Hey friend, me again. Hope you’re doing alright. What’s the weather like where you are? I always think that’s interesting because in some places, it’s COLD right now. And for other places, it’s triple digits (that’d be 38C and hotter). And in some places, it might be a rainy season. Anyway, I hope you’re hanging in there, wherever you are and whatever season you’re in (literally and figuratively).

First I want to give a quick THANK YOU to Manisha who bought me a coffee last week. Your support means so much ❤️ 

Now, let me get into the good stuff. I currently have a list of 13 topics I wanted to share about, but that seems excessive for one email. So I’ll just go with my gut about what to put in the newsletter this week. Hopefully there’s at least one tidbit you can take away for yourself!

Kid Apps

Screen time can be a hot topic, and I’m not one to tackle hot topics. If you want my opinion on something that’s maybe “controversial” then you can ask me directly; I’m happy to share my thoughts on just about anything, as long as I know enough about it to have a solid opinion. But it’s unlikely I’ll just share my opinion in a public forum, to a large group of people at once.

That said, I won’t get into the pros and cons of screen time or anything along those lines. I’m just going to share some apps that my kids like to use sometimes; they’re mostly educational. That doesn’t mean my kids only use screen time for educational purposes (see next section).

Stack the States and Stack the Countries. These apps have single handedly taught Alexander all the US states and capitals; state flags and landmarks; where each state is located on a map as well as where the capital is located within the state. He’s learned all the countries of the world, which continent each one belongs to, their capitals, MANY of the flags (not all), and more. He legit knows more than I do now (to be fair, I crushed US and World Geography, but that was 20+ years ago🥴). (Annabelle likes to play them too and has also learned a lot. He just plays more, so he knows more.)

Duolingo has math as a language now, and Annabelle likes it a lot!

Monument Valley is a really cool puzzle type of game. Alexander’s great at it- I do my best, but honestly it messes with my head! I haven’t gotten very far because I just can’t see the solutions!

Mikey Shorts is similar to Super Mario Bros, and both kids have enjoyed it off and on for a few years.

Happy Color is just a coloring app. It’s relaxing and satisfying, and honestly, it’s one of my fav apps too!

Inside Out 2

We saw this in the theaters last week, and I absolutely loved it. Inside Out is one of my favorite kid movies anyway, but most of the time, the sequel isn’t as good as the original one. This movie is an exception; it might be better than the first.

It gave me such a clear perspective on how tweens operate, how their brains are suddenly taking on so much more. Before, as kids, they’re mostly operating with joy, sadness, anger, disgust, and fear. Then, puberty hits, and all of the sudden they’re dealing with anxiety, embarrassment, ennui, and envy, not to mention the physical changes (new hair growth, acne, growth spurts, etc).

After the movie, the big kids and I chatted about it. I asked what they thought about certain scenes, the way the main character Riley acted or reacted. Annabelle asked me what anxiety was, specifically pertaining to this one scene where Riley seems to have an anxiety attack.

If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it! ❤️ 

Money Stuff

First screen time, now this?! Another sensitive topic, for some folks! I won’t share specific details about our budget, but I want to share general thoughts and plans. And also if enough people actually want to hear specific details, I can share that too. I’ll just do it one-on-one rather than in an IG story or in an email. 🙂 

Recently, I saw a video from a girl who goes by Beccanomics 101. In the video, she talks about how she budgets each month. She also mentioned a spreadsheet she created, if anyone wanted to use it. It’s $10, so I got it. Here’s a direct link to that.

Anyway, about us. Cam and I didn’t have any debt before this year: no house or car notes, no credit card debt, no student loans. But we did take out a loan for this house add-on. And THAT is why we want to really scale back our spending. We’d like to pay off that debt aggressively, and to do that, we need to budget.

Technically, Cam’s got 2 jobs right now. He has a “regular” job where he works for one company and gets paid every 2 weeks. And then he works for himself, finding work with returning clients as well as just cold calling new people. For many years, he’s only done the latter. This “regular” job opportunity popped up this year, and it really was too good to pass up - luckily, that company hires a lot of freelance folks, and they encourage their workers to take on other jobs, as long as they get the company work done.

Our goal now is to live on ONLY the “regular” salary. Any extra income, from freelancing, will go toward the loan. That means we’re having to be strategic with our spending. So far, we have done these things:

• Cut out subscriptions that we don’t use regularly

• Change our phone plan to a cheaper one

• Meal plan strategically, to cook less expensive (per serving) meals

I’m the one to spend money carelessly. I can justify just about any little purchase, especially if it’s not a lot of money (under $30, we’ll say). That’s called nickel-and-dime spending, which Cam doesn’t do. He’ll spend more on a bigger, high quality item, and I’ll spend the same amount, spread out over 20 little random items.

