Monthly Archives: July 2012

I found out on Saturday that Supermommy or Not nominated me for the Versatile Blogger Award!  I’m so deeply touched.  I’m very new to this blogging corner of the world.  I’ve always read them but it took me a long time to get the courage to set up my own blog and start writing content.  That anyone would think my beginning blog award-worthy?  Wow.  Thank you, Supermommy or Not!   Please go check out her blog!  She also has a children’s boutique with the cutest clothing (I think I know what I’m getting some nieces and nephews for Christmas now.).  

As part of this nomination, I am required to share 7 random facts about myself as well as nominate 15 other blogs for this wonderful award.  The first task will be hard as I’m not really a share things about myself kind of person (I know…I know…Why on Earth do I have a blog if I don’t like to share things?). 

7 Random Things You Never Wanted to Know:

1. Coconut Meringue Pie is my favorite dessert.  I like it better than chocolate.  No one else in this household likes coconut so I don’t get my favorite dessert very often.  However, I get plenty of desserts that are forever attached to my middle and my thighs.

2. I worked as a tour guide at the Winston Churchill Memorial on the campus of Westminster College in Fulton, MO for a college semester.  I wasn’t very good at it.  I still have my name tag.

3. Automatic car washes terrify me and I refuse to drive through them.  The boys find this both hilarious and disappointing.  I do go to the car wash every now and then but I wash my car in the stalls. 

4. I have lived in the same local area my entire life and I actually love it here (most of the time).  I love to travel but do not have many chances to do so.

5. Family research fascinates me and has become my hobby since I can’t make amazing crafts, music (you do NOT want me to sing), or enjoying cooking and baking all that much.   I’ve also become in contact with 3 distant cousins through my research.

6. When I was in either Kindergarten or maybe it was 1st Grade, I didn’t hear the bus driver call my name and missed my stop.  I rode the bus all the way to the end of the route.   I don’t remember much about it except the bus driver yelled, I cried, and my aunt from Florida was here for a visit.  I’m sure someone; somewhere heard an earful from my mother.  We’d have been local celebrities had it happened in this era (Oh dear, does that mean I went to school in a different era?) back then it didn’t even make the local news plus I probably had to accept responsibility for not paying attention.  Times have changed.

7. I don’t like cold fruit.  Cold fruit salad is okay but if I’m going to eat a grape or an apple, it needs to be room temperature.  Oh, and I hate bananas.

Hopefully, you’ll be able to sleep tonight now that you know my fruit preferences.   Now it’s time (no rotten tomatoes here!) to nominate 15 of my favorite blogs.  I can’t count so I stopped at 12.  That should leave you more time to go check out these great blogs! :

1. This Happy Mom

2. Organized Island

3. Organising Queen

4. An Extraordinary Day

5. The Fresh Plate

6. A Mother’s Oath

7. Ready.Set.Simplify.

8. BerryMorins Bits and Tips

9. Overcoming Busy

10. The How to Make Money Online Mom

11. Jordy Liz Blogs

12. Healthy Family Cookin

For those of you nominated, here are the rules:  

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you.

2. Include a link to their site.

3. Include the award image in your post. 

4. Give 7 random facts about yourself.

5. Nominate 15 other bloggers for the award.

6. When nominating include a link to their site.

7. Let the bloggers know they have been nominated.

Posted by Jean in Uncategorized

“In Pieces” by Neighty on Flickr

We’re doing the Back to School dance around here the next two weeks.  Summer is ending (well, the lazy days for the kids are ending) and I want to make sure it ends well.  We need to make those preparations I talked about in this post since enrollment is this week. 

I already feel like I’ve twirled too fast:  bedtimes and wake up times must change, our lazy breakfast routine must change and I need to figure out new breakfasts that are quick, healthy, and easy, closets clean-outs to complete, lunchbox items must once again surface on the grocery list, school supplies purchased, new shoes purchased, PTA meetings scheduled, paperwork completed, videogame playing and TV time adjusted (I’m actually happy about that one), and more that I simply cannot remember right now.

The curtain’s closing on summer and I want an encore!  We need to go swimming again!  We need to plan a vacation!  We need to have fun outings!  We need to plan get-togethers with friends!  We need to hurry and do it NOW while we’re twirling in the back to school aisles searching for the ever elusive white construction paper and pink erasers. 

