pennypinchingpeach

February 20, 2015
by pennypinchingpeach 8 Comments

Easy Mexican Bean Salad

I love to cook, but don’t always have a lot of time to spend on making dinner. This super simple Easy Mexican Bean Salad is ready in a snap, healthy, delicious, kid friendly, and cheap enough for the penny pinching people among us! I mean, this is a meal I felt great about feeding to my family, but literally spent less than 15 minutes int he kitchen preparing from the time I opened the fridge to get out things to start chopping! Who needs more meals like this? I know I do!!! 🙂 Keep reading for the how-to of this yummy meal!

Easy Mexican Bean Salad

Ingredients? You can choose your own! This time I use canned black beans (two cans seasoned with cumin, garlic powder and chili powder to taste should be about right for a family of four), avocado, tomato, cilantro, onion, cheese and sour cream. You can also use ground beef, venison, turkey, pork and chicken, shredded chicken or beef, pre-cooked dried beans of any kind you like, other types of canned beans, lettuce, green pepper, jalapenos, olives, fresh spinach, green onion, corn, sprouts and a variety of other things that sound appealing and reside in your kitchen at any given moment. The beauty of this meal is that it is so flexible to your individual tastes, pantry, dietary needs, and budget without being a hassle to throw together something different for everyone.

Give everyone a bowl, spoon in a healthy helping of your protein(s) of choice, then let them pile on their own choices from the rest of your ingredients you have set out for your family! My kids absolutely adore getting to pick all of their own toppings for their bowls of beans! It makes the battle of the belly filling non-existent, because most kiddos love to eat things they help prepare. Even my five year old, who is currently waging battle over half of her meals even when she likes them, didn’t give me a bit of trouble when she realized she was in control of all of her ingredients other than the beans she was piling them all onto! Since she chose it, she worked to make it herself and she is doggone proud of her own work in pretty much every instance…no arguments for the prissier side of my table. Bambam loves making his own selections, but he has a lifelong love affair with food, so if he ever protests a meal….well, the child is sick. 😉

If you pack lunches a lot, like I do for my hubby, this container is amazing for being able to carry leftovers to work or school for a healthy lunch without making a big soggy mess. Stay Fit Deluxe Salad Kit, EZ Freeze

Are there any toppings I didn’t think of that you think would be the bomb diggety on this easy Mexican bean salad? What do you think you’d like on yours? Are you hungry yet?? 🙂

“Penny Pinching Peach is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com”

Little Boy Approved!

February 18, 2015
by pennypinchingpeach 1 Comment

Winning Wednesday Again!

Another winning Wednesday here, just sharing some of the awesome- but less widely publicized- giveaways I find on the wonderful worldwide web. I love entering contests, although I rarely win. By rarely, I mean practically never, ever, ever. Just since Christmas Eve, though, I’ve won six awesome giveaways!!! One was a $20 boutique gift card! Another was a giveaway for the After Saga I featured here recently! Another was Christmas Eve and a higher entry giveaway for a huge prize package for our baby valued at over $1,200!! Another is a precious children’s book I featured here previously! More recently, I won a $25 Publix gift card! Just in the past few days, I won a craft kit! I’m not sharing to brag, but it tells you that people really do win! I think this baby in my tummy is my lucky charm, y’all! 😉 The giveaways I share here are not giveaways with hundreds of thousands of entries, so you actually have a decent chance to win something. Who doesn’t want to win free stuff? 😉

Excuse the short list this week. The ice and freezing rain has bogged down my internet so bad, I’ve had trouble accessing a lot of things! I still found some terrific giveaways to share, though!

