Victory

It has been a long long time since I have actually been caught up with my reader. I just marked 1,000+ posts as read and started over....

Today I installed the new "Next" button to my nav bar.... I finished my Reader posts and look what it told me:

Feels good not to have blogs waiting to me read!

Now I am off to purchase a new router since mine just died on me!

Greedy Airlines

Once again the airlines are at it again….

So according to this article at the Daily Mail, which is out of the UK, we have a handful of greedy airlines that want to charge for parties of 2 or more to sit together.

HERE is the news article

I will be traveling here in a few weeks. I did not have to pay this fee but I did purchase our tickets about 2 months in advance. Way to beat the system, huh.

Anyway, my thoughts on this topic.

PURE HORSE SHIT!

I myself will be traveling alone with 3 kids. One of which is non-verbal in stressful situations, one is a toddler, and the other talks more then I could ever imagine.  I usually try to get seats towards the back of the plane. It is closer to the bathroom, to the flight attendants and if the kids need legroom to walk around I just let them go.

So now these airlines (one of which I am flying on here in about 2 weeks) Is going to charge me $25 per ticket to sit with my party? AYFKM.

I guarantee no one wants to sit next to my son… You will have to help him do half the things in the seat, he will not communicate with you so he would cry or pee his pants, he will get hungry and not communicate with you so he will cry… I am sure there will be more.

My oldest…. Will talk your ear off about writing songs, how the planets are aligned, and probably how I am a mean mom.

My baby… Will take your stuff, make your life hell, want to run up and down the isle, laugh at you and just like the oldest, talk your ear off.

This is of course unless I give them melatonin or Dramamine. Then, of course, they would sleep. 

It is not another Traveler’s job to care for my kids. It is not the flight attendant’s job to do so either. If I was in the position to have help it might be a different story. That is not the case.  If they do implement these fees I would be more then happy to pay them to get my seats, upon check in I would gladly ask for a refund. My children are under the age of 12. They should not have to sit next to someone they do not know. What if it is someone whom can’t stand kids, who has done wrong things to kids, or just makes them uncomfortable? They should not have to endure that just to take a vacation to see Grandma.

So, here is to my vacation before Hawaii. We are taking the kiddos to see their Grandparents and my mom and dad will meet us up there as well.  I am very excited since it has been 6 months since the kids have seen their daddy.  I hope we have just as good of a trip as we usually do flying on this airline. Even though they have decided to be greedy asshats…

Happy Summer everyone

Knowing when to let go

 Knowing when to let go…

I must admit… I want to do it all in life. My Grandpa always told me it was better to know a little bit about a lot of things then know a lot about a few things.  I have lived by that.  There is not much I can’t or won’t do if you show me at least once.

Over the last 2 years since I have had Munchkin I have made and sold cloth diapers. I loved knowing that I was able to help mamas out with diapers for their little ones. They would be what they wanted. Fewer diapers in the landfill and less chemicals on the babies skin is always great too.  

As my husband has been gone I have tried to really do it all. Have my shop, have a clean home, have happy kids, be happy, keep my sanity and cook good meals for the kids.  I was just not able to do it all. I needed to find out what is one of my stresses in life and put an end to that. It would be making diapers. I will still make some things and sell them on either of my shops but I will not make it a priority. I will probably pick up something else.

I have always wanted to do something to take over the world… While realistically I am aware this world is bit and I will never take it over, doesn’t mean that I can’t try.

So for now I take a break and write about my current life. I will have a home to decorate, kids to take to schools and Pinterest pins to try to make.

Please follow me on my new adventure. 

The Countdown begins

So I have been missing. Well not really, but I have been missing here.

I have been focusing on my shop and my home. Hubby is MIA and I am trying to keep sane while having a shop, the kids and life. If mom’s have one of those.

Over the next couple months, less then 90 days to be exact, I am picking up and PCSing to Oahu, Hawai’i. Alone. Three children and one dog.  I am really hoping to stay sane.  I will be sharing ways and tricks that I have learned along the way to make the move much smoother.

I have been very lucky in my eight years of marriage I have stayed in San Diego. I moved from Pensacola out to San Diego with my family 17 years ago. That is it.  I am using that knowledge and using it for this move as well.

Hawaii is not a “normal” PCS area. You have to do a lot of extra steps that you might not have to in other locations. Cars, housing wait list, pets, shipments you name it.

While everyone tells me that I am so lucky that I get to move to paradise it sure seems like a task. I am excited for the move to be over and done with and just get there.

So far I have my move date, my departure date, hotels set up and the dogs taken care of. In following posts I will elaborate on all of that. 

So here’s to blogging, sanity, a smooth move and awesome kiddos until we reach paradise 

Muffin Tin Monday - All about the bread

Welcome to GG's Muffin Tin Monday 

If you would love to join her please head on over to 

Gg really loves to eat her lunch this way.  She will usually try anything in the muffin tin. 

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b290/fuzzy05/blog/IMAG1858-1.jpg

This week we had 

peanut and honey on Honey wheat with flax seed bread, Aunties Bunnies, cucumber sticks

more sandwich, grapes and ranch. 

I purchased this bread at Costco. I went into it blindly as I have never had it before. It is a known fact that wheat bread is much better for you but sometimes it is hard to get past the oats and wheat that are not all the way ground. This bread defiantly has all that. The soft texture is a deal sealer! 

I think next time I will get the whole wheat with honey. The flaxseed is a bit much. The texture and flavor is wonderful though :) 

Living Green

Literally.

The more and more I have been looking into the diet of most of America the more disgusted I have become. Not to say I have not been there but it is not good.

I will just cut to the short of it... The American diet for the most part is shit. Way to many processed foods. The things you buy on the shelf are not "real" food. They have a shelf life, often for about a year or so and have loads of preservatives in them. Why? They need those to preserve their shelf life. Those are not good for you.

Since having Netflix I have watched a couple food documentaries which have made me think twice about food.

The main one that I watched that stuck with me was Fat Sick and Nearly Dead. You have to go in this with an open mind.  The transform of these people is amazing.

Over the holiday vacation hubby was home and I was eating my fare share of horrible foods. I feel gross, icky and I even gained some weight.

To get myself back to my normal me with better eating habits my plan is to do the reboot diet for 7 days. While this is surely not an easy way to go about it I am hoping that it pays off.

In this process of researching doing this I have been doing some thinking about what foods we should eat. What foods are great for our bodies.

Certainly not processed foods.

ALL foods in America have to be processed. Before someone leaves a smart ass comment. They are checked and graded and so forth. Not that type of processing. I am referring to boxed meals, jarred sauces, anything with a shelf life longer then a week is probably not good for you.  

You are probably thinking I am crazy. But no, I am not.

When I was growing up, and I am not OLD, my Granny made everything from scratch. Sauce, dough, bread for a while. You name it. As we got new technology and new ways to make foods last longer on the shelf, we got lazy. We as American's got lazy.

That also leads me to think of how we got the diet we have.

Why is this diet meat, grains then veggies?

For me, for my family our diet will now be veggies, meat and then grains. If any.

So I will blog about my adventures in feeding the kiddos a healthy diet with the least amount of processed foods as possible.  I will also discuss my journey in getting healthy and dropping all the baby weight that I have added on :)

Wordless Wednesday: Stop SOPA

For more information please take action and sign the petition here

Also if you do any business online please read here

Muffin Tin Monday - Janruary 16th

Welcome to Muffin Tin Monday! 

Muffin Tin Monday is hosted over at: 

 

Head on over and join the fun, your little one will love it as much as my kiddos do! 

This week we had:

salad, carrots, baked potato

salad, boiled egg, strawberries 

salad had ranch on it :) 

Hope you have a great week! 

Wordless Wednesday - Thinking

Muffin Tin Monday

Starting off this new year one of the things I would like to do is keep my kiddos eating healthy while I am single-momin-it.  I try to keep as many processed foods out of their life as I am able to. Makes for clean eating and a wholesome diet.

I will write more about our journey though the year.  I was already pretty crunchy (tree hugger as the hubby calls it) and I would love to keep processed foods out of our life. It really is a win-win. 

On to Muffin Tin Monday: 

Our Muffin Tin Monday included:

Strawberries and black berries, carrots, baked chicken drumstick with teriyaki sauce 

edamame, a bit of teriyaki sauce and rice crackers

If you would like to participate in Muffin Tin Monday head on over to Muffin Tin Monday and upload your blog post! 

Happy Monday :) 

New Year, New Adventures

Happy New Year!!!!

I would love to wish you and yours a wonderful new year! This year has many new changes coming for my family and I. If you are my friend or you have been following me for a period of time you will know that I am moving. Far, far away from a place I have lived for 17 years. This move will be quite an adventure, a life change and most of all it will be a test to my family and my marriage. I am not good at tests and I am also not good at waiting.

So I will write about my move to Hawaii :), being apart from my husband for 11 months, moving to Hawaii with 3 kids and 2 dogs and trying to raise healthy kids in the process. 

I do not have any NYE resolutions. I will be going through enough this year.  I just hope that I am able to keep my sanity and not go to crazy! 

Hope this new year brings new joys and journey to you and yours!  

It has been awhile... I have done a lot in the last year.  If you have been following me for a while you would know that I am getting ready to voyage over to Hawaii.

While most would ask why am I complaining... Because I can.

As a military wive you are prepared to do things a lone. If not... You should be.

 Thirty of my years on this earth I have learned to love everyone important to me from a far. Mostly my Mom and Dad.  Then when you marry a military man you learn to communicate via email. satellite phones, pea way phones, did I mention email?

I was not prepared mentally for what I am about to do. Perhaps that is why I am in panic mode.

As of now, today 12/20 I am moving across the ocean to Hawaii all alone with the kids and the dogs.  I really do not like taking my kids places I have never been. I do not know what to expect or anything like that.  I am sure when all is said and done I will love it, as of now... Seems like a nightmare.

So my journey is starting. I will be single momin-it, as I call it, trying to live simply with a child IN school, A homeschooler, a toddler and my small business I run from home.

Please share my adventure with me.  This will most certainly not be easy but as with everything I have done it will be an empowering experience when all is said and done.

GG, Nanna and E Halloween 2011 

Homeschool... Maybe so

I have always admired those that homeschool. I would love to teach my children and go and do fun things with them . Honestly, I thought it was to hard, I needed my time and I wanted the kids to have friends. It has come to a time that it is better that I suck it up and just keep my daughter home with me for this year. Maybe a couple more as I was told the schools at our next duty station are a lot less then stellar.

My main thing is that we do not live in the best school district. Most of the schools here are Title I and very low income. You would think the schools would be better. The school she goes/went to was a 4/10 and the school I wanted her to go to is pretty packed because of the 7/10 scaling so that was a no.

 I was lucky in kindergarden because she had an awesome teacher and a small classroom. She was in a class of 19 kids and it was a K/1 class. Meaning there were some kindergarden kids mixed with some 1st graders. I think it was a good idea for her.

This year has posed another problem. Here is my list:

* Part time teacher. She has one teacher M-W and another teacher Th-F. Not cool with that idea.
* Part of her time in the classroom is helping the ESL kids with their English.  Now I am totally down      with ESL classes but not on my kids learning time. Take them out of the class.
* The entire school gets a 30 minute lunch. The kids are taken to the lunch room to eat and play. Most kids play. In her case she plays and does not eat lunch. She has lost weight since school started this year.

I did not agree with all of the above. I am sure her part time teacher is pretty awesome but I am not down with my kid having a sub 2 days a week basically. The kids need a stable teacher. No matter how much they like them, or don't.

ESL. Is awesome. I think it is great that there are teachers as well as a lesson plan to teach these kiddos English. Take them out of class. That is the way it was done when I was in school.

Lunch. AYFKM?! They are in elementary school. They would rather play.  Sure I can go sit up there with her but I have 2 other kids. My little dude gets on the bus at that time and the baby is napping. What gives.

In a nut shell I figure for now I can teach her and have her learn better at home. It is 1st grade, it can not be that hard!

I will take you on my journey. I am using the K12 online program with a virtual school here in my state.

Wish us luck :)

Adventures in Cloth Diapering

Honestly, I was one of the ones that said cloth diapers were nuts. Who wanted to do that laundry  and the #1 question “what do I do with the poop” I said and asked so many questions.

A friend of mine started to cloth diaper her kids because of an allergic reaction to the perfumes in ‘sposies. I told her… She was indeed nuts.

My gal friend in a group of ladies that was due around the time G was born said it was better for the environment and I told her once again… She was nuts.

Then baby G was born. EVERY. SINGLE. Diaper brand we used on her caused her to have scabs on her thighs and on the back. I could not figure it out until I talked to my mom. Elastic. I did the same thing.

I was pretty green as it was. I like to recycle, use less paper, use sustainable resources; I try not to leave a major carbon footprint on this earth. Short of cloth diapers.

So I gave it a shot. I actually got my first diapers from a friend mentioned above because it did not work out for her. I was going to give it a shot.

So when G was 2 months old we started cloth diapers and I only have one regret.

That I did not cloth diaper my previous kiddos

I would defiantly change a couple things I did though.

*I would have used prefolds on G when she was small. Prefolds are so much better around their tiny legs and they just need a cover and contain the mess pretty much.

* I would not have used Microfiber. MF as it is called is cheaper and easier to obtain since you can just get MF towels at WalMart or Target.  It is such and absorbent material that it seems really hard to wash out all the soap residue and ammonias that are left behind. Nothing a little boiling of inserts can’t help

*I would have researched fleece or wool covers! I used OneSize diapers and some Happy Heiney smalls and I got all sorts of leaks at first.

Over all cloth diapers have not been a nightmare for me. I have been rather lucky since G is not a very heavy wetter at all times.

Was there anything you would change about your adventure in Cloth Diapering?

Planning for a trip

So in a few days I am going to be on a family trip half way across the country. All 3 kids and both my dogs, they are small.
While I am excited to go on this trip I feel like it is really at the wrong time for me. I am in  between so many new things and new adventures. I am starting up my blog, my shop is doing awesome and I will be doing a craft fair in November. I am filling my plate that is for sure! :)

What Works for me Wednesday

Welcome to Works For me Wednesday, also known as WFMW.

Works for Me Wednesday is hosted by We Are That Family and the details are here details

This week I am going to show you how to cook and use the dim sum you can get in the frozen section. It is very very yummy and my kiddos love it. Sure beats taking 3 kiddos to the dim sum restaurant and risk someone going crazy :) 

This is what I used to make for the kiddos. You can use most of the one with this method. 

How these instructions show bamboo steamers. I have went through three, yes 3 of these. They do not hold up to well in the dishwasher and over time you just spend way more then you wanted to. 

I steam them one of 2 ways.... 

In my steamer that came with my pot set using a coffee filter so the dough of the dim sum does not stick 

Just a regular coffee filter. 

Bring the water to a boil before you place them on top. Steam for about 10 mins at that point and they will be good to go! 

Enjoy :) 

Muffin Tin Monday- My frist post

I have been blogging for a while.... But I never participated because B was in school and E is so picky about how he eats. How that baby G is old enough to feed herself I want to participate as well! Awesome time to do it because we just got all the foods the kids like! 

here is a pic of this weeks MTM. 

Top row: Baked potato, ritz crackers, sliced banana 

Bottom Row: Baked Potato, bell pepper slices, strawberry slices

*the bell pepper was not a hit, with any of the kids! 

If you wish to participate in Muffin Tin Monday head on over to Muffin Tin Mom

Happy Monday! 

Monday Makings...

Welcome to Monday Makings.... I will bring you different variety of things depending on the week. I could be sewing or cooking or just giving you a tutorial. Please join me and let me know what you are making!



