A monthly online magazine chock-full of insightful articles for busy mothers.

By Tammy Paquin

Despite recent predictions that we’re coming out of the recession, I know many people are still struggling. Holidays like Christmas where there is financial pressure to spend money on stuff makes it hard for people to find the joy in giving so instead of looking at these situations as a burden on your wallet, look at them as an opportunity to give from your heart.

Think of your talents-Do you scrap book? Do wood working? Do you quilt, knit or do other crafts? Do you make jams, jellies or other preserves? Are you a car buff? Do you have an eye for details? Think of creating presents with your talents! Truthfully, anyone who puts down a homemade and thoughtful present isn’t worthy of receiving them.

• Scrapbookers- Giving grandparents a page of scrapbooked pictures set into an inexpensive frame is thoughtful and I can think of many grandparents who always complain of never having updated pictures. Down the road, you could give them an expandable storage book for their outdated pages. How about scrapbooking your cherished family recipes for your children?

• Quilters and/or sewers-Create gifts with those talents! I found a pattern for quilted checkbook covers. They were fast, easy and allowed me to personalize them for each recipient (cat fabric for my cat loving friend). I’m not much of a sewer but even I was able to make flannel pajama bottoms for my boys.

• Knitters/crocheters- My Great Gram always used to knit mittens for us. She would also make us hats and scarves. I still have a pair of double-yarn mittens she made me over 40 years ago. They’re now stashed safely in my closet but I still think fondly of how warm they were and how much I loved wearing them and loved my Gram for making them for me. Who can’t appreciate a homemade present like that?

• Car person-I know it’s not as easy as it used to be to work on cars but thankfully, oil changes are still generally a do-it-yourself deal. If you’re still into changing your own oil, considering giving coupons to your friends or family to change THEIR oil as a present (note that it’s for labor only and the recipient still has to buy the supplies). I know I would LOVE getting a practical present like that!

• Eye for detail? –My mother-in-law has pretty much everything she wants or needs. My husband has an eye for detail-detailing cars that is. He gave his mom the gift of a car detailing. He spent about 5 hours washing, waxing and detailing her car and she was thrilled. Keep in mind that a present like this would cost over $100 at a detailing shop. If you have an eye for detailing homes (you’re good at cleaning) how about offering coupons for housekeeping services? I know come spring time, I’d love an extra pair of hands for spring cleaning.

• Baker/cook- My sister-in-law was a really busy woman with three young boys, finishing her teaching certificate and working almost full time. I gave her a gift basket full of homemade frozen cookie dough logs, homemade dry baking mixes (similar to those layered jar mixes where you just add the wet ingredients) and two bags of store bought gourmet coffees. I told her that I was giving her the gift of time with her boys. She could take one of the frozen cookie dough logs out of the freezer in the morning and put it in the fridge and then that evening, she could make a cup of coffee, make cookies with her boys and enjoy spending time with them (without the hassle of trying to follow a recipe and mix dough with three youngsters trying to “help”). She loved the gift! Think about what you can make or bake along the same lines. You could make bread dough that could be frozen and used the same way. Be creative.

• Gardeners-How about sharing saved seeds with your favorite gift-recipient? How about offering up your time during planting season? Personally, I’d love coupons offering to tend my garden when I go camping for a week. A gift basket with coupons for garden tending saved heirloom seeds, homemade row markers and a fresh set of garden gloves would be loved by any gardener!

I’ve given you just a sampling of how you can put your talents to work creating thoughtful, relatively inexpensive and practical presents for the holidays. What talents do you have? What can you do? Before you go out and buying something and spend a bunch of money, think on how you can create those thoughtful gifts first. I think you’ll find that during these tough economic times, practical, thoughtful gifts from the heart are more appreciated than ever before.

Tammy Paquin is a work-from-home mom of 3 boys and the owner and publisher of Frugal-Families [1], an online resource for frugality, finances, budgeting and everything else related to stretching the dollar. For more ideas on practical, thoughtful and inexpensive gifts visit, Thoughtful, Practical and Inexpensive gifts [2]

Hop into spring with this free eBook full of Easter craft projects and
recipes. Find free Easter craft ideas to decorate your home, give as gifts
and entertain the kids. Send homemade Easter cards to friends and families
from our collection or find some different ideas for Easter egg decorating.
Complete your Easter festivities with the collection of hand-picked Easter
recipes. In this eBook you’ll find:

. 130 Pages of Craft Ideas for Easter

. 12 Easter Egg Decorating Projects

. 20 Easter Table Ideas: Centerpieces, Napkin Rings and More

. 10 Easter Chick Craft Projects

. 20 Easter Bunny Craft Projects

. 10 Easter Recipes

You can get this eBook free at:

http://www.favecrafts.com/index.php/hct/Easter-Crafting-and-Recipe-eBook

By Susanne Myers

Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this year with some of these fun
and of course mostly green St. Patrick’s Day Treats.

