TV you HAVE to watch!

We have been watching a TON of documentaries on food lately and they have made a real impact on us and on our choices. I would like to recommend a few. If you haven't seen 'Food Inc.' you need to drop everything and see it today! It will at least spark you to write a few a few emails or change your buying habits. We also watched 'Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead". This one made us run out and buy a juicer, LOL. The deeper impact is that it made me realize that I really can get almost everything I need from vegetables. While I'm not doing a juice fast, I am incorporating fresh vege and fruit juice into my days and it is making a real impact. We watched 'Forks over Knives' and this one had a real impact on my husband. Cancer runs in his family in a big way and he took special note of the studies done linking meat and meat products to increases in disease and cancer. Next we watched "Engine 2 Diet' and it is done by the son of one of the doctors in Forks Over Knives. It inspired us to try new plant based, whole grain foods

without fear. Oh, and we bought his cookbook. LOL We also watched 'Food Matters' and while it wasn't our favorite, it was free and worth a watch. We learned a lot about super foods and some of what they said made a lot of sense to us. Now, all of those were free on Netflix so you aren't out anything but time if you watch them.

We rented two more from Zune that were really quite amazing. We watched 'Vegucated' and it was AMAZING! It showed how average people can be vegan or even vegetarian with little effort and it makes a big affect. It was moving, educational and enthralling. My five year old stated that he wasn't going to eat animals "ever again" after watching it with us. I felt the same way. We then watched 'Fresh' and we loved this one too. It isn't about being vegan or vegetarian. It IS about being more aware of your food choices and where they come from and how they get to your plate. It also advocates buying fresh and local. We found out that there is a store not too terribly far from our home that sells only local goods from small local farms. We are SO going as soon as we get the chance! How awesome is that?!?

Well, if you watch them all, you are out about twenty hours and less than ten dollars. I feel that they are all worth a watch whether leisurely or with purpose. Now, I have to run. I will leave you with this so very awesome, completely delicious, completely vegan pizza we had for dinner last night. Yum Yum Yum!!

Wow Wow Wubzy

Ever watch with amazement at the joy and wonderment of a toddler? We are at that awesome stage where she thinks that everything is so cool! It's a good reminder to cherish every moment. They are fleeting. Enjoy my amazing little miss!

Sewing fun

I've been spending a lot of time on pinterest. I find so much inspiration there. I've also been clocking my points over at dailyfeats.com , which you should so head over and do if you are not already. I recently earned a $10 Starbucks gift card. I'm halfway to another gift card and I'm going to make it Staples so that I don't have to pay for new inserts for my planner. Anyhow, today I want to share my awesome coin purse that I made last night.

It was lots of fun and a little trying at times. The red line is my bakcstitching. I'm still learning to sew and my hand sewing is very atrocious but I figure I will only get better with practice. You should run over and check out this amazing tute! Talk about step by step instructions to help you create a unique and cute little goodie for you or someone who is special to you. All of my younger littles have requested one, which I knew would happen and planned accordingly. I'm also thinking that I could whip out a few for Christmas.

Maybe I'll do a little step-by-step with the next one I make. You know, so those of us with a LOT less sewing skills than the goddess who originally made this might have a more fighting shot.

Organizing My Coupons

Well, it's been more than a few days, but life is what it is. So, I promised a post on my couponing obsession. I should state that I used to coupon with great regularity but got out of it due to location and all that. (read also:laziness) Anyhow, so in a way I'm a little new to the idea. Plus when I used to coupon I did it on a small scale. It's important to know the coupon policies of all the stores where you plan to use your coupons. For instance, Walmart will only let you use forty without manager permission and I have a store near me (Woods) that will not take internet coupons. This is important to know when you are on a mission and have a handful of coupons and a long list. Better to know before you get in line with a full cart.

I start by buying between four and ten papers a Sunday. I get a preview of the inserts in my email box so I usually know how many I'm going to want. It also depends on how many they have at the store and if I remembered to pick up quarters. Meh. I put like insert pages together and cut them all at once, usually. If I buy a bunch, this doesn't work as well because the pages get wonky during cutting and you can cut off the bar codes. Ask me how I know. Anyhow, it doesn't take that much more time to break them up and do three or four pages at a time.

I spend a lot of time over at MoneySavingMom (and you can follow her on Facebook. Very useful) and looked through all of her coupony goodness. She uses the coupon box. It's cheaper and only costs five dollars to start, so that's where I started. The coupons are kept in alphabetical envelopes with an index cart to state the category. This is fine, but a bit of a pain if you are in the store and you see an unplanned deal and you think you have that coupon, but have to look. Now, do it with a toddler, a five year old and whatever else kid (or husband) that you had to lug out with you. No fun and easy to make a mess. I used this method for about a month. Last week, I changed it.

