Lose it Right

Losing weight is not an easy thing and it can be very frustrating and cause feelings of failure when it doesn't work. However, it does not need to be that way. There are many natural ways to kick start your metabolism. Coconut oil for instance, when used at a rate of 3 tablespoons per day, it is said to speed up your metabolism greatly. And there are many drugs on the market to help you out, but even the best fat burner can't compete with a poor diet. Chocolate cake for breakfast, McDonald's for lunch and a salad for dinner followed by ice cream is just not going to cut it!

Choose healthy meals and healthy snacks. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables as fillers with small amounts of protein and carbs for the energy you need to get through the day and not feel hungry. An apple and peanut butter make a great snack. A piece of toast, a banana and a cup of low-fat yogurt is a yummy and healthy breakfast and go easy on dinner. Then that piece of chocolate cake once in awhile is a necessity for everyone, but daily it is nothing more that a sand trap for even the best dieter.

So take a minute to look through your cupboards. Are they stocked with healthy, quick grab snacks, or are they filled with high calorie, high sugar, fill you up fast but leave you hungry in 10 minutes treats? Now is a great time to make the effort to clean out your cupboards and stock them appropriately. You be very glad you did next time the mid-day munchies sneak up on you.

Free Summer Fun Activities

Here is a great way to kick up your fun this summer. The R.A.M.P. program in Weber County has opened up a world of opportunities for families finding themselves on suddenly tight budgets and in these dire economic times, that is more than a few of us. They are opening various facilities in Weber County every Saturday free of charge. I am really excited to be able to take my family on some of these outings.

Link to http://www.co.weber.ut.us/ramp/PDFs/summer%20schedule%202009.pdf and you can see a listing of all the available facilities and the dates for free admission. There are some really exciting ones like the Roy Aquatic Center, BSA Ropes Challenge Course and The Ice Sheet to name just a few. Spend your summer having fun, get out and go!

Sharing Embarrassing Moments

I had a friend tell me the other day that she had heard that sharing embarrassing moments with friends was a great way to make them less embarrassing to you. So over lunch at our favorite hang out (McDonald's, of course!) she shared with me the details of her most recent date. Lets just say it didn't go very well at all. This wonderful guy she had just met had invited her to a party in which everyone was supposed to dress as the opposite sex and go to the "prom". I guess it was really alot of fun, men in prom dresses and women in tux's.

As the night wore on, it got hot and stuffy so she took off her jacket. Well, part of the party involved water balloon volleyball. (If you have never played before, it's alot of fun. It involved a volleyball net and passing water balloons back and forth using towels.) They enjoyed a lovely game of water volleyball until it happened! She got hit, square on with a huge water balloon. She was soaked and it was at that time that she, and her date, realized that under her white tuxedo shirt she had made the mistake of wearing a black bra and she had left her jacket across the yard and inside the house. She was very embarrassed, but said that her date handled it like a true gentleman. He wrapped the towel they had been using to play around her and quickly ushered her inside and waited until she had dried herself off and was presentable again.

He then decided that he had had enough of the Prom dress as well and he took her home to change before taking her out to a lovely dinner.


I don't know if she feels any less embarrassed about the situation for having confided it in me, but I feel a whole lot better now that my sides have stopped hurting from laughing so hard. Hopefully soon, she'll stop rejecting my phone calls and talk to me again.

Summer is Here, Electronics are In

Summer is upon us and with that comes lots of children with lots of time on their hands. So that leads me to this particular post.

In this day and age, electronics rule our world. They are every where we go, involved in everything we do and they occupy our every waking moment. However, that does not mean that they need to be our constant source of entertainment.

Now, I'm not saying that you should hide the Nintendo Wii or lock up the computer. Actually the opposite. Make time each day for your children (and yourself) to spend time playing video games and working or playing on the computer. The video games are a great way to build hand-eye coordination and the computer is a necessity of daily life. But set time limits. One hour each day and then it's outside to play.


And finding yourself outside doesn't mean that the electronics get left behind either. Bring along your ipod when you go for a walk, especially in the city. The music will be a beautiful distraction to the noise of city life. On a nature walk, bring your blackberry or PDA and record what you are seeing and doing. It will be a wonderful memory during the cold dreary months.

