In Our House

Pink Together Giveaway

2011-10-26T12:52:00.000-05:00

Here is another great giveaway from Cooked from the Heart, the Pink Together Giveaway! Click on the photo above to enter the giveaway. Here is what is in this amazing gift pack:

A 16 oz. box of Total cereal
VIP coupons valid for one box of Cheerios and Multigrain Cheerios cereal and one cup of Yoplait yogurt
Betty Crocker Living with Cancer Cookbook Pink Together Edition, which includes a collection of more than 150 delicious recipes with complete nutrition information and a 32-page Pink Together Survivor Ambassador bonus section that shares inspirational personal stories of survival as well as recipes
Water bottle and removable silicone awareness bracelet
Drawstring sport backpack
Rhinestone ear buds

This giveaway ends on October 31, 2011, midnight EST.

Fun da-middles Giveaway

2011-10-06T16:25:00.000-05:00

Want to win this Fun da-middles Gift Pack? You have one more day to enter! This giveaway ends tomorrow, October 7, 2011 midnight, EST. All you have to do for a chance to win is to leave a comment.

Hop on over to the Betty Crocker Fun da-middles Giveaway on Cooked from the Heart!

Rice Cake on the Tourist Trail

2011-02-26T22:40:00.002-05:00

I am trying to maintain a website about our hometown in the Philippines and one of the recent articles I just posted is the possibility that Pozorrubio, a small town in Sison may just be in a position to catch a spot on the lucrative tourist trail. A movement seems to be going on to revive traditional ways of making some of the delicacies like the rice cake pictured above. The novelty about these rice cakes is that the raw rice is woven into these baskets then cooked in sugar cane juice as it is caramelized into raw sugar or brown sugar. It's really a fascinating process.

These rice cakes are fat-free but definitely not calories free for you dieters out there. But they sure are delicious! But like any calorie rich food, I believe that you don't have to totally forsake them. I was reading sensa reviews and they even say that those diet pills are not meant to work for long term solution, that healthy eating and exercise are still your best option for keeping weight off. That, and of course moderation.

Drugs to Mugs Meant to Scare

2011-02-26T22:29:00.002-05:00

I ran across this article today on the true faces of addiction. It is a shocking look at how drug addiction not only changes you from the inside but even much quicker. It's actually quite scary. These people look like they've over dosed on ephedrine diet pills and have some crazy gross skin disease, but they don't. This is what your skin does on drugs.

Scary, yes? If you look at the caption, this change came about in a mere few months. It doesn't take long to hit bottom. It's a drug education program called from Drugs to Mugs supposed to scare kids away from trying drugs. It scares me, but I wonder how effective this really would be for your people?

Playing House

2011-02-26T09:18:00.003-05:00

When I was young I used to love to play house. Whether I only had a cardboard box to play with or an intricate wooden play kitchen set, it would be good enough to keep me occupied for hours! Well it turns out nothing much has changed now that I'm grown with my own kitchen. I still spend hours in there tinkering, experimenting and serving anyone who happens to set themselves down at my table.

When my girls were younger, they were the same way. They loved playing house! We had a whole play house corner set up for them in their room and they would spend hours in there playing! I wish I had known about The Kinder Garden toy store back then. Luckily for the internet, almost every small store now can have a wider audience. They actual store is located in the historic downtown district of Skaneateles, New York. They carry the cutest collection of kid's toys from stuffed animals, wooden toys, puzzles, and these adorable kitchen sets. Oh they also have great dress-up clothes for kids and some of the toys offered on the site are hand-made and unique. It's a great site for anyone looking for unique gifts that are not usually found in your run of the mill department store.

Not Exactly Diet Food

2011-02-23T19:35:00.002-05:00

One of my facebook friends shared a link to this recipe and since I had everything on hand, I decided to try it.

Now this won't get rid of belly fat anytime soon and it might even add to your cache of fat, but it sure is good! Now I like being at a decent, manageable weight, but I also like food too much to deprive myself. I found that eating in moderation is the key. Eating before you are stuffed if you're not sure what moderation is. Eating a balanced meal like this one, also helps. It's ok that you're eating meat cooked in rich coconut sauce but if you balance it out with some vegetables and steamed rice, you have a healthy and very delicious meal! Recipe will follow soon on the food blog.

Another Reason to Cut Out Soda

2011-02-23T19:17:00.002-05:00

Are you like many of us who are now in the midst to working to maintain our New Year's resolutions or are you with the group who have fallen off the wagon already? OR are you of the camp who meant to start with a healthier diet but just never even got started?

Well if you're in the third camp, don't feel quite such a loser yet. It's not the end of the world. One quick and easy tip to a healthier diet is to cut out soda. That's right, just one simple thing and you may even end up losing weight! If you're a soda guzzler like some people, just cutting it out of your diet can save you almost a thousand calories a day! That's the equivalent of a whole meal!

Besides, those things are toxic for you anyway. You really should do yourself a huge favor and just cut soda out of your diet. Even sites like www.dietsthatwork.org which sell diet pills will tell you that I'm right.

For instance, did you know that Coca-Cola is an excellent solvent for rust? That's right! Don't bother spending lots of money on commercial rust removers, just pour some coke over your rust problem and scrub the rust off! Coke contains phosphoric acid which dissolves the rust. Now just think what it does to your intestines every time you drink some! If that doesn't make you quit sodas, maybe you're one of those people who claim to have a cast iron gut?

Olivari Giveaway

2011-02-16T17:08:00.002-05:00

I am a bit behind posting on my food blog since the desktop computers at home finally reached their limit and I am now reduced to sharing a lone laptop with my daughters. Not only is the laptop too small for my taste, that touch pad thing is just a pain. I like having a mouse. Anyway... I finally got around to posting one of my obligations.

I am holding a giveaway for this Olivari Kitchen Essentials Kit on my food blog until the end of the month. It's easy to enter, all you have to do is leave me a comment and you could win a KITCHEN ESSENTIALS KIT which includes:
· One full size, 17 oz. bottle of Extra Virgin Olivari® Mediterranean Olive Oil
· One heavy duty Olivari® garlic press
· An Olivari® recipe card for Fresh Bruschetta
· VIP coupons for you to try other varieties of Olivari® including classic and extra light taste.

So visit my food blog and enter the giveaway here: http://www.kitchen.amoores.com/2011/02/15/giveaway-extra-virgin-olivari%c2%ae-mediterranean-olive-oil/

Amazing ARTOBIOGRAPHY Giveaway

2011-02-03T14:03:00.004-05:00

Have you ever heard of ARTOBIOGRAPHY? If you're an artist, maybe you'll know what I'm talking about.
The Storm of the i: An Artobiography by Tina Collen is part memoir part scrap book, part portfolio and it is beautifully put together. It is a joy to look at but it is also a joy to read about this woman's journey to self-discovery.

The author, Tina Collen is giving away a signed copy of the book to anyone whose answer to this question she finds worthy:

"Oftentimes the objects we hold onto contain cryptic clues that point towards something deeper about ourselves. Take a look around your house (or your room) at the things with which you have surrounded yourself. Is there anything you are still hanging onto that seems to contain a hidden message for you? What do you think it is?"

Do you have objects that you are holding on to? Perhaps you have a book of stamps, shoes, old appliances, vinyl records, or karaoke machines stored in your basement or attic? Do they hold special meaning or contain a hidden message for you? Go leave your story on the Storm of i review on Found Not Lost and you might win a free copy of the book! It's really amazing. You'll enjoy it.

Health Insurance Concerns Even After Reforms

2011-01-21T15:02:00.002-05:00

A couple of years ago many of us were on pins and needles with anticipation for the promised reform bill. We had visions of better health care that didn't put us into bankruptcy. We rejoiced when the promised bill passed finally after much pulling and scheming and screaming. Today, can we really say we are better off?

I'm not. I'm still in the same boat as I was in a couple of years ago. Thank goodness I managed to keep my job that luckily provides a somewhat affordable if not cheap health insurance. My kids and I still try to only visit the doctor at a minimum because whenever we have had a medical emergency, it ended up costing me an arm and a leg in fees. Fees that my health insurance does not cover.

With the beginning of a new year, it's open enrollment at my job again. Time to renew benefits and time to review affordable health insurance quotes. It would be nice to be able to afford private health insurance and go to whichever doctor you want at whichever hospital, but for us working folks it's going to be the HMO route. It's cheaper for us to be in a network or group but it also means that we have to limit some of our choices. The cheapest plan being offered at my company is a group plan where we can only go to service providers that are also signed up on the same network. Most of them are local which is good, and really for the most part, they are competent doctors. It's not like only the losers sign up for these networks.

It's just that if we ever require a specialist, god forbid one of us gets seriously ill, it would not be as easy to go out of our network. But, that's the gamble that most workers in this country take. We pay high insurance premiums for mediocre care and pray like bloody hell that we remain mean and healthy so we can whine another day.

Spicing it Up

2011-01-19T22:57:00.002-05:00

Our garden is dead right now but we're already planning on what to plant in the spring. If you can believe it, we had tomatoes until November and I just used up the last bag of frozen tomatoes to make my chili last week.

I still have one fresh squash left and I will probably cook that next week. Winter squash is a great storage food. It keeps without refrigeration or preservation. Its skin is it's own preservative! We also still have some frozen vegetables in the freezer that will probably stick around until the next batch start coming in early summer.

Now you see why we're excited to get to the backyard already?

Open Letter to the Delusional

2011-01-19T22:51:00.002-05:00

Dear Sad and Insecure on Facebook,

I don’t know you beyond the name and profile you put up on facebook and I don’t mean to judge you or call you out. It’s just that ever since I found out about you, my perverse curiosity has been piqued to the point that I look forward to your occasional and pathetic post on facebook. Yes, to the point that the bottle of sleep aids here next to my bed have remained untouched because of my obsession.

No, we’re not friends on facebook so you don’t come up on my feed. I have actually gone to the extent of searching your name just so I can have my nefarious need to feel superior satisfied. I give a little snicker when you talk about how beautiful your wife is and how grateful you are to have married her. My eyes roll when you dedicate love songs to the goddess that she is. When you thank her for being mother to your brilliant children and thank your lucky stars for delivering her to you when you needed her the most, I feel incredulous sadness.

Read the rest of this letter...

Great Fundraising Idea

2011-01-19T22:43:00.002-05:00

I can't believe I didn't know this before! Did you know that tons of places will reward you for recycling your printer cartridges? My daughter's school send a note home last week asking parents to send their spent printer cartridges to school and the school can get paid for them! And here we've been throwing tons of them away.

We used to have epson printers that gobbled up ink and it seemed like we were buying new ones every couple of weeks or so. Even when we switched to printers that used up less ink, we still ended up throwing away bagfuls of empty printer cartridges. Now I'm glad we found another useful purpose for them than to just clog up the landfills.

Cat's Tongue

2011-01-19T22:23:00.002-05:00

My daughter loves these delicate sugar cookies called Cat's Tongue AKA Katte Tongen or Lengua de Gato. We usually make these cookies whenever it's time for something sinfully sweet. They are buttery, melt in your mouth and stick to your thighs kind of sinful.

