Recipe substitutions

I love finding little things like this.  This one however found me, Kraft foods sent the link to me in their weekly newsletter.  So I want to share the link with you.  While your there, if you like to cook or want some easy dinner recipes, you should really sign up.  They also send me a FREE magazine a few times a year with some really great recipes.  Heres the link to their substitution guide, http://kraftfoods.com/kf/CookingSchool/SubstitutionGuide.htm?e=email

I am going to try to paste in one here, but I don't know if it will work..,

Well, it didn't work.  Everything all ran together, so please go check out the Kraft site.  I think you'll really like it.GREDIENT   SUBSTITUTION

Some "stuff" & Mouse~part 2

                

Okay, first I want to share a recipe.  I think I had this on my previous journal, but I'm going to post it again.  I call this...

Sneaky Veggies Pasta Sauce  

3 lbs. cheap hamburger (I get a 3# pkg at the store real cheap)

1-2 onions depending on size and taste preference garlic or garlic powder

1 can green beans

1 can carrots and whatever other veggies you want to add, as many as you like

2 cans tomatoes or some fresh tomatoes

2 cheap cans of spaghetti sauce (I usually get a can for about 89 cents)

Italian seasoning to taste  

I begin by chopping the onions and browning them with the hamburg in a large skillet.  If I have fresh garlic on hand I toss some of that in too, if not, I add a few dashes of garlic powder.

While the meat is browning, I put the tomatoes and other veggies into my food processor and let it go till it is all chopped up.   

When the meat is done, drain the fat.  Put the meat in a large pan, mine probably holds about 5 quarts.  Add the veggie mix and the cans of prepared spaghetti sauce and whatever extra seasoning you choose.  

I like to let this simmer all day long.  Yes, this is an extremely large batch.  I reserve some to serve that evening and freeze the rest in several containers.  I serve it over spaghetti noodles.  Or I make some pasta noodles and layerit with the sauce & cheese, then I bake it for about 20-30 minutes.  

I am able to serve the family those much dreaded vegetables and they don't even know it!  Yea for mommy getting one over on the kids!  

Now this next recipe is for a homemade gift.  These are the kind of things I like to make a big batch of and put in glass jars.  If you live on a tight budget like me and like to give homemade gifts, this is a good idea.  Or if someone stops by during the holiday season and you think I wish I had a little something I could give them...just put a bow on one of the jars with a little card saying from "Merry Christmas from the so-and-so family".   

Hot Tea Mix  

9  oz jar orange glavor breakfast drink powder (1 1/4 cups)

3/4 cup iced tea mix with lemon and sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground all-spice

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Combine all the ingredients and mix well.  Store in airtight containers.  Makes 2 cups mix.

Directions to pack with mix:  For one serving, combine 2 tablesppons mix with 1 cup boiling water in a cup.

Okay, well that is it for recipes today.  How about I end with a Mouse in the House part 2, or rather the day following the wild mouse chase.

So there I was on Monday, post mouse-capades, trying to clean up the closet and the bedroom.  Attempting to put everything back into some sense of order, no matter how fleeting that order is.  There I was standing in the middle of the bedroom and it struck me...there was a big, fat, ol' mouse in here...ewwwww!

So I started stripping all the linens off the bed.  I grabbed anything that I thought the lil' critter may have touched or been near.  I was bound and determined to get all the mouse "cooties" out of my bedroom. So I washed.  I dryed.  I folded.  Even the bed linens that were up high on the shelf in the closet. 

Have you ever folded laundry with a rambunctious 20 month old who wants to help?  Let's just say it is an experience one doesn't forget, especially when your folding fitted sheets.  Probably wouldn't bother most people, but I am a tad bit anal about how I fold my fitted sheets.  I like to get them folded smooth just like the flat sheets.

We got through it though.  I think Rylie faired the chore better than I.  I know she had much more fun than I did.  She finished up laughing and clapping, I finished up sighing and feeling a bit tuckered out. We spent the rest of the day doing the usual nothing, blah, boring things we do in our day. 

Then, finally, the day was over.  It was time to settle down for a well deserved, and what seemed like a long overdue, deep  sleep.  Well, as deep of a sleep as you can get with a fitful 20 month old sleeping in the middle.  Let me tell you, that girl has one heck of a right jab.

Tuesday morning I was in a deep peaceful sleep.  Mmmm, it was...beautiful.  When suddenly I felt...wet?  My right hip was wet.  What the...slowly it dawns on me.  I can hear the ol' man in the bathroom getting ready for work.  Did I pee myself?  Awww, sheesh...what's going on here?  I sit up and realize I am all wet on my right hip and partially up the right side of my torso. 

I reach out and touch my recently washed sheets, which felt so good just a few hours ago.  Wet!  I look over to the middle of the bed.  There she is, sleeping peacefully, not a care in the world, right in the middle of a big wet spot.  The left side of her diaper has come loose.  It is just barely on her, held onto her one leg by the right side tab.  Yes, someone peed the bed, but thank goodness, it was NOT me!    myspace graphics

 

Yes!  I still have bladder control!  I want to shout it out loud.  Instead I try to quietly (quiet as a mouse, lol) remove the bed linens without waking the sleeping pee-pee angel.  All went well too, at least until I tried to remove the half-on half-off diaper and put a dry one on.  Then my little nudist woke up and gave me a very dirty look.

 

Ahhh, the start of another glorious day here in my tiny little world.  This is the point where I had ended this story.  I had written it down yesterday in an email to myself so I could get on today and just go paste it in my journal. 

Oh, but the day continued and my sheet story did too. Rylie and I shared another one of our same ol' nothing, blah, boring days.  Lucky (sigh, insert sarcastic voice on the word lucky) for me, Rylie was full of an unusual amount of energy and didn't take a nap till after 4pm. 

Which means I couldn't let her sleep for very long and had to wake her up for dinner.  Which she chose not eat anyway.  The joy's of being mother to a child with her own mind. Eventually another ground hog day (movie reference) was finally over.  

Okay, the day was over for me, I always get tired first.   Rylie on the other hand was still going strong, hanging with daddy.    I was lying there on my freshly washed sheets, which I had just taken out of the dryer and put on the bed.  I just love the way sheets feel when you first put them on the bed, especially if they are still warm and cozy from the dryer. 

Suddenly a giggling child came into the room and over by my side of the bed.  Rylie Jo, and she wanted up.  Now, right now!  So I reached over and started to pick her up when suddenly I felt something cold...and wet!  Aggghhhhhh @#%$  

Yep!  Of course it couldn't have been anything simple either, like milk or water.  No, daddy had given her a cup (not her sippy cup) of RED fruit punch.  Momma was not happy!  My WHITE quilt is still soaking in the sink this morning. 

Hmm, funny thought just popped in my head.  That incident took place shortly after he read my mouse story yesterday.  Is it possible he "unconsciously" gave the baby red juice in a big girl cup.....nah, I don't, I won't believe it was anything like that.  So, hopefully that is the end of the "sheets" story. 

By the way, fat boy is still on the loose in the house.  Yikes!  What if he isn't a fat boy?  What if he is a she, and she is really fat at all, but preggers?!  Oh my gosh!  Okay, turn off thought process, stop thinking, stop thinking!  Fat boy, fat boy...it's just a big ol' fat boy mouse.  Okay, well ya'll have a great day. 

 

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Tuesday Cleaning Tip and the mouse

    

A few tips you may find helpful.  As I say on my Web page, these are tips that have been emailed to me, or that I have found on the internet.  I have not tried all of them and cannot guarantee their success.  If you do try one and it works, or if you have another one that works for you, let me know.

Ink Stains: The best way I have found to get out ink stains is to put rubbing alcohol on the stain - it disappears! This must be done before washing. For ink on the wall, wipe with bleach and it will disappear.

And the more is my story about our recent "adventure".

Sunday evening I had decided it was time to clean out my bedroom closet.  All through the month of November, as I was preparing for turkey day, all non-essential items seemed to end up in my closet.  You know all those things that seem to have no permanent home and just move about from one spot to another.  The things that you don't know what to do with but can't just toss out.

So by the time Sunday evening arrived I couldn't even see the floor of my closet.  What I saw when I opened the door was the box for the Christmas tree, the box filled with about 40 videos, a foot bath-massager thing (I didn't waste money on that), a broken printer, a second hand fax-printer machine (no cable for it), 2 boxes of out-of-season clothing(shhh, half of that I can't get my fat bum into), my camera case, a sewing machine, an empty laundry basket, a box of shoes and 3 stacked plastic drawers with socks, old bra's and bottles of fingernail polish.  Don't be fooled by this long list of "junk"...it is not a walk-in closet. 

