Too old for Panty Hose

So I don't know if I'm the only one with this issue but I doubt it! Here goes so I usually do not wear panty hose unless I have a professional get together or if I feel a skirt is a little too short.So I had a photo shoot to attend and was told to wear panty hose. I had some older ones at home but decided I needed some newer ones so off I went. Man I don't know but either a store didn't have my size,color,material or just plain style that I wanted.I went everywhere ,(I don't even like pantyhose) But I kept looking. It's like everything was getting in the way of me finding some good pantyhose, I mean If I'm gonna buy pantyhose I want to WANT to wear them. Hummm how many times can I say pantyhose lol. I finally grabbed whatever I could find and I tell you pantyhose nowadays are pricey.I got nude color,fishnet,black,blue,shiny any type you can mention I bought,Grand total $65. I thought I did good(yeah right)When I finally got home I had to try them on ,it was crazy.They were too tight,itchy,ugly,skimpy and just plain odd.I found some good ones out of the group but at the end of the day I don't care to see another pair of pantyhose again. DONE ,NADA, NO MORE.!
Of course...... one of the pairs looked kinda cute,another would be great with a suit actually I could find one to use with dresses,skirts,pantsuits,shorts and any other type of clothing....Man pantyhose can't live with them can't live with out them....Oh BTW I found the longest lasting pantyhose come from target I know you would've never guessed but yes Target.Not Dillards,Sears,JC pennys but Target.
Enjoy!

Have a Blast!!

So I saw my sister riding a Skateboard!!! I can't ride a skateboard(at all,hey I got blond in me!) So as I was listening to her story about going to the skate park and making my own visual image. Wellllll my visual image wasn't nearly as cute as this soooo I decided to make a puzzle out of her picture... Have fun oh yeah when in doubt make a puzzle! Have fun!

Mandarin Camp Fun

Bakari attends an immersion language school. His study language is Spanish, but his school also offers French and Mandarin. Well, his school was doing a week long day camp in the Mandarin language and we thought what could a little exposure hurt. Anyhoo, he went to camp and had so much fun! The kids even did a performance and his class sang a song completely in Mandarin. Bakari got all the words right but admitted he had no idea what he was singing about :-)

Bakari is the tall one in the back with the blue hat on. He wore a hat that week because he refused to do his hair :-)

ALMOST A PRO-SKATER...NOT :-)

I try to spend special time one-on-one with each of my kids often. Well, the other day I went out with Beau Jr. He is one active (or is it hyperactive) 11 year old.   He decided we should go skateboarding. I think he just wanted to see a free comedy show. I mean really...He's been skateboarding since the age of 3 (yes it was scary to watch at that age) and I'd never EVER placed one single foot on a skateboard. Anyway, it was a blast! Here's the comedy show in pictures

By the way, flip-flops are NOT the best shoes for this sport!

Puppy Toy!

So I Had made a puppy toy for my dog(Annie) and I was thinking this would be a great thing for other dog lovers to do!If you have read some of my dog post before you will see I make toys for my dog to play with. Well I was having problems with her barking through the night.Every pet lover will know that after a while you can tell what the barks mean. Hers at the time meant "mommy I slept all day and now I want you to play with me.)HAHAHA I am not playing with nobody at 1am,you know not to mention we have neighbors. SO we had to fix it! Well I found out that eating for dogs gives them energy,I should have known that,buuuttt I didn't. Well I was feeding her in the middle of the day which was giving her energy, so when we slept she was wide awake.I tried giving her food in the morning but she wouldn't eat it. So I thought I have to make a game out of this.So I made a toy where the food comes out little by little as she tosses it around.(you've probably heard of something like that) Well I didn't want to buy one from the store so I decided I would make her one and see how it works. So Here's how you make it.
Supplies Needed...
1 empty plastic peanut butter jar
1 Sharp knife, or good hole punch
doggies Favorite food

Directions: Clean out peanut butter jar very well.(I gave mine to pooch to lick out the sides and I clean what she couldn't reach.)
Take a knife and cut a small hole in both sides of the peanut butter jar.(the hole should be a little bigger than 2 pieces of the dogs food.)
Cover the hole with your fingers and fill the container up with food.Close lid and give to pooch.
*Please make sure the holes are smooth so they do not cut your dog. Also this is great because if pooch really has fun and wears it out ,you can make a new one have fun.
BTW This has cured her boredom and has helped her with over and under eating!

