christmas gift

I can so remember when I was younger and my grandma made me a doll and it was an awesome gift. My reason for saying this is cause I want to make my kids a gift for Christmas and something they could enjoy for years to come. I want to make them a blanket but not just any blanket but one that means a lot to me and to them. I will post pictures of the process as I get it together.

menu stuff

I like trying to find some new recipes and I like this site that I found http://orgjunkie.com/. So while on the sight I found a link that gives you 40+ make ahead meals. http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2012/09/40-make-ahead-meals.html. So hopefully I will be looking at those a bit more later and use some of those recipes.

Nothing new really to post on here. Well besides trying to loose weight and so far I have lost 6lbs. as of 9-6-12 I am so excited about all that I have accomplished and can't wait to see what the future holds for me with more weight lost.

Kids are doing great. Sweetness is in 11th grade and its hard to wrap my head around that. She is an awesome young lady and I look forward to see what the future holds for her as she is going to rock this world. The Boy is in 9th grade and I can't accept that as well. He is growing up to be a great young man and trying to go into Trio Upward Bound for Snead State Community College. Grumpy is in 6th grade and loves middle school, she recently got glasses and looks so cute but only needs them while at school (looking at the board). Little Diva is in 4th grade and she also got glasses but wears them majority of the time just so she don't need to squint and omg she is so cute as well. Hubby is working hard at work. Growling is enjoying her new leach outside and runs and barks at everything outside. Well that is all the updates. Hope ya enjoy all of this, until next time, Laters.

meals

So me and hubby will be doing some grocery shopping this weekend and I am so tired of always figuring out what to eat for dinner so I found a site on Pinterest and its freezer cooking. That means you get all that you need fix most of the stuff and add them into a freezer bag and label it and then when you want to get dinner together you pull out the bag and add a few items and put it into the crock pot, now when I saw this I was trying to hit print. I love my crock pot and so I am going to make these recipes and possibly a few more and freeze the dinners.

I also started using my ipod app called fitnesspal and let me tell ya I love it so much. I am determine to loose 30 lbs before my next dr. appt. which should be in December. I am wanting to get off my meds as of now I am on 5 prescription meds and 1 over the counter fish oil pills. Yuck I hate meds., but there is always a plus about it and that would be I am now determine to loose this weight.

Well that is about all for now. That is until next time.

going to do...

I am going to start doing the menu planning from http://orgjunkie.com/ but I think as I am looking at this site I think I will try to do some freezer cooking though just to make my life a bit easier and with us heading into fall and the weather will be turning colder there is nothing like the house being warm with the oven going and the smell of goodness filling the air. So lets wish me luck on this adventure I will be on.
I do normally do my menu planning with what we have on hand but I like to try to find different things to make as recently I found out that my bad cholesterol is high, my thyroids are low, my hc1 level is only 2 point to high so I am now on medicine for all of this along with blood pressure medicine augh this isn't how my life is suppose to be. But if I loose some more weight then most of my problems shall go away, so fingers and toes cross.

pop tart recipe

With the price of things increasing this is nice to save some money and this is one I will be trying very soon. I feel there is nothing like homemade items to make the kids feel good.


Pop Tarts
3/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
3 3/4 cups flour
3 teas. baking powder
1/2 cup fruit preserves
FROSTING
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teas. vanilla
2 Tbls. milk
Preheat oven to 350F.
In mixer or food processor, cream shortening and sugar together
and then beat in the eggs, one at a time.
Sift together flour and baking powder and and stir into shortening
mixture to make a soft dough. Chill for 1 hr.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface and roll out 12 rectangles,
each 8 x 12 inches. Spread one tablespoon of preserves over half
of each rectangle, staying well within the edge of the pastry. Fold
pastry dough over the preserves and trim the edges with a pastry
wheel or crimp with a fork to close.
Place tarts on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 20 min. Let cool.
Mix vanilla, milk, and powdered sugar until you have a thin frosting.
Dribble frosting on cooled tarts.

Jury Duty

Yes that's right I got called to jury duty & I am not happy about it, I mean not only do I have to take hubby to work then get home to break up any fighting but then get kids out to wait for the bus (which is coming earlier) then I got cleaning, laundry & Thursday I got a doctor appt. like omg really jury duty along with all of my other fricken life jobs I need to do. So I will let ya know how it goes.

