2 FREE Events: Fee Free Day at National Parks & Musuem Day Live! Event

You and your family have an opportunity to attend two FREE events on Saturday, September 29, 2012...a great time of family togetherness, learning and fun!

 Details I found have found at the different websites, with links for more information, a comprehensive list and individual participating museums links for you to have contact information, are below.

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FEE FREE DAYS AT NATIONAL PARKS ACROSS THE NATION

 

If you would like to learn more about Fee Free Days you can read an article written by the Secretary of Interior here. Here is an excerpt providing the dates determined for the Fee Free Days:

"The fee free dates for 2012 are January 14 to 16 (Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend), April 21 to 29 (National Park Week), June 9 (Get Outdoors Day), September 29 (National Public Lands Day), and November 10 to 12 (Veterans Day weekend). More information is available at http://www.nps.gov/findapark/feefreeparks.htm."

For a comprehensive list of the National Parks participating in the Fee Free Days, click here, although I would contact them to confirm prior to packing up the family and heading that way. :D

 

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MUSEUM DAY LIVE! hosted by Smithsonian magazine

In conjunction with this Fee Free Day to the National Parks, will be Museum Day Live! On September 29th, free admission is being offered to various museums across the country. Read here for the details about this event here. Locally, on the list, your family could attend: The Florida Ag Museum, The Lightner Museum, Museum of Arts and Sciences, Museum of Science and History, World Golf Hall of Fame, and many others in DeLand, Jacksonville, Sanford, and Orlando.

 

Visit here for a comprehensive list of participating museums and to check to see if a museum near you is offering free admission. {SIDENOTE:  If you have season membership to the MOAS, MOSH or another museum, don't forget that some of these may be on your "reciprocal list" so my suggestion would be to compare your list to the list online and visit a museum that is NOT on the reciprocal list, since any museum on the reciprocal list could be visited for free during your membership year anyway.}

 

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What a great day of family togetherness and learning this could be...we are definitely planning to take advantage of it! Hope you can too! 

 

Blessings,

 

P.S.  You are invited to participate in a GIVEAWAY I am having.  Click here to read my post about this great gift I received and join in the chance to win the same gift...you're going to LOVE it!  What a blessing!

 

Linked to:

 

Visit Life as Mom to read other Frugal Friday posts

 

Pumpkin, Projects, "Pretties" and Praise

This past week was a time for all of the above. 


Kailynn and I made pumpkin muffins. I used all freshly milled soft whole wheat flour instead of a combination of all-purpose and whole wheat as the recipe stated. I love the autumn season and the pumpkin recipes that accompany it!

Alyssa and I also made this delicious pumpkin bread recipe we found on Raising Homemakers. It was simple to make and lives up to its name...Delicious Pumpkin Bread!  This is definately more of a dessert than bread...delish!  {And here's a frugal tip for you...when you use your butter sticks, take the wrapper and put in the freezer.  When you need to grease a pan, take the frozen wrapper and rub on your pan to grease...and then through away.  This method utilizes that last bit of butter ~ no waste and pennies saved.  ;-) }

Another family favorite pumpkin treat are these pumpkin sandwiches.

Pumpkin has such wonderful nutritional benefits. {nutritional facts found here}

Of course, these recipes are not as healthy due to the sugar and butter, but oh do they taste good.

;-)

These treats have made completing projects less laborious. ;-) Austin has been busy getting things ready for fall fun.

A close up of one of the boxes...some re-purposed {or being frugal...however you want to look at it} wood from our old deck still being used for new projects.  Sand for the pit area and black mulch for the "platform" area.



Here's a distant shot with a glimpse of some improved landscaping down at the rear of our property...two planters:  one with crotons, aloe and some flower plants the other in the top right contain iris plants.


The horseshoe pits are completed and the garden is planted for winter, which we hope will provide a nice crop of lettuce, cabbage and two kinds of potatoes. The potatoes we are experimenting with…how hard can it be to grow potatoes? Last year our lettuce turned out well and the cabbage…it’s a locally grown crop, so the climate is right for it. We are using starter plants for both greens.  Time will tell what this winter crop will be...

Cabbage starter plants before he put them in the garden boxes.

 The girls and I enjoyed some “girl time” this past week…with toenail painting on a rainy morning. It’s been a long time since I have painted toenails for the girls and they were delighted! They were happy to pick their colors and little special stickers. It was a perfect opportunity to talk about how Jesus served his disciples by washing their feet and how we should seek to serve one another as Christ gave us this example to follow.