Take pictures and upload them to your computer as a screen saver or on your digital photo frame. Record the sounds of nature and upload them to your ipod to listen to as you are falling asleep.

Getting outside doesn't mean leaving the electronic behind, but in our world it means incorporating them. So take your electronics and get those kids outside! Enjoy your summer!

Modernize Your Kitchen

One of the coolest new ways to modernize your kitchen is with a new zero radius sinks and matching cutting board. These beautiful sinks are wonderfully functional as well as elegant. They can give a new, modern look to any residential kitchen with minimal effort and minimal expense. They will add an elegant, functional appeal to any kitchen.

Curb The Hunger Naturally

The fastest cure for any diet is hunger. I don't care what kind of diet you are on, whether it be diabetic, weight loss or gluten free, as soon as you start to feel like you are starving your natural instincts to feed yourself kick in and your self control goes out the window!

So how in the world are you supposed to lose weight if you are hungry all the time? You have to find the right appetite suppressant. You can try drugs or you can go natural. Try some of these on for size: Dark Chocolate has been shown to curb cravings, suppress appetite and increase happiness! Apples, Probably the #1 best appetite suppressant. Celery has long been known to burn more calories eating it than it actually has. Oatmeal is high in carbohydrates, which are burned slowly as energy, you will feel fuller longer and the fiber helps it to last even longer. Flax Seeds are high in omega-3's and fiber and you wont even notice them in your breads, oatmeal, yogurt and trail mix.

So take the drugs out of your diet and add some of these healthy and delicious alternatives to your weight loss routine.

What is Education?

I read a couple quotes by Albert Einstein that got me thinking. He said "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." He also said "It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education."

I started thinking about my youngest son and how hard he is struggling against the "system". He doesn't want to conform. He doesn't want to be forced to learn what someone else thinks he needs. He wants to branch out on his own. Learn what interests him. And he wants to do it his way.

I look at all of my kids. Some are great in school, some do well, some struggle and some just get by. But I look at them and I see so much potential. Potential to be whatever they want to be. Potential to be an expert in whatever they choose. But I also see a system that can not allow them to choose. They have to learn to read NOW! They can not wait until they are ready because the teachers do not have the time to deal with children that can not teach themselves by reading it. I see a system that teaches children that their ideas of how thing should/could or might work is wrong because someone already looked into it and found out that it works another way. There's no use in trying it out for yourself. I see a system that takes nice round children and shoves them with all their might through a square hole and on the other side, our most mold able, darling children have been purposefully shaped into what the "system" wants them to be. They are looking forward to administrative careers, doctors, lawyers, nurses or IT administrators. Where are our pyrotechnics? What about our Roller Coaster Builders? Our treasure hunters? And how about our designers?

I remember when I transferred from a private school into public education. It was a very difficult transition. Suddenly I was a round child and I wanted nothing to do with that square hole. Not only did I have big dreams, I had been allowed to learn at my own pace. I was excelling in what I enjoyed and just mediocre in that which I did not. The "system" did not quite know what to do with a 5th grade child that could read at a 12th grade level. Their solution was for me to just wait until everyone else caught up. The end result: I was Bored. A bored child is never a good thing. It just always leads to trouble.

Then came the dream crushing. In my private school I could grow up to be whatever I wanted to be! I could be an astronaut, a fighter pilot or an explorer. I could even be a Mommy if I wanted to. And I wanted to! In private school they explained to me all about how I would need to know how to read well to be able to read bedtime stories to my own children. How I would need to know alot of Math to be able to run a checking account and a household and even help my own children with their homework one day. And I would need to know my history so I can teach my children about their heritage. I needed to know more than anyone else... in order to be a Mommy.

