Deal with it!

Friday's Five Favorites!

I had planned a different post for today, well yesterday but sometimes, ok often, life does not go as I plan.  It seems like the end of the world has come to my house the past few days.  We've had a number of wars and too many natural disasters, my carpets are the proof.  To say it's been frustrating would be an understatement!  Because of this I changed my mind on what this post would be about.  So here are my five favorite ways of dealing with the hard days.

1. Escape! After a long frustrating day I often look for a way to forget about it.  My first choice would probably be to escape to the gym or go for a run but because of the hubby's schedule that's often not an option.  Then I turn to a good book, a movie, or get caught up on my favorite blogs.  The main thing is I need to stop obsessing over how irritated I am with life.

2. Pictures!  I'm very much a visual person and just looking at pictures of when my kids are actually happy or even better sleeping, make me feel better about life.  Often after a rough day with the kiddos I look through my blog and try to focus on the good.  I also try to keep pics of them sleeping where I can see them, like on the fridge.

It's hard to stay mad too long when that face is looking at you from your fridge.


3. Compare!  I know this sounds wrong but really this often helps me.  I don't mean go comparing your weaknesses to other strengths, in fact when I'm feeling a little depressed I try to avoid pinterest.  Anyway, I try to look at a family that might be going through something hard.  I have a friend who's 5 year has a lot of physical problems and recently just had a major surgery.  When I'm annoyed with my almost 5 year old I think of that dear friend and instantly become thankful that he's healthy.  I guess what I'm saying is it's not hard to have a positive outlook when you look at the good instead of focusing on the bad.  I know easier said than done!

4. Music!  There are numerous studies out there about the positive affect that music has on people.  I don't need any expert to tell me that it makes me feel better.  I love cranking up the music and getting something done.  When I'm in the car by myself I sing at the top of my lungs to make myself feel better. I usually turn to fast paced, upbeat music that gets me going but sometimes I need turn to religious music that reminds me how good God really is.

5.  If all else fails, I turn to S.O.S. therapy. For me this means SCREAM OR SLEEP.  Honestly there are days that leaving me wanting to scream (hopefully not at or around my kids.)  But when I do scream a little I feel better, let it out!  And for me, sleep can solve any problem.  It is the best escape there is and when I wake up, I usually have a more positive outlook.  In general life goes better when I'm well rested.

So, there you have it a day late and a dollar short.  That's how it seems to go around here most of the time.  Hopefully this helps someone out there, even if it's just to know you're not alone.

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Tortilla Cookies!

I had planned on doing another post today but I've been a little obsessed with the Olympics lately and haven't wanted to leave the couch much.  Until I was about 22 years old,  sports were a HUGE part of my life, so to be able to watch people live out their athletic dreams all day has been heaven to me.  Unfortunately, my kids haven't enjoyed it as much.  Because I was feeling a little guilty about not being the best mom today I decided to make one of my son's favorite treats, Tortilla Cookies!

 It was also a little selfish because they only take about 5 minutes, which means more Olympic time for me! I have my friend Mattie to thank for this little trick. We were once talking about how much we LOVE the tortillas from Costco, and she told me she turns them into little homemade churros. YUM-O!

I am seriously infatuated with these tasties!  We use them all the time for tacos, quesdillas, chicken burritos and other recipes.  I haven't tried them with a recipe like enchiladas, so if someone has, let me know how it went.  Anyway, these are so soft, fluffy, delicious and freeze well.  You can find them in the freezer section at Costco.

You cook them yourself which is why they are oh so good!

They don't take long so don't walk away.  Just seeing them puff up makes my mouth water!

Add a thin layer of butter to the top of your warm tortilla.

And then a generous layer of a cinnamon sugar mixture. 

Continue adding butter and cinnamon/sugar as you roll the tortilla.

When you're done you'll have yummy little treats that tastes a lot like a churro.  My kids don't know what a churro is so they call them tortilla cookies and we have them all the time for bedtime snacks or when my kids want a treat and I don't want to bake.  Quick, easy and delicious, that's how we roll!

Enjoy!

