Works For Me Wednesday - High Chair Alternative July 16, 2008

When The Bean was born over 3 years ago, we opted not to get a high chair.  We just didn’t see the point.  Plus, we really had no good place to put it.  Instead we got the Fisher Price Healthy Steps Booster Seat.  It’s adjustable and straps directly onto your dining set chairs. 

Now, I should clarify that we fed her in her bouncy seat until she was sitting up well enough to use the booster.  But it didn’t take too long for her to get there, and we haven’t looked back since.  She sits in the booster seat every day.  I love it so much that it’s become my standard baby shower gift.  I mean, how many of your baby shower gifts are you still using over 3 years down the line. 

Click here if you’d like to see the booster.  I’d show you a picture of The Bean’s, but trust me when I say it’s in desperate need of a power washer.  I really should take it outside and hose it off…which if you think about it, the ability to be hosed off is another, highly-desireable characteristic of a kid product. 

So there you have it.  The Fisher Price Healthy Steps Booster Seat work for me.

Head over to Rocks in My Dryer for more great Works For Me Wednesday tips!

Hair-Do Experiements July 13, 2008

I have always liked doing hair for little girls.  My younger sister always had very long hair, and I used to fix it for her sometimes.  Granted, since I’m not that much older than her, it didn’t always work out, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

One of my many part-time jobs during college was the afternoon teacher for the 4-year-old class at a local daycare.  I got there as they were waking up from their naps for the day.  After they had a snack and were playing, I’d call the girls over one by one to comb out their hair, and often ended up putting a braid or something in it while I was at it. 

The Bean has just recently gotten to the point that she will leave a pony tail in her hair if we pull it back.  Her hair is long and gorgeous with some curl to it.  So, I’m starting to experiment with different hair-do’s for her other than a basic pony or just leaving it down. 

Here’s what I did with it yesterday for the birthday party she went to.

Here’s today’s do.  I did also take a side shot of this.  But, in all honesty, I was too embarassed to post it when I saw how much earwax you could see inside a certain Beanish ear.  Clearly, I need to re-aquaint myself with a Q-tip.

It came out pretty well considering it was my first attempt.  I think I’ll get better and more adventurous with her hair.  As she becomes more accustomed to me doing it, she’ll be less wiggly as well. 

I’ve stumbled across several blogs where moms are showing off and giving tutorials for the beautiful hair-do’s they create for their little girls.  First, is Girly-Do’s.  Then She Does Hair.  Piper’s Hair-do’s is also great.  All three of these blogs are great.  I’m sure I’ll be attempting some of the gorgeous do’s from their blogs as time goes by!

Works For Me Wednesday - Recipes! July 2, 2008

Shannon asked for 5 ingredient or less recipes for this week’s Works For Me Wednesday.  Although, I’ve posted this recipe before, I thought it deserved a re-run!  Enjoy!

Egg and Sausage Muffins

1 pound cooked, drained sausage

12 eggs

1/4 cup cream

A dash each of salt and pepper

Optional ingredients according to your personal taste: shredded cheese, salsa, bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, etc.

Spray a muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray.  Spoon browned sausage into each tin filling halfway.  Mix eggs, cream, and other ingredients.  Spoon on top of sausage filling the tin nearly to the top.  Bake for 20 minutes in an oven pre-heated to 350 degrees.  Remove from oven and let sit for a few minutes.  Use a spoon or knife to gently remove from the tin.  Serve warm.  This recipe makes a dozen muffins.

These muffins can also be frozen to thaw for a later date, or pop one out of the freezer each night to thaw in the fridge for the next day’s breakfast.  Yummy!

Head over to Rocks in My Dryer for more great Works For Me Wednesday recipes!

Works For Me Wednesday - NOT Arguing June 25, 2008

Any mom will tell you about the challenges of hearing your toddler/pre-schooler tell you “no” when you give them an instruction.  The Bean can pop out with it in response to everything from “eat your chicken” to “wash your hands” to “it’s bedtime.”  She usually isn’t shouting it defiantly, but simply states it as her preference to not do what I’ve asked. 

For a while (as I think is probably true of most people), my response to her “no” was “yes, you are!”  However, that usually only led to us volleying “yes” and “no” back and forth.  Not very satisfying and definitely frustrating for both of us. 

So I started responding differently.  When I told her to go wash her hands, and she replied, “no”, instead of a “yes, you are,” I say something like, “Let’s wash our hands very fast so you can get back to your books.”  I usually will be physically taking her hand and leading her towards the bathroom to wash as I say it.  Usually, she goes right along with whatever I’ve asked her to do.  She may still give a little whiny protest, but generally acquiesces to what I’ve told her to do. 

I know that her “no” is still a definance of what I’ve told her to do, but leading her to do it anyway instead of entering a pointless debate with a three-year-old shows her that she has to do what I tell her to do.  It Works For Me.