 This month is a wonderful month to lift up praise to Him from whom all blessings flow. As we read our Thanksgiving books this month, fill out “Thanksgiving” leaves for our “Tree of Thanks” and seek to serve one another {and others}, we cultivate a heart of praise. Those moments each day when we take time to “Be still and know He is God”, provide opportunity to give Him praise for all He is and does. Throughout the day, when we listen to our worship music, we can lift our voices in songs of praise. I love hearing the children singing Amazing Grace, Come Thou Fount and Be Thou My Vision as much as hearing them sing the children songs A Little Missionary, This Little Light of Mine, and Jesus Loves Me. To cultivate a heart of thanksgiving at an early age…


In celebration of Thanksgiving this month, I am planning to do a GIVEAWAY that week. I hope you will be blessed and join in ~ check back for details SOON. Until then, have a blessed weekend and let your heart be filled with praise!






Blessings ~

Linked this week to:

Frugal Fridays: Money, Resources and Time

Frugal, as defined in Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, means to be economical in the use of money, goods or provisions of any kind. Frugality is not a principle to frown upon, but one we should embrace as it is a means to freedom…be it, financial freedom, freedom from the bondage of “stuff” or freedom to do things the Lord puts before you to do (minister to the sick, to be hospitable, to serve others, etc.) because we have managed in such as way to allow us the “time” to do so.


Here are some of the frugal things that work for me in each category:

Money ~

We make our own laundry detergent and save much money by doing so. Here is the recipe we have found to work for us:


Ingredients ~

1 cup Borax

1 cup Washing Soda (not baking soda)

1 bar of Fels-Naptha (grated)

¼ cup Dr. Bonner’s Pure Castile Soap (we have used Tea Tree, Citrus Orange and Unscented for laundry soap making purpose…lavender would probably work just as well, too)

6 gallon bucket

Hot water (about 6 gallons)

Click here for my laundry soap post for instructions and my cost analysis.

Goods ~

I try to conserve resources (water, which we pay for) but limiting the amount of dishes I dirty in meal preparations. Whenever possible, I use one pot or one bowl for recipes. For baking recipes that say “cream” this in one bowl and “mix” dry goods in another, I “cream” in the mixing bowl and add the dry goods to it. My recipes have never flopped from not using that other bowl. When making a casserole or soup recipe, I use one pot for all my preparations…brown the meats, then add the veggies that need to be sautéed then the rest of the ingredients. Once again, our meals have turned out fine and I have saved from dirtying extra dishes, which ultimately saves water usage as I am washing less dishes.


Another water saving tip…catching rain water and using it to water plants or using cooking water to water them (once cooled). Why pour good costly water down the drain?

Time ~

I try to save time (which ultimately saves goods AND money) by menu planning. I have planned our meals for years and have found having a meal plan works for us. I have a breakfast menu, which is simple enough that the children (assigned to a couple of them) can prepare for the family. Our lunch menu was selected based on three factors: preparation time, nutritional balance and ease in preparing. Although they are not the most frugal lunches, they are still fairly economical when feeding a large crew. Our dinner menu is a four/five week rotation, without repeating any dishes (typically) for the month. I take advantage of sales and have built our pantry and freezer inventory over time, allowing me to keep those levels maintained which ultimately saves money and wasted trips to the store.


Another time saver is making a grocery list each week. I refer to our menu plan before each weekly shopping trip and base my shopping list on what items are low in our food inventory, the fresh produce items which will be needed for the upcoming week and any sales that may be happening at the two stores I buy from. Coupons are used (for items we regularly consume when I have them) and sticking to my list both save time and money. Our food budget for our family of 9 is around $150 per week and I regularly am able to stay within that budget. Now, I do not buy strictly organic (if I did that would reek havoc on my budget), but instead buy certain items such as milk, eggs, chicken, beef and pork (both purchased as part of a co-op locally) and some other basic items consumed regularly.


Well, those are my frugal tips for saving MONEY, GOODS and TIME. What do you do to save in those areas? I love learning from all you ladies out there, so leave me a comment, sharing your tips and helpful hints. If you would like to read what others do to be frugal, click here. This post has been linked up with Frugal Fridays.


Blessings as you save money, goods and time ~