Leprechaun Ale

Place a scoop of lime sherbet into a tall glass, pour ginger
ale over it and watch it fizz. This can be made even fancier by
rubbing some lime juice on the rim of the glass and then dipping
it in green sugar crystals before you pour the leprechaun ale.

Lucky Clover Cake

Prepare 9 x 13 inch cake using a boxed cake mix. We like to use
yellow cake for this. Get a can of vanilla frosting and use a
few drops of yellow and blue food coloring to color the frosting
green. After the cake is baked and cooled down, cut three heart
shaped pieces out of the cake. We use a cardboard template to
make the hearts even. Arrange them on a plate with the pointy
ends pointing toward each other. It will look like a clover
leaf. Frost the entire cake with the green vanilla frosting.

Mini Mint Ice Cream Tarts

Purchase a roll of refrigerated sugar cookie dough. Roll the
dough into small balls (a little smaller than a golf ball), and
press them in the bottoms of mini muffin pans. Bake according to
package directions. Press the middle of the cooked dough down
after you take them out of the oven. Let them cool for 10
minutes, then transfer them to a baking rack and let them cool
completely. To serve, scoop mint ice cream in each of your mini
tart shells.

St. Patrick’s Day Cookies

Buy or make simple sugar cookie dough. Let the kids cut out
shamrock shaped cookies with a cookie cutter. Bake them. While
they are cooling, use food coloring to turn vanilla frosting or
a simple powered sugar and milk glaze green. Let the kids
decorate the cookies with frosting and plenty of green
sprinkles.

St. Patrick’s Day Parfait

Prepare a pack of instant pistachio pudding according to
package directions. Mix a few drops of food coloring with cool
whip to tint it green. Cut up some kiwi fruit. Layer chilled
pudding, kiwi fruit and green cool whip for a completely green
St. Patrick’s Day Parfait.

Are you seeing green yet? Give a few of these yummy sweet St.
Patrick’s Day treats a try this year. They are always a big hit
with our families.

About the Author: Want more family friendly recipes and crafts
ideas? Visit http://www.dinewithoutwhine.com/info for a sample
weekly menu plan your entire family will love and
http://www.kinderinfo.com for tons of craft and activity ideas
that are sure to keep your little ones entertained.

Source: http://www.isnare.com

Holidays Home Easter Page

Easter at Babci’s was very special. Her enamel coffee pot on the back of the stove would be filled with chicoried black liquid, and the ham in the oven gave off a brown sugared warm aroma.

The colored Easter eggs were in a brown basket on top of a hand crocheted white doily right next to the yellow raisin bread. The polish sausage (kielbasa) was wrapped in tin foil and was slowly cooking along with the ham in the oven. Her pickled beets were everyone’s favorite…her recipe sits below for you. All of the food was fine indeed but the focal point in Babci’s kitchen was not the food so much as her love. Her easy smile, her selfless caring, Babci was the draw.

Pickled Beets

2 cans of Red Beets
2tbsp. of brown sugar
2tbsp. of cider vinegar
Touch of salt
Thinly sliced onions
A dash of pepper

Mix all ingredients together and place in a large glass jar…overnight in fridge. You may add whole hard boiled eggs that have been peeled. This colorful array makes a nice addition to your Easter festivities.

© 2000 Caroline Shaw

submitted by Charlotte J. Crockett

Irish Stew
3 to 4 lbs leg of lamb, cut into 1 1/2″ cube
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 cups water
1 cup chicken broth
1 to 2 tsp salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon thyme, crushed
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cloves garlic, mashed & minced
4 medium potatoes, quartered
8 small white onions, peeled
1 package frozen peas, (16 oz)
8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 cup milk
1/3 cup flour

Over medium heat, brown lamb in butter and oil in a large stock pot or Dutch oven. Add water, broth, and seasonings; cover and simmer for 1 hour. Remove surface fat. Add potatoes and onion; simmer, covered, until vegetables are tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Add peas and simmer for 5 minutes. Combine milk and flour; stir until smooth. Add to simmering stew and simmer for about 1 minute, or until thickened. Taste and adjust seasonings.
Serves 6.

About the Author: Charlotte J. Crockett is a 46 year old mother of 3 children and a grandmother of 4 boys…all under the age of 2. She has been happily married for 28 years to a wonderful man who spoils her rotten. She was born in Germany and spent the early part of my life traveling in Europe. She is bilingual. Besides English she also speaks, reads and writes German. Although she is getting rusty with it. She is a member of the National Gardening Association.

Join her Tennessee Gardener Email Forum.