We've been attending Financial Peace University classes at our church for the last few weeks.  It has been a lot of fun and we just love listening to Dave Ramsey, who helps us keep on track with our money.   

The last couple of weeks, our group had a challenge to come up with the cheapest meal idea, and the cheapest dessert idea.  We were to calculate how much our meal and dessert ideas cost per person, and report that to the group.  It was a very fun challenge. 

The rules of the dinner challenge were that it had to be real food (in other words, eating something like crackers with mustard didn't count), there had to be at least 3 different foods served, and it had to be something tasty (something that other people might want to make themselves).  Also, children were counted as half people for the challenge- so our family of 5 actually was considered to use 3.5 servings.  (This made it more fair for the others who had fewer children).

My dinner recipe for the challenge was this:

1.) Baked Chicken Thighs with Rosemary, Parsley, Oregano, Basil, and Garlic
2.) Caramelized Onions
3.) Mashed Potatoes

It was absolutely delicious!


Directions for chicken: Place 8 chicken thighs in 9 x 12 casserole dish. Drizzle with 4 tbsp olive oil, and sprinkle with various spices (ex. rosemary, parsley, oregano, pepper, and basil).
Bake for 1 hour at 425 degrees.

Ingredients and total cost:

8 chicken thighs (family pack ) = $2.88
2 onions =                                        $   .70
5 large potatoes =                           $   .90
1 stick butter (great value)=           $   .37
Spices, total=                                   $   .20
1 clove garlic=                                  $   .08
Olive oil=                                            $   .10
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Total Cost =                                       $5.23

For a family of 3.5,
The cost per person =                      $1.49

It was cheap, and tasty- but unfortunately did not win- there was a recipe that included pinto beans with bacon, cooked carrots, and double baked potatoes which was cheaper.   It sounded good too!  

So I was determined to win the dessert challenge, and came up with a recipe that was super cheap, but still delicious.

Orange Granita



This was really, really good...and the kids wanted me to make it again.  I have also made a coffee granita that was just as good.

Here are the ingredients:

  23 cents for 1 1/2 cups orange juice
  11 cents for 1/4 cup sugar
+10 cents for 5 servings whipping cream (great value)
______________________________
  .44 cents total

Recipe:
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups orange juice

and the directions:
Boil water and sugar till dissolved. Cool, and add orange juice. Place in 9 x 12 pan, cover and stick in freezer. Every hour, scrape with fork, until mixture is firm.

Makes 5 servings

Total money spent per person (for a 3.5 family): 13 cents! 

We won this challenge!  

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I would love to extend this challenge to the readers here, and see what kind of cheap meal and dessert ideas you can come up with.  Post them below in the comments if you happen to take me up on it!

Here is the finished portrait of Allison's beautiful daughters!   I had forgotten to post an update about this before:



This last week, I spent about 3 days deep cleaning a storage room (also known as the "junk room", because we usually stick things in there when we don't know what to do with it! lol). It's still not completely finished, but I did take a load of things to the dump, and will be going soon to take a second load (plus, boxes of stuff have been taken to the Salvation Army).   There were so many things in that room that we didn't need.   Stuff REALLY accumulates when you're not paying attention to it!

I am sure that part of the reason I just got the sudden urge to clean this room out probably has something to do with the "nesting" phase of pregnancy, but  the main reason is that Bonnie has been wanting to paint a lot, so I wanted to give her a place to paint where she could have more freedom.    Usually, I let her paint in the kitchen, but no matter how careful she is, she usually gets some paint on the floor (so her opportunities to paint are limited).  I decided that if I clean this little room out, and line the floor with plastic...she can paint to her heart's content in there.    I would have loved something like that when I was a little girl!  

Hopefully, within the next few days, it will be cleaned out completely and ready for her to begin having fun!

Speaking of painting, I am getting ready to get started with painting the welcome sign for our city!       We don't have much time before the baby is here (the due date is in April!), so it is very important that we get started as quickly as possible!   

Tomorrow, I should be hearing from the mineral paint company to get an estimate on how much the paint will cost for the entire project.  As soon as we know, we will order the paint.   The city will be paying to have someone sandblast the whole surface of the wall (89 ft long by 17 ft tall) with baking soda, so that the paint is entirely removed first (without this step, the mineral paint would not be able to bond to the surface of the wall...this is crucial to make sure that the paint will last for over a century).   Then my husband is going to take off work and will be priming the entire wall for me, so that I don't have to do that part!    Isn't that nice?   

