Intentional Living
Lunch Box “Love” Notes
Earlier this week I shared about our “Love Bug” Notes and received several emails regarding where to purchase similar notes so I decided to share a little bit more. Here are some fun ones:
Includes 105 colorful cards and over 100 silly stickers for help you brighten your child’s lunch.
The book over 75 includes tear-out notes with Bible Trivia.
Just tear out a silly riddle to make lunch enjoyable for your kids.
Example – “What’s the funniest place to eat lunch? In the laugh-eteria!
Remind your child of God’s faithfulness with over 75 tear-out notes that you can put in their lunch box. Each note includes a verse.
Hugs in a Lunch Box for Ages 5-7
Age specific lunch box notes to send with your child.
If you have some Amazon Gift Certificates from Swagbucks these would be great to add to your basket! Do you send lunch box notes to your kids? How often and do you usually write your own notes or send pre-made ones? If you have a great “lunch note” book that you have used please feel free to share a link below!
Save A Lot: Deals for the week of February 15 – 21, 2012
The Save A Lot weekly ad deals are listed below for your convenience. It is a great time to stock up on some Save A Lot deals. Sign up for the Smart Shopper Club, by doing so you will get a $5.00 off of $25.00 coupon!
Meats and Seafood
Family Pack Rib Eye Steaks – $6.99 lbs
Assorted Pork Chops – $1. 79 lbs
Family Pack Cube Pork – $1.89 lbs
Port Side Tilapia (16 oz) – $3.99
Cooked Cocktail Shrimp (40 to 60 oz) – $4.99
Butterball Turkey Bacon (6 oz) – $1.00
Use $0.55/1 coupon insert from 1/15 Smart Source (Expires 2/16/12)
$0.45 each after couponCarolina Ground Turkey (12 oz) – $1.00
Pick 5 for $19.99 promo on going: Pick any 5 specially marked packages of your favorite cuts of fresh, frozen or smoked meats and pay just $19.99 (about $2 per pound).
Fridge and Freezer
Banquet Breaded Chicken, Patties, Tenders, or Nuggets (25 to 26 oz) – $2.99
Hot Pocket Singles, Pepperoni, Ham & Cheese, Breakfast (3 oz) – $0.88
Marie Calendar’s Chicken Pot Pie – $2.29
Oscar Mayer Wieners (16 oz) – $1.00
Oscar Mayer Bolagna (12 oz) – $1.00
Oscar Mayer Lunchables – $1.00
Save A Lot Today Chicken Strips or Meatballs (7 – 8 oz) – $1.00
Banquet Brown ‘n Serve Sausage Links, Maple or Original (6.4 oz) – $1.00
Gwaltney Pork Sausage (12 oz) – $1.00
Budding Deli Cuts, Ham, Turkey, Chicken, and Roast Beef (3 – 4 oz) – $1.00
Hormel Sliced Pepperoni or Hard Salami (3.5 oz) – $1.00
Use $1.00/2 coupon insert from 1/15 Smart Source (Expires 3/15/12)
$0.50 each after couponHinsdale Corn Dogs (3 count) – $1.00
Fisher Boy Fish Sticks (6 oz) – $1.00
Fisher Boy Shrimp Poppers (4 oz) – $1.00
Tortino Pizza Roll, Pepperoni or Cheese (15 count) – $1.00
Tony’s Crispy Crust Pizza, Pepperoni or Supreme (9 – 10 oz) – $1.00
Banquet Dinners (4 – 9 oz) – $1.00
Buyers Best Crinkle Cut French Fries (32 oz) – $1.00
Pillsbury Grand Biscuits (16 oz) – $1.00
Use $0.30/2 coupon insert from 12/4 Smart Source (Expires 2/25/12)
Use $0.30/2 coupon insert from 12/11 Smart Source (Expires 3/3/12)
Use $0.30/2 coupon insert from 1/8 General Mills (Expires 3/31/12)
Use $0.30/2 coupon insert from 2/5 Smart Source (Expires 4/28/12)
Use $0.35/3 coupon insert from 1/8 General Mills (Expires 3/31/12)
As low as $0.85 each after couponSunny D Orange Mango or Orange Strawberry (48 oz) – $1.00
Produce
Roma Tomatoes – $0.99 lb
Seedless Grapes, Red or White – $1.49 lb
Mini Carrots – $1.00
Dole Salad Mix (12 oz) – $1.00
Celery – $1.00
Yellow or Red Peppers – $1.00
Jumbo Navel Oranges or Red Grapefruit – $1.00
Klondike Rose Potatoes – $1.00
Household
Angel Soft Bath Tissue (4 pack) – $0.99
Sparkle Paper Towels – $0.99
Grocery
Crystal Bottled Water (24 pack) – $2.99
Hargis House Chili with Beans (15 oz) – $1.39
Kaskey’s Chicken or Beef Bouillon Cubes (3.25 oz) – $1.89
Marcum Gravy Mixes – $0.57
Mantia’s Wide Egg Noodles (12 oz) – $1.39
Shelby”s Grove Sliced Peaches or Fruit – $0.99
Mantia’s Garlic Toast – $2.29
Save A Lot Today Sandwich Cremes (12 oz) – $1.19
Libby’s Tropical Fruit Salad (15 oz) – $1.29
Sundia Fruit Cup – $1.00
Chef Boyardee Canned Pasta – (14.5 – 15 oz) $1.00
Betty Crocker Hamburger Helper or Chicken Helper – $1.00
Progresso Vegetable Classic Soup (19 oz) – $1.00
Nissan Souper Meals (4.3 oz) – $1.00
Hormet Micro Cups (7.5 oz) – $1.00
Chicken of the Sea Chunk White Tuna (5 oz) – $1.00
Knorr Sides (4 – 7 oz) – $1.00
Use $1.00/3 coupon insert from 1/29 Red Plum (Expires 2/26/12)
Use $0.50/2 coupon insert from 1/29 Red Plum (Expires 2/26/12)
$0.77 each after couponBetty Crocker Flavored Mashed Potatoes (4 – 6 oz) – $1.00
Kraft Mac & Cheese Cups or Boxes (2 – 7 oz) – $1.00
Malt O Meal Cereal (10 – 12 oz) – $1.00
Use $1.00/3 printable coupon from Malt ‘O Meal
$0.77 each after couponKool-Aid Bursts (40 oz) – $1.00
Hawaiian Punch, Assorted Varieties (32 oz) – $1.00
Mrs Freshley’s Buddy Bars, Oatmeal Cream Cookies, Swiss Rolls & Honey Buns – $1.00
Nestle Candy Bars (2 – 3 oz) – $1.00
Wylwood Cut Green Beans or Whole Kernel Corn (28 – 29 oz) – $1.00
Diane’s Garden Tomatoes (28 oz) – $1.00
Red Gold Ketchup (36 oz) – $1.00
Remember you can use the $5/$25 printable coupon to sweeten these deals! Plus you can earn up to 5 additional $5 off $25 coupons for sharing the coupon with your friends.
For more information about Save A Lot’s coupon policies go here. If you find additional deals or savings please let me know and I will add them to the list.
Be My Valentine: “Love Bug” Notes
Little ladybug “love” notes in the girls school lunches
The girls love getting surprises in their lunch boxes. I found these adorable ladybug notes (aka “love bug” notes in our house) and waited until I had a coupon to buy them at our local Hallmark store. It is my intention to send a special note or treat with the girls lunches at least once a week (on a good week I do it 2 or 3 times). In a time pinch I put these fun bugs on their sandwich containers or random places in their lunch.
Fun note to remind the girls we love them
Not only do these notes brighten the girls days it also encourages them to read. The notes are cute and it only takes a minute to add them to their lunch box.
Karlie’s Note – Buzzing by to say….. Consider yourself HUGGED! Squeeeeeeeeze
Karlie has been known to keep her “love” notes in her lunch box for weeks. She gets so excited about the little notes that sometimes when I ask her how her day went the first thing she tells me about is the “love bug” she found in her lunch.
Brina’s Note – A little buggy told me you’ve been working really hard. You should feel so proud!
Brina loves getting these notes in her lunch so much that she has a baggie full of them in her “special” drawer at home. I know the girls appreciate these small reminders of our love.
I love having these on hand to add a little bit of variety to the special surprises.You could pick up these or something similar at your local Hallmark store or find some online to print off or make up some of your own to print off. What type of goodies do you put in your kids lunch boxes?
Fresh & Healthy: Lunch Box Meals
School Lunch!
