9/29/2009

And the winner is...

The randomly selected winner of the free poster print from digitalroom.com is...

comment number 2


Kerrie said... I would make a poster of my son's football team for my husband's office

Congrats to Kerrie and thanks to everyone who entered.

Homemade Granola Recipe

A couple weeks ago I posted my peach syrup recipe. I included a photo of the syrup on top of vanilla ice cream sprinkled with my homemade granola. [Editor's note: Yum!] Amanda asked in the comments for my homemade granola recipe. So Amanda, here it is!


This recipe, like most of mine, are a combination of several. I've tweaked it be a good compromise between what my picky eaters will eat and still have it healthy enough that I'll let them eat it. It's sometimes a hard balance to find in our house.

Do you make your own granola? What do you do differently?

To see more great recipe ideas join us on:
Carnival of Super Foods
Food on Fridays
Fight back Friday
Foodie Friday
Food Roots
Tasty Tuesday
Tackle it Tuesday

Tempt my tummy Tuesday
Real Food Wednesday



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9/28/2009

Salad Bar Frugal


It's been well documented that I don't eat out for lunch. Once a month.... maybe. I'm quite well known around the office for my PB+Js. The main driver here is frugality, but there are two attractive side-effects:

  1. Health - While a lot of the usual lunch stops taste good, they don't necessarily make you feel good. Now I'm not trying to claim PB+J as health food, but a lot of restaurant food is loaded with salt, or fat, or sugar, or.... who knows what. Bottom line is - I stay healthier when I don't eat out.
  2. When I do go out, it's a treat - I'm not at a loss because all the lunch spots are old-hat. It's actually an enjoyable experience and not just part of the daily grind. I chose the restaurant carefully - my one lunch out per month is not going to be at McDonald's.
All that said, there are times when I forget my left-overs at home, or run out of peanut butter are left with few options:

Option 1> Starve. This is not a good option. This happens enough on the days when meetings get scheduled over lunch, and come 2pm I'm trying to figure out why I'm so hungry. There are no winners here.

Option 2> Go out. This is really only a win in the taste department. Cost, time, health all pretty much go down the tubes.

Option 3> Cafeteria. Conveniently located, reasonably priced, and dubious nutritional value. 2 outta 3 ain't bad. So let's look at this further.

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9/23/2009

Cloth Diaper Update

Yesterday someone asked the Mr. and I about using cloth diapers and how much we saved from using them. I had to admit that I had not looked at the numbers for awhile. After opening the excel spreadsheet and pulling up our last update post I can see why! Our daughter has been in the same size for over 500 days!



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9/22/2009

The Big Birthday Lesson: A new tradition


Why do we celebrate birthdays? How do we celebrate birthdays? I find myself pondering these questions over the past few years. It seems like birthdays (along with most holidays) have been hi-jacked by our commercialized world.

People used to celebrate birthdays because it was a big deal to have made it through another year of life. Children and adults alike were not as blessed as we are to have access to healthy food and medicine. They also did not have huge blow out parties with 30 kids at an expensive location outside their home while expecting their child to be showered by $20-$40 gifts.

I decided that enough is enough. I'm putting the breaks on this train wreck. I'm not letting my children's birthdays be hi-jacked. That is when I started thinking... Now that sometimes gets me into trouble but this time I think I came up with a great way to make their birthdays special while making it into a learning experience. Here is what we did.

What unique birthday tradition does your family have?

Find more great ideas on:
Works for me Wednesday


image from supercoolbaby.com

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9/20/2009

Poster Print Giveaway


DigitalRoom.com has generiously offered to sponsor a giveaway here on Not the Jet Set for a FREE 18x24" Rolled Poster Print. Which we, of course, accept!

We will be using our high quality poster print in our living room. The blown up photo of our daughters will be one of the center pieces for the new "Family Wall" we are creating to help bring a more causal feel to the room. It's also an inexpensive way to add art to your walls!

  1. Simply tell us what you will do with your poster if you win.
  2. Blog about the giveaway and link your blog as well as DigitalRoom.com.
  3. Add us to your blogroll and let us know in the comments.

This contest ends on Sept. 28th at 5:00pm EST. The randomly selected winner will be announced on Sept 29th. An email will be sent to the winner. They will have 24 hours to provide the needed information. This giveaway is open to US residents only. FREE UPS Ground Shipping is provided.