♦ HUGE green giveaway with multiple winners of some great prize packages! (Ends 2/23)

https://gleam.io/Cbtmx-xkCQ2Q?l=http%3A%2F%2Fsomething2offer.com%2Fbig-green-giveaway%2F%3Futm_content%3Dbufferfb028%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dfacebook.com%26utm_campaign%3Dbuffer

♦ Enter to win an adorable Bamboletta doll! (Ends 3/1)

http://discoveringparenthood.com/2015/02/16/bamboletta-doll-review-giveaway/

♦ This book giveaway ends today, so Twitter users….HURRY!!!

https://twitter.com/Aquietplace…/status/567508656661753856

♦ Enter to win a Great Pretenders costume! (Ends 2/27)

http://discoveringparenthood.com/2015/02/13/great-pretenders-inspire-imaginative-play-review-giveaway/

♦ Enter to win a beautiful Mamas and Papas Gingerbread blanket! (Ends 2/25)

http://is.gd/CG29BB

♦ This blogger has a few terrific giveaways going right now, including a stroller, Lego prize and more!

http://conservamome.com/category/giveaway/

♦ This is a huge blog hop I think y’all will love!!! I entered tons of these amazing giveaways, and am thrilled to be able to share this list with sooooo many giveaways!!

http://notquitecrunchymommy.blogspot.com/2015/02/thursday-giveaway-link-up-212-edition.html

February 16, 2015
by pennypinchingpeach 4 Comments

Frugally Fashionable

Her outfit came from this consignment visit, worn the day she found out the new baby is a SISTER! 🙂

Soooo….my children were beginning to look like neglected waifs a lot of days, especially my long legged oldest with her floodwater pants and the many stains on my rough & tumble Bambam’s clothing. I am also finding myself scraping the barrel for clothing options for those times when short pants and stains were just not appropriate (like winter, for the former…LOL), since I wore out so many of my maternity items with my second pregnancy and prolonged recovery. I was pondering the horror of deciding what would actually fit into the budget, knowing I wouldn’t put myself in there, when the phone rang. *RING!!! RING!!!!* It was an auto call from a local consignment shop, informing me of half price days. Whoop, whoop!! Clothes shopping time, y’all!!! 😉

For just $31, at two consignment shops that are beside each other and run sales at the same time, we got a ton of very nice clothing in like new condition!!! For Princess Peachy: 4 pairs of pants, a ruffly skirt with a bow on it, a sparkly purple long sleeved top, a gymnastics/swimming suit and a short sleeved shirt. For Bambam: A jacket, 2 shirts, 2 pairs of pants, a pair of footie jammies. For Mommy: 2 shirts, a pair of pjs, a dress, all of which will work through pregnancy and breastfeeding, both. Just the dress would have cost about $50-$60 new, and it looks brand new.

To save money on clothing while still looking fashionable and fresh, consignment shops and thrift stores are a terrific option! For me, I honestly don’t give a flip what is in style, but I don’t want to look like I got my outfit from a dumpster, either. Even if you care about the latest style, you can often find what you’d like at these places. Dumpster chic is not my thing, and consignment stores and thrift stores don’t leave me with that undesirable look. You can choose to consign your own clothing that is outgrown or just not worn often enough in exchange for money or credit toward clothing your family can actually wear. Half price days at these stores are a great way to save, as well as supporting local business and inadvertently being green in your choice of clothing. What’s not to love? 😉

Of course, this isn’t my only trick. I hit up online sales, piling coupon codes onto clearance and sales prices. I buy the next season’s clothing at the end of the season when everything is seriously marked down. There are countless little tricks that add up to serious savings!

What do you do to clothe your family on a tight budget? Another trick of mine is Schoola Discount Clothes!

February 13, 2015
by pennypinchingpeach 7 Comments

Cloud Dough

So much fun!

Has anyone made their own play dough? I hadn’t, but I was looking for a new project for little miss creative when I saw a recipe for something they called “cloud dough”. It looked so easy, fun and super duper cheap to make, I had to give it a try.

The recipe? Two parts corn starch to one part hair conditioner of choice. I let my little one pick one that was pink and she liked the smell of. Mix until it’s all combined. It will be the roughly consistency of play dough, smell like conditioner, and have a soft fluffy feel to it ( hence the cloud part).