The girls are good at helping put together their lunches. They know that we get a protein, fruit, vegetable, dairy, drink and snack. Here’s what they had today:
- Peanut Butter & Homemade Strawberry Jam
- Fresh Tomatoes
- Pita Chips
- Yogurt
- Applesauce or Yogurt Raisin
- Cheesestick
- Bottled Water and Reduced Sugar Juice
- Sugar Free Cherry Jello
- Protein Bar or SoyJoy Apple Granola Bar
Lunch Box Goodies
Happy Valentine’s Day: Every Love Story….
I am thankful for an amazing family. My husband is the love of my life. Today is a great day to share just a few of the reasons why I love my man so much! 🙂
- Jake encourages me to continue to grow and learn.
- Jake cooks delicious meals
- Jake loves me for who I am
- Jake cleans and pitches in around the house
- Jake works hard to provide for our family
- Jake is my best friend and my life partner
- Jake is the leader of our family
- Jake is generous and kind
- Jake is considerate
- Jake is an amazing Daddy to our girls
- Jake is the spiritual leader for our family
- Jake spends time with our family
- Jake can make me laugh
- Jake knows how to make me feel loved and appreciated
- There are many reasons why I LOVE YOU JAKE!
Intentional Living: Weekly Goals
Last week Jake was traveling the majority of the week for work and we had the girls 7th Birthday Party. It was neat celebrating, it’s still hard for me to believe that my babies are 7 years old.
Here is the update on last weeks goals:
Family Goals
Spend 1-on-1 time with each child everyday- Read a book to the girls everyday – we had a couple later nights this week
Have each girl read 1 book to myself or Jake 5 days this weekGo on our Date Night with the GirlsCelebrate with family and friends at the Girls Birthday PartyPick up the girls new glassesSchedule Appointment with Chiropractor
Personal Goals
Exercise – walk at least 5 days this week- Go to bed by 10:30 pm or earlier Monday to Thursday – need to work on this one
Finish reading Everything Romance by Todd HaferRead and listen to the next section of Desiring God: Finding Complete Satisfaction and Joy in God by John Piper (our church Community Group is going through this book together).- Finalize Upcoming Travel Plans – got most of the travel itinerary done, just a couple minor details to be worked out
Home Management Goals
All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one dayWeekly Dinner Menu planned and written by MondaySpend 30 minutes every day picking up / cleaning the house- Dinner ready by 5:30 PM (Monday through Thursday) – with several doctor appointments after school dinner was delayed
- Spend time re-organizing and de-cluttering the Master Bedroom & Bathroom – this didn’t get done this week
Business Goals
Pay all bills that come in the mail this weekWork on ideas for upcoming blog postsSpend 10 minutes a day cleaning and organizing my desk- Write a Guest Blog Post – working on it
Schedule Meeting with Accountant for Business Taxes
Ministry Goals
Email our weekly Community Group update including upcoming events on the calendar, praises, and prayer requestsMeet a friend or family member for Breakfast or LunchEmail Alms & Legs Ministry Team with the Meeting Notes
Financial Goals
- Stay within Budget on Groceries $40 for 4 – went over a little this week with the girls birthday party, Valentine’s Day & Date Night
- Emergency Fund – save 3 months worth of living expenses – working on it
- Complete our personal 2011 taxes – getting closer
- Put money aside for upcoming trips – have some of it set aside
- Pay for Jake’s College Classes – cash set aside for the first 6 months
Here are my goals for the upcoming week:
Family Goals
- Spend 1-on-1 time with each child everyday
- Read a book to the girls everyday
- Have each girl read 1 book to myself or Jake 5 days this week
- Go on our Date Night with Jake
- Celebrate Valentine’s Day
- Celebrate Brina & Karlie’s Birthday
- Spend time together as a family
Personal Goals
- Exercise – walk at least 5 days this week
- Go to bed by 10:30 pm or earlier Monday to Thursday
- Finish reading When Work and Family Collide by Andy Stanley
- Read and listen to the next section of Desiring God: Finding Complete Satisfaction and Joy in God by John Piper (our church Community Group is going through this book together).
