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.