Happy Halloween - A treat for you!

Wishing you all a fun filled day full of more treats than tricks :)

Here is a treat through the end of today for you all!

Last Day - 80% off any order at Restaurant.com
Use code TREATS at checkout and get $25 gift certificates for just $2! Sale ends Friday!

dh and I used one that we bought the other night and had a great dinner for right about $10!

Hope there is something in your area!

sick....

I have been sick since last week, started on Thursday evening with the sniffles and then Friday woke up with a sore throat :( Progressed to a full blown cold after that :( The sinus pressure was enough to make me feel like my head would explode! Yeesh! After going through no less than 2 boxes of kleenex, a whole package of Tylenol Severe Cold and half a box of nighttime Tylenol Cold I am finally feeling human again! I do hate the change in the seasons and from mild temps one day to down right shivering the next! UGhhhhhhhh. I even missed my brothers birthday this past weekend laid around in my jammies with cups of tea practically all weekend. While that would normally be a treat it was barely all I could do. Anyway I was able to be up and moving some last night and for that I was thankful. Today we are going shopping to pick up the supplies for a dinner we are serving on Friday and I am hoping I can last all day and evening to accomplish that without being worn out LOL!

Please don't forget to vote for my dd's photo's (above) if you can - we have moved her from cold to warm status so now let's shoot for moving it to HOT status! Thanks for taking the time!

Frugal Mom Blog Give Away again today!

I never made it in time to post yesterday - sorry I hope you remembered to check in they of course had a fabulous prize. Today there is a triple give away! Including a Michaels Gift card WOOHOO!

Hope over to Frugal Mom Blog and get entered!

busy night

Last night I ended up at the $ store buying containers and some other odds and ends so that I could get to the grocery store for the Tuesday only deals to make some meals to stash in the freezer. Our house is so crazy with everyone coming and going at different times and we rarely get to eat all together at the same time lately so I figured if I cooked some of our meals ahead and then packaged them like frozen meals it wouldn't matter what time you go thome you could pop something in the freezer and have a home cooked meal still :)

Too often it seemed we were relying on Frozen pizza's or stopping off at a fast food place or something (well not me but the other two LOL!) and that gets expensive!

I have done this in the past and we always seem to do well with it spending less time on the weekends shopping or trying to make a grocery list or whatever and the biggest plus is we generally spend less at the grocery when I buy and cook in bulk!

That is a BIG plus right now with a reduction in income. :(

So last night I planned to cook 2 meals but, actually ended up with 3! I made a Mexican bake with Spanish rice on the side, Rigatoni with meat sauce and cheese topping (garlic bread slices in the freezer to go in the toaster oven while you heat the meal up! plus salad fixings to complete the meal) I ended up with too much rice so I mixed in a little ground beef made Enchilada's out of the leftovers which ended up to be a whole nother dinner. Yeah me!

Today there is a pork roast in the crock pot that I will cut for one meal and do with roasted potatoes and shred the rest to use to make hot pork sandwiches (you know the ones you load with mashed potatoes and then gravy over the top! YUM!!!!) and then I also have chicken marinating that I will make and have with some broccoli for another set of ready made meals. So I will have stocked my freezer with enough to last us for a bit.

Basically we will just add a veggie/salad and there we have it dinner in a minute!

(or few minutes anyway he he!)

If you have any good freezer/reheatable recipes please share - I am always looking for new ones to try.

What the heck?

We generally have our gas service shut off in the warmer months as it costs more to "sleep run" it than to pay the reconnect fee in the fall to get it back on so of course we did that again this year. Wham it got cold so I thought hmm ought to get it on...got warm again so I never called well with the temps holding in the 50's at night I figure it is time to get it on again especially since I have twice now had to scrape my car in the AM from the frost! So today I call, pay my reconnect fee, get my confirmation # press the button (a gazillion times) to get to a LIVE person and then she goes well we can come today or not until the 30th. Ummm cold today so yeah today please come! She says ok let me get you on the schedule and I will let you know what time frame. wait wait wait.... Ok all set now you have to make sure someone is there to let them in between now and midnight. WHAT???? Now and midnight? I am at work lady I can't be there now...she asks if I want to change to the 30th and I say what time frame for then she replies between 8 AM and Midnight. Hello I don't want some person coming to my house that late at night to light a pilot YEESH! I tell her no keep it today and I will figure something out. I call my BIL he doesn't answer - I think today is his day off...call my dd she is working at 11 today so no that doesn't work...call my boss and tell him and he says ok well see you later then. Soooooooo here I sit waiting on a gas person to come in inspect my furnace and then light the pilot light.
Ho Hum...
Now I am sitting here running figures in my head wondering if we come out ahead or this costs me since I am missing work...should of left the dang thing "sleep run" all summer I think!

Frugal Mom Give Away's

All Week Long they are celebrating and giving away things so be sure to get over to Frugal Mom Blog and check them out!

