Been away for a while, just a little update!

     Sorry readers, I know that I have been away for a long time......there has been A LOT going on in my life these past few months.  Unfortunately, after 8 years being married...my marriage is done.  All I know is that I can say that I tried my hardest and it just wasn't meant to be.  Maybe I will get into that story on another post.....I don't know.  Maybe, one day.  It has been quite a shock become a single parent.  Not much harder than when my husband was here because I don't have to clean up after a man too....but it is very difficult being a single parent and VERY hard having to go without my child when he legally has to visit his dad.  I know a little boy needs his father in his life, but I don't like being without my angel baby!  He just brightens each and every second of my day! Anyways....off of my marriage and on to some other things. 

     Over the past few months has been just pretty much day to day routine, trying to get use to my new life along with church of course!!  I love being in the choir and actually has started singing for a women's group at my church as well!  I absolutely love it.  I recently received a comment from, Christian, who is our Worship Coordinator.  He said that I am "not singing just to get the notes right anymore that I am actually worshiping!!"  I remember him telling me this when I first sent in my audition tape for the women's groups worship team and he said to just "sing for God" and I just didn't understand it at the time.  I felt like I was singing to God, but honestly after everything that has gone on in my life these past few months I now know that I am "Singing to God!"  I finally understand the lyrics in the songs and actually feel like each song was personally written for me!  It is an amazing moment when this happens in your life as a religious person. 

Evolution is True, You Can See it Today's Youth.

     Yesterday, I stopped by my grandma's while her childhood friend Karen was visiting.  I went to assist with papa a bit so she wouldn't have to wait on him hand and foot; as she normally does.  Women, you know how men are...especially when they are sick, they want your constant attention.  I was there just to help her a little so he didn't bombard her while she got her once in a year visit with a friend.  It was great to walk into her home and see my grandma, my great-grandma and my grandma's childhood friend sitting at the dining room table cackling like chickens while "Looking for a city" was playing in the background.   Brought a smile to my face to have such young-at-heart grandparents and great grandparents.
  Later in the day, grandma and Karen were relaxing in the front living room reminiscing on memories past and it amazed me to hear how innocent they were as young girls.  Talking about "all night" church revivals was the place to be and how they would "make eye contact" with boys as their flirtation.  Absolutely adorable, yet strange to think of my grandma flirting with a boy and giving eye contact.  Although the conversation did switch to how "back in their day" getting married for life was a normal act.  When Karen made that statement, I replied with amusement..."Yeah, that is a Disney movie now!" Well, it's the truth! It is easily comparable to a Disney movie because these days the average American marriage now lasts eight years, yes eight years; according to the U.S. Census Bureau.   People don't want to fight for their marriage, we have all gotten use to the motto, "There's plenty of fish in the sea."  Another factor that came to mind when this topic was being discussed was; the mystery of what made marriage sacred isn't practiced anymore.  Majority of both men and women have had sexual relations before they get married, and more than half of this group have had numerous sexual partners before they are married.  I have known girls (plural) that weren't even legally allowed to buy a scratch off, yet their sexual partners were past fifty people!!  That was unheard of back in my grandma's and Karen's day!  Women and men, both, remained pure for their spouse and maybe that is correlated with the longevity of marriage...who knows.  Another factor that came to mind was women dressed so much classier back in those days.  This is a photo of my grandma when she was about my age with a normal, for her, dress.  No cleavage, the length is past her knees; not showing too much leg, just pure class.  I don't even need to post an average woman now-a-days.  All a person needs to do is go to Facebook and view random pages.  It is considered "sexy" now if you are wearing your boobs popped out for everyone's pleasure, your clothes as tight as they can possibly get...no matter what size you are, and shorts and skirts that are barely there.  Sometimes you can even see a person's butt cheeks!  This dress is now normal for teenagers, obese women and married women. 
     This isn't the only thing that was discussed that made me think about how our generations are evolving...Karen and I started talking about technological development since they were my age.  She mentioned that she had a very small television when they first came out and I presumed that they must have been pretty well off to have one at the time.  Grandma added that all the neighborhood kids would come over to Karen's house and they would huddle around that television to watch Flash Gordon and Captain Mac Adventure Trails after school.  I don't know much about either show, but according to Captain Mac's website they advertised milk, meat and 7-up.  These days $15-17 billion is spent by companies advertising to children in the US.  Over $4 billion was spent in 2009 by the fast food industry alone.  This is a far cry from the mid 1950's when Captain Mac urged children to go to Sunday school and drink milk! As children grow older, they have materialism ingrained in them.  They grow up and then start watching shows with such adult themed subliminal messages.  If you have time after reading my post, you should really check out the "subliminal messages" link.  It is quite shocking to see what is in some television shows and movies.  We wonder why sexual promiscuity has gotten out of control in the past few decades, it is constantly thrown in our faces...just inescapable.  On a side not with children and television, the average child will have seen an average of 8 murders by the time they are out of elementary school.
     Another topic that was brought up during the visit was cursing.  I stated that I found it hilarious when my grandma would get super mad and say the word "shit."  This still cracks me up to hear her say this curse word!!  I laugh at this curse word coming from my grandma's mouth, yet Karen would be petrified if she heard her mother say "Hell's bells!"  This was a sign to Karen, I assume, that her mother was way past angry!  "Hell" isn't even considered a curse word in this day and age.  They do censor by bleeping curse words to some degree, except the GD word.  I will not say it on my blog, but it severely bothers me that this word is in pretty much every movie these days and constantly on television.  The MPAA's guidelines on the movie rating system seems to get more lenient every few years.  Now they actually allow a brief partial male nudity in PG rated movies!!  I found that fact shocking.
     With the progression of promiscuity, cursing, and materialism at the rate it is growing...I cannot even imagine what our country is going to be like when my son is my age.  I can only assume how things will be, but it doesn't seem to be evolving in a decent and moral direction. 

