Thursday, September 30, 2010

Thank You Very Much Thursday!

Good morning everyone! It's time for Thank You Very Much Thursday, hosted by my good friend KMama at The Daily Dribbles.
Here's how it works:
You take out all your frustrations on people/things that peeved you off during the week andthank them in a very sarcastic way, for being who or what they are/doing what they did.
Then, you head on over to the Daily Dribbles and link up to KMama's blog to join in on the free therapy session!


♥To the drama-lama for doing a complete 180 flip and deciding to be very sweet and kind since your last meltdown. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. You're so confusing. 

♥To the pineapple I ate last night for making my face itch, making my mouth raw, and making my tummy hurt. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Why must you taste so good you mean old pineapple?

♥To my child's constipation for returning with a vengeance. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Who needs to poop, right?

♥To the people that park in the junior high parking lot then get mad when they can't get out when car line is going on. THANK YOU VERY MUCH for the rude stares - you make me laugh.

♥To my college professors for assigning me more reading in history class than I every had in English class THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I don't have a life outside of school. Really, I don't.

Want to join the free therapy? Head over to KMama's now! RIGHT NOW thank you very much!

Monday, September 27, 2010

Making Your Home Sing Monday - Open Your Windows!!

Happy Monday everyone! It's time for another round of Making Your Home Sing Monday hosted by Nan over at Moms The Word!
Making your home sing Mondays

Fall is finally here in my little piece of Texas, and I couldn't be more excited. The crispness of the air; the colors of the leaves; the soups, stews, and chillies; the Renaissance Faire . . . And, for us, the official TURNING OFF OF THE AIR CONDITIONER. That's right. It's a ritual . . . almost ceremonial.  We fling open the windows, turn off the air conditioner and bask in the cool air. It's rejuvenating. It's energizing. It's spiritual.

Opening your windows this time of year will do two things for you - first, it will allow all the dank humid air from the summer out of your home. Second, it will allow you to lower your electric bill (did you know that about 50% of electricity costs come from air conditioners?). So you get fresher air, and more money in your pocket to boot!

Okay, folks, now, turn off your computer, go turn of your air conditioner, open your windows, throw back the curtains and LET THE AUTUMN BEGIN!!!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Thank You Very Much Thursday!

It's time for another edition of THANK YOU VERY MUCH Thursday!

What you do is this:
You take out all your frustrations on people/things that peeved you off during the week and thank them in a very sarcastic way, for being who or what they are/doing what they did. Then you go visit my good friend Kmama at The Daily Dribbles, and link up to her blog to join the free therapy session!

*To the Drama Llama that is consistently invading our lives. THANK YOU VERY MUCH for all the much needed diversion from everyday things such as joy, peace, quiet, and serenity.

*To Drama Llama Jr. for stirring the pot THANK YOU VERY MUCH for encouraging Drama Llama to do your bidding by manipulating the truth and telling out and out lies to get people into trouble.

*To the Jr. High school teachers that do not enter grades into the family access web site THANK YOU VERY MUCH how can we parents be expected to stay "on top of things" when you aren't?

*To the 14 year old and 6 year old "nemeses" THANK YOU VERY MUCH for the constant bickering, arguing, fighting, whining, complaining, tattling, and griping. Because I don't have enough things to worry about.

*To our finances THANK YOU VERY MUCH for staying low enough that we don't go spending our money on foolish things like healthy food.

♥Want to join in the free therapy session? Go visit The Daily Dribbles to find out how!♥



Wednesday, September 22, 2010

I Got An Award!





I am so honored that sweet Chanel over at Diaries of a Supermom Diva has given me a "One Lovely Blog" award! Thank you so much - you really made my day today!!

So here are the rules of the award:

1. Accept the award. Post it on your blog with the name of the person who granted the award and his or her blog link.

2. Pay it forward to 15 other bloggers that you have newly discovered.

3.Contact those blog owners and let them know they have been selected.


Here are my 15!


Cooking Up Faith with Big Fat Momma 
Eyeglasses & Endzones 
Diary of a Mad, Fat Woman 
He & Me + 3 
Just Hide the Dishes in the Dryer 
Life Depicted  
Mom's the Word 
Photog Nazi 
Sugar, Spice, and Monkey Tales 
The Daily Dribbles 
The Inglorious MacMunsons 
The Imperfect Housewife 
Just Me and My Life 
2 Much Testosterone 
Amy Sullivan



Wordless Wednesday


For more Wordless Wednesdays, visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Making Your Home Sing Monday! Never take them for granted . . .

Happy Monday everyone!
It's time for Making Your Home Sing Monday!
Making your home sing Mondays
Wanna know how to make your home sing? Go visit MomsTheWord to find out how!

Someday I'll relate all the drama that is going on in our home right now. But as this is a public forum, I don't want to be accused of gossip or any mudslinging. There will be many questions and worries, I'm sure. If you want to know, feel free to email me and I'll divulge all our secret skeletons.

Short and sweet today, so to get on with it, today I am urging all of you to look at your children for who they are. Study them, get to know them. And LOVE them. Hug them every day. Tell them you love them and are there for them EVERY DAY. Play with them, spend time with them, do something special with them EVERY DAY.

Do not take any second of parenthood for granted.
Love to you all,
Have a blessed week.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Making Your Home Sing Monday! - A Picture of Health

Good Morning everyone, it's time for Making Your Home Sing Monday hosted by Mom's The Word!
Making your home sing Mondays

Well it's that time of year. As soon as the seasons change, the illnesses come. Allergies, colds, flu . . . I am currently sporting one heck of a cold (I think) at the moment myself.  When you're sick it's hard to get everything done - all you want to do is sit on the couch with a book and a cup of tea, and it'd be nice if the house would magically get clean while you're at it.

