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Moms In A Contest: ListPlanIt.com 12 Month Membership

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CONGRATULATIONS TO our WINNER - April Tara.   April, I know you’ll love this year long membership.

What Can You Win?

A 12 month membership to ListPlanIt.Com

What Is List Plan It?

On List Plan It you will find over 350 ready-made lists for you to put your world in order.  Whether that is simply printing, punching holes, and filing them into a 3-ring binder or placing them on the refrigerator for the whole family to see, you are taking control.  Minimal graphics and color is used in order to conserve printer ink, but with all the benefits of organized, uniform pages!

ListPlanIt.com gives you 24/7 Access to 350+ Printable Lists & Planning Pages with memberships priced at $9.95 for 3 months or $29.95 for a 12 month  membership.
Which List(s) Would Make Your Life Easier?

Lists that would make MY life easier?  The Business Planning Lists! And for the upcoming Holiday - ListPlanIt.com has Holiday & Special Occasion Lists

Sign up for ListPlanIt.com ’s newletter to get a FREE Website Favorites List and more planning pages delivered weekly

Want to see some Sample Lists? And don’t forget to check out the List Mama Blog

How Do You Win?

In order to be entered, all you have to do is go to ListPlanIt.com and let us know which list(s) would make YOUR life easier.  Then come back here and share which list(s) and why in your comment.

If you’d like a second entry just  stumble it, write a tweet, post it on your Facebook page, mention it on your favorite mom forum, or write about it on your blog and leave a second comment letting us know what you did

If you do something in addition to commenting, please let us know in your comment and don’t forget to add us as a friend on www.twitter.com/momsinablog, on Facebook or on Mom Bloggers Club.

When Does It End?

You have until Noon on Friday, September 5, 2008.

The winner will be notified via email so please be sure to include it or your entry will be disqualified.  The winner will have 3 days to claim their prize.  If we have not heard from the winner by then another winner will be chosen.

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Living Green with Judith Davis

A Moms Living Green Guest Post by Judith Davis

While I was out shopping for school supplies, yes even us home school moms shop for school supplies, I was truly amazed by all the green products that are now available. I have read articles about hospitals becoming greener and wondered just how schools are approaching the topic.

Thinking of schools and the massive amounts of paper and consumables that are used amaze me. We are no different in the home school world either. But it really has me headed for a challenge this year as we try to reduce our use of consumables. It has made me think about what I can do to reduce the amount of waste in schools.

The first big thought is paper. We have tons of papers. From books to workbooks to papers printed out for research. I have to admit getting myself and my kids to view computer paper that has been printed out as a recyclable has been a struggle. We now have a paper box next to each desk to put all those papers. These are more than just papers that come off the printer. Most papers can be recycled. I am also trying to impress upon my kids that they really don’t need to print out everything they see. The computer was supposed to cut down on paper clutter, but often times this seems just the opposite. Teaching the kids to bookmark or to put their relevant notes from an article into a word document to be saved may save tons of paper a year. Just remind them to reference where they found the information as well. They can always go back and reference the material later.

As long as we are talking paper, remember that the paper we use is important. There are times when students have to print things out. Use recycled paper. It is becoming more widely available. Consider having your ink cartridge refilled as well. This cuts down on the amount of printer cartridges you use, and saves you money.

As a parent get involved with your school. See if they have a recycle program. Many time they need parents to volunteer to help out, this could be your way of helping the school and the earth. If your school doesn’t have a recycle program or a very active one, volunteer to become involved and start one. Form a team of parents who want to help teach their children that the less we use the better. That what we do use we need to use responsibly and recycle where ever we can.

The important part of teaching our children to live green is to live by example. The more our kids see us making the effort and getting involved the more they will want to.

Judith L. Davis is a Wisconsin-based freelance She has written various how-to and informative articles on subjects from small business to natural health. She is a certified holistic counselor, as well as an aromatherapist and nutritionist. Having received her education from a top educator in alternate medicine, Judith is writing and counseling to inform others of the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle.

You can visit Judith at http://www.judithldavis.com and http://www.naturalfromhome.com/

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Frugal Fun - Family Night

A Frugal Friday Column contributed by Susanne of The Hillbilly Housewife.

