Naturally Domestic . . . NOT!

[Sponsored Post] Kroger Private Selection store brand foods

2011-12-07T10:39:00.004-06:00

I received coupons from Bzzagent to try a new brand of food at Kroger. Not just any brand either but a store brand called Private Selection.

I think I had tried one or two things from this brand before, but with the coupons that Private Selection sent me through Bzzagent, I was able to make a thorough dent in the product line.

I will definitely continue buying things from this frozen line of store brand foods. They are less expensive and the same or maybe better quality than some of the name brand things that i have tried.

Thanks Bzzagent for allowing me to try out this brand from Kroger.

[Sponsored Post] Kroger Truly Awesome Homestyle Chocolate Chip cookie

2011-11-10T17:04:00.002-06:00

I bought these at Kroger and found that they are a pretty tasty treat. When you don't have time to bake something, I think this is a great exchange. They were not too crunchy, and just the right amount of chewy. I loved the amount of chocolate chips too. I am glad that buzz agent got me interested in trying the cookies.

Minor Plans for Homeschooling

2011-08-20T10:06:00.003-05:00

I have been spending a lot of time this summer with my unschooling friends. This has had the effect of helping me feel satisfied about my children instead of hopeless for the coming year.

I still have a plan though ;-)

I am planing on using a little bit of a lot of different things this year. Here is a list of them.

Life of Fred Elementary Series

Life of Fred is just awesome. I don't know any other way I could describe it. It is a story book set with a few questions at the end of each chapter to help the child work through and remember the lesson.

SOS Math for practice on the computer.

Cantering the Country (Unit study using the United States)

It Happened in America - True Stories from the 50 States

Travel the Great States - an Activity book

You can probably tell from the above that I plan on focusing on US history and Geography this year.

English will consist of working in the book Voyages in English #2 and #5.

We will try to get more Museum time in as well as parks and meeting up with friends.

In September we will be at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine during Home School week. If you see me come and talk to me :-)

Wands

2011-08-19T09:39:00.008-05:00

Someone private messaged me about the wands in the picture in the post I wrote highlighting our trip to Nebraska. I found that craft online.

Harry Potter Wand Tutorial

Next time I do this craft I will try silicone instead, and then finish off the tips and designs with the hot glue.

I filled the wands myself, but if you try it out I think that teenagers could do this pretty easily if they are the type to not hurt themselves randomly.

I think this is a really cool craft and I am glad that we had a chance to try it out.

Painting the Wands

Hot gluing the designs on a wand

Traveling With My Kids

2011-08-18T13:04:00.003-05:00

We just got back from the annual AP Jamboree last week. It was a week full of fun conversations, spending time with friends and loads of tea and toast.

Highlights of the week we were gone:

The Unschool Bus!

No picture because I haven't liberated one from Tiffany yet, but here is a link to their blog.

Unschooling Liberty

STORMS! We are in TX and going through a nasty drought so these while noisy, were welcome.

Bugs! They have cool bugs in Nebraska :-)

Going Barefoot!

Injuries. Only this one if I remember correctly.

Sleeping on couches.

WANDS!

Pork Chops Stuffed with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Spinach

2010-02-24T17:55:00.001-06:00

Had this at our monthly recipe swap and it is WONDERFUL!!! Lori
bruught it to the swap, I don't know where she got it...

Pork Chops Stuffed with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Spinach

Ingredients

* 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 6 sun-dried tomatoes, diced
* 1 (10-ounce) bag of frozen spinach, thawed and excess water squeezed out
* 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
* 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning
* 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
* 1/4 cup (2 ounces) Feta cheese
* 1/3 cup cream cheese
* 4 (4-ounce) center-cut pork chops [or 8 THIN-cut]
* 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
* 1/2 lemon, zested
* 2 tablespoons lemon juice
* 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

Directions

Warm the 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium
heat. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the
sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, salt, pepper, and thyme. Cook until
combined, about 2 more minutes. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl.
Add the goat cheese and the cream cheese. Stir to combine and set
aside.

Use a sharp knife to cut a pocket into the thickest portion of the
pork chop. Stuff each pocket with 1/4 of the spinach and sun-dried
tomato mixture and close the pork around the stuffing. Season the
outside of the pork with salt and pepper.

In a small bowl combine the chicken broth, lemon zest, lemon juice, and mustard.

Warm the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large, heavy skillet
over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot add the pork. Cook until
golden and cooked through, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer the pork
to a side dish and tent with foil to keep warm. Add the chicken broth
mixture to the skillet over medium-high heat. Scrape up the brown bits
from the bottom of the pan as the chicken broth simmers. Reduce the
broth by half to make a light sauce, about 8 minutes. Spoon some sauce
over the pork before serving.

