Thoughts on anything and everything...

So far everyone is still sleeping. Hubby is at work. So, I thought I would do a little blogging, because no one reads it anyways. lol Been very frustrated lately. Trying to find a full time job has become sort of a obsession and not getting any calls has made me quite... aggravated. I have been working for a friend of mine at her restaurant and while it is a fun job, it clearly is not paying any bills. It basically gets groceries for a few days. I know... it is better than nothing right now but in my mind I keep thinking that I need to find something better. Next month starts my month long job as a corn inspector. I have not a clue what that involves. I'll be heading to Indy next week for training. I wonder what the heck to do with Ashley while the kids and I work every single day of the week. I wonder when I'll have time to do normal house stuff, as well as get dinner done. How I am going to swing getting fair stuff done and 2 dog shows. So much worry.

David had a procedure on his neck to "burn" the nerves surrounding his blown disk in a attempt to hold out on Surgery. Yeah, it didn't work very well. He is in still a lot of pain and we see Surgery in the very very near future. I'm worried about how we are going to pay the bills without his income. In the past year we have lost my income of $600 a week give or take, and soon will be losing his income of $800 a week. He won't be able to get unemployment either with having surgery because the job he is on is coming to a end. My position at the restaurant is about $100 for 3 days a week, and that is not going to cover the house payment let alone anything else. Gas prices are going up and up, food is going up and up. Seems like everything is going up and up except what we make. Been trying to sell things we don't need here and there, but even that isn't making much, as people are not buying things like they used to. So much worry. Trying to keep it from the kids but when they want to go go go all summer long, and all I can think of is how much gas is, I really do not want to leave the house!

So, my plan is to take everything 1 day at a time, and as things get shut off, I just have to deal with it. So far the Internet has been down for almost a week, I have a feeling the phones will be next. We are a little over a month behind on them. I keep praying for a answer or a call back for any job I have put in for and the phone does not ring. Right now, I just wish for it to rain about $1000 my way. wishful thinking, I know, and I do know that money isn't everything, but when you are so behind on everything, it seems like there is no end in sight.

While I am grateful that everyone is alive and well, that we still have a roof over our heads and food on the table, I keep reminding myself that things will get better. The next month or so will be really rough until I get rolling with this inspector position. Hopefully this will get us back above water and David's neck will hold out. He keeps saying that he isn't going to last much longer. I pray for relief from his pain just for a month or 2, so I can secure a job and so he can keep his a little while longer.

While it seems like I'm a "debbie downer" throughout this entire post, some good things have been happening. I have been doing more exercising and am down to my lowest is over a year. That's a plus! The kