Biosilk took my frizz and choked it in a headlock until it screamed "Uncle" and ran home to its mommy...

It's been a long time since I've done a Works For Me Wednesday post, but I've recently found something that fits the bill and I want to shout it from the rooftops.

I've always had straight hair. Except for when I was pregnant with Goober... it was oddly curly then.  It was actually quite lovely... I miss my pregnant Goober hair.

But I digress.

I've always had straight hair and up until I was probably in my mid 20's it pretty much always did just what I asked it to do.  I woke up, I brushed it, it laid straight and didn't frizz up.  Wash and shampoo once a day, sometimes once every other day, and all was good.

As I aged something happened.  My hair started getting dry and I had to skip a day, sometimes two, between washes.  I started getting a lot of gray hair. It stopped laying nice and straight and started getting crazy frizzy and just plain acting like someone else's more unfortunate hair.

And that's when I started my frolic through the land of hair products.  The gray was easy enough to solve with a bottle of dye, but the frizz was another story.

I started buying shampoos and conditioners that promised they'd get rid of the frizz. I bought gels, mousses, oils, creams. I blew it dry on hot, on cold, with a diffuser. I used the flat iron.  Eventually, I just became very closely acquainted with pony tails.

And then one day my sister, B1, gave me a tiny little sample size bottle of something wonderful.

And they called it Biosilk. 

Silk Therapy Serum, to be exact.

It's funny because she gave it to me and I had it for a really long time before I even tried it.  It was the tiniest little bottle she gave me. Like, .05 ounces or something. It was barely enough to fill a soda cap.  So I threw it in the basket I keep on my bathroom counter and didn't think much of it.

Until one day I ran across it again and figured I'd see what it was.  It didn't even have instructions on the tiny little bottle but I vaguely remembered my sister telling me to put it in after my hair was dry and before I flat ironed.

I did... and it was good.

The stuff is amazing. It's like it takes frizz and makes it it's bitch. And it's a little pricey, to be honest, but the stuff will last forever. I have fairly long hair and I use about a dime size puddle of it, rub my hands together and first run my hands through the underside of my hair and then on top making sure my hands touch pretty much all my hair. Then I flat iron and it's like my hair is 17 years old again and I'm making my curly headed friends jealous when they sit behind me in 11th grade Algebra.

All They Want For Christmas

I don't know about you, but I've stepped on one too many Legos in my life. Among Legos, I've also had the privilege of stepping on Barbie shoes, Lincoln Logs, Magnetix, and many other assorted toy parts.

Every Christmas there is a new onslaught of toys with tiny little parts that are brought into our house for me to injure myself on or otherwise become frustrated about when those tiny little parts are found in places like the drain of the sink, in between the cushions of chairs, the dryer, or teensy little crevices of the minivan that I will in no way ever be able to retrieve them from.

So this year when I get the inevitable "What should I buy your kids for Christmas?" question from family members and friends I have told them all "NO TOYS!"

This year, I'm all about toy alternatives. I'm thinking that even though my children won't be receiving quite so many toys this year, they'll still have a great Christmas. They'll be receiving books this year and some shelves to put them on. Perhaps some tickets to one of those fabulous Florida theme parks are in order. Some games for the Wii or the Gameboy will make a nice gift and maybe even some new crayons and coloring books.

I refuse to get caught up in the Hannah Montana/Tickle Me Elmo/Xbox 360 crazes that go around every year and I will not wait in 3 hour long lines and plunk down half of our monthly income so that Munchkin can have the *perfect* Christmas morning.

Because Christmas morning in this house will not be about material possessions or dollar amounts spent per child. That morning is about our family and how much we love each other. It's about wonder and magic and lights and pajamas and bare feet and hot cocoa. It's about sandy eyes and tousled hair and half eaten frosted cookies left out the night before.

And darnit, I just can't wait. :)

For more Works for me Wednesday posts, check out Rocks In My Dryer!

Bacon is the suck - Piggy Free BLT WINS!

So I went through a vegetarian phase. I still try to lower my meat intake dramatically but I'm not a vegetarian anymore. However, there is one thing I took from my veggie days that I will not be giving up.

That's right... I'm kicking regular bacon to the curb. I hate making bacon. First of all it smells up my entire house no matter how high I put that darned stove vent thing on. Second of all it spits hot grease at me while I'm cooking it. And third of all I NEVER get it just right. It's always undercooked or burnt. I'm a bacon failure.

That's why I'm in love with Smart Bacon. It cooks on the stove in a pan in like one minute. Or less. It's crazy fast. And there is NO GREASE.

In fact, when I take it out of the pan you'd be hard pressed to even realize the pan is dirty.

Yes, I wash the pan afterward, geesh.

Even The Man, bacon connoisseur, agreed that my BLT tasted pretty good for "that hippie stuff"... that's quite an accomplishment. I haven't convinced him to make a complete switch, though. Maybe some day. Probably not, though.

You can even go crazy and use vegan mayonnaise (which is pretty tasty, if I do say so myself) and have yourself a completely vegan sandwich. It's superfantastic. :)

That's what works for me!

For more Works for me Wednesday posts, check out Rocks in my Dryer!

And don't forget to vote for October's Little Fish! :)

Sure, it's unconventional... but so are we!

As my blog name implies I am a Spaz. I mean, seriously, I just never can seem to get it all together. I forget everything, I'm severely disorganized, and I'm consistently late. It's really bad. It has gotten to the point that when my family plans an activity at 10:00 they tell me it starts at 9:30. No joke.

I have had to drive Bug to school on more than one occasion since school started less than a month ago because we missed the bus in the morning and I've picked Goober up from his preschool late twice. In a month. Because I'm a basket case.

So you can imagine how school mornings might go for us here at home. You'd think maybe my kids would be able to make up for some of my failings and get themselves dressed and out of bed on time but unfortunately being really disorganized seems to be passed on to children.

Who would have thought?

