Pollywog's Place Blog

Give a Clutter-Free Gift Without Breaking The Bank!

Published on December 10, 2022November 29, 2022 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place BlogLeave a comment

Are you trying to find the perfect gift for someone on your list this year?

With the economy the way it is many of us have drastically cut back on gifting as we just don’t have the money left after paying for the basic necessities. Why not make sure that you give a gift that is sure to be appreciated?

I’m going to let you in on a little secret that many people are afraid to tell anyone… I don’t know why it is so hard to say but we love our friends and our families but CLUTTER is driving us CRAZY and Christmas seems to bring another level of CRAZINESS with it. Some of us, myself included, are drowning in the CHAOS of LIFE right now and the holidays can get very overwhelming!

I’ve seen many posts in many different groups about people asking for these kinds of clutter-free gifts and really these make a lot of sense in a lot of ways. I know many of us have been trying to simplify our lives and our homes so many of these ideas would help to keep the clutter out of our homes but allow us to benefit in so many ways.

Zoo/Museum Memberships

I know our family loves going to the zoo or the museum and these would be awesome gifts… maybe someone you know would like this as well. If we had an aquarium near us that would be amazing as well.

There have been a couple of times that we’ve received tickets to go to local places and we have had an amazing time… without the thoughtfulness or generosity of others, we would not have been able to have those experiences.

Online Subscriptions

Another idea is to gift a subscription or membership for a service that someone may use or need. In our home, we love using various programs but many of them have also had to increase their prices.

We also love using our Amazon prime for videos as well as a couple of other companies as we don’t have any TV service here.

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Hot Cocoa for the win!

Published on December 8, 2022November 29, 2022 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog3 Comments

There’s nothing like snuggling up with a cup of hot cocoa after coming in from the cold… ok, ok, I know… it doesn’t really get that COLD here in Florida but I sure can remember some cold days from my

time further north and I still enjoy a nice cup of hot cocoa every now and then.

I can remember my mom making us a pot of cocoa on the old wood cookstove. We would sip as much as we could before we had to head out the door to catch the school bus… at one time we had to walk 1/2 mile uphill to get to the bus and in another place we lived it was an even further walk downhill… not much easier if the driveway was iced over.

Here are some of our All-Time Favorite cocoa recipes:

Cocoa In A Crockpot

Hot Cocoa (Powdered)

Single-Serve Hot Cocoa

The Best Hot Cocoa

Of course, you can always use the ready-made kind at the store too but there is just something a little extra special about whipping up some cocoa from scratch and the memories you make will be cherished for a lifetime!

You can also whip up some fresh cookies to go along with your cocoa for an extra special snack!

St. Nicholas Day 2022

Published on December 6, 2022December 10, 2022 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog5 Comments

Yesterday afternoon I had the kiddos help me dig out the Christmas decorations and the tree. I’m so thankful that we’ve used color-coded totes (dark green for Christmas) for our seasonal decor as this makes it much easier to find the necessary items.

The kids were a little upset that we didn’t put the tree up last night but they were super excited to find some early gifts on the table this morning.

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December 2022 Menu

Published on December 6, 2022December 3, 2022 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place BlogLeave a comment

I know I haven’t posted a menu in a while but I figured I could post the one I just made up. This was made using the free printable meal planner I have HERE. You will see that we have certain things that rotate on a set schedule but we do try to keep our dinners a little varied to keep everyone happy.

Day	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks	Desserts
Sunday 12/4	Eggs, hash browns, sausage, English muffins		Fried chicken, potato salad, baked beans	Fruit
Monday	Cereal/Oatmeal	scrambled egg sandwiches	Steak/Sweet N Sour Meatballs, Mac N Cheese, Baked Potato	Fruit
Tuesday St. Nicholas Day	Santa Pancakes	PB&J sandwiches, fruit	Leftovers	Fruit
Wednesday FULL MOON	Muffins, Bagels, or Toast W/Eggs and Cheesy Grits	soup, grilled cheese, fruit slices, rice pudding	Homemade pizzas	Fruit
Thursday	French Toast, Fruit	Chicken Salad, sliced tomatoes & cucumbers, lettuce	Loaded potato soup, crackers	Fruit
Friday	Cereal/Oatmeal	Leftovers	Salmon/Chicken Patties, Mashed Caulitaters, Creamed Peas, pineapple slices	Fruit
Saturday	Make Sourdough Donuts or English Muffins		Chicken Stir Fry, Fried Rice, Egg Rolls, steamed veggies, sauce	Fruit

Notes:

Day	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks	Desserts
Sunday 12/11	Monkey Bread, Eggs & Grits		Cheddar Chicken, potatoes, veggies	Fruit
Monday	Cereal/Oatmeal	egg salad sandwiches, veggies	Homemade pizzas	Fruit
Tuesday	French Toast, Fruit	PB&J sandwiches, fruit	Taco ring, salad	Fruit
Wednesday	Blueberry Oatmeal Bread, scrambled eggs	Soup, Grilled Cheese	Sandwiches, french fries	Fruit
Thursday	Pancakes, Fruit	tuna salad sandwiches, fresh veggies	Spaghetti, Salad, Garlic Cheesy pull-apart bread	Fruit
Friday	Cereal/Oatmeal	Leftovers	Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin, mashed potatoes, veggies	Fruit
Saturday POLAR EXPRESS!	Waffles, Eggs, Bacon		SEE MENU	Fruit	Fudge Cookies

Notes:

Day	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks	Desserts
Sunday 12/18	Biscuits n gravy/Sausage/Eggs		Breakfast for Dinner	Fruit
Monday	Cereal/Oatmeal	scrambled egg sandwiches	Tortellini Soup, buttered bread	Fruit
Tuesday	French Toast, Fruit	PB&J sandwiches, fruit	Easy Bean Tostadas, Rice, Salad	Fruit
Wednesday	Muffins, Bagels, or Toast W/Eggs and Cheesy Grits	soup, grilled cheese, fruit slices, rice pudding	Shepherd’s pie, fried cabbage, beer bread, fried apples	Fruit
Thursday	Pancakes, Fruit	Chicken Salad, sliced tomatoes & cucumbers, lettuce	Homemade Pizzas	Fruit
Friday	Cereal/Oatmeal	Leftovers	Alice Springs Chicken, salad, baked potatoes	Fruit
Saturday Christmas Eve	Make Sourdough Donuts or English Muffins			Fruit

Notes:

Day	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks	Desserts
Sunday 12/25 CHRISTMAS	Cinnamon Rolls, SCRAMBLED EGGS, SAUSAGE, OR BACON		SEE MENU
Monday	Cereal/Oatmeal	egg salad sandwiches, veggies	Leftovers	Fruit
Tuesday	French Toast, Fruit	PB&J sandwiches, fruit	Tacos or Taco Soup, Rice, Chips	Fruit
Wednesday	Cinnamon Swirl Quick Bread, scrambled eggs	Leftovers	Mississippi Pot Roast, mashed potatoes or egg noodles, veggies, milk	Fruit
Thursday	Pancakes, Fruit	tuna salad sandwiches, fresh veggies	Creamed Spinach & Bacon-Smothered Chicken, salad, garlic bread	Fruit
Friday	Cereal/Oatmeal	Leftovers	Sloppy Joes, French Fries, Slaw	Fruit
Saturday NEW YEARS EVE	Cheese Danish, eggs, bacon		Crunchy Chicken, Squash Casserole, Mashed Potatoes, or potato cakes	Fruit

Notes:

Some days are left blank to allow us to use up some of our pantry and freezer supplies. You can check out some other meal-planning posts HERE and HERE.

Time to think about those last couple of Holiday Meals!

Published on December 5, 2022November 29, 2022 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog1 Comment

Here in our neck of the woods, the stores are looking a little sparse so I’ve been trying to grab what I can when I see it for our upcoming holiday meals… have you planned yours out yet? If not, I’ve got some easy recipes for you to use and some menus from previous years that may inspire you.

Our holiday meals here may not be quite as grand as they have been in the past but when everyone joins around the table we have more than enough!

Here are some of our favorite recipes: