Linda @ Linda’s Lunacy

What’s For Dinner?

November 29, 2010 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

Lots of turkey leftovers on the menu this week. No surprise there. lol

Saturday – pizza night – Turkey Sandwiches!

Sunday – soup & sandwich day – Homemade bean soup, grilled cheese sandwiches

Monday – chicken – Turkey Tetrazzini – like this recipe, only using homemade sauce, and no mushrooms.

Tuesday – beef – Stir Fried Beef and rice

Wednesday – super simple – leftovers 🙂

Thursday – chicken – Turkey Pot Pie

Friday – Friday Night Fire/Beef – Steak, challah bread, brocolli

For more Menu Plan Monday ideas, visit I’m an Organizing Junkie.

Cyber Monday

November 29, 2010 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

While I didn’t go out shopping for Black Friday, I will get some online shopping done for Cyber Monday. I like that so much better than fighting the crowds in the store.

Here are a few of my favorites:

If you love audio books, Family Audio Library has their books for an additional FIFTY PERCENT OFF their already guaranteed lowest prices for downloadable audio books! The sale on Christian audio books starts Monday the 29th at 12:01 AM Pacific. Only 24 hours long and ONLY at FamilyAudioLibrary.Com!

Dayspring has a super 30% off sale! I bought several things from them for Christmas presents!

Buy something for yourself, or someone else that will save you money all year! Treat yourself or Grocery University makes an awesome Christmas gift for the frugal minded on your list.

Here’s the sale schedule for the day:

Midnight to 6:00 AM: $5.00
6:01 AM to 7:00 AM: $6.00
7:01 AM to 8:00 AM: $7.00
8:01 AM to 9:00 AM: $8.00
9:01 AM through the rest of the day: $9.00
*All times are Mountain Time*

Amazon has some great deals now, too!

CYBER MONDAY DEALS

TOP HOLIDAY DEALS

I also have some great things in my Opensky Shop, so please stop by and see what I have!

OpenSkyBanner

Happy Shopping!!

*Disclaimer-most of the links in this post are affiliate links. If you click thru and buy something I get a small commission.

This Weeks Blog Hops

November 29, 2010 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

These are the blog hops I’m participating in this week. Blog hops, as well as Twitter & Facebook hops are a lot of fun, and a great way to find new blogs. It’s also a great way to increase your followers on your blog.

If your visiting Linda’s Lunacy for the first time, Welcome. I hope you can stay and visit for awhile!

Please come back on Saturday, for my new blog hop, Sunny Saturday! You can link up your blog, Twitter, Facebook & Networked blog. Hope to see you on Saturday!

I’m so excited! This week I’m the blog of the Week at Meet Me Monday! So head on over to Inspiring You 2 Save and join Meet Me Monday!

MONDAY

TUESDAY

The Coupon Challenge and Mom on Dealz

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

Fun Follow Friday

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

Thanks for stopping by to visit! Hope to see you again soon!

Our Advent Season

November 28, 2010 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

We have celebrated Advent for over 10 years now. I do wish we had started when our older 2 children were little, though. Celebrating Advent leading up to Christmas is a great way for families to keep Christ in Christmas.

About 4 or 5 years ago, we added a Jesse Tree to our Advent celebration. With devotions, and ornaments added to the Jesse Tree daily, this is a great way to involve the kids in the events and history leading up to Christs birth. This is the book we use:

The Advent Jesse Tree: Devotions for Children and Adults to Prepare for the Coming of the Christ Child at Christmas

The Advent Jesse Tree gives the book owner permission to copy and use the illustrations in the book on their tree. They also have a list of ornaments that you need to go along with the devotions in the book. You can look around your house and through the ornaments you already own to find some to use. So no need to go out and buy a lot of ornaments. You also don’t need a special tree. If you have woods nearby, you can find a little tree to use. Some people like to use a long branch hung on the wall to hang the ornaments on. There are lots of frugal options available.

Our Advent Jesse Tree in the dining room

All the ornaments waiting….I love the giant toy grapes and the stuffed camel….

Drawings from book we colored, David’s sling shot I made

Beaded Angel made by my husbands Aunt, wheat that grew in our garden, a scroll made with toothpicks

In our celebration of Advent, we also light the candles on our Advent Wreath.

Our Advent wreath in the living room

If you don’t have an Advent wreath yet, you don’t have to go right out and buy one. You can use any wreath you have and put candle holders you already have inside. Like I did. 🙂

If you don’t have a wreath, you can get evergreen branches outside, or make a wreath out of wood. Or even just put the candles in a circle with the white one in the center. You can start celebrating Advent for just the cost of the candle sticks, using one of the free Advent readings linked below.