I did well in everything. I worked hard beacuse I wanted to know enough to be the best Mommy ever. Then came public school and in 7th grade we were required to decide what we wanted to do with the rest of our lives. At 12 years old we had had enough experience to decide what we were going to do for the next 60 years. But I already knew. I was going to be a Mommy. Then it happened... I still remember looking at the half smirk half frown on the counslors face when he said, "You can't be a Mommy. You need to pick a real career." I was totally confused. Why was being a Mommy not enough? But I quickly pulled myself together and announced that if I could not be a Mommy, I would be a Pilot and travel the world. Again, the ha;f smirk, half frown but with a few more wrinkles this time, he was starting to get impatient with me. His answer: "You can not be a pilot, you are a girl." Strike two. What is a good career for a girl then? A Nurse! That was it! I would be a nurse. That obviously made him happy. And I was on my way to becoming a nurse. My courses of study were laid out for me and my path was chosen. I would make a great Nurse.....

WRONG! I hate nursing. I hate it with every fiber of my being. I followed that course that my counslor had set out for me and I really did try to be a great nurse. But I hated biology and narrowly managed to avoid having to disect any small creatures. I go tmy CNA and then my HHA and started into my LPN classes when it hit me. This is not my choice. I do not want to be a nurse. I have never wanted to be a nurse. I want to be a Mommy! And with that I quit. I quit my job at the nursing home. I quit my LPN classes. And I quit pretending that Nursing was what I wanted to do.

I have been home raising my children ever since. Picking up small, part time jobs here and there to help out and loving every minute (well, almost every minute) of my life as a Mommy!

And back to looking at my kids. How are they going to turn out? Does Big C really want to be a K-9 officer, or is there another desire, hidden in the depths of his dreams, afraid to surface, knowing that it is not the mainstream. And my Little Man, will he come out of 1st grade still longing to find out how and why? Where and what? Or will he have been forced to conform? Forced to accept the fact that everyone knows better than he? And my beautiful girls? Will they look to being a football player? A Pilot? Or a Roller Coaster Builder? Or will they sucumb to the pressure of a school counslor or a teacher telling them that they are better suited to being a Dental Assistant or an Administrative assistant? And me. Will I continue to allow it to happen, or will I be the Mommy I always wanted to be and make sure that my children have every opportunity to thrive, however they thrive best?

New Cell Phones

Here's a tip for anyone out there that didn't already know (i.e. people like me), if you have had your phone for over a year and are ready to replace it, Call Your Provider.

I found out that most companies offer upgrade services for their customers. I found this out when my husbands cell phone started having troubles. I'm not exactly sure what the problem was, if his phone could not make a connection with the cell tower or the satellite or whatever, but for some reason it would only send/receive calls and texts about 50% of the time. So after many lengthy calls to AT&T, being lied to about the length of the warranty and finally finding out that he was under warranty when I started dealing with this whole mess but is now not under warranty any longer. A very nice gentleman at AT&T informed me that he was eligible for an upgrade meaning that he could get a new phone at little or no charge by just extending our contract out another 2 years. Not a bad deal. (especially since he waived all the fees associated with it due to the warranty situation!).

So for those of you wishing to update your old phone, call your service provider and see if they have an upgrade plan available to you.

Education in Education

For any mother, getting an education is tough, but necessary. And what better field to get your degree in than education? Your children will need you to have that information when they bring home their homework and if you end up needing to work, what better place than in your own child's school?

That being said, I have spent some time recently looking into getting a degree in Elementary Education. I have always thought that being a teacher would be great and I love education and children. However, I have never liked the system. I'm not sure that getting into the middle of it would be the best idea.

I found St. Xavier online university that looks like it would be a great option for anyone that is looking at getting their MS Instruction from home. They offer a masters program in curriculum and instruction that could help you further your career in education even. They offer key components such as a focus on literacy, diversity, integration of technology and an interdisciplinary perspective in education. This course examines integration of the theories of curriculum and instruction, learning, growth and development, the implementation of technology and research, and the application of assessment into the practice of developing and delivering an effective curriculum for K-12 classrooms, college, and other educational arena. All of which are great in a classroom and even better in your home. Not to mention, they are accredited so your degree will be recognized.

They offer flexible schedules to work around your busy lifestyle. So really there is no good reason not to get your degree.