The Most popular diet pill probably won't work on these babies, but oh, they are so good that you'll forget about everything else. I kid you not!

The Cold Week

2011-01-15T18:59:00.003-05:00

This past week was supposed to be an easy week at work. But then, on Monday the weather turned cold and icy snow started falling. It continued through the night until Tuesday when the roads turned icy and almost everything here in Durham closed starting with the schools. Yep, it was a snow day but the kids were not happy.

For one, snow days mean they had to make up the day. That day is next Saturday. Wouldn't you be mad to have to go to school on a Saturday?

Second, it was the last week of the semester and final tests were supposed to be this week and next week would have been an optional week, meaning they didn't have to go to school if they didn't have to make up a test and such. Instead, they will be taking their finals next week.

For us adults, it was more of the worry of losing power due to ice. The grocery stores were packed the night before as people stocked up on the basics like bread, milk and eggs. At the hardware store, it was a rush for flashlights, candles and generators. The Honda eu2000i type of generators, the ones on the smaller end, were the most popular. The large once can power a whole house but for a short time without power the small portables ones would do nicely to keep your necessary appliances like your refrigerators and freezers and lights going. We lucked out this time though, we didn't lose power. But it sure was cold!

Y'all Come See Us!

2011-01-09T11:10:00.003-05:00

The NY Times just listed Durham as one of 41 Places to Go in 2011. I don't work for Durham, and I have no vested interest in promoting Durham, but I do love living in Durham so it's exciting for our city to be mentioned as a travel destination!

This city has so much to offer that it's disappointing sometimes to be passed over time and again when people tout the gems in North Carolina. The city has worked to revitalize itself, like an old charming house that has updated everything from the lighting fixtures to the bathroom faucet and it's paying off. People are starting to notice the wonderful characteristics that gives this city its charm.

Hello 2011!

2011-01-03T18:08:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year! Did you have a good holiday? Did you get all that you wanted or wished for for Christmas? Was Santa good to you? Dis you wish for something expensive like diamonds or an iPad or an iPhone? Or perhaps a samsung lcd or a laptop more your speed? I didn't really want much. We have enough junk around the house. I got what I really wanted, which was a hassle free holiday and some really good food. We had all that and more.

Well Santa was good to me but I'm afraid father time was not as kind. By the time New Year's eve came around, a killer migraine had me knocked out. I didn't even stay up long enough to greet in the new year! I've been laid up all weekend and it is only today that my head finally cleared up. What a relief! So today is the official start of my year. HELLO 2011!

Merry Christmas! Now come and win $50

2010-12-25T15:00:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas! How's your day going so far? We just got home from our Christmas dim sum and we're stuffed! Now we're just vegging out in front of the TV watching the Dr. Who marathon on BBC America.

Now for your chance to win $50...

Visit my review blog, Found Not Lost and leave a comment. The contest ends on Monday at midnight so hurry on over. If your comment gets picked, you will win a $50 gift card!

Click here to leave a comment on the Bank of America Blog Tour for a chance to win $50!

From our House to Yours

2010-12-24T21:06:00.003-05:00

We just got home from doing some last minute shopping. Not really for gifts, we got some more food to hibernate on over the weekend. We're planning on having a simple Christmas this year. Instead of us blindly shopping for each other, we decided to have some major girl after-Christmas sales shopping time next week instead. While our friends are fretting over which gadget they want or getting for someone, we are having a stress free Christmas and concentrating instead on what this day really means. So no worries about power tools, or zero tolerance knives, or Wiis, PSP, or iPods or laptops. No anxieties over ugly sweaters and unwanted presents either. Best of all, no major clean up after the gift opening mellee.

I admit, it's unconventional, but for us, at the stage my girls are in now, it works. So when everyone is doing the gift frenzy tomorrow, we will be enjoying a dim sum frenzy instead. No matter how you're celebrating this holiday, I hope it is enjoyable and meaningful for you.

Last Day to Enter!

2010-12-19T16:22:00.002-05:00

I'm giving away a fabulous set of Mozaik dinner ware on my food blog and you only have one day left to enter! Sorry for the delayed announcement :)

But if you'd like to enter, all you have to do is leave a comment on the Mozaik Prize Pack Giveaway post.

Hurry on over there!

Chicken Soup and Some TLC

2010-12-15T16:38:00.003-05:00

I went to pick up my daughter from school last Monday. She finished with her finals and she is now on semester break. Is she glad to be home! We're glad to have her home too, but unfortunately she came home sick. She has been sick all week, all through her exams even. Poor baby got the flu just as her finals were starting last week. She's a trooper though, after a small bout of whining, she got herself together and finished all her tests. She says that she has a good feeling about them, so hopefully she really did do alright.

She said most of the tests were pretty standard. Except for one computer class she had where they actually used some of the gadgets they have been learning about like the Symbol LS2208 bar code scanners.

So anyway, she's been relaxing since she got home, finally finding time to nurse her flu/cold. I went and got her some medicine and cooked her some soup and gave her a bit of TLC that she was sorely missing at school. We figure we'll wait a week before we put her to work. lol! j/k!!

A snowy and sleepy night...

2010-12-06T14:07:00.006-05:00

I just posted this for the Hickory Farms Blog Tour last night on my food blog. I did it again at the last minute and sort of on the run. I really had meant to post it much earlier in the weekend but we had snow last Saturday! And you know how distracting that can be. Oh, you don't know?

There is something about snow that just makes you want to eat. Maybe it's our innate need to hibernate or something. No matter what it is, when the snow flakes started falling on Saturday afternoon and they just kept on falling steadily through the night, all I could think of was, what are we going to eat next!

Good thing we had the gift pack from Hickory Farms. That's one of the things we munched on. I also kept wanting to make soups so I ended up making a thick and meaty chili for the husband, and a soupy broth with noodles and veggies for me and the girls.

Before, during and after our noshing sessions, we had a marathon of tv viewing. I actually ended up staying late last night watching Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Lopez in the Wedding Planner. Have you ever seen that movie? I thougth I have, but I realized that I have only seen the first 30 minutes of it or so. It was actually pretty good, makes you forget any bridesmaid dresses nightmares you may have had from your past, and makes you wish you'd get rescued by someone as handsome as Matthew. LOL!

Do Try This at Home

2010-12-02T22:01:00.002-05:00

We cooked this up a couple of months ago and I think it's time to bake another batch. What is it? It's called cassava cake and it's made from grated cassava or manioc roots. It's a Filipino dessert which includes coconut milk in addition to the root. The root, you can get frozen at most Asian markets.

Which, speaking of Asian markets, we were there last weekend and I couldn't help but notice how much cosmetic products they also sell there. There were an unusual amount of ointments of all sorts but there were also skin whitening and eye wrinkle creams that seem to be very popular among their clientele. Personally, I'm a little wary of products that claim too much.

I'd much rather spend my money on something good to eat. lol!

12 Lesser Known Shopping Sites with Great Deals

2010-12-02T21:45:00.000-05:00

I received this via email and thought I would share it here since it's that time again when most of us are trying to find just the right deals for Christmas. We'd love to be able to get everything on everyone's wishlist, but of course it would help a lot if we can ge those things without breaking the bank, so to speak. So here are a few websites that offer some pretty amazing deals that you may not have heard of.

1. Baby Steals sells a limited number of baby or maternity items daily at 50-80 percent off the retail price until it's gone.

2. Mamabargains offers two to 10 deals a day on products geared toward parents and kids ages birth to 10.

3. thredUP is a kids clothing swap site where you can trade boxes of outgrown sizes for what your kids need now.

4. This Frugal Life offers tutorials on how to take advantage of coupons and also has freebies and discounts on various items your family can use.

5. Shopping Nanny will help you find deals and add them to your grocery store's loyalty discount card. The site charges an annual fee so I don't know how much of a deal this really is.

6. Dealicious Finds offers national grocery store coupon matchups, online shopping deals, and video tutorials. A testimonial claims a reduction of a $207 grocery bill down to $2.50. Sound good to you? It does to me.

7. Your Green Helper features cost-effective, eco-friendly deals, steals, tips, coupons, samples, and reviews on organic and all-natural items.

8. Grocio makes your coupon search and cutting even easier. Just give them your list and they will find the deals for you.

9. Moms Who Save lists coupon codes and deals, printable grocery coupons, freebies, and low-cost family activities. Tips from other moms who may be looking for the same things as you come in quite handy.

10. A network of frugal bloggers share their knowledge of how to live inexpensively. Get deals on clothing, entertainment, groceries, dining, travel, and more.

11. Southern Savers dissects the art of sales cycles, add-on coupons, and organizational methods, while offering frugal menu plans, coupons, and alerts about freebies, samples, and in-store deals.

12. Kidzola is a site where you can buy and sell anything and everything for kids -- new, handmade, or used.

I apologize in advance to whoever compiled this list. Since it was emailed to me, the original source was not noted and I haven't had much luck finding it by searching for "12 Lesser Known Shopping Sites with Great Deals" online without running into a bunch of ads for colon cleanser and the like. Anyway, I hope it helps you. I'm checking some of them myself.

Do You Love to Read?

2010-12-02T21:41:00.002-05:00

Are you a bookworm? Can you not let a day go by without reading? Then you're a book lover like me and you're probably obsessed about books and getting them any way you can. No? Well maybe you're not quite as obsessed as I am yet.

If you're interested to know what I've read lately, visit my review site, Found Not Lost. I review the books that I've read and also other things from food, websites, gadgets and even nanocleanse reviews when the right sponsor comes along. I just posted about some great giveaways sponsored by the publishing house I have been reviewing for. If you love to read, check out these great giveaways for book lovers.

Fun Follow Friday!

2010-11-19T13:45:00.003-05:00

I just found this cool meme where you can gain more followers for your blog and at the same time find some new blogs that you many not have discovered before.

I just added the Google Friend Connect widget to this blog so hopefully we'll get some followers soon aside from myself and my husband. LOL! If you want to join in, just click here for today's Fun Follow Friday directory! Just list your blog and follow the ones already on the list. Happy Blog hopping!

Do You Still Send Holiday Cards?

2010-11-12T12:23:00.005-05:00

I used to stress so much over sending out cards that I would start compiling my lists and getting the cards addressed and ready just about now. But the last couple of years, I decided to cut back on the stress and the expense. Yeah, it can get pretty expensive sending out cards! Especially when you have a list as long as ours which include overseas addresses.

Thank goodness for email! No, I really don't mind emailed cards. I don't get offended but some people do. So if you're still sending out cards this holiday, consider making personalized cards and order them online from on of many direct mail printing places. They will print your cards cheaper than if you buy them by the box, and the ones that you print will be personalized making them more meaningful for the people you send them to.

ZOMBIE TEDDY MARY JANE

2010-11-12T12:09:00.003-05:00

Last year it was the ugg boots. This year, my daughter is asking for Tuk Shoes. I asked, what are tuk shoes? She emails me this photo of the shoe she wants. These are called Black and White Plaid Zombie Teddy Mary Jane. They're cute, don't you think?

