Tackle It Tuesday #18 - fixing screens

Well, it's spring here in South Jersey, though you wouldn't know it by the wonderfully crisp 40ish weather we've been having. But in preparation for the warm weather I know will be here sometime, though we may go right into summer, I decided the time was ripe to replace some screens we have, like this one.

Which has this lovely hole in it.

The attractive sheet is to protect my dining room table. I had done some of the screens last fall, but needed to finish I had 3 on the first floor to do and 6 for upstairs (I only did the downstairs in the fall).

When I was done, this is what I had.

A whole screen that it was way to cold to have open and a view of my neighbor's pretty garden.

This is what I'm tackling this week. Head on over to 5 Minutes for Mom and let us know what you're tackling and see what other Mom's are doing.

Tasty Tuesday - Pineapple Angel Food Cake

OK, so this is actually a recipe I got from Weight Watchers years ago. I don't have a picture to share since I didn't actually make it this week but I've been talking about it to some of my MOPS friends who are currently on Weight Watchers. Any way, this cake is yummy!

Pineapple Angel Food Cake

1 Box Angel Food Cake Mix
1 20 oz can crushed pineapple with juice

Mix angel food cake mix and pineapple together (pineapple and juice replace the ingredients called for on the box). Pour into ungreased 13x9 pan. Bake for 30 minutes at 350. Let cool and enjoy!

WW Info: 3 pts for 1/12 of cake.

This is my recipe, check out what other mom's are making.

Just an update

For those of you who follow, subscribe or otherwise happen upon my lowly blog, I figure I owe you an update, explanation something telling you why I've been a little MIA lately. Well, we've been sick. I've had that awful thing going around South Jersey where you get a fever, then your sinuses kill you and finally you have a cough that never goes away. I'm at the cough stage now, but the fever stage which for most people seemed to only be for a couple of days, had me in it's clutches for over a week. I've missed church for the last 2 weeks, and I had finally found one that was good for my son and me, my hubby will go wherever I'm happy since I'm the one that wants to go to church as a family.

My son is the only one who hasn't really gotten sick. I'm not sure if it's because we medicate him for his asthma or what. Since my hubby got a flu shot as well, it wasn't that that helped him stay healthy.

School for my son has gotten better, not sure if it's because he is starting to care about what his schoolmates think or what we've been telling him for 6 months ad nauseum has finally sunk in or maybe it's just that since he no longer has tonsils or adenoids he can get a good night's sleep and now has energy throughout the day and doesn't run around like a nut to stay awake.

Anyway, we had a great teaser of good weather yesterday and today it's rainy and cold, well I guess chilly would really be what today is. I so can't wait for warm weather and park visits and for the swim club to open up so we can spend lazy days by the pool.

I also have determined that once you hit the wonderful age of 40, which I hit the end of October, you really do go downhill. I went to the eye doctor yesterday and found out I needed bifocals. Now, to be fair I could have gotten away with not getting them right away, but it was recommended since she figures that by the end of the year I will really need them. I only need them for important things like threading a needle, detailed work, probably scrapbooking since I usually do my pages from really close up. She also recommended I get a couple of pairs of reading glasses for when I'm wearing my contacts, but my prescription is the lowest they make so it's the most difficult to find. Well, I guess I can have my Mom look in FL too since maybe with so many retirees there they may have more of a selection.

Anyway, hopefully next week I'll be back to normal and I'll post some recipes, I know I'll be tackling rescreening some screens this week so I already have that for my Tackle It Tuesday. Enjoy the rest of your week, I promise to be back soon.

My son's prayer this morning

Ok, so every morning before I take my son to school, we pray together. Well this morning while I was in the shower, he put 3 of his Lego droids into his Disney World "Light Saber", you know, those flashlights with the telescoping tube on top. So when I got done my part, praying for God to guide him in how to be good and obedient, he prayed "Thank you God for the house and thank you for our food and thank you for not telling me that my droid would get stuck in my light saber". Well, I'm not sure if that's him taking responsibility or thinking that God tells him all the right things, but it was rather cute.

Tackle it Tuesday #17 - Laundry

Laundry, it's the bane of every Mom's existence, well actually, I don't mind doing laundry, but, well it's not always easy to find the time especially since the the past 3 weeks have been hectic, between my son's tonsillectomy, getting him back to school, a weekend with my hubby in Vt that had my son & I running around and the past few days with me being sick, my laundry is, well, taking over the basement. So, today, I will be tackling my laundry before it tackles me, and taking my son for a much needed haircut.

This is what I'm tackling let us know what you're tackling and check out what other Mom's are tackling at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Tasty Tuesday #3 - Spreadable Butter

For this week's Tasty Tuesday, I will give you my recipe for an excellent margarine replacement. My family has a history of high cholesterol created by their bodies rather than from food. Food does exascerbate the situation though and as we know Trans Fats are a bad thing for high cholesterol. Margarine has Hydrogenated oils in it, which turns to trans fats, they don't have to note it if they have less than 1% per serving, but it all adds up.

Anyway, I make my own Spreadable butter. I don't have any pictures of this one though.

Ingredients:

1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup light oil (I use light olive oil, but you can use canola too)
*If you use unsalted butter, you can add 2/3 tsp salt if desired

put ingredients in bowl, blend together with mixer, pour into container and let set for a couple hours or overnight. It doesn't look as pretty as the ones you can buy in the store already done, but it is less expensive and just as yummy.

This is my recipe for Tasty Tuesday, add yours here to Mr. Linky.

Tackle It Tuesday #16 - Cookbooks

As I told you last week, I love recipes. Last week I started to tackle the loose recipes, this week, it's my cookbooks, and boy do I have a lot of them. Now I do use most of them, but there are a few that I don't or that I only use for one recipe, so it's time to purge.

The bottom shelf of my bookshelf is cookbooks.

This is the shelf after the purge:

Not a huge change, but I have a lot of books on cooking with kids that will eventually go but since my 5 year old really likes cooking with me, I'm keeping.

Here's what I'll be donating to my library:

This is what I'm tackling, check out 5 Minutes for Mom to see what other Mom's are tackling and let us know what you're doing.

Tasty Tuesday #2

Here we are for another edition of Tasty Tuesday. This week I'll share my recipe for Taco Casserole.

Here are the ingredients:



12 oz recipe crumbles (or 1 lb ground beef)
2 tsp. Onion Powder
1 c Taco Sauce (hot or mild, your choice)
3/4 c Water
1 can (4oz) Diced Green Chiles
1 Pkg. (1.25 oz) Taco Seasoning Mix
1 Pkg. of 12 Taco Shells (or about 1 to 1-1/2 c tortilla chips)
8 oz Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 can refried beans.


Preheat oven to 375 and grease 11 x 7 baking dish.

Cook recipe crumbles in a little oil with onion powder (no oil needed if using beef).

Stir in taco sauce, chiles, water & seasoning.

Cook on low for 5 minutes.

Break taco shells or tortilla chips into pieces.

Sprinkle 1/2 of shells on bottom of dish.

Layer 1/2 crumble/meat mixture.

Cover with 1/2 the can of refried beans.

Sprinkle with 1/2 of the shredded cheese.

Repeat with remaining ingredients.

Bake 20-30 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

This is my recipe check out what other Mom bloggers are making this week here:

Another beautiful snow day

I love snow, I hate driving in it but I'm like a little kid when it snows, it brings such a sense of wonder and awe and today, like most of the east coast, we have snow and in our case serious snow. We're around 6 inches so far and it's supposed to keep snowing for the next 5-6 hours.

This is our backyard , well part of it, from the backdoor.

This is a close up of our deck so you can see how high the snow is.

This is a shot out of a side window where you can see our side yard and our neighbor's fence, see how high the snow is on the fence.

Needless to say we will be outside later playing in the snow, maybe making a snowman, but at least I'll be pulling my son around on his sled, I really need to find a good sledding hill soon.