Spring Time

What's the best part of spring/summer...PRODUCE! I'm seriously craving massive amounts of fresh produce, especially strawberries. Aren't they beautiful? I bought them at Aldi's for $1.99, although last week I got them for $.99. Oh well, they're tasty and I didn't even need to sprinkle them with sugar.

I'm storing them in a mason jar (it's not mine, but a friend left 3 of them at my house for our Hillbilly cookout) mainly because I didn't have the perfect plastic storage container to fit them in, but this one works perfectly.

I just found out that there are some farms near by Fayetteville that you can go and pick your own strawberries. I see a date with a couple of my besties in the near future!

While picking up the strawberries, Emma and I bought a butt load of veggies to make vegetable soup.

Or Rainbow Soup if you're Emma. She wanted to help me, so we gave it a silly name because you throw in alot of different colors and I hoped it would help her to actually eat it...Yeah, she didn't fall for the cute name.

Can't blame me for trying!

Nathan's out in the field (STILL) so cooking up a huge batch of soup and freezing half and eating the other half means I DON'T HAVE TO COOK DINNER for the next few days!

Side Note: Yesterday, North Carolina was hit with massive storms and tornadoes. Please keep these people in your prayers. I was lucky and nothing happened to my family or our house but lots of people are still without power, damage to their homes, and now trying to pick up the pieces, so to speak.

Milk Planets

Emma and I recently picked up the book, "Super Science Lab" at the library this week. After looking over it a million times, we decided to make milk planets (mainly because I had everything already).

All you need are a few lids, milk, food coloring (use liquid, NOT GEL), cotton swabs, and dishwashing liquid. To make these, just pour enough milk into a lid to cover the bottom. Then, add a couple of drops of food coloring to the milk and take a Q-tip that's covered with the dishwashing liquid and touch the milk. It's a fun science lesson and you can talk about the planets.

Instead of dumping out our milk planets, we used it as paint and decorated a lovely coloring page.

And then the weather took a turn for the worse and our area was hit with strong storms, and tornado warnings/watches. Luckily, our power is still on and now we're cooking up vegetable soup (or Rainbow Soup to Emma...in hopes she'll actually eat it).

Kids and Body Image

Last Sunday I picked out a cute dress for Emma to wear to church. I helped her into it and after checking herself out in her mirror, she turns around and tells me she looks fat. WHAT?!? I asked her why she thought she was fat and she told me that her dress made her tummy look big. I tried reassuring her that she did NOT look fat and gave her a million compliments (so did daddy) but she was not having it. She pouted and looked miserable so I put her in a different outfit and she was happy.

When did my baby become self conscious?

Is this my fault (and Nathan's)?

How do I fix this?

Nathan and I do talk alot about us wanting to lose weight, or this dress or this shirt making us look fat, etc (doesnt everyone?)...I never thought Emma was paying attention. It wasn't like we were conversing with her about it. We do put a lot of emphasis on a healthy lifestyle (we don't follow it 24/7) with exercising, knowing the difference between junk food and healthy food, explaining that everything is okay in moderation. She understands all this.

If you've seen Emma you know how little she is. I don't know why she would think she's fat. It's heart breaking really. Nathan and I give her compliments all the time, we praise her and tell her how awesome she is and how beautiful and lucky we are to be her parents. We also call her out when she's "bad" or needs an attitude adjustment. I thought we were doing good as parents but obviously I need to keep my insecurities to myself.

My 5 year old can't be the only one to have a negative body image on occasion...Hello, has anyone seen Toddlers and Tiaras? If TLC isn't your thing have you seen the SNL skit about baby spanx? At the time, I thought it was hilarious...now it's kinda sad.

I've known that one day I would have to talk to Emma about body image. I didn't think it would be so soon though. Any advice on this topic would be appreciated so please comment!

Barney

A few weeks ago my best friend (I have lots of best friends) and I took our kids to go see Barney Live. The kids were super stoked and my friend and I were excited to be considered mom of the year (seriously, if you can manage sitting through Barney with lots of other kids and come out sane...you're gold)!

I knew before we went that they were going to sell overpriced Barney merchandise and that Emma was probably going to want me to spend a butt load on dumb things! So I got creative and told her I would make her a Barney outfit that she could wear to the show. That won her over!

Off to Hobby Lobby we went (I had a 40% off coupon) and I picked up an inexpensive lime green shirt, an iron-on transfer kit, some purple and green tulle, and some purple and green ribbon. The iron-on kit was $8 but it came with 3 sheets so I decided I would make Emma's friend a tshirt too.

Emma and I searched the internet for a cool Barney picture and found one she liked. We simply followed the instructions for the transfer sheets and in no time we had an awesome Barney pic on the front of her shirt. I went ahead and printed out her name and cut it out with some funny shaped scissors, that went on the back of her shirt. After shirts were made I started in on her tutu. It's all just a matter of knotting tulle around some elastic (or a headband). I planned on using the ribbon in her tutu but decided to make a bow the last minute. So that's it.

Her outfit beat the $20 lame tshirts at the show and Emma was given compliments on her outfit. I was happy that she didn't ask for a stuffed animal, cotton candy, or anything else...although my friend did make me feel guilty for not buying her a silly balloon, so I gave in and bought her one (it's still floating up in the ceiling and I don't plan on climbing our rafter to get it).

It was a good time (I'll admit I even sang some of the songs)! It was even better seeing the kid's reactions when Barney first came out on stage.

Once Upon A Child

Yesterday morning I tried to put a cute outfit on Emma that she wore last summer...umm she looked like a giant! Her shirt barely covered her belly and her shorts were so short you could of considered them hot pants. So I made her put another outfit on, this time a skirt. Basically same problem, except this time the waist band was tight around her little belly. Looks like she needs a new summer wardrobe.

Now I can't be the only one out there that hates to spend tons of money on clothes that will either be outgrown or stained. I also know I can't be the only one out there that loves name brand kid's clothes (can we say SUPER CUTE)! The solution to my problem, Once Upon A Child (http://www.onceuponachild.com/)

Emma and I stopped by yesterday afternoon (this was our second trip EVER to this store) and we found lots of super cute name brand clothes for her. 4 outfits to be exact (7 articles of clothing) and I spent under $30!

This store offers gently used (some brand new) newborn-big kid sizes clothing, maternity clothing, shoes, baby gear, toys, games, books, accessories (if I was rich I would buy all the adorable hairbows in there), some sport gear (cleats, dance wear) and tons of other things. It's defiantly worth a trip there!

Another cool option the store offers is that you can sell your kid's things that they've outgrown. It's a lot easier and faster than having a yard sale.

They also have a punch card you can get. For every $10 you get 1 punch on your card, after it's all full you get 10% off your next purchase. To save some more money, sign up to receive their emails so you'll be informed when their next big sale is.

I recommend this store if you have children (grandchildren, nieces, nephews, a best friend with kids, you get the point). If you're pregnant, go check out some of their baby gear like cribs, strollers, and high chairs. It'll only be saving you money!

Fake Out Banana Frozen Yogurt

I found a really weird but healthy recipe on exerciseTV last week and I finally tried it out last night. It looks like ice cream right?

You might be surprised it's only 2 frozen bananas that I thawed for 5 minutes and broke into chunks and thrown into my mixer for 3 minutes...It tastes like banana frozen yogurt and it's really good! I shared this bowl with Emma and of course she wanted some chocolate in it, so I started shaving 3 squares of a Hershey's bar (and then it started melting in my hand so I just threw them in there) to give it some chocolate flavor without eating a whole lot of chocolate calories.

This is perfect if you have bananas that are going to go bad (like I did). Just unpeel them and drop them into a freezer bag and store them in your freezer. It's also perfect when you're craving ice cream or any other high in calorie delicious frozen treat :) A couple of bananas beats a bowl full of ice cream any day.

Give this one a try...if you want to be adventurous you could add all kinds of crazy things to your bananas like:

• Peanut butter


• Fudge sauce


• Yogurt


• Chocolate


• Frozen berries

Hope you love it!

Frugal Party Ideas

Everyone should know by now that I'm pretty thrifty/frugal (not cheap). Well, my best friend was getting married at the beginning of this year and I took it upon myself to throw her a bachelorette party in January. Keep in mind that we live 5 states apart! I wanted this party to be awesome but I didn't want to spend a whole lot of money (and neither did any of the guests...we're all broke). I came up with some creative and inexpensive ideas to help give my BFF her last party as a single gal. First off, if you're planning a party for anyone for any occasion you need to talk to the guest of honor about what kind of party he/she wants or doesn't want. I came up with 3 different ideas and presented them to the bride-to-be. She chose going to St. Louis and partyin' it up...minus all the usual bachelorette antics (so a classy drunken brawl). The second on your list of things to do is send out the invites. After searching the internet, I decided they were all expensive, took too long to ship, and were pink and zebra (something she did NOT want)! So I decided to make my own.

Nothing fancy, I bought some cute paper at Staples with some matching envelopes. I put a cute bachelorette rhyme on them to get the girls excited about the party/lingerie shower and at the bottom I put the important details about the weekend (the girls all live in different towns). I even jazzed them up by gluing some sparkly rhinestones all over the invites. Invitations, envelopes, and postage cost less than $4!