(NOT) Homemade Sour Cream Enchiladas

2009-09-18T12:35:00.004-05:00

3/4 C. Sour Cream [about 1/3 of a 1lb container]
1 10.5 oz can Cream of Chicken
small can chopped green chilies
Shredded Cheddar [ I used a cheddar Monterrey Jack combo]
frozen chicken Taqitoes [I used El Monterrey brand]

Mix the soup and sour cream. Add green chilies to your heat preference.

Put the Taquitoes into a glass oven proof dish in one layer. Spread the sour cream sauce on top and then top generously with shredded cheese.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

HAWAIIAN FALLS GIVEAWAY

2009-07-08T21:41:00.001-05:00

This is a announcement from http://www.northtexaskids.com

Giveaway: I Wanna' Make A Splash!

It's summertime in Texas, which means I'm one HOT mama (literally!) and I could use a great way to cool off … without breaking the bank. My fingers are crossed (oh, the toes, too) that I can snag the North Texas Kids Splashfest fun pack for the whole family.

This awesome giveaway includes four passes to Splashfest, a water-filled family expo at Hawaiian Falls in The Colony, and a rockin' cabana! Best part(s), well in addition to the total greatness that is free stuff? Radio Disney, 20 family-friendly vendors and Sci-Tech Discovery Center (hello, poolside science for the kiddos? Sweet!) will all be there.Event Details:
North Texas Kids Splashfest
benefiting Sci-Tech Discovery Center?Hawaiian Falls in The Colony
Saturday, July 18
11 am-4 pm
discounted admission tickets available at www.northtexaskids.com

While I'd love to win the golden ticket, I'm a sucker for dishing details—especially when other mamas can benefit. So, here goes. If you, too, would like a chance to soak in the sun, fun and latest in parenting support courtesy of North Texas Kids magazine, simply copy this entry (including headline and the above link to the pub) and repost it on your own mama blog, then shoot the magazine an e-mail at HYPERLINK "mailto:info@northtexaskids.com"info@northtexaskids.com to let them know you're participating (be sure to include a link to your post).

Next Thursday, a winner will be drawn from the "inbox" and notified via e-mail … it's that easy!

Good luck ladies, may the "hottest" mama win. ;)

Thanks for your help!

Minette Riordan

Publisher

North Texas Kids magazine

Advances in Robotics

2009-04-08T15:28:00.000-05:00

I read a blog today about this
<http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2009/04/08/japan's-child-robot-learns-to-walk/>
it is abotu a robot learning.

I thought it was interesting :-)

Easy Enchiladas (with home made sauce)

2009-03-18T15:26:00.001-05:00

Easy enchilada sauce

2 Tablespoon Oil
2 Tablespoon all purpose flour
2 Tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
2 cups water

heat oil in large 2 quart sauce pan. Stir in flour and chili powder.
Cook for one minute. add remaining ingredients. bring to a boil and
simmer for 10 minutes.

Easy enchilada's : preheat oven to 350 F

ingredients of your choice : shredded Mexican blend, or cheddar, or
Monterey jack; grilled onions (YUMMY!), grilled bell peppers, olives,
cooked meat of your choice...

Prepare corn tortilla's by softening them. The traditional way is to
fry them in hot oil for a couple of seconds. heating them in the
microwave will also soften them but the taste is slightly different.

place a small amount of sauce on the bottom of the pan before placing
the enchiladas.

insert the ingredients of your choice and then roll. Place in a 9x13
(or smaller pans separating out each family members choices). place
in the pans seam side down. Cover with enchilada sauce and sprinkle
with cheese. heat in the oven for 20 minutes for just until the
cheese is melted and bubbly.

DID you KNOW that MAGICAL things HAPPEN every DAY?

2009-02-23T16:35:00.004-06:00

I want to do a blog highlight!

I am a part of a group that was started by the founder of the website Magical Childhood. I am really blessed to be a part of her group. She is the infamous author of the article: What Should a 4 Year Old Know? This article has been sited all over the web by people who believe that children will LEARN so stop forcing flashcards down their throat. She has a lot to offer, she is a mom of 5, she has wonderful ideas. Her main website is A Magical Childhood and it offers up articles on so many helpful things, like how to make homemade ooblek to ideas for art and other wonderful crafts.

She has started a blog to go along with the Magical Childhood site, and although it just started I know that there will be a lot of great and 'cool' things that will be coming through there. I definitely suggest that you add this one to your feed reader. The Magical Childhood Blog will be one of your favorite reads, I promise.

