Home remedy--Acne

Good Morning!  Here are a few tips for dealing with acne.  I've been using the last tip to deal with large pores and some stubborn black heads. 

Acne, Blackheads & Pimples

• Dab a small amount of toothpaste (paste, not gel) on pimples before bed; this helps dry out the pimples.
• Mix equal amounts of lemon juice and rose water, apply to face with a cotton ball, and allow to sit for 30 minutes before rinsing. 15-20 days of this application helps cure pimples and also helps to remove blemishes and scars.
• Apply fresh lemon juice on the affected area overnight. Wash off with warm water next morning.
• For acne that hasn't seemed to respond to anything, steep 2-3 tsp. dried basil leaves in 1 cup boiling water for 10-20 minutes, cool, and apply to affected area with a cotton ball.
• Apply a dab of honey to the pimple, cover with a band-aid and leave on overnight.   Honey kills the bacteria, keeps the skin, sterile, and speeds healing. Works overnight. * My daughter and I have tried this one and we all think it works. 
• Paint Elmers glue onto face, let dry and then peel off and see the black heads and dead skin.  (*Much cheaper than those strips they sell in the stores!) 
• Use a cotton ball to apply rubbing alcohol to your face as an astringent.

It's Thursday, but around here it is an early Friday.  Tomorrow is the annual golf day at Ray's place of employment.  Which makes this evening the beginning of our holiday weekend.  Yippee! 

Rylie and I went to the pool yesterday, in spite of a sky full of fluffy clouds.  It was kind of nice though, the sun was shining but the clouds provided some cover and it wasn't too hot.  There was also a wee bit of wind.  However, I'm not quite sure how Rylie was able to stand getting in the water for more than a few minutes as it felt like standing in a glass of ice water. 

She spent most of her time playing with another child, a bit in the water, mostly outside of the pool.  Or talking to the life guard.  After getting home, I was pleasantly surprised to find I got quite a bit of sun on my face. 

Later in the afternoon I spent some time in the garden pulling out dying flowers, etc.  How depressing.  Another year of my life coming to a close.  sigh.  Yeah, yeah...I know, the optimist would say it's getting close to the time of a clean slate and a brand new year to start all over.  Blpppphhhht!    A bright outlook on life is not one of my better qualities, to say the least.  LOL

Nope, I guess you could call me a bit of a pessimist.  I hate that word.  I prefer to think of myself as being logical...yeah...let's go with that.  LOL  Don't get me wrong, I do hold onto hopes.  I am forever hopeful.  I always hoped I'd never turn 30.  However, as people do like to remind me, I am no longer 29.  Sheesh, when in the heck did that happen?  Makes sense though as my oldest child will be 23 this December.  Will someone please bring me a cane?!

That's not fair!  I am the mother of a 4 year old, how in the heck can I be this freaking old?  And here's the really unfair part...I thought that having a young child in the house would help keep me young.  You know, playing games, moving about, young at heart, blah, blah, blah.  NOT true!  It usually has me feeling older.  Well, a heck of a lot older than *29 anyway.  Where are the people that told me that "it will keep you young".  I think I need to find them and make them aware of the fact that she doesn't take naps anymore and I now want to take one almost everyday.

Well, I suppose I should go shower and wet my hair down and see what it looks like.  I gave myself a home perm last night.  Last time I did this I used these little blue rods thinking it would give me these really neat looking curls.  Uhhhh, noooooooo.  Instead I had this really kinky looking hair that I wanted to shave off.  My hair hadn't been permed in years, but it used to be really hard to get it to take a perm.  Well, after almost a year I had to straighten it because it was driving me crazy.

So yesterday I bought these much larger tan rods and used them instead.  I am hoping that this will be just enough to give my hair some body and not be too kinky looking.  It looked okay last night, but it was still wet when I went to sleep.  I am hoping (see I can be hopeful) for some good results.  I don't think I can shampoo it until tomorrow, I'll have to go get the instructions and look them over again.

Well, have a wonderful holiday weekend and be safe.
Jill Marie

Tags: acne home remedy

Cleaning with Coca-Cola

Hm, so I'm really curious about this cleaning with Coke business.  Supposedly, the phosphoric acid in the soda is good for cleaning several things.  I've read about people using it to clean really stubborn toilet stains, using it to clean rust from an iron skillet, and rubbing it on chrome with aluminum to clean rust stains...

