I didnt get lost, unicorns, no one starved, eye cream and lip gloss

I am so happy that I didnt get lost and made it back home. In fact I didnt even get lost one time. Thats the first time ever. We used a diffuser in the car yesterday. We did not keep it on the dash the whole time either. I had my girl take a picture before it ran out of water. It really made the car smell good. I get car sick sometimes so I am going to try to use this with some oil mixtures that help with carsickness. Yesterdays trip was pretty straight so I didnt have to worry about getting sick. I dropped off the girl to my sister so she can have a nice little vacation before she starts back to college. My daughter in a Chemistry major and will have some type of science class this next semester plus physics. Shes very excited about this. I sometimes wonder if I got the wrong kids from the hospital.





A few weeks ago I found a minion mug at the pharmacy. I was so happy to grab it for my sister as a little gift for the future. We were on the phone the other day and she told me she had gotten me a little gift and I was like I got you a gift too. We have joked for years about how we sometimes do the same exact thing. Once we bought the same sweatshirt without being together and met up to go shopping looking liked twins. She moved to southern Alabama several years ago and we managed to get the same cell phones like three times without knowing what phone the other had. Then yesterday was the mug exchange.  I love my new unicorn mug!

Since I didnt get lost yesterday I got home earlier that planned so I had a little more time to think about dinner. I decided on sloppy joes. Since I was making up my own recipe I wanted to call them sloppy moms but decided that didnt sound very apetizing and decided to stick with joes. I also made smashed potaotes with bacon, cheddar cheese, sour cream and chives.

Sloppy Joes
1 pound ground meat ( beef, chicken, turkey, pork...)
1 medium onion chopped
1 garlice clove minced
1/2 cup catsup
2-3 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon of molasses
1 teaspoon of mustard powder

Add meat, onion and garlic to pan and cook until meat is not longer pink, drain off any fat, return to pan and add rest of ingredients and turn temp to low and let simmer for 10 minutes. If you do not have molasses or mustard powder you can use brown sugar in place of white sugar and leave out the molasses. You can also just use a tablespoon of regular mustard if you dont have the powder.  If your sauce seems a little dry just add more catsup. This is a pretty easy recipe to double and put in the freezer as well.

For potatoes you just boil small red potatoes until they are soft, mash them on a baking sheet and top with cheese and bacon. Pop in a 425 degree oven for about 10 minutes.

Like rice, crumbled bacon is one of those things  I like to cook and keep in the freezer. We dont eat bacon all the time so when I do use it for breakfast or for BLT's I like to just cook the whole pack, crumble what we dont use and freeze.  You can add it to soups, salads and baked potatoes.

We all used the magnesium foot cream last night. I slept just fine, the hubby slept fine but the boy did wake up a few times. He was also sleeping with our daughters dog since she is away, So that may have been the reason too. I did wake up a little early this morning. Even if this does not help with sleep it makes your feet soft.

I also tried an eye cream recipe and really like it. I have had oily skin my whole life but something about hitting 47 is turning me into a raisin. I am trying to keep moisturized. My homemade soap is olive oil based and that has normally been enough. I have found recently that I need lotion and lip balm regularly.

Eye Cream
1/4 cup coconut oil
6-8 vitamin e capsules
10 drops frankincense oil
1/4 teaspoon rosehip oil

Place small calling jar in a pan of water. You are making a double boiler. Turn burner to medium high and add coconut oil to jar. Once melted poke hole in capsules and squeeze into oil, add remaining ingredients and stir. Put in container with lid and set in the fridge to cool. Frankincence and rosehip oils are suppose to have anti aging properties. I dont think I look any younger after using it but my skin sure is super soft.

For Lip gloss you need some roller ball containers. You can find them on Amazon in packs of 12. The first ones I got I went in with a friend to split the cost but it didnt take me long to need more for perfume, gifts, bug bite rub, muscle rub. headache rub..... You get the picture.

Poke hole in 2-3 vitamin e pills and squeeze into roller ball container. Add a few drops of essential oil for flavor, I like orange. Fill the rest with fractionized coconut oil. This oil is all liquid and can be found in the cooking section of your grocery store or at a health food store.

