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Guest post from Jennifer of The Intentional Mom While my husband and I have a firm commitment to maintaining a frugal lifestyle (primarily out of necessity) there are times that this commitment is more difficult to stick to. We live in the very cold North. In fact, we just had the coldest February on record, and by about March, every year, I have had more than enough of all things winter. By the time spring break week rolls around (usually in the beginning of April) the weather is still quite cold and snowy. Although it would be lovely to take a vacation someplace warm, it’s just not a reality that aligns with our need to be frugal. However, it seems that our community turns into a ghost town during this week as nearly everyone has fled South. It took me about two years of being on Facebook to see a pattern in my mood changes during this week. As I watched picture after picture of friends and loved ones soaking up the sun, my spirit grew more and more discontent. I even became angry in my jealousy toward the smiling faces that were staring at me with sparkling water, blue sky, and green leaves… seemingly mocking me from my computer screen. Of course we could have migrated South for the week — if we wanted to rob our emergency savings or use a credit card. But this was where the rubber met the road when it came to seeing our financial plan through to the end. One day, when I actually felt tears of envy over this, I finally realized Facebook was not a good thing in my life at that time. I knew that we will someday reap the reward of our financial plan, but in that moment, the emotions were just so painfully raw. From that point forward that year, I didn’t get on Facebook until I knew that every last person would be back in town. Because we homeschool, I am not completely in tune with the typical school year calendar, but the following year, as soon as I saw the first post of someone beginning the journey South, I logged off Facebook and remained that way for two weeks. I have discovered that this Facebook hiatus makes it so much easier for me to embrace our frugal journey. By the time I log back on, everyone is complaining about the harsh reality of the weather in the North that hit them square in the face upon their return. This year I have that week already loaded into my calendar and plan to spend my time being content in where we are and in where we hope to be! Jennifer is a busy, homeschooling mom of seven who enjoys keeping a home, living an active lifestyle, and loving the little and not so little people in her life. Her mission is helping other moms find contentment in living intentionally every day over at her blog, The Intentional Mom.
photo source 
Happy sigh. I came home from working at our office space for the afternoon and was met by an excited Silas who had been eagerly looking forward to my return so we could play another game of baseball together. The warm sun, green grass, and my enthusiastic 5-year-old we’re too alluring, so I didn’t even change out of my flats.  I’m so grateful for sunshine, beautiful weather, and for breathing room in my life again after a full few weeks. It’s amazing what those three things do for my soul!   
After baseball, I’d promised Kathrynne I would make some Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins for her. I haven’t made this recipe in years, so I’m surprised she even remembered it! But she brought it up earlier in the day and talked about how she wished I would make it again. We happened to have some bananas that were on their last leg, so today was the perfect day to make it! Kathrynne’s still feeling pretty miserable and running a fever and very little food sounds good to her, so I was especially happy to hear that she was hungry for something. Silas & Kaitlynn asked if they could help me make muffins. So we had some fun together in the kitchen before dinner… 
I know that there are a lot of amazingly staged photos of recipes abounding on cooking blogs all over the internet. And I have no problem with these beautiful pictures. In fact, I find them inspiring, artistic, and mouth-watering. But we all know that Pinterest-perfect, magazine-worthy pictures and backgrounds aren’t really real life.   
So tonight, I snapped some very un-staged pictures while I helped the kids make the muffins. Looking at these pictures, I’m reminded that this is the stuff that memories are made of. The messes, the every day moments, the time together. And to me personally, these pictures are much more meaningful than the most artistic food photograph out there. Because these are my people and we are living life together — dirty dishes, spills, cluttered countertops, and all!  
These muffins are neither healthy nor Trim Healthy Mama-approved, but they are yummy, frugal, and so easy to whip up. Here’s the recipe… and you’re welcome! Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins - 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1 cup sugar (I used raw sugar.)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup Miracle Whip or Mayo
- 3 ripe bananas, mashed
- Chocolate chips and/or nuts
Mix dry ingredients together. Beat egg in a small bowl. Stir in the mayo. Add to the flour mixture. Stir until just moistened. Stir in bananas. Spoon batter into 12 greased or paper-lined muffin tins. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and/or nuts. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Makes 12 muffins. Freezer-friendly. 
So, this is pretty amazing! One family found a creative way to turn YouTube in a very lucrative income source for their family. Here’s a snippet of the article that Yahoo! posted today: One couple has turned their passion for home movies into a lucrative career — banking more than $1 million from their YouTube channel that's probably best known for videos of their kids playing with Thomas the Tank Engine toys. Mark and Rhea, who go by the YouTube username "ilovemaything," are the parents behind the popular YouTube channel Hulyan Maya. In fact, "popular" may be an understatement: According to Tubefilter, which posts weekly charts of the most-viewed YouTube channels, the Hulyan Maya channel was the 42nd most-viewed U.S. channel last week. With more than 26 million views in just seven days, it fell just below the channel for NBC's The Voice. The channel, which averages more than 3 million views a day, features Los Angeles parents Mark and Rhea (who chose not to reveal their last name to Yahoo Parenting) and their three children, 5-year-old Hulyan, 3-year-old Maya, and 5-month-old Marxlen. The majority of the videos — which are often more than 15 minutes long — feature the kids playing with Thomas the Tank Engine or Monster toys. Read the rest of the article here.
I think some of the keys to this family’s success is not only their consistency in posting every single day, but also in posting on a subject that has strong search terms (i.e. probably a lot of people search YouTube for specific toy names). Have you ever tried posting videos on YouTube? Have you made any money doing so? | 