Well, I know someone who has an older home with a very, very badly stained toilet.  Maybe I'll make a trip over there and do a little experimenting.  I also have an iron skillet with some rust on it.  I'll be performing a few experiments and get back with ya'll on the results, and maybe even pictures.

In the meantime here is a site with some suggestions for ways to use Coke, Crazy Things To Do With Coca-Cola.

For those of you who haven't received it yet, the following is an example of one of the "Other uses for Coke" emails.

Just when you thought you knew everything....

1. In many states the highway patrol carries two gallons of Coke in the trunk to remove blood from the highway after a car accident.

2. You can put a T-bone steak in a bowl of coke and it will be gone in two days.

3. To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl... Let the "real thing" sit for one hour, then flush clean.

4. The citric acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous china.

5. To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers: Rub the bumper with a crumpled-up piece of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil dipped in Coca-Cola.

6. To clean corrosion from car battery terminals: Pour a can of Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubble away corrosion.

7. To loosen a rusted bolt: Applying a cloth soaked in Coca-Cola to the rusted bolt for several minutes.

8. To remove grease from clothes: Empty a can of coke into a load of greasy clothes, add detergent, and run through a regular cycle. The Coca-Cola will help loosen grease stains. It will also clean road haze from your windshield.

9.The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid. Its pH is 2.8. It will dissolve a nail in about 4 days.

10.To carry CocaCola syrup (the concentrate) the commercial truck must use the Hazardous material place cards reserved for Highly Corrosive materials.

11.The distributors of coke have been using it to clean the engines of their trucks for about 20 years!

Hey, it can't hurt to give it a try.  I know that when I worked in the kitchen at the county fair we used to use cola to clean the grill. 

Have a wonderful day.
Jill Marie

Tags: Coca-cola cleaning

Beef Tips Recipe

Here is a yummy little recipe that would be good served with mashed potatoes, a veggie or a salad, and some rolls.  Mmmm.

Beef Tips Recipe
This is a quick and simple beef tips recipe for those days when you are on the go and do not want to eat fast food again. Fondue beef is simply beef sirloin or tenderloin cut into bite sized pieces.  These are usually lean pieces of meat.

Ingredients:
1 small onion, diced
1 tablespoon butter
1 package "fondue" beef (about 3/4 pound)
1 (12 ounce) package wide or extra-wide egg noodles
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 (7 ounce) can mushroom pieces, drained, optional

Directions:
1. Place large pot of water on to boil for the noodles and prepare noodles per instructions.
2. While waiting for the water to come to a boil, melt the butter in a large pan. Sauté the onion for a couple of minutes.
3. Place beef in the skillet and brown on all sides.
4. Add the can of mushroom soup and mix with the natural juices from the beef. Add the can of
mushrooms and heat through.
5. Drain the noodles and return to pot. Pour beef mixture over and toss.

I am hoping that it is a little warmer than predicted.  The local weatherman is calling for a high of 76 today.  I'd like to take Rylie down to the pool most of the days this week.  They close the pool here on labor day so this is our last week of fun in the sun at the pool. 

Rylie and I will be so disappointed when they close it.  We've had lots of fun there this summer.  I actually found time to read a book (without pictures) and really enjoyed it.  Ahh, I remember the old days (any time prior to 4 years,and 5 months ago-when Ry was born) when I actually used to read one to two books a week and even found time to work on counted cross-stitch projects.

We had a wee bit of excitement this weekend.  Bee's...yep, found them in our bedroom closet.  They weren't there on Friday, butthere they were on Saturday.  The little boogers had gnawed a hole through our ceiling and were all over the closet.  So I went and got some "none staining" bee killer spray and let Ray and David do the assassination work.

After they were done I went in and began removing clothes to wash and cleaning up the bodies.  The guys had flushed a lot of the bodies as they fell, but when I went in an hour later there were about 15 more dead bee's on the floor and I found another 10-15 on the shelf after removing the items from it.  I swept them up with my handy dandy vacuum attachment.