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#1 Time Saver at Dinner Time

My number one, can't live without, way to save time when making dinner is to cook meat ahead to
use later.  It really saves you time if you have ground beef or chicken cooked and ready to use in your freezer.  I buy a large package of ground beef (which costs less per pound) then I brown it with chopped onion, and season with salt and pepper.  I usually add 1/4 onion to a pound of ground beef.  After the meat is browned I drain off the grease.  Then I package it for freezing.  Don't forget to write the date on the freezer bags or containers.  (I try to date everything I put in the freezer.)  Two cups is about the same as a pound to use in your recipes.  Sometimes before I start I take out some to freeze for hamburgers or meatloaf, if they're on the menu soon.  Just think how fast it will be the next time you need browned ground beef for dinner you won't need to chop onions, drain the grease off, or clean the pan!  The frozen meat thaws well in the microwave.  I love it for tacos, spaghetti, Baked Pasta, enchiladas and many, many more dinners.

For Chicken I buy the bags of frozen chicken breasts.  Then I thaw the whole bag and cook it all the way I'm using it for the first meal.  I cook it all on the grill or I simmer it with onion to shred for a casserole.  Then I label and freeze what I don't use for that meal.  It always gets used and saves me a lot of time.

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Easy Snickerdoodles

Life is a little better than last time I posted.  I don't feel like I'm in survival mode anymore but I do still feel the need to get things more settled.  Since I'm ready to act like a real mom again but still needing to catch up on a 100 other things, I've been trying to keep things simple.  And nothing is more simple than a cake mix cookie recipe.  I'm usually a little bit of a snob about homemade is so much better than pre-made mixes but these really are as good as the real thing, and the big bonus is that they are much quicker!

Here's what you'll need:

1 white cake mix
1/3 cup oil
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla

2 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon

All you have to do is mix together the cake mix, oil, eggs and vanilla.  Next roll the dough into little balls and cover with the cinnamon and sugar mixture.  Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 10 to 12 minutes. 

You'll have a tasty treat in no time.  It's an easy way for me to trick my kids, ok and myself, that I can really do it all!  Enjoy!

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Organization

Once, at a play date I had a new friend ask me how I stay so organized.  The question took me off guard and I had to laugh out loud and then when I told my husband that night he almost fell out of his chair laughing. Obviously she didn't know me too well and hadn't ever seen my office.  This is how my computer desk looks on a regular basis. (yeah, not too proud of that but it's the real me!)

Although I can't claim to be an organizational queen I do have a few tricks up my sleeve that help me stay sane.  Probably my most important tool is my white board in my office.  On it I have things written out so I can see it daily, what's going on and what I need to do.  It helps me keep focused.

I start with daily goals.  Where I write down six, usually small, things that I'm going to get done that day.  I started this when I first had a baby I felt like all I did is take care of him and that I never got anything accomplished.  With the daily goals I can see what I am getting done even if it's small.  I can go to bed now with the house in chaos but feeling good because I met my goals for the day. I always try to have a goal on there that's going to make me feel better about life, such as exercising or calling a friend to talk.  And of course I don't always get them done, life happens and sometimes it just doesn't work out.  If I don't get it done then I usually leave them up for the next day and try again.

Next is weekly goals.  These are bigger projects that I want to get done.  I try to pull something off my big to do list and put it on here.  Then in my six daily goals I set up smaller goals to help me get the weekly one done.  For example, one of my weekly goals is to organize the office then I wrote down file for 15 minutes on my daily goal list.

The rest is pretty much self explanatory.  I have the big to do list, which always seems super long.  I find if I write it down I'm much less likely to forget and it's more likely to get done.  I'm one of those people who loves to cross things off a list.  Then there's a don't forget column so I don't forget a birthday party or upcoming event.  A column for people I need to email and one for people I need to call.  I'm one of those people who often listens to a message but can't call the person back right then and then I forget it all together.  This just helps me remember.

This white board isn't a magical answer to all my organizational problems but it sure helps.  It helps me keep my head on straight and more importantly it helps me feel like I actually do get something done each day. 

