One Retro Mama

Things I would like

2010-12-31T23:57:00.000+09:00

to do....

I'm sitting here at 11:42pm on December 31, 2010 contemplating what 2011 might have in store for me. I probably should have started thinking about this earlier so I could prepare but somehow i've fallen behind on many things during this holiday season. It only occured to me that I never made what others call resolutions. I am not going to call them that. I am calling them "things I would like to do."

I think resolutions are things that you "Must" do. These types of things you can fail at doing because you feel you have to for one reason or another. If you make a list of things that you would "like" to do, you are saying you would "like" to do it rather than something you must do.

My husband told me tonight that you can not fail at something if you are doing more than you are doing now. For me this would be exercising. If I exercised one day a week I am succeeding at what I would like to do, because it is one more day a week than I am currently doing.

I don't have my list of things all written out and I probably won't have a full list just now. As the year goes on i'm sure i'll have completed some and will come up with more.

I do know that "I would like to" start blogging again here on One Retro Mama. I have a few exciting things in the works and adventures I would like to share.

May your 2011 be better than your 2010!

Happy New Year from the land of the rising sun!

Less than 5 minutes to go for me!!

Photo Credit

Moving on

2010-07-05T10:46:00.000+09:00

Just a sad little note to leave you with. I have decided after much thought that it is time for me to move on and close down this blog. What once started out as a way to document my love of vintage/retro things has morphed into things that don't so much deal with vintage retro things. :)

I feel that the name of my blog and all that it implies does not fit the whole me at this time. I still LOVE vintage, retro and all that old time goodness but it isn't the only thing I do or love.

I am going to be importing my posts from here to my new blog so this blog will still be up for a bit but I won't be updating here anymore.

Feel free to join me, friend me and follow me over at my new blog. I'm still sprucing it up. That will take some time but I hope to make it feel like home soon.

I want to thank you for being a reader, a follower, a friend these past couple of years. I've enjoyed reading your comments, visiting your blogs and getting to know you. I would love to have you join me at the other blog.

Thank you!!!!

Organizing Toys

2010-06-13T16:50:00.000+09:00

We are in the process of de-cluttering in our house. We try to do this about every 2-3 months. Well I have every intentions of doing it every 2-3 months but sometimes it goes longer than that.

Today I concentrated on the the littlest member of our house and his toy clutter.

This was the before picture (and kind of an after. I had already purged about 1/2 of his toys a week ago)

And this is our after

I still have a rubbermaid tote sitting to the right of the cabinet that I still have to deal with. It has legos and little animals in there. Small things that really need to be put in something. I'm going to buy some fabric boxes to put in the cabinet to hold these items. Now he can get to things easier instead of playing with the same toys over and over.

I left the picnic table standing up behind the cabinet. We can easily pull it out when needed.

Now I just need to get the toys out of his bedroom. he he he :)

It feels so much better when things have a place and there are not bits and bobs sitting out all the time.

Had a bad day??

2010-06-10T10:16:00.008+09:00

Seen on a car in our local area.

Beach Party, Sunburn & Cake

2010-06-09T21:35:00.001+09:00

This past weekend we celebrated at the beach my son turning two. I'm a little sad. He is my last child, my youngest, 3 of 3, the end, the final one and he is now 2 yrs old!
I love little babies and this little man is soooo awesome that I could have like 50 more of him if my body could handle it!! Even though he was still waking up every 2 1/2 hours at night until he was 15 months old I would do it again!

We rented a cabin at the beach and decorated it up

We went down to the beach and learned that the water is our friend. :)

Then we decided we liked the fountain better than we do the beach today.

We topped that all off with cake!

I was up until midnight working on this cake. I had intended to finish it before we went to the cabin but it just didn't happen. So I took a few of my cake decorating supplies with me and did what I could with what I had.
All of the decor was made out of fondant and gumpaste. I used graham cracker crumbs for the sand. The flowers are fabric and are attached using buttercream. I was initially going to cover the cake with fondant for a smooth look but because the time was so late and I wanted the sides to resemble water I swirled buttercream over it and airbrushed it with blue.

Hows that for a made at the beach cake??

I ended up with a massive sunburn to my arms, chest and upper back. Being the smart mom that I am I made sure the rest of my family was slathered in sunscreen. And since I was just going to be the camera lady that morning I opted not to cover myself. BAD IDEA!!!! 2 1/2 hours after the party began I finally went in out of the sun and realized my mistake.

The agony!

I am finally moving out of the pain stage and into the still somewhat tender and certain places are starting to peel. I have been applying an herbal ointment to keep my skin nourished but oh my the farmer's tan I will have!!!

Lesson learned!

Bento Tuesday - June 8, 2010

2010-06-08T19:49:00.122+09:00

My husband and I went on a little site-seeing adventure today. We didn't plan to be out and about all day so we didn't take lunch with us. Lucky for us it was Bento Tuesday so that gave us a good excuse to pick up a variety of things from the market.

Just a quick little warning. We are going to look like pigs after you see the pictures. Ha Ha we did not eat all of it and it was food for 3 people. We didn't buy individual bento, we just shared everything.

These plastic containers are typical containers that you will find as "to go boxes" from restaurants as well as pre-made bento from the stores.

Fried chicken nuggets my kids just love these!

My rice triangle with smoked salmon inside. I love these things, they are so simple but very delicious! I don't like mine cold but rather warm or at the very least room temp.

I think this was squid tempura.

Chicken Yakitori (kind of like kebobs) and our sushi rolls

Gyoza (Fried dumplings with a meat veggie filling) My husband loves these.

Fish pancake Sweet bean filling inside! YUM!

Our fruit bowl.

Oranges, Cherries, Pineapple

Strawberries

Everything was very delicious. We did take some of it home to be enjoyed later. Please excuse the poor quality of the pictures. I used my Iphone to take the photos as I didn't want anymore stares than we were already getting. LOL It was bad enough we had that much food sitting out and were in a heavily congested tourist spot to boot.

I found a couple more little things that I picked up for our bento making stash.

top left item is a little bunny, heart, star, bear shaped piece that you add rice to and can then pop it out into those shapes. The next two are little containers that you can add your sauce, salad dressing, mayo etc to. cute little colorful containers don't you think? And then last two items on the bottom are a fork and spoon set that have their own little covers

Do you bento?

Let me know if you do I would love to see what you are eating! :)

$25 or less

2010-06-03T08:31:00.000+09:00

ALL YOU is running another Grocery Challenge this year. They are challenging the public to spend $25 or less per family member per week on groceries during a four-week period (June 20th – July 17th, 2010).

You can enter this challenge to try and win a $1000 grocery card and they will even be featuring the winner in the November issue.

Per the contest rules
Spending guidelines are: spend no more than $25 per family member per week on groceries for four weeks. Children under 12 months need not be included.
I have signed my family up for the challenge. I have a family of 5 so we will be getting creative and forgoing our our eating out during this challenge. Even better reason to continue with bento tuesday!!

Turning 2

2010-06-02T09:46:00.036+09:00

My youngest baby is celebrating his birthday.

2 years old is a big number for a little guy like him!

He is loveable, very enjoyable and so much fun. Once we passed all of the hurdles to bring him into this world he has filled our lives and days with so much activity and love. I don't know what we would do without him. He keeps me busy every day.

His birthday meal of Spaghetti! He loves to eat spaghetti.

His first of two cakes. He'll have another cake this weekend when we celebrate with friends.

Blowing out our candles. 2 out of 4 isn't bad!

TRUCKS!!

Babies from his sister!!

aaaawwwww! The three of them together

mmmmm!

If you don't look like this when you eat cake then you are not living!!!

Happy Birthday Little Man!

Mommy Loves you!

Bento Tuesday ~ sorry no post today

2010-06-01T08:32:00.001+09:00

Sorry I did not get a bento post up for Tuesday. I have been ultra busy planning my little mans second birthday party.

I'll be back next week with another bento post & some cool new items!

Memorial Day 2010

2010-05-31T11:55:00.000+09:00

Photo Credit

Today and everyday I am thankful for military men and women who have served, those still serving and those that have paid with their lives. Our freedom comes at a hefty price. Thank you for protecting our families, our country and our freedom.

I am so proud of you!

Nothing today

2010-05-26T21:59:00.000+09:00

Sorry I wasn't able to get in a post for you today.

I just spent 5 hours at the hospital this afternoon. No nothing serious. I went for a regular check up and ended up waiting for 2 hours just to be seen by the dr. I then had to go to several other locations in the hospital and there was more waiting of course!

After all of that I still had to try and locate Tylenol that wasn't recalled. I wasn't successful so my son has a fever and I still need Tylenol.

I only got to sit down an hour ago or so and really just did want to write up a post. So here is my haphazard post.

So I apologize I'll be back with something tomorrow.

Bento Tuesday - May 25, 2010

2010-05-25T18:12:00.001+09:00

Here is my bento for today Tuesday May 25th. Today I am using a stainless steel container. It does have a plastic lid so I let the food cool before putting on the lid and putting it into the refridgerator.

I find stir fry meals very easy to make. We enjoy our veggies to still have a little crunch to them so it doesn't really take that long to put together.

I really enjoyed the flavor of the chicken in this dish. I used a combo of soy sauce, italian dressing and olive oil to cook the chicken in. It gave it something of a sweet salty taste. I used only soy sauce and olive oil for the veggies & noodles.

Shredded Chicken Breast

Mixed Stir fry veggies: Carrots, Green pepper, Onion, Mushrooms, Cabbage

Yakisoba noodles

I used low salt soy sauce, and a salad dressing that tastes similar to Italian, a bag of already cut up mixed veggies and yakisoba noodles. If you look back in my archives you'll notice I did a post for yakisoba which uses the same ingredients except for the salad dressing.

I would also like to show you my bento drawer. This is where I am keeping all the little odds and ends I pick up to help me create our bento. There are five of us so I am going to have to start using some restraint when purchasing or I will run out of room.

So far I haven't gotten creative with design but from my research and talking to others. Most of the decorated or kawaii designs are for young children who may or may not be picky eaters. This is to help encourage them to eat their food. So far I am content with making them as I have been but I may spice them up here and there.

Want more bento ideas?

Just Bento
Lunch in a box ~ she even has a bento store locator. You can plug in your location and see if anyone has shared a location in your area. If not and you know of one mark it so others will know.

Do you bento?

Menu Plan Monday - 5/24

2010-05-24T13:05:00.000+09:00

Monday 5/24
Spring vegetable couscous with chicken

Tuesday 5/25
Marinated Tuna Steaks w/ mixed veggies

(Today is Bento Tuesday so watch for pictures!)

Wednesday 5/26
Ribeye Steaks on the grill

** This part of the week is tentative. I am looking into the possibility of camping this weekend. If we do camp the menu will include more grill friendly items.* (pizza being one that would change) But for now here is our non camping menu.

Thursday 5/27
BBQ Chicken on the grill

Friday 5/28
Homemade Pizza

Saturday 5/29
Hamburgers

Surgery for a friend

2010-05-20T13:43:00.000+09:00

My friend Brandy is finally going in for surgery tomorrow!! Her parents came down and took her to another hospital to be seen. I don't know much more than this right now.

What I am being told is that the mass in her abdomen meaures 20cmX20cmX24cm.

Please send lots of thoughts her way.

She is still going to need lots of help so if you would like to donate please click on the Brandy's Battle button in the right hand column.

I wonder how much trouble the other hospital and dr's could be in since they wouldn't treat her or let her go?? hmmm oops did I just say that? shame on me

Nevermind the focus is Brandy getting through surgery and recovering.

Curried Chicken Salad

2010-05-19T18:55:00.001+09:00

We had this for dinner last night and it was delicious!!! Loved it Loved it Loved it!! I doubled the recipe. The only thing I would recommend is maybe using less of the curry powder. It was a tad spicy for my kids. It is the perfect combo of spicy and sweet and was fast to make. I would definitely recommend this for a light meal.

Curried Chicken Salad
recipe courtesy of Taste of Home

Prep/ Total Time: 15 Min
Yield: 4 servings

3 Cups cubed cooked chicken breast
1 medium apple, finely chopped
1/4 cup silvered almonds, toasted
2 Tbsp. golden rainsins
2 Tbsp. dried cranberries
1/2 cup fat-free plain Greek yogurt
1/4 cup apricot preserves
2 Tbsp. curry powder
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. pepper
Lettuce leaves

In a small bowl, combine the first five ingredients. Add the yogurt, preserves, curry, mustard, salt and pepper; toss to coat. Serve on lettuce leaves.

If you don't have Greek yogurt you can line a strainer with a coffee filter placed over a bowl. Put the yogurt in and refrigerate overnight. Discard the liquid part and use the yogurt left in the filter.