Which is why I began throwingthingsout into the bedroom.  My frustration from spending the month baking and cleaning, a whole day cooking and nary a word of simple "thanks" from my "room-mate" kicked in full force.  I just felt an irrational need to get my life in order.  An impossible task actually, so I did the next best thing...cleaned my closet.

So there I was standing at the door to my closet, bent over with my bum sticking out the door.  Tossing various bits of junk into the bedroom when I finally spied a hint of yellow.  Yellow is the color of the 30 year-old, sad looking carpet throughout the house. 

However when I noticed the small, black, slightly crescent shapes scattered over the worn out carpet in my itsy bitsy closet, the tossing of junk became even faster, more furious and was now accompanied with high pitched yelling.  I was now in a mad dash to get my closet cleared out.  I ran and got the sweeper.  The person (who seems to be permananently) attached to the lazy boy asked me how I knew it was a mouse.  DUH!  I guess the same way I know that men have a brain...I just assume it!

So there I was sweeping the small amount of carpet over and over again.  I was down on the floor with the attachment making sure I got all the bits of mice pooh cleaned up when I heard someone say something.  I turned off the vaccum and heard "He just ran out and went under the bed".  Arggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

So the baby was sent to the other end of the house to play with her older sister.  We got ourselves into attack mode.  I was handed a broom and told to poke around under the bed while he lifted it up.  He lifted, I poked and it ran...right under the door and out of the room.  Good plan.

It was much bigger than I had imagined.  Don't worry, there was no long tail.  Nope, it isn't a...ick...rat.  Just a big, fat, well fed mouse.  Yep, I found candy wrappers in the closet and under the bed.  Apparently the nasty little critter likes the same goodies as the ol' man.  Heck, there is a toddler in the house.  The lil' fella is probably having a happy feast every night when we all go to bed.  Eww!  Eww!  Eww!

Well, we searched the house and saw no more of our little visitor.  What a shame.  I think the ol' man really wanted to fluff his plumage, shake his mane, or beat his chest and prove his use to us as a protector by beating the little fat boy with my plastic handled blue broom.

We had 2 traps from the first year we lived here when we found one of this fella's relatives living with us rent free.  The trap worked before, I hope it works again.  I keep checking them.  That fat boy is probably just sitting some where watching me.  He's probably thinking "I don't need to get the peanut butter out of your little trap when that baby leaves me all kind of crumbs all over the house."

Ahhh, the adventures of a housewife.  How much more exciting could things possibly be?  Oh, be sure to come back tomorrow for part 2.  Which includes some sheets, a baby, a diaper...oh, just come back, okay?

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Have a totally terrific Tuesday!

Some appetizers for the holidays

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Last year I started making these simple as pie appetizers.  I got the recipe from one of those little books that you purchase at the grocery check-out.  This one is from Pillsbury and features recipes using Crescent Rolls. 

The original recipe called for Crescent rolls, flavored soft cream cheese & sliced deli meat.  You unroll the crescents into two rectangles and pinch the perforations to seal them.  Spread with cream cheese and top with the meat.  Then roll them up and pinch the edge to seal.  Slice with a serrated knife into 6 slices (I make 8 pieces).  Place on cookie sheet and bake for 13 to 17 minutes at 350degrees, or until edges are golden brown.

Yeah, well I live in the real world on a real tight budget.  So this year I got all my fixing's at Aldi's (a discount grocery store).  I bought generic crescent rolls, plain cream cheese and pre-packaged sliced turkey and ham.

I put the cream cheese in the mixer and let it go till it was all soft and smooth.  Then I added about 1/3 of an envelope of dry ranch dressing mix.  I let the mixer run again while I prepared the rolls for the toppings.  Topped it with my cheap sliced meat and baked.   

You can also do Mexican Pinwheels using nacho cheese dip in place of the cream cheese.  Top the cheese with chopped red bell pepper and chopped green onions.  You can serve it with salsa too.

