Old Navy Giveaway!

I found this awesome giveaway to win a coupon for $50 off a $100 purchase at Old Navy! I love their clothes for kids! Go to this blog and there are 10 ways to enter! Good Luck! http://darwinsfrg.blogspot.com

PS If you enter the contest mention my name and it enters me again! Thanks!

Cheap Entertainment

So all of the sudden I was bored and thought, "Hey now would be a good time to do that blog I started and haven't touched for like 3 months....", so here I am. This idea might be silly but when I heard it I thought it was a good idea. For those of you who have younger children, you know how hard it is to entertain them sometimes. PBS does a pretty good job for a while, but that only lasts so long. So, you head out to the park and it's like 90 degrees so that's no good either. So what else is there to do? Well the other day I had a friend call and invite me to go to Petsmart with her and her little boy. I wasn't sure that it was going to be that fun for Ryan, but I figured at least it was getting us out of the house. Well we weren't able to stay long, but while we were there Ryan was in heaven looking at all the different animals. And you want know the best part....it's FREE! They have fish, birds, mice, cats, and lots of other things. So any of you moms that are worried about what to do when it's too hot or cold to go out....head to your local pet store. Ryan even loved the dog toy aisle because most of the toys squeak.

This is kind of a silly start to my hopeful return, but hey maybe it will be useful to someone. If anyone ever needs someone to go with, Ryan and I are usually bored so give us a call!

It's About Time!

I know it has been way long since I have done this. I am a terrible slacker. But I do have a pretty good excuse. When you are throwing up everyday, your blog is probably the last thing on your mind too. So if you haven't figured it our, I am pregnant again. Oh the joy of morning sickness (AKA "all day" sickness). Hopefully I am to the point where it is slowing down and I can get back to life. So since not to many food items sound very good to me right now, I thought I would post of recipe of one that actually does. It's the easiest peach cobbler you will ever make. And boy I wish I had all the ingredients right now.

2 cans peach pie filling
1 box yellow cake mix
1/2 c. melted butter
2 tbsp. cinnamon/sugar

Spread pie filling evenly in bottom of 13x9 inch pan. Sprinkle with dry cake mix completely covering fruit. Pour melted butter over entire cobbler. Sprinkle top cinnamon and sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes. (Sometimes I don't even melt the butter and cut it up in slices and place on the top.) And of course top it off with some good old vanilla ice cream or Cool Whip. Whatever floats your boat.

The best part is that you don't even need a dutch oven to make it! I have a dutch oven but I hate cleaning it out. I'm sure I don't do it right anyways, and it's probably ruined by now. I hope you like it. I am going to try to start doing this again a couple of times a week. I don't know if I can do it daily any more. Not to mention, you run out of ideas really fast!

Preparation Idea

Sorry I have slacked again. I think I have started a lot of posts that way lately. Hopefully as soon as I get feeling better I can be more diligent. For now, bear with me :)

Dax and I have have been watching a TV series called Jericho lately. It is about people surviving a nuclear attack on the US. There is a lot more to it than that, but that is the basic idea. Anyways, not that I preparing for a nuclear attack or anything, but I started thinking about being prepared for whatever. As I opened a can of spaghetti sauce I realized that most people now days have electric can openers. (My mind wanders to random places alot) I don't know about you but most of my food storage comes in cans. So what happens when the power goes out and you have no way to open anything? I know we could figure something out, but how nice it is to know that I have a can opener that will still work with no power. So my advice for today is go and buy a hand operated can opener. They probably even sell them at the dollar store. It will definitely come in handy someday when the power goes out and you want a can of beans or something.

Make Some Extra Money

I am so sorry I haven't posted for a while. I haven't been feeling too well and this has been the last thing on my mind. Anyways, I found out a simple way to earn a little cash. It's not a ton of money but hey, it's money.

I registered with mysurvey.com. All you do is take online surveys about things that pertain to your family. Once you earn enough points you can either get a prize or a check in the mail. So far, I have taken the check every time. It's nice to get $20 in the mail. But, it is totally legit. It does take some time to earn up enough points, but it's so easy. I am on the computer a lot so I just check to see if there are any new surveys for me and they usually don't take too long. The longer they are the more oints you get.