Stay at home mom life

Just wanted everyone to know what life is like as a stay at home mom.
5:35 am- alarm goes off
5:50 am- up out of the bed waking kids up
6:10 am- yelling at kids to get up & dressed
6:30 am- kids finishing up getting ready for school
6:50 am- kids waiting for bus
7:10 am- making breakfast
7:30 am- laundry started
8:30 am- next load is started-yes my laundry takes an hour from start to finish
10:00 am- the today show- yes my favorite show
11:07-11:10 am- Paul calls
11:30 am- clean up & continue with laundry
Noon-2:00 pm- music on and still finishing up cleaning & laundry
2:00-3:00 pm- plan dinner & start cooking
4:00-5:00 pm- dinner time
5:00-6:00 pm- kids chores
7:00-9:00 pm- our tv shows depending on the day, bedtime for younger kids
9:00-10:00 pm- bedtime for older kids & parents

I know this is just a random idea of what I do throughout the day. But a lot of people say that stay at home moms don't do anything but we most certainly do

School is back in session

I admit I miss my kids. I miss telling them to behave & to go to their room & the one I used the most was "do not hit each other, hands are made for hugging not hitting" but honestly I love the house to myself. My kids are in 11th, 9th, 6th & 4th yeah it's great I don't miss those younger years of crying that I'm leaving them to fend for themselves but to see that they are capable of making it to their class on their own and seeing them independent is an awesome thing.

I always do hearts on their hands on the first day of school so when they start to miss me they know I'm always with them in times of nervousness & most of the kids love it lol

Menu

This week I decided to be on the fly with my menu so there won't be a menu this time

Excited

Yes I'm excited bout a few things, one is my husband is off all next wk & we have two things planned, one is the Huntsville space & rocket center, then the McWane museum in Birmingham. Then I'm going to start a July photo of the day pictures again, I loved doing it in May it was so much fun.

Menu this wk

Monday:
Breakfast: cereal
Lunch: sandwich
Dinner: crockpot Italian chicken
Twice baked potato casserole

Tuesday:
Breakfast: pancakes
Lunch: hot dogs & chips
Dinner: crispy southwestern wraps
Taco salad

Wednesday:
Breakfast: eggs & toast
Lunch: any leftovers
Dinner: Mac & beef& cheese
Salad

Thursday:
Breakfast: oatmeal
Lunch: Mac & cheese
Tuna sandwich
Dinner: meatless lasagna, green beans, garlic bread

Friday:
Breakfast: eggs & biscuits & gravy
Lunch: leftovers
Dinner: pizza casserole

Snacks
Fruit, jello, carrots w/ dressing, popsicle, watermelon, raspberry pretzel thing

Men

With fathers day tomorrow my husband waits until yesterday to tell me what he wants-a coffee cup with AU (which stands 4 Auburn University) painted on one side & on the other the kids to paint their names like for real who does he think I am? But I will do it and it shall be wonderful.

Busy week

Wow this has been a very week indeed for me, dentist appt. on Tuesday to fill my oldest daughter's teeth, then grocery shopping. Today was a hearing dr to check my son's hearing as he couldn't hear well at his last dr visit. Tomorrow is hair cutting for my son & myself I'm supper excited. Then also bill paying I dread that. So as you can see a moms job is never done.

Menu for the week

I'm sorry I'm getting this out there to late as its been a busy week.
Monday
Breakfast- bagel with cream cheese
Lunch- find your own - I skipped this
Dinner- tilapia with fries, shells & cheese yummy
Snacks- none as of now

Tuesday
Breakfast-oatmeal, toast & orange juice
Lunch-macaroni & cheese
Dinner- sandwiches
Snack-strawberries

Wednesday
Breakfast-egg & toast
Lunch-Noodles or can lunch
Dinner- buffalo chicken salad
Snack-chips & koolaid slushy

Thursday
Breakfast- oatmeal
Lunch-hopefully to school to eat
Dinner-cheesy crockpot chicken served on top of brown rice & swiss veggie casserole
Snack-fruit parfait

Friday
Breakfast- cereal
Lunch-hopefully to school to eat
Dinner- out to eat
Snack- Popsicle & Nutella wrap

Summer menu

Well we are into about our third week of summer vacation so I'm going to starting a menu planning this way we don't just sit around and eat all summer. Along with the menu planning I will be listing any activities we shall be doing.
My menu planning shall actually start tomorrow as I need a day to plan it.

new blog

I have started a new blog to sell my kid totes and hair bows so go check them out and follow me. you might find something you like
http://momsvinecrafts.blogspot.com/

weight loss process

I was offered by my doctor after she told me I would make a great candidate for lap band surgery. I am still hesitant to it as I have dealt with being fat all my life and is now seeing my kids become fat. I want them to know that if you work hard for something the result will be more full filling and more rewarding. I don't want them to think that you can cheat your way through life. So I have said since my doctor appt. I am going to loose 100 lbs before my birthday, Sept. 22. Yesterday I took my first steps to weight loss and walked 4x's around my neighborhood and took 5,119 and I felt so good after that. I have a picture I found that inspires me so much, "If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you'll find an excuse." I love that, my health and being around for my kids is important to me and I don't want to give an excuse. So 100 lbs before Sept. 22. I got this.

