Making your own refried beans is easy and economical. There are many uses for refried beans; bean burritos, bean tacos, beans and cheese. They are inexpensive and very nutritious. Pinto beans are high in fiber, magnesium and potassium. When you make your own refried beans you can also control the amount of salt in the [...]

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Well, the 3 Moms series has come to an end. This has been a great project for me and I am ready to start making changes in the way I shop, cook, and menu plan. Before this series Kate, Joy and I didn’t know each other very well, but we have become fast friends. I [...]

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While I was in Florida I had the opportunity to recover some dining room chairs, passed on to me from my grandfather. I remembered this set from my childhood and although it was dated, I thought it had potential. Plus the dining room table was huge and would be perfect for our big family.
I had [...]

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During our Florida vacation I had the opportunity to recover some dining room chairs that I am taking back to Maryland. The chairs belonged to my grandfather and were very dated and in need of an update. I have never recovered anything before, but I decided that with the help of my dad, sister, brother-in-law [...]

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One of the reasons I procrastinated making the lion costume was because I thought there would definitely be a tutorial on the web. I figured I would google “how to make a lion costume” and many wonderful websites would appear taking me step by step through this process. I was wrong. The things that I [...]

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I am so happy I finished the lion costume. I didn’t realize how much this was stressing me until I sewed the tail on and was done!
I started with a pair of women’s pajamas that I picked up at the thrift store and a 2 yards of felt.

I finished with this

My daughter needed a crown [...]

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I didn’t prepare for Friday’s breakfast. Usually I have bread for French toast or whole wheat flour in the freezer but I had neither on Friday morning because I went to bed early with a headache on Thursday night. I didn’t want to wake anybody up with the grain mill, so I decided to make [...]

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My sewing time this week has been spent making my son a costume for a play that he is in next week. He has the part of the Lion from the Wizard of Oz. If I hadn’t procrastinated on his costume, I would have purchased a tan sweat suit, but I waited too long. It [...]

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This is a guest post from my friend Kyle over at Rather Be Shopping. He has some great tips for saving money on birthday parties. He also has shared with us a coupon code for one of my favorite toy stores, Back to Basics Toys. Check them out if you have a chance.
Birthday’s that don’t [...]

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The kids and I just spent the last 30 minutes watching short how-to videos from the Family Fun website. This site in an amazing place to find craft ideas and fun recipes. Their videos are well made and easy to follow. Most of the activities can be done with items you already have around the [...]

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