Of all the flowers I love, lilacs are definitely in the top three. We moved into our apartment in November, when everything outside is dead. I had no idea what sort of trees or landscaping existed. This spring has been the most wonderful surprise. I have two HUGE lilac bushes right outside my back door and some gladiola bulbs are popping up! I just can’t get enough of their fragrance and I feel so blessed that we happened to rent this apartment!

Here are some things around the web that have caught my interest. They aren’t all recent. I love it when I happen upon a buried treasure post!

How to Make an Easy Dress (For Cheap!) from  Talk2TheTrees. I found this one through StumbleUpon and I can’t wait to try it out!

I’m going to be baking this Peanut Butter Cup Cake from Bakerella for a cake auction this Sunday. I told my husband to bid on it so we can bring it back home.

How To Ruin Date Night from Remodeling This Life struck a chord with me because Dave and I have been needing a date night but money and babysitting get in the way. Date night is about making togetherness a priority, not about eating out or going somewhere.

How To Learn To Cook is from Food Your Way and is a great post. If you can’t cook, don’t whine about it – LEARN!

Thanks so much to Kyle from Rather Be Shopping for featuring me on his blog this week as his Blog Spotlight.

Why I do what I do ~ Even though it’s the end of May, Chloe saw a show on television the other day about April Fools Day. She was trying to explain it to me, but because it’s May it just wasn’t clicking and I had no idea what she was talking about. Later in the day she played a joke on me and said, “Happy April Trick Day Mom!” Then it all made sense

photo credit: «Jessica♥Marie »

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I’ve been enjoying signs of Spring, northeast-style this week: Melting snow, the sounds of water dripping from roofs outside, bare sidewalks and even a little mud. I can smell it in the air and I just know that any day now I’ll be able to crack open a window …

Before I get on to some Good Reads, I’d like to welcome a couple new Domestic Cents supporters.

Brad’s Deals finds and publishes online shopping deals, online coupon codes and in-store printable coupons.

Crowd Sauce uses a crowd or “Flash Mob” to generate deals to your favorite places.

Thanks to both for becoming supporters on Domestic Cents! If you have a second, check them out!

Here are a few gems  that I’ve enjoyed. Happy reading and have a wonderful weekend!

Finances Your Way has a great printable resource just in case your wallet is stolen.

The Purl Bee listed some of their favorite spring projects. Just seeing all those pretty shades of green and yellow makes my heart beat faster

Being Frugal tells you how to save a little extra money on groceries.

Why I do what I do ~ Does your child have an automated response? Mine does. It’s in response to any food or drink offered that she’s never tried, or has mentally blocked trying. It’s,” No, thank you. I don’t like that.” To which I incredulously respond, “You haven’t even tried it!!!!” Me – Chloe would like a bite of this chocolate munchkin doughnut? “No, thank you. I don’t like it.” Chloe would you like to try this strawberry fruit strip? “No, thank you. I don’t like it.” Crazy kid. I can’t even get her to try TREATS!

Photo Credit: Ana_Cotta

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This is Chloe, standing in the snow we got last weekend. It was still snowing at that point. It was so windy she was having trouble keeping her eyes open. We ended up with almost 2 feet of beautiful Christmas snow!

I haven’t posted a links post in a while and I want to get back in the habit. I find all sorts of great things on the web, especially in the world of blogging. I’ve been doing this for over two years now and there are a few blogs that I’ve followed ever since I started – and I love them. I feel like I’ve gotten to know people all over the world through blogging. Here are just a few of them …

Courtney writes The World According To Mommy. She’s from Texas. She started her blog when her son was an infant – now she has two!

Beth writes Smart Green Tips. You may remember her blog as Smart Family tips. She recently updated the name of her blog to better suit her content. I love reading her perspective on living green. She’s so kind and helpful.

Elisa writes Blissful E. She writes about parenting her three little ones on the other side of the world from me. Best of all – she has a daughter named Nikki

Emily writes Remodeling This Life. She lives in the south and I am jealous of her every spring when I still have snow. She writes about remodeling and decorating their home and has many frugal ideas. But I really like it when she writes what is on her mind. She’s refreshingly open and honest.

Netta writes Real Netta. She is a pastor’s wife and mom to 5 in Detroit. She has wonderful insight into parenting and extraordinary faith.

Amy writes Amy Loves It! She writes from Oklahoma about coupons & freebies and is a lot of fun!

Jo-Lynne writes all over the place, but my favorite is Musings Of A Housewife. She’s from Philadelphia and the one responsible for the adorable design of my blog too!

There are more than this … but I had to stop somewhere. Have a wonderful weekend!