Or Pizza pinwheels.  Sprinkle the crescent rolls with parmesan cheese, chopped pepperoni, finely chopped green bell pepper and shredded Italian cheese blend.  Roll up, slice and bake.  Serve with warm pizza sauce for dipping.  Yum!

I also use the crescent rolls, sliced into much smaller triangle, to wrap up those little weiners(which I also get cheaper at the generic store).  I serve them with dijon mustard for dipping.

I make all of these ahead of time and freeze them.  The morning of the day I will be using them, I take them out of the freezer and defrost in the frig.  Then I just heat them up when I need them.  They are really yummy.  The pinwheels are my favorite.  Just make sure no men are around when you make them, otherwise only half of what you make will never make it to the freezer, lol.

Born to streak?!?!

Lately we have had a little streaker in the house.First the sleeper jammies come off, then she sneaks over to a corner of the room and then the diaper comes off.  She did this about 3 times yesterday.  Usually, I am busy doing something.  The last time, I was in the bedroom on my computer when she came running in there laughing.  She saw me, took one look, laughed and ran off in the other direction.

I went out into the living room.  Her dad was sitting on the lazy boy (how appropriate that name is for that chair) watching tv.  I looked around and there was her pj's and diaper...about 2 feet to the right of the tv screen.  I said, did ya see your daughter?  He looks at her and says "when did she do that?" 

Uhhhh, I don't know, why don't you tell me?  LMAO  Typical male, a female stripping down right in front of him and he didn't see it because he was watching the BOOB tube! 

I'll probably be back later. 

Divinity

I've had several people ask me for a divinity recipe.  This is not the traditional recipe, but it sounds pretty good.  I got it from my "Gifts from the Kitchen" book by Jean Pare'.  I love that particular book, it is filled with recipes for appetizers, breads, rolls and coffee cakes, food gift recipes and other neat ideas.

Strawberry Divinity

3 C. granulated sugar
3/4 C. hot water
3/4 C. white corn syrup
2 egg whites (large), room temperature
3oz. pkg. of strawberry flavored gelatin (raspberry may be used instead of strawberry)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 C. finely chopped walnuts (or pecans)

Combine sugar, hot water and corn syrup in 3 quart heavy saucepan.  Heat and stir on medium until sugar is dissolved and mixture starts to boil.  Boil slowly for about 30 minutes, without stirring, until hard ball stage (250 to 265 degrees F) on candy thermometer or until small amount dropped into very cold water forms a rigid ball that is barely pliable.  Remove from heat.

Beat egg whites in large bowl until soft peaks form.  Sprinkle with gelatin.  Beat until stiff and gelatin is dissolved.  Pour hot syrup mixture into egg whites, in a thin steady stream, while beating.  Beat until mixture begins to hold its shape.

Stir in vanilla and walnuts.  Pour into greased 9x9 inch pan.  Cool.  Makes about 2 1/4 lbs.  Cuts into approx. eighty-one 1 inch squares.

Let me know if you try it and how it works out for you.  As usual, I am always happy to receive some of your favorite recipes too.

Have a great Sunday!

Saturday silliness

http://www.GlitterMaker.com/ - Free Glitter Graphics

Just fun or silly things I thought I would put on here.  I saw the glittermaker thing above at someone else's journal (sorry I can't remember who or else I would give ya credit for it) and thought it was neat.

Now here are some silly quizes I took.

You Are Likely a First Born

At your darkest moments, you feel guilty.
At work and school, you do best when you're researching.
When you love someone, you tend to agree with them often.

In friendship, you are considerate and compromising.
Your ideal careers are: business, research, counseling, promotion, and speaking.
You will leave your mark on the world with discoveries, new information, and teaching people to dream.

The Birth Order Predictor  

Actually, I am the middle of 3 children.  Although I am the only girl.  Although, nearly all of that is true.  Even when someone walks all over me, or one of mine, the minute I stand up for us, I end up feeling guilty.  I enjoy doing research and working on things.  I tend to agree with those that I love.  Friendship thing, true.  Work, I always loved speach classes, if I could have made a living doing that I would have loved it.  Leaving my mark?  Hmm, maybe that's what I am doing with this journal?  LOL

  And here is another one...

Your Hair Should Be White

Classy, stylish, and eloquent.
You've got a way about you that floors everyone you meet.

What's Your Funky Inner Hair Color?

