My Food Soapbox

I seem to be running across disturbing food articles recently, and I feel I have to share it in any way possible (that doesn't require much effort- #lazy). I'm about fed up with the FDA. I pretty much take everything they say with a grain of salt. Both of the articles I will be talking about came from different issues of Prevention magazine, whom I trust but am not affiliated with in any way.

The first article I came across was in the September 2013 issue. I was flipping through it before it went to the recycling bin, and ended up reading this article called "Is Organic Food Really Better For You" by Richard Laliberte. Then I made my husband, who isn't much of a reader, read it. My husband has always been an organic/natural/vegan skeptic. I mean, he understands that these things, in general, are better for you, but he's always been under the assumption that if the government says it's ok for us to have, then it is. Well, he is completely on board for me to figure out how to switch us to organic after reading this article.

And ya know, I've been grunting and groaning a lot when talking about this decision. Look, if you know me, you know I'm a couponer. I save money on absolutely everything I can. My Mom calls me cheap, and not in a good sense of the word. (I still take it as a compliment!) Organic is more expensive! *insert grunt* I know there are coupons and sales for these things too, I've used them. I never thought I would make a committing decision like this, but I am. I realize I have to bite the bullet, for the health of myself and my family. This isn't going to be easy on anyone, except maybe June (who chooses veggies over everything). The boys love pizza rolls and mac and cheese, and I've just now been starting to force small amounts of veggies into them. Yes I know, parenting FAIL! But what do ya do, move on from here, and be better.

I'm going to have to make meal plans, and cook way more, just so we can afford to eat this way. Clarification, I cook plenty now, but like I said, my boys like mac and cheese and pizza rolls. I still want to let them have these things, so I'm probably going to be making a lot more things from scratch.

And I came to all these conclusions from just one article! Read it!

Then a few days later, I picked up my March issue of Prevention to find an article about antibiotics in our food and creating super-bugs. It's called "Cleaning up the Farm" by Jane Black. I didn't find the exact article online, but I found these two that give good info, that's pretty close to what I read.
http://www.prevention.com/health/health-concerns/nrdc-report-about-fda-and-antibiotic-use-farms

http://www.prevention.com/food/smart-shopping/what-you-need-know-about-antibiotics-beef

If you can find the actual magazine in half price books, pick it up though. It was a really great diagram from the CDC that depicts how animals that are given preventative antibiotics are developing drug-resistant bacteria. It's pretty scary stuff. To quote the article, "Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organization, has said that if we don't change course, we could soon live in a world where 'things as common as strep throat or a child's scratched knee could once again kill.'" Um, yeah, let's not let that happen.

I'm definitely not making all these changes overnight. I'm not throwing out the food I have in the kitchen right now, that's wasteful. I will probably make small changes until we've made the transition. If anyone has any tips or thoughts, please share them with us in the comments. I'm always open for suggestion!

Ok, I'm stepping down from my soapbox for now. Have a great weekend everyone!

How to cook bacon when you're red carpet ready

Tonight I'm watching the Academy Awards in my usual fashion, dressed to the nines! But this doesn't mean I don't have to cook supper for the fam. So how do I cook bacon without getting grease all over gorgeous dress? 

In the oven of course!!!

I always cook bacon this way! (heels and all!) the instructions on the box say to preheat the oven to 400 degrees and bake for 10 to 15 minutes without turning. The only thing I would add, is to cover your baking sheet with foil before putting in your bacon to shorten clean up. Easy peasy! Gives you time to scramble eggs while the bacon's cooking, so everything's done at the same time! Love it!

 Enjoy the Oscars everyone, I am...

Just kidding, Mom, I only had a glass 😜

Time for an update!

Dang, it's been way too long!

Life has been getting in the way of blogging, but I'm vowing to get back into it. I've caught up with several people that I haven't seen in a really long time, and have been called out on not keeping it up. 

Ok, so here's the big news: We moved! I'm not exactly a "Frognot Mom" right now, but we're still working on that, so I will keep the name from our temporary home in Allen. We've given up on fixing up the existing house, but we still have the property and are still planning to live out there. We're just exploring other housing options after deciding to call it quits with the one out there. Right now we're thinking manufactured home for the immediate, and building our dream home down the line (like when we have more money). We're always open to ideas and suggestions...