Today I’d like to share some ideas with you for some frugal family fun.  We do this once a week, usually on a Friday night. Everyone in the family participates and helps put this little impromptu event together.
Start by deciding on a theme.  Here are some things we’ve done in the past that were a lot of fun.
Game Night
Dust off the various board and card games you have. Great places to play are either at the kitchen table or in the living room floor. Instead of cooking dinner, set out some snacks like crackers, cheese and cold cuts as well as some veggies and fruit. Then it’s time to play games and snack in between rounds.
Movie Night
Pick a family friendly movie, pop some popcorn and settle down in front of the TV. We like to get our movies from the library, but there are also some online rental services like Netflix that aren’t too expensive.
Pajama Party
Everyone including Mom and Dad gets dressed in their favorite PJs. Then fix breakfast foods like pancakes, eggs and bacon and the likes for dinner. Afterwards, snuggle up on the couch and read some books together until it’s time to go to sleep.
Camping Trip
You don’t actually have to leave for this one. If you have a tent and a backyard, go camp out there (weather permitting of course), otherwise, just put out some sleeping bags or comforters in the living room and camp out there. Serve hot dogs for dinner and s’mores for dessert.  Turn off the lights and get use a flashlight. Now is a great time to tell some ghost stories.

photo credit: Larsz

Pizza Party
Start by making some pizza dough earlier in the day. Divide it up into individual portions. Get out assorted pizza toppings like cheese, tomato sauce, pepperoni, ham and various veggies. Everyone in the family can help chop them. Next, hand each family member a portion of dough and let them pad it out into a small pizza.

Now the fun begins. Everyone gets to create their very own pizza with their favorite toppings. Bake as usual and enjoy!

Talent Show
Get out a box or a big bag and go through the house collecting anything that would make for some good dress up clothes.  Everybody gets dressed up and is then asked to perform an act in front of the rest of the family. This could be a song, a magic trick, a comedy act or anything else you can come up with. I promise there’ll be lots of laughing and fun.

What are you waiting for? Pick a theme and a date and create some wonderful memories with your family at your very own family fun night.

Susanne Myers shares frugal living and budgeting articles at  The Hillbilly Housewife and on her blog.  She is also author of the Hillbilly Housewife’s Spring Cleaning Guide.  Grab your copy today at http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/ebooks/springcleaning.htm

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Stress-Free Back To School Routines

Back to school is right around the corner and to avoid the normal stresses would be wonderful for a great start to the new year.

Does your typical morning sound like this? — It’s time to get up, hello? It’s time to get up! You’ll be late for the bus, hurry!! Let’s go!! Did you brush your teeth? Do you have your lunch? Wait, what homework? We’re leaving NOW!!!

If it does and I surely hope it doesn’t there is still hope for you. These morning stresses can be relieved by establishing a routine. The routine needs to begin with bedtime and establishing a routine is something that needs to be followed regularly. Consistency is key and will help your mornings run a lot smoother.

For a stress-free morning try implementing some of the following tips:

• Establish a regular bedtime routine, going to bed early is essential to a stress-free morning

• Lay out clothes the night before to avoid the morning craziness

• Prepare lunches the night before and have ready in the refrigerator

• Showers and baths are easier to be done the night before

• Be sure to check homework or backpacks for notes the night before, don’t want surprises in the morning that will definitely increase the stress levels

• When giving the children orders in the morning, try not to yell, this will create a very stressful environment

• Finally, set ground rules for your morning routine. Make sure the children know the time you will be leaving so they know in advance what time everything needs to accomplished. Timers work well too for younger ones that can’t tell time.

Most importantly sticking to a routine will make your mornings stress-free and that is the best way to start your day and your school year.

Dr. Daisy (aka Dr. Mommy) is a Doctor of Chiropractic by profession, wife to a loving and supporting husband and home school mom to 5 beautiful children. She is a speaker, blogger and freelance writer that devotes her time to educate the public on the importance of nutrition and their health.