Then I was taking items out of a plastic box where I had some scrap booking items and found about 4 or 5 dead bee's on the bottom of that.  As I lifted the last piece of paper I found a live bee.  It had to have been the Queen because she was about 3 times bigger than the rest of the bee's.  I grabbed my sweeper real fast, turned it on and sucked her up into the land of the dead bee's.  Ray opened the vacuum and found her still alive and gave her shot her once in the back of the head...with the bee killer. 

So I am still in the process of washing all the clothes, so they don't smell like bee killing chemicals.  I guess I may as well sort through the clothes and maybe get rid of some while I've got everything out of the closet.  Sigh...

Have a wonderful week!
Jill Marie

Tags: Beef Tips Recipe

Home remedies--stomach acidity

Good Morning!  Whats not to be cheerful about?  It is Thursday, just one more day until Friday and to top it off...it's a beautiful day outside.

If you suffer from a sour stomach here are a few home remedies to try.  Of course, if you're like me...you keep a big ol' bottle of antacid tablets next to the bed.  Those chalky lil' boogers are a life saver for me.

Acidity

Take one piece of Clove and suck on it slowly. This will give you relief from acidity and also help in reducing the onslaught of diseases arising out of acidity.

Try drinking tea.  Green tea has been used for centuries in Japan as an after dinner drink. Green teas aid the body in the digestion process, and help soothe the stomach's sensitive tissue.

Herbal teas containing even trace amounts of peppermint, chamomile, ginger, licorice root and catnip help the stomach lining repair itself. Often, one cup of tea following dinner is enough to stave off future heartburn episodes.

Many find that ingesting ginger with a meal helps to reduce suffering and stomach upset. Fresh ginger can be ground and added to foods or taken in tea or capsule form.  Herbalists recommend consuming 500mg. of ginger with a full glass of water after each meal.

MEDICAL ALERT

It Could Be an Ulcer

If you're experiencing heartburn regularly for no apparent reason, it's time to call your doctor, says Samuel Klein, M.D.

How regularly? As a rule of thumb, "two or three times a week for more than four weeks," says Francis S. Kleckner, M.D. Although heartburnis most usually caused by simple acid reflux, he cautions that it can also be a sign of an ulcer.

Heartburn accompanied by any of the following symptoms, says Dr. Klein, should be checked out by a physician fast. It could mean you're having a heart attack.

Difficulty or pain when swallowing
Vomiting with blood
Bloody or black stool
Shortness of breath
Dizziness or light-headedness
Pain radiating into your neck and shoulder In addition, know that heartburn caused by simple acid reflux is normally worse after meals. If your heartburn worsens before meals, it may be a sign of an ulcer.

It's been a pretty good week for us.  Nothing special, just the normal everyday boring life.  Yesterday Rylie and I went on a cheerleader outfit search.  I promised her last month that if she began sleeping in her own room, and kept it up for 2 weeks, I would buy her something special. 

Well she wanted a cheerleader costume.  She's been sleeping in her own bed for a month now (thank you Lord) and I figured I better keep up my end of the deal.  We finally found a little Ohio State cheerleader outfit at Wal-Mart.  At first she didn't want it because it didn't have any pom-poms with it.  I told her we would find some somewhere.  So now the search is on for pom-poms.

She looks too cute in her new little outfit.  I'll have to get a picture of her.  I tried to teach her how to do a lil' cheer, but she said "No mom...you have to go like this.  Cheerleading, cheerleading, yeaaaaa CHEERLEADING!"  As she waved her arms about.  Uh...okay...LOL

I hope ya'll are having a wonderful week so far. 
Jill Marie

Tags: stomach acid, heartburn, home remedy, Ohio state

Using candles tip

Oops!  I almost forgot about the Tuesday Tip.

Candle Holders: To prevent the wax from melting and sticking to the inside of a votive candle holder, pour a bit of water in the holder, then place the candle on top. If you forgot the water and there's wax stuck to your candle holder, popit in the freezer for an hour. The wax will chip right off.

Candle Wax: To remove wax from carpeting or other fabric, first scrape away any excess. Then, place a brown paper bag over the wax and run a warm iron over the bag. The wax will melt right into the bag! Continue moving the bag around as you pick up the wax so you are always using a clean section. If a little grease stain remains on carpet, sprinkle with baking soda and allow to sit overnight before vacuuming, which will remove the grease residue. If colored wax leaves a stain on carpet, blot with spot remover or carpet cleaner, following label directions.