Hmmm, okay...but not quite yet.  I feel old enough already, don't think I want to go and make my hair "white", lol.  Okay, one more...

Your Sexy Brazilian Name is: 

AdaianeOtelo

What's Your Sexy Brazilian Name?

Alrighy then, but don't expect me to show up one day wearing that swimsuit!

I don't know what I am doing wrong in the text thing.  These don't look the same as they do when I copy the code.  Oh, well. 

Okay, your turn now!  Play one or more of these silly games, get the HTML code, put it on your journal then come back and leave a link to yours in my comments section. 

The day after

Well, everything was really good.  I think the turkey was one of the best yet.  It was one of the moistest birds ever.  I think using real butter to give that fella his last "massage" helped.

I think the final tally on the number of people here was about 16, or there abouts.  It was a good day, all in all.  The food was delicious and there was an abundance of it.

Lets see, there is my fat boy turkey right near the center of the picture.  Div brought a ham and deviled eggs (behind my flowers).  I made mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing (oh gosh, that was so good) and corn.  Mom brought rolls (some were homemade) and green bean casserole (yum!).  Cathy brought sweet taters, deviled eggs and ambrosia salad (?!geez, my mind is going, is that the one with marshmallows?!).

I think Rylie, my youngest at 20 months, had a perpetual chocolate line around her mouth almost all day long.  She really likes my homemade fudge and buckeyes. 

Agh, not a very good picture.  But, starting at the top and left to right, Pecan tassies, bowl of candy, Mom's mini birthday cake.  Pumpkin pie and apple pie.  Chocolate covered saltines, bowl of mints, and plate of 4 different cookies.  Plate of chocolate covered pretzels and chocolate covered mini Ritz peanut butter crackers, buckeyes, 2 different fudges, bowl of hard candy and plate of cookies.  I took this picture before Div brought her double batch of cheesecake with cherries (yum) and mince meat pie.

I forgot to take a picture of the buffet with all the appetizers.  Although we had people here before 11am, so that was pretty well torn up by noon.  Next time, I think I will have to get up even earlier so I can make everyone breakfast before the meal.  lol

Some other friends showed up later on.  Some of us played cards, some visited, some drank, some sang kareoke, and alot just spent the evening "grazing", lol.  Of course, eventually the food and long day got to everyone.  It was an early evening.  I think the first couple left around 9 or 9:30 and the last ones left around ten. 

I was silently relieved.  I was like the walking dead at that point.  But tonight should be better.  I finally got more than fours hours of sleep last night.  That is probably the most I've had in a few weeks.  Yea!

So people are coming over tonight.  We are gonna talk about the possibility of going caroling over the Christmas season.  LOL, I haven't done that since high school when I went with the church.  Then we are going to p-a-r-t-y, lol.  Good thing I still have some appetizers and snacks that I can put out tonight.

It's almost 7am.  I am trying to decide whether or not to fix Raymond breakfast in bed.  He has to work today.  Usually he is at work by now, but the job (HVAC) they set up for him doesn't start till 10am, so he doesn't have to leave here until 9:30.  I think I will wait at least an hour before I wake him up though.  Just because I couldn't sleep in doesn't mean I have to wake him up early.

Well, I hope ya'll had a wonderful Thanksgiving day.  Hmm, just wondering how many of you have been lined up outside of the stores for the past 2 hours for those early morning sales.  Brrrrr, not me, too freakin' cold here in Ohio!  Have a great one!

 

Thursday Home Health Remedy

 Thursdays Home Remedy

These are home health remedies that have been emailed to me or that I found on the internet.  I have not tried them all and do NOT guarantee the effectiveness of them.  If you try one and it works, or if you have one that works for you, please email me.  Thanks

Boils

• Cover the boil with Hunt's® tomato paste as a compress. The acids from the tomatoes soothes the pain and brings the boil to a head.

It may be turkey day, but it's still a Thursday, so I had to come back and add the tip.  Later kids!

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Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Now why in the heck did I wake up only 3 hours after I fell asleep?!  This freaking insomnia is gonna kill me!  It's been like this for awhile now.  I don't know how much longer I can keep going on so little sleep.

 

I've also lost about 8 pounds without even trying to.  Funny, because with all the baking and candy making I've been doing you would have thought I would have gained about that much instead of losing it.  Of course, at this point 8 pounds doesn't mean a whole lot, lol.

