I love free stuff!

Thanks to my friend Chelsea at Chelsea Said So, I found some great deals at Target today. I came home with three free items (ok, one ended up being a quarter, but not bad since it started out at over $3!) Click on the link to see the items that she has found for free this week, and be sure to follow her blog because she finds the best deals and updates the blog often! She also has the same free deals from Walgreens and CVS, amongst many other deals that she lists.

After my shopping trip I stopped off at Arby's for lunch. I love Arby's. Anyway, with my meal came a "coupon" for a free regular roast beef sandwich and I'm sharing it with you. If you text "curly" to 27297, you will receive a text coupon for the free sandwich. Just show it to the cashier to redeem it. The receipt also had a code to get a free regular roast beef sandwich with purchase of fries and a drink. To do that, go to arbys.com/survey and complete the quick survey (no need to give any address info) for a code for your free sandwich. If you're living in the stoneage and don't have a cell phone or internet (in which case you wouldn't be reading this) you can call 800-408-4114 for the same survey and code. Get on it people.

And because I am nice, the picture below links right to the survey, so you have no excuses!

Sunday recipe....

....Where is it you ask? Well, I posted it yesterday. The family is sick with a nasty cold and I just posted when I had a few minutes last night. I'm still eating my granola though, and it is even better today then it was yesterday. I tried it in a bowl with some milk and it was good that way too. I think next time I might add something with chocolate in it and call it trail mix!

And because today is Sunday, and you were expecting something from me today (and I know you were).....let's all take a moment to lower our heads and pray:

see more Fail Blog

And remember, children are strictly prohibited from entering! Amen.

One word....YUMMMMM

So I found this recipe for homemade granola and tried it out tonight. It was delicious! The link takes you to the recipe, but I'm going to type it here again, with my little modifications. There are so many ways I can think of modifying this yummy recipe. So here it is!

In a large bowl, mix together:
2 C rolled oats (NOT instant)
1 C peanuts or slivered almonds (I also think cashews would be delicious)
1/4 C sesame seeds
1/4 C toasted sunflower seeds
1/2 C coconut (sweetened or unsweetened are both OK)
1/4 C wheat germ (I skipped it this time because I'm cheap)

Mix them well. Pour the following over the mix:

1/4 C cooking oil (not olive oil)
1/2 C honey (if you do the oil first, the honey won't stick to the measuring cup

Mix until well coated. Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes, taking it out to stir every 10 minutes or so. The recipe doesn't call for it, but I sprinkled it with a mix of cinnamon & sugar before baking. After it's finished cooking, return to mixing bowl and stir in:

1/2 C raisins
1/2 C dried fruit (I used a mix of berries that had raisins in it, so just used 1 full cup of that)

If you try this out, let me know what you think of it!

We survived...and other stuff

So we all made it through the first day of kindergarten! M, of course, had a blast. She made a few friends, of which she remember zero names. Her teacher seems great, and she has a nice, small class. 16 kids...which I think is fantastic for living in the city. I also am so happy that her school does the Pledge of Allegiance and sings the Star Spangled Banner every morning. I thought they stopped doing that in schools, but I'm glad that they didn't.

But my new dilemma...what the heck do I do all day long with just myself and an 8 month old??? Sure, I clean the house, cook, laundry...all that fun stuff. But that doesn't fill up 8 hours of the day! I do have a quilt started for K that I could finish, and M wants one too. So I guess that is what I should be doing. I DO have to admit that it's nice to be able to turn on the TV and not be stuck watching PBS kids.

So, on my agenda for today: make menu for the week, grocery shopping, clean, laundry, figure out where the funny smell is coming from (stupid cat), hit the post office, and sell more crap on eBay. I put a few things on eBay and Craigslist yesterday and every.single.thing sold! Wooo! So now that it's just K and I during the day, we can secretly sell Jason and M's stuff and use the money to go shopping all day!! (Shhhhh)

Edited to add: For those that are telling me to stop my whining (about not having a clue what to do with all of my "free" time during the day) I am seriously not whining...just contemplating what to do with my time. I find it very mind-numbing to be bored, and I am not happy unless my time is spent doing something productive...that's all I was saying!

