Couldn't Resist...

A Facebook friend spotted this in Kroger, and yes it is a real product!

Link Love: Using Skype as a Pet Monitor

For all those pet lovers who wonder what your pets are doing while you are not at home, here is a way to use Skype to see your pets while you are away! Go HERE to read the article!

This is where I found the options described - Tools, Options, Calls, Show Advanced Options, click Answer Incoming Calls Automatically. Don't forget to change your Power Down options on your computer so that it does not go to sleep or turn off. Have fun!

Welcome DAR Readers!

I really enjoyed teaching a class for you last night, and hope that you find this site useful!

If you are local and love studying history and genealogy, you might want to consider joining the Sara Polk Daughters of the American Revolution Brentwood Chapter. This young chapter (begun in 2006) is unusual because it meets in the evenings which makes it a popular choice of professional women and stay at home moms. Meetings are once a month and usually consist of speakers that address historic interests or women's issues. You are welcome to visit a meeting to see what it is all about. Members are very helpful in guiding you through your paperwork. It's a great way to make friends!

Web Surf to Save Your Aging Brain!

Great news for all you bloggy, web surfer types! It's good for your brain. Check out this article HERE.

Thought of the Day!

I just love this season! Here is a great quote in honor of it! I don't know about the kids, but I adore Lemony Snicket. You can get the books on tape or CD at the library and play them while you cart your children around. It makes them appreciative of their life after listening to the trials of the Baudelaire siblings! And best yet, there is always silence in the car when I play them!

"Screaming and running away is almost always a safe course."

- Lemony Snicket

For the Locals: Franklin Rec Department to Offer Free Classes

Go HERE to see the dates and times of free sampler classes offered by the Williamson County Parks and Recreation Department. They have a little something for every interest/age. Best yet, you do not have to register - just show up.

My Friend is Awesome!

We have all been under the weather in our house so my great BFF down the street made an apple tart and brought it over this afternoon. It was so pretty that I made my son wait until I took a picture before we dove into it. It was incredible. It so obviously took a long time to make. Thanks, Gloria!!

Blue Ribbon and Best of Show for Bread Making!

I won, I won!!!

A couple of years ago I would not have ever thought about entering into the Tennessee State Fair. I was visiting with a friend and her mom came by. While there she tried some of my bread and she said, "You should enter it into the fair!" Did these things actually still occur, I wondered? I checked into it last year and found out that I could enter, but I did not have time to figure it all out. I thought about it again a few weeks ago and went online to check it out. It was two days until the deadline so I entered online for two baked products for myself and one for my son (8). So after work, soccer practice and two parent teacher meetings yesterday, we came home and madly cooked. I made Pumpkin Bread, Bohemian Bread, and my son made Black Bottom Cup Cakes.

I delivered everything at 7ish this morning and stopped by after work to find out what happened. The pumpkin bread and the cupcakes did not place, but my bread won a blue ribbon and "Best of Show," Totally COOL! I can't tell you how long it has been since I won anything. I forgot how much fun it is! We are so going to do this again next year.

When I went to check on it after work, I did not expect to win so I only had my cell phone to take pictures. Here are the pics that I got:

Funny but Scary!

These were little signs taped to the dashboard of the car parked next to my friend at the gym. If you drive in Gainesville, be afraid. Be very afraid.

Nashville Scene's Best of Poll

Nashville's Scene Newspaper has a Best of Nashville Poll every year. I went there to help out a friend who would like to be voted for #1 Alternative Transportation (#240). While there, I saw they had a "Best Local Blog" category (#141). As far as I know, you don't win anything, it's just for fun. So if you guys get a chance, go to this poll and either put me or your favorite local blogger on the line! HERE is a list of some of the other local bloggers. If you are there anyway, put "1st American Sedans" in #240. We went to high school together!

Couponing is Good for Your Brain!

I was watching a show on NPT this morning about keeping your brain elastic and improving its functionality. Routine tasks do not release the neurotransmitters needed to keep our brains active. Unfortunatley, we naturally seek the comfort of things we already know about. Challenging our minds in new ways keeps our brains young and functioning best. Because we as couponers have a brand new challenge and new set of constraints each week, we frequently get a new puzzle to accomplish. Maybe this is why I enjoy it so much. We sort, we match deals to coupons we saw at someone's website a week ago, we study other people's deals, and we are constantly using math to calculate outcomes. This is not to say that couponing is the only way to challenge a brain, but it certainly is one way that has a great financial benefit as well!

Now I Don't Feel So Guilty About My Kids' Obsession With PB & J

I have picky eaters, and often when I cook something new or healthy, they refuse to eat it by responding with, "EWWWW, that's yucky!" Of course as a parent, I make them at least try it, but I don't force them to eat it. No point in making them hate it the rest of their lives just on principle. The fall back is usually peanut butter and jelly. So I was inordinately pleased to see this recent report on AOL about peanut butter:

Long known to be a natural heart healer, a recent Harvard Medical School study that monitored the eating habits of 2,000 women with type 2 diabetes -- which increases heart disease and stroke risk -- found that eating peanuts or peanut butter at least five days a week can nearly halve your risk of a heart attack, according to "The Daily Mail."

On another peanut butter note, did you know that the new whipped peanut butter has fewer calories per serving and is easier to spread? My kids can't tell the difference.