 

So after going to the grocery store yesterday, and spending money that we didn't really have to spend,  (cross your fingers that the check doesn't hit the bank till after the paycheck on Friday) I spent about the whole day baking and cooking.

 

I made about 40 Pecan Tassies (tiny miniature pecan pies) and I am hoping that will be enough.  I made a Pumpkin pie and an Apple pie.  Aimee and her cousin, Melissa, helped me do a bunch of chocolate covered pretzels.  I made another 100+ meatballs and the sauce.  I put them in the crockpot with the cocktail weiners, so tomorrow, uh today, I just have to take it out of the frig and plug it in.  I made my heated Spinach Artichoke dip (I think this is the best batch ever).

 

I have a small round table set up in the dining room.  I covered it with a table cloth and some lace.  I set a small wooden shelf, about 2 feet tall and 2 feet long, on top of the table.  I put lace doilies on the shelves.  This is the dessert and candy table.  I have 5 different cookies, fudge blossoms, surprise-filled cookies, cut-outs, macaroons and chocolate-butterscotch chip cookies.  There are buckeyes, chocolate covered saltines, chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate covered peanut butter crackers, hard candy, rocky road fudge and chocolate-peanut butter fudge.  There is a small little birthday cake for my Mom, tomorrow is her birthday.  The pies and pecan tassies.  Div is bringing a huge cheesecake.  

 

I will have to take a picture of it all tomorrow.  It looks really nice now and I don't even have everything on it yet.  The Main course food will be on the dining table and all the appetizers on the buffet area. 

 

Oh, I pick up a bouquet of cheap white flowers yesterday.  I then put a bag of cranberries in my clear vase, added water &  put in the flowers.  It looks really nice.  I just wish I had a few little red flowers too.  Perhaps for Christmas I will do it with a dozen white roses and about 6 red roses.  I think that would look really beautiful.  Hmmm, I wonder how much roses are running these days.

 

Oh well, lol, I haven't even gotten through Thanksgiving yet and I am already thinking about Christmas!  It's 3:09am...I amreally gonna hate myself tomorrow.  But I am so wide awake, I hate this insomnia crap.

 

Sascha, I got your card today.  Thanks hun!  I really needed that.  By the way, the little thing about getting my Christmas stuff out and getting ready to decorate already...uh yeah, the lights have been up for about 2 weeks, lol.  It is crazy around here I tell ya! 

 

We got a couple inches of snow yesterday.  Do people forget how to drive in snow, or what?  There were so many accidents yesterday it was ridiculous!  Parts of I75 and 475, which both create like a circle around Toledo, were shut down or down to crawl yesterday because of all the accidents. 

 

Right now the snow is melting.  But we are suppose to get more of the stuff tomorrow and Friday.  Y-i-p-e-e...

 

Well, I guess I should try to go back to sleep.  Or at the very least, rest for a few hours before I have to be up.

 

Have a wonderful turkey day everyone!

Just a quickie this morning

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My friend Sascha sent me an email with a quote at the bottom and I wanted to share it with you all today.  Also, it is 7 am, I am on my way to the grocery store and will be very busy most of the day.  I doubt I will get a chance to get on here and make a proper entry, so I wanted to leave a few words that struck a chord with me.

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.  Live the life you have imagined.~H.D. Thoreau

Have a glorious day!

Schedule organization

                                  All for your blog! at bigoo.ws

I believe that being a housewife and mother is a full-time job.  The key to being successful at any job is organization.   

When one gets their first own place it is a good idea to sit down with pen and paper and make a plan, a schedule if you will.  I think it is much easier to get organized and keep things clean if you have a plan.  As time goes by, you will most likely be able to get rid of a written schedule as you become used to your schedule of doing things every week and it becomes a part of your everyday life.  

Grab a calendar and take a look at it.  There are times when you will want to major cleaning.  For instance, perhaps May would be a good time to wash the windows.  Also to shampoo the winter gunk out of your carpets.  Every 6 months, or so, you should also turn the matteress on your bed over to keep it from developing those saggy spots.   

Then come the end of October or the beginning of November do it again.  This is a good time for me because the holidays are coming up and I like to have the carpets cleaned around then.  Write these chores down when you want to do them on the calendar.  