Bubble trouble!

I like this game and My sister is so addicted to it!LOL I know sometimes when you are at home by yourself ,you tend to find unique things to do.Well when I need a break and don't really feel like doing anything to productive I find little games online. I usually play Sudoku but I know everyone will know how to play this.

BubblePop

Online Games

Play Free Online Multiplayer Game - Bubble Popper!

Quick and easy B-day cards!

So I am always the person who gives you a phone call or e-card to announce your birthday.However recently my family has decided to turn over a new leaf and make me work harder in the process. So I suppose to keep in touch better with each other everyone is requesting and written letter. All I can think is why oh why when we have the internet oh well.... So Needless to say We have a whole sweep of birthdays from June 1st -July 25th!

So my sisters birthday came first and of course the letter was late...but it did arrive.Then off to my niece,2nephews ,another sister,my father in law and oh yeah me. Thankfully I don't have to do one for myself haha!(but I might anyways, I don't like to feel left out LOL) Anywho my niece turned 3 yrs old so it was easy to make her a card. SO that will be the card I'll talk about today. First lay out all your supplies(Mine went missing, so I improvised, which you will see) But get everything ..crayons,pencils,markers,glue,paper everything .
1.) Take a piece of thin poster board(I took the back of a notebook,yep I just ripped it off!)
2.)Now get a piece of white paper.Hold the paper against the poster board and cut off all excess,So the poster and paper are the same size.
3.)Then decorate the paper with whatever you like. I did Happy B-day Ariana! Then I drew a pic of bugs bunny.*If you're not a good artist the paper is white so you can trace something cute.
4.)Color it in ,now you can be creative glue some glitter or place stickers on there be creative. I placed stickers,colored everything in real girlie then drew stars all over the place.
5.)Paste the paper onto the poster board and fold in half.
6.)With a piece of colored paper, cut around the sides to make a decoration.(I had to paint a white piece of paper and I did a swirly design ~~~~)
7.)Write whatever special message you would like on the colored paper and paste inside the card.
8.) Lastly touch it up. If something seems to be missing add it in. (I placed a slot with money, and added some decorations to the back!
Place in envelope and mail!
Like I said this was for my niece,Next are 2 nephews so they will probably get something with a print out on it (they're a little older)
I hope this helped any one and if not maybe just a fun craft for children.
Enjoy! 

forever JONES - He Wants It All (live from EMI / Nashville, TN)

I Love this song I think that it means so much and I'm so glad that someone heard God and wrote this song. So Here is a video for the many few who have not heard the song..

Different Strokes for different folks!

So I wanted to find out different hings that families did to celebrate Fathers Day. I thought it was interesting to find out the different Strokes. For instance I called up my Father from out of town,To find out that He and my mother had gone out for Breakfast!Then I called my mother in law and father in law,to invite them out to eat with my husband and I.To find out that they cooked food and decided to nap all day!I had also been invited to many BBQs that friends were having.Then there were folks that just disappeared lol No telling what they do to relax.As for my husband and I, we went to the house after church and we had a late late breakfast.I just found it interesting that we could find so many other ways to celebrate. We usually just go out to a nice dinner, but this way was soooo much more relaxing.Now off to a busy day for me . I am going through the entire house today cleaning.Yep Every room is getting cleaned along with the dog getting bathed. I can't wait ,Pray for me I just hope I get all done!

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!!!

Lets talk weight loss!