A Slice of Heaven!

Recently, I started baking; especially bread.  I have have been baking just plain white bread and having all those refined carbs haven't been very friendly to the numbers on the scale...so I bought some whole wheat flour to try out.    Also, my frugal self doesn't normally keep honey on hand because it is pretty pricey so I replaced the 4 tablespoons of honey with 4 tablespoons of sugar.  It turned out beautifully and SO yummy!  Such a soft loaf of bread; it is just pure perfection!

Yield: 

2 loaves

Ingredients: 

2 cups warm water (110-115 degrees F)
2 tablespoon milk
4 tablespoons oil
4 tablespoons sugar (originally honey)
4 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 cups whole wheat flour
4 teaspoons active dry yeast

Instructions: 

1. Combine warm water, sugar and yeast in bowl and allow to proof.
2. Mix in milk and oil
3. In separate bowl mix together flours, salt, and brown sugar.
4.  Slowly mix in the dry mis of flour, salt and brown sugar into the wet mix until it forms a sticky dough.

5. Flour the counter top and hands and knead dough to form a smooth ball. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top ----->  Cover with a clean towel and let rise until doubled, about an hour.
6. Punch dough down; knead for a few minutes until smooth and then roll and slice into two loaves. Place in greased loaf pan and cover. Let rise in a warm place until almost doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Rotate about 15 minutes in.
8. Remove bread from oven and allow to rest in pan for a few minutes. Remove to a wire rack and cover with a cloth. Slice and enjoy while still warm! Leftover bread can be stored in an airtight bag or frozen until needed.

I Don't have a wire rack, so I use a removable piece that goes to my son's high chair!  I know I am goofy!  ha ha.  Now enjoy your warm bread with some butter or my favorite is with some Nutella! 

Got my home smelling frugally good!!

I ran across a homemade air freshener on some website and decided to try it because it seemed so simple.  I just grabbed my Magic Bullet and poured a little baking soda with a few drops of Peppermint extract that I had in my spice cabinet and mixed it well.  Then I placed about 1/8-1/4 of a cup in a coffee filter and tied it with a bread tie.  I hung one under a side table, one under my bathroom cabinet....where my cat litter box is at, then one in the window seal of my sons window and then one behind a photo in my bedroom.  My home now smells of a beautiful peppermint aroma!  Especially my bathroom!!  You cannot even tell that I have a cat littler box in my bathroom, and I have a tiny apartment bathroom so it is always pretty noticeable, as much as I try to camouflage the fact.  The website said that if the smell starts to weaken, you just shake up the little ball and it will be strong again.  Needless to say, I will keep you updated on the progress of these and the strength and longevity of the air freshener.  But I already had baking soda on hand and peppermint oil (you can use any flavor of your choice!)  So it was approximately about a quarter for my air freshener! 

Who says "Nothing in Life is Free"?

     In my apartment complex sometimes people will leave things out by the road that really aren't trash worthy.  Well....tonight I found a gem!!  There was a really nice chair that was in great shape, smelled really good and reclined perfectly like it was suppose to.  It seemed like a wonderful yard sale find that I would have purchased for a discounted rate, and for it to be just sitting on the side of the road...I had to have it!!  I have a outdoor screened area in my apartment and thought this would make the perfect chair out there.  Right now, it is way to hot to just sit outside during the daytime, but once Fall and Winter arrives, this is going to be such a wonderful escape to get some quiet time or sit outside and chat on the phone.  I love finding free things, especially when I don't have to do anything to them and they are a nice addition to some part of my home.  So I put this chair in the back of my SUV and headed back to the apartment.  When I pulled up I noticed that a woman upstairs was moving out and she asked me if I was moving out as well, I replied "No, I am just extremely frugal and found this while taking my trash out."  She stated that she had two chairs that were similar that she was going to donate to the Salvation Army and I could have them if I wanted.  So I went up and to check them out because there is no harm in just "looking", right?!  Well I loved them and had to have them!  I put one in my bedroom for a "Reading Area", it doesn't have a dent in the seat, I just sat on it before I took the photo so it has some dimples.  The other one I put outside with the other chair to complete my screened in "porch" area.  Boy, this is going to be nice when Fall comes to sit outside and relax looking at the pond view that I have!  I absolutely LOVE my free finds.  Although, no more chairs for me.  I am full up on chairs for my home.  Now I need to start finding wall decor.  Also, a note: Both the chairs below are actually the same color.  The one that is in my bedroom, looks to have more of a creamish tint to it, I believe this is because of the indoor lighting.  Both of the chairs are actually the color of the photo on the top.  This just has better lighting because it is outside natural light. 

Thrifty Cleaning: Be Our Guest!

Lately I have been trying to be more budget savvy.  Some new tactics have not worked out so well, like trying to use cloth diapers; tried those for a day and it just wasn't very practical for our family. Today my budget friendly ways went to my dishes.  I made my own dishwasher detergent.  Such an easy recipe and for about $8.00 I will have approximately 320 loads of dishwasher detergent!!!!!  This calculation is based on using 2 Tablespoons per load, and you can use either 1-2Tbls so it could actually be 640 loads if you only used 1Tbls per dishwasher load.  To put this in better understanding....I normally buy Cascade Complete and if you buy a 48 pack of those pouches, which is what I normally prefer, They are around $13.00 for a package of 48 pouches.  That equals to .27 cents a load to clean your dishes each day.  Making my own dishwasher detergent equals about .018 cents a load.  That is less than two pennies a load!!!  So for a year....If I were to buy Cascade, I would spend approximately $100/year compared to $6.84/year making my own!  That is ASTONISHING to say the least!  So you want to know how to do it?!  I will tell you....it is so easy and I picked up everything at my local grocery store.

