If you are looking for me, I have moved. Please come find me at my new URL
I’m Moving!! July 13, 2008
Are you still there, on the edge of your seat. I hope your butt cheek hasn’t fallen asleep cause that would really stink. Anyway, I just wanted to first announce that I am not pregnant. And I mean that for real, not in a Ashley Simpson sort of way (People readers, I know you know what I am talkin’ about). Maybe it is the fact I haven’t been to the gym in 2 weeks and have been eating multiple rounds of fast food and my mom’s chocolate chip cookies on my vacation that led you to think that was a baby in there. I can assure you, I have just put on a few.
Anyway, I have taken the plunge and gotten my very own website!! I am so excited. It has actually felt like having a baby. I keep going there and staring at it, making sure it is OK. Smiling over this thing I have created. Actually I didn’t create it at all, but I will tell you all about who did if you will just head over and join me.
Wait, wait, wait. First I need you to help me out. If I am so lucky to be in your blogroll, could you change the address. Same if you read me in bloglines or some other sort of feed. If you are a subscriber, you don’t have to do anything, I will take care of it for you. I have been really nervous about making the switch, fearing I would lose you so please come with me. Pretty please.
Ok….now Go!!
Frugal Friday- Vacation Post July 11, 2008
I’m on vacation. So here’s what I got for you today. Don’t spend your money. Save your money. Or at least don’t spend more than you make. There you have it. I am out until Monday when I will return with a big announcement. Please remain on the edge of your seat until then.
Things I Love Thursday- Pledge Multisurface wipes July 9, 2008
Blogging from the road today, but I can’t let all 5 of my readers down that link to TILT, so I am taking a break from my vacation to blog. That is the kind of dedicated blogger that I am. Let’s see if we can set a world record for TILT participation, shall we? If you would please go read the rules over here, especially if you are a first timer, that would prevent anyone from getting put in the “naughty chair.”
Anyway, this week I stumbled upon a great new product that has helped me in my quest to be the laziest cleaner ever. You see one stupidly easy task that I hate doing is dusting. I don’t know why, but I suspect it is because it was one of my chores I always had to do growing up. Along with ironing. Another chore I currently load. I am a firm believer that all problems can be traced directly back to and blamed directly upon your parents. You may think that is unfair to my parents, but I figure someday my kids will be blaming a whole host of things on me so it will all come full circle.
Anywho…the dusting. I discovered that Pledge has taken one step out of the dusting. The spraying part. Which was really quite taxing. Now, they have a wipe with the stuff already on it and you just pull it out and wipe stuff down. Miraculous. Put this is not the best part. There’s more!! You don’t just use these babies on wood. I used these on my hubby’s bathroom mirror which was covered with what appeared to be a large amount of toothpaste spittal. I could barely see myself anymore. Also somehow my laptop screen was covered in little fingerprints. Can’t imagine how that happened. One swipe…gone.
According to the website, you can use it on a whole host of surfaces. And you can keep using it from surface to surface until it is too dirty or dry. Then you just toss it. Again, this is probably not my most earth friendly moment ever, but did I mention how lazy of a cleaner I am? I am justifying it by saying that these things will be replacing all sorts of other cleaners in my house that are probably toxic and or in non-recyclable containers. What do you think, would that fly with Al, Leo and their posse?
Here is a bonus frugal tip a week early. These are on sale at Walgreens this week 2/$6. Then there is a coupon in 6/15 Smart Source that is buy one, get one free. THEN, there is a rebate (#21) you can apply for on Walgreens website (you can email me if you want more info) where you get $2 back for every 2 you buy which essentially makes these $.50 each!! You can do this for up two six of these. Aren’t you proud Jenny? And don’t worry, you will still get a frugal tip tomorrow for Frugal Friday. I am like the postman, I deliver rain or shine….or vacation. Which I am getting back to right now.
Link up!!
Works for Me Wednesday- Take Your Vitamins July 8, 2008
You know how you are supposed to take a daily vitamin. Well at least somebody says you should. And since they don’t make adult ones shaped like Pebbles and Bam-Bam, I can’t seem to remember to take mine. Ever. And I really want to be one of those people who remember to take their vitamins. It seems very responsible and grown up like.
So last week I decided to do something to help me remember. So I went out and bought one of those daily pill reminder things (they probably have a way more technical name). Then I put my daily vitamins in there. A multi, some fish oil, a calcium, whatever else I decide throw in there.
Now the system isn’t fool proof (or child proof so be careful). But it has raised my vitamin taking percentage from about 10% or the time to about 60% so that is something right? I am sure my bones, brain and other vital organs are thankful. And if I could just carve them out into the shape of Dino and flavor them like berries I would surely be at 100%.
For more tips, head over to Rocks in my Dryer.
How to Clean a House (Diaper Diary Style) July 7, 2008
First let’s get two things out of the way. For anyone who has been dying to see a picture of me, I think this picture is a highly accurate representation. Long legs and a teeny, tiny waist with thick, luxurious long hair. Now you know. Also I am still on the Fly Lady wagon. I am barely holding on by my fingertips, but still hanging on. So Monday is my cleaning day. So here the patented Diaper Diary way to clean a house on cleaning day.