Also, another cool thing about it is sometimes you will be selected to try new products. I was sent some new gerber yogurt for Ryan to try and Dax got to test some new deoderant. I like it because it gives me something to do when I am bored. Needless to say, I haven't done any recently. So check it out. I have actually earned about $100 so far. Just go to mysurvey.com to register and gert started. Good Luck! And I am not going to guarantee I will post every day anymore. As soon as I get feeling better maybe I will be more diligent.

I'm Back!

I don't know if anyone even noticed I was gone. Well the weather in California was not very warm, but I heard it was pretty warm here the whole time we were gone. So, this is one of my favorite summer recipes for hot days. If you are on a diet stop reading now. It's not a health food recipe for sure. I guess you could make it healthy by buying the fat free cool whip, but why? :)

1 Container of Cool Whip
1 Container of yogurt (any flavor you like)
1 graham cracker crust
fresh fruit (if desired)

All you need to do is make sure your cool whip is soft enough to stir, and stir in your yogurt. If you want fresh fruit in it, stir it in too. Once everything is mixed throw it into the crust and freeze until firm. I like to take it out of the freezer several minutes before cutting it. I love the taste of cool whip and the yogurt adds just enough flavor.

My favorite is raspberry yogurt with fresh (or frozen) raspberries. But I really like all of the types I have tried. I also like to add a hint of food coloring because there isn't much color to it. So for raspberry add some red, peach add some orange...and so on. I probably wouldn't add blue to my peach one, but if it makes you happy, do it. I recommend not using the yoplait yogurt because it has smaller containers. If I am just eating yogurt plain that is the only kind I buy, but for this recipe I usually get the kind that's like 3/$1.00. Cheap yogurt works great! The total cost for making this is probably under $5. And if anyone wants to make one and use frozen strawberries let me know and will totally give you some because I have lots of them.

Life is Crazy!

So sorry I didn't post yesterday. We are getting ready to go to Lego Land and I have been busy trying to get everything together. And just so you know from this Sunday to next Sunday I will be gone and won't have access to a computer. I don't know if anyone really cares, but if someone would like to take over for a week let me know.

Today's tip has to be fast. Ryan is already mad that I am on the computer without him. So I have been lucky and never struggled with getting my child to eat. He will eat anything, and I mean anything. We went to Panda Express and I had picked all of the mushrooms out of mine and he ate them all for me. They weren't just sliced mushrooms either, they were full yucky mushrooms. Anyways, if you aren't as lucky as I am with a kid that eats anything then here are a couple simple ideas I have heard. First, give them something to dip in. Kids love to dip. Even as young as Ryan is, he knows the concept of dipping. And if you are worried about dips being unhealthy, then just get healthy ones...kids don't know. Hummus is a good one, and guacamole. Both are fairly good for you and i think they taste pretty darn good myself. So let them dip, even though it gets messy, at least they are eating.

The second idea is to put food on the small plastic skewers. Kids probably ought to be a little older for this one. So they don't poke an eye out or something. But do remember how cool it was when you were little and went to like a wedding or something and they had food on those little colored swords? I totally remember those little swords and how excited I was to eat off of them. You could stick lunch meat, cheese, veggies, fruits, or any other thing you want them to eat and it will make it new and exciting. I hope this helps someone. If you try it let me know how it goes!

Maybe once I get back from vacation maybe I will be all new and refreshed and be better about doing this everyday. That, or so completely exhausted that it will be a month before the next post........

*Really, if someone is interested in helping me out this next week, send me an e-mail or something and I will add you to the account so you can post to. And maybe we could even switch off days after my vacation since I am a total slacker lately!

