Easy Chicken With Artichoke and Mushrooms Recipe -- Gluten Free, Paleo

I'm having guests and want to make a delicious meal to serve them, as it'll be the first time they're over at my house. You know, make a good first impression and all that. But today I had a lot to do, got home quite late, and I still have lots more to do. So that means cooking a tasty meal between everything that is going on, and I can't do anything that would be difficult or time consuming to make. But I don't want to make "boring" food, ya know?

So I decided to do something a little bit different tonight.

Artichoke. They always seem impressive, even when frozen. And they taste good.
Mushrooms. Also fancy. As long as they're fresh and not canned.

So I chopped them up with a bit of lemon and other spices, and threw them into the oven, and they are mouth-wateringly delicious, and very different than standard fare, and if I may say so, pretty to feast your eyes upon as well.

This recipe is great and allergy friendly, Paleo, gluten free, and did I mention easy? Start to finish to put it together was under five minutes, and then just leave it in the oven to cook.

Definitely doing this again!

Easy Chicken With Artichoke and Mushrooms Recipe -- Gluten Free, Paleo, and Delicious

How to Find Great Deals When Buying Snowblowers

It doesn't snow often where I live, and when I do, the entire region gets shut down. So snowblowers are definitely not something we'd be purchasing. But for those who do live in areas of heavy snowfall, here's how you can get a snowblower and still be money smart.

It’s that time of the year again, you wake up to find snow covering your entire yard. If you’re like most unprepared people, the first thing you’re going to do is rush out of your house, alarmed, and find the nearest tool-shop to get yourself a snowblower. You’ll unfortunately be faced with bad news as most of the stock will already be gone. What’s even worse, you’ll be shocked by unnerving prices staring you in the face. Once again, it looks like you’re too late for the snow.

Well, how about you do something different this year around? Instead of waiting for the storm to literally take you by surprise, like every other year, how about you plan ahead to capture the perfect snowblower at the perfect price? It all comes down to figuring out when is the best time to get them on sale, while still having the ability to select from various options.

How I Book Airfare for Vacations Super Cheaply

Every single time I talk about going on vacation super cheaply, I get people asking me "But how do you get tickets so cheaply? How do you actually do it?" And each time, I answer Skyscanner.com, Skyscanner.com, Skyscanner.com. But apparently that isn't enough of an answer because even with me telling people that that's how I do it, I get the question again and again.

So I decided that I'd walk you through how it is that I get tickets very cheaply through Skyscanner.

Before I continue, I just want to say that Skyscanner and I have no partnership, I'm not seeing any money from this post. I'm writing and recommending this website purely because of my good experience with it, and because it has changed the way I live my life. I love travel, and I always thought it was impossible for me financially, until I discovered Skyscanner. And that's why this post specifically focuses on that.

Here's the thing. I also have people who told me they checked out Skyscanner and the tickets weren't actually that cheap, so they don't understand why I am telling them it is cheap. Well, that's because it's not that Skyscanner automatically will give you rock bottom prices, but that you have to use it a certain way, and this post is to help clarify that.

There may be other websites like Skyscanner that also do similarly, so I'm not saying Skyscanner is best, but it is the one that gives me the most options to save money. (By the way, SecretFlying.com also has similar options, but I do find it less user friendly than Skyscanner, but check it out for an alternative.)

I've done this in person a few times and awed people, but it is so much harder to do this in a post, with all these screen shots, but I will try my best. Lets pretend we're together in person, and each screenshot is a screen I'm showing you on my phone, as to how to do this.

How To Reduce The Cost Of Vehicle Ownership

Having a car was never a consideration of mine, since they are so expensive locally. On top of that, I didn't even have a license. Now that I finally do, I am curious about how much having a car would cost, so I'm especially eager to read reader submitted posts such as these.

The cost of ownership and operation of an average sedan in America is $713 per month, or $8,550 per year, according to the American Automobile Association. Some of the costs that come with vehicle ownership include finance charges, fuel, maintenance, depreciation and insurance. Cars have become the second most expensive thing that most Americans own after their homes. However, this has not stopped them from buying cars, with some even owning multiple. Yes, a car can be expensive, but for most Americans, they have become a basic need, especially those who need one to get to their jobs daily. While most of the costs of owning a car are unavoidable, there are various things you can do to keep them on the lower side.

Meeting My Daughter's Needs Where She Is Through a Sensory Diet and More

Rose, getting in her sensory need to be in a confined space

I love my kids to pieces, but I must admit that the child that is the hardest to parent, is my youngest child, Rose, on the autism spectrum. One of the hardest parts in parenting her is her constant energy, meltdowns, and destruction. Fortunately she just started special ed in an amazing school for kids with autism with a really great staff who are able to help her with many of the issues she's having. At the same time, I realize that I can't expect the school to do everything, and there's things I need to do at home to make our lives run better, as a family.