Find her website here: A Magical Childhood

Find the New Magical child Blog here: A Magical Childhood Blog

Find her Home school Blog here: Magic and Mayhem

Find a wonderful yahoo group of AP Mama's here.

EDIT: Alicia kindly let me know that she had 4 children and 1 husband, not 5 children as previously mentioned.

Too much time (and Beer) on their hands

2009-02-09T13:50:00.003-06:00

I watched this youtube video today. I thought it was hilarious. I am glad I am not theone that had to clean up after them...

If anyone that reads this can translate this to english I would be interested in know what the text says (just not interested enough to transcribe and input into a translation matrix LOL)

Books for learning

2009-02-09T12:51:00.000-06:00

I use google feed reader every day. I subscribe to all kinds of feeds
from Mommy blogs to Frugal/money saver blogs, to home school and
Montessori.

Today on the blog Montessori for Everyone, She wrote about the books
she thought essential in an Elementary classroom (or home school
bookshelf).

I recommend going and reading her blog today I might just be about to
spend a lot of money on books lol.

<http://www.blog.montessoriforeveryone.com/recommended-elementary.html>

April
--
Turn off the TV and read a book. It is called thinking outside the 'box'.

Shoe throwing: The new insult

2009-02-02T17:36:00.002-06:00

I was minding my own business browsing through my emails in GMAIL and up popped this news piece in the news feed.

Protester Throws Shoe at China's Premier

It only reminded me of this:

Iraqi journalist hurls shoes at Bush

and then I wondered, with all the shoe throwing going on, is there a lot of left wing elitist gits walking around limping because they only have one shoe on? I mean come on, I don't like you so I am going to throw my shoe at you?? Therefore making my chances of running away (or rather GETTING away by running) unsuccessful.

Is this one of those times where you award an 'I'm Stoopid' sign?

You might think that by calling some imaginary people 'left wing elitist gits' that I am a right wing moral upstanding citizen.

You would be wrong. I believe in ~~making fun~~ equal representation of all political idiots.

Rice pudding is my nemesis

2009-02-02T15:19:00.006-06:00

So every month or so, instead of SAVING leftover rice to eat, I decide I just have to make some rice pudding. Well I call it rice pudding, but growing up it was just called sweet rice. So whatever you want to call it be my guest. You take leftover rice and you dump a bunch of milk over it in a pan and you cook it for like 20 minutes at a simmer and sometime in there you add some sugar and spices of your choice. I like cinnamon and nutmeg. You simmer away and at about the 12-14 minute mark slowly stir in 2 beaten eggs. (See the addition of eggs makes it pudding because pudding has eggs. AND if it didnt have eggs it would just me some milky sweet rice mixture that was just thrown together but because there is eggs you totally meant to make this gloppy mess)

But hell on wheels I just can't figure out why I make this stuff. Imean I make it, set it on the counter to cool, have a very small portion of it usually consisting of me walking by about 10 times and jabbing my finger into it and tasting it... then 24 hours later I come along and throw the stuff away because really I don't like it and no one else here will eat it.

So why do I make it? I don't have a clue. I mean why does a man not ask for directions and why do Jehovah Witnesses ask you if you know jesus when obviously you are alive and they believe Jesus is the cause of all that so why do they go around asking unless they aren't sure in which case why are they asking me since I totally don't know.

So if you hear me say I plan on making rice pudding please remind me that I don't like it.

SENSA weightloss my my ass

2009-02-02T15:19:00.005-06:00

So I have been using Sensa for about a month (in a day or so). I weighed myself this morning and I weighed 211.5 and I was like woohoo, I am using this powdered white stuff that they say is 'just smells' to make my brain say "you're full, you fatty" but really is probably amphetamines in disguise because whoever heard of smells in white powder form?

So I am brushing my teeth (at 12pm because when you home school you can totally sleep in and then do school after lunch) thinking about 211.5 and I think, "I wonder if I weigh again if it will be the same? Cause I mean I haven't been dieting or anything and I didn't zero the scale out so I bet it was a mistake." Well who is always right? WHO? Me that's who. I shouldn't argue with myself. I zero'd the scale out and the new weight is

217.5

I wish I could say I was happy about that number but I have that body dismorphic disorder where you look in the mirror and your eyes see a big flabby fat ass. The number is lower than
the starting number and I HAVEN'T done anything to lose weight other than sprinkle white powder on most of the food that I eat. OK so I am a little happy and a little pissed off because really free weight loss products should kick ass.

Ok so almost 10 pounds in a month (226 - 217.5 = 8.5) 8.5 pounds is no laughing matter for a month.

Congratulations to me.