Alright you might say I have a little fetish about maintaining a healthy weight but you know what I'm not over weight. Now I'm am going to get detailed and rash,so if you can't handle Please stop reading this post.
I have never had a problem losing a couple extra pounds (it's self discipline) The best way to help you understand what I mean is with an analogy so here goes. As we are little we drink breast milk and gradually begin eating and trying new things until we are older and have seen about every type of food imaginable.It's is instilled in us since Birth to eat either good or bad. We are blessed in our country to have so many types of food and have open access but some people gorge themselves on the unhealthiness.Where in some parts of Africa they have no form of sustenance to the point where they eat mud cookies (video at the bottom.)  Again we are taught our eating habits. So now that we have established that I will move right along.
1.)Losing some water weight can be easy to lose as well as easy to put back on.I call this detoxifying the intestines. Drinking plenty of fluids help maintain a healthy water weight. About once every 1-2 months I will only drink water for 2-3 days.
2.)Maintaining a healthy weight, eating a lot of fruits and veggies will help (I know I know it can get boring)switch it up,but I guarantee that if you choose fruit over that sandwich you'll look and feel much better. If I am just craving that burger or whatever it may be , I will grab a piece of fruit first and  if still hungry eat the burger or Whatever,(the fruit will help you to eat less,or may even change your initial craving)
3.)Tone it up While eating fruit will help you get to a desired weight you may still wish to tone up. We will call it an extra bonus. Of course you have to exercise Yea I SAID EXERCISE. Please don't waste your time telling me or yourself that you don't have time ,Ill keep it simple Make Time(if you own a t.v,you have time)You don't have to go all out and hit the gym 3 times a week.The majority of my exercise is done right at my house(and NO I don't have a gym in my house)
4.) Motivation I.Y.C.B.M.B.L.A.Y ,Then No one can help you!(definition at the bottom in bold)
It's that simple. As Humans it's our nature to take something simple and make it difficult. DON'T. Get up, stop feeling sorry for yourself and DO something about it. I set my goal for this month , Have You?You can always retrain your thinking.There is No special weight lose pill NO WHERE (so give it up) and remember Fast weight off ,will be fast weight back on. Slow weight off , will be slow weight back on.Have fun changing your lives for the better Oh yeah If You Can't Be Motivated By Looking At Yourself , then no one can motivate you.

I'm A Once A Month Cook Wannabe

 Beau Sr was in the mood to grill (anything that allows him to play with fire) so I started taking meat out of the freezer for him to cook up.  I thought since he's already over the grill I'll have him cook up enough meat for about a month.  He grilled 2 1/2 pkgs. of hamburger patties and about 50 hot dogs.  I had laid out 3 pkgs. of chicken but he ran out of time before we had a birthday party to attend, so once we were home from the party, I boiled all three pkgs. of chicken and placed all the meat in Tupperware containers and put them in the freezer.  Now I have cooked hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken.  I like to boil the chicken as opposed to baking it or frying it because once the chicken is boiled it becomes really tender and I can just thaw it out and use it in lots of different recipes, especially good in casseroles. That's more than enough meat for a month. Now if I can only take the time to actually turn that meat into meals I'd be set. Baby steps :-)

Free or Frugal Fun

 The kids and I have been having just so much fun!!! The kind I love-free or frugal. We've taken lots of trips to the library, museums, swimming pools... All this fun for free or very cheap. I entered the kids in the library's summer reading program and right away they received coupons to many different amusements. My two youngest just completed their summer reading and received a free day pass to the amusement park here which also includes a free water park, YAY!!! Beau Jr. is now in the teen reading program so it's taking him a little longer to finish up. I also put them in the reading program with Barnes and Noble and once they've read six books they receive a free book. Bakari has already read his six books so he allowed Beau Jr. to pick a book out instead and then when Beau has completed the program he'll let Bakari choose a book. We're also enjoying trips to local museums that are always free and then museums and the zoo when they have free days. We've been invited to quite a few indoor pool parties which has been nice. We have a set spending amount of $5 for a birthday gift and you wouldn't believe the great things we find in stores like Ross, Dollar Tree, and the $1 section at Target. The kids usually make a homemade card and we reuse gift bags. Sometimes if the bag is plain then I'll have our little artist, Bakari, decorate the bag. The park is always a free and fun place to go. We like to pack a picnic and spend a couple of hours there. The boys will be in VBS in a couple of weeks. Ariana is not old enough for VBS, but since I'm volunteering to help, she gets to attend. YAY for her! VBS is just too much fun to miss! Oh and I almost forgot, we have a free community pool where we live so if we're ever at a loss for what to do we can swim.

COUPON BINDER...a work in progress

 I know you all think I've forgotten about my coupon binder, I haven't :-) I just didn't wanna run out and purchase everything I needed so it's been coming along little by little. You can use a regular 3 ring binder if you don't already have or wanna go out and buy a zippered binder. My sister (SCH II) was gracious enough to send me a 3 ring binder that closes with Velcro. She already had it sitting around at home. Also, I found the baseball card holders at Dollar Tree, a pack of 10 sheets for $1. I picked up some for my sister too :-) I already had a price comparison sheet in my Home Management Binder that I had to transfer. I'm placing the local grocery store ads and coupon books in there also. Here's pics. of the progress:

Post Updates!

Alright! So there are a couple post that left our readers up in the air. Like "mixed up muffins" I want to let everyone know that the topping was great even though I messed it up a little, but it made it interesting. Here's the recipe to strussle topping (compliments of SchI):
3 tbs brown sugar
3 tbs flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp butter

Directions: mix all ingredients ,than cut in 2tbs butter at a time, until mixture begins to have a crummy texture. Spread on muffins.(The way I mixed it up, I placed all ingredients in a bowl then heated in microwave for 15-20 sec,stirred it up till it was smooth and spread it on like frosting )Yummmmm!

NEXT I was Teaching Annie (my pup) how to crawl and at first she would be stubborn,but after keeping constant with her Annie crawls around with the best of them. It is so cute because now she will go as far as I want her to.(of course I only will let her go to the other side of the room,crawling is hard work!)It is said that the more you make a dog do, the more the dog feels needed and accomplished . So More tricks are to come. Here is a list of some tricks she can already do on command(I wish I had pics but that confuses the tricks.)
1.)Sit  2.) stay 3.)come 4.)lay down 5.) play dead 6.) halt (before crossing a road) 7.)shake (with both paws,not at  the same time. 8.)High five (She gives me five)  9.)jump up 10.) kisses  and now we've added crawl . It's really exciting I never wrote down what all she can do and I'm sure I missed a few.You can tell I'm just a proud mommy. Annie has fun too! So get to it pooches need games too!

mixed up muffins

Alright I was invited to luncheon with some personal friends of mine. They decided it would be a great idea for it to be a covered dish(everyone brings a homemade dish to eat)Well I didn't put that into perspective when I had gone grocery shopping.So I had to think think think... Humm what could I make considering it started at 11am.Muffins (great idea from my mother) So, here I go to make homemade muffins from scratch which unfortunately I have to say is my first time making them from scratch (what those pre made muffin mixes are so darn tempting.) So Here I go calling up my sis(sch1) to help. She gave me some great recipes however the muffins came out completely different. My first muffins were oatmeal{cute,lil and a bit hard}The second muffins were Maple and they came out{ugly, big and soft} Yep see the difference any who The cute ones were a little on the bland side (which allowed my sis(sch1) to remind me they're muffins not cupcakes.)But I  thought they should have some flavor lol . The second muffins OH so delicious the only thing is I ran out of ingredients for both of them. So needless to say I will take both different types I'm sure some will like the sweet and some will like the bland. Oh yeah before I forget (sch1) gave me a great recipe for strussle topping I will try and put that on the bland ones.Here's pics of the muffins I'm sure you can tell which is which lol

Introducing Princess Ariana

I'm sorry that I've been a blog slacker lately. It's summer so I'm out and about everyday and with seven children in tow. It's been a blast! We had celebrated Ariana's 3rd birthday at the reservoir and it was just so much fun! Right now she's all into princesses. We had gotten her a swimsuit with the floaties built in and after she started opening her presents her grandma had given her a princess dress. It was off with the swimsuit and on with the princess dress.