Brandy needs our help!

2010-05-18T23:39:00.000+09:00

I have an online friend named Brandy she blogs over at Not So Average Mama. She is tough, takes awesome pictures, is very creative and is a loving wife and mom of three beautiful girls.

Brandy is currently going through some serious health issues. She has been in and out of the hospital & Dr's offices trying to find out what is wrong with her. No one has had a clue what it could be! She has been having problems with things like slurred speech, head jerking and unexplained pains. She has visited one specialist to the next to the next as well as being in an out of the ER. The problem with this is it has become very expensive for her. Brandy does not have health insurance. Every appointment she has been to and sent home with no answers has all been paid for out of her own pocket!!

About two weeks ago she noticed her stomach had swelled to the size of someone in their 8th month of pregnancy. It wasn't gradual it happened very quickly. It is hard to the touch, she can't lay down she has to sit on the couch to sleep, she has difficulty breathing and is alot of pain. She recently went in to the ER things had gotten so bad. They sent her in for a Cat Scan. The results.....

Devastating!!

They told Brandy that she has a mass the size of a volley ball on her left ovary and that it might be cancerous. They won't know until they can do a biopsy if it is cancer or not. They gave her a referral & an informational sheet about cancer and sent her home! Why did they not treat her? Take her in for immediate surgery?

Brandy does not have health insurance.

She needs our help. Her husband is self employed & she is a stay at home mom doing what she can all while fighting for her life. Brandy needs immediate surgery. Everyday that goes by puts her life in jeopardy. No one will see her because she does not have health insurance. If she did they would never have let her leave the ER last Friday!

Currently she has medical bills totaling almost $12,000 and is facing more. She has called all over looking for help from different agencies

This is a picture she posted showing just how big her stomach has gotten.

This is not Brandy's normal!!! This is serious!!

If you click on the Brandy's Battle button at the top of this blog post or in my sidebar it will take you directly to Paypal where you can make a secure donation. $1, $5, $10 or $100 + it doesn't matter. Every little bit helps.

Can you imagine how she feels? She is 35 years old, she is a wife and a mother of 3 girls and she gets this kind of news. Then instead of helping her they send her home? The medical community that is there to help us sent...her...home!!

Please spread the word about Brandy. Post the link to this post on your Facebook, Myspace, Twitter etc... Help us get the word out so we can help Brandy!

Thank You!!!

Bento Tuesday - May 18, 2010

2010-05-18T13:45:00.000+09:00

I have decided to start something new. This will be a weekly Tuesday feature.

Most of you know I am currently living in the land of the rising sun otherwise known as Japan. Here in Japan bento is a big deal. Like a really big deal. Everyone eats bento everyday! Mom, dad, grandma, big brother, little sister, office worker, company president etc... everyone! Ok some will go out to eat but you can bet they have eaten a bento. Even the grocery stores are set up that you can go in get a plastic to go like box and pick from their selections. The local convenience marts also have pre-made bento's in their fridge cases every day.

I have done my best to not get caught up in these cute little (little being accurate) boxes of love. Yes I described them as boxes of love. Whomever makes these bento's are making them with love for the recipient. I have successfully avoided them for 6 years. Well no more I am falling in love with them! The longer I live here the more they have started to grow on me and i'll admit it they are just so KAWAII!!! (^.^) Kawaii means cute for all you gajin's out there.

Oh and gaijin means foreigner by the way. (^.^)

Some of you may not know Bento so i'm going to let Wikipedia describe it for you.

Bento (弁当, bentō^?)^[1] is a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine. A traditional bento consists of rice, fish or meat, and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables, usually in a box-shaped container. Containers range from disposable mass produced to hand crafted lacquerware. Although bento are readily available in many places throughout Japan, including convenience stores, bento shops (弁当屋, bentō-ya^?), train stations, and department stores, it is still common for Japanese homemakers to spend time and energy for their spouse, child, or themselves producing a carefully prepared lunch box.
Bento can be very elaborately arranged in a style called kyaraben. Contests are often held where bento arrangers compete for the most aesthetically pleasing arrangements. Kyaraben is typically decorated to look like people, animals, or characters and items such as flowers and plants.

I have noticed an increase in the number of bento items being put out for sale on the shelves at the store. Cute little things like these:

Sandwich Cutters

Silicone cups

These are used to separate your bento into different sections instead of just throwing it in there. These are new to me. I have been used to seeing those paper cups in various sizes like we make muffins in.

Food Writing Pen

It has a thin tip used for making faces or writing

I am just getting started buying up all the cute little goodies that can be used for making bento. Look for pictures of the new stuff in future Bento Tuesday posts.

Here are my first bento's for myself and for my son. All of the food shown was left over from previous meal. While not "kawaii" it was my first attempt at making a bento.

Bento Ingredients:

Couscous

Corn cut off of the cob

Grape Tomatoes

Sliced Mushrooms

Brocoli

Shredded Chicken Breast

My bento (the pink one) is approximately 500ml or about 2 Cups

My son's bento (the blue one) is originally a 3 container bento but I only used two of them since he is only 2yrs old. His as shown I would estimate about 1 cup or maybe 1 1/4cups. I believe all three containers together holds 1 1/2 cups.

Look for more pictures of bento, and bento supplies to include bags to carry your bento in future blog posts of Bento Tuesday.

Do you bento? Would you like to bento or have recipes to share?

Don't forget to grab a Bento Tuesday button for your blog while you are here. You can find it in the right hand column of my blog.

My fitness activity

2010-05-04T08:23:00.001+09:00

My husband and I just traded in our old cell phones for new. We decided that we wanted to get Iphones. I already had an Itouch and have been in love with it from day one. The only thing that would make it better was the gps capabilities and a phone. So we were having some problems with our old phones we decided to make the best of both worlds.

One of the things that we love about these phones are the apps. The ability to add neat little programs that make your life a little easier. I'm a gadget girl. Love little things like this.

The app that I have started using is the free RunKeeper app. They have a pro version which you can purchase but i'm just starting out so i'm using the free app.

it uses the gps function to keep track of where I've been, how far, how fast, how many calories I burned and how long it took. I used it today for the first time and at this point I think I really like it!

One foot in front of the other

2010-05-03T20:18:00.000+09:00

Put one foot in front of the other

Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking cross the floor
Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking out the door

You never will get where you’re going
If you never get up on your feet
Come on, there’s a good tail wind blowing
A fast walking man is hard to beat

Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking cross the floor
Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking out the door

If you want to change your direction
If your time of life is at hand
Well don’t be the rule be the exception
A good way to start is to stand

Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking cross the floor
Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking out the door

If I want to change the reflection
I see in the mirror each morn
You mean that it's just my election
To vote for a chance to be reborn

(repeat chorus twice)

You have to know that song. It was from

Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking cross the floor
Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking out the door

You never will get where you’re going
If you never get up on your feet
Come on, there’s a good tail wind blowing
A fast walking man is hard to beat

Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking cross the floor
Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking out the door

If you want to change your direction
If your time of life is at hand
Well don’t be the rule be the exception
A good way to start is to stand

Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking cross the floor
Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking out the door

If I want to change the reflection
I see in the mirror each morn
You mean that it's just my election
To vote for a chance to be reborn

(repeat chorus twice)

This song I originally heard from the movie: Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (Animated)(ABC) December 13, 1970

I have that song playing over and over in my head. I was on the homestretch of a 5 mile walk when it just popped in my head. It isn't even Christmas or even close but the words to that song ring so true. I have found it it hard to just get up and go. I have needed to workout and get in shape for a long time. I'll just be honest here. I have needed to do this for 13 years. That is a long time to be unhappy, unhealthy and lazy. I have pampered myself and said I would do it later or tomorrow. Tomorrow would always come and go then come and go again. This time i'm trying to change that.

Last Saturday I decided to start the couch to 5k plan. It was almost a failure from the beginning. Almost. I have a room in my house that holds a treadmill, elliptical and a weight machine. There is a problem with this room. It also houses my laundry room and is the room before the kitchen so it catches things that no one wants to put away. So I had to clean that up and as most of you may feel the same way about cleaning as I do you know that can put an end to it right there.

I forged ahead I did not stop even though it was running through my mind. You know that nagging voice. The devil on one side and the angel on the other was totally playing out in my head. Then I couldn't get the music to play. I mean come on how are you supposed to walk/run without something to listen to? DH came to the rescue & even played DJ.

I got on that treadmill and set the speed to 3.0 and started my walk. My watch was set on interval timer for 1 minute walking and 1 minute 30 seconds for running. After my warm-up I started my intervals for 28 minutes! TWENTY EIGHT MINUTES! Yeah!!! It just felt good!

Today I woke up and new I needed to just get up and do it. The weather was nice so I decided that little man and I would walk outside. And we did. When I got to one mile I had the devil and angel on my shoulders telling me I could turn back I made it one mile what more do I want. But I kept going. I kept talking to myself fighting that internal struggle. At mile 4.5 I started humming put one foot in front of the other and soon you'll be walking across the floor. And then I just started laughing. How could one Christmas song be the thing that just clicks it for me??!!

And I did it! I put one foot in front of the other and I finished it.

I have too much negativity in my mind and can talk myself out of things pretty easily. If I just get up and put one foot in front of the other I can accomplish these things. For my health, for my family and for myself.

Whatever you are facing, whatever you want to do just put one foot in front of the other.

ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive

2010-04-28T08:35:00.001+09:00

Great little song by Johnny Mercer.

(This is the Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters version)

Today I wanted to accentuate the positive. Too often we focus on the negative things that are happening in our lives rather than remembering that there are still good things happening to us everyday. Around me recently has been so much negative energy that it has started to bring me down. I had to stop, shake it off and remove myself from the cause so that I could go on.

A list of my 10 current positives

My family
My Home
We have enough food and enough money.
My husband has a reliable job.
I get the opportunity to live in a wonderful place.
I'm surrounded by more than enough to keep me creatively busy for months.
I still have my sense of sight, hearing, touch, taste.
I am loved.
I can cook, garden & sew.
I am free to be me.

I'm sure that I could come up with more positives but I thought 10 was a good round number. Every now and then I'm going to post my current positives to keep the good vibes flowing. :)

Why don't you blog about your 10 positives and leave me a link in the comments. I would love to be surrounded by all of your positives and see what makes you feel good.

I really need a new look

2010-04-26T09:22:00.002+09:00

I really need a new look for my blog. I have had several different designs over the past year and I have not really been happy with different aspects of each design. I want something that reflects me and what I write about and is visually appealing to my readers. Something that reflects my love for vintage but also embraces the other aspects of my life that I write about.

~~Please if you know of someone who does great work recommend them to me. Oh and affordable would be great because even though my husband works really hard he isn't a rich man!~~

~~Thank you!!!~~

Not much

2010-04-25T21:20:00.000+09:00

I don't have much to write about for this past week. We spent the week cleaning our house. I invited a new friend over to show me how to resize vintage patterns. I didn't want her to think we were pigs. Not that we are or anything but if you are anything like me you worry that someone will think that so you clean and clean and clean. My new friend Marie came over showed me what i needed to know and left me feeling a little more knowledgeable than before.

This weekend we spent running errands.

First we raided our cabinets and closets of things we no longer needed like expired medicine, old paint, insecticides etc... and took them in and dropped them off for the amnesty collection program that was being held this weekend.

My husband took us out for brunch then it was off to pick up a few items from the store. I had a hair appointment that evening and Dh took us out for some Starbucks to round out our Saturday.

Today I enjoyed a pedicure. During your birth month they will give you 20% off all services for the whole month. I also had a $5 off coupon so I enjoyed some mom time all to myself. It was nice!

My DH grilled us up some steaks for dinner and he is currently watching a horror film. I'm trying very very hard to not pay attention to it at the moment! It isn't working out so well for me. I will probably have nightmares all night.

Date Night!! As in me & hubby

2010-04-19T14:12:00.000+09:00

Yep we got to have our very own date night sans children! It was wonderful!! I am now the mother of a teenager who can sit for us on the odd night we decide to hit the town on our own! I have her at my disposal when I'm not too ~~stupid~~ nice enough not to say no to her watching our neighbors children.

The food was great, the conversation was lacking but purely my right vocal cord's fault on that one! DH graciously took pictures.

We went to dinner at a local restaurant Sam's by the Sea. It is fairly expensive but every time I go I find my food is delicious. Service is hit or miss depending on the wait staff. I have had some good and some bad experiences but it hasn't kept me away. They are very popular and as such can be very busy so bring your patience with you.

They play Hawaiian music throughout the restaurant. They decorate with shells and other maritime trinkets as well as photos of native Hawaiian's in hula, surfing etc... The wait staff are all female and are all wearing the same sailor type uniform.