I hope you're having a good day.  Mine has been so-so.  I'm just so tired for no apparent reason.  I could go to sleep right now, if that was possible.

Jill Marie

Tags: candles, tip

Garlic Roast Recipe

Be sure to have some after dinner mints ready.  I love garlic flavor but it will do one heck of a number on your breath.  LOL

Roast Beef with Garlic Crust Recipe
Ingredients:
1 (3 to 3 1/2 pound) chuck eye, rolled cross rib or prime rib roast
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:
1. Wipe roast and place on roasting rack. Heat oil in skillet. Add garlic. Sauté 2 minutes pressing juice from garlic into oil. Discard garlic.
2. Mix in bread crumbs, parsley, salt and black pepper.
3. Press mixture onto roast, coating well. Insert roast thermometer in thickest portion of muscle.
4. Roast at 325 degrees F until meat thermometer registers 140 degrees F for rare (18 to 20 minutes per pound) or 160 degrees F for medium (20 to 22 minutes per pound) or 170 degrees F for well done (22 to 24 minutes per pound).
5. Remove from oven; allow to stand 15 to 20 minutes before carving.

The garlic-crumb coating helps keep juice inside the meat. It can be used on rump roasts or any other cut of meat with very little fat covering.

I added a picture to my Photo journal of Rylie and Samantha, if anyone wants to check it out.  Sammi stopped by for a visit yesterday and I got a picture of the girls sitting in my garden. 

My garden...sigh...this time of year is so depressing.  It's the end of the season...soon everything will start dying.  Yesterday I took some envelopes outside and started collecting seeds.  I got lots and lots of them.  Poppies...Cosmos...Bachelor Buttons...Marigolds...Poppies...Mallow...so sad.  I love the upcoming holidays, but I will so miss being outside in the sun everyday, working in the garden and playing with Rylie at the pool.

And besides...I've completely rearranged my house and have no idea where I am going to put a Christmas tree.  Sheesh...just 4 and half months till Christmas.  It will be time to start shopping before I know it.  LOL

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.
Jill Marie

Tags: Garlic Roast Recipe

Good morning, here is are two home remedies for achy muscles.

Achy muscles

• Mix 1 Tablespoon of Horseradish in a cup of Olive Oil. Let the mixture sit for 30 minutes, then apply it as a massage oil, for instant relief for aching muscles.
• Place enough rice to fill up your sock and tie it tight with a rubber band. Put it in a microwave oven for a few minutes until it is as hot as you like. Makes a wonderful heat pack for any body aches, and you can take it anywhere because you don't need to plug it in. (Do NOT use minute rice)

Well I took my break from the journal just before David was suppose to leave for the National Guard training at the end of April.  So here is the story.  He had been to Cleveland several times for physical exams, etc.  He was approved and told he would leave for training on April 29th.

He got there and just before he was to leave they looked at him and said "Oops, we didn't notice your lazy eye.  We can't accept you."  Now David has never had any problems with his eye.  So he decided to fight for his right to serve his country.  He got letters of recommendation from his H.S. principal, a congressman and from an eye doctor who examined him.  He sent all this in toward the end of May or beginning of June.

In the meantime, he has been going every month to the base nearby for monthly trips to the National Guard and doing service there.  Yesterday he finally received word...they approved him to serve in the National Guard.  We're not sure yet when he will leave.  But as far as we know, he will definately be going to basic this time.  It's a bit of a shame because he would have just been getting done with his basic training around this time.

I see young people all around these day's who are too lazy to work at this or that job.  They seem to want everything handed to them on a silver platter just because they think they deserve it.  Or they live with mom and dad because they're too lazy to go get a full-time job.  How often do we hear of robbery's or drug dealing.  These are more people who want money the easy way.

I have to tell you it makes this momma very, very proud of her son who fought to be able to serve his country.  I must admit to being a bit afraid of what may come after the basic training, but no matter what...I will always and forever hold a special place in my heart for that little boy of mine who grew up to be such a dedicated American man.

Have a really great day.
Jill Marie

PS~ I just posted some pictures in my photo journal. 
http://journals.aol.com/jillannemarie/photo-journal/

Cleaning tip--metal polishing

Anyone experiencing a lil' trouble with aol this morning?  I kept opening my journal to find I had no buttons.  No "add entry", "edit"...nothing!  I finally had to click the AOL Journal bar (top left) and then click something there so SIGN INTO my journal.  Yeah...weird, I'm signed into aol with my name, yet I still had to sign in to get to my journal.

