Foot saver!

Another great, useful gadget that doubles as a pampering tool. The Micro-pedi by Emjoi is fabulous! If you worry about your feet; heels cracking, rough skin, callouses, you have got to give this a try! I was visiting my mom in California and she gave me one as a gift. I didn't think I would use it much; I treated myself to a pedi abut twice a year. Other than that, my feet were somewhat neglected! This little guy is wonderful! It is a battery operated file/buffer so to speak. It has a cylindrical grit file( best description I can think of!) which spins at a fast enough rate to smooth out the rough spots on your feet. I usually turn on the t.v. and lose time as I run it over my heels and the bottom of my feet. I also run it over my callouses that I get on my big toes. It is amazing the amount of dead skin that is buffed off. It is a little worrisome at first as it creates a whiff of smoke(dust) of skin at first. After about 10 minutes, rub your feet with lotion and they are so smooth! Beautiful! I try to use it a couple of times a week. Mine was purchased on QVC for $25. I am not one to buy a lot of beauty products or gadgets, but I plan on using this until it wears out....and then I'll buy another one!

Another freezer idea

As I've mentioned before, I love freezer meals! I have talked about dinners before, but now let's talk breakfast!
My kids don't love cold cereal, to my dismay( its so easy and quick!), so to please the troops I have to plan ahead and do a variety of things.
When I make pancakes, I try to make anywhere between 50-100. We eat them fresh on baking day, then freeze the rest. To reheat, we've put them in the toaster(gives them a slightly tough"skin") or our preferred method; just pop them in the microwave! They turn out great and the kids love them!
I also make breakfast sandwiches. My kids only like sausage with egg(it took forever to convince them to eat with egg!) and only on biscuits!
So, after several attempts, I have it down to a science! AND... I have a new method of cooking the eggs. I know that pinterest lovers can find different methods of cooking eggs, this is a twist on one of them. I had tried cooking the eggs in a muffin tin, but wasn't thrilled with how thick they turned out. So, I tried baking them in a cookie sheet! Awesome! They came out perfectly as you can see in the pictures. As for the price, you can't best it! Sausage patties were $4.96, eggs- free(our own chickens!), biscuits$1.50/pkg(I used 2), cheese slices $2.98. Total cost was approx $11.00! Less than $1.00/sandwich!

Lastly, I also freeze breakfast burritos; more for my husbands sake. I cook hash browns, sausage, sauté peppers and onions and mix them in a large bowl with beaten eggs. I pour the mix into a greased cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 30 min. I cut it into rectangles and place each rectangle into a tortilla, roll, wrap, and freeze!

Redbox Rocks!

As we prepared to make our annual trek to California this summer, I thought about how I was going to keep the kiddos entertained for the 14 hour drive. Last year, we completed the trek without the help of a DVD player, can you believe it? It was a lot of work and required a lot of patience on my part! We drove out again in April with an assortment of items (DVD player included) and found that the kids didn't like what they had brought for movies and entertainment. This time I just wanted it to be simple and fun. I didn't want the car to be full of trash and unwanted items just taking up space. So we packed the Nintendo DS and the DVD player and that was it! We stopped at a red box in our town and got two movies which they watched during the first 8 hours of the trip. At one of our pitstops the boys asked if they could have some crayons and notebooks to color so I eagerly said yes. Between the movies and coloring, the first eight hours sailed by. Right around our halfway point we stopped at another Redbox and got two more movies. This entertained them for the second half of the trip. It was wonderful! Redbox kiosks can be found practically anywhere! They have an app you can download to search for nearby kiosks. I returned the last two movies when I reached my destination. I know that some of you may think that it was movie overload, but they still managed to play the license plate game, slug bug, and the alphabet ( find the letters in signs) game too! They colored for hours and the Nintendo DS never came out of their cases! Keep in mind also that kids movies are usually shorter; i think the longest one we watched was 80 min! It was wonderful! Another perk was that the total cost of the rentals totaled about $8.50, which is a lot cheaper than buying any new movie, which only gets viewed once and than put away never to be watched again. Now that we are at our destination, tv time will be very limited due to our other activities.
Redbox has new releases every week, so when we are ready to head home, I think we will hit the Redbox tour again!

As a side note, for those of you like myself who don't have a 3G electronic device, I just pulled into a McDonald's parking lot to access their wi-fi when I needed to find a Redbox or look up my directions to our destination. Very convenient and I figure I patronize their eatery way more than I should anyway, so I don't feel guilty about using it without a purchase!