My daughter loves this stuff! She says it is even better than regular

Glittery Dough

playdough, because it’s soft and makes her hands smell yummy. We keep it in a Ziploc bag between playing. Our first batch kept for several weeks, then we made a second. It takes very little time or money, and scored high points for Mommy. It has kept her busy for hours, and I even let my little guy play with it some, if I am able to stay by them to watch closely.

A fun change up is one we just tried yesterday. I sprinkled a tiny bit of gold glitter on the table and let her roll the

dough in it, then she squished the glitter all up in it. Now she has sparkly cloud dough, which she calls her sparkly fairy dough. 🙂

Pink Cloud Dough

Updating to share yet another twist on this fun dough we make regularly! 🙂 If you’re like me, and don’t keep dyes around on a regular basis, but do

Green Cloud Dough

keep sugar sprinkles for decorating baked goods, this one is for you! My kiddos had been arguing over what dough was whose, so I was brainstorming for a way to differentiate. I reached for the green and red sugar sprinkles in the spice cabinet and mixed a generous amount into each of their batches separately. My girly girl Princess Peachy wound up with a beautiful pink to make her little heart smile, and my dinosaur loving Bambam got a soul satisfying light green. No more fussing!! 🙂

Who wants to whip up a batch of this stuff? It is super simple, inexpensive and smells wonderful! 🙂

February 11, 2015
by pennypinchingpeach Leave a comment

Wanna Win This Wednesday?

Great Gobs of Giveaways

Another winning Wednesday here, just sharing some of the awesome- but less widely publicized- giveaways I find on the wonderful worldwide web. I love entering contests, although I rarely win. By rarely, I mean practically never, ever, ever. Just since Christmas Eve, though, I’ve won five awesome giveaways!!! One was a $20 boutique gift card! Another was a giveaway for the After Saga I featured here recently! Another was Christmas Eve and a higher entry giveaway for a huge prize package for our baby valued at over $1,200!! Another is a precious children’s book I featured here previously! Most recently, I won a $25 Publix gift card! I think this baby in my tummy is my lucky charm, y’all! 😉 The giveaways I share here are not giveaways with hundreds of thousands of entries, so you actually have a decent chance to win something. Who doesn’t want to win free stuff? 😉

♥ Enter to win an Appreciation Certificate to Family Christian Store! (Ends 2/12)

http://www.tracesoffaith.com/blog/2015/02/lucado-treasury-of-bedtime-prayers-a-book-review.html

♥ Enter to win a gluten free sample box! (Ends 2/14)

http://www.sensitivemommy.com/2015/02/send-me-gluten-free-review-and-giveaway.html?m=1

♥ Enter to win a $25 gift card to Old Factory Candles! (Ends 2/16)

http://frugalmamaandthesprout.blogspot.com/2015/02/old-factory-candle-review.html

♥ This blog has a new giveaway every day through February 14th, so just check it out for what’s new!

Home Page

♥ Enter to win a $15 gift card to Ratticle Baby! (Ends 2/14)

http://sarahontheblog.blogspot.com/2015/02/brave-breastfeeding-momma.html

♥ Enter to win the book 5 Love Languages of Men! (Ends 2/16)

http://mamasmithreviews.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-5-love-languages-for-men-by-dr-gary.html

♥ Enter to win a $25 Kohl’s gift card! (Ends 2/16)

http://practicalfrugality.com/apparel-giveaway-ends-216/

Any bloggers or small businesses with current family friendly giveaways are welcome to post links to one or two of those giveaways with a brief description in the comments section. If you have an upcoming giveaway you would like to be featured, please contact me via my Facebook page with details. This will continue to be a weekly feature here on Penny Pinching Peach if there is consistent interest, so give a shout if you like this idea and let me know if you entered any contests! A couple of the giveaways featured last week are still accepting entries for a great book and educational materials, so head over to that post to enter even more awesome giveaways! https://pennypinchingpeach.com/2015/02/04/winning-wednesday-again/ Oh, and definitely come back and let me know if you win something, please!!!

