Pumpkin: Fresh vs. Canned

This year, I decided to try making my own pumpkin puree from a fresh pumpkin.  However, I didn't want to have to find a "sugar pumpkin" or "pie pumpkin", so after much reading on the internet, I determined that I could use the pumpkins I bought for fall decorations.  You know, Jack-o-lantern pumpkins.  We didn't carve ours, so they were still fresh.  Plus, I just couldn't bring myself to spend $2.50 for a can of pumpkin (on sale, but I only spent less than $1 for the pumpkins I had:-).

So, I cut the pumpkin open, scraped out the seeds and stringy stuff, and then cut the pumpkin into about 8 large pieces and placed in a big pot with a steamer basket.  I steamed them for about 30 minutes until they were nice and soft.  After cooling, I used an ice cream scoop to scrape the flesh off the skin.  This I then pureed in my food processor and had about 6 cups of nice fresh pumpkin puree.  Since I had read that this type of pumpkin can be more watery than "pie pumpkins", I put the puree into a strainer to sit while I was finishing up the other puree (my food processor is pretty small.)  A good bit of water did strain out.

Then I used the fresh pumpkin puree for my pumpkin pie (I use a recipe that calls for sweetened condensed milk instead of evaporated milk and sugar).  The recipe not only made one beautiful pie, but I also had enough filling left to make 12 little mini pumpkin tarts using a mini muffin pan and another refrigerated pie crust.  That was a good thing, because we would not have been able to wait a whole day to find out how it tasted:-)

Tasting has brought about the conclusion that fresh is much lighter and you can certainly taste the difference.  You can also see the difference because fresh pumpkin is more yellow than the canned, which I have learned is mostly butternut squash.  Yes, canned pumpkin is mostly made of butternut squash which is much more orange in color.  So that may account for the difference in taste also.

I do believe that after trying it this way, I may never  buy canned pumpkin again.  Plus, I have two more large pumpkins still waiting to be cooked up and made into pumpkin puree, so I will have quite enough to get us through the holiday season and winter.  I will be making pumpkin muffins, pumpkin waffles, pumpkin stew and many more dishes that include fresh pumpkin puree.

Have you ever made fresh pumpkin puree?  What is your conclusion?

Tasty DNA and Spudoodles!!!

We are in the last couple of weeks of our Biology Co-op classes before holiday break and last week the students made Tasty DNA out of colored marshmallows, toothpicks and Twizzlers.

Then this week, we were studying Mendelian Genetics and in order to more fully understand the effects of the parents' genotypes on the offspring, the students created Spudoodles!  They are sort of like a version of Mr. Potato Head using a random selection from the mother's genotypes and the father's genotypes.  However, they really turned out cute, so I thought I would share.

Edible Cell Project

This past week in our Biology Co-op class, the students made Edible Cell replicas.  They could replicate either an animal or plant cell, using all edible components.  I thought I would share their very creative projects.

Ciara made a plant cell out of cake and candies.  She won for Most Accurate model.

 Dylan made an animal cell out of cake with fondant for the organelles.

 Jonah and Kerena made their plant cell out of cake with various treats used for the organelles. They won Most Creative Use of Ingredients award.

 Aubrianna and Chennady made their animal cell out of chocolate pie crust and icing, using nuts and candies for the organelles.

 Cody made his animal cell out of pumpkin pie, pudding and candies.  His replica won for Tastiest Cell.

 Alissa made her plant cell out of cake, pudding, fruit and candies.

 Emmalee made her plant cell out of cake and candies.

I was very proud of all of their Edible Cells and hope that they had fun doing this educational AND tasty project!!

Best Grocery Deals in Phoenix Area This Week (Oct. 13-19, 2010)

I know I haven't been consistent with these deals, but I had a little time today, so I thought I would post them (and I got the sales ads in YESTERDAY'S mail - woohoo!)

