“What’s for dinner?” is a question I deal with once a day (more if my husband or kids ask!), and sometimes it can be a challenge. I don’t mind cooking, hell, I don’t even mind taking the time to prep a totally awesome meal. I just hate having to think up ideas for meals, because I suck at it. When I go to the grocery store, I’ll generally purchase several different types and cuts of meats, a bunch of sides (potatoes, rice, a few instant sides, the occasional bag of French fries, etc.), loads of veggies, and whatever our pantry/condiments rack/seasonings cabinet could use. But then I don’t know what to do with it all!
So lately I’ve been turning to the internet for suggestions and meat-specific or preparation-specific (slow cooker, for example) meals. The other night I was watching TV, and while I ignored the commercials about insurance quotes, I sort-of listened to ones about Pillsbury. And… I’m happy to report that Pillsbury and their awesome bread bowl beef stew was more than able to help me out. The meal was cheap, fun and easy to prepare, and the results were superbly delicious!
Prep: 15 minutes (cutting meat up, dicing potatoes, preparing the gravy & water mix, measuring out spices, etc.)
Cooking time: 15ish minutes in the pan, 30ish minutes in the oven
Total meal time: 1 hour
Have I really had my Swiffer WetJet for a month now? It looks like I have! And in the last month my Swiffer has certainly gotten a lot of use. Once a week I use a regular mop and a sink full of hot water and floor cleanser to do a thorough scrub-down of my kitchen floors and bathrooms, but the Swiffer definitely gets plenty of use for the minor in-between spills. Dog accidents (1), hairball residue (2), random spills of milk and juice (too numerous to remember), and bits of this and that — the Swiffer has taken care of all of it with gusto! I wish I had its energy when it came to finding a free life insurance quote, since that’s one thing I keep putting off doing!
I really like the mop pads that come with the Swiffer. I also really like the fact that they stay put. One thing I remember about the old Swiffer WetJet that I had five or so years back is that the mop pads tended to come loose, particularly if they were wet. So far I’ve gone through six pads, and none have shown even the barest hint that they were about to go AWOL.
The cleanser that comes with the Swiffer WetJet is also very nice. It cleans nicely, has a light and pleasant scent, and doesn’t leave behind a sticky residue, as other floor cleansers are often wont to do.
In summary, I’m very happy with my Swiffer WetJet, and it’s a permanent addition to our household.
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Say hello to Ares. He is a stray cat that my husband and I took in last week. My husband found him pawing at our front door last Friday night, and he returned to our back door on Saturday afternoon. When I brought him in (he wanted to come in on Friday night, but our children, two of the cats and our dog crowding at the door scared him off), he was cold, dirty, matted with a bit of road grunge, and his fur was infested with flea feces, a few live fleas, and general outside debris. I isolated him in our bathroom while my husband and I decided what to do with him. Obviously, we decided to keep him. The next day I bathed him, picked off the few semi-alive fleas that I found on him after his bath, cleaned out his ears, applied a bit of Neosporin to a small wound on his ear, clipped his nails, and put a flea collar on him.
Obviously Ares was a stray, but I dutifully put up a few signs around our neighborhood. Surprise surprise, those signs will have been up for a week tomorrow, and not one person has called to claim him. Meanwhile, he has settled in nicely in our home, and gets along with the other four cats and our dog. He’s outgoing, friendly, and is very affectionate to my husband and I, and our two children (who are three and five). He sleeps in our daughter’s room or with us most nights, though he usually heads into the kitchen and lets out some random meows and howls in the middle of the night.
Anyway, the point I’m getting to is that Ares is most likely the result of stray cats, or pet cats that have been let out of doors (something I don’t agree with; but that’s another blog entry altogether). When he came to us, he wasn’t neutered (something I intend on rectifying this week), and clearly wasn’t owned. He’s also young; I’d say no more than a year old.
SPAY AND NEUTER YOUR PETS, PEOPLE. Even if your pets are indoors-only, you should still have them sterilized, because there is always a risk of them getting out. I have unfortunately seen the firsthand results of unfixed cats reproducing, and it isn’t pretty.
From The Humane Society:
Stopping pet overpopulation starts with you!
Spaying or neutering your pet is an important decision for pet owners. As animal lovers who value our pets, it is important to understand the impact of this decision.
In every community, in every state, there are homeless animals. In the U.S. as a whole, there are an estimated 6-8 million homeless animals entering animal shelters every year. About half of these animals are adopted, and tragically, the other half are euthanized. These are healthy, sweet pets who would have made great companions.
The number of homeless animals varies by state—in some states there are as many as 300,000 homeless animals euthanized in animal shelters every year. These are not the offspring of homeless “street” animals—these are the puppies and kittens of cherished family pets and even purebreds.
Many people believe that their pet’s puppies or kittens would never become homeless shelter animals. But the reality is that every time the dog finds his way under the fence to visit the neighbor’s female dog, or the indoor/outdoor cat comes back home pregnant again, the result is a litter of dogs or cats. Even if they are placed into homes, it is still possible for them to end up in shelters once they become “hard to handle,” or for them to reproduce further and for the next generation of puppies or kittens to wind up homeless.
Many people are surprised to learn that nationwide more than 3 million cats and dogs are euthanized in shelters. Spay/neuter is the only permanent, 100-percent effective method of birth control for dogs and cats.
As a post-op gastric bypass patient, my biggest nutritional need is protein. It’s also the one that, thus far, I have been seriously slacking on maintaining. But not any more! I’ve exceeded my daily protein goal three days in a row now, thanks to Perfect Isopure Whey Protein Isolate! I finally got around to trying out the samples of it, as well as Inspire Pure Whey Protein Isolate, and they’re absolutely fantastic. Now, that’s not to say that they’re so delicious that they rival standard chocolate milk and smoothies, but they’re definitely tasty. the powder dissolves quite nicely in water or milk, and the lumps that are sometimes left behind aren’t nearly as bad or as gritty as the lumps I’ve unfortunately bit into from other protein powders.
Bottom line? Perfect Isopure Whey Protein Isolate is the way to go. It’s pricey, yes, but you get what you pay for!
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I’m a sucker for intense, vibrant colors and glitter. Two weeks ago I happened to be in Walmart, and since I had time to kill, I wandered over to the cosmetics section to pick up some makeup remover wipes. While I was there, I noticed the Hard Candy display, and was immediately pulled in. I managed to restrain myself, however, and only walked away with two Hard Candy Kaleyedescope Baked Eyeshadow Duos. Each duo features two vibrant colors that have been “baked”, rather than “pressed”. The shadows are made up of rich pigments, and can be applied dry for a shimmery, subtle effect, or wet, for a more dramatic look.
Any of you who have read any of my past makeup reviews or have seen my photos on Flickr should know that I am all about the more dramatic look. But I didn’t bother to apply the shadows wet. Instead, I simply applied them over my normal primer (Too Faced Shadow Insurance) and was good to go. The colors are indeed bright and vibrant, and it only takes one layer to create eyes that pop. The shadow is long lasting, too. In fact, I really have to work at my eyelids with makeup remover cloths to get it off.
Bottom line? At $5 a pop, the Hard Candy Kaleyedescope Baked Eyeshadow Duos are definitely a great deal. Highly pigmented shadows are great because a little goes a long way, and there’s a generous amount of shadow packed in each duo.
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As a full time freelance writer & web designer, wife, housewife, and mother of two small children — one of which is autistic — you can imagine that my days are pretty hectic. Some days are downright exhausting. And some health issues I’m currently having are both causing and contributing my fatigue, so believe it when I say that by 8:00pm, I’m more than ready for bed.
But obviously, 8:00pm is WAY too early to call it a night. For one thing, that’s when my kids go to bed, and after they’re down for the count I usually tidy up the house, do dishes, do a few loads of laundry, and then kick back and relax myself. Essentially, I fight the urge to sleep. But then when I do want to relax, or relax enough to go to sleep, I find that I can’t. I’m too pent up and too wired to just lay back and unwind, either with a movie, a book, or my husband.
In the past I have taken a half dose of Nyquil, and on a few occasions I gave in to my husband’s teasings and urgings and had a small alcoholic drink, or a shot (it doesn’t take a lot of alcohol to make me drowsy). But self-medicating with cold meds or alcohol isn’t a brilliant idea, which is why I don’t partake in it very often.
So when the makers of Minichill contacted me and asked if I would be interested in trying their product, I jumped at the chance. Minichill is the exact opposite of an energy drink. It’s a special blend of amino acids and herbs that help you de-stress, relax and focus, without inducing drowsiness. Minichill is sugar-free (good for me, being a post-op gastric bypass patient), and of course caffeine-free. It also has zero calories, and is berry-flavored so that it’ll taste good going down.
Minichill is fast-acting, though it requires that you take the 2 oz. drink like a shot in order to be most effective. I won’t be able to do that, as guzzling liquids of any sort, least of all liquids that will enter my blood stream and alter my mood or state of being, is a definite gastric bypass no-no. I’ll have to sip mine, but I’ll be sure to have my husband take an entire shot.