Makes me think that someone at aol pushed the "mess with aol-ers button".  Yep...I think they have one.  A lil' button they push just to do weird things and mess with us.  Yep, yep, yep...shhhh, they're watching us now.  LOL

Okay, here are some tips I found on the internet for dealing with tarnished metals. 

Brass, Copper & Pewter Polish
Brass, copper and pewter will shine if cleaned with the following mixture. Dissolve 1 teaspoon of salt in 1 cup of white distilled vinegar and stir in flour until it becomes a paste. Apply paste to the metals and let it stand for about 15 minutes. Rinse with clean warm water and polish until dry.

A combination of toothpaste and Worcestershire sauce also works as a brass polish, although it is not as powerful as a commercial cleaner. Apply with a soft cloth, wipe off, and buff with a clean, dry cloth.

To polish copper sprinkling regular table salt on the copper surface. Cut half a lemon and rub on the surface, mixing with the salt. Keep rubbing until you see the copper shine. Rinse under water.  Or soak the copper surface in coca-cola overnight.

Another recipe for Copper & Brass cleaner:
What You Need:
1/2 c flour
1/2 c salt
1/2 c powdered detergent
3/4 c white vinegar
1/4 c lemon juice
1/2 c very warm water
bowl
spoon
measuring cups
quart jar with lid
Mix all of the dry ingredients in a bowl.
Stir in the liquid ingredients. Mix well.
Transfer the cleaning mixture to a glass jar. Close the jar tightly and label it.
To use the cleaner, shake a small amount onto a cloth and rub it into the surface of the copper, brass, or bronze object. Use a toothbrush for hard-to-reach areas. Rinse with water and rub dry with a clean cloth.

Polishing Silver
When I am about to wear a piece of silver jewelry and find it is a bit tarnished, I grab some white toothpaste and rub it on the silver item.  Rinse and viola!

As silver oxidizes it will tarnish. This layer of oxidation can be removed without polishing and scrubbing by simply dipping your silver in this non-toxic electrochemical dip. Another big advantage to using a dip is that the liquid can reach places a polishing cloth cannot.

What You Need:
Sink or glass pan
Hot water
Baking soda
Salt
Aluminum foil
Tarnished silver

Here's How:
Line the bottom of the sink or a glass baking dish with a sheet of aluminum foil.
Fill the foil-lined container with steaming hot water.
Add salt (sodium chloride) and baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to the water. Some recipes call for 2 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp salt, whereas others call for 2 tablespoons each of baking soda and salt. Personally, I wouldn't measure the amounts... just add a bit of each substance.
Drop the silver items into the container so that they are touching each other and resting on the foil. You will be able to watch the tarnish disappear.
Leave heavily tarnished items in the solution for as long as 5 minutes. Otherwise, remove the silver when it appears clean.
Rinse the silver with water and gently buff it dry with a soft towel.
Ideally, you should store your silver in a low-humidity environment. You can place a container of activated charcoal or a piece of chalk in the storage area to minimize future tarnish.

Tips:
Use care when polishing or dipping silver plated items. It is easy to wear away the thin layer of silver and cause more harm than good through overcleaning.

Minimize exposing your silver to substances which contain sulfur (e.g., mayonnaise, eggs, mustard, onions, latex, wool) as the sulfur will cause corrosion.

Using your silver flatware/holloware or wearing silver jewelry helps to keep it free from tarnish.

I've got to go.  I have to get around...I've got an appointment with the dentist.  Broke a tooth while grinding my teeth in my sleep.  This should be fun.

Have a terrific day!
Jill Marie

Easy dinner recipe for Mustard-Glazed Pork Chops

I found this recipe at the Smuckers website.  It certainly looks intersting and since I bought a pork loin (to cut into single servings) yesterday, maybe I'll give this one a try.

Smucker's® Mustard-Glazed Pork Chops

No-Stick Cooking Spray
4 pork chops, trimmed
1/2 cup prepared yellow mustard
2/3 cup Smucker’s Orange Marmalade
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400°. Lightly spray a medium skillet with Crisco cooking spray. Over medium heat, sauté pork chops on each side until nicely browned. Transfer chops to a baking pan.
2. In a medium bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Using a pastry brush, brush mixture on top side of chops, then turn chops over and brush mixture on other side.
3. Bake chops for 10-12 minutes, depending on thickness.

