The Mommy Diaries

Goodbye but Not Goodbye

2011-12-31T22:50:00.002-05:00

Well, my focus on blogging has changed...so I'm closing up shop on this particular blog. It was fun, but doesn't fit what I want to do these days....so you can check me out on www.sunshineinmelancholia.blogspot.com. See you there!

A Lot to Say

2011-12-30T23:53:00.003-05:00

Wow. I have a lot I want to blog about these days. So much so that I don't know where to begin. There is much to say about food and the way food is made in this country. Despite thinking New Year's resolutions are silly, I have changes that I want to make for 2012. There are people I want to help and sometimes the best help I can give is prayer. I'm reading books or hoping to read books that I want to discuss. We'll see what happens. I can never guarantee that I'll actually post anything. I want to and some things are too important not to write about, but apart from those things, God, my faith, and my family will always take priority over anything else.

Couch to 5K

2011-10-01T23:10:00.002-04:00

I am considering blogging again. After a 6 month hiatus, it might be time, but I can't make any promises or guarantee that there will be anymore posts for the next 6 months. There is a real part of me that wants to blog and share my thoughts with the world. All kinds of paragraphs will flow through my mind when I'm trying to go to sleep at night, but for some reason, all of those wonderful thoughts and ideas never make it beyond my tired mind. Well, that reason is probably because there is also a huge part of me that is private and doesn't want to share anything with anybody because the more of yourself you put out there, the more of yourself that can is vulnerable and can get hurt. I do not like to make myself vulnerable. Opening up to somebody and then having that person use personal information to attack and belittle you is NOT fun. In fact, it is horrible, demeaning, and a confidence stealer.

Anyway, I used to be a runner. Ten years ago, I used to run several times a week and do pilates several times a week. I was in the best shape of my life. These days, I'm not in the absolute worst shape, but I am so very far from being considered in shape in the slightest bit. I could care less about being a certain size or being able to rock a bikini at the beach. No - I just want to be healthy, feel good about myself, have energy, and feel good in clothes. In some ways, that encompasses a lot more than just fitness. It can include streamline your life and getting organized. Getting off of the couch (or out of the bed) can be about so much more than working out. Sometimes a person needs to get off the couch (or bed) and just start living life. A lot of life is missed when you are sitting or lying on a bed all day.

So, it's time to get up and get going in a lot of different ways. Do you need to get up from some proverbial couch and get going? What do you need to get going on? Is it fitness or is it time management? Is it menu planning or spending more time with your loved ones? Or is it something else entirely? Whatever it may be, let's make a pact to ourselves that we get up and get moving.

We Remember

2011-03-19T20:24:00.001-04:00

Help Save Wild Horses!

2011-02-21T21:18:00.002-05:00

The following was copied from the ASPCA website:

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) continues to mismanage the care of wild horses and burros. The agency’s current policies authorize inhumane methods of gathering and confinement that may result in the eradication of these animals. U.S. Representative Dan Burton of Indiana has recently succeeded in passing an amendment to the Interior Appropriations Bill to cut $2 million from the BLM’s annual budget in order to pressure the agency to stop its ill-conceived efforts.

This amendment was adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives and will soon be considered in the Senate. Please let your two U.S. senators know that they should support the Burton amendment to cut $2 million dollars from the BLM program. It saves both money and wild horses.

You can help by clicking here and sending an email to your U.S. Senators today!

Something to Think About

2011-02-16T10:05:00.001-05:00

We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked, and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.

~Mother Teresa

Story of Cosmetics

2011-02-13T15:24:00.003-05:00

The really nice thing about this video is that it doesn't blame the consumer! So many "elitists" exist out there who look down on those who don't buy the safer products, the organic foods, the natural products. These people try to make everyone who doesn't shop like they do feel shameful and guilty. Well, maybe the reason why people like me don't buy these products is because they are too dang expensive. What is good is natural, organic shampoo if I have no running water or even a shower to use it in? I mean seriously. We have to pay the rent, buy food, and pay the bills to keep the heat running. We want to buy products that are better for us, better for our children, but we simply can't because we can't afford these products.

If products were regulated and companies were required by law to take the harmful stuff out of products, then *mainstream* products that are affordable for the masses would be safe and the masses could buy them.

So, what can we do? I'm not sure, but I'm going keep reading up on this. Sometimes, well a lot of times, I fee like I am just one person and I don't count. I mean, it's not like I'm famous. I even struggle to keep my facebook page going - many days, I just want to delete it because I get tired of it. What good can I do in this world? I don't know and I don't know if my voice will ever matter, but I guess I have to try anyway.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

2011-02-12T22:29:00.003-05:00

I love soup. I love chicken. I love tomatoes. I love black beans. So, when I found a recipe on another blog this week that included these ingredients, of course I had to make it. Well, it was fabulous! EVERYBODY ate up what was in their bowl and had more. Man, it was that good. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts
2 cans black beans, undrained
2 cans stewed tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 cup salsa

(Pour ingredients into crock pot. Cook 8 hours on low.
Garnish with cheese, tortilla chips and sour cream.)

When it was almost time to eat, I stirred the chicken around with a big spoon until it broke up in to shredded pieces. Did I mention how good this soup was? I used mild salsa, but I guess you could spice it up if you wanted with medium or hot. But really, it was perfect just the way it was.

My Favorite Part of January!

2011-01-13T21:47:00.002-05:00

It's almost time...in one week plus 11 hours (at the time of writing), I will be at the largest children's clothing consignment sale in North Carolina. I love it! I get excited to go every January (and in July). The quality of clothing for such low prices never ceases to amaze me. I really don't buy clothes for full price at a department store. I get all children's clothes at this sale. I have always felt like my daughter has the best and most diverse wardrobe, too.

Most items are priced for a few bucks at the most. Of course, you have your crazy sellers who think people are going to pay $14 for a used shirt, but I just roll my eyes and keep looking on the rack. It is truly AMAZING the amount of stuff that will be for sale. I really only buy clothes, although I generally browse through the toys and I did buy a slide last year.

The sale, which is located at the N.C. fairgrounds in Raleigh, is open to the public Friday, January 21 through Sunday, January 23. Sunday is half price day for most items.

Here is a video from a local news station:

My New Year's Thoughts

2011-01-02T19:08:00.005-05:00

In years past, I have stayed up to see the ball drop in NYC on New Year's Eve. I loved ringing in the new year with Dick Clark and seeing him kiss his wife. They are so cute.

This year was different. I stayed up past midnight, but not because I cared that at midnight, it would be 2011 instead of 2010. I didn't watch the ball drop. I didn't watch Dick Clark. I actually watched a movie in bed on a portable DVD player. It just happened to end after midnight. If we had started watching it earlier and it had ended earlier in the evening, I wouldn't have stayed up until midnight.

I smiled when I heard fireworks going off the closer it got to 12, but I sat there befuddled and amazed. I just don't get the big deal of it being a new year. I mean, after all, it's just another day. Don't we get a fresh start with each morning? What's so different between Jan 1 and Dec 31? Do we wake up on Jan 1 suddenly empowered to lose weight, eat healthier, be nicer, or whatever else we strive to do differently? And why did we wait until Jan 1 to decide to do these things? Isn't it good to lose weight, eat healthier, be a nicer person, etc? Why in the world would we wait until Jan 1? Makes no sense to me.

Yep, I'm being a huge downer. A party pooper. A wet blanket. Well, it's just how I feel this year I guess. I'm not trying to steal anyone's joy or say that your resolutions are meaningless. I'm just a melancholy dame trying to make sense of it all and sort through my thoughts, feelings, and emotions.

I don't want to put my hopes and dream in to a year. Why? Well, because this year will hold three hundred and sixty five separate days. They aren't all going to be good. Some will be excellent. Some will be beyond special. Some will be remembered for the rest of my life. Others will be crappy. Some will be full of struggles and some will be overloaded with stress and/or sadness. On Dec 31, 2009, didn't you have high hopes for 2010, saying "only good things in 2010!" I know a lot of people did. And some of those same people are now saying, "2010 stunk, only goods things in 2011!" I guess 2010 let these people down. They put their hope in a year and this year didn't come through for them.

Kinda bleak, right? Well, it depends on what you decide to put your hope in. Me, I don't want to put my hope in something that is changing constantly. Seconds, minutes, hours, days are constantly changing and once they are gone, they are gone. They cease to exist. Jan 1, 2011 will never happen again. As such, I choose to put my hope in something that is solid. Something that is constant. Something that never changes. This something is Jesus Christ. As Hebrews 13:8 says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Amen to that.

Do you know him? I am so thankful that I do. For without him, 2011 would be just another year.

Exciting NLT Contest!

2010-12-20T12:33:00.002-05:00

I recently became a book review blogger and have already received a devotional in the mail that I will start tonight! I can't wait to do this devotional since I get to do it with my husband! I will report periodically and eventually give a full review once I am done.

Today, I received an email about an exciting contest being put on by the New Living Translation (NLT). This is cool for many reasons, which I will get to in a moment. I grew up with the NIV translation, but really like NLT and have since I first read it. Anyway, on to information about the contest!!

Gosh, there are so many ways to win! First, you should visit the NLT facebook page here. Make sure you "like" the page to get started. Each time the NLT page reaches a new fan count milestone, three ministries, Wycliffe Bible Translators, Oasis International, and The Dream Center, will receive cash donations. Click on each ministry for further information.

Everyone who enters the Bible Contest on the NLT facebook page (there is an entry form right on the page) wins a free download of Matthew West reading the Christmas Story. I am excited about winning this as I love Matthew West AND the Christmas Story. It's something more we can do to make the focus of Christmas on Christ!

Voting on the NLT facebook page also enters you in win two NLT study bibles, one to keep and one to give away. These are being given away daily!

There will also be Weekly Give the World Locally Winners! Write about a local ministry that is doing good on the NLT contest website and the local ministry could win 5 NLT study bibles and $250 worth of NLT products!

Finally, one Grand Prize Winner will win an awesome trip along with three guests to Wycliffe Bible Translators world headquarters and the WordSpring Discovery Center. The winner will get to experience bible translation firsthand! That sounds really awesome and educational. The winner can also choose to donate the cost of the prize to Wycliffe in lieu of accepting the prize.

This is an awesome contest because EVERYBODY wins. You win and these wonderful ministries win. You should definitely check out this contest! I know I am!

Hello Again

2010-12-08T16:20:00.002-05:00

It's been a while since I posted, but I have good reasons which I will share at a later date.

The Christmas season is upon us! The sights, sounds, and sometimes even smells of Christmas are all around us. I love this time of year.

Have you ever seen the Charlie Brown Christmas special? Charlie Brown laments that he always gets depressed at Christmas no matter how many cards he sends, no matter how many presents he opens, or no matter how many decorations he sees. I used to feel that way until I finally figured out why I was getting depressed at Christmas time. Charlie Brown learns it, too. When we put all of our hope in things like Christmas trees, lights, cards, presents, etc., we will never truly be fulfilled. Why? Because all of these things are just that - things. If we look to things to make us feel full, we will always come up away feeling empty. However, if we put our hope in Jesus Christ, the true meaning of this season, then we will always feel full. Linus tells this to Charlie Brown - the true meaning of Christmas is a baby that was born in a lowly stable. This was no ordinary baby - this was Jesus Christ - the Hope of the World.

Did you know that the name Jesus means "God is salvation"? That is so awesome. Jesus IS salvation. That is why He came to earth - to save us from our sins. He is God in the flesh come to be our salvation.

I have been reading some little books on the Nativity story and I sit here truly amazed by what came to pass around 2,000 years ago. Can you imagine if you had been one of the shepards to get the messages from the host of angels? Thinking about all that happened - exactly the way it was supposed to happen - gives me chills.

So, if you are feeling overwhelmed this Christmas season or a little depressed because the things of Christmas aren't fulfilling your standards, maybe change your focus. Focus on the coming birth of the Christ Child! Our Salvation! Rejoice!

Favorite TV Shows (Day 11)

2010-11-11T06:27:00.000-05:00

Wordless Wednesday Video

2010-11-10T22:40:00.001-05:00

Favorite Vacation Spots (Day 10)

2010-11-10T22:18:00.003-05:00

If you know me, you know that my favorite place to go is the beach. The Oak Island/Southport area is still probably my favorite, but Topsail Beach is really growing on me. Topsail Beach is even less crowded and there is NOTHING to do (other than go to the beach), which I LOVE! Of course, the OBX rock (!!) but it's a lot harder and more expensive to get out there.

Life

2010-11-02T19:06:00.003-04:00

I know I'm supposed to be doing a 30 day blogging challenge. Today is the 2nd day that I've missed writing anything. I haven't forgotten and I haven't fallen off the bandwagon, I just haven't been able to post anything. Sometimes life gets in the way and takes precedent over everything else. If I don't continue with my blogging challenge tomorrow, I will soon. I have a sad heart tonight and need to let it heal.

Things That Scare Me (Day 9)

2010-10-31T20:48:00.002-04:00

A Place I've Been (Day 8)

2010-10-30T07:55:00.004-04:00

Can you guess where I am?

scroll down for answer

Air Force Academy

Colorado Springs, Co

Favorite Movies (Day 7)

2010-10-29T06:38:00.004-04:00

Can I name my 10 favorite movies? Hmmmm...this one will be easy and hard. Easy because there are some sagas out there that have several movies...so if I include each movie from each saga...I'll probably have at least 10 movie titles if not more. Hard because if I look at movies outside of those sagas, then I don't know my favorites. I love movies and don't have time for movies. I can't (don't want to) afford movies when they are in the theatre (except for a select few) and then I forget about them by the time they come out on DVD. For the past few years, I have said on several occasions that I should make a list of my must-see movies and then rent them as they come out on DVD, but that list has yet to be created. I really do like to watch movies, but getting me to watch a movie is a lot tougher. Something about sitting still for those two hours is difficult for me (not that I don't sit around at other times) - I guess I just think about everything else I could be doing during that time. Or, I think, "Man, if we watch this movie, when it's over, it will be time for bed and no time for anything else!" Of course, I have sat like a bump on a log in front of the computer for 2 hours at night on many occasions, so I have no excuse not to be watching movies! Anyway...on to the list!

Twilight
New Moon
Eclipse
Breaking Dawn 1 & 2 (Yes, these won't be out for a LOOOOONG time, but I know I will love them, so I must include them)
All 8 Harry Potter movies (again, I am including even the ones that haven't come out yet)
(I'm beyond 10, but I'll name a few more since those 2 sagas take up the entire list)
Matrix Trilogy (the first Matrix movie used to be my most watched movie, but I have to admit that I have not watched it in YEARS)
The Notebook
Beauty and the Beast
The Little Mermaid
The Lion King
The Nativity Story
The Time Machine (new version)
Elf (have to watch this one several times each Christmas)

Gosh, I'm sure I've left off some movies that I really love, but these really are at the top of my list for most views (and I don't get tired of seeing them).

What are your favorite movies to watch again and again?

Picture of Something that Makes Me Happy (Day 6)

2010-10-28T10:36:00.005-04:00

My Siblings (Day 5)

2010-10-27T06:08:00.000-04:00

10 Things About My Brother:

1. His first name is Michael.

2. He has met a lot of famous people like the guy who plays Will on Glee.

3. He is an awesome Uncle. An example - he paid $1 to have his picture taken with Elmo in NYC just for Sunny.

4. He was one of the best runners on Track and Cross Country in High School - much better than I was.

5. He has been to England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales.

6. He proposed to his wife on the observation deck of the Empire State Building.

7. He is a great performer.

8. His first attempt at teaching was Frog School and I was his student.

9. Out of everyone I know, he is the best at trivia.

10. He is 3 years older than I am.

10 Things About My Sister:

1. Her middle name is Erin.

2. She placed higher on the SAT in 7th grade than a lot of juniors who took it at the same time.

3. When we were in Elementary School, kids thought we looked alike. Maybe she doesn't know that, but kids used to tell me that all the time.

4. She played the saxophone in Concord High School marching band.

5. Her hair is actually dark blond.

6. She has friends who would go to the ends of the Earth for her.

7. She is a very loving Aunt.

8. Steampunk is right up her alley (and I think it's pretty cool, too).

9. She takes some really beautiful Cosplay pictures.

10. She is 4 years younger than I am.

My Parents (Day 4)

2010-10-26T10:28:00.001-04:00

What in the world do I write for this topic? There are so many different things I could write about or discuss. There are so many ways I could structure this post depending on what I decide to write about. I guess maybe I'll just tell you a little bit about them.

My mom: She grew up "down east" in Hubert/Swansboro, N.C. with a younger brother and an older sister. Her dad, my grandfather, was a Marine, so even when he got out of the military, they stayed close to Camp Lejeune. She went to a small high school and then was accepted into the dental hygiene program at UNC. My mom worked for a few years after graduation and then got to be a stay at home mom until I was in 8th grade. I hated it when she went back to work, but got used to it. My mom is great at what she does and people need to appreciate her more. Sometimes I feel like my mom is not recognized for what she does. My mom has been teaching some form of Sunday School for the majority of her life. She loves to sing. My mom is my friend.

My dad: He grew up in Charlotte with one older brother. I like to think that my dad had a good childhood despite having to endure losing his mother at a young age. He went to a huge high school in Charlotte and then ended up going to UNC for a business degree (that's how he met my mother). Right before my dad graduated from college, his father passed away. My dad also lost his only brother almost 20 years ago. My dad did retail for a very long time and then switched careers in his 50's. He proves that you are never too old to do something different and be happy with your job. My dad always made time to come to our games and other events while we were growing up, so we always had somebody there to support us.

I surely do love my parents and I enjoy every minute that I get to spend with them. The time always goes by way too quickly.

First Love? (Day 3)

2010-10-25T10:00:00.000-04:00

My memories of my first love really are from way back to pre-school. I have no way to know what is really real and what my mind has created out of the thoughts of a four year old.

Ever since these times as a four year old became just old memories, my mind recalls the name Smokey. Was this his name? I have no clue and no way to find out. In 7th grade, we had to write short stories and other assignments about ourselves and I wrote about him and his name being Smokey. Why is this his name in my head? Was this a nickname? Surely, "Smokey" was not his name. This mystery will never be solved.

All of my memories are from the playground. We must have been in the same class because we played together on the swing set when it was time to play outside, but I do not have a single memory of Smokey in the classroom. We were the "leaders" of our little pack of friends. I believe there were maybe three other kids who regularly played with us. When we played, I was always She-Ra and he was always He-Man. Our friends were content to let us have those roles and be supporting characters. Boy did we have a grand time on the playground and the swing set.

Is this picture of Smokey? I assume so and in reaching in to the dark recesses of my mind, I feel that it must be, but again, I have no way to know. I am thankful to my parents for snapping this picture of who I think is Smokey, my first love.

The Mommy Diaries (Day 2)

2010-10-24T15:00:00.000-04:00

What is the meaning behind my blog name? Well, back when I first got this thing going, I had grand plans of a huge blog. I really wanted to be like those bloggers that post like 5 to 6 entries a day with all kinds of tips on saving money, family fun, pregnancy info, etc. I might have been a little delusional, but I had my reasons for wanting to do something grand like that.

I quickly realized that creating and maintaining a blog like that was just not something I could really do. There is just too much else going on in my life and I do not have the patience to look up all the best deals to report to everyone else. I do LOVE reading the blogs to get the best deals and signing up for freebies, but I'm happy to let somebody else do all the work to find out those deals and freebies. As such, this blog has evolved over the past few years. Now, it's more about me and my life vs. deals, tips, freebies, etc.

The actual name "The Mommy Diaries" just kinda popped in to my head. I'm a mommy and this is like my diary (sorta kinda). I wanted this blog to chronicle my life as a mommy...the ups and downs and everything in between. I thought it sounded cute and catchy and voila - my blog was created. I admit, I don't always live up to the name diary part of the title because I don't always get very personal on here. In fact, the previous blog post might be the most personal post I've written. To be completely honest, I've written other much more personal posts and then deleted them, some before publishing and some not long after. If you get to know me, you will find that I will open to you, but I have a hard time doing it online or with lots of people all at once. It makes me VERY vulnerable and that is hard for me. So, this 30 day challenge will be interesting because I will be opening up to you.

A New Beginning (Day 1)

2010-10-23T20:51:00.004-04:00

So, here we are. Day One. I think that probably 99.99% of the people who read this blog know me. Some of you know me better than others. Or maybe you think you know me...muahahahaha.....hehehe. Sorry, had to put that in there. Do we really ever know anybody?

Anyway, I am just a regular person with a regular life. Nothing spectacular going on here, but that's alright with me. I don't want to be famous (not really anyway). I just want to be an ordinary person living an ordinary life. I'm a mom. I'm a wife. My daughter is awesome and she has changed my life forever and in a wonderful way. My husband is pretty great, too. I'm a daughter. I'm a friend. I was an English major and I was an attorney. Now, I am a stay at home mom - the greatest job on the face of the planet. The pay might be a little shabby, but the benefits are amazing. I just turned the big 3-0 about a month ago and largely, I feel the same. As Jacob says, "Age is just a number, baby." If you know which Jacob I'm talking about, then you know the types of books I like to read. haha. Well, one genre of books I like to read. I read a lot of different material, when I actually get the chance to read. I'm an optimistic pessimist. Just think about that one for a minute.

In keeping with this 30 day challenge, here is the list that I must fill out:

15 Random Facts about ME

1. I AM...standing up as I type this.

2. I WANT...so many things and so few things all at the same time. I don't need a big house or a fancy car or the latest designer clothes. I couldn't care less about those things than I do now. But, I do want to be financially at peace. I want to be able to do more in my community. I want to have at least one more child. I want to sleep better. I want to feel better. I want to be 10 to 20 lbs lighter. I want to figure out what I'm supposed to do in life and be happy with whatever that is. I want to let go of regrets and just be content.

3. I HAVE...faith in Jesus Christ. God has really worked in my life. Now, when I say that, I don't mean that my life is all peaches and cream. Many times, I have seen God working in my life during the really crappy times, like when my grandmother passed way.

4. I WISH...that I had a better self esteem and self image. I want my little girl to grow up knowing that she is wonderfully and fearfully made by her Creator and that she is beautiful just the way she is. But, I will be a big part of teaching her that and I know that actions speak louder than words. I can tell her every day how wonderful she is just the way she was made, but if I look at myself in the mirror every day and complain about my flab and my dull complexion and everything else that I complain about, then I am going to send a much louder message to her than if I was yelling.

5. I HATE...inequity. I strive for fairness in all that I do and it irks me beyond belief when I am not treated fairly.

6. I FEAR...things that go bump in the night, the dark, losing those that I love, and being abandoned.

7. I REGRET...going to law school.

8. I LOVE...Jesus, my husband, my little girl, my parents, my siblings, my extended family, my in-laws, my friends, animals, going for walks, eating, nature.

9. I ALWAYS...wash my face before I go to bed.

10. I AM NOT...a girly girl. I don't do my hair. I don't wear makeup (except for concealer). I wear almost no jewelry. I do not care about pocketbooks or shoes. I do not paint my fingernails or toenails, although if I did, I would paint them black. I am happiest in a pair of sweat pants/yoga pants and a t-shirt.

11. I DANCE...a lot. I love to dance. I have no idea how to dance, but I love doing it.

12. I READ...when I get a chance. I love to read. Books and magazines. Fiction, nonfiction, history, self help, religious.

13. I SING...a lot. I sing to my daughter a lot. I sing with the radio. I sing with no music in the background. I now sing in my church choir.

14. I SPEND...time with my family as much as possible. I love my family and my in-laws so much. The time always goes by way too quickly.

15. I TAKE...a vitamin every morning!

The Next 30 Days...

2010-10-23T20:46:00.002-04:00

Like many bloggers, I go through blogging spurts. There will be a lot of activity on here for a couple of weeks and then all is quiet. I hate it when that happens, but you know, I just do this for fun and my days get full. I'll try to be better with it. Anyway, the author of another blog that I read is going to post for 30 straight days (she copied the idea from a relative of hers). There is a pre planned topic for each day. Well, I'm going to copy her and do it. I guess at the end of the 30 days, you'll know more about me. So, get ready.

Quote of the Day

2010-08-19T08:15:00.000-04:00

Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things, but just look what they can do when they stick together.

~Vest M. Kelly

Wordless Wednesday Video: Jam with Nanalan'

2010-08-18T13:25:00.001-04:00

Beans & Rice

2010-08-12T13:14:00.002-04:00

A while back, I deemed Thursday to be recipe swap day, but no swapping has gone on in quite a while. I hope for that to change soon. In the meantime, does anybody out there have any easy and inexpensive recipes for meals consisting of beans and rice?

One that we do is to make some instant rice and pour bean and bacon soup over it. It's pretty good and very cheap.

That gets old if you eat it more than once in a week, so I'd like to have some more beans and rice recipes that we could try. Beans and rice is a cheap meal, but it still has protein. Make some veggies and have some fruit and you've covered most of the food groups.

I want more recipes because we are getting ready to cut out eating out almost entirely and I want to keep our grocery budget pretty low. However, with no eating out to look forward to, the meals at home have to be good to make eating at home very appealing. I want no temptations to break our challenge to eat at home for most meals during each month.

