Go Ahead and Buy that No Touch Soap Dispenser

Been holding off buying one of these, because the refills are so ridiculously priced?  No problem, refill them!

My 64 oz. soap cost $4.99.  Those refills hold 8.5 oz for $4.99.  One of these big guys will refill 10 of the small ones.  That's a savings of $4.50 each!  And that is if you use the soap at full strength!  I often water it down, because it dispenses too much soap for a single handwashing, especially if most of the handwashing is done by kids.  I use about 1/3 - 1/4 water.  It still feels nice and thick, but its thin enough for the kids.

You will need your empty refill container, soap of your choosing, and one of these cheapo condiment squirt bottles.  Please have a dedicated bottle for this, and don't use ones you've used for food.  Fill up your squirt bottle with soap, and pop it into the top of the refill container.  You will defeat the valve temporarily with the nozzle.

Fill it up to the bottom of the colored cap, and pop it on your dispenser!

Linking up!!

Make Your Own Bisquick One Picture Post

Linking up!

Thanksgiving Treats-- A Pinterest I made it!

Source: ourbestbites.com via Paulette on Pinterest

Inspiration and realization!  These looked pretty easy, and fun for Melissa's class party.  20 turkeys it is!!

I used one regular sized container of regular oreos, and there were just enough for this.  Your results may vary, since they're packaged by weight.

Each Turkey requires:
2 oreo cookies
1 mini peanut butter cup
1 whopper
6 candy corns
Chocolate Icing

You'll want to add the candy corns to the tail first.  I did end up breaking a few of the cookies, and had to "glue" them back together with the chocolate icing.  If you do break them, put that broken part towards the back.  :)

Peel all of your mini peanut butter cups.  The easiest way I found was to remove the foil, and freeze them.  After frozen, remove the paper so the cups stay nice and pretty.

After they have been peeled, remove a small portion so that they will lay flat on the cookie.  Then attach your whopper to the opposite end and the candy corn beak to the whopper.  The original picture shows a shorter beak, but I was being lazy and didn't cut them.  I think they look fine as is.

 You can now attach the body to the cookie!  I added a little turkey waddle with a piece of fruit roll up!  Add your eyes and feet now if you like.  I didn't add them because the 5 year old were just going to eat them as is anyway.  It took me at least an hour to make 20 of these buggers.

Cinnamon Glazed Pretzels -- A Pinterest I made it!

Source: organizeyourstuffnow.com via Paulette on Pinterest

I was inspired by this pin of Cinnamon Pretzels.  I was doing some last minute teacher gifts, and thought that they would be super easy to make.  I had a bag of Dollar Store pretzels in the cabinet, so it was working out to be an easy and fast gift!

The original recipe is:

2/3 Cup Vegetable Oil
1/2 Cup Sugar
2 teaspoons ground Cinnamon
1 16-ounce package Small Pretzels

Combine Oil, Sugar and Cinnamon in a pan and add pretzels to coat.  Bake 30 minutes at 300°F  Cool on waxed paper.

Okay, people, seriously they came out so bad that I threw them away and didn't take a picture!  The sugar did not stick to the pretzels at all.  I started doing some looking online, and found that this was a common problem with this particular recipe.

Back to the drawing table!

I was then thinking about those lovely cinnamon glazed almonds.  Those seemed to have the cinnamon sugar stick to them.  So I found another recipe.

Source: getoffyourbuttandbake.com via Paulette on Pinterest

1/3 cup butter
 2 egg whites, at room temperature
Pinch of salt
 1 cup sugar
 4 cups whole natural almonds
4 teaspoons cinnamon

1 Tablespoon pure vanilla

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a large cookie sheet, and set aside. In microwave safe dish, melt butter. Set aside. Meanwhile, beat egg whites with salt until very frothy; gradually (very slowly) add sugar, beating to stiff peaks. Gently fold in almonds and cinnamon. Pour melted butter & 1 Tablespoon Vanilla into almond mixture, and fold in. Pour mixture onto pan, and spread out evenly on greased baking sheet. Bake about 30 minutes, tossing every 10 minutes, until glazing mixture has set up around almonds. Do not wait until the glaze is totally dry. Let cool, then store cooled nuts in sealed container.

*Don't panic if they glaze mixture hasn't stayed in stiff peaks. If will work just fine!

But I am not going to crack open some eggs just for the egg whites.  Sorry, I'm too lazy for that.

My recipe was this:

1/3 Cup Oil

1 Tbsp. Cinnamon

1 Cup Sugar

4 Tbsp. Water **

4 tsp. Meringue Powder **

1 16 oz. Bag of Pretzels

**Meringue Powder and Water are substitutes for 2 egg whites.  Feel free to use egg whites if you like.**

Combine the oil, cinnamon, sugar, water and meringue power.  Toss with pretzels, and bake at 300° for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Since I packed every single one of these up for the class party and teacher gifts, I will have to add the picture later, but I promise they look exactly like those almonds but on pretzels.  They were delicious!  I am definitely going to be making more for my Festivus Party!

*****Edited to add picture*****

Spinach Artichoke Dip -- A Pinterest I made it!

Last week, my dear husband took us to Outback.  We don't make it a habit to order appetizers, because after you finish them, you are usually too full to eat your dinner, but we made an exception this time since we were famished.  Blooming Onions are just gross and oily, cheese fries you can get anywhere.  We narrowed it down to flatbread pizza or Spinach Artichoke Dip.  Since we're cheap, we opted for the dip.  Not only did we enjoy it, the kids did too!  So, I went on the hunt for the recipe. 

I can generally find what I'm looking for on the internet.  In fact I have had people contact me to find something for them.  But, alas, I could not locate a recipe for Outback's version of the spinach artichoke dip.  I did however locate one for Houston's version here.

Source: copykat.com via Paulette on Pinterest

If you read my blog and look at any of the recipes, you know that I'm not one for adhering exactly to the recipe, so of course I made some substitutions.  I also did not measure anything, and just eyeballed it.

I made it roughly like this.

• 1 can artichokes (drained)
• 1 (12 ounce) package fresh spinach, chopped
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 block softened cream cheese
• 1/3 cup freshly grated sharp provolone cheese
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 small can water chestnuts, chopped

This is what it looked like before I baked it.  I did top it off with some more parmesan before putting it in to cook.  Sorry its not a better picture.  I took it with my cell phone.

I'll have to post the after picture later, since I'm taking this to my parents for dinner tonight. Hubby made pulled pork on the smoker, and we're having all kinds of yummy stuff.  I'm going to see my Godmother who I haven't seen in 15 years!

After baking and tasting, I thought that this needed a bit more garlic.  I only baked a portion of the full recipe, so this is about 1/3 of what it makes.  Here's the picture:

Exercising with Wii

I picked up this game NFL Training Camp for the Wii for $10 at Wal-Mart.   

Developed in collaboration with NFL strength and conditioning coaches, users will experience the thrill of competition while challenging friends and family in authentic NFL football drills with real NFL players. EA SPORTS Active NFL Training Camp with Total Body Tracking uses the included heart rate monitor and wireless motion tracking to provide a challenging workout and help deliver measurable results. It will link to the EA SPORTS Active online hub where users can share training results and challenge others to beat their personal best, as well as track progress toward specific fitness goals. EA SPORTS Active NFL Training Camp brings the real NFL training camp experience right into the living room.

 Since I don't have the time or money to visit the gym on a regular basis, I figured that this would be a great alternative.  I've done the workouts a few times on the easy setting, and it was quite enough!    The online tracker gives some nice information, and I especially like that it keeps track of my heart rate with the tracking system.

Here's a little shot of just one of the online reports.

I love this and it really does get me exercising, which is a huge deal because I've always hated exercising.  It was definitely worth the $10 investment!

Mr. Bones

9 milk jugs later, I finished my pin!!

Isn't he super cute?  I had no real pattern to go off of, just a picture, so I did the best I could.  And of course I saved the cut outs and extras to make more!




Pin It

A super cute model!!

A close up of the feet, modeled after my own!  Those were probably one of the more tricky things to cut out.

Arms and hands, again, modeled after my own.

Pelvis.  Took some tricky thinking to attach it to the other milk jug.

Here's a close up of my wizardry.  Cut a slit in the bottom jug and forced it into the top.  Then punched holes in both and tied with embroidery floss.

 Shoulder blades.  Again a little tricky to figure out how to attach those suckers.

Head attachment.

 And the beautiful head cut out with an exacto knife.

 Most of the joints were attached like this.

And one final shot with model.  He took me about a month to make, including collecting the jugs, and being lazy, and then cutting most of him out in one day.

The next step is to paint him with our glow paint!!

Got my Downy Unstopables Sample from Vocalpoint

Don't you just love getting stuff in the mail?  A free sample of something is great!  It's even better when it's something that I have really been wanting to try!  Have you heard of these Downy Unstopables?  We use a lot of unscented things due to allergies, just because that's how they come.  Not necessarily allergic to the scents, but we can keep them to a minimum.  That's why I figured this would be great.  I get to add as much or as little scent as I want.  I got the Blue Fresh Scent, and it smells really nice.  It is a bit overpowering for me, so I think I will like a bit less than the whole package in my wash.  I'm going to try it out today!!

You can always sign up for Vocalpoint!!  Check it out here!

Coffee, Tea and Me

I have started drinking more coffee.  I was drinking this instant coffee that I could use my IngenuiTea pot and make one cup at a time.  Until I ran out of coffee.  Then I had to use beans.  I can drink one really big cup a day, and I'm good.  So I resorted to using our french press.  Yuck what a mess to clean.  So then I decided just to use our super awesome coffee maker/espresso maker and ended up drinking 3 really big cups of coffee on Friday which was not so good. 

This weekend, DH took me out to FL Mall and we stopped at the Teavana store.  I wanted to pick up some of the White Ayurvedic Chai Tea that my Mom had, because it was awesome!  Now, I have been in a Teavana store before, and it is pricey, but the teas are excellent.  I saw the price on the gigantic bin said $5, so I got 8 ounces.  Too bad the guy didn't mention it was $5/ounce.  I didn't find that out until we were all done.  I started talking to him about a substitute for coffee, so he talked me into this mix which smells a lot like coffee, and had some really expensive teas in in.  Almond Biscotti, Honeybush Vanilla, Black Dragon Pearl, and Matevana.  I was getting concerned, but again, I know that the tea lasts a long time, and you can steep it more than once.  $77 later, I was done.

I really wanted to come home and try out my blend, but it was 9:00, and I can't drink too much caffeine that late, so I had a nice cup of the Chai.  I waited until this morning to try my new blend, and it smelled great!  I added just some sugar to it to try it, and took a great big whiff of it.  The first smell, you get this strong almond followed by chocolate and fruit with a hint of vanilla.  The first sip tasted like....tea.  I was so bummed.  Then I thought, maybe some creamer would help.  So I added some of my favorite hazelnut creamer, and that made it taste like english style tea.  Oh well.  It is a delicious tea which reminds me of a cookie.  And I have always liked milk in my tea. 

Maybe if DH ever lets me back into a Teavana store, I will just get some of the Matevana instead of this very expensive mix.

To Do List...

Wake up.
Do Some Work.
Nurse Small Child.
Do Some More Work.
Feed Breakfast to Small Child.
Eat Breakfast Myself.
Clean Up Gigantic Mess Small Child Made with her Sister's Drink.
Give Small Child A Bath.
Snuggle with Small Child.
Diaper and Clothe Small Child and Let Loose.
Do Some More Work.
Discover Small Child Has Made Another Gigantic Mess.
Try Not To Cry My Eyes Out.
Clean Up Child.
Clean Up Mess.
Do More Work.
Discover It's Only 12:30.....CRAP.

JCPenney Scandal?

Did you all see this today?

JCPenney's Facebook had this to say all over their Facebook page when people complained about it:  We agree that the “Too pretty” t-shirt doesn't deliver an appropriate message, and we have immediately discontinued its sale. We would like to apologize to not only yourself but to all of our customers and are taking action to ensure that we continue to uphold the integrity of our merchandise that they have come to expect. Thank you!

But tell me why I can still find the link as active?  In addition to that,  they have even more horrifying t-shirts available.

Pap has Diabetes

Explain that to a child.  My dad has a long history of Diabetes and not taking care of himself.  He has neuropathy in his feet.  He takes a few different types of insulin shots.  He also continues to eat candy and junk food as he has his entire life.  He's 68 now, and he feels old.  We've all asked him to take better care of himself, but he still does what he wants.  So, now we've gotten the grandkids in on it.  When they see Pap eating candy we've told them to tell him they don't want him to die.  Do you think its going too far to tell the kids that candy could kill him?  Or is there something else we should do?

Got some samples and coupons! Oh and a giveaway!

Yesterday I got the coupon for the Motts for Totts, so I can finally try it out!  Just in time for me to go pick up Melissa too!!  I also got a sample of the Glad bags with Febreze!  I've tried those bags before with the scent blocker, and they were so strong that it gave me a headache.  I've actually had this Febreze bag in the office with me for about a week, and I haven't even noticed the smell.  It kind of smells like fresh laundry.  I have 5 $0.50 off coupons to give away for those, so leave me a comment and I will pick out the winners randomly!

Motts For Tots

I'm excited to become a Vocalpoint member!  Trying great items, and telling other people about them are what we all do anyway, right?  So, go get your sample and let me know how you like it!!

Swagbucks

Okay, lots of people ask me what this is, and I will explain.

Swagbucks has a search bar where you type in your searches just as if you were typing into Google or Ask.com. The answers you get, come from these two search engines. To reward you for taking the extra step, you get free points called Swagbucks. One of the ways to redeem Swagbucks is by getting free gift cards. You can get crazy with this and spend a lot of time – or you can just do a couple searches a day and earn some free Amazon.com gift cards. For every 450 Swagbucks, you can earn a $5.00 Amazon.com gift card.

I've been using Swagbucks for about 6 months or so, and I've traded in for at least 6 $5 Amazon Gift Cards. 

And yes, I do realized that they are using the information to track what I am searching for, but Google does that as well, so I may as well be rewarded for it.

The Rules of Life

I came across this today, and it resonated with me.

 The Rules of Life

Rule One - You will receive a body.
Whether you love it or hate it, it's yours for life, so accept it. What counts is what's inside.

Rule Two - You will be presented with lessons.
Life is a constant learning experience, which every day provides opportunities for you to learn more. These lessons specific to you, and learning them 'is the key to discovering and fulfilling the meaning and relevance of your own life'.

Rule Three - There are no mistakes, only lessons.
Your development towards wisdom is a process of experimentation, trial and error, so it's inevitable things will not always go to plan or turn out how you'd want. Compassion is the remedy for harsh judgement - of ourselves and others. Forgiveness is not only divine - it's also 'the act of erasing an emotional debt'. Behaving ethically, with integrity, and with humour - especially the ability to laugh at yourself and your own mishaps - are central to the perspective that 'mistakes' are simply lessons we must learn.

Rule Four - The lesson is repeated until learned.
Lessons repeat until learned. What manifest as problems and challenges, irritations and frustrations are more lessons - they will repeat until you see them as such and learn from them. Your own awareness and your ability to change are requisites of executing this rule. Also fundamental is the acceptance that you are not a victim of fate or circumstance - 'causality' must be acknowledged; that is to say: things happen to you because of how you are and what you do. To blame anyone or anything else for your misfortunes is an escape and a denial; you yourself are responsible for you, and what happens to you. Patience is required - change doesn't happen overnight, so give change time to happen.

Rule Five - Learning does not end.
While you are alive there are always lessons to be learned. Surrender to the 'rhythm of life', don't struggle against it. Commit to the process of constant learning and change - be humble enough to always acknowledge your own weaknesses, and be flexible enough to adapt from what you may be accustomed to, because rigidity will deny you the freedom of new possibilities.

Rule Six - "There" is no better than "here".
The other side of the hill may be greener than your own, but being there is not the key to endless happiness. Be grateful for and enjoy what you have, and where you are on your journey. Appreciate the abundance of what's good in your life, rather than measure and amass things that do not actually lead to happiness. Living in the present helps you attain peace.

Rule Seven - Others are only mirrors of you.
You love or hate something about another person according to what love or hate about yourself. Be tolerant; accept others as they are, and strive for clarity of self-awareness; strive to truly understand and have an objective perception of your own self, your thoughts and feelings. Negative experiences are opportunities to heal the wounds that you carry. Support others, and by doing so you support yourself. Where you are unable to support others it is a sign that you are not adequately attending to your own needs.

Rule Eight - What you make of your life is up to you.
You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. Take responsibility for yourself. Learn to let go when you cannot change things. Don't get angry about things - bitter memories clutter your mind. Courage resides in all of us - use it when you need to do what's right for you. We all possess a strong natural power and adventurous spirit, which you should draw on to embrace what lies ahead.

Rule Nine - Your answers lie inside of you.
Trust your instincts and your innermost feelings, whether you hear them as a little voice or a flash of inspiration. Listen to feelings as well as sounds. Look, listen, and trust. Draw on your natural inspiration.

Rule Ten - You will forget all this at birth.
We are all born with all of these capabilities - our early experiences lead us into a physical world, away from our spiritual selves, so that we become doubtful, cynical and lacking belief and confidence. The ten Rules are not commandments, they are universal truths that apply to us all. When you lose your way, call upon them. Have faith in the strength of your spirit. Aspire to be wise - wisdom the ultimate path of your life, and it knows no limits other than those you impose on yourself.  

Scott's Rules of Life