I saw this recipe the other day on Pinterest.  The name caught my eye. If you enjoy the smell of a Christmas Ham then you will probably enjoy this recipe. I used one drop of clove oil along with lavender and and orange oil and my hubby kept sniffing me and telling me I smelled like dinner. That was not what I was going for. But using this mix in a diffuser during the holidays may make your home smell more festive.

Monday morning adventure, scientific experiments and I still dont know whats for dinner

We have a 6 month old beagle and he is so much fun and so much trouble its not even funny. He has gotten tall enough to look in on the girls, the chickens, when I feed or look for eggs. In fact every time we open the garage door he runs back to the inside part of their coop in hopes I am opening the door. The girls are so use to him saying hi that they do not run away. Its actually pretty cute. Since Balders favorite activity is playing ball hes really been excited watching me get the "balls" out of the coop. He just doesnt understand why I wont let him have my eggs.

This morning I am driving to a town that I have never driven to before by myself. I will have my kiddos with me and they are much better at directions than I am so I should be fine. Just in case you do not hear from me again you will know I got lost and just settled down in whatever city I ended up in. Do not worry I get lost all the time. I always manage to make it home.

I know that this is going to come as a shock to you but people lie on the internet. I hope you were sitting down when I said that. I am as surprised as you. Who knew? In searching for a good night time magnesium oil recipe I encountered lots of websites with the same exact recipes. Like people were copying and pasting things from other websites pretending they were the original ones doing something. They even had the same pictures. One of my favorite bloggers was talking about something doing that with one of her posts a few weeks ago. Its not that they share your ideas its taking credit for them I think that most people find annoying. My problem is they dont even try the recipe to see if it really works!

I promise you  I will not post anything I have not tried myself. I will tell you if its a fail and if that fail is human error or recipe error. I am not ashamed to say that I mess up. I mess up a lot and thats okay.

I really dont know why this comes a shock for me. Back when the internet was pretty new my sister and I decided to make everyone pretty candles for Christmas. You melted your wax and put potpourri in the candles. Ours looked just like the ones online. We were so excited. Then we decided to light one and they potpourri caught on fire. We threw them out, Who wants to responsible for burning down the house of your loved ones?

Last night I made the magnesium lotion I talked about yesterday. Mine did not whip up at all. It does have the consistency of lotion though and with the lavender I used its smells quite delightful. Its a little grainy from the magnesium I used but we are putting it on our feet not our face.

 I do not really have trouble sleeping. So I am not sure if I am a good spokesperson for the lotion. My family did let me put it on their feet. Thats right no one wanted to touch it themselves so at bed time I went from person to person and lotioning their feet. The things we do for those we love. So far though we all had a good nights sleep. The only thing I see as a possible problem from using the lotion is the oil stain on my sheets. I guess socks would remedy that problem as well. I will let you know if the stain washes out. I dont wont to be known as the woman who ruined everyones bed linens either! I will keep you posted.

As for dinner, I was meal planning before bed and was on Pinterest. I do not have a meal planned for tonight but I do have a cute yard flag made from burlap I really want to make. I put some hamburger from the freezer to the fridge so I guess I am halfway there. Enjoy your Monday.

Lots of Love

Mrs Ladybug

Reflection, planning for the week ahead and a Groupon Deal

I always made fun of people who had to have their morning coffee to function. I thought they were just joking or it was all in their head. Recently I have come to realize that if I dont have my morning tea I do not function properly either. Its not even about caffeine since I dont always drink a tea with caffeine in the mornings. I think its mostly about a routine and if mine gets broken then I am broken.

I actually prefer loose leaf teas and am lucky to have a few pretty amazing tea shops where I live. I think sometimes when you price loose tea you get kind of a sticker shock but if you were to dump out the little tea bags you purchase from the store I think would see that the price isnt too much higer if its higher at all. I am not really sure about black teas but I do know that I have yet to find an Earl Grey that is as beautiful or tasty as the one from Lexington Coffee and Tea. I love that with loose leaf teas you can steep them twice and it may be a weaker but still very good. Try that with your little bagged teas.

Sundays are the perfect time to look back on the past week and be thankful that I survived. I try to think about if I missed something that I need to add to the coming week, like reaching out to someone or rescheduling anything. I also like to plan my week ahead like our meals and any outings. Knowing which days I can fix something more complicated for dinner and which days I need to throw stuff in a crockpot. Tomorrow is going to be spent on the road dropping of my girl to her aunt for a little vacation before school starts back. I may not use the crockpot but you can bet I will want a 30 minute or less meal with an easy clean up.

