Gone to the Dogs!

This blog post is going to the Dogs! My 2 girls Baby and Sugar! They need love too. They are a big part of our family and I don't know how we could live without them.

They love their dog treats that I make for them. Making homemade dog treats it another way to save money. Plus what dog hates peanut butter? NOT MINE!

This is a no bake and takes 10 minutes to make.

All you need is Rolling Oats, Peanut Butter and Honey.

The reason I put honey in my treats is because I noticed the 1st spring season I had Sugar she had itchy dry skin, My theory was it was like human allergies and I know the way to combat that is honey (a tablespoon a week) from the area I lived in. It worked, She no longer has itchy skin.

In a bowl add 2 tablespoons of Honey

1 cup of Rolling Oaks

1/2 of peanut butter

mix everything together.

Now you can add more peanut butter or rolling oaks to get the treat to where you want it.

Once you finish mixing the ingredients I take a cookie sheet with wax paper placed on top and take a spoonful and place it on the cookie sheet. I do this until all the bowl is empty.

Place the cookie sheet in the fridge for 1 hour. Then I put my doggy treats in a tuber ware dish and place that in the fridge and had out treats as the girls deserve it.

I have made this for friends with dogs for Christmas gifts for their dogs. It was a very cute idea. I try to find tins with dogs on it to put the treats into. 

My Pintrest account has a Board named For the Dogs that has homemade shampoo for dogs, different treats for dogs and even cooking for your dog. I actually haven't tried any of them it is on my list to try and I will post how it turned out. If you have tried any of them please let me know how it turned out!

What's on the planners

Hello all! I hope everyone is having a lovely day! I just wanted to share with you some of the events the hubby kids and me have planned.
Now I have lived in Dallas for over 7 years now and honestly I hear about all sorts of events but we never go, Until now!
Facebook is a great sort to see what is going on in your home town!

September 12 We are going to LOOT Vintage Market Fall Event. https://www.facebook.com/events/485130698307053/

September 19 The Step Sons will be here so we have planned to attend
Plano Balloon Festival. (Hot air balloons)

September 26 is Date night in the park
http://www.farmersbranchtx.gov/index.aspx?NID=110

There are also some maybes on our list!
September 12 is Fort Worth Alliance Air Show ( I really wanted to go to this!!)
September 17 is Addison Oktoberfest
September 19-20 Lewisville Fall Market

 I just wanted to Share some of the things we have planned through September!

Daily, Weekly Cleaning. The new list!

I decided to change up my cleaning routine a bit. Spice it up! 

My family found that the 15 minutes of cleaning together everyday became really hard to keep going because we are all on a different schedule now. With 1 of the kids in college now and the other having her senior year of high school I felt they needed to working on their studies right now. NOW they still have to keep up with washing their clothes and cleaning their rooms.

I was inspired and used a lot of my Master Cleaning List here:
http://www.livingwellspendingless.com/2014/02/18/create-cleaning-schedule-works/#hj1owMuVCk73Hfic.32

This list also has Monthly and a Yearly checklist.

 I always start cleaning right after I come home from work. I'm still in that "work mode" which helps keeps me focused. Everyday I make sure to:

Pick up clutter in the living areas
Clean & wipe down counters in the dinning and kitchen areas
Wash dishes (No dish washer here all by hand)
My Son is in charge of making sure the garbage goes out.
My wonderful hubby makes our bed everyday because he gets up way after I do.
I run through my room making sure all clothes are picked up and put in the hamper.
I wipe the sink down in our bathroom
I always sort and go through our mail daily. (it's so much easier that way than doing it weekly)

That takes about 20 minutes to complete. Then I move on to what room is on that day's weekly cleaning list. I have played around with what day I wanted to do each room and I have found this works the best.

