on clearance for $13, a pretty good bargain. But when they arrived, they were much too long. Our local dry cleaner charges $13 to hem pants, so that would have doubled the cost of the pants. I decided it was time for me to learn the skill myself. I am a novice sewer so I studied this tutorial, as well as calling my mom for advice. It turned out to be easier than anticipated and what a sense of accomplishment! Now I won't have to pay someone else to hem all my pants. If you are petite like me, give this a try next time you find a nice pair of pants on sale.

Building a new wardrobe

So many things have changed sine we moved from Arizona to the Pacific Northwest - one of them being our wardrobe. My oldest daughter did not even have a long sleeve shirt when we moved and I had to buy her some warm clothes the day after we arrived. Our shorts and flip-flops are not going to see much use here and we need almost a whole new set of cothes for this new climate but we are trying to recover financially from the move. I have had some success finding a few pieces at Goodwill, such as winter coats for the girls and some light sweaters that will work well for me in the spring. So utilitizing Goodwill works for me, are there any other inexpensive ways to build a new wardrobe?

Making a happy home...in a new state

So just as I was getting into the swing of blogging, life got flipped upside down. In a wild turn of events we wound up moving from the desert to the Pacific Northwest. It all happened rather quickly and was a very emotional and physically draining yet exciting time. It was so neat to watch how God orchestrated things, and just made everything work out for us.

I am finally feeling somewhat settled in our new home and would like to give this blog another go. Hoping that recording our adventures in discovering our new surroundings will give me the motivation to write :)

Thrifty Thursday - Keep a tally

As we are saving up to purchase a new home, I have been keeping a detailed record of our monthly expenditures so that we have a very accurate figure for what we can afford, and how much we truly do spend each month. I have found this to be especially helpful in the grocery category. That is one of the few areas of most people's budgets that is not set it stone, leaving it easy to overspend. I have gotten in the habit of adding my total to the grocery column as soon as I get back from a shopping trip. Seeing the toal amount spent as we go through the month is helping me stay on track in this area.

What thrifty tips do you have to share?

Make This Monday - Cheese Enchilada Chowder

This got rave reviews at my house and is so easy to put together.

1 can black beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1 tsp chopped jalepeno
Several slices of onion
1 can enchilada sauce
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cups milk
1 cup each of shredded Monterey jack and cheddar cheeses


Add vegetables to crockpot. Combine enchilada sauce, soup, and milk in a bowl and pour over vegetables. Cook on low 6-8 hours. Stir in cheese until melted. Serve over polenta or with tortilla chips.

Thrifty Thursday - Rotisserie Chicken

Our family likes to have roasted chicken. But I don't like cooking it, and most rotisserie chickens from the store are small and pricey. I recently tried one from Costco and was impressed. $4.99 for a good-sized chicken. I don't think I would be able to buy a whole roaster for much less than that, and they do the work for me. We prefer the white meat, so I shred that up along with a little of the dark meat to stretch it a bit further. Then I use the bones to make my own chicken stock, further increasing our savings. I have also found that I can make gravy from the drippings at the bottom of the container. For all that I am able to make from one chicken it is really a good value.

Please feel free to share any of your thrifty tips!

Mini-Sweeper

Our dining room is carpeted. Not sure why the builder thought that was a good idea, but that's what we have to work with. Not the ideal set-up with two young kids. My youngest is still in her high-chair with a big rubber mat underneath to catch the spills. But it was still a pain to clean up after mealtimes until I bought a mini hand-held broom and dustpan at Target in the dollar section. Makes clean up much easier and my four year old can help. Works for me!


More WFMW here

Make This Monday - Cherry Cheesecake Muffins

Batter: 1 box white cake mix, 8 oz cream cheese, ½ cup sour cream, 2 eggs, ¼ cup sugar

Filling: 8 oz cream cheese, ¼ cup sugar, 1 egg

Crust: 2 cups crushed graham cracker crumbs, ½ cup sugar, 6 Tbl. Melted butter.

