A Starting Harmonica?

I really didn’t know that there was even a “starting harmonica” on the market! But then I certainly know everything when it comes to today’s musical instruments. It’s just weird that coming from a very musical family that is still multiplying that I wouldn’t have at least heard about it or read about it online somewhere!

Be that as it may, I managed to find a great last minute deal with a starting harmonica so that I would have it in time to take over to my sister’s house for the “Family 4th of July Holiday Dinner”. This is the first year that my sister has hosted such a large friend and family gathering (we are expecting about 26 people) so I have been trying to help her with some of her personal 4th of July gift shopping errands. It’s been a blessing that we live so close together and are on good terms at the moment.

Reddi Whip

When I was a little girl my mother would buy cans of Reddi Whip whipped cream. We would have a dessert after almost every dinner because my dad loved dessert. We always saved room for dessert! We used Reddi Whip on a lot of the desserts.

Sometimes dessert was as simple as a little cup of Breyer’s ice cream. Mom would squirt some Reddi Whip on top and put a maraschino cherry or little sugar sprinkles on it. At least once a week we would have some kind of pie and once a week we would have some kind of cake. In between those we might have Jello with Reddi Whip squirted on top.

My favorite pie is pumkpin pie withsome Reddi Whip on it. How about yours?

Pulling my hair out

It has been such a blah day today that I have no idea what would lift my spirits up and pull me out of this mood that I’m in. My son wanted me to take him to his friends house earlier and I couldn’t just for the fact that I didn’t want to move what so ever because of this down mood I’m in. I think I’m going to take multivitamins from now on, it usually helps out a little bit. So I do believe I’ll be heading to GNC, which is at our local mall, here shortly to pick some up. We all have our bad days but I try very hard to limit mine because my family needs me so very much.

vitamins to the rescue
Vitamins Please Help Me

My Sons Birthday is Coming Up!

My sons birthday is coming up soon and I’m trying to make it to where I can afford his birthday gifts and throw somewhat of a decent party for him this year. He seems to really enjoy his new PlayStation 3 we had gotten him this past Christmas and has had his eye on a few new games that have recently came out. So today I am going to try to shop for the coolest games I can come across that I think he will really enjoy playing over and over, instead of getting tired of them after one time of playing them and never touching them ever again.

I also would like to find a cake with his favorite cartoon character, Sponge Bob on it, and make arrangement’s for it to be ready the day before his party. I have already found invitations he loves with Power Rangers all over them, and have already sent them out to the parents of his friends. I’m hoping to get all RSVP’s in the next week so I can make plans on all activities for the children on the day of his party. I am really hoping that the day of his party, it will be a nice sunny day out so we have more options on the activities we are selecting.

What’s For Dinner Mom?

I just went to the grocery store yesterday, but today it seems as if we don’t have a thing in the house that anyone wants to eat.  The kids are eating us out of house and home, both are just consuming huge amounts of food, I can’t keep up.  The oldest has become picky, which is so unusual for her, so used to eat just about anything and was willing to try new foods with no problem, but in the past year something has made her harder to please.

The youngest has always been a very picky eater from day one.  It is getting harder and harder to plan a meal that everyone enjoys.  She is pretty good about trying new things, but it is unfortunate that 99% of what she tries, she doesn’t like and makes a most horrific face to let you know how much she doesn’t like and doesn’t appreciate having to try it in the first place.

So tonight I will be fixing Sloppy Joes, I make it from a recipe that I got from a very close friend back in Jr. High School, it was her mother’s and I have been making it for a very long time, and no one has ever not liked it.  And I can tell you that a lot of people in the past 30 years or so have eaten them with great satisfaction.

I wish her mother was still around so that I could tell her about her recipe for this most wonderful Sloppy Joe sandwich which has brought pleasure to lots of folks.  I think she would get a kick out of hearing about it.  I miss you Mom Crawford!

Crappy Service

Today I had gone to the grocery store and had purchased a few items. I had a few problems trying to find a few items and had asked for help, but didn’t seem to get any service at all with finding these certain items. So I had came home in a bad mood, and had wrote a letter to the store’s office complaining about their crappy services, and had received a phone call not too long afterwards apologizing and offering me coupons to save big in their store. I took the coupon offer and plan on only shopping there one more time just so I could use the coupons. I don’t deal with crappy service, its unacceptable to me.

clipping coupons
Coupons To Clip

Online Banking Solutions

Well the “Pink Stuff” was hit at my sister’s house this afternoon, we had a nice time with the dozen or so of the family that were able to attend, my eldest daughter decided to go with me at the last minute, which was nice. We really had a nice time during the drive down, listening to music and laughing together. I had her drive because she still doesn’t know the way to her aunt’s house enough to get there by herself if need be some time, she is a good driver and it gives me time to look around at the scenery for a change instead of focusing on the road and traffic and such.