Today they are giving away a great Apron and a gift card for WalMart!

Good Luck!

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am not sure why life has to be such a struggle...I often wonder why can't things be easy. I try to remember that everything happens for a reason and that when one door closes another opens but right now two WHAM's in one week is really rocking my world and not in such a good way :( If you read the last post I entered before this one and if you know me you know I like to bake so when I got the first WHAM this week that is precisely what I did! Here is a recipe to share with you all too since not only did that not work out nor was it easy it was a little a this a little of that recipe that turned out quite delightful and we are enjoying it through this week so even in the midst of everything I did manage to find a little pleasure in knowing I can still wing it and things will work out ok. LOL

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 stick butter, using mixer beat till light and fluffy then add 1 cup cugar mixing well

Add 2 large eggs, again mixing well.

Add 3 bananas (mine were medium sized the ones I had thrown in the freezersince they were turning and I couldn't bare to throw them out [you know the ones], I let them thaw then squeeze them into the bowl) also add 1 tsp vanilla extract, mix again to incorporate all the banana.

Add 1 tsp salt, 4 tsp. baking soda and 2 3/4 to 3 cups of flour to make a somewhat stiff dough. You will need to adjust your flour based on how watery the banana's were and also based on the amount of the goodies you plan to put in it too! I added 1 cup of white Chocolate Chips as that was all I had but I have made similar ones before using add 1 cup of nuts and raisins, adjust this to whatever you like in your cookies though (this is the wing it part!)

Bake on a greases cookie seet at 350 degrees F. unitl lightly browned around the edges. I think it was like 10- 12 minutes or something - I don't really know I do it more by smell LOL!

The aroma was so pleasant the banana was very strong. My DH loves these cookies my DD who normally loves th White Chocolate Chips said she wishes they were regular chocolate so give it a whirl and let me know how it works out for you.

Cake?

Sometimes we wonder, "What did I do to deserve this?" or
"Why did God have to do this to me?"

Here is a wonderful explanation!

A daughter is telling her mother how everything is going wrong:
she's failing algebra; her boyfriend broke up with her
and her best friend is moving away.

Meanwhile, her Mother is baking a cake and asks her daughter if she would like a snack, and the daughter says,
"Absolutely, Mom, I love your cake."

"Here, have some cooking oil,"her Mother offers.
''Yuck,''says her daughter.

"How about a couple raw eggs?" "Gross, Mom!"

"Would you like some flour then?"

"Or maybe baking soda?"

"Mom, those are all yucky!"

To which the mother replies:
"Yes, all those things seem bad by themselves.
But when they are put together in the right way, they make a wonderfully delicious cake! "

God works the same way.
Many times we wonder why He would let us go
through such bad and difficult times.
But God knows that when He puts these
things all in His order,
they always work for good!
We just have to trust Him and, eventually,
they will all make something wonderful!

God is crazy about you.
He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning.

Whenever you want to talk, He'll listen.
He can live anywhere in the universe and He chose your heart.

Recipe for me!

I saw this on my friend Alanna's blog and thought it was a fun
nonsense thing to do so go ahead and give it a try - what makes up you?

The Recipe For Karyn

3 parts Magnetism 2 parts Sexiness 1 part Slyness Splash of Vigor Finish off with whipped cream

What's the Recipe for Your Personality?

Worry

I came into work today and found out that another employee had been laid off. This is sad as we have such a decline in work that it had to happen. I am so worried that my hours would be cut or that I would be told I am no longer needed - I have been watching trying to find a second job or ways to earn some additional money for our family but there is not a whole lot of anything out there. Ughh I don't know what to do or how to make sure it doesn't happen to me - really there isn't much I can do to make sure it doesn't but I need to formulate a plan to deal with it if it does. Pray pray pray!

Quiddler and other games

While I was at Anna's we played this game called Quiddler and I really enjoyed it so I was looking to get it and came across an online version here:

http://www.setgame.com/quiddler/puzzle_frame.htm

Give it a chance if you have a couple minutes :)

I think I prefer to play with more people but it is a nice break to give this one a try. I am going ot check at WalMart this weekend to see if they have it.

What other games do you enjoy? I love Scrabble and also Apples to Apples.

Quote for Today

"Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect. It meansthat you've decided to look beyond the imperfections."
-- Author Unknown

Friday already?!?!?

So it is Friday already and I have not gotten a lot of anything accomplished this week. I left WI on Monday and arrived home so late it was already Tuesday here ... long trip home for sure! I miss Anna already and I hate that I live so stinking far away...been a real downer this week for sure. We did have a good time and I keep laughing about the funny things and smiling just cause I know I will see her again in a couple months and we can do it all over again - laugh and giggle and all that fun stuff! LOL

Tomorrow my family is going to see STOMP - we are all excited to see the whole show as we have only seen teasers so far. Will let you know how that is.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!