One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1399 of 2143 - I am your typical housewife living in high maintenance suburbia. I have a handsome husband, 2 kids and a flock of pet chickens. I try and feed my family with $100 a month. With the help of coupons, gardening and bartering I am able to squeeze the most out of our grocery budget and still manage to have a little fun along the way.

Top 10 Children’s Book Series: The Perfect Christmas Gifts

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By Mavis Butterfield on November 20, 2013 · 22 Comments

Aside from food, water and love, I honestly believe the greatest thing you can give your kids is a love of reading. Sounds totally cheesy, I know. But it’s so dang true. Since they were young, I’ve always given my kids books as gifts. It’s like the gift that keeps on giving.

I’d rather give a book then some lousy toy that will be broken in a day. I’m not super mean mom and I’ve given them plenty of those lousy toys that were broken in a day, but The Girl still has some of the books I’ve given her growing up. I still catch her reading some of them. See, books trump lousy toy any day!

If you’re looking for an awesome gift idea for kids of any age, check out some of our favorite Children’s Book Series:

Lemony Snicket: Both of my kids loved this series centered around Lemony Snicket, a troubled writer and researcher falsely accused of felonies and continuously hunted by the police and his enemies. It’s a quirky, fast paced series that stretches the imagination and keeps you turning pages.

The Magic Tree House: This series is perfect for a 1st-time chapter book reader. There are 50 books that follow Jack and Annie as they confront mysteries all across the globe. These are easy-read books with fun storylines and very few vocabulary stumbling blocks. They are also fast-paced, so your seasoned reader won’t get bored and your new reader will want to stick with it.

The Hardy Boys: Sometimes sticking to the classics is best. This is one of the best children’s series ever written and easily crosses gender lines. Monkey Boy has read almost every book and is still a fan of the Hardy Boys to this day. Sometimes finding perfect reading material is as simple as reintroducing the books we loved as kids!

Junie B. Jones: Junie B. Jones is a bright, funny elementary aged girl your kids will fall in love with. She finds herself in laughable situations that most young kids can relate to. These are also easy reads and perfect for early chapter book readers.

Harry Potter: No list of great children’s book series would be complete without the Harry Potter series. But I honestly know just as many adults that love these books. I am certain these books will become the books our kids pass down to their kids. The storylines are genius and the characters are so believable in a world of such fantasy that you often forget Hogwarts isn’t real {cause if it was, I’d totally send my kids there!}.

Diary of A Wimpy Kid: I think of these books like comics in book form. Younger kids will like them because they are such a quick read, and older kids will like them because of the crazy plots and hilarious situations Greg Heffley finds himself in. The illustrations perfectly carry the story along and make for a light, easy read for a wide age range.

Percy Jackson: This adventure series is great for your teen or tween, but might cause nightmares for younger kids. The books are really well written and so creative. This is another series where adults might find themselves borrowing their kids’ books to read themselves.

Geronimo Stilton: Who knew a talking mouse could spawn a series of almost 100 books! Our little neighbor girl is obsessed with the Geronimo Stilton series and spends hours in her room reading book after book. The cool thing about this series is that it originated in Italy and has become one of the most popular children’s book series in the world after being translated into almost 40 different languages. Who knew?

Roald Dahl: While this set isn’t technically a series, it had to be included because his books are simply awesome. They are crazy and fun and totally imaginative. The BFG is one of my all-time favs, but Matilda, James and the Giant Peach and Charlie & the Chocolate Factory tie for a close 2nd.

Fancy Nancy: This girl is obsessed with tea parties so of course I’d love her! Seriously though these books are perfect for your little reader or even your non-reader who loves to be read to. Fancy Nancy is a larger than life personality, who adores all things fancy. If I ever decided to change up my wardrobe I’d go big or go home and adopt her extravagant style with boas, tutus, ruby slippers, fairy wings, and fuzzy slippers. She’s awesome.

Okay now I want to hear from you. What are your kids reading? Is there a must-buy or classic series I missed? Do you agree that books are the best gifts ever?

~Mavis

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Mavis and the Case of the Crappy British Teeth Part 2

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By Mavis Butterfield on November 20, 2013 · 23 Comments

Yesterday, I went back to the Oral Surgeon for a checkup and to scheduled my next appointment.

Back in August I had 2 baby teeth removed {they were old and decaying, and practically falling out of my head} and now that my mouth has healed, it’s time for the next step.

You know, the one where he drills holes in my jaw and twists titanium screws into my jaw bone.

Essentially, for the price of of a nice used car, I’m going to get 3 screws in my mouth.

Right before Christmas.

Did I mention the teeth come later? Yes, yes they do. Apparently it’s just not cool enough to walk around with 3 missing teeth. Now I’ll get to walk around with 3 holes plus some screws popping up for a few months until my mouth has healed and is ready for actual {fake} teeth.