- Packing “To Do” List
Home Management Goals
- All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one day
- Weekly Dinner Menu planned and written by Monday
- Spend 30 minutes every day picking up / cleaning the house
- Dinner ready by 5:30 PM (Monday through Thursday)
- Spend time re-organizing and de-cluttering the downstairs Bookshelves / Desk / Dressers
Business Goals
- Pay all bills that come in the mail this week
- Work on ideas for upcoming blog posts
- Spend 10 minutes a day cleaning and organizing my desk
- Write a Guest Blog Post
- Finish 2011 Business Taxes
Ministry Goals
- Email our weekly Community Group update including upcoming events on the calendar, praises, and prayer requests
- Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or Lunch
Financial Goals
- Stay within Budget on Groceries $40 for 4
- Emergency Fund – save 3 months worth of living expenses
- Complete our personal 2011 taxes
- Put money aside for upcoming trips
- Put cash aside for 1 year of Jake’s College Classes
I think it is important to share and encourage each other as we seek to improve our lives and the lives of those around us. I want to live intentionally not just hope all my dreams and goals come true. When I focus on small steps of improvement I am able to see results as I get closer to my goals. Some weeks I get closer to the goals I have in my life and other weeks a take a few steps back (life happens, emergencies occur, people get sick). Once the goals are written down and shared it provides a guideline for what I aim to accomplish this week.
Why Share My Goals?
- To keep me accountable
- To share a piece of my life with you as I strive to be a better Child of God, Wife, Mom, Friend, Homemaker, Entrepreneur and the many other roles I have each week
- To have my goals consistently written down so I can gauge progress more accurately
- Create healthy habits in my life
- To encourage you to share your goals with me as you continue to grown and learn
How did you do this week on your goals? Feel free to share or link to your list of weekly goals.
The picture above is one that I created for my own purposes, however, The “SMART” acronym was originally coined 30 years ago by Peter Drucker in his classic work, Management by Results
I loved you yesterday….
Living on a Budget: Groceries $40 for 4
Jake was traveling for work most of the week and I had a lot of appointments for myself and the girls but I was able to squeeze in a quick trip to the grocery store. Here is my weekly update on our Groceries $40 for 4.
Groceries from Ingles, Walgreens, and Save A Lot | RiteAid
Ingles Groceries:
- $37.14 at Ingles for 6 containers Fresh Strawberries (marked down to $0.99 on clearance), 3 bags Fresh Oranges (4 pounds each marked down to $0.99 each), 3 limes, 1 box Roarin Twirling Berry Drinks (10 count), 1 box Roarin Twirling Fruit Punch (10 count), 1 box Laura Lynn Oatmeal, 5 packs Kool Aide, 2 packs Wylers, 4 cartons Minute Maid Cherry Limeades, 2 boxes Go-Gurt Strawberry and Blueberry (10 count each), 1 pack Laura Lynn Sliced Sharp Cheddar Cheese, 1 pack English Muffins, 1 large bag Pepperoni, 1 pack Potatoes, 1 small pack Pepperoni and 1 fresh Pineapple. (All the items were on clearance, marked down or on sale. I was able to use a couple coupons as well.)
Walgreen Groceries:
- $0.00 at Walgreens for 2 cartons of Eggs, a dozen each. (Used Register Rewards to pay for the eggs).
Save A Lot | RiteAid Groceries:
- 20.49 at Save A Lot | RiteAid for 1 bag Granny Smith Apples (3 pounds), 1 bag Red Delicious Apples (3 pounds), 2 bags Carrots, 2 packs KoolAid Drinks (6 count each), 2 bags Cheddar Chex Mix, 1 bag Fresh Spinach (marked down on clearance), 1 fresh Green Pepper, 1 box Frosted Flakes, 1 stalk fresh Celery, 1 can Cinnamon Rolls, 1 box Little Hugs Reduced Sugar Drinks (20 count), and 1 fresh Cucumber
Groceries from Walgreens
Walgreens Groceries:
- $0.00 at Walgreens for 1 gallon Milk and 2 cartons of Eggs (They had their eggs marked down to $0.99 each this week and they are still the best price I can find on milk in our area. I used Register Rewards to pay for the milk and eggs today. We should be stocked up on eggs for a few days.)
We were able to stock up on some great items this week. Although we were a little over we have two celebrations going on this weekend. The girls Birthday party and Valentine’s Day!
This week I spent $57.63 on groceries. I was over on my budgeted amount for the week because of the busy week with traveling, appointments, and upcoming celebrations so thankfully I have a little extra to cover the groceries this week. I was happy to find fresh eggs and great produce on sale that we can use for several meals. I hope that next week is better week, back to normal, and we can come under budget!