Zhu Zhu Pets....or is it Zoo Zoo Pets? I'm so un-hip

Ok, so I can't possibly be the only person who had never heard of these Zhu Zhu pet thingys, right?? Since we discontinued our satellite TV I have lost out on the glory of my daughter seeing commercials for new toys and then the inevitable "I want that!" That was until she went to Grandma's...Thanks Grandma! She came home talking about these furry little things that she just absolutely had to have. I have to admit that they do look interesting!

Check out the Love To Shop Mom blog for a chance to win one of these bad boys. She is also doing a review of these toys, so be sure to check that out as well!

One more day...

...until we throw our child into the big, bad world! We met her teacher last night and took a tour of the school. It's a pretty flipping nice school! I like to think that my school was great, but hers looks awesome! Of course it was just remodeled last year. So we came home feeling pretty good about everything.....until we turned on the news. Attempted abduction, some loser trying to get a little girl in his car by telling her that he needs help looking for his dog. Classic line. Thankfully the little girl was smart and ran away. But this certainly doesn't make it easier to send my kid to school by herself!! I'm pretty sure that this will be my child soon....

Do you think that she'll be ok with this? The website hosting this photo captions it with: "Parents' bubble-wrap mentality towards their children may stunt their development and make them ill-prepared to cope with life." Yup, that sounds about right. She's doomed.

Preparing for "the big day!"

Is it really possible that my baby is starting kindergarten in a few days?? How can this be?? She is so excited to start though, so that eases some of my worries, but of course I'm her mother, it wouldn't be normal if I wasn't slightly sad! The sadness doesn't stem from her growing up though, it's more about me being a paranoid wreck! I think I have issues with handling anxiety anyway, but really I'm most nervous about her being out in the big, bad world without mommy or daddy! It's a crazy world, you can never be too cautious! She is going to have a blast though, she is a child that functions better when she's surrounded by other children. She plays well on her own but plays better with others.

So she starts Thursday, but we go tomorrow night to meet her teacher and drop off her supplies. I was pleasantly surprised at the school supplies list this year, I was certain that we'd be dropping tons of money on a bunch of useless crap, but we got all of her supplies for less then $20, and that was buying extra stuff from the "optional" list. And her book fee was only $10. Oh how I wish the book fee was $10 every year! Can you imagine?? Here is the adorable outfit that she wants to wear on her first day of school.....

And as you can tell by the picture, we actually bought this outfit for her (Jason thought she looked like she was straight out of a Harry Potter movie.) BUT after we got home and realized just how much this outfit cost, we took it back. It was like $70! But wouldn't you just know that 2 days after I took it back I got a coupon for 40% off anything at the store (Justice.) So I guess we may end up getting it for her again. Or unless there's some rich person out there that wants to buy it for this adorable, sweet, little girl.... (she's a size 6 in case you're wondering ) ;)

That's right...another Sunday recipe!

Today I got two yummy side dishes! Dilly mashed potatoes and chive carrots! So good!

Dilly Mashed Potatoes

2 lbs potatoes, peeled and diced
2 TBSP butter, softened
1/4 C milk
1/4 C sour cream
1/2 - 3/4 tsp dill weed
1/2 - 3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Cook potatoes in boiling water until tender; drain. Mash with remaining ingredients. Easy peesey!

Chive Carrots

1 lb carrots, julienned
1 garlic clove, minced
1 TBSP cooking oil
1 TBSP butter
2 TBSP minced fresh chives (or parsley)

Saute carrots and garlic in oil and butter for 3 minutes. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 10 minutes or until carrots are crisp-tender. Sprinkle with chives. Again, easy peesey!

For all of you that like to save money

You HAVE to check out this blog. Chelsea is great at finding deals and free stuff. If you follow her blog, you will save money, so check it out!

I'm HTML retarded

I'm jealous of those of you with your cute little blogs and fun little gadgets. While my cookie-cutter blog isn't terrible (or at least that is what I'm telling myself) it is sorely lacking my personality! On my to-do list for the near future...learn HTML!!!

Oh, and I've added boxes at the bottom of my posts, for you to tell me what you thought of them. I only put positive options, so you can't be mean (or honest for that matter.)

RiffTrax was teRIFFic!