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9/17/2009

Reusable Bags Don't Reuse Themselves


Reusable shopping bags have been around for decades. But they really became en vogue a few years ago. Today, nearly every major retailer has their own bags for sale, and there's instructions readily available to make your own. Reusable bags make so much sense that the city of San Francisco as well as many countries around the world have banned or now tax plastic disposable shopping bags.

We're not here to convince you to make the switch - that case has already been made. No, this is a post about what happens after you've bought the bags.

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9/15/2009

The BIG Birthday Surprise!

It's hard to believe that our oldest daughter just turned 6 years old! The time flies by so fast. She has been wanting a bunk bed for almost two full years now. Of course we said the usual "Not until you are 6." bit. Well, she is now six years old and her little sister is ready to bust out of the crib.

Time for a new big girl room for the girls to share. As you know we are not made of money, but I still wanted a room the girls will love. It did take a lot of time to do the searching but with a little luck, Craigs list and spray paint I was able to accomplish my vision for their bedroom. If you didn't get a chance to see the inspiration rooms feel free to take a peek at yesterday's post.

Click through for the video tour!

Here is what their room looked like prior to the makeover.





And here is the final product!


Instead of rambling on and on about everything we did to the room I decided to make a video tour. I hope that you enjoy it!



All weekend long the Mr. and I felt like we were on Trading Spaces with just two days, two people and a small budget. To go along with that them we decided to capture the big reveal on video. It was so adorable to see our daughters reactions. It was just like on Trading Spaces! It was priceless.

We spent a total of $864 which includes all the furniture, paint, bedding, and much more. I'd give you a breakdown of the prices, BUT, I'm going to save that for a new "Price My Space" post. I'll also be posting some tutorials and specifics on how we made some of the items in the room out of scraps we had laying around.

So what do you think of the room?

For more DIY and home decor ideas visit:
Tackle it Tuesday

DIY Day @ ASPTL
Make your Monday



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9/14/2009

Girl's Room Inspiration

Before I reveal the girls' new room I wanted to share with you my inspiration and prep work. As many of you know already, it is VERY important to make a plan before starting any project. This one was no different. I gathered all my inspiration photos, created a budget, and a time line. In the end I was actually surprised how well the plan came together. In our house things don't always go as planned when we tackle remodeling projects so it was nice to have this small room makeover go so smooth.

Here was my inspiration pieces:

Painted Dressers

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9/11/2009

Microfinance or Microslavery?


Microfinance is rather broadly defined as

"financial services for the poor or low-income"
This definition includes say... a community-based savings bank in Cambodia. The intent of such banks was to serve those that traditional banks could not or would not reach. Not going to find B of A there any time soon, and thank God. In more recent years though, this theory has taken to the web and spawned several microcredit services. Kiva, MicroPlace, and Prosper have all popped up and attempt to take advantage of the poor fill a niche.

Previously, I've payed almost no attention to any of these. As you may have gathered by now, we're rather debt-averse. I know that Kiva and Prosper were all the rage three or four years ago. People helping people. What's wrong with that? Well, it depends upon your definition of help.

What got my attention, was when a group at church discussed doing microfinance as a part of social justice. hmmmm....

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9/09/2009

An End to Summer

School started on Tuesday and I just couldn't let my daughter start school without one last visit to my parent's farm. We had a wonderful week of enjoying nature and other local activities that were all free.

There were flowers to decorate with


Cool evening breezes to rock in


Sisters to play with


Slides to ride


Grammies to hug


Birthdays to celebrate

Tractors to ride


Free zoos to visit


Even free hair eating to boot'

Funny faces to make


Webs to conquer


Farmer markets to sample


Evening rides along the creek


Morning walks through the wildlife preserve


Wildflowers and weeds in the ditch to clip


It was a wonderful way to bring summer to a close. Just a few more sweet memories of a summer's past. The memories will be priceless and oh so precious as she grows older. She will never once stop to think about the amount of money I spent on those memories. She will never know that we didn't have any money to budget towards a summer vacation. She will only remember the things we did, not the things we didn't do.

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9/08/2009

Shock and Excitement!

These were the emotions I felt when I looked out our back window and saw this in the bushes just three feet away.


14 EGGS!

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9/07/2009

Performance Review Update: After 6 months!


After 6 months, HR finally has a response.

A response to what!?

Oh right, it's been a while, so let's get a quick recap of the situation:

  • 2008 results come in - Economy is in the crapper, profits are down
  • Merit increases (raises) were suspended
  • Bonuses were cut by 75%
  • 401k contributions were suspended
  • Part of our 401k match was replaced with company stock
So my proposal, after a positive review, was this:

The company is substituting what they have (company stock) for what they don't (cash). So I asked that they do the same when it comes to raises - substitute what they have (time) for what they don't (cash). If I have to forgo my raise, then at least give me a few extra days off.