Do you love Groupon? Thanks to Groupon we have tried lots of places to eat that we may not have tried without it. I got a great deal on the Newspaper, bought a few Christmas presents and other things. Yesterday I found a great deal on there for Redbox. Redbox is one of our favorite date night ideas. You can get a $20 ecard for $12 right now. The only thing is you have to reserve the movie online to use the ecard.  I usually stop at a redbox on my way out of the store so I need to make sure I dont forget to use my ecard.

I hope everyone had a nice relaxing Sunday. Pat yourself on the back for surviving the past week. I hope that you have recharged your batteries and are ready for the week ahead. Right now all my family is either at a basketball game or visiting someone so I am going to try a new to whip new bed time lotion with magnesium in it. I will let you know how it turns out and whether everyone was on board or if they told me to stop with my witchcraft.


Lots of Love

Mrs Ladybugyu7i

Quiet Saturdays, another lazy dinner and keeping my sanity.

Yay for Saturday! When I wake up on a Saturday morning and its past 6am I feel like I have won the lottery or something. Even thought I am a total morning person my hubby is a morning person on steroids or maybe its coffee. Anyway he tries to be so quiet so I can sleep in but hes not very good at it. I tell him all the time he would stink as a ninja.

I was up showered and dressed by 8 and then it was off to Luckys Market to grab 2 seedless watermelons and some Botanical Garden seeds. They are one of my favorite brands and Luckys has the biggest selection besides shopping on line. What weekend doesnt include a trip to Lowes? In fact I feel like maybe I should start taking breakfast to the young man who always waits on us on Saturday mornings.

I am pretty sure my hubby has a plan on Saturday mornings to get me out the door in a rush. When we are headed back home he usually casually mentions stopping at a drive thru to grab a breakfast sandwich. He says its so I can enjoy my morning but its really a country ham biscuit he really likes. This morning though I was prepared. When he asked if I wanted to stop, which by the way why does he want to make it seem like its my idea? Is this some sort of reverse psychology? I told him I had bought some croissants and that I was going to fix ham, egg and cheese ones for breakfast. He said okay but I think as we drove by Hardees he may have had a tear in his eye.

Croissants $1.59 marked down at the bakery, ham $1.49lb, sharp cheddar $.75and eggs from the back yard. I think I saved a few bucks and I mine was made with love.

I think I may be either getting lazy or absentminded in my old age. For two days in a row I forgot to put something out for dinner. So last night I grabbed some shredded cooked chicken I had in the freezer, pasta which I had three boxes with only a serving in each. 6 cups of chicken broth and a half bag of peas and carrots. Break up the pasta and throw everything in a pot. Bring to a boil and turn down to a simmer and cook until pasta is cooked 15-20 minutes. You can add salt, pepper and garlic to taste.

My family says that I am hard to buy for when its comes to my birthday and Christmas. I was actually pretty surprised and when I asked my they said it was because I always make all my own things. I had the brilliant idea that I would just make a list on Amazon of things that I like and since everyone uses me amazon account the could look at it and know what I like. I also created a board on my Pinterest account called What To Buy Mom. There shouldnt be any problem now. I had two things on my Amazon list. One was a Diary Book by Laura Ingalls Wilder and the other was a necklace to put essential oils in. My husband has bought both and given them to me. Which is really sweet but now I have to find more things to put on my  list. I am not complaining. Its nice to be loved and showered with gifts.

Here is a little recipe I found to wear in my necklace. I loved the name as well. This is perfect when you are going to be out and about and dealing with people all day. I can not wait for someone to ask what scent I am wearing. 

Have a great Saturday!

Lots Of Love

Mrs Ladybug

Homemade tortillas, rice rice baby and what to make for dinner when you dont want to make dinner.

In the beginning of the week I was so on the ball with meal planning. I had a plan for the whole week but towards then end I ran our of steam. Sunday we grilled out chicken. It was so yummy. My hubby took some for lunch one day and we had enough to make burritos one night as well.