Mommy dating / Girl dates

2009-01-27T01:29:00.000-06:00

I was invited to go grocery shopping with Woman I met on freecycle.
This happened last week. I went shopping and afterwards she asked me
over to her house. Her husband (no kids) was out of town and I felt
really naughty for going.. I mean frozen food in the trunk, my hubby
at home with the kids.

But I did. I went to her house. I drank apple cider from a packet
and she drank something... not sure she mentioned it wasn't tea so
that it wouldn't keep her up all night.

We got there about TEN and I Left a little after midnight. I felt
exhilarated! I felt like I had been on a date.

Then today I read this article and realized, I felt that way because
pretty much it WAS a date.

<http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/articles/2008/11/06/the_perils_of_mommy_dating/>

It was a meeting of two people in a public place to initiate
friendship and find out if you can stand each other. That is what
dating is right?

So I went on a girl date.

I am so proud of me for making a friend. We have been emailing a
little about gardens and compost. Just what close friends talk about
right [GRIN]!

Sensa media todo's and an update

2009-01-26T13:47:00.001-06:00

I wanted to mention some recent articles that have been written on Sensa.

The first one is on the Daily Candy. I was checking the site out
after Amanda sent me the link and the Daily Candy seems like a hip fun
place. I like pages that have good articles and arrange them in such
an easy way to navigate.

The Daily Candy featured 2 articles about Sensa on January 7, 2009.
The links are below:
<http://www.dailycandy.com/new_york/article/40986/Sensationally+Thin>
<http://www.dailycandy.com/new_york/article/40987/Sprinkle+Your+Way+to+Slim>

The two articles are good at distilling the main ideas about Sensa. I
like the Sensationally Thin one because it is all simply technical :-)

Today, Sensa is featured on the homepage on HSN and MSN. The links are below:
<http://www.hsn.com/todays-special_xh.aspx?cm_re=billboard*SENSA_DietProgramTS_BB_and_Launch*background>
http://www.msn.com/ (Shopping Section on homepage)

This is a link to buy Sensa from HSN and there is also some reading
material on there about it. It is on Today's Special (1/26/2009) for
74.95 for a 2-month starter kit. If you visit the Daily Candy article
you can click through to a sale for 31 percent off on a 3 month
starter kit - the better deal.

I am on my 3rd week on Sensa. I feel ok, I am not constipated (more
of the opposite but not quite), my energy levels are good, and I am
losing weight... a little bit but still losing.

I want an electric treadmill but I don't want to pay $1000 or more. I
asked on freecycle but no luck. <sigh>

HS activities and posterity

2009-01-21T23:46:00.001-06:00

For activities with the kids: I joined 2 groups. One 'free' group.
The kind you find on yahoo and etc. They do park days and started a
coop this year that I didnt join in on because it was happening while
I was busy when it started and they were fairly disorganized at that
point. They are pretty nice so I do hope to continue doing park days
with them and hopefully in the future maybe it might become something
more that 'those homeschool kids'.

The second is a pay to join group. They are organized (roberts rules
of order lol) and have a coop on fridays. I didnt join their coop
this term because the classes offered didnt quite fit into a workable
schedule. But they do have open lego play and pokemon league during
the coop day so I am welcome to bring the kids any time for that. I
plan on it and everyone is really nice.. maybe more crunchy than me
but maybe just the vocal ones lol. I think that this is one that
could turn into something that is a keeper too. The age range in
this coop is avg to younger than my kids so it is potentially a group
that we can grow with.

I went to a face to face meet with the above group a couple of weeks
ago (by myself) and it was nice to sit with a group of women drinking
tea and talking in coherant sentences, and not have to worry about the
kids. My kids are good kids by the way, or at least I think so, but
still being somewhere where the only person you have to worry about is
yourself is GREAT. I guess those meetings will be my version of Risa's
Thursday night yoga classes :-P

I think I will post this letter to my blog as well because I think it
is the kind of thing that will be interesting to look back on and see
hey I am doing so much better now than I was then.

April

Sensa

2009-01-19T10:15:00.001-06:00

I weighed in this morning.

Oh you want to know?

220.5

I actually forgot to weigh in last week. so it has been 13 days since
my last weight check. 226.5 - 220.5 = 6

6 lbs in 13 days is almost half a pound a day. I am a cynic though
and think that it could be normal weight fluctuation.

To-do: take tape measure measurements. I will post these as a
separate post when I do them.

So that is the boring stuff.

How have I been doing with Sensa?

Sometimes I forget to use the sensa. I don't think it is very often.
for example, if we say 4 meals and 2 snacks a day, and I am forgetting
once every 2 days or so for a miss factor of 1 in 12 or 8 percent.
Not bad I think.