 1 cup Borax.  This cost me $4.99 for a 5lb box, which will yield 20 cups total.










 1 cup Baking Soda, you can also use the Super Washing Soda for better results, but I unfortunately could not find any at my local store.  This was only $1 for a 4lb box, which will yield 16 cups total.

 2 Tablespoons salt.  You can also use Kosher salt and if you use that, use 1/4c.  I didn't have Kosher salt on hand and didn't feel like buying any, to be honest with you.










The coolest ingredient!  You can either use 1/4c citric acid, if you have it on hand...but again, me being the frugal person I am I opted to use 2 packets of Sugar Free Kool-Aid, LEMONADE!  This works perfectly well for the citric acid portion of this concoction! Until I can get to Wally World and pick up some citric acid (if it's not too expensive)





Mix all this together and store in an air tight container.  Use 1-2 Tablespoons per load.  I also add 3 drops of Dawn dish soap or Palmolive in each load, as well as 1/2c-1c of vinegar in a cup at the top of the dishwasher.  This helps aid in making the dishes shiny, kind of like Jet Dry, and not have a frosty film over the dishes.

I used this today and I have done two loads of dishes today and both have turned out to perfection!!  I feel they got cleaner than using actual store bought brands!  I read one woman's comment about this and she said that hers was clumping up after a day or so, I just made mine today so I can't give you my personal experience on this yet.  Her remedy of this problem was she put her homemade detergent in a bowl and mixed it all up really well then placed them in an ice cube tray, she essentially made her own individual "Pacs"!  How convenient is that?!?  She just left the ice cube tray out on the counter overnight and they stayed in perfect cubes.  So, if mine ends up getting chunky this weekend, I will be making my own individual dishwasher pacs!

Well, I hope I helped someone out with this homemade dishwasher detergent.  It definitely is a money saver and doesn't take hardly any time to prepare.  I prepared my batch while I was waiting for water to boil for my potatoes for dinner tonight.  So don't let time be an excuse for all you working busy mom's out there!!

The Frog Prince

No animals were harmed in the making of this photo

Tonight my family went our our routine evening walk and my son, Ethan, investigated his first frog.  He has seen some frogs and lizards here and there, but tonight was different.  He seemed to be more interested in the animal and curiously captivated by the quickness of the frog's hopping from the sidewalk to the grass and back.  He would giggled and talk his baby talk as I placed the frog in his hands, which would rapidly hop off in full blown suicide mode to the pavement below, it was pretty entertaining to watch to say the least.  I was lucky to get this photo and it was also the only time he actually tried to examine the frog more closely.  As you see, he was studying the frog's anatomy...I mean obviously!  ha.  I just love how captivated he was in this whole experience.

Let Them Eat Cake....or Maybe Not.

My very first 100% homemade cake.  The actual cake was homemade, the strawberry filling and the cream cheese frosting was completely made from scratch.  I found this recipe for the cake on ChefTalk and it has numerous rave reviews.  I followed this recipe exactly as described on the link with one exception.  I used margarine in place of butter.  I put it in my oven at 350* for 25 minutes and when I took it out it still seemed as though it needed to bake a little more.  I placed it back in the oven for another 20 minutes and then let them cool as I made the strawberry filling.  That filling was very tasty and then I went on to making my cream cheese frosting.  Again, I did not use butter as the frosting recipe called for, I used margarine and I don't know if this is why it didn't turn out to my expectations, or what...just the only logical explanation I can give.  My frosting was runny.  And it didn't harden over time or when cooled in the refrigerator.  Hmmm...I will have to try actual butter next time and see if that was the true problem to my icing; and possibly my cake as well.  When the cake cooled I noticed that it hadn't risen very well and looked very dense.  I stuck my toothpick in and it came our perfectly clean so I just assumed at the time; because it is homemade, it doesn't rise as much as a boxed cake.  After dinner I decided it was time to cut the cake and I was quite nervous because I was afraid that it wasn't up to par. 
<---THIS is what I got. It was not fully cooked, even after cooking it double the time for what the website directions called for.  Needless to say, I was completely disappointed.  I had been looking forward to this cake for hours and wasted so much time and baking ingredients making it, such a let down.