Head over to Rocks In My Dryer for more great Works For Me Wednesday tips!

Menu Plan Monday June 22, 2008

Well, after my blogging hiatus, I’m back to posting my weekly menus.  I was partly successful at following a menu while I wasn’t posting, but I think that everything that was going on contributed more to that than the fact that I wasn’t posting my menu here.  I still had a menu posted in my kitchen, but the events of certain days and weeks really steamrolled me at times. 

Hopefully, this week will go off without a hitch!  Without further ado, here’s this week’s menu!

Sunday: Rosemary Steak in Red Wine Sauce - NEW

Monday: Grilled Chicken with Fire Roasted Tomato Sauce and Zuchini - NEW - Due to the tomato issue right now, I’ll be using a can of my organic fire roasted tomatoes from the pantry for my sauce.

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: Beef Lo Mein - NEW - I’ll be using some roast and probably some chicken also from previous meals that I’ve got in the freezer for this dish to cut down on time.

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Chicken Alfredo with Mushrooms, Peas, Tomatoes and Penne - NEW -This isn’t something I’ve made before and it’s just going to be a bunch of things I’ll be throwing together.  No special recipe or anything.  Again, I’ll be using canned tomatoes from the pantry for safety, and leftover chicken from Monday’s meal to save time.

Saturday: Chili Rubbed Pork Chops - NEW - I’m not using cinnamon like the recipe calls for and will be mixing the spices with a tiny bit of worchestershire sauce to form a paste to rub on the pork chops before grilling them.

Wow!  I’m doing a lot of new dishes this week.  I’ll let you know next week how they all turn out.

Head over to I’m an Organizing Junkie for more great menus and recipes!

Beautiful! June 19, 2008

I’m moved to tears every time I watch this.  What a reminder of the power of our God!

A Slimy Afternoon June 8, 2008

After lunch and our fun morning at the park, we decided to do something inside during the warmest part of the day.  Amy’s post about slime sounded like so much fun, that The Bean and I mixed up a batch.  She played with it for nearly an hour and would have kept at it if I hadn’t needed to get her all washed up so I could get a couple of things done. 

Of course, I had to take photos of all the fun. 

We’ll definitely be having some slimy fun again!

Works For Me Wednesday - Delicious Water May 28, 2008

Drinking water is one of the healthiest things you can do.  With all the stuff, like germs, dissolved meds, excess minerals, that can be found in water nowdays, fresh, pure water is hard to find.  But I’m excited to say that a source or wonderful, pure water now can be found out our house.

This past Christmas, my sister was generous (I still say you shouldn’t have spent that much money, Fred.) enough to get us a Big Berkey water filter system.  I looked at the website and saw all the testimonials from people raving about how good and pure the water was, and thought, “Yeah, yeah, it’s just water.” 

After several months of drinking water from my Big Berkey, I am prepared to eat drink my words.  The water from our Big Berkey is truly the best water I’ve ever had.  It’s unbelieveably good.  I should know.  I didn’t believe it. 

But great tasting water isn’t the best thing about the Big Berkey.  It uses no electricity.  It’s a gravity filter.  The filters last for a VERY long time.  The filter not only gets out minerals and impurities, it also gets out disease causing microbes and such.  If the website testimonials are to be believed, and I think I’ve established that I’m now convinced, Berkey water filters are what people take with them when they volunteer for the Peace Corps or do mission work in countries or locations without a source of clean water. 

All I know is that the delicious water from my Big Berkey definitely Works For Me!

Head over to Rocks In My Dryer for more great Works For Me Wednesday tips!

Works For Me Wednesday - Freezing Homemade Chicken Stock May 20, 2008

I have started to make my own chicken stock to use in cooking.  It’s so easy and why let those wonderful flavors go to waste when you do a roast a chicken or cook it in the crockpot! 

Anyway, I was stumped at the best way to freeze the stock after it’s made.  I started by freezing it in some plastic containers, but was frustrated since I usually either needed more or less than the container held for whatever recipe I was making.  Because of that, I ended up wasting that wonderful yummy goodness that I took the time to make. 

One day, an idea just smacked me in the head as I was driving home from work.  The next time I made stock, I put it in the 1 cup plastic containers I had on hand and popped them in the fridge to cool and then the freezer to freeze.  When it was frozen, I popped the stock out of the containers and into a large plastic freezer bag so that the containers are available for using on a day to day basis instead of stuck in the freezer. 

Now when I need stock, I can thaw as much or as little as I need in 1 cup increments.  I end up thawing an amount much closer to what my recipe calls for and have much less left over this way.  This definitely Works For Me!

Head over to Rocks In My Dryer for more great Works For Me Wednesday tips!

Beautiful May 18, 2008

I love this post over at One Thing.