Plié and take a deep breath.  I have a plan!  I’m going to change the dance moves and two-step our way through the end of summer (I never was graceful enough to be a ballerina, anyway).  Each day, we’re going to do 2 things.  One thing related to back to school readiness and one thing related to summer fun.  I’m going to talk to the boys and see what summer fun they want to do yet.

Can I share a secret with you?  I love my boys deeply and fiercely and know I’ll miss them desperately when school starts.  However, today, I’m okay with school starting in a couple weeks.  Are you ready for school to begin or would you like to stretch out summer for a few more weeks? 

Posted by Jean in Uncategorized

 This post is part of Meal Plan Monday.  Check it out for great inspiration!

 I mostly followed our menu plan last week except on Thursday and Friday.  We were out and about and ended up at a Chinese Buffet prior to the last baseball game of the season instead of eating spicy lemon chicken on Thursday.  It may have helped had I actually prepared my crockpot meal.   I love the convenience of the crockpot but cannot remember to put my meals in there very well!  Anyone else?  In an effort to improve my memory, I went ahead and planned 2 crockpot meals for this week…wish me luck!   I completely forgot the Friday plan!  We treated my nephew to a “smorgasbord” dinner aka I cleaned out the fridge on Friday evening, we went out on Saturday without the kiddos and my in-laws were kind enough to feed them for us, and on Sunday, the boys ate ham steak and baked sweet potatoes (a complete repeat of Monday’s menu except J had Doritos with his instead of a sweet potato) while I had a bagel with yogurt/cereal.

This week is supposed to be another scorcher!   The joke in the Midwest goes that if don’t like the weather, wait 5 minutes and it changes. 

We’re having a heat wave!

 Well, it’s been a bit more than 5 minutes and I’m ready for that change.   Here’s the plan this week:

Monday:  Crockpot Spicy Lemon Chicken, pasta, and garlic toast (carried over from last week)

Tuesday:  Pizza, salad.  I’m not sure at this point whether it will be frozen, homemade, or takeout.  (My BABY picks up his middle school schedule today!  I have a meeting at 5:30p.m.along with plans to get together with a girlfriend.)

Wednesday:  Sesame Pork Ribs (This is another slow-cooker recipe so wish me luck!  I have a meeting at 2p.m. so I know I won’t want to come home and cook.)

Thursday:  Fish Fingers and Custard aka Fish Sticks and perhaps banana pudding (I didn’t do anything to honor the Olympics last week so maybe I’ll make up for it on today’s menu.  Did you catch the reference to my favorite English show?)

Friday:   Taco Salads and maybe I’ll have my husband grill last week’s steak into fajita strips for us.

I didn’t include sides this time since I haven’t been to the store.   I don’t think my menu plan is gold medal material this week.  Actually, I don’t think it would even qualify.   Are you watching the Olympics?  If there were a meal competition, what meal would you enter?

Posted by Jean in Uncategorized

Free sample from Smiley360. I love getting mail!

(Disclosure:  I am member of Smiley360 and received a free sample containing 2 bottles of 5-Hour Energy to try as one of my missions with them.)

(Warning:  You may need an energy drink or 3 plus a cup of coffee to make it to the end of this post!)

Smiley360 contents: 2 bottles of 5-Hour Energy!

I’m a coffee drinker.  I didn’t used to be one.  I think it was my husband’s influence.  He gets up and makes coffee (it should probably be the other way around but I’m not a morning person and he makes better coffee anyway) and I start my day with a cup of coffee with a splash of milk (no sugar) in it.  Okay, I’ll fess up and say it’s more than a splash of milk; it’s enough to get it to the correct light brown color.  Black coffee is not my thing.  I like flavored coffee but my husband hates it so I reserve that pleasure for when he’s away or I’m out catching up with girlfriends at Starbucks.  I do find that coffee perks me up a bit.  I learned the hard way that ordering something called a “shot of espresso” late at night (I’m old so I should specify that late at night means 9p.m. LOL) perks me up A LOT.  It may not be the best idea to copy the drink order of the person in line ahead of you in a coffee shop.

I enjoy trying new products and getting free stuff in the mail.  That’s why I joined Smiley360.  I was excited to qualify for the 5-Hour Energy mission.   I have noticed 5-Hour Energy doing lots of advertising claiming to be better than coffee.  I’m not a huge mid-day coffee drinker or a huge hot coffee in hot weather person (my parents used to drink coffee all day long!).  I thought 5-Hour Energy might be a good alternative to coffee.  I tried the first bottle yesterday around 3:30p.m when an afternoon slump was settling in.  We were having my nephew as an overnight guest with a baseball awards ceremony and swim party to attend so I decided to chug that energy drink and see what happened.  Um, you can’t chug this stuff.  I tried the Berry flavor first.  It tasted like cough syrup.  The kind you have force down younger children (note: I know you aren’t supposed to give kiddos cough syrup anymore and honey does work well…).  Ick.  I did manage to finish the bottle although not in one big swig.   I think it took about 20 tiny swigs.