What kind of changes have I made in my routine because of Sensa?

using Sensa makes me think about what I eat / put in my mouth. How
can it not when everything must be sprinkled. In a controlled trial
of this product, I would think that there would need to be 3 groups.
The Sensa group, a group taught mindful eating, and a group that
didn't have a class on mindful eating. I expect that some of Sensa's
success has to do with being mindful of what you are eating along with
any science to the tastants.

I don't think I care. If it works then I am grateful.

SO TRUE!!

2009-01-14T16:25:00.002-06:00

The following is really true. There is a culture of rudeness and one-up-ness. Rarely do you find a group that you trully can feel like being open and totally yourself without being judged. I recommend you subscribe to the following blog. It is such a fun read and the pictures are wonderful. You can get a link to where she sells her Little Travelers videos on her blog. The videos are taken with the perspective of her children in mind and are truly cool to watch.

excerpt from Angelina Hart's Little travelers blog. It can be found here. The original blog article HERE.

My point here is that in our country we do not have a common mothering culture. We rarely tend to parent similar to other mothers around us and therefor don't seem to have a common connection to other mothers. It is a rare instance when I can share a smile and a gesture with a mother at a park that says, "I know how you feel." Sometimes I will look to a mother with a tantruming toddler wanting to just smile at her in a way that says, "I've been there." but rarely will that woman look at me for fear that she is being judged. I think it has much to do with our societies focus on competitiveness that drives much of this. If my children aren't in the middle of a tantrum and yours are that must mean that I'm winning at being a parent and you are losing. There really is not a sense of common ground in most cases. Within our own small groups sometimes that spirit of 'in it together' does emerge, but I'm talking about with strangers in the park or the grocery store.

Spelling Activity

2009-01-13T12:17:00.002-06:00

I made a stamping spelling activity for Judy. It is a set of alphabet stamps I got at Hobby Lobby on clearance. A recycled Fruit Roll up box, a stamp pad and note cards.

Here is how it is supposed to work:

This is how the finished product is supposed to look:

I learned a trick for gleaning everyday spelling words from a mom I met on AP_Homeschoolers. Susan would (still might) take words which her children didn't know. When her children read out loud, she made a note of words they didn't know or stumbled on, and she would create ther weekly spelling list from those words.

I select a poem in the morning and while D and J are working on their first work, I read it to them. Then When Davy is working on Voyages in English, I have Judy read the poem back to me. I have been collecting words from that and will give her a small list to stamp tomorrow.

The poems this week have been really fun. The first poem was The Adventures of Isabel by Odgen Nash, and Jimmy Jet and His TV Set by Shel Silverstein.

2009-01-13T12:08:00.003-06:00

I have a Nutter. No I am not British, I just have a good
friend. Who is. British. Davy is my nutter, my crazy kid,
my boy who likes to think up impossible scenarios and then ask you
about them.

Davy: "How do you lick something that can't be licked?"

Me: I just looked at him.

Davy: "Like your tongue!"

Then he laughed madly and ran away. I am not sure what to think of
that. Is he French kissing himself? Is he just wanting to taste
something new and different? HAHA He is 9. and a half.

He is so silly and funny sometimes. I really love him a lot :-) I
worry that he is too exuberant for groups though. He is the reason I
home school. Judy is the reason I became 'AP'.

Together both my children have taught me a different way of living and
handling life. isn't that what growing up is all about?

Sensa, doing its job however that is

2009-01-11T19:40:00.001-06:00

I started using Sensa and wanted to touch base with how I perceive it
to be working. My educational background is social/psyche so I will
probably also be analyzing myself too.

I didn't think that an over the counter product would have that big of
a non-amphetamine effect. I understand the concept, the Tastants(R)
are inhaled both through your mouth as you are chewing and through
your nose on the way in. They chemically interact somehow with the
center of the brain responsible for fullness and satiety. The above is
my take, please comment if you know different or if I said it in a
wrong way.

So I have been using this powder. There is sweet/salty. You use the
powder for what the food mostly is, salty on Pizza, sweet on a candy
bar. Salty on a Payday maybe and sweet on corn.

The thing I wonder the most, is about the psychology of mindful
eating. I used to belong to a yahoo group a couple of years ago
called no-diet. There are also books that address this topic [mindful
eating]. Does this powder work or does it make me THINK about
everything I put into my body? One of the things about successful
'diets' or eating plans usually is that you track everything that goes
into your body.