One of the things that I always try to do is cook more rice that we will eat. It takes the same amount of time to cook a pot of rice or a serving of rice. We put rice in soups, casseroles, burritos, on the side and make fried rice. We love our rice rice rice baby! One of my tips when cooking rice is to use broth instead of plain water. Since one of us is a vegetarian I usually use vegetable stock to cook our rice. Just follow the instructions on the bag of rice and once its cooked and cooled put it in 2 cup portions and freeze.

Since I had my meat already cooked for dinner and had rice already cooked for dinner I had more than enough time to make home tortillas to go with our burritos. Tortillas are definitely one of those things that taste so much better fresh and honestly pennies to make.

Tortillas

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2-3/4 cup water

3 Tablespoons any kind of oil, lard, shortening. I like lard the best but its not vegetarian so I use shortening normally, I have also used olive oil too.

Combine flour and salt make a well in the middle add your oil then add your water. Start with 1/2 and add more until it will form a ball thats not sticky. It sticky add more flour. Let rest 10 minutes then divide in 8 equal balls and roll out flat. Heat skillet to medium high heat, lightly oil and add tortilla. Cook about 1 minute on each side.

This is actually something that takes practice. I read so many recipes but you dont really know how to do this until you try. If you eat tortillas you should know how thin you want them. They get little puffs in them but they go back down when cooling, They cook pretty fast so have all of them rolled out and ready to do at the same time. You can not look away while doing this. Stay focused.

Last night we were suppose to have beef and mushrooms over noodles. I forgot to get the beef out. I really wanted to just grab a pizza but that is silly when you have more than enough food on hand. I bought a ham last week and cut it up and popped in the freezer. My guys love homemade egg mcmoms. We will eat some on sandwiches like the cubanos I made earlier in the week. Then there are my lazy dinners. I basically made mac and cheese, tossed in a bag of frozen veggies and then the ham once I got out the portion for the vegetarian. Its quick and easy and everyone is happy,

The temps are suppose to be cooler this weekend. I think we will be spending time in our garden. My guys have some some basketball game to go to this weekend and my daughter and I will have to find an adventure of our own. Enjoy your weekend. your family and yourself!

Lots of Love

Mrs Ladybug 

Checking your calendar, making dinner and pie.

Yesterday was my hubby's birthday. It was also the day I scheduled an appointment for my daughter, a must run to the feed store and an outing that took us an hour away from home. We left the house at 9:30 and did not return until 2:30. Which I  know isnt terrible late but that gave us 2 hours to get birthday dinner and coconut cream pie done by 4:30 when hubby gets home from work and gives the pie enough time to set. I also forgot to say since this is the summer of home makeover my daughter is trying get her room painted and back in order before the end of the week so she can go visit her aunt. You may think painting a room isnt too terribly hard but we switched room with her so she inherited a room with barn red walls. its taken some serious primer and paint! I love the color she chose and told her it looked like she was painting the room with butter.

When its your birthday in our house you can have what ever you want for dinner and of course dessert. There is no complaining when someone picks something thats not your favorite. My husband always wants a steak. So I grilled a steak with baked potatoes and made salad from our garden. It was really hard for me to buy baking potatoes when I had potatoes at home that we grew ourselves but they are not giant monster potatoes and I was trying to go for the look of Logans Roadhouse. The meal is pretty easy with just setting your steaks out about 30 minutes before putting them on the grill and season them with salt and pepper. Grill a few minutes on each side until your preferred doneness.  Unless we have a fire going outside I always cheat with potatoes.  I love to wrap them in foil and put them in the hot ashes to cook. Since we did not have a fire going yesterday and that we do not own a microwave to cook potaotes in,  I boiled them until they were done and put them on the grill to crisp up the skin. I did make a compound butter. That was the most technical thing I made for dinner and thats okay with me.

Compound Butter

1 cup of heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons of fresh chives
2 garlic cloves
salt to taste

Put cream in food processor and turn on and let the magic happens. This can take up to 15 minutes. The cream with start to thicken like whipped topping, then will start to look like liquid again, finally the little clumps of butter start bonding together and you are left with butter and milk. Strain the butter milk out if the butter and save for baking. With the butter run iced cold water over it to get any milk still in there. You can use a spoon to kind of squish it around. Add your seasonings, wrap in parchment paper or plastic wrap and roll into a log and chill.