For more insight on her love of health and nutrition you can visit her Healthy Nutrition Hints Blog. http://healthynutritionhints.com

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Paper Beads

Earlier this week, when I posted pictures of my messy crafting space, you may have seen this little beauty on the floor next to my table.

This particular blue box was just delivered earlier this week and was given a spot next to my front door. Junk mail is tossed in right as it comes into the house, newspapers are added after they have been looked through, and we are working on building the habit of making sure all of our paper garbage ends up in this box as well. Having that box there makes us feel good because it means we are sending less garbage to the landfills, and we’re helping the school across the street, where we drop the paper off so they can trade it in for cash.

In addition to the benefits to the environment and the school of recycling paper, I also have the added benefit of a readily available stash of craft materials. Newspapers are good for covering tables and floors when you’re doing messy crafts, and they’re regularly listed as one of the supplies needed when following paper mache instructions. All different kinds and colors of paper can be used for making handmade paper projects. And, one of my favorites for magazine pages and other ads are paper beads.

To make paper beads, you will need:

• Paper - junk mail, wrapping paper, or other lightweight papers work best
• Glue - the plain white kind
• Sticks - toothpicks, match sticks, skewers, straws, pencils, or something else like that
• Scissors - regular straight edge scissors or decorative edge for variety

Then, you follow these simple steps:

Pick out your paper. You can try solid colors or patterned paper for various effects. We used a page from an old video game magazine.

Cut the paper into triangles approximately 1 inch wide and 2 inches long.

Starting with the largest side, roll a triangle onto your stick.

When you get near the end put a dot of glue near the tip and continue rolling. Some glue will squish out the sides, just use your finger to smear it around to make sure the bead stays together. We also discovered that it was easier to see what we were doing if we painted the glue on instead of trying to use the bottle.

Slide the bead off the stick and move onto the next triangle. So you finish with a pile of beads like this.

Of course, if you have a 3 year old your beads might end up looking a little bit more like this.

And your 6 year old might end up using the triangles to make rockets instead of beads.

For some variety you can try some of the following:

• Change the shape of the paper slightly. Longer triangles make thicker beads, wider triangles make longer beads.
• If you want your beads to last a little bit longer, try Mod Podge instead of glue for holding your beads together.
• Add glitter or coloring to your glue for interesting effects.
• After you’re all done, string the beads together for necklaces and bracelets.

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Passing It On

There are many things in our lives that we pass on to others.  You may have traditions in your family that are passed down from generation to generation.  How you celebrate certain holidays, the way that you allow the birthday boy or girl to choose what’s for dinner on their birthday, celebrating all the birthdays in a given month together as a family, whatever the case may be.

Then there may be other things that you pass on, clothes are passed down from older siblings to younger siblings, maybe toys too.  But wouldn’t it be memorable to purchase an item for yourself that you could pass down to your daughter as a keep sake, an item to help remember you by, even after you are gone. An item to remmber you by when you can’t be there with her.

I own an item like this.  Though I never knew the original owner of this item, a birthstone ring, that originally belonged to my great-great grandmother, it is still an item of importance and signifcance to me.  I wore it as my “something old” in my wedding and I value and cherish the fact that I have it and that it has been passed down in the generations before me to all the granddaughters who had November birthdays.  My grandmother actually gave it to me when I turned 18.  For all the years prior, she had told me about this ring and finally gave it to me when I got old enough to appreciate it.

Maybe you could do something similar with your daughter and a special item that you can “pass on” to her.

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Slow Cooking Thursday - Coney Island Sauce for Hot Dogs

For more slow cooker recipes visit Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. If you are looking for some delicious slow cooker recipes visit the other cooks in this recipe exchange.

Though formerly an Island, Coney Island is a peninsula located in south Brooklyn, NYC. Famous for its beach on the Atlantic, Coney Island once hosted a major resort. It was also well known for its amusement parks.

A “Coney Island hot dog” is a hot dog with “Coney sauce,” a kind of chili without beans. In reality, Coney sauce did not originate on Coney Island but is thought to have been invented in Michigan.

We celebrate Labor Day this weekend, the last official holiday of the summer in the US! This recipe would be a tasty addition to your backyard picnic.