February 9, 2015
by pennypinchingpeach 16 Comments

Tiebreaking Baby!!!

Our Newest Cutiepie

Finally, time for the long awaited tiebreaker announcement! Who is going to be ahead- boys or girls?? First, let me give you a back story.

Tiebreaker!

Our daughter, long before I was actually pregnant with this child, informed me that if we ever had another baby boy, she was trading him for a sister. She already had a baby brother and didn’t need another one of those. Thankfully, she’d decided we would keep the baby regardless of gender before we went in for the revealing ultrasound, since she does love the brother she has and figured she’ll love another one and want to keep him, too. LOL

That being said…

On the way to pick up the kids after our ultrasound, I bought a couple of very gender obvious outfits and a toy and put them in a gender neutral bag. When we arrived, our daughter came running to ask what the baby is and I told her to open the bag and it would tell her whether they were going to get a baby brother or sister. When she opened it, her jaw dropped. It was a priceless moment! 🙂

No trading necessary. As our oldest daughter put it, “God must have heard all my dreams and prayers, because He gave me exactly what I’ve been wishing for for sooooo long…a BABY SISTER!!!!”. 🙂 As you can see from the happy face in the picture, in which I’d just asked her how she felt about getting a new little sister, she is absolutely over the moon with joy!!! We are all happy, but would’ve been happy with either gender. For her, though, this is literally her greatest dream come true. For a five year old, he cup is overflowing with pure joy and wonder that God heard her prayers and the hopes of her heart. My joy in this coming little girl, my baby daughter, is even greater because her big sister is so very, very thrilled.

Sister smiles

As for our all-boy Bambam, his reaction was priceless in a completely different way. When he found out we were having a little girl and saw her little profile picture from the ultrasound, he said “Me big brudda!” followed by a period of thoughtful silence, apparently pondering on his new duties as a big brother, after which he strongly exclaimed “Mean guys hurt me baby sista, me KICK BUTT!!”. LOL!!! Yep, he’s all boy, and already a super protective big brother! This didn’t come as a surprise, since he’s already very protective of Mommy and is so gentle with little ones, in spite of earning that nickname of Bambam with his roughness and strength. 🙂

Both of my children reacted in totally different ways that reflect their unique personalities, but they are both happy as can be. 🙂

Y’all had it right! In our Baby Bump Clues poll, your votes tallied in at: Girl- 53.33% Boy- 33.33% Well, it’s a baby, anyway! 13.33%. If you go by pregnancy symptoms and something called “the angle of the dangle” that showed in a previous ultrasound (look it up….fascinating, but not dependable enough to go by alone), I’d already suspected she was a girl, but refused to say it, assume it or tell anyone about it. This is confirmation that apparently girls make me really stinkin’ sick during early pregnancy, since with both girls I had horrible, prolonged morning sickness and my sweet son spared me that particular symptom. Thank God, they’re worth it! 🙂

So, the tiebreaker says… GIRLS WIN!!! 😉

February 6, 2015
by pennypinchingpeach 15 Comments

Black and Blue Butterfly Greetings From Heaven

Butterfly greetings from heaven

Losing my mom to cancer changed so much about me.

It changed my personality, my perspective and even my life plans. Everything about myself was intertwined with her, and suddenly a huge part of the fabric of who I was, the life I had and my hopes for the future was ripped away. I was left feeling torn apart, broken and irreparable. Visiting her grave was no comfort to me, and I felt at a loss for any tangible way to feel that connection with my mom while she was gone. It hurt in such an achingly empty manner, I can’t even explain it in words.