So did the tiny bottle give me more energy that a cup (or two) of coffee?  Honestly, I couldn’t tell much difference.  I suppose I did find the energy to clear the table (if you have a kitchen table in your home that remains clear for more than 5 minutes at time, PLEASE tell me your secret?) and set out our “smorgasbord” dinner for the family and our guest.  I also managed to get everyone out the door ready and on-time.  I found myself rather anxious during the baseball award ceremony.  However, I am not sure whether the energy drink or the 7 & 8 year old boys and girls running up and down metal bleachers in flip flops and sandals combined with a preference for not being above the pool in a balcony caused those feelings.  Did I crash after 5 hours?  Let’s see….count on your fingers with me so I’ll feel better….3:30….it would have been up at 7:30.  Hmmm, I don’t think so since I was still up at midnight.

Around 10:30 this morning, I felt sluggish again (probably related to being up at midnight) and opened the second bottle of 5-Hour Energy.  Maybe Pomegranate flavor would taste better.   It doesn’t.  I did manage to choke it down drink it in a shorter amount of time. Did I notice having more energy than I did after my morning coffee?   I can’t say I did.  I had hoped for an “Energizer bunny” burst of energy that never arrived.  So much for the drink helping me complete any terrific organizing projects today!  The feeling of needing to nap diminished though.  I also found myself very thirsty.  I could just imagine a conversation in their corporate offices about how people are really dehydrated so instead of simply telling them to drink more water; we’ll sell them this drink.  I also felt a bit anxious again.  However, I live in a house full of boys so that is not always uncommon. 

In my experience, coffee wins.  According the packaging, 5-Hour Energy contains caffeine equivalent to 1 cup of coffee along with B vitamins.  Personally, I’d be happier taking a B-vitamin supplement and drinking a cup of coffee than choking down chugging one of these drinks. There are also warnings on the label.  Our Folgers is free from warnings. 

Ahhh…coffee.

I know people who do drink these energy products and enjoy them though.  What about you….coffee or energy drink?  Or are you over in the cola camp(I’ve hung out in that one myself)?  

Posted by Jean in Uncategorized

I am linking this post to Frugal Fridays over at Life As Mom.  Be sure to go check out her post how to save money on Christmas as well as all the other great frugal ideas in the links!

In summer, we buy a little a lot of ice cream.  I do believe that it may be a law if you live somewhere the temperature remains above 90 for at least one week out of the year; you are required to have ice cream in the freezer during the summer months!  Every time I buy ice cream, I request they put it in a paper “Kool Karry” sack. 

These sacks are insulated and designed to keep your ice cream from melting on your way home.  I don’t request the sacks because I think my ice cream is going to melt before I make the 10 minute trip home from the grocery store.  I request them because when my kids need a sack lunch for school, they make the perfect sacks.    They hold things like ham sandwiches, string cheese, juice boxes, and yogurt tubes. Those yogurt tubes would be a melted mess in a sack like this:

Not great for lunches but I do use these as versatile (and cheap!) gift and favor bags.

Since occasionally I tag along on the boys’ field trips (although they seem to go on fewer field trips with each passing school year…), I can pack myself a lunch with options beyond peanut butter and jelly.   By requesting my ice cream be placed in the “Kool Karry” sacks whenever I purchase it, I have a large collection of these lunch sacks and don’t need to go buy sacks or scramble through my cabinets for sacks or pack lunches in gift bags.  While this does save us from buying sacks, I won’t talk about the amount of money we spend on ice cream (I’ll cut back when the seasons change.).

I also recently made a snack basket for my pantry by cutting a smaller gift bag down.   Another craft that was just my speed because it only required 2 items and very little skill! 

My snack basket made from the bottom of a gift bag.

It’s not the sturdiest container in the world but it looks pretty and works for us.  I also use my plastic bags as bathroom trash liners, car trash bags, gloves for cleaning up cat hairballs (yuck), and sometimes to temporarily hold the million piece toys until I can figure out a better storage solution.  What creative uses have you found for your sacks?

Posted by Jean in Uncategorized