Cheap Germ Fighter

Chaos! That is the word that sums up my life the past week or so. A sick In- Law (who we care for), sick children (stomach bug, YUCK) and oh yes the gift of Baby Turtles. Yes I said turtles and a gift no less, not a gift gift, kind of an I don’t want them, and you have little kids that will love them, gift! Why did we not JUST SAY NO you ask … sadly I have no real rational explanation, other than we were bamboozled. Bamboozled, I say!!! So now,  you can see why chaos is the word of the day.

Since it is cooler weather and it seems everyone is sick, I decided to post a simple and inexpensive germ fighting spray. It is much like Clorox anywhere, or just like! ( he, he ) I love that I can make it at home for literally pennies! YAY for saving money, GOOOOOOOOOOOO Frugality!!!


You will need:

24 oz refillable spray bottle ( shown below)
20 ounces of  tap water
1 1/2 teaspoons bleach

this bottle has markings, which makes measuring the water easy



Add 1 1/2 teaspoons of bleach to bottle (NOTE- all bleach should be kept out of childrens reach)



fill with water to 20 ounce. marking, shake and you are ready to Kill some germs !



***I usually spray surface and let it sit for a few minutes and wipe.

                                                     

Banana Dog

I hope everyone is having a Great morning so far. I am posting an easy kids recipe, the infamous Banana Dog ! I came up with this recipe when my son was about 18 months old . It was an easy way to put an even healthier twist on PB&J. My kids love them, and it is something they can make themselves.  I don't know about your kids, but my son could eat PB&J   EVERYDAY. Drives me NUTS ! So every once in a while, i try to shake things up a bit . I hope your kids love it as much as mine do.
                                     
                                        Ingredents:
                                       1 ripe banana
                                       Peanut butter, almond butter etc.
                                       Jelly or jam
                                       Hot dog bun wheat or white

                                             
                                   Hot dog bun, use white or wheat, your choice !

                                        Put on your peanut butter, or almond butter and
                                              favorite jelly or jam,  again your choice.

And like my daughter likes to say "BOO YOW"!

 or like i like to call it, Yummy!

                                                        
                                                    give it a try and tell me what ya think

Pajamma Jeans

Question, Should I get offended if my son looks over my attire (sweatpants and a t-shirt) and says?”
mom you don’t need to wear those pants, you should get some Pajama Jeans!” “Really, what do you
know about Pajama Jeans “I ask? “ I saw them on T.V.” he proudly states. Well, alrighty then. I don’t
really know what my son is trying to say about my fashion sense. But, I don’t think it includes the
infamous Pajama Jeans! I will admit that on occasion (2 out of five days) I will wear sweat pants. But
not old school wall- mart Jerzee sweats , more like old navy ( Green ones , I bought at Plato’s closet.
Yes, I know it is a teen consignment store, but you can get some great deals on pants. I would never fit
in any of their tops. Well maybe some, but I wouldn’t want to! ) . As I am writing this, I wonder why I
am bothered that my son would suggest Pajama Jeans. I will admit that having children changes your
style a bit, but mostly when you are at home. When I go out I bring it! LOL I do! Not like I did when I
was single, but I can hold it up. I keep joking with my sister that we need to go on What Not to Wear,
but we aren’t that bad. I hope not. It would be worth the free clothes though! (I giggle, a little) Everyone
have a great day. I’m gonna go change my clothes and start a creative project to share!

Happy New Year !

Happy New Year, I’m almost tired of saying it and it’s only the 2^nd. I love that it is a new year, and that it is going to be a Fantastic one, but enough already. Between the texts and Facebook posts, I have reached my quota. I had the great privilege of sending my 6 year old off to school this morning, thank you Jesus! I think if I had to endure another argument over toys or TV. Shows I think I might go mad!!! Mad I say!



It was a fantastic holiday and now it is fantastic that it is over. There is only so much Chaos one human being can take, even if it is somewhat organized. Now I have to remove all of the evidence of said Holiday season. Yes, I still have my tree shining in all of its glory! Well at least we haven’t turned the lights on since Christmas day (He, He, And He). My husband threatened to take it down last night. He is always trying to do my job, BACK OFF BUDDY! He would do it all wrong anyway. (But we won’t tell him that) If I did he might quit cleaning my kitchen after I cook! On second thought no he won’t. (Gotta love OCD) He is a cleaning fool and I LOVE him soo much! I do wish he would slow down. Wait, what was I talking about? Oh yeah, putting up Christmas décor. Sorry A.D.D., gotta hate it! As I was saying, the control freak couldn’t take it if I got the decorations out next year and they were packed incorrectly. So gotta do some Pre Damage control (that is damage control before there is damage) but you knew that already. Any whoo, I have a to-do list a mile long. I am posting some pics of my prosperity New Year meal. I got my greens recipe from my neighbor and it is a true soul food recipe. My old recipe for greens was sooo Sad and no one told me. BOOO Hoooo, that means I was crying, well not really. (Maybe inside, a little) This is my first year of really making an effort to make the yams, cornbread, greens and hoppin John. So, you will have to let me know what ya think! It was a delicious meal and hopefully it will bring a prosperous year!

So go out and make a dream come true. If you want to learn to cook killer greens, go learn. If it’s starting a new money making adventure, make it happen. You can do anything you set your mind to. So let’s go out and make a Great year!!!

*** I will be posting some helper info on the helper pages so look out for it, and enjoy!!!

                                                                
                                                                    Hoppin John

                                                                   Collard Greens

Holiday Treat Recipes

Today I am posting the treat recipes for the pics i posted yesterday. I had plans of posting pics and recipes together,  but my 3 year old had other plans! She is Picasso in training and her Barbie makeup was the paint, and my Leather couch was the canvas! Eeeek! So , sorry for the delay but here they are.

Peppermint Bark:

• 12 oz. bag of white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup broken peppermint candies

Pre-heat oven to 200* degrees F , spread chocolate chips in baking dish or cookie sheet lightly coated with cooking spray ( I used a 13x9 baking dish) . Sprinkle 1/3  of the  broken candy over chips and place in oven until melted. (you may have to test the softness by touching the chips with tooth pic.) about 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and spread chips and peppermint around to smooth out the bark.  Garnish bark with remaining crushed  peppermint candy. Refrigerate until hard and break into pieces, usually removing from pan does this.

This is one of my grandmas most delicious recipes. It was always the holiday favorite. I am not a fruitcake person, but i love this one! It is a lot like cookie dough; and who doesn't love cookie dough!

Rudolphs' Fruitcake Cookies ( AKA Icebox Fruitcake)

• 1 ( 12 oz. ) box graham crackers ( crushed finely)
• 1 (14 oz. ) can sweetened condensed milk
• 3 cups finely chopped pecans ( 1 cup pecan halves for garnish)
• 1 (10 or 16 oz) jar maraschino cherries, drained and chopped ( save a few halves for garnish)
• ¼ cup ( may not use all ) Maraschino cherry juice
1 lb raisins

Combine cracker crumbs, chopped cherries, raisins and pecans. Stir in sweetened condensed milk, mixing well until crumbs are moistened. Add 1 or 2 tbs. of reserved cherry juice.

Cookie prep-    roll into golf ball size balls and roll in flake coconut store in airtight container for several days.

Loaf prep- press into foil lined loaf pan , garnish with pecan halves and marichino cherry halves. cover and refrigerate for several days. Slice and serve !

Mommy's Big Helper: Holiday Treats

Mommy's Big Helper: Holiday Treats: I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas Holiday. I was quite busy being crafty and creative. I am posting several of my creations. I a...

Holiday Treats

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas Holiday. I was quite busy being crafty and creative. I am posting several of my creations. I am a big fan of easy, so all require little effort to get a Fantastic and festive result.

This is a Christmas treat i made for my sons Kindergarten class . They are  chocolate pretzel rods rolled in crushed peppermint. I downloaded the tags from the following blog     http://sweetlittleparties.blogspot.com/2010/11/free-printables-colour-in-christmas.html 

I made 20 of  these in about 45 minutes total. This is a super easy hand made gift.

 One of the Holiday  "days " they celebrated at my sons elementary school was "Grinch Day". I made these treat bags  to go along with the theme. They were a big hit ! Again, they are super easy to make. It is mini M&Ms and mini marshmallows in snack bags adorned with the Grinch poem label. 

These are the teachers gifts i gave this year. I made pecan toffee and peppermint bark. I put them in clear treat bags and  placed them in these christmas themed boxes ( i found them at the dollar store ) filled them with tissue paper, added toffee and bark  and tied the boxes with bows and added a card. I spent less than 5 $  per box.

Here are close ups pics of the Pecan toffee and peppermint bark. The last pic is of Icebox fruitcake balls. I call them Rudolphs' Fruitcake cookies. All of these treats are super easy to make and they are all very delicious.