So now I'm doing the ever popular binder method. I use a zippy trapper-keeper-thingy (although they aren't called that anymore and if you say it within ear distance of anyone in public they look at you like you have eight heads) and those sheets that kids use when collecting baseball cards. Sometimes I have to skim down the sides of my coupons to get them to fit, but it works. Just yesterday I had the perfect chance to use my binder to its full capacity. I was in the store and had to thumb through it, easy peasy. I think I'm in love!

I also bought those stick on label tabs. I love, love, love those deals. Post It is amazing. lol This also feeds my Queen of the Organized side. I'm not a hundred percent done putting my binder together, but here you can see my tabs. The yellow tabs are non-food items, in alphabetical order. Food will be blue and red, although I haven't exactly decided if it will be mix and match or a method to the madness. It's easy to thumb through, easy to carry and very easy to use. I was also using dry erase markers to write the expiration date on the front of the pocket for that coupon, but I'm not a hundred percent on that either.

Well, this is what I have, for now. Later we can talk about using the coupons and other such goodness. For today, there is lots to do here at home so I must go.

Do you......Pin?

Pinterest. Isn't it everyone's new addiction? It is for me. I could spend(waste) hours rummaging through boards. It's great. Full of the most wonderful ideas. I like to think of myself as the creative type, but honestly, I could not have dreamed up half of the wonderfulness I have found on this site. I recommend everyone get an account right.a.way. If you need an invite, let me know.

I found these gems on there. Monkey pizza bread. Oh the yum! Just press pepperoni and a cube of mozzarella into pizza dough ball, close and bake the bunch. Oh.My.Gosh! Wonderful and filling. I didn't have the pizza dough laying around so I had to whip some up, but they were fast and yummy. Try them, today!! lol

I wasn't able to get a pic fresh out of the oven, mostly because they were awesome and everyone dug and and also because I forgot. That is my life. lol

Pinterest has also helped me find my knitting mojo again. Well, that and we are FINALLY having fall weather. It's all yucky and rainy today and I feel like doing a happy dance for it. Bring on the cold!! And the yummy, fibery goodness that is bound to come with it. I have been making cowls for the littles. One for Jay (not pictured, but red) and one for Miss M. She won't wear it, but wouldn't leave Jay's alone. Kids!! I'm working on a hat for Log right now and then on to the Monsteen.

We've moved. Again. It's totally a live altering move. I've had big plans and they have been....rearranged. I'm still me, though, so a lot of it will stay the same with a different location. You should keep your eyes open for what will be happening. So very much going on!

Have you seen that TLC show Extreme Couponing? Well, it has brought back a part of my life that I used to do many years ago. Couponing when you live in the middle of nowhere and you have exactly two stores to choose from and neither one are "down the street" makes it tiring and ridiculous. And not very productive. However, living here we have seven stores to choose from. Seven. This is really helping me to get hubby on board. I'm also learning how to do it right. Lots of work involved. It is important that I mention that how they do it on the show is not impossible, but really, really hard. And rare. And a lot of what happens there is regional based and done for the cameras. Anyone wanting to do this should keep realistic standards which is to save as much as possible and get as much for your money as you can. Don't cry or feel a failure if you don't get your whole cart for free. Here I go: ranting on when I had planned to just mention it. Well, that's enough for today. Within the next day or two I will post more on my methods and where I get my info. Stay tuned because that post will be PACKED with all sorts of goodness. Until then......

New Breakfast Ideas

Well, not my idea, but a Pinterest enabled idea. lol From Health-Bent, I did this wonderful bacon and eggs in the oven deal. In the oven?!? Yes, in the oven. I didn't have Canadian bacon, which is what was called for, but I did have regular bacon. First, I lined my muffin tins with aluminum foil. This was less for mess control and more for the yuck that is my very old muffin tin.

Although, this would be great for easy clean up; maybe even using those tin muffin cups would be good. Next, I cut the bacon slices in half because there

was just TOO much bacon in each with a full slice. Too much? That's right I said it, but don't tell hubby. : ) Now, since in the original recipe she used Canadian bacon, which is fully cooked, I had to add my own bit at this point. I cooked the bacon for about ten minutes first. Then I added the eggs and put it back in for another 8 to 10 minutes.

*What I Learned: Bacon is not round. Duh , right? Next time I'm going to cut the strips into fourths or even thirds. Then layer them in a pattern that makes a little cup. Cook for perhaps fifteen minutes (due to thickness of the bottom) then continue as before. Oh and I did add another five minutes, which made the egg yolks soft but not runny. I wanted them runny, but I get a little wigged out over runny whites so I cooked it longer.

Oh and sorry about the pics. They were so GOOD that no one let me (also read as I forgot to) take a picture before they were gobbled up. Maybe next time.

How did I forget this?!?

Somehow, in all the crazy, I missed put up one of the squares. I just needed to share this gem. It's so lovely. The deep red is really impressive. Enjoy!