Tuk is a rock and roll inspired footwear that originated in the UK. My daughter likes their funky designs that are unique and not everyone at her school is wearing them. She usually wears sneakers most of the time so it's nice that she is wanting to wear something a little nicer like these mary janes. But do they have to be so expensive? These things are $50 a pair! They're not PayLess prices, that's for sure!

How to Run a Book Club

2010-11-09T13:15:00.002-05:00

Have you ever joined a book club, all hyped up and looking forward to the experience then have your hope dashed not long after you joined? Have you ever thought of forming your own book club? Well if you've even considered what it takes to run a successful book club, then check out the guest post on Found Not Lost which will give you 10 Tips for Running a Successful Book Club.

If you're really serious about having a successful and highly organized book club, a barcode scanner might come in handy. Most libraries now use a barcode system, afterall. Why not a book club? It would probably help if you have a complete inventory of what books everyone else has.

But, read on to the 10 tips for some really useful tips that you may not have even thought of.

The Best Way to Lose Weight

2010-11-05T15:40:00.003-05:00

When you Google "the weight loss product" the top search results are diet pills. While there will be people who tell you they lost weight using diet pills, more people will tell you that diet pills are really the worst way to go when you're trying to lose weight. I'm speaking in general terms of course, when it comes to the everyday housewife trying to lose the 'baby pounds' ten years later like me.

I found that the best way to lose pounds is still PORTION CONTROL. I hate dieting and I hate depriving myself of the things I like to eat. I found that by watching the amount of food you take in, you can drastically reduce your calories. I love to eat fatty foods, so portion control is really the only thing that works for me.

I was really glad to see Julie who blogs at Wii Mommies emphasize that she lost weight in part through portion control and not solely through the Wii. Yeah, she really did lose over a hundred pounds from playing Wii games as it says on the interview! Isn't that awesome? But before you start spending all your time playing games, note what she also said about portion control and also watching the kind of foods that you eat.

Hey It's Soup Weather!

2010-11-05T15:21:00.002-05:00

I heard on the radio today that we will get our first freezing temperature this Sunday morning. The first thought that came to my head is, I have to make soup! And I have to make it with my papayas!

I love soups and so do my daughters even though their father is a different story. For us, a soup can be a meal. For him, it is a mere side dish or starter. No matter though, we cook a lot of soups at our house. For one, it is very nutritious, it's filling (my husband will disagree), it's inexpensive and best of all, it's very easy and fuss free to cook! And if you're wondering how to lose weight fast, soups are the way to go. They fill you up, give you lots of energy but not weigh you down with lots of calories.

Below are a few of our favorite soups if you are so inclined to make a pot. Just pair it up with a hearty piece of bread and you'd be all set!

Easy & Creamy TOMATO SOUP

A very filling MEATBALL SOUP called Albondigas and its cousin the Italian Wedding Soup

Then there's the ever reliable POTATO & LEEKS SOUP

If you're daring, you may want to try out this very easy SHRIMP GUMBO

And if all you have is pack of ramen in the pantry, dress it up a bit like we did with this SOUR RAMEN SOUP

3 Tips for a Simple and Stress Free Holidays

2010-11-05T00:11:00.005-05:00

I received these tips via email and I thought they are worth sharing. These helpful tips are from Libby's Table.

Three Tips for a Simple, Stress-Free Holiday Season

Skip the Lines, Shop Online!
I heartily agree with this tip. I think this is the first year that I will be doing most of my gift shopping online. I think if I can order my groceries online, I would! But that's another matter.

Keep the Classics
During the holidays you might feel the pressure to be a gourmet chef. No need! This is the time when you should focus on sharing memorable times, so comfort food is the way to go. Stick to easy, hearty recipe ideas everyone will love, such as winter minestrone and turkey tetrazzini! - absolutely! Although totally against what I've done in the past, believe me when I say that the Holidays is not the time to experiment.

Don't Party Every Night
Between office parties and family gatherings, kids' play dates and community events, your family holiday festivities will start to add up quickly. Sit down as a family and prioritize the parties everyone is looking forward to most, and don't stress about the remaining ones. - don't feel like you have to attend every party you're invited to. You don't have to be a total recluse either like someone I know who sits in front of the tv all day and night watching Mesothelioma commercials.

DO YOU HAVE A TIP FOR STAYING STRESS FREE OVER THE HOLIDAYS?
Share your own holiday tips on the Libby's Facebook page!

AND If you're looking for a way to give back this holiday season, please join or donate to the Libby's and Feeding America Virtual Canned Food Drive! Every $5 donated equals 35 meals. Join or donate today!

Refuse to be stressed

2010-11-03T10:56:00.003-05:00

Stress during the holidays is something that almost seems inevitable. I refuse to succumb to it though. I try to make my holidays as stress free as possible. I may not have the prettiest decorations or the most sumptuous meal but I will be the most sane hostess for the holidays.

This year, I have come to embrace online shopping. I can't believe how stress free it is to simply Google everything you think anyone in your family would need! There are even online coupons and discounts like these aj madison coupons that you can't find elsewhere. The best thing is, I avoid the crowds! I hate crowds and having to fight for parking space. Plus, when you shop online, you can plan farther ahead instead of procrastinating until the night before Christmas like I have done in the past.

Until Next Summer, My Friends

2010-11-02T09:29:00.002-05:00

I finally put away my sandals and flipflops today. And today, I wore socks for the first time in months. It's a sure sign of cooler weather here in the Carolinas but I am not complaining, mind you. It's November and I am just starting to pull out my cold weather stuff.

I did realize though that I am desperately in need of a shoe wardrobe update. I just haven't had much energy to drive around shopping though so I have been browsing online instead. I have wide feet and not many stores carry wide sizes and I usually end up going from store to store and coming home empty handed at the end of the day. It's so much easier to shop online. I can filter the type of shoes at the right size and I can immediately see what's available to me.

I just have to keep myself from getting distracted by the womens sandals section which I much prefer over the oxfords and pumps that I am looking for to wear to work.

Know of any good shoe shopping sites online? Leave me a comment with your suggestions!

What to do with green cherry tomatoes

2010-11-02T09:03:00.002-05:00

We took down the last of the tomatoes from the garden last Friday. The first cold frost was anticipated that night (it didn't quite make it to freezing, but cold enough) so we hurried and took the tomatoes down before they get frost bitten. A great number of what we picked were these green cherry tomatoes which just keep coming back in our garden. Most people would just toss these away but I just hated to waste them.

Besides, did you know that green tomatoes are packed full of vitamin C? What a shame to throw all that nutrition away when multivitamin reviews touting the benefits of getting your vitamins in their natural state abound. The vitamin C in these green tomatoes can help ward off colds and flus so why waste them, right?

I didn't have time to do anything fancy with this final harvest though so what I did is just wash them and put them in the food processor then in ziploc bags for freezing. You can use these green tomato purees in just about anything that you would use red tomatoes for, plus more. You can make green sauces with them, for instance. I for one am planning to make enchiladas suizas with these. Recipe coming up soon.

Do I Still Want to be JMom?

2010-10-31T14:26:00.002-05:00

When my daughter got me started blogging, I didn't really put a lot of thought into my screen name. We didn't really put a lot of thought in naming this blog either. I'm sure you couldn't tell.

At the time though, it didn't matter much that I had such an unoriginal screen name. JMom. But now that everyone's mother is on the internet, it seems the moniker JMom has gotten very popular. JMom, I found out can be J for Japanese Mom or J for Jewish Mom and many other permutations. So I'm thinking it's time to give up JMom.

But how do I do that? I want a name that reflects who I am and my online persona. I wouldn't want a name like Tiramisu or Paprika or Lipofuze or bookworm or Colgate or Listerine. I know, I cook and I review products but I wouldn't want to take on any of those names.

I actually have started using my own name on some of my newer accounts. It's Jeanette, by the way, if you didn't know. However, it's still so plain. I was thinking of something more creative with words like 'domestic', 'diva', 'mistress', 'sexy' or something like that. But I'm having a hard time coming up with a name I like! Besides a lot of my friends already know me a JMom and even after learning my real name, they still refer to me as JMom. So you got any ideas? I don't know if I want to still be JMom.

Book Review: Desiree - Napoleon's First Love

2010-10-30T23:02:00.003-05:00

There's nothing like good books as natural fat burners. If you've ever picked up a good sized book and become mesmerized from the first page, then you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

This is a reprint of an old novel which was originally published in German by Annemarie Selinko. It is based on the true story of a girl named Bernardine Eugénie Désirée Clary, the daughter of a silk merchant who was also Napoleon Bonaparte's first love and who became the Queen of Sweden and Norway. Sound interesting enough for you? Are you intrigued already? If you like historical romances then you will love this one. It is full of historical references and woven just so that it is all plausible. You will become so enmeshed in the lives of the characters that you'll have a hard time putting the book down.

"Rest with your dream in my dreams..."

2010-10-30T22:48:00.005-05:00

It is late in the evening, it's quiet and I am blogging. I am a bit fatigued from writing book reviews, recipes and best calcium supplements and what have you. My eyelids are getting heavy and my mind is starting to numb. In the background, I have the music playing and this happened to come on just now and I thought of you. Because quiet, unguarded moments like these, they bring one memories of you and I could not help but close my eyes and let you fill my waking dreams.

And now you're mine. Rest with your dream in my dream.
Love and pain and work should all sleep, now.
The night turns on its invisible wheels,
and you are pure beside me as a sleeping amber.

No one else, Love, will sleep in my dreams.
You will go,we will go together, over the waters of time.
No one else will travel through the shadows with me,
only you, evergreen, ever sun, ever moon.

Your hands have already opened their delicate fists
and let their soft drifting signs drop away;
your eyes closed like two gray
wings, and I move

After, following the folding water you carry,
that carries me away. The night, the world,
the wind spin out their destiny.
Without you, I am your dream, only that, and that is all.

~ by Pablo Neruda (translated)

Thanks for the Memories

2010-10-29T10:24:00.003-05:00

My mother moved to Las Vegas this week where she had bought another house to retire in. She will be sharing the house with her cousin and her husband. It also means that our childhood home, the house that she has lived in for over thirty years is now being sold. We loved this little house. It's where we grew up in. Even our friends say they hate to see this house. It has anchored many of us even after we had moved on out on our own. We all still had strong ties to this house. Now, those ties will be permanently severed.

Of course we know it's not really the house that we are tied to, it's the people and the memories that were in it. I know it has to be doubly difficult for my mother, but as she said, she's getting old and living by herself in this old house has gotten more difficult every year. Ever since my grandmother passed away last year, my mother has been feeling her age more and I guess she is now also feeling a vulnerability to her own mortality. I don't blame her. She saw her mother age and go through sickness.

She had started worrying what would happen if she fell or got sick and there's no one there to help her. She had considered those medical alert buttons that you can push when you've fallen and can't get up (lol) my grandmother had one so my mom's familiar with it and all the other devices made for senior safety. But it's just a different feeling knowing that there's another person in the house with you. I guess that's why, when she had the chance, she jumped on the opportunity to move somewhere where there will be someone in the house with her. Besides, she loves Vegas! We're just hoping she doesn't spend all her money at the casinos.

