Sites to See Category
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
One of my favorite quick and easy meals is lasagna…from a box. I know, I know! I do enjoy making lasagna but sometimes I just don’t want to put all of the effort into it. And frankly, my lasagna is hit or miss. I haven’t found a recipe that consistently turns out really good for me. Enter Stouffer’s, with their various versions of lasagna, all of which are delicious and easy. Now that they are preservative free, I like them even more and feel a little less guilty about serving them to my family.
Last month they were on sale at Food Lion (2 for $10) and I bought several to have on hand for days when the meat doesn’t thaw or things get busy. I’ll be single parenting a couple of nights this week while my husband is involved in other things, so I’m looking forward to lasagna one night already. Add some garlic bread and a salad and you have a super quick and easy meal. It’s a favorite at my house! What’s your family’s favorite quick and easy meal?
(And just to be clear in case you are the FTC, I received no compensation for this post. However, if you are from Stouffer’s I’d gladly take a truckload of free meals and be happy to review them all for you.)
Posted in Food/Recipes, Sites to See, Tasty Tuesday | No Comments »
Monday, October 12th, 2009
This week, I vow to not make sandwiches or cereal for dinner. (Not that I would EVER do something like that!) Instead, I am making a meal plan now, taking out the meat that will need to thaw for each night, and making sure I have all of the ingredients.
Tonight’s dinner is a whole chicken in the crock pot, and I can’t wait. It’s already in there and smells so yummy! As for the rest of the nights this week, I don’t know. I need to evaluate our meat situation and hop over to the Ingredient Search at allrecipes to see what I can put together with what I have on hand. With any luck, I’ll escape the every-other-day trips to the grocery store for this thing or that thing so I save some money.
What’s on your plate this week?
Posted in Food/Recipes, Motivation Monday, Sites to See, Weekly Menu Plan | 3 Comments »
Friday, September 4th, 2009
Funny blogs can sometimes turn my day around. If you need a pick me up, check out one of these:
What funny blogs do you like? I can always use a little more humor in my day!
Posted in Fun Stuff Friday, Sites to See | 1 Comment »
Friday, August 28th, 2009
This one’s a little late and won’t last much longer, but you may be able to get a few games in! Last Friday my oldest son had a day off of school and we intended to take a day trip to the beach. But then we were concerned about rough water due to Hurricane Bill and scrapped our plans the night before. My husband had already planned the day off, so he wanted to do something anyway. I dug through some old emails and found one a friend had sent about free kids bowling for the summer. My oldest has been invited to a couple of bowling parties recently and really enjoyed them so I thought that sounded like a winning plan.
The website is http://www.kidsbowlfree.com. The closest free bowling location to Sanford was in Cary, so we printed the coupons, loaded up the van, and headed up Highway 1. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw a sign on the door that said the bowling alley was now smoke free, since having 3 kids with asthma makes me more than a little paranoid about them breathing cigarette smoke. It was clean, the employees were great, and the kids had a lot of fun.
I think this is good through August 31, so if you have a chance to do it in the next few days, it’s worth the trip to Cary!
Posted in Free Stuff, Fun Stuff Friday, Sites to See | No Comments »
Monday, August 24th, 2009
Today is the day I can log in to Blackboard and start my fall classes. On tap this semester is a math class and a computer class. I’m no math whiz, but I have always been able to get through with an A or B. (Except pre-calc…I got a low C and was just thrilled I didn’t fail completely. Still don’t understand the concepts.) And computers…well, clearly I’m comfortable with those.
And yet, when I logged in this morning and read the syllabi (syllabuses?) I started having a panic attack. And just in case this doesn’t sound familiar to you, I assure you it happened last semester, too. When I read about writing papers! and taking tests! I had the OMG, why did I think I could do this??? panic attack and almost withdrew right then and there.
We all know how that one turned out, though. If you don’t, you can go back to this post and see. Yeah, there was no reason to worry. But the Fear and Self-Doubt are back and compounded by the “I budgeted money for books but then had to pay to get the car fixed and thought I could do without them but looks like I can’t” problem. I need to come up with about $200 (and yes, I checked other sources to see if I could get them cheaper…not by much, and then I have to pay shipping) or pray that someone on FreeCycle has some they can offer me. God has provided before and I believe He will again, but the worry of that and everything else has had my heart pounding and my stomach rolling all morning long.
When I called my husband and proceeded to tell him that there was a final exam that I have to take on campus WITHOUT the book and that I hadn’t done math in over 10 years and there was NO WAY I could pass this class, he (I assume, because I know him so well!) rolled his eyes and said “Don’t you have an entire semester to learn how to do this stuff before the final?” Um, yeah…I guess I do.
Let the learning commence. It’s a new semester!
Posted in Back to School, Me Stuff, Money/Finances, Rambling, Sites to See | No Comments »
Friday, August 21st, 2009
Marbles is located in downtown Raleigh, so it’s a bit of a drive for us Sanford residents. But it is definitely worth the trip! We first went a few years ago when we’d first moved here and were wholly unimpressed. The exhibits weren’t very good for a preschool age child and there just wasn’t much to do. They remodeled a couple of years ago and that has all changed! There are plenty of things to do for children of all ages…even the baby had fun playing in the floor of the baby area. (Well, until a bunch of toddlers came in and walked all over her. But this was the fault of the rude and tacky parents, not the museum.) The boys played dress up, pretended to be pirates, doctors, firefighters, animals, and much more. There was water play, a peas and carrots ball pit, a hockey rink, and a pirate ship to climb on. Best of all, this was all incorporated into a learning experience!
It will cost you $5 for every person over the age of 1 who wants to go in. If you have a Food Lion card, you can show it on Wednesdays to get $1 off admission. It’s definitely worth the drive and the cost of admission.
for more info: http://www.marbleskidsmuseum.org/
Posted in Fun Stuff Friday, Sites to See | No Comments »
Thursday, August 6th, 2009
So I mentioned the zoo last week for FSF (That’s Fun Stuff Friday!) and today I’m talking about something that you also have access to with the zoo membership…the 3 North Carolina Aquariums. One of our “Learning Adventure” days this summer was a mini-vacation that included a day at the beach with a friend of mine who goes all the way back to middle school days, then a trip to the aquarium at Fort Fisher and a ferry ride on the way home. This was a very inexpensive trip for us. We hung out at her parent’s beach house on the beach day, then drove down to Wilmington where we’d gotten a hotel room for $30 (gotta love priceline.com!), were admitted free to the aquarium with our NC Zoo Society card, and then paid $5 (I think, may be a bit higher or lower) for the ferry. It was a great trip and cost us very little out of pocket, even once we factored in gas.
The aquarium we went to was great. We got to see an albino alligator (beautiful animal!), turtles, ducks, fish and much, much more. It was a lot of fun for the boys, and mom and dad enjoyed it as well! It is a bit of a drive (the others are even farther away, but we hope to be able to afford some more mini-trips at some point to see them) so if you can turn it into a mini-vacation I highly suggest it. Nobody likes being stuck in the car with cranky kids for 6+ hours in a day!
Overall, I recommend them, especially if your family can be admitted at no charge!
Posted in Fun Stuff Friday, Parenting, Sites to See, Travel | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009
Several weeks ago, I found out about a new cloth diaper that was just released. After reading more, I was really intrigued and dying to try one out. We didn’t have the funds to purchase one, so I took a giant leap and emailed the company asking if they’d give me one to try and review in my blog. This can be hard, because if you don’t love it you’re potentially hurting a company that was so cool that they gave you a product that you need/want! Anyway, they were kind enough to send me a diaper to try and now I get to give you my review!
I’m going to start out by saying that I loved my Smartipants! There was absolutely nothing to worry about because they totally lived up to my expectations. Can’t recommend them enough, really. If you’re looking for an easy cloth diaper, it doesn’t get better than this.
Now, to go through the top 3 features that I really liked…
- First, they are easy, easy, easy to care for. One thing I despise about my other pocket diapers is pulling the insert out to put it in the pail. Gross, especially if there’s a poop. Just last week somebody in my house (probably me!) forgot to take out an insert before washing. It got clean enough, but didn’t dry in the time the other diapers dried. Not a huge deal, but certainly a pain in the rear I’d rather not deal with. With Smartipants, you don’t have to do this. You put them in the pail in one piece and the insert comes out in the wash! I was skeptical, but it really did work. They call it the Smart Sleeve and it’s awesome.