Albertsons

Asst'd Pork Loin Chops  $0.97/lb
Ground Chuck 5lbs or more  $1.59/lb
Gold Medal Flour 5 lbs. $1
Barilla Pasta $1
Driscoll Raspberries $1 6 oz
Lay's Chips and Doritos $1
Old Orchard frozen juice $1
Rotel $1
Buy 8, Save $4:
Totinos Pizza Rolls $0.99
BC Cookie Mix $0.99
Green Giant Mushrooms $0.99
Reese's Puffs $1.99

Basha's

Cross Rib Roast $1.77/lb twin pack
Fresh Ground Sirloin $1.97/lb value pack
Strawberries $0.99/lb
Red Seedless Grapes $0.77/lb
Welchs 100% Grape Juice $2.99

Buy 10, Save $5:

Hunt's Pasta Sauce, Barilla Pasta, Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce $0.69
Tyson 1lb bacon $1.99
Coca Cola or Pepsi 2 liter $0.69
Kleenex Facial Tissue $0.99

Food City

Avocados 4/$0.99
Large Tomatoes 3 lbs/$0.99

WEDNESDAY ONLY:

Cucumbers 6/$0.99
Green Bell Peppers 5/$0.99

THURSDAY ONLY:

Chicken Drumsticks $0.59/lb
Bone-In Country Style Pork Ribs $0.99/lb
73% lean ground beef $0.99/lb

FRIDAY ONLY:

Valencia Oranges 5 lbs/$1

Fry's

Large Eggs 1 dozen $0.84
Simply Potatoes $1.49

Buy 10, Save $5:

Coke 2 liters $0.79
Nabisco Snack Crackers, Ritz $1.99
Philly Cream Cheese $0.99
Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers $1.49
Oreos $2.49

Pro's Ranch Market

Bone-In Country Style Pork Ribs $0.98/lb
Boneless Beef Bottom Round Steak or Roast $1.88/lb
Fuji Apples 3 lbs/$0.99
Yellow Corn Tortillas 50 ct. 2 /$3
Cucumbers 6/$0.99
Cabbage 5 lbs/$0.99

WEDNESDAY:

Red Potatoes 4 lbs/$0.99
Tomatoes 4 lbs/$0.99
Oranges 5 lbs/$0.99
Jalapenos 3 lbs/$0.99

THURSDAY:

Chicken Fajitas $0.98/lb
Tilapia Fillets $1.99/lb

FRIDAY:

Brown Onions 7 lbs/$0.99
Springfield Long Grain Rice 5 lbs/$1.39

SUNDAY:

Hefty Foam Plates 50 ct $0.89

Safeway

Fresh Ground Beef - 80% $1.29/lb, 93% $1.99/lb
Roma Tomatoes 3 lbs/$1
Fresh Express Spinach, Shreds or Green & Crisp Salads $0.99
Campbell's Condensed Soup Tomato or Chicken Noodle 2/$1
Welch's, V-8 and V-Fusion juice $2.99

Sprouts

Strawberries $0.97/lb
Cluster Tomatoes $0.88/lb
Acorn, Butternut or Spaghetti Squash  $0.49/lb
Boneless, skinless chicken thighs $1.47/lb

AND REMEMBER, last week's ad is still good TODAY!

Happy Grocery Shopping!

Sweet Baby Girl's Birthday Today!

 

Today, my sweet baby girl turns 14!  She has been an amazing blessing in our lives these 14 years.  She was only 1 day old when we brought her to our home and our lives have never been the same.  It took alot of cuddling that first year to help her overcome her total independence, but she has blossomed into a loving young lady who will often come to me for a hug.  She always is full of laughter and giggles.  All her life, she has been able to make new friends in an instant.  When we would go to the beach every week in Myrtle Beach, she would make a new friend within 5 minutes of arrival.  She is sensitive to others and a very caring friend to her friends.

She loves music and has an incredible voice that I am sure God will use for His glory in her future.  Roller skating is another passion of hers, as well as dance - right now she is taking Hip Hop/Krump at a Christian dance studio.

She is a strong and independent young lady, not afraid to be herself with others.  Although extremely shy as a child, she is full of self-confidence and comfortable with herself and others.  I don't know what her future has in store, but I know that God can and will use her for great things in her life.  My prayer for her is that she will continue to grow in the Lord, draw near to Him and learn to know His voice above all others.  I pray that she will walk in His footsteps as He leads her on a great adventure for her life!

Happy Birthday, Alissa!

My Baby Boy's 16th Birthday

Today my baby boy turned 16 years old!  Wow, I can't believe it!  His arrival in our lives was SO very momentous!  We had tried and waited for 12 years to have a baby and God brought this beautiful little boy into our lives to change us forever!  From the day we received him (he is adopted), we knew that God had an incredible call on his life and that has been confirmed prophetically many times.

He is an incredible man of God with a heart to help people.  We have been so blessed by him over the years and watching him grow and become the man God has called him to be has been an awesome journey!  He is full of passion for God, music and football!  Everything he does, he does with all of his being.  He is an encourager and a tremendous helper (that's what his name means:-).

I wish my son all the multitude of blessings that God has in store for him this year and in the years to come as he follows his Savior on the path He is leading him.  Love you, Buddy!!

Earning $$ with SwagBucks

I have been earning Swagbucks for several months now, and have accumulated $30 in Amazon.com gift cards so far!  All this just for using Swagbucks for my internet searches and keeping an eye out for Swag codes which give you extra bucks.  I installed the Toolbar, which gives me one buck each day just for using it and I do all my searches via Swagbucks, which is on the top of my screen as my search engine anyway, so very easy!


If you want to earn some $$ just for searching, sign up for Swagbucks and download the toolbar.  Then do your searches via Swagbucks (especially on Fridays - they give some big bucks on Fridays:-) and you, too, can earn $$ for searching.

Calories Needed to Sustain Football Player

A couple days ago, my son told me he was not recovering adequately from practices and games like he was accustomed to in the past.  He was concerned that something was wrong with his metabolism.  he was dragging and not feeling the energy he needed for his grueling schedule of 1 hour weight lifting/wrestling practice and 2 hours football practice each day.

So I did some research online and found out that there is no way he is consuming sufficient calories each day to sustain himself with this kind of schedule.  My son is going to be 16 years old next week, about 6 feet tall and weighs 195 lbs.  He is not a very big eater.  In fact, most days he only eats twice a day and not huge meals at that.  However, I discovered after some research that he should be consuming between 3300 and 4500 calories per day to sustain his body!!  Well, I am SURE he has not been eating that many calories per day.  We eat pretty healthy here, but I just didn't realize how many calories he was burning each day and what his caloric requirements were.

So the very next day I began taking charge of his diet and cooking more food for him to eat.  Amazingly, he had no trouble increasing what he ate and in just one day he felt SO much better!  I make sure he eats a good breakfast, then I prepare him a banana whey protein smoothie before he heads to school for wrestling/weight lifting and football practice in the afternoon.  And when he comes home, I make sure he eats a good dinner, plus a snack later in the evening.  We may even add another snack late morning or early afternoon to get his calorie count up to what it needs to be.

I just figured he would eat what his body needs, but apparently he is just not a big eater unless I make it happen.  So I got a wake-up call about my son's diet and will make sure he gets what his body needs.

If you have a child in sports/athletics, you may want to read this great article called Fueling for Football by Leslie Bonci, MPH, RD, LDN, is Director of Sports Nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and serves as a consultant to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Pitt athletics, and several area high schools.  She discusses the importance of carbohydrates, fluid intake, pre-game meals, post-game snacks and weight issues.   I was very impressed with the information shared and will follow her suggestions in order to keep my son in top performance mode during the football season.

And just a side note:  even though they did not win their game last night, my son played REALLY awesomely!!  Even the coaches said so - not just Mom:-)

Make Your Own Ice Gel Pack

It seems we are constantly in need of an ice pack in this house - between my son and my husband, they are almost always using one for some kind of pain or another.  And we had two of the gel ice packs until recently when one mysteriously disappeared.  So the two of them were having a hassle over sharing one ice pack (and one of them seemed to forget to put it back in the freezer when done:-).

I knew I had seen directions online sometime back about how to make your own and save money, rather than buying another one.  So I did a search today and made one.  It came out great and cost only pennies!!

Here's what you need to do:

Get 2 ziploc freezer bags (one sandwich size and one quart size)
Mix 3 parts water and 1 part rubbing alcohol together
Add a little blue food coloring (or whatever color you like:-)
Put the water mixture into the smaller bag and seal, getting out all the air that you can.
Then put the smaller bag into the larger one and seal, again getting out all the air that you can.
Place in freezer for a couple of hours and it is ready for use!


You can make a larger one, too, if you want to.  We mostly had hand and feet needs, so the small one works for now.

This is better than using frozen peas (especially when your guys forget to put them back in the freezer when they are done:-) and so easy to make!  Now, if only we could avoid the injuries that create the need for the ice packs.....NOT gonna happen with a son playing football and a hubby who works out hard all the time!!!

Best Grocery Deals in Phoenix Area This Week (Sept. 8-15, 2010)

Sorry this is a day late - football game yesterday!  There are some good deals going on this week and there are quite a number of catalinas running, but I can't get all that info together just yet.  I may add to the post later when I can sit down and gather the catalinas.  So here's what I see as the best deals this week:

Albertsons

Milk $1.67 gallon
Malt-o-Meal Cereals $1
V-8 and V-Fusion Juice 2/$5
Seedless Red, Green or Black Grapes $0.79/lb
American Beauty Pasta or Hunt's Pasta Sauce $1

Basha's

1/2 gallon milk $0.87
Ground Round (5 lbs or more) $1.67/lb
Utah Peaches or Gala Apples $0.77/lb
Fritos or Cheetos $1.19 w/in ad coupon (limit 4)
Coca-Cola 2 liter $0.88
Cheez-It $1.88
Challenge Butter $1.98

Food City
Peaches 3 lbs/$0.99
Cantaloupe 5 lbs/$1
Large Tomatoes $0.39/lb
American Beauty Pasta or Hunt's Pasta Sauce $1
Granny Smith or Red Delicious Apples or Bartlett Pears $0.59/lb
Red Bell Peppers 3/$0.99

THURSDAY ONLY:

Chicken Thighs $0.59/lb

FRIDAY ONLY:

Strawberries $.99/lb
20 lb. bag of Blue Ribbon Rice $4.99

Fry's

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts $1.67/lb
Gala Apples or Bartlett Pears 2 lbs/$1
Gallon Milk $1.77
Cascade or Dawn Twin Pack $3.99
Wesson Cooking Oil 48 oz. $1.99

Pros Ranch Market

Tomatoes 4 lbs/$0.99
10 lb. Bag Potatoes $0.89
Farmer John Link Sausages $0.98
Chicken Thighs or Drumsticks $0.68/lb
2 liter Coca Colas $0.75
Bartlett Pears 3 lbs/$0.99
Peaches 2 lbs/$0.99
White Onions 4 lbs/$0.99
Cabbage 6 lbs/$0.99
Celery 2/$0.99
Carrots 3 lbs/$0.99
Radishes 4/$0.99

FRIDAY ONLY:

Red Grapes $0.69/lb
Tilapia Filets $1.88/lb

Safeway

London Broil $1.99/lb
On the Vine Cluster Tomatoes $0.99/lb
Ragu Pasta Sauce $0.99 when you buy 6
Welch's Healthy Start Juice $1.99 w/in ad coupon
Lucerne Large Eggs 18ct. $1.99w/in ad coupon
Mission Tortilla Chips $1.29 w/in ad coupon
Barilla Pasta 5/$5
Minute Maid OJ 2/$5
Jimmy Dean Sausage Rolls $1.99 w/in ad coupon

SATURDAY, SUNDAY, MONDAY ONLY:

Oreos $1.99
2 liter Pepsi or 7Up $0.77

Sprouts

Yellow Peaches or Nectarines $0.49/lb
Gala Apples, Bartlett Pears, Vine Ripe Tomatoes or Cantaloupe $0.77/lb
Fresh Green Beans $0.88/lb
Stash Tea 2/$4

Well, that's what I see for this week.  Couple these with some coupons, and there are some great deals.  Don't forget to load your digital coupons onto your shopping cards from Cellfire and Shortcuts, as well as on Fry's and Safeway's websites.  These can be combined with paper coupons for extra savings.

Happy Grocery Shopping!

The Math Tutor Review

To read more about an interesting and helpful Pre-Algebra and Texas Instruments Calculator DVD Tutor, click here.

My Access! Home Edition by Vantage Learning Review

To learn about an incredible online writing program, click here to read my review!

Lovin' the Pride Card!!

My son sold these discount cards for his football team and we ended up buying 2 of them (still have one other one to sell, just in case....:-).  They were $20 each, but are good until July 31, 2011.  So we thought that ought to be long enough to get our $$ worth.

Well, let me just tell you....I am LOVIN' this card!  We were able to go out for Blizzards at DQ the other night and saved over $8.  Then tonight, I didn't know what to cook for dinner, so we decided to try Filiberto's.  A friend who bought one of the cards recommended it, saying they ate there alot.  Some of you know that we are VERY particular about Mexican food, having lived in Mexico for 6 years. So we try new Mexican restaurants with reluctance because it is hard to find "good" Mexican food around here.  But, Filiberto's is AMAZING!!  We had to buy burritos, because that is what is on the discount card - buy one burrito and drink, get one free!  So we each ordered a different one - Adobada, Green Chile, Extreme and Chicken.  They were HUGE!!  AND DELICIOUS!!!  The total came to only $12 and that was 4 large burritos (my daughter could only eat 1/2) and 2 big drinks (their mediums are BIG!).

Can I just say WOW!!  We will be using our discount card at Filiberto's ALOT over the next 11 months:-)  We have already saved $17 of the $40 we spent on two cards, so it won't take long at all for us to come out ahead.....with many months still of use, too!!

I just LOVE a great bargain....AND great Mexican food!!

Best Grocery Deals in Phoenix Area This Week (Sept. 1-7, 2010)

I apologize for not posting these deals much lately.  I get my mail SO late in the day, that the days just seem to get away from be before I can get this done.  But I am going to start posting just the main grocery stores early, and then ad the ones I get in the mail later.  So here goes:

Albertsons

Whole seedless watermelon $1.88 (limit 2)
Pork loin baby back ribs Buy 1, Get 2 FREE ($6.99/lb)
Lay's Chips or Nabisco Snack Crackers 3/$5 (limit 3 each)
Blue Bunny Ice Cream 56 oz. $1.88 (limit 2)
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts $1.77/lb
Gatorade 32 oz. $0.69 (limit 10)
Hot dog or hamburger buns $0.88
Cool Whip $0.88
Rosarita Beans $0.88
Popsicles 12 ct. $0.88
Kraft BBQ Sauce $0.88
Hebrew National Beef Franks $1.97 (limit 4)
8 piece fried chicken $3.99
Mt. Olive Whole Kosher Dill Pickles 80 oz. $2.49 (there is also a coupon SS 8/1)
Clorox Bleach $1.99 (coupon SS 8/22)

Bashas

Ro-Tel 10/$10
Rib Eye Steak $3.98/lb (first 2 value packs)
Split Chicken Breasts $0.98/lb (first 2)
Colorado Olathe Corn 6/$1
Watermelon $0.15/lb
Haas Avocados 2/$1
Blue Bunny Ice Cream $1.67 (w/in ad coupon - limit 1)
Bar-S Meat Franks $0.47 (w/in ad coupon - limit 2)
Lay's Potato Chips $1.77
Gatorade $0.77 32 oz.
Food Club Cheese 6-8 oz. $0.99 (first 4)
Oscar Mayer Beef Franks $1.88 (there is a coupon on coupon.com)