Spring Fling

Spring is here and Spring cleaning is upon us and the house is not the only thing needing a little TLC. Now is the time to take your sweetheart and spend some time getting to know one another again. As we move from the winter vacations into summer vacations the intermittent spring time brings slower times for the hospitality industry so you start to see some amazing packages and specials. Here are my picks for the Utah area:

Eden
Spring Skiing at Wolfcreek:
$199 Per Couple, Per Night Includes:
Luxury Lodging
Massages for Two
Two Lift Tickets to Wolf Creek Utah Ski Resort
$100 Club Dining Certificate
Continental Breakfast
*Based on double occupancy. Minimum two night stay. Offer does not include taxes or gratuities, excludes holidays and is subject to availability.

Moab
Upgraded Rock & River at Big Horn Lodge:
$294.95 per person (based on double occupancy)
reg rate $369.95

3 Nights Lodging for two
Full day Raft on the Colorado River with Lunch
2 hour Hummer Tour
Your choice of:
Horseback Riding
Fiery Furnace Hike in Arches National Park

St. George
Signature Package at Red Mountain Resort & Spa:

The popular spa program from $199 per person, per night, double occupancy
Deluxe Accommodations with High-Speed Internet Service
Three Delicious & Nutritious Meals Daily
Daily Guided Morning Hikes
Unlimited Fitness Classes including Yoga, Pilates, Chi Ball & Drums Alive
Healthy Life Classes & Events at the Wellness Center
Personal Discovery Activities ~ Meditation Hikes, Fire Ceremonies, Tai Chi on the Rocks & More
Eat Well, Feel Well Cooking Demonstrations
Use of Resort Facilities including Indoor and Seasonal Outdoor Pools, Bicycles, Walking Trails, Strength & Cardio Studios

There are just a few of the best so grab the sexy lingerie and your sweetheart of choice and go find out what you have been missing all winter long.

April Foolin' Around

The idea of april fools day seems to have come about near the beginning of the 16th century when Pope Gregory XIII ordered that the old Julian calander, which celebrated the new year on April 1st, be replaced with the gregorian calendar that we use today which celebrates the new year on January 1st. Rumor has it that the French adopted the new calendar right away, but peasents in the outlying areas did not get word of this and continued to celebrate the New Year on April 1st and were soon looked upon as "Fools" by the upper class. Once all was settled, they decided to continue the practice as a day of fun and joy and April Fool's Day was born!

For April Fool's Day this year, I made a dinner my family will not soon forget! I made Not Chicken Pot Pies for "Dinner". They were made from small potpie tins filled with green mini m&m's (peas), papaya dices (carrots), yellow starburst pieces (corn), banana dices (potatoes) and dried apple ring pieces (chicken) and covered in butterscotch pudding (gravy). Then covered with *mini, precooked pie shells made to look like pot pie tops. They looked SO realistic I fooled everyone!

By the time I got out "Dessert" they were all pretty suspicious. My oldest guessed right away that my "cake" was not what it seemed. And was he ever right! It was a "beef cake" as my husband called it. I filled 2 8" cake pans with meatloaf and cooked for 30 minutes on 375, drained off the grease, and layered them on top of each other with shredded cheese in the middle. Then I "frosted" my cake with mashed potatoes that I had colored blue. With a large decorator tip and bag full of colored mashed potatoes, I accented the edges with mashed potato shells. It did look very convincing.

But the best part of the whole evening is when my husband decided that he had had enough fun and it was time for a drink. He picked up his glass to try the "fruit juice" that I had served, only to set his cup back down with a groan and a roll of his eyes. He found out the hard way that the "fruit juice" was actually a cup full of jello and he would be pretty hard pressed to get a good drink out of that cup!

It was really a night to remember for the whole family! Happy April Fools Day!

Financial Jobs Available

In this tough economy, I figured I would throw this out. Please be forewarned, THIS IS NOT A WORK AT HOME OPPORTUNITY! While most of my posts are centered at the stay at home Mom, this one is different. This is directed at those mom's that have to work outside the home to make ends meet, or at Father's trying to find a job in these tough times.