I know, I know... you're saying I should make lunches and lay out clothes before I go to bed because then my morning will be so much easier. Except for the fact that at 10 PM I realized that the kids didn't have enough clean socks and I had to do a load of laundry which I will only be awake long enough to put in the dryer and go to bed and I can't find Goober's lunch box ANYWHERE and I have a suspicion that it might be located in the mini van that The Man has taken out for the evening. Oh, and I think we're out of bread. Yeah... see? That's my life.

I have figured out one way to help me, though. One little thing that has so far made my mornings go so much easier.

I have not allowed my children to put away their school uniforms. Nope. Their dresser drawers only hold play clothes. (Actually, I'm kind of laughing. I think their dresser drawers hold half eaten peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and perhaps some underwear they've outgrown and sweaters that we never wear in Florida. But you don't need to know all that.)

Their school clothes are not so neatly folded in a laundry basket that currently is sitting in our living room but will some day have a home of it's own. I'm pretty sure I'll be keeping cub scout and brownie stuff in this basket as well.

Now I don't have to lay out their clothes in the evenings because they're all right there in one basket. All the little collared polo shirts and khaki shorts and pants and all the socks. Nothing gets lost in their rooms and I can constantly see exactly where we are on inventory. I know every morning if Munchkin is running low on lace trimmed socks or Bug has no more navy blue collared shirts and I know what laundry needs to be done that day.

When they come home, their school clothes go in a specified laundry basket for school clothes in the laundry room so they all get washed separate from all the other clothes. Now I actually have time in the mornings to guzzle a cup of coffee before we leave for the bus stop!

It may not be the way my mom would have done it, but it works for us!

For more Works for me Wednesday posts, check out Rocks in my Dryer!

If you can read this, thank a teacher!

I am so excited about today. Seriously! I've been waiting for today for what feels like an eternity. I'm not kidding.

What is it, Spaz? What is it that could have you in a state of such anticipatory glee? What?

I'll tell you what.

It's Works For Me Wednesday time again. Yeah, baby!

That's right, it's time for the blog carnival that tops them all! No offense to any of the other blog carnivals that I love and participate in. I really do love y'all.

But there's a special place in my heart for Works For Me Wednesday. It was my first (I think) and it has brought me much traffic and many of my regular readers. I love Shannon for starting it, I love you all for clicking over and reading from it, I love Works For Me Wednesday.

(big exhale)

I'm so glad it's back.

Oh! Right! I'm supposed to post about something that works for me!

Sorry, it's been so long I nearly forgot. :)

I've got a great one, too. See, it's back to school for us and for most of y'all, too. This year Bug entered the gifted program and every night he's required to read for 30 minutes as part of his homework.

Munchkin scored academically and intellectually high enough to enter the gifted program (we're still working on the maturity level), too, so The Man and I decided she should probably join him in his 30 minutes of reading.

In fact, The Man and I think maybe the whole family should make a point to sit down with a book for 30 minutes of quiet time every evening. Because reading? That works for us.

Photo by ninjapoodles<

So last week we packed everyone up and headed down to our local library. All three of the kids picked out a couple of books (and so did The Man and I) and we brought them home. Now, we've done this before with disastrous results. The first time we returned the books like two weeks late. Totally my fault, I am so disorganized!

The second time Goober completely lost one of his books and I spilled tea all over one of The Man's books, ruining it. Oops. There's a $50 mistake we won't be making again.

This time we made a new rule. The library books are ONLY to be read in our living room (aka the room we never go in) and not taken out of there. There are nice plushy couches in there and it's a quiet room and heck, there's even a fireplace! It's the perfect place to curl up with a book. So now it's our reading room. Not only do we actually use the room, but the library books will always be able to be found and it's highly unlikely we'll ruin any of them.

That completely works for me.

Speaking of reading, I was alerted to a great program that TJ Maxx is sponsoring this year. They've partnered with Save the Children and launched a website where they've created a little game called The Great Book Adventure Game. It's a cute little game where you choose to be either a bus, a rocket ship, or a submarine and you travel along giving books to little animals, aliens, or marine life. I know what you're thinking...

Spaz, aliens don't read! They automatically absorb knowledge through highly advanced receptors! Duh!

I know, I know... just go with me, here. The people at TJ Maxx and Save the Children must have overlooked that. Forgive them.

Not only is this game SUPER cute and sort of addicting, but every time you play TJ Maxx will donate a book to impoverished children living here in the United States! Did you know that there are more than 2.6 million children living in rural poverty right here in our country? Take some time to read about what Save the Children does to help with literacy for these children.

But wait, there's more! (Hee hee, I just had to use that line.)

When you register to play, you'll be entered to win a $1000 shopping spree at TJ Maxx.

Cha ching!

Have you seen the selection of purses at that place? Heck, there's one in my area that carries Valentino and Prada dresses. I practically raced over there to enter.

Reading and improving literacy definitely works for me! For more Works For Me Wednesday posts, check out Rocks In My Dryer!

Hey, wait! Before you go, please take a few minutes to nominate a blogger for the Little Fish award! It's just one way you can share the bloggy love!

I love my dripping pots

This week I'll be showing you one of my favorite things about my kitchen. Every time I use this particular feature of my kitchen I'm just so happy about it. Here it is:

No, it's not my sink. It's the hooks those pots and pans are hung upon right above my sink. When we bought a new set of pots and pans The Man put these nifty hooks up there so I wouldn't have to stack them on top of each other in the cabinet and scratch them all up.

I LOVE it and I thank him for doing it frequently. Now I can just wash the pots and pans and stick them right up there to drip dry into the sink. It's FABULOUS.

Totally works for me.

Bonus to anyone who can point out two other things in that first picture that I've blogged about before! I don't know what the bonus is... how about a long distance pat on the back?

BEFORE YOU GO!

OMGOSH - isn't that the most annoying thing ever?! But seriously, if you know of any bloggers you'd like to nominate as the Little Fish of the Week, please let me know here. I'm really hoping to be able to feature a lot of smaller bloggers like myself but I need to know about them from you! So please, please go nominate someone!

Last week's winner of This Body for the Book A Week Giveaway is Dawn from Snakes and Snails and Sugar and Spice! This week I'm taking a break from the give-away but I'll be offering something else up next week so come back to check. :)

Working from home Works for Me!

(First, can I just preface my entire post by saying that being number ONE on the Works for me Wednesday post is what REALLY works for me??! How the heck did I manage that? Do I get a trophy?

That's all I have to say about that... on to my real post!)

*This is a reposted entry from a previous Works for me Wednesday. :) I thought it was worth revisiting and reworking a bit.*

**Don't forget to scroll down for the Book A Week Give Away!**

When people find out I sell on eBay there are so many questions... how did you start?, what do you sell?, can you sell something for me?, can you teach me how?

The truth is that selling on eBay is my full time job and it's a LOT OF WORK. I work on my eBay business harder than I have ever worked at any job in my life. I don't take lunch breaks and the time I would spend commuting from home to a job is spent answering emails. I am constantly at the mercy of eBay's policies which can be scary!

It all started back in 1999 when I was pregnant with my 1st child. I had a good friend who started cleaning out her closet and selling everything and she was making a ton of cash. Since finances were tight and about to get tighter I decided to try it, too. At first it was just the designer wardrobe I had outgrown, silver jewelry I didn't wear, and some odds and ends around the house. I was HOOKED. Everything sold for more than I could have dreamed to get at a garage sale and I loved my new access to instant cash. Watching auctions close began to be my nightly addiction.

Shortly after my son was born the company I worked from home for underwent some big changes and I lost the marketing position I was in love with. I sent out my resume and went on interview after interview but found myself in a position I hadn't found myself in before. I was now a mother. Employers were wary of hiring a mother with an infant and I was wary of leaving my new little Bug in the care of someone else during the day.

It was then that I decided to give eBay a full time go. I started out by begging my friends and family (and my family's friends) to clean out their closets and let me have the loot. I lived for months on that before I had to actually source my own inventory. I learned where and how to find barely used clothing that would sell. I learned name brands, what couture was, how to tell counterfeit from the real stuff.

Eight years later I'm still selling (with small breaks throughout the years while I tried other things) and I've learned to adapt to all the changes that have been thrown my way. Now, The Man and I are a team and he, being the computer genius he is, has streamlined our business so we can maximize the amount of items we can offer.

Because of my work from home job choice I've never had to put my children in day care, I've never had to ask my boss for a day off to spend taking my kids to the zoo. When one of my little monsters is sick (and when I inevitably come down with the bug, too) I can spend the entire day feeling foreheads and cleaning up vomit and I don't have to worry that my job is in danger. Sometimes I don't put shoes on all day. I don't even own a business suit or a pair of panty hose and I do my grocery shopping at 10:00 AM.

Nowadays people are making a great living selling on eBay, but it's no cake walk. It takes a lot of self-discipline and time management to do well. That can be difficult, especially when blogging is so much more fun! However, I do know that anyone can do it. It just takes time to learn the ropes, like any job.

For more Works For Me Wednesday posts, check out Rocks In My Dryer!

PS - for all of you wonderful Works for me Wednesday readers that used the Restaurant.com coupon from last week's entry and got 50% off, I got a NEW code this week. If you enter ALLSTAR at checkout you can get 60% off your order until the 20th.

PPS - if anyone is interested in an "I'm not going to BlogHer" Margarita Party, please let me know here. The Man is looking into setting up some chat apparatus for this weekend and I'm just wondering if anyone would show up to chat. :)

PPPS - Okay, he actually DID create it! And it's BEAUTIFUL. You just have to go see. :)

Last week I gave away This Body to Shirley at My Army of Five. This week I've got another book to give away. This week's Book A Week selection is Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Rubio. I read this a while ago and I absolutely loved it. It was truly heart breaking and heart warming at the same time.

From Publishers Weekly

The diagnosis of Tourette's Syndrome isn't mentioned until the last pages of Rubio's sensitive portrayal of a young girl with the disease. Instead, Rubio lets Icy Sparks tell her own story of growing up during the 1950s in a small Kentucky town where her uncontrollable outbursts make her an object of fright and scorn. "The Saturday after my [10th] birthday, the eye blinking and poppings began.... I could feel little invisible rubber bands fastened to my eyelids, pulled tight through my brain and attached to the back of my head," says Icy, who thinks of herself as the "frog child from Icy Creek." Orphaned and cared for by her loving grandparents, Icy weathers the taunts of a mean schoolteacher and, later, a crush on a boy that ends in disappointment. But she also finds real friendship with the enormously fat Miss Emily, who offers kindness and camaraderie. Rubio captures Icy's feelings of isolation and brings poignancy and drama to Icy's childhood experiences, to her temporary confinement in a mental institution and to her reluctant introduction?thanks to Miss Emily and Icy's grandmother?to the Pentecostal church through which she discovers her singing talent. If Rubio sometimes loses track of Icy's voice, indulges in unconvincing magical realism and takes unearned poetic license with the speech of her Appalachian grandparents ("'Your skin was as cold as fresh springwater, slippery and strangely soothing to touch'"), her first novel is remarkable for its often funny portrayal of a child's fears, loves and struggles with an affliction she doesn't know isn't her fault.

If you'd like to win my pre-loved copy of Icy Sparks, leave a comment here asking me to enter you and I'll draw a name on Tuesday! Please make sure there's a way for me to get a hold of you, though, or I'll have to leave you out of the drawing. :(

PS - Don't want to miss the Spaz? Subscribe!

Restaurant Dining on the Cheap! And Book A Week 8!

**Update! The Restaurant.com code until July 31st is CRAVE and now you can get 70% off! That's only $3 for a $25 certificate. Even better!**

I'm sick of cooking. Every day this family of mine wants to eat and they expect me to provide nutritious meals for them. Ugh. Lucky for me The Man and I have gotten a lot more thrifty about eating out and I have to cook a lot less. Works for me!

The first way we're saving coin on our outside dining is by using coupons we buy at Restaurant.com. If you go there and put in your zip code, you can find all sorts of restaurants in your area and you can buy $25 gift certificates to them for only $10. Cha ching! Not JUST that, but if you enter the code "DELICIOUS" at checkout (until the 13th) you can get 50% off of that price. So now they're just $5 for a $25 gift certificate. The Man and I like to use these coupons for the nights that we're child free (it's rare these days) because a lot of the restaurants there are a little nicer. They still have some kid friendly options, though, so even if you never get a night out without the monsters, there should be something there for you.

So when we have to feed the kids, too, we like to go to one of our favorite little Sports Bars where they have a weekly Kids Eat Free night. There are a couple of websites that are supposed to help you locate good "kids eat free" deals but they haven't proven to be very effective for our area at least.... if you know of a good one, let me know!

Now, not only does this restaurant have a "kids eat free" night, they also have a card that we scan every time we go there that accumulates points. For every dollar we spend we get a point and when we get 200 points we get $20 added to our card that we can apply to our bill. We like to go to our restaurant whenever we meet the family for dinner, too, so those points can add up! Last week we visited there for "kids eat free" night and our total bill with an appetizer, main dishes, and drinks totaled less than $30! I can barely feed us on that from the grocery store!

Not only do the kids get free meals, but there is usually some sort of entertainment for them as well. One time they even took all three of the kids into the party room and helped them make crafts while The Man and I enjoyed our appetizers! I could have kissed the wait staff that night!

There is always a balloon guy there and he can pretty much make anything the kids request. Last week Goober requested that he make a brain. Yep, that's my kid. :)

I'm sure there are Kids Eat Free nights in your area, too, and maybe even some loyalty programs like our little card program. If you really try, you can enjoy a night out with the family without having to refinance the house.

For more great tips, check out Rocks In My Dryer!

This week will be my 8th book a week giveaway! Last week's winner of Jemima J was Lori. Congratulations!

This week I'm giving away This Body by Laurel Doud. I read this book a while ago and I packed it away in a box to put in a bookcase if I ever get one. The other day I was searching through that box and found it again and I'm so happy I did! Because now I can offer it to you. :)

From the back of the book:

"What if you had life to live over again? What if you were rick? What if you were skinny? What if you had a second chance to find true love? Katharine Ashley, in the prime of her life, is a dutiful mother of two whose heart suddently stops beating. Thisby Bennet is a rick and skinny young woman whose dangerous taste for drugs and men leads to her equally untimely death. When Katharine's departing soul finds its way into Thisby's lifeless body, the story of This Body begins..."

From Library Journal:

The premise of this Shakespearean tribute is arresting: a middle-aged housewife dies suddenly of a stroke. A year later she wakes up in the apartment and body of a slim 22-year-old substance abuser, alcoholic, and drug courier, Thisby Bennet. Katharine's painful quest to integrate her consciousness with Thisby's body and its demands and to accept the loss of her former family is beautifully rendered, as is her complex relationship with Thisby's Shakespeare-mad family. Desperate for information about the family she has left behind, especially about her beloved teenage children, Katharine hires a detective, and complications ensue. The names of all the Bennet clan come from A Midsummer Night's Dream, and most of the words they utter are quotations from Shakespeare. This can be annoying, but the richness and intricacy of the plot propel the reader swiftly toward its satisfying conclusion. First novelist Doud is a librarian.

About the Author (from Amazon.com):

"I'm a research librarian with a tattoo of a two-faced woman on her chest. I refuse to wear make-up, but I like to dye my hair interesting colors. I play the classical flute, but listen to alternative rock. I've written a book, but I like to work with my hands. I've restored a carousel horse and I'm currently working on a 1941 Plymouth automobile replete with suicide doors, a two-dead-body trunk, and a backseat girls can get pregnant on. (I grew up in a VW Bug and I always thought, "Yeah, right!")

I have two grown children who I adore and who are into their own versions of body ornamentation and have their own views on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I like Shakespeare but I love movies, and I'm having a wonderful time following the very slow but fascinating process of Hollywood adapting This Body for the silver screen. My middle name is Marian, and the tattoo I got is the same tattoo my character Katharine gets--a Janus symbol of one face looking into the future, the other face looking into the past and both of them guarding the portal into my heart. Life imitates art."

To win this book all you have to do is comment on this post that you'd like to win and I'll draw a winner next Tuesday.

*Book A Week Give-away books are pre-loved copies from my own library that I think are wonderful enough to share. They are not new copies.

WFMW - Oven Fried Chicken & Hummus

This week's Works for me Wednesday is a themed event. We're sharing recipes that can be made quick and easily with 5 ingredients or less. I'm so excited about this one! I love quick and easy recipes!

With a busy schedule, three kids and a man who are constantly hungry, I constantly feel the need to have meals at my fingertips. Unless, of course, they're planning on eating Chef Boyardee and Burger King three meals a day. Yuck.

So without further delay, I give you two of my favorites:

Oven Fried Chicken Your Kids Will Eat
*this recipe is basically the same as this guy's, he uses fancy bread and says the bone should be in - I've found it doesn't have to be*

Skinless chicken pieces (bone in or out, doesn't matter)
Two or three eggs
At least a tablespoon of Dijon mustard
Breadcrumbs
Seasoning

1. Preheat the oven to 425. Beat up the eggs with the mustard in one bowl and mix the breadcrumbs up with plenty of seasoning on a plate. We like to use Cajun seasoning and salt and pepper but you can use whatever you like. Coat a broiler pan with canola cooking spray.

2. Dredge chicken pieces in egg mixture and then roll in breadcrumbs so they're nicely coated.

3. Place chicken pieces on broiler pan and spray a little canola on top. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes.

It's delicious and SO much better for you than that oil fried chicken.

Super Quick and Easy Hummus
*this one was adapted from this recipe, the only difference being I don't use roasted garlic and less lemon juice*

1 can chickpeas
2 tablespoons chopped garlic from a jar (you can use fresh garlic from a press if you'd like)
1 tablespoon olive oil
a splash of lemon juice
oregano to taste

Mix everything up in a food processor until it's smooth. If it's too thick, add a little more olive oil until it's the way you like it. If you're feeling froggy you can throw in black olives, red peppers, whatever you might like in your hummus. Serve with pita or crudites, spread it on sandwiches, it's fabulous!

That's what works for me! For more WFMW tips, check our Rocks In My Dryer!

PS - While you're here, why don't you stick around. :) I'm giving a book away somewhere around here that you could win.

How To Feed a Family of 5 Quickly and Cheaply

I've been trying to cut our food budget down a bit lately. I don't even want to go through our grocery bills but I wouldn't be surprised if we've been spending close to $1000 a month at assorted grocery stores and take out enterprises. I've tried using coupons and I think I end up spending more with the coupons than I ever was without so I'm starting to take a different approach.

Lately I've been mega busy with eBay and as much as I'd like to cook three nutritious meals every day for my family it's just not practical. My previous solution to that problem was to pick up takeout but it seems there's no way to order anything halfway decent without dropping at least $30 (usually more) and that was getting ridiculous.

I had to look at things differently.

A couple of weeks ago Stop and Smell the Chocolates posted a WFMW post about an instant oatmeal mix and I did not hesitate to make up a batch. I threw in a handful of chocolate chips to the batch and now even the kids are asking for it! Way less expensive and so much healthier than the sugary cereals they love to eat. I eat it, too, every morning and it's delicious. It even keeps me from being hungry all the way until lunch time! I sacrificed a 1/2 cup measuring cup that just stays in the container so it's so easy in the morning when I can barely think.

The kids are home for the summer and it seems they always want to eat. Previously I would have stocked the pantry with individually packaged snacks that they could just grab so I wouldn't have to stop working every 20 minutes to fix them something. Instead of doing that I've changed things up a bit. I bought bananas and apples. They're already individually packaged and so much healthier. :) I also washed grapes and put them in snack bags in the fridge. Not only that, but I've learned that my kids are not inept. They can do a lot of stuff for themselves and with enough training they even might stop making messes while doing it. I've learned that they can make themselves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. They can even pour themselves a drink. In fact, if I truly want to neglect them they'll feed themselves successfully all day long. Today Bug heated up a leftover casserole in the microwave for himself and his brother. Amazing!

Which leads me to my next way we're being more frugal with food. The kids are eating leftovers. It sounds so simple, I know.... but it's something we just didn't do before. They ate sandwiches and chips for lunch and the leftover casseroles and baked ziti went bad in the fridge. Now my kids are learning that leftovers make a great lunch and they're happy to have them.

Today I was so busy with work and our cupboards were practically bare. I thought I was going to have to run to the store where I would have probably grabbed an already fried 8 piece box of chicken, some cole slaw, and baked beans and thrown it at my family in my haste to get work done. Instead I forced myself to be resourceful. Instead of spending a half hour running to the store and back, I made hot dogs for dinner. I cut up an onion and opened a jar of relish to dress them up a little more than we usually do and I served some macaroni and cheese from the pantry as a side. For a little bit of nutrition I opened a can of peaches, a can of pineapple, and a jar of cherries and mixed up a delicious fruit salad. Perhaps it wasn't the healthiest of dinners but neither is fried chicken. :) It costs us less than $7, made my kids smile, and was done in about 10 minutes.

So that's what works for me. :) For more WFMW tips, check out Rocks in My Dryer!

PS - Why not check out the rest of my blog while you're here? Grab a diet coke or a coffee (or a bourbon) and sit a while. :) I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and gosh darn it, people like me!

WFMW - Hypermiling

So gas prices are THROUGH THE ROOF nowadays. It's ridiculous. When we bought our house out here in the sticks gas was hovering around $2.00 a gallon and we thought THAT was insane. Now, a mere 5 years later we've doubled that and then some.

We're a family of 5 and we're always carting a ton of stuff around so the super cute smart and the super fuel economic Prius just aren't an option for us right now. I drive a Chrysler Town & Country and we use just about every inch of space it has. Downsizing is not an option at this point in our lives. It gets relatively decent gas mileage under normal around town driving - about 17 to 18 miles per gallon.

Until recently.

Lately I've been fuel obsessed. I click reset on our little dash thing every time I go anywhere so I can see exactly how many miles it takes me to get everywhere I go on a regular basis. Then I can figure out exactly how much is COSTS to go everywhere. At 18 miles per gallon it costs $5 to go to my mom and dad's house and back. It costs about $8 to go to my mother-in-law's house and my favorite thrift store. My best friend's house is a whopping $14 there and back and my parents beach condo cost us $32 this weekend.

Something's got to give! So I've been learning about hypermiling. You can read more about it all over the Internet but the basics are as follows:

1. Keep your tires at least properly inflated if not overinflated to reduce drag.
2. Accelerate slowly.
3. Coast up to red lights. Let off the gas as far back as you can when you see a red light. If the light turns green before you get to it you'll save gas by not having to accelerate as much to get back up to speed.
4. Drive the speed limit. Use cruise control if possible.
5. Drive in the lane of least resistance. If you can, use lanes that people are less likely to put their brakes on in. If you have to slow down to wait for someone to turn, you're going to have to use gas to get back up to speed.
6. Take less crowded roads with less stop lights even if the speed limit is slower.
7. Leave early to give yourself more time.
8. Keep your vehicle's oil changed and keep it tuned up.
9. If you're doing a bunch of errands (and you should be planning to do as many as you can at a time), go to the furthest one first to help your car warm up as much as possible. Your car performs more efficiently when it's warm and you'll save gas.
10. Don't haul a bunch of stuff around. It takes gas to move that stuff.

