admin Posts

17Mar
0

Will Vinegar Really Shrink My Butt?


Will Vinegar Really Shrink My Butt that is the question?  I am always mindful when I see anything come through my inbox about weight loss but extremely skeptical about another guru trying to get into my pocket with some magic super weight loss pill.

A couple of days ago I saw a segment on Good Morning America about Vinegar being a great condiment for weight loss.  I shrugged it off.  Then I saw an email come from the “Real Age Newsletter,” about Vinegar being a fat burning condiment.  My interest was peaked because neither was hocking a potion or pill just advocating apple cider vinegar as a  super fat burner.

According to studies acetic acid found in Apple Cider Vinegar reduces the bodies ability to store fat as well as increasing its power to burn fat.  Even though the study focused on Apple Cider Vinegar researches believe that other vinegars will have the same effect.

So how much do you need to be effective. The study stated that 2 to 3 tablespoons per day would be effective.  Putting a little vinaigrette on your salad, or using balsamic vinegar on your strawberries are two suggestions.  Call me weird but I kind of like the taste of apple cider vinegar so I went out on a limb and added it to my Special K Protein drink mix.  I have to say it counter acted the sweet and added a little zing tot he ordinary.

Beyond helping you improve your numbers on the scale this magic condiment also helps add a little shine to your hair.  Dilute the vinegar in lots of water and rinse your hair.  It removes all the styling products from your hair making it flatter.  You will have shinier hair but you will sacrifice a little fullness.

For more information on the amazing benefits of Vinegar you can visit Real Age.

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Posted by admin in Health and tagged with ,
16Mar
0

Grandpa P.’s Banana Bread

This is my favorite banana bread recipe.  I made 3 loaves last night and had I not hid one in the freezer they would have all vanished when the bus dropped off the kids after school.  This is also the recipe I bring to the care center.  I think it warms the heart and the tummy when you can share baked goods with those who need a little extra love and attention.

Grandpa P.’s Banana Bread

3 1/2 c. flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2c. (4 – 6) mashed bananas
2T. lemon juice
3/4 c. shortening
1 1/2 c. sugar
3 eggs
3/4 c. milk
1/2 c. chopped pecans or walnuts

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and mashed bananas with beater or fork.  Add lemon juice and mix.  Cream shortening and sugar at medium speed; add eggs; beat throughly until very light and fluffy (4 minutes beating in all).  Add dry ingredients alternately with milk; fold in bananas and nuts.  Beat after each addition.  Pour into 2 greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2-inch loaf pans.  Bake at 350 for 1 hour.  Cool 10 minutes and remove from pans.

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Posted by admin in Recipes and tagged with
15Mar
2

Busy Mom Droid App: Big Oven Carry a Cookbook on Your Phone

Big Oven is my new Busy Mom Droid App for my Droid phone.  Big Oven is awesome if you love to cook and love to eat.  Big Oven boasts a recipe database with over 170,000 recipes.

One of my favorite options is the left over finder.  You are asked to put in three ingredients you have in your frig or pantry.  In a few seconds Big Oven searches the database for recipes that meet your requirements.  When you are a busy mom finding a recipe that fits what you have on hand is a huge benefit.  It prevents that thousand yard stare you get at dinner time when you are trying to figure out a food combination that your family might eat.

It is nice to have Big Oven with when you are at the grocery store and want to be positive that you have all the ingredients for the that special recipe.  It is also great when you have a little downtown and want to plan you weekly menus.

The Big Oven app links with your online BigOven.com account.  So what you do on the app will appear on your Big Oven.com account.

This a free application that can be downloaded from the Android Marketplace.

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Posted by admin in Recipes, Smart Phone Apps and tagged with , ,
12Mar
0

Pet Pens: Solution for My Tangled Puppy

Willie Mays has been with us a little over a year now and he has created a few challenges for us.  The purpose of getting Willie Mays was to give “Duff” a a dog that would lay on his bed while he read.  Well he is pretty good for that job.  Basically sleeping is the thing that he does best of all unfortunately after several weeks we discovered that finding the door to relieve himself was completely out of the question.  We suspect that this may be Willie’s reason for being dropped off the at the shelter.

Not a big deal for us.  We have a large farm with plenty of room to roam and besides our outdoor dog, “Lady Bird,” enjoys the company.  In any event we also wanted to take Willie with us on our camping trips.  After the first 2 trips I spent 80% of my camping time untwisiting Willie from trees, picnic tables and lawn chairs.  On top of that it seems Willie isn’t much of a traveler.  He gets car sick.  Needless to say a couple of episodes of car sick dog made me toss in the towel.  Fortunately he was able to stay with Grandpa and Grandma.

Well camping season is again upon us and I hate to leave Willie behind this year so I am willing to give traveling with Willie another shot.  What I don’t want to do is spend my weekends untangling the little devil.  It is no fun for him and absolutely no fun for me.  So I think I may have found a solution.  Pet pens.  I have located a few at Walmart that seem to be fairly inexpensive.  They also look like they fold flat.  I want to make sure that I have a pet exercise pen which is bigger than a kennel.  I want him to have enough room to move.  Wire pet pen or Plastic pet pen makes no difference to me as long as it is tall enough that he can’t jump out.  I am not terribly concerned about his ability to leap considering he is about twice as long as he is tall.

After doing a little research I have found that the major brand for pet play pens are: Midwest Pet Pens, Kennel-Aire, and Iris.  After doing some price checking it looks like I will be doing my shopping at Pet Pen shopping at Walmart.  The small pens start at about $25 and go up to about $80.  You can of course go for much taller and larger pens for $275 but I don’t see those as being as portable.  I need something that will fold flat and store under the camper or in the back of the pickup without weighing a ton.

A pet pen looks like my best bet for going on camping trips with my favorite 4 legged little buddy.  I can also see these pet exercise pens as a must have if you have an indoor dog that needs to be contained.

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Posted by admin in Pets and tagged with , ,
10Mar
2

OurGroceries Android App for Busy Moms

OurGroceries Android App

last week I put the Android App OurGroceries through some serious paces.  We had 2 big birthday parties which required a pretty significant shopping list.  I installed theOurGroceries app on my Motorola Droid as well as on my husbands HTC Eris.

Download was quick and painless which has been the statis quo for all apps.  Being a former Blackberry lover I have to say the app install process is about 1000% better than my former Blackberry Curve experience.

The OurGroceries app is more than a simple grocery list app.  It has one particularly cool feature.  When you install the app you create a master account with your email address.  When you install it on a second phone register with that same email account.  Now both phones OurGroceries apps are in perfect sync.  Change the list on one phone and it changes on both.

Why is this important?  After cooking, cleaning and planning 2 big parties the brain was not function at full capacity.  There were a few things that I didn’t get on the list at the start.  While I was buzzing through the house I added more and more items.  The person with the other phone did not get updated phone calls or additional text message they just saw the list as I prepared it.

My second favorite is the quick recipe feature.  You know when you make hamburgers for supper you always need hamburger, buns, ketchup, pickles, mustard and cheese.  You plug these ingredients into a recipe in Our Grocery for hamburgers.  When you are doing your meal planning you don’t need to re enter these items into your list you simple select the recipe.  The items are added to the list.

You can make multiple lists.  You can make one for Walmart, office list, school supply list, project list.  You get the idea.  If you are shopping for it you can create a list for it.

When you are using the list in the grocery store it is a simple one touch on the item and it is checked off.  Super easy.

There are a couple of functions I would like added to OurGroceries.  One would be to categories the items on your list into aisle.  I know when I am doing my power shopping I check off and isle or category at a time.  I would like to see the items grouped together so you are not scrolling through the list or backtracking through the store.

I would also like to see some online integration.  While I usually have my phone with my I spend a lot of time in front of the computer.  It would be a little quicker to make my shopping at my desk on a full keyboard.