Feel free to email me, hit me up on Facebook, or leave a comment. Thanks!

Mila's Daydreams

2010-08-07T15:56:00.004-04:00

Sometimes I happen to find neat things on the internet,like the Too Late to Apologize: A Declaration video, which I posted about a month ago. That video is probably my favorite video of all times. Why you ask? Well, there are a number of reasons. I like the transition from 1776 to the rock band on stage. I like the fact that the whole thing was filmed right here in North Carolina. I like how the video inspired me to want to learn more about my country's history - yes, I checked out a book from the library entitled, "1776" and it is pure awesomeness. There are more reasons, but those are some of the main ones.

Anyway, I came across one of the cutest blogs ever yesterday called, Mila's Daydreams. The mother of a new baby daydreams herself about what her daughter might be dreaming about during her naps. She uses blankets and other things found at home to create the scenes. Then she gets her sleeping beauty, places her in the scene, snaps the picture, and then puts her back in her crib. The pictures are really creative and adorable. Here are two to get you going:

This one is titled, "Up." That is so cute. I love the use of a green fringed blanket for grass!

This one is "Surfer Girl." I love it.

Well, I love all of the pictures really. You'll have to go to Mila's Daydreams blog and see all of the rest! Warning - you may suffer from cuteness overload!

Marriage

2010-08-04T11:34:00.003-04:00

Here's another post of things I don't normally post (when I get a forward, I don't forward it to however many people I'm supposed to forward it to, etc). However, something about this story (even though I know it's most likely made up) spoke to me today. Maybe it's because I've been trying to be more invested in my relationships lately. I want to make my role as wife and mother intentional. I don't want to live life passively. I want to live each day making sure that the people I love know that I love them. I want to put them first always. So anyway, here's the story:

MARRIAGE

When I got home that night as my wife served dinner, I held her hand and said, I've got something to tell you. She sat down and ate quietly. Again I observed the hurt in her eyes.

Suddenly I didn't know how to open my mouth. But I had to let her know what I was thinking. I want a divorce. I raised the topic calmly.

She didn't seem to be annoyed by my words, instead she asked me softly, why?

I avoided her question. This made her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at me, you are not a man! That night, we didn't talk to each other. She was weeping. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage. But I could hardly give her a satisfactory answer; she had lost my heart to Jane. I didn't love her anymore. I just pitied her!

With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she could own our house, our car, and 30% stake of my company.

She glanced at it and then tore it into pieces. The woman who had spent ten years of her life with me had become a stranger. I felt sorry for her wasted time, resources and energy but I could not take back what I had said for I loved Jane so dearly. Finally she cried loudly in front of me, which was what I had expected to see. To me her cry was actually a kind of release. The idea of divorce which had obsessed me for several weeks seemed to be firmer and clearer now.

The next day, I came back home very late and found her writing something at the table. I didn't have supper but went straight to sleep and fell asleep very fast because I was tired after an eventful day with Jane.

When I woke up, she was still there at the table writing. I just did not care so I turned over and was asleep again.

In the morning she presented her divorce conditions: she didn't want anything from me, but needed a month's notice before the divorce. She requested that in that one month we both struggle to live as normal a life as possible. Her reasons were simple: our son had his exams in a month's time and she didn't want to disrupt him with our broken marriage.

This was agreeable to me. But she had something more, she asked me to recall how I had carried her into out bridal room on our wedding day.

She requested that every day for the month's duration I carry her out of our bedroom to the front door ever morning. I thought she was going crazy. Just to make our last days together bearable I accepted her odd request.

I told Jane about my wife's divorce conditions. . She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd. No matter what tricks she applies, she has to face the divorce, she said scornfully.

My wife and I hadn't had any body contact since my divorce intention was explicitly expressed. So when I carried her out on the first day, we both appeared clumsy. Our son clapped behind us, daddy is holding mommy in his arms. His words brought me a sense of pain. From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly; don't tell our son about the divorce. I nodded, feeling somewhat upset. I put her down outside
the door. She went to wait for the bus to work. I drove alone to the office.

On the second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest. I could smell the fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn't looked at this woman carefully for a long time. I realized she was not young any more. There were fine wrinkles on her face, her hair was graying! Our marriage had taken its toll on her. For a minute I wondered what I had done to her.

On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I felt a sense of intimacy returning. This was the woman who had given ten years of her life to me.

On the fifth and sixth day, I realized that our sense of intimacy was growing again. I didn't tell Jane about this. It became easier to carry her as the month slipped by. Perhaps the everyday workout made me stronger.

She was choosing what to wear one morning. She tried on quite a few dresses but could not find a suitable one. Then she sighed, all my dresses have grown bigger. I suddenly realized that she had grown so thin, that was the reason why I could carry her more easily.

Suddenly it hit me... she had buried so much pain and bitterness in her heart. Subconsciously I reached out and touched her head.

Our son came in at the moment and said, Dad, it's time to carry mom out. To him, seeing his father carrying his mother out had become an essential part of his life. My wife gestured to our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my face away because I was afraid I might change my mind at this last minute. I then held her in my arms, walking from the bedroom, through the sitting room, to the hallway. Her hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly; it was just like our wedding day.

But her much lighter weight made me sad. On the last day, when I held her in my arms I could hardly move a step. Our son had gone to school. I held her tightly and said, I hadn't noticed that our life lacked intimacy.

I drove to office.... jumped out of the car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me change my mind...I walked upstairs. Jane opened the door and I said to her, Sorry, Jane, I do not want the divorce anymore.

She looked at me, astonished, and then touched my forehead. Do you have a fever? She said. I moved her hand off my head. Sorry, Jane, I said, I won't divorce. My marriage life was boring probably because she and I didn't value the details of our lives, not because we didn't love each other anymore. Now I realize that since I carried her into my home on our wedding day I am supposed to hold her until death do us apart.

Jane seemed to suddenly wake up. She gave me a loud slap and then slammed the door and burst into tears. I walked downstairs and drove away.

At the floral shop on the way, I ordered a bouquet of flowers for my wife. The salesgirl asked me what to write on the card. I smiled and wrote, I'll carry you out every morning until death do us apart.

That evening I arrived home, flowers in my hands, a smile on my face, I run up stairs, only to find my wife in the bed - dead.
My wife had been fighting CANCER for months and I was so busy with Jane to even notice. She knew that she would die soon and she wanted to save me from the whatever negative reaction from our son, in case we push thru with the divorce.-- At least, in the eyes of our son--- I'm a loving husband....

The small details of your lives are what really matter in a relationship. It is not the mansion, the car, property, the money in the bank. These create an environment conducive for happiness but cannot give happiness in themselves. So find time to be your spouse's friend and do those little things for each other that build intimacy. Do have a real happy marriage!

If you don't share this, nothing will happen to you.

If you do, you just might save a marriage.
Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

A CHRIST-CENTERED MARRIAGE IS A MARRIAGE THAT IS SURE TO LAST A LIFETIME.

So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate. Matthew 19:6

Just my 2 cents...

2010-08-03T22:43:00.004-04:00

Okay, so I've read some article lately about Gisele, you know, the famous underwear model who married Tom Brady and just had a baby recently. Well, she's made some *interesting* comments about her views on pregnancy, giving birth, and motherhood. Normally, I wouldn't write a post on like this, but I just felt I had to because I wanted to respond to some of her comments. Not that what I think matters.

People are really angry with her over her comments. People say that she has a superior attitude and she makes these comments because she believes she is better than other mothers. Others say she is just ignorant. I don't know that I have an opinion and don't have any negative feelings about her, but I do agree that people need to think about what they are saying before they say it.

She says that she never had to wear maternity clothes during her pregnancy because she worked out and ate really healthy food. She blames pregnancy weight gain and the need for maternity clothes on women becoming "garbage disposals" when they get pregnant. My response - She has a point - a lot of women eat whatever they want (although I don't think that equates to eating garbage). However, she failed to consider the fact that she is really tall, that she has the time to work out, probably with a personal trainer, and she can afford a nutritionist at the very least to plan her meals. Even with all of those benefits that most women don't get to enjoy, some of her lack of weight gain was probably genetic. Some women just gain a lot of weight when they are pregnant and it has nothing to do with working out or food. They could eat a piece of lettuce and still gain 5 lbs. Did I eat a lot of double cheeseburgers when I was pregnant? Absolutely, but some times those burgers were the only things I could keep down. Even so, when I tried to eat really healthy, I still gained weight steadily. It didn't matter if I ate double cheeseburgers or salads, I was putting on the weight.

After giving birth, she said in an interview that she had a natural labor with little pain and it was all because she was prepared. She suggests that people who have complicated labors or labors with medical interventions are people who aren't prepared. My response: No matter how prepared you are and how many birth classes you take, you cannot control whether or not there are complications. Lots of women who want to give birth naturally cannot and it's not because they weren't prepared. I know people who were very prepared who ended up with c-sections. Again, she was just lucky. I had natural labor, but I cannot sit here and say that it was pain free. That would be a seriously untrue statement.

I think the thing that bothered me the most was her comment on breastfeeding vs. formla feeding. She said, “Some people here think they don’t have to breastfeed and I think, ‘Are you going to give chemical food to your child when they are so little?’ “ She goes on to say that there should be a world wide law mandating breastfeeding for at least the first 6 months. My response - So many women want to breastfeed and can't. Not because they love their babies any less than she loves her child. Lots of women anguish over the fact that they can't do it. When they give up trying, they mourn the loss and feel a lot of shame/guilt over not being able to do it. Breastfeeding is hard. It hurts. You just gave birth and you are beyond bone tired. Maybe your anatomy makes it difficult. Maybe your baby's mouth or jaw make it difficult. You try and try and try and it's not working. Already exhausted, emotionally drained, and worried that your child is getting no food, you make the heart wrenching decision to stop. You know, sometimes that's the better choice for you child, especially when considering the big picture. Women already feel enough guilt when they aren't able to do it...they don't need famous people making statements like this to make them feel even more like failures or that they are feeding their babies "chemicals."

I apologize for not taking more time to write this post, clean it up, make it sound better, yada yada yada. I just wanted to get it out there. So here it is.

Quote of the Day

2010-08-03T08:24:00.000-04:00

Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician.

Quote of the Day

2010-08-02T08:19:00.001-04:00

Middle Age is when you choose your cereal for the fiber, not the toy.

Conversations with a 2 Year Old

2010-08-01T06:05:00.001-04:00

As we are lying down to take a nap:

Me: Do you want to go feed the ducks tonight?
Her: Yes!
Her: Duck poop.
Me: (hehe) Yeah, we don't want to step in the duck poop!
Her: Dat be yucky.
Me: Yep, that would be yucky!
Her: Feed them toast?
Me: Yep, we'll feed them some toast.
Her: Feed them bread?
Me: Yep, we'll feed them bread.
Her: Night-night mommy.
Me: Night-night.

The Wisdom of Children

2010-07-31T08:11:00.000-04:00

10 Things Kids Learn (the hard way):

1) No matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats.
2) When your Mom is mad at your Dad, don't let her brush your hair.
3) If your sister hits you, don't hit her back. They always catch the second person.
4) Never ask your 3-year old brother to hold a tomato.
5) You can't trust dogs to watch your food.
6) Don't sneeze when someone is cutting your hair.
7) Never hold a Dust-Buster and a cat at the same time.
8) You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.
9) Don't wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts.
10) The best place to be when you're sad is Grandma's lap.

Quote of the Day

2010-07-30T20:21:00.001-04:00

Of all the rights of a woman, the greatest is to be a mother.

Role of Love in Mothering

2010-07-30T11:49:00.001-04:00

**The following is taken from a friend's blog**

I read this excerpt this week in "A Mother's Heart" by Jean Fleming and it spoke to me in the way that I evaluate love in my role as a mother. So I thought I would leave you with this for the week:

"As I've thought about the role of love in my mothering, I've been stimulated by 1 Corinthians 13, which I have paraphrased:

If I keep my house immaculately clean, and am envied by all for my interior decorating, but do not show love in my family--I'm just another housewife.

If I'm always producing lovely things--sewing, art; if I always look attractive, and speak intelligently, but am not loving to my family--I am nothing.

If I'm busy in community affairs, teach Sunday school, and drive in the carpool, but fail to give adequate love to my family--I gain nothing.

Love changes diapers, cleans up messes, and ties shoes--over and over again.

Love is kind, though tired and frazzled.

Love does not envy another wife--one whose children are "spaced" better, or in school so she has time to pursue her own interests.

Love doesn't try to impress others with my abilities or knowledge as a mother.

Love doesn't scream at the kids.

Love doesn't feel cheated because I didn't get to do what I wanted to do today--sew, read, soak in a hot tub.

Love doesn't lose my temper easily.

