A quick good morning

My daughter has a friend who rescued a baby opossum whose momma had died. Is that not the cutest thing ever? I do not need a baby opossum, I do not need a baby opossum, I do not need a baby opossum. I really want a baby opossum. My hubby was asleep when our daughter got home last night and showed me the picture. I sent it to him this morning and got a very quick reply. He thought we had found it and it was in our house. I think we was relieved to know that it wasnt.

This spider is named Hildy. She showed up several weeks ago when it was pretty hot outside between the window and the screen at my kitchen sink. I thought she was fun to watch while washing the dishes and she caught lots of little bugs. I think she keeps getting bigger and now that the temps are sometimes getting lower I cant open my window for fear of her coming in the house! I also feel like it would be kind of rude to ruin her little home when I encouraged her and I do actually talk to her every day.  I think while I am sitting getting my car worked on today I will try to find out what kind of spider she is.

You will be happy to know I slept so well last night. I like to soak my feet at night. I fill up the bottom of the tub with warm soapy water and sit on the side with my feet in a read. My daughter has been coming in there to join me and so has our dogs. The dogs dont get in the tub they just sleep on the floor. Anyway after my relaxing foot soak, I come to bed, use my magnesium oil, put on any essential oil that I find calming, and turn on my diffuser. RIght now we are using euclapytus and lavender to help with my hubby allegies. I fell asleep on my left side and woke up 7 hours in the same exact position feeling very awake.  I think while googling spiders I will add look up good foot soak recipes as well.

Yesterday the kiddos and I ran to one of my favorite grocery stores. Luckys. We purchased some peaches and they girl couldnt even wait to get home before she bit into one. She said it had no flavor and it was disappointing. So I called a local orchard to see if their peaches were ripe and for sale yet and they were. We drove there and bought some and it was so worth it. They also had tomatoes on sale and since the squirrels and groundhog and  I really hope its only one groundhog, I think I may get some of those tomatoes to can this weekend. You get 26 pounds for $15. While I am there I may grab some apple cider as well. We love Evans Orchard!

I hope you all have an amazing Thursday. Find time to make a new friend even if its an opossum or a spider.


Lots of Love,

Mrs Ladybug

How can it only be Wednesday?

This week is just dragging on. Does anyone else feel they are moving in slow motion? We are pretty schedule oriented in our house and if anything disrupts that we are all off our game. I use to think we were pretty flexible but I think I was in denial. 

Our daughter got back from her vacation yesterday. We drove about an hour and a half to pick her up which was a much shorter journey than the 13 hours she and my sister spent in the car. Being away in the evening put out pets off their evening schedules, I decided to drink and iced tea while we were out which must have had triple the caffeine in it and I was unable to fall asleep. The puppy needed back out around 11 as  I was drifting off to sleep. Then he started barking his crazy head off when I let him out. I saw a groundhog yesterday eating my cucumbers and I think the puppy may have been barking at it last night. Hes a beagle and you can always tell when he picks up a scent. To make things even more fun the cat decided to jump on and off our bed last night aggravating the puppy and our other dog. That my friends is why I have dark circles under my eyes and can not speak in complete sentences today.  Its okay though as you can tell in the photo Balder is sleeping perfectly well right now.

These are the pizzas we made the other day. Once frozen the stack perfectly in a bag and fit in the freezer. Since I had ran out of mozzarella we just put the dough and all the toppings in little bags and put it all in a big bag. All I will have to do is roll our the dough once it thaws, add the toppings and bake.

We also make mini meatloaves. We freeze them. pop them our of the muffin cups. place in bag and pop out whats needed for dinner. When baking them I will flatten one like a hamburger, add the the catsup topping and put it in my hubbys lunch one day. I think meatloaf sandwiches are weird but he likes them.

I really dont have an exact meatloaf recipe. For every pound of ground meat I add an egg and 1/2 cup of bread crumbs. You can add chopped onion and green peppers if you like as well. For the topping I just mix 1/2 catsup to a few teaspoons of brown sugar and spoon on top about 10 minutes before its done. I really need to time them too. I just normally look at them and know they are finished. Oh no I am turning into my mom and granny. I remember asking my mom for a recipe when I was firt married and she said " just add this and this and that and bake" No measurements or times and I got off the phone with her and fixed something else that had exact measurements and times.

I have been using the magnesium foot lotion and the homemade eye cream for about 10 days now. I have to say I think both work very well. On nights when the animals dont all lose their minds and I dont drink caffeine I sleep great. I dont think I look any younger but my face is so soft. After reading severy recipes for an all face cream I seen that they were all mostly the same as the eye cream and started put it all over my face and neck. I used magnesium tablets on my foot cream and have since read about using flakes that dissolve and you are sort of making your own oil. I am going to try that next and maybe not have the grit left in the bed from the capsules. Did you ever get your kids a sandbox at home and then you found sand everywhere for like 5 years. Thats sort of what the magsesium is like in the capsules.

On the agenda today is to stay awake, finish getting some things in the freezer, figure out where my tomato sauce pictures are on my tablet,  try to get my blog ready in the evening since I have a car appointment in the morning and write a book on tire pressure monitoring systems because I have been back to the shop three times and am becoming an expert on them.

Lots of Love

Mrs Ladybug

Spaghetti Sauce and a quick hello

My day has managed to get filled up and I almost didnt post anything today. I want to blog and I enjoy it. I actually do not care how many readers I have. Mind you I would love to have lots of people enjoy my blog but just the few responses that I get tickles me polka dotted. I know the saying is pink but polka dots are my favorite.  So if there is something that you enjoy doing I would like to encourage you to do it. Even if you arent very good at it. Sort of like me and grammar.

The boy and I made a big pot of spaghetti sauce. For dinner we had spaghetti and meatballs and we made pizzas to freeze for this weekend plus a pizza meal kit I will show you tomorrow.

Spaghetti Sauce

5-28 oz cans of crushed tomatoes ( make sure your pot is big enough)
5 Tablespoons of italian seasoning ( dried or from your garden)
3 Tablespoons sugar or honey ( you dont have to add this but I think it cuts the acidity of the tomatoes)
salt and pepper to taste

Cook on medium heat and simmer for at least 30 minutes. Its ready to serve or freeze.

For some crazy reason I can only get my pizza pic to load. We used the spaghetti sauce to make the pizzas. We roll them out, add all our toppings and freeze them in the pie pans. Then we pop them out the next day and stack them in ziplock freezer bags. When you bake them you just add a few more minutes to your cook time.

Super lazy weekend, pancake Sunday, and why I am wearng a hat.

I recently noticed that whenever we get ready to go somewhere my guys grab a baseball cap to throw on. I guess it is like how I always grab my purse. Of course you cant keep things in your hat so it actually seems a bit weird. I wear a baseball cap when we are going to be out like walking the dogs and things and they are great for protecting your eyes from the sun. Thats the extent of my hat experiences. As a joke the other day when my guys grabbed their caps I put my hair in a pony tail and threw on mine as well. I now know the secret. You dont have to worry with how your hair looks.  I may never take this thing off or brush my hair ever again. I fell so free now. Think of all the time I will save!

I was not feeling well this weekend. Nothing serious and nothing a heating pad. chocolate. lying in bed and crying while watching chick flicks wouldnt cure I should have known something was wrong when I had the urge to flip someone off the other day. I dont do that or ever think about it but sometimes those hormones are insane. 

My guys and my oldest daughter and her hubby went to a baseball game Friday night. I normally go out shopping with our other daughter but shes in Alabama visiting my sister and sending me pictures like this one. 

I am totally jealous but glad they are having a good time. So since I was alone  I did some Christmas shopping. I know that may sound crazy to some but I really like to get it all knocked out before Thanksgiving. I even try to have most of my meals planned and cooked for the month of December just so I can sit back and enjoy the holidays and whatever else might pop up that month. We will discuss that more as the holidays approach. 

Saturday was so lazy and just what a frazzled ladybug needed. My husband put on a few finishing touches to our daughters room while she was away. She painted her room before she left and he told her he would do her trim and hang her light fixture. The boy and I ran to Chipotle with my amazing coupon. I also had a great coupon at chicken place and the boy used that one since he does not like Chipotle. While we ate lunch we watched The Lost World of Z. I enjoyed the book and I enjoyed the movie. It had gotten some bad reviews, I am guessing because it wasnt action packed enough for some people.  I found the story of Percy Fawcett interesting and sad. The book was written by David Grann and of course had much more information than the movie.

