Hot Deal: Lanterns at Lowes

As we were walking through Lowes tonight I spotted these cool deals.

Metal lanterns for $1.50 and $3.00. I would consider them small and medium in size, though the smallest wasn't terribly small. This price was for the silver ones. They did have black ones for a little more. At this price I think these would be fun for decorating a special occasion or back porch. Here are some ideas I found  online, through Google images, for using lanterns.

What's For Dinner?

Cooking a meal each night is not one of my favorite past times, but I feel like I need to try to now. My biggest holdup is time and planning. Tonight we had one of the fastest and easiest meals in the line up right now, baked Tilapia. I got this idea from a teacher at Harvest.

Ingredients: frozen fish fillets, cooking spray, Cajun seasoning

Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray, place fish fillets on sheet, spray fish with cooking spray, sprinkle seasoning, bake for 5 minutes, turn the fish over and season other side, bake 5 minutes more or until flaky.
I don't like a fishy taste so I coat the fillets liberally with seasoning, but they do turn out rather spicy. You can put the fillets in frozen and just cook them a little longer. I think I'm going to try another seasoning soon too, maybe garlic and butter. I'll let you know how those turn out when I do. I like that I can make a pretty healthy meal in no time. So far we have had vegetables with the fish, but I think it would be great to try fish tacos also.

Hot Deals!

One of my new missions is to find great deals. I've been couponing for a while with some success. I'm starting to figure out where to look for the best deals, and realizing that many are not advertised. Recently I've gotten $106 worth of toys at Target for $30. That was an exciting day! I'll use those for birthday and Christmas gifts. Yesterday I was able to get Wells dog food for half price at Petsmart. They have a special on Eukanuba big bags which makes a 30lb. bag the price of a 15lb. bag. I also happened upon this at Target.

Fisher Price Dig N' Ride

It retails for $50, but was an online order returned and they had it for $10. I thought it would be a Christmas present, but one little boy just could not forget about it once we got home. He wanted to eat supper on it!

I know a lot of expectant moms right now, and have thought of you all this week. Target had several cute maternity clothing items on the 75% off rack yesterday. The best I saw was cute cropped jeans for about $7. The rack was in the regular clothing area. Walmart has had Carter's sleepers for $3 (normally about $7). I loved those when Brennan was a baby. They also had there Garanimals play clothes for $1 and $2. There were cute things for boys and girls!

This Blog Is Back!

After a six month vacation, it's back! It has taken me all summer to get the blogging bug again, and a few tries to remove the weird green tree background, but we are back in business. I think there's way too much to catch up on so we'll just start from where we are.

We have had a great summer! Even better is that it's not over! I've started a new career as a stay-at-home mom. Monday begins my official new career in my mind. That's the day I would have gone back to work. I feel blessed beyond measure to be able to have this time with Brennan. We are spending a lot of fun days by the pool, at the splash pad, and playing. Brennan is really into playing outside, reading books, finding trains, and being a big boy. His new knowledge amazes me daily. He can read some pages of his favorite books back to us now. One favorite is Goodnight Moon. When he gets to the page where the old lady whispers hush he whispers,"No, no." He understands the concept of two, and likes to point out when there are two of anything. He's fascinated with the electric gate in our backyard. As soon as we get in the car, no matter where we are, he says, "Got to open the gate?" Of course that's always followed by, "See train?" Yes, when everyone else in Hartselle is trying to avoid the train we drive to the tracks to see it. He absolutely loves his family right now and loves to talk about all of them. Every car, truck, tractor, and animal belongs to someone he knows. We spend many hours looking at books with pictures of Papa's tractor, Pick's truck, Aunt Sissie's car, and most days Daddy owns everything. He's such a fun little guy!

My new job was brought about by Mike's new job. He now travels a lot, and works a lot. He loves the job, even though I think it does become taxing at times. All of these changes are quite an adjustment for us all. I'm trying to find a happy medium right now for myself. Caring for Brennan, and making sure he is challenged and engaged, is my number one priority. But I also need some adult interaction and creative outlets. I'm excited to challenge myself to find some creative outlets, playgroups, mom groups, etc. Our possibilities are wide open and I'm ready.

Here are a few snapshots of our summer fun:

Mr. Cool by the pool

Playing with his water table

He and his buddy Joseph

His favorite library book I Went Walking

In the words of Brennan, "Oh, that train!"

It gets him into a lot of trouble sometimes. 

Notice the finger pointing to get down!

Splash pad fun!

The ducks at Big Spring Park

Thanks for stopping by! See ya soon!