One day as I was walking outside, praying & crying & wishing I could talk to Mom about whatever crisis I was coping with or just get another one of her warm, loving, mama hugs…it happened. God sent the comforting symbol I needed. I was randomly surrounded by fluttering blue and black butterflies! To most people, this would seem magical and beautiful. To me, it was a sign from Heaven of my mom’s continued love. You see, her favorite color combination was blue and black. One of my favorite things in the world is butterflies, and she would often give me little things to do with butterflies. The unique combination of those two things that were so special to each of us and personally significant between us was a symbol to me, and something I latched onto. Finally, something tangible to bring me comfort and help me to feel connected to my mom!

These black and blue Butterfly Greetings from Heaven have recurred over the years many times, usually at moments when I was thinking of my mom or dealing with something difficult and feeling alone.

Sometimes it’s a lone butterfly, others an entire swarm of them, and at times they even land on me as I watch them and try to listen to whatever message may be whispered to me by God in that moment when He has my attention.

The butterfly hello has also become an unexpected and beautiful way for my daughter to feel connected to the grandma she was never blessed to get to know.

When she sees blue and black butterflies- after hearing my story of the time the black and blue butterflies swarmed me when I was feeling sad and missing my mama and how they always make me think of her when I see them now- she will say “Hi Grandma! I love you, too!”. It brings bittersweet tears to my eyes every time it happens, and is yet another thing that is special about these particular butterflies for me.

If you have lost anyone close to you, is there something special that makes you feel connected to them in particular, like they’re saying hello, or just plain brings you comfort when you see it? Read my Letter to My Mom.

Below are some beautifully touching products following the sentiment of butterfly inspiration:

Girl Nursery Quote – Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over,she became a butterfly – Wall Decal Sticker (Black, Medium)
DaisyJewel Azure Blue & Silvertone Butterfly Hoop Earrings
Vietsbay’s Butterfly Collection Necklace Pendants Pewter Silver

February 4, 2015
by pennypinchingpeach 2 Comments

Winning Wednesday Again

Great Gobs of Giveaways

Another winning Wednesday here, just sharing some of the awesome- but less widely publicized- giveaways I find on the wonderful worldwide web. I love entering contests, although I rarely win. By rarely, I mean practically never, ever, ever. In the past few weeks, though, I’ve won five awesome giveaways!!! One was a $20 boutique gift card! Another was a giveaway for the After Saga I featured here recently! Another was Christmas Eve and a higher entry giveaway for a huge prize package for our baby valued at over $1,200!! Another is a precious children’s book I featured here previously! Most recently I won a $25 Publix gift card! I think this baby in my tummy is my lucky charm, y’all! 😉 The giveaways I share here are not be giveaways with hundreds of thousands of entries, so you actually have a decent chance to win something. Who doesn’t want a chance to win free stuff? 😉

♣ Enter to win a $200 Lush Décor gift card! (Ends 2/5)

http://vanillahousewife.com/200-gift-card-lush-decor-giveaway/

♣ Try to win an intelliArmor screen protector of your choice! (Ends 2/9)

http://theresasreviews.com/intelliglass-hardened-glass-screen-protector-review-giveaway/#comment-48153

♣ Enter to win the book Team Us! Marriage Together! (Ends 2/8)

http://www.mustardseedmommy.com/2015/01/teamus/

♣ Enter to win the book Nourished! (Ends 2/16)

Review of the Book “Nourished”

♣ Try winning an Aquagenix Rainfall showerhead! (Ends 2/10)

http://mamasmithreviews.blogspot.com/2015/01/aquagenix-rainfall-shower-head-giveaway.html

♣ Enter to win the Start Write 6.0 Handwriting Worksheet Software! (Ends 2/17)

http://www.mustardseedmommy.com/2015/01/startwrite/

♣ Enter to win a Dynapro Direct Exercise Ball! (Ends 2/10)

http://mamasmithreviews.blogspot.com/2015/01/dynapro-direct-exercise-ball-giveaway.html

Any bloggers or small businesses with current family friendly giveaways are welcome to post links to one or two of those giveaways with a brief description in the comments section. If you have an upcoming giveaway you would like to be featured, please contact me via my Facebook page with details. This will continue to be a weekly feature here on Penny Pinching Peach if there is consistent interest, so give a shout if you like this idea and let me know if you entered any contests! A few of the giveaways featured last week are still accepting entries for items like books, educational materials and K-cups, so go over to that post to enter even more awesome giveaways! https://pennypinchingpeach.com/2015/01/28/winning-wednesday/ Oh, and definitely come back and let me know if you win something, please!!!