OurGroceries is an excellent app that any Busy Mom with a Android based phone should pick up.

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Posted by admin in Smart Phone Apps and tagged with , ,
08Mar
0

Taco Dip for a Crowd

We had a big weekend “Little Boy” turned 6 all week and all weekend. “Little Boy’s” birthday is February 29th. For a guy that didn’t get a birth date this year he certainly got to party like a rock star. We had 20 people for dinner on Friday and my side arrived with another 16 on Saturday. We filled their bellies with chili, chicken noodle soup, homemade corn bread and taco salad and taco dip. They filled our house with chatter, and laughter, jokes and love for “Little Boy.” We finished the night by singing happy birthday and blowing out candles a top of spiderman cupcakes. Wrapping paper flew through the air. The toy closet has now be restocked and we are at rest until the next birthday in April.

Chilli, chilcken noodle and taco dip are not probably not a menu the top chefs would have developed but oh well. We don’t stand on formality here so when someone has a food wish it is always granted.

Our family loves this taco dip. It is a staple and all events and holidays. It definitely serves a crowd.

Taco Dip

Taco Dip

Taco Dip

2 lb hamburger (I like to use the leanest available)
16 oz sour cream (I like the lite version)
1 c shredded cheddar cheese
1 c shredded lettuce
1 15 oz can refried beans
1 12 oz can tomato sauce
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 small can sliced olives
tomatoes, onions optional

1.  Brown and drain ground beef.   Be sure to crumbled the ground beef in small pieces.

2.  Add 1/2 pkg of taco seasoning, refried beans, and tomato sauce to the grouned beef.  Stir and heat through until mixture is combined.

3.  Pour mixture into a 9X13 pan.  Chill until mixture is firm.

4.  Mix remaining taco seasoning with sour cream. Spread over beef mixture

5.  Top sour cream with cheese, lettuce, olives and tomatoes and onion if you choose.

6.  Service with tortilla chips.

In the picture this I put half of the ingredients in a 9×9 pan.  I froze the remainder of the recipe.  The beef mixture can be used to make burritos.

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Posted by admin in Recipes and tagged with ,
02Mar
0

win Free Groceries for a Year

Cool contest I found to win free groceries for a year

Hey, I just entered this contest on Cozi.com to win free groceries for a year. All you have to do is put in your email address.

Even if you don’t enter, please click the link to help me win. (I get an extra entry for telling you.) Thanks!

View >>

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Posted by admin in Uncategorized
02Mar
1

Can There Be Anything Good About Breast Cancer?

I live in a very small community so the struggle of anyone in a fight with cancer especially breast cancer surfaces pretty quickly.  This week a family in our community lost a dear soul who fought breast cancer “Like a Girl.”  Her struggle brought a community together in so many amazing ways.  She has left a legacy that will help other cancer fighters with hope and encouragement.  My prayers go out to their family.  I pray they will find comfort and peace and healing in the months to come.

Breast cancer attacked my own maternal Grandmother while I was in college.  I remember getting the call and being summoned to the hospital.  It was the fastest trip home I ever made.  My grandmother was my absolute best friend.  She was not without flaws which made discussing some of my not so finest moments with her bearable.  She was a strong hardworking and prudent woman.  We sat in that bland, tiny little antiseptic hospital room and received the news.  She had breast cancer.  If she continued to live her current lifestyle about 6 weeks.  If she made some major life changes 18 months.  When we were alone she asked me the question … I said I wanted her to fight.

Like the flick of a switch she went from one extreme to the next.  She fought cancer like a prize fighter.  The next 3 years were the best 3 years I ever spent with her.  We went out to dinner, we talked, we enjoyed holidays.  I had a Grandmother even better than the one I had before.  In some sick way I have thank breast cancer for giving me an renewed Grandma.