What's a bachelorette party without some games?!? I bought an inexpensive game where you pin a kiss on a hot guy (under $4). We did shots before be blindfolded and spun around, but you can play the normal way. The winner got some beads. Another game was all about the bride. I asked the bride beforehand 20 questions about herself that any friend would be able to know (since some have known her all her life and others just a few years). She emailed me back and during the party I asked the questions and the guests wrote down their answers. The one with the most right answers won some beads. Something else that was fun we did was when she was opening her lingerie shower gifts. We came up with funny codenames for the presents and wrote them down so her husband could select a name and then she would have to either put it on or get a toy out without him knowing what it is.

Left over card stock, a key ring, and some markers around the house make this FREE!

I really wanted to give each guest a party favor and I thought this would be breaking the bank but it didn't! I came up with giving everyone a wine glass ($1 each) that I would hand paint with some paint markers (A funny slogan along with the name of her party with the date and some designs/colors to match the invites). I put some bead necklaces ($1 for 8) in the glasses topped with some sparkly gift basket filler ($1 per bag) and added a ring pop ($1 for 5) and I put a huge fake diamond ring around the wine glass stem ($1 for 4).

A friend made everyone a mixed CD with some awesome party tunes and another girl brought some penis shaped straws which I stuck in the wine glasses. I thought it was an awesome party favor, something reusable and reminded you of the party.

I had a lot of fun planning my BFF's bachelorette party and I hope that my games and party favors meant more than if I just went to the party store and bought a prepackaged bachlorette party box.

If you have any questions please leave a comment or email me!

Welcome Back

It's been a few months (3 to be exact) since I last paid attention to my blog. I quit for a couple of reasons. 1. I only have 13 followers...so I figured only 13 people were reading this. 2. Hardly anyone would write me a comment, so that made me feel like no one was reading my work.

Recently, I've had a couple of friends ask me why I quit and when I announced it on Facebook I had even more friends (who aren't followers) tell me that they read it regularly. So, I've decided to start it back up again. Yay!

What do I expect from my readers...well it would be nice to get some feedback so go ahead and make a comment. They don't all have to be nice ;) If you have a great idea about a blog topic or have a question email me. I would also like you to go ahead and follow this blog that way I feel like I'm helping more than just a small group of friends (If I have super duper blog, go ahead and post it on Facebook so all your friends can read about saving money or cooking up some delicious food or making an awesome craft project)...I'm trying to change the world here ya know!

I already have a few topics I want to blog about this week. One is a really cool project for all those bachelorette parties coming up! So be on the lookout for some new blog posts, (I feel like Brittney Spears making her first comeback...minus the hot mess look)!

Vanity Sizes

Has anyone noticed over the past couple of years how clothes are getting bigger? Or, maybe I should reword this...has anyone noticed how you can now fit into a size medium? No, we're not all magically getting skinnier and can fit into smaller sizes-it's this new "idea" that the clothing industry came up with to make bigger people feel better about fitting into a size 10 instead of 12 and buying more clothes.

I mentioned bigger people. I'm not calling anyone fat because vanity sizing is throughout all sizes. Maybe you wore a size 5 in jeans and can now fit into a size 3. I'm saying "bigger" than what the lie on the tag is saying we are. Please don't think I'm coming off rude...I hope you all know what I'm trying to say.

Is vanity sizes bad?

I'll be honest, when I see that I can fit into a size 8 instead of my usual size 10...I'm pretty happy. But then reality sets in, and when I try a size 8 on in another store and it won't fit over my hips...I'm depressed.

We all know that the majority of Americans are overweight, so why do we need to lie about our true size?

You can't just walk into a store and buy something anymore, you're always going to have to try it on now. I wish all stores came together and decided on what sizing they're going to use. Wouldn't it be nice to wear a medium in every store? (One way to actually know the size you're getting is to buy a pair of pants that are measured by waist/inseam. I wear a size 30/32).

So, is it bad? I don't know, you be the judge.

Vanity sizing doesn't stop with clothing-have you noticed your feet can fit into a smaller sized shoe?Mine do. Since high school I've always worn a size 10 (huge right?). Yes, I have survived all the name calling and joking around. Wearing a big shoe size never bothered me (okay, maybe bigger shoe sizes doesn't have as many options as say a size 8). A couple of years ago, when I was shoe shopping I was very surprised that a size 10 was HUGE for my feet. I can now fit into a 9-9.5. Weird. Are we really that vain about shoe sizes?

What are your thoughts about vanity sizes?

