For anyone interested in stretching that grocery budget...

I am elated to share a fresh meat-purchasing tip I learned tonight! My husband's good friend is a veteran meat butcher for Albertson's. He was surprised to hear that we buy ground beef as ground beef... Joseph asked him what he meant by that and he said that anytime any cut of beef roast goes on sale, go to the meat counter and tell them you want it ground. He says they do it all the time for people. It looks like and cooks like ground beef, but it is a better cut of meat! Last week for instance, Albertsons had the rump roasts on sale for $1.88/pound. He stocked up on 'ground' roast meat. I don't pay more than $2.00/pound for meat, so I always wait until I get lucky and see sales on the ground beef. Now I know better. Am I the only one who had never heard of this option before?

Dinner in a Pumpkin

Our Halloween tradition is having dinner in a pumpkin. If anyone else has a good recipe, I'd love to have it. Here it is:

1 med - lg pumpkin, cleaned thoroughly
1-2 lb. gr. beef
1/2 C. chopped onions
1 C. chopped green pepper
Brown meat with onion and pepper. Stir in the following:
3/4 C. brown sugar
2 Tb. lemon juice
1- 15 oz. can pork & beans
1 -16 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 -16 oz. tomato sauce
2 C. cooked rice
s & p to taste

Spoon the above mixture into the cleaned pumpkin. Let the kids draw a face with permanent marker on the pumpkin. Place 'him' on cookie sheet and bake on bottom rack of oven @ 350 for approx. 2 hours. He will start to wilt and turn darker orange. It makes the house smell delicious and it is tasty served with french bread and green salad. Enjoy!

Food for November Thought

"You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift...You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You cannot build character and courage by taking away men's initiative and independence. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves. "

---Abraham Lincoln

Did I mention they were on Clearance?

We went to Home Fabrics and we were able to get 9 yards of upholstery fabric for curtains and pillows for $30! Maybe next month we''ll paint...

p.s. Does anybody know when the heck Happy Hour is at Sonic?

Conference weekend...

I think the best kept secret in the Church is the Saturday afternoon session of General Conference. I know a lot of people use that day to shop, go camping, hunting, travel, etc., but I feel that there are special blessings for being present and sacrificing to hear the Conference live. Hearing Conference live has a stronger Spirit present that isn't quite the same when reading the talks online or in the Ensign. Maybe it's just my preference? At any rate, Saturday afternoon session was no exception. The primary children's choir was exquisite and I could not keep my tears at bay when they sang "I Am a Child of God" and "I Love to See the Temple." The talks really enriched my testimony. (My toddlers were asleep and the two older ones were quiet, thankfully!) As good as it is, when I sit down in a comfortable place, I get sleepy! So, to help me stay awake, I sewed! My sweet friend Julie is helping me redecorate and we purchased fabric to make curtains and recover throw pillows. I am very happy with the outcome! I can't get the flash to work to show the curtains above, but I will post a better picture later.

Also, for anyone interested in the cutest blog ever with the best music, too by the way, go to my cousin's blog. She is currently hosting a blog warming party with some sweet little giveaways: http://www.granvillehouse.blogspot.com/

I'm getting my life back...

I finished my marathon reading all 4 "Twilight" series books in one week. I started reading and couldn't put the books down, so the house and family got a bit neglected last week! Here are some of my thoughts: I love to read. I read some fiction, and mostly inspirational/self-help type books. I thought Stephenie Meyers was a great writer-- I loved the imagery she used throughout and I loved her intricately-woven plot. It kept my attention for the most part throughout. Normally, I really don't like fantasy-type books (I could never get into Harry Potter books, for example), and when people mentioned vampires and werewolves I was turned off. It was a great read, I thought. What I didn't like was books 2 and 3 were a little slow in some parts. Books 1 and 4 were my favorite. Bella's character started annoying me some because she came across as very co-dependent. Her desperation for Edward, and not being able to survive, function or thrive without him was a little much. Even when they were together in a relationship, but apart due to her employment or something, she was so desperate to be in his presence again. That made her character a bit weak, I thought. However, I remember feeling like that in high school when I was head over heels over a guy, too. Nonetheless, I sometimes felt that relationship got a little too dramatic for me, and Jacob was a bit too dramatic and demanding too.
I was glad she ended up with Edward -- that's who I was rooting for. I thought it was interesting to see how Bella transformed into a beautifully mature person when she married Edward. That emotional drama stuff evaporated in the fourth book. She seemed more at peace with her identity. I also liked the good vs. evil theme throughout; that element of LDS doctrine we understand about the 'natural man', or in this case, the natural/newborn vampire who doesn't restrain himself against inappropriate appetites and passions. The Cullens as well as the wolves honored their treaties, or we could make the parallel between their treaties and our covenants... no matter how tempting the way of the world looks, we honor our word and we fight the battle to the end, as we have been entrusted. I liked that message... Stay the course and don't cross the line the Lord has drawn in the sand. The enemy is outside our borders. Another interesting parallel was the pro-life, pro-family subtleties woven throughout the books. Edward was inherently good and wanted marriage and fidelity, even when Bella was weak. Then Bella was going to have her baby no matter how hard the pressure from her new family was to sacrifice the fetus (they were sure she wouldn't survive the pregnancy or labor anyway.) I only had one unaswered question: how was Bella going to handle seeing Renee, her mother eventually?
Well, that is my synopsis. I can't wait for the movie. Anybody want to go?

From Politics to Vampires...

Okay, okay, so I'm a little late, but I wanted to see what all the hype concerning the Twilight series was... I borrowed Twilight and read it in 2 days. I borrowed New Moon and read it in 2 days. I am now on page 346 of Eclipse. I am quite enjoying the series (obviously, since I've been neglecting dishes and late night talks with my hansome hubby.) So here are my thoughts:
1) Stay with Edward, Edward, Edward. Maybe Jacob could hook up with Leah, if he ever grows up. 2) Can vampires procreate? 3) I think the solution to Bella's dilemma would be if Edward's immortality could could be reversed and and he became mortal again. They would both be happy, and they could have a real family. 4)Who is responsible for the Seattle killing spree? 5) Who snuck into Bella's room and took her clothes and pillow? 6) I really think it would be cool if the Cullens and the werewolves would call a truce and go after the serial killers together. Anything's possible, right? (of course; this is fantasy!) I have to say though, that Bella's character annoys me to some degree. More analysis later. I have a chapter to finish...