Every Sunday I make pancakes for breakfast. I have no idea how this started as a tradition. Honestly am not a huge fan of them but my guys are and I am a huge fan of my guys. These are my blueberry pancakes. 

Pancakes

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

2-3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons sugar

1 egg

2 Tablespoons cooking oil

1/2-1 cup of milk This is a personal preference. I like a thicker batter so I only use 1/2 cup some like a more thin batter.

Mix dry ingredients and then add the wet ones. You can add chocolate chips or any berries if you like. Use a 1/4 measuring cup or scoop to put in a hot oiled skillet. when you see bubbles its time flip. 

The other day my friend Marlene messaged me a picture of a crockpot full of homemade spaghetti sauce. She was going to freeze what her family didnt eat for faster dinners later. I was super inspired and the boy and I are going to make up a big batch of spaghetti sauce today to make spaghetti and meatballs,  a ravioli casserole, lasagna soup and pizzas. I will share my recipes tomorrow. I dont have them written down and will try to get better measurements for your guys other than " throw in this or that".

Have a great Monday friends.

Lots of Love,

Mrs Ladybug

 

Its Friday!!!

The weekend is almost here, can you smell it like the cute kitten in the picture? The boy and I are going to do a little food prepping today, for the weekend, to make things run smooth. I am going to make some potato salad which the boy and the hubby love. That will go great with some leftover sloppy joe mix I froze and if the boy wants a snack.  We were going to make some chocolate chip cookies and a few other things I will show you later.

One of the things I try to do every Friday is think about where me may go over the weekend. Will we go to Lowes? Where may we dine? Things that I can score fuel points with at Kroger by buying gift cards. The other day I needed dog, puppy and cat food, I buy larger bags and Petsmart is the only place that carries the food we buy. I grabbed a $100 PetSmart gift card and got 4X the fuel points at Kroger. The hubby and I try to fill up our cars together since you are allowed up to 35 gallons of gas each time. I think my car hold 14 and his 10 so we are good, We will at least need 20 gallons of gas total with the 40 cents off per gallon thats an extra saving of $8. If I grab a $50 Lowes card that will be 200 more fuel points and I think we may run to Chipotle for lunch tomorrow since a friend told me about a great buy 1 get 1 offer online a $20 gift card will earn me another 80 fuel points and I am sure I have enough to bring my points to another 10 cents off per gallon. 70 cents total would make my new total about $14 saved in fuel. I hope that makes sense. Another deal Kroger has right now is for Red Robin. If you buy 3 gift cards, and they have them as low as $10 each you get $5 off. I have never eaten there but if you go there that would be a nice savings and if you can find coupons to use thats even more.

We are also headed to the library to grab a couple of free movies. I need to stop and grab my hubby some socks. He has to wear steal toed boots for work and they are rough on the toes of socks. Does anyone have any suggestions on saving the toes without me cutting my sweeties toes off? I think we are going to work on a lighting issue our newly remodeled bedroom. We have the light in the middle of the ceiling but need something more for personal reading on each side of the bed. Our night stands are repurposed drawers that dont leave a lot of room on top to sit a lamp.

I hope you have a fun weekend planned even if its a simple as watching a free movie from the library and eating a half priced meal! If you google chipotle coupon you will be taken to their website where you play a game of making music and when you finish with your song you add your cell number and they text you the coupon.

Lots of Love,

Mrs Ladybug

Be kind, homemade goo begone, brownie recipe and dinner

The other day I dropped my guys off downtown for a sporting event. When my hubby realized where I intended to drop them off at he told me to just let them off in the middle of the road on Main Street. I said that was silly I would drop them off in this little side parking lot. He said that was silly and that I would still be trying to get out of that lot when he and they boy were leaving. I told him that someone would let me out because there are nice people in the world and that I look like a nice person myself. As they walked away I pulled up to get out and the very first car stopped and let me out! I am not sure if I was happier about someone letting me out or that I proved my hubby wrong.