There's a lot more tips out there if you want to spend the time reading. I've upped our gas mileage in the van to close to 22 and I've just started doing it. I'm positive with more practice and a tune up on the van I can get that mileage closer to 25. That's 112 MORE miles I can go on the same tank of gas.

That totally works for me.

For more Works for me Wednesday tips, check out Rocks In My Dryer!

Have you commented on my giveaway this week? I'm giving away a copy of Jane Green's novel, Bookends, this week. Go comment and maybe you'll win!

Works for me Wednesday - The Drive In

The kids have been dying to see Kung Fu Panda. Being that it's summer and we feel somewhat obligated to do some stuff with the little guys we considered going to see it Sunday afternoon at the bargain matinée price. So around 2:30 Sunday afternoon I checked the movie times and prices and discovered that matinée prices are for movies starting before 3 pm. What the...?? Didn't that used to be 6? What the heck is THAT all about?

I did a calculation on exactly how much it would cost us to take the family to the movie:
Two adults @ $9.50 each = $19.00
Three kids @ $6.00 each = $18.00
Two popcorns @ $4.50 each = $9.00
Five drinks @ $3.00 each = $15.00
Total = $61.00

HELLO!??!? Does anyone else think this is ridiculous?

Lucky for us, we have a local Drive In theater and whaddayanno they were playing Kung Fu Panda at 8:30. Rock on.

It costs $6 per adult and $2 per kid between the ages of 5 and 11 to get into the Drive In. Once you're in you can stay all night and watch as many movies as they're playing. We decided to make a night of it. We packed a cooler with some drinks, grabbed a bag full of Wise popcorn from the chip section of the grocery store, and ordered $17 worth of pizza from Dominos on our way to the Drive In. We arrived around quarter to 8, got a great spot, and had dinner in our camping chairs while waiting for the movie to start.



When Kung Fu Panda was over, Goober and Munchkin were sleepy so they curled up in their pillows and blankets brought from home and fell asleep in the van while The Man, Bug, and I stayed to watch Indiana Jones. I only watched the first part of Indiana Jones because the other screen (our drive in is fancy and has two of them) was playing Sex and the City! I kissed The Man, picked up my chair and carried it over to the other screen to watch my old friends reunite for the last time. Positioning myself between a couple of cars so I could hear their radios clearly I settled in to watch while my family enjoyed their action packed adventure movie.

It was definitely a good idea and it costs us less than $40 for dinner and all the movies we wanted to watch.

There are a few things you should know about the drive in.

1. If you have a van or SUV bring it. All the cool drive in goers have them.
2. It is super important to get there early. It's a little nerve wracking to park after it gets dark and there are people everywhere. Definitely make sure you're there before the movie starts... headlights and movies don't mix.
3. Our drive in requires you tune into a radio station to hear the movie. Bring a boom box radio if you have one to sit outside. Then the kiddos can fall asleep in the car without Indiana Jones blasting in their heads.
4. Pack a cooler with drinks and snacks!
5. Be prepared to jump in the car if it rains or at least be able to tuck under your open hatch. We had a few sprinkles while waiting but nothing major.
6. Bring a jacket in case it gets chilly.

Drive-ins.com can give you a list of drive in theaters near you. The site even lists the old drive ins that have closed and gives history for them. Have fun!

For more Works for me Wednesday tips, check out Rocks In My Dryer!

PS - This week I'm giving away my hardcover copy of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil ! Go comment to win! :)

WFMW - The "MOM! I'm Bored!" Edition

This week Works For Me Wednesday has a theme. A theme which I'm waiting with bated breath to read other people talk about because my kids have no plans for the summer at this time.

That's right... three kids... no day camp... no play dates... no summer vacations. Prepare for the nightmare.

Being a mom who works from home, I'll have to keep the little buggers occupied somehow and I certainly don't want to do it by plopping them in front of Nickelodeon and Discovery Kids for 12 hours a day (though there may be days that does happen - judge me not, my friends - this is to preserve my sanity.)

Luckily for me, I am in an area that is just filled with absolutely great parks nearby. In fact, just tonight, we had a little family cookout at one of our local parks and we'll probably do it again some time this summer. The Man cooked up some burgers on a charcoal grill while the kids played on the playground and met new friends. I made a salad with one of those neat salad kits you can buy in the bagged lettuce section of the grocery store (didn't even need a bowl, just dumped everything in the bag and shook!) and we had some potato salad from the deli. The kids had a great time and my kitchen didn't even get messy. :)

We have parks with baseball fields, tennis courts, basketball courts, racquetball courts, water fountains for the kids to run through on really hot days, nature trails, and of course, numerous playground equipment setups to appease the heart of any bored summer child.

We'll also spend some time geocaching this summer. Geocaching is a great way to spend time as a family and it's equally fun for kids and adults. All it takes is a GPS, an account with Geocaching.com, and some tiny little trinkets of any kind. You log into your account, plug some coordinates into your GPS, grab a couple bottles of water, some comfy shoes, and a few McDonald's toys and be on your way. You hunt out a little container somewhere in your area, enjoy the scenery along the way, and swap your trinket for another one in the cache. We've found some parks in our area we never even knew about and found ourselves in some really interesting areas! There are caches pretty much all over the world so no matter where you are, there's sure to be something to hunt for.

We'll also probably spend a few days at the beach or over at my mom and dad's house swimming in their pool. Inevitably, though, there will be some days when I need to stay home and the kids will have to manage at home. So what kind of activities will they be doing?

I've always found it great to give them a craft activity. My kids are great if I say something like "I really need you guys to make a nice card for (insert name of relative who has a birthday coming up/isn't feeling well/just had a baby/etc)." They get all competitive and flashy and draw all kinds of pictures and junk. When I'm feeling froggy I'll give them glue and construction paper and scissors and let them make three dimensional cards. Heck, maybe I'll even go buy some pipe cleaners!

I've also baked up a bunch of sugar cookies and let them go to town decorating them. Who says it has to be the holidays for decorated cookies? We have glittered sprinkles in every color of the rainbow!