Monthly cleaning chores may include things like cleaning the refrigerator, dusting the cabinet with all the little knick-knacks, changing your box of baking soda in the refrigerator and behind the toilet (I keep one there for odors), etc.  Pick a good date like the first Saturday of every month and write it down on your calendar for every month.  

Take a look at the things that you need to do every other week or so.  This is going to be different for different people.  It will depend on how clean you like things and on how big your familyis.  For instance, a single woman living alone might only need to clean her bathroom every other week.  But a large family may need need to do it once a week.  If it is a large family with 6 boys, they'll probably need to clean the batheroom every day! LOL   

Now look at the chores you do weekly and daily.  Write them down and approximately how much time it takes to do them and how many times a week you need to do them.  Now that you have a list of what you want to do weekly and daily, make a schedule for yourself.  

Write down the days of the week and when you think it will be best for you to do each chore.  Be sure to include simple things, even if it only takes a minute.  For example, I make my bed every morning before I get into the shower.  I can't stand for my bed to be unmade.  The rest of the room may be a disaster, but the moment your bed gets made you will notice the room looks much, much better.  

Once you have the schedule made you may find that being organized and having a set schedule actually helps you to save time in your day.  As I said, as you repeatedly do it over and again every week, it will just become routine and you probably won't need a written schedule.  

But then ya'll might think this is just silly.  I can be anal retentive sometimes.  I am one of those people who makes a list of what I need to do every day, who I want to call, what I want to get at the store (organized by the order of the aisles in the store).  Heck, my underwear are folded!  How sick is that?  LMAO!  

Well, that's it for the moment.  I hope you all have a wonderfully happy day! 

Tuesday Cleaning Tip

As I say on my Web page, JillMarie's Stuff, these are tips that have either been emailed to me, or that I have found on the internet.  I have not tried all of them and cannot guarantee their success.  If you do try one and it works, or if you have another one that works for you, let me know.

Gum dried onto carpet: Place a bowl of ice over the gum and let sit till the gum becomes hard, take a hammer and hit the gum.  It should break apart and come off the carpet.  If that doesn't work, try dry cleaners solvent, pour a small amount onto a rag and rub over the gum, it should come right out of the carpet.

Surprise-Filled Cookies

I tried another new recipe this year.  Ray liked it, although he isn't too hard to please when it comes to food, lol.  

Surprise-Filled Cookies

From Page 76 of the the Mrs. Fields Cookie Book  

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 cup salted butter, softened

1 large egg

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 cup fruit jam

Yeild: 4 dozen  

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

In mediun bowl combine flour and baking powder.  Mix well with a wire whisk.  Set aside.

In a larger bowl, with an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar.  Add egg and vanilla and beat on medium until smooth.  Add the flour mixture and blend at low speed until thoroughly combined.  Dough will be firm.

Scoop out tablespoons of dough and roll into 1-inch balls and place on ungreased baking sheets.  With small end of melon baller, scoop out the center of the dough balls.  Do NOT scoop all the way through the cookie.  (I don't have a melon baller, so I just pressed my thumb into them to create the center.)  Place 1/2 teaspoon of jam in the center of each dough ball.  Place scooped-out dough back tnto mixing bowl to use to form more cookies.

Bake 22-24 minutes or until light golden brown.  Transfer to a cool surface.  

For a prettier arrangement and more variety in taste, use more than 1 flavor of jam.  I used strawberry and my homemade peach jam.  Also, I didn't have real butter yesterday so I just used margarine.  The cookies are still good, but whenever I use real butter in cookies I always think the flavor is better.

I must have made my balls too small, because I got about 73 cookies out of this recipe, lol.  But then I have so many people over during the holidays, that I tend to make my cookies smaller.  That way there are more to go around, and people don't feel guilty about trying all the different goodies I make if the servings are smaller. 

If you try this one, let me know how it worked for you.  If you have a recipe you'd like to share please send it to me, or paste it into the comment section.  I always love to get new recipes to try out and share with others.

First Day

Welcome and thanks for stopping by.

Well, I am a little late getting this going to be much help in regards to Thanksgiving.  But I'll see what I can come up with for the Christmas season.

I don't have much time to do much of anything today, but hopefully I will find something useful to put on here tomorrow.