Love doesn't assume that my children are being naughty just because their noise level is irritating.

Love doesn't rejoice when other people's children misbehave and make mine look good. Love is genuinely happy when others are honored by their children."

Menu Planning

2010-07-29T07:30:00.000-04:00

One thing I'm starting again this week is writing out my weekly menu. I haven't done this in sevral months now. Don't get me wrong - I've still been planning our meals each week and basing our grocery list on those meals, but nothing has been written down or specifically planned. So, this has left us with knowing that we have ingredients for around 6 meals, but none of those meals are assigned to any nights. That's not such a big deal except that it seems like lunch has fallen by the wayside. Lunches haven't been planned either and it seems like we've eaten the same two or three things all summer long and that's not always a good thing. For example, I couldn't force myself to eat another tomato sandwich right now if my life depended on it and I LOVE tomato sandwiches...sniff sniff. Well, okay, I could eat a tomato sandwich for a lot less than that - If you offered me $3 bucks, I'm sure I'd eat one, but you get what I'm trying to say.

Part of the stoppage in menu planning had to do with it being summer time. When it gets close to 100 degrees, who wants to cut on the oven and bake something? I surely don't. That limits (to an extent) what we can eat for lunch. PBJ sandwiches are out at least for my daughter, because we haven't given her peanut butter yet. I don't think she will be allergic to it based on things she has eaten that have touched peanuts or that have been cooked in peanut oil, but hey, you never know. We'll get around to it eventually.

So....I used to make my own menu planning forms, but decided to find one on the internet just for fun. Sometimes using something new gets you excited about what you are doing. Anyway, I found a weekly planner on Mom Advice. Feel free to check out this website by clicking here and the link to the form here. Mom Advice also has some other free downloadable forms as well for things like your budget or comparing prices. As for the weekly menu planner, you could even use this as just a regular schedule planner - it's not really menu specific, that's just what I'll be using it for.

Do you have any forms you use to help make things easier at your house? If so, would you mind sharing them? You can email me, contact me on Facebook, or leave a comment. If you have a link to share, that would be awesome.

**In other news, I hope to get the Recipe Swap going again soon, but possibly in the fall. So, start gathering up your recipes to share!**

Wordless Wednesday

2010-07-28T14:04:00.002-04:00

Yep, that's my daughter.

Run, Freedom, Run!

2010-07-27T22:17:00.005-04:00

Run, freedom, run!
Freedom, run away!
My friends, you have to run
Run-a, run-a, run
Freedom, run away!

That freedom sun
Will shine someday
'Til then you better run
Run-a, run-a, run
Freedom, run away!

There's a trickle of sweat -
Drippin' in your ear -

But still, you gotta run
Run-a, run-a, run
Freedom, run away!

Freedom, run away!
Freedom, run away!
My friends, you have to run
Run-a, run-a, run
Freedom, run away!
Freedom, run away -
Freedom, run away -
Freedom, run away!
That freedom sun
That freedom sun
Will shine someday!

Got my running shoes. (Thanks mom!)

Got my feet hitting the pavement! (Twice already!)

This one's just for fun. And now you can believe me when I say that I used to be a runner.

**A gold star if you know the above song**

My head still hurts...

2010-07-27T21:54:00.003-04:00

Do you ever feel like you take one teeny tiny step forward only to get slammed in the gut and knocked two or three HUGE steps backward? Well, that's how I've felt lately.

We've never had a ton of consumer debt, but we did have our share. When I quit working and we starting living on one income, getting on a loose budget and tackling our debt was our main priority. After we paid off both cars, I suppose you could say that we got a little comfortable and fell off the bandwagon. The past few months, I've been saying to myself that we need to focus again and finish the job we started. Of course, that's easier said than done when your taste buds long for Taco Bell combos, Sonic chili cheese frito wraps, and Cookout oreo milkshakes. Eating out is about the only thing that we do, but that can still take out a huge chunk of money that could have gone to debt if it is done too often.

Even so, during this, things were still going well. Just two things to pay off and one was shrinking steadily. Then we got a big ol' SMACK in the forehead in June. It hurt pretty bad emotionally and financially. Now we've added two more things that need to be paid off and it scares me a little bit. It's crazy how you can be doing so well, going in the right direction on the right path and then in the blink of an eye be transported to a completely different universe.

We will overcome. That's how we do. Why? Because we have our faith and we know God will see us through. That unintentionally rhymed. Hehe. Not like I'm the next Poet Laureate or anything.

So, what's the game plan? We are still working on it. I know that we are going to try to stick to eating out like once a week. I'm on the waiting list to get the Total Money Makeover book by Dave Ramsey. I skimmed it a few years back, but blew it off. Oops. My bad. We are looking at some other financial options, but that type of stuff can be overwhelming at times. As such, we'd appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

I'll try to blog about it. Maybe I'll be an inspiration to somebody out there. Maybe.

Excited About Independence!

2010-07-08T12:55:00.001-04:00

Decisions, decisions...

2010-06-12T21:59:00.004-04:00

Well, as you can tell, I haven't posted much the past few months. I haven't decided yet, but I have been playing with the idea of shutting down this blog. I like this blog, but I'm having a hard time. What should I post? Should this be somewhat of a journal for me and my thoughts or is that too personal for this blog? That's what I've thinking about.

Every time I go to delete this blog, I have a hard time confirming that I want to delete it, so that makes me think that I need to give this more consideration. However, who reads this? I doubt this blog would be greatly missed by anyone. So, what are the reasons to keep it up?

Decisions...decisions...

Assurance

2010-06-01T18:59:00.000-04:00

Assurance in Jesus

May Jesus assure you that as you follow Him
you will never meet a fear He cannot conquer,
you will never face an enemy He cannot defeat,
you will never enter a battle He cannot win,
you will never have a need He cannot meet,
you will never face a temptation He cannot overcome,
you will never have a burden He cannot lift,
you will never face a problem He cannot solve,
you will never have a bondage He cannot break,
you will never have a moment when He does not care,
you will never have a time when He is not there.

I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency]. Philippians 4:13 AMP

Updates

2010-04-18T10:40:00.002-04:00

Wow, I haven't posted much in quite a while. I always think of good things to post when I'm drifting off to sleep at night, but I guess I forget about it by the time I wake up the next morning. I do remember what I thought about last night, so hopefully I will post that soon!

Hmmm...what's been going on with me the past month or so? A lot of the same old same old. I am still loving every minute of staying at home with Sunny and am just so thankful that I am able to do this right now. I try to remember to give thanks to God on a daily basis for this opportunity because I never want to take this for granted.

I am excitedly awaiting the birth of my newest nephew and ask that you join me in praying for a safe delivery and a healthy baby boy and mom! I love my family and can't wait for the joyous times we will all share together with added members!

I haven't tried or thought up any new recipes lately, although there is a beef and bean enchilada recipe that I have been eying. If it is good, I will definitely post it here!

Well, that's all for now I suppose. I hope you have a wonderful day!

Fern and Bamboo

2010-04-08T19:52:00.002-04:00

One day Everyman, a person just like me and you, decided to quit...Everyman quit his job, his relationships, and his spirituality. He also wanted to quit life. Everyman went to the woods to have one last talk with God. He said. "Can you give me one good reason not to quit?"

The answer surprised him.

"Look around Do you see the fern and the bamboo?" God asked.

"Yes" Everyman replied.

God then told Everyman the following story:

"When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care
of them. I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew from the
earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the
bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo."

"In the second year the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful. And
again, nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo."

"In the third year, there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I wouldn't quit."

"In the fourth year there was nothing from the bamboo seed, but I wouldn't quit."

"In the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared to the fern it was small and insignificant."

"But just 6 months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall. It had
spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it
what it needed to survive. I would not give any of my creations a challenge
it could not handle."

"Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you've actually been growing roots. I would not quit on the bamboo and I'll never quit on you. Don't compare yourself to others. The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern, yet, they
both make the forest beautiful."

"Your time will come, You will rise high!"

"How high should I rise?" Everyman asked.

"How high will the bamboo rise?" God asked in return.

"As high as it can?" Everyman asked.

"Yes. Give me glory by rising as high as you can." God answered.

Everyman left the forest and brought back this story, hoping these words help you see God will never give up on you.

Never regret a day in your life.
Good days give you Happiness.
Bad days give you Experiences.
Both are essential to life.
God is big enough to cover the whole world with love
and small enough to curl up inside your heart.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-03-31T07:53:00.000-04:00

Wordless Wednesday (Classic)

2010-03-10T03:50:00.000-05:00

Week One

2010-03-07T18:39:00.002-05:00

Well, I forgot to post my exercise progress on Friday. I did pretty well the first week, although I somewhat dropped off the plan starting on Friday, but I had a lot to do this weekend!

I am just proud of myself for working out Monday through Thursday during Sunny's nap times. It is starting to get easier to resist lying down during that time, so I'm glad for that. Friday, I probably should have worked out, but I had a weird headache and felt kinda lousy, so I decided to just rest. Saturday, it was my husband's birthday, so we visited his parents. I did get to go for a short walk, which was nice.

Hopefully I'll continue the trend this coming week! With the weather being nice, I should be able to get out and walk every day that it doesn't rain. I am so happy for nice weather. Spring is right around the corner, thankfully!!!

Wordless Wednesday (Funny!)

2010-03-03T03:38:00.000-05:00

Carrot Coins

2010-03-02T14:52:00.002-05:00

6 med carrots, thinly sliced
6 Tbsp orange juice
1 1/2 tsp unsalted butter
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Place carrots and orange juice in a medium saucepan. Cover and cook over medium-low heat 6 minutes, or until carrots are tender-crisp.

Add butter, cinnamon, and pepper. Cook 1 minute, stirring to coat.

Makes 4 servings

Per serving: 62 calories, 1 g protein, 12 g carbohydrate, 2 g fat, 4 mg cholesterol, 3 g fiber, 64 mg sodium

**I received this recipe in my email from VocalPoint. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks good. I might leave out the pepper if I make it, however.

I Love Mail

2010-03-01T14:35:00.005-05:00

I got a small box of this ----------------------------> in the mail today from VocalPoint (cool group online that sends you free samples and coupons). I had no idea it was coming because it was not a sample that I had ever signed up to receive. Needless to say, when I opened the mailbox, I was excited! I can't wait to try it and let you know how it tastes. In addition to the cereal, I got 4 or 5 coupons! Maybe I will use them!

Breathless

2010-02-27T11:51:00.003-05:00

Have you ever had one of those moments when reality on something sets in and it hits you so hard that you can't breathe? I had one of those moments last night lying in bed trying to fall asleep.

I found out a few weeks ago that my uncle has cancer. I've found out a lot more about his cancer the past week or so. Last night, the whole thing really hit me like a ton of bricks.

When we think about cancer, we get different pictures in our heads. These pictures don't include a lot of the nuts and bolts of the treatment, and things that cancer patients have to endure and the things that they have to give up.

I want to see a day when cancer no longer steals anything away from us...time, happiness, strength, taste, and other every day ordinary things we take for granted. PLEASE help me fight cancer. Everyone is touched by cancer in some way and until we eradicate cancer, it will keep invading our lives. Please consider donating to Relay for Life, a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.

Click the link below for donation options. I know we've all been hit hard by the recent financial situation in our nation. But, even $1 helps. Don't feel like any amount is too small...because remember that the ocean is made up of tiny drops of water and look how immense the ocean is when all those drops of water come together!

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/paige.licklider

A New Beginning

2010-02-26T21:14:00.004-05:00

Today is Friday and it's almost Saturday actually. Most people equate Friday as an ending of sorts...but for me, it has been a beginning.

I looked at myself in a mirror today - not one at home, but one out in public. I was shocked at my reflection. I told myself the truth tonight, which was that I need to lose weight. I've been telling myself that for months now, but I have never taken it seriously until tonight. Every day for the past 5 months, I have had at least one hour in the afternoons to use to exercise. Most days, I have gotten on the internet, read, and/or taken a "nap." Yes, nap is in quotations on purpose because I never fall asleep. Maybe I don't fall asleep because subconsciously, I know I should be working out, but who knows. Every day, I am able to make excuses on why it is okay to lie down in my nice, warm, cozy bed instead of working out. I am ALWAYS able to rationalize why it is okay. Well, that all changed tonight.

It's hard to face the truth, but it must be done. The truth is that I have a gut. I weigh the most I ever have in my entire life, excluding the last trimester of my pregnancy. I weigh at least 15 lbs more now than I did 3 months after my daughter was born.

I have always been an active, physically fit person until the past couple of years. I have to quit making excuses and get my butt in gear. Losing weight and getting in shape will boost my self esteem, will trim my waistline, will allow me to wear clothes I haven't worn in a while, will make me healthier, will help me feel more energized, and will help prevent future health issues such as diabetes. All of those things will lead to a happier, healthier me. Plus, I want to be a good role model for my daughter.

I am telling you all of this because I need to be held accountable. It will be hard for me the next time I am home alone and my daughter takes a nap. I will have to use all of the strength I can summon to exercise rather than be a couch potato. So, every Friday, I am going to set goals for myself for the following week. In addition, I am going to blog about my progress. I'll probably check in on Fridays. If I know I have to report to real people, maybe it will encourage me to stick to my goals.

Thank you for letting me tell you all of this.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-02-24T10:31:00.000-05:00

Relay For Life

2010-02-20T21:52:00.003-05:00

I am really tired and drained, so this post probably won't be as well written as I would like for it to be, but I feel a real urgency to get it posted, so here I am.

I have participated in Relay for Life for many years now and it has always been important to me because I've had family members both win and lose the battle to cancer. I've had friends and acquaintances diagnosed with cancer. Cancer not discriminate based on age, sex, race, religion, etc. We have all been touched by cancer in some way.

This year is a little different. Within the past week, my uncle was diagnosed with cancer that is currently stage III. I received an email update from him this morning and then I received an invitation to join the Relay team that I've worked with the past several years. More than ever before do I want to participate.

My Relay For Life team is the Hummingbirds 4-H team out of Orange County, North Carolina. I have set a lofty goal this year. My goal is $500. I know that I can reach my goal with your help. Every little bit counts. Even $5 is a HUGE help. Just think, if everyone in North Carolina donated $5....well, you do the math! It would be a boat load of money going to FIGHT cancer.

We MUST fight back against caner. We can win! We must work together. TOGETHER WE CAN WIN!

You can access my personal Relay website where you can join my team or make donations at the link posted below:

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/paige.licklider

To Read or Not to Read

2010-02-18T20:54:00.003-05:00

First, let me say that I'm sorry there is no recipe to post today. It is not for a lack of recipes...it is due to Thursday sneaking up on me and not having the inclination to type up a recipe post.

In my free time today, I've been reading. That may not sound earth shattering to you, but to me, it is a big deal. Until 2002, reading was a part of me. I loved to read. There have been many nights that I have stayed up until 4 a.m. just to finish a book. One summer, I knocked out several lengthy books in one week. It was awesome. In college, I was an English major. I loved having so much to read and so much to discuss in class. I really miss that.

So what happened in 2002? Law School happened. Unless you have been to law school, you cannot fathom the amount of boring reading that you have to do on a nightly basis. Cases from 200 years ago about property rights. So much work squeezed in to such little time. And could you forgo reading? Oh no, no, no. You might get called on the next day in class. If you don't know the answer, the professor will probably stay with you the entire class, asking you questions. Being called out in a law school class is different - in some classes, it could be considered a form of torture. By your third year, you are used to it...but your first year? Yeah, you want to be prepared. You want to at least sound like you read the cases if you get called on, even if you have no earthly clue what is being asked of you. Gosh, I remember the collective gasping intake of air when in Torts class, a quiet student admitted upon being called on that he had not read the material for that day's class. We all pitied him, but were so thankful that it was not us.

Anyway, to make a much longer story short, law school drained me of my passion for reading. Well, it wasn't just law school. Studying for the bar was something else. I won't go in to that as to not have to relive the horror. Let's put it this way, when I finished after 12 hours of testing, I sat down and cried. At that moment, I didn't care if I passed, I was just so darned thankful to be finished. Had I not passed, I would not have taken that test again.

I still read the Harry Potter books as they came out, but other than that, I didn't read. I had no desire. Thinking about picking up a book made me weary. I hated that. I would walk through the book store, longing to feel drawn to a book, any book, so that I could enter that wonderful world of reading again. I always left empty handed and sad.

Slowly, since Sunny was born, my passion for reading has begun to grow again. When I pumped in the middle of the night (breastfeeding didn't work out, so I pumped milk multiple times a day), I would read books. I started with the Twilight series. I have read those books several times now. I chose a book at the bookstore and actually read it. This year, I have read 4 Dean Koontz books. My sleep has suffered, but my psyche has improved! (Dean Koontz books have the tendency to overstimulate my already too active imagination. In a dimly lit room at night, my eyes play tricks on me!) I am currently reading the Vampire Diaries (not sure how I like these books yet - we'll see how it goes) and next, I will read the House of Night series, with a few more Dean Koontz books thrown in the mix if I can handle it.

Reading again has made me realize how much I have missed it over the past several years and how much I miss my time spend in English classes in college. I am considering going back to grad school to get a Masters in English. I am not ready quite yet. Too much too soon can be too overwhelming. I have time to decide.

Any good books you are reading right now? Any you recommend that I read? Sorry if there are any grammar mistakes or left out words in this post - I would proofread it, but I'm itching to go read in bed!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-02-17T03:35:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T14:14:00.004-05:00

TRUE LOVE

For God so LoVed the world
that he gAve
his onLy
begottEn
soN
That whosoever
believeth In Him
shall Not perish
but have Everlasting life

(I had this spaced really cool, but it wouldn't stay that way without me doing something different in html code and that is beyond my abilities at this point, but hope you enjoy nonetheless!)

A Note on Wordless Wednesday Videos

2010-02-11T06:27:00.001-05:00

You really should watch these videos. Now that I have a child, I have entered the world of kids' songs. Seriously, there is some good stuff out there. Sesame Street has wonderful musicians/artists on the show constantly. They either sing the ABCs in a really cool, musically inspiring way, or they change up one of their hits to be kid friendly and educational.

If you haven't checked out any of my videos, please do. Sesame Street introduced us to the band, Tilly and the Wall. Sunny LOVES to dance to their music. We need only play a few bars and her feet start grooving. The percussion in this band is a tap dancer. Seriously!! Very cool indeed. Tilly's musical appearance on Sesame Street was a rendition of the ABCs.

Feist was another guest on Sesame Street and she redid her song to be a song about counting to 4. The music is still great.

In a couple of weeks, you can see Jason Mraz use his talents on Sesame Street.

I love how Sesame Street not only helps educate our children, but it also introduces them to different types of music. So, check out the videos. If you have kids, they might enjoy them, but you might also. I know I certainly do.

Wordless Wednesday: Valentine's Edition

2010-02-10T03:37:00.000-05:00

Recipe Swap: Pizza Quesadillas

2010-02-09T22:00:00.006-05:00

I wanted to post this last Thursday, but last week was just not a good week for me, so this post is a little bit late. Who says I have to post recipes on Thursdays anyway? Okay, so I did a while back when I said that I wanted to post new recipes each week on Thursdays...heh heh heh. Oh well. I really hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do. It really is extremely easy and very tasty. It is what I imagine a calzone made out of thin and crispy crust pizza would taste like.

First things first, here is the flat pan I use (see picture below). I have no idea what this pan is called because I am not down with the kitchen lingo. I just call it the flat pan. We received it as a wedding gift and boy, has it come in handy. It is great for grilled cheese, quesadillas, and pancakes (although my husband is the pancake maker and he prefers the electric griddle/skillet thing). I am sure that a regular skillet type pan would work just fine. If you have another way of making quesadillas, like a George Foreman, I am sure that would work just fine as well. For a pan on the stove, I suggest putting the heat on the medium setting. Anything hotter and you run the risk of burning the tortilla before the insides are sufficiently heated.

Before you put your quesadilla on the stove, you have to create it! I put down about a spoonful of pizza sauce on one half of the tortilla. I rub it around so that it is evenly distributed on that half.

I then sprinkle a layer of cheese over the sauce. Next, I add pepperoni and a little more cheese. That is all I ever put on mine, but I am sure that you could add hamburger, ham, bacon, pineapple, veggies, or whatever else you like on your pizza. No matter what ingredients you choose to put in your quesadilla, you don't want it to be so thick that the tortilla burns before the insides are sufficiently heated.

When you finish adding toppings, fold the quesadilla in half. Then carefully pick it up and place it on your pan. Cooking time will vary depending on how long your burner has been on, what heat setting you have chosen, how many toppings you put in the quesadilla, and how brown/crispy you want your tortilla to be. A good rule of thumb to follow is to flip the quesadilla when the cheese is melting on the inside. If the cheese is melted, the top half will start sticking. Channel your cooking intuition when making a grilled cheese. Be careful when you flip it to the other side; the sides will not necessarily stay together the way bread does with a grilled cheese because of the other stuff on the inside of the quesadilla. When the tortilla is browned/crisped to your desired level, put it on a plate and voila, you have pizza quesadilla goodness waiting to be eaten.

I use a pizza cutter to slice up this pizza delight in to four pieces. YUM!

ENJOY!

Still Sick...

2010-02-06T19:02:00.003-05:00

I hope to post a recipe or something soon! Geez louise, we are all still sick in this household. I thought I was on the mend, but today I feel pretty lousy again. My daughter seems to be feeling the best out of all of us, but she continues to wake up around 2:30 each morning. My husband is now sick also. Hopefully we will all feel better very soon!! I know I am tired of this crud!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-02-03T07:32:00.000-05:00

Sicko

2010-02-02T17:58:00.002-05:00

I have been sick for the past several days, so I haven't felt much like posting. In fact, I haven't felt like doing much of anything - the last time I was sick like this, I ended up in the emergency room with an IV in my arm and I wanted to avoid a repeat. Of course, I was much more stressed out the last time I got sick and I am a huge believer in the physical consequences of too much stress. Hopefully this time, it is just a nasty cold that will go away after a few days of wreaking havoc on my ability to function properly.

I am almost 100% sure that I would rather have a cold than a stomach bug, but I seriously hate not being able to breathe through my nose...like to the point of panicking if I can't. Hey, we all have our quirks. This is one of mine. This is why I will never go snorkeling or scuba diving. It is probably why I love the water, but am a terrible swimmer.

As you know, we have been trying to follow a menu so that we eat all of the food that we buy and eat at home rather than out somewhere. Being sick has somewhat caused us to go off track a little bit, but it has been okay. I have found that the menu system can still be very flexible. Obviously, we don't have to follow it at all, but I really do want to so that our grocery bills can be as low as possible. Plus, it is so nice to take the guesswork out of "what will we eat tonight?" If dinner has already been chosen, you just have to make it. There is no indecisiveness to get in the way and make us choose to eat out instead of cooking at home.

The absolute worst thing about being sick is when your child gets sick. This is a new thing for me since we've only been parents for 20 months as of tomorrow. I hate to see my child with a stuffy nose and not sleeping well. I hate to think that I passed it along to her and caused her to be sick. I have been trying to figure out where I caught this lovely cold since we don't leave the house much, we wash our hands frequently, and we sanitize shopping carts when we do go out. Of course I will never know the answer. You can be as careful as you can be and still catch something, which is a total bummer.

Anyway, I hope to post a recipe on Thursday. Seriously, feel free to email me (or send me a message on facebook or a comment on this page) recipes that I can post. I will eventually run out of stuff to post and if nothing else, I hope this blog can at least provide us all with some new things to fix at home!

One final note - if you like pizza and you like quesadillas, I really highly recommend the pizza quesadillas. I made those again tonight. They are so easy and so good! Seriously, if I felt like making these when I have felt like crap for several days, then you know this is an easy recipe to make.

Recipe Swap: Rice and Chick-Pea Chili

2010-01-28T06:54:00.000-05:00

Taken from the Chili Cookbook

2/3 cup Uncle Ben's Original Converted Brand Rice
1 can (15 ounces) chick-peas, undrained
1 can (15 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (8 ounces) diced green chilies
1 cup frozen corn
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon taco seasoning
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded cheese

1. In medium saucepan, bring 1 3/4 cups water and rice to a boil. Cover; reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.
2. Add remaining ingredients except cheese. Cook over low heat 10 minutes. Serve in bowls sprinkled with cheese.

Makes 4 servings.

What I actually did:

1 cup (2 servings) of store brand minute rice
1 can (may have been 15.5 ounces) of Goya brand chick-peas, drained a teeny tiny bit from the top of the can
1 can (was probably 15 ounces) of diced tomatoes, undrained
1 small can (I believe 4 to 5 ounces) of diced green chilies (have to take baby steps with my husband and vegetable chunks)
1 cup frozen corn
1 tablespoon of taco seasoning
we each added the amount of cheese wanted

1. Follow instructions on minute rice box.

2. When rice is done, add remaining ingredients except cheese. I actually brought this to a boil and then reduced the heat to low and let it simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.

3. Serve in bowl with sprinkled cheese.

To round out the meal, we had peaches and sweet cornbread. Everyone really liked it - a good way to get more veggies in to our diet!