Was that cheesy or what? But it was really flipping hilarious. At one point (after sucking down my entire Diet Coke) I almost peed my pants laughing. The movie that they riffed was absolutely terrible, which made it even better, and the short they did was hilarious! If you have never seen them, they will often take these terrible, old, black/white movie shorts and riff on them. They are usually old educational movies that are just a few minutes long. Some of the best ones are the old ones that "educate" you on what to do on a date (the highlight of the date is helping the planning committee decorate for a party!) or how to be "proper" children at dinner time. Hilarious. It's hard to believe that this is how things really used to be! I will try to dig up a clip (because I love clips!) of an old short. Oh yes, here is one of the best!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband!

Today is Jason's birthday, woohoo! He spent his day working 8 hours and is spending his evening working on his car brakes. Fun! He did take the next two days off of work so we can't complain. Today M and I made a cake for him. She seriously was on a sugar high for the entire evening. I have never seen her like that before, and it was not fun! Needless to say, she went to bed early tonight!

Tomorrow we are going to spend the evening at the movie theater. Thanks to our wonderful neighbor who is watching the kids for us!!! We are going to see RiffTrax. If you remember the show Mystery Science Theater 3000, Rifftrax is kind of the the same thing with a couple of the same guys. They are doing a liveshow tomorrow night, for one night only, it should be a great time!

And if you haven't seen Mystery Science, here is a clip (because I love video clips.)

My new little addiction

Having a baby that takes a lot of naps means that mommy has some time on her hands 3 times a day! We don't have cable or satellite TV, and I really don't like soap operas, so I've been digging through our hundreds of DVDS (and I literally mean hundreds) to find something to watch. I ran across our Arrested Development seasons. Jason and I watched a little of the first season when we first bought them but kind of forgot about them. Anyway, I've watched all of them now and am going to just say it, this is one of THE best TV shows of all times. I suppose you have to have the right sense of humor to enjoy it, some of the humor is very subtle and (Jason's word) dry. I can't believe that this show was cancelled and that more people don't know about it. If you have the chance, pick it up, rent it (Netflix has it), borrow it....whatever you must do to watch it! I order you. You can even go to Hulu.com and watch the episodes, I think it's free. And I'm sure youtube.com has snippets of the shows there. (Do make sure you're watching the TV show and not a music video from the band Arrested Development! Remember them??? Mr. Wendal??)

And to those of you that are already fans...I've read online that they are making a movie of the show!

And just because I love all of you, here is the pilot episode. Judge for yourself. (Courtesy of www.hulu.com)

Warning!!! Probably not appropriate for the little ones! It isn't terrible, but there are still words and situations that are not for kids. Don't say that I didn't' warn you!

Sunday recipe!!

Time for another yummy recipe! By the way, all of the recipes I list will be from Taste of Home, unless I've written otherwise. Today we're making:

Herbed Chicken Fettuccine (and it's delicious!)

1-2 tsp salt-free seasoning blend
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 in strips
2 TBSP oil or vegetable oil
4 TBSP butter (divided)
2/3 cup water
2 TBSP teriyaki sauce
2 TBSP onion soup mix
1 package savory herb and garlic soup mix (divided)
8 ounces fettuccine uncooked
2 TBSP grated Parmesan cheese
1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce

Combine seasoning blend and poultry seasoning, sprinkle over chicken. In a skillet, saute chicken in oil and 2 TBSP butter for 5 minutes or until juices run clear. Add the water, teriyaki sauce, onion soup mix and 2 TBSP herb and garlic soup mix. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, cook the fettuccine according to package directions. Drain; add to chicken mixture. Add cheese, Worcestershire sauce, remaining butter and remaining herb and garlic soup mix; toss to coat.

It seems like a lot of ingredients, but it's so good. We keep teriyaki and Worcestershire sauce in the house and I substituted a poultry rub and a steak blend salt-free seasoning for the first two ingredients. The only thing we didn't have on hand was the herb and garlic soup mix and that was really cheap.

Here is a photo of the finished product:

And now that I've just spent 20 minutes typing this all out....I found the link to the recipe on their website. I'm using an old issue of their magazine, circa the early 1990's, who'd have thought they'd still be using the same recipe on their website, almost 20 years later. http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Herbed-Chicken-Fettuccine

My unofficial cloth diaper review - Sweet Doll Baby

So, for those reading this that may be interested in cloth diapers, I thought I'd share my review of the Sweet Doll Baby diapers. These are available on eBay and are super cheap (which is what drew me to them.) They have changed the colors a bit since I bought mine a few months ago. I bought all of my Sweet Doll Baby diapers with Velcro closure, not snaps, so my review is on the Velcro diapers.

Price: These are around $8 a piece on eBay. VERY cheap for cloth diapers. Of course you get what you pay for so don't expect these to be the same quality as Bum Genius diapers!

Appearance: They are adorable. Great colors.

Fit: The diapers fit great. My "little" guy is 22 pounds at 8 months and still uses these on the medium snap setting. The problem with the fit is that the part of the waistband that is not Velcroed (is that word?) together tends to sag. Someone told me this was called wing droop :) So while they fit his body perfectly as far as size, they have a design flaw when it comes to the wing droop.

Absorbency: I use mine with the two inserts that come with it. I would say the absorbency is decent. Not great, but not terrible. The biggest problem I have is that the Velcro at the waist is sewn through the PUL and the inner fabric, so there is no waterproof barrier at the top inch of the diaper. I have a boy so the top/front of the diaper is the part where we need it the most. If I change diapers every three hours I don't have any leaking. If I go longer then that, or overnight, he will often have a wet ring around his waist (requiring all fresh clothing.) So if you change often, you should be OK. Not a great diaper for nighttime though.

Durability: I've had mine for about 6 months and have only had one problem with one diaper, as far as fabric. On the PUL layer, the laminate coating separated from the fabric. It is still usable though. The diapers seem to hold up well to washing and drying. Now, the HUGE problem I had with these was that the Velcro that came on these does not hold. Not even close. I would close the diaper and the second I picked him up it would come undone. I emailed the seller on eBay and she promptly offered to replace the Velcro or send new Velcro for me to replace myself. Apparently they use the "softer" Velcro so it's more comfortable for baby, although from my experience the baby's skin never comes in contact with the Velcro. I had her send the new Velcro and fixed it myself. It is much better now. Still not as strong as Applix would be, but pretty good for Velcro.

Overall Pros:
Great price!!!!
Good fit

Overall Cons:
Bad Velcro
Wing droop

So...would I recommend these? Maybe. I know that doesn't really help anyone. I would recommend these to someone who does not have a heavy wetter, but would suggest buying the snaps version, and looking for a better diaper for overnight. If you don't mind the occasional leaky diaper (and I'm talking wet here, I have NEVER had a leaky "dirty" diaper) and are looking for a diaper that is inexpensive, I say give them a shot. If you have no tolerance for leaks, look elsewhere. Me, I would rather wash an extra outfit here or then then pay $20 for one diaper!

And of course, you can't have a complete review without a photo of my little guy in his Sweet Doll Baby diaper! It doesn't really show the diaper, but who's gonna look at the diaper with a face like this???

and here's another picture. It doesn't show the diaper, but again, who cares?

Jumping back on the exercise band wagon

As most people that know me will know, I have been trying to lose weight (pretty much my whole life!) Jason and I started a 30 day challenge on a Wii video game (EA Active.) It was a great workout, we did all 30 days, and felt so much better. Didn't lose a lot of weight but gained energy! After that I started the 30 day shred with Jillian Michaels from Biggest Loser. Let me tell you, that workout video will KICK your butt, even on their easiest level. I made it through 20 days, then took off a couple days because of an injured ankle. Well, taking a couple days off was enough to make it "easier" to skip days here and there. And well we are now going on three weeks. Pathetic. I decided that we (yes, I decided for both of us, I have that power) are going to get back on the exercise program again, starting right this very second. I figure posting about it here makes me a little more accountable...right? So feel free to email me and ask me if I got my lazy butt off the couch each day. I may think nasty things about you at the moment but I'll thank you later. :) Oh, and I think we are going to start back with the Wii game for 30 days. It's a little easier to stick with since the video game is mouthy and will remind me when I haven't worked out regularly. For anyone that hasn't tried either of these, here are my pros and cons:

EA Active for the Wii

Pros:
Fun
Different workout every day
Different areas of body worked out every day
Trophies are collected along the way, which is a little bit of motivation

Cons:
It's more expensive then a workout video
You have to wear the annoying little leg strap while you exercise


Jillian Michael's 30 day shred

Pros:
Definitely a good workout
It's short, so just when you think you can't take it anymore it is over

Cons:
Same workout every single day (after awhile you will be talking along with them)
It is really, really intense. So if you're like me and are not fit at all, it is hard to get into at first

So there you go. Both are good workouts and even the cons are not really that bad. Just depends on how much you want to kick your own butt right away.

Pre-order your I Can Has Cheezburger book today!

If you haven't heard of I Can Has Cheezburger, then you need to get out more. Or maybe I need to get out more, who knows. Regardless, it is a funny website dedicated to making cats look even more stupid then they really are. I have a cat, I can say that. She's not bright. Anyway, they have a new book coming out September first and our cat, Mazie, is going to be in it! How cool is that. The book is pretty cheap, $8 something at Amazon.com, so pre-order yours today. Then you can say you know someone with a famous cat...maybe she'll even paw-tograpgh it for you.


see more Lolcats and funny pictures

If you have never heard of this website, here is an example of their work. Everyone knows the super annoying TV commercial for the headache stuff that you put on your forehead...and they say it over and over "apply directly to the forehead."

Leaving the house as a parent

Ok, so it's obvious that it's harder to leave the house when you're a parent, especially with a baby. I have to strap two kids into their car seats, pack up the stroller, blah, blah, blah....then I get to do it all over again when I get to the store, and then again when I get out of the store, and once more when I get home....but you get the idea. Today I realized another problem with being a parent and wanting to get out of the house. Remember when you were younger and you realize that you've run out of something (beer, milk, whatever) so you run to the store, only to find that it's already closed??? Well, I find that I have that same problem now as a parent....except when I run out of something (milk, vodka, prozac, whatever) I get to the store only to find out that it's not open yet! Target really needs to start opening up at 6:00 am. Or my kid needs to learn how to sleep until 8:00 am. Either way.

On another note, Jason got his $5 back from Gamers! Woohoo! He wrote corporate, they wrote him back and told him to go back to the store and it would be taken care of. Apparently they forgot to teach the kid at the store how to do a refund (or even swipe a credit card) but it's all over with and we now can retire with our $5.

For the green baby

We made the switch to cloth diapers when K was about 3 months old. I love them and am so glad we made the switch. We've spent $14 on diapers since he was born (he's almost 8 months old now.) In the first three months, all of the diapers we used were given to us. After that, I bought cloth and probably spent around $150 to $200 on them total, and he will continue to use them until he's potty trained (or until his thighs get bigger!) Anyway, I wanted to share two of my favorite recipes, one for home-made diaper cream and one for baby wipe solution (for use with cloth wipes.)

Vegan baby diaper cream

1 oz shea butter
1/2 oz sweet almond oil
1/2 oz rice bran oil

Melt shea butter and add other oils. After it's cooled down a bit, whisk until it is well blended. Pour into desired container. I added lavender oil for fragrance. You could also add tea tree oil, as it has anti-bacterial properties.

This cream is wonderful! I used it once on a diaper rash and it was cleared overnight. I use it occasionally just for prevention as well. This little batch will last a very long time. If you make this, you will notice that it is runny....wait overnight and it will be more like the consistency of lotion.

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Diaper wipe solution

1 C water
1 TBSP Dr. Bronner's liquid castile (baby)
1 TBSP apricot or almond oil
2 drops tea tree essential oil
5 drops lavender essential oil

Mix these together and pour over cloth wipes, in a plastic baby wipes tub. I use mine in a wipe warmer. If you want to have some handy, double the recipe and store the rest in an air-tight container.

I've experimented with different ingredients on this one and really like the Dr. Bronner's almond scented castile soap along with the almond oil. When I do that, I don't use any of the essential oils. I've also used lemon and orange essential oils, sometimes I get tired of all baby stuff being lavender scented!

Sunday recipe

I'm going to try to post a new recipe each Sunday. Today I've chosen Chicken and Broccoli with fettuccine.

**This also purees very nicely for baby food! My little guy loved it!****

Ingredients

4 oz. uncooked fettuccine
1/2 lb chicken, cut into 1" pieces
1 small onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2TBSP butter
1 can (10.75 0z) cream of chicken soup
1 C chicken broth
1 1/2 cups broccoli florets
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp pepper
1/2 C Parmesan cheese

Cook fettuccine
Meanwhile, saute chicken, garlic, and onion in the butter, until chicken is no longer pink.
Stir in soup, broth, broccoli, onion powder, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Add fettuccine to mix.
Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes (or until chicken and broccoli are cooked.)
Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

My family loved this recipe, even the leftovers! Jason is picky and won't eat Parmesan, so we put that on our plates when we ate, but in my opinion it is what makes the dish! Crazy guy. This recipe is great because most of the ingredients are things that we have around the house anyway. Enjoy!

Did I mention that I hate shopping?

And what is worse is returning an item. Please bear with me through my little rant. Jason and I went to Gamers the other day because M wanted a new game for her DS. Jason goes there frequently (imagine that!) so we know about their crappy "no cash refund" policy. Anyway, M picked up a used game for $24.95 and Jason picked up a hint guide for $4.95. So we pay and go on our merry little way. Today when I balance the check-book I realized that the total charge was $36.99. I like to think I'm pretty good at math and knew that did not add up. So we look at the receipt....we were charged $9.95 for the hint guide. $5 doesn't seem like a lot but it was the fact that he wouldn't have bought it if it were $9.95. So today he calls the store. This is were our confidence in today's customer service goes downhill. The manager argues with him, insisting that the guide is $9.95 in their system (duh, we know this because that's how it rang up) and that we were wrong. Jason read to him the exact label on the guide and the guy still argued that we must have picked up the Killzone 1 hint guide, not the Killzone 2 hint guide. Here are the problems with that logic:

1) he looked up our receipt and saw that we clearly bought Killzone 2
2) we know how to read

So basically he said the label was wrong, so we were pretty much S.O.L..but if we came in and proved to him the label on the book was indeed correct, he would give us store credit for $5. Does anyone else see a problem with this??? Again, they have a "no cash refund" policy. When we pointed out the very minor fact that this was NOT a refund, but a price adjustment, he continued to fight it. Long story short (too late?) their corporate got a nice little email this morning. I am sure we will never see our $5, but at least we feel better yelling at someone!

We really are nice people, I swear ;) And yes, you don't have to tell us that we should have looked at the total BEFORE we left the store, but that's not the point. You are on our side here!

I hate shopping

I really do. Today it was shopping for school clothes. Little did I know as I walked into Target that it was a tax-free holiday today. No wonder there were 50 million people in the little girl's department today. As if it's not bad enough lugging around a 7-month-old and a 5-year-old, add the crowd of crazy moms trying to get the last pair of jeans in their kid's size. We ended up leaving without any clothes anyway, after arguing with a little girl who was upset that I would not let her get the Wizards of Waverly Place t-shirt that she wanted. She has no clue what that is...I have no clue what that is (other then another expensive fad created by our friends at Disney.) I did overhear a lovely mother-daughter conversation though. And by overheard, I mean I heard them yelling to each other from 20 feet apart. (Daughter was apparently trying to pick out pants:)

Mom: How much are they?
Daughter: $7.99
Mom: Why do you always have to pick the expensive $#!t???

I thought this was just lovely, as my daughter and several other little girls are standing around listening to her wonderful choice of words, but really the most humorous part is that Mom thought that $7.99 was expensive for a pair of pants for a 12 year old. Really? It's not 1960 anymore.

It's about time, I suppose

Blogging seems to be the newest thing...or maybe it was the newest thing a few years ago and I'm just really slow. Either way, I figure it's about time to follow the herd. What is this blog about, you ask? Well, I can summarize it in one word - nothing. Really. I'm sure you're just dying to follow my blog now, right? I'll talk about my kids (of course!), my husband (although I am told that I must be nice), crafts, recipes, humor, and probably some mention of chocolate along the way.