Fry's

Hebrew National Beef Franks $1.97
Lay's Potato Chips $1.77
Dole Salad Blends $1
Red Seedless Grapes $0.77/lb
Popsicles 10/$10
Kroger Cottage Cheese $1
Kraft Cheese 50% off
Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce $0.97
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts $1.77/lb
Steamfresh Frozen Veggies 10/$10
Doritos $1.99
American Beauty Pasta 10/$10
Kroger American Cheese Singles 4/$5
Heinz Ketchup 40 oz. $1.47

Safeway

Lay's Potato Chips $1.79 w/in ad coupon
Bar S Franks $0.88 w/in ad coupon
Hot Dog or Hamburger buns $0.89 w/ in ad coupon
Kraft Cheese $1.69 w/in ad coupon
Lucerne Slices 12 oz. $1.49

Well, that's it for now!  Some good deals on hot dogs and bbq sauce, for sure.  Can also load up for that last hot weeks with some Popsicles!  I will come back later tonight with the other ads and their deals for the week.

Happy Grocery Shopping!

Riparian Preserve Field Trip

Our first field trip with the Biology class was to the Riparian Preserve in Gilbert.  We needed to collect some pond water to grow different microorganisms in and there are not a lot of natural ponds and/or lakes around here.  So when several moms told me about the Riparian Preserve, I went to check it out.  It is really beautiful and educational.  There is a main lake where you can actually fish.  And we saw many ducks and a turtle in the water.  The Riparian Preserve is a place where they reclaim groundwater and pass it through several different marsh-like bodies of water in order to clean it.  Then it is used for all different purposes.  We also saw a great blue heron and many white egrets, as we explored the area.

The kids seemed to have a good time, as they found a pool of water with some fish left in it.  They caught 2 of them and decided to return them to the lake.  Not sure if they both made it into the water, but....

We did collect the water we needed for the experiments that we will be doing this coming Friday and the kids seemed to enjoy the time.  The weather was perfect - cloudy with a nice breeze - very odd for the middle of August.

We are also talking about going to the Botanical Gardens when we are studying the Plant Kingdom, and Biosphere 2 during our holiday break.  So far, this Biology Co-op is going well and we all seem to be enjoying it.

Set....Hut.....Here We Go!!

Football season has officially begun in the Burgan home!  This last week was Cody's first football game of the season playing JV football.  He started as center, and also played alot of defensive line (which is what he prefers).

Now, he has been practicing and doing weight camp almost every day since early April.  But now the games have begun!  It is very exciting to see him doing what he loves, and doing it quite well!  He has a game almost every week for the next two months.  I am helping to feed the boys each week before their games and my hubby is going to be video taping all the games.  We definitely like to be involved in helping with things that our kids are doing:-)

And I KNOW that we will be watching ALOT of football games on TV, too, as the NFL and college season get underway.  So.....football season, here we come!!

TOS Homeschool Planner

This is NOT your average homeschool planner!

This is a  

LIFE PLANNER 

for 

HOMESCHOOLERS!!

To read more, click here!

Cupcake Wars?

Several days ago, I was craving cupcakes.  Ok, if you know me very well, then you know that I don't even particularly LIKE cupcakes, or any cakes for that matter.  However, I have been watching some episodes of Cupcake Wars on TV, so maybe that caused this unexplicable craving for cupcakes.  As I thought about making cupcakes, I decided I really wanted carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  So I looked up a recipe on Allrecipes.com and found one for Maple Carrot Cupcakes, which sounded a little like something you might see on Cupcake Wars.

They were quite simple and quick to make and since there wasn't a ton of sugar, that made me feel better.  The icing was a little strange in that it had NO sugar in it - I have never seen icing without powdered suger!  It used maple syrup as the sweetener, along with butter, cream cheese and vanilla.