Wordless Wednesday (Updated)

2010-01-27T12:39:00.000-05:00

Getting Creative with Quesadillas

2010-01-25T10:21:00.000-05:00

Okay...so we didn't get incredibly creative, but I was happy with our results. Anyway, here is the story on last night's dinner.

As you know from my meal planning post, I have been planning out every meal. Well, for last night's meal, I had planned for us to have cheese quesadillas becase we needed to eat some leftover tortillas and taco sauce.

About 15 minutes before it was time to start dinner, I had a weak moment. I was tired, didn't want to make anything even though quesadillas are VERY easy, and I wanted pizza. My husband and I seriously considered Little Caesar's Pizza and Domino's. Luckily, I nixed Little Caesar's because it is in Burlington, which seemed too far to drive for a spontaneous craving, especially when it was by this time after 5 p.m. and raining. Mark put a damper on Domino's because he figured that a TON of people watching football would be ordering pizza. We did not want to wait for over an hour to eat.

So, we begrudgingly made our way in to the kitchen. As I was making the first cheese quesadilla, I was thinking about how bland that was and wondering if it would fill us up. We opened a can of mixed fruit and also put on a pot of black eyed peas. Since I had been craving pizza, I decided to get out some pizza ingredients that we had leftover from making calzones a week or so ago and do something different with the tortillas. For quesadilla number two, I spooned out a little bit of pizza sauce on to the tortilla and spread it around. I added some of the cheese and then added pepperonis. I topped those off with additional cheese and voila, a pizza quesadilla! It was actually really good! For number 3, I made a cheese and black eyed pea quesadilla, which was Mark's favorite. I had already made number 4 by the time he told me it was his favorite, so number 4 was another pizza quesadilla.

Dinner ended up being really good and we discovered a new quesadilla recipe with leftover pizza ingredients. We also saved money by sticking to our menu, eating at home, and not using up any gas to go out somewhere. Dinners like these make it all the more easy to stick to the menu and eat at home!

My Meal Planning System

2010-01-24T20:44:00.003-05:00

When I was still working, I used to make out weekly menus to encourage eating at home more often than eating out. Sometimes we stuck to the menu, but mostly we did not. After I came home for good, I tried a couple of systems in the kitchen. One was just to bulk up and have a lot of food on hand with which I could make a variety of meals. I am sure this system works well for some families, but it did not work well for us. It seemed like we just made the same things over and over again, or food would get wasted. From a purely financial standpoint, wasting food makes absolutely zero sense. It is a complete and utter waste of money. One of my goals is to waste as little food as possible.

The next system was to just plan out 6 dinners or so and buy what we needed for those meals (in addition to some breakfast or lunch items). None of the meals were designated for certain days, so there was still uncertainty as to when we would eat what. I felt like we were spending too much above what I wanted to spend each week on food. In addition, it seemed like we were making too many trips to the store each week to buy extras. Taking a financial viewpoint again, it is more economical to make one trip to the store each week. With one trip, you cut down on mileage and gas. You also cut down on buying extra items not on your list. Yeah, a dollar here and there does not seem like a lot during one shopping trip, but it surely adds up over time.

So, I decided to map out and plan every single meal for the entire week. So, I took out a piece of paper, a ruler, and a blue highlighter, and I made a chart for all 3 meals for all 7 days of the week. I then planned out every single meal. In planning the meals, the first thing I did was to see what food we already had in the house and start with that food. For example, we still had a shake and bake packet, some chicken nuggets, and various canned items. I planned as many meals as I could with these. Then I starting thinking about what we hadn't had in a while and what could be used for more than one meal (examples include sour cream and cheese). Finally, I tried to make sure we were having a few meatless meals (no, we are not vegetarian, but meat is expensive and veggies are healthy). Once all meals were planned, I made a list of what we still needed; nothing more and nothing less. So, when we went to buy our groceries, we stuck to the list and only bought items we needed for that week.

I have done this two weeks in a row now and not only have we eaten in for all meals (except for the one time each week we planned to eat out at Zaxbys), but we have spent under budget both weeks!

This system may not work for everyone, but it has surely been work for us so far, so I wanted to share it with you!

Recipe Coming Soon

2010-01-24T16:46:00.001-05:00

I promise I will post a recipe for Rice and Chickpea Chili very soon! Stay tuned!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-01-20T15:25:00.001-05:00

Choose to...

2010-01-18T12:43:00.004-05:00

My Pastor read a poem by an unknown author yesterday in church. The words of the poem really spoke to me. I am going to have to figure out a creative way to hang this poem up in my house somewhere that I can read it every day, because I want to live my life by what this poem is encouraging its readers to do. I share this poem with you so that it might inspire you also.

Choose to...

Choose to love rather than hate
Choose to smile rather than frown
Choose to build rather than destroy
Choose to persevere rather than quit
Choose to praise rather than gossip
Choose to heal rather than wound
Choose to give rather than grasp
Choose to act rather than delay
Choose to forgive rather than to curse
Choose to pray rather than despair

Wow. Re-read it. Think about a world where everyone chose to rather than. Even if just you chose to rather than, think about how your life would be forever changed. Not that it will always be easy. It is so much easier to quit, to curse, to despair, to gossip, to hate...but those actions only bring sadness and negativity. Choosing to love, to praise, to heal, to give, to pray, to forgive...these actions are sometimes very difficult to do, but are so worth the effort. These actions not only bless you, but everyone else around you. I pray that I will choose to in my life rather than.

Football

2010-01-17T21:02:00.003-05:00

I used to watch NFL football every weekend and could tell you who was doing well in each division and who wasn't. Two years ago, I correctly predicted that if any team could beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl, it would be the Giants. I had been watching them play. I had been watching the Patriots. I watched the Giants barely lose to the Patriots after a valiant effort in a game towards the end of the regular season, and I just knew.

After Sunny was born, I virtually stopped following all sports. I can't remember who played in the Super Bowl last year and I did not even do a bracket last year for March Madness! That in itself is pure insanity! Something about having a baby made me not care about sports. There are various explanations for that, but I think two of the biggest were being beyond exhausted and wanting to spend all of my free time with my baby. [side note - another biggie was probably postpartum depression, but that's a blog post for another time]

This year, things have slowly started to come around for sports. We still don't really care about college basketball...and I could care less about the ACC, including UNC. I know - Blasphemy!!!! For the UNC folks, I still love my team - I just don't get all hyped up these days. I mean, they can't win 'em all people. Anyway, I'm sure the love for college basketball will return.

I am excited that the Colts are still in the playoffs (love Peyton Manning), but sad that Arizona lost to the Saints because I like Kurt Warner. I have always hated the Vikings, so it feels weird in my mouth to actually say that I am glad they are still in - but only because of Brett Favre. Maybe if he wins the Super Bowl this year, he can finally retire already.

So, we'll see how things shape up after the games next weekend. So what are your thoughts on the pro bowl being in between next week's game and the Super Bowl? I actually kinda like it, but only if the players on teams going to the Super Bowl don't have to play. I've always hated that week of no football between the division championships and the Super Bowl. When you are used to watching so many games over the weekends, it is a shock to have zero games to watch. So, having the pro bowl during that week solves that problem and then the season really is done at the end of the Super Bowl.

Anybody going to any Super Bowl parties? I have no idea what our plans are, but we may keep it low key. Please feel free to share any yummy recipes that you usually make for the big game. Email me or send me a message in a comment so I can post your recipe.

Until next time!

Changes to Come

2010-01-17T17:50:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year! With a new year come a lot of changes for a lot people. Well, this blog is going to be seeing some changes, too.

If you look back over the life of this blog, there are many wet and dry spells. I will have a lot to blog about and then two months will go by with no new posts. I apologize for that. The problem, I believe, is that I've been trying to make this blog in to something that it simply is not. When I first started it, I was just getting in to reading a lot of freebie blogs, save money blogs, go green blogs, etc. It was exciting because I, too, was trying to think of new ways to save money and be greener at home. So, I tried to create a blog that was in many ways much like these other blogs out there. The thing is, there are already a lot of blogs like that out there and my blog would just be a copy of those. So, there would be times when I had nothing to say because so many other blogs had already covered everything.

More and more, I've been feeling that this blog needs to be about my personal journey. So, that is what it will be from now on. Instead of trying to bring you the latest freebies and tips on saving money, I am only going to blog about my experiences as a mom who is entering a new decade this year (yes, I am turning 30), a mom who is trying to figure out and stick to a budget so we can afford my decision to stay at home, a mom who is really starting to LOVE to cook and experiment in the kitchen, and a mom who is always trying to be more environmentally conscious.

I will still post freebies as I come across them, I will still post about ways to save money, and I will still post recipes, but my blog is not only going to focus on that stuff. Basically, I'm not going to post something just for the sake of having something to post.

So, here's to a new year and a new blog. I hope you'll join me along the way!

Apgar Scores

2009-11-22T09:20:00.001-05:00

(This blog post uses information from an article in the Fall 2009 issue of "Well Now" by Alamance Regional Medical Center)

Whether or not you've had a baby, you may have heard of the Apgar Test, but you might not really know what it is or why it is performed. Dr. Virginia Apgar first performed this test in 1952 after she witnessed smaller babies struggling after being left unattended after birth while the medical team treated the mother. Because these babies needed special treatment, care, and monitoring, the Apgar Test lead to the development and invention of live saving neonatal care units and medical devices to help care for babies after delivery.

The Apgar Test looks at five areas of newborn health. Each area is assigned a score of 0, 1, or 2. What is really cool is that while the test is named after Dr. Apgar, it is also an acronym of what the test measures: appearance, pulse, grimace, activity, and respiration.

For the appearance measure, the doctor or midwife looks at the baby's skin coloration. To measure the pulse, the baby's heart rate is taken. For the grimace measure, the doctor or midwife examines the baby's reflex irritability. The baby's muscle tone is looked at to measure activity. Finally, for the respiration measure, the breathing rate and effort is tested by the doctor or midwife.

Babies receive the Apgar Test at least two times after birth, one test within minutes of delivery and the second a few minutes later. Most babies will score an eight or a nine out of ten possible points. If a baby scores lower and shows a sign of a problem, the baby will receive appropriate treatment if necessary.

DIY: Drain Clog Remover/Cleaner

2009-11-20T07:15:00.004-05:00

We have had problems with our drains for several years now. We've used so much stuff in our drains to try to remove clogs and clean them out, but nothing seemed to work very well. I got so tired of my husband's sink draining incredibly slow and having to stand in a foot of water every time I took a shower.

A few months ago, my mother-in-law bought me a book for my birthday that I've been looking for in the local library. The book is "Miserly Moms." As soon as it came in the mail, I pretty much skimmed through the entire book. I haven't posted much about my recent life changing decisions/endeavors, but's let's just say that I have been on a quest to figure out how to be a stay at home mom, so I was very excited to get this book.

In the back of the book, there is a section on homemade cleaners, such as glass cleaner, carpet cleaner, and drain cleaner! I decided that nothing else had worked, so why not give this a try? Well, to our VERY pleasant surprise, it WORKED and it worked wonders! Not only did it clear up the drain better than any store bought drain cleaner/clog remover, but it was safe for our septic system, non toxic, very inexpensive, and fun to watch!

Here are the instructions:

You will need:

1/4 cup baking soda
1/2 cup vinegar

Pour the baking soda in to the drain. If your drain is very small and the stopper can't be removed, you may have to help the baking soda get down the drain. We bent a wire hanger to handle this task. Pour the vinegar in the drain. The instructions in the book say to tightly close the drain, but we didn't. You could probably do it either way. Let rest a few minutes. My suggestion is to leave it for 10 to 15 minutes to give it time to work its magic. Then flush with boiling water. Repeat until clear. We found that when we left the solution in the drain for 15 minutes or so, we did not have to repeat. Also, if you have a bunch of hair clogged in your drain (that you can easily remove), you should probably remove that first to make the process more effective.

Below are a few pictures of the process with one of our sink drains:

We used a large pot to make sure we had enough boiling water since the instructions don't say how much boiling water you actually need to have.

The baking soda is already in the drain. Pouring the vinegar in!

Starting to bubble up!

Can't see the drain anymore!

Zaxby's Kidz Meal Deal

2009-11-19T06:00:00.000-05:00

Our local Zaxby's has deals four days out of the week. On Sundays, you can bring in your church bulletin and get 10% off of your order total. On Mondays, they have some type of family night deal, but I am not sure what it is. On Thursdays, you can get nibblerz for 99 cents. The deal in which we partook was Tuesday's 99 cents kidz meals (the deal runs from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.).

The kidz meals are normally around $3.29, so 99 cents is a good deal. You get chicken, fries, cookies, and a drink. We chose the nibblerz kidz meal. So, our family got to eat out last night for approximately $3.2o. That's pretty darn good. Yes, eating at home is still cheaper...but sometimes it is fun to eat out, especially at Zaxby's! Did the kidz meals totally fill us up? No, but it was fine because I was so happy to be able to eat Zaxby's without breaking the bank.