Yummy Sandwich of the Month

Lunch is my least favorite meal of the day. I usually end up eating leftovers...that's no fun!

Once again our fridge and cabinets are bare (I'm getting read to make a trip back to Illinois for a week) so coming up with something new and exciting to eat is getting really hard, but....

I had a can of chickpeas and I found a recipe on allrecipes.com that I could create with minimal ingredients.

Looks like a tuna salad sandwich, huh? It's not!

It's called Vegetarian Sandwich Filling, and it was surprisingly freaking awesome!

All you need is a can of chickpeas drained and rinsed, mash them with a fork. Add some chopped onion and celery, a dash or two of hot sauce, a squirt of lemon juice and a couple shakes of salt and pepper, and a few spoonfuls of mayo to the chickpeas; give it a stir and you have yourself a yummy filling for sandwiches or a good dip for chips and veggies.

This recipe makes 3 overly stuffed sandwiches! Try it, you'll be glad you did! Replace your usual tuna salad sandwich with this one and you'll never have to have your kitchen smell like dead fish again :)

Chocolate Crinkles

Nathan went back to work on Tuesday and he asked me to bake some cookies for his squad. I'm all about baking cookies (that means you can lick the bowl) and there was a new recipe I wanted to try out as well.





I ended up baking a batch of Chocolate Crinkles, they must have been good because there was only half of one left!
Okay, maybe I tried one...ya know, to make sure they weren't disgusting or anything!

Here's the recipe for Chocolate Crinkles:

• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

In a bowl, mix together cocoa, white sugar, and vegetable oil. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into the cocoa mixture. Cover dough, and chill in the freezer for 45 minutes (or in fridge for 4 hours).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease your cookie sheets. Roll dough into one inch balls, coat each ball in the powdered sugar before placing onto prepared cookie sheets.

Bake in oven for 10-12 minutes.

I thought these were really good. I think I baked mine 2 minutes too long (I like more of a soft cookie instead of crisp cookie, although these weren't crisp). They had a nice fudge taste to them too. I'll be baking more of these in the future! Another nice thing about these cookies...very few dishes!

What's your favorite cookie to bake?

Positve Thinking

I've been a Debbie Downer lately, so on Sunday I decided to try this whole crazy concept of "Positive Thinking" to see if it really works.

So far yeah, it does!

I can't be sure if it was just the positive thinking that's making me feel and look great, but I'm sure it's playing a part.

Here's some issues I was "struggling" with for the past couple of weeks.

• Gaining a few extra pounds
• I thought my stomach looked rather bloated
• Acne
• Feeling like a lazy loner

Here are my results just 3 days into my new way of thinking.

• Down 2.5 pounds
• I think my body looks really good and I keep touching my hips and noticing how my usual love handles aren't there and I can see some muscle definition in my arms and I feel my legs look amazing
• My acne is clearing up and I have no new zits to stress over
• I'm getting things done on my to-do list and not spending so much time watching TV or on Facebook (although I still have an unhealthy relationship with it)

Not bad right?

How am I introducing positive thinking in my life? Well, I've been reading a daily devotion and the book "The Power of a Positive Mom" (it's a weekly devotional) and that's helping me start my day with being more positive and setting the mood for the rest of the day. I then do my usual workout (Leslie Sansone DVD) and then it's off to take a shower. Maybe I'm just weird, but after I get out of the shower I always examine my body. Up until Sunday I was being negative telling myself I'm fat or jiggling my arms or counting all the freaking zits on my face and then feeling ugly. Not anymore, I tell myself I look good and then focus on the parts of my body I like and then somehow (maybe magic, I don't know) I end up liking everything about me. I put makeup on and actual clothes (no old, holy sweats) and feel like a thriving person.

You are your worst enemy, so let's stomp that Debbie Downer in all of us and replace her with Peppy Penelope!

Pizza Pockets

I'll be honest, this meal looks pretty gross. In no way is it gourmet...but it is cheap and tastes good!

I like to make pizza pockets because 1) I always have the ingredients on hand 2) it takes 10 minutes to make 3) it's cheap 4) the whole family likes them.

On this particular night I cooked up some green beans and sliced potatoes for a side dish. REEAAALL fancy, right?


Pizza Pockets

• Crescent Rolls
• Pizza Sauce (or spaghetti sauce or diced tomatoes)
• Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
• Pepperoni (or any other pizza topping)

Preheat oven to whatever temperature the crescent roll package tells you (usually 375). On a cookie sheet, unroll the crescent rolls into 4 rectangles. Press together the seams. On one half put a spoonful of pizza sauce, pizza topping, and mozzarella cheese then fold over. Take a fork and squish down all sides of your pizza pocket. Cook for 10-15 minutes.