This is so hard to post but I have to get this going.
Weight as of today: 294 lbs
Goal by 9-22:194 lbs
Goal by 12-31: 144 lbs

Yes I like to set my goal high that is 150 lbs by the end of the year. Ok I got this.

Now I know most are saying why such a high goal when you have struggled all of your life? Cause me being around to see my kids means more then any number. If I get down 50 lbs then you know what that is less I have to carry around so if by the end of the year and I am only down 50 lbs did I loose my goal? Nope I won so much more then just a number I won the fact that I can accomplish whatever I put my mind to.

Pinterest

I am so addicted to Pinterest and looking for easy to make food, crafts, home decor, and stylish stuff that I love. Well today I thought I take some pictures of my latest cooking ideal now hold on to your aprons, Oatmeal Cream Pie just like those that you can buy at the store from the Little Debbie cakes. Oh my goodness these are so good.

The Dough:




On the cookie sheet:




Close up on the cookie dough:



The Ingredients for the cookie dough:




The Ingredients for the cream filling:



The Frosting getting ready to get mixed:




The frosting makes a real mess:

& on the floor



The Oatmeal Cream Pie:



I thought I share with you the recipe I had found and used, along with the web site I found it on. this made 18 total pies

Oatmeal Cream Pies

Dessert | Yield: 1 1/2 – 2 dozen

Prep time: 20 min | Cook time: 12 min | Total time: 40 min

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp molasses
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1 3/4 cups flour (1 1/2 cups for silpat bakers)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/8 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups rolled quick oats (The original recipe said quick oats but I don’t think it matters that much, my research just said that quick oats are mushier. The general consensus was that you shouldn’t ever use quick oats in baking because they are too soft.)*

*UPDATE 9/17/2010: After some comments and additional tests I’ve determined that you should use quick oats instead of rolled. You definitely get much a thicker and fluffier cookie with them.

Cream Filling

• 2 tsp. very hot water
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 (7 ounce) jar marshmallow cream
• 1/2 cup shortening (Yuck, I know. I rarely use this stuff. I tried to substitute butter once and it was a giant failure, so you pretty much have to use shortening.)
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar (I might increase this to 1/2 next time, I didn’t think it was that sweet, but I have a major sweet tooth.)
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla (will probably double this next time)

Process

1. Combine flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon in a bowl.
2. In large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add in eggs, beating after each. Finally beat in molasses and vanilla.
3. Add to the flour mixture to creamed mixture and beat until just blended; mix in the oats with a wooden spoon.
4. Drop dough by tablespoons (seriously, don’t go bigger than this, they spread out) on parchment lined sheets, with plenty of space in between. (I fit three across on my commercial sized baking sheet, two for a regular sized baking sheet.) Bake at 350 degrees (F) for 10-12 minutes, or until just starting to brown around the edges. They will look moist; don’t overcook (10 minutes was perfect for me). Let sit on cookie sheet for about 5 minutes and then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
5. While the cookies bake prepare the filling. In small bowl, dissolve the salt in the hot water. Set aside and allow this to cool.
6. Combine marshmallow cream, shortening, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a bowl; mix on high until fluffy (it never really rises like an egg-white based frosting, but you can tell it’s fluffier after 3-4 minutes).
7. Add the cooled salt water and mix well (I thought this made the filling a bit too salty, which is why I’ll either be adding a bit more sugar or a bit less salt next time).
8. Spread filling on flat side of one cookie, press 2nd cookie on top.

http://backtothecuttingboard.com/dessert/oatmeal-cream-pies/

new camera new projects

My husband recently got me a new camera its a fugi camera and I just love it. Then I put some of my pictures on myspace and edit them. I love my camera
So here is just a few of my pics that I have edited after taking the pictures..I won't put the before pic cause its not to much different then the after picture...Hope you enjoy.


Amanda's Pic after I edited it..




Kevin's pic after I edited




Meagan's Pic after editing




Chelsea's pic after editing