Want Some? Yummy!!!!!

Orange Creamsicle Fudge

Ingredients
7 ounces marshmallow creme
12 ounces white chocolate chips (1 bag)
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 heavy cream
12 tablespoons salted butter
3 teaspoons orange extract
3 drops red food coloring
5 drops yellow food coloring (suggested)

Directions
1Line a 9 inch square pan with "Release" foil or line with regular foil and spray with cooking spray.
2Place marshmallow crème and white chips in a large mixing bowl.
3Combine sugar, cream and butter in saucepan.
4Turn heat to medium and cook, stirring once or twice, until mixture reaches 235°F
5Remove from heat immediately and pour hot cream mixture into mixing bowl with chips and marshmallow crème.
6Stir well with a wooden spoon -- mixture might look slightly stretchy and unappetizing, but don't worry, it will smooth out.
7Remove 1 cup of mixture and set aside.
8Stir orange extract and a few drops of each color food coloring into mixture which remains in bowl.
9Stir until it reaches a lovely orange hue.
10Adjust colors if needed.
11Pour orange mixture into prepared pan. Pour or spoon white mixture on top.
12Drag a knife through both to make swirls.
13Using a sheet of foil, press down slightly to smooth top.
14Let cool to room temperature (about 40 minutes) then chill for one hour or until set.
15Lift fudge from pan using foil handles and using a large knife, score into squares.

My Mommy!!

ONE MORE DAY!!!! THE KIDS SAY!!!
ST NICHOLAS DAY!!!!

In many places St. Nicholas is the main gift giver. His feast day, St. Nicholas Day, is December 6, which falls early in the Advent season. Some places he arrives in the middle of November and moves about the countryside, visiting schools and homes to find out if children have been good. Other places he comes in the night and finds carrots and hay for his horse or donkey along with children's wish lists. Small treats are left in shoes or stockings so the children will know he has come.
Where St. Nicholas is prominent, his day, not Christmas, is the primary gift giving day. Parties may be held on the eve, December 5th, and shoes or stockings left for St. Nicholas to fill during the night. Children will find treats of small gifts, fruit or nuts, and special Nicholas candies and cookies. St. Nicholas gifts are meant to be shared, not hoarded for oneself.

IN POLAND:
St. Nicholas, called Sw. Mikolaj, is a saintly, dignified figure in Poland; he comes as a bishop, carrying a crozier. Descending from Heaven with an angel helper, he travels on foot or in a sleigh pulled by a white horse as he visits homes in the countryside. When he appears, the eager children cry, "He has come! He has come!" St. Nicholas' presence fills the room with his smile, the twinkle in his eye, and his welcoming, booming voice. Children recite their catechism and prayers.
St. Nicholas rebukes or praises, as appropriate, before distributing holy pictures, red apples or oranges, and pierniki (saint cookies made with honey and spices). If he doesn't come in person, treats are put under sleeping children's pillows or left in freshly cleaned and polished shoes left out for the saint. St. Nicholas acts in his traditional religious role as a protector and patron saint while encouraging Polish children to be well-behaved, as there are switches for naughty children.
On Christmas children eagerly await the end of Wigilia (Christmas) dinner, for then they will unwrap their presents and discover if they have received what they requested in letters to St. Nicholas. Sometimes the good saint appears again, asking questions to determine how the children have behaved. Then he distributes the gifts and quietly disappears to visit other excited children.

BOP IT calls out commands and you react fast. Includes Bop It game unit and instructions.Get ready to react fast. Turn on the BOP IT game unit and get ready to Bop, Pull, and Twist your way to victory. For even more of a challenge, activate the microphone and Shout It, too. Choose to play alone or invite your friends for a game of Party Bop—you’ll all have to use your knees, elbows, and hips to win.The better you get, the more skill levels you unlock, so think fast and be the BOP IT master.
I threw this item in the cart to entertain my kids while I shopped and had to get it because they wouldn't stop playing with it! They were having so much fun, and so was I. I told them we were getting it as a gift for their cousin, but am going to surprise them with it for Christmas.

I'd say the only place we feel most comfortable, is at home. We can really be free to be ourselves, act anyway we want, say anything we like, and do anything we choose. Once we leave the safety our homes behind, it seems that all bets would be off. We would really need to be aware of how we handled ourselves in every situation of our lives.

There are tons of times during the day where it would be so much easier to just throw my hands up in the air, toss a couple profanities into the wind, and go about my day. I think we all know how that would be perceived though. I would seem crazy... Or craziER. So for the sake of appearances, I keep my words to myself, my hands in my pockets, and I keep on trudging.

Censorship is all around me right now. I feel like I do watch what I say, making sure not to hurt feelings or step on toes. Perhaps too much sometimes....

