Favorite Things Friday

Round two of favorite things is today!  I've actually been pretty excited about writing this post and thinking on it all week.  How silly that must seem!

I bought the Homestead Blessings Complete Collection from Vision Forum at the end of May when they were having a sale.  An Internet friend passed on a 20% off coupon to me and I was able to get a great deal on these.  Dan and I have watched The Art of Gardening and The Art of Bread making.  I really enjoyed them both.  We learned some things about gardening that we'd never thought of or heard of before like how to grow potatoes without any dirt.  The bread making video was especially interesting to me since I try so hard to bake bread and it just does not turn out!  Not only did they do "normal" bread, but they also did breads like cinnamon rolls, hamburger buns, pizza crust and more.  The videos are made by a mom and her three older daughters.  It's been great to watch them with the kids also and we learn so much.  I'm looking forward to watching the rest! We'll definitely have to watch and learn from them over time as my girls get older.






I love the blog, Tammy's Recipes.  She has tons of tasty frugal recipes that I love to try.  Quintin was nice enough to make these Seasoned Baked Potato Wedges for us with our black bean burritos Monday night.  They were WONDERFUL.  I didn't take a picture and don't want to steal Tammy's, but please go to her site and check them out and all the other great ideas that she has. 

And the last thing I'm loving this week?  My kitchen timer!!  I have always said that babies should be delivered along with a timer.  It makes all the difference in my children's behavior when I use it.

"Ashton, I need you to clean up your jurisdiction.  You have ten minutes".  I set the timer and walk away.  Ashton knows what's expected and he knows that I will actually remember to check that he's done it when I hear that timer ring!  So many times I've asked them to do something and don't even notice they did not do it because I forgot I had asked.  Not so with a timer.  Setting that timer encourages them to focus on what they are supposed to be doing instead of constantly being distracted.  This morning I used it with school work with fabulous results.