As you can see in the picture below, we all got milk, but you don't have to get milk with the kidz meal. If you like Zaxby's or are looking for a way to eat out more cheaply, you should check out your local Zaxby's to see if they run deals like this during the week. Even if you just couldn't do a kidz meal because it wouldn't fill you up, a family of 2 adults and 3 children could still eat out for about 15 bucks (they have adult meal dealz for $4.99). $15 for a family of 5 is pretty darn great when it comes to eating out. To see if there is a Zaxby's where you live, click here.

Toluna: Update

2009-11-18T07:15:00.007-05:00

I have been a member of Toluna for approximately a month now. I have started receiving invitations for two to three surveys a day. Just receiving an invitation does not mean that you will get to participate in the survey; you have to qualify. Qualifying can take 10 to 15 minutes of answering questions (and you may take this time to answer and NOT qualify). I have only qualified for one or two. In addition, for surveys that I have qualified for, there are always technical difficulties preventing the points from being credited to my account when the survey is submitted, so who knows if I will ever receive the credit. Finally, Toluna just changed the amount necessary to request a check. You now have to have enough points accumulated for $20 instead of $10. It will take a year to reach that goal. I haven't decided yet, but I may drop Toluna. It is too much work and effort for so little reward. Swagbucks is still No. 1 in my book.

Having a Baby Changes EVERYTHING

2009-11-17T21:09:00.003-05:00

We've all heard that phrase - a popular brand states it at the end of a very sweet commercial showing a parent with a new baby. This commercial hits on the overall huge life changes that having a baby brings to parents.

But what about the little changes? The commercial hits on the emotional aspect. What about the physical changes? Women's bodies go through major changes in those nine months leading up to the big day. The mother-to-be experiences weight gain, a growing bust, thicker hair that may shed over the first three months after the birth, the linea negra, widening hips, stretching muscles, ligaments, and tendons to make her body ready for carrying the baby and birth, and a host of not so pleasant changes (like constantly having to use the bathroom, swollen ankles, and stretchmarks)!

Luckily, some of the not so pleasant changes go away after the baby is born. Trips to the bathroom go back to normal, extra hair goes away, the linea negra goes away, and stretchmarks fade. Some changes stay and some of the changes are weird!

Since my daughter was born, I have not really been able to wear earrings! I believe that during my pregnancy, I developed a sensitivity to metal. I am not certain if it is a nickel allergy, but I do know that whenever I try to wear earrings, my ears turn red and begin to burn. This happens even after I have thoroughly cleaned my earrings. I have NEVER had any problems with earrings in the past. From cheap dollar store earrings to nice 24k gold earrings, I could wear them all. I hope to find a pair of earrings that my ears can handle because I do miss having some hoops in my ear lobes!

Another change that I wish would have gone away is acid reflux. Before I was pregnant, I had never felt the "burn" of acid reflux. I had no idea what it felt like. I can't remember when it started during my pregnancy, but I remember drinking half a gallon of milk in 10 minute or less. My throat felt like it was on fire being burned by the most toxic acid. Antacids became a sort of candy for me for the duration of my pregnancy. I still occasionally have acid reflux today, although I don't think any type of food triggers it. It just comes and goes as it pleases.

Do you have any weird changes as a result of pregnancy that never went away?

Toluna: Website Review

2009-10-24T13:03:00.002-04:00

Recently I signed up with Toluna, "an online community dedicating to making your voice heard." Members can participate in surveys, polls, and opinion posts. Points are awarded for completed surveys and sponsored polls. It is possible to get points for general polls and opinions, but it takes a little bit more work. Members can create their own polls and opinions and the Toluna community can respond. For example, if I was in the market to purchase a van, I could post a poll on the best van or I could post an opinion post asking for opinions on the best quality, the best price, the best gas mileage, etc. People who felt compelled to respond could vote on my poll or leave their opinions on my opinion post.

I can see how getting community answers on questions can be helpful, but I am still not sold on this program. I spent two hours last night answering questions for my profile so that the best surveys can be matched and sent to me. I have not been a member for long, but I haven't received any surveys yet.

Some of the negatives that I've seen in the short time I've been a member are the following: (1) For some of the activities a member can participate in to receive points, there are monthly limits to how many points can be earned; (2) the only prizes/rewards you can claim are entries in to a quarterly $5,000 drawing or cash; (3) you can only get the cash once you've accumulated $10 and you can only receive cash in $10 increments (i.e. you've accumulated points equaling $14, you will only get a check for $10 and the $4 will remain in your account; (4) $1 is 3,000 points; and (5) the website tends to freeze up a lot (or at least it has for me).

So, the jury is still out for me and what I think about Toluna. Right now, swagbucks is still the best site in my opinion. Swagbucks is easy, it's fun to search for codes, and they have loads of prizes/rewards.

If you want to check out Toluna for yourself, go here.

Free Crock-Pot Recipes

2009-10-20T21:29:00.005-04:00

Who doesn't love a cookbook for free? You can go here to print or download a copy of 33 Hearty Crock-Pot Recipes from Recipe Lion.

I looked over all of the recipes and they are a little more complex than what I generally like. I must admit that I LOVE recipes with 4 to 5 ingredients or less. When you are a working woman (or man), coming home and having to spend a long time in the kitchen just isn't fun. If your goal is to eat at home, it's a lot easier when you enjoy cooking and are looking forward to your meal. I'll save my thoughts on this for another post (soon). In addition, if I am going to use a crock-pot, I don't want to have to cook anything. I want to just throw it all in the crock-pot and let the crock-pot do all of the work!

For now, check out the free cookbook and let me know what you think!

Swagbucks!

2009-10-10T16:28:00.002-04:00

We have just signed up for swagbucks. I've seen comments about it over the past year, but didn't realize what it was. Now that we've used it for a few weeks, I find it to be pretty cool.

Basically, you use it as your search engine. You can win swagbucks while you are searching. Once you get a certain amount of swagbucks, you can get prizes or gift cards. My husband just got a $5 amazon gift card.

I have a link on the right side of this blog where you can join. If you join through my link, I get some extra swagbucks and each time you win, I win. So, if you get your friends to join through you, then you win when they win! We all win!

You can also get swagbucks by sending in your old cell phones and by creating polls. Seriously, it's pretty cool and easy. I love being able to get gift cards just by searching the internet! They can surely help with purchasing Christmas presents!

Laughter is Contagious!

2009-10-01T13:35:00.001-04:00

C is for Cookie

2009-09-30T16:14:00.005-04:00

That's good enough for me!

October is already a good month for many reasons: the beauty of changing leaves, cooler weather, football, and fall festivals. Now we have TWO more reasons to love October this year!

FREE COOKIES!

Tomorrow only, Mrs. Fields locations are giving away free chocolate chip cookies from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Woohoo!

Also, my favorite cookie company, The Great American Cookie Company, is giving away free cookies this month if you sign up for their email newsletter. You can sign up here. If you sign up before October 1st or have been signed up for a while, you will still get a coupon on October 1st for a free cookie...or so I've read.

As Cookie Monster would say, "YUM YUM YUM!"

Family Friendly Fall Fun

2009-09-29T06:00:00.000-04:00

MONSTER DASH - A Family Festival

It’s a Spooktacular event and much more fun than your ordinary road race. Take to the streets in costume and join in the not so scary family festival. In addition to the 1 mile, 5K and 100 Yard Dash there will be a bone chilling treat.

Date: Sunday, October 25, 2009
Location: Cameron Village
Time: Family Festival starts at 1:30 PM
1 Mile starts at 2:00 PM • 5K starts at 2:30 PM
Dress up in your Halloween costume (not too scary and in good taste) to win prizes!

Packet pickup will be Friday 10/23, 4:00 - 7:00 PM at The Athlete’s Foot in Cameron Village and Saturday 10/24, 2:00 - 6:00 PM at Great Outdoor Provision Co. in Cameron Village • Race day registration and packet pickup begins at 12:30 PM.

Picking the Perfect Name

2009-09-28T06:00:00.001-04:00

I just read an article in the most recent issue of Parents Magazine about a married couple who hired a professional baby naming consultant to help choose her baby's name. Apparently the fees for these consultants can range from $25 to $400.

I am not sure what I think about having to hire a consultant to help name a baby. That just stresses me out. In my opinion, choosing the name should be a fun process. When my husband and I picked our daughter's name, well there wasn't much choosing to be done. He had already set his heart on a name and I knew about this choice before we even started dating. Of course, at that time, I didn't really think about that becoming a reality.

When we found out I was pregnant, I just knew I was having a girl. The name my husband had chosen was for a girl. It seemed like fate that I would have a girl and this name he had chosen would be her name. But what else should you consider when selecting a name? There are a lot of different things that people consider and not everyone considers the same things when choosing a name.

For me personally, I just wanted to make sure that I wouldn't have problems calling my daughter by her chosen name. I mean, if the parent can't even say the name without wincing, how will other people react? How will the child feel? I have a relatively normal name and yet, I hated my name until I was in college. Throughout the years, I endured relentless teasing and nicknames (some were fine, some weren't). I couldn't worry too much about people taking the name and turning it in to a joke, because if kids want to tease other kids, they will find something. If the teasing is not about the child's name, it will be the child's hair, knees, or freckles. In the end though, I had to feel like it was a name I could say over and over again for the rest of my life. As a result, we changed her name just a little bit from what my husband had originally chosen.

When my daughter was still in the womb, she was "Emma" to me. I did not consciously pick that name; it was just there in my mind. Obviously, we did not name our daughter Emma, so I had to mourn that name for just a little bit, but now I can't imagine my daughter being named anything but what she is named.

So, her name was more or less chosen prior to her conception. I did not get to spend endless hours going over names and searching through name books. What is funny is that if I am ever blessed to have another daughter, I have already chosen her name. If we were to have a third daughter, that name is also chosen. Oddly enough, my mind only draws blanks when I try to think of boy names! I mean, I've got nothing! If we are ever blessed to have a son, I guess we'll be searching through the endless lists of names!

Anyway, to get back to this magazine article, this woman got really stressed out and even considered legally changing her baby's name after he was born because the consultant told her that he would be somehow inferior because she picked one spelling over another. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Do our names dictate our personalities or is that a bunch of hooey?

The article also gives readers a lot of names to consider. The categories range from nature inspired names to Shakespeare inspired names to Road Trip names. They have fashion names and spice rack names.

Finally, the article gives 5 tips on choosing a name:

1) Don't get star-struck. Basically, the tip asks how you would feel now if you had named your daughter Mischa or Paris?

2) Avoid Gender Benders.

3) Remember less is more. Make it easy for your kids to fill out the bubble sheets. My question - how long will bubble sheets still be around?

4) Spell it correctly. The author of this article takes issue with parents who think of creative spellings to make their children stand out from the crowd.

5) Make it your own. Ask yourself if you would have liked to have been saddled with this name.

In sum, I am posting about this article from Parents Magazine for fun. Each parent has to make his or her own choices when picking a name. What books did you read when you were choosing names? How did your narrow your choices down? Did you try to pick unique names or did you stick to family names? Were you set on a name for a while or was it a last minute choice between several once your bundle of joy arrived?

Gender Tests

2009-09-26T20:55:00.005-04:00

Everyone who is going to find out the big question prior to birth anxiously awaits the ultrasound that comes sometime around week 18. Different advice on how to achieve a successful ultrasound as far as determining pink or blue (getting the baby to move around so you can see the parts that count!) is always given (drink orange juice or drink a soda) from other mothers.

Technology apparently now provides a way for expectant couples to find out earlier. Of course, the accuracy is not guaranteed, but I guess it could be fun if you have the extra cash to spend.

The first product is called the IntelliGender Gender Prediction Test. You can read information on the test here. The cost is $35. From what I've read, you can find it at Walgreens and it's a urine test. You can use it as early as six weeks and you get results in 10 minutes. The accuracy is between 82 to 90 percent depending on when you take the test.

There is a much more expensive test, called the Pink or Blue DNA Gender test, that actually measures a sample of your blood. You have to send the blood sample in to the company's lab and it measures your DNA. The results are supposed to be 95% accurate. Obviously, this test takes about a week to find out the results since you have to mail in your sample and then wait for the lab to do the test. You can read about it here. This one is a whopping $154.

The jury is still out on this one for me. I think it is cool that technology is progressing, but can anything really beat the big ultrasound? I mean, actually getting to see your baby is like nothing else. What do you think?

No Shoes, No Shirt...Problem?