Remarks of a 3 yr old

So everyone has got to hear how cute Arianas party was, however since auntie is not in the same state  I will let Mommy (sch1) tell you all about it. All I know is it is a tradition in our family to call one another on birthdays and sing them the Birthday song. So seeing as we have more sisters (which means more Aunties) we all scuffle to be the first to call. I called, oh yeah buddy I was early I thought... for sure Ariana was up and Her mom would be up "enough" for her to pass the phone to the baby. So I called .... No answer So I waited a couple hours and called again.......No answer. I gave up and left a voice mail (not of the song of course) Any-who that gave me plenty of time to look online for a cute video for her to watch (3 yr old's have short attention spans-I have a short attention span) Wait I'm losing sight of the subject Stay with me. So I posted a cute video for my niece. Finally I get a call back ,it took about 5 min just to coax her onto the phone (yeah she knew what was coming) Finally arriving on the phone she says,"Hey Auntie ,then jumble jumble jumble (well she was saying something I just had no clue what it was) So when she stops chatting I proceed into the "Birthday Song"  Happy birthday to you .Happy birthday to DROP. She dropped the phone and High tailed it out of the room. OK I remained calmed I was determined to get this song to her one way or the other. I told sis"Take my niece and go look at the blog" Away they went..... I hear the prelude to the song and all of a sudden the cutest laughter in the world starts coming from this 3 yr old.Of course it took her about 5 times before she could sit through the whole thing(but that wasn't her short attention span ,that's because she was embarrassed because the Chip Muncks were singing her a song. I tell you at the end of the day it was so worth it to hear that 7-10 mins of straight laughter belting out of this cute lil 3 yr old.
enjoy and cherish the moments!

                                           Ariana!

I JUST CAN'T DO IT

 I had been thinking about going to school at night so that I could eventually get a job and help contribute to our household financially. My dear husband works so hard but we still struggle. So without going before the Lord and waiting to hear from Him (like I should always do), I got it all figured out (so I thought).  I will go to school so that I can get a good paying job so that I can help, Beau, with this mountain of bills and I can pay for my kids to enroll in all the fun activities that all these other kids get to do. There were so many things to think about if I was soon to be a working mom-What daycare will I enroll Ariana in? How much will it cost to enroll all the kids in childcare in the summer? How will I have time to do homework with the kids and get dinner made and on the table before bedtime? Will every dinner be from the crock pot? (I'm not knockin' the crock pot, but every dinner? really?) e.t.c....  So, I armed myself with books from the library about how to make working away from home work. The more I read from these books, the more stressed out I became. These moms were making it work but the price was high. I would spend time with my kids on Saturdays, I would most likely pick something up to eat on my way home from work, My kids would be raised by daycare providers, my house would only be cleaned on Saturdays (if not too tired), so on and so on... My head was spinning! Maybe I hadn't thought this out completely. Now I decided to pray about it. After putting myself through all this, WHY IN THE WORLD DID I NOT PRAY FROM THE BEGINNING????? I knew that I needed to sit down and talk to Beau and get this figured out. I begin talking to Beau in my most serious tone and I lay out the pros and cons of it all. So Beau just looks at me for awhile after I've finished talking ( the look was kinda like he was staring at an alien from another planet) and finally his mouth opens and he says, " Do you really want to work?"  Now I'm looking at him like HE'S from another planet. So I begin telling him how I don't really want to work but I know that moms sometimes have to do it and how I don't want all the financial burden to fall on him and he deserves to have some nice things... So he calmly tells me that he'd just get a part-time job in addition to the job he has now. What does he mean JUST get a part-time job? I tell him that's too much working for one man to do. In which he replies, "It's okay, besides, I'd still be working if you are gone out the house working." Well THANK GOD!!! I've got too many PTA meetings at Bakari's school, I'm a cub scout den leader, and my family likes to eat real food! I've got too much on my plate to have a job away from home :-) Also, you should have seen Beau's face when I was letting him know that he'd need to take Bakari to cub scout day camp everyday from 4-8p.m. for a week straight because I'd be in school. Yeah, he'd rather I just do this homemaking job that I'm starting to become good at. By-the-way, the Lord was very clear about me staying home and I think that it was really neat that after being away from the computer for awhile, I decided to check in with my Blogger friends and Sandra, over at,  Love Abounds At Home, had a post that matched exactly what I was going through. God you are so good! Also, thanks for the encouraging post, Sandra!!!

