Site of the Week Saturday

I am going to post this today because for some reason I cannot seem to get the scheduled posts to work. I did not think it was that hard, but they aren't posting anymore. So here goes a day early:





Site of the Week Saturday this week will be Frugal Family Fun Blog. Valerie is the master at coming up with loads of thrifty ways to have fun with the kids. Go and check her site out for great ideas on all things kids and crafty. She even has posted a snack or two that are great fun for the kids. She has even been on her local news with one of her lovely daughters.

What to Cook Wednesday

Healthy Sloppy Joes

1 lb ground turkey
1/2 onion chopped
1 cup finely shredded carrots or zucchini or squash
spaghetti sauce
chili powder
pepper
salt (if you want)

Brown the turkey and onion. Drain of any grease/fat. Add the shredded carrots. This is a good way to strecth your meat dish and to add veggies. For the spaghetti sauce, I used one with no added veggies. It was plain sauce. I used about half of the jar. You want the texture to be thick but not dry. Add the spices-I do not add salt to my dishes until at the table if it is needed. I added the chili powder and the pepper. Heat through, stirring occasionally. If you find at the end that you used too much sauce and it is not thickening up, just add a bit of tomato paste as a thickener. The original directions called for this, but I decided to skip this step and just use less sauce. This will not taste exactly the same as regular sloppy joes, however, it is similar and way healthier.

Book Giveaway

Jennifer over at Momma Made it Look Easy is giving a book away! She tells you all about these awesome books on her site and links you to the Usborne page. Go read about it and check out the books. They have a lot of really neat stuff to check out over there. I already checked it out. They have stuff for kids of all ages!

I have been invited to participate in telling my blogging quest by Semantically Driven, so here goes.

My blogging quest.

I began my blogging quest for two reasons. First, I needed to get some of my pain out. I was hurting deeply. My life had been turned upside down by an unjust legal system, a lousy attorney, and an evil ex. I was devastated. I had no one to turn to. I read online where things like this happened, to real people, not just stories, but I could find no one to turn to talk things out. To tell my story to. Even folks I knew for ages, people my sister worked with, they all started wondering if I hadn't done something wrong since I lost custody. It did not seem to occur to people that this does happen. Shit happens to good people. That seems to be the way it works. Sometimes the bad guy wins a round.

Secondly, I wanted to be a source of hope for other moms in this situation. I made plans to use my blog as an outlet, but also to reach people to give them hope. If I can make it through my situation, then you can make it through yours. I also want to change the laws. I want to do my best to help other moms keep their kids. No one should be diagnosed with MSBP. It is a witch-hunt*. It will take a strong person to change these laws. I want to be that person. If I can help save one child and mother's life and prevent this kind of emotional turmoil, then I will feel that I have done my part. There actually are cases of children dying after being removed from their mother's care after losing custody from being labeled MSBP. I want to stop this from happening. Ever.

My blog then changed course a little bit when I started trying to save money. I was posting deals that I found from fellow "hounds" (from the Grocery Challenge on MSN money). I was spending less time focusing on my story and more time on the "deals" I was getting. I do still post about my son, but as I don't get to see him everyday, I don't have the daily stories to tell.

I don't know exactly what I expected for blogging. I do know that what I get out of it now is far different than what I got out of it originally. I have read from many bloggers that the comments are what you want. I won't lie, I enjoy comments, but what I like more is watching the counter go up. I like to check the stats and see how long people were on my site to make sure it was not an accidental click and that they left immediately. I just like knowing that people stopped by. Comments are always appreciated, but I am always just thankful for a visit.

I have not really had any adversity, but I keep my blog anonymous, and I only recently took it public. It began as private and was not found by search engines. I did not want my ex or his atty to stumble on it. Now I don't care if they find it or not. I do not use our real names anyway. I think coming up with new topics is totally an adventure though!

The one thing that I did not expect was the expanse. I have had visitors from all over the world. This just blows my mind. I don't advertise anywhere about my blog, I just listed it with a few other blogs and next thing you know, the whole world is visiting. Not really. My numbers are no where near what a lot of other blogs get, but it is still amazing to me none the less.

I will continue to blog for the foreseeable future. I want to continue to chronicle money saving ideas. We all could use those, especially these days, but especially struggling single moms. I also will continue to chronicle my journey in getting my son back, and the little joys that we get right now. I most definitely will chronicle my journey to changing laws. This needs to be done, and why not me? I want to continue learning about blogging and all that it entails. Maybe even getting my own domain someday.