'Tis the Season...

for mosquito bites. I hate mosquito's and I hate being itchy. I was told to instantly relieve itch from a mosquito bite all you need to do is rub a little soap on it. I haven't had a chance to try it since I just heard it recently, but as soon as those little buggers come out I will have my soap ready! While we are on the subject of relief...another thing I heard was how to get rid of a headache. Apparently all you need to do is cut a lime in half and rub it on your forehead. I have yet to try this one either. But I bet even if it didn't help a headache, it my do something good for your skin. I totally made that up, but you never know....you should try it. Next time I have a headache I am going to. I will let you know how it works!

I love to hear simple remedies for things so if you have any just shoot me an e-mail or comment and I will share it on the blog!

Teriyaki Marinade

Sorry I am so slow getting this up. I got called into work this morning, so it's been a busy day.

Anyways, this marinade is one I got from my mom. It is so easy and you can use it on anything.

1/2 c. soy sauce
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. oil

That's it! I do like to add some minced garlic and Worcestershire sauce. That's the nice thing about this recipe, it's so simple but you can still add things you like to it. I don't even measure ingredients any more, but it always comes out tasting delicious! It's best if you can marinate at least 2 hours, but even better if it marinates over night. You can use beef, chicken, and even fish. It works well on anything. I hope you like it!

Buy a Kiddie Pool...

ans some popsicles, and you have the summer taken care of. We were invited over to a friends today to swim. It was so fun! Ryan would've played in that pool all day if I let him. Think about it, you can spend like $20 -$30 (at Walmart) and get a descent pool or you could spend $10 dollars a person to go once to some crowded water park. If your kid is small they totally aren't going to care. Watch for sales too, Shopko always has their swimming toys on sale. I am totally willing to spend the money to entertain Ryan. Always remember to invite a frind over too. That always makes things better. Also, you have to have popsicles. Swimming just isn't the same without them. And they work well as a bribe to get kids out of the pool when you are done. I will watch for some good sales and keep you posted. Every kid needs a pool...right? (The pool we swam in today was pretty good sized and had a little slide that even Ryan could do. They said they paid $30 for it at Wal-mart.) If you see any other good deals elt me know so I can share it with everyone else!

*Extra Bonus with pool: Ryan fell asleep in like 2 minutes because he had played so hard.

Picture Editing

So recently I have discovered how simple it actually is to edit pictures. The program is called Picasa. It's pretty basic and it's free to download. Just go to http://picasa.google.com/ and follow the steps to download it. If I can figure it out than almost anyone can. It's very easy to use and for being free you get quite a bit from it. So here is one of my examples. You can make collages with as many pictures as you like. Just click on the picture to see it bigger. You can also see a few of my edits on some of the pictures. The one in the center is one I had fun with and I think it turned out way cute.

Picture of Skirt

Here's just a quick picture I took of one of the skirts that I added ribbon to. Yes, it is laying in the grass, my camera doesn't like how dark my house is. And yes I folded in the sides so you wouldn't know how wide I really am :)

I'm not a killer...

But, I hate ants in my kitchen and every time I see one I squish it! I don't know if anyone else has this problem but I read some interesting tips on how to get rid of them.

Since I have a child that likes to put anything in his mouth, it scares me to put ant traps down. I was told that an ant will never cross a chalk line. So if you see me outside walking in strange circles around my house at least you will know why. That is to more just keep them out. But to kill them, I read that you can actually put Splenda down and that will kill them. I'm kind of nervous to put sugar on my floor because I'm pretty sure my ants like sugar. If it doesn't kill them then I would just be feeding them and they would come back for more. But I am ready to try anything to get rid of them. I have read all over the internet that it will kill them, so if you have an ant problem, give it a try. And hopefully I'm not giving bad advice!

Total Slacker

I completely forgot to post something yesterday. I don't know where my mind has gone! So I guess I better do two today.

Looking around my house I decided to give a couple of cleaning tips today. Maybe they will motivate me to actually clean something in my house.

First up, you know how your Tupperware turns orange after putting spaghetti, or something with tomato in it. Well all you need to do to prevent that is to spray a little non-stick spray in it before you put the food in. As for getting the stains that you already have, I have no idea. This is just to prevent more from happening. I would guess it would work on anything. I am going to try it on my cutting board the next time I slice tomatoes. I'll let you know how that works.

