Frugal Friday

I just love Craigslist!!! I have been trying to find a decent bookshelves for my parents. So I was looking around my local list today to see if someone had some listed. Well instead of finding bookshelves, I found something for *me*!

Here is what I found....

Subject: Stoneware-Pampered Chef $10

I have the following items for sale. They are all lightly used.

New Traditions (1316) Small Oval Baker $8.00 (reg. $18) This item does have a chip off the handle.
Stoneware Bar Pan I do not have the box for this one. $10.00 (reg. $29.50)
Classics Collection Stoneware Muffin Pan (1465) $10.00 (reg. $32.50)
Classics Collection Stoneware Rectangular Baker (1430) $10.00 (reg. $36)

The lady listed her number so I called her to ask if the items were still available. They were!!! Sooo I offered her $35 for ALL and I would pick them up today!! And she said yes! I went and picked them up. It is no joke that the items were lightly used! They actually look newer than my PC stoneware items!!

Which by the way I have all of these same pieces already BUT with my size family who can blame me for getting more of the same where I can actually put a whole batch of cupcakes in my oven at once rather than do half the batch and then have to wait to do the other batch. (which I have been doing for the last 10 years!)WAHHHHHOOOO!! I am sooo excited!

And what is even more exciting is that this lady was a PC consultant who is working at selling off some of her stuff that she doesn't use sooooo there is a chance that I will be able to get more of her stuff!

I strongly suggest that if you have items that you want to get rid of and do not want to worry about the shipping costs or fees of ebay or even listing in your local paper. Try Craigslist. Yes you will need to use some caution as there is scams around every corner on the internet. But so far my dh and I have had great success in selling items(like baby items, or computers). We have also have had great success with purchasing some items(other than the PC items that I got today) as well.

For other frugal tips and ideas, head over to Frugal Friday over at Biblical Womanhood!

***due to me being on vacation I am reposting from January12, 2008***

Dr Suess' Birthday--March 2nd!!!

Celebrate Dr. Seuss’ Birthday by reading and doing activities!!! Here are some resources for you!


http://www.easyfunschool.com/article1078.html --unit study

http://homeschooling.about.com/od/freeprintables/ss/seussprint.htm --printables like word search, vocabulary, crossword puzzle, challenge, and draw and write

http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/seuss.htm --teacher resource file

http://www.teachingheart.net/thedrsuesspage.html --learning with Dr. Seuss

http://atozteacherstuff.com/pages/250.shtml --book activites (geared for Kdg, 1-2 grade)

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/seuss.php --unit study

http://www.teachingheart.net/drscontest.html --lesson plans and printables

http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/marchholidays/l/blmar2nd.htm --crafts and activity ideas

http://teachers.net/lessons/posts/470.html --weeks worth of lesson plans(grade 2)

http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/Themes/Dr__Seuss/ --lesson plans and activities

http://www.teacherplanet.com/resource/drseuss.php --lots of teachers’ resources

http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/dr-seuss-birthday/theodor-geisel.html --links to info about Dr. Seuss

http://www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/S00001063.shtml --author study on Dr. Seuss

http://www.abcteach.com/directory/basics/reading/dr_seuss/ --printables like book report forms, venn diagrams, poetry prompts, and more


Horton Hears A Who
http://www.homegrownhearts.com/HortonHearsAWho.htm

http://www.easyfunschool.com/Horton-Hears-A-Who.html


Cat in the Hat
http://www.teachingheart.net/miniunitcathat.html --mini unit study

Works for Me Wednesday

So what is sooo special about these little things called clothespins??? They serve multiple uses in my house! Not only do I use them for their intended use--hanging clothes or diaper covers to dry, I also use them for....

• holding rubberbands! I clip a clothespin to the side of my bill slot on my desk and then hook rubberbands over the pin.
• holding receipts! I superglued a magnet onto one side of the clothespin and then stuck the clothespin on the side of my fridge. This way I have a place when I or hubby come in from shopping, we can clip the receipt there and the receipt doesn't get lost and forgotten before it is registered on the computer checkbook(better known as Quicken!).
• holding chip or cracker bags closed so that they don't go stale!

You can usually find a bag of these at your local dollar store!

I am sure that there are more ways that I could use these little inventions! But these are a few of the ways that they work for me! For more tips on things that work for others, head over to Rocks in My Dryer!

Kitchen Tip Tuesdays

Time again for Kitchen Tips over at Tammy's Recipes!!! Instead of an actual tip, I want to offer some encouragement! If your house is full of picky eaters like what mine is, then this encouragement is for you! The encouragement is this...Don't be afraid to try something new!! and Don't give up trying to find new things to try with your family!!

I have tried over the years to try new recipes to help my family eat more than the same old getting in a rut type dishes. Each one that I try seems to come with failure, usually the majority of the family doesn't like it, despite the fact that the ingredients are the same things that I use day after day in favorite dishes.

This past week, I tried something new again after almost a month of eating the same old in rut type dishes. I made French bread to make into garlic bread to go along with a family favorite meal of spaghetti and meatballs!! The bread was a hit with the whole family! So much a hit that I probably should have done TWO loaves! This was an encouragement to me that I finally made something that everyone enjoyed!

I also did up these soft pretzels. These were not as big of a hit with the family as the french bread. Just my oldest son, and I ate them after everyone tried them once.
For more tips, head over to Tammy's Recipes!

Teaching Tip Tuesdays

In my quest to read other blogs, I came across Donna's site--The Helpful Homemaker! She is hosting meme called Teaching Tips Tuesday. I thought I would join in this week with a tip. My tip is "Don't be afraid to use something other than textbooks!" I know that for some, using textbooks are helpful tools! It helps with confidence in knowing that you are teaching your child everything they need to know and you are not missing any concepts.

There is so much FREE wealth of educational resources on the internet that you don't need to use textbooks! I will show you how over the course of several weeks, I will take you to websites that I use to build my home schooling curriculum.

Where do I find what topics need to be covered at what level?

Getting a hold of a scope and sequence chart or charts is important to the planning process. If you were to get a "pre-packaged" curriculum you would find the chart in the teacher's edition of the book. However, when you don't use a "pre-packaged" curriculum, you don't have the chart available to you in order to plan out your schedule for the year. So you need to head over to...

World Book's site and check out their "Typical Course of Study" page. They have conveniently broken down each grade level into links. You can click on the grade level that you are teaching your child and find a wealth of topics that need to be covered for the year. For me, I usually try to cover all the topics listed under the Math and Language Arts sections. For the History, Science, and Health and Safety sections, I try to cover only two to three topics out of each section. The reason why I only choose a few is because I find that the topics for those subjects repeat themselves over the years.

There are other places to find scope and sequence charts. Head over here to my list of sites that I have used to help me put together curriculum for my kids.

Come back next Tuesday for more websites! In the meantime, head over to Donna's for other teaching tips!