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Make Your Own Laundry Detergent

Here's another CHEAP & EASY idea.  Of course, it's not really my idea.  I have no clue what genius put this all together but my friend Ashli is the one who told me about it.  She's a very environmentally friendly and money savvy girl.  Once, while catching up on the phone, she told me she made her own laundry detergent.  At first I kind of scoffed it off thinking it wouldn't be worth my time.  She then told me that it lowered her costs of laundry detergent down to 1 penny a load.  1 PENNY! Maybe this was worth my time.  You see as a mother I feel like I'm always doing laundry and always running out of detergent.  Most families spend anywhere from 10 to 13 cents per load of laundry and do on average 6 to 10 loads per week.  Those pennies really do add up.  And remember if it wasn't also easy I wouldn't be doing it.  

Here's what you'll need:

One 5 oz bar of fels-naptha soap
1 cup of washing soda (this is not the same as regular baking soda, you can find it in the laundry isle)
1 cup of borax
4 cups of hot water
One 5 gallon bucket with a lid

Grate the soap with either a cheese grater or just use a paring knife to shave the bar.

It should look something like this.  (My two year old was quite upset when I didn't let her sample it because she thought it was cheese).

 Add the shaved soap to the 4 cups of hot water and cook over medium heat until all the soap is melted.

Then fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water, add the melted soap and the washing soda and borax.  Mix the solution until all the powder is dissolved then fill the bucket with more hot tap water to within about 2 inches of the top.

And there you have it! You can now go do a load of laundry for only a penny!  You only need about 1/4 cup per load and this mixture will last you a long, long time.

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Goodbye Cobwebs

The past few weeks I've been very busy with some major spring cleaning.  We recently put our house on the market and I've been TRYING to keep it extra clean for showings.  While deep cleaning I realized we had way too many cobwebs in those hard to reach areas.

 Most of them in the corners where the wall meets the ceiling.  It was high time to get rid of those nasty things.

 Here's a little trick I learned a while ago to dust and clean those hard to reach areas.  All you will need is a broom and an old t-shirt that is ready to be used as a rag.

I've found a long sleeve shirt works a little better.  

Tie the shirt onto the top of the broom.

And say goodbye to those pesky cobwebs.  While you're at it dust of the top of our doorways and other hard to reach areas.  Happy Spring Cleaning!

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Kill those Germs!

A simple way to kill germs in the kitchen is to let your dishwasher do it.  These are some items to put in with your dishes.  A steel scrubber yes, a Brillo pad never.  Any thing with a wood handle no, unless it is bamboo.  I would much rather have a can opener that can be put in the dishwasher than an electric one, but that is my opinion.  I'm not a sponge user, but they should go in the dishwasher too.

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Dinner Group!

This brilliant idea can really save you some MONEY plus your TIME.  It's also a lot of fun!

A few years ago my friend, Karie, came to me with the idea of starting a dinner group. Here's the quick run down.  Everyone in the group cooks the same meal for every other family in the group.  So, if I was making Chopped Pizza I would make enough for my family and also for the three other families.  Yes, it's more work that one day but then less work during the week.  Then you trade meals and come home with 3 other ready to go meals. This gives you 4 meals for the week all done in one day.  We would eat the leftovers or something super easy like pancakes the rest of the week.  I went from cooking almost everyday to ONCE a week.  Karie had done a dinner group in the place she had lived previously and loved it.  She convince me and two other friends to join by telling us all the benefits here's a list of a few of them;

 * Saves MONEY, because you can buy in bulk and less ingredients.  I also found I went to the store  less and therefore didn't spend as much filling my cart with things I thought we needed.
 * Saves TIME, because you cook ONCE a week instead of 5 to 7 times.
 * Adds VARIETY to your monthly meals because you get to try other's recipes.
 * No more asking yourself "what's for dinner tonight?"  Who doesn't get tried of this?
 * We ate healthier because we ate less easy frozen stuff and ate out less.
 * You get to see your friends a little more :)

To get started you'll need find a couple of friends who want to join you.  We had four families in our group which worked out well.  You'll want to find people who;

* Have a similar size of family as you
* Are dependable
* Are a decent cook, it helps if they like to cook.
* Are honest and you can be honest with them.  You need to be able to tell the person if your family didn't like a particular meal or else you might be wasting food, which is not the point.
* Has similar eating style.  For example if you love meat you might not want to invite your vegetarian friend to join.
* Are willing to eat leftovers.  A lot of meals can be completely done so you just reheat and serve.