Nail update

So here's an update on my DIY gel manicure. I love, love, love it! Definitely works for me! I have had it on 13 days and it looked near perfect up until about day 11. You might say that it isn't worth it if it can't last two weeks, but for me, it was amazing! Any other time, with regular polish, it would have been chipped within 24-48 hours! I'm not exaggerating!
I have been hard on my nails too; swimming 4 days, washing dishes at a ward party, popping soda cans open, farm chores- including hauling hay this week, pulling apart Legos, and many other things I can't list them all!
You can see in the picture some of the tips have just kind of peeled off and others I have broken. You can also see the growth, which shows you I am ready for a new manicure!

Next time I'm going to try a mix of gel and regular polish. I've read some instructions on the Internet which seem easy enough. If I do that, it gives me a lot more color options. I will try it out and let you know how it goes!

Lego birthday

Hard to believe my baby turned 6 this week! He was so excited to have a Lego themed party, so I had set out scouring the internet for ideas. Having said that, there were a ton of fun things out there! It became a little overwhelming, but I knew two things; one was that I wanted a general Lego theme, not one of their themes like ninjago or star wars. The other was that I wanted it to be cheap! I have usually spent $100 on parties for my boys, so it was actually a fun challenge to try and plan one for under that.

Here's what I came up with:
Free Lego themed printables at www.peoniesandpoppyseeds.com. She has a great FREE Lego printable kit that includes water bottle labels, straw tags, banner, cupcake wrappers and
more! A side note- the cupcake wrappers needed to be a little longer to wrap all the way around. I didn't end up using them.

Thank heavens for the Dollar Tree! Cheap paper products. Picked up table clothes and napkins there. I got the idea for the faces on the yellow napkins off of a pinterest post. They actually used paper plates, but we were serving cupcakes, so I didn't see a need for them.

The favors were a hit- a surprise mini Lego figure with some candy- easy ! The boys thought they were cool!

I really don't enjoy playing games so I opted to throw in a craft. We made bottle cap necklaces with the Lego head in the center. I had beads that they could add on either side of them on the cord. They also loved that and it was one more thing they could put in their favor bags.

The games were the hardest because a) I don't really like games and b) I wasn't sure what this age group would really enjoy.
We played Lego bingo, which I had printed for free off the Internet. The boys didn't really care for that- it was a little slow paced for them. We only played one round, them moved on to the next game. We played a couple of relay games that were a hit! I had beach balls to use; the first one they had to put the ball between their knees and race. The second one they had to pair up, put the ball between them at their stomach and without using their hands, walk together keeping the ball between them to the finish line. They absolutely loved them! We also had a Lego tower building contest that was just ok- not great. I also gave them some time to create and play with our Lego supply which was also a hit. The winners of the games got to pick silly bands. I made sure that everyone left with at least one !

Refreshments were cupcakes with printable cupcake picks, and easy to serve cups of ice cream. Water was the drink of choice with the printable water labels.

The party was a success! The boys had a blast! My older boy said he wants a Lego party too! We will just come up with new games for his! I will reprint a few things and come up with some new ideas- saw a Lego photo op as part of the party that I want to try. Pinterest has a ton of great ideas!

Zumba fitness, baby!

After a long, tiring, but fun day, I received my Zumba license! I had been wanting to do it for a while, but wasn't sure if it would be worth it for me. I knew I didn't have the time to teach a lot, but having concocted a few ideas about creating a limited teaching schedule, I figured it would be good to do.

If you haven't ever tried a Zumba class, you need to! It is a party plus a great workout all in one! Go to www.zumba.com to search for a class near you. Many gyms and studios will let you try out a class for free!

Zumba has helped me lose 20+ lbs and renewed my energy. I love it!

Now I can share my love of Zumba with others by teaching! I will have to take some time to create some playlists and choreography, sand I have to look into some teaching opportunities that I've been thinking about, but hopefully I will be teaching a few classes soon!

Great nails!

Ok- so being a busy mom, it's hard to keep nails looking good. I swear I take the time to do base coat, color, top coat and even occasionally a nail strengthener, but within 24 hours, I have chips on both hands! Frustrating!

I guess I should expect it, seeing as how I have to do farm chores, wash dishes, wash kids, pull Legos apart (definitely a test for nails!) and occasionally play the piano.

Well, I think I have found an answer to chipped nails! My colleague had gotten a shellac manicure and had proven results with no chipping after two weeks. I don't want to pay for manicures and I have tried acrylics before, which damaged my nails. So, after researching on the Internet, I found out about gel nails! If you don't know about gel nails, they are similar to shellac, and involves a gel polish which requires curing under an LED light. It dries completely and provides a harder protective coating for your nails.

