MrsDrPoe: Cool Kitchen Gadget

When I was in high school, I worked at Williams-Sonoma part-time. It took a lot of self discipline to make any money there because we sold so many pots, knives, plates, and gadgets that I wanted. Since that time, my mother, sister, brother and I have amassed quite the collection of kitchen items from the store, but one of my absolute favorites is this:


a veggie peeler made by the Swiss company, Kuhn Rikon. It fits so nicely in my hand and allows me to peel carrots, potatoes, etc. in no time. AND it only costs $3.50...it's definitely the best peeler I've ever used. If you ever come across one, buy it- you won't be disappointed!

What's one of your favorite kitchen gadgets?

MrsDrPoe: First Fruits

Hello again! I'd like to share with you our first tomato:


It's the biggest one I've ever grown! Inside, it was a little more mealy than I would like, but I'm not sure there is anything I can do about that. Since harvesting this one, we've picked 2 more. Fifteen remain on the bushes, and several new tomato and pepper blossoms have popped up. It's going to be a tasty summer!

For any other gardeners out there, how are your gardens growing?

MrsDrPoe: Cutie Pies

Good morning, and happy Foto Friday everyone! If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times. I have some cute cute CUTE girls! Layla sprawls out in the funniest ways:


And this is how Sascha looks at me when I'm working and she wants something:

MrsDrPoe: Seeking

In a couple of recent studies in Mark and Luke, the topic of seeking God has come up. I've found it very interesting how, though both writers present the concept, they each present it in a different way.

A running theme in Mark is "inside" vs "outside." As Jesus teaches outside by the sea, we see huge crowds gathered around Him listening; however, many of these individuals are not truly seeking Jesus. In Mark 4:3-9, we see Jesus presenting the parable of the sower. Christ brackets the parable by "Listen!" and "He who has ears to hear let him hear!" Obviously these people came to listen, right? Right...sort of. Jesus is telling His listeners to listen with a purpose...to listen with an ear for the spiritual, not the physical. He's not just telling a nice story about a farmer who only had some of his seed produce!

In verse 10, we see the scene shift, and Jesus is now among His disciples (including the apostles). And they're not just hanging out- the disciples are asking about the parable. Christ answers, "To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables." The disciples are disciples because they're asking...and because they're disciples, they're are on the inside and can know the mystery of the kingdom. They are seeking!

Luke is a little more forward with the topic, in that the theme of "seeking and finding" is prevalent in the book. In Luke 11:9-13 Jesus tells His disciples, "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." It is my understanding that in this case "ask," "seek," and "knock" activities we must be continually doing. We can see this by examining the parable Jesus tells in the previous verses (5-8). At the conclusion of the parable He says, "...because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many [loaves] as he needs."

From these passages, we can see that, as Christians, we should be seeking God and seeking Him continually. Seeking and asking for wisdom to better understand His word. Seeking and asking for strength in times of difficulty and temptation. Seeking and asking for guidance and growth so that we can become more and more like Christ everyday.

But if we're always seeking, what about everything else? Matt 6:33 says, "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." From the verses before, we know that "these things" refer to life's necessities like food, drink and clothing. Thus we can spend our efforts seeking after God and seeking to be like Him, knowing that He will take care of us.

MrsDrPoe: Spiritual Summer Challenges Update

Good morning all! To start this Theology Thursday off, I'd like to update you on our progress with the family mission statement and summer Bible reading challenges I discussed a few weeks ago. The reading is going well; I've adapted one of the plans for myself, and it was worked out great thus far. Mr. Poe and I have also finished our family mission statement! Grammatically, it's a bit simplistic, but I love the symmetry:

We are the Poes.

We serve the Lord, Jehovah.
We serve our neighbors.
We serve each other.

As Poes we multiply words,
but we prefer numbers.

We are growing.
We are content.
We are blessed.

We are the Poes.

Have you accepted the challenges? How are you progressing?

MrsDrPoe: Biscuit Pizza

Today is Wednesday. Wednesday nights are often difficult as far as dinner choices are concerned because we typically rush around trying to make it to the midweek Bible study on time. With this difficulty in mind, I present to you one of the easiest ways in the world to make your own pizza: biscuit pizza.


