One of the Highlights of My Week

I love my MOPS group.  We meet twice a month.  We also have a play date and a mom's night once a month.  It's a great time of fellowship, food, and fun.  We are very blessed to have wonderful childcare providers during our meetings so we can really focus on spending quality time with one another.  I strongly encourage any mom, working or not, to find a group like this to support one another.  For more information on the national organization, click HERE.  For more information on my local group, click HERE.

Building a Better Marriage

We just went to one of these conferences this past weekend.  It was fantastic!  There really is something for every couple whether you are engaged, newlyweds (one couple on our weekend had been married for 6 days), married for 52 years (as was one couple there), in a "healthy" marriage, or on the verge of divorce.  

My husband and I have been married for 7 1/2 years and have a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old.  This conference helped us remember why we got married and figure out how to grow toward oneness with our busy home life and schedules.  There's even a built-in date night so we went out to a restaurant that we don't have at home and just enjoyed each other's company.

For more information, click HERE.

Next year Family Life is having a marriage cruise!  I would love to go on that because we've never been on one and if it's anything like the conference it will be AWESOME!  I don't know if you can read it but it will be Feb. 14-18 2011 from Port Canaveral, FL to Cococay & Nassau, Bahamas.  I'm sure there will be more information on their website (www.familylife.com) as the date drawers nearer.

Get Your Craft On!

We've been snowed in for a while now and since my husband is a teacher, he hasn't had to go to work.  Today I decided to be crafty since he was playing with the kiddos.  I made candles, hand cream, and hand scrub.

Craft #1 - Candles

When my son was still eating baby food, I would buy some jars to keep for days when we were on-the-go or I ran out of homemade baby food.  (I'm not the most organized person so I've learned to keep something easy on hand.)  Anyway, I kept the jars because I knew I could use them for something.  That something happened to be soy candles that I made today.

In order to get the industrial glue off the jars, I soaked them in hot, soapy water.  That didn't completely work so I tried rubbing alcohol.  That didn't work.  So I tried peanut butter.  That worked!  I put some peanut butter on the gluey area and rubbed it with the abrasive side of a kitchen sponge.  After the glue rubbed off, I washed the jars again in the soapy water.

Earlier this week, I bought 4 pounds of soy candle wax and candle wick string at Michael's (using my 40% off coupons).  To prepare for the candle making, I cut the wicks to be around 2 1/2" for the smallest jars and about 3 1/2" for the bigger jars.

Following the directions on the box of wax, I melted the wax using a double boiler on my stove.  When it was completely melted I poured the wax into the jars and placed the wicks in the middle of the jars and kept them in place using clothespins.  (It's a good idea to do this over newspaper or cardboard so you don't have to clean up wax drippings when you're done.)

For some of the candles I added some Grapefruit essential oil to the melted wax and mixed it before pouring into the jars.  The box says to use 1/8 ounce of essential oil for 2 pounds of wax.  I'm still experimenting with the amounts.  I think it depends on the oil you use.

Here is my finished product.  I did not use any coloring because I personally like white candles.  I think they look more elegant.  Besides the unscented and the grapefruit scent go well with a white color.  There may be some scents that would be nicer with color such as a coffee or chocolate scent.

Let's see if it works well.

Ooooooo, pretty!

Craft #2 - Hand Cream

I've made this before but that was pre-motherhood so I thought I'd try it again.  I took some beeswax (since I still had some left after all these years) and weighed it.  Then I weighed three times that amount in olive oil.  I put both in the double boiler and melted it together.  When it was all melted together, I added some Grapefruit Peppermint essential oil.  After that was mixed well, I let it cool.  During the cooling process, I occasionally whisked it to keep in creamy.  

It looks a little like vanilla pudding but DON'T EAT IT!!!  It won't taste like vanilla pudding!

When it's finished cooling, spoon it into a wide-mouth container such as a canning jar or a pretty tin.

I recommend using this hand cream before bed or while doing dishes.  It will feel greasy on your hands at first but if you put on cotton gloves or dishwashing gloves for 30 minutes, your hands will feel smooth and soft.

Craft #3 - Hand Scrub

Like the hand cream, I've made the hand scrub before but it's been a while.  This was the easiest of all of my crafts today.  I just filled a wide-mouth jar about 2/3 full with granulated sugar.  Then I added olive oil and some Grapefruit Peppermint essential oil and mixed it all together.

To use, just put a tablespoon of scrub in your hands and rub them together well.  Then rinse your hands in warm water.  Your hands may feel a little greasy at first but if you follow it with the hand cream it makes your hands feel soft and smooth.  I recommend using the scrub twice a week for best results.  

Ready, Set, JOE!!!

I have been searching for months for a one-cup coffee maker that just sits on the mug and brews it right into the cup.  The reason I wanted one is because I'm the only one in our house who drinks coffee and I don't always want to brew more than just a cup.  While I like my french press, I don't always have coarsely ground coffee on hand (and I don't want to wake the children by using the grinder) and I'm not a huge fan of cleaning it.  So I wanted something that would be easy to use for when I just want one cup with minimal clean-up.

I finally found one online in December by Melitta.  It's called the "Ready, Set, Joe" and it got pretty good reviews.  It's top-rack dishwasher safe and fits most mugs.  They sell it for $3 -$7 online and then, of course, you have to pay for the shipping which is usually at least $5.  I didn't want to pay that much so when I saw it on the Kitchen Collection website I decided to go to our local store to see if they have it.  Unfortunately, they didn't but they did say they'd order it.  I called every few weeks to see if it was in and finally last week it was!  So I went over there and got one for $2.99 plus tax.  I wanted black but all they had was red.  Oh well, it's just a kitchen gadget.  It doesn't really matter what color it is.

So I used it for the first time today and it works very well.  All you need is a #2 cone filter, some coffee, and some boiling water and you're good to go.  

So once you put the cone on your mug, put in a filter.  Then put the amount of coffee grounds you like in the filter.  Pour the boiling water over the grounds in a circular motion.  You can watch the coffee filter into your mug through the openings at the bottom of the cone.  This helps you to make sure it does not overflow out of the mug.

When the cup is full to your liking, remove the cone and your coffee is ready.

Jewelry Crafts

My daughter made a penne rigate and yarn necklace and bracelet while I made...

a faux pearl bracelet out of beads and stretchy string.

Neither are very difficult to make.  The noodle necklace is made by taking noodles and stringing them on the yarn.  Finally, you just tie the ends together and... Voila, you have a noodle necklace or bracelet.  Any noodles with holes can be used.  The number of noodles and length of string is up to you.

The faux pearl bracelet is similar.  You will need approximately 10 - 11 inches of string (I got mine at Michael's Arts and Crafts store using a 40% off coupon!) and about 25 beads (again, I got them at Michael's using another 40% off coupon), depending on the size of the beads and how loose you want the bracelet to be.  You will need a longer string and more beads to make a necklace but the same steps can be used.  I used the thinnest string I could find so it would fit through the holes in the beads.  

Tie a knot in the string about an inch from one end so the beads don't fall off the string.  Take the beads and string them on the stretchy string.  When you've strung all the beads, tie a knot with the two ends of the string close to the beads.  Place a drop of super glue on the knot.  Tie another knot on top of that knot and place another drop of super glue on this knot.  Let it sit for 24 hours to dry completely.  Cut off the ends of the string and ENJOY!  

Chick-Fil-A and Denny's FREE food

EVERY Tuesday in February, Chick-Fil-A is offering a FREE breakfast menu item between 6:30 AM and 10:30 AM.

Denny's is offering a FREE Original Grand Slam®, Tuesday, Feb. 9, from 6 AM TO 2 PM.

Want to save some money?

Go to the websites of stores where you shop or would like to shop and sign up for their emails. If you don't want your inbox flooded with these, set up a new account just for this purpose. You can get some great stuff just for signing up for emails. For example, about every two months I get a coupon either in the mail or on email for a free pair of panties from Victoria's Secret and coupons for free items at Bath & Body Works. (I can't remember the last time I actually bought a pair of panties.) I also get printable 40% off coupons from Michael's Arts and Crafts about every other week.

Register your Starbucks gift cards online to get some free stuff like a coupon for a free drink on your birthday, free wifi at their retail locations, and points towards more free stuff every time you use it.

Looking for Old Navycoupons? Check out www.oldnavyweekly.com for a variety of coupons to find.

FREE Pancake Day!

On Tuesday, February 23, 2010, IHOP will be celebrating National Pancake Day from 7 AM until 10 PM. They'll give you one free short stack (three pancakes). *They will be taking donations for local children's hospitals through Children's Miracle Network or other local charities.

You CAN have too much chocolate!

So I was super excited to try a new hot chocolate recipe from Real Simple. I only called for two ingredients: coconut milk and chocolate. I thought I had the recipe down. I mean, how hard can it be? Two ingredients. So I poured the milk into a pot and started heating it. Then I added the chocolate. As I was stirring it seemed a little thick (like fondue). So I called in to the other room and asked my husband how much chocolate I was supposed to add. "One ounce." he said. Okay, well I thought it said one pound. BIG difference! Fortunately I only added 11.5 ounces. Not that it made much of a difference than adding 16 but oh well. I tried adding more regular milk. It didn't work. I think I'll try putting some of it in my coffee tomorrow and see how that tastes. You can probably tell by looking at it that it isn't quite right.

Valentine's Day Breakfast

I don't know if you know or have children who don't like to eat very many fruits and vegetable but I have two. They will eat a few fruits and one won't eat any vegetables. So I'm always trying to come up with ways to sneak them in. This morning I decided we'd have pancakes. Now usually I add applesauce, pureed pumpkin, sweet potatoes or fruits. When my son stopped eating baby food like peaches and pears, I used that so it wouldn't go to waste. Today I decided to try something different.



I had just bought some Strawberry Banana V8 Fusion to see if my son would drink it. My daughter loves pink so I thought, "I wonder if they'd eat pink pancakes." I use Krusteaz pancake mix so all I have to add is water. So today instead of water I used the V8 juice. They both seemed to like it and my daughter loved that they were pink. Then I thought, "These would be an easy Valentine's Day breakfast, especially if you shape them in hearts." You could also used pureed strawberries for this.

If you aren't very good at creating shapes with pancake batter one solution is to take a squeeze bottle (I bought one at Walmart and cut the tip some to make the hole bigger) and put the batter in there. It makes it easier to create different shapes because you can control how much and how fast it comes out much easier. I used this method when my daughter stopped eating pancakes. I started with a Mickey Mouse shape and moved on to hearts, flowers, smiley faces, guitars, dogs, and basically anything she likes to try to get her to eat them. It worked. She loved the shapes. Now she doesn't mind if they are round so I do shapes on special occasions. Others have suggested reusing sqeezable ketchup bottles. This didn't work for me.

Also, some brands end up clumpier than others so they may not work very well in the squeeze bottle. Mine tends to get clogged using the Krusteaz brand. Another tip is to NOT fill the bottle all the way. If you fill it to high, it may cause the lid to pop off or overflow out of the hole as it sits in the bottle.

Losing it

Since we've been snowed in for the past four days, we told the kids that we could build a tent in the living room. So while I was building the tent, the kids started playing in it. My daughter kept throwing a monkey beanie baby on top of it. In my frustration, I scolded her by saying, "If you keep playing with the tent, I'm going to take it down!" Okay, so that really just makes no sense. The whole point of putting the tent up was to PLAY with it.

Sometimes things come out of my mouth and I just have to wonder where my brain cells went. I used to be an intelligent person, who taught high school and had a come-back for most of their comments. Now I have trouble coming up with words that make sense most of the time. My husband blames the children. He says that I lose brain cells with each child we have. So far we only have two. I was hoping to have more. Will I end up completely stupid, walking around with my tongue hanging out, uttering nonsense? Will it make a difference if we choose to adopt the other children? Is it the birthing process that takes the brain cells? (I did notice that the whole getting dumber started with my first pregnancy.) These are things I think about. What do you think?