My Favorite Hair Tool

My old flat iron gave up the ghost about a year and a half ago. I am really not that big on fixing my hair. Mainly because it doesn't do a whole lot, and I know how to make it do even less.

My hair isn't really straight, and by no means is it curly. It just has a nappy wave to it if I let it dry on it's own. Oh and did I mention that it is thick and super fine?

This combination has lead me to the easiest way to fix my hair. Straighten it with a flat iron.

Like I said I am not much on fixing my hair, so I am also not big in paying a lot if money for hair products/tools. Actually I hate getting ready because I hate fixing my hair. I hate the drying and the straightening. It just takes forever!!

Some of my friends aware by their Chi flat irons, but I could find so many other uses for $100.

When I found this Remington Wet2Dry flat iron I HAD to try it!

It is killing two birds with one stone. I always do my hair last. So my hair has some time to air dry before I fix it. The wet aspect allows me to iron my hair straight while it is sill wet. AND it dries my hair in the process. I Love this tool.

I will warn you if you straighten your hair while it is wet there will be steam. Mr.E was watching me fix my hair one day and got concerned because he thought my hair was on fire because he saw smoke.

Here is me trying to take an action shot, it didn't work out to well. But this flat iron does!!

Happy hair doing!!

What's For Dinner Wednesday-Lattice Top Chicken

The Hubby and I have been counting our calories and trying to eat a little healthier. We have been doing this for about 2 months now. I have lost about five lbs. With the holidays I gained some of the weight back.

I have been cooking a lot of our family favorite meals, but I figure up the calories and how many servings are in each dish.

The other night I made a recipe from my Mother-in-Law. It is totally delectable, and has everything you need in one meal. Chicken, veggies, and bread.

Did I mention the bread is crescent rolls????

My family LOVES crescent rolls. They just make everything better.

Here is what you need.

2 cups chopped chicken

2 cans cream of potato soup

16 oz. Bag California veggies

1 cup milk (I used skim)

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup French fried onions

1/2 tsp. Season salt

1/4 tsp. Pepper
1 can crescent rolls (I used reduced fat)


Mix the chicken, veggies, soup, milk, salt, pepper, 1/2 cheese, and 1/2 onions.

 

Pour into a casserole dish.

Bake at 400 for 25 minutes covered.

Top with crescent rolls. Roll them into "ropes" and place on top in a lattice.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Top with remaining cheese and onions and bake an additional 5 minutes.

Makes 8 servings with 358 calories per serving.

Happy Cooking!!!

Where I'm blogging

I told you about our little family trip the other week right? Well before we left The Hubby tried to connect Mr.E's new Leapfrog Explorer to our laptop so he could use it on our trip.

We don't really know what happened, but the laptop can't seem to find ANY wireless network.

I have been a lazy bum and I have been blogging on my iPhone.

We have another computer, but my excuse for not using it is that it is in the basement.

And the basement is kinda cold. The Hubby tells me I can sit in front of the heater and I will be nice and toasty. But I am sticking to my excuse for now and sitting on my comfy couch reading and typing here in blog land.

Hope you are having a great day!!!

Happy blogging!

Child Labor

The Hubby and I have joked about having kids just so they will do all the chores. I mean if you got 'em you might as well use 'em, right.

Well Monday is laundry day in my house. What a better way to make Monday even worse!

I can't complain too much because we only have to do laundry once a week around here. That ain't to bad for a family of four. I have heard stories of multiple laundry day, I choose to get it all done at once.

Mr.E likes to help sort the clean cloths. He isn't big enough to help fold yet, but sorting is a nice help. He throws the clothes into each person's pile.

Then he delivers the piles to each person's room. From there I fold or hang up the clothes.

I think this is a good way to get Mr.E used to helping out and having a job that he is responsible for. I want both of my kids to learn responsibility and that it is important to help others.

I also require Mr.E to put his dishes in the dishwasher when he is finished eating he is pretty good at asking if the dishes are dirty before putting his in the dishwasher.

So, those of you with kids...or an opinion, what are your feelings about chores?

At age four should I be requesting Mr.E do more, and how insistent should I be when he doesn't want to help out?

Happy laundry day and thanks for any input you may want to pass along!

Procrastination

I have hit a crafting slump. I made several things in a very short time for Christmas and I haven't made anything since. This is bad sine I still have a couple presents left to make. I feel bad that I haven't finished these last presents, but they won't take long to make. I think this fact is what is feeding my procrastination.