Anyway, we started tracking spending on August 1! I’m excited to see how well we do for the month of August. I’m seeing it as a game almost - how long can I go without eating out? How can I get creative with leftovers so we can grocery shop a little less? How many days in a row can I go without buying something? If I see it as a fun challenge, I’m more likely to stick with it.

Low cost meals

I just started doing this, so I don’t have a lot of meals put together. But here are the ones I’ve broken down so far. I’m using the Aldi app to figure out the prices for us - I know grocery prices are much higher in other areas, so you’d have to figure this out for yourself.

Once you create a breakdown of a lot of favorite meals, you can create meal plans from there!

I’ve shared the recipes for most of those a few times in the past, but if you missed it, just reply to this email and I’d be happy to send you a link!

Baby and house add-on updates

Miss B is 5.5 weeks old now. She JUST SMILED for the first time a few days ago, and today, she smiled seemingly on cue. That’s just delightful. She’s growing well and is a lovely addition to the family! She sleeps better than my other kiddos did, which is a treat. I’m not sure if it’ll last forever, but it’s nice for now!

As for the add-on, they’ve got all the walls textured, the doors hung, and the trim hung. Yesterday and today, the painters have caulked and primed the walls, and I think they’ve started the painting. They HAVE the paints* but I haven’t been back there today to see the progress. Once that’s done, the floors will be put in, then the final trim, and that’s it!!!!!!

*Alexander’s room is 3 colors (red, white, orange). Annabelle wanted hers to be two shades of pink. And the two kiddos agreed that the bathroom will be a light grayish blue on the walls and a dark blue on the cabinetry. I figure, they’ll be using it the most, so they get to decide. And also, those blues will look pretty with the white-and-gold tiles we picked!

Some recipes I’ve enjoyed lately

1. This cookie cake is a recipe I’ve made a few times, and it’s GREAT. Highly recommend.

   

2. I made Oreo cheesecake following this recipe, and it was delicious. Then, a week later, I used some key lime cookies to make a key lime cheesecake basically the same way (I replaced some of the heavy cream with lime juice), and it was also delicious!

   

3. Sweet iced tea is a Southern staple. Here’s how I make mine:

   1. Bring 2 quarts of water to boil.

   2. Then add 6-8 regular tea bags (or 3-4 large ones) as well as 1 cup of sugar.

   3. Turn off the heat, let it steep for as long as you want or as long as the tea bags say.

   4. Then pour that all into a big pitcher, and fill it the rest of the way with filtered water.

   5. Stick it in the fridge!

4. Twice, I’ve made this BBQ pulled pork quesadilla that’s yummy and a good way to use up some leftovers!

   1. Mix together pulled pork with mashed potatoes and a few tbsp BBQ sauce.

   2. Add butter to your skillet. Once it melts, place a flour tortilla down.

   3. Add a few scoops of that pork-potato mixture.

   4. Top with shredded mozzarella.

   5. Fold the other side of the tortilla on top.

   6. Flip it over after about 30 seconds and cook until it’s golden on both sides!

5. Peanut butter cups. This is such a close recipe to an actual Reese’s PB cup, and I love that I can control the sweetness as well as the ratio of chocolate to PB (I love the filling more than the chocolate, which is why those fancy seasonal ones - the trees and pumpkins, for example - are my fav!):

   1. In a small pot or in the microwave, melt about 2/3 cup of peanut butter until runny.

   2. Add to that about ½ cup powdered sugar as well as about ½ cup of graham cracker crumbs. The crumbs give it the texture you want!!

   3. Once that’s mixed together, it should be hard to mix. It should hold its shape really well.

   4. Meanwhile, melt some baking chocolate or chocolate chips (the Reese’s ones are mostly milk chocolate, I believe, but you can use whatever kind you want!). The amount is probably about 2/3 - 3/4 cup, if I had to guess. You can always melt a little more if you don’t have enough at first.

   5. Use a pastry brush or the back of a spoon to spread a very thin layer of the chocolate into the bottoms of 6-8 muffin molds.

   6. Form a patty of the PB mixture and press it into the melted chocolate.

   7. Then brush more chocolate, just a little, to cover the tops of the PB.

   8. Pop that in the fridge to harden, then enjoy!

Til next time…

If you’d like to support me and my content, then here are three ways:

• Send along an encouraging note, here or on IG or even snail mail!

• You can “Buy Me a Coffee” - it’s a virtual tip jar!

• And finally, here is a link to my Amazon wish list! 🙂 Also, my PO Box is still open!

  • Bethany King

  • PO Box 8152

  • Shreveport LA 71148

Much love,
Bethany

PS If you want to see old emails, here’s a link to all of them!