There are many people out there I would love to tell them exactly how i feel.....but in time in time!!!!!

We all have deep dark secrets and I’ll confess one of mine if you don’t judge me.

Sometimes I feel superior and smug. Like I’m a GOOD mom and I have my life all sorted out and my children are well behaved. Until the inevitable cosmic smack-down puts me firmly back in my place, reminding me that I am NOT such a good mother and my life is NOT so very in order and my children are DEFINITELY NOT well behaved.

I have a headache one major one that I have had for the last few days.....why must many ask, haven't i taken anything for it? Well I have but it hasn't helped because
I trying to be the good mom had bought the kids some yogurt drinks the ones in the bottles that are supposed to be good for them! Well my son Zack decides he wants to open the package and ZING! Just barely, out of the corner of my eye, I see it… something flying through the air(yup hits my head).Time goes by… enough that I’ve calmed down and told Zack in no uncertain terms what I think about his behavior. Well its over I have to get thru it (adapt, improvise, overcome I swear Ive heard that so many times growing up and now still!
Im done complaining!

It’s hard to believe that I’ve actually been looking forward to getting “back in the rhythm” of things and greeting the arrival of autumn. The randomity of summer holidays brings with it a certain unpredictable chaotic beat to life that I find exhilarating, at first.

“I don’t have enough time” rolls off the tongues a few more times than we’d like to admit. One of the solutions to not being able to get it all done in a day, is efficient planning and organization.

If you’re at a place where you would like a little more order and peace in your life, try putting these 5 steps to simplify your life to work:
1. Set simple goals. Let’s not tackle your entire life at once, OK? (I’ve tried – it can’t be done.) Narrow down what you want to accomplish. Concentrate on work or home, not both. Maybe concentrate on just papers, or just your closet. That brings us to …
2. Decide where to begin. I know – you take a look around your home, or your office and there’s so much that needs attention that you don’t know where to begin. I’ve got 2 strategies for that: either pick the one thing that is causing you the most stress right now (remember to narrow it down) or pick something easy to start with. An easy project that can be completed in a day or two gives you a feeling of success and lets you move on. On the other hand, getting rid of the biggest stressor in your life can be very powerful.
3. Use a timer. This is a sprint, not a marathon. If you approach this task like a marathon – spending hours until it’s done – you may complete it, but you’ll have no ambition to continue. Rather than spending an entire Saturday cleaning out the garage, work in 15 minute sections throughout the week. Maybe some days you can get in 2 or 3 sessions. 15 minutes is manageable without burning you out. Setting the timer can also help prevent you from starting to clean out a closet and then spending the next hour re-reading an old journal/trashy novel/love note you found inside.
4. Put like things together. Sure, you might need a pen or two in the kitchen, some in the office and maybe one by a phone, but do you really need them scattered all over the house? Is there a place where your extra pens and pencils live? If not, make one. Do the same for things like keys, shoes, and those endless plastic bags you bring home from the store.
5. Reduce what you have. Do you really need 3 copies of “Organizing for Dummies”? Or in my mom’s case – 100 rubbermaid containers with no matching lids? I have learned that yes, I really do need 3 spatulas and 2 sets of tongs, but endless knives? Not so much. Bless someone else with whatever you have too much of; it will do you both some good.
Put these steps to work – that means take action! – and look at this as a long term project. Don’t expect to finish by the end of the month. Ideally, once you get things under control, you could continue to use these habits to keep things that way.

UGH What should I eat??

I try and eat healthfully, although God knows I’m not always successful at it. It’s awfully tempting to dive face-first into my favorite junk foods at the end of a long, stressful day, especially when the kids have been performing Tantrum Relay Races for hours on end. (The 6 year old is screaming because the 8 year old touched his blankie! Now the 8 y.o. is screaming because the 6y.o. ripped the blanket out of her hand! Now they’re shoving each other! Who will drive Mommy up the wall first? This is going to be a photo finish, folks!)
Despite my ongoing efforts to improve, I am consistently horrible at doing the kind of strategic grocery shopping that actually lasts for more than a few days at a time. I do, however, usually manage to keep a number of staples on hand as go-to foods for when I’m starving and thinking about attacking the peanut butter jar with a spoon: raw almonds, turkey, nonfat plain Greek yogurt (I add Splenda to this), lowfat string cheese, baby carrots, hummus, sugar free popsicles.
If it’s there, I will eat it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but eventually, those cookies will be IN MY MOUTH. So, for the most part, I try not to buy junk food. My kids don’t need it, I don’t need it, it doesn’t need to be in my kitchen. Now, there are definitely exceptions to this rule, such as last weekend when all of us, ate our own weight in Doritos, but I’m saying in GENERAL.
I JUST SERIOUSLY WANT A GYROS.....OR......FRIED VEGGIES!!!!!!!!