February 2, 2015
by pennypinchingpeach 12 Comments

Baby Bump Clues?

Baby Boy

Baby Girl

Baby Bump #3

Okay, I’m going in for my hopeful gender revealing ultrasound soon, and thought I’d see if y’all wanted to play a game of Guess the Gender with me. Check out the baby bump in the current picture and the ones from my previous pregnancies of each sex, and tell me which sex you think this baby will be. 🙂 Both pictures with my older children are from later pregnancy, probably 8 with my daughter and maybe 6-7 with my son, since I believe these were the last pregnancy pictures for either. I’m 4 months along with baby #3.

I don’t think cravings have anything to do with gender, but for the fun of it, I’ll throw those in. Once morning sickness faded with my daughter, I craved tomato and cheese sandwiches (and ate them almost daily for the last few months), bananas and milkshakes. With my son, I craved spinach (which I also ate pretty much daily) and hot fudge sundaes. Not together on any of those, for the record! LOL With this one, now that I can eat more, I seem to be really wanting a lot of avocado, tomato, cheese when I have an appetite.

Feel free to comment with why you guess the way you did, if you’d like. We’ll see who is right before too long, I hope! We are super duper excited, even though it doesn’t particularly matter one way or another.

Soooo….what’s your vote? 😉

<a href=”http://polldaddy.com/poll/8622198/”>Guess the Gender!</a> 
(<a href=”http://www.polldaddy.com”>polls</a>)

Tiebreaker!

January 30, 2015
by pennypinchingpeach 4 Comments

National Preschool Fitness Day

Pretty Day At the Park

Jan. 30 is National Preschool Fitness Day. I just learned about this particular day, but I definitely make a point of keeping my kiddos hopping. During nicer days, even if it’s cold outside, we get them outside playing, like this recent photo at a park. When we are stuck inside a lot due to cruddy weather outside, it presents more of a challenge and Mommy has to get creative! My children have to be active or they will go completely nutty, so it’s an absolute necessity to find ways for them to move those little bodies when we’re stranded indoors. I’m sharing the official page about the holiday and their ideas for keeping little ones fit, then some of my own little tricks for burning that energy indoors. 🙂

Fun ideas for helping your preschooler stay fit:

Hubby Training

Free preschool fitness kit.

Bop the balloon. The object of this game is simple: Keep the balloon in the air by bopping it. My 2 1/2 year old and my 5 year old absolutely love this! Just make sure you have extra balloons ready, because they may pop and it won’t be pretty if you don’t have a replacement handy. 🙂

Chacha train. I have my kiddos line up behind me and we do our own version of the chacha in a choochoo train kinda way. It’s weird and wacky, but it leaves them giggling and gets them moving.

Hokey Pokey. We’ve all done this one as kids, right? You can do it with them or just sing the song and do the best you can while doing whatever you’re doing.

Simon Says. Simon Says: Hop like a bunny. Simon Says: Spin around. Simon Says: Do jumping jacks. Everything Simon Says is something active in this version of the game.

Dance party!! I like to put on some music and do crazy dances with my munchkins. If I am not feeling well and don’t feel like dancing myself, I’ll often sing a song and clap for them to dance. They LOVE it!!

The items below look like some really fun resources for physical activities for preschoolers, if you want some help in getting those little hineys moving! 🙂

303 Preschooler-Approved Exercises and Active Games (SmartFun Activity Books)

Preschoolers and Kindergartners Moving and Learning: A Physical Education Curriculum (Moving & Learning)

Sesame Street: Get Up and Dance

What kind of activities do you keep your little ones active with during yucky weather?