So as my mother makes her way to her new home, we are saying goodbye to our old home with sadness. The only comfort we take in letting the house go is that my mother is still strong enough to make a major move like this in her life. She is taking that anchor and all the memories with her, and she will now serve as the beacon for us to follow home.

At least when she's in Vegas, there will also be many other seniors that she can interact with on a daily basis. They will all probably be wearing medical alert bracelets, but that's ok. It's another phase in her life and she will adjust as we all will...

So for now, goodbye house, goodbye home. Thanks for the shelter, the laughter and the memories.

What do you mean Christmas?

2010-10-27T08:44:00.003-05:00

It's Halloween this weekend so I went to the mall last night for some treats. Instead of ghouls and witches, what I saw instead was a lot of reds, trees and christmas wreaths! What's up with that? Christmas is coming on faster than the midnight express!

Again, the economy is to blame. I heard on the news that stores are putting out their Christmas wares to give everyone a chance to start shopping early to avoid the big expenditure in December. They are also bringing back layaways which had gone out of fashion for a while. Layaways, they claim, will keep shoppers from using credit cards which many of us are avoiding, but still will allow the convenience of being able to shop early and pay in installments.

Myself, I am more prone to just buying what I can afford and if I can't afford it, I would just not buy it. Even if it means that we won't have as much for Christmas as we did in previous years. How about you, what's your shopping strategy this year?

Foods that Help Your Skin

2010-10-27T08:16:00.004-05:00

The weather is turning cooler and for a lot of people that means ITCH. With the cooler weather it also means that our skin is getting drier and we're already feeling the unmistakable sign of fall, itchy skin. This morning I switched back to a heavier moisturizing lotion than the light, scented one I had been using all summer. Yep, time to pull out the heavy guns so to speak.

For some people who have more skin problems, this problem is no joke. My sister who has been using various eczema treatments over the years always has a hard time this time of year. But lotions and moisturizers are not the only weapons you have against dry skin. You can also help keep your skin moisturized and in healthy condition by eating the right kind of foods.

2 Essential Fatty Acids to keep your skin healthy - these come from vegetables, nuts seeds and cold water fish.

Omega 6

Omega 3

FOODS RICH IN OMEGA 6 & 3

Fish: Two to three servings of fresh salmon, mackerel (preferably not smoked), herring and sardines per week.

Nuts and seeds: Walnuts, pumpkin, sesame and sunflower seeds, one to two tablespoons per day. Mix and store in the fridge, then sprinkle over salad or grind them up and have with yogurt or cereal.

Oils: flax, sunflower, corn evening primrose and starflower oils. One to two tablespoons of flax seed oil daily initially. Use oils on salads or vegetable – but for cooking, use only olive oil as the other become unstable when subjected to heat.

Vegetables: Green leafy vegetable, particularly spinach and cabbage. Aim to have five different types each day, including a good portion of dark-green leafy ones.

How was your weekend?

2010-10-25T17:30:00.002-05:00

My oldest daughter, who's been away at college, came home last weekend for her baby sister's birthday. She hasn't been home since she went away in August and we've missed her. It sure was nice to have her home. She also missed my cooking so it was a good thing she came home on her sister's birthday weekend, we cooked up a mess of food and she went away happy and with all the leftovers. lol!

It was tiring for me since I had to go pick her up last Friday and when we've gone to her school in the past, her dad always drove us. This was the first time I drove the 6 hours roundtrip on my own. Then it was the same way again when it came time to take her back on Sunday. We got started late yesterday so it was late last night by the time we got home. I'll have to find something now to remove dark circles under eyes, but that's ok. It was worth it just having my three girls home at the same time.

The first thing my daughter asked for when she got home is, Tocino! It's what she wanted for breakfast, so Saturday morning, this is what she ate.

Cyber Monday Deals

2010-10-25T17:15:00.003-05:00

I have heard of Black Friday sales but I had never heard of Cyber Monday. Have you? Well I recently came across a great website to buy gifts call Red Envelope and they have a cyber Monday gifts deal where their already discounted items are slashed even more, giving you the best prices on some pretty unique gifts.

Time is flying fast and Christmas will be here before you know it and I for one am planning on getting a head start on my shopping. I don't think I want to be out in the crowd of last minute shoppers this year. Besides, online shopping has gotten so convenient that I think I will be doing most of my shopping online this year. How about you? Have you gotten started yet?

Homemade Pizza

2010-10-20T10:29:00.002-05:00

Doesn't this make you want to have one right now? Yeah, I'm seriously wanting a slice of this rather than my green tea and apple. My youngest daughter has been making homemade pizza since she was 10. She loves to play with dough, and what better way to feed that need than pizza dough? It's the most forgiving dough and perfect for kids. They can knead it all they want and it just gets better the more they play with it.

My daughter made this last batch of pizza all by herself. I didn't even stick my head in the kitchen to check on her. My only role is to put the pan in and out of the oven and ready the phentermine pills. LOL! Just kidding :)

She knew I liked my crust thick and that I liked mushrooms, so that's what she made. A very bready, thick crusted pizza with lots of cheese and pepperoni and a few flecks of mushrooms. lol! She doesn't eat mushrooms, the few on there were for my benefit only, so I appreciate what little there is. :)

Green Tea and an Apple

2010-10-20T10:19:00.003-05:00

Wednesdays have gotten bad for me because of the Food Quote meme. Friends start tagging me on their food photos on facebook and before you know it, I'm salivating and my stomach is grumbling. BTW, this is also about the same time that the damned donut ad pops up on the sidebar! It's a conspiracy against dieters, I tell you! If I knew of any diet pills that work, I could be a very happy person indeed. BUT, life is not fair, is it? So I drool over food photos and my stomach can jump up and down all it wants. All I have for it today is green tea and an apple. So mean, ha?

So what are you having for breakfast? Yeah, yeah, I know it's almost noon.... but I'm still working on breakast, alright? :)

How Can You Live Without Sausage?

2010-10-15T10:26:00.003-05:00

This is this week's entry to the Food Quote meme. The quote for this week is:

“Life withour veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace, or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living.” ~ Anthony Bourdain

I really enjoy this weekly event which we do mostly on facebook, we post a photo and relate a quote with it. The only problem with that is, we all end up needing the strongest appetite suppressant just to get through the day! LOL! Like right now, I am already thinking I need more of these sausages this weekend. The other food bloggers also posted some delicious food stuff that has inspired me to cook up something this weekend. So stay tuned, I'll let you know what brews this weekend ;-)

A Fall Garden?

2010-10-15T10:13:00.003-05:00

What are you planting this fall? Have you started your fall garden yet? We haven't. We're still in the midst of ending our summer garden as we harvest the rest of the tomatoes, squashes, peppers, beans and okras. Normally we would have already cleared a bed and planted some greens but this year my husband wants to re-do our back yard. He's removing a couple of the beds and moving them towards the back so that he can create a work area for himself. So we've been doing a bit of green shopping lately, finding materials suitable for our garden renovation.

In the meantime, here's what's languishing in our backyard. They're biodegradable pens and they're supposed to degrade and be absorbed back into the soil. We participated to review these green pens and have agreed to monitor their degredation rate. So far, not much has happened since we put them out a couple of months ago. But then, it's been a bit dry in our area. Maybe as we get more rain and they get more covered with dirt they will disintegrate faster.

Here too soon

2010-10-15T10:05:00.002-05:00

The BER months are here and the holidays are off. I can't believe some people are already talking Christmas! I refuse to even think about Christmas yet. I don't care how many sales are going on to encourage you to start shopping early, I am not falling for it. I don't want to see any Wii's, iPods, iPads or xbox kinect ads just yet. I want to enjoy the season that we're in right now before I start thinking about Christmas.

Yesterday we had Oktoberfest celebration here at work. Of course, BEER was involved! Lots of it :) Some people started drinking at 3 and went on until quitting time. lol! Not me though. I had to pick up my daughter after work so I can't very well be drunk when I drive up to her school, now can I? So I took a couple of bottles of beer home instead and I plan on making some beer batter fish and chips for dinner tonight. I think I like that alternative better. Don't you?

The Saddest Thing Ever

2010-10-12T20:29:00.002-05:00

This is the house I and my two sisters grew up in. My parents have owned this house for over 30 years and we've had some of our best memories at this house. However, these days, it has a for sale sign in front of it.

Our mother who has been a widow for seven years now has found it too much for her to maintain. She reasoned that before the house starts falling apart, around her, she would cash in and retire in Vegas. She has already bought a house in Vegas and as soon as this sells, she is moving. She says that by moving to Vegas, it would be more affordable for her to live on her retirement income and social security disability benefits. We're happy for her, really, and it will probably be fun visiting her in Vegas instead of L.A. but we can't help but feel sentimental about this old house which played such an integral part in our growing up.

If I had the means, I would hang on to this house. Probably fix it up for my mom and hopefully my daughter will have as much happy memories here as we did.

New at Cooked From the Heart

2010-10-09T16:30:00.002-05:00

Taking advantage of my newly resurrected blogging mojo, I also posted new recipes in our food blog. Here's a few of them:

One of the memes I enjoyed lately is one called Food Quote. Every Wednesday I have been posting a food photo with an accompanying food quote. This is the one from last week. You like it?

My daughter made those bruschetta, which she said looked so pretty that they resemble some the fashion jewelry she likes to wear. LOL!

Turning over a new leaf

2010-10-09T16:14:00.002-05:00

It's been a while since I've written anything for this blog. You could say I have been distracted. I think I may also have been just a little bit burned out. At one time I was writing posts and reviews everyday. But after a while you get tired of writing about phentermine reviews and all that non-sense. So, I took a little break and I think now I'm ready to turn a new leaf.

Today, I vowed to lay off the things that have been distracting me (like facebook) and start concentrating on blogging again. More like concentrate on making some money from blogging. Christmas is just around the corner again, after all. So I hope you haven't completely written me off, I'm back and hopefully will be back for a while. I have a great many ideas to write about and now I just have to make more time to do them all. So I'll see you around!

The Prototype Project

2010-05-26T21:57:00.004-05:00

There is a story I have been wanting to tell but have no one to tell it to. I wonder if I can work it into this blog somehow without getting really specific about the details. Do you think I can do it?

I have an idea for a romantic story but I am afraid to share it with any of my friends. My real friends, that is. Do you think I can do it here? I wonder if anyone will pay attention? I wonder if anyone will read it? We'll have to see, won't we?

Here's what I'm thinking... I'm calling it the Prototype Project. I don't know yet how I'll separate it from the other blogs. I'm thinking of just tagging it as Prototype. I don't know either how long I can keep it up but I figure I'd start at one and go from there. Maybe I'll get up to prototype 37c or prototype 1000. Who knows? I'm not sure yet either if I would write it in third person or first, but right now I am leaning toward a first person conversation format. I don't know yet though. I may just start one way and end in another way. We'll have to see. So look out for the Prototype tag. It will be my attempt at fictional romance ;)

Graceful Aging

2010-05-26T21:46:00.002-05:00

As much as I hate to admit it, I am getting OLD. Yes, I said the dirty word among forty-somethingers. It seemed to have come on me suddenly. The changes had never been more obvious as they have been this year. Yes, I notice my face changing, new wrinkles have settled in and more gray hairs have popped up. Conversation among my friends have gone from breast feeding and diaper changes to anti-wrinkle creams and hair dyes. Some have even ventured into investigating human growth hormone facts. Well I haven't gotten that far yet.