I joined a few Facebook groups with autistic adults, to ask them advice on how to help my daughter, and my family as a whole. The reason I decided to join such groups is that no one knows autism better than actual autistics, and if you want to understand why autistic kids do certain things and what will help them, the best people to ask are people who tick the same way.

So I explained to them the issues that I was having parenting Rose, and they told me to pay attention more to what was causing her melt downs, what was causing her destruction, etc. And they pointed out that she isn't doing these things in a vacuum, there's some need she has that isn't being met and that's what is causing these behaviors. And often meltdowns are caused by sensory issues, or by being emotionally overloaded from things that are too difficult for her.

Benefits of Bunk Beds for Your Kids

I grew up with bunk beds. I think the first time I had a bunk bed I must have been as young as five or six, and had a bunk bed pretty much until I moved out. For me, bunk beds is the norm, not something interesting or weird, they're a given for me. Here's some pluses about bunk beds, sent in from a reader, that hopefully you'll find interesting.

Kids naturally love fun and comfortable bunk beds. Climbing up and down the bunk bed ladder can be a nighttime adventure, and sleeping on the top bunk is a unique experience that your child won’t find in an ordinary bed. Your kids will also be sharing the bunk bed with one of their siblings so they will never have to sleep alone. There will be fewer monsters to be afraid of at night. Aside from the fun of having a bunk bed is the function and aesthetics it provides.

There are now many styles and functions of bunk beds to choose from, making them a worthy investment. The following are just some of the benefits your kids can enjoy from having a bunk bed:

My New Ring

I'm not quite sure the first time I heard about the cultural significance of semicolons. It seems to have gained popularity in the past year or so, but Google tells me that it started in 2013 with something called Project Semicolon, but became prominent in 2015.

Have you ever seen anyone with a semicolon tattoo?

A semicolon, grammatically, is used as a pause, but then continues the sentence. Or, as Project Semicolon explains, "A semicolon is used when an author could have chosen to end a sentence, but chose not to."

It then explains that you are the author, and the sentence is your life.

Do I need coverage for all house repairs?

As a homeowner, there's so many things I need to think about that I didn't need to think about as a renter. One of the biggest ones is homeowners insurance. While I have a warranty for certain things for the first period of time because I bought a new home, insurance is very important. This article sent in by a reader offered me some great enlightenment.

You’ve stretched your household budget about as far as it can go. One unexpected expense is all it would take to plunge your family into unmanageable debt.

Feel like a financial failure? Don’t – most of us are in the same boat. We live in a country where 40% of people can’t afford a $400 emergency. 78% of us live paycheck-to-paycheck. The economy may be hot, but the jobs it's creating aren’t keeping up with the cost-of-living.

A big part of the problem is our aging housing stock. Soon, the average home in America will be 40 years old. At this age, many houses, especially poorly-built ones, begin to fall apart. The resulting repair/replacement costs are pushing many of our fellow Americans into the red.

Homeowners insurance doesn’t pay for broken furnaces and leaking pipes. Home warranties do. What are home warranties, and how can they help your family? We’ll explain in complete detail below.

The Zucchini Trick

I've mentioned this trick already a few times on my blog, but it is one of the things I do most often that I figured it was worthy of its own post, and not just to be buried within other posts.

I like ground meat. I find it versatile and tasty, not to mention being quite quick to cook. It also has the added benefit of being straight meat, so you know how much you're actually paying per pound of meat and don't need to factor in the bones to your calculations.

Locally, I can usually find cheaper ground meat that's stretched with TVP, also known as "vegetable protein" also known as "soy flakes" which I tend to not like buying. I can't say I avoid soy tremendously, but I do like limiting the quantity of soy I consume. And I also like to know what exactly I'm paying for. If I'm getting meat, I want to know that I'm paying for meat, and not actually soy flakes mixed with who knows what percentage of meat.
Fortunately, in one store I am able to find pure ground beef, no additives, for not that much more than the soy stretched ground beef costs.

And with this, I do my trick.

The Importance Of Sleep For Frugal Living

I need a lot of sleep. I used to hate sleeping, but in the past few years I've needed more and more sleep. I still don't like going to sleep, but once I get into bed, I don't want to get up. I never thought about the connection between sleep and frugal living, but when a reader sent me this piece, I found it really fascinating! Hopefully you will too!

Photo by Alexander Mils from Pexels

When you think about the correlation between money and sleep, you probably think about losing sleep over money problems. Studies show that about half of all adults lose sleep over money -- and the bulk of those worries are related to not being able to afford everyday expenses.

However, the connection between sleep and money goes well beyond worry and anxiety keeping you up at night. The fact is, not getting enough rest can actually harm your finances, and make it more difficult to make good decisions with your money.