When's the best time to exercise?

So I have been thinking about this for a while because a lot of people get demotivated because of this very question. You have to find a time that makes you feel good about yourself. Have you ever been invited to the gym with a friend and they are exercising like crazy and you just can't find the energy. It' probably because that's her exercise time but Not yours; Keep following me....Here are some examples My sis (sch1) Is like a machine she can pick up and exercise at any point of the day. My Mother has to exercise in the evening as soon as she arrives home. I have to workout in the morning(or as soon as I wake up) and My other sis gets bored easy and has to switch up times in the day to keep with it.You need to experiment with the times that may work best for you.Another analogy, If Sis (sch1) came to me to exercise at 5:30 pm I could: A.)go and be miserable B.)Not go C.) Go and not do anything. Working out is all about getting to know your own body.If you don't know yourself enough to change habits that you know aren't good,or exercise at a time that works best for you ,you will never see change. Also remember at first you will think No time works good that's just you in denial that a change does need to take place But believe me you will find that perfect time and enjoy it.

Happy Birthday!

So it's my sisters Birthday (SCH1) and I am always on top of my game when it comes to birthdays. I call and wish everyone a happy birthday before they rise out of bed , than I call and tell everyone else not to forget it's Such and such birthday(funny but works for our family) Well needless to say my family ,specifically my sisters are becoming quite creative. They no longer need the phone call but wish for something more. I mean I called Amy (while I was at the store)I generally get her something extra special, But I asked her what she would like. Mind you I was starring at many potential and desirable gifts , wallets,purses,sunglasses.......And she says "letter!" Ok I think I can do this I will type up a beautiful letter, border it with a nice design and email it. NOPE my creative sister wants a hand written, hand mailed and creative letter.Shes so sweet that is all she asked for but I am not much of a writer. I mean granted I can toss out a poem in 2 min flat but when it comes to the people I love it will takes days .So the birthday was June 1st Again HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I am getting her a letter and it will be late, But She will get it and hopefully in the future I can be a  little prompter. That is if my sisters don't switch it up on me again lol. You gotta love 'em !
Enjoy!

Quite Tired!

Ok I think all ladies go through this but if not ,I know I go through this about twice a year.I will wake up and see what all needs to be done within my house to keep it running and I just get tired thinking about it. So today being one of those days I woke up ,got hubby out the door and climbed right back into my soft ,big ,wonderful bed.I slept the morning away ,which is not my demeanor at all. What was the problem I kept asking myself and here's the response I came up with. While husbands are at work a wife does soooooo much work without thinking about it,Meanwhile sometimes in the back of their heads (or my head) We start feeling like what we do is not enough. So with that said I begin to push myself harder and harder until my body is drained. Solution yea you bet I came up with a solution . I wake up and figure what is the highest priority (rather it be cleaning the kitchen or paying bills) and I think in my head that 1 thing is the only thing that you really need to get done THAT'S it, if I (or you) do more, good for you . Just remember stay at home Moms (or Dads) You're only One person .Don't over do it.
I hope this helped someone it has definitely helped me and I'm getting way more stuff done than I was before. YAY !