Here's what I found and thought I'd give it a try:

Sensational!
It is a complete kit that provides you with all you need for a DIY gel manicure

The pics are actually day 2 of my manicure and no chips! The whole process took about 20 minutes; including filing, cuticle pushing, and painting.

Let me briefly outline the process: after filing, shaping, and treating cuticles, you are now ready to begin.
First you apply a primer coat and let dry. Next, apply the base coat and cure under light for 30 secs. Then apply the gel color and cure 60 secs. A second coat of color goes on and another 60 sec cure is required. After that, you apply the top coat and cure 30 sec. When you are finished, use a gel cleaner (or alcohol) to wipe off nails and voila!- you have beautiful nails!

So, the real test is will it hold up for two weeks. I will update with pictures and let you know!

Finally! A meal planning solution!

I have finally found a solution! No more asking "what's for dinner?" at 4:00 in hopes of getting something on the table by 5:00 or 5:30; keeping in mind that I dont have any meat or chicken thawed, and, quite likely, don't have all the ingredients for something that sounds good!
Once a month cooking or make ahead meals, as some people refer to them, is the answer!
I stumbled onto the idea on Pinterest, where you can view numerous websites with recipes. It can be a little overwhelming, trying to cook meals for a month on one day, but it is sooo worth it!
I found this book which is AWESOME! It breaks it down into all the steps, materials, and some great recipes to get started with.
In about 3 hours I had 15 dinners! I figured I didn't need a dinner each night of the month. We had leftover nights, dinners out on a couple of weekend nights, parties, and of course there are nights where we want to throw something on the grill or just have a good 'old grilled cheese sandwich.
The best part is now I can get something out of the freezer before I leave for work, it's thawed by the time I come home, and all I have to do is add a veggie and side dish to complete the meal! LOVE IT! Some of the recipes are easy enough that you can throw it into a crockpot as I walk out the door and it's ready by dinner time!
Its one less thing I have to stress about, my family loves the meals, and I know that I don't have any last minute trips to the store for missing ingredients. If you are a student or working full or part time, or you are a mom trying to juggle multiple family members' schedules, you need to try this!

Update

Grr....I knew I would hit a plateau, just didn't think it would happen so soon!  I have been stuck at a 15lb weight loss now for two weeks!  Frustrating!  I admit, that it has been hard to be consistent in my workouts and also my eating habits, but in all honestly, I have not "blown it".  I have really not sabotaged my efforts, so it is a little discouraging.  I just bought the "insanity" workout dvds, so we'll see what they do for me.  I also bought the "Ninja Pulse Kitchen System" with plans to start trying green smoothies.  Maybe some of these changes will result in some more weight loss changes!  Wish me luck!

What's Your Plan?

There are hundreds of meal planners out there- calendars, white boards, magnet boards, apps for mobile devices, and I have tried them ALL!!!!  None of them were to my liking. I have literally spent hours trying to find one I like, with the mindset that someone out there had created what I wanted, so why take the time to make my own?  In hindsight, I should have just made my own! Oh well, I did find what I wanted so I guess it worked out ok!

Check this out!                     http://www.vertex42.com/ExcelTemplates/meal-planner.html

The person that created this template is a genius! I have now used it for a month and love it!  Easy to set up, easy to manipulate, printable,

Here's a few tips I've put together after my very long journey of meal planning.

1) Write down a list of meals you are familiar with, like to fix, and your family likes to eat.  I would aim for about 40!  I know, it sounds like a lot, but for my family, it equated to eating meals Sunday through Thursday (Friday and Saturday is leftovers, eating out, parties, etc), with repeating every other month. There are a few meals we repeat more often, like grilled cheese with soup, because they are the kids' favorites, but I typically try to have variety.

2)  Look at your calendar and decide when you are going to be fixing meals.  For us, we have karate nights for the boys, so those nights are reserved for super easy meals (the grilled cheese mentioned above!).  Decide if you are going to cook on weekends.  Look at your week, are you fixing meals that will provide a lot of leftovers? Label nights to eat those!  Be sure to cross off the days that you have conflicts with work, sports, etc.

3)  Look in your freezers, your pantry, your refrigerator and pick meals to accommodate what you have.  This will save you a lot of disappointment when you have to throw out food because it has expired!

4.  Don't be afraid to make changes as you go- plans are made to be changed!  Be flexible-you can move meals around according to what's going on that day, what you're craving, etc.

Hopefully you won't have to spend the hours I did finding something that works.  I'd love to hear about what planners you use or your methods of menu planning.  Feel free to leave a comment!

