Brooke Blogs This

Our Friday night's are very busy, so we've decided to stop cooking on Friday nights and eat out.  However, we still need to do so on a budget.  I've worked $20 into our weekly budget for Friday nights.  If you have eaten out lately, you know feeding a family of 4 on $20 isn't always easy, especially when you don't want to eat the same thing every week.  Below are some of our favorite places to eat and an idea of how we make it work. Note: Most of the time, we get the food and bring it home. This way we can use the drinks we already have at home! Little Ceasars: $5 pizza's.  Need I say more Papa John's: They regularly run deals with $11 large pizzas.  If you sign up for the rewards program and order online, you'll end up eventually earning a free pizza.  Watch out for codes to get more points.  I've earned and redeemed SEVERAL free pizzas! McDonalds: They recently re-did the value menu and our regular orders are no longer just a $1.  H...

My daughter has always loved reading and I've always encouraged it.  We have always read books, and now that she is in Kindergarten, we have stepped it up a notch.  We have set a goal of her knowing 200 sight words before 1st grade. This is the list we came up with. We currently know 91!  We started with 15 words and I made flash cards.  Once my daughter can go through the sight word flash card in 2 seconds per card, we add 15 more words. (We are at 91, because mommy's math got off at some point!).  My daughter loves trying to beat the timer so this has become a game for her.  We also use the flash cards to practice alphabetizing.  We count the cards to work on numbers.  We've also put them in piles by the starting letter and made graphs!  Who ever said flash cards aren't "fun" is WRONG! We have a blast.

First let me start by saying, I understand that ÿelling" isn't the most preferable way to speak to my children, or anyone for that matter.  But, occasionally, I find it necessary.  And I don't plan to apologize. Why do I yell?  Most often, because I've tried the speak clearly, calmly, sternly...and my kids are still talking over me.  Whining. Being loud.  Doing exactly what I am trying to tell them to not do. Sometimes I yell because the situation calls for it, like when my 6 year old is about to touch a hot stove, or my eleven year old is about to ride his bike into the back of my car. Occasionally, I yell because I'm at the end of my rope. And I NEED to get that point across. I can here some of you parenting experts out there listing all kinds of other options.  Get their attention, get on their eye level, speak calmly but sternly.  Give them natural consequences.  Divert their attention. I do these, I really do.  I am the QUEEN of ...

I realize that is was below 0 degrees last week. I fully realize that Spring does not öfficially" begin til late March. That has absolutely no bearing on when Spring consignment season begins. Spring consignment season begins February 1! Even though it will still be too cold to wear those shorts, flip flops and sun dresses for several more months here in Tennessee, now is the time to take them out of storage and assess.  What still fits (you, the kids, the hubs), what is still your style, and what do you need. If you plan on selling these items, you need to start collecting wire hangers, safety pins and index cards.  If you plan on printing your tags (and some larger sales REQUIRE this!), you will need to buy card stock. Please check the individual requirements for the sale you will be consigning with, but here is a basic step by step process: Week 1: Gather supplies and all the items you would like to sell (Spring/Summer clothes in good condition, toys that aren...

Over the Christmas break, my baby sitter quit.  I spent the next 2 weeks searching for child care and discovered something. I live in a child care desert. DESERT! There is not one child care facility in my school zone. Not one. My daughters school does offer after school care until 5:30 PM and that is where I currently I have her registered.  They do not offer before care. However, I am used to having child care 6AM to 6 PM. I live 45 miles from where I work.  By the time I drive (with traffic), park and get into work, it takes about an hour and half. So I work for 8 hours, with a 30 minute lunch:  8.5 Normal traffic to work each morning:                1.5 Normal traffic from work each morning:             1.5 Total time I HAVE to be away from home:       11.5 hours. See why I NEED 12 complete hours of child care. The normal traffic does not allow for wrecks or incr...

It's nice to save money, but it is even better to MAKE a little extra money, and now is the perfect time! With the holidays officially behind us, now is the perfect time.  We all have more....stuff now, and likely need to clean out our closets.  Maybe you got some things for Christmas that you don't necessarily want to keep, but couldn't return.  I know you were thinking Ï can re-gift this!" Why keep it around for a whole year, when you could sell it for a little extra cash now? And what about all those Spring/Summer clothes that no longer fit (the kids of course, I know NONE of us have gained any weight over the holidays). Why not get a jump on the spring cleaning and clean out the house and make some extra (vacation?) money.  Have I got you on board?  Then get to cleaning those closets out and compile all the stuff you want out of your house! But now what, where do we sell these things.  There are tons of options for selling items, and I've trie...

Walking across the church parking lot, I reach for my daughters hand.  "I don't need to hold your hand" says my daughter.  Absent mindedly I ask "oh, are you too big to hold my hand now?" "Well, I'm almost six. So the answer might be yes" :short pause: "But don't be mad " she finishes, "I'm almost six." And in one poetic conversation, my daughter reminds me that she is growing up AND that I can't be "mad" about it.  She is almost 6. 

I'm a pretty low maintenance girl.  I am happy in my flip flops, jeans and tennis shoes.  However, sometimes that girly side of me kicks in and I want to wear a cute pair of shoes.  Many times, this cute pair of shoes involve high heels. After wearing the cute shoes for a few hours, I'm left wondering ladies...HOW DO YOU WEAR HIGH HEELS ALMOST EVERY DAY? Seriously. I got a new pair of boots for Christmas with a modest heel.  They fit perfect and are super cute.  I wore them to work for the first time the other day and came home with huge blisters on the ball of my feet.  Now I don't have a job that requires a lot of standing and walking. I walk from my car to the office. From my desk to the break room or bathroom and back (2 or 3 times per day) and then back to my car at the end of the day.  And yet, by the time I was hobbling (yes it hurt so bad I was actually hobbling). Yáll is was below freezing outside and I was actually contemplating taki...