Busy Busy Busy

From Aliisa:

Im sorry I havent blogged in awhile but I have been so busy. I threw a huge 30th birthday party for my husband with a Mexican Fiesta theme. I made homemade enchiladas, tacos, spanish rice and beans and all the fixings for it. We played horseshoes, ladder golf and even had a pinata. It was a GREAT party.

We also have 2 weddings coming up so I have been spending all my spare time working on afghans. I love to crochet afghans for wedding presents, unfortunately it takes alot of time to get them done. We also found out my brother and his wife are having a baby so I will be working on a baby blanket for them. Im thinking I will be crochetting my little fingers to the bone *lol*

I have recently become interested in cake decorating as well. I have only done 3 cakes in my life and they were ok but I have decided that I really want to learn to do a better job. So I purchased the wilton class books and while Im not taking the class I will be teaching myself at home. Im very excited about starting this but I still have to work on the blankets.

I hope everyone is doing great. Sally stopped by and wants me to continue posting my menu plans so I will work hard to get those posted every week.

Have a great day!!

Help for IBS

From Sundy:
I know it's been a while since I've posted. I do apologize for that....circumstances changed.

I wanted to tell you all about this new way of eating I've been practicing. I haven't really changed much about what I do and do not eat...just the order of how I eat the items on my plate.

I have IBS. If you have it, you know that sometimes, it can be a very confusing and frustrating and painful syndrome. I got a diagnosis a few years ago, but looking back, I can see that it has been affecting me for a lot longer. Stress makes it worse, but essentially, my brain-gut function is skewed.

Help For IBS is where I finally found some assistance with that. Heather (the owner of the site) explains that if you separate your fibers into two groups (soluble and insoluble), and eat slightly larger amounts of soluble fiber before you eat insoluble fiber, most of the pain and embarrassment that accompany IBS are alleviated. There are, of course, a few more guidelines than that...but that was the key to helping me. I also try to eat several smaller meals, and there are just a very few foods that I avoid.

Pain is the body's idiot light. If I am listening to my body and eating for my specific needs, then I should be processing my food "normally" with no pain after eating, and that is the ultimate goal for me.

A bonus? Without exercise, without changing the amounts I eat, I have lost 6 1/2 lbs since the beginning of January. My body is finally beginning to adjust to this new diet. Now, after I buy an exercise bike off of Craig's list, I should be well on my way to losing some of this weight.

Happy and blessed day to all of you!

My new cookbook

From Aliisa:

I have a box that I keep all the recipes I print out from those wonderful blogs and recipezaar.com. Everytime I need one of my recipes, I have to go sift through all of the sheets to find the one I want. This was ok, in the begining but now I have so many to look through. So I have decided to make my own cookbook. In the past, I have made cookbooks but I get tired of writing them all in...it takes so long! This time I decided to use sheet protectors and dividers and put them all in a 3 ring binder.

As you can see, I have purchased all my supplies and now all I have to do is assemble it. Im hoping to have it done next week. I like the idea of the sheet protectors because I can pull a recipe out, use it and if it gets stuff on it, I can wipe it off and place it back into the binder.

Im very excited about this idea.

My pepper purchase

From Aliisa:

Today I went to the grocery store and as I walked around I noticed a large rack of marked down veggies. I was very excited to find bags of bell peppers that were in good shape. I ended up with 30 bell peppers for $.22 cents each...now that is a bargain!!!

I diced a bunch of them to freeze and I cut alot for strips to freeze and then I gave 5 of the large ones that were in pretty good shape to my friend for stuffed peppers.

Such a pretty site...green, yellow and orange bell peppers!!

Boosting your metabolism

From Aliisa:

About a week ago, I went to a small seminar at my church given by a personal trainer. She is a member of our church and knew that not all of us could afford a personal trainer so she decided to generously give her time. A couple of the things I learned:

Boosting your metabolism:
Eat broccoli and oatmeal...its harder for the body to digest so it burns more calories.
Use cayenne pepper, its boosts the metabolism because it raises the internal body temperature and it races through the blood stream speeding up your metabolism.