Progress Update

Wondering if that BodyBugg is still working for me?  It is!  I hit my 15lb loss this morning!  Other tidbits for the journey.....I've been able to check my calorie burn for the Zumba classes I've been going to.  Amazing!  In one hour of Zumba, my calorie burns has been 694 (wow!), 560, and 625!  At that rate, I want to go more than once a week!  If only my schedule(and $$$) would allow it!

Not your grandma's pressure cooker!

Since I am working full time, I always try to find the easiest way to prepare meals.  I can not find time to do the "once a month" cooking; but I still need to find fast fixes for dinner. Allow me to introduce to you my new favorite kitchen appliance......the Cuisinart 6 qt. electric pressure cooker!  This is not your grandma's pressure cooker, with rattling lids that taunt you with potential explosions, or having to monitor the pressure  every  so often.  This does all the work for you! Just plug it in, pick your setting, time, and....walk away!  Looove it!  I can not tell you what a help it has been for me and my family!

It solves the problem of forgetting to turn on your crockpot in the morning, or forgetting to pull meat out of the freezer to thaw.  In our house, dinner is usually around 5:30, so I generally start thinking about what to have around 4pm.  This doesn't allow time for defrosting, with the exception of the microwave; and even when I do that, I hate how sometimes the edges of chicken and roasts actually get cooked while the centers are still frozen!  You know exactly what I'm talking about!.


With the pressure cooker, I can literally throw in my frozen chicken with a few other ingredients and have dinner ready in about 30 minutes!  Some of the things I've attempted have been various chicken recipes, a to-die-for pot roast, stuffed pork chops (didn't turn out too great, but were still edible), dry beans for my refried bean recipes, spaghetti sauce and baked potatoes.  I have invested in a few pressure cooker recipe books that I will post about as I find successful and easy recipes.


Let me caution you that using a pressure cooker takes practice!  You have to learn to adjust cooking times, get the right amount of liquids in the cooker, and find recipes that actually make it a time saver.   That last comment refers to the fact that I've found A LOT of recipes that have so much prep time involved, with so many ingredients I would have rather eaten a microwave dinner!


This pressure cooker is NOT for canning.  If you are interested in that, you will have to purchase a bigger, stove top one.  This one is perfect for cooking for our family of four.  I got mine at a kitchen specialty store, but I have seen it in several big chain stores.  If you are forgetful when it comes to prepping your food for dinner, this appliance would be great for you!  Check out cookingwithlornasass.wordpress.com or missvickie.com for blogs about pressure cooking.  There are also recipes on pinterest.  Have fun in the kitchen!

Finally.....the answer I've been waiting for!

Like a lot of you, I too, struggle with my weight.  I was always active when I was younger and in college, dancing, working out, walking around campus and town(yes, I didn't have a car and I hated riding a bike!).  The benefit to all of it was that I stayed relatively slim.  Alas, I acquired a car and started teaching, then entered marriage and add to that 2 children, my active life became somewhat sedentary and the pounds packed on.

I have tried numerous approaches to weight loss, Atkins, South Beach, Weight Watchers, and several different mobile apps to count calories, all which either didn't work or only provided temporary weight loss;  BUT.....I think I have finally found the thing that is going to work for me!  Have you heard of the......BODYBUGG????

                      

Sorry the pictures aren't great, but it shows you the basics.  The Bodybugg is an electronic calorie counting device designed as an armband.  You simply wear it on your upper left arm and go about your daily routine.  As part of the program, you are subscribed to the bodybugg website, which is where you log in and enter your daily food log.  At your convenience, whether it be once or several times a day, you connect a USB cord from your arm band to your computer and VOILA!  it tells you how many calories you have burned!



Your personal graph shows you how many calories you've consumed and how many you've burned.  In addition, it has set a deficiency goal for you, which is the amount of calories you need to burn to reach your weight loss goal.

It is awesome!  I have been doing this now for about 2 months and lost 12 lbs.  It is slow and steady progress and I am in complete control of it.  As I monitor my calorie intake, I am learning to eat more nutritiously.  I especially notice the lack of movement in my life  Trying to reach my deficiency goal makes me get off the couch and MOVE!!!  It has truly been, for lack of a better phrase, a blessing in my life.  It is like having a small coach with you all the time, motivating you to do it.  With every ounce that's lost, it makes me want to keep going.  Hey, I just realized that I'm already a quarter of the way to my goal Yippee!

I should say that there are similar products out there that are basically the same, jut not named "Bodybugg" and I hear that they work just as well.   Of course, whatever your choose to do, YOU have to be ready, no more excuses.  For me, I am finally ready because I am fast approaching forty and realized that if I didn't commit to it now, nothing would probably ever change. Stick with it, good luck!