Check out the neat salt & pepper shakers!! Oh and that little lamp that is burning is the only light at our table. Each table is arranged with their own. Ambiance? Yes. Hard to read your menu? Yes. I probably wouldn't want to see the building by the light of day. But the food is GREAT!!

My Blue Hawaii

My Filet Mignon and Lobster Thermidor

I do not care for my lobster cooked this way. I must remember that. It was good but it was not to my liking.

My husbands meal of Filet Mignon & giant prawn

Me after dinner

The statue that greets you as you drive into the parking lot.

Lets sail away!

King Kamehameha

I did not take a picture of the East Indian Curry soup. For shame! It is one of the things that keep my husband and I returning to this restaurant regularly. Very delicious and they guard the recipe like it is the crown jewels!

Now thats beautiful!!

2010-04-18T09:10:00.018+09:00

I don't want to scare you but this was me yesterday. I walked outside just as the neighbor boy was walking by the house. I wonder what he was thinking??

If I saw something with a face as greasy as that I would be scared also! LOL

This was the outfit I was sporting. Those are my comfy Jammie pants! :)

This was me after hair and makeup. Well I do have makeup on perhaps I need a tutorial on that. LOL

My husband and I were off for a date night. Pictures to follow in another post.

Vintage Heaven

2010-04-17T09:10:00.000+09:00

I was in vintage heaven the other day! I was sooooo excited that my heart kept dropping everywhere I turned. I was visiting the local antique shop. When I go in it never fails that I fall in love with something I just HAVE to have until I look at the price. I can tell you that is good for a kick in the teeth!!! Even at 1/2 price $500 is a tough price to swallow considering I wouldn't pay that much for it in the US.

I did end up leaving with these beauties though!

I will be returning to the store to bask in all the vintage fun but I am always selective of my purchases there due to expense. It looks like Ebay is still my friend for these kinds of things.

Have you made any recent finds?

My new lovely

2010-04-14T15:12:00.000+09:00

I would like to introduce to you my newest find! I was very much excited when I seen it on the shelf at the local thrift store.

I paid $3 for her. Yes I know Yikes! Over here things do seem to cost an arm and a leg even at thrift. From looking at her my guess is she was used once and washed or just washed. The plastic top is not scratched the design is perfect and the button on the spout is terribly strong and the sticker on the bottom was still easy yet sticky to remove. So that all leads me to believe it didn't see much use.

I know she isn't really old vintage but probably vintage of only a year. I can say that right? :) I thought so :) It probably cost less to buy her new at Walmart, but alas I have what I have.

I washed her up thoroughly and proceeded to brew my first sun tea of the spring/summer with her.

I do hope life is treating you well!

Cheers

Enjoying the spring Air

2010-04-13T09:03:00.000+09:00

Spring has made it to our little neck of the woods! Well maybe it has passed us by a little and skipped straight to summer. At least that is what the temperature feels like! I took that picture of the cherry blossoms in Feb. They have long since turned green.

My garden is in full swing and I even have some lovely beauties growing. I know I could have made better use of my space but I'm slacking in the organizational department this year. I have things that I want to plant but don't think I have the room for but I do then I misplace them etc... That seems to be the story of my life. We have bees this year!! Last year we were lucky to have maybe a handful but this year they are out in force!

I'd love to have some of these beauties growing in my garden!

My kids are on spring break this week. We enjoyed some camping time in a tent this weekend. A little beach fun for which I promptly forgot my camera. Why did I buy it if I keep forgetting it!!

We went and played in the maze. I got lost a couple of times but eventually found my way back. Moms are just so slow!! :)

The kids and I are going to pick one day a week to organize & deep clean. I don't want to cut into their spring break playing time too much so one a day seems good. We are starting downstairs with the most used rooms. Usually we start upstairs with the bedrooms but by the time we get done with those we don't want to touch the other rooms!! LOL So we will reverse it this time!

By the way you will have noticed that I have sponsored posts on my blog. I didn't really want to get so far into advertising but I have had to find a way to bring in a little income. With my vocal cord paralysis issue persisting I can not look for work in a career that I have experience in. Which is customer service, talking on the phone, sales etc. So I am trying to come up with little things. I will try not to overwhelm you with the posts. Please note that I am giving my honest opinion. So if in my research for the post I'm not digging it or whatever I will post it. Thanks for being awesome!

I'll be back again I promise!! :)

XOXO

Busy Little Bee

2010-03-10T06:20:00.000+09:00

Busy taking care of my family, busy making sure they are eating well, busy making sure they are healthy, clean and cared for. Busy trying to keep my house clean while clearing it of clutter. Busy trying to wrap my mind around the fact we will be moving in 1 year. We will have lived here for 7 years so we've gotten comfortable and collected alot of stuff.

I've also been busy feeling nostalgic for the way things used to be & missing the friends I adore who no longer live near. I've planted my victory garden and it is doing quite well in this tropical climate. But I'm reduced to a 4 x 6 plot and I can't help but be wistful for the gardens of my youth. Huge and full of amazing things. I'm blessed with what I have and will take it over nothing! And yes I'm aware that the grass isn't always greener. :) I've already harvest my first crop of basil, lemon balm will be next.

I miss my friends who would like to visit over tea just because. Not because they need something or they feel obligated. I miss having someone who is as craft minded and will spend days in companionable silence as we work side by side. I'm slowly working on my husband to join me. Right I know not the same but he is very creative and he adores me. As do I to him. :)

By summer I hope to have transitioned myself to wearing my vintage finds and dresses made from vintage patterns. I also have patterns for trousers that I can wear while hiking and such. I only occasionally wear vintage things I fear more out of the desire to not stand out and to fit with the crowd. But it really has been tugging at me. And who am I to care what the masses think. Eventually it will be common place for them to see me. I plan on wearing my aprons more. Sewing more for the family, spend less time on the computer. I very rarely watch tv and even then it is a movie. I will sit for tea even if it is just for me. Continue to make homemade dinners and sit down as a family.

I plan to get rid of things rather than holding onto them because I might need them. My husband is always telling me we can buy another if I really am that desperate when the time comes. The hoarder in me cringes. LOL but these things are holding me back and stressing me out.

I'm not getting any younger. My birthday is coming up in about 26 days. If I don't start doing what makes me and my family happy who is going to? What is that saying? If not me? Who?

I bought some vintage finds recently

This is new old stock. Taken out of the package for the picture. Plain but that is alright for me.

I also got a vintage 40's redwork pattern in a farmhouse design. I am hoping to spend some time embroidering this on tea towels and possibly a table cloth. I found it very charming.

I am watching several other items. I don't know if I will end up bidding on them or not. If we move back to the US in a year I am excited to shop thrift and attend estate sales again. I could definitely reduce my vintage hunting costs!!

I am up very early this morning writing this. I was blessed to be up and awake when my oldest daughters alarm went off. I just spent the last 20 minutes chatting with her one on one. I love these moments. There isn't any teenage rebellion in these conversations just good old conversation. I try to sneak in these conversations regularly. It helps keep the lines of communication going and helps her feel comfortable enough that she can tell me things. Plus I really just enjoy it! :)

And for the record (and for fun) I write with a fountain pen because I like the way it looks. :)

Thank you for stopping by I look forward to seeing you again! :)

Computer problems

2010-03-01T22:22:00.000+09:00

My laptop was infected with a pretty nasty virus. A very very very nasty one at that. So nasty that it won't go away with even the best intentions. My laptop is no longer useable and was only 2 months old! Needless to say i'm a little angry about that.

On a much better note I do have a new computer to work on. After realizing that my old computer was no longer going to be useable my husband helped me pick out a brand new one. I did switch from PC to a Mac computer so I am going through a bit of a learning curve. Not much but there is a little to learn. I promise to come back and blog up something good in a couple of day.

So Far Behind!

2010-02-21T10:49:00.000+09:00

I am so far behind at reading the blogs I have subscribed to in google reader! I am 612 posts behind to be truthful!!

I have been neglectful of this blog lately. I haven't been doing many "vintage" "retro" things unfortunately and that defies the whole title of the blog. It isn't that I want to neglect my blog but I am finding the vintage/retro scene is pretty lacking here. I haven't been to the antique stores in awhile so I may have to do that. I would love to take pictures of the store but they won't let me. There really is this big deal over here about not letting the competition have access to what their shop looks like.

I do have several patterns that I need to make. My son is feeling much much better after his surgery and is no longer so neady of my time and attention. Of course i'll always take time out to snuggle with him!! :)

I made a quilt for my mother for her birthday. I haven't heard from her yet to see if she got it but I hope she likes it.

I have started a separate blog for my new adventures. We have decided to adopt a clean eating lifestyle. No processed foods, sugar, white flour, high fructose corn syrup et... If you are interested in learning more about it please come over and visit me. A Natural Process...
I have already lost 10 lbs eating this way. Right now I am following a strict version to lose weight but it doesn't have to be strict so anyone can do it. I feel better, have more energy, my hair looks better and i'm losing that weight :). It is more natural and I think it is like gourmet eating! Who knew buckwheat would taste so good??

Thats all I will be talking about over there and will leave the family stuff for here.

I am still without voice, we don't know why this happened to me, and I don't know my outcome. I had a cat scan done on the 16th and I will have a follow up dr's appt on the 23rd. Hopefully something shows on the scan as to why the right vocal cord is paralyzed. My left vocal cord is suffering a lot of fatigue from all of this so hopefully it can be fixed.

I hope you are enjoying life, the weather is decent & you have loved ones around you. I'll try to have a good post shortly.

Happy Valentines Day

2010-02-15T13:41:00.000+09:00

I've missed you dear readers! I hope you had a wonderful Valentines day. I spent my Valentines weekend being pampered by my sweetie. This year we celebrated 14yrs together & my dear husband surprised me with 14 roses. I got a great man!!

Forgive my absence we have been ill & my little guy had surgery to remove his tonsils and adenoid. He is recovering well but if you have kids you know how they like to be coddled and held. I think especially so because he is only 20 months and a boy. :) Sssshhhh I didn't just say that did I? LOL

I found out last week that my right vocal cord is paralyzed. Not that it will affect my blogging LOL but it is rather annoying to not only be but everyone around me. My voice comes out a breathy whisper. To make things worse my husband has hearing loss. We make a great couple!! LOL If you have any remedies you recommend please let me know!!

Anyway I hope to be back to blogging soon.

Mairzy Doats

2010-01-30T09:27:00.000+09:00

Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey

A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?

Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey

A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?

LOL I think this is one of my favorite songs. Not something people normally hear but as a child I remember my grandmother singing this to us. I just adore my grandmother with all that I have!

This tune was popular and reached number 1 on the charts in March 1944.

Never heard of it? Maybe this will make it easier

Mares eat oats and does eat oates and little lambs eat ivy.

A kid'll eat ivy to, wouldn't you?

That isn't all of the lyrics. Check here for the rest of it.

AND...

For your viewing pleasure

What is that?

Do I hear you humming this catchy little tune??!! LOL I thought so hope you enjoy!

Pantry Progress, Questions answered & more to come

2010-01-27T15:56:00.000+09:00

I went through my cupboards again today weeding out the stuff I knew my family was not ever going to eat. Yes even if it was the last thing in the cabinet. So I gifted it to the neighbor who has 5 kids.

I also found more expired food so I chucked it. That completely cleaned out one cabinet. So I am down to one cabinet that has 3 shelves, my freezer and my deep freeze.

I didn't have a monetary limit for spending but if I had had one I would have beaten it by a long shot. If I remember correctly we've spent $50 out of pocket + whatever we got from WIC.

That brings me to my first question that I was asked by someone.

Do you really think it is fair to participate in this challenge when you are getting assistance?

I didn't do this challenge for it to be "fair" for others. I did this challenge as it was intended to clean out "my" pantry to use up things that have been sitting there. I get assistance because I qualify and with the cost of living here I'm going to take what help I can get. I pay $4 for 1/2 a gallon of milk how much do you pay where you live?

Miss Go Lightly asked about the vending machines I blogged about here . She wanted to know how much it costs to purchase something from the machines.

These particular machines were marked 100 Yen. At today's exchange rate that would be equivalent to $1.12. Most of the machines have varying prices for items. A small coke could be 110 Yen and the larger coke 150 Yen. Some machines carry the larger coke for 120 Yen and then coke in a plastic bottle for 150 yen.

You can buy coffee, tea, soda, juices and even sometimes food from these machines. I'll try to take more pictures of them.

If you are interested in reading up on all my posts about the pantry challenge you can click here.

Just a reminder that my blog is going to be going through another change. I just can't stand all the extra work I have to do just to type up a simple post only to have it wiped away or skipping around all over the place. I noticed this happening just after the last change and I don't like it. Please bear with me during the construction.