This week I am going to share how to make Fried Tofu and Peanut Sauce. This appetizer goes gor about $6-8 depending on where you go. It is super easy to make and it took me only about 20 mins from start to finish.

You need 1 container of FIRM tofu. If you use soft it will not work.
Cornstarch. 3 tablespoons maybe (you need to coat the tofu)
Peanut oil for frying ( you can use vegetable oil)

Remove tofu from package and dry it. You need to remove the water.  I use paper towels then a dish towel. Leave it sit while I get my cornstarch ready.

Warm oil in frying pan. I put enough to cover half the tofu.  You can use more or put it in a fryer. This is just what I do.

Cut tofu block in half to make it thinner

Then cut tofu in smaller pieces. This does not matter. Just do whatever

Coat Tofu with corn starch and add to the oil. Be careful because if there is still water on it will pop.

Let tofu fry until it is light brown, not much darker then when you started.

You can serve this with Sweet & Sour sauce or the following Peanut Sauce recipe

1/2cup Hoisin Sauce
2 table spoons of smooth peanut butter
3 tablespoons warm water (add last)
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon of garlic minced (I just the stuff in the jar)
1 teaspoon fresh cilantro chopped


Mix all but the water in a blender until it is blended. Our family likes it a bit thinner so we added water. You can adjust it to your tastes.

Enjoy :)


Let me know what you are making

How we 86'ed the Cloth Diapers

After having 2 kids I was going to wait until about 2.5 to potty learn., after all it was MUCH easier then. This "No more diapers at 2" did not seem to hold true for the most part.

Trouble ditching Cable…..

Not us!

I usually pay my bills from the webpay feature my bank has.  I just had it set up to pay the bill twice a month (I divided it up so we were not hit once a month). We had the “bundle of features.

Home phone with unlimited long distance calling

Cable with a DVR box and another regular cable box (for the kids….)

Internet… the highest one that we can buy cause the hubby is a gamer

This crap was expensive!

*I used the home phone to talk to my Granny and my mom

*The cable I watched CNN and Sprout and the channels for the kids

*Internet, I could use my phone but once again… Hubby is a gamer

We upgraded all 3 phones on the account for the same price we paid for the phone. So now we can use the cell phone whenever we go. I always have it with me and I never miss a call. I like that, especially with the kids.

The internet stayed the same BUT if hubby leaves (deployment) we are going to either of these options :

I will teether my internet from my Android phone. I can use it as a wireless hotspot and the internet is very decent. I was even able to stream the Netflix on my Boxee.

Now for the TV. That was the part that took some research. We do not use game consoles so we had to think outside that box.

We went with Western Digital Live at first but I really did not like that. The software that was added to it was pretty standard and not able for upgrades. I do not like being confined like that.  So we ditched it.

We tried a Sony one but I did not like that one bit, I would advise against it.

Then we got the Boxee. I love it.

While we had the Western Digital Live I tried Hulu Plus and Netflix. Hulu Plus is really not what it seems. It is just older shows since they do not have the contracts to stream the newer shows.  It is an awesome idea but just not for me.

I went with Netflix. We have an awesome amount of shows to watch and the kids do as well. There are educational things galore and I like that.  We do only have one TV now so I have to sit though these shows but it is worth it.

The only down size to streaming TV shows and movies is that when the internet goes out or gets slow…. So does your show.

Unfortunately you can’t stream Hulu on your Boxee (or most devices for that matter) but there are ways around doing so with a laptop. I have got frustrated. I have a Mac and to be honest I am not paying $30 for a cable to watch a show I can watch on my laptop.

All in all, we are happy with our switch over. It did not take us much time to get used to and we were pleased

Where to buy: You can go to www.netflix.com

And you can purchase a Boxee Box (we have the box) or you can download an app from their website. You can make a Boxee with your laptop and not spend the almost $200 that we did (damn!)

Here is the link http://www.boxee.tv/make

Enloy watching Boxee and saving some moola