We received a UPS package last week from California, something inside that had to be kept cold for 2 days’ transit. How in the world…? I wondered. The answer? Dry ice!

So what do you do when you’re suddenly in the possession of a handful of frozen carbon dioxide? Find a handful of safe, at-home experiments in hand that any inquisitive kid will dig….and start playing!

Dry ice from Megret on Vimeo.

**Safety Note: If you handle dry ice, be sure to do so in a ventilated area. Never pick up or touch dry ice with bare hands — it can burn you! We were careful to use spoons and tongs the entire time.**

Monday, February 1st – Sunday, February 7th, 2010

Monday:
Tilapia with Lemon Butter Sauce
Angel Hair Fresca
Baguette
Rice Krispie Treats

Tuesday:
Chicken Cacciatore (similar to this one)
Egg Noodles
Green Peas
Rolls

Wednesday:
Veggie Burgers
Corn on the Cob
Texas Caviar w/ Tortilla Chips
Chiffon Marble Jello Parfaits

Thursday:
Supper brought over (:0)

Friday:
Chicken with Mushroom Sauce
Rice
Green Beans
Whole Wheat Yeast Rolls

Saturday:
Homemade Pepperoni & Veggie Pizza
Salad

- Phil Vischer is debuting a new DVD series, “What’s in the Bible?” in the next few weeks! It’s a terrific way to explain the entire Bible in a fun and entertaining way. Look for it soon at your local Christian bookstore.

- Via Parent Hacks: Compact fluorescent light bulbs should be used with caution if young children are in the household.

- Flickr’s “Toys from the 70s-80s” pool — so much fun to look through!

- HOTM Online on “growing smart kids.”

- Ah! My favorite flower: Calla Lillies. The Mother Huddle makes some beautiful paper callas for Valentine’s Day!

(If you didn’t read Part I, click here.)

Little did I know that, in just a few short months, everything I believed about money and how to handle it was going to be tested in the fire.

Ken was called into full-time ministry, and we made plans to move back to our hometown. (More about this decision and its effects in a later post.)

Suddenly his salary was cut in half and I totally lost mine. I won’t go into detail and tell you all of the financial pitfalls we had to dig ourselves out of, or about the struggles we faced returning to one income only. I will say that it wasn’t easy, and our faith was tried more than it had ever been, financially speaking, since we’d married three years before.

And all of this on top of my feeling called to motherhood shortly after our move home? This made for even more of a permanent quizzical look on our faces. “How on earth are we going to pull this off?” we thought. Good thing we didn’t need to — God had it already.

One of Ken’s highest spiritual gifts is faith….and conveniently, it’s one of my very lowest. We’ve been able to see God move and work in our finances since 2003 in ways that we cannot explain. We took initiative…we changed daily habits, established a budget (ugh!) and took a (Dave Ramsey) Financial Peace University class through our church.

We modified our lifestyle and it paid off exceedingly: I am excited to say that as soon as my car is fully paid off, we are debt free.

(Stay tuned for Part III, where I’ll share some of the ways I amended our lifestyle and how I have learned to release money’s control of us over these past few years.)

(Photo from stock.xchng)

This month’s “Works for Me Wednesday” theme is “blogging tips.” For me, running two different blogs (this one and my reviews blog), organization is key. Here are some of the ways I stay organized within the “blogosphere:”

- I use the BusyBodyBook for scheduling my blog posts. There are five columns per day, which allows for both blogs, technical to-dos, and things to research…plus one miscellaneous category. Though this planner can be used for almost anything, it works best for my blogging.

- I have a list of blogging topics in my “Book of Lists,” which is basically a little blank journal where I make list of, well, pretty much everything. When I lack inspiration for a post or see something which I think would be a good idea for a post/discussion starter, I jot it down for later.

- I stay ahead of blog posts by writing several at once, usually during the kids’ afternoon quiet times or after they’ve gone to bed in the evenings. I post-date my posts through Wordpress so that I don’t have to worry about logging on to put them up each day.

- I added a blog search box which not only helps my readers search my site, it helps me locate past articles, crafts, or recipes with ease.

- I have a bookmark folder in the top of my browser titled “To Blog.” Any website or online article/tidbit I see as post-worthy, I add to this tab so that I can link to it later on my Monday links post.

- I label everything….most especially, photos. I name/label photos by subject matter so that I can find past photos easily when I need an image for a blog article.

Blog organization really, really works for me! Head over to We Are THAT Family for more WFMW tips on blogging. Have a wonderful Wednesday!