Well, the cake portion got rave reviews, but the icing got mixed reviews.  I liked the icing and most of my family did, but my son HATED it!  He said it was the most disgusting icing he had ever tasted and made me take it off his cupcakes (so I left some un-iced for him).  However, it makes a nice combination, in my opinion.  However, next time I will probably make my normal cream cheese frosting and leave it at that.

Oh, I would show you a pic except that someone tilted the cupcake holder on its end and all the cupcakes are messed up now:-)  Thankfully, they still taste good!

TOS Travel Kits Review

 
I have once again joined the TOS Crew to review homeschool curriculum and related items for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.  I was given a free copy of the ebook The Old Schoolhouse Travel Kits for the purpose of this review and found that it is a delightful book with great ideas to get you inspired to help others by putting together creative and fun Travel Kits for your friends and their children.  It is 93 pages filled with ideas and motivation for a very nominal cost of $12.45.

At first when I received this ebook,  I was a little puzzled as to the purpose of such a book.  However, after spending time reading through the ideas and looking at the beautiful photos, I began to get inspired!  If this book was just about making Travel Kits for your kids to keep them occupied during a trip, it would fall a little short in my esteem.  However, the fact that it REALLY inspires you to think of opportunities where you can bless someone else with such a myriad of ideas is really phenomenal!  Reading through this ebook made me want to think of people I could bless by making them a fun and really useful Travel Kit.  It even gives you great ideas on where to find items for very little money to include to make your Travel Kit exciting for the recipient.  They encourage you to wrap each item so that it is a continual surprise to look forward to throughout the trip, thus increasing the child's (and adult's) anticipation of the next "gift".

So what is a Travel Kit?  Well, it is a bag, or box, or basket, or whatever filled with individually wrapped "presents" for the recipient to open along their journey.  These "presents" can be anything from snacks to toys to games to books to whatever item you can think of that the recipient would enjoy.   The possibilities are practically endless!  But the inspiration to begin is the blessing of this ebook!

This made me think of all the family trips we have taken and how much quicker the time could have passed if I had made Travel Kits like these for my kids.  You can make Travel Kits that fit into any budget, any length or type of trip, any age range of recipient and any theme you would like to come up with.  I believe the strongest aspect of this ebook is that it is the spark that starts a flame of inspiration and creativity in your mind so that you can come up with all kinds of ideas and ways to bless others with this project.  You can get your kids involved in blessing others in a very fun and creative way, too.  No matter how young or old your children are, they will really get into the spirit of blessing others when you enlist their help in planning, shopping, and assembling these wonderful Travel Kits. And think of the joy of giving they will learn along the way!

I know that some of you are thinking, "I am creative.  Why would I need this book when I could come up with my own ideas?"  Yes, that is what I was thinking....until I read through this book!  I don't know if I can adequately express the blossoming inspiration that flowed through my mind as I read this book.  I thought of people I would love to bless this way and ideas of items I could include in different Travel Kits for different folks.  It made my heart brim so full of wanting to bless others with these kits!  It really inspires you to think of ways to be a blessing to others.  THAT is what makes the price of this ebook such a great bargain.  For only $12.45 (and since it is an ebook, you don't have to wait for it to arrive in the mail) you, too, can be inspired to bless your friends and family in so many different ways that they will be remembering and talking about for a very long time.

Great Sirloin Steaks for CHEAP!!!

Yesterday, I went to Basha's and bought a whole sirloin tip in a bag for $1.59/lb.  Then I went over to the butcher and asked him to cut it into thick steaks for me (yes, that is free!!).  I got 9 super HUGE steaks plus the end cuts for under $20 total!  I think I am going to marinate the steaks in something yummy and grill them next Friday when my brother and his family are visiting.  With baked potatoes and a veggie/salad, we can have an awesome steak dinner for about $25 for 8 people!!!  That sure beats eating out, even WITH a certificate from Restaurant.com (the only way I eat out:-)!

I do believe I will go and buy another one before the price goes up!!LOL