Why I do what I do ~ Chloe and I were snuggling on the couch today. I gave her a little squeeze and said, “You’re such a sweetie.” She nuzzled me and said, “You’re such a Mommy.”

p.s. A very happy birthday to my mother-in-law

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Wanna know how much the girls have grown? Here’s a picture from a few weeks ago. I sewed matching dresses for them for a family party.

My younger niece, Aliyah is on the left, Chloe is in the middle and my older niece, Jazmyn is on the right. They make me very, very happy. Also … I was recently blessed to become and auntie for the third time. I now have a nephew!

I try to remain somewhat private about my family life on my blog, but it’s tough because my family and my faith are my life. So if a little of either of those sneaks in here, you’ll forgive me right? I already know you all love my little stories about Chlo

Some of my favorite reads from this week …

How To Replace 6 Vital Documents from Get Rich Slowly. This is one of those posts that you want to bookmark and save … just in case.

17 Ways To Save Money In The Shower from Almost Frugal. Keep an open mind and consider a few ways to slash your budget … in the shower!

Negotiating Tips To Use With Car Dealers from Bible Money Matters. Before you head out to the car sales lot, read this.

I’m Free! How I Broke A 30-Year Caffeine And Soda Addiction from Small Notebook. She’s got me thinking … she’ll get you thinking too.

How To Budget In Less Than 20 Minutes A Week from Moolanomy. Craig breaks down the basic steps and sheds light on how simple it can be.

Why I do what I do ~ I was running errands this week with my daughter and my older niece in the car. I told them we were headed to the bank next. Jazmyn asked, “What’s a bank?” I thought for a second and said, “It’s where the money is.” Jazmyn immediately replied, “I think my mom lives there.”

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Some of you might be wondering how things are going over here in my personal life. I mentioned a little while ago that we’ve been in transition. Well … we’re still there. Our home hasn’t sold yet and we’re still doing lots of commuting. I made the decision that I was going to stop holding off on things – you can only stay in a holding pattern for so long before you pull all of your hair out. So I’m back to blogging! I’ll give you an update every now and then so you know what’s going on. I think it’s helpful to my readers to know what’s going on with the girl that’s writing – it gives you a little context so you know where I’m coming from.

A couple things worth mentioning:

Domestic Cents is now on Facebook! I finally decided to join the masses. I’ll use the FB page for discussion, posting extra photos and posing questions. I hope you’ll join in. If you try one of my ideas – snap a picture and post it to the page!
I have a new tab at the top of my home page – All Things Fall. I’ve linked to a few of my Fall posts from last year in case you’re in need of a little Autumn inspiration!

Now on to a few links from some of my favorite places on the web! Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Discontentment Undermines Frugality from Gather Little By Little

Things Vs. Experiences from The Wisdom Journal

Stock and Organize Your Freezer For Last Minute Meals from Organizing Your Way

3 Ways That Spending Time Actually Makes Time from The Well-Grounded Life

Bridal Shower Curtain – an awesome gift idea from The Happy Housewife

Back to School Pencil Case from Sew Mama Sew

Handmade Tote Bags from Remodeling This Life

Headband Refashion from Skip To My Lou

Why I do what I do ~ The other day I gave my niece a granola bar for snack. When I said, “Would you like a granola bar?” She asked, “What did you call that?” She was pointing to the bar. I said, “A granola bar.” She looked confused and said, “I thought it was a gorilla bar.”
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I live in the northeast. I knew I had packed away our cold weather gear prematurely. I guess I was just hoping, hoping, that we were all done with winter. We weren’t. This picture was taken on Saturday this past week …

And this one was taken on Wednesday.

Some links from my Reader for your reading pleasure …

On Money

Are You Obsessed With Your Finances | Frugal Dad

Is It Really More Expensive To Eat Healthy Foods? | Being Frugal

12 Ways To Stretch A Dollar By Not Spending It | The Wisdom Journal

Money, Stress And Your Health | Get Rich Slowly

Do You Pay For Things You Throw Away – Ladies Only Version | Almost Frugal (Guys, steer clear. You’ve been warned.)

On Life

Seeking Pleasure Without Conscience | My Super-Charged Life

Taking Care Of Me | Small Notebook

10 Ways To Instantly Become More Attractive | Simple Mom

5 Surprisingly Simple Foods To Cook From Scratch | Living Well On Less

Why I do what I do ~ Chloe had hiccups today. After we had gone to the grocery store I noticed they were gone. I asked her where they went. She said she spit them out at the grocery store so someone else could step on her hiccups.

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I’m thrilled to share with each of you that my site has been spruced up! I’ve still got a little tweaking to do, but if you have a moment and you’re viewing this in your email or a reader, would you click over and take a peek? Jo-Lynne from DCR Design created a new header and a few buttons in my sidebar – she also did the color matching on the site. I’m thrilled with it and definitely recommend her. I can’t wait to add a few more elements.