I am super lucky to have amazing kids who have always been great at helping out. My son is on a baking kick and I am not going to stop him. He wanted to make his dads pie. That was a huge help while I was doing all the prep work for dinner. I think he did an amazing job considering this is his first ever coconut cream pie. You can fine the recipes he used under the picture.

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/no-roll-pie-crust-recipe

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/easy-coconut-cream-pie

One of my recent goals has been to use the reminders and calendar on my phone. Even though everything I wanted to get accomplished yesterday did happen it was kind of tight. I had a quick morning outing planned today that just got cancelled so I think I am free for the rest of today. I think it would have been wiser to have moved some of my things yesterday to today. Just like with anything new you try it takes time to work itself out. Cut yourself some slack, dont give up and learn to laugh at yourself.

Last night I was brushing my teeth when someone needed in the only bathroom we have. So I came out and finished brushing in the kitchen. Then that person started taking a shower.  I wanted to put my toothbrush somewhere safe so I chose on top of the fridge. This morning I have been hunting all over the place for my toothbrush. Maybe I didnt survive yesterday as well as I thought.

Puppy mishaps, cleaning recipe, cheap eats and even cheaper dates

My husband had to work this past weekend so we didnt get to go on our usual adventures. Our adventures usually involve at least one trip to Lowes, a lunch date, a seed or feed store and at least some sort of movie. A few weeks ago I snagged a $25 Groupon Deal for Mellow Mushroom for $5. Saturday night we ordered a pizza, started a little fire in the fire pit and listened to Old Radio Mysteries podcasts. It was so nice to not have dirty dinner dishes, to just hang out at home and laugh about how the commercials from the old radio show was telling us how good cigarettes were for you. I think this date idea will become a regular thing.

Our intentions before our weekend got so busy was to go to a little Cuban restaurant that my husband loves. He always gets the cubano sandwich.  So yesterday I surprised him when he got home from work with a homemade one. It normally costs us around $20 dollars to eat out so I was much happier with my cost being around $7 to feed 4 or us at home. I would like to add that our daughter is a vegetarian and she had a homemade veggie panini instead of the cubano so we had an extra sandwich for the hubby to take to work for lunch today.

Cubano Sandwich

First I mixed together 2 Tablespoons mayonnaise and 2 Tablespoons of dijon mustard. Next I cooked and shredded 1 pound of pork tenderloin. You dont have to shred it I just normally buy a large pork tenderloin and cook it whole, shred it and keep in the freezer for quick meals. You also need 1 pound of sliced ham. Once again this is something I buy in bulk when I can get it for 99 cents of $1.49lb and freeze. You also need a few slices of swiss cheese, a soft french bread loaf and pickle slices. 

If you are like me you do not have a panini maker. I put two cast iron skillets on a burner and turn them up to high for 7-10 minutes. While they are heating up I assemble the sandwiches. Spread the mustard mixture on your bread. then layer your tenderloin, on  top of that add a slice of cheese, then your pickles, then ham add the squish your sandwich. Once  you have all the assembled turn off your cast iron skillets, put sandwiches inside one of the pans and place the other skillet on top of the sandwiches. Using a towel so not to burn yourself press down on the top skillet to mush your sandwiches down.  Kind of peek at your sandwiches after 5 minutes to see if your cheese is melting.  Serve with french fries or chips.

Once I was done cleaning up the kitchen after dinner I was going to sit down and knit. I am working on some dish clothes. Unfortunately our 5 month old beagle puppy had other plans.

He must have remembered I had intended to try out a new all purpose cleaner yesterday but hadnt gotten around to it. So I mixed it up and got rid of the paw prints. While cleaning the tub I also used it to clean the sink and toilet. I think I will be using this stuff all over the house.

All Purpose Cleaner

8 oz white vinegar

4 oz lemon juice

2 oz liquid dish soap

2 tsp baking soda

10 oz water

Mix in a large bowl. It will bubble up. The container I used barely contained it once it started foaming. Once it stops reacting and the bubbles die back down your can pout it into a spray bottle but pouring it causes it to start foaming again so be careful and patient. I store the extra in a glass canning jar. It makes about 3 cups of liquid. To use to squirt, scrub and rinse.

Today is the day or errands and its my hubbys birthday. Somewhere in all the craziness a coconut cream pie has to get made.

Lots of Love

Mrs Ladybug