On my MS, I had been informed by my neurologist that my disease is "aggressive," and we would be changing my disease modifying drug last November. But surprisingly my annual MRI showed no new lesions, so I get to stay on my Avonex for now. I've been doing really good lately, can't really say that I've noticed any signs of disease activity, so I'm happy about that. Although, I still can't give myself my shot, but Jared or his mother (a nurse) gives it to me no problem. Thank goodness.

So, that's my mini update! I'll get back into the fun blog stuff soon and probably update y'all on other things as it becomes relevant. I don't know what else to say right now, but feel free to ask questions. I hold nothing back!

Oh and my Mom got cats!

Meet Dot and Mittens! I loves them :)

Intro to Couponing!

My best friend sent me a text the other day saying that I needed to teach her how to coupon. I know a lot of people feel the same way, and I won't shop any other way. I don't necessarily say I'm an extreme couponer, because I don't do the volume that others do. I might get $40 worth of stuff for $5 where as, if you watch the TV show, they get $1,000 transactions for free! Don't get me wrong, I know how they are doing it. But I don't put as much effort into finding coupons as they do, and I can't shell out $300 on newspapers to get 100 of the same coupons. But I never pay full price for anything, and we always have name brand toiletries that I probably got for free or very little. So below the pictures is a copy of the email I sent her.

This is from one of my recent shopping trips. I paid $5.70 for all this!:

Another one of my trips. I paid $11 out of pocket and they gave me $9 in rewards to use on my next trip. That makes it a $2 net!:



Ok, so let's talk coupons! First things first: where to get coupons. The Sunday paper of course! I don't know how much your local paper costs, but mine is $3 for one or $5 for a two pack. Kinda pricey, but I know my coupons will at least pay for the price of a paper, even if I'm not planning a trip that week. So buy however many you want. Also, internet printable coupons come from coupons.com, redplum.com, couponnetwork.com, and smartsource.com. Those are just the general coupon sites, a lot of brands have their own coupons they put on their website. Also Target has store coupons on their website.

That leads me to the next topic. You can stack store coupons and manufacturer coupons to get a great deal or possibly free stuff! My favorite stores are Target and CVS, because I can stack coupons and sales. You should also look for stores that will double or triple coupons. I also shop at Albertson's when they have good sales because they double coupons that are up to 50 cents and triple coupons that are up to 39 cents.

This is important to note: you should find and read the coupon policy of anywhere you want to shop. This will save you surprises at the register. Every store is different, and some are even different by location. Like the Krogers in the Dallas//Ft.Worth area don't double coupons anymore. But I think they still do other places. Also, some stores will only allow you to use so many of the same coupon in one transaction. Like, Target's limit is 4 of the same coupon.

Tip: Don't buy something just because it's a good deal. Don't buy cat food, just because you can get it for $2 if you don't have a cat. That being said, sometimes you can get things for free, or make money on an item. Then, I don't care what it is, I'm buying it. I do this a lot when I have coupons for CVS for $5 off a $25 purchase. Because I plan to use that coupon first, I will buy items that I have good coupons for even if I don't use the item, to get me close to that $25 mark. I'll make up an example, because I'm not sure I'm making sense.

Ok say I have a coupon for $5 off a $25 purchase. I need diapers this week and those cost $10 and I'll get 2. So, I need to spend $5 more to use my coupon. So I pick up a brand of mouthwash (that I don't use) from the travel section for $2.50. I'll get 2 of those. Ok when I hand my coupons to the clerk I make sure the $5 off $25 coupon is on top, so it gets scanned first. Then I have 2 coupons for diapers of $2 each, and 2 coupons for mouthwash at $2 each. So that should take $13 off my trip making it $12. That makes my diapers $6 a package and I'll just give the mouthwash away to someone that uses it. But if I hadn't bought it, my diapers would have cost $20 - $4coupons = $16 They would have been $8 a piece. So it's all a math game. I have spent 2 hours in CVS before with my calculator. LOL

But that brings up another point. Always check size restrictions. If it doesn't say anything you can get trial or travel sized items and probably get a free item! So make sure you read the wording on your coupons.