Financial jobs, investment banker jobs and accounting jobs can easily be found at www.financialjobbank.com. If your specialty is in the financial industry, this is a website dedicated to helping you find a job in this economy. Check it out and the Best of Luck to you!

Online Shopping: Buy.com

I love Buy.com. It is so simple, it's so easy and it's SO inexpensive! They have tons of wonderful products on Sale and only a handful of times, have I not been able to find what I was looking for, but then, I didn't really expect them to have accessories for my kids swing set anyway!

I love their selection of name brand kitchen appliances and their prices usually can beat Walmart, Kmart or Target. They have a HUGE selection of electronics and just about everything else you can imagine! But the best part is, I have never seen them be out of stock on anything! Their shipping is fast and reliable and I have been very happy with every transaction I have completed with them.

Making Your Money Stretch

With the economy in a downward spiral and no blue sky in site, we, as mothers, are having to stretch every dollar farther than ever before. Every time you seem to get everything in order, the washing machine breaks or the bearings go out in your van. Repairs are costly and you find yourself trying to determine if you are going to make the repairs or buy food.

For most people, that is not an easy situation. But in Utah, a big thing is food storage. It is part of an LDS prophesy, that there will come a time that God will destroy all crops from the earth just before the resurrection. The LDS have been warned to be faithful and keep one years supply of food on hand.

While this is great in a disaster, it is also a good rule of thumb for anyone and everyone. Religious or not. Whether you believe that the earth will be void of all food or not, keeping a 1 year supply of food on hand is a smart idea. If you are laid off from work, injured and not able to work or just short on cash one month, what ever the situation, you will not have to worry about food. You will have enough food to sustain you for a full year and you can focus on other pressing issues, like car payments and mortgages.

So here is my "Making Your Money Stretch" tip for the day....

LDS or not, religious or not, make a wise decision for your family, protect them from whatever the future might hold and make sure that they will always be fed. Get a minimum of 1 years worth of food and keep it stored in your home at all times. Use it when you need it and cycle through it regularly when you don't. It will lighten up the stress on any economic hardtime you find yourself facing.

Save Some Green

Children, although they are darling little creatures, are also very, very expensive. And for those of you with the cute little pink and snugly models, take it from a parent of a pre-teen.... Really, it can and WILL get more expensive! You think diapers and powdered gold, whoops, I mean Formula are expensive, just wait! Soon will come, football ($500 per year easily), Dance (easily $1000 per year), Ice skating, soccer, girl and boy scouts, camps, school and more. Much much more! Then come the holidays where gone are the days where a simple $3 toy or an empty egg carton for that matter will suffice! Nope, now we are getting asked for things like cellphones, ipods and Nintendo Wii's! Ouch!

So, for those of you not privlidged enough to raise a child with Donald Trupms income, here are come tips that have made my dollar stretch to it's absolute breaking point!

1. Shop the sales. I know that sounds like the same old thing, but I am very serious! I have three girls that are totally into Hannah Montana and her clothes and accessories, bedding and bikes are priced out of this world! I have found that they are just as happy when I buy a shirt for $30 as when I buy it on sale for $10. And my son, he has to have the most expensive, name brand shoes. $100 minimum! Unless I can find them on sale. He doesn't care what they cost, just that they make him look cool at school. (Which at this age is a very important thing for children)

2. Use coupons and promotion codes. There are many, many websites out there that offer coupons and promotion codes. www.promotioncodes.com for starters offers promotion codes for many of the major online retailers. And if you are in Utah www.grocerysmarts.com does all the work for you matching up store sale ads with manufactures coupons, resulting in a boat load of savings! I actually picked up 12 boxes of Kellogs cereal last Friday for $0.50 per box!!! And alot of items end up being free with your coupons!

3. E-Bay it! If you are looking for a hard to find or terribly overpriced item, it's likely that you can find it on ebay and at a reasonable price. I have used ebay for years and have only had one problem with a transaction and they cleared it up, faulted the seller and returned my money to me promptly. Then went about dealing with the seller. Ebay is a wonderful and safe place to shop and find great deals!

