Harvest 2016

So excited to start bringing in the produce from this years garden! I think this is my most productive year so far. The tomatoes are delicious, there are SO many green beans, we have had some HUGE turnips and my butternut squash are starting to look good. Seriously, how do people NOT have gardens??

I can't even express how cool it is to plant some seeds in the spring, water the garden a few times and then literally be able to walk in the back yard and choose fresh vegetables for dinner only a few months later.

I know some people avoid gardening altogether because of the work you have to put into it but honestly, once the garden is dug nature does most of the work. I for real only put a few hours into the garden this whole year. I planned it out on paper, a friend and I spent less than an hour planting, we watered it maybe 10 times and spent a combined total of (maybe) 2 hours weeding. And it still grew! It isn't perfect, but it grew!

And last summer my 6 month pregnant self put even less time in and still had a huge harvest. Seriously, the cucumbers and tomatoes were rotting on the vine because we couldn't eat them fast enough. Since I wasn't able to weed the whole summer or stake the plants, my garden was a mess, but it grew! You had to wade through the bean plants to find the cucumbers and the tomato plants were growing across the lawn, but it grew!

Gardening is definitely the best way to save money on food. You can clip as many coupons as you want but even $0.10 yogurts and $0.50 freezer pizzas can't compare to the abundance of (basically) free food that a few hours of gardening can give you!

If you have shied away from gardening in the past because of the amount of hard work you thought it requires, I am begging you to reconsider! It's never too early to start planning your garden for 2017.

Foster Care is HARD

If you follow me on  Instagram than you may have already seen part of this post, but I figured that there's no better way to start off a Foster Care page on the blog than with the blunt truth; Foster parenting is HARD!

I am so tired. So so tired. So tired of getting up 7+ times a night. So tired of changing 20+ diapers a day. Tired of dealing with 2 year old temper tantrums every time I say no. Of listening to 3 babies crying at the same time. Of stepping on soggy cheerios every 5 seconds. Of constantly responding to phone calls and emails from social workers. So tired of receiving false accusations and zero appreciation.

But you know what else I am tired of?

Children being neglected. Children being abused. Children being stuffed into group homes. Siblings being separated. Children being shuffled from one foster home to another and never feeling like they were loved. Tired of people refusing to foster because of the bad influence foster kids would have on their biological children. Tired of kids aging out of the system without ever finding a forever home. Tired of the stigma that goes with being a foster parent. Tired of hearing that all foster parents must do it for the money. Tired of the assumption that kids who have been in the system can never have a normal life. 

I am so tired. 

Three weeks today since these cuties arrived. We aren't sure how long they're going to be with us but I'm going to push through the exhaustion and continue to love them to the best of my ability for as long as it takes.

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I don't want to scare anyone away from fostering, and I'm not saying you have to be an extremely emotionally stable, wise, patient, flawless, rich individual in order to be a good foster parent. In fact, I wish more people realized that they would make great candidates for foster parents! But, you should also know what you are getting into!

 Foster parenting is the hardest job that I have ever, and probably will ever have. Not only is it loud and stressful but it's also both emotionally and physically draining. Take care of a toddler is hard enough on its own. Dealing with a toddlers temper tantrum when a visit with Mom is cancelled at the last minute and he is brought back into your house is frustrating and also heartbreaking. Trying to understand the emotions and confusion that a 2 year is experiencing after a visit with a father that he hasn't seen or heard from in months, is next to impossible. 

Being informed that bio Mom believes you are abusing her children and wants to press charges, after you spend the entire night awake, caring for, rocking, cuddling and changing her sick baby, is definitely not for the weak hearted.  Foster parenting is full of moments of frustration, anger, impatience, hurt, betrayal, and exhaustion....

But then there's the moment when you sit down on the floor to clean up toys and the toddler hops onto your lap, cuddles you and then kisses you on the forehead. The moment that the baby gets back from a visit and his entire face breaks into a toothless smile the second he sees you. The moment you look up from your phone because you hear laughter and find the toddler laying with your 8 month old son, tickling him and blowing on his belly (see below). These are the kind of things that fill your heart with love and make you forget about the multiple tantrums, the yogurt on the floor, the legos scattered across the house and the never ending dirty diapers--if only for a moment!