This tangy chili meat sauce is thick so it won’t make your bun soggy or drip all over your shirt! If you are feeding a hungry bunch, double the recipe.

Coney Island Sauce

1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove minced garlic
1 tbsp. butter
1 lb. lean ground beef
2 tbsp. yellow mustard
2 tbsp. cider vinegar
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. hot pepper sauce
1 cup ketchup
2 tsp. Watkins Paprika
2 tsp. Watkins Chili Powder

Sauté the onions and garlic in the butter. Add the ground beef, cook until brown, drain off excess grease. Combine all of the other ingredients and mix well. Add mixture to the ground beef mixture and stir to combine. Pour into slow cooker and cook on low for approximately two hours for the flavors to blend.

I simmered this in my small slow cooker. If you double or triple the recipe for a crowd use a larger slow cooker. This recipe makes about 3 cups of thick meat sauce, enough for 8 to 10 hot dogs or hamburgers.

Your Friendly Watkins Associate
www.watkinsonline.com/eleisiawhitney

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Look At My Space

My husband and I were talking the other night and he brought up a really good point. I have boxes and boxes of scrapbook stuff, and I do nothing with it. Scrapbooks and passing on stories used to be my passion. Now I mostly talk about the importance of scrapbooks, but I do nothing about it.

I’m sure I could come up with plenty of excuses for not scrapbooking. One of the main excuses is the fact that I don’t have the space to scrap. Of course, the reason I don’t have the space to scrap is because I am totally unorganized and have a really bad habit of letting things pile up instead of putting them away when I am done with them. It’s a habit I have committed myself to breaking.

So, in an effort to get myself more organized, and I can’t believe I am about to do this, I am going to show you what my desk/craft table looks like right now.

And here is the table next to my desk.

The worst part of it all is that none of that junk is scrapbook or other craft stuff, with the exception of the Fairy Things to Make and Do Kid Kit that never got put away last week. Most of it is bills and junk mail, but there’s plenty of other randomness like take-out menus, books, the remote control for the protable DVD player, and yes, that is a roll of toilet paper you see near the left end of my table. The mess makes a very unattractive addition to my entryway/dining room.

In addition to the mess on the table, I also have these two piles of boxes in the corner of my bedroom.

That’s where all of my scrapbook and craft supplies are stored. There isn’t really any method to the madness, just a bunch of stuff thrown into whatever box it fit into at the moment. Needless to say, it is not functional.

So, in an effort to get committed to organizing and then scrapbooking, I am officially declaring Wednesday to be “Look At My Space” day. Each week I will post an update of what my spaces look like. Throughout the week I will spend a minimum of 10 minutes per day specifically cleaning and dejunking in one of the two areas. If you need to clean up your space, feel free to play along and leave me a comment about what you are doing with your craft space. If you have pictures of your space, post them on your blog and leave a link so everyone can come and get some inspiration.

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Chocolate Icebox Cake

This mouthwatering chocolate cake makes a cool, creamy dessert for your Labor Day weekend!

Chocolate Icebox Cake

Watkins Nonstick Cooking Spray
14 ounces semisweet chocolate (do not use chips)
2 containers (15 ounces each) part-skim ricotta cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 package (9 ounces) chocolate wafers (about 44 cookies)
Watkins Almond, Rum, Raspberry, Coconut, Peanut Butter, or Banana Extract (optional)

Prepare Pan
Remove sides from a 9-inch round springform pan. Place a sheet of waxed paper over bottom, leaving an overhang; lock sides onto bottom, firmly securing paper. Spray inside of pan with cooking spray; line sides with a strip of waxed paper 28 inches long and 4 inches wide.

Make Chocolate Ricotta Mixture
Break 12 ounces of chocolate into pieces. Place in a heatproof medium bowl set over, not in, a pan of simmering water. Cook, stirring occasionally, until chocolate has melted, 8 to 10 minutes.
In a food processor or with a mixer, blend ricotta until very smooth, about 1 minute, scraping down sides of bowl. Add warm chocolate; blend until smooth. Add 1/2 teaspoon of Watkins Almond, Rum, Raspberry, Coconut, Peanut Butter, or Banana Extract for an additional subtle flavor. In a large bowl, beat cream until stiff peaks form. With a rubber spatula, gently fold in chocolate-ricotta mixture.

