The Sewing Mom

This post brought to you by T.G.I. FRiDAY’S. All opinions are 100% mine.

Like most families of late, we have to do undergo some household budget cuts.  I asked both my husband and daughter to come up with ways to cut back on expenses and no idea was a bad idea.  One cut that my husband made that I believe has had a very big impact is that he began taking his lunch to work.

For the last several years my husband has eaten out for lunch, 5 days a week, with some of the other guys from work.  His daily lunch cost ranged from $7-$18, depending on where they went.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that bring a lunch from home is WAY cheaper!  The challenge with bringing a daily lunch is variety.  A person can only eat so many sandwiches or cups of soup!

While picking up a few things at the grocery the other day, my husband noticed T.G.I. FRiDAY’S “Entrées for One” in the freezer section and said they have a good variety of flavors.  Plus, even with paying for these frozen meals, it’s still way cheaper then dining out.  The company he works for has a nice lunch room area that includes a few microwaves so these entree’s will work perfectly for him.  In fact, he’s all ready added a couple of flavor choices to my shopping list, chicken & broccoli alfredo and prime rib stroganoff.  Of course, while I’m there, I might even pick up a couple of extras for me including sesame orange chicken which sounds yummy!

I’m hoping that his discovery of the T.G.I. FRiDAY’S “Entrées for One” will keep him taking his lunches and saving our budget!

You might want to visit Facebook where you can enter and/or vote in the Fun Freezer contest until October 20, 2011.

I’m not even in high school and I’m completely stressed out about it!

My daughter is a sophomore this year and every day there seems to be one more quiz or one giant test after another. My daughter is very smart, but she does have to study to do well. On a typical day, that works out okay, she studies and she does well. However, not every day is typical, some days, she just wants to be a teenager and hang out with her friends! Who can blame her?

Today is the PSAT for all sophomores and juniors. I tell her not to stress about it, stay calm and do the best she can do. This is just a practice SAT after all and doesn’t count, colleges won’t see these scores. She is a perfectionist though and wants to score as high as she possibly can. She puts a lot of pressure on herself.

Oh well, it will be a while before we get the scores, and actually, I’m not stressed about her taking the test today, I’m just stressed about her getting to school on time!

This post brought to you by American Family Insurance. All opinions are 100% mine.

There is so much negative going on the world today it seems, after all, if you just turn on the nightly news it’s about all you’ll hear, all the bad things happening.  It’s nice to know that that if you look in the right places though, there are some really good things going on too.

American Family Insurance is hosting the Stand Up For Family Comedy Special and it’s all about family and being positive.  This special is hosted by Bill Bellamy and he is so funny sharing memories of his “mama” when he was growing up.  I watched the video and it was hysterical!

There are a number of comedians participating in the special and they all share childhood memories or daily life experiences with their own families.  There is something for everyone and we can all find experiences we can relate too.  What’s great about these comedians is that you can feel comfortable about watching them with your own family.  It is viewable by all age groups, it’s clean, good fun.  As a mom, I know that sometimes it can be very difficult to find something that everyone in the family can enjoy together, but  Stand Up For Family can be shared and enjoyed by all.

The videos are brought to you by AmFam and I think you’ll agree, they’re fun to watch.  Let me know what you think!

Marching Band Season, that is!

Yesterday was an invitational competition. Our band did a wonderful job and came in 7th place overall, one of their best finishes ever! They have an incredible program this year and I feel that they have a great chance of moving up in the rankings before the end of the season. Keep in mind, there are about 500 band members on the field during the performance, this is the largest marching band in the country. It takes 21 buses and 2 box trucks to move all the members, staff and equipment. Imagine 500 kids trying to be precise in every move they make!

The first picture is of the band in their warm up position. The second is after they’ve taken their starting position and the music is starting. My daughter is highlighted by the yellow arrow, her boyfriend is to her right.

This post brought to you by Hills Pet Nutrition. All opinions are 100% mine.

At our dog’s last vet checkup, she had actually managed to lose a couple of pounds!  This was great news because we’d struggled to get her to lose any weight at all.  She’s pretty active, but truth be told, we should be taking her for walks and playing with her more than we have been lately.  Then maybe the weight loss wouldn’t be as difficult for her.

Hill’s Pet Nutrition is hosting the Hill’s Healthy Mobility Challenge.  Overweight dogs, especially as they get older, can have difficulty with their mobility which would make me feel guilty to know that my dog isn’t as healthy & happy as she could possibly be.  With cooler weather finally coming to Texas, she won’t be getting in the pool and swimming which is one of the primary ways she managed to lose those couple pounds this summer.  It’s important for her that we find other ways to keep her active and healthy.

By registering for the Hill’s Healthy Mobility Challenge, we can receive $30 in Hill’s Healthy Mobility Coupon offers plus be entered into the Sweepstakes where 30 lucky winners will receive free pet food for an entire year!

You can track your dog’s progress and then go back to share your success story.  Don’t forget that you can also check out Hill’s Pet Nutrition on Facebook.

Seriously, we want to keep this little baby around as long as we can!