Foster care is HARD, so so HARD --but it's also worth it. So so worth it!

New Beginnings

8 months and 17 days. 261 days. 6264 hours. 375,840 minutes. The amount of time since I have posted anything on this blog. Anyway that you look at it, its been a long time.

I have a lot of reasons (aka excuses) for why I have been absent. The best excuse, of course, is that our adorable little baby Eli Timothy Gilbert Larochelle was born on December 23rd, 2015 and I barely had time to shower for the first 6 months since then!

Once Eli calmed down around 6 months, I was ready to relax and take back some personal time.... but God had other plans! In July we took back our status as Foster Parents and I am currently "Mama" to 3 little guys under 2 years old!

Sorry about the quality! Getting 3 littles to sit still for 2 seconds is impossible!

Overall though, it really came down to insecurities. "I can't have a blog, I'm not a writter! Other than maybe a week in 2nd grade, I've never even wanted to be a writter" or "Everyone I know has a blog. I don't have anything new to say. Everything I'd write about has already been written, and written better, by someone else". 

The more I thought about it though, I realized "That's the fun of free internet blogs isn't it? Anyone can write about anything they want. Nobody has to read it f they don't want to". And so, I am back.

 I love being frugal and sharing my finds. Trying out DIY tutorials and sharing which ones actually work. Foster parenting and being open about how difficult it is! If this blog helps someone to save money on groceries, encourages someone to make something from scratch, sparks a desire for fostering in someones heart, great! If not, oh well, it gave me something to focus on for a few hours that didn't involve dirty diapers, legos, spit up or soggy cheerios! 

Check back because I've got 8 month worth of posts to make up for! 

Frugal Finds Fall 2015 - Get the Most out of Thrift Shopping

I have a confession to make. As much as I am all for living simply and saving money, I have a serious obsession with shopping. I even immensely enjoy grocery shopping and I'm pretty sure it's just because I get to buy stuff. Thankfully, for the sake of our budget and my sanity, God created thrift stores and even then, I have to control myself.

While you can still find some pretty awesome deals on the clearance racks at regular stores, nothing beats the good old Salvation Army. I love the fact that I can get 5 used but new looking, good quality items for the price of one brand new one. I often even find things at the Thrift Store that still have the tags on and clearly haven't been worn.

I know some people find the idea of thrift shopping kind of gross or a little sketchy and while they can be, most really aren't. The places I typically go, like Salvation Army and Value Village are kept tidy and well maintained. Also, the clothing is well washed before being put out. I know because anytime I try something on at the Salvation Army I am nearly chocked to death by the powerful smell of whatever detergent they use... When I get home from second hand shopping I always just throw the items straight into the washer and we've never had any problem.

Today I wanted to post some my favorite items I picked up this fall and how much I paid for them.

Childrens' clothing, name brands are Carters, Mexx, The Childrens Place and Nevada. Everything in good condition for $2. 

Sweaters, all of which I can wear even over my big pregnant belly. None of these are great name brands but all were $2 and I wear the black one once a week... if not more now that most of my maternity clothes don't fit anymore! 

Pretty maternity shirt, $3. Super comfy long sleeve from Forever 21, $3 and a pair of American Eagle pants for my husband, $5. 

Clothing isn't the only good find at Thrift Stores either. I had really been wanting a nice solid coloured tea pot, similar to this one from Davids Tea, for a while but couldn't spend $30 on it. Also, I needed some good quality winter boots that weren't totally hideous, that I could bear to wear in public, that actually kept my feet warm and dry but didn't cost $100+. So, I kept my eyes open on my thrift shop visits over the last few months and.. voila, I now have both! And I am happy with the total amount spent. The tea pot was only $3.99 at Value Village and the boots were $15, usually retailing for $60+. 