Assemble Cake
Arrange half the cookies in an overlapping pattern to cover bottom of pan. Spoon half the chocolate-ricotta mixture on top of cookies; smooth top. Cover with remaining cookies; top with remaining chocolate-ricotta mixture, and smooth top. Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate at least 6 hours and up to 2 days.

Before serving, release sides of pan and remove waxed paper from sides. Using bottom piece of waxed paper, pull cake onto a platter; with a metal spatula, lift cake and remove waxed paper. Using a vegetable peeler, shave remaining 2 ounces chocolate over top of cake. With a knife dipped in hot water, cut cake into 10 slices (wipe off knife, and dip in hot water after each slice). Serves 10.

Why not use chocolate chips?
Joyofbaking.com says chocolate chips when melted become chocolate that is thick, muddy and grainy that is very difficult to use. This is because of the smaller amount of cocoa butter (25-30%) in the chocolate chips.

What is Ricotta?
Ricotta, an Italian whey cheese, is a low-fat, nutritious liquid that is a by-product of cheese production. It is produced from whey, the liquid separated out from the curds when cheese is made. Whey is processed forming a fine curd. Once cooled, the curd is separated by passing though a fine cloth.

Ricotta is a fresh cheese (as opposed to ripened or aged), grainy and creamy white in appearance, slightly sweet in taste, and contains around 5% fat. In this form, it is somewhat similar in texture to some cottage cheese, though considerably lighter. Like many fresh cheeses, it is highly perishable.

Ricotta is also used in lasagna, cheesecake, and cannoli.

Eleisia Whitney has a Watkins Home Business. She enjoys cooking and baking with Watkins extracts, spices, herbs, and sauces for healthy meals. Eleisia publishes a Watkins Newsletter called Around the Kitchen Table, that brings you recipes, cooking and health tips, and contests for free Watkins products.
Read the current issue at http://www.everydaynecessities.com/august15-08newsletter.htm
Visit her at http://www.everydaynecessities.com and http://www.WatkinsOnline.com/eleisiawhitney

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A Need to Communicate

This past weekend I did a Mother/Daughter Event for a group of ladies and their daughters at a church about 70 miles from my home. I have done many of these events over the last 3 or 4 years. However, something happened at this event that has never happened to me before. One of the teenage girls actually got up and left. Luckily, I had figured out she was already upset with her mother, not me so I did not take it personally. However, this whole incident got me to thinking. It got me to thinking about attitudes and about communication.

Not meaning to easedrop, earlier in the event before I got up to speak to the group of moms and daughters this young lady and her mom had sat down beside me. I heard the girl mutter to her mother something like this, “you tricked me”. Her mom, calmly smiled and replied, “no I didn’t”, to which the girl responded, “yes you did you said we were going to spend time together, I don’t want to be here.”

As the afternoon progressed she made it clear she did not want to be at the event, by actually walking out of it. Her mom of course trailed after her, came back to apologize but ultimately left early. The whole incident though it did not hurt my feelings it did concern me. I see a deep need in this mother/daughter relationship for communication.

The mom meant well. She thought she was helping her daughter by bringing her to a Christian event at church, however I’m pretty sure that the daughter did not hear a word that was said by me that afternoon, as she sat sulled and hurt. She felt that her mother had tricked her and that is all that she knew and all that I’m sure was on her mind. I am not sure what had happened prior to their arrival, but it obviously lacked clear communication between the daughter and the mom.

This story shows us the importance of communication. An afternoon of chatting with and being listened to by her mother over an ice cream cone or a Coke and a burger might have been a better choice for this mom to have made, considering the feelings of her daughter and the clear need that was there for the two of them to openly communicate.

Please moms, watch for the signs your daughter is giving you that she needs to talk. These may be different in every child, so I won’t even try to name them, but you know what I’m referring to for your daughter. Be open to taking time out to talk, but more importantly to listen.

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