I hope to start doing some posts about crafts I have been making and sewing. I have tons of vintage sewing patterns begging me to get them out and to whip something up!

And before I forget a little shout out to one of my favorite gal pals in the world! You probably don't know her but she will know this is for her when she reads it.

Misaka we miss you so very very much!! We know you miss being here with us but think of all the great opportunities and adventures you have around you in Washington! We can't wait to meet up with you again! Hopefully sooner rather than later!!!

Weekend Escapades

2010-01-25T17:54:00.000+09:00

Saturday was a lounge around the house day. It was cold and dreary outside. Just the right kind of day to snuggle under a quilt in my sweats. Well except I wasn't wearing sweats! :)

For dinner on Saturday we had what my husband calls a surf and turf (steak & seafood).

Our fish was halibut & our steak ribeye. We also had brussel sprouts & mashed (smooshed clumpy) sweet potatoes. Check out that colorful meal!! Yum Yum! I had DH grill the halibut and the steak on the grill. I also had him place a small cast iron pan with olive oil, garlic and veggie seasoning with the tomatoes in the pan.

Never in my life did I think I would be eating brussel sprouts this often! It just took making them in a different way and we are hooked!!

It was a very delicious meal and still part of our pantry challenge!

Sunday we invited our friends to join us for a day of geocaching. Lets just say they loved it!! YAY!! We found 5 out of 5 caches that day! Perfect!

Since there were going to be 5 kids with us that day I planned out all of the caches so they were either at a park, a beach or something historical but still give them the opportunity to run.

Here is a picture of our first find of the day.

The kids were excited to trade with the caches and the little guy in the cars hat was excited to find more "treasure". He kept saying "ok lets go! lets go find more treasure!!" How cute!

I would not want to get into a fight with this tree!! Yikes!

Tonight for dinner we are having this soup. I am a subscriber to their blog and enjoy trying some of their recipes out. I will say that I had to add a little more seasoning than they call for in their recipe & I added garlic & corn. It is simmering away on the stove right now and I can not wait for it to be done!! I took a taste test already! :) Yum Yum!!

I'll share more photos of our weekend later on this week! We are visiting places we have never been before here in Japan and taking you along for the ride! :)

Also the blog will be under construction again. I really thought I was happy with it this time but the code seems to work all funky with blogger. It takes me twice as long to do a post if I'm using pictures than it would if I didn't.

Tomorrow i am going to be answering some of your comments in my post. So if you have any questions for me get them in as soon as you can!!

Vintage bloggers??

2010-01-23T09:42:00.002+09:00

I have a request for my vintage loving readers.

Would you be a dear and leave me a comment suggesting some vintage bloggers whose blogs i might be interested in reading!.

Thank you!

Night out

2010-01-22T10:26:00.001+09:00

We are still eating from our pantry but.... Wednesday the 20th we went to the club that we are members of for membership night. Membership night entails free dinner & drinks (non alcoholic) and games and prizes for club members and their families only. We do pay monthly dues of $7 a month but twice a month we have free member nights & we can show our card at other facilities and receive 10% off of our purchases.

So we enjoyed our dinner that night of spaghetti, lasagna, salad, corn, mixed veggies, desert and drinks.

My daughters ticket number was called to play deal or no deal. She was doing great for most of her turn. Though she wasn't getting help from myself or her day. Oh no... two of her schoolmates where standing next to her and she was listening to them. So when mom wanted to tell her to take the $195 deal she never looked my direction. So dad went up there and tried to tell her to take the $180 deal her schoolmates chimed in no deal and she immediately turned her thumb down!!! She went all the way down (as adults we knew she wasn't leaving with much). And ended up leaving with this:

$12!! :)

We go to these events and our number gets called like once a year. It never fails that we leave with nothing or something small. Once I won a box full of plastic cups that were so cheap I left the box on the stage and let the audience take what they wanted.

Next time maybe!! :)

Shell Art

2010-01-21T09:17:00.000+09:00

My daughter and I were picked to participate in a one time free class at our local community center. The class as the post title implies was a shell art class. In this particular class we made Japanese Shisa dogs out of shells.

Here are my Shisa dogs.

Stranger?? Non tis only me!!

2010-01-20T13:44:00.000+09:00

Well I guess I should just let it be known that postings on the weekend or during a long weekend will be rare! It seems that we are out having so much fun that the last thing I want to do when I return is to open the computer and upload our adventures. During the week seems like a much better time for this!

I have many many pictures to show you of our backpacking/geocaching adventures this weekend. I am only going to share a few at a this time.

Shrine This one is honoring a tree or a flower I can't remember which one.

Hillside clay kiln for firing the pottery.

The pottery shop that uses the kiln.

Vending Drink Machines (They are everywhere here!!)

A burial Urn This one is really old. We found it outside of a museum for historical artifacts relating to the castle nearby.

Walkway leading up towards the castle ruins.

See that small set of stairs in the center? That leads up to the house located in the top of this structure.

We watched the sunset and the neon light light up.

We visited some old tombs.

We saw another burial urn this time out in the woods. Apparently someone couldn't keep their hands to themselves.

One of our hiking trails.

Here is another trail a little bit greener. :)

Mangroves

The tide was out allowing us to see part of their root system.

My husband making a "cache" find. See the black box in his hand? Thats what we were looking for.

Stone steps leading out into the China sea.

Between Saturday & Sunday we spent a combined total of 14 hours backpacking/geocaching. The weather is warming up here and it is a great time for these activities. It gets very very hot in the summer making fall, winter & spring the opportune time.

I really hope you will enjoy seeing some of the pictures I have taken on adventures because it will be a main staple for the next several months. If not then I hope you will grow to like them or at least enjoy seeing the historical pictures.

Until Next time

Cream of Mushroom Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Broccoli & a roll

2010-01-14T20:15:00.000+09:00

Wed night we had chicken veggie soup. I forgot to take a picture of it but it was delicious

Tonight for dinner we didn't really have a very colorful meal. I didn't think about this until I was preparing plates. Pretty dull looking but it was very good.

I put frozen chicken breasts in my pressure cooker with cream of mushroom soup and slow cooked them for 2 hours. The potatoes are instant and I poured the cream of mushroom soup gravy over them. Frozen broccoli heated up and a roll.

My husband remarked tonight that the pantry is still feeding us really well. LOL It is kind of funny because before we would always look in and say we didn't have anything to eat. We are still going strong.

I added to our pantry today some items from Wic:

2 gallons of milk

1 doz eggs

2 boxes of cereal

1 lb of cheese

1 loaf of bread

5 apples

1 frozen container of grape juice

I also bought:

2 lbs of Carrots on sale for $0.25 cents per pound

Red grapes

2 more bags of cereal

1 box of oatmeal

Spent $15 those grapes were expensive!! $6 and some change. crazy!

My older two kids and my husband eat cereal for breakfast every morning & I give the baby oatmeal and sometimes scrambled eggs and bacon.

I have not however had to buy any side dishes or meat as we still have plenty to choose from. Tomorrow will have to be something made of ground beef. Maybe homemade pizza. I think I have all of the good stuff for that!

For those of you who are participating how is your pantry challenge going?

Crab, Smokies, Rice, Veggies & Rolls

2010-01-14T19:57:00.000+09:00

I'm a little behind on my posts here.

Crab Legs, Little Smokies, Wild Rice, Broccoli & Corn and Rolls was our menu for Tuesday Jan 12th.

It was an interesting but delicious meal. I' not sure why I decided these would be good accompanying each other for dinner but everyone ate it!

No special recipe for this. I just boiled the crab legs in water. I put the little smokies in the crockpot with bbq sauce. The wild rice was from a box with a seasoning packet. The corn and broccoli were frozen to I nuked them in the microwave and stuck the rolls in the oven for about 6 minutes.

My Shoes!! ~update~

2010-01-12T21:40:00.001+09:00

My shoes are on sale!!!! YAY!! Love love love these shoes!!

~update~
I received notice today that they have been shipped to me! YAY! I can not wait to get them in the mail. It is in the lower 50's here so I may have to wait until it warms up a bit but I can not wait to wear them!!

Weekend Absence and a a little fun!

2010-01-12T14:38:00.000+09:00

Wowee what a busy weekend we had!

Friday night my husband had an awards ceremony for work at a local Japanese restaurant. I was having such a good time that I forgot to even get my camera out of my purse! I have no pictures of the delicious food that we ordered. But let me just say it was amazing!!! After the awards ceremony my husband treated me to a movie! We watched Sherlock Holmes and I really enjoyed it.

Saturday we lounged around early in the morning and decided to spend the afternoon doing a little geocaching. if you don't know what geocaching is you can either google it or go to www.geocaching.com. Basically it is a treasure hunt using GPS. The "treasure" is a cache or container with items inside. You sign a logbook showing you found it & if you would like to take something from the cache you replace it with something of yours. My family just loves it! It also is a great way to see the area where you live or are visiting that you might not normally see. After having so much fun on Saturday we decided to go for another round on Sunday!

Here are some pictures of our Saturday and Sunday fun!!

We Found a delightful 50's style cafe aptly named 50's Cafe!!

Delicious burger and fries

The adventure begins!! We are going to climb up to some castle ruins.

The stairs and these were only the beginning!!

YAY!!!

Here is my daughter with the first cache find of the day!!

In your face is the name of this cache. I'm sorry to say that it took us three trips & a look at the hint which told us exactly where it was at before we found it! LOL we need to hone our skills.

Here it is right in our face!!!

We did continue with our pantry meals. They were nothing special to post a recipe about. Hamburgers, Spaghetti, Chili & sandwiches.

Slowly we are making our way through our stock of food. I am finding tons of cans of fruit, cake mixes and several items that were long ago expired (eeeekkk!).

Next week my son is scheduled for surgery so I am going to spend a little time this weekend planning our meals for next week. Even though he will probably be sleeping and recovering most of the first couple of days I would rather be worrying about him and not what we are having for dinner.

Minestrone Soup & a really good example

2010-01-07T18:15:00.000+09:00

Here is our pantry challenge meal for 1-7-10

Minestrone Soup

Approximately 8 servings (1 cup each)

2 Tbs butter
1 C Water
1/2 C Carrots chopped
1/2 C Corn kernels
Onion chopped (add according to taste)
1 Can beans such as navy or kidney
2 can vegetable or beef broth
1 can diced tomatoes undrained
1 can tomato sauce
1 cup of ground beef (already browned & drained)

Melt 2 Tbsp of butter in a saucepan add water, corn & onion. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the onion is tender.

Mix in beans, broth, tomatoes, tomato sauce and ground beef. Bring to a boil and cook for 18-20 minutes.

Season with Salt and Pepper according to your taste.

Since I am a throw in what sounds good into the pot kind of cook I used pinto beans instead of the navy or kidney like I posted in the recipe & I added about 2 T of barley.

Ok and now for the really great example...

What? can you not see what I see?

Look a little closer then

Oh alright check out the Best if used by date:

Thats right it says OCT 10 2007!!!!!!!!!!!

And this is what you get when you don't check the expiration date before making the cornbread!

And that is one really really good reason why you should occasionally do a pantry challenge! LOL I knew I had things expiring and items in my freezer that would soon be reaching their time limit but I didn't know it was that bad!!!

We ended up having some oyster crackers in our soup instead.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Sausage Sweet Potatoes & Zucchini Pantry Challenge meal 1-6-10

2010-01-07T08:08:00.000+09:00

I didn't get to post this yesterday.

For dinner we had smoked sausage, sweet potatoes, zucchini slices & brown rice.

I'm sure some of you are wondering where the sweet potatoes are in the picture?? LOL They are the purple bits in the picture bottom left. We are eating Okinawan sweet potatoes. I LOVE the purple color of them. They start out a light purple and as they cook their color deepens.

I don't know if they are any healthier than regular sweet potatoes, but i'm sure I could google it. I just like the color.

I must confess here. If you notice in the picture we are using salad plates. This limits the amount of food we can have on our plates & I try to make just enough food. Well that is a problem in this house apparently. I have a 12 yr old & a 6 yr old who are now requiring at least seconds as well as a grown man who is still complaining he is starving! LOL

So I made pancakes! Yep I went back into the kitchen and whipped up some pancakes. I actually did a search for an IHOP pancake recipe. Well you'll notice an absence of a recipe posted below because although the pancakes did taste good I did not think they were IHOP-like so I can not recommend it.

Hopefully tonight I will have another recipe for you.

Cheeseburger Casserole - Pantry Challenge 1-5-2010

2010-01-05T11:02:00.001+09:00

Tonights pantry challenge meal will use up 1 of our packages of ground beef only 13 more to use!! LOL

Cheeseburger Casserole

$5 Health & Fitness Magazine Subscriptions

2010-01-05T09:20:00.000+09:00

If part of your new year resolutions is to get healthier or eat better you might want to check out these magazines. 1yr subscription for $5.

