Boston

    I hate reading the news anymore. There is always something - guns, wars, bombings, earthquakes, storms, burglaries, kids getting shot or kidnapped or molested. I most hate to hear of bad things happening to children.
   
    This poor little boy passed into Eternity yesterday during the Boston Marathon.

 

source

    His name is Martin Richard and he was 8 years old. There were two others that died as well. Although this is all so very sad and my prayers are with all involved and affected I would like to point something out. Did you know the population of Boston is 625,000!? That's just Boston by itself - not including outlying areas and with the marathon there were probably many more people in Boston that day. According to the most recent news - 3 have passed and 150+ injured. There were more than 20,000 people in attendance at the Boston marathon. All I can think is that God was involved and had other plans that day. I know things are bad but I also know things could have been much worse with so many people.

God is in charge! I hate to see the terrible things that go on in the world these days but I can rest at night knowing God is in charge! He even told us in his word that these things would happen.

Mark 13:7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.

Matthew 24:7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

But God also says Psalm 34 says ¹⁸ The Lord is close to the brokenhearted...

I don't want to downplay what happened in Boston. It is indeed a terrible thing and I wonder what goes through people's heads when they decide they want to mercilessly kill as many people as they can (or even injure just 1). I feel the same as all of you - just - in shock. But it helps me to know....

source

No TV for me

    I was looking at a blog I like and the blogger mentioned she has only one TV in her workout room - and it only plays DVDs. Sounds like a great idea to me! I always like hearing about other people who don't own a TV. I often get told "Oh, I have a TV but I don't watch it all that much". You'd be surprised how much your TV is on whether you're watching it or not. Americans are so used to constant noise that we feel strange when there is none. So, the TV is left on.

 

    I haven't had a TV for 11 years. I get lots of stupid questions too. I've even had people verbally attack me in my own home over my choice of not owning a TV. The questions I get most often are

• How do you get the news? - Um, lets see, radio, newspaper, Internet, word-of-mouth, TVs I see while shopping...

• What do you do if you don't watch television? - Pay games, talk to each other, get things done, fellowship with others, read books. My kids read LOTS of books and they read on a very high level for their ages. My daughter was reading at a 12th grade level in 5th grade. They have their own kindles and we go to the library once a week when they're out of school.

• Your kids don't watch cartoons!? - No, and they are perfectly normal.

• If your kids don't watch Barney how are they ever going to learn manners? - Yes, I have actually had this question - when I first got rid of my TV. My answer is, from ME - their mother - and from their father. Go figure.

• This is one I've never heard before but I saw on Pinterest. (I used to love Friends.)

(no source)

My answer to that one is that my furniture is pointed at each other - so that when we are all seated we can look at each other while talking. Wow. Deep huh?

    Now, I'm not judging those who choose to own a TV. I'm just saying that it's not for my family. When my kids move out - if they choose to have a TV that's fine - their choice. Looking back, I don't know how we ever had time for one. I also have watched shows that I used to watch (such as Friends) and wonder why I ever liked it. Most things on TV are so foul and it seems I didn't realize it until I had been without one for some time.

    I also monitor what my kids watch at school. Their teachers are required to let me know if they will be watching a movie and then if I don't approve my child must be allowed to go to the library or to another classroom watching a movie I approve of. Usually, I look up reviews (PluggedIn.com Movie review) and then make my decision.

     On another note - I celebrated my 34th birthday yesterday. It was a nice day- my kids brought me breakfast in bed, I got all the gifts I had wanted and didn't know it :) We went out to eat and then attended a Spanish class our church is giving. It's actually a class geared towards those wanting to learn English but my husband and I are trying to learn Spanish so we can communicate with everyone in church so we went and really enjoyed it!

Have an awesome weekend. I know I will :)

Pins I’ve tried

     I’ve tried a few different pins lately and thought I would share, once again, how they worked for me.
    1. When I look at recipes I always have a hard time finding something that looks good that doesn’t look like it tacos or isn’t a dessert. This one looked really good and we like to be able to have rice with a meal since it’s filling and inexpensive. So, when I saw this I thought it looked pretty yummy.

Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken 

 

 

It was good enough to make again for sure – although a little bland – but we like our food spicy. This one gets a thumbs up from me!

 

 

     2. Another recipe. I love chicken and I love potatoes even more! Warning: this one was spicy even for us – but we liked it! To my husband and I, anything that is spicy enough to make our nose run is goooood. Although this one wasn’t quite that hot – but close – and that’s only because I made it with half the amount of hot sauce it called for. Our favorite hot sauce is Tapatio.

 

 

 

Loaded Baked Potato and Buffalo Chicken Casserole

 

 

 

Another thumb ups!