Thrift Shop Tips

Here are my tips for getting the most out of thrift shopping:

1.) Keep a running list of things you need/want to buy that way you can go straight into the the store and know what aisles you need to look down. This keeps you from getting distracted, taking longer or spending on things you don't actually need and forgetting the things you do need. 

2.) Know what name brands you like and how much they cost regularly. Some thrift stores have a common price for a certain item. Example, all ladies tops are $5. This is a great deal if you love and find some dress shirts from H&M which are usually $15-$45 but not so great if the top you grab is from Wal Mart and usually retails for only $7.50 anyways.

3.) Thrift stores have sales! A lot of people don't know that thrift stores actually often have sale days or sales items. For example, a store may want to clear out their sweaters after winter and have them all for $2 in the spring. Our Salvation Army has 50% off and $2 sales all the time, if you're not sure whether they have sales or not, just call and ask. 

4.) Try things on. Always. Even if the dress is a stretchy material and the boots are definitely in your size. Defects in clothing are often hard to spot even if you look closely at the item, until you try it on. That dress may be the perfect size for you but turns out there's a hole in the armpit and the zipper gets stuck halfway up. Maybe the boots fit great but the lining is coming out on the inside and it's too uncomfortable to wear! 

5.) Make a Donation. When you make a donation at most thrift stores, you get can get something in return. At the Salvation Army here you tell them when you are dropping off a bag or box and they will give you a $10 off $25 purchase coupon, quite a bit considering it's already a thrift store! Value Village gives you a stamp card and once you make a certain amount of donations, you receive a discount on your purchase. 

6.) Take your time. You may not want to spend hours at the store, but make sure you slow down and look at the items as you shop. You don't want to skip over something you may love or miss seeing that the $5 name brand dress shirt still has the $35 price tag on the inside and your brother would love it for his birthday. 

The shirt below is probably my favourite deal from my trips this fall. 

Gorgeous Forever21 dress shirt, $40 tag still on, paid $7!

Freezer Food Part #2

If you read my Freezer Food Part #1 post then you know I've really been hoping to stock the freezer full of some simple, healthy, quick foods for after Baby Larochelle comes. Since my almost fully pregnant body isn't exactly up to a huge 12 hour long cooking session I decided to break it down into a few different cooking days and finally got to my first one last week! I am super excited to be building up a stockpile of food, it helps take away some of the stress and anticipation of birth and having a newborn baby in the house. In fact, I'm thinking of making it a more regular part of our lives, pregnant or not!



Since I wanted to keep it simple this time around, I chose 4 easy foods with similar ingredients which meant less stuff to buy, less items to cut up and less chance of cross contamination. The items I made this time were:

Lunch Burritos

Meatballs

Chili 

Ravioli and Tortellini Pasta Packs

The first thing I did was cut up all my vegetables which, in this case, was only peppers and onions. Having a big bowl of each cut up and ready to go made throwing everything together so much easier.

Next I browned all the beef, except for about 2lbs which I set aside for meatballs. I did half the beef in one pan to use for the burritos and pasta and the rest in a huge pot for my chili.With the meat I tossed peppers and onions into both pans, just setting aside enough onions for the meatballs later on.

While that cooked, I set out my awesome freezer containers I picked up at the wholesale store and filled them with Ravioli and Tortellini. I then added a big spoonful of Classico pasta sauce, either Alfredo or Italian to each container. I usually don't buy these but they were on sale and saved me a ton of time over making the sauces myself.

Then I opened cans and added my beans, spices and tomato sauces to the chili pot. Since I let the chili simmer for a long time, I was able to just stir occasionally while I worked on other things.

Now that my ground beef, pepper, onion mix was ready I moved to pasta packs and burritos. The only thing left for the pasta was adding the beef mixture to the top and putting the lids on. I also put the containers into large freezer bags as an extra measure against freezer burn. 

Next, I laid tortillas all over the counter for my burritos. I started by just adding a scoop of canned baked beans, re-fried beans are better but I just had these available. Then I added a scoop of beef mixture, some cheese and rolled them up. So quick and easy. I wrapped the burritos in a layer of aluminum foil before placing them in freezer bags.