EatingWell

Regular price $29.94

Yoga Journal

regular subscription price $48.24 (!!!!!)

Vegetarian Times (1-year)

Regular subscription price $44.91 (!!!!)

Fitness

Regular Subscription price $38.50

I love Eating Well & Vegetarian times!! I am already a subscriber to these great magazines and love trying the recipes! I have looked at Yoga Journal but didn't want to pay so much for a subscription. That is going to have to change because at $5 that is an extraordinary deal! To be honest I have never read Fitness but if you do why not leave me a message and tell me about it.

This offer expires Jan 9 2010 so don't procrastinate.

Pantry Challenge Meal Jan 4 2010

2010-01-04T10:28:00.002+09:00

I added some more items to my pantry today. We are on the WIC program for overseas military families & I realized that I still had a months worth of checks that will expire on the 10th. So I picked up

Apples
2 gallons of milk
1 doz eggs
1lb of cheese
1 loaf of bread
1 container of Juice
2 boxes of cereal

I still have one more check to use but I am going to save that one for Friday. Trying to spread out my last minute oops.

Because school is back in session and DH is back to work breakfast & lunches are do your own. So today I had some left over corned beef & cake. :) yep nutritious.

For dinner:

Baked Tilapia
Brussel Sprouts & sliced sweet potatoes

I am just following the recipe on the bag for the Tilapia, this recipe for the brussel sprouts.

I am a throw what sounds good into the pan cook so my directions might have to be updated after we try this.

DH took this photo :)

Brussel Sprouts & Sweet Potatoes

Pantry Challenge Sunday 1-3 & recipe

2010-01-03T21:03:00.001+09:00

Last night was a horrible night in the house. The little guy was awake until 2am and then got back up at 5 am. So we did a little sleeping in till about 10 this morning! Thank goodness it was the weekend so we had the luxury.

First up on the menu for our meals today was sausage biscuits & gravy. We had some of those frozen Grands biscuits in the freezer as well as a tube of sausage. Milk we usually have plenty of. My dear husband was the chef in charge of that meal. Actually it is his specialty if you can believe that! He doesn't really do much cooking but if you want breakfast he is the man to go to!! This meal served as our breakfast/lunch.

For dinner we had spaghetti with homemade meatballs. I spruced up our spaghetti a little bit by adding some enoki mushrooms, sliced zucchini & garlic. The meatballs were some that I had made up in December and put them in the freezer. I added onion and seasoning salt to the meatballs when I made them. I did not make the actual tomato sauce from scratch it was from a can.

For desert we had leftover chocolate cake & jello fruit salad. I did not take pictures of the meal we had tonight. I think I was just too darn hungry to remember! Here is the recipe for the fruit salad.

Jello Fruit Salad

Jello (you favorite flavor) I used Strawberry
Fruit cocktail
Pecans pieces
Marshmallows (mini)

Depending on the amount you want to make that will determine the size of Jello boxes you need. I was making a 9x13 pan so I used 2 large boxes of Jello. I followed the directions on the box for the regular method. placed the jello into the fridge and waited 1 1/2 hours. Sprinkle pecan pieces over Jello, then drain the fruit cocktail spread over the top of the Jello. I then take the mini marshmallows and spread them out over the top of all of it and lightly press them down with my hand. Return the mixture to the fridge for the remaining amount of time specified on the box.

Very easy to make and very good to eat!

Pantry Challenge

2010-01-01T15:10:00.000+09:00

We are going to be joining in with Money Saving Mom during her month of pantry challenge. I don't know if we will have enough in the pantry to go for a full month but we are going to stick it out as long as we can.

The goals I have for us being on the pantry challenge are:
1. Use what we already have
2. Eat at home more often
3. Save some money
4. eventually after using up our stock we are going to be adjusting our eating habits and moving more towards a vegetarian lifestyle.

I will be buying our dairy products (milk, cheese, eggs & yogurt) & our produce as needed. I am going to leave it open to eating a meal out once a week.

I can say just by making a quick glance to see what is in the freezer that ground beef is going to be on the menu frequently! LOL Oh and I also have 4 BIG cans of pumpkin that will have to make their debut! This is going to be fun!

For our first dinner in 2010 we are having Yakisoba. It is a meal that we have come to love while living in Japan. Super easy to make and is their equivalent of fast food. We had cheese toasties for lunch. Thats grilled cheese for the rest of you.

Most of our meals I will post how i make them by updating the post.

Would love to know if you will be participating in the pantry food challenge.

Happy New Year!!

2010-01-01T14:28:00.000+09:00

I found the image here

I'm so glad to see you are still with me! I took an extended break away from blogging but will be starting 2010 with a whole new set of blogging goals. The number one goal is to post more often and not stay away so long!

I hope that when you look back on 2009 you will have many great memories. I am looking forward to 2010 with great anticipation. We will be starting well finishing actually our journey to become debt free, doing more with what we already have, loving each other and having many great new experiences. 2010 marks the last full year that we will be living in Japan so we will be making the most of it.

So toast to the new year with me!! Kampai (cheers)

Merry Christmas

2009-12-19T19:47:00.000+09:00

Photo Courtesy of www.ginside.com

Merry Christmas to you my dear readers!

I haven't been a very good blog friend during this holiday season but I will try to make it up to you in the new year.

Enjoy your holiday with friends, family, loved ones & neighbors.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2009-11-27T11:33:00.000+09:00

I hope that you are enjoying your Thanksgiving holiday.

I did not do any obligatory Thanksgiving cooking this year. This time around I was lucky enough to be invited over to my friends home and enjoyed the festive feast that her and her husband prepared.

Thank you for being a valued reader here at One Retro Mama we appreciate you and enjoy reading your comments.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Kindle for your PC

2009-11-19T18:04:00.000+09:00

Amazon has Kindle for your PC and it is FREE! I have never used an actual Kindle but I thought the concept of it was pretty interesting. I took advantage of this offer and downloaded it to my mini laptop. I LOVE this little laptop and take it with me when I travel. By the way this (Kindle for PC) would have been nice to have for the plan ride!!

Anyway you might want to check it out since it is free and you can also get books at great prices (some FREE) to download and try it out.

The link to the Kindle for PC and find Kindle books here.

And if you don't know what a Kindle is you can go here Kindle Wireless Reading Device .

Thanksgiving is fast approaching. I'm not sure if i'm going to cook or if we will visit with friend that day. We will see.

Turkey Pumpkin kind of day

2009-11-13T09:00:00.000+09:00

Here is a picture of my spatchcocked turkey recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart Living Magazine.

The recipe didn't call for any kind of broth but I noticed my pan got a little "done" so I added some broth so that I could actually baste the turkey per the directions.

It came out crispy brown!! Awesome but I think I should have cooked mine about 10-20 min longer. When I was removing the breast from the bone it seemed not quite done. I nuked that part in the microwave so I didn't feed my family raw turkey.

I was originally going to try that recipe using a chicken but I found Turkey's for .59 a pound! They were actually cheaper than the chickens and the chickens were smaller!!

All in all very easy recipe once you do all the bone breaking & would definitely cut down on the time it takes to make a turkey for Thanksgiving. You just would have a laying down turkey instead of the usual. I carve before I come to the table anyway so my family doesn't care.

The 10th was pumpkin roasting day. Yes I finally got in there and did it!

Here are a few pictures of the before roasting and after roasting. I'm not going to go into any detail about how to roast a pumpkin and show you all kind of picture steps etc... I'm not into reinventing the wheel for the thousandth time. LOL You can Google instructions if you need them. I think I did post the method I was going to use in a post during the last couple of days. ;)

I used Coconut & EV Olive oil and brushed it all over.

He He He um I apologize for my non awesome photography. I do have a very nice camera set up but I have been opting to use my much smaller point and shoot lately. I'm being a little lazy I guess and when you are already short on time you don't want to try and set up the perfect shot.

I'll try to do better for you in the future. :)

Ball Pictures ~ Just a few~

2009-11-12T10:15:00.002+09:00

The Cake

Us sitting at the wrong table !! oops :)

Like my farmers tan? :) (I'm on the right) ;) Thats my cheesy husband beside me!

And my husband in his $400 uniform and I in my thrift store ball gown.

Since we had that table snafu and me with my injured foot and leg I didn't get many pictures of the night. There is always next year! I think i'll start working on the farmers tan now. ;)

Enter to win 3 Gooseberry Patch Cookbooks!!

2009-11-10T19:04:00.000+09:00

Over on the Gooseberry Patch blog you can enter to win 3 cookbooks of your choice!

I have a couple of these books and have looked at some from the library and some that a friend owns and let me tell you they are awesome!! I love the comfort feel I get when I pick up one of their cookbooks. The recipes are awesome and you are sure to find something to fit your needs.

Comfort foods, camping foods, party food, appetizers, dessert recipes & many more. You will have plenty to choose from.

Hurry though as you have to enter before Wednesday, November 11th at midnight EST to be eligible!!!

Head over to the Gooseberry Patch blog to enter.

Feelin stiff

2009-11-09T21:01:00.002+09:00

I am feeling it today! My ankle no longer hurts like it did and I can walk on it but boy am I stiff. My knee hurts now and so does one of my wrists. Its tough on an old dog to be injured like that.

My poor pumpkins are still sitting on the counter waiting to be cut up and I've got to get the laundry done so it isn't sitting in the middle of my sewing room.

I really have a long list of things to do and some of that includes getting started on Christmas gifts. But not much is going to happen until I can work this stiffness out.

Maybe a few more days of rest. ;)

Well Pumpkins will have to be done tomorrow. I'm really pushing it there!

Casualty

2009-11-08T21:16:00.002+09:00

I almost made it to the ball without some type of disaster. You know usually you have forgotten something for your dress or your pantyhose. But no this time I wish it had been one of those!

Three hours before I was to be dressed, ready and at the ball I tripped walking down steps. Two steps to be exact! I missed the 1st one twisted my ankle then tried to recover. Stepped down again and twisted my ankle again!!! So at this point I knew I was going down so I threw everything out of my hands and braced to catch myself. I fell on my left knee and my hands. I made out with scraped palms, the knee of my jean ripped open and my left knee scraped up. Oh and the sprained ankle!

I did go to the ball! I wasn't missing out on that!!

My dh insisted I go to the hospital today to have it looked at. After x-ray they told me it was just a bad sprain and nothing broken. Hurray!! I have never had a broken bone (well do toes count??) and I don't want to start.

I'm feeling much better today but my poor little toes look like sausages!! LOL I've been trying to keep it elevated so hopefully the swelling will go down some by tomorrow.

I don't have many pictures of the ball. We actually sat at the wrong table which was wwwwwaaaaaayyyyy in the back in BFE! So we could not see anything at all. Had we been sitting at our asigned table we would have been right up front and able to see everything!

So you'll have to trust me on this one. It was a great time, my husband looked delish in his fancy uniform and my friend and her husband were a 10!

Oh yes I forgot to update an earlier post. The suit that we bought DH he decided wasn't fancy enough. Soooo we went out and bought the fancy fancy uniform (tux equivilent)for his branch of service. That only set us back a cool $400. :) Yep Yep Now you can see why I was set on attending even after the fall. :)

I also did not get the pumpkins roasted or the seeds. Well actually I haven't gotten much done.

I'm going to recuperate for a couple of days and try it again.

Pumpkins Pumpkins Pumpkins!!

2009-11-07T11:48:00.001+09:00

We missed carving pumpkins for Halloween this year due to our extremely last minute and oh so fun getaway vacation. So I have 3 pumpkins sitting on my table that I would like to use to make puree and toast the seeds.

The method I am using this year to roast the pumpkins:

Cut the pumpkins in 1/2 scoop out the seeds and drizzle them with some olive oil. Then place them cut side down on a foil lined pan. Bake at 300 F for 1 1/2 hours.

And for the seeds:

http://www.pumpkinpatchesandmore.org/pumpkinseeds.php

We usually make our seeds with a little sea salt and thats it. This year we might try them with some other seasoning. Not sure yet.

Sunday I will be doing some freezer prep cooking. I have already put 16 hamburger patties in the freezer, 4 1lbs bags of ground beef, 1 - 1 1/2 lbs bag of taco seasoned ground beef and meat balls in the freezer. So all I have to do when I need a recipe for those items is go in and grab them.

I have a turkey thawed in the fridge. We are going to try a neat trick I found in my latest Martha Stewert magazine to roast a turkey very quickly. I was going to use chickens but I found the turkeys were the same price and would yield more meat so we went that route.

Tonight is the Marine Corps ball so hopefully i'll have some pictures and I won't sleep to late Sunday!!

