Monday, January 18, 2016

Italian Sausage Soup

1 lb. ground Italian Sausage
2 cups onions, chopped
1 cup carrots
2 tablespoons garlic, minced
4 cups chicken broth
1 (14 1/2) Italian style diced tomatoes
2 small cans tomato sauce
1 cup mafalda, campenelle or any small pasta
2 cups fresh spinach. chopped
1 can dark kidney beans, drained

Cook pasta according to instructions. Drain and set aside. 
Brown sausage in large saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat leaving drippings. Add onions and carrots to hot drippings, saute until translucent (do not brown) Stir in garlic and saute three-four minutes.

Add broth, tomatoes and tomato sauce and bring to a boil.
Drop in pre-cooked pasta and continue to cook over medium simmer for about 10 minutes.
Stir in spinach and kidney beans and heat through.

Monday, April 21, 2014

Earning Ungrounding




Saw a friend post this on Facebook and thought it was genius.  I love the idea of having extra chores (besides usual chores) as punishment.  Helps mom out!

Friday, January 10, 2014

Crib Sheet Tutorial

So this tutorial is from dana-made-it.com. But for some reason, when I click on my pin, Pinterest thinks it's a fishy website. And Since I've had 3 viruses on my computer in the last 2 years, I'm paranoid they're right. So I'm copying it here to my blog so I can view it without being scared. :)


You’ll need:
* 2 yards of fabric
* 80 inches (204 cm) of skinny 1/4 inch elastic
* Cut out a rectangle that’s: 45 x 67 inches (114.5 x 171 cm)
* Fold that into fourths (fold it in half and in half) and cut an 8 x 8 in (20.5 x 20.5 cm) square out of the corners, so that your fabric looks like this:
Another way to do this (if you’re making multiple sheets), is to cut out a pattern piece that’s 1/4 the size of your sheet. It looks like this (or the state of Utah):
Then before cutting anything out, you can fold your fabric into fourths, lay that on top, and easily cut it out.
Okay, with your fabric cut, let’s start sewing.
* Take the two sides of one corner and bring right sides together. Pin them and sew down the side. This is creating a “pocket” of sorts, to go around the corners of the mattress. Do this to all four corners of the sheet:
* Serge the seams, zigzag or leave the seams raw.
* Serge around the entire outside of the sheet. This makes is easy to create a casing for the elastic. If you don’t have a serger, just iron your fabric over 1/4 inch all the way around and then continue to the next step….
* Iron under the entire edge of the sheet. You are creating a casing, to string very skinny elastic through.
* Sew down the casing. You don’t need to pin around the entire sheet before you sew (that takes too long) but DO pin a start and stop point so that you leave an opening to get the elastic In and Out. Start sewing from the START point, all the way around the STOP point:
* Insert the elastic. Taking your 1/4 inch wide elastic, attach a safety pin to one end, and pin the other end to the sheet. Start stringing it through the casing, all the way around till it comes out the other side:
* Overlap the ends and sew them together a few times with a zigzag stitch:
* Then sew your casing closed.
And you’re done!


Again, this is not my tutorial. It's from dana-made-it.com. But pinterest thinks it's a fishy website so I'm not going there anymore. :)

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Transformers Construct Bots

Have you guys seen these? Transformers Construct Bots are super cool! You build the robot (Like you would with k'nex or legos) and then the robot can transform into a car! This ulitmate set come with Optimus Prime and Megatron. Both my boys (6 and 3) love it! And so did my husband!
We all (mostly mom!) love that the box it comes in is a resealable container so you can keep all the pieces together!

You can buy it wat Walmart for $29.96. Merry Christmas!

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Kids' Shopping List

So this kind of saved my sanity today. It was kind of time consuming but it was worth it. And I made these while I waited for the baby to wake up from his nap so I didn't delay my shopping trip at all.

Just open a Word document, make a 3x4 table (or whatever size you want) and google all the things on your list. Then copy and paste them to the table. I pasted some to Paint first and edited them a little or cropped them to fit better. 

I gave one to my 5 year old and one to my 3 year old. I put different things on each list because I know my 5 year old would find them all before the 3 year old and then we'd have a meltdown, ya know?


Thursday, June 13, 2013

2013 Kids' Summer Reading Program

Barnes & Noble is doing a Summer Reading Program for kids going into grade 1-6. They read any 8 books, print and fill out this reading journal and then take the filled out journal in to a Barnes & Noble by September 3, 2013 for a FREE BOOK! (From their approved list in the journal.)