As with anything, there are pros and cons.

Pros

I’ll be medicated for the holidays. 😉
I’ll be forced to stay in my pajamas for a few days. Which of course means I’ll do nothing but nap and watch movies and text family members who are in the next room to bring me ice cream and chicken noodle soup.
I’ll be too weak to cook or clean or even do laundry. {Okay, so maybe this will take a little acting, but I’ll make it work}.

Cons

I won’t be able to eat any ham for Christmas dinner. Just soft stuff like mashed potatoes, gravy and jello.
I won’t be able to drink any decaf tea for 7 days prior to surgery. {Tea is a natural blood thinner}
The medication will run out and I won’t have anymore.

That’s all I can think of for now, but if you come up with anymore things to add to the PRO side, let me know. I like to keep it upbeat around here. 🙂

Have a great day everyone,

~Mavis

More Crappy British Teeth Stories

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Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes with Spiced Walnuts

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By Mavis Butterfield on November 20, 2013 · 10 Comments

If you’re looking for a way to spice up your Thanksgiving side dish menu, this recipe for twice-baked sweet potatoes with spiced walnuts has got you covered. It’s the bomb! Not only will you get a gold star for presentation, but it tastes great too.

Ingredients

Sweet Potatoes:
6 sweet potatoes {aka. yams, so not the whiteish ones}
1 tablespoon oil
5 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup mini marshmallows

Spiced Walnuts:
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/3 cups walnuts
1 tablespoon five-spice powder

Sweet Potatoes:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Move one rack to the middle of the oven and place another on the lowest spot. Place a baking sheet lined with foil {or a silpat} on the lowest rack before preheating oven.

Lightly coat sweet potatoes with oil. Pierce the potatoes all over before placing them directly on the upper rack of the oven. Bake about an hour, or until tender. Cool slightly before cutting each potato in half lengthwise. Scoop out all but about a 1/4-inch layer of potato and place in a saucepan. Put 6 of the shells on a baking sheet and toss the remaining shells on the compost pile. Heat the sweet potato “guts” over medium heat. While heating, mash for about 5 minutes or until a tad dry. Stir in butter, syrup, cinnamon, and salt and whisk until the mixture is smooth.

Scoop the sweet potato mixture out evenly between the shells.

Walnuts:
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper {I use a Silpat. It’s the only way to go!}. In a large skillet, mix butter, walnuts, sugar and spice mix. Cook over medium heat about 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until the walnuts are coated and the sugar begins to caramelize. Do not overcook or the walnuts will burn. Spread the walnuts evenly on the prepared baking sheet, cool, remove from pan and chop.

Mini Marshmallows

Divide mini marshmallows evenly over the tops of the sweet potatoes. Bake about 15 minutes or until marshmallows begins to bubble. Add walnuts and serve piping hot.

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10 Ways to Reduce Your Heating Bill

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By Mavis Butterfield on November 20, 2013 · 16 Comments

You know when a sweatshirt, coat, mittens, hat, gloves, scarf, moon boots, etc. are no longer cutting it, that it’s time to turn on the heat. I hate the thought of having to pay for warm air–I get it, but I don’t like it. Keeping costs down, so that I have more money to spend on things that I love, like travel and cupcakes, is priority one for me. If you are in the same unheated boat, here’s a couple of tips to keep costs low this winter:

Make sure furniture isn’t blocking any heating vents. No reason to pay for heating the underside of your couch.
Use all of the heat your pay for. Whenever I bake in the winter, I leave the oven door cracked after I turn it off. I figure, I already paid for the heat, I might as well disperse it out into the room. {Probably not a good idea if you have little ones, though.}
Replace your furnace filter religiously. It seems like a bummer of an upfront cost to buy filters, but a blocked filter will cost you way more than a new one.
Install a programmable thermostat. Seriously, if you do one thing, do this one. You can program it to kick on 30 minutes before you wake, or to drop the temperature when you are at work. You just set it and forget it, using valuable heat only when you need it most.
Seal all of the leaks around the windows, door, etc. A tube of weather caulking is super cheap. About 1/3 of a house’s total heat loss is lost through the windows and doors. Seal ’em up.
Use the sun to your advantage. That’s a little harder for me here, but I hear tale of places where the sun still shines in the winter. Open up the blinds on those days and take advantage of the earth’s free heat.
On the flip side, pull the blinds and drapes when it is dark outside. It will create one more layer of insulation to heat loss.
Lower your thermostat at night. Supposedly, we sleep better when it’s cooler anyway. Invest in a down comforter and drop the temperature. If you have a programmable thermostat, you can set it to start warming up about 1/2 hour before your feet even hit the cold floor. Ain’t technology grand?
Make sure to change your ceiling fan direction {so it pushes the air down} and turn it on low.
Close off rooms and vents that are not used regularly.

How do you save money on your heating bill in the winter?

~Mavis

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