Monday: Living Areas

Straighten Bookshelves
Dust Surfaces
Wipe Down or Polish Furniture
Windex Windows
Sweep, Vacuum and Mop

Tuesday: Dinning and Kitchen

Sanitize Counter tops
Clean Microwave
Toss Out Old Food
Wipe Down Appliances
Sweep & Mop Floor

Wednesday: Master Bedroom

Dust Surface
Change Sheets & Launder Sheets
Windex Windows
Vacuum

Thursday: Planning and Misc.

Do My Laundry
Meal Planning
Make Grocery List
Water Plants

Friday: Paper & Office Area

Pay All Bills
Clean and Dust Desk Area
File Any Papers Away
Sweep and Mop Floor

Saturday: Bathroom

Wash Towels & Rug
Clean Toilet
Scrub Shower and Bath Tub
Windex Mirrors
Clean Sinks
Sweep and Mop Floor

 Each room depends on how much longer it takes to clean anything. It is no longer than an hour. I have make 2 homemade cleaning products to try this week I can not wait to share the outcome of trying them out.

http://www.craftstylish.com/item/39096/how-to-make-floor-polish

and for title and tubs

http://www.popsugar.com/smart-living/Homemade--Scrub-Tub-Cleaner-34720829

I am also going to try something I found on Pintrest about my top loaded washer.
http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/04/how-to-clean-your-top-loader-washing.html

Monday Menu

It's that time during the week! This menu was chosen from Pintrest. Basically I went to bottom of each board and picked a recipe from there. The boards I used was Crock Pot, Pasta, Chicken Meals, Beef and Pork. I had most of the ingredients so all I spent at the grocery store was $23.72.
Also when I took inventory of everything for lunch I realized we had a lot of stuff to make lunches so I didn't have to buy anything for our lunches.

 Now I do post the pictures from the original post I got the recipe from than I go back through the week and post my own pictures from the recipes I have tried. Sometimes I wonder how did they getting the meal to look the way they do and why does mine not look as good? It's a good side by side comparison.

Saturday: Chicken and Bean Burritos
I wrote why this recipe was not made Friday and got made to Saturday's meal on last weeks Monday Menu.

http://www.readyseteat.com/recipes-Chicken-and-Bean-Burritos-6233.html

This meal was a hit! My step kid were asking what is the green stuff and they were a bit weirded out looking at but once they took the first bite and all was good. Even My hubby was worried his boys wouldn't like it. SURPRISE They didn't. There wasn't any left overs..

I was so hungry when I took this picture.

Sunday: We are having a cook out at my in-laws. I am bringing Deviled Eggs, My Father-in- Law made these mouth watering Hamburger Dogs and a very Yummy potato salad!

Monday: Chicken Spaghetti and Garlic Bread

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/chicken_spaghet/

This is not a recipe I would do during the work week. It did take time to make it plus the use of a lot of dishes. (Remember I have to wash all dishes by hands!)

It was a very Yummy Dish and filled all of us up plus we have leftovers for lunches and leftover night.

 

Some of the ingredients I used. I decided to use olives as well as pimentos.

 
Pouring the mixture into my casserole dish, MMMM Cheese and WOW this smells so GOOD!

For lunch today I made Tuna Fish Sandwiches. I love the fact that it's quick to make and good to eat. Plus for a side dish I had some of my father-in-law's Yummy Potato Salad!

Here is a seek peek at tomorrow's lunch:

Tuesday: Jalapeno Chicken & Rice Casserole

http://www.culinary.net/recipes/RecipeDetail.aspx?ID=3386&CourseName=One+Dish+Meals&CourseID=21

Can you say YES! YES! YES!

This dish was GREAT! When I got home from work I started boiling the chicken. While the chicken was boiling I did my Daily/Weekly chores and I got lunch ready for tomorrow. When I finished with that the Chicken was done and used the same boiling water to make the rice to give it a chicken flavor. (I used a boil in the bag brown rice that I got on sale earlier this summer)

It was mouth watering! I even went back for a 2nd helping. 

 

Lunch today was Homemade pizza rolls and a salad. I use the directions on the crescent package. These Pizza Rolls are huge I only took 1 to work with my salad.