Makes 4 servings.

I also found a wee lil' MP3 player at the grocery store and bought one for Rylie.  I got one this summer and she is always wanting to listen to mine so I got her one of these little ones.  I spent all night trying to get music files on the dern thing, just to find out there was a wee lil' lock button on the side.  duh!  I had to un-lock it to put files on it. 

Now I've got the music files on there, but it won't turn on.  I can't remember if I left it on the computer last night or not.  If I didn't then it probably doesn't have enough power to turn on.  So I'll leave it connected to the puter and see if it powers up or not.  If not, Rylie is gonna be hoppin' mad at mama, because I'm going to return the dern thing.

Have a great week!
Jill Marie

Tags: Mustard-Glazed Pork Chops, easy dinner recipe, Smuckers

Home remedy--Swimmers Ear

Since I have a case of swimmers ear this week I thought I would add this helpful home remedy on here today.

What is swimmers ear?  If your ear aches and you pull on it, wiggle it or push on that little bump (called the tragus) in front of the ear canal and it really hurts, you don't have just any old earache. You have swimmer's ear, an inflammation of the external ear canal (known in medical circles as otitis externa).

Swimmer's ear usually occurs after water gets trapped in the ear following a swim, shower or even a shampoo. The damp, dark environment is ideal for bacterial and fungal growth.

At first your ear may feel blocked or itchy. At that point home remedies can help. Untreated, the ear canal will swell and possibly even shut. A milky or yellowish liquid may drain out, and it will hurt to touch your ear. At that point, you need medical treatment.

Whip up some eardrops. Combine equal amounts of rubbing alcohol and white vinegar in a clean, empty eyedropper bottle.  You can find eyedropper bottles at the drugstore; just ask the pharmacist.

If you're sure that your eardrum has never been perforated (say, from an accident or previous ear infection), apply a few drops to each ear. If it's just a mild infection, you may need no further treatment.

This home remedy works because the alcohol kills the bacteria and evaporates the water; the vinegar changes the pH of the external ear, making it less hospitable to bacteria and fungi, the "germs" that cause swimmer's ear.

To prevent future problems or if you have chronic swimmer's ear, try using the drops each time you swim or take a shower.

Try peroxide. Place a few drops of drugstore-variety peroxide in the ear. Its antibacterial action can quell minor cases of swimmer's ear.

I woke up yesterday morning with that pain.  I knew what it wasbecause Rylie had swimmers ear a few weeks ago.  I took her to the doctor and he gave us a prescription for ear drops.  That teeny tiny bottle (probably less than half an ounce) cost $120.  I don't mind spending that kind of money to keep my child healthy, but I'm not about to spend that kind of money on myself.

The ladies at the pool told me about the alcohol and vinegar remedy.  I tried it yesterday (even though my ear was perferated years ago) and today it feels much better.  I'll probably do another dose today just to be sure it's cleared up.

Here's a picture of Rylie with her cousin, Tyler, at the pool.

Can you tell she just loves the water?  She has been having so much fun this summer.  Her swimming skills are really improving.  She'll swim about 3 or 4 feet.  Although if we go down to the deep end, where she likes to jump, she can swim a lot farther.  Of course, it involves me backing up and saying "you can do it, come on you're almost here". 

I once got her to swim half-way across the pool doing that.  Now she stands at the side and say's "don't go far away!"  She loves the social interaction too.  There are usually so many kids down there for her to play with.

I keep sunscreen on her, but she is tanning right through it.  It is sweat and water proof stuff too.  And her hair...it's practically white these days. 

I wish we lived somewhere warm all year round.  Sigh...I'm really going to miss having this much fun with her when the weather turns cold.  Well, that and sitting in the sun, lol.

Have a wonderful day.
Jill Marie

Tags: swimmers ear, home remedy

aoljflickrAdd, aoljflickrAdd_1

Cleaning tip--Keeping ants out of the house

Good morning!  Here are a few tips to help keep the ants out of the house.  Of course, prevention is the best method.  Make sure you clean up spills right away and keep the floor clean.  If there are no spills or crumbs for them they won't have a reason to come inside.

Ant Repellant:

• To keep ants out of the house, find where the ants are entering the house and sprinkle a "barrier" of cinnamon or any type of ground pepper to block their way. The spices are too hot for the ants to cross.
• Cornmeal can be used as a weapon against ants, and it's not poisonous to people or animals. Ants eat it and after consuming water, the cornmeal swells inside their digestive organs, causing them to die.
• You can also apply scents and substances that ants simply don't like for various reasons: vinegar, peppermint oil, cinnamon, black pepper, cayenne pepper, whole cloves, and bay leaves. Some of these might be harmful to pets and irritating to curious children.

Yesterday Rylie and I went and picked up her niece.  The two of them played all afternoon.  Aubreigh is only 19 months, but Rylie calls her "my best friend" and really seems to enjoy playing with her.  Aubs is going through a bit of a biting and hitting stage, but we only had one incident yesterday. 

Of course, I didn't see it but Rylie did come to me and nark on her niece.  I could see the welt on her head, so I called Aubreigh over and asked her to say "sorry" to Rylie.  She did and then I asked her to kiss Ry's boo-boo and make it all better.  Which she did, so they were cool and went back to Ry's room to play.

Ray got home and we decided Breakfast for Dinner sounded good.  I made homemade waffles, bacon and eggs.  Rylie ate a bit and Aub's took about 2 or 3 bites of bacon.  Mostly she kept her eyes on Papa and seemed a bit intriqued by him.  LOL

An hour or two later I took Aubreigh home and Rylie had a fit.  She did NOT want her "best friend" to leave.  LOL  I'll have to talk to Stephanie and see if she wants to take the kids to the Zoo with me one day next week.  We could pack a lunch.  I think the kids would really have fun.

It is supposed to be humid and "sprinkly" today.  I'm hoping very few sprinkles so I can take my lil' diva to the pool.

Have a good one!
Jill Marie

Chicken & soup gravy

Good Monday morning!  I had to check to see what it was I usually do on Mondays, lol.  I guess it has been quiet some time since I've been here, huh?

Okay, here is an easy dinner idea.  Last week I had a whole chicken and decided to just throw it into a big pot, a lil' bit of salt & pepper and then I was going to throw a can of mushroom soup over top.  I didn't have any mushroom but I did have cream of celery.  I thought "oh well..." and put it on top of the chicken.  Then I just put it in the oven at about 350.

When my handy dandy meat thermometer said it was done, I poured the soup juice mixture into another pan.  I added a bit of flour mixed with some cold water and made a yummy gravy.  I served the chicken and gravy with some mashed taters and green beans. 

Now it is just Ray, Rylie and myself, so I picked the meat off the chicken and put all the left over meat in the fridge.  The gravy too.  A few days later I fixed some egg noodles.  I put the noodles, leftover chicken and the gravy (I did add some more cream of something, I think it was mushroom this time) soup.  I mixed it all together and put crushed chips on top.  Viola!  Chicken noodle casserole.  Ray really liked it and actually ate almost half of it.

Have a wonderful week!
Jill Marie

Tags: Chicken & soup gravy dinner, left over chicken noodle casserole

Hmmm...

I guess it may be time to pick this back up.  I'm feeling kind of neglectful of this lil' journal.  I have done a few montage jobs although not as many as I would have liked.  Other than that, Rylie and I have been having a pretty good summer.

Every morning when she wakes up the first thing out of her mouth is "can we go to the pool today?"  At first it was pretty cool, but I've found that even I can get tired of sitting by the pool all day long, every day...sigh.  It is amazing how tiring sitting in the sun all day long can be.  LOL

I've been keeping Rylie covered in sun screen, but even she is starting to get some cute lil' tan lines.  Me?  If not for my blonde hair and blue eyes people might question my ethnicity.  LOL  Ray always tells me that I'll turn into leather, but I've been using vitamin E oil 2-3 times a day on my face and neck.  I'm hoping that will help. 

I posted a few pictures of Rylie at the fair in my photo journal, http://journals.aol.com/jillannemarie/photo-journal/, if you want to take a peek.

Well, I guess that's about it for now.  Rylie is waiting for me to get around so she can ride her bike and then go to the...you guessed it...the pool.  LOL 

See ya later!
Jill Marie