Little Jack’s Corner

We had a great time scooping up all of these great toys from the Goodwill
the other day.  Wooden toys are our favorite!

The cash register works great, and doubles as a kiddie calculator.

This toy still had a $13.99 retail store price sticker on it. 
On the side opposite of the abascus, there’s a tic tac toe board.

What [...]

Everywhere people are crying because of pain at the pump.  Vacations to other states are being cancelled.  Afternoon “Sunday Drives” are a thing of the past.  Even every day errands are becoming unecessary as people desparately attempt to save money on what has now become liquid gold.
Usually every summer, Kevin and I make 3-4 day trips to [...]

Well, ok…I’ve actually been doing business at home for 7 years (with my collie educational portal and collie gift merchandise site), but I’ve just begun a new career that I am so extremely excited about! 
As most of you may know, from reading my posts, I absolutely LOVE books.  There is honestly nothing better than curling up [...]

Tonight’s Menu at Our House:
Homemade Chicken Nuggets
Little Green Peas
Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
Ketchup / Mustard for Dipping
Water to Drink

HOMEMADE CHICKEN NUGGETS
Cut chicken breasts into nugget size portions.  In a bowl, break 1-2 eggs and stir to break up the yolk.  If you are out of eggs, oil can also be used.
Using a gallon sized plastic bag, pour [...]

Welcome to this week’s Works for Me Wednesday tip at Little Jack’s Corner! 
I grew up with small closets… you know, the kind that is about 6 feet wide, 2 feet deep, with one lonely bar hanging about 3/4ths of the way up?
I hated them then, and I still hate them now.  Once upon a time, I [...]

I have been sooo off this week!  For one, I thought yesterday morning I had missed this week’s Works for Me Wednesday so I didn’t plan on doing one.  Then last night I spent 30 minutes getting our garbage ready for collection.  And to think, I was so proud of myself for “remembering”!
The bad thing is - [...]

As I mentioned in my last post about our investment portfolio, Friday is the day I do our household financial account balancing.  Consequently, my mind tends to have little dollar signs floating around in it all day, messin’ up my thinking.   And, with only one more bill to pay today, my mind has wondered to [...]

As many of you know, I was laid off from my job of 4 years back in October when I was 2 months pregnant.  Although we’d always planned on me being a stay-at-home mom, we didn’t count on it happening so early in the pregnancy! 
We don’t use credit cards, so our budget is really tight most [...]

Whew… I’m pretty late with this week’s Works For Me Wednesday (hosted by Shannon at the Rocks in My Dryer blog!).  Going through 2 funerals in the past week really took a toll on me, so I haven’t felt much like blogging until today.  Anyway….
Being a “newlywed” couple (married in June of 2006) who refuses to [...]

Ok… I know, I know. 
I’ve already posted a WFMW today with links to my favorite online shopping sites (ones that completely support home-based businesses).  But it suddenly occured to me that with all of the online shopping sites being promoted by Mr. Linky at the Rocks In My Dryer WFMW tip page, there is one [...]

Many of you who know me know of my love of investing and saving for the future.  I’ve had a 403b retirement account since I was 21 (go me!), my husband has his 401k, and we also have a ROTH IRA.  A plan to have our home mortgage paid off in 10-12 years is in [...]

As I’ve mentioned before, my husband and I no longer use unsecured credit. 
For a young newlywed couple such as ourselves, the temptation that an easy-to-swipe credit card holds is simply too great.  Also, even during the times when we fooled ourselves into thinking we weren’t spending too much, our purchases far numbered what it would [...]

Ok… there’s this popular thing with a lot of the wife & mom blogs called “works for me wednesdays”.  It’s hosted by Rocks in My Dryer (rocksinmydryer.typepad.com) (hehe, love the name!).   With WFMW, different bloggers post little tips that have…well…worked for them along the way.  Then, they put a link  to their tip on the [...]