Not Your Average Leftovers!

 On Monday this week, I made my family beautiful stuffed mini peppers.  The stuffing was chicken, tomatoes with cream cheese and brown rice mix.  Oh was it just so delicious.  Besides burning the bottom a little and therefore the rice not getting completely cooked through; due to the fact that I was side tracked by my son coming into the kitchen and getting into the utensil draw and grabbing something that could have been dangerous to him!! AGH, how motherhood can just completely ruin your nerves!  I even have every single drawer and cabinet child proofed, yet he has somehow figured out a way to maneuver his little arm into the crack that the child lock allows in that drawer.  Despite the burning on the bottom a little I managed to save it and it was a SUPER dinner.  Well Tuesday, I was planning on what to make for dinner and I was wanting to do something easy.  I wanted to just be able to pop something in the oven and forget about it.  I remembered that I had some stuffed pepper filling left over and worked my magic on that!!!!  I grabbed a Pillsbury Thin Crust Pizza Dough that was taking up room in the back of my fridge and fancied it up a little bit!  I rolled it out a little bit thinner and then lined a 9x2 round cake pan and cut to size.  I poked some holes in it with a fork and then placed it in a 350* oven to pre-bake.  While it was pre-baking I heated on the stove top a can of cream of mushroom soup, about 1/4c milk and some seasonings ( I am BIG on seasonings)  I added Basil, 2 whole Bay Leaves, Rosemary, Thyme, Oregano, Parsley and salt and pepper.  Once that was mixed well and soupy texture, I then added my leftovers from the stuffed peppers.  I let everything mix together well and then took out my cake pan out of the oven, which was now done and ready to be filled.  I placed my filling in the cake pan and then cut thin pieces out of the remaining pizza dough and placed on top of the pie.  I then put an egg wash on the top to get a beautiful golden crust and baked it again for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.  Let me tell you!!!!  This was such a treat and so easy to put together.  I am not big on premade stuff, like this pizza dough...but this was so nice to make a quick meal, and it only dirtied up two pots so it was easy clean up too!  I highly recommend this pizza dough as a pie crust and I will probably pick some up for future quick meals!

Beginning to Bake

 So recently I have started baking.  I absolutely LOVE it, although it is pretty time consuming with the projects I have done...which is mostly bread.  My first project was Cinnamon Raisin Bread and boy was it yummy!  The recipe that I used made three loaves and my grandma actually ended up with two of those loaves.  It was very good bread, but if I did have any criticism for this batch it would be that I need better quality cinnamon.  It just wasn't fresh enough tasting, TO ME, and really showed me that the quality of the ingredients really do matter.  Although, my grandma said that the cinnamon tasted perfect to her.  Everyone knows how parents and

grandparents are....you can never do anything wrong.  This is actually quintessential my grandma.  I can hardly do any wrong, because she birthed four boys and I was the oldest granddaughter from any of her sons, and lived with her for a lot of my life, so I am pretty much her oldest daughter (I have a younger sister).  Therefore that makes me more special to her too.  I know, I am a bit rotten, but in a good way!  teehee!  

The next thing that I baked was Chocolatey Chocolate-Chip and Almond Biscotti.  This was relatively simple to bake considering it always seemed like such a fancy food in the stores to purchase.  I then also baked cherry-almond scones the next day and they were SUPER yummy, but I unfortunately did not take any photos of it because when I finished baking the scones it was about two o'clock in the morning and needless to say I was super tired!  Especially after driving to my grandma's and putting her scones on her front door so she would have some nice scones for breakfast.