SOULD I STAND ON MY HEAD

My theory is that perhaps if I stood on my head I would be able to see things in a different light.

Being a mom is tough. There are days I lie in bed trying to decide if it is really worth it. As a mom we have the toughest job around. While I was sitting on the porch this evening watching my children run around the yard it came to me. I do this, not because I have to, but because these children are the most important part of who I am. They are the reason I get up in the morning and continue on.
There are days I wondered if this was all really worth it. Did I do the right thing? Am I still doing the right thing? I question every move I do, whereas before I had children I never really questioned any of it. The answer is simple, I do what I have to do. I have to do what is best for my children.

My new outlook is this: Life is too short to second guess my decisions and too short to sit on my ass all day feeling like a failure due to some bad decisions that for the most was nothing worth crying over. Yesterday is over, today is a new beginning and tomorrow is something to look forward to!

Wow I stayed up all night long to get things ready for school Im talkin till 4 am and had to be up at 7 to get all kids ready for school but it was worth it! I have to admit that I am pretty pumped on the mountain dew though now but hey it will all be ok!
I have to give some advice though if you are ever planning on doing an all nighter DONT you should plan ahead little by little!
This time of year can be so emotional. It's not just about the balancing act we face each day with work, play, care planning, and family time. It's about starting a new year, watching the kids grow up, encouraging development and relationships, and savoring the details. It goes by too fast, like everything else. Hopefully these ideas will help you put on the brakes, reconnect with the kids, and ring in the new school year with panache and warmth.

Back-to-school means back-to-organizing. You might not have ever thought of it in those terms but it’s the truth.

You organize school clothes and school supplies. You try to get a bedtime routine established. Drop-off, pick-up, car pools or bus schedules are analyzed.

There are two back-to-school organizing projects that tend to fall by the wayside. They’ll drive you crazy …and then drive you crazy some more. Those two things? Breakfast and lunches. Mom-blogger Gina shared with me that these two things are some of her biggest troubles and worries.

Since it’s not a good plan to skip breakfast or lunch, nor is it a good plan to go crazy every school day, it’s time to try some organizing for those two areas.

Breakfast Organization

Take advantage of your kids’ love of eating out. Attach a wipe-off board to your fridge and make a menu. Following your weekly grocery shopping, create a list of choices. For example, it might read “waffles with syrup, scrambled eggs and toast, breakfast smoothie, Captain Crunch and banana.”
Have a menu board eliminates you repeating daily what is on hand. It also eliminates you from repeating it over and over to each child.
For non-readers, you can draw a picture. Or, you can also start to cut out pictures from the packages and use refrigerator magnets to create a picture menu.
Probably the biggest thing you can do to organize breakfast is to organize bedtime. A tired and cranky child has no more interest in eating breakfast than you do, if I drug you out of bed before you were ready. If mornings and breakfast are a struggle, you might need to gradually make that bedtime earlier until you find the right mix.
Eating under stress isn’t going to work. Have you noticed that they only eat slower when you start saying “Hurry or you’ll miss the bus!” Try to eliminate stress as much as you can the night before. This means backpacks are filled and by the door and clothing is laid out.
Plan a breakfast menu that matches your child’s eating style. If they don’t like to eat much but love smoothies, then offer healthy smoothies. If they love to dip, then cut up that bagel so they can dip pieces in a bit of cream cheese and jelly. Perhaps they don’t love breakfast foods that much? Offer what they do like. Perhaps you could try rolled up ham and cheese, a mug of soup or heating up something from last night’s dinner that they do like.
The next piece of advice isn’t really organizing advice, instead it is mom advice. Turn off the TV. Remove the toys from the table. When children start watching cartoons, pushing cars and trucks across the table or coloring, then they stop eating. This doesn’t mean breakfast can’t be fun. Cheerful music is a great way to start the day. Perhaps each family member can have a day of the week to choose what to listen to.
Lunch Organization

Have you ever thought about how the typical parent packs a school lunch?

First you open the fridge and grab some lunch meat. Then off to the pantry for the bread. Back to the fridge for the mustard or mayo. Over to the drawer for the sandwich bags. Then you head to the cabinet that has mini-bags of chips. Then you open the fridge again for a piece of fruit and a drink. Finally off to the cookie jar for a dessert. Wait, not done yet….off to the table for a napkin. (Did I mention that you need to multiply this times some 180 or so school days?)

No wonder it takes so long! You’ve been all over the kitchen more than once. Here’s how to organize your kitchen for school lunches.hoose a cabinet to be your lunch center. Empty it out.