We have used these three books for our Advent readings since we first started celebrating Advent. The kids love these books. Ok, we adults do, too! Each book is a continuing story that lasts the whole Advent season, with a devotion at the end of each days story.

Jotham’s Journey, Bartholomew’s Passage, Tabitha’s Travels

The three kids are in all three books, which helps to make them like old friends. This year, we are reading Tabitha’s Travels. In several parts of the book, she gets to meet up with Jotham & Bartholomew. Our youngest is 10 this year, so I hope we still have a few more years of reading these stories before they think they are too old for them. Hopefully they never do!

We light the days candles and read the story with only the candles and the Christmas lights on. We do this last thing before they kids go to bed.

From the warm family gatherings in the candlelight living room, to the learning about Christ together, Advent has been a great addition to our families Christmas celebration.

Here are some links to help your family get started celebrating Advent.

Advent in Church and Cultural Tradition

Online Advent calender

12 Days of Advent

Advent readings crafts and activities

Free Jesse Tree Advent Devotional Book

For more inspirational posts, visit Spiritual Sunday

For more homemaking ideas, visit
Homemaker Monday
Tackle it Tuesday
Homemaking Link-up at Raising Homemakers
Works For Me Wednesday
Homeschool Snips & Tips
Thrilling Thursday

My Black Friday

November 26, 2010 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

….has not been spent running from store to store. I have so far enjoyed a relaxing day with my family.

The kids were so excited to decorate for Christmas, they carried the bins Christmas stuff in last night. We put some stuff out last night, with the tree and lights going up today. The only thing left is for the kids to put their ornaments on the tree. As you can imagine, they are very impatient. lol

I’d much rather spend a fun, relaxing day with my family, than fighting the crowds in a store.

Of course, now that I’ve had a nice day, I’m ready to do some shopping online! Here are a few places that I’ll be visiting very shortly!

Amazon has some great deals now, too!

BLACK FRIDAY DEALS

CYBER MONDAY DEALS

TOP HOLIDAY DEALS

I also have some great things in my Opensky Shop, so please stop by and see what I have!

OpenSkyBanner

Happy Shopping!!

*Disclaimer: These are affiliate links. If you click on them and buy something I will get a commission.

The Honey Jar

November 23, 2010 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

We love to cook with (and eat!) honey. When we get down to the bottom of the bottle, however, it gets very hard to get the last of the honey out.

Here’s an easy tip to help get the honey out.

Put the honey bottle into warm water, warm, but not hot enough to melt the bottle is it’s plastic.

If the honey is crystallized, you can pour the honey out in a pan and heat until the crystals dissolve. If stored again, the crystals will most likely appear again, though.

The honey in the bottom of the bottle poured out nicely after a couple of minutes in warm water. It makes it so much easier than trying to scrape the honey out with a spatula.

For more tips, visit:

Kitchen Tip Tuesday
Tuesday’s Tip Jar

Chocolate Oat Snack Cake

November 23, 2010 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

I got this recipe for Chocolate Oat Snack Cake from Frugal Recipes.

Chocolate Oat Snack Cake

1-3/4 c. boiling water
1 c. quick-cooking oats
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 c. sugar
1 c. packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1-3/4 c. all purpose flour
2 T. baking cocoa
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 (12 oz.) pkg. chocolate chips, divided

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, combine water and oats; let stand for 10 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in oat mixture. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in 1 c. chocolate chips.

Pour into a greased 13×9″ baking pan. Sprinkle with remaining chocolate chips.

Bake 40-45 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

This made a very nice, flavorful cake. No frosting needed! We all loved it. Even my visiting nephew liked it.

Even the next day, the cake was still moist. Even though there are a lot of us, I still make a 13×9 cake last several days. Hey, they don’t need a lot of cake anyway. You can’t tell there is oatmeal in this cake. You can’t see it, or feel the texture. Next time I make this, I’m going to use less sugar and whole wheat flour for at least half the white. I like to get every bit of whole grains that I can into my kids. Even at snack time.

For more recipes, visit:

Homemaker Monday

Market Yourself Monday

Mouthwatering Monday

Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays,

Tasty Tuesday

Tuesdays at the Table

Delicious Dishes

What’s on the Menu Wednesday

What’s Cooking Wednesday

Whatever Goes Wednesday

What’s Cooking Wednesday