We are getting gussied up for Saturday.

2009-11-06T10:41:00.003+09:00

Saturday we are attending a Marine Corps ball with friends of ours. So this week we have been preparing our finery for the big event. The only thing I have yet to find is a handbag. My husband purchased a gray and purple tie and a purple kerchief so I would like to compliment those colors with a purple handbag.

It isn't very often that we get gussied up to this extent so we like to pull out all the stops. Today I have an appointment to get a pedicure. I will be doing my own manicure as I'm only going with clear polish. I have a black gown, black elbow length gloves and some beautiful vintage look jewelry. I just have to purchase that handbag!

My husband bought a fantastic new suit to wear. Previously we thought he might wear his uniform from work but he said he would feel more comfortable wearing a regular suit to an event held by another branch of service.

Isn't it a treat when something comes up that allows us to get dressed up in our finery??!!

Words

2009-11-04T07:47:00.002+09:00

I always get a little tickle when I'm searching for herbal preparations because they like to use the words Tincture or Salve. I'm not sure why I get a thrill out of those two words. Sometimes I will repeat them over and over after reading them. Sometimes i don't think about them for a long time then I will read them somewhere and I get that same familiar little tickle.

For me I think those words represent taking care of my family within nature. It is something that appeals to me & that I have been interested in it since I was around 12 yrs old or so. I remember going to the library every chance I could get to look up making herbal remedies, soaps, lotions etc... They also makes me feel warm inside like its something calming and familiar.

Do you have words that you like to say or hear? What does it make you think of when you see or hear them?

What a week!!!

2009-11-03T10:39:00.002+09:00

I just want to start by saying this: If I have say or have a really great idea and I think we should do it. Don't listen to me!

My great idea was lets take a little vacation to Guam. You see we live in Japan and Guam is just down from us a little ways.

SSSSooooo..... on Saturday Oct 24th we got our bags all packed and ran down to the Military air terminal to see if we could catch a space available flight to Guam.

I should have known this wasn't going to be all that we thought! As soon as we arrived a man came up and asked are you just arriving from a flight or hoping to get on a flight. We replied hoping to get on the flight to Guam. He said you better hurry you have 4 minutes until the do roll call. The crew decided they wanted to leave early! Um yeah!! So we hurry up and do that and then they decide they want us to check our bags and hour early and load up on the plane. All this was accomplished within the hour of us showing up.

Great! They have space for us and we are off and in the air to Guam!!! Whew really now Space A isn't that bad! :)

We've landed in Guam after a 3 hour flight. Not bad not bad! The baby only cried about 1/2 of the flight and I couldn't get the bathroom door to shut all the way!!

The customs agent was really thorough in his job. I could've yelled bomb or i'm a terrorist (which I am not and did not have a bomb) and it wouldn't have phased him in the least. Oh goody we are clear. Now what??!!?? Oh I guess we'll follow those people out that door and down a hallway that isn't marked with multiple doors so we don't know how to get out of the building. AAAAhhhhh the exit. Now what? Do you have a shuttle? no where is lodging? about 4 miles you say?? Sure great now problem with 6 pieces of luggage and 3 kids one of whom can not hardly walk.

Ok no problemo!! Call a taxi. What??? $40 and we can't all fit in one so we'll have to have 2??!! AAAACCCKKKK what have we gotten ourselves into? Oh wait who is this? A shuttle bus & children 13 & under are FREE!! Oh my oh my! $10.00 you say?!? We will take it!

Lodging do you have rooms? Well we can't get in our system so we don't really know if we have rooms or if someone is in it. Let me call someone oh and by the way the rooms are no longer $42.00 a night they are $80.00!!! oh my word!! 8( where is the shuttle???!! oh no gone already I guess we have to stay.

45 minutes later.... We've got a house for you. its about a 10 minute walk from here. Not far you can easily get there. :)

Ok so how do we get there? Oh just go left at the sign and then walk down a ways you'll see numbers on the house. 8)

We start a walkin' with our 6 pieces of luggage and 3 kids one of whom can not hardly walk. We start walking & we are walking & walking..... walking.

Then....

Do you need some help?? 8) Yes we are looking for our lodging they told us it was just down the way about a 10 min walk.
Uh maam that isn't a 10 min walk you are going to be walking forever. Put your stuff in the van and we'll drive you down. aaaaaahhhhh Then they spoke sweet words "have you all eaten?" no "well then lets stop by Burger king and get food" (I normally can not stand Burger King but at that point anything was welcome). We are off again back on the hunt for this lodging. Finally it is found!! They even helped us unload our stuff from the van!! Super great props to you 3 young Airmen & your manners were impeccable!!! We wouldn't usually accept rides but we were on a military installation and I did have my DH who makes me feel relatively safe! :)

aaahhhh it has a kitchen & a washer and dryer!! nice nice...
What about the bedrooms? aaahhh 2 bedrooms one for the kids and one for us! YAY!! Oh wait twin beds? Ok Ok I can do this there are 2 beds in each room. They sort of resemble dorm room bunk beds taken apart. Wow they even feel like dorm room bunk beds taken apart when you lay on them! The pillows feel like wadded up socks stuffed in a pillowcase.

I can not continue this story today...... I'll be back with another post of our fabulous adventure! It only gets better!!! :)

Free online Meal Planner Diet Tracker

2009-11-03T09:26:00.002+09:00

I have been a member of sparkpeople.com for years. That doesn't mean I have been an active member! But I have the goal to be thin again someday and right now seems like a good time to give it a go.

Sparkpeople.com is a FREE online diet plan weight tracker website.

You can make your own meal plans or they can create them for you. Then you mark what you have eaten for the day and they track the calories. EASY! EASY! Like to keep track of what you have been eating? Easy they let you print out your nutrition Journal! Even better you can print out your weekly meal plan & shopping list!! ha ha no work!!!

You can also track your weight & your measurements as well as your water intake and your fitness activity.

I'm calling this my one stop shop! Okay I still have to do the shopping and preparing but in my honest opinion that is the easy work.

So check them out, it is FREE and if you don't like it you just don't have to do it!

My dr says i'm fat and if I would just be skinnier then all my problems would go away. Ha Ha I don't believe all of that but if I was a little lighter my feet and knees wouldn't hurt so much! :)

Pantry Challenge

2009-10-15T19:48:00.000+09:00

I am putting us on a Pantry Challenge for the next two weeks. Well longer if we have enough food to do it.

My husband and I went through our freezer and deep freeze and made and inventory of everything in there. Our goal is to use it up.

We are trying to pay off our bills with Gazelle intensity! If you are a fan of Dave Ramsey you will recognize that!

During this freezer inventory We found two pounds of ground pork dated Jan 2007!!! Whoa. It did have to go. Everything else stayed :)

Here is our menu that we used last week

Wednesday
Ham & Veggie Soup - made with cubed ham, corn, onion, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms & rice.

Thursday
Tilapia, Red Potatoes, Italian Herb noodles, Asparagus

Friday
Homemade Pizza

Saturday
(We have visitors in town today)
Lunch: Spaghetti & garlic bread
Dinner: Ribeye Steaks, mashed potatoes, california veggies

Sunday
Alaskan Crab, Tiger Shrimp, Brussel Sprouts & rice

Monday
Meatloaf, Rice, Green beans

Tuesday
Yakisoba

(Wed we had Soba & Thurs was fend for yourself night)

Friday
Homemade Pizza

Saturday
Veggie Soup

Sunday
Chicken & Dumplings

I've still got to finish making the meal plans for next week. I'll be posting them next Monday or Tuesday. Monday will be a quick meal or crockpot meal as we have foreign exchange students all day.

For breakfast each day we will be having oatmeal or cereal. Lunch is sandwiches or leftovers. I have about 10 containers of lunchmeat in the freezer!! :)

I have also got fruit for baking, pie crusts etc. I'll be using the fruit for whole food smoothies and will be saving the pie crust for Thanksgiving.

Before starting myself on this challenge I didn't realize what I had. Now looking at the list I have found that there was all kinds of things hidden in there!

Do you do a Pantry Challenge in your home? If you do how often to you do it? If not would you like to join me??

A Friends of Gevalia Offer Awaits You

2009-10-15T09:26:00.002+09:00

"Awesome deal!!"

Join us for our special Friends of Gevalia offer and enjoy a premium coffee kit including a stainless steel coffeemaker, scoop and a pound of Gevalia coffee-Just $12.95 (a $100 value!) Gevalia’s guarantee-you’ll love your coffee or it’s free!

View >>

I didn't realize it but you will get a coffee maker and they will send me one too!!

Also I just realized by scoping out their website that they now offer tea!!! I am not always a big coffee drinker but I do drink tea everyday.

Oh please do sign up for this! I need a new coffee maker!

Hi ya Strangers!!!

2009-10-06T19:08:00.006+09:00

WOW!! I can't believe I haven't made a post in almost a MONTH!!

Where has the time gone? And what have I been up to that kept me away from here??

I've been hanging with the coolest of cats!!! I've been loving on him, watching him grow, teaching him how to walk and do lots of new things. We have had plenty of adventures this past month.

I've also been enjoying a bit of the sickies! Yuck! At one point 4 out of the 5 members of my family were sick. The only one who didn't get sick was my husband. Weird but true!! He always is the 1st one to get sick but not this time.

We have been attempting to do some cleaning of our house. Oct, Nov & Dec are very busy months for us. Getting it all done and out of the way ahead of time makes those 3 months go so much smoother. Of course I never looked that happy like the lady in the picture while I was cleaning!

I have also been doing some cake decorating, cooking and have found treasures at the thrift and dollar stores. I will post about these later in other posts. LOL I have to have something to talk about don't I?!!

Do forgive me for being absent this month!

Hubby Handyman = Raised Garden Box

2009-09-07T21:38:00.013+09:00

Today I presented my husband with a task that I wanted him to help me with. My husband is a handy man! He can do most anything you can ask of him and if he doesn't know he will research it.

Today I asked him to make me a raised garden bed. Previously I had done my gardening in containers which sat on my back patio. It was very unorganized and not growing very well. I have heard that raised bed gardening is actually a very good method.

Here are some pictures

Putting on the support legs

Measuring

Putting in the screws

He was working so hard that

sweat was getting in his eyes

The finished product!!

(You can see my other containers in the background.)

Oh... check out this handsome thing!

He was outside "helping" daddy!

I have two super duper handymen in my life!! I am in heaven!!

Thank you to my DH & my handsome young man for making me one happy mama today!!

I love you both!!

$2.88 Taste of Home Subscription!

2009-09-05T09:42:00.003+09:00

If you love their magazine like I do you won't want to miss out on this! You can get a Taste of Home magazine subscription 1 yr 6 issues for $2.88 per year. This is for new subscribers only.

You can see what I put in my cart below

Quantity	Name	Retail Price	Your Price	Total
1	Taste of Home 6 issues/yr (How many years? = 4 years 24 issues) (Select One = New Subscriptions Only)	$72.00	$11.52	$11.52	Promotion

I went for the 4 yr 24 issues subscription. Regular price $72 promotion price $11.52. The promotion price is still cheaper than their regular 1 year subscription price & I'm getting it for 4 years!

No strings attached with this offer. It will show up as full price until you get to the final order confirmation page before you submit your order.

Remember this promotion is for new subscribers only.

Go here to check out the promotion.

Thanks to Momsbyheart for the heads up on this offer.

*To leave a comment on this blog post click on the comment link located under the post title next to the date*

Breastfeeding,Wic & Formula

2009-09-05T07:45:00.005+09:00

Every mother knows that breastfeeding is best for their baby. Breastfeeding is free, available, easy and right for your baby. Whether the mother chooses to breastfeed or not is completely up to her. I always try to do what is best for my kids, and I think it is important to be informed of your options.

WIC, has introduced a new food package that encourages breastfeeding. The new program is mandated for all states. By selecting the breastfeeding package, participants will not receive any infant formula. Additionally, women who partially breastfeed or formula feed exclusively will receive 13 percent less formula than in previous years. This means parents who previously had most of their formula paid for by WIC may now have to purchase infant formula on their own.

“In the United States there are no generic infant formulas. The truth is all infant formulas are subject to the same regulations governing manufacturing and ingredients as stipulated by the Infant Formula Act,” said Dr. Barbara Levine, Weill Cornell Medical College. You can visit the baby formula price comparison calculator to calculate your savings between a name brand formula and a generic version such as Parents Choice.

Do your research.

*To leave a comment on this blog post click on the comment link located under the post title next to the date*

Free Coconut Recipes Blog: Non-Dairy Coconut-Mocha Coffee Creamer

2009-09-04T18:35:00.001+09:00

Free Coconut Recipes Blog: Non-Dairy Coconut-Mocha Coffee Creamer

Shared via AddThis

This looks like it could be good! I haven't tried it yet.