Yesterday my hubby was a little late getting home. He said that a young ladies car had quit in front of him at a red light and he stopped to help her. Hes pretty sweet like that. He said that no one would stop for just a second so he could push the car over into a parking lot where she would be safe. Finally another gentleman stopped to help and they were able to get her out of the road.

`Besides being a super sweet guy my husband stopped to help that young lady because he probably thought about our daughters and he would hope that someone would help them in the same situation. The man who let me out in a very busy traffic situation probably thought " why on earth did that crazy woman pull into that lot and get stuck". He knew what he would want someone to do for his wife in that situation. What if we thought more like that too. What if we just tried to be kind to everyone we met.

I used up all my coconut oil and decided to clean out the jar and use it for other things. I like to put leftovers in glass jars. It makes it easy to see whats in there. You can also put them in the freezer just dont fill them up all the say since liquids expand. They are also good to give someone leftovers in if you dont want your container back. The label was kind of like plastic and I have found the adhesive under those are usually a little tougher to remove then just paper ones that can be soaked in hot water. So after soaking the jar and getting the plasic layer off I made up some goo begone, let it set for about 10 minutes and with a little scrubbing it came right off.

Homemade Goo Begone

1 teaspoon of cooking oil like vegetable, canola and even coconut
2 teaspoons of baking soda

Mix, apply let set a few minutes and wipe off.

I honestly dont know whats in real goo begone. I know my husband used it once to get something sticky off his motorcycle. I do not know how making soda would react on the paint of a motorcycle so if you use this think about any damage that could occur to your surface. If its glass it should be fine.

Several years ago my son and I bought an old Fanny Farmer cookbook at a yard sale. It had a brownie recipe and after a little research we could out that the Fanny Farmer cookbook was the first cookbook to publish a brownie recipe. We tweeked the recipe a little bit since we did not have solid baking chocolate and it has been out brownie recipe every since. The kiddos have made these for their friends for years and we have to find someone who does not like them. I only had these fail once and that was because I forgot to put sugar in them.

Brownies

9 Tablespoons cocoa
3 Tablespoons oil like canola, vegetable or coconut
6 Tablespoons butter melted
1 1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

mix oil and cocoa, stir in butter and sugar, add eggs. mix in flour, salt and vanilla. Pour into a 8X8 square pan thats been greased and bake in 350 degree oven for 40 minutes.

The icing was from a box or Hershey's cocoa. I am pretty sure you can find it on their website.

I knew we were headed to a park to walk the dogs before dinner last night so I wanted something that would be pretty easy to throw together when we got back. Several days ago when I grilled steak for my hubbys birthday I had made extra and put it in the freezer. I got it out and made fried rice. Remember I  had froze rice the other day? Since its time to head back to the grocery store today or tomorrow I wanted to use up any fresh veggies I had before they started not looking so fresh anymore. I had broccoli and mushrooms.

Fried Rice
2 cups cooked cold rice
2 eggs scrambled
Cooked cubed meat of your choice.
2-3 teaspoons sesame oil
soy sauce to taste

I scramble my eggs and cook in the skillet first in a little bit of butter to keep from sticking. When egg is done I remove from pan and sit aside.  Add the sesame oil and rice and stir around to warm up then add egg, and whatever you want. I usually add the cooked meat and sometimes peas and carrots. This is really whatever veggie you want or meat.  Add soy sauce to taste. I like to go light and my husband will add more to his.

In a separate skillet add 2-3 teaspoons of sesame oil, then add your chopped veggies. I used about a pound of broccoli, a medium onion. 8 oz mushroom and 2 minced garlic cloves. Once the veggies start to get a little tender I add maybe a Tablespoon soy sauce and a teaspoon or two of honey. My guys like it sweet.

This only took about 15 minutes to throw together with having the meat cooked, the rice cooked and the veggies chopped.

Lots of Love

Mrs Ladybug

Tooth paste. deodorant, vintage hankies and dinner

Good morning friends! Yesterday my hubby got off work early and we took the dogs on a nature walk. I saw this tree with all the pretty purple flowers around it and butterflies flying around.

I can not say I slept well last night but I am sure it had nothing to do with the magnesium foot cream.  The puppy needed to go out a midnight which did not take long but the cat knocking things over afterwards was the problem, Maybe I should rub the lotion on his little paws tonight.  The boy was online gaming when I went to bed so I did get his feet and the hubby slept great and all through the puppy and cat fiasco. He and I did both say that we woke up a little earlier yesterday and felt more energetic. That could be all in our heads or maybe its working. I will keep you posted.

Yesterday was a no errand day, well sort of.  I didnt have any bread and didnt feel like making any so we ran out to the store. I found some sour dough bread from the bakery for $1.49! It expires today but if you keep it in the fridge that usally gives you a few extra days. I am pretty sure we are not going to eat it all in the next three days so I will put in the freezer to use for bread crumbs, croutons or stuffing.  I had a free movie rental from redbox so we grabbed Going Out In Style. It was a cute movie plus I love Morgan Freeman. I also signed up for text messages from Rallys. I am not a huge fan but when the boy was in marching band and had late nights he always wanted to stop there on the way home since it was near his school. I had a free sandwich with the purchase of a drink. So we grabbed that for his lunch. I was quite pleased with my bargains yesterday.

My parents came to town and stopped by for a little visit and brought me vintage hankies! I saw the cutest idea on Pinterest where you make a curtain with them. Mom brought me 16 and I have 4 of my own. I kept trying to lay them out on my bed to see how big a square they would make but dogs and a cat kept trying to help  me.

Dinner was actually pretty easy last night. I seriously think I am getting lazy when it comes to dinner. I bought this great organic rice mix in the bulk section of a store called Luckys. It has rice, wild rice, barley, dehydrated spices and veggies. I just cook it in broth and add garlic and a little butter. Since it does not come with instruction I just treat it like plain rice and add 2 cups of liquid to 1 cup of rice mixture. I just keep an eye on it and add more liquid if it needs it. I grilled some chicken and added some frozen pease and it was a hit. The boy and I even have some leftovers for lunch today.

My husband and I stopped buying soap and started making our own a few years ago. I also started making my own deodorant and toothpaste. The kiddos still like their store bought soap and not even the hubby wants to try the homemade deodorant and toothpaste. So until someone tells me I smell or my teeth start falling out I will continue making my own.

For the toothpaste

1/2 cup organic coconut oil
1 Tablespoon Himalayan Pink Salt (make sure its ground and not little chunks)
2 Tablespoons calcium carbonate ( you find in the supplements section)
1/2 cup baking soda
1/2 teaspoon liquid stevia ( you dont have to use this but it helps a little with the saltiness of the salt)
1/2 - 1 Tablespoon peppermint flavoring ( I like it a little less minty than the full TBS)

You just mix well and store in a container.  This usually lasts me 3-4 months. I keep it in the linen closet in the bathroom since my jar wont fit in the medicine cabinet. I just use a pea size bit.  If you have ever tried oil pulling you can do it with this as well. Oil pulling is where you put coconut oil in your mouth and swish it around for 20 minutes I think. Its very hard to start out doing it that long so you usually have to build up. Its perfect to do while in the shower. I do this in the evening when I brush my teeth and shower before bedtime. Some people say its great for allergies, some say it doesnt do anything. I am not a doctor and can not say. It doesnt hurt and my teeth feel very clean so I will continue.

Homemade Deodorant

1/3 cup coconut oil
3 Tablespoons beeswax
2 Tablespoons shea butter
1/3 cup arrowroot
2 Tablespoons corn starch or baking soda ( baking soda breaks me out so I use corn starch or just use extra arrowroot.
10-15 drops of essential oils.  I usually use a combo of tea tree, lavender and orange

Melt oil, beeswax and shea butter in a small pan then mix in the other ingredients and put in a mold. If you do not have a mold just use cupcake liners in you muffin tin. This will make the equivalent of two sticks of deodorant. I have seen online where people put them in old deodorant containers. We tried this before and it if gets warm it melts pretty easy. I would not advise trying it unless you keep it in the fridge and standing in front of the fridge putting on your doeodorant and then sticking it back in just seems weird to me. I do keep the unused one in the fridge.


Have a great Wednesday. I am going to try to get all the laundry washed and dried outside. We are suppose to get rain the next two days. Its also time to start planning the weekend end meals and next weeks menu. I think the boy was going to make his homemade brownies. I will share our recipe tomorrow.

Lots of Love

Mrs Ladybug