In the end, if I can't think of anything else to do with them and they're still telling me they're bored I'll just have to say what my mom always said in response to that complaint.

"Go clean your room."

For more Works For Me Wednesday tips on how to keep YOUR kids busy this summer, check out Rocks In My Dryer!

PS - Have you commented on my book giveaway yet? What the heck are you waiting for? :)

WFMW - Double Shot Mocha at Home

So... I'm the kind of girl who stumbles with eyes half open to the coffee pot in the morning. I like a lot of caffeine as quickly as possible. Especially when there are usually four family members demanding my attention as soon as my feet hit the floor. Who am I kidding? They're demanding it way before my feet actually hit the floor.

I digress.

I could make my coffee stronger, but I like to enjoy the coffee and who wants to drink a cup of mud first thing in the morning? Coffee makes me turn into a person. Before that I'm just a muttering shell. Aside from guzzling to get to a 2nd cup in order to ingest enough caffeine in time to handle all the hub bub, I figured my best bet was to slam a Mountain Dew in one hand and my coffee in the other.

Until I discovered this at Publix a few months ago.

There it is in all its yummy chocolate caffeinated glory... Swiss Miss Pick-Me-Up.

I simply brew my normal cup of coffee, skip the creamer and the sugar (or agave nectar), and I drop a packet of this in. It's 110 calories and dare-I-say makes a double shot mocha that can rival whatever Starbucks can dish out.

That's what works for me! For more WFMW tips, check out Rocks In My Dryer!

PS - This week I'm giving away Confessions Of A Slacker Wife by Muffy Mead-Ferro. Go comment and maybe you'll win it! :)

WFMW - Fascinating Womanhood

When The Man and I first got together our roles were pretty clear. The Man is no pushover, he's a dominant guy. He likes to be catered to, and frankly, I like to cater to him. It honestly makes me happy to make him happy. Are you throwing up in your wastebaskets?

Sure, there are times when I want to tell him to stick it. Sometimes I'm tired and grouchy and the bitchy side of me rears its ugly head. Like, seriously, does he not know how to use the stove? Did he not notice the garbage was about to overflow? What part of "please put your socks in the hamper" does he not understand?

However, over the years I've learned that a closed mouth gathers no feet so I try to keep my mouth shut. Or at the very least, I try to be nice about it. Or at the very very least, I try not to call him names while I say it.

A few years ago I was watching an episode of Wife Swap and one of the wives started talking about this book, Fascinating Womanhood. This particular wife was extremely submissive and catered to her husband's every whim and desire. I can see how many modern day women might find this to be extreme and I agree for the most part. (I think The Man was trying to figure out how he could run off and marry her.) As hokey as it all seemed at the time, I purchased the book and started to read.

The funny thing is that the book makes a lot of sense. I hate to generalize men and women but I also believe that biologically we are different for good reason. I believe in most cases families work best when women stay home and care for the home and family (it's called nesting, y'all) and men financially provide for the family. I believe that when these roles are muddied there tend to be problems with relationships.

That being said, I don't believe women should lay down like doormats and forget themselves. Neither does the author of the book. Neither do most men, for that matter. I also realize that there are some cases where women go out and have fulfilling careers while men do a perfectly wonderful job being a stay at home dad. I know it works for some people. It doesn't work for us, though. I wouldn't want to go off to work for 8, 9, 10 hours a day while The Man stayed home and cleaned toilets.

The Man cleaning toilets..... hmmm.... it is sort of a nice picture....

No, seriously. I wouldn't like it for very long.

I will admit, it's not always easy to follow the principles of this book. I still work, even though it's inside the home, and I don't always say things in the nicest way. For the most part, however, The Man and I keep our roles pretty clear. We like it that way, it's what works for us.

For more Works for me Wednesday tips, check out Rocks In My Dryer!

PS - Have you commented on my free book giveaway yet? What are you waiting for? :)

Microfiber Magic Sponge - WFMW

I don't normally go for products that are As Seen On TV. Okay, maybe that's not entirely true... I have tried a few. We tried The Magic Bullet. It worked for a little while. We had fun making drinks in our own personal cups and all that jazz. After a month or so it just sort of stopped working so well. So we purged it.

Next we tried the Scunci Steamer. I think this may actually work. A little... but it also emits a yucky smell while using it that I just couldn't stand. So it's in the garage now.

Finally we tried the Pasta Pronta. This was the worst. You may as well just run your dry, hard, pasta under some warm water and throw it on a plate. If this has worked for anyone, please let me know.

There is, however, one As Seen On TV product that we purchased on a whim while attempting to be more environmentally friendly. The Microfiber Magic Sponge. These actually work great. I picked up a pack of 4 regular sized sponges and 1 large sponge at Walgreen's one day figuring I could use them for light washing and save ourselves money on disposable sponges and reduce trash and all that. I assumed I'd probably still have to use the disposables for the tough jobs because the "rough" side of the microfiber sponges didn't seem very rough, actually. For the past 6 months I've been using the microfiber sponges and havn't had any use for my normal disposable ones. The rougher side of the microfiber ones seems to work just great with a teensy bit more elbow grease. When they get nucky I just throw them in the dishwasher or the washing machine and they come out beautifully. I still have two normal sized sponges in the package and the big giant one that I haven't touched.

Lately I've been eyeing the Pancake Puff. :)

For more Works For Me Wednesday tips, check out Rocks in my Dryer!

What Doesn't Work For Me - FlyLady

When I first discovered Fly Lady I felt I had found my savior. I absolutely was living in CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome). I did feel overwhelmed, overextended, and overdrawn. I needed someone to help and I needed it fast! I was going to lose my mind.

I hastily signed up for her emails and dragged out the bleach to start Step One.

I shined my sink until I could see myself in it and informed everyone else in my family that they should be proud of that sink, too! Don't leave your dirty dishes in our nice, clean sink! They didn't share the same pride, however, and I found myself resenting their absolute lack of sink love.