- Second, they have snaps. I am not a huge fan of hook and loop closures. Every diaper I’ve ever had with H&L closures ends up getting yucky and looking worn after only a few washes. It frustrates me that no matter how careful I am to use the washing tabs something always gets hung up in the washing process. This leads to diapers looking more worn out than they should! Smartipants have snaps to prevent this, and plenty of snap settings to make it a truly one size fits all diaper. My skinny kids could have worn these from birth! The other OSFA diapers I’ve tried didn’t fit until they were about 10 pounds, which can mean a long wait for them to actually fit. This isn’t a problem with Smartipants.
- Third, the price can’t be beat. right now they are selling a pack of 3 (including 3 inserts) for only $36.95. This is a really good deal for an easy diaper that can be used from birth to potty training. If you are a mom who intends to cloth diaper or just want to get a feel for it, the price is a good way to explore the option without making a huge commitment. And then when you’re sure, it’s a great price to pick up additional diapers when you can. As for myself, I admit I’m saving up my pennies to order a couple of packs of these. I’m still building up my diaper stash and had intended to buy another brand but will stick with these now!
As for the additional information you might want to know about a cloth diaper, I’ll try to do a quick rundown! The construction was good and I was impressed with the sewing. No loose strings or weak seams. This can sometimes be an issue with even the pricier diapers and I was glad to see that wasn’t the case here. The absorbency with one insert was excellent and perfectly adequate for my heavy wetter. The single diapers come with 2 inserts (or additional inserts are sold separately) but I felt that 1 was plenty for us. If you use them overnight you may want to try 2, but I’m not sure it would be necessary even then. I didn’t find that they were any more bulky than our other OSFA insert diapers, though of course they’re a bit more bulky under clothes than a disposable. I certainly don’t think you could find anything that fits slimmer than this in cloth. They also have some very pretty colors. I especially want a purple one for my little Violet! I would like to see more colors (especially brights!) as they become more popular because I find that to be one of the most fun things about cloth.
Overall, I could not be more impressed. I still love my other diapers, but Smartipants get a solid 10 from me! Thanks to Smartipants for the free diaper and a great cloth diapering product!
Posted in Money/Finances, Parenting, Reviews, Sanford, Sites to See | 2 Comments »
Friday, May 8th, 2009
I have succumbed to the pressure. As you can see, I am now twittering. Or is it tweeting? Whatever. Anyway, my twitter stream is located to the left there and I’m JCVmama. Follow me!
Gah, this feels so attention whorish. But I’ve been wanting to add a mini-update thing to my blog and I couldn’t get my Facebook status updates to work, so there you are.
Posted in Blog Info, Me Stuff, Sites to See | No Comments »
Thursday, May 7th, 2009
Last week I served meatloaf for dinner. A friend had given it to us a month or so ago but I had forgotten about it until my freezer started looking bare. And I admit…I am not a major fan of meatloaf. My husband likes it, but I’m not sure I’ve ever made one. Maybe once, way back in the early days of our marriage but not since. But I made it last week and everyone liked it, including my super picky 6 year old with sensory issues relating to food. (And to be honest, I did too!) Since he ate it and liked it, I decided I needed to add this to the dinner rotation and started searching for a good recipe. I found one at allrecipes.com and tried it tonight.
I thought it was good. A little *too* moist, though. I think the soup was plenty of tomato and the added ketchup made it runnier than I would have liked. But the taste was fairly good, so I thought it was worth saving the recipe.
Until I noticed my 6 year old hadn’t touched his. When I asked him why, he gave me a lot of attitude and told me it looked gross. I told him I made it especially for him and added that if he chose not to at least try it, then he was choosing to lose his privileges until Monday. (Which is not as big a deal as it seems…he rarely has time to watch TV/play Wii/use computer on weekends anyway.) So he tried it. And gagged.
So now I’m feeling way more hurt than I should be. I try really hard to make things he’ll eat, but it’s a challenge when there is so little he can tolerate. I tried so hard to please him and it upset me a lot that he hated it so much. So a 6 year old made me cry tonight. Over a meal that I took a lot of effort to make especially for him. Maybe I set my expectations too high…or maybe I finally understand just how hurtful a child can be to a parent. I am not sure I “got it” until I was sitting at that kitchen table tonight. I really wanted to call my mom and tell her how sorry I am for the mean stuff I said to her as a kid.
Needless to say, his daddy had a talk with him about being sensitive to other people’s feelings and he understands that he treated me unfairly. And to be fair to him, he does have a LOT of problems with food textures and the texture of this meatloaf wasn’t great. I guess we both have a few things we need to work on!
Posted in Family, Food/Recipes, Parenting, Sites to See | No Comments »