But as we all know - MOM'S DON'T GET SICK DAYS.

So here are a few tips to keep yourself (and your family) well this season!

*Take a good multivitamin every day and take extra vitamin c. Vitamins and minerals are your body's natural defense system, and vitamin C packs the biggest whollop against cold and flu viruses.

*Eat lots of fresh vegetables and fruit. There's a reason why the FDA recommends 5-7 servings a day. God made our bodies to heal themselves, and He gave us good food to help us out with it.

*Drink lots of water. Good hydration has been shown to flush out "the bad stuff".

*Wash your hands. A lot. Every time you go to the bathroom, blow your nose, cough, eat, cook . . . this will prevent the little germies from getting into your system in the first place.

*If you have small children or are around elderly adults often, consider a flu shot. If you are not at risk, however, forgo it. If you have someone at risk around you, then the flu shot could save their lives. However, catching a "good bout" of the flu has been shown to reduce the risk of you catching it later in the season.

If you DO get sick, these tips will help you feel better quicker.

*Hydrate. For the same reasons as above. Add apple, orange, or cranberry juice however, because these all contain more amounts of vitamin c.

*Take it easy. Don't try to do too much. Take a day to lay on the couch and doze - have the hubs order take out for him and the kids. It really is  healing.

*Eat spicy food. Cayenne, jalapeños, chile peppers, and even black pepper are natural immune-boosting foods. Additionally, salsa contains tomatoes, onions, vinegar, and garlic - all of which have natural anti-viral properties. Plus the heat will help expel mucus (one of the most annoying parts of being sick).

*There's a reason why chicken soup works. Like spicy foods, chicken soup contains lots of anti-viral foods such as onions and celery. Plus, it's just comforting. Something we all need when we're sick.

*Immune boosters such as Airborne, Ester-C, and Zicam will ONLY work if you take them at the first sight of a cold, and even then, they may not work for everyone. So it's best to save your money and go the natural route!

Keeping yourself and your family well is an amazing way to help make your home sing!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Great Giveaway!

Like chocolate? Then you'll LOVE this giveaway! My friend KMama at The Daily Dribbles is hosting a great Nestle giveaway! The prize includes:



  • A $25 gift card to Walmart to help with school supplies
  • A Nesquik® lunch box
  • Products from Raisinets®
  • A mix of free coupons from Nestlé® Pure Life, Ovaltine®, Toll House®Refrigerated Cookie Dough, Toll House® Morsels, Nesquik®, Coffee-Mate®, Drumsticks®, and Carnation® Breakfast Essentials™
Check out her blog here to check it out and find out how to enter!
Good luck!

Monday, September 6, 2010

Making Your Home Sing Monday - MORE money-saving!

Happy Labor Day everyone! It's time for another edition of
Making Your Home Sing Monday
Hosted by Nan at Mom's The Word
Making your home sing Mondays
Be sure to pay her a visit and, if you blog, tell us what you do to make your home sing, then link up to her blog!

Last week, I talked about saving money with home made household laundry soap. Let me say, that I love my soap and I will never buy it in the store again.

This week, I want to share with you some more things that I've done to help my family save money on costly (and sometimes unsafe!!!) cleaning items.

Dishwasher Soap

I used the recipe on this web site to make my own dishwasher powder. According to the recipe, there is a possibility that there will be a residue on your dishes. Now, the recipe calls for citric acid to fix this problem, which I did not have, so I instead used a couple of vitamin c pills that I crushed up. This didn't prevent the residue, but I do have some citric acid on it's way, so I will be adding it to the mix when it gets here, and we'll see!

In the meantime, the soap cleans very well - in fact, it cleans better than my store brand gel. The downside is that it, like ALL powders and tabs in my dishwasher, can sometimes get stuck in the soap dispenser. But I think this is my dishwasher's problem, not the soap's. When this happens, I just close the door and run it again.

With the gels, I often have leftover food on the dishes, and some of it even ends up on glasses and cups in the top rack. This has not happened since I started using the homemade soap.

When it comes to rinsing agents, rather than using the expensive chemical ones found on the dishwashing aisle (you know - the electric blue stuff) - I use vinegar. It's cheaper, cleaner, and healthier to use (no chemicals)!

Scrub Cleaners


I never was big on using scrub cleaners, really. They were messy, smelly, and honestly didn't really work that well. But I did discover that a simple paste made with 4 parts baking soda to 1 part kosher salt and 2 parts water (less or more may be needed depending on weather and climate) works beautifully to clean up stuck-on messes on stove tops, sinks, counters, and even tables (I've used this on my Aunt's antique coffee table and it's worked beautifully). This also is all food grade and will harm neither the environment or humans or pets.

Spray Cleaners


I love spray cleaners - I use them for everything from floor messes to windows to . . . well, you name it. And some people will rave about ammonia or bleach in water to replace expensive cleaners. But for me, even ammonia and bleach are not safe enough to be around my children, so I make a solution of equal parts white vinegar and water in a spray bottle. I can give this and a rag to my kids and know they're safe with it as they go around the kitchen spraying and wiping. This also works wonderful on windows and mirrors - even better if you use newspaper to wipe it with!

Other Tips


-Instead of paper towels, use dish towels or microfiber rags. They work better, last longer, are re-usable and washable and use less waste!

-Instead of fabric softener, dunk a washrag in a solution of one part baking soda to three parts water and toss it in the dryer with your load.

-Make your own mixes for biscuits, skillet meals, spice mixes, rubs, and sauces.

-Make your lunch instead of buying it.

-Shop sales/clearances/and thrift stores.

-If you have a small load of dishes, try hand washing them instead of using the dishwasher

Saving your family money is one of the greatest ways to Make Your Home Sing.
Need recipes? Try Google or contact me here.



Wednesday, September 1, 2010