A sampling of the good reads from my reader this week …

• Have A Complaint? Don’t Get Mad. Get Satisfaction. from Being Frugal
• Graduate School Loans – Should You Avoid Education Debt? from Five Cent Nickel
• Stop Faking It from Bible Money Matters
• Where To Find Coupons from Mommy’s Idea Book
• How To Make An Ottoman Slipcover from Remodeling This Life

Why I do what I do ~ The girls were arguing earlier and I heard my younger niece (3 years old) say, “You’re making my face sad.” Apparently her feelings were fine – her face was just annoyed.

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A while ago I posted about homemade laundry detergent. I still make it faithfully and I’m also still very happy with it. However, I have a couple more tips to add to the original post. I added the tips to the end of that post but thought I’d print them here as well in case there’s anyone out there using the recipe or considering trying it out.

• Instead of regular Ivory soap I started using Ivory with Aloe. It cleans exactly the same but smells really nice.
• I find it VERY helpful to grate the soap with my food processor. Then, leaving the grated soap in there, I remove the grating blade and put the chopping blade in, then add the other ingredients and turn it on. It mixes it and makes it very fine, so that I have no problem at all with the soap dissolving in cold water.

In case you’re wondering where I was this week (my posting was light and I was rarely on Twitter), I was painting my bedroom and bathroom for a couple days and then cleaning up the mess for a couple more days. MANY THANKS to my parents for the free paint!

A few links for your reading pleasure …

• My blogging friend Emily, who is the girl at Remodeling This Life, wrote an honest post called Running Up Debt. If you’re in over your head or if you’ve been there – you must read this.
• At Gather Little By Little, Stew shares 10 Principles For Saving Time – Part 1 & Part 2. My favorite tip was “Push A Little Harder At The End.” This always gives me that boost I need to finish.
• Clever Dude said I’m Tired Of Buying And Spending. Me too.
• The Festival Of Frugality was up at Think Your Way To Wealth this week and I was an editor’s pick!

Why I do what I do ~ Have you ever had your hand held by one that’s much smaller than yours? Have you ever had an almost-4-year-old look you deep in your eyes and tell you they love you? Have you ever been told you’re beautiful by a child that is being completely honest? I wish I could bottle up the pure love of a child.

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I don’t have a lot for you this week for links because I have had trouble keeping up with my Reader. With that said, I’m giving you 5 fantastic links. I LOVE these blogs and these are some excellent posts. Have a great weekend everyone

Lane & Tom’s Shared Nursery Tour from Small Notebook – I especially love the rain gutter bookshelves. Rachel is a genius.

Fighting The Tyranny Of The Urgent At Home from Simple Mom. From the post: “there is a regular tension between things that are urgent and things that are important — and far too often, the urgent wins.”

On Smarties & Instant Gratification from Remodeling This Life. From the post: “Until fairly recently in my adulthood, I was all about having everything I wanted NOW.” <– Me too!

Frugal Living Could Change Your Life posted by MoneyNing at Frugal Dad. It DID change his life – and I think it’s changing mine too.

Frugal Living Is Not A Sprint. It’s A Marathon. from Being Frugal. Lynnae is spot on. There’s no perfect formula to get rich quick – it takes time and endurance.

Why I do what I do ~ Earlier today my niece said, “Auntie Nicki, I want to watch the cloudiness and the meatballs.” Translation: “I want to watch the movie Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs.”

photo credit: racheocity

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Since cutting our cable and getting rid of our DVR, David and I have drastically cut down on the number of TV shows we follow. The Office made the cut though. It started back up again this week and it still cracks me up.

Here were some of the highlights from my Reader this week. Enjoy!

• Frugal, Kid-Friendly Recipes from Moneywise Moms
• Rice-a-Roni Alike from The Train To Crazy
• 4 Money-Saving Tips For Using Your Dryer from Almost Frugal
• Watch Movies & TV Online For (almost) Free Using Your Computer from Wealth Pilgrim
• How I Learned To Control My Money from ChristianPF
• Teaching Honesty by Me at Blissfully Domestic
• What Does Your Marriage Teach Your Children from Simple Mom
• How To Request A Credit Freeze From The Credit Reporting Agencies from My Two Dollars (Useful info in the scary case of identity theft)
• What To Do When You Can’t Pay Your Bills from Being Frugal
• Reuse: Some Projects At Our House from Smart Family Tips
• Do You Know These 10 Tips For Even Better Homemade Chicken Stock? from Kitchen Stewardship

Why I do what I do ~ It’s funny when kids attempt to copy an adult phrase but mix it up a little. I overheard recently, “Oh for goodness shake.”

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