- Wake up at 7 and check email while the kids climb all over you asking for more breakfast. Assure them that Daddy has already fed them breakfast and you will not be doing anything more in that department. Remind them several times to keep their sticky syrup fingers away from your laptop.
- At 7:45 children begin to wander down to their playroom and ask to watch Super-Why. Think that it is pretty educational and followed by Word World which is also highly educational. Possibly also swayed by the hour that they will be in front of the TV leaving you to surf People.com and find out about Madonna and A-Rod. Send kids downstairs.
- Madonna and A-Rod begin to bore you and FlyLady keeps emailing you to clean your house. Figure you should so she will get off you back already. Begin to straighten up living room so you can vacuum.
- Find all sorts of Polly Pocket clothes which Hannah keeps bringing up stairs to give me as gifts. They somehow have begun breeding and are everywhere. Contemplate letting the vacuum “accidentally” run over all 500 of them, but fear it will ruin the vacuum. Throw them downstairs and hope they magically walk their little rubbery selves into the proper place.
- Begin vacuuming the living room and dining room.
- Spot Hannah standing at the top of the stair crying because of an irrational fear of the vacuum cleaner. Call on hubby to soothe her so I can vacuum in peace (when did vacuuming become peaceful?).
- Think about dusting, but then decide against it. Add Pledge dust wipes to Walgreens list hoping that will motivate me to dust.
- Unload dishwasher and reload with the plates and glasses that have begun mating and reproducing in the sink overnight. Curse the inventor of sippy cups and all their pieces.
- Head upstairs to fold laundry and get distracted by the fact that my dear hubby has not unpacked his suitcases from early last week. Pile suitcases and other random articles of his clothing on his side of the bed so I don’t have to see them and I can pretend the room is clean.
- Attempt to dress girls and engage in a bizarre battle with my 2 year old over what she is going to wear. Seriously? You are two. Send prayers up to Jesus that he will please return before I have teenage daughters.
- Shower in relative peace and get girls dressed and ready to run to Walgreens. Mom shows up and offers to watch the girls since she was out of town and has been missing them. Hmmm…..kid-free errand running? Sign me up.
- Come back home after errands with one less kid than I left with (not because I am a bad mom, but because Lily is staying at CoCo’s house for the afternoon)
- Put Hannah to bed and straigten up remaining downstairs rooms. Run Scooba in kitchen.
- Decide to put away all the clothes I have folded earlier that are laying on the bed. Mostly cause a good thunderstorm is brewing and climbing under the covers with Real Simple sounds perfect.
- Wake up an hour later cause Hannah is waking up.
- Head downstairs and check email. Get distracted on Facebook and notice that Hannah has been quiet for quite a while. Discover her in my purse playing with my hand lotion. Realize she has used 3/4 of the bottle making herself “pretty” as well as the floor and the carpet.
- Throw Hannah in the bathtub and decide this would be a good time to clean the bathroom. Cop out and use Lysol wipes to get the job done. Notice the tub has a bit of a ring around it and try to figure out ways to make Hannah clean it while bathing. Give up.
- Spend rest of afternoon and early evening complaining to kids and hubby that “I just cleaned the house!!! Why are you leaving messes everywhere!!! Pick up what you are playing with when you are done and stop making messes!!!!”
- Leave hubby to put kids to bed and go get a pedicure so your toes look cute for vacation. Eat dark chocolate M&Ms while blogging. Look around at dishes in the sink and toys on the floor and not care one bit.
This post was written for An Island Life’s first ever Group Writing Project. Head over there for details.
My Link to the Rich and Famous- Part 3 July 6, 2008
If you are wondering about part 1 and 2 you can find them here (under #100) and here. But those pale in comparison to part 3, cause in part 3, I am pretty sure I actually had a hand in molding the future career of said famous person.
You see, it all begins in my youth, back in Marshalltown, IA. I did what any young girl does who is too young to hold a real job, but needs some money to feed her already developing clothes addiction. I began babysitting. I actually enjoyed it cause I had some regular families with some really cute kids. Plus, I will tell you a little secret if you promise not to laugh. I really like to play with Barbies and it gave me an excuse to do so. Hey, you promised!! Sadly enough, I remember one time arguing with a little girl who was tired of playing with them that we would continue playing with them whether she liked it or not. Thank God I now have little girls.
Anywho, we had these family friends who I would babysit for. They had 4 kids and the oldest was my brother’s age so it wasn’t so much babysitting as making sure they didn’t burn the house down while their parents were away. Their dad was the high school baseball coach so I recall playing a lot of baseball-esque games. It is probably here where the stellar athleticism I possess today first began to develop (ahem).