Additional: ½ cup cherry preserves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat batter ingredients for 3 minutes. Beat filling until smooth.

Make crust mixture. Pour batter into muffin tins and top each with 1 tsp cherry preserves.

Top with some filling and sprinkle with crust mixture. Bake for 25 minutes.

Family Fun Friday

This weekend we are having a lemon party. We'll be dressing in yellow, making lemon slushies, and crafting lemon trees out of felt.

Blog Hop 2010

Welcome to A Bright and Happy Home! Thanks for stopping by! My blog is meant to encourage others (and myself) in creating a bright, happy place for their families. I like to share crafts, recipes and natural/frugal living ideas. Take a look around and I would love it if you could leave a note to say Hi!

Visit other bloggers at the Blog Hop 2010!

Repurposing burp cloths

When my babies were little, it seemed like we could never have enough burp cloths around. Now that we are out of the spit-up stage of life, I have come up with a few ideas for re-using the burp cloths and saving money in the process.

The heavy-duty flannel burp-cloths make great table-toppers for our oldest. I lay one down for a messy art project or messy meal, then just wash in my next load of cleaning rags.

The lighter weight burp cloths have been great for wiping my one-year-old's face and hands after meals. No more wasting money on paper towels.

Embracing It

We live in the southwest and it is HOT here. We're talking 110 or more on most days throughout the summer. And summer lasts until mid-October. And I don't like the heat. Most years I complain about how much I hate it and count the days until we can go outside again. Makes for a long, miserable summer.

So this year, I am trying to embrace the season. Trying to join in with the rest of the country and their love of summer days. I am burning my summer scented candles - coconut, lemon meringue, etc. I am planning little summer - themed mini-parties for my girls ( although we have to do them inside). We have hit a few pools and splash pads, and hope to get to some more this month. I will be sharing a sponge-ball craft soon that will be a good way to have some fun while staying cool.

The shift in my attitude has really helped. It is August and I am still hanging in there! Embracing the season and trying to make the best of it works for me!


Get more great tips here http://wearethatfamily.com/

Picnic Party

This weekend we had the latest in my installment of mini family parties. This time the theme was Picnic. On Saturday we spread a blanket in the living room for lunch. We made chicken salad sandwiches, carrots, juice and cookies. I let Krista help me pack it all into a basket and we used some of the leftover pink paper plates from her birthday party. Even Daddy joined in on the fun. It was a nice lunch and when we were all done my daughter looked at me and said "This was the best picnic ever. Thank you Mommy!"

What have you done to add some fun to your family's day lately?

Let's try this again

This poor blog has been pushed aside by the buysness of life. For a while I honestly forgot it existed. But I'd like to start up again and use this as a place to organize and share my ideas. I so enjoy doing crafts and fun special things with my girls - but often I spend too much time planning and never get around to the doing. So, maybe this blog can hold me accountable and give readers some inspiration at the same time.

Make This Monday - Bisquick Oven Chicken

1/3 cup bisquick
Salt
Pepper
Paprika
Garlic powder
Dash onion powder
1 tablespoon butter, melted
3 or 4 chicken breasts



Season bisquick to taste. Melt butter and pour into bottom of 13x9 baking pan. Dredge chicken in bisquick and place in baking pan. Bake at 425 degrees for 35 minutes. Turn over and bake for another 15 minutes or until cooked through.

Make This Monday - Mexican Pizza

Hubby made this for dinner a couple of weeks ago and it was so delicious!

1 bag pizza dough
1/2 cup taco sauce
1/2 lb ground beef, seasoned with taco seasoning
1/2 cup pico de gallo
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
1/2 cup shredded lettuce
4 oz can sliced black olives


Brown ground beef with taco seasoning. Spread dough out on baking sheet. Top with taco sauce, then ground beef, then pico de gallo, and then cheeses. Bake 10-13 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and cheese is bubbly. Allow to cool for 5 minutes and then top with lettuce and black olives.