Where did the Summer Go?

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Well, as I sit down to write this post, I am reflecting upon the fact that my kids go back to school in 2 weeks.  WHAT???  Yes, I said two weeks, it seems as if summer just began and now it is over. This was the first summer I have had free from college in the past three years.  I was so excited to spend time with the kids and I neglected my blog for most of the summer.  Oh well, Once school starts and we get back into our routine, I will be back.  Today I am going to share some of the frugal things we did this summer. 


We got a zoo membership and enjoyed ourselves at the Des Moines Zoo and the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha.

We drove over to Lincoln Nebraska and received a free tour of Memorial Stadium (Pardon my Husband he is the Nebraska Fan amongst us).  It was a great way to keep the kids busy and also to give them some motivation!! 

We visited many parks around town

We went to the pool almost every day thanks to the yearly passes we bought.  We only needed to go 4 times to have the passes pay for themselves. 

It has been a fun and stress free summer.  Now I am going to come back to blogging and return to our normal schedule of work and play. 

My goals for the next year on my blog are to cook my way through some of the many cookbooks I have on my shelves.  I figure this will be frugal because I am not buying anymore cookbooks and also a learning experience because many of the books I have are from other countries.  I plan to attempt to write my own cookbook later this year as a hobby. We will see where that leads to. 

I am also going to share all of our home improvements we have been working on this summer. New flooring somehow has led to a whole house renovation and I am very pleased so far.  The good news with this is my husband has been doing all the work himself and I have only had to pay for the supplies.  Example of this is I have saved over $6000 on new hardwood flooring. 

I hope you enjoy the beginning of another Frugal year. 

Thank you for reading and I am going to share a new recipe.

 

Back to School Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

2 Tablespoons butter

2 eggs

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup white chocolate chips

2 cups chopped mini Rees's Peanut Butter Cups

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350*. In a medium saucepan combine the chocolate chips, unsweetened chocolate, and the butter. Cook and stir over low heat until melted. Remove from heat. Add the eggs, sugar, flour, vanilla, and baking powder. Stir with a spoon until combined. Stir in the white chocolate chips and the mini peanut butter cups.
2. Drop dough by rounded teaspoons on baking sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes or until the edges are firm. Let cool on sheets for 2 minutes then remove to wax paper to cool all the way. Store at room temperature in an airtight container. Keep the layer separated with wax paper. Makes 36 cookies.

Adapted From Taste of Home Holiday Recipes 2012