Fast-forward about 20 years and their youngest son is drafted into the majors. Not only that, but he is the #3 draft pick. Now all of the articles you read will credit his dad and other coaches throughout high school and college, but I am pretty sure those nights I pitched the ball while we ran around the pretend bases in their living room had a lot to do with it. I am waiting for the interview where I get some acknowledgement. Patiently waiting…
So if you go to a Mariner’s game and you happen to run into Jeff, tell him you know the Diaper Diaries blogger. I think he will be really impressed. He may act all aloof like he doesn’t know what in the heck you are talking about. But he knows. He just doesn’t want to be one of those obnoxious people who name drops about every celebrity he knows. Cause God only knows how annoying those people can be.
Happy Three Day Weekend for the Fourth of July July 3, 2008
I am taking the weekend off to enjoy with my family. I hope you are doing the same. Of course I will still be lurking around the blogosphere a bit, but not blogging unless something happens so fabulous or hilarious that I can’t resist. Have a great 4th of July and thank you to anyone who is defending (or married to someone defending) our ability to be free.
If you need something to keep you busy over the weekend, head over to It’s Me…Jen and submit a few recipes for the cookbook she is assembling. You will get a copy of everyone else’s recipes for your trouble. Which I think is a pretty good deal. See you on Monday!
Things I Love Thursday- Snacktrition July 2, 2008
I am a snack moron. I know I should eat healthy ones, but somehow just grabbing some highly processed something or other always seems easier. That’s why I love it when someone makes it easy for me. And the people at Snacktrition have done exactly that. Healthy, portable, easy to eat, kid friendly. What more can you ask for?
Snacktrition has created a line of nuts and dried fruit snacks that they have added calcium and fiber too. In this house we can always stand a little more of each of those. Depending on the snack you chose it will either be packed with 3 grams of fiber or more than 100 grams of calcium which translates to 12 percent of your recommended fiber and 10 percent of your recommended calcium intake. Not bad for a handful of nuts.
So that’s what they asked me to tell you, but what do I really think? I really liked them!! I tried the smoked almonds (delicious), the sea salt cashews (not too salty, but just salty enough-they also have salt and pepper cashews which sound awesome), and my personal favorite, the fruit and nut mix (perfect blend of sweet and salty). They come in little bags which are the perfect size for taking on the go, but watch your portions cause nuts are high in fat (but the good kind) and before you know it, you’ve downed the whole thing in 3 seconds.
Here is the slight bummer, these babies might be hard to find right now, but you can check out their website for possible locations. I have a small amount of the fruit and nut mix left that I may be willing to share for some sort of bribe. Gotta be something good though cause we are running pretty low on food around here. Plus our phone and internet seem to have gone out with this storm and I am going to have nothing to do for the next few days but eat to fight off the shakes I will get from internet withdrawl.
Wanna tell us what you love? Sign up with Mr. Linky below and check out these rules to play (which are really just there so I can feel like I make some rules that someone, somewhere follows).
Works For Me Wednesday- Chicken Enchiladas July 1, 2008
I love to cook. No really, I do. But I rarely cook the same thing. I get bored and I like to try new things. And I have written before about how we like to use Saving Dinner (because it saves me all sorts of time and money) so I am always at the mercy of whatever is on that menu every week. Which makes it sound like the food is bad, and it’s not…typically.
But I am not a “look in the fridge and cupboards and grab 5 seemingly unrelated things and throw them together in new wild and wonderful ways to create something so amazing Rachael Ray herself would be in awe” kind of cook. That is more the hubby. I follow recipes exactly. Exactly. Lately I have been loosening up a bit in the recipe department. Sometimes I just throw caution to the wind and omit something. Or even add something. I like to live on the edge my friends.
None of this is really relevant, but I realized when I was about to post my brilliant recipe, that I had actually already posted it before. Apparently, I only have one go-to recipe. How sad. Actually this is the meal I have been making for my friend’s when they have babies (which I have provided some tips for over here). So sorry for a bit of a rerun, but it’s summer and reruns are what summer is all about (unless you enjoy really bad reality TV).
EASY CHICKEN ENCHILADAS
2C shredded chicken (i buy rotisserie chicken found in most delis)
12 flour tortillas (i used wheat)
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes with juice
1 Cup creamed corn
2 bags (8oz each) Mexican four-cheese blend
1. Spoon 2T of shredded chicken down the center of each tortilla. Top each with 1T of tomatoes with juice, 1T of corn and 2T of cheese.
2. Roll tortilla, place seam-side down in a 9×13 dish. Repeat with the remaining tortillas, making two batches of six. Pour remaining tomatoes and juice over enchiladas. Divide remaining cheese among the two batches. Cover tightly with plastic wrap.
3. Cook at 350 for about 20-30 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly. *note: this recipe actually calls for microwaving for 3 minutes on high, but I like the way it tastes better out of the oven. You can do whichever you would like.
If you like your Mexican food with a little more kick, I would use salsa somewhere in the mix. This has more of a cheesy vibe, but might be a little bland for some of your taste. You can also top with sour cream, guacamole (God’s greatest food) or cilantro. All of these would unfortunately take you over 5 ingredients and the easy recipe police may hunt you down and give you some sort of fine. You could probably bribe your way out with some guacamole and a margarita or two.
For more culinary inspiration, head over to Rocks In My Dryer.
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