I still appreciate the adage about aging gracefully and loving the stage that I am in, no matter the decade. And actually, 40's isn't that bad and it even has certain advantages. For one, I now have more time for myself. Good thing too as I've never had time for a beauty regime before. Now I can take time to slather on lotions and what nots every night and I'm thinking I'll finally have some time to put in some exercise too. We'll see...

'Tis the Season

2010-05-26T21:36:00.003-05:00

It's graduation season and it seems a lot of our family is graduating this year. We've received two announcements so far and our daughter is also graduating from high school this year. It's a big milestone for them, and exciting for all of us on the sidelines. It brings back memories of the time when we were going through the same rituals.

What this season also means is that they are getting ready to step into college. For us on the sidelines, it's the anticipation of more changes. Unfortunately, even though I have been seeing some impressive Branson vacation packages, we won't be taking any extended vacations this year. Most of our funds are going towards getting our daughter moved into college. If she ever decides which one to go to, that is!

Useful Tips: Meatless Days

2010-05-19T20:03:00.001-05:00

Meatless Fridays, Meatless Mondays or Meatless Sundays, they've been around a while. I have been reading about people taking a day out of the week to go meatless in attempts at healthier eating or just to say you can do it. Well, it's also a good idea to go meatless one or two times a week to save some money.

Start trying out some vegetarian recipes and before you know it, you may find out that you actually like and feel better because of it!

To make your meatless days even more significant, try using produce that you grew yourself or if you don't have a garden (you should, you know), buy from your farmer's market and support locally grown foods. If you don't have a farmer's market, then so some green shopping at places that sell organically grown produce.

Ok, so you're saying you just can't live without meat even for just one day of the week? Then try reducing the amount of meat you use in your dishes at first. Make a vegetable heavy soup or something. Or stirfries work really well too, just reduce the meat and use more vegetables.

If you have to have meats, you can also save some money by buying tougher cuts of meats which are usually cheaper, and make soups or stews. And if you can stand it, throw in lots of vegetables in the pot.

That's the useful tip of the day! Cut down on meats, save money and save your health.

Reviving this old me

2010-05-16T17:15:00.004-05:00

You know how they say that stress wreaks havoc on your skin? Well that has not been more apparent than the last couple of months. Not only have I been having sleep problems, I have also been feeling like a teenager with skin breakouts and added wrinkles. And don't even mention the added gray hair.

So this week, along with my determination to get back on track, I also decided to do something for myself. For the first time, I bought some hair dye to get rid of the grays; I bought an anti wrinkle cream (god forbid! this was hard to admit to!); and finally I bought some acne body wash to get rid of the breakouts.

So, do you think there's hope to fix this mug? I also got some under eye cream, btw, and will be giving an update in a few weeks if any improvements can be noticed.

The door is open... AGAIN

2010-05-16T16:58:00.003-05:00

Wow, time really flies when you get distracted and frustrated. Yes, worst than having a broken doorbell button, this house has been essentially on lock down for the last month and a half. It all started with work. I pulled off, singlehandedly, I'm proud to say, a three day workshop flawlessly. That took a lot of my time though and at the end of most days I was so exhausted that I could not even look at the computer anymore.

Sorry about that. But now, I am determined to get back on track and distractions be damned. Ultimately, I find that I only have to please myself and no one else. It's a hard lesson to learn when you have a family depending on you and a full time job that is completely reliant on your attention.I finally had to pull myself back and remind myself that I am one person, not superwoman, and no one else can be happy unless I am happy. There have been too many times these past couple of months when I wasn't happy. So that's ending today. So welcome back to our home, the door is again open for business. :)

Need a Spring Break?

2010-03-27T13:54:00.002-05:00

Spring break is already underway for some schools and my daughters will be taking theirs next week. 'Spring Break' brings forth images of scantily clad kids on the beach but that's not always the case. We older folks, after being cooped up and dealing with the cold of winter, also need a break and spring is as good a time as any to take one. Why wait for summer, right?

Friends have been telling us about Myrtle Beach Golf Vacations for a while now but can you believe we've never been to Myrtle Beach? Ok, so I'm not really big on golf and my husband is just a casual golfer; but I am a beach kind of girl and from what I hear, Myrtle Beach Golf Packages can be a huge bargain once you get beyond the 'golf'. I'll let the husband take that department. Me, I'll take the rest. What's the rest, you ask?

Myrtle Beach Golf, although awesome, is not all there is, you know. First off, don't forget the 'beach' in Myrtle Beach. From what I hear, since I've never been there, the beaches are wonderful. There are also great entertainment venues including some great eateries and I'm all about eating great.

If you're looking for a place to play golf but also offers non-golf related activities and amenities at a great price, then you definitely need to look into the Golf Packages Myrtle Beach on the T times only website and check out the great deals and beautiful property.

My Fair Lady

2010-03-27T12:21:00.002-05:00

We went to see my daughter's school's production of My Fair Lady last night and it was stupendous! They did such a great job, the auditorium was full of beaming, proud parents and family. The whole cast and support crew did an amazing job. Starting with the set and the stage crew, to the performers to the costume designers and the orchestra, these kids were all superb and talented. My older daughter, Asienne, was really impressed with the costumes. The apparel development class at the school created a lot of the costumes from the formal dresses, peasant clothes to the equestrian apparel were all done by students. The orchestra was the school's own, not hired professionals like I've seen other school productions do. The director is to be commended in giving everyone in the cast a chance to shine. Although the show, My Fair Lady, is essentially focused on the main character, this production was well balanced by giving each person their time under the lights. Well balanced and very entertaining evening!

A Sunny Sunday

2010-03-21T21:19:00.002-05:00

It was a beautiful day in the Carolinas today. A fitting way to start out spring. Yes folks, we're finally done with winter!

So this weekend we were outside most of the time. We started working on the garden. I harvested some herbs for dinner and even some early greens. They were delicious! My husband took advantage of the warm weather to wash off the winter grime off the cars and even managed to do some minor maintenance work like replenish fluids like the motor oil and anti-freeze on all the cars including the aging Toyota Corolla that we're keeping as a backup car. I say backup because it's a 'just in case' car. It's not in the top condition anymore and needing to have some parts either repaired or replaced. My husband says that it will soon need to have the water pump replaced, for one thing. We're actually considering selling it and getting a newer model and a more reliable car for the girls to drive. He's thinking of selling it for cheap to his cousin who works in a Chicago auto repair shop. At least he will take the car as is without us having to make sure it is in a safe and running condition.

In the meantime though, it is taking up space in our driveway. My husband washed a minivan, the Corolla and a pickup truck in one afternoon. That's quite an achievement, don't you think? No wonder he's already snoring from exhaustion!

So You Want to be a Blogger

2010-03-21T20:51:00.003-05:00

Once people find out that I am a blogger, they soon start asking about blogging and it's not long before they ask for help in setting up their own site. I don't really mind. I love helping others discover blogging because it's something that I enjoy doingg and I love to share my love of blogging.

What most people don't realize though is that it takes time to set up a blog or a website. Sure, it's easy enough to put up a site, it's the content that takes time and if you want a more customize site to reflect who you are, then add more time to the equation. Personally, it took me years to figure out how to really blog and do some customizations on my site. But then, I didn't have a pressing agenda when I started. I was simply writing for myself and form my own enjoyment so it took years before I started seeing any audience or income which is what most people's reason for wanting to start a blog or website.

If you just want to throw up a site and start writing, then you may want to consider free sites like the one hosting this blog on Blogger.com or another good free site to try is Wordpress.com. If you're serious about becoming a blogger or are ambitious enough to know that you're in for long term website, then I seriously suggest taking the plunge and get your own domain and your own website hosting. Keep in mind that depending on your purpose, you may need a different type of website host. Do your research and if blogging is your purpose, there are providers out there who specialize in being a website host for bloggers and can better provide you with the necessary customer service that you will more than likely need if you are just starting out.

I had been blogging on Blogger for four years before I finally got my own domain and host site, but that's me, I like to take my time doing things. Once you have your own domain and host site, then you can start filling it with your content. You can just jump in and start writing, figuring things out as you go, or you can read up on how to get started and there are tons of information out there too, you just have to search for them. Like they say, almost everything you need, you can find on the internet.

The New Golden Rule

2010-03-14T20:59:00.002-05:00

Have you seen those ads where they pay you for your unused or unwanted gold jewelry? One of our neighbors, a nice elderly lady on fixed income, saw one of those ads on late night TV so she was telling us how she is considering taking some of her old jewelries (apparently she's got quite a few collected over the years) and selling them to make some extra money.

What she doesn't realize is you can actually get a better deal at your local pawn shop. Why? because those mail in things will end up paying you only about 30% of what your gold is actually worth. Why? Because even though they keep talking about how high the price of gold is right now, most of those places that offer to buy your jewelry actually only pays the 'scrap rate' which could be as low as 10% of the present rate for gold.

Not that I frequent pawn shops, anything, but I heard that in Dallas, TX, Dallas Pawn Shops are willing to haggle with you over the price of your gold. So in the long run, if you have good quality jewelry and good bargaining skills, you can come out with as much as 60% of the going rate. I suppose if you're in Houston, Houston Pawn Shops would be the same way. You think?

A Naruto Obsession

2010-03-14T20:22:00.004-05:00

Two of my daughters are big fans of Naruto. If you don't know what Naruto is, it is a Japanese manga comic book. My daughters and their friends are into manga and anime and Naruto is one of their favorite characters. See, Naruto is a teenage ninja warrior who like most teens, is also still finding who he is.

Manga, as I've said, is simply a genre of comic books that originated in Japan and are now hugely popular among American kids. The Naruto series has sold millions here and in Japan and it is well liked because of the engaging story line and illustrations. My daughters can spend a whole afternoon browsing the graphics section of our local book store reading through their favorite episodes. Most times, they buy at least a couple of books to take home with them and they are not cheap! They average about $10 per book and they can go through them in an hour or so. Good thing they also like to keep them in their book collection. My daughters have hundreds of manga books on their bookshelves and every time I look at them, I can't help but cringe at the amount of that investment. Well, I don't know that 'investment' is a good word to describe their collection of books, but they enjoy it so I leave them alone. I guess they could be obsessed with worse things. I'm just waiting until the day that they can support their own habit.

When Do You Stop Trusting and Start Spying?

2010-03-14T19:44:00.003-05:00

There is something that is weirdly satisfying and morbidly tantalizing about uncovering a forbidden secret. With the growth of the internet so too has the ways that people can connect grew but some grew in productive and positive ways and others grew in not so positive ways. The internet has also become a bedlam of illicit activities and affairs. Many relationships have been damaged by activities fostered by the internet, some legal and some not.