 

Wednesday: Crock Pot BBQ Chicken

http://forkinit.blogspot.com/2010/09/crockpot-barbecue-chicken.html

This was an okay meal. The Chicken was dry. I served it with rice and beans.

Thursday: Leftover night!! WOOO HOOO No cooking for Mom!!!

Friday: Taco Meatloaf

http://boulderlocavore.com/taco-meatloaf/

This was a good dish. My hubby loved it!

September Wreath

Hello all! I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! I love 3 day weekends. So many projects I have planned to work on and I have completed one of them.

My September Wreath

I decided to use a smaller wreath this month because last month's was so big.

The wreath only cost a grand total of 8.00 to make thanks to my stocking up on crafts that was on sale.I always go shopping the day after Christmas to get tons of supplies on sale.

I used very few supplies for this wreath:

The hardest part was putting the leaves where I wanted them. (ok here is a true story when writing this I originally typed leafs.See I'm a hockey fan and my team is the Maples Leafs so I had a good laugh when proof reading this) 

The final process was really quick and easy.

I love the colors. My wonderful hubby even looked at it while I was finishing it up and said that looks like a fall wreath. (Gee I hope so!) I laughed at him. 

It took me 30 minutes to make this wreath and when I went to hang on my door I originally placed it like the picture above but I didn't like how the flower looked at the top of the wreath so I just turned the wreath and thought"That's my September Wreath!"

Labor Day Weekend

 It's the final holiday for the Summer! When I was younger it was a sign that you could no longer wear white shoes and that school was going to start that Tuesday. Man how times have changed!

What is Labor Day? It's a celebration of the working class and the social and economic achievements of the American worker.

I love this picture of Rosie the Riveter by Norman Rockwell for Labor Day. It was published in 1943

She was one talented woman!

I was looking on my Pintrest Labor Day board and found some great websites to share with you.

If you are planning a camping trip I found this website that has meals and the shopping list.

http://markingmyterritory.com/2013/08/22/labor-day-camping-recipes-menu-shopping-list/

And if your planning a BBQ and are on budget this website it great!

http://www.ultimatecouponclub.com/labor-day-for-less-host-a-labor-day-bbq-on-a-budget/#.VeOMdPlVhBc

Here is a great website for home schoolers

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Labor-Day-Fun-Quiz-315180

So what are our plans for Labor Day?  Are you going on a vacation or a staycation? Are you going to be hitting the Labor Day Sales?

 Seeing how my Step Sons will be here We are going to have a BBQ!! Plus we will be firing up the Fire Pit and have some quality family time.

And I'm posting again!

Hello All!!

I decided to take the summer off just to relax and try to keep cool! For some reason summertime makes me unmotivated to do much. Seeing how school started last week for my daughter, Abby, I figured it's now time to start blogging again! This is a big year for her and me. It's her senior year!!! And that means it's my last senior year with my 3 kids. My poor hubby is going to have to deal with me being pretty darn emotional this year.
This is also a big year for my Son. It's his first year in college. I can't wait to hear about how different it is from high school.

So without further delay:
 I am planning my September wreath. I did an August one but did not post it. Sorry. Here is what it looks like.

I was extremely proud at how it came out! So stay tuned for September's wreath.
Here are some of the wreaths I have been looking at to get inspired:

http://thefrugalhomemaker.com/2014/06/10/red-and-yellow-summer-wreath-with-a-burlap-bow/

http://www.stonegableblog.com/summer-initial-wreath-diy/#more

http://www.hometalk.com/2189195/the-secret-to-a-really-good-bow-for-a-wreath

I am so proud of all the wreaths I have made this year. I realized yesterday after September I only have  2 more wreaths to make! 

WHAT AM I GOING TO DO FOR NEXT YEAR!?!?!

Yes the planning has begun. I have a few ideas and would love to hear what you think about them.

1. More wreaths

2.Monthly decoration for my dinning room table

3. Front porch decorations