Community Supported Agriculture ( CSA )

We have a farm down the road from us (Randle Farms) that allows those in the community who are interested, to be able to pay for a share of the farm's harvest. So I bit the bullet and went for it. I'm so excited to get fresh produce that still has its nutrients in it. Did you know that by the time most produce arrives at the supermarket it has lost almost all of its nutrients. And don't even get me started on pesticides. SO other than growing my own garden (WHICH I HIGHLY RECOMMEND) this is the next best thing. You may be asking yourself why I don't just grow my own garden, and my lame excuse is that I'm a one task at a time kinda gal. And with just starting Home Schooling this year, I'm not ready to start another project just yet. But I do intend on making gardening part of our HS routine in the near future.
If you are curious about CSA Farming, just click on Randle Farms up above, and it will take you to the page where they explain this service. Then maybe you'll want to google a farm near you. Its a wonderful thing, you get to support local farms and you get fresh produce. Truly a win/win situation.

From Snow one Week... To Swimming the Next

This is our creek. We are very lucky to have one. But it usually dries up in the Summer time when it would be perfect to go and sit in such cold water.

Real Live Miracle in Alabama....SNOW!!!

It's been about a month now but I wanted to post it anyways. It was like a dream come true for our kiddos. It was Sunday morning and my hubby had just gotten up to take a shower for church when he came back into the bedroom where I was uncharacteristically(wow that's a long word) sleeping in : ). And he says "You are not going to believe this!" Thinking this was an attempt to get me out of bed I groggily say "What?"
"It's SNOWING!!!"
"Really?"
"Come look"
And so it was. We decided to skip church that day just in case it would be melted by the time we got home. Which is what typically happens if we are lucky enough to even get flakes. So we went and gently woke up the munchkins and told them to look outside. They immediately became excited and wanted to run outside and play in it. It didn't look like it was going to last very long at first, so we decided to go further north to see if we could find enough to play in. But by the time we were able to dress everyone in layers and try to scrounge up and dust off the necessary gloves and hats, which luckily I had just gone and bought some because of the last cold snap we had. (Yes, that's all we usually get in Alabama A Cold Snap. They don't really even sell snow appropriate gear where we live.) Any ways by the time we got ready to leave it was snowing really hard. So we decided to call Granny and see if we could go over there instead. The drive over was like a Winter Wonderland. Every where you looked the world was blanketed in glorious snow!
The kids had a blast playing in it, so did Bryan. Rick stayed out in it pretty much the whole day. They made snow men and snow angels and had snow ball fights and even tried to make a few forts. But not being use to snow, they didn't realize how wet and cold it is. All and all I'm so glad Heavenly Father answered our children's prayers this year and let it snow. It will be a treasured childhood memory.
By the way the next week it was warm enough to go swimming. I know CRAZY!

What's your favorite Home Remedy?

I am a member of some really great yahoo groups. One of which is Natural Moms group. This is a place where moms can help each other out with anything natural. The other day I was asking advise on how to treat a sick baby at home. I got some wonderful responses back.

This got me thinking that maybe other moms would like to share their favorite home remedies. I would really like to know what other moms do at home to take care of their families.

I'll try to start the ball roll'n....
-My mom brought me up on Tissue Salts, they are totally homoeopathic and don't have any side affects that I know of [I would know because when I was little I would eat the whole bottle. I think this maybe one of the reasons I never get sick.].
-And I highly recommend Teething Tablets which are vary similar. When you are at the end of your rope at 2 o'clock in the morning, thinking your baby is never going to settle down and go to sleep, Teething Tablets work like a charm every time.

Ok so there's my secret weapons. I'd love to see what great knowledge the rest of you ladies have to share. Haben

Bath and Body Works Coupon

Check out this coupon I found on another fellow thrifty mom's blog. http://thompsontimes-b.blogspot.com/2009/01/bath-and-body-works-coupon.html
Thanks, Thompsons.

We have been struggling to dam up the leaks in our budget for years now. And I am finally at a point where I am serious about doing something about it. I'm so tired of never having anything to show for the money my husband works so hard to make. I'm tired of our checking account being overdrawn. I'm tired of not having the money to buy new furniture when the hand-me-downs finally give out. I want to learn to save. I want to be satisfied with what I have, and I don't have to have alot. But I would like to have the money when I need it. Ok Ok I would like to be able to travel with my children. But other than that I can learn to do better. I've always thought I was thrifty, I shop sales and frequent thrift stores. But even doing those things can eat your money if you don't have a set limit on how much you allow yourself to spend. We think that just because it is a sale or at a yard sale we're getting a good deal, but I think our culture is so obsessed with getting a deal that we lose site of what is really important. So when is enough enough? Is it ok to not be able to pay our monthly bills as long as we get a great deal on that new flat screen tv that was marked down $200? Of course not but in the moment we're not thinking of the bills, all we're thinking about is how much we saved on the monster we just bought. Sorry I can get a little philosophical sometimes, but you have to admit that our priorities can get really screwed up sometimes.

So what can we do to change? IF you have any great advise for saving money let me hear it. I could really use the help!!!

I've never been able to go by a budget because my husband's income is constantly fluctuating. So I could use some advise here to.

Any one have any success with the envelope method of paying bills and saving for certain things?

Another contest!!!

GIVEAWAY! Crayola Art Studio

It's a really cool computer program w/all kids of different medias you can use. So check out this site and enter to win!
http://www.freelyeducate.com/2009/01/giveaway-crayola-art-studio.html?cid=6a00e55098fdaf8833010536b9fad2970c#comment-form


Turns out she has three contests going on. Here is the second one:
http://www.freelyeducate.com/2009/01/giveaway-corefx-three-level-graphic-design-software.html

And here is the last giveaway. It's two e-cookbooks. Good luck!!!
http://www.freelyeducate.com/2009/01/healthcurriculumgiveaway.html