You really can't mess this up. Sometimes I jazz mine up and add pizza seasoning, mushrooms, green peppers and diced tomatoes. Just remember not to pile on the ingredients too high because it's going to be a pain in the butt to fold over and not have everything spew out.

For easy clean up, I line my cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray it with some non-stick cooking spray.

Like I said, not gourmet...

But if you're pinching pennies and need to feed your family, give these a try.

Fruit & Maple Oatmeal

Has anyone seen this advertised lately?

Making the move from New York to North Carolina was long and we obviously had to eat (we were on the road for a few days). We spent the night outside of the DC area and stopped at a McDonald's for breakfast. That's when I first discovered their new fruit and maple oatmeal.

I was so excited...over oatmeal! If you've read my blog before you'll know how much I love oatmeal and try to get everyone to eat it for breakfast (I'm actually eating a bowl right now).

If you ever find yourself inside a McDonald's during breakfast hours, you HAVE to try the oatmeal. It's so yummy with little bits of fruit and the right sweetness, the perfect consistency, and it fills you up!

It's also probably the healthiest item on their menu totaling in with 290 calories (40 from fat). Compared to my old favorite the bacon, egg & cheese biscuit which has 420 calories (210 from fat), choosing the oatmeal is a no-brainer!

What's your favorite fast food breakfast item? I hope it's oatmeal :)

Random Ponderings

I always think of random things...and then I make the mistake of speaking them out loud. People think I'm crazy, but they love me for it because this is who I am.

Random pondering of the day:

Why do people ask other people how they're doing????

Example 1: I happen to walk into a store just to look around and a store worker will come up to me and ask, "Hi, how are you?"

She doesn't know me, why would she care how I'm doing? And then I always answer "Fantastic!" I could be having the worst day of my life and I always answer with a fantastic. Why is that?

Example 2: I'm out on a walk and I see another walker (people I don't know) and I'll say, "Hi, how are ya?"

They always answer with a, "Good, how are you?"

Maybe you're thinking that people are polite, or people were taught as young children to say this as a greeting, or that we're all a bunch of liars and like to tell people the opposite of how we're really feeling, or pretend to care how other people feel...I don't know!

Yes, these are the type of things that fill up my mind. What randomness do you think of?

Fears

Like I predicted before...all the ads, commercials, store flyers, and store specials all have to do with resolutions (mostly losing weight or eating healthy). I thought I would go a different route today and talk about fears.

My number 1 biggest fear! Do I even need to explain...

Nathan's first deployment, I was a mess. I didn't know what to expect, I only got a phone call once every few weeks, and to top it all off I was pregnant. I was deathly afraid of answering the door when an unexpected visitor would ring the door bell. I always thought it would be 2 men in uniform informing me of my husband's death. I was also scared of phone numbers that I didn't recognize for the same reason I just mentioned.

Nathan has deployed 2 more times since then but my fear wasn't there any longer. I knew what to expect, we talked daily on yahoo, and he was in a fairly safe area compared to where he first visited.

Nathan will be deploying again (no I can't mention when) and this time I'm scared. I always say that I would much rather know the day before he has to leave for overseas, that way I don't have to think and worry about any and everything! But then again, if I only had 1 day to prep for everything would I really be sane???? Probably not.

I wonder how many of my friends out there has planned their husbands funeral...just in case, or said their "hey see ya laters" (you never say goodbye) and knowing you won't see them for at least a year. It sucks! Okay, okay this is getting sad and demented...part of life though. On to the next fear.

Second biggest fear is someone taking Emma. This fear started once we moved to Fayetteville.

I'm scared that when I'm pumping gas someone will either a. shoot me or b. hit me and then steal the jeep with Emma inside.

Or...

Some burglar will break into our house and either hurt her or kidnap her.

You know how you're suppose to go over the "fire drill plan" with your family. Well we go over "What to do when a bad guy breaks into our house " plan. That combined with taekwondo and guns makes us all feel a tad bit safer.

On to the third fear...

Me becoming fat!

I know it's very vain and stupid but I can't help it. I weigh myself daily (okay multiple times a day) and the number on the scale determines my mood for the day. It's sad and pathetic but I do NOT want to look like this lady. At first glance, I couldn't tell if that was the front or back of her body (it's the front btw).

Why is it sooo hard to be fit? I love eating but I know if I eat too much I will look like this picture but sometimes I just can't put the cookies down! Self-control...maybe I should work on that. And the exercising, I like to workout but sometimes I don't feel like getting sweaty and stinky and sore. Maybe I should work on not making excuses too!

What are some of your biggest fears?