One of my brother’s came with his wife that is such a doll, we don’t get to see her very often so I made sure and took the time to visit and chat with her as much as I could. She caught me up to date with her attempt of starting up her own business that is keeping her super busy and worn out physically and mentally. She is working with a company called Northern Trust that she hooked up with on the Internet, that has assigned her a financial advisor that she thinks very highly of and is trusting him to guide her in these important financial decisions in the opening her very own florist boutique.

All of the paperwork involved is tremendous so she is happy doing the majority of their business online and has even started up her business checking account and is talking about retirement plans already with her personal “Relationship Manager” from Northern Trust.

It is good to see her so excited and up beat about the whole thing and is keeping a sense of humor and I hope that it all works out well for her. It will be great to be related to a florist.

A New Recipe From The Red Hat Society Cookbook

Tomorrow I am driving down to my sister’s house, where there is going to be several of my family members and friends gathering to visit with her son, who is home from college for a short time. Everyone has been asked to bring a side dish or two. I am baking some brownies and trying a recipe that my sister sent to me some time back that is taken from the Red Hat Society Cookbook, pg 276, so I’m told.

I made this delicious fruity desert called “Pink Stuff” and put into two different containers to refrigerate, one container to take tomorrow and one for Hubby and the kids to try tonight to see if it came out all right, being it is the first time that I have made this recipe. Well it sat in the refrigerator for only 45 minutes when it was discovered by one of the kids, word got out  and now it is all gone, just like that. Well at least I know that it tastes good and should be a hit tomorrow. I’d like to share the recipe with you.

“Pink Stuff”

  • 1 can (14 oz) Sweetened Condensed Milk
  • 1 container (12 oz) Whipped Topping, thawed
  • 1 can (20 oz) Cherry Pie Filling
  • 1 can (15 oz) Crushed Pineapple, well drained
  • 1 can (15 oz) Mandarin Oranges, drained
  •  Red food coloring – a few drops, optional

Stir together the condensed milk and whipped topping in a large bowl, and then fold in the cherry pie filling. Then you fold in the pineapple and oranges. If you want a deeper pink color, add a few drops of red food coloring. Refrigerate at least 4 hours prior to serving.

 

Petting Zoo Adventure

I managed to corral the whole family into going to a wonderful Animal Park that is so much more than just a Petting Zoo, yesterday afternoon. The weather was perfect, the cost was minimal, was a nice long healty walk and a good time was had by all. It is located only 15 minutes down the road and I had been there 6 years ago or so and have been trying for all these years to get the family to go and enjoy all the interesting and entertaining animals that this place has to offer for the public to come and see.

We even purchased some of the feed that they sell by the bag, to feed to some of the animals that were allowed to be feed, many are on restricted diets and are discouraged from feeding them any type of food items at all. The sheep, goats, many varieties of deers, and the llama’s all feed greedily from our hands and it didn’t take long for the bags to become empty. Other animals that we enjoyed seeing were the several types of monkeys, bears, buffalo, a lion and his lioness, camels, exotic birds, a black panther and many more that I can’t even remember them all. I did however bring me camera and hopefully some of the many pictures will come out that we can put in our scrapbooks to remember the nice time we all had with the animals and nature.

 

Online Brochure Printing

Last year was a brand new beginning for my oldest nephew after a long few years of absolute stress from school, and having a baby girl with his long time girlfriend since high school. Everything seemed like it wasn’t going to get any easier to my nephew, but one thing stuck in his mind to keep him going. He had always wanted to open up his own restaurant since he was a young boy, and worked hard through school to educate himself to do so.

His girlfriend was willing to help him do so at any cost and found her passion for interior and exterior decorating through out their relationship, so my nephew had asked her to be the one to decorate and design his restaurant. After they gathered enough money to put their plan into action, they started a hunt for a building to rent out or hopefully to rent to own, to open his restaurant in. It didn’t take long to find the perfect spot for them to do so in, and started right away with their plans.

After everything was set up and ready, they both came to me one evening while I was watching over their precious little girl, and had asked me for opinions on the cheapest but most effective way to get their menu out to everyone around their location. I had them sit at my computer with me to see what our options were, and after a long night of trying to compare options and prices we found brochure printing online, which is a perfect and not a costly way to get not only their menu out to everyone, but to get their new business name out and recognized.

Needless to say, that’s the route they took, and ever since their grand opening of their restaurant, their business has been booming. I’m glad that everything they worked hard for, is really taking off like no one ever expected, and I am so happy to lend a helping hand to them to help them provide for their beautiful little family.