The second tip is for cleaning the toilet. I think I have heard this tip from a few different place, but all you do is plop in two Alka Seltzer tablets, wait twenty minutes, brush and flush. Voila, a clean toilet. I am going to go try it in a little bit and will let you know how it goes.

I will try to be better at posting everyday. I have been quite the slacker these past few days. Also, I ma starting to run low on ideas so feel free to e-mail me anything

Making Clothes Modest

Ok, sorry for missing Friday. I was going to do it Saturday, but life gets crazy. I used to work at Migrant Head Start, but then I had Ryan and quit. But then the secretary quit and they had no one to help up front so I was able to take Ryan with me for a while and help until they found someone. Since I am trained in all of the stuff you have to do, I am now the substitute secretary. So I substituted on Friday and today, and I am totally not used to sitting at a desk all day. I know this sounds lazy, but it really wore me out! Anyways, on to today's idea.

Have you noticed lately that skirts and shorts seem to just get shorter and shorter? Well if you are 5'9" and have long legs you probably know why I have to wear the same things to church every Sunday. I like being tall, but it's hard to find clothes long enough. So lately I have been sewing on ribbon, that is an inch to an inch and a half wide, onto the bottom of my skirts. Not only has it made them longer, but they look so much cuter. I had people ask me if I had bought a new skirt. I will try to post a picture, but I am still tired and to lazy to go out to the car and get the camera and then go upstairs and get the skirt and then take a picture and then load it and post it. Did I make it sound like enough work that you wouldn't do it either? Anyways, I would be totally willing to sew ribbon on or show anyone how to do it (it's not hard at all) if you are interested. Let me know. Happy sewing!

Beauty Tip

Ok, this one may sound odd but I tried it and it really worked. Lately I had been noticing my pores a lot more. They just looked huge all the time and I hate that! Anyways, there is a simple thing you can do and you should have everything you need right in your fridge. Actually all you need is one egg white. You just put it on like a mask and it hardens. It actually hardens pretty fast, and then you just rinse it off with warm water. The egg whites tighten your skin and reduce the size of your pores. After rinsing with warm water I would splach some cool on too. Warm water opens your pores and cool water closes them. I like to add a little vanilla to it to make it smell better. I know there are tons of facial masks you can make out of avacado, yogurt, and other things like that. You can probably just google it. Maybe I will post some recipes for them tomorrow. Remember, you are all beautiful with or without large pores :)


I just found this website with lots of different masks. I don't know how I feel about the kitty litter one though....
http://beauty.about.com/od/skinflaws/a/facemasks.htm

It's 4:00 Already!!

Ahhh, I completely forgot to post my idea for today. And the sad thing is that I haven't really done anything today so I don't even have an excuse. Well I will just make it a quick one. It's been really hard to keep Ryan entertained lately. He gets really bored with his toys really fast. So from working at Head Start I learned that when in doubt get pinto beans. The kids there always loved to play with beans. It's weird, but it works. Last time I went grocery shopping I grabbed a bag of pinto beans for like $1.99. I usually put a quilt on the ground for east cleanup. I jsut gave Ryan a couple of containers, some measuring cups, and a couple other kitchen utnesils. He plays with them for quite a while. He loves pouring them, sticking them between his toes, dumping them on his head, and any other silly thing he can come up with. It's funny to watch the new things he comes up with to do with them. I don't recommend pinto beans for smaller children...choking hazard. But before I bought the pinto beans I did the same thing with rice. That way if they do eat it, it's no big deal. For some reason though, the pinto beans seem to entertain him much longer than the rice did. Try it and see what your kids like though. You can even mix it up with different types of beans. Just make it fun.

Fisher Price Toy -- Ridiculously expensive
Pinto Beans -- $1.99
Having a toddler entertained longer than 2 minutes -- PRICELESS!