It took six months, but I got an answer - and it blew my mind.

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9/05/2009

Do You Tithe? Would Your Kids Think To?


We don't watch much TV here at the NtJS ranch. We have a few indulgences - The Office, 30 Rock, The Biggest Loser - and in the summer, America's Got Talent. There's plenty to love about this show. The eclectic group of judges - interestingly enough that 2 of the 3 are not from America. The incredibly talented contestants, and even those less so. And then there's that unexpected element.

Some would argue that's the best part.

"Well, first I would tithe"
Wow. Mature beyond his years. His answer definitely threw Cannon for a loop, who also surprised me in knowing that a tithe is 10%. Cannon pressed him further and Michael finally came up with that he would seek his father's help with the money. The phrase "seek wise council" comes to mind.

Also coming to mind, are a few questions....
  1. Do you tithe?
  2. If faced with a $1M windfall, would you first think to give a cut to the Lord?


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9/03/2009

4 Things That Don't Affect Your Credit Score


Behind on bills? Debt piling up? Facing foreclosure? For many Americans in these situations, one of their biggest concerns is protecting their credit. Which is sad. At a time when you should be more concerned with feeding your family, producing an income, keeping your house, and hanging on to your marriage, instead their head is wrapped around a three digit number. Perhaps this is a good time to review exactly what your credit score is NOT - a measure of winning.

After the jump, we'll review 4 things that don't affect your FICO score.

  1. Income - It seems so basic. An almost indispensable measure of ones ability to pay a bill. Yet when assessing your ability to do just that, a cable company or mobile phone provider isn't looking at that. For all they know, you may make $100k per year, or be unemployed. A FICO score does not reflect that. Six figures is trumped by three.
  2. Investments - As much as you income is not considered, neither are your investments. $50k in mutual funds? Not nearly as important as that phone bill that got sent to collections 5 years ago.
  3. Savings - Ok, ok, investments aren't exactly liquid. Are liquid assets weighed as a part of your score? Emergency funds? CDs? Money Market accouts? No way.
  4. Net Worth - The no-holds barred measure of financial success. What you own minus what you owe. As Dave Ramsey often discusses - he has no FICO score, he hasn't borrowed money in so long that Fair Issac cannot calculate a score. He's a multi-millionaire. He can't rent an appartment at that complex down the street. He could cut a check and buy the entire place, but they wouldn't rent to him.
No one would dispute the importance of these 4 things. The 4 most important considerations in assessing your financial well-being. And yet none of it factors into your FICO score.

So what does that tell you?

It has nothing to do with your financial success. It simply shows your history of making payments and your willingness to stay in debt - your creditworthiness. Stop worrying about it. Stop stewing and fretting. Stop borrowing money and you'll find how little your FICO score matters.

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9/01/2009

Seasonal Recipes: Tomatoes

There is no shortage of great tomato recipes. It must have do to with the large volumes of tomatoes you can usually find in ones garden. This year I'll be putting up tons of tomatoes (most of them from the farmer's market, not my own garden). Some of the things I'll be making are katcup (w/ the secret family recipe), bbq sauce, tomato soup, plum tomatoes and pizza sauce.

I've found several pizza sauce recipes that sounded almost perfect for our family but for one reason or another were not perfect for our taste. So what did I do? The usual, combine the best of each recipe. I ended up combining a Martha Steward recipe that sounded a little bland with a friend's recipe (not sure her source) that had sugar in it. What I came up with was a great tasting recipe that has the taste of fresh tomatoes but a good balance of garlic and spices.

  • Saute garlic
  • Add tomatoes and cook until soft
  • Add spice mix and simmer for 5 minutes
  • Put through food mill
  • Return to sauce pan and reduce until thick
This recipe makes enough for two normal sized pizzas.


Like usual, my favorite recipes are very simple. Less is more. You just need to start out with good fresh ingredients and you have it made! I'll be making a lot more batches of this recipe and freezing it in small containers to use over the winter months.

If you are wondering about the pizza in the photo. It is a homemade whole wheat crust, the pizza sauce per recipe, local all natural hot sausage and local mozzarella cheese. Even our picky eaters devoured these yummy creation.

What are some of the things you are doing to preserve your tomatoes for the winter?

Would you like to check out more tasty recipes or share your own? Join us on:
Tasty Tuesday
Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
Food Roots
Fight Back Friday

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