This has spurred a new class of technology designed for covert monitoring whether to be used for good or for bad, it all depends on the user. There are systems designed to track all activities in a computer called Keyloggers. They can monitor and save passwords, log any chats, photos, websites visited even when the user goes through the trouble of erasing their history or cleaning up their temporary files. Even when they do those, a spying system can log all those activities separately.

Whoever is conducting this surveillance will be able to see everything done on any computer and the scary thing is, it's virtually undetectable. As a parent who wants to ensure their child's safety online, this sounds like a great tool, doesn't it? But at the same time, I wonder how far one can take this computer spying. Is it no longer enough to trust our children, even spouses, without resorting to using a surveillance software?

If for one am still leaning to good old fashioned communication and trust. How about you?

Lost in Translation

2010-03-11T21:43:00.005-05:00

My daughter and I have been listening to a lot of Latin music lately. We're both hooked on the beat and some of them just sound so romantic. Now she's taken three years of Spanish and she can just about understand what they're singing about. Me, I just listen for the rhythm and melody. I have no idea what they're talking about, but hey, they sound good! However, once in a while a song would come on that just wraps itself around my heart. You know how that happens, right?

So when that happens, I would Google the the lyrics and usually some websites also will have the English translation. Well, I was heard one song today and did that, but no luck. No one has taken the time to translate the lyrics correctly so when I clicked the 'translate this page' button, all I got was gibberish.

Those auto translators you find online are not the best because they translate literally so if you're going from say Spanish to English, you just don't get a translation that makes sense. See, you have to find someone who speaks both languages fluently so that they can word sentences so that they convey the same meaning and emotion. This is especially important with song lyrics or poetry. There is a lot that can be lost in the translation when you don't know what you're doing.

So, if you have a translation job that needs to be done right, one place to go to is Translia, a translation service platform. You can register at their site for free and avail of their translation services. They use expert translators word wide so you know that what you're getting is a reliable and trustworthy translation that will stay true to the spirit of the original words.

As with any job, pricing is important. With Translia, you can negotiate with professional translators on the cost of your job and if you are not satisfied, they claim to guarantee that you don't have to pay until you are satisfied with the job they do for you.

By the way, for bloggers looking to earn some extra money, they also have an affiliate program where you can earn commission when you refer a sale.

Read Carefully Before You Answer

2010-03-09T22:29:00.002-05:00

A funny thing happened on facebook last week. Oh, did I forget to mention how I have been spending way too much time on facebook? I think that's why some of blogging have gone by the wayside lately. But anyway, facebook is like mini blogging anyway and there's so much intrigue going on there that sometimes it's better than TV!

One of the best (best? - i guess it depends on how you look at it) things on facebook is that you can find old friends and vice versa. So one of our high school buddies found me and my sister and also another friend on FB (short for facebook from this point on). On one of our conversations, she commented how my sister is smokin'. My sister replies, at length, about how yeah she's still smokin' but trying' to quit and has even tried electric cigarettes to no avail but she's still trying. To which, our friend replied, "Oh, I didn't know you smoked? I meant you're still a hot momma!" LOL!

Anything like that ever happened to you?

Vanilla Twilight

2010-02-23T10:43:00.002-05:00

I think I need to start taking some of those vitamins for women because every month, around that crucial time with the dirty acronym associated with it, I get overly emotional and fatigued. Maybe it's hormonal, maybe its the other ugly word, menopause, that is slowly creeping in. It's kind of weird, when you're young and going through PMS, your hormones are revved up and exploding but when you're older and close to the big M, it feels like they're already dying and deflating. Am I the only one who's noticed this?

Because strangely, when I heard this song below, a favorite on my playlist, I felt the strangest sense of melancholy and sadness. It's like missing something but you don't know what it is. But, it could be just the hormone's acting up... or down, depending on how you look at it. I think I need to switch to the salsa channel and get myself revved up instead.

Are you sleeping with the enemy?

2010-02-20T09:55:00.003-05:00

I love pilows! My bed does not have just two pillows, it has ten! Yes, believe me, ten pillows on it. Five for each side. Why?

See, when you love to read as much as I do, you want to be as comfortable as possible when you're laying in bed with a good book. That's why I love my pilows! Some of them I've had for over ten years and they are my favorites! What I never realized is, how disgusting they could be or probably already are! Watch the segment below and see what I mean.

Scary, isn't it? My husband is borderline germophobe so he makes sure that our beddings are washed every week. When he does the washing, he also sprays the bare pillows and mattresses thoroughly with Lysol antibacterial spray. I'm hoping these measures that he has been taking has taken care of some of the problems mentioned in the video. I am still a bit wary though because our pillows are so old! As mentioned in the video, the older the pillows are, the more susceptible they are housing all the nasty things mentioned like dust mites, their droppings, fungus, mold and bacteria.

It got me thinking that maybe it's time to get some new pillows. There are new products in the market like the allergy pillow offered by Healthy Dreams. They are made with the Micrenza bio-filter which effectively keeps out the germs, mold and allergens from settling in to your pillows. They cost a bit more than the average good quality pillow but if it keeps you from breathing in harmful particles that can compromise your health, why not splurge? And if you consider the fact that a good quality pillow can usually last at least a couple of years or longer, that's a pretty good investment.

A great thing about these Healthy Dreams pillows is that they have 10-Year Warranty and a 60-Day Unconditional Return Privilege. If you've been considering changing out your pillows, these Healthy Dreams pillows are worth considering. Stop sleeping with the enemies, sleep healthy instead.

The New Norm

2010-02-20T09:36:00.003-05:00

Last night is quickly becoming the norm in our house. The husband and I were left to ourselves and we didn't quite know what to do about it. Jade had gone out with her friends straight from school and was spending the night out too. Asi had gone to visit her friend and was out for the night. My youngest, Mara, went to sleep early, exhausted from school. So by the time I got home at seven, the house was eerily quiet, clean and smelling good. My husband has gone through his pre-weekend cleaning spree, the girls were not home to mess up the kitchen and their usual bickering and teasing was strangely missing.

I missed the cacophony. Will I feel this way when they are permanently gone from the house? I wonder. It won't be long before they go off to college and we'll be left with an empty house. The thought of having an empty house is a bit depressing. I just hope I won't be like those people you hear about who either go through some kind of mid life crisis or have need for depression treatments when faced with an empty nest.

It could be just my mood today though...

Where did the week go?

2010-02-20T09:03:00.002-05:00

Does it seem like the days go by faster the older we get? This week sure went in a flash! It was almost Friday before I even got in the groove at work. Yeah, work has been hectic and with me trying to catch up with my blogging duties, it just seems like there isn't enough hours in a day to accomplish everything I need to do.

One thing I've noticed since being thrown into this hectic schedule is that I have lost more weight. Normally, I would gain weight over the winter months. Not this time though. My clothes have gotten looser without having resorted to any diets or weight loss drinks. I don't know yet if that's a good thing or not. I am getting to be the smallest person in the house and not by choice. It's just time flying by and I am floating along with it.

Winter

2010-02-15T12:23:00.002-05:00

We've had three snow events in Durham since December and for us, that is unusual. We've had years when we didn't see one speck of snow flake! There there was that one year, almost ten years ago when we had 3 feet fall on us overnight. This year though, we're having an almost typical winter weather with lots of rain and gray skies and some snow fall.

I love to watch snow falling! I love how it blankets everything with its whiteness and makes it all pretty. I don't like having to go out and drive through it though. Thank goodness the whole city shuts down everytime we have a little bit of snow. Another reason I don't like snow is when it gets so darn cold my eczema flares up. I hate itching!

Overall though, I enjoy the change in seasons. I'm just glad that winter is the shortest season. It sure feels really long though.

Post Valentine

2010-02-15T12:10:00.002-05:00

So how was your Valentine's Day this year? Did you do anything special? Di you get lots of presents? Did you get lots of chocolates? Did you get a fancy dinner?

What ever it is that you did or however you celebrated this day of hearts, I hope that you are full of love today. If not full of love, then at least full of something good like this 'hearty' chunk of lamb that we cooked up in the kitchen for LaPiS, the weekly food photo blogging event.

If you're not a meat eater, it's downright scary, I know. But if you love meat like we do, then you can just forget the treadmills for a while and enjoy a big plateful of this baby!

That time of year again....

2010-02-09T14:19:00.001-05:00

No, it's not Valentine's Day. It's not taxes either. At our job, February has become the open enrollment period for our company benefits.

So today, I filled out my forms and turned them all in just before the 3 o'clock deadline. This year, a little more paper work was involved since we changed insurance carriers for our health and dental benefits. The bottom line is, the amount I pay for our health, dental, vision and live insurance went up an exactly 3% of what they were last year. Is that a coincidence to the fact that annual pay raises usually average around 3%?

That means that unless I get a very nice raise this year (I doubt it) my paycheck this year will actually be slightly less than they were last year! Does that make sense? Well, maybe it does to someone out there... I'm having a hard time wrapping my little head around that one.

Someone at the meeting actually said, "Thank you, health care reform!" LOL! With insurance rates like this, it makes me wonder about and want to investigate independent brokers like health travel guides to see if the plans they have listed on their site have more to offer than the paltry ones we get every year.

Love Song Fest

2010-02-09T14:11:00.002-05:00

I love music... I listen to just about any kind of music but just like my taste in books, I do tend to lean towards sappy stories and cheesy love songs. So in celebration of those tendencies, I am holding a love fest on Facebook and on Amoores.

If you want to get started on Valentine's ahead of time, join me is exploring some love inspired songs to get us in the proper mood. Don't even dare to think you'd get away with something mundane like lighting fixtures or vacuum cleaners as a present. Not romantic at all for the price. Here's one cool love song that I just happened to run across while searching on YouTube. Hope it puts you in the right mood!

Can you drive a stick?

2010-02-09T13:56:00.002-05:00

I remember a time when it was a big deal when you can drive a stick shift. Know what that is? Car with manual transmission? No? Well that's how my kids were reacting recently when the matter of driving a stick shift came up in the conversation. They only know cars with automatic transmissions. Sad, eh?

Then we started talking about computers and how my very first computer didn't even have an internal hard drive. It had two floppy drives! Then when I upgraded to a 486, I thought that was a big deal! Hmmm... that was 486MB, by the way. LOL! It's funny when you think that a lot of these mini flash drives that people carry around nowadays have more memory in their little pinkie like bodies than my dinosaur computer back in the day!

Times sure are a changing, aren't they?

Cook's Interior Door Company

2010-02-08T17:00:00.004-05:00

Much like the way your face is the first thing anyone who first meets you judges you by, the door is the first thing that any new comer to your home sees first. The doorway is the first impression everyone gets of your home and by association, of you.

Cook's Doors and Windows has been in business for over 80 years and it still remains a family run operation. The company is located in Los Angeles, California where they are a premier interior door company and exterior door company. They work with building contractors, designers and architects, providing them quality doors from a variety of reputable manufacturers to ensure that clients get just what they want or need for their doorways.