Weight training will boost your metabolism (not 2-5 lbs but more than that)

The Wii games are a form of exercise.....whoohoo!!

Definately works for me!!

Giveaway

From Aliisa:

Erin over at $5dinners has 100 coupons for free cans of swanson chicken to 10 people. So head over there and register to win. She will announce the winners after the superbowl!!

And for more chances to win Mommy Snacks is giving away the same prize so head over there and register for that one too!!

My chicken experience

From Aliisa:

I recently bought bone in chicken breasts for 10lbs for $10. I spent $20 to get 20lbs. I brought it home and opened it all up. Total, I had 20 chicken breasts. I cut off the breasts and packaged them 4 breasts per bag. So just from that, I got 5 meals worth. I then dumped all the bones and rib meat into a big stock pot and boiled them for many hours adding carrots onion and celery to it for a great flavor. After I deboned it all, I had 3lbs of boiled chicken that is great for soups or any kind of casserole. So I ended up with 8 meals worth of chicken and 27 cups of wonderful chicken broth.

Needless to say, I was very happy

2009 Begins

From Sundy:

Well, I finally got to make my laundry soap last night. Leave it to me to have a mini-adventure while making laundry soap. Apparently, I cannot let myself get sidetracked by anything while cooking. LOL

I was, I thought, gently heating the water to melt the soap. Either *I* put it on high heat or someone else walking through the kitchen was "helping" me, because when I next walked through the kitchen, it was to the very nice smell of the Zote, and the very nasty pink bubbly mess of soap boiling over on my stove! Wow...one of the things that I'm going to have to work on this year is to STAY IN THE KITCHEN if the stove is on.

Of course, this is much better than walking into the kitchen to find my cooking oil has caught fire and begun merrily burning my overhead cabinets. But still. Baked-on Zote is not fun to clean.

New Year's Eve was uneventful...pleasantly so. I did not drink at all. We went to our friends' house, where they had BBQ and wild-eyed children tossing fireworks, while bleary-eyed adults watched them (sorta). My stomach was upset pretty quickly watching these kids play with fireworks near a bonfire, and I asked to be taken home at 10:30. So we did, and watched the ball drop on TV, like the grandparents that we are. LOL

Fireworks freak me out. That's just the way it is. I can watch others pop them from a distance, and I can let my boys pop them with other adults, but I personally won't do it myself....and I'm always on edge the entire time. They're pretty, yes...but I'm fully aware of their unpredictability.

When I was a young adult, my sister and I and our boyfriends went to watch the beach fireworks display from a boat. A rack of fireworks fell over right after they were ignited, and without warning we had fireworks going off in the air about 10-20 feet over our heads as we cowered in the bottom of the boat. So, yeah...that's my problem.

Yes, I am a mess. Hopefully that's good for something, somewhere.

Verdict

From Aliisa:

Today, I decided it was time to clean the bath tub. I really needed to clean it last week but with everything going on, I just hadnt gotten to it. When I got into my cabinet to get my vinegar/water solution, I noticed that I had some tub cleaner that I had never finished. So I decided today I would use that. I sprayed it on and let it sit for a few minutes while I put a load of laundry on and then went to wipe it clean. Only, it didnt wipe clean. I had to scrub it, which is something I dont normally have to do. So, instead of cleaning the tub with that cleanser, I rinsed it down, sprinkled my baking soda and sprayed the whole thing down with my vinegar/water solution, let it sit for a couple of minutes and then......I WIPED it clean!!! I have now thrown out the other stuff and have decided that if I didnt love my homemade cleansers before (which I did), I totally LOVE them now!!!

Egg Substitution

From Aliisa:

Today I decided to make some banana muffins, so I got out all my ingredients and began stirring it all together only to find (after everything is in the bowl) oh no...I have no eggs. Now at this point there are lots of things running through my head...I could put it in the fridge until tomorrow when I can get eggs, I know there is a substitution using soy flour but I dont have any, am I going to have to waste this batch? And all sorts of others. So I got online to see if there is another substitution other than soy flour. Well guess what? There are several.

So I thought I would share a few:

This is the one I used:
2 tablespoons gluten flour or unbleached white flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons oil, 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, and 2 tablespoons water

You can also use:
As Binders
1/2 large mashed banana
1/4 cup apple sauce or pureed prunes
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tablespoons water
1 1/2 tablespoons water, 1 1/2 tablespoons oil, and 1 teaspoon baking powder
Combine one packet of unflavored gelatin with one cup boiling water - 3 tablespoons of this mixture equal one egg
1 tablespoon apricot puree
1/4 cup of soft tofu
1/4 cup soy milk

As Leavening
2 tablespoons carbonated water and 2 teaspoons baking flour
1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 tablespoon water, and 1 tablespoon vinegar (add vinegar separately at the end for rising)
Dissolve 1 teaspoon yeast in 1/4 cup warm water
1 heaping tablespoon of soy flour and one tablespoon water
1 tablespoon bean flour and 1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon of arrowroot powder mixed with 3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons gluten flour or unbleached white flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons corn, 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, and 2 tablespoons water

Hope this helps if you ever need to substitute. Mine worked out great!!!

Thankful

From Aliisa:

Last night we found out that a family from our church lost everything in a fire. My heart goes out to them, I cant even imagine what that must be like. So today, I am trying to figure out what they might need that I have to give. Its so hard to know what the right things are to send to them.

Some of the items I have gathered are: 2 Bibles, I bought some medications to help restock their medicine cabinet. A shower curtain, a rug, a PS2 for the kids and some spices to help restock their spice cabinet and a couple of cookbooks. I will also be gathering up some christmas ornaments and lights for them.

Im still looking through our stuff and Im sure I will come across some more stuff we can give.

My thoughts and prayers go out to this family. I am thankful that no one was hurt or lost and that all possessions can be replaced.

Homemade Ornaments

From Aliisa:

So I finally got one of my ornaments completely finished. I am posting a picture for everyone. These were really easy and very inexpensive.

Im pretty pleased with how they are turning out. I spent about $10 for all the materials to make 20 of them. And of course I wont use every bit of the materials but it ends up costing about $.50 each. Cant beat that!!

Today's To Do List

From Aliisa:

I got up early this morning to make apple muffins for breakfast. I had a boxed mix because my MIL cleaned out her cabinets and gave it to us. It said it made 24 muffins. I have already made 24 and still have enough for more!! I have to go finish those. I would like to make some banana muffins today but those are low on my to do list.

I do have to find a recipe for mint hot chocolate. My daughter, Emily loves the stuff and I have decided to make some mix and wrap it for under the tree. Im also making one for our dear friends to add to their christmas bag.

I still have to finish my ornaments and Im planning on working on those today.

Thankfully, I have finished all of my Christmas cards but I do have to go get stamps so I can mail them all.

I also need to make some pancakes to put into the freezer, hopefully I will get to that today as well.

And of course I have to work out here in a bit.

I also have to make dinner early because I have my ladies group tonight...which also means I have to get dressed and put on makeup etc....

OK....so now that I have typed that all out, I guess I better get to work.

Have a great day!!

$5 dinner challenge and giveaway

From Aliisa:

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. Ours was wonderful but Im glad the 5 day holiday is over.

I was catching up on some reading this morning and I ran across a challenge and giveaway over at $5dinners. She does some great things over there and really inspires me to make more inexpensive but well balanced meals. I would like to challenge you to head over there and check it out. The contest looks like fun and we will be able to find lots of frugal recipes which is always a winner in my book!!

So head on over there and take a peek.

Dishwashing Detergent

From Aliisa:

Awhile back I posted that the homemade dishwashing detergent I made didnt work. It leaves my glasses looking cloudy, so I stopped using it. Now, I hate to waste anything so I have kept it all this time wondering what I was going to use it for. I realized last week that maybe I could use it with the store bought detergent and extend my uses with it. So, last week I bought whatever was on sale and read the label. It said to fill both dishes in the dishwasher with the detergent. Now I have read that you only need 1T - 2 T per load so I measured it out. 1 T of the store bought and 1 T of my very inexpensive homemade detergent and my dishes have come out clean each time I have used it. I am very happy with the results and in the long run, it does save me money.....not as much as it would if I could make it homemade but it saves me money non the less.

So, I encourage you to give it a try. Just mix 1 cup borax with 1 cup baking soda and use 1 T per load added with 1 T of whatever brand you normally use.

hmmmm...I wonder if I could use 1/2 T of each and still have clean dishes.....I think that is an experiment for another day!!

Back on the Exercise wagon

From Aliisa:

I know I havent posted in a week but I really havent felt like it. I have spent the week really concentrating on me, something I dont do all that often. It started on Sunday when I found that I couldnt wear my black slacks, they were just a tad bit too tight....which started my day off just perfect. After complaining about it, I wore something else. This led to my evaluation on Monday. Im not thin, havent been in quite awhile, however this week Im feeling even bigger than I have in awhile.....so....I dared to step on the scales. I gained 6 pounds....bad but not nearly as bad as I thought based on how I felt in my clothes...and thus it began.

I have slowly dragged myself back on the exercise wagon that I fell off of before summer. Its so easy to fall off and stay off but man is it hard to drag yourself back on it....I think it moves too fast *lol*.

I managed to workout 4 days this week, I skipped yesterday because I went grocery shopping in the morning which led to putting groceries away and cleaning out the fridge and then cleaning the kitchen again and by the time I was done...my day was close to over and it was almost time for Emily to come home from school.

The progess is slow but Im bound and determined to at the very least, not gain anything over the holidays!!

And to prove how dedicated I am to my exercise and eating right...we are making homemade pizzas for dinner tonight *lol* I think I shall stay away from the dreaded scales for awhile!!!

Poor, poor gullible me! :)

From Sundy:

One of my hubby's favorite pastime is to tell me something outrageous just to see if I'll believe it. Actually, now that I think about it, most of my past boyfriends had the same hobby. One told me that a crazy, axe-wielding man had caused the scar on his shin...years later, I found out that I had bought a tall tale-- hook, line and sinker. Another told me that he had been an internationally renowned cliff diver in Mexico. His parents were QUITE surprised when I told them that, since they hadn't known...and he had a really good laugh at my expense. Oh joy.

Ya know, some of these I could put down to just me being young and very, very trusting and naive at the time. But now I'm older. And I still buy the occasional "guy lie." (Note: I hope I'm being clear that these are cases of teasing jokesters...not the same as when someone lies to try to hide or get away with something. Those destroy trust...these are more like pranks, if you see what I'm saying.)

Here's a years' old memory...hubby had taken me to a club, where he proceeded to buy me shots of something really yummy called "Goldschlager." I had three or four of them, in addition to a beer.

Now, it should be noted that I am a "two-beer girl." I cannot drink more than two beers without getting much too loopy for my own good. And I rarely do mixed drinks anymore. But those tiny glasses of cinnamon-flavored, gold-flaked tastiness were irresistible...at least, until I told my husband at 10 pm that it was time to pour me into the car and take me home, 'cause the room was spinning!

On the 5 mile journey back to the house, I asked him to please pull over so I could be sick.

"I can't, honey, there's a cop behind us. Just breathe in and out...relax...it's just a couple more minutes until you're in bed. You can do this."

So I followed his instructions, slowly breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth. I closed my eyes...oops! That's not good. I opened them and kept my eyes on the car taillights in front of us. Finally, we were home.

"Feeling better?" he asks, and when I nod, he says, "That's good, 'cause there never was a cop behind us."

$5 Dinners

From Aliisa:

I have been spending quite abit of time checking out the $5 dinners blog and it has me really thinking. Im wondering just how much I spend per meal. Now, she calculates everything and to be honest, I dont think I could calculate things like spices or oils. Some of those I buy in such bulk and have had them for so long that I couldnt tell you what I paid for them. But, I do know the prices of the main ingredients. So Im thinking about keeping a record of what I make and how much each meal is.

I must admit, Im am very interested to see just how much I am spending per dinner. Im going to have to really work on figuring out some prices such as the 20lb bag of rice I bought at the Asian Food Store for $20, or the 10lb bag of potatoes I just bought for $2.50. Lots to think about.

I challenge some of you to look at your meals and figure out what you are spending. Lets see if we can add some $5 dinners to our menus!!

Halloween on the southern end

From Sundy:
OMG, so much fun. One son came home (from college) dressed as an "emo," the other son stayed with his new girlfriend, and the youngest son (15) wanted to be the Joker. It was a last minute decision, so it wasn't the easiest thing in the world to find a can of green hair spray...white, red, blue, black...finally after I checked the fourth store, there was one can of green hair spray. I must say, he looked really fabulous. I thought I had a good picture of him, but it was too dark.

A bazillion children came to our house. My husband had rigged up some spooky music and added a blacklight to our decor...really cool! We ran out of candy twenty minutes after the children-storm began, and my hubby had to run to the store for more. I could not disappoint all of those sweet little faces! In past years, a few bags of candy has been more than enough, but since the big H was on a Friday, I guess everyone went all out! LOL We finally had to put a sign on our door that we'd run out twice, and to please NOT TRICK US! :)

Then our oldest came down with his girlfriend and the two grandsons (15 mos and 3 years old). We didn't get to see them until the next day, even though the plan was to have them at Grandma Sundy's and Grandpa Todd's for pumpkin carving, etc. Oh well...best laid plans, and all that jazz. Good thing I had bought little mini pumpkins instead.

Oh! I have to share this...hubby and I agreed to babysit Sunday evening, and hubby insisted that he would be able to put the baby to sleep. So he laid down with him, and pretty soon I heard Baby crying in that "I'm-very-upset-with-you-now-let-me-GO" tone. By the time I got in there, he was laying on his back next to my husband, choking on his own saliva. I had just started saying, "Turn him over so he won't puke," when too late! he puked all over my husband, the blanket, his very favorite stuffed dog, and of course himself!

My husband jumps up, thrusts the baby at me (oh, thank you, honey), and runs to the bathroom to have his own little "session." He can't stand the smell...makes him urk.

I was sitting in a very awkward position, holding a very odorous and messy (and by now screaming) baby, trying to get to a standing position without getting too much of the yuck on me. I'm calling out to my husband, "I'll get it cleaned up, if you'll just come here and hold him for a minute." I'm thinking that if he'll just soothe the baby, I can get the mess cleaned up in no time.

Hubby surprised me to no end when he declared that HE would clean up the mess, if I would get Baby settled down to sleep. (YAY! YAY!) So I got Baby (and me) all cleaned up and changed into fresh jammies, and in no time, I was cuddling him on the couch and he passed out.

To me, there is very little so peaceful and calming as holding a baby as he falls asleep...when they do that little sigh and snuggle in deeper into your arms...ah....all is right in the world....

Halloween

From Aliisa:

We had a very busy weekend which started on friday morning with Emily's class party. Then we went to lunch with her to have pizza and cake with yucky orange icing...makes me wonder what they are feeding our kids!

Friday afternoon we carved our pumpkin because we forgot to do it on Thursday. Usually we do it earlier but this year we wanted to save our pumpkin for cooking. So here is Emily with her carved pumpkin.

After that, we rushed around to get here ready for trick or treating...I even had time to do her makeup....mind you...Im not very good *lol*

Yes I know...looks funny but it was really cute...I promise *lol*

After trick or treating we went to a fall party and roasted hotdogs and had smores and ended the night with a hay ride. It was a very full night!!

Saturday we spent the day cooking up the pumpkin and putting in the sink. It went well but then the plastic pipes that came with the sink split and now, we have to go buy new ones...so unfortunately our sink is still not finished. But its all good....because it will be.

Saturday night we spent with friends...we had what we fondly call junk food night. It was alot of fun. We played the Wii and ate way too much food.

Sunday we visited a new church. We are now church hunting since Jarred is no longer working on Sunday mornings. We liked it but are still going to visit some others.

Monday I spent the day trying to gain some ground on the mess from the weekend. I made progress but didnt get it all done. So today I have to work on that some more.

And finally...this morning. Jarred and I got up really early so that we could go vote before it got busy. He was down there at 6am when the polls opened and I went around 6:15 when he got back. Its nice to be done with that.

So now I am off to work on the house....fun fun *lol*