I am not counting calories. I am not tracking carbs, fat, or sugar.
I don't know if I am losing weight either because I haven't weighed
since I did the first 'before the diet' weigh-in. The thing that I am
doing now that is different than before Sensa is: 1) I stopped
drinking soda (approx 5 cans a week) and 2) I am actively thinking
about what I eat by having to remember to sprinkle the powder.

I am not eating as much. The materials for Sensa mentioned that it
wouldn't work right away, but that I would see results and to keep
using the powder. I think I am seeing results already. I am
thrilled. I have always been a foody. I like the taste of food and
hate to leave food on my plate. Yet since I started Sensa I have been
mindful of eating, and trying to stop and say to myself "Do I want
more?". I have surprised myself when I have chosen to stop eating, and
not felt like I was still hungry.

I think it's working and I am excited. Now if only they could come up
with a powder to make me WANT to exercise.

2009-01-08T11:39:00.001-06:00

I weighed in. I know I promised a Sensa blog two days ago, but things are just not happening like I thought they would. I weighed in Tuesday and I am 226. I will weigh in once a week and blog once a week about how the diet is going and what I think about Sensa.

Good luck to the others out there who are starting a weight loss Journey this month.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-02T09:47:00.002-06:00

We have one more 'Christmas/New Years' celebration and then 2009 will officially be real for me :-)

We leave for Waco early in the morning and return home Sunday. There will be lots of food, family and fun.

Ok - Some resolutions for 2009

Change my eating habits. I don't want to commit to a diet that will or will not fail, but small changes like whole foods, and no soda.

Add in exercise to my routine. I read an article that designated a mile at 20 minutes on avg, or 2000 steps on a pedometer.

Blog twice a week. Once for Sensa, once for my life.

Meet/make some friends. I am lonely.

Finish unpacking and set up the house in a more decorated style.

Become more Frugal.

yell less

play more

smile more

Thanks for Reading and here is hoping that you have a prosperous 2009

I didn't and still don't look this good

2008-12-24T00:00:00.005-06:00

I was reading blogs in my google reader and I saw this fun time waster at the blog Good Mom Bad Mom. She Morphed her daughter using a web ap called Puma Past Masher. The blog title is 'You don't want to know what your kid will look like in 10 years.' If you like her writing she also has a blog called The Bloggess and sometimes I laugh so hard I ~~pee my pants~~ cry.

April - Ugly shirt. Exactly something I might have worn too. The flute just reminded me of American Pie "One Time at Band Camp...".

Judith as a 14 year old. Ugly shirt. Didn't notice until just now that I chose the same shirt for both of us.

You can stay but you can't drive my car

2008-12-23T16:25:00.005-06:00

So... Christmas eve at the in laws. Stay a couple of days or have a whirlwind go and come back?

I have this meme in my head. This idea of a 'perfect' Christmas get together. It actually involves a lot of imperfect scenarios meshing together to become an event that you look upon later as 'perfect'. It means sleeping on an air mattress on the floor, trying to cook in a kitchen with 5 or more other women who are related either by blood or marriage. It means watching slides or looking through pictures from 'way back' and reminiscing about 1982. It means exposing your homeschooled children to elderly teacher aunts who feel it is their god given duty to quiz said children on everything from reading to social activities. It means listening from around the corner while said child says something you totally would never want said elderly aunts to hear. Gah but it all comes together because everyone is family, you can't be lonely with so many people around and the food is great.

Now that above 'perfect' actually comes close with a get together on my dad's side. It happens every year after Christmas and for a weekend there are a lot of people in one place doing a lot of things and hopefully everyone leaves feeling like they are blessed to have such a big nauseating family.

For Thanksgiving we were on our own. David's parents didn't want us to come, they wanted a quiet normal pretend it isn't a holiday, day. My parents had to work.

So now for Christmas. We are going to drive the 5 hours to Abilene tomorrow (Xmas eve) and spend the night, then David will drive home Xmas day so that he can go to work Friday and Saturday, then he will drive back to Abilene saturday evening and spend the night and then we will all go home together Sunday. Fun. The Original Plan was that we would just spend the night on Xmas eve and then all go home Xmas day. David's mom was like, " That is such a short stay why can't you stay longer."

heh OK.

So I told David, " Tell your mom that the kids and I can stay and you will come home and then drive back to pick us up." Dutifully (or nagged so much he did it to get me off his back) he calls her up and tells her that.

So she says, "I have to ask you dad."

heh. gah.choke.

So I call back the next day to find out how many days I need to pack for, and She says, "You can stay but you can't drive my car. I need my car."

I have to say, the only time I drive her car is when her and I go shopping or running errands. She ASKS me to drive. I never 'borrow' her car to do my own thing.