It is my goal to give you regular updates on this budget section so you can celebrate the good weeks with me and thump me on the bad weeks! As always you are welcomed to join the journey with me. I would love to hear your story and how you are doing too. The purpose of our family doing this it to watch our grocery spending while allowing us to feed our family, enjoy life, share with others, and yet stay on track with our budget.
Living on a Budget is a series of ways our family uses a budget to help keep us accountable with our finances. Life doesn’t always go as planned. We have used some of the ideas I will be sharing for years while others are ones we are just starting to implement as we continue finding ways to be creative and have fun with what we have been given. Having a plan in place allows us the freedom to be smart with what we have been given, get more creative when it is a tight (week, month, year or a season) and when necessary live a much more simplified life. A budget helps us stay on track so we have more opportunities to enjoy the many blessings we have been given as well as share what we have with others. There is so much more to life than having all the stuff. We may not have the newest or greatest items in our house, we drive used cars, and wear hand-me-down clothing…..however, if our family is taken care of and have love for each other and others we have more than all the riches in the world.
Recipe: Fresh Garden Salsa
Fresh yellow and red tomatoes from our garden
As I was thinking about the upcoming Spring season I realized that it is almost time to start planning for the 2012 garden. Yikes! There are so many big events going on with our family between now and garden season, however, I don’t want to wait until the last minute to start planning either.
I absolutely LOVED having a garden last year. It was fun to grow, eat, and giveaway the food we had planted in the garden. Recently, I took a few minutes to go back over my notes, photos, and information from last year’s garden to see which produce did well and what our family ate. During that time I came across my Fresh Garden Salsa recipe and pictures from when I made it in the Fall. Just looking at the fresh vegetables got me excited about this upcoming year. I hope the garden does well again because it was a blast giving away produce to family and friends!
This recipe was created out of the items we had in the fridge and pantry at the time so feel free to alter it to match what you have in your kitchen as well. My family enjoyed this recipe and ate it but cutting up the fresh vegetables did take a little more time than I originally planned. The girls pitched in and helped so it made it a fun family event.
Fresh Garden Salsa:
- 4 cups fresh Tomatoes (used yellow & red tomatoes)
- 2 cups fresh Peppers (used red & green peppers)
- 1/2 cup Banana Peppers
- 1 small Sweet Yellow Onion
- 2 cloves of Garlic
- 2 Jalapeno Peppers
- 1/2 teaspoon Cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
- 1 freshly squeezed Lemon (or Lime)
- 1 can Corn
- 1 can Black Beans
Wash and dice up all the fresh vegetables. Mix all the ingredients together and blend lightly. Refrigerate for 2 hours or more (to allow the flavor to blend together) and serve with any type of corn chip. If you would like a spicier salsa you can add additional jalapeno peppers or hot sauce to the salsa.
Fresh Green and Red Peppers from our garden
Fresh Banana Peppers from our garden
Mixing up some fresh salsa
Salsa is ready….now do we have any chips!?
Be My Valentine: Sweetheart Sandwich
Valentine Heart Sandwich for the Brina’s lunch box
It is a lot of fun putting in something different into the girls lunch box. Around the Holidays and whenever I get the urge I do a special surprise in their lunch boxes. I typically do at least one special lunch box note or shape or treat a week, occasionally they get a few extras squeezed in when I have the time and creative juices flowing. In honor of the upcoming Valentine’s Day Holiday I put a heart PB&J sandwich in their lunches.
It an easy way to show the girls that I am thinking about them and care, plus they had a blast showing off their heart sandwich at lunch time to their friends! The majority of evenings if we have time I have the girls at least start putting together their lunches. Many nights they make the PB&J sandwiches themselves. Yes, they are messier and probably use more peanut butter and jelly but they enjoy pitching in and helping put together their lunches. Also, lunch making time gives us a few extra minutes of productivity and socializing together in the kitchen. Sometimes after they finish their lunches I will sneak in a note or something special other times I am making the lunches so I will add a special Momma’s touch.
All you have to do for this simple treat is make your peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Use a cookie cutter to make the shape you want. Put it in a container or sandwich bag and it is ready for them to discover the next day at lunch.
Heart shaped cookie cutter that I used for their PB&J sandwiches!
Karlie’s sweetheart surprise sandwich!