I welcomed Fly Lady's average of 13 emails a day reminding me to put on my shoes (laced!), work in my zone, shine my sink, and get to bed on time.

I tried... really... I did... but I felt that Fly Lady didn't really understand me. She must not have really known how insane my house was. I needed help IMMEDIATELY. After a week of dutifully following Fly Lady's lessons my sink looked nice, but there was still crap EVERYWHERE in my house and I wasn't feeling any less overwhelmed or overloaded. In fact, I felt angry that my family kept dumping dirty dishes in my sink and a tremendous pressure to wear shoes and get to bed by 10:00.

So what did I do? I broke the cardinal rule of Fly Lady. I tried to catch up. I couldn't stand the Baby Steps. I couldn't wait. I wanted to see results more quickly.

I have my house much more under control now and I have my own schedule to make it work. I don't need to get 13 emails in my inbox every day to keep it going (I have enough spam, thankyouverymuch) and I feel much better. I do try to keep my sink clean and shiny but my feet are bare and free.

So that's what DOESN'T work for me. :) For more things that don't work, check out Rocks In My Dryer!

Works For Me Wednesday - Conquering Lice!

It's Wednesday and today I'm going to talk about something that plagues so many families with children. It's kept so hush hush that it's hard to get the proper information to combat the problem. I'm going to talk about lice.

I realize this is a touchy subject. If your kids have had it you're probably not announcing it from the rooftops. However, rest assured that lice is not something that is limited to people with poor hygiene or loose morals. Heck, even Countess de Lesseps has had to battle the horror that is head lice. Unfortunately, I have battled it, too.

In fact, I've battled it for close to a year on and off. We have three kids.Our three kids have six cousins who they play with constantly. All nine of these kids got head lice last summer. This made nine itchy kids, four exasperated mothers, and about a gazillion tears between all of us.

(My head is itching just typing this.)

The first thing we did was run to the drugstore and buy the typical over the counter medication that most parents will go for and follow the directions on the box precisely. Apply pesticide to head of child, allow pesticide to soak into child's scalp for entirely too long, rinse, apply goopy conditioner type product to child's head, comb through with plastic comb and watch the bugs fall off. Now wash every pillow, every blanket, vacuum, suffocate all stuffed animals in garbage bags, soak hair brushes and ties, don't sleep, don't eat, don't breathe until it is all done.

Lather, rinse, repeat in 7 days.

Between all of us, hundreds of dollars were spent but we were finally free from the bugs.

Or so we thought. At one point (and I can't even remember what point it was) one mother called another with tears in her eyes and said those two dreaded little words. "They're back."

So what did we do? We all checked our kids, we repeated the process. We looked into other alternatives. We read about coconut shampoo, denorex, mayonnaise, petroleum jelly, kerosene! Some things we tried and some things we were horrified by. We bought combs that literally zapped the bugs while combing, we coated our children's heads in coconut oil, we threw our hands up, we picked each other over like monkeys.

This went on and on until one day we discovered a solution.

It was so simple we were in disbelief. The best part was that it WORKED. For all of us! I want to shout this from the rooftops! I think everyone should know how we finally rid ourselves from the bugs. So I'm going to share it with you... bookmark it because you'll probably need it one day.

Supplies needed:
2 or 3 bottles of 91% rubbing alcohol (70% will probably work if you can't find 91%)
1 shower cap for each person being treated
1 good metal lice comb (don't skimp on this, get a good metal one)
1 empty spray bottle

Very simply, apply the alcohol to the child's head. Use enough to thoroughly saturate the hair and scalp. This process, unfortunately, is not pleasant. The fumes are bad so please use it in a well ventilated area. If it gets into the child's eyes it's truly terrible so if your child is too young to keep their eyes closed use the spray bottle at close range to apply and be careful. I haven't tried it but if I ever have to again on a young child I might have him or her wear goggles during this part. Once the head is saturated, cover it with a shower cap and leave it on for about 45 minutes.

During this time wash bedding and vacuum floors. Put hair brushes and hair ties in the freezer for 12 hours. Stuffed animals can be put in the dryer for 30 minutes on high heat. Mattresses, couches can be sprayed down with the alcohol to kill any lone bugs that may have escaped.

After the time is up, remove the shower cap and comb through the hair. My counterparts rinsed the alcohol out, but I actually just let the alcohol dry on the hair while I combed through. Comb through thoroughly and blow dry hair. No, their hair will not be fried or dead or fall out in some ridiculous fashion.... and you're not using pesticide!

Repeat the process in 7 days and you should find yourself lice free!

Now that you're all free from the bugs I'm sure you don't want to do this again, am I right? Lucky for you, I ventured into a lovely place called Lice Solutions which happens to be located in my area. The helpful people there answered all of my questions and suggested something that I am convinced has kept the bugs away from my children thus far. Mint based shampoo. Lice don't like the smell of mint and will look for another head to feast upon if your child smells of it. There are many on the market but I purchased this one from the people at Lice Solutions for about $9 (obviously more than it can be found for but they're a non profit and they were helpful so I'm looking at it as a bit of a donation.) A few days later I was in our local Big Lots and found the same brand of shampoo in a different bottle (older packaging) for a measly $1.50 a bottle. I scooped up all 16 bottles of the stuff at mine but your Big Lots might have some, too. :) If you can't score it at that bargain price, here's a coupon for it from Sally Beauty.

Burts Bees also makes a rosemary mint shampoo bar which I may pick up next time I see it because I think it might be easier for young children to wash their own hair with the bar rather than the liquid. I don't know about your kids, but for some reason mine tend to use 1/2 a bottle for one washing. But I digress....

My little munchkin heads are washed only in mint shampoo now and will only be washed in mint shampoos until they're old enough to purchase their own shampoo. Even further than that, I purchased a tea tree oil foot spray (tea tree oil smells a LOT like mint) and I spray it on their heads before they venture off to school every morning. So far, so good.


That's what works for me!

PS - See www.ourstickfamily.com to make cute little stick figures of your own. :)