Happy Anniversary to Frugal Dr. Mom!!

A year ago today I started this blog. Honestly, I never thought that I would be the type of person to have a blog or even have something to say nearly every day. My goal was to learn how to better manage my finances and to pay off debt. I can happily say that posting about how to spend your money and being able to follow all the great bloggers out there, has really paid off. Our income has not change from the prior year. As a matter of fact, my husband and I both drive 30-45 minutes each way to our respective jobs, so the recent gas hikes have hit us hard. And of course, everything seems to be more expensive. However, the one thing that did change a year ago was my decision to strategically coupon - basically shop the sales with coupons and stockpile when things are cheap. In that time, we have filled out pantry to overflowing, been able to donate, and paid off $10k in debt (prior to that our debt was growing not shrinking). I have learned valuable skills that have even benefitted my extended family as I relay how to do this.

I do look forward to the next year as I gain even more financial knowledge and share the tips I learn with you. Today I have over 400 visits on average each day to my page, and a total of 125,000 visits since I started keeping count in September. I am very thankful to have you visit and being able to share a bit of my life with you. I hope that the information I provide is helping you in some way!

Free Family Crafts This Summer at Bass Pro Shop

If you are looking for something inexpensive to do with your kids this summer, check out Bass Pro Shop's free family activities. I know my kids would love to do these activities!

The Price of Children

My grandmother emailed this to me and I wanted to share...

This is just too good not to pass on to all. Here is something absolutely positive for a change. I have repeatedly seen the breakdown of the cost of raising a child, but this is the first time I have seen the rewards listed this way. It's nice.

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140.00 for a middle income family. Talk about price shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition.

But $160,140.00 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into:

* $8,896.66 a year,
* $741.38 a month,
* $171.08 a week.
* A mere $24.24 a day!
* Just over a dollar an hour.

Still, you might think the best financial advice is, "Don't have children if you want to be rich." Actually, it is just the opposite.

What do you get for your $160,140.00?

* Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
* Glimpses of God every day.
* Giggles under the covers every night.
* More love than your heart can hold.
* Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
* Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
* A hand to hold usually covered with jelly or chocolate.
* A partner for blowing bubbles and flying kites.
* Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the
boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140.00, you never have to grow up. You get to:

* finger-paint,
* carve pumpkins,
* play hide-and-seek,
* catch lightning bugs,
* never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:

* keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh,
* watch Saturday morning cartoons,
* go to Disney movies, and
* wish on stars.

You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For a mere $24.24 a day, there is no greater bang for your buck. You get to be a hero just for:

* retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,
* taking the training wheels off a bike,
* removing a splinter,
* filling a wading pool,
* coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and
* coaching a baseball team that never wins but always
gets treated to ice cream regardless.

You get a front row seat in history to witness the:

* First step,
* First word,
* First bra,
* First date,
* First time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great grandchildren. You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.

In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God. You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits, so one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost. That is quite a deal for the price!!

Love and enjoy your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren!! It's the best investment you'll ever make!!

Does your family/office do gag gifts?

This may be perfect for you! Sudoku Toilet Paper on sale for 6.79! Hahaha! I'm thinking in-laws!

Guess I'm Chic!

I found this interesting bit of news on NPR entitled, Frugality is the New Chic. Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday: I'm in Both Pictures!

Happy News Fridays

Whenever my life seemed bleak, my mom had a knack for cheering me up by reminding me of all the things that I had accomplished instead of focusing on the issues at present. I hope I will always remember to do that for my children. Here's an example: Once when I was studying for a difficult calculus exam in college, I had a horrible cold...and it was raining... and I had just broken up with whomever I had been dating...and I had a crappy job...and I had just heard the news that a girl my age, with whom I went to church, had just gotten married on some distant tropical beach to some hot guy and she was opening her own art boutique because her new husband was quite wealthy, I called home miserable and my mom reminded me that she would probably find herself divorced with children and no way to support herself because she did not pursue an education...oh, and by the way you are nearly through with college, how great is that? I felt better, worked harder and passed that exam. Oh the girl, you might ask? She did eventually end up as predicted (though I would not wish that on anyone). I say all this because perhaps that is what our nation needs right now - a little good news pep talk and a reminder that we are strong.

Everyday, we hear news story after news story of horrible things happening. From murder and mayhem to the destruction of our environment, it can really bring a person or nation down. I sometimes turn off the news for a few days and breath a sigh of relief. With this in mind, I am going to find good things that are happening and report on them on Fridays.

Because the auto industry is so much in the news, here is some good news about our automobiles:

"Granted, cars emit greenhouse gases and create maddening traffic jams, but consider what else they do. Compared with the models on the road in 1970, today's cars burn less gasoline per mile and emit 98 percent fewer pollutants. That's why, despite the doubling of the number of cars, there's much less smog in the air.

The basic sedan today offers more creature comforts and safety than the luxury cars of old. The fatality rate has declined sharply, and cars have become so reliable that it's rare to come upon that once-routine sight on the shoulder of the road: a driver forlornly staring under the hood."

-It's a Wonderful Life, Reader's Digest, February 2009

If you are interested in getting happy news in your email, I recommend this website, Happy News. Sign up for their newsletter and you will read news stories that are positive.

Isn't this the cutest?

Baby Feet! You forget how really tiny they are...