Getting in control of your clutter!

2009-09-01T07:37:00.005+09:00

I guess I should have said getting in control of my clutter but maybe you have some too! :) I am a very unorganized ADD sufferer. There that is my excuse but it really isn't an excuse because someone out there suffers the same things that I do and is in control.

I have been on a mission to find a program that works for me, makes my life easier and tames the clutter. I'm a stay at home mom but you wouldn't know it most days as my house looks like noone has done anything to it for a week. Ok i'm exaggerating a bit but still.

I have tried Fly Lady before. It is a good program and works for alot of people. I mean alot of people! I don't know why but it just didn't isn't working for me. It is great because you've always got a shiny sink and an e-mail box full of notes (which you can delete by the way!) But I couldn't can't wrap my ADD brain around it and not feel like I'm flitting (is that the word) out of control.

Remember I am NOT saying that it is a bad program it isn't, I just didn't can't get it personally. I'm willing to work at it again because I need to stop the insanity in my home but is it going work? I don't know

Or I could try another program that was introduced to me called Motivated Moms. It is another taking control of your home without it becoming overwhelming program. It tells you exactly what you need to do each day and you mark them off.
They have sample days so you can see what you are looking at.

Difference between the two? One is free and one has a small price. Which one is better I don't know.

I'm not sure which one of these I am going to go with this go around. I like having something that is written out and I can see what will be up next. The only thing I worry about is which one will help me tackle my chaos??!!??!!

Do you have any experience with either of these? Did it / Does it work for you? Can you give me some tips?

My kids are back in school so the house isn't going to be as horrible as it was during the summer! At least I know from 8 am until 2:30pm noone will be going behind me messing up what I just cleaned up!! :)

*To leave a comment on this blog post click on the comment link located under the post title next to the date*

Pocket video camera $39.99 or less

2009-08-31T18:13:00.005+09:00

You can buy this pocket video camera in either pink (like above) or gray from Dell at home for $39.99. It is normally priced $84.99! Also thru Sept 17th they are offering free ground shipping! It will record for up to 2 hours of video and is small so it is easy to carry around.

If you sign up for ebates which is a website that gives you cash back for shopping through them they will give you a $5 bonus for signing up plus 4% cash back on your purchase

You can find out all of the details here Money Saving Methods

Please consider clicking through on my referral link for ebates.

I just placed my order for a pink one. I find that I just have too much to handle when I have the baby in the sling, my camera and then to try and juggle a huge video camera. So this should be great for when we go on adventures!!

Yes I realize that video cameras are not as huge as I made it seem in the sentence above! ;) But they are when your hands are full!! :)

I hope life is treating you well!

*To leave a comment on this blog post click on the comment link located under the post title next to the date*

Camping Time Again!!!

2009-08-27T16:38:00.002+09:00

We are headed out tomorrow afternoon for another weekend of camping. You could call this our last summer hurrah. We will be going back to the cottages that I shared photos with you in another post on camping.

School starts for our kids on Monday so we will enjoy our weekend and return Sunday afternoon to get ready for the rat race to start!

My kids have requested smores so I'll have to add that to my grocery list of things to pick up tomorrow morning. And would you believe me if I told you I hadn't started packing or cleaning up the house yet and i'm not even stressed!!! It is true!! I am normally going insane at this point if clothes are not packed already and most everything already loaded in the van. I am trying a new little thing I like to call "whatever".

Whatever it's ok we will get everything and get there when we get there.

I think it is working for me. I just needed to tell myself to relax that it is gonna be ok if we get there at 4:15 instead of 4:10! :)

I'm going to sit on the front porch and listen to the wildlife sing & the ocean waves crash. I'm going to wake up early and greet the sunrise. It is going to be great!

I'll see you soon!

*To leave a comment on this blog post click on the comment link located under the post title next to the date*

Money Management - Lesson Plans

2009-08-24T08:06:00.001+09:00

Free money management lesson plans for children, college age & adults on managing money, buying a car etc..

This would is a great resource for for anyone but homeschoolers could use this as part of their studies.

Read below what the website has to say.

Lesson Plans

Give your students a deeper understanding of money management using a curriculum offered by Practical Money Skills. Here you’ll find lesson plans for students of all ages – from preschoolers and elementary school students to teens and college students. We also offer course materials for students with special needs.

Topics range from the basics for the very young, such as “What is Money?” and “Spending Plans” to more comprehensive courses for young adults who are about to venture off into financial independence. These more advanced courses cover everything from budgeting and bill paying to the influence of advertising and issues of consumer privacy.

Here, educators will find everything they need to teach a class on personal finance. Our lecture guides, worksheets and even quizzes and tests are free to download and ready to use.

Turkey Vegetable Soup

2009-08-23T18:53:00.006+09:00

Turkey Vegetable Soup serves 3-4

2 Garlic cloves
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1/3 C Onions
3 Cups of Veggies (your choice) *
8 oz can Turkey broth or Chicken Broth
8 oz can Tomato sauce or Puree
8 oz can of water
2 cups cut up leftover cooked turkey breast
Salt & Pepper to taste

* I used red,green, yellow peppers, celery, mushrooms & cauliflower. all of these were veggies that I got from my garden except for the mushrooms.

Saute garlic & onion in olive oil until onion is transparent then add your veggies & saute just a little more. Add your broth and tomato sauce, water, turkey, salt and pepper.

Bring to a boil, boil 2 minutes, then turn heat down until soup is simmering. Simmer for 20-30 minutes or until veggies are tender.

If using veggies that take longer to cook wait until they are almost done to add the cooked turkey.

We like alot of veggies in our soups and only a little broth. If you like more broth than veggies you can add more of the liquid and less of the veggies.

Another thing you can do is add egg noodles when the soup has about 8 minutes left to cook.

Enjoy!

*to leave a comment click on the comment link under the blog post title next to the date*

Vitamix - Do you have one?

2009-08-22T18:28:00.000+09:00

Readers do you have a Vitamix or know of anyone that does?

I am interested to know what you think about it, what you use yours for... Basically I want you to give me the lowdown!

4 years ago there was a big boom on Vitamix machines in the area where I live, but I didn't buy one. One of the main reasons was the cost and the second reason was I thought it was just a blender.
Recently I have been finding out that it is really so much more and I may be interested in finally purchasing one.

So tell me about it if you have one. Pro's, Con's and everything in between.

Little Blue School: How to Teach a Child to Write a Novel

2009-08-21T18:44:00.002+09:00

Little Blue School: How to Teach a Child to Write a Novel

FREE PDF Lessons

8 lessons for children who want to write a novel also great for the young novelist writing for NaNoWriMo!

Go check out her blog & download the lessons.

If you get to her blog by Friday Aug 22 you can download it in an all in one PDF, otherwise you'll have to download them separately.

FREE Downloadable patterns - Hurry!

2009-08-21T16:06:00.008+09:00

Update...

I didn't thoroughly check this out before I posted this. It isn't downloadable sewing patterns but archive scans of the patterns.

So if you already have a vintage pattern that is missing a piece maybe they will have a scan in this archive and you can recreate it.

If you are an experienced seamstress you could redraw the pattern to size i'm sure.

I'm sorry i didn't check this out before posting.

I'll try to be more thorough and not just blog happy!! :)

Commercial Pattern Archive is offering free access to their downloadable database of patterns for 1 week. The patterns are available from the years 1868-2000.

You'll want to hurry though the free week started August 19th and runs until August 25.

Log in information is username: guest password pattern

There are thousands of patterns so you might want to start NOW!! LOL

Strike that they say they have over 48,000 patterns!!!!

Thank you to Money Saving Mom for posting this!

Sausage & Potatoes Recipe

2009-08-20T07:30:00.007+09:00

I've been away from my blog for awhile and thought I would come back to you with a quick and super easy recipe. My mom used to make this when I was a kid and now my children request it.

Sausage & Potatoes

1 pkg smoked sausage
2 cans diced new potatoes drain
1 Tbs oil
Salt, Pepper or Goya seasoning (found in the Mexican food section)

I like to cook my smoked sausage first so I can get some of the flavor from the meat in the pan to cook the potatoes. So brown the sausage. Remove to a plate and keep warm. Add oil to the pan then add diced new potatoes, sprinkle on Goya Adobo seasoning (to taste) or Salt & pepper. Cook potatoes until heated through. I like to brown my potatoes on the outside.

Add sausage back to potatoes, stir then serve.

We like to eat ours with ketchup.

another alternative is to get the new potatoes w/ the green beans added or add your own.

I didn't say it was healthy but it is quick and easy! :)

Goodmama 50% off Sale!!!!!!

2009-08-16T00:06:00.004+09:00

Goodmama Cloth Diapers & accessories Sale!!

If you have a little one in diapers this is the place to be today!!

Goodmama's is having a 50% off of all orders sale to celebrate!

If you don't currently use cloth this might be your excuse to try a goodmama cloth diaper out. It also helps reduce waste in our landfills ;)

Crockpot Sour Cream Salsa Chicken

2009-08-12T15:38:00.001+09:00

MMMMMMMMM!!!! My friend Lori from My Kinda Rain has this great & super duper easy recipe posted on her blog!

I am adding this to my menu for next week & I can not wait to try it!!

My Kinda Rain: Crockpot Sour Cream Salsa Chicken: "Crock pot Sour Cream Salsa Chicken

Ingredients:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 pkg. Reduced sodium taco seasoning mix
1 cup salsa
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
¼ cup light sour cream

Spray crock pot with cooking spray. Add chicken breast and sprinkle with Taco seasoning. Add salsa and cook on low for 6 hrs. when ready to serve remove chicken and mix cornstarch with a bit of cold water. Stir into the salsa sauce. Stir in sour cream and mix well. return chicken to crock pot and coat with sauce.
*I shred the chicken before I return it to the sauce. Makes it easier to make little tacos or quesadillas!"

Cooking with Coconut Oil & Flour

2009-08-11T20:19:00.002+09:00

I have been using coconut oil for several years now. I haven't been using it exclusively but I would like to change that. I haven't always liked the taste of coconut. Actually as a child I would gag when I had to eat it. It has only been recently that I have actually been craving coconut.

There is information out there that details the benefits of using coconut oil instead of other types of oil.

Tropical Traditions is where I have been purchasing my coconut oil. I have also bought their coconut flour. The verdict is still out on whether I will keep buying it. Only reason is that it gives baked goods a different texture. But it is healthier so we will see.

Here are some recipes that I have found. I haven't tried them all but will eventually get around to it.

Coconut Ice Cream
Coconut Cream Mushroom Soup

There are many recipes here

Coconut Oil Flour tortillas
Crispy Baked Coconut chicken
Banana Coconut Cake

Don't just those recipes just sound good?

There even seems to be a coconut diet! I haven't looked into that yet.

I have 4 jars of coconut oil in my cabinets & i'm not afraid to use them! Ha ha I couldn't resist! :)

**Hey don't forget I'm not a Dr. so do your research and talk to your own Dr. before following diet programs and trying different supplements. Especially if you are taking meds and/or have current health issues.**

Dining Out & the expenses

2009-08-11T09:58:00.000+09:00

We are trying to stick to the plan of only eating outside the home once a paycheck. My husband gets paid twice a month so that will give us the opportunity to eat outside of the home twice a month.

Twice is a fairly reasonable number for us! LOL we used to eat outside of the home no less than 6 times a week! That number represents all of the meals in the day & we've been known to eat out breakfast, lunch & dinner in one day!

To be honest I never did calculate what we actually spent on dining out & i'm not sure I really want to know. But if you figure on average we spend $30 per trip for a family of 5 and multiply that by 6 for times in a week that would be $180.00. $30.00 x 6=$180.00 And if we did that every week: 6 times a week times 4 weeks = 24 and if we still used $30 as our total bill amount: 24 x $30.00 = $720.00

!!!!!!!!!!$720.00!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm being conservative in my numbers I'm pretty sure that at one point we were spending at least $1200 on dining out and convenience foods a month! I have bills that could have been paid off had I used that money for purposes other than stuffing my families face with calorie laden processed foods!

We have been working on cutting this part out of our lives. Sure we still want to be able to enjoy this every now and then. We were gaining weight, sluggish and otherwise not generally healthy when we were doing all of this eating outside of the home. I have noticed that my middle child who usually suffers some form or sickness nearly every other week hasn't been sick this whole summer since we started our less eating outside of the home plan! My husband and I have lost weight this way also!!

The plan has been introduced to the family and we have actually managed to very quickly get it to twice a month so we are going to stick with that for now. Eventually I think we would like to get it down to where we only go out once every few months or so.

