Thursday, January 30, 2020

Rant

                              Kids! Your Getting On My Nerves!

  
Ok mommas, lets talk about our kids for a minute. What are somethings that your kids do that drive you absolutely up the wall? Things that you can rant about for hours on end and never get it completely off your chest. I have a few myself have a few myself that drive me bonkers. One of them is for my kids to run through my trailer. For one my trailer is very small so they could get hurt easily. And second, how hard is it to just not run? I know I can't run constantly like that so how do they do it, oh and I'm sure they do it sometimes just to get on my nerves.
I also can't stand for them to be yelling at the top of their lungs at each other especially when the person their talking to is in the same room. I have told them a million times to lower their voices and speak to each other calmly and respectfully. But now I'm just wondering if duct tape will work on their mouths lol.
The other thing my kids do that I can't stand is for them to slam the doors in the trailer. They will slam the door when they don't get what they want or when their mad or in trouble. It seriously makes me want to ground them for the rest of their lives and take their door off its hinges so they have a door to slam anymore.
So anyways I just wanted to rant for a few minutes to make myself feel better and now that I have.........I invite you to let your rant out with me.


Major Fail

                                        Black Fried Chicken

Before I start on my black fried chicken, let me give you some background information. First of all, no one and I mean no one taught me how to cook anything throughout my young teenage years (except my aunt who taught me to make tuna lol) so I had no clue how to cook anything. Second, I was a newly married 20 year old who wanted to help husband cook and maybe impress him a little bit ( with absolutely no cooking experience) and so on with my story.
One day my lovely husband decided he wanted fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob and baked beans for supper before he headed to work. I know that meal sounds good right! WRONG! Not by the time I'm done with it!  Anyways..... So my husband starts heating up the oil for the chicken and realizes he needs something else from the store. He tells me "When the oil heats up enough turn it down, I'll be right back." (Bad Move!)
Well my absolutely brilliant self decided I was going to help my husband get some of the chicken done(yep! extra crispy!)
Therefore, I get a piece of chicken and put it in the pan, oil starts popping everywhere and within a few minutes I have black chicken and a house filled with thickest cloud of smoke I've ever seen. (I Forgot To Turn The Oil Down!) So I turned the stove off and started opening windows and of course I didn't have time to cover up my mistake because as soon as I got the windows open my husband pulls up. He walked to me from the car and I tell him what it did and he still laughs about it today. I'm pretty sure he will never let me live it down even after 10 years of marriage. Oh, and just so you know now 10 years later I still don't cook fried chicken lol. 
So that was my big fail. What's yours? Is yours worse that mine?

Image result for black fried chicken                 Image result for house filled with smoke from cooking


 This is what my chicken looked like! And what my house looked like with the smoke coming out of it since it was such a small house!

Meal Plan

                                    1/29/2020 - 2/9/2020


 Ok so if you're anything like me then you are constantly asking yourself everyday " What am I cooking for supper tonight?" So i figured I would make a list of meals I could make with the stuff I already have in my home. Here's the List.........

1.  1/29- Breakfast
2. 1/30- Chilli Cheese Fritos or Frito Pie
3. 1/31- Manwich
4. 1/1&2- Tuna Casserole
5. 1/3- Chilli Cheese Hot Dogs
6. 1/4- BBQ Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, and Veggies
7. 1/5- Tacos
8. 1/6- Pizza  (so this one isn't in my home but Little Caesars pizza is easy lol)
9. 1/7- Seasoned Pork Chops with Veggies
10. 1/8&9- Beans and Cornbread

And this list gets me all the way through until next weekend.

Tuna Casserole

Mom's Tuna Casserole
Prep Time: 5 Minutes     Servings: 8

Ingredients:

2 cans (12 ounces each) tuna
1 package egg noodles; cooked and drained
2 packs crushed ritz crackers, divided
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1 teaspoon black pepper and salt to taste

Preparation:

Combine tuna, noodles, soups, cheese, pepper and salt, set aside
In baking pan line bottom with 1 package of ritz crackers
Pour in other ingredients and line top with ritz crackers
Cover with tin foil; cook on 350 degrees until warm

Tip: To make it more creamy just add milk to the soups before you mix everything in. Peas can also be put in this recipe if you like peas

Herbed Chicken and Vegetables

Herbed Chicken and Vegetables
 Prep Time: 5 Minutes  Servings: 2


Ingredients:

3/4 teaspoon dried oregano leaves, divided
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
2 skinless bone-in chicken breasts
2 sheets (18X12 inches each) heavy-duty foil, lightly sprayed with nonstick cooking spray
1/2 cup pasta sauce
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1/2 medium green bell pepper, cut into squares
1/2 medium yellow bell pepper, cut into squares
1/2 cup chopped fresh mushrooms
1/4 cup chopped onion
Parmesan cheese
Hot cooked egg noodles

Prep:

Preheat toaster oven or oven to 450°F. In small bowl, combine 1/2 teaspoon oregano, paprika, salt and pepper; mix well.
Place chicken on foil sheets. Sprinkle each chicken breast with half of oregano mixture. Combine pasta sauce, garlic, bell peppers, mushrooms, onion and remaining 1/4 teaspoon oregano in medium bowl. Pour half of sauce mixture over each chicken breast.
Double foil sides and ends of foil to seal packets, leaving head space for heat circulation. Place packets on toaster oven tray (or baking sheet if using oven).
Bake 23 to 25 minutes or until chicken juices run clear. Carefully open ends of packets to allow steam to escape. Open packets and transfer contents to serving plates. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Serve with noodles.

Tip:

Love the taste of garlic but can't stand the odor? Cooking in foil helps contain food smells until time to serve.

5-Minute Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Grande

5-Minute Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Grande
  Prep Time: 3 minutes    Total Time:5 minutes   Servings:1

All you need is 5 minutes for this simple dinner, some leftover chicken or pork, and three other ingredients, to get great Southwestern flavor, really fast!

Ingredients

    1/2 
cup shredded boneless,                skinless chicken breasts,              cooked or pork
  • 1
    (10-inch) flour tortilla, warmed
  • 1/2
    cup enchilada sauce
  • 1/2
    cup shredded Cheddar Jack cheese

How to Make It:

  • Step 1
Spoon the chicken down the center of the tortilla. Top with half the enchilada sauce and half the cheese. Roll up the tortilla and place seam-side down onto a microwavable plate. Top with the remaining sauce and cheese.
  • Step 2
Microwave on HIGH for 1 minute 30 seconds or until the cheese is melted.
Recipe Tips:
Flavor Variation: for a Cheesy Enchilada, omit the chicken and use 1 cup cheese. Place 3/4 cup cheese down the center of the tortilla. Top with half the enchilada sauce. Roll up the tortilla and place seam-side down onto a microwavable plate.  Top with the remaining sauce and cheese.  Microwave as directed above.


Grandmother

                                          Grandmother

So a few minutes ago I posted the letter Don't Cry For Me. So now I want to share some other things that might help as well. 
My grandmother was one of the greatest people in the world to me. She passed on several years ago but yesterday was her birthday so I wanted to share some fond memories I have of her and the things I adored about her. I have to say that I always loved her very much but my teenage years were some of the best times I had with her.
My grandmother was always loving and tried to do her best to keep everyone happy. The main image that comes to mind when I think about her is her smile. It didn't matter what was going on in life, or if she was sick, everytime I walked through her front door she has a smile just for me and a "hey kid" for me.
Grandma always had something that would make me smile and laugh. I remember a couple of times I was with her she would have her dentures out, we would talk about what she was going to eat for lunch or supper, and she would tell me that her teeth weren't in so she would have to gum her goodies, and then she would smack her gums at me just to make me laugh.
Then there were times we would watch tv shows together. Now grandma killed me with her reruns of certain shows, you know the ones i'm talking about lol. She would watch Days of our lives, mash, murder she wrote, and many others that I could probably quote now lol. But the funniest thing about watching tv with grandma was that she always knew what was going to happen before it did and then would spoil it for me just to see me pout, and then when a handsome rich man would pop up on the screen she would tell me she was going to get her one of those rich men so they could take care of her and would look nice hanging on her arm lol. 
Now, my fondest memories with my grandma would have to be when we would sit down to play cards. Let me just tell you I think my grandma was a Vegas card shark that just happened to get stuck in my little town for some reason, I Swear! lol. She would win everytime and it didn't matter what I did I couldn't win against her. I swear she would come up with cards that I didn't know she had and make a big play or just out right win the game all of a sudden. Don't tell anybody but I think grandma was playing card tricks on me when we were playing our card games lol.
Well, that's a little insight on the person I adored the most and I hope that this will help someone else and maybe get them to post about the same subject.

                        With All The Love In My Heart
                    Be Forever Remembered Grandma!

Don't Cry For Me

  Don't Cry For Me


Let me give a little background information before i start this. Yesterday was my grandmothers birthday and she passed away several years ago but my aunt has always had a hard time each year on this day. So I wrote this for my aunt trying to help a little. I wrote it like it was a letter from my grandmother to her children and grandchildren hoping that it might bring all of us some comfort and peace.

A message to my children and grandchildren:
    
My dear ones if I haven't or wasn't able to you tell you," I love you all." I wish with all my heart that I could be there with you to watch you grow and have families of your own but that wasn't the plan for me. I do not wish for you to cry for me because I am always watching over you even though I'm gone now. I spent my life as I needed to, I lived my life. I loved and hated, had my ups and downs, and was able to see and learn many thing in my lifetime. My days were well spent on this earth and I have no regrets so don't cry for me my dear ones. I know you all hurt from my passing but I am in a better place, a place where there's no pain or sadness or all the worldly problems so don't cry for me. Instead live your life and be happy with the memories we have together that you can share with your children. Teach you children and grandchildren all the things I have taught you and be happy with just me in your memories but don't cry for me. I cherished each and everyone of you and I know you loved me as I did all of you. My dear ones I must go now for I haven't much time but remember these words i have said and keep them in your heart. I love you.

It is my hope that with me sharing this part of my life it will also help someone else. If it does help please let me know or if you just want someone to talk to I will listen.

Tuesday, January 28, 2020

What are your favorite memories from 2019?

              What are your favorite memories from 2019?

How was 2019 for all of my readers? Did you have an easy year or struggle continuously? Do you have good or bad memories from 2019? I'm sure we all had some stressful times in 2019 but instead of  focusing on the bad things I  want to focus on the good things, the positive things. I would like to share all my favorite memories of 2019 and hopefully you will join me in telling others some of your favorite memories.
My first memory of 2019 was when my aunt took me out for (not telling my age lol) my birthday. We went shopping at the mall. and ate out and just spent the whole day together just her and me. I was the happiest person in the world that day!
My second memory was my kids birthday parties. I didn't have a lot of money to do anything expensive so I was about to do everything DIY for them and they still loved it. My daughter had a DIY Princess birthday party and my son had a DIY Cars 3 birthday party. We all had a blast with family and friends while we had a cookout and of course cake and ice cream. But the best part was the joyous smiles my kids had on their faces during their birthday.
 My third memory was when my best friend/sister gave birth to my beautiful God son and God daughter. I was so overjoyed and ready to meet them. My little peanuts are very special and I do believe I was more excited than even their parents were lol. There really believe there is no greater thing than to bring a beautiful innocent life into this world to be loved and cared for.
My fourth memory was when I got to meet and talk my now 20 year old step-son to come and live with us. He has brought a lot of joy and laughter into my life and just brings a fresh new atmosphere into my home. To be completely honest I am overjoyed to have him with us. He's  sweet, caring and has a big heart and is growing into a fine young man who I believe will be a great influence in whatever he chooses to do.
And those are my best memories of 2019, I hope you enjoyed hearing about them and can share your own as well.

Lets Declutter!

                                    Lets Declutter!


We all know that it's about time to declutter all the things that we have brought in or saved from the previous year or even just the previous months. Everyone has some clutter and if not then everyone has something they could get rid of that they really don't need or have to keep for another year.
For me it's all my kids school papers from when they started kindergarten up until now (and let me tell you that with two kids bringing home stuff it's a lot lol). IT'S A DECLUTTERING ADVENTURE! Of course I started out with a list but the problem with that was the fact that there was still to much stuff for me to keep. Therefore, I made another list and I sat and thought real hard about which things I wanted to keep. Thankfully I finally ended up with a list that I thought was small enough that I could keep all the important things I wanted to keep.

The final list looks likes this:
      1. Actual Graded Papers
      2. Art Work
      3. Awards

To me these things were the most important. I organized the graded papers and awards in two different sections of a binder for me to keep. The art work (since most of the papers are big) I put in one of those large vacuum bags that you can vacuum all the air out of  and that way I could preserve them as well. So all in all my decluttering worked out great. So that being said when you are decluttering figure out what things are more important to you.

Here is a list of questions that you can ask yourself while your on your decluttering adventure.

 1.Which items are more important?
 2. Am I really going to wear that in the next six months?
 3. Am I going to use this item in the next six months?
 4. Do I really need this item?
 5. Who would use this more than I do?
 6. Where can I donate the items I get rid of?
 7. Can I possible have a yard sale with these items?
 8. Can I recycle these items?
 9. Can I use these items for another purpose?
10. Is this item a keepsake that needs to got to storage?

Hopefully with that list you will be able to declutter. To be perfectly honest you could probably get rid of half the items in your house, garage, or storage building. Try it and let me know how it goes for you and if you have any other things you think I should add please let me know. 

2020 Resolutions Continued....

                                    2020 Resolutions  
                                        Continued....... The second part of my resolutions post is Eating Healthier. Eating healthier will help with the first resolution (Lose 10 Pounds) as well as help with some health issues such as sugar, cholesterol, high blood pressure and others. So much like the first part of my resolution post I will be doing a list to help organize this one as well. Now onto the next part!   2. Eating Healthier: Eating healthier doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing. I can just vision in my head my readers wrinkling their noses at me lol. 
  • Cut Down On Sugar: Yes i said some bad words their didn't I but it will be ok. I know we all love some sugar and with that being said, you don't have to give up all your sugar (and I know some of you are thinking about some of your favorite chocolates and such) but you can at least cut down how much sugar you eat on a daily basis or even in a week. If you don't want to do that then there are alternatives that you can use such as,
        1. Splenda        2. Equal         3. Stevia              Now there are also alternatives to the candy bars that        we like to eat.         1. No-Bake Almond Joy Bars  2. Ultimate Power Balls                                                                    3. Homemade Dark Chocolate Chunky Bar  All of these recipes can be found anywhere on the i internet but i used Shape.com
  • Cut Down On Caffeine: Yes you should probably start worrying about your coffee and soda intake. Coffee and soda have a lot of caffeine in them and the more you drink the more caffeine you put into your system. Caffeine can be a good thing but it can also be a bad thing if you have to much of it in your system. 
  1. It can keep you up at night and keep you from getting the rest you need  2. Just like many other things in this world it can become an addiction which may cause health problems later in your life  3. Cutting down some will help you save money as well (we all know half my readers go get coffee at Starbucks or someplace that is similar)
  •   Eat Foods That Are Good For Heart Health: We all want to keep our heart healthy so we don't have a heart attack and miss out on things with our families. So here are some food you can eat to keep your heart healthy.
  1. Eat fish high in omega-3s, such as salmon, tuna, mackerel, herring and trout.  2. A handful of healthy nuts such as almonds or walnuts will satisfy your hunger and help your heart. 3. Berries are chock full of heart-healthy phytonutrients and soluble fiber. I have another tip for you, If you have eaten healthy for a week then you can spoil yourself with something small as a victory celebration. Another way to keep yourself focused while eating healthy is to give yourself pep talks. Remind yourself why your doing it whether it be so you can look good or make yourself healthier. If you have any resolutions you like to share please do so.