Ingredients: 1 (or more) refrigerated canned biscuits, 1 jar (or more) of your favorite pizza or pasta sauce, 16 oz (or more) mozzarella cheese, any additional pizza toppings your heart desires (we just went with cheese this time)


Remove biscuits from the can, and gently press or roll them out till they are approximately 1/4 inch thick. Place them on a lightly greased cookie sheet.


Top with sauce, cheese, and additional toppings. Bake according to the biscuit directions, checking periodically to ensure that the tops and bottoms don't burn. Remove from the oven and serve.

Attn Moms: These make GREAT party/sleepover dinners for children. Provide a variety of toppings so that each child can make his/her own the way he/she wants to. My mom did this for us when we were growing up - it was a cheap, fun way for her to feed a houseful!

MrsDrPoe: Mr. Robinson

It's that time again ladies and gents! I'd like you to meet another one of the Poes' Pals...Mr. Robinson.


As Mr. Poe pointed out last Friday, Mr. Robinson is one of the many individuals we visited with during our trip to Starkville over Memorial Day weekend, so obviously we think he's pretty cool.

We first met Mr. Robinson when he began his studies in engineering at MSU. His freshman year, he joined the school's FSAE team with Mr. Poe, and the two of them have been building and dreaming of building automotive devices together ever since. Mr. Robinson is very intelligent (even when dealing subjects he has no interest in...ask me how I know...) and is quite capable of applying engineering principles.

Skilled in suspension design and construction (and probably in powertrain construction after Mr. Poe abandoned him with the go-kart half finished), Mr. Robinson will be well prepared for any engineering job that comes his way. Mr. Poe especially hopes that he comes to Atlanta after graduation so they can continue their automotive adventures together.

MrsDrPoe: Buoyancy

We open up this Thesis Tuesday with a well-known scene from Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail:

Sir Bedevere: Good. So how do you tell whether she is made of wood?

Peasant 1: Build a bridge out of her.

Sir Bedevere: But can you not also build bridges out of stone?

Peasant 1: Oh yeah.

Sir Bedevere: Does wood sink in water?

Peasant 1: No, no, it floats!... It floats! Throw her into the pond!

Sir Bedevere: No, no. What else floats in water?

Peasant 1: Bread.

Peasant 2: Apples.

Peasant 3: Very small rocks.

Peasant 1: Cider.

Peasant 2: Gravy.

Peasant 3: Cherries.

Peasant 1: Mud.

Peasant 2: Churches.

Peasant 3: Lead! Lead!

King Arthur: A Duck.

Sir Bedevere: ...Exactly. So, logically...

Peasant 1: If she weighed the same as a duck... she's made of wood.

Sir Bedevere: And therefore...

Peasant 2: ...A witch!

So why does wood...or anything else...float? The answer lies in buoyant forces and Archimedes' Principle.

The buoyant force on any partially or fully submerged object is the net (or overall) force placed on the object by the fluid the object is submerged in. If we examine all the forces on a region of fluid around the submerged object, we can determine that the buoyant force acts in the upward direction and is equal to the specific weight of the fluid times the displaced volume of fluid. This is Archimedes' Principle.

Any object submerged in a body of fluid displaces a certain volume water equal to the volume of the object submerged in the fluid. For example, a cylindrical cup is floating in soapy water in the sink. If 2 inches of the 3 inch diameter cup is underwater, 56.52 cubic inches of the cup is submerged. Thus, 56.52 cubic inches is the volume of fluid displaced by the floating cup. We can multiply this volume by the specific weight of the dish water to determine the buoyant force acting on the cup.

Fantastic! But how do we know if an object will float or not? If we apply Newton's Second Law to a stationary floating object submerged in a fluid, we see that only two forces are acting on the object (the buoyant force and the object's weight) and that these two forces must be equal and opposite. So an object will float (fully submerged) if its weight is equal to the specific weight of the given fluid times the total volume of the object or (partially submerged) if its weight is less than the specific weight of the given fluid times the total volume of the object.

MrsDrPoe: Wags and JCPenny Deal, 6/5

To round out the day, I've got a few more deals to share with you.

