School has only been in session for a few weeks and my little kindergartener has already come home with TWO fundraisers!!! 
I’ll admit, one of the fundraisers was decent.  There were some things that I would not mind buying.   The other fundraiser was asking us to put the names and addresses of family and friends onto postcards so that they could ask for money for computers or something like that.  My little girl came home telling me that I needed to fill out her paperwork and send it back the next day so that she could get a t-shirt.  I thought it was a form to …read more

The following is a guest post.
As you read this, my little family and I are preparing for our annual summer treck to Bulgaria, my husband’s homeland. Once hidden behind the iron curtain, Bulgaria and its people have been making adjustment after adjustment to the fall of the Societ Union, to the robbery of its treasury by immoral and corrupt officials, to inclusion in the global economy and to its inclusion in the European Union.
All of these historical changes have meant for positive and negative economics…both on a national and a personal scale. A second world country, most Bulgarians know more …read more

At one time or another, we’re all going to have excess food, whether it be leftovers or fruits and veggies that are about to go bad.  Sometimes it’s hard to think of what we’ll do with them so that we don’t waste food.  To help us all out, I’ve compiled a list of ideas.  Enjoy!
 1.  Use over ripe bananas to make banana bread. 
 2.  Use apples, peaches, etc to make a pie or cobbler.  Umhmmm!
 3.  Leftover grilled chicken tastes great on top of a salad!
 4.  Have excess bread?  Make stuffing or croutons.
 5.  Use your excess hamburger to make a sloppy joe …read more

Have you ever tried a new recipe and it wasn’t edible?  I tried a new casserole recipe tonight for my family.  No one ate the casserole.  It looked disgusting.  I’m pretty annoyed at the wasted ground beef and bacon, the time to cook and prepare the food, plus the cost of heating my oven.  If you dare, take a look at this picture.

Sometimes things just don’t always go as planned when you’re cooking.  Here are some tips to help you out and to keep from throwing out good food.
For brown sugar that is hard as a rock:
If you need it in a hurry, simply grate the amount called for with a hand grater.
Soften by placing a slice of soft bread in the package and closing tightly.  In a couple hours the brown sugar will be soft again.
Put brown sugar and a cup of water (do not add to the sugar, set it alongside of it) in a covered pan.  Place in the …read more

I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand junk mail!!!!!  It drives me crazy.  Each day I waste my time sorting through it, putting it in the recyling bin, or shredding it.  Some days I’ve even pondered just leaving all the junk mail in my mailbox and only taking out what I need.  I’m sure that would really annoy my mailman! 
And did you know????  We chop down 100,000,000 trees and waste 28 billions gallons of water EVERY YEAR producing this stuff.
So, on behalf of today, Earth Day, I have an alternative.  For a dime-a-day, GreenDimes will reduce the marketing …read more