Dress-Up Night for Youth Group

Here is a pic of my children #2-6. Luke is in front. He was a "music providin' man for shindigs" (he's holding a guitar). From L-R in the back, Elisabeth is first-place winner in the sweet tea contest, Benjamin (who won first place) was a scarecrow (he has a crow pinned to his right arm, but it blends into the man's shirt behind him), Emily is the Chick-fil-A cow, and Susanna is "the farmer's wife" in the song Three Blind Mice. Notice her 3 mice tails tucked into the waist of her apron and her carving knife. Needless to say, most steared clear of her that night. She made her apron. Very creative bunch here!

~Joan

Spending Update

No picture for this post. My camera battery has died, and I have yet to locate a new one.

Some have asked if I've given up couponing. Far from it! My daily life has been so full. I usually tackle one day at a time, but lately several have ganged up on me at once. I have shopped much less than I have in past months.

We celebrated my DH's birthday meals today. He was not feeling well last Sunday when it was really his birthday. I had to go out for meal supplies last night. He managed to pick meals for which we barely had any ingredients on hand (I can't figure out how to reword that sentence, but it looks really wrong and awkward). His meals? Breakfast: Overnight French Toast, bacon, Christmas Fruit Salad. Lunch: Creamy Chicken Chowder, saltine crackers, and Strawberry Pretzel Salad. Supper: Grilled chicken and steak, Time to Spare Spuds (twice-baked potatoes...home made, of course), steamed broccoli, with Mema's (his maternal grandmother) recipe for banana pudding for dessert. Not beans and rice by any stretch of the imagination.

While I was plunking down nearly $100 for groceries last night (I did get a little pork and ground beef for future meals) at the grocery store, I found myself wondering how we were doing this month as far as spending. When I arrived home, I reluctantly dug up every receipt and entered them into Quicken. I found out that our spending per person per day has been a whopping $1.48. That's our all-time low. I was so encouraged by this. My family was rather non-plussed, but I think they are just used to me saving so much. I was happy enough for all ten of us.

The kids had a farm-themed dress-up this past Wednesday at church. I will be getting some pictures from someone on Sunday, so I will post some of them. My daughter borrowed the cow costume from Chick-fil-A and won 3rd place. My son won first place as a scarecrow. It was kind of last-minute, but fun to make. I used 1/4" ribbon and straight-stitched small bunches of raffia onto it. I made one for his neck, shirtfront, each wrist, and each ankle. I used a piece of burlap and made him a "mask" and sewed buttons on for eyes and a red ribbon for the mouth. I sewed some raffia across the top center seam for hair. He wore one of my husband's hats. The crowning touch was a construction paper crow Emily made that we pinned to his arm. He wore a plaid shirt and jeans. He took a hoe to drape his arms over. He looked great!

~Joan