Yesterday we made smoothies. We blended 2 frozen bananas, 1 cup of vanilla yogurt, 1 cup of orange juice, and a little honey. They were good! I think we may try adding some other fruit in with it next time. Using frozen fruit keeps you from having to use ice, so you have more flavor. Freezing bananas is a good way to keep them when they get too ripe…perfect for smoothies! If you have a favorite recipe or fruit combination for smoothies, post it in a comment so we can get some variety!

My husband recently found a website called Associated Content that publishes articles online. The best part is that they pay you for your articles! I just had my second article published: Criticism of Homeschooling: How to Answer and Alleviate Those Who Question You. The first article I had published may sound familiar…it is actually one of my blog posts.

If you like to write and are interested in joining, check them out:

And let me know if you get published!

We are happy to announce that we are expecting baby #3 in November! I just had an ultrasound yesterday, and baby looks good and has a good heartbeat. Of course, our friends and family are really amused about the fact that the baby is due right after Thanksgiving…and right in the middle of hunting season!

One of first things my mom and my brother asked me was where we were going to put him or her . We have a pretty small house. We are going to have to come up with some bunk beds for Jacob and Skylar, and I think that will take care of the space problem. Skylar is ready to move to a regular bed anyway.

So, keep us in your prayers, and I’ll keep you posted on how we’re doing!

Yesterday we got a free sandbox! Jacob is so excited. Of course, it continues to be cold and rainy, so the sandbox is currently sitting in our storage room waiting for a nice warm day. I got the sandbox through our local Freecycle. If you haven’t heard of Freecycle, it is a really neat program. There are local Freecycle groups all over the world. You can join the mailing list for your local group (it is done through Yahoo! groups), and you receive emails when people have things to give away or things they would like to have. You can post items you want to give away, and people will email you if they want them. You decide who gets the item, and make arrangements for them to pick it up. I have given away a few things through Freecycle. I have received some lace curtain panels for my big living room windows, a cork board for Jacob’s room, and the sandbox. Just go to the Freecycle website to see more details and search for a local group near you.

Every time I buy potatoes that are not Idaho potatoes, I remember why I usually spend a little extra and buy Idahos. There is the occasional bad spot in an Idaho potato, and some bags are definitely better than others. But I got a bag of russet potatoes that were on sale the other day, and I threw away one whole potato, cut off half of one, and cut huge chunks out of several others…and that was just going through about 10 potatoes! I was disappointed, and reminded myself to go back to Idahos even if they cost a little more. Is it really a good deal if you end up throwing that much out? I don’t think so.

I try to be frugal, but the lowest price is not always the most frugal choice. You have to consider the amount of waste and the quality of the food. This is true when buying meat, too. You may pay more per pound when you buy boneless skinless chicken, but you also have a lot less waste. Ground beef that is higher in fat is cheaper, but once all the fat cooks out, you have less meat! I do sometimes buy whole chickens when they are really cheap. I pick every bit of meat off, and use the bones to make broth for soup.

So, Idahos, I will return to my loyalty to you. I will not let seemingly low prices cause me to stray into the “other potatoes” section of the store. No more rotten potatoes for me.

Thanks to my friend Amberly who just gave me a Thinking Blogger award on her blog “Moments Amid Messes“! I really appreciate her compliments. Amberly is a great person, and I have enjoyed reading her blog. She homeschools her 3 children, and if you did not read her posts on homeschooling yet (part 1 and part 2), then you really should!