Cook's is also a great source as a replacement window company. You don't have to be building a major building project to avail of their services, they also provide support for retrofit or renovation projects. If, for instance, you are just looking to replace your old windows, Cook's uses the same high end door manufacturers for their windows. Check out the beautiful designs and craftsmanship of the doors and windows offered at their site.

And if you didn't already know it, another advantage to making sure the windows and doors to your home are energy efficient is that you can get up to $1500 in tax credit when you file your taxes this year! There is a little known credit called the Federal Energy Tax Credit Program which pays 30% of the product cost up to $1500 whenever you install energy efficient features to your home. This includes doors and windows that are manufactures to minimize heat loss and heat reflection. Contact a Cook's representative and they will tell you more about how to lower your energy bill and also how to earn this tax credit.

Winter Sunshine

2010-01-23T22:14:00.003-05:00

The weather turned nice for a couple of days this week and we took advantage of the beautiful weather by going out for walks. As I have said before, I don't usually make New Year's resolutions but rather simply follow a sensible living style. No need to get fat burner pills and heavy exercise equipments, for now we'll stick with the old fashioned way and eat sensibly and exercise.

So when the sun came out today, we hit the trails. It was a bit muddy, but it was refreshing to be out and about.

The Annual Cut

2010-01-23T10:44:00.004-05:00

Seems like January is turning out to be my annual hair cut month. It's been exactly a year since I last cut my hair and I had gotten back to the old habit of pulling my hair back into a pony tail, so I figured it was time for a trim. I don't like to pull my hair back too often as it also pulls it out and my hair is thin enough as it is. I don't need to encourage more pull outs. At least I haven't resorted to any hair loss treatments yet, but at the rate that my hair is thinning, I may have to do something about it soon.

While I got my hair cut, I also cut my daughter's hair. I think I did a pretty good job and saved some money too. Here's her bob. What do you think?

5 Best Foods for the Skin

2010-01-18T09:48:00.005-05:00

There is something about the new year that makes most of us more introspective. This year, 2010, I will turn 47. Before I started approaching 50, it was so easy to say that age is only a number. But really, it is not. This past year, I started feeling and looking my age. Kind of depressing, really.

I look in the mirror and see my face changing. I've taken on that middle age look, sadly. But, as they say, no use fighting against the inevitable right? Well, not quite right... this is one fate I don't want to quietly submit to. So besides researching acne home remedies for my teenagers, I have also been looking into anti-aging and rejuvenating remedies. The main thing for both cases, young and old, is to make sure you're eating the right things to enhance your skin.

1. WATER - we all know that the secret to great skin is hydration. So what better way to improve you skin than drinking lots of water?

2. YOGURT - is over all good for you, especially for women who greatly benefit from the acidophilus bacteria and vitamin A contained in this dairy product.

3. SALMON - contains essential fatty acids that is also good for your health and your skin by keeping your cells moisturized.

4. AVOCADO - is full of B-complex vitamins and essential oils. You can derive benefits from avocado by eating it but also by applying it directly on your skin. This makes for a great facial.

5. NUTS & BERRIES - are full of antioxidants & vitamin E, which are both great for keeping your skin healthy and young looking.

Bottom line is, take care of your overall health and your skin will follow suit.

Playing with Cars

2010-01-18T08:18:00.002-05:00

One of my favorite things to do is exploring. I like to walk, but not around a track or city block. I like to go hiking in the woods and discover new trails. During one of our treks at a cousin's estate, we ran across this old abandoned truck in the woods behind their house. I love finding old cars like this.

It's a wonder finding these old treasures. Compared to car prices now, it's hard to imagine that this old truck cost probably just a fraction of a comparable model now. But if you look at how it's made, how much more sturdy its body is, how much more pleasing its design... I think I would rather drive one of these than the new fiberglass trucks. My girls were commenting how much it is like Bella's truck in Twilight. LOL! what can I say, we're still Twilight obsessed in our house. :)

Another New Year!

2010-01-16T09:09:00.003-05:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The first month of the year is almost over and here I am just getting around to posting. Sure hope everyone is doing well? Did you set a New Year resolution for yourself this year?

Me, I don't declare resolutions as I don't want to jinx myself. Based on my Facebook friends (real scientific, don't you think? lol!) everyone is pledging on better living and improving their health. Time to put all those fitness equipment, diet books and other health paraphernalia you got for Christmas.

I'll probably do the same thing; you know, eat better, exercise more, smoke less, etc. It will just be an ongoing goal, continuing on from last year.

Did you make any resolutions?

In the Spirit of Giving

2009-12-15T19:57:00.001-05:00

Christmas has dulled a bit for me partly because it has become so commercialized and people have made it more a matter of materialism than spirit. There are actually a few people I have stopped giving gifts to, not because of anything they had done to me directly, but because I have seen them belittle someone else's gift to them. Of course whenever I've given them anything they had been appropriately appreciative. But who knows what they say behind my back?

So now, I only give when I truly feel like it not because I feel an obligation to. I try to impart this same philosophy to my girls. If someone gives you a gift, you treat it like a gift and in the spirit that it was given. Do not expect gifts now should you feel entitled to receive one. When you give a gift, you give because you want to and you give what you can afford. Do not give expecting a present in return.

Whether you're given a dollar store candy cane, food you're allergic to or something as bizarre as Toto toilets, you don't complain, you receive graciously and gratefully. It is not the gift that matters, it is the spirit that it is given.

Tree for Rent

2009-12-15T19:28:00.004-05:00

Speaking of more trees, my sister just told me that they rented a Christmas tree this year. What, never heard of renting a tree before? Neither have I. Apparently, there's a new thing in California (where she lives) where you can adopt a live tree. They will deliver it to your door then when the holidays are over, they will come and pick it up and take it back to their nursery where they will take care of it and feed it until next Christmas. Then when the next holidays come around, they will bring back your same tree to decorate.

The practice not only creates a new tradition, having the tree almost becoming a part of the family year after year, you also save a tree by keeping it from going into the landfill. My sister's daughters, who are normally just all about the toys at Christmas time, could not contain themselves when their tree was delivered. They immediately named her Elana and wanted to dress her up. I think Elana is already a part of the family immediately.

If you are interested in this tree for rent idea, check out their website: http://www.livingchristmas.com/.

Disney Christmas Tree

2009-12-06T10:55:00.002-05:00

We love Disney and our Christmas tree is usually decorated with Disney ornaments that we've collected over the years. Some are not even meant as ornaments but actual toys that were favorites when the girls were younger. No, we don't have a 'styled' or 'themed' Christmas tree. Our tree is what we like a memory tree. We use it to display the things that meant something to us over the years. We enjoy looking at the tree and remembering the moments associated with each ornament on display. This is one of the most special things I like about having a tree at Christmas time.

We were thrilled when we received this disney christmas tree from Collectibles Today to review. The girls could not believe our luck! The big box was delivered to our doorstep and they couldn't wait to see what was inside. I wish I could have recorded their squeels and oohs and ahhs when we opened the box! I guess this just proves we don't ever outgrow our love for Disney.

Here, in this tree, are all our favorite characters. The princesses are all there, and you know Mickey and Pooh have got to be there. There's Goofy too and Pluto and the rest of the gang. There are four layers full of detailed figures. The trains circle the tracks to the medley of Christmas tunes making this an excellent addition to our Christmas decorations. It's perfect to kick off the season and put us all in a holiday mood.

The tree is topped by Mickey in his Santa suit riding a sled full of gifts pulled by the reindeers led by Pluto, of course!

Daisy and Donald welcome you to the castle. While the princesses dance below.

All the princesses, Cinderella, the Little Mermaid, Belle from Beauty and the Beast are just among those that circle the tree.

Pooh and friends transport presents on the train...

While the genie, Aladdin and Jasmine follow behind.

We've had this tree up since we got it and every time one of the girls sit next to it to listen to the music, they always find a detail they didn't see before. This tree wakes the wonder of Christmas and brings back so many wonderful memories of the girls growing up and how they grew up with all these unforgettable characters. We love it!

This review is a result of a feedback campaign by Collectibles Today. I was asked to give an honest opinion about the product I received. Good reviews are not incentivized and poor reviews will not be censored for the opinion of the product.

Holidays Underway

2009-12-06T10:04:00.002-05:00

Some say that the holidays begin with Thanksgiving. I believe it starts with Halloween. Before the masks, costumes and candies were cleared from the shelves, Thanksgiving paraphernalia have already claimed their space. Before long, preparations for the holidays are underway. Fall cleaning starts with the steam cleaners out to clear out the summer's stains, the decor is changed to the warmer colors of autumn, and the cookbooks are dusted off in search of new recipes to try for the feasts.

All these preparations threw me for a loop this year especially since it also coincided with the upheaval at work. The company I worked for instituted a RIF (Reduction in Force) which felt more like a RIP. The acronym for reduction in personnel would have been more apt to describe what it felt like. It did feel like the rug was ripped from under me as my department was reduced to half as the company prepared for the next year's reorganization. Being ripped was apt for how I felt this past month.

But, life goes on, doesn't it? We do the best we can and push forward. So we go through the motions. I've cleaned out the office and the house but it still feels like something has been ripped out of me. This year, sadly, it feels eerily empty both literally and metaphorically. The holidays are underway regardless.

A Productive Weekend

2009-11-09T14:18:00.002-05:00

I had a very productive weekend at home; got quite a few things accomplished plus a few more. First, we (my husband and I) cleaned out the garden. Took out dead plants, harvested the last remaining tomatoes, squashes, swiss chard, and sweet potato tops. See, it's starting to dip below 32F at night and it's starting to scorch the cold sensitive plants. My husband dug up our sweet potatoes too and now I have a big bucket of sweet potatoes to cook. OH, and don't forget leeks. We got a bunch of leeks too!

By the time I finished washing, cutting and cooking everything up, our freezer is almost full again. I also managed to cook up some delicious banana muffins this weekend. I thought we'd have them for the rest of the week to take with our lunches, but I was wrong. *-*

Anyway, being that busy at home meant I didn't get to do much online. My facebook status was: harvesting for real and not on farmtown. lol! I had some reviews, blog maintenance and web directory submission tasks on my blogging to do list but I didn't get to them so I guess I will try to squeeze them in this week.

So here's to another busy week! Hope you have a productive one.

Best Sellers at a Bargain

2009-11-03T12:16:00.001-05:00

I love to give books as presents. But as we book lovers know, they don't come cheap. One way that I have found to get books is to enter giveaways online like the ones I hold on this site. Another way to get books cheaply is to keep an eye out for Promos or Sales. Stores should be holding a lot of them now that the holiday season is officially underway.

Here are three sources for great book bargains:

Books-A-Million is what my daughters call the Barnes & Nobles' poor cousin. That's not a bad thing, mind you, Books-A-Million deals are some of the best bargains around!
Indigo Books and Music sells new and used books, and their outlet section features some unbelievable deals.
BookSwim is perfectt if you like to read but aren’t interested in building up a book collection. They offer a service similar to that of Netflix, only with books instead of DVDs. This is like the library gone online!

Win a Progresso Soup Gift Set

2009-11-02T10:40:00.002-05:00

It's definitely soup weather again! I made chili yesterday. We had it with cheesy corn bread and it was just perfect!