Cleaning Tips

So as I look closely at my wedding ring today I realized how dirty it really was. Usually the place you buy the ring from will clean it for free...to bad we bought it in Ogden. Anyways, I always remembered my mom using a toothbrush and toothpaste to clean hers. So I tried it and it amazing! My diamond is so shiny now. It looks really nice. I'm not saying to never have it professionally cleaned, but this would work between visits. Try it, but I would recommend not using the toothbrush you brush your teeth with :)

Another quick and easy tip is to use hydrogen peroxide to get blood stains out of your clothes. As for burying the body...you are on your own there....just kidding. I always have blood on my white shirts for some reason. Ryan has bumped his mouth a few times and makes it bleed. Then he always wants to lay on my shoulder and bleed all over me. The joys of motherhood. I also have a very bad habit of pulling my hang nails off and making my fingers bleed. Disgusting, I know. But I always end up brushing my finger on my shirt or something before I can get a tissue or something. Needless to say, blood and my clothes are quite familiar with each other.

I hope these tips are helpful...now if you'll excuse me I need to go buy some more hydrogen peroxide :)

Family Home Evening with Toddlers

This next idea comes from my wonderful visiting teachers. They gave me a simple idea on how to have FHE with younger children. I guess the church has also encouraged this...I don't know where I have been. Just go to your local distribution center and get the manual they use for nursery. Use the lessons out of that to do your FHE lesson. They are directed toward Nursery age children...and there is nothing better than an already put together lesson! Even if they have the same lessons at church, I don't think it hurts to review everything! I know I need to review stuff all the time to make it stick! We are going to try this today if I make it to the Distribution center. I will let you know how it goes! Thank you Collette and Jennifer for the idea and for always coming to visit me! Everyone go do your visiting teaching :)

Best Cookies Ever

I think my posts are getting later every day. Anyways, every time I get make these cookies everyone always wants the recipe. I got this recipe from Ollie, a sister in my last ward. They are the easiest things ever...there is no baking at all.

Ingredients

1 pkg. Sandies shortbread cookies
1 pkg milk chocolate chips
1 pkg Carmel bits (the only place I have been able to find these is Wal-mart (blah) on the baking isle. If you can't find these you can do it the "old fashioned" way and unwrap 20-25 caramels
2 Tbs water

Directions

All you have to do is put the cookies out on a cookie sheet or any flat surface. I like to put them on wax paper for easy cleanup. Next melt the caramels in the microwave and make sure to add 2 Tbs. of water, otherwise your caramel will be as hard as a rock. I have forgotten before and it really stinks to have to gnaw on your cookie. Put a spoonful of caramel in the middle of each cookie. Let the caramel set. I usually put them in the fridge to go faster. Next melt your chocolate chips (I like to do it in a double boiler so I don't burn them), and cover the caramel on the cookie. Let the chocolate harden...if you can wait that long, and then serve.

These are called Twix cookies, but I think I might pick them over a Twix. Plus you get a lot more. Try them and let me know what you think.

*If you don't have an actual double boiler, all you need is a pan and a glass bowl that sits nicely on the pan, but not touching the bottom. Fill the pan with water, but make sure you don't feel it with too little or too much. Too little will burn your pan if you run out, and you don't want the water to touch the bowl when you set it in the pan. So boil the water and put your bowl on the pan, and it melts your chips nicely.

Crazy Day

So I have an extremely busy day. Ryan had his shots and Dax has been on the computer studying for his final all morning. I just woke up and realized I have to go visiting teaching in 30 minutes and I look like I just woke up. So today's idea is from Emily too. After seeing the tutu she sent me this website that shows how to make some easy fairy wings to go with it. So here is the address http://www.make-baby-stuff.com/making-fairy-wings.html. I haven't tried them so if you do, let me know how they turn out. My font changed after I pasted the link but Ryan is freaking out that he isn't playing on the computer so I'm not going to fix it because. Hope it doesn't bother anyone too much :) Thanks for checking in today!

Fun and Easy Tutu

The cutest tutu model ever!