At JCPenny:


I got $10 in JCP cash in the mail Saturday, plus they have a multitude of items 50-80% off...which means I got a new shirt, a summery place mat, and Ryan got a new tie all for $3.60.

At Wags:


Duracell Batteries: $2.99, get back $1 in RR
Frozen Fruit Pops: $1

MrsDrPoe: A Beginners Guide to Couponing Part 3

For the third installment of my beginners guide to couponing, I'd like to investigate coupon storage. As I mentioned in part 1, there are many different ways of storing coupons; we'll look at three specific ones today:

Method 1
This method is the most labor intensive, but it allows you to be most familiar with the coupons you have.

Materials:
large 3 ring binder, dividers, baseball card sleeves ($$)

Procedure:

Initial Setup: Label the dividers (dry food, cold food, household, baby, pet, misc, etc.) according to your needs, and place the dividers and the sleeves in the binder.

Each week: Set aside a specific time each week to go through that weeks' inserts. Clip each coupon*, and place them in individual sleeve pockets behind the appropriate divider. If you have minions...I mean children...they can be a huge help in this endeavor! Periodically go through your coupons to remove those which have expired.

Shopping: While you are making your shopping list, use a coupon database to aid you in picking out the coupons you plan to use during your trip (you can place them in an envelope if you'd like). With this method, it is also very quick and easy to look for a specific coupon while in the process of shopping (if you bring your entire binder into the store with you).

Method 2
This method is slightly less labor intensive at the expense of loosing some amount of familiarity with the coupons in your possession.

Materials:
large 3 ring binder, dividers, page protectors ($)

Procedure:

Initial Setup: Label the dividers according to your the types of inserts (RP, PG, SS, Misc), and place the dividers and the page protectors in the binder.

Each week: Set aside a specific time each week to go through that weeks' inserts. Place each page of each insert in its own page protector behind the appropriate divider. You may wish to label at least the first page from each insert with the date on which you obtained it. Periodically go through each sheet to get rid of any expired coupons.

Shopping: While you are making your shopping list, use a coupon database to aid you in picking out and clipping the coupons you plan to use during your trip (again placing in an envelope). This method can aid you in determining whether or not a specific coupon was in your area's inserts. You can also search for coupons "on the go" with this method, just not as simply as with the previous method.

Method 3
This method is the least labor intensive, but you may not realize you have some coupons that you do.

Materials:
13 slot accordion folder, index card holder/canceled check file ($)

Procedure:

Initial Setup: Label dividers in the index card holder/canceled check file (dry food, cold food, etc.).

Each week: As soon as you get the inserts on Sunday, write the date on the front of each one and place it in the next available slot. Once you've filled your folder (in approximately 3 months), you'll need to add the additional step of removing the old coupons from the "next" slot. When you remove the old coupons, quickly flip through and clip any* that have not yet expired (most will have). Place these loose coupons along with any other coupons (those printed or received in the mail, etc.) in the appropriate section of the index card holder/canceled check file.

Shopping: While you are making your shopping list, use a coupon database to aid you in picking out and clipping the coupons you plan to use during your trip (I place these in the front of my index card holder). It's almost impossible to find a coupon "on the go" with this method, so it requires a bit more pre-trip planning.

*You want to make sure that you keep all the coupons that you get in the inserts even if they're for items that you don't purchase or use. Often times store sales will allow you to get these items for free (or even to make money by purchasing them). You may discover a new favorite product, find the perfect gift, or bless someone less fortunate than yourself this way!

Of course there are many variations of these methods (and many others) that folks use. The key is to find something that works for you.

To all my fellow couponers out there: what method do you use?

MrsDrPoe: CVS Deal, 6/5

Good morning, all! I wanted to start Money Monday off with a GREAT deal at CVS this week on FUZE. This is the same deal as last week, except for the coupon matchup that I read about here:


Buy 5 for $5, use two $1 off 2 coupons from SS 4/10, get $2 back in ECBs...which makes it 5 drinks for $1 (plus tax).

This is one of our new favorite treats, and at this price we can definitely afford it! What fantastic deals have you gotten in the past week?