After that is done, I will be painting the "Welcome" sign somewhere in the middle of the wall, between the obstacles which are there (air conditioning vents and a sign for the laundry cleaners).  The mural size itself will only be about 30 ft long and 11 ft high (still will be my largest mural ever!).  

Here is what the building I am going to be painting looks like:


And with photoshop, I was able to create a rough idea of what the painting should end up looking like when finished-  The wall surrounding the mural will be painted white.    This wasn't my original idea for the painting, of course (since the other one would take me much longer to complete and I don't have enough time!) .... but this will be a great first project- and I should be (hopefully) able to complete it before April!    I am VERY excited and can't wait to get started. 

I was so very excited to finally see our Sarah Palin pictures up at ShealahCraighead.com this week!  

Shealah Craighead is a very talented photographer (she actually was an official white house photographer) who took photographs of every single person who had their book signed at the Sarah Palin events and posted them on her website, so that they would be available for purchase.    Wow.

I had been so disappointed tthe day I found out that I couldn't bring my camera to the event, but after shaking hands with Sarah, we were handed a card with Shealah Craighead's website on it, saying that we could find photos of ourselves there.  That was so exciting!

Because of the number of people who were at these events, it took a while for all of the pictures all to be posted on the site.

Here is one of the photos from the website - I was 5 months pregnant...can you tell?   What a thrill it was to meet her in person! 
My husband, James, is right there behind me.


Here are links to more pictures-

My husband meeting Sarah.

Here and here are two pictures of James and me both in the background while another woman was getting her picture taken!

Here, here, and here are pictures of some of the people who had purchased my Sarah Palin shirt and were wearing it to the signing!   Way cool!

And here is a photo of

Carla, who got her shirt signed by Sarah!

Sorry to bombard everyone's inboxes with emails, but I have been motivated to blog more lately!   

I'm currently working on a portrait for a friend of mine.   It is a picture of her daughters.... these are the first two progress stages. I'll be sure to post more as I continue working on it.    It seems that posting about projects I'm working on helps motivate me to get them done sooner! 

First progress picture:


And second picture:

It's been about a month since I made these, but I didn't get a chance to post about these sooner!

My brother, Kevin (see his blog) is a really big computer geek (and that is an understatement! LOL) and video gamer. 
His birthday is two days before Christmas, and last month I was trying to think of something to give him as a present, and had a hard time thinking of anything that he might not have already-  I don't know what video games are his style, and didn't know whether anything I bought him would actually be enjoyed or not- or whether he might already have it... it was very tough trying to figure something out!  

My search for something to give him finally stopped when I got the idea for some geeky pillows, at this link.  (Thanks to Jenny for showing me this link!)   They were perfect! 
I decided to make some myself- only with black pillows, so they would look more like HIS keyboard keys.    Here they are!



I made them with some black pillows from Walmart - I used felt to cut the letters out, and used fabric glue to attach them to the pillows.  

I made Caleb's Kirby cupcakes tonight- I think they look pretty cute.     For those of you who don't know what  Kirby is, it's a character in a Nintendo game that came out in 1992.

 
I remember playing it on the Gameboy when I was little, and now Caleb plays it on his Wii. 
 

The cupcakes couldn't have been easier to make.  All I had to do was mix a box of strawberry cake mix with 1 1/2 cups of sprite. Then I used colored icing for the eyes, mouth, and to glue M & M's onto the sides for feet.  

I was craving some of those wonderful Red Lobster garlic cheddar biscuits after watching a commercial yesterday, and went online looking for the recipe.  Every recipe I found called for bisquick- and I just don't have that on hand.    I tried typing "garlic cheddar biscuits" and had the same problem.    Finally, I found a recipe for plain biscuits, and just added the cheese, and the garlic/parsley/butter topping. They turned out so fluffy and delicious. 

Here is the recipe:
 
Biscuits:
2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1/3 cup shortening (I used butter)

3/4 cup grated sharp Cheddar

1 cup milk (or buttermilk)

Topping:

3-5 teaspoons butter

1 tablespoon parsley

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar together using a fork; cut in shortening until it resembles cornmeal. Add cheese. Sir in milk all at one time just until blended. Do not over stir.

Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a well-greased baking sheet. Brush dough with melted butter mixture. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

These were just as flaky, melt in your mouth soft, and delicious as the Red Lobster Biscuits.  It really hit the spot.   

I have been neglecting this blog a lot lately- but it seems like life has gotten so busy, and the last month or so, I've been kind of physically uncomfortable.

