No eating Out!

We are not eating out this month, our month runs 7/10-8/10. It was kind of a dare to see if we could do it. It is usually hard but when we all agreed to it it became easier. Usually I like to call Ben when I can't think of anything to make, or don't have the right foods to throw together, and have him grab something. And usually we eat out 1-2 times a weekend. Not expensive dinners but they all add up. Now I am having to be responsible and think through every dinner before dinner time. :) I am actually enjoying it a bit. We will be going on small beach vacation during this time period and of course no eating out. So I have been making and freezing food so we won't eat out but I won't waste my vacation away cooking and cleaning. So far I have frozen lasagna, chicken enchiladas, quiche, and twice baked potatoes. I will make frozen fruit salad later today and hopefully get to making some homemade bread and cinnamon rolls this week. And while I was at it I made a lasagna and twice baked potatoes for some other time. I love having frozen food put away in the freezer. It makes me happy.

Do you guys have foods you like to freeze for later?

Drum Roll Please

So The contest is now over. I was surprised that two of my friends who I know read never posted but they are probably enjoying summer and not checking my blog.

So here is a list of what everyone thinks should be read. I agree with many of you as I have read about half of the suggestions and now will be looking at picking up others.

1. Karrie-Sam’s Letter to Jennifer, 19 Minutes
2.Chrissy- The Help, The Forgotten Beast of Eld, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, the Passion
3. Donna- Every Woman’s Battle, Safely Home, The Choice, The Love Languages of God
4. Amy Wood- Gospel Primer, Dug Down Deep, Gospel Power Parenting
5. Martha- Safely Home
6. Sarah (Smiles)- Shepherding a Childs Heart, Don’t Make Me Count To Three
7. Sarah Arnold- The Help, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, The Seven Miracles that Saved America
8. Candi- Terri Blackstock books
9. Rachel- Bringing Up Boys
10. DG- The Help
11. Alyssa-Dear John

Donna and Alyssa, I love Nicholas Sparks books, have read them all. I think The Choice was one of his best and I just watched the Dear John movie last night.
Chrissy, DG, and Sarah A., I have just had The Help added to my Kindle. I had it on my wish list at paperbackswap for about 6 months but it is taking too long to get it. Can't wait to read it.

Thank you all for entering. Now for the winner. I entered the numbers 1-11 into random.org and out came #4. So that would be. . . . Amy Wood. Amy I will be sending that gift card to you in the next week. I am not sure how soon I will read your books though. They are not easy reads. :) haha

Starbucks Gift Card contest

Today is the last day to enter to win a $10.00 Starbucks Gift Card. Just add a book you think I should read to this post or the one down below that I first mentioned the contest in. You can enter once. I need some more ideas do keep them coming.

LOOKING FOR

James and the Giant Peach on DVD. We really enjoyed the book on CD when we were on our trip and would love to watch this with the kids when we go to the beach in a week and a half. I would buy it but the new version comes out in September and I cannot find an older version. I reserved it from the library BUT they are all out right now and I don't know if it will get to me in time. Anyone, anyone. . .

Just 5 days left

So right now if you have entered the contest I am running you have a great chance at winning. 1 in 4. I am not sure where all my readers have gone but they are missing out!

In the spirit of my contest I want to recommend a few books myself. I just finished the third book in a series. The first of the three is called The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I really enjoyed Stieg's writing style. It has a bit more depth then a lot of mystery books. There are very few books, that I read, that I feel I can recommend for both sexes. I think both male and females will enjoy this series. I just finished The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest. I liked the way he wrapped up the series but I am going to miss the characters. I really came to like them. And since the author died shortly after he gave up his manuscripts there will not be a 4th book.

I was waiting for my favorite author, Charles Martin, to release his latest book earlier this month. Sadly it wasn't one of my favorites of his. I liked it and at the same time felt there was just something I didn't like about it. Not sure what though. This book felt more like a Nicholas Sparks book. Which isn't bad as he also is one of my favorite authors. Before this book, I liked that they had a similar writing style but went in different directions with that.

I am about to start a Sherlock Holmes book. Been awhile since I read one of those but I am ready for a classic.

contest

I was looking around my blog hoping to see what I did the last two years for our wedding anniversary. I guess we didn't do anything too exciting because I never wrote about it, we just always thought we would do something big on our 10th. OOPS

But when looking around I did find an old post about a contest I did in August 2008. I asked you all for a good read. I actually read a few books that were suggested and amazingly had 12 comments. That has to be a record for my blog.

Sooooo that got me thinking. It must be time for another contest. I am always looking for new books or new authors. So starting now and ending Sunday, July 25th I would like your favorites, something on your list to read, or a book you have heard a lot about lately. I will then randomly choose 1 winner of a $10.00 STARBUCKS gift card. You, anyone reading this, not just my friends or family, can comment as many times as you want but only 1 post will count.

H E L P

So Ben and I have been married ALMOST 10 years. I cannot for the life of me think of any good gifts. Do you have any ideas? We also have no idea what we are doing for our anniversary. Pretty lame huh? :) We went on that road trip and are out of money now. So any ideas on a cheaper anniversary evening?

O, and if you read this blog and never post I am desperate enough to take ideas from strangers. :) Please post an idea, I am begging you all for HELP!

Summer night

Last night we had some friends over for dinner in the backyard. I wanted to have some families over that I don't know real well or don't see very often. It was so nice. The fam spent the weekend weeding and getting the yard and playset in order. Ben also bought me a fire pit. (Thank you babe!!! I can't wait to use it much more with just Ben and the kids.) So last night, we sat around and had dinner and then later had smores. The kids were all wonderful and it was so nice to sit around and catch up and learn new things about friends. I am not sure why I don't do this more often. The kids went to bed saying they had a blast and would love to do it again tonight! haha

I love summer. Love, love, love summer.

PROUD TOO BE AN AMERICAN

Happy Fourth of July!!

Today is Alicia's favorite holiday so we try to make it great for her. I hope to teach her a respect for the men and women who serve, ensuring she can enjoy this holiday. And a respect for the American flag and all it stands for. Anyway, there will be lots of family, a parade and fireworks and, of course, great food. Plus we don't watch the kids caffeine intake as much!

Hope your day is as good as our will be!

Big Girls Room

Ben and Ethan working on moving all the furniture over after the room was painted. Ethan enjoyed helping us while Alicia was at camp.




I Love the way Alicia's room turned out. Best of all, Alicia Loves the room as well!! The pictures don't do it justice. We are still looking for some kind of window treatment but other then that we have finally found everything we needed. It was a lot of work this week. She was very surprised to come home to her new room and was very happy indeed.

We did her room in grasshopper wing green with pink, white and a great blue accents. A couple of my favorite things aren't in the pictures. There was a big tote that wias polka dotted with the right shades of blue that she will use as a dirty clothes tote and then Target had some great white and blue containers for her closet. I am hoping she can keep her room clean since it is really clean right now.