 

 

    3. This one is another recipe of sorts. I’m sure you’ve seen at least one teeth whitening pin. I decided to try this one:

 

 

 

 

This one doesn’t link to a website. Probably should have been a clue. I followed the directions exactly and here is what happened:






I know – I look like an alien! See those white spots around every tooth? But mostly the circled ones. Yeah, those are chemical burns! That lasted all day! It hurt. It burned. I think it did whiten my teeth some and I may even try it again but not for two minutes! Maybe one minute – or I saw another pin like it that said to use a q-tip to dab it on your teeth – might be a good idea.

Well, there you have it. Three pins I’ve tried recently. Have a great week!

My unusual bulletin board

    My husband found me a pallet and brought it home. I stained it with vinegar and steel wool. I really liked the color and ease of staining it this way. I found a stencil at Michael's and used a cream color paint to stencil the corners. I then sanded it a bit to give it a more rustic look and put a coat of wax on it. My original idea was to make it into a coffee table for my daughter but I soon realized it wouldn't really go with her décor. So it just sat around for a while. Unfortunately, my pictures of the staining process are on my other (broken) computer.

    Around Christmas time I decided to use my pallet for a card holder. It worked but by the end of the holidays the cards were really cluttered so I ended up not liking it much for that purpose.

 It sat around a few months more. As I was looking for inexpensive things to go on the walls in my newly painted office I wondered if push pins would work on the pallet. If so, I could use it as a bulletin board.
And...

I love it!

  

 
 
 
 

 

 

I am currently working on shelves for this room. It's taking me longer than I would like. I am also working on getting my husband to build me a new desk - this is our junk collector table at the moment. Once I get a new desk this will disappear.

 

Have a great weekend! ;)

Losing Weight and Coconut Oil

     I am a yo-yo dieter. I have always been a little chubby and only a couple of times in life have I actually been happy with how I look. I am looking forward to my 5 year old starting school this fall because I will have more time to focus on myself (sounds very selfish I know). That is the only reason I'm looking forward to it. I will miss her so much! But I want to focus on losing weight.

    I can go to a gym for free (they don't have childcare or I'd be going already). I also just got myself a bike that I am looking forward to riding and I can go walking (at a faster pace). I am looking forward to doing all of these things beginning this fall. However, I am trying to make small changes to my diet that I am hoping will help. I change one small thing a month so that I will stick with it. I have been doing this for two months and so far so good. I haven't lost any weight - which is fine - but I haven't gained either.

    The first month I cut out all sodas. I didn't drink much to begin with so it wasn't all that hard. My favorite was Dr. Pepper. I have been drinking water and tea or sugar free Kool-Aid in it's place. But mostly water. I missed Dr. Pepper the first couple of weeks but I don't even crave it any more. I actually want water. That was for the month of February. I have had 2 sodas since then but I never drank more than half and it was because there was nothing else to drink or I didn't want to pay more for water when soda was cheaper. Lame excuse, I know.

    Last month I decided to not eat after 7:30 p.m. That one was much harder because we were so freakin' busy! We were gone nearly every night and sometimes we don't eat dinner before we go out so I had to eat when we got back. Otherwise, I could stick to it most days.

    For the month of April I am going to brush my teeth after every meal. I think it will be hard to remember but I've got a month to get it down :)

    I don't quit once the month is over. - My goal is to make each change a habit and something I do for the rest of my life. I also make sure the monthly change is something I know I can do. For example, I hate vegetables so I know I wouldn't stick to it if I decided to fill half my plate with veggies every meal. I think maybe one day I may try to work up to that but for now I am taking things slow and steady. I look up "small ways to lose weight" on the Internet and then pick one for each month (I plan a few months at a time and write it down so I'm prepared when a new month rolls around). Next month (May) I am switching my coffee creamer to fat-free.

    One thing I have researched and done in the past that really jump-started my weight loss (although I quit and slowly gained it back) was drinking Coconut Oil. It's gross but I lost 10 lbs on it - relatively quickly too. I started it because I was having such a hard time losing weight. I was doing Weight Watchers and going to the gym with little to no results. I thought for sure I had thyroid problems. I had it checked but meanwhile I researched it and found people were using the oil and even coming off their thyroid meds because of it. My thyroid results were normal but I decided to try the oil anyway. My 13 yr old daughter even used it and lost 10 lbs too. She hasn't used it in awhile but has continued to lose weight and she is now a healthy weight.  I may start back on it this fall - I like that it gives me energy I don't normally have.

    If you're interested in it - you can get it at Wal-Mart for around $6 a jar in the oil section or the aisle where the spaghetti sauce is (strange). I have found it both places. Here is what it looks like:

    Start out with just a small amount (maybe 1/2  tsp - melted to liquid form) and drink it with a small amount of Kool-Aid or other flavored drink - drink it like a shot - with breakfast and again at lunch. If you don't feel any positive or negative effects you can then up the dose by 1/2 tsp. If you don't eat with it or you take too much you WILL regret it. It will give you cramps, make you feel "out of it" and make you sick. Trust me - I know. Work up to taking more - maybe 1 tablespoon every morning with breakfast and one with lunch. I found that if I took it in the afternoon I had a hard time sleeping at night. I also read that many people would take more than that - like 5 -7 tablespoons a day or more. I never wanted to take that much so I don't know how it would affect someone.

    I liked it because it didn't make me jittery, it gave me energy - but now overwhelming energy - I just noticed I wasn't tired and I was getting more done than usual. Plus, it curbed my appetite and when I was hungry I got full quicker.
 
    I did quit using it because I felt it was no longer working for me. Whether this was true or not I don't know but I plan on trying again and using it whether I feel it's working or not so long as I am not having any problems with it. I just know that I had quit losing weight but I wasn't gaining either.

   

Hope you have a great week! I will be posting pics of my new bulletin board and it's a little unusual but I love it! So, come back soon :)

   

Posole Recipe

   Even though I just posted that I am a terrible cook – I am going to share one of my favorite recipes with you. I love Mexican food, which is good seeing that I live about 30 mi from the Mexican border! One of my favorite dishes is Posole. I pronounce it puh-so-lay (not sure if that’s correct but when I say it to Latina ladies they don’t laugh at me or correct me )

    I have made this many times, many different ways and I have found that this is the best (for me). I got the recipe from a Mexican lady in my church.

    Ingredients:

1. A small, boneless beef shoulder pot Roast (but you can use chicken or pork)
2. Knorr’s Caldo de Tomate tomato bouillon
3. large can of Hominy (29 oz.)
4. large can of pinto beans (29 oz.) -or some you cooked up yourself – I’ve done both
5. cabbage
6. key limes
7. tortillas or bread ( I usually use bolillo rolls cut into pieces)

Optional – onions, green chili's, etc. – I like mine without.

Cook the beef roast in a slow cooker until it is very tender and easy to pull apart with forks (about 5 hours). Shred the beef and place in a large pot on the stove with about half of the broth.




Fill the pot the rest of the way with water. Add Caldo de Tomate. I don’t measure this – but I usually use nearly all of a small can. I just pour it in until the water is red.








Drain beans and Hominy and add to pot. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, it's ready! Serve hot with shredded cabbage, halved key limes and bread or tortillas.

                          (my homemade rolls )

A spice we like to add for heat (spiciness) is Chili Tepin (pronounced teh - peen).






We grow and make it ourselves and may be hard to find in other parts of the country. They are little red-orange berry looking things. We put them in a blender and it is a very hot pepper. We love it!





Mmmmm…….Enjoy!

Cleaning scorched pots and pans

    I am not a great cook – I am not even a good cook. Every now and then I’ll find a recipe that makes me look like a good cook but I’m really not. I grew up on fish sticks, tacos and spaghetti. My mom didn’t know how to cook either – she didn’t have time to anyway. She was a single mom raising two girls and working full time – plus a couple of part time jobs. So, I don’t blame her. I am also a bit picky. I like eggs – but only scrambled. AND I don’t like them to have ANY moisture to them. So, often times I end up with a pan that looks like this:


    This is after soaking in soapy water. Yeah, I probably could have used some non-stick spray or something. Didn’t think of that – told ya – I can not cook! I would have liked to use a non-stick pan (that’s the easiest way to go) but my hubby is afraid of getting Alzheimer’s Disease from non-stick pans. So, I have one non-stick pan that I use only for pancakes and grilled cheese – it’s more of a griddle I guess.
   Anyway, since I wanted to get this pan clean with minimal effort, cuz I’m lazy, I poured in about a cup of Ammonia and bagged it up.


 

 


You don’t have to fill the pot or pan completely with Ammonia, even if it’s burned all the way to the top. The fumes will get it.

I then set the pan outside and let it soak for 24 hours. I brought it in the next day and wiped it with the scrubby side of a sponge. This got most of it.






The rest I got off with a minute (I actually timed it!) of scrubbing with an SOS pad. Not hard scrubbing either.




   
The black stuff that’s left seems to be deeper. I’ve been meaning to get some Barkeeper’s Friend to see what it can do. I’ve heard great things about it.
  
 I know lot’s of people have different ways of cleaning their scorched pots and pans. This is mine. Hope it works for you as well.