Baby Ian seems to like to sit with his feet pushing under my left ribs so much that it gets really sore, and causes some back pain too.   I have also had some Sciatica pain, but fortunately, it seems to be getting better- at least for today!     Seems like when the pain hits, the only way to get comfortable is to lay on my left side...so I've been doing that a lot lately!    I know it is all going to be soooo worth it once the baby arrives, so I just have to wait it out and be patient!  

I can't believe it's already almost been 7 months!    In just a few months, the baby should be here!  

Here is a picture of what I look like right now (I had Bonnie take the picture, so it's at an angle!):



Tomorrow is Caleb's birthday.   He will be 10 years old- double digits! I can't believe that I am a mother to a child who is 10, and I also can't believe that two of my children are going to be 10 years apart in age!  WOW.   Caleb informed me the other day that when Ian is 5, he will be 15!!   That was a shocker to me.   I can't imagine that time has really flown so fast.     I try to enjoy every day that I have with my kids because the time goes by so quickly.   One day they're going to be moved out and married, and I'm going to miss them so much!

I was trying to think of a cake idea for Caleb (last minute, unfortunately!)  Caleb has always loved the video game Kirby, so I thought that it would be fun to make him these Kirby cupcakes. I think he'll like them.    I would try to do a cake like this, but unfortunately I don't think I have time to do something that nice!    I'll try to post pictures of the cupcakes tomorrow if they turn out looking good!

I am so thankful to have such good friends.  

 My very talented friend, Rose, from The Shabby Shelf, sent me the cutest little handmade baby hat, vest, and booties for Ian!  I got them in the mail today...  I can't wait to put him in these and then take pictures.    Thank you so much for being so thoughtful, Rose!









I'm so delighted with it all..they're so cute!  Rose has an etsy shop- it looks like it's closed right now, but if you're ever interested in ordering something handmade from her you can contact her through Etsy!

It's been almost a year since I first posted about my idea of wanting to paint a mural on a public building.  This was the idea I had originally wanted to do. 

It was back in April when I had brought it to the attention of the Chamber of Commerce, who had been seeking ways to increase tourism in our city, and I pitched my mural idea to them by asking 'what better way to do that than to have a large local themed mural painted on one of the buildings in town?'   (And for me, what better advertisement could there be for your artwork than a huge public mural?  So I wasn't going to charge anything for labor- only for the paints- I thought that the end result would be well worth the effort).  

I had been met with many positive responses, and they told me that they definitely wanted me to paint the mural- the only problem was being able to get the funding together to pay for the paints, which will cost thousands of dollars (because it is a durable paint that will last for centuries and the wall is so big!).    So they told me to just wait until they could get the funds together.

For months I waited, and it seemed like nothing was going to happen...then I found out I was pregnant, and realized that I was going to need them to hurry if I was going to be able to paint this mural!     I let them know that I was pregnant, so there wasn't much time if they wanted it done. I also told them that if they just wanted to wait until the next year rolled around, or another year...that would be totally fine with me. 

They said, no, they certainly wanted me to do this building...no question about it!    I decided that if I was going to be painting something while pregnant, it needed to be on  flatter ground than the building I originally had decided on.  So I asked about that, and the head of Tourism gave me another building, in a more prominent spot, which was perfect.   I can use a scissor-lift there (I wouldn't have been able to do on the other building because it is on a slope- so I thought that would be much safer if I was going to be painting while pregnant).   She also gave me a totally different picture to paint, which is actually much simpler than the other idea that I had- a "Welcome" sign for our city, with an image of the city's founder on the left of the image.    Made my job a little easier!

Months went by again and I just ended up forgetting about the whole thing, except when someone would ask me how things were going with the mural idea.  I just figured that they had decided not to go ahead with it since I was going to be so far along by the time they got their money together.

It turns out I was wrong!   Tonight, out of nowhere, I got a call from from the lady who is the head of the tourism dept., saying that she was so sorry it had taken her so long, and  that she knows it's way too cold to start on the mural right now, but if there was any way I could possibly try to get it done before the baby arrives (April), she would still love to have it done- and they have the funding ready for it!     What a surprise! 

I was excited and intimidated at the same time- I am 6 months pregnant now, and am getting pretty big. I could have said no, it will have to wait till after the baby is born and a lot older....but how could I possibly do that and miss out on such a great opportunity?  I believe that God can give me the strength to handle this, just as He has come through for me in the past with so many other things. 

I have all of that "pregnancy energy" that I usually get around this time, and I think I could actually do this!

My husband believes in me also, and that to me gives me all of the confidence that it will work out! 

So now I have a lot of thinking, planning, and preparation to do.... and I still have to finish my book before April too, if I am going to meet my deadline. So I'm going to be busy, busy, busy!