Once your group is assembled you'll need to have a meeting.  We met once every 2 to 3 months to plan meals.  We would fill in a calendar with what we were going to be making and receiving.  This helps you be more organized.  When deciding what to make we would make sure the other families thought it sounded good and that we didn't make similar meals in the same week.  You don't want Baked Pasta 3 times in one week.

We used Glad Ovenware for all our meals.  We liked them because they stack well in the car, cupboards and fridge.  They are both oven and freezer safe and the lids come with them.  They also aren't too heavy or expensive.  Because we used them so much they didn't last forever.  It seemed like once a year we had to buy a few new ones to replace the few that were a little beat up.  I found they still came in handy even if they got kicked out of dinner group.  Go here for more ideas on that.

You might think that using these handy dandy dishes might limit what you can make.  We didn't think so.  We exchanged everything from normal casseroles to soups, salads, crock pot meals and pizzas.  Most of the recipes in the main dish section on this blog have been part of our dinner group.

Once you have your meals planned out just decide on a time and place to exchange every week.  We found Tuesdays worked well for us so we could shop and cook on Mondays.  When you exchange it's good to mark the dishes with what is inside and instructions for cooking or reheating.  

Then go home and enjoy looking at your fridge full of  yummy already prepared meals.  You are now set for the week!

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Easy Spaghetti Sauce

A lot cheaper than bottled spaghetti sauce, super fast and yummy.  Try it!

1 can (15 oz.) tomato sauce

1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon oregano
1 clove garlic minced or 1/4 teaspoon dehydrated minced garlic
2 teaspoon parsley flakes (opt)
salt and pepper

1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese (opt)

In a small sauce pan mix ingredients together (except Parmesan cheese).  Simmer.  Just before serving stir in Parmesan cheese.

Great to serve with meatballs or if you want a meaty sauce, add 1 cup cooked ground beef.  Brown ground beef with ¼ onion for each pound of meat.  Drain off grease.  Add one cup of meat to spaghetti sauce.  Freeze the remaining meat to use next time.

We also use this sauce for dipping chopped pizza.

Note. A jar of spaghetti sauce has 23 ounces, this recipe makes 15 ounces.

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Homemade Baby Wipes

For the past 3 1/2 years my husband and I have been in graduate school.  Since we pretty much have NO money, we count our pennies.  I'm always looking for ways to stretch our small budget.  Last summer my good friend Aryn told me that she makes her own baby wipes.  With four small kiddos running around her house she told me that doing so saves her money and that she loves them.  I was curious and asked for her recipe.  Once I got home I gave it a try.  At first I was doing it only to save money.  I figured I could do a little extra work to save some change.  Well, that change started to add up and I realized I even liked these wipes BETTER than the store ones I had been buying before.  I cut my wipe costs in half with these.

Here's what you'll need:

1 large roll of good quality paper towels

A 1 1/2 Quart size of canister

Baby Wash

Water

Here's what you do:

Cut the paper towel roll in half, my husband uses a hand saw. (We cut a bunch at one time and store them cut in halves so they are ready when we need them.)

Put one half into the canister with the cut side down.  You'll have to squeeze it some to get it to fit.

Mix 2 tbs of baby wash with 1 cup and 1 tbs of water.

Pour the water/baby wash mixture over the paper towels in the canister.

Let it sit for about 10 min so that the water can sink in.

Remove the cardboard center.

Find the end of the roll and pull it slightly up so they are easy to use.

And there you have it.  EASY & CHEAP two of my favorite words together!  I use these of course daily on my little ones' bottom, but also to clean their hands and faces and to clean up the many spills we have at our house.

This post has been linked at Ginger Snap Crafts!

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Tortilla Soup

This is a realy quick meal that will please those hungry mouths that are begging,
"What's for dinner?"  Just open some cans!

1 can creamed corn
1 can corn not drained
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups salsa
1 cup cooked chicken (use left over chicken or canned)
1 teaspoon chili powder or more to taste

crushed tortilla chips for garnish optional
grated cheese for garnish optional
sour cream for garnish optional

Combine creamed corn, corn, black beans, salsa, chicken and chili powder in large pan, heat till simmering.  Serve with crushed tortilla chips, grated cheese and sour cream.

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