2020 Resolutions

                                    2020 Resolutions

OK everyone! Its Resolution time! So I know that half of the world has a resolution for the beginning of the new year. That being said each person has a different resolution or maybe even more than one so lets talk about that shall we. What is your resolution/resolutions for the 2020 year? I must tell you that I am a firm believer in making lists for just about everything that I do, so I am going to do just that in just a few minutes, but first...... I would like to share something that a friend shared with me a few days ago about her resolutions for this year. My friend has decided that this year she is going to redo every resolution she has had for the past five years throughout the 2020 year. The only change she is making to those resolutions is that she is going to do them on a smaller scale so she can finish them all by the end of this year. For example, one of her resolutions was to lose 20 pounds so this year instead of her losing 20 pounds she has brought the amount down to 10 pounds. I wish my friend all the luck in the whole on finishing her resolutions this year!
I am only going to go over two resolutions in this specific post one being Lose 10 Pounds and the second being Eating Healthier. I will give a few examples on each topic to help my reader achieve their goals (if the same).

  1. Lose 10 Pounds: Everyone wants to lose weight from all the good food that was eaten during the holidays so here are a few apps that will help you with you on your journey.

  •  Lose It: Tracks your calorie intake and how much you burn during exercise. Calculates calorie targets based on personal stats and goals (age, weight, gender, etc.). Extensive built-in library of foods and exercise activities. Social community for support. The down side of this app is limited goal tracking with free version. No future date food or exercise planning with free version. The app asks you a few basic questions about yourself and then give you a daily calorie target based on how much weight you want to lose. You will get a visual graph and log of your calorie breakdown for the foods and exercises you log into the app. This app is available for IOS and Android and can be upgraded from the free version for $39.99 a year.
  • MyFitnessPal: Is a food tracking app and has the largest food database right now. This app has over eleven million foods included in its food library. You can also import your recipes to the app so its easier to move the nutritional information from recipes to the app. There is also over three hundred and fifty exercises to log plus over fifty apps and devices that can be connected to it. The downside of this app is that there is no nutrient dashboard, food analysis or other features with free version. If you don't want to stick with the free version you can upgrade for $9.99 a month or $49.99 a year. This app is available IOS and Andriod.
Those are two apps that will help out. But..... if you need extra motivation to get through your resolution I have a few other apps that you might want to try. What I mean by motivation is the fact that their are apps that will pay you to lose weight so here's a few of those apps as well.

  • HealthyWage: One of the main incentive based wight loss apps and has been shown on CNN and many other networks. This is how it works…Use the site’s calculator to select how much weight you want to lose. Then, choose how much time you think you will need to lose the weight. This can range from 6 to 18 months. Finally, you will need to decide how much you want to bet each month. You can choose an amount from $20 to $500. The more weight you want to lose, you can choose a longer the time frame, and the more you bet, the more money you'll win. The rest of your money will come from other users who haven’t met their goals. You can also participate in the site’s challenges. When you participate in challenges, you can win big cash rewards. For example, with the site’s 10% challenge, you pay $100 to take part, and then if you lose 10% of your body weight, within six months, you win $200.
  • Achievement: This app pays you to get healthy. It works with activity tracker apps like Fitbit and MyFitnessPal. Just install the Achievement app, then connect one or more of those apps to it and start getting money. For every activity you do you can earn points. Once you have 10,000 points (which is $10) you can use it for rewards. You can choose to get paid by PayPal or Direct Deposit or you can donate your money to a charity. These are some things that help you get money with this app walking, meditating, logging food, sleeping and others.This app is available for IOS and Android.
The next part of the 2020 Resolution (Eating Healthier) will be continued in the following post so please continue to read until you have read all of the post.


Monday, January 27, 2020

Introduction

                                     My Big Introduction


Hi Everyone! My name is April and I just want to tell my readers a little bit about myself and my blog. To start off I'm a 29 year old stay at home mom and house wife. I have three wonderful kids ranging from age 6 to age 20, so I have to help with just about everything (lol). I love to write in my spare time and come up with new ideas for my writing or for life in general, so since i already write for myself I thought that I would just start a blog and start writing for others as well. In my blog I plan to write about anything I can that might help other mothers, such as cheap meals, to cheap or free things to do with the family. I also plan on writing posts on DIY and many other things that would be useful for moms like myself. I will give advise to those who ask for it. But just remember that I am not an expert on all things and I can only let it be know what I would do myself.
Now after all of that being said I would like to point out that my blog is pointed toward moms but everyone is welcome to read my blog, ask questions or advice, and make comments.