4. Shop the off season. Now is not the time to run out and buy your childrens summer wardrobe! That was last fall. Now is the perfect time to pick up their school clothes for next school year. Now is when the stores introduce their new lines of summer fashions and deeply discount those fall and winter clothes that have been hanging around since last March. Now is the perfect time to outfit your children in winter coats and snowboots, sweaters and long sleeved shirts. Pick up a cute summer dress while your shopping, but leave the majority of the summer clothes shopping for August or September!

Can You Spot The Problem?

I just wanted to see how many people can spot the problem with this and how many would just sweep it under the area rugs in their brains and get excited that they are getting a great deal? I am really hoping that we have not gotten so jaded to things like this that we really do even notice it anymore.

Do You Have a Good Yeast Doughnut Recipe?

I need help. I need to find a good yeast doughnut recipe. My husband and children love doughnuts, cake or yeast. I have found a fantastic cake doughnut recipe but as of yet, I have not found a good yeast doughnut recipe. I am looking for a recipe that is easy, quick and great tasting. I know they do not always go together, but the closer I can come the better.

So here's the deal. If you are willing to comment with your best recipes, I will try them all and judge them. For the best recipe I will send you a prize pack of cooking gizmo's worth $15. Please be sure to include your recipe and your web address or e-mail so I can contact you if you win.

I will accept entries until the end of March 2009. Then I will try each recipe and announce the winner on or about April 17th, 2009.

*I retain the right to publish any recipes sent during this contest and use the recipes in any way I see fit, with right's going to the original creator. Please be sure to give credit where credit is due.

Legit Work at Home Opportunity

I have a friend that has been hired by a company called Cloud10. They are a work from home, tele-commuting company with many different client options to work for. They will pay you minimum wage (I believe) throughout your sales training and program specific training. Then you would move onto your specific program where you can usually make $8 - $9 per hour working from the convenience and comfort of your own home.

One word of caution... If you want to work from home, you really, really have to want it! It is not easy to get your foot in the door. The hours are usually miserable to begin with and the training can be brutal. But once you have your foot in the door and have been on the job for 6 months to a year, that is when it starts to get easier, the hours get more flexible and the jobs gets easier.

Peace at Home

Love at Home is directly related to Peace at Home. Keeping the peace at home can be difficult but one thing that I have noticed is that the noise level in the house will directly affect the level of peace and comfort in the home. As the television get turned up louder or the radio gets louder, the children get louder, the pets get louder and then the parents get louder and the home becomes a place of Chaos rather than Peace.

Here are some ideas to lower the Chaos and increase the Peace:

1. Have designated areas. If your TV room is also the children's playroom, you have no choice but to turn up the tube to hear over the children's laughter. The result will be arguments over the noise level. Rectify this problem by making sure that the children have a place to play, laugh and giggle without having to worry about bothering Dad or Sis. And have the television room in a seperate area where the volume can be kept down without having to compete with happy children sounds.

2. Try to train your pets. Pets in homes make for happy memories, if they are well trained! Pets with behavior issues cause nothing but stress. Torn up furniture, constant barking and/or smelly messes are all things to send anyone running and pulling their hair out.

3. Put a damper on the sound. Noise is bad enough in a home with carpeting, but if you have wood or tile floors, you know how little sounds can be amplified many, many times. The easiest way to solve this problem is to add area rugs to warm the area and dampen the echoing noise.

4. Teach everyone to speak softly. If everyone learns to speak softly then the whole home will feel more comfortable and you will always have Peace at Home.

Caring for Your Family

Taking care of your family after you are gone is an important issue to many people, but most of us have not taken the necessary steps to actually do it. We all have small policy's that will pay $1000 here or there if we were to pass away. But are you aware that a small funeral can typically cost $7500 or more? Then there are all the bills that you have left behind. Will your life insurance policy cover that?

Take a look at your current financial situation. If you were to die tomorrow, what would your family need to be able to survive without you? How much do you make each month? What are your bills? How long will your spouse need to be off work to care for the children, home and funeral?

Take all of that into account and then check out term life insurance at wholesale insurance. See how much you can get and how much you can afford.