Gather your lunch packing essentials: plastic bags, napkins, plastic flatware, any plastic containers and lids you might use. Next shop in your pantry. Move everything that you buy for lunches into the lunch cabinet. Don’t forget the bread and even the peanut butter!
Now tackle the fridge. To organize it for lunches, get a large plastic box (this is a good use for that one with the missing lid!). Place all your lunch packing ingredients into the plastic box. This includes cheese sticks, pudding cups, fruit, juice boxes and so forth. Make sure that your lunch meat is in its own sealed box or bag so it doesn’t leak on anything. You can even add the mustard or mayo to the box. Slide your lunch-packing box back into the fridge.
When it is time to pack lunches, simply pull out the whole box and put it on the counter under your lunch packing cabinet. Everything is at hand without so many trips around the kitchen.
During dinnertime clean-up, establish a lunch packing routine. Wash out lunch boxes. Have each child choose their side items and put them in the box. The next morning, drop in the sandwich and the drink. Even the sandwiches can be made ahead and refrigerated.
Buy extra freezer packs for keeping food cold. This way if the cold pack doesn’t make it back in the freezer, you have an extra. If your child uses a lunch box, it is still a good idea to keep a few paper bags on hand for the day they might forget to bring it home.
If you can prepare something that they like in multiples, this can really help. For example, my girls loved pasta salad. Noodles, chopped veggies and some protein make for a good lunch. When making something like that, divide it into several lunch size containers and you are ready to go.

MY TARGET TRIP!!!!!!

3 mega size huggies refills wipes = $15
1 huggies natural wipes = $3
6 gerber graduates meat sticks = $6
2 toddler graduates micro meals = $2
8 johnson buddies soaps = $7.76
8 market pantry fruit snacks = $12.16
I had the following coupons
8 $1 off for the fruit snacks
3 $5 off for the wipes
1 $3 off for the natural wipes
1 $3 off for the meat sticks
2 $ .50 off 2 gerber products
8 $1 off the soaps
and I bought a few other things and my total was a whole ten dollars! I love coupons! I love to save money !
MY CVS TRIP
2 right guard deodorants = $6
1 excedrin = $4
1 carnation instant breakfast = $5
and four clearanced cough syrups $4
My total was $25
I had $4 off a $20 puchase and a $5 coupon
so that left me with a balance of $16
I paid with a gift card from a previous prescription and got back $21 dollars in free bucks which ill be using tomorrow!

Come unto me, ye who are weary and overburdened, and I will give you rest. - Matthew 11:28

Today has been a hard one very hard and now its time to go to bed. I just dont want to feel tired and alone anymore Im so so tired!

Well I'm off to finish up all the cleaning and take a shower I'm so tired tonight....its back to work tomorrow. There was a huge article about two patrons at the Hammond Marina yesterday who committed suicide and drove into Lake Michigan I'm sure Ill hear all about it tomorrow once I get there I just am so relieved that I wasn't there when it happened not that it makes it any easier its so sad when someone thinks that's the only way out....its not. I know from experience that prayer helps out alot with all your problems from day to day. I honestly think that if not for the belief in prayer and trusting that God only gives me what I can handle I don't know what I would do. So now that I'm done with my preaching for the day Good night all.

I finally figured out how to use the close up on the camera!!

I wanted to get a few pics of the prettiest flowers Ive seen in a long time!!

My little puppy JOJO. and all his puppies.

Dude im playing no time to pose for a picture!!!

Good Cold Morning
I have vowed to not turn the heat past 67 anymore wanna know why?
Let me tell you that when I got 2 bills for almost a total of 1000$ from Nipsco it was time to feel cold. I cant justify paying that much money for heating and electric its almost ridiculous. I need to figure out a way to start saving money also.
I plan on keeping the heat as low as possible(gotta keep it comfortable with 4 kids).
I will not be eating at the buffet at my work anymore(only $1.80 but my waistline will thank me).
I will not buy soda anymore in mass quantities(waist line).
Coupons with all groceries, and I have a wonderful fruit and veggie market that I will be going to once a week for all my veggies.
I will not be going out to eat all the time also (very guilty).
My main goal is to save due to the fact that I want totake the family on a trip to Disneyworld this year and before my 9 yr old is outta 5th grade I WILL buuy a new house in my pick of a city (not just what is cheap and attainable NO I want the city I want and if I cant move to it than I will work 2 jobs for itLOL.
Ok so I think thats it for now, today is my last day off of work and than back to my job AND I say job cause it will never be my career. Im aiming ofr hopefully attending the police academy soon and just getting out of the boat scene. Im so burnt out of that place I havent had a vacation or scheduled time off for a vacation in 2yrs and I have to cause Im at the point where I dont even want to be at work when Im there.
Ok well on to cleanin!!!!!

i gotta find this got this idea from another site ill post it later gotta make the kids some b-fast!