2009-08-10T06:20:00.000-04:00

Burger King: No shoes rule taken too far with baby

By JIM SALTER
Associated Press Writer

Posted: Aug. 6, 2009

SUNSET HILLS, Mo. — Like most restaurants, the Burger King in this St. Louis suburb has a no shoes, no shirt, no service policy. And baby, do they enforce it. Too much so, the company admitted, after apologizing for restaurant workers who asked a mother to leave because her 6-month-old wasn't wearing shoes.

Jennifer Frederich, her mother and Frederich's infant daughter, Kaylin, stopped at the Burger King in Sunset Hills on Sunday. The baby was shoeless - Frederich figured tiny baby feet were immune from the rule.

But workers told the family to leave because the shoeless baby was violating a health code. In fact, shoelessness is not a health code violation in St. Louis County.

Frederich told KTVI-TV that she and her mother ate hurriedly and left before they could be kicked out. Frederich did not have a listed phone number, and The Associated Press could not reach her for comment.

Burger King released a statement Thursday indicating workers had taken the no shoes, no service policy too far.

"Our franchisee, which independently owns and operates this restaurant, apologizes for this guest's experience," the statement read. "The franchisee is retraining his restaurant team on the proper use of the 'no shoes' policy."

The franchise owner also contacted Frederich to apologize in person.

Frederich told the TV station the flap was a bit overblown, and she hoped no one would be fired. But she appreciated Burger King's apology.

Burger King, based in Miami, is the nation's second-largest hamburger chain, with 11,800 restaurants worldwide.

How Twins are Made in the Computer Age

2009-08-09T13:20:00.002-04:00

Old Navy

2009-05-24T22:06:00.002-04:00

Did anyone else attempt to buy flip flops yesterday at Old Navy for $1? It was certainly a good deal....for those that were able to participate.

We got to Old Navy at 8:50 a.m., not realizing that the store would be opening at 8 a.m. due to the flip flop sale. Needless to say, I have big feet and I'm pretty certain that Old Navy doesn't carry a lot of women's size 10 flip flops. Those must have gone quickly because after searching and searching, I only found one pair of size women's size 10 in black. Too bad I already own a black pair of flip flops. I did not want to stand in an hour long line just to buy one pair.

Old Navy's wonderful sale was a bust! :(

Hiatus & Rant

2009-05-12T21:08:00.003-04:00

I really want to continue this blog, but I will admit that the past two months I have just not had it within me to post anything. I've thought about posting many times, but I haven't had a lot of time. Since my commute is now about 3 hours total, I am gone from about 615 until 5:10 every day (and my time getting home at night might even get later next week). Because of that, I try to avoid the internet as much as possible at night until my daughter has gone to sleep. I want to make sure that I spend as much quality time with her as possible at night.

To a lesser degree, I haven't posted because I've been discouraged. To those who know me personally, they know that being a stay at home mom is the deepest desire of my heart. Even though my current job is a really good one, I feel farther than ever from reaching the goal of being a stay at home mom. It just doesn't seem like it will ever become a possibility. It's not because we are materialistic and don't want to give up certain things. It's not that at all. There really isn't a whole lot that we can cut from our budget.

What else can we cut out? I'm not sure. I read a blog where the mom only spends up to $40 a week on her grocery bill (this includes household items like soap and shampoo) for a family of 4. I do not see how she does it. Despite all of the coupons I've used and always buying the generic brand if possible, I have never been able to get below $40 for our family of 3. We eat things like tomato soup - it's not like we are buying steak.

Some days I feel like a magnet that has been glued to another magnet. Why the glue? Remember that magnets can repel one another if you put the same sides together. The opposite sides are the ones that stick to each other. I feel like I'm a magnet that has been forced to the side of another magnet that I am trying to repel. Every cell in my body is trying to repel being a working mom. I have never wanted something so badly in my life. It can get very discouraging and frustrating to want and feel something so badly and then to know that it's just beyond your reach.

Yes, I am extremely thankful that I am a mother of a wonderful child. I feel very blessed to have this child whether I'm working or not. I don't take that for granted one bit.

Recipe Swap

2009-03-12T23:15:00.002-04:00

Sorry for no recipe today. I have recipes waiting in the wings but haven't had a lot of time this week to post. I go back to work full time on Monday so my brief but wonderful stint as a SAHM is quickly coming to an end. As such, I've tried to spend a lot less time on the internet until after the the baby has gone to bed.

Traveling for Two

2009-03-11T06:02:00.001-04:00

Whether you are planning on taking a Babymoon or hitting the pavement for your job, the following tips can guide you when you take that next trip (tips taken from Parents Magazine but re-worded by me):

1. It's a bird, it's a plane, it's...just a plane: Doctors agree that it is safe to fly during pregnancy and still safe after 30 weeks unless you are carrying multiples. Once you hit 36 weeks, you should skip flying and keep your feet on the ground. If you absolutely must fly past 36 weeks, you'll need to read up on the airline's policy because you may need a doctor's note of approval to board that plane. Try to get an aisle seat since you'll most likely need to visit the bathroom several times. Get up and walk every half hour and stretch your legs while you are sitting. Point and flex your foot - do three sets of ten for each hour you are in the air.

2. Road Trip!!! Doctors suggest that 6 hours is the max time in the car per day in order to maintain a healthy blood flow. Try not to take long car rides alone. Pack lots of water and snacks. Stop every once in a while so that you can walk around and stretch! Try to keep to major highways and if possible, look at your route in advance so you know where the hospitals are along your journey. Keep that seatbelt on no matter how uncomfortable you feel!

3. How much do I get for mileage? If you travel a lot with your job, talk to your employer about cutting back during your pregnancy, especially in the last trimester.

Recipe Swap: Guest Post

2009-03-05T06:00:00.001-05:00

This recipe comes from Anggie Thompson of Orange County, N.C. The story behind this recipe is that Anggie thought it looked like a good recipe and started to make it one night for dinner. She quickly realized that she did not have all of the ingredients called for in the recipe. With quick thinking, she changed up the recipe based on what she did have on hand at home. Sometimes the best recipes are ones we figure out as we go! I know that I change up recipes all the time and like my versions much better! As such, Anggie has provided the "original recipe" and her adaptation. Enjoy!

Sausage Tortellini Soup

1 # bulk Italian sausage
2 cups water
2 cups chopped cabbage
1 can (14 1/2 oz) Italian stewed tomatoes, undrained & cut up
1 can (14 1/2 oz) beef broth
1 can condensed French onion soup
1 pkg (9 oz) refrigerated cheese tortellini
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cook sausage over medium heat until no longer pink, drain. Stir in water, cabbage, tomatoes, broth & soup. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered for 8 minutes.Stir in tortellini; cook 7-9 minutes longer or until pasta is tender. Sprinkle with cheese.

Sausage Ravioli Soup (My adaptation because I didn't have all the ingredients)

1 # bulk Italian sausage
2 cups water
2 cups chopped cabbage
1 can (14 1/2 oz) Diced tomatoes, undrained & cut up
1 can (14 1/2 oz) beef broth
1 can condensed cream of onion soup (why I had this, I don't know!)
1 pkg (25 oz) frozen ravioli (slightly thawed)
1 beef bullion cube
probably 1 teaspoon each oregano & basil
probably 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cook sausage over medium heat until no longer pink, drain. While the sausage drained, add the water & the bullion cube to the pot; bring to a quick boil just to dissolve bullion. Add cabbage, tomatoes, beef broth, sausage, seasonings and soup. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 8 minutes. Add ravioli; cook until it floats. Sprinkle with cheese.

DIY: Laundry Detergent Part II

2009-02-28T16:14:00.003-05:00

I decided to scope out the aisles at Walmart to try to find the ingredients for the homemade laundry detergent. I did find Borax (Mule Team Brand) but that is the ONLY ingredient I found. In addition, I did not see any 5 gallon buckets, something I was certain would be an easy find. There were 2.5 gallon buckets and then there were trash cans, but nothing in between. No decisions have been made yet on what I will use for the 5 gallon bucket.

Not letting the lack of items discourage me, I "goodsearched" the other two ingredients. Everything I read indicated that these items are hard to find for a lot of people. You can order Arm & Hammer washing soda directly from their website. My memory fails me at the moment, but I believe you can also order the laundry bar soap from the Dial website. Before I make any online orders, I will check out a few other stores in the area. I will keep my fingers crossed!

If you have seen any of these ingredients in your local supermarket, please leave a comment below. I hope to have my mission complete very soon - at least before we run out of laundry detergent so we don't have to buy another bottle of it! Idea - I can use the empty detergent bottle to hold my homemade detergent! Score!

Recipe Swap

2009-02-26T09:51:00.004-05:00

We all know that eating at home can save a lot of money. If you don't know that, you do now! In addition, it can also be a lot healthier. For us it certainly is because when we eat out, the majority of what we get is fried. Although we do have the ability to fry food at home, it's not going to be an every day occurrence.

I know that the readership on this blog is probably small right now, although I hope that will change! The more people who read this, the more we can all benefit. I hope that everyone will share their thoughts and tips, so the more people who can do that, the more information we will all have to share. Shameless plug time ---> Feel free to let your friends and family members know about this blog. It may not be the best blog out there, but I hope it does provide some help or at least some enjoyable reading material to you!

All of that said, I have decided to deem Thursdays "Recipe Swap" day. I will (try to) post a recipe every Thursday that is easy and that we have actually tried. In the alternative, I would be more than happy to post one of your recipes! If you have a recipe you would like to share, let me know by posting a comment expressing your interest or send me an email. I'll get in touch with you and post your recipe as a guest blog entry! Hopefully we can all gain new recipes so we can continue to eat at home, save money, and save our waistlines!

FIRST RECIPE

We actually tried this last night and it was good - better than I expected! It was so easy to make and we already had a lot of the ingredients. For any items you don't have, nothing in the recipe is expensive to purchase.

3-Cheese Pasta Bake
Prep: 15 min. Bake: 20 min. Makes: 4 servings.

1 can (10 3/4 oz.) Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 package (8 oz.) shredded two cheese blend (we already had a package of cheddar cheese, so we just used this instead and it still worked great!)
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese (we used the kind that comes in a can)
1 cup milk
1/4 tsp. pepper (we just put in a few shakes, but I'm not a huge fan of pepper)
3 cups rotini, cooked and drained

1. Stir soup, cheese, milk, and pepper in an 8 x 8 baking dish. Stir in Pasta.
2. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until hot.

We served this with salad that we already had and it made for a very nice meal! Enjoy!!

Lullaby Your Stress Away

2009-02-25T07:30:00.002-05:00

Moms-to-be! Have you bought or received any baby music CDs yet? If not, it may be a good time to invest in a few (or borrow some from your local library or a friend) even if your due date is months away. The Journal of Clinical Nursing reports that listening to the soothing music (such as lullabies) for as little as 30 minutes a day can reduce your stress, anxiety, and depression during pregnancy. Other great sounds to listen to that will help you chill out are classical music and nature sounds. I even have CDs that mix classical music with nature sounds.

Of course, you don't have to be pregnant to enjoy stress reducing music! :)

DIY: Laundry Detergent

2009-02-24T13:25:00.005-05:00

Okay...so the picture above, taken from EnglishFailBlog.com, is just for laughs. Seriously though, I'm preparing to make my first batch of homemade laundry detergent in the very near future. Apparently, the savings are enormous. The cost comes out to 1 cent a load. Wow. In addition, there are no added perfumes or dyes, so your clothes just smell clean because they are clean and you don't have to worry about chemicals and additives that can irritate precious little baby skin (not to mention your own).

The first step is to collect enough bottles and containers to hold the detergent once made. You need to have at least 5 gallons of container space in advance because the recipe makes about 5 gallons of detergent - if you have kids running around, it's probably not a good idea to just have a 5 gallon bucket filled with detergent just out in the open. That's an accident (or a huge mess) WAITING to happen. So far, I've got 2 gallon jugs (one was orange juice and one was nursery water) and a 1/2 gallon jug (was milk). We will not have the final containers until some more milk, OJ, and nursery water is consumed, but I am so excited about trying out this recipe to make my own detergent that I feel like drinking a lot of beverages today (j/k)!

I will keep you updated on my progress. Once I have the containers collected, I will have to assemble the ingredients and supplies necessary to create my concoction. Finally, I will follow the recipe and make my detergent!! I promise to post everything, including the instructions, very soon!

National Pancake Day

2009-02-24T09:52:00.003-05:00

Today should be a good day no matter what. If you don't know what to do for dinner, don't want to spend a lot of money, or just need a "pick me up," today is your day. You can get a free short stack at IHOP until 10 pm tonight. Go to their website to find the location nearest to you. YAY for free pancakes!!! They do ask that you make a small donation to the Children's Miracle Network. Not only can you make your stomach happy, but you can help change the lives of Children! Pancake Day is an all around feel good day for everyone!