Is anyone else taking a break after all the hustle and bustle of Christmas and New Years?

I have several other things I wanna make before school starts back in a couple of weeks. I also wanna finish reading my latest book, and enjoy not having homework to do for a little while longer. I am sure it will get done, but for now I an gonna put off today what can be done tomorrow.

What's For Dinner-French Fried Onion Chicken

I found this recipe a year or so ago, I think in a Martha Stewart Magazine. It was one of those recipes that is part of an advertisement. 

I am a sucker for those things.  I look through magazines and pick out recipes rather than read the articles.  I have a huge stack of recipes to try that I have cut out of magazines.  Some of my family's favorite recipes have come from this stack. 

This is a quick, easy meal that is done from start to finish in 25 to 30 minutes.  You can't ask for anything much easier than that.  It would take you more time to drive to a food establishment, go through the drive through, and drive back home. 

Here is what you need:

Serve with your favorite veggie and some bread for a healthy, delicious meal.

Happy Cooking!

Car Neck Pillows

Mr. E started asking for me to sew something for him a couple of days before Christmas.  I was trying to wrap up several of my homemade presents and I didn't really have time to make something for him.  Way to make Momma feel guilty!!  I have had several things that I wanted to make for both Mr. E and Miss C, but Mr. E was wanting everything in sight for Christmas so we went for store bought gifts for the kiddos. 

We are going on a little weekend excursion, and I used this as an excuse to make some car neck pillows for the kiddos.  I first saw these over at Crystal's Craft Spot, almost a year ago (where has the time gone??).  I asked for the template she used, and Crystal was kind enough to share it with me.  If you wanna make one of these I am sure she will be just as generous!! 

We went to Hobby Lobby and I let the kiddos pick out the fabric they wanted to use.  This was a little daunting with Mr. E.   He wanted to make his pillow out of John Deere, Race Car, Thomas the Train, and Digger material.  He didn't understand he only got to pick ONE pattern.  He finally decided on the Thomas fabric.  I found a cute little bird fabric that Miss C approved of and with that we were off.

Here are the finished pillows.  I hope this helps with the car ride tomorrow.  I know it will  help with the taco neck the kids have while sleeping!!

Mr. E's pillow

 Miss C's pillow

 Works like a charm!

Mr. E The Builder

Mr. E loves all things Bob the Builder.  For his birthday my Mom, a.k.a. Mimi, got him several Bob the Builder books, a couple of DVDs and all the little characters.  We watch a Bob the Builder movie almost daily.  I think I have several of them memorized. 

Mr. E has really enjoyed playing with them lately.  He decided Bob, or should I say, Mr. E's team, needed their own photo shoot.

Mr. E dictated each shot I needed to take.  I had to capture every angle of these colorful, hardworking machines. 

I had a little helper.  To keep her out of the shots...she had to hold my foot for me.  Whatever works right???

Mr. E had a town set that he can build and fix. 

As I type this out, he is analyzing his team and deciding their size order. 

My Pots

Last year I started my collection of cast iron pots.

This covered casserole dish was my first.  I have made soups and chili in this wonderful pot.  It is 5 qt. so  it holds enough food for large numbers of people.

For Christmas my hubby added to my collection. 

This is a 5 qt. braiser.  I haven't had the opportunity to use it yet, but I look forward to browning some meat and caramelizing some onions in this dish...I can smell the deliciousness already!!

Next is this wonderful casserole dish.  I have already used this dish two or three times! 

I now have THREE beautiful red cast iron pots!  They are my favorite cooking pieces.  They cook everything nice and evenly and are easy to clean up!!  What a great combo, well I think so.

I know they are heavy and take up considerable cabinet space, but they are sooooo worth it.  I just can't tell you enough how much I love these pots!!

All three of these beauties came from my local Aldi grocery store.  They were quite the steal with prices ranging from $25 to $30.  Who could pass up that awesome deal!

I hope you are enjoying your new Christmas presents as much as I am!!

Happy New Year

Well I hope you all had a great time ringing in the New Year! We spent the evening at my cousin's 19th b-day party. It was a surprise, and it was tons of fun. There was a line dance teacher and we learned some new moves. Mr.E did a really good job following the steps. He had the hardest time with the Electric Slide, it required him to move more and he isn't great with left and right yet. Here are a couple pics of my family having fun.

Sorry they are a little blurry, they are from my iphone!