The only time I have driven a car of theirs it wasn't hers it was HIS and it was when I was there for two days after my Great Grandmother died in October of 2006.

Time to figure out how to write rants with out saying "SO" so so much.

Life goes on

2008-12-08T20:31:00.002-06:00

My life has lately been revolving around how much help I am not getting around the house. Yes I am Mrs. Negativity. Mrs. Positive is on vacation, actually she went on vacation when I turned three and she hasn't come back.

My friend Gorgeous follows Flylady , I have seen pictures of her kids and in the background her house is just lovely. I want my house to be just like that.

I don't know if some people are 'born' with the ability to clean, but I really feel like I wasn't. I think I might somehow be shortchanging the kids by not being a good example and showing them how to pick up after themselves.

What do you do to keep the house clean?

Reduced Computer Time

2008-12-08T13:55:00.001-06:00

So you all know from a previous post that I toasted my laptop. Or I
help hasten its demise as we think it was already going out...
Anyway, we can't send it in until we find away of saving my data.
Wish us luck!

2008-12-04T17:27:00.003-06:00

Pizza biscuit muffins

I found a recipe for Pizza Muffins. I am making them for dinner tonight. Hopefully they will taste ok. :-)

I am still bummed about my laptop. I have to get all my info off the hard drive somehow. We have a laptop hard drive enclosure but it might not fit this one. Things are so complicated. --big sigh--.

David took the thing apart and he thinks that it was just a coincidence that the Laptop went out when it did. He can't find where the soup would have made a problem. My speakers went out last week, so I guess he could be right.

I am still bummed though. I really liked having a laptop and now, David has a computer and the kids have a computer, but I have to --gasp-- share.

If there are any vendors out there that need someone to 'test' a laptop for them --waves hand madly in the air-- Pick me! Pick me!

Kill your Laptop in one easy step

2008-12-03T13:18:00.002-06:00

So, David is always telling me not to eat next to the laptop.

David "You are going to spill something in it."

Me "I am careful. Besides you are always saying that this laptop is made to take a little spills"

So what did I do today? I was sitting at my desk, minding my own business, reading email, and eating/slurping soup. When all of a sudden aliens took hold of my hands and used them to push my soup over so that it spilled into the keyboard of my laptop....

I turned the laptop over right away. Wiped up all the noticeable liquid. Noticed that the light was still on around the power button. PUSHED the button (now hmm I don't know why I did that) I heard the cdrom spin up, then spin down. Then everything when Dark. Totally dark. Dark like in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy game when at each level you reset to "Black, completely Black. You can Hear nothing, See Nothing, taste nothing"

I am crossing my fingers that the laptop has a moisture sensor that causes it to shut down when it detects moisture, and that after it dries out it will work. I can hope. I don't think I am that lucky, but I can hope.

People I am thankful for

2008-12-03T00:11:00.003-06:00

David - great provider and doesn't complain about the housekeeping (well not often).

Alicia, Claire, Stacy, Tiffany. I had to put you all on one line because I appreciate you all and love you and would hate for you to think I loved one of you more than the other... Thanks for all the support. It keeps me sane to have you all to talk to and it is really nice that you all understand me.

Christmas Tree and Advent

2008-12-02T12:36:00.004-06:00

My kids are ages 9 and 7. This will be the first year of their lives that I have done a countdown to Christmas with them. I bought several advent calendars and last night they got to start the official countdown. We also put up our Christmas tree last night. If anyone has any ideas for me to keep the darn cat out of the tree please let me know!

From Miskey

David put all the lights on,

From David

We sang Christmas carols and ate Christmas food and the whole world was a better

place. HA. Not.

WOOT!!!!

2008-12-01T16:27:00.002-06:00

I found my Crockpot!! If you scroll down to the pics from the garage cleaning post you will notice that there are 9 boxes that i said were toys. oops. the middle bottom one had a million lunch boxes and a dehydrator and . . . . the crockpot.

Now. where. is. the . leather. jacket.

Sensa

2008-12-01T12:13:00.004-06:00

I found out about a new weight loss product last week on a blog called Domestic Chicky. Anyway, I was browsing blogs and I somehow stumbled on that blog and she was talking about a new weight loss product called SENSA. It is an 'all natural' product (meaning that it is derived from natural products heh).

The blog goes on to say that she recieved a 6 month supply for free to try. I was like WHAT. I want a free trial too. I googled SENSA. Found out who their word of Mouth Marketing was (Rocketxl) and sent an email off asking if I could join the trial and try out the product for them.

I got back an out of office email (I sent the email Friday) and today a girl from the company emailed me and offered me a spot. Wooo!