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Monday, May 6, 2013

If I ever have a girl...

Found this on facebook from Emily Garrison Photography. How cute is that?

I only have 3 boys now but if my next one is a girl I'm sure we can work something out to get this message across. :D


Monday, April 8, 2013

Marriage


36 Summer Boredom BUSTERS!




Read!

Paint rocks
Paint and rocks

Water balloon fight
Water balloons

Nature scavenger hunt


Wash the car

Build a fort

Play dough


Squirt bottle water fight


Write a letter to cousins/grandparents

Lemon Juice drawings - Paint a picture with lemon juice on white paper and hang it in a sunny window and see what happens in a few days

Do a hidden picture from the highlights website

Tic Tac Toe

Build something fun with legos

Math games

Visit a farm

Make a treat and give to a friend.

Make a collage from magazines

Tie-dye some t-shirts
T shirts and permanent markers and alcohol

Have a paper airplane contest

Freezer Baggie Ice Cream
Heavy cream, baggies, ice, salt, sugar, vanilla

Plan dinner and help cook

Draw a mural on the driveway in chalk

Balloon Ping Pong – Paddles made from paper plates and tongue depressors


Bubble art add food coloring to bubbles and blow on to paper

Food colored vinegar into baking soda pan

Pool noodle swords

Glow sticks in the bath tub

Black bubble make a giant bubble room out of black tarp, duct tape and a fan. Throw in some glowy stuff for fun!

Lava LampsVeg oil, water, food coloring and drop alka seltzer tablets in

Sponge ballscut up sponges into 4 strips. Gather 8 strips together and tie

Side walk paint – equal parts cornstarch and water + food coloring!

Homemade gak - Borax, elmers glue

Pom Pom Shooters – marshmallows, broken balloons, plastic cups

Giant Newspaper hats


Salt Dough crafts

Top 100 Best Running Songs



No. 1 Running Song of All Time:

Pink – Raise Your Glass

Watch it on YouTube.



No. 2:
Survivor – Eye Of The Tiger

Watch it on YouTube.



No. 3:
Adele – Rolling In The Deep

Watch it on YouTube.



No. 4:
Maroon 5 – Moves Like Jagger

Watch it on YouTube.



No. 5:
LMFAO – Party Rock Anthem

Watch it on YouTube.



No. 6:
Journey – Don't Stop Believin'

Watch it on YouTube.



No. 7:
Kelly Clarkson – Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)

Watch it on YouTube.



No. 8:
Black Eyed Peas – Pump It

Watch it on YouTube.



No. 9:
Bon Jovi – Livin' On A Prayer

Watch it on YouTube.



No. 10:
Outkast – Hey Ya!

Watch it on YouTube.



No. 11:
Eminem – Lose Yourself

Watch it on YouTube.



No. 12:
Kenny Loggins – Footloose

Watch it on YouTube.




Here are the rest of the 100, ranked in order of your votes:

13     Lady Gaga -- ''Bad Romance''
14     The Black Eyed Peas -- ''Let's Get It Started''
15     Ricky Martin -- ''Livin' La Vida Loca''
16     Van Halen -- ''Jump''
17     Bonnie Tyler -- ''I Need A Hero''
18     Jennifer Lopez -- ''On The Floor''
19     Blondie -- ''Call Me''
20     C+C Music Factory -- ''Gonna Make You Sweat''
21     Pitbull -- ''Give Me Everything''
22     Britney Spears -- ''Toxic''
23     Taio Cruz -- ''Dynamite''
24     The Go Go's -- ''We Got The Beat''
25     Katrina & The Waves -- ''Walking On Sunshine''
26     Foster the People -- ''Pumped Up Kicks''
27     Elton John -- ''I'm Still Standing''
28     Rick Springfield -- ''Jessie's Girl''
29     Billy Joel -- ''We Didn't Start The Fire''
30     Ram Jam -- ''Black Betty''
31     Blink 182 -- ''All The Small Things''
32     MC Hammer -- ''U Can't Touch This''
33     Soft Cell -- ''Tainted Love''
34     Duran Duran -- ''Hungry Like The Wolf''
35     ACDC -- ''Thunder Struck''
36     Queen -- ''We Are The Champions''
37     Madonna -- ''4 Minutes''
38     Rihanna -- ''Only Girl In The World''
39     Avril Lavigne -- ''Girlfriend''
40     Far East Movement -- ''Like A G6''
41     Devo -- ''Whip It''
42     Ke$ha -- ''Your Love Is My Drug''
43     Slumdog Millionaire Theme -- ''Jai Ho''
44     The Clash -- ''Should I Stay Or Should I Go''
45     Gorillaz -- ''Feel Good Inc.''
46     ZZ Top -- ''Legs''
47     Nirvana -- ''Smells Like Teen Spirit''
48     Neon Trees -- ''Animal''
49     Motley Crue -- ''Kick Start My Heart''
50     Britney Spears -- ''Til The World Ends''
51     The Verve -- ''Bittersweet Symphony''
52     ABBA -- ''Waterloo''
53     Billy Idol -- ''Cradle Of Love''
54     Aretha Franklin -- ''Think''
55     Shakira -- ''Waka Waka''
56     Tommy Tutone -- ''867-5309''
57     Pat Benatar -- ''All Fired Up''
58     M.I.A. -- ''Paper Planes''
59     Loverboy -- ''Working For The Weekend''
60     Jordin Sparks -- ''Battlefield''
61     Bill Conti -- ''Gonna Fly Now (Rocky's Theme)''
62     Elvis Presley -- ''Jailhouse Rock''
63     Tom Petty -- ''Now I'm Free (Free Fallin')''
64     Katy Perry -- ''Waking Up In Vegas''
65     Scandal -- ''Goodbye To You''
66     Prince -- ''When Doves Cry''
67     The Killers -- ''Human''
68     Aerosmith -- ''I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing''
69     Gwen Stefani -- ''The Sweet Escape''
70     Wiz Khalifa -- ''Black And Yellow''
71     KISS -- ''I Was Made For Loving You''
72     Madonna -- ''Like A Prayer''
73     Michael Sembello -- ''Maniac''
74     Frankie Goes To Hollywood -- ''Relax''
75     The Cars -- ''Shake It Up''
76     ABBA -- ''Lay All Your Love On Me''
77     U2 -- ''Pride (In The Name Of Love)''
78     Leanne Rimes -- ''Can't Fight The Moonlight''
79     Culture Club -- ''Do You Really Want To Hurt Me''
80     Flock of Seagulls -- ''Ran (So Far Away)''
81     Fall Out Boy -- ''Thks Fr Th Mmrs''
82     Judas Priest -- ''Johnny B. Good''
83     Pink Floyd -- ''Learning To Fly''
84     Janet Jackson -- ''All For You''
85     The Police -- ''Do Do Do Da Da Da''
86     Venga Boys -- ''We Like To Party''
87     Arctic Monkeys -- ''I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor''
88     The Doobie Brothers -- ''Long Train Running''
89     Daft Punk -- ''One More Time''
90     Keri Hilson -- ''Pretty Girl Rock''
91     Chris Brown -- ''Turn Up The Music''
92     Miley Cyrus -- ''Can't Be Tamed''
93     Hank Williams Jr. -- ''Born To Boogie''
94     Rihanna -- ''Rehab''
95     Jason Derulo -- ''Ridin' Solo''
96     Willow Smith -- ''Whip My Hair''
97     Aerosmith -- ''Jaded''
98     Hall & Oates -- ''Private Eyes''
99     Stevie Wonder -- ''Sir Duke''
100   Rod Stewart -- ''Young Turks''


 from the Dailyspark.com

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Oreo/Peanut Butter Cup no-bake Dessert

Oreo/Peanut Butter Cup no-bake Dessert 


Ingredients
20 chocolate cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, divided
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
1-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, divided
1 carton (16 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed, divided
15 miniature peanut butter cups, chopped
1 cup cold milk
1 package (3.9 ounces) instant chocolate fudge pudding mix
Directions
Crush 16 cookies; toss with the butter. Press into an ungreased 9-in. square dish; set aside.
In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, peanut butter and 1 cup confectioners' sugar until smooth. Fold in half of the whipped topping. Spread over crust. Sprinkle with peanut butter cups.
In another large bowl, beat the milk, pudding mix and remaining confectioners' sugar on low speed for 2 minutes Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set. Fold in remaining whipped topping.
Spread over peanut butter cups. Crush remaining cookies; sprinkle over the top. Cover and chill for at least 3 hours. Yield: 12-16 servings


I found this recipe on my friend's facebook page. She said it was from Taste of Home but I went to the site and searched for it to no avail. 

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Recent Nail Designs

Here's just some of the cute stuff I've done since Christmas.... Enjoy!
All of these and more are on my Facebook Page!