I had a friend who was talking about making her little girl a tutu for some pictures. So, it got me curious about how to make one and it actually turned out to be very simple. All you need is some tulle and an elastic waistband. I hate to say an amount on either because it totally depends on how full or long you want the tutu and how big your child's waist is. I think the rule of thumb on waistbands is to make them an inch bigger than you need. If I'm wrong feel free to correct me. Anyways, all you do is measure the waist and sew the two end of the waistband together. Or, to make this step more simple, you can just buy one of those stretchy headbands, that is if you have a small child. If you have a bigger child that probably won't work. Also, you can even use ribbon if you want a tie on tutu. After getting the waist band ready all you have to do is cut your tulle into strips. Again with this it depends on how poofy and long you want it. If you want a shorter one cut the strips shorter. For this one I had my fabric folded in half (hot dog way), and just cut my strips about 2-3 inches wide. I folded it so I wouldn't have to cut the whole width of the fabric. It's half as much work. I like to make my strips a little different so I don't measure or anything. I think different lengths and widths make it look better. Next you just tie your strips of tulle to the waistband. Here is how I like to tie them. I couldn't think of a way to tell how to do it so I how the picture helps. Really I don't think it matters how you tie them on as along as it's a knot that is going to stay in place. If you want you can also tie ribbon on the waste abnd with the tulle. It doesn't matter, just be creative. I have seen them done with multiple colors in one, or with flowers glued on. Just do what you like and have fun with it. Ryan loves his, even though I did not make it for him. I made him a cape to replace it though because I think he liked it too much. But we got good pictures of him in to show his future children. We are mean parents :)

Free Samples

Emily, my favorite roommate (I left the favorite part out last time and got in trouble) e-mailed a bunch of her simple ideas and they were great.

The first one was that you can get free samples of things from walmart.com. I think it said that they are new products that Wal-mart is carrying and they want people to be able to try them first. All you have to do is go to walmart.com and on the left side there is a tab that says "In Store". Click on it and it will take you to a new page. On that new page, on the left side again, there is a tab that says free samples. Just click it and you are on your way to getting your freebies.

I don't know about you, but I totally love free things! Also, if you love free things, you should check out babysteals.com this week. They are celebrating a year of business and are having giveaways everyday this week. So save some money and go get some freebies!

Thanks Emily for the ideas. If you have any you want me to share, just e-mail me at simpleandsensible@gmail.com.

Fast, Tastey, and Healthy

Well I guess I am only going to this Monday through Friday. I didn't realize how busy our weekends are.

If any of you watch the Biggest Loser you probably already know this tip. Have you ever heard of the Zip'n Steam bags? They are bags that you can fill with veggies and even chicken or fish, then pop it in the microwave for like 5 minutes and Voila! Dinner is ready! I bought some and tried them and they actually work really well. We have been having broccoli for dinner almost every night. They come with a little pamphlet with recipes, and you can get more online. Or you can be creative and make up your own. I love that you can put your meat and veggies in and cook them all together. For seasoning you just sprinkle in whatever seasoning you like before you cook it. Just one tip, wait a little bit before taking it out of the microwave. I think it even says that on the package. I burned my finger pretty bad yesterday and it was just from the steam. So from the voice of experience, make sure and read the directions first.

*I just looked at the website (ziploc.com) and apparently you can put other meats and fruits in the bags too. They are amazing! Check out the recipes, they look really good!

Simple Cleaning

Sorry I didn't post yesterday, I was going to try to do one everyday. Our internet was having issues. I don't know if anyone is even looking at this anyways. For today I thought I would just share a simple cleaning idea. I hope I \'m not the only one that does this, but I always start my laundry and forget about my last batch in the washer. The next day when I realize, I open the washer and the clothes definitely don't smell clean. If this happens, all you need to do is pour a little vinegar when you wash them. It takes the mildew-ish smell out of them.

And since I missed yesterday, I will post one more thing. Have you ever cut an onion and had your hands still smell the next day? I can never get that stupid onion smell of my hands. This tip only works if you have a stainless steel sink. You just need to rub your hands on the stainless steel and the smell is gone. I just made chili today and my hands smelled like a fresh onion. I just rubbed my hands on my sink and now they just smell like, well... hands. I even just tried smelling them right now and I still don't smell onion on them. It's weird but it works!