I have been despairing over my weight lately, but I honestly don't know what to do about it. I really feel I found out about this product at the right time. I am willing to do something about my weight and they are willing to let me try their product. How felicitous is that?

Let me tell you a little about the product I will be trying out. It is called SENSA. Here is the ingredients as taken from the FAQ at their retail website.

What exactly is in Sensa?

Sensa contains Maltodextrin (Derived from Corn from the USA), Tricalcium Phosphate, Silica, Natural and Artificial Flavors, FD&C Yellow 5, and Carmine. Sensa also contains Soy and Milk ingredients. Sensa is sodium-free, sugar-free, calorie free, gluten-free, and there are no stimulants, drugs or MSG.

The only thing I don't like is the yellow#5, and them saying 'artificial flavors'. I think that in a product like this, that either there should be no artificial flavors or that they should disclose them. I mean they say it is all natural, but it has artificial flavors.

That won't stop me from trying it. I really need to lose weight and I think that the way this product is supposed to work by eventually teaching your body to limit portion control is a good thing. Watch my blog to see how it goes :-)

Now for a link to a give away at SENSA. Here is the text: You can also access the rules here.

As part of our campaign, the Sensa team would love it if along with your honest review, you shared this coupon code so that interested readers & friends of your site could try Sensa at a discount. You and your readers can use this link: http://www.trysensa.com/link/A0B089 with the promotion code ROCKETXL for 15% of your order (no minimum) and free ground shipping, or just use the ROCKETXL code upon checkout at www.trysensa.com

As an added incentive, we will be giving away an additional 6-month supply of Sensa and other Intelligent Beauty products to 3 winners who have shown the most dramatic weight loss. This contest is open to you, but you can invite your readers to participate too. To be considered you will need to post a before and after photograph during the week of February 2-6 and email me the link to your post. Be sure to take a picture now before you start the program. It is completely fine to black out your face to keep your identity relatively anonymous.

2008-11-30T21:12:00.006-06:00

Today I spent an obscene bit of my afternoon going through boxes in the garage. My intent was that I was going to look into the first box I opened and magically find David's leather Jacket. I think, but am unsure, that I saw the jacket in August when our things were in the storage unit and we had to go storage unit diving for dress up clothes for my cousins wedding (who insisted on having a swanky wedding with dinner, dancing and friends instead of a justice of the peace where i could have worn jeans).

So back to August. David had to monkey climb his way into the far reaches of our storage unit looking for boxes that said they have clothes in them. This was my first taste on how the movers labeled. I mean who'd of thunk that a box labeled ornaments would contain Davids framed certifications or that we would have to unravel miles of blank newsprint, and acres of bubble wrap to get into things. There are things I haven't found yet (Davids leather jacket, my crock pot among the lost).

the first 2 boxes are trash (newssprint and bubble wrap) from 4 boxes I unpacked TODAY

Eventually the set of smaller shelves will make it into the house...

once they don't have crap on them and David sands and repaints them (are you laughing yet?)

David stayed in the house today whilst I did my best to organize things (does bringing things inside the house so that there are boxes in the living instead of the garage count as organizing?).

boxes of linens, and stereo/dvd/speakers

Ignore the yarn label that was from the move TO St. Lucia.

I found approximately nine boxes of kid toys. NINE! Who needs that many toys. I do not buy my kid toys except for at Christmas. I haven't yet figured out where the darn things come from.

The boxes of toys (the white ones)

I never found my crock pot or David's jacket. David says they must be in a box of toys. I only got into the boxes about half way.. enough to determine to my satisfaction (at the time) that there were only toys in the box, and then I put it along the wall with the other boxes that I determined were toys. So now on another day, and another frustrating time, I will have to sort through the toys in those boxes.

Poor David. He has been wearing a windbreaker he bought a couple of years ago to wear while he rode his bike. I wish we could find that jacket.

My cousin, the Philippines, and an orphanage

2008-11-29T14:13:00.002-06:00

Me, Amanda, and the M's
Originally uploaded by twin_sitter

My cousin is working at an Orphanage in the Philippines. She was born there when my Aunt and Uncle where missionaries there 18 years ago. I don't hear many updates from her, but I am enjoying watching her time there through her Flickr Photo Stream. If you want to see some pictures you can see them here.

I learned a new photoshop technique

2008-11-29T12:26:00.007-06:00

I was playing with photoshop and trying out a selective color guide which I saw at Blissfully Domestic: Photo-Bliss and here is what I came up with.

Here is the original Photo:

Here is the finished product:

If you want to know how to do this check out the Photo-Bliss Blog at Blissfully Domestic :-)

Thank you the C who let me use her beautiful photograph to show you this technique.