Meal Count Challenge

I have set a new challenge for our house. See how long we can go without going grocery shopping. Okay, so we will still go for staples: milk, bread, milk, fresh veges. But other than that the challenge is to see how many meals we can get out of what we already have on hand and paid for. I think we will surprise ourselves. I started making a list of all the meals I can make with what we already have on hand. The meal count is up to 12 so far. To get more ideas I will use kraft.com and allrecipes.com to do on hand ingredient searches. This is where you can search for recipes that use what you have on hand. Give it a try! How many meals can you make with what you have on hand. Sounds like we are in for some weather that will make you want to stay inside anyway, so why not get ready. ;)
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Snow Spray Paint

Materials:
*Spray bottle
*Kool aid packet
*Water

Directions:
1. Pour full packet of Kool aid in bottle. (This will give the richest color possible.)
2. Fill bottle with water.
3. Spray the snow and add some color to your yard!

My Review:
Bottle with a jet stream option seems to work the best. If you use mist you have to be very close to the snow to see any color. Stay away from yellow and orange because they look more like animal mess than cute kid art. ;) Purple seemed to show up the best. Washable gloves are suggested. The color may stain fingers. Quickly after this picture was taken I hunted gloves down so Ethan fingers would not freeze....however they are purple. Mittens don't allow for the movement required to pump the bottle.
Ethan loved this activity and has requested to do it several times. It works well to get a bottle ready and let him spray on the way out of the house to do errands.

This would also be cool to add color to your snowman or snow fort!


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Shaving Cream Snow

Supplies:
*Shaving Cream
*School Glue
*Snowman cutout
*Blue/black construction paper
*Med-large paint brush
*Pie tin or other container

Directions:
1. Mix equal parts glue and shaving cream. Just guess, don't yuck up your measuring cup. It's not an exact science. :) It will be fluffy and creamy.
2. Glue snowman to blue/black construction paper.
3. Paint the mixture on the snowman or make a night snow scene on black paper.
* When dry it will have a cool 3D snow effect. AWESOME.

My Review:
This was SO COOL! Ethan loved it. I loved it. We had a blast. Very inexpensive too. The mixture feels so cool. We couldn't help but do a finger painting picture with it too.

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Kool aid Art

Supplies:
*Kool-aid or Jell-o powder
*art paper
*cookie sheet
*ice
*Popsicle mold

My alternative supplies:
*Kool-aid or Jell-o powder
*art paper
*cookie sheet
*dropper (medicine dropper or pipette), or spray bottle on mist
*water

Directions:
1. Place art paper in the cookie sheet
2. Sprinkle powder on paper
2. Push ice around the powder

My alternative:
1. Place art paper in the cookie sheet
2. Sprinkle powder on paper
3. Use dropper or spray bottle to wet the powder and watch the color come to live!

My Review:
I loved the idea of this, but Ethan and I were both disappointed with the ice version. The ice wasn't melting fast enough to do anything to the powder. BORING! So we started to spoon water on the paper. Then we saw some action! But it happened a little too fast. Ethan was ready for another activiey after only a few minutes. Next time we will go with my alternative suggestion and use a dropper or spray bottle. This will be more interactive and fun to watch the colors blend more gradually.
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Last Weekend for 20% at Big Lots

Okay, while I'm on the topic of coupons/sales here is another good one. Big Lots has a coupon for 20% off good through Sunday. I'm using this to stock up on can goods.
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Last Weekend for $1 Clearance at Once Upon a Child

It's been at least a couple weeks since Once Upon a Child started the $1 clearance sale, so I'm not sure if there is much left. If you are in the area of one and have some time, it may be worth stopping by. I could not believe all the great shirts I got for Ethan for $1 each. But it is hit or miss. Usually I can't find much of anything for him. If you stop by check if there are any coats marked at $1 that you can donate to schools or homeless shelters.
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Dinner?

So do you know what you are having for dinner tonight? Surprisingly I usually know by now, but I had the unfortunate miscalculation of needed ingredients for the week. So it's back to the drawing board for me. And now the only things I can come up with our dishes that need the one ingredient I'm out of. Funny how our minds get stuck on one thing! :)
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Welcome!

Hi Everyone! Welcome to my once again new and improved blog....or in the process of being improved. As my life as changed with the additional of our second child, I have found my interests have shifted. I still love my coupons, but at this point they are just part of my regularly routine. I want to share with you some of the fun activities that we are doing at our house and maybe even a recipe or two. For those who know me well, you know I'm not much of a cook....but I'm on my way. The recipes I share will be easy, yummy, and worth trying. The activities I share will be focused on preschool aged children, but can be altered to fit your child's skills. Activities will be engaging, provide an opportunity to practice some sort of skills and give you and your child an opportunity to bond. In today's technology world, I think we could all use a little more of that.
So join me on my journey and hold on tight because it promises to be an exciting ride!
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