I am positive there was pain.  I am positive there were times that should wanted to give up.  I never got to see any of those moments and I am positive the rest of the world didn’t either.  Faced with the same challenges I am not sure I would have had the power or the dignity to live out here struggle in the same way.

On the last night we spent together it was very apparent that the end was near.  We sat together in her small living room overflowing with a hospital bed and pain pumps and other hospital supplies.  In her true rock hard fashion we ignored the elements that said cancer patient.  We watched Friends on TV.  Joey and Chandler had just purchased two lazy boy recliners and intended on living the rest of their lives in them.  We laughed.  She asked specifically for soft serve ice cream.  We enjoyed it.  We had a best friends night.  As I helped her into her bed that night and left for the evening I knew that was our  last great night together.  As much as I wanted to have more I was relieved when God took her to heaven that weekend.  I am eternally grateful for “Friends,” and Ice Cream and laughter.

Why cancer, why anything debilitating that hurts are loved ones?  As much as these things hurt they are part of our sinful world.  They are not God’s doing but God does show us glimmers of light in all struggles.  When you are in the middle you can’t see them.  With my Grandmother’s cancer he created a new women.  A women with fight, and courage and a new beginning, an inspiration.  With other cases I see families coming together and growing closer.   I see communities rally.  I see us putting our focus on others instead of ourselves.  I see people trust and draw closer to God.

Whatever your struggle as painful as it might be take solace knowing that God is with you through all all of it.  He has a plan and there is hope in all things.

*****************************

If you or someone you know is struggling with breast cancer you can find answers, support and guidance at the Susan G. Komen Foundation Website.

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Posted by admin in Spirituality and tagged with
24Feb
0

Things Your Kids Say That Make You Say Aww!

“Little Boy” was very conflicted today.  He had no desire to go to school today.  He cried as we stood by the door waiting for the bus.  I begged him to tell me why he didn’t want to go to school today.  He said, “I don’t have any friends.”  I knew that was not true.  He has charisma up the wazoo.  Kids flock to him.  I suspected he was tired from repeated trips downstairs needing a drink of water, a snack, a blanket etc….  Anyway I said of course you have friends.  His reply, “I don’t have any friends because they are all 6 and I am only 5.”  Wow to have such issues.  Being the big Meany I am, he got a hug and a kiss and a swift shove out the door to the arms of his fabulous bus driver who has the patience of a saint.  Crisis overted.

When he returned from school today he crawled up on my lap baby style.  Threw his arm around my neck.  As we rocked he said, “Mama, I don’t want to have birthday this week.”  After the morning conversation I thought he would be thrilled to get to the grand old age of 6.  ”I said why don’t you want to have your birthday?”  He drowsily replied, “because I don’t want to get to old to sit on your lap.”  OK let’s here it Awww.  I just forgave him immediately for throwing the football through the house, pumping my face moisturizer all over the bathroom floor, coming down the stairs a hundred times when he was supposed to be in bed, eating nothing but dums dums for supper the night before and any other issues he creates in the next week.

Ladies and gentlemen these are the moments that make parenthood the best thing in the whole world.

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Posted by admin in At Play and tagged with
23Feb
4

When In Doubt Always Look UP!

Do you ever feel like you are in flux.  I am in flux.  I am not sure which way to go and I shouldn’t be.  I have a happy husband and kids, my bills are paid, I have a roof over my head and more than enough to eat but I still can’t help myself from being in flux from time to time.  I have so many things to do or that I could be doing that I start to spin.  I wonder if I am going in the right direction.

At those times I like to refer to this statement. When in Doubt Look Up……………. God is holding you,And believe to Recieve Him and He will let you know the Answers to your walk of Life,Learn to talk with Him Daily He will Inspire your Heart with Faith,Hope,Love,Peace,Joy.

I think this is true.  When your world starts to spin just try looking up.  I can personally guarantee that when you do and let the one in control take control you will feel a since of peace and understanding that will let you tackle the to do lists that are entirely to long for all of us.

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Posted by admin in Spirituality and tagged with
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