Grape Salad

It is the season of picnics and barbie-Q's and I have found a new treat to make that is a mix between salad and dessert. My husband thinks it tastes like grapes and cookie dough-- and I thought "hey whats wrong with that??"

Mix together 8 oz. sour cream (i know, weird, right??)
8 oz. cream cheese (oh yeah..)
1/2 c. white sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Add in 2 lbs. red seedless grapes
2 lbs. green seedless grapes

Mix in 1 c. brown sugar
1 c. crushed pecans

Pour into serving bowl or spread into 9x13 pan

Garnish with leftover crushed pecans. Fun for the whole family! Children may like it without the pecans.

Mmmmm... I'm going to go eat the rest right now!!

Kicked the dryer to the curb

In May our dryer decided not to work anymore. Instead of calling a repair man or going to Lowes to buy a nice front loader in a pretty color, we bought a $13.00 clothes line and a bag of clothes pins for 99 cents. It has been kinda fun doing laundry the old fashion way. The only time it was pain wass when we were headed on a trip and I was rushing to get laundry done.
We got our electric bill yesterday and it was only $50.00! We usually pay between $200-300. YEA!!! I think it might have to do with unplugging the microwave and T.V. too but don't get me started on that one.
I am just wondering how well my laundry will dry when it gets below zero. Hmm... I may have to make a trip to Lowes.

Blame it on the baby

So it is has been awhile since anything has been posted on here... I blame Em since she is the youngest. The baby always gets the blame right?

It is hard to be in front of a computer when it is so nice outside. Well maybe it is HOT and HUMID but when you have a kiddie pool it does not matter. We have been eating lots of ice cream to stay cool. I know I am sweating out all the calories so there are no worries.:)

Hope the summer is treating you well! I promise there will be more blog posts and if it gets quiet on here remember to blame Em.

More than conquerors

We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:37-39

Salsa Chicken

This dish has great flavor and is easy to make. My husband likes it because you only use one pan which makes washing dishes easier!

Cook chicken in skillet untill no longer pink. Turn to medium and throw in a jar of your favorite salsa, can of black beans, can of corn. Heat for 5 minutes or until hot. Top with shredded and cheese and cover until melted.

Enjoy!

Waterproof Spray

Waterproof spray saved my life this weekend. We bought the spray at Target for about $5 We sprayed it all over three tents on Friday when we arrived at our beautiful sunny campsite. Of course (as all Wisconsonites know) the weather quickly turned from summer to winter overnight. It drizzled and rained all day Saturday and Sunday. The only tent that leaked water was over 15 years old and DID NOT have waterproof spray on it.

Also, don't leave your shoes outside of your tent when it is raining. :(

All in all we had a fun time (besides packing up in the mud) Thank you waterproof spray!

A great game for toddlers

There are not many games out there designed for younger children. My two year old is not a color genius so candy land is out of the picture. At the moment everything is the color blue. We did get Elefun as a gift and I have to tell you that we both love it. It is a great game that lets kids burn off energy as they try to catch the butterflies that come out of the elephant's 4 foot long trunk. I bring out this game when he is bored or cranky and the mood always changes quickly. There is lots of laughter in our house when the friendly blue elephant is around. So if you are looking for a gift or ways to keep your children happy I highly recommend this game.

Free Shoes

When you buy a pair of TOMS shoes a person in need gets a FREE pair. This company was started because they wanted to help give shoes to children in developing countries shoes. The shoes are super cute. With so many styles to choose from it may take awhile to decide which shoes to purchase. Have fun shopping!
http://tomshoes.com

Free Lip Balm

Burt's Bees is giving away free lip balm to 1,000 people each day until June 20th. Find out all the details at http://burtsbees.com. I hope you win!

Cows for sale

Okay you don't actually get to keep the cow because it goes to people that need an animal to become self -reliant. You will not be sorry if you chose to become a part of the Heifer International Organization. They help out people who are truly in need. It is easy to sit in your nice little homes and wish you had bigger and better stuff but when you go to this website you realize how blessed you are.
This is great for a group that want to have a fundraiser. They will send buttons with fun sayings, fliers, and tons of other stuff to help promote the fundraiser.
Check out http://heifer.org/!

There is no such thing as too much chocolate

Are there times in your life when you need to bring a dessert but don't have that much time to put something together? Try making a box brownies mix and then adding this glaze. The glaze makes the brownies taste so much better. My favorite brownie mix is the one with Andes mints.

Glaze:
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
4 tablespoons butter
2tablespoon light corn syrup
2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine chips, butter and syrup in pan over low heat until melted. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Spread over brownies.

DSW

I went to DSW to find a good deal on running shoes. I left the store with two cute pairs of shoes but no running shoes. Don't you hate it when that happens?

Travel Zoo!

If you are one of those people who sees a plane flying overhead and thinks "I wish I was on that plane.. wherever it may be going" then this website is for you! TravelZoo.com has a team of travelers dedicated to researching the top 20 deals of the week for travel around the world. It could be a deal for a trendy hotel in NYC or an Egyptian cruise for 12 nights with air. And for those of us not able to have the luxury (or desire) to travel abroad they also have "deals near you" and "last minuet deals" for shows, hotels, restaurants and flights around where you live. Even if I can't afford to actually get any of these deals right now, a girl can dream right??

Take a look for yourself! www.travelzoo.com

Space Saver Tips

Try hanging bags or purses on the back of your doors. This works well in bathrooms with limited space. Bags or large purses are a great place to store curling irons, straighteners, hairdryers ect. The "appliances" are also at easy access behind the door.

Leaders are overrated

Be a follower!!! Start your new life by following our blog. Click on the follow button in the top right corner.

Help stop hunger

The free rice website is great for people of all ages. What a wonderful thing to build brain power and help others at the same time. For every answer you get right 10 grains of rice is donated to the UN World Food Program. My personal favorite is the vocabulary game. Warning: It can be addicting! Check out this site at www.freerice.com

Tomato Pie

This is a yummy and very easy dish to make for supper or an appetizer.

Ingredients: Pillsbury pizza dough, 2 c. mozzarella cheese, basil, and 4 roma tomatoes.

Put pizza in pie dish and then fill with cheese. Place basil on top of cheese and then cover with tomatoes. Drizzle with olive oil. Bake at 350 for 45min. or crust is brown.

Tasty!

Operation Road without the Rage

Road rage is taking over our highways. Honking, cursing, gesturing has become to common of an instinct for most people. The anger people get from driving is not healthy. The stress will eventually link to aging (and no one wants wrinkles early, right?) I admit that sometimes I may get into the other lane a little too soon or without looking, and for that I apologize. On the other side, I have made it my goal to only honk at cars if they are literally about to hit me. And even then I just give a friendly "watch out my car is already here, honk."

A couple weeks ago a car swirved into my lane without looking and I slowed down so they wouldn't hit me. They swirved back over and when I drove by the girl politely waved and gave me a "I'm so sorry-- oops! look." I laughed and kept driving. Now that is my idea of operation road no-rage. Instead of letting it ruin either of our days, we chuckled and moved on.

Try it.