Since my chili was basically ready at this point, I just let it to cool before putting into freezer bags and moved to my meatballs. I don't really follow anything for meatballs but any basic meatball recipe should work good. Just make sure you cook the meatballs and then freeze them without adding any sauce. Once they were done I portioned out my meatballs and chili, placed everything into labelled freezer bags and put them in the deep freezer!

I am definitely impressed with the end result. It only took about 3 hours and I now have lots of good food in the freezer and the whole process produced surprisingly less dishes than anticipated, yay!

Here is how I plan to use the foods, just in case you are curious.

- Pasta packs and burritos will most likely be used as quick, microwavable lunches for my husband and I, hopefully we will throw a few fresh vegetable or fruit slices on the side. If we are being completely honest, I've already broken into these when I was too lazy... I mean too busy to make lunch and they are amazing.

- We will have big bowls of chili for dinner a few different nights, probably with buns or salad, and then use leftovers for things like chili cheese dogs or chili fries.

- Meatballs will probably be eaten once as topping to a big pot of spaghetti and then the rest will be cooked using my favourite, super simple glaze recipe from I Heart Naptime.

Next I hope to take an afternoon and work on some of the breakfasts and snack foods I had on my original freezer meal planning list. While I may not get around to everything, I really want to do muffins, waffles and homemade granola bars.I better get moving since there are only 26 days, 2 hours and 3 minutes until the due date.... and I have a feeling he may come early!

Winter Centerpiece

While running into Michaels the other day to grab yarn for another DIY project, I was totally in awe at all the gorgeous winter wonderland style decorations and pieces that they had out. It reminded me that I wanted to update the centerpiece on our table and so I decided to leave Michaels, since the expensive decorations were extremely tempting, and hit up Dollarama for some DIY project supplies. 

Roll of gold sparkle fabric, winter "braches" and some platic snowflakes, $5

Once I got home, I consulted my "Christmas" board on Pinterest and was ready to get started. First, I threw on some my super cozy footsie pajamas and made myself a hot chocolate with whipped cream to get me in the mood. This step is 100% manditory!

I gathered my supplies from Dollarama and then went out to the yard and the park nearby to get the rest. This included sticks and pinecones. To make these look more wintery, I lightly painted them with some leftover white wall paint then added some clear sparkling nailpolish.

Once everything was dry I threw it all together in a simple glass vase and set that on top of my "table runner" (fabric I got at Dollarama). 

Then I added the branches from the dollar store. Last, I found some of my shiny thread (also from Dollarama in the past) and started hanging snowflakes from the branches. I also scattered some of them alongside the pinecones beside the vase. 

Overall, I am totally happy with both the $5 price tag and the end result. My house feels more wintery already and I haven't even started my actual Christmas decorating! I hope this motivates you to get to work on some of your own decorating.

In fact, this project was so much fun it convinced me to add a DIY section to the blog. I am not super original, so most of my projects are copies of things I love off of Pinterest or a things I've seen at the store.  I still want to share the projects that I do as motivation, though. Do it yourseld projects are such a huge part of frugal and simple living, plus they're really enjoyable. Hopefully sharing what I'm up to will encourage you to save money by attempting some of your own projects in the near future. 

Free Food

Yesterday I decided to redeem some points and get some free food! I am totally surprised by the number of people who grocery shop but don't bother with a rewards system. In my opinion, it is totally worth it.

I redeemed PcPlus Points at Superstore and Optimum points at Shoppers Drug Mart. In case you aren't familiar, PC Points is a system used at most Loblaws Inc. stores across Canada, including Real Canadian Superstores, Loblaws, Independent, No Frills, Valu Mart, CityMarket and a ton of others depending on where you live. It offers points, both in-store and digitally, for buying certain items. Read more about it here. 

Yes, points can take a while to add up (it's much faster if you load extra offers digitally though) but either way it ends up being free food with very minimal effort on our part. 

Here is what I got yesterday by redeeming 30,000 PC Points ($30) and 8,000 ($10) Optimum Points. I also received 2,500 PC Points from my shopping trip which will amount to another $2 . 50 free groceries in the future.