Ok, that should get you started. I also follow couponing blogs on the internet there's a local one for me at mydallasmommy.com and then there's one that's devoted to target savings at totallytarget.com. Both sites have good tips on them and are updated daily. You should also see if anyone has a similar blog for your local area. Ok, finally, I watch the Extreme Couponing tv show on TLC. They also have a website with videos and lots of tips. Hope that helps, and absolutely ask any question that you want!  - Leslie

PS. I didn't proofread this so, I hope it all makes sense :)

DIY Yarn Pom Poms

Hey! Long time no see! This upcoming weekend I'm helping my sister-in-law host a wedding shower for some dear friends of ours. I thought that we needed something outside to kind of mark her house, because there will be people we don't know coming. But, it's not a five year old's birthday party, so we didn't want to use streamers and balloons. I've seen people use these yarn pom pom garlands on tons of posts on pinterest, so I thought I'd give it a go.

Here's how I made my pom poms:

All you need is yarn, a piece of cardboard, and scissors.

Wrap yarn around a piece of cut cardboard. The wider the cardboard, the bigger the pom pom.

Wrap, wrap, wrap! Like 100 times! My thought was if my yarn looked like a square on the cardboard, my pom pom would be more symetrical.

Carefully pull it off of the cardboard, keeping it intact, and cut the string still attached to the skien.

Cut another length of yarn. Mine is probably about a foot long. Just remember, you can always trim shorter, you cannot grow longer. :)

Tie your string in a knot around the loops.

You should have two sides of loops when finished.

Start cutting the loops!

I find it easiest to cut one side of loops, then move the other side. It's easier to spot the ones you miss.

Fluff it up! I find rolling it in my hands works great. Now time to trim. While I love the look of wild haphazardness, some strands are just too long. Snip them away. Heres where you can alter: If you want more pristine poms, keep triming until all strands are the same size. They will become much smaller than when you started if you go this route. I wanted big shaggy poms, and I'm lazy, so I didn't.

Then just make how ever many you need, for the length of garland you are planning. I'm planning to place mine about a foot apart, so I made 6. This should give me at least 8 feet of garland.

So next week, after the shower, I will show you how to strand them together and the finished product! Have a great week!

UPDATE: Sorry I never got back to finish out this project. Sometimes life gets in the way. All I did to string these together to make a garland, was use a yarn needle and thread yarn through the middle of the pom. I would say, depending where you are planning to hang it, you might want to make a big knot in the place you want the pom to stay, to keep them from bunching up together. I had mine outside and the wind moved them around, wish I would've done that.

The Cows Came Home

First off, I'm sorry I've been away so long. I went through a rather nasty MS relapse, a family lice infestation, a week-long stomach bug, and a bout of depression resulting from all that crap. LOL All that's cleared up now, life didn't stop. We have new members in our family I need to introduce you to!

Well, they're members of our family until they get big and fat and we sell them off. We've had them about a month and they're still pretty skittish. But I made progress tonight; one of the Herefords ate three cow treats out of my hand! I will have to get some closer pictures to share. Everyone have a great week!

Valentine's Box

Yesterday was Valentine's Day, and my 8 year old had to have a decorated box for his class party. He decided he wanted it to look like a truck. Well, we put it off until the last minute, and had to throw something together pretty quick. I wanted to share it with y'all.

Sorry there's no picture of the process, like I said, we were in a hurry. Also, these pictures were taken after he came home. That's why some of our flames and a license plate are half falling off. So, this is made out of a shoebox and a pop tarts box. The windows are strips of duct tape, and I got on the computer and printed out some flames and made custom license plates. We stuck heart stickers on as headlights.

My younger son is very jealous of this truck, so we decided to make an even better one this weekend. I will take pictures of that one, I swear!

On a side note about Valentine's Day, I bought three heart baloons from the dollar store for $1 a piece: 1 for each kid. BEST IDEA I'VE EVER HAD! I got a sweet hug from Jett (age 6) with a "You're the best, Mom." Jace (age 8: thinks he's too cool for everything) gave me a guinuine smile, and uttered "cool" as he walked off. And June (age 2) screamed and squeeled for a few minutes, and then spent hours giggling and playing with it. Best $3 I've ever spent; I have definately found a new tradition!