I love cold weather for the soups! The thing is when it's cold outside, you don't need any fat burners even with all the rich foods you consume during this time. It just all burns away from all the shivering you're subjected to and carrying all that heavy clothing. lol!

If you'd like more delicious soups but just don't have time to make them, make sure you try Progresso soups. That's the only soup in a can that I buy regularly because they do taste almost like homemade!

We received these beautiful soup mugs along with a couple of cans of the new high fiber soup in the Chicken Tuscany flavor to sample. We already love the soups so I don't have to tell you more about that. What we absolutely raved over are these blue soup mugs that also came with branded soup spoons. What a treat!

If you'd like a set, we're giving a set away on our food blog. Go on over there and sign up for the Progresso Soup Giveaway.

Procrastination Season

2009-10-27T16:58:00.002-05:00

So it's been gray, it's been dreary and cold. All I want to do is lay in bed and read a book, my feet nicely tucked into my warm blankie. Just thinking about it is making me sleepy! I want me a warm bowl of soup or hot cocoa with soft fluffy marshmallows on top.

Instead, I get to make myself get up, get dressed and go to work. I miss the bright sunny days when the lightening of my room from the rising sun wakes me up feeling refreshed and energized. I don't like this soggy and dragged out feeling with the cold and grayness.

I guess that's why I've been procrastinating. I procrastinate at home, I procrastinate at work and I procrastinate online. I have several blogging obligations to fulfill and I haven't yet. Instead of writing up my reviews on the review blog, here I am talking to myself instead.

OH, I've also been wasting some major chunks of time on facebook! Yep, been on the farms (two of them) and playing poker all night with my Padron smokin' buddies. Yeah, some folks I hang out with, eh?

I keep saying I'll do better tomorrow, but the next day is just as the day before and all I want to do is curl up in bed. Oh and think up of things to cook. Like this awesome homemade apple pie from scratch I baked up last week. Check it out!

Make Ahead Lasagna

2009-10-22T08:21:00.003-05:00

One of the recipes on the book we just gave away in Cooked From the Heart, Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms, is lasagna. Lasagna is actually perfect for making ahead because you can assemble it and stick it in the freezer and when you're ready to eat it, just pull it out and stick it in the oven and you'll have a healthy and filling dinner in no time.

Of course, I can't leave a simple recipe well enough alone, I kind of messed with the simple recipe that was in the book and made it a little more complicated. HOWEVER, I think the flavor combinations made my version of lasagna was superb and I'm glad I put in the extra efforts for it.

Now before you start worrying about a colon cleanse for all the cheese in this recipe, keep in mind that it is also packed with fiber rich vegetables. For moms trying to sneak more vegetables in their family's diet, this kind of dish is perfect. You can't even tell there are veggies in there!

Make Ahead Meals For Busy Moms

2009-10-19T09:03:00.004-05:00

Today is the last day to enter the giveaway for this book, Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms by Jane Doiron. The book is an amazing collection of easy meals that you can prepare ahead of time; making your weekdays hassle free while also providing healthy and delicious meals for your family. In addition to great recipes, Jane also provides tips on how to manage your meals and plan them ahead of time so you're not going to be tempted to go for fast food.

These are simple, family recipes that I am sure most moms are already familiar with I'm sure everyone will find something new or inspirational in this book. For instance, I did follow her advice on cooking extra to freeze for a later meal. I made lasagna, almost like she has it in the book, but of course, I never could leave a simple recipe alone.

I kind of made my lasagna a little more complicated and less desirable if you're on a weight loss kick, but it sure was delicious!

Visit my food blog and enter the giveaway for this book today!

Friday Giveaway Roundup

2009-10-09T11:11:00.004-05:00

Here we go again, with this week's roundup of giveaways on Amoores.com. Can you tell I love books? :) When you love books this much, you'll forget to eat sometimes. The good thing about it though, you won't be needing any weight loss pills :)

HERE ARE THE GIVEAWAYS ON MY BLOGS THIS WEEK:

Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms Cookbook Giveaway
Prize: A copy of the book, Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms by Jane Doiron
End Date: October 19, 2009

Extraordinary by John Bevere
Prize: A copy of Extraordinary (1 winner)
End Date: October 23, 2009

Breaking the Bank by Yona McDonough
Prize: A copy of Breaking the Bank (2 winners)
End Date: October 23, 2009

CHEER Laundry Detergent Giveaway
Prize: Cheer Laundry Detergent
End Date: November 5, 2009

A Highlander’s Temptation by Sue-Ellen Welfonder
Prize: A copy of A Highlander’s Temptation (5 winners)
End Date: October 10, 2009

HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH GIVEAWAY
Prize: A set of 5 books from 5 fabulous authors to 5 lucky winners (1 set each!)
End Date: October 15, 2009

SABRA MEDITERRANEAN GIVEAWAY
Prize: Party pack which includes 4 free product coupons and a $25 gift certificate
End Date: October 10, 2009

This week's giveaway hop

2009-10-03T09:08:00.005-05:00

Another week over and time for the giveaway hop!

This past week was a trying week I desperately needed some good news, but it was not to be. Instead, it seemed to get worse at some point even. I can't believe I even missed a doctor's appointment! I mistakenly read the appointment and showed up at the doctor's office a day late. Totally embarrassing! The good thing was, though, I ended up getting off from work early. Which turned out to be lucky because I ended up having to pick up and do errands for the girls after school.

So next week, it's dental appointments for them all. Luckily, there's no need for orange nj cosmetic dentist, just some run of the mill clean up dentist.

Now are you ready for some free goodies?

HERE ARE THE GIVEAWAYS ON AMOORES:

A Highlander’s Temptation by Sue-Ellen Welfonder
Prize: A copy of A Highlander’s Temptation (5 winners)
End Date: October 10, 2009

HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH GIVEAWAY
Prize: A set of 5 books from 5 fabulous authors to 5 lucky winners (1 set each!)
End Date: October 15, 2009

SABRA MEDITERRANEAN GIVEAWAY
Prize: Party pack which includes 4 free product coupons and a $25 gift certificate
End Date: October 10, 2009

Tropical Traditions Virgin Coconut Oil
Prize: 1 quart of Tropical Traditions Virgin Coconut Oil
End Date: October 3, 2009

A Video Review of Kid Flossers

2009-09-28T16:29:00.003-05:00

My girls are now teenagers but they are still kids at heart. They watch cartoons on the weekends and jump at the mention of ice cream. They like their cereal sweet and they like everything else colorful. So when we received a pack of these DenTek kids floss, they were all over it. Wanted to use it, they wanted to play with it. Finally, they settled down long enough to tell me what they really thought of these flossers.

Here's what my 16 year old thought in our first video review.

The verdict is, that they are pretty but for serious cleaning, these flossers do a kid's job. They all admit though that they are convenient to have in their purses and backpacks for quick clean ups during the day. I agree with their assessment.

If you have little kids though, these are a great way to introduce them to the habit of flossing. They are colorful enough and the handles are easy for little hands to grip.

Disclosure: Free samples of the flossers were received and we were compensated for this review

Noodles & Tarts

2009-09-20T09:28:00.005-05:00

Happy Sunday! Here's a couple of healthy and delicious suggestions for your Sunday dinner. I'm making a roast beef today just because Sunday has gotten to be a roasting day around here. The following dishes are more like weekday dishes for us. They are quick and easy to make, delicious and satisfying. Give them a try if you like.

This is Curried Chicken Over Rice Noodles. I kind of made it up as I went along but it came out quite well if I do say so myself :)

“Photo credit: One Fork, One Spoon”

Earlier in the summer we had an abundant harvest of Swiss Chard from our spring planting and that was when I discovered this recipe for making them into the pie or to put it more fancy like, a tart :)

Click here for the recipe for Swiss Chard Tart.

Don't go running looking for diet pills that work just yet, these two dishes, while not exactly low fat are actually very healthy. The Noodles has hidden veggies in it and very small amount of oil and while the amount of oil in the tart may seem like a lot, keep in mind that it's Olive oil and it's supposed to be good for you. We all have to have a little fat in our diet. We just have to consume it, like everything else, in moderation.

Giveaway Weekend

2009-09-19T06:29:00.002-05:00

I'm always glad to see Fridays come around. TGIF! right? I love having the weekend to relax. Even though I don't always relax but end up doing errands, I just like the idea of being able to relax and do nothing if I chose to.

Weekends have also gotten to be time to check out all the giveaways going on in the blogosphere. I've already won several items and it's always exciting to get a treat in the mail. My girls have gotten to look forward to mail deliveries just to see what new treat they'll get to try out. Of course their favorite are the food products.

This weekend we have some chores to do first. Chores that have to do with the weather like weather proofing the house for the colder months, changing the air filters with a summer's worth of accumulated dust and who knows what else, and changing curtains and table cloths to a fall theme.

In the meantime, if you're ready to get started, check out the list of giveaways on our blogs on the Friday Giveaway Hop.

Thank Heaven for Little Girls

2009-09-15T16:28:00.003-05:00

When we were teenagers, my mother developed a quarter sized bald spot on her scalp that started to grow wider the more mischief we got into. She had three girls, pretty much like where I am at right now. Thankfully, my hair is still intact albeit a little thinner. I think I'm developing more wrinkles than she had at my age but I don't know that that is directly related to my teens as I know he balding had a direct correlation with us.

My girls are actually good girls. They haven't gotten into half the trouble we got into at their age. They are doing well in school and so far, so good. Now all I have to do is find the top wrinkle creams and I should be fine.

Allow me to plug a series of small articles I am posting on Amoores on How To Talk To Your Kids. It's a seven part series based on the comments I received when I ran a giveaway on how to communicate with your kids. Drop by over there and check it out. People left some very good tips and suggestions.

I ate a salad for lunch instead of hotdogs and chips #win5000

2009-09-09T12:51:00.001-05:00

Make a Proclamation and be entered to win $5,000 to pursue your dream! Enter daily and bring friends to increase your chances of winning. There are weekly prizes too. No purchase necessary.

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Here's to More Giveaways!

2009-09-06T11:52:00.003-05:00

I've been lucky to be able to do so many giveaways lately. This is my latest obsession. Giveaways! Hosting them, and entering them. There's a gamut of prizes to be won online, from food items, books, gadgets, digital cameras and laptops. Why I even ran across a giveaway for an industrial computer!

Anyway, visit Amoores.com and checkout the McLinky Friday Giveaway Hop for a list of people giving stuff away on their blogs.

HERE ARE MY GIVEAWAYS:

Yoplait Whips! “Summer Cool Down” Giveaway
Prize: “Summer Cool Down” gift includes two free coupons for Yoplait Whips!, cooler tote, popsicle molds and a set of 12 color-changing spoons
End Date: September 14

The Blue Star by Tony Earley
Prize: A copy of The Blue Star (5 winners)
End Date: Sept. 16

Julie and Julia by Julie Powell
Prize: A copy of Julie & Julia (5 winners)
End Date: Sept. 15

Dark Hunger by Rita Herron
Prize: A copy of Dark Hunger (5 winners)
End Date: Sept. 8