I don't know where I see blogging going. I have had the site for a while, but have only recently gotten more interested in frequent posting. I have a lot to learn about it in the meantime. Hopefully, it does not change faster than I can learn!

I chose my title, Life is hard-just keep swimming because that is the essence of life. It is hard, but do not give up. We all have to get through it, and we can. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming....Now you have that song and Dory stuck in your head, don't ya?


*I was going to say it is a witch-hunt by a bunch of men, but that makes me sound like a man-hater. I am not a man-hater, just a "hater" of folks who use made up medical jargon to hurt another and benefit themselves. If one researches MSBP, you will discover that the man that "discovered" it has been discredited and cases in which he testified against women-BTW, women are the only ones labeled with MSBP-are now being re-heard and the women are getting their kids back. MSBP is not even allowed any more in England and Australia in court cases.

Home Made Food

I am really getting into this whole home made bread thing. I made another loaf of bread, rolls, and a pita bread last night. I got home and decided to make the bread and it is so easy, I get to multi-task while making it. I am still getting ready for my weekend trip, but got basically three loaves of bread made. And it tastes so good. I am glad I found that book. I also have been enjoying all the other stuff I made on Sunday. I did a lot of batch cooking again. I made tuna casserole, taco stew (usually called soup but I don't make mine that thin), hard boiled eggs for egg salad, pasta salad and healthy sloppy joes. I just had a really good time making everything from scratch. It all tastes better and there is no added salt to anything, just good for you herbs and spices.

I am guessing that it is also a lot cheaper than buying stuff at the store. For example, the taco soup that I make, I used a pound of turkey ($1), one bag of kidney beans ($1), two cans of corn ($1), one can of tomatoes ($.50) and then homemade seasoning mixes (guestimate of $.25). I will get at least 7 meals out of this. I packaged them individually and then stuck them in the freezer. That means that for just over $.50 each, I have just made 7 main courses or total meals. I may add bread or some other veggie if I am really hungry. All in all, even if I add something else to the meal, I can't beat a meal with a cost of around $1. And since I batch cooked, I do not have to keep turning on the oven and stove, I can just microwave it when mealtime rolls around.

I have not calculated for every meal what the cost is, but I am confident that it is cheaper than prepared food from the store, with a whole lot less salt.

I also wanted to add that in many of my dishes, I use shredded carrots. You cannot tell they are in there, you don't taste them, and you will get an extra serving of veggies. I added them this past weekend to the pasta salad, the tuna salad and the healthy joes. Instant serving of veggies for those picky eaters.

Thursday's Edition of What to Cook Wednesday

Apparently, I am really confused. I thought all day yesterday that it was Thursday. Soooo, I posted my Thursday post. So today, I will post my Wednesday post. This whole long weekend and day off thing is really messing with my head, especially after missing some days last week. I just don't know what day it is!



Without further ado: What to Cook Wednesday:



If you are like me, you still have oodles of potatoes left over from the sales a while back. I may never get through them all. So how about some potato salad?

I use whatever potatoes I have. If I am using the red potatoes I often leave the skin on for a pretty color contrast in the salad. I peel the brown ones.

6-8 potatoes
3-4 hard boiled eggs
celery
onion
mayo
mustard

Boil the potatoes until mostly done. You do not want them to be too soft or they won't hold their shape. When they are cool enough to handle cut them up into cubes. Dice up the hard boiled eggs. Take one celery stalk and dice it up or just slice into thin slices. How much onion you use will depend on whether it is a sweet onion or not and how much your family likes onion. I try to use sweet onions, and then will use about half or just a bit more but we like onions. Dice the onion. Throw in a bit of mustard, I use around 1 1/2 teaspoons. Then add the mayo. I just use a big tablespoon (not a measuring spoon though) and dump two in. Mix it up. It should be a creamy texture. If it seems too dry, just add a little bit more mayo. When you are done you should have a bowl of creamy yellowish-white potato salad.
I like to use the red potatoes, red(purple) onions, and the celery because then you have a wonderfully colorful salad.

Now someone enroll me in kindergarten so I can learn which day is which!

Thankful Thursday

We all spend time talking about what has bothered us and what annoyed us. Today I want to talk about what makes us happy! Tell me what you are thankful for!



Today I am Thankful for:

1. I have a job

2. I have a wonderful family

3. I had a good shopping trip on Saturday and got stocked up on several items

4. My phone calls with my son

5. Dreams- I have them and never give them up



If you have a blog, post what makes you happy or what you are thankful for and link back here. Leave a comment so we know to check out what you have to be thankful for!