Do you struggle with eating outside of the home too often?
What are you doing to limit yourselves?

I'll be posting some ideas for quick meal ideas on those busier than busy days. Stay tuned!

Menu Plan Monday Aug 10-Aug 16

2009-08-10T09:43:00.003+09:00

Monday- Hamburger Patties w/ cream of Mushroom Sauce
Veggies & mashed potatoes

Tuesday - Marinated Steak, Veggies & Rice

Wednesday - Spaghetti, Garlic Bread

Thursday - Hamburger Vegetable Bean Soup

Friday - Tacos

Saturday - Dinner out

Sunday - Meatloaf, veggies & olive oil Parmesan noodles

What is on your menu plan for the week?

Banana Cake Recipe Card

2009-08-08T10:53:00.001+09:00

Camping

2009-08-07T10:20:00.001+09:00

I'll be away on a camping trip from Friday-Sunday afternoon.

I have a couple scheduled blog posts during this time that I am gone.

I look forward to seeing you all when I get back!

Toodles,

Recipes

2009-08-06T10:14:00.003+09:00

I have gotten 2 entries for the recipe exchange, and boy do they sound really good!

Don't you have a recipe you would like to share??

You can submit your recipe here

Recipe Exchange

2009-07-31T06:00:00.001+09:00

Recipe Exchange

Won't you join me in a recipe exchange! Share your favorite recipe or recipes that your family requests often or can't live without.

Once you input your recipe it will automatically save into my Google document.

In a future blog post I will share the recipe files with my readers. Won't you please take a moment and share!

Once a Month Cooking (OAMC)

2009-07-30T11:07:00.000+09:00

I have been looking into doing some OAMC or once a month cooking to stock some things in our freezer. Some days I am just too busy to think about cooking and it would be so easy just to be able to pull something out of the freezer and pop it in the oven or on the stove top.

Right now my current method is lets go out to eat and that isn't working out very well on the old checking account or my waistline!!

It really is just too easy to say lets go when you are harried, hurried or just want to be plain lazy! Hey I like to sit back and relax every now an then too!!

I found a great resource:

Frugal Mom's Guide to Once a Month Cooking is here! Not only does it have over 70 mom-tested once a month cooking recipes, but complete step-by-step instructions for doing once a month cooking, and lots of great forms to help you!
Click here for more information.

Cost Comparison of Baby Formula

2009-07-29T13:30:00.003+09:00

My first choice for my children has always been breastfeeding however with my son his medical problems and my subsequent problem with dehydration left me unable to produce an adequate supply of milk. After much trying and supplementing with herbals to promote milk production I had to start introducing formula.

I don't have many options of generic formula so I was purchasing name brand Similac Isomil advance. Now had I been in a location where I could have purchased Parents choice I may have chosen that route as I have found the savings to be significant!

I plugged my information into the baby formula savings calculator and found that my formula:

Similac Isomil Advance sells for $26.32 per can
Parents Choice Sells for $13.68 per can

I would have saved $12.64 per can or $439.87 during the whole time I was formula feeding!

All baby formula sold in the U.S. must meet the same basic nutrient requirements specified by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

So if you find that formula is the right method for your circumstances, you might want to look at the store brands to save money and still get the same quality as the name brands.

Simple Ways to Save $7,000

2009-07-29T05:17:00.000+09:00

Many of us often feel overwhelmed by debt and don’t know how to start climbing out of it. For others it's a misconception that the more money you earn the easier it is to save. Tawra and Michael Kellam paid off $20,000 of credit card debt and medical bills in 5 years on an average income of $22,000 a year.

Here is how you can save over $7,000 in just one year cutting a few things from your grocery bill. They are painless, simple and add up over time. If you don't think that cutting out one bag of potato chips or one soda will make a difference, look at the numbers at the end of a year. If you’re trying to save so you can stay home with your kids, put a down payment on a house, pay off some credit card debt or just have some emergency money, here are 10 ways to do it without depriving yourself. The total annual savings (in parentheses) will amaze you! You can start with these tips from Living on a Dime.

By eliminating:

~One $2.00 bag of potato chips (You don’t have to cut out all chips, just 1 bag) from your grocery bill each week you can save $104.00 per year.

~Cut a weekly box of $4.00 cereal and it puts $208 in your pocket each year.

~If you eat out one less time each week at $30 a meal, you can save $1,560 annually

~Ordering one less delivered pizza at $20, can save you $1040 per year.

~Daily gourmet coffee at $2.50 per cup ($910)

~A daily liter of soda ($365)

~Snack cakes ($455)

~One less bottled water per day ($455)

~One cup less juice per person in a family of four ($546)

~3 lbs. less red meat a week ($390)

~Bringing your lunch instead of buying save $4.00 a day or $1040 a year.

By themselves, these efforts may seem small--but they add up to over $7,000 in savings in just one year.

Tawra Kellam is the publisher of the website Living on a Dime
www.LivingOnADime.com and the author of the cookbook Dining On A Dime: 1000 Money Saving Recipes and Tips.

Menu Plan Monday July 27-Aug 2

2009-07-28T00:09:00.001+09:00

Monday - Breakfast for dinner

Tuesday - Chicken Breasts, Rice & Corn

Wednesday - Chicken & Black bean tortillas, spanish rice

Thursday - Steak, Mashed potatoes, Broccoli

Friday- Homemade Pizza

Saturday - Tilapia, Baked beans, pasta salad

Sunday- Polish Sausage, new potatoes

Budgeting & FREE Budgeting software

2009-07-27T04:36:00.003+09:00

How do you budget in your home? Do you pull out a spiral notebook everytime you get paid? Do you use an envelope system? Or do you have no budget at all?

The word budget is sometimes a 4 letter word in a home. Yes I know budget isn't 4 letters! I mean it is like a bad word that people try to avoid. A budget really isn't something you should avoid you should embrace it and use it to its full potential. It can save you money by showing you where you spend the most, how much you spend on groceries, eating out etc. A budget can also help you save money for vacations, repairs, buying a house, a car, and even savings.

I know you know all of this so why aren't you doing it? Most of the time I hear its too hard, I don't have time or I don't know where to start.

Well I know where you should start!

Shopping for Two has created a budget in excel format that she is sharing for FREE with everyone!

You can customize the categories to fit your needs which is great because you don't want something you can't use even if it is free.

So I'm not going to overwhelm you with budgeting stuff today! I have more to share in the budgeting arena but I will get to that another day.

For now just download the FREE spreadsheet and start putting it to work for you, get the hang of it and then we can move on. The first step is always the hardest but I promise it does get easier.

Frugal Mom's Guide to Once a Month Cooking is here! Not only does it have over 70 mom-tested once a month cooking recipes, but complete step-by-step instructions for doing once a month cooking, and lots of great forms to help you!
Click here for more information.

Stock your pantry

2009-07-22T15:41:00.001+09:00

Do you have any idea what is inside your cabinets? I can tell you mostly what I have but thats about it. If you asked for something specific like do I have raisins... hmm I don't know. Know had you asked for black beans then the answer would have been yes because they are at the front of the cabinet.

Do you have a well stocked pantry? Things that are most likely used in day to day cooking. Do you have enough of it? Do you even know what you might need to stock your pantry?

Even though you might have answered in the positive for each of those answers you might still be interested in a....

Pantry Stocking List

(scroll all the way to the bottom)

This isn't just any old list it is a 3 month list of items. What would you need 3 months of supplies on hand for? What happens if you get sick, heaven forbid lose your job or other some such occurance? If you have a 3 month stock you will at least know that you can handle your family food needs for the next 3 months.

Of course if you are prone to eating out or eating those heat in the microwave meals you may not need this pantry list. But then again you might if you don't have the money to do these things anymore.

For those of you who tend to make their meals from scratch this list will help you keep a stock of items on hand eliminating or cutting down on those last minute "I forgot" something trips.

3 Month Pantry Supply List
(scroll all the way to the bottom)

Thank you to everydayfoodstorage.net for making this great handout!

While you are there don't miss the other great handouts that she created!

Tom Yum Seafood Soup | Recipes | Temple of Thai

2009-07-21T20:46:00.001+09:00

This recipe is similar to the soup recipe my friend made although her soup had shrimp and octopus. Her recipe did not include mackerel.

Tom Yum Seafood Soup | Recipes | Temple of Thai

Shared via AddThis

Unorganized Pantry - Need a little organizational help?

2009-07-21T15:13:00.004+09:00

I have been searching for ideas on organizing my kitchen, making my meal planning and the actual preparation of our meals so much easier! I am a mess at organizing! You can just ask my husband and he will tell you that it isn't one of my strong suits!!

As I sit here on my end of the couch typing out this post I have a huge stack of magazines, paper, make up case sitting on the floor in between the arm of the couch and the way. My end table that I call a cubby has magazines spilling out of it, and the top is cluttered. Spilling out onto the floor is yet more magazines, some empty shopping bags and my coupons that I need to sort and put into the binder.

Ok so I put it out there have piles in my home it might be clean but it doesn't look like it with my piles.

What does that have to do with my pantry you say? Well my pantry is organized the same way as my area of the couch. I have things in every cabinet anywhere I can find a spot that is a new home for something.

So.... I don't really know what I have and don't have. If I can't see it straight off then I assume I do not know.

That is why I am looking into buying one of these doodads!

It is called a Cansolidator Pantry!

I know you've seen a system like this before at the grocery store. I found some instructions online to make them out of cardboard but then I found these! Already made you put them together and they will automatically rotate up to 40 cans for you.
This will help you to use the oldest purchases up 1st so you never have to worry about that long forgotten can in the back of the cabinet!

I know you know what i am talking about it happens to even the best of us!! :)

You can find these nifty little guys and other great organizationl items at shelfreliance.com

The cansolidator above is currently on sale for $32.99 but if you visit Krazy Coupon Lady you can use a special discount code and get it for $28.99

And if that isn't enough Krazy Coupon Lady is having a giveaway!! 1 person will win 2 (!!) Canconsolidator's!!!

Menu Plan Monday -July 20-26

2009-07-20T13:14:00.004+09:00

Monday - Chicken Breast w/ Italian Dressing
Salad w/ tomatoes

Tuesday - Dinner out

Wednesday - Pork Chops
Green Beans
Macaroni & Cheese

Thursday - Grilled Tilapia
Cauliflower
Brown Rice

Friday - Homemade Pizza

Saturday- Ranch Grilled Chicken
Salad w/ tomatoes

Sunday - Breakfast for Dinner
Pancakes, bacon, eggs

Pad Thai Noodles | Recipes | Temple of Thai

2009-07-19T20:38:00.001+09:00

Here is another recipe for a Thai dish I enjoy. Pad Thai was my first Thai dish favorite. it is not spicy and it actually similar to a stir fry with noodles.

Pad Thai Noodles | Recipes | Temple of Thai

Shared via AddThis

Thai Beef Salad (Yam Neua) | Recipes | Temple of Thai

2009-07-18T20:29:00.002+09:00

I really enjoy Thai food. I have a friend that used to live here that was from Thailand. She came over to my house one time and showed me how to make several delicious recipes. That started my Thai food craze.

We have a restaurant here that I like to frequent, but the prices are a little high. So I decided to start searching for the recipes to make them myself at home.

Tonight I want to share with you a recipe for Thai Beef Salad also known as Yam Neua.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this salad. It is a little spicy but I think it has just the right taste to be a wonderful summer dish. Since you are making this at home you can also control the amount of spice.

I hope you will try it and hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I do.

Thai Beef Salad (Yam Neua) | Recipes | Temple of Thai

Shared via AddThis

Preoccupied

2009-07-14T08:51:00.003+09:00

Dear Diary... by Artistic Advantage featuring Rene Caovilla shoes

Sorry I haven't made a post in awhile. I've been a little preoccupied with family life and all the things that go with it.

I have also been working on resumes and job applications. Not that I really need a job but we'd like to pay off some bills and do it sooner rather than later. I haven't been getting call backs so maybe something is trying to tell me something. You know...

We have been getting our house in order and collecting things for the flea market this weekend. Which reminds me I need to make sure I am on the list. We are trying to dowsize the amount of our clutter and make a little money off of it.

I had a sewing disaster this weekend. I was trying to make a dress from a vintage pattern. Unfortunately the pattern is for a 30 bust and that just isn't going to work. So I was trying to resize it, cut everything out and it won't go together right. Ugh!!

I have posts in the pipeline that I am continuing to work on. I'm not very consistent I know. I'm working on this. It is hard though when you flit about like I do.

Anyway here is what I have coming up.

Meal Planning (this one will be super for the paying off bills if its not spent on food)
Treat making
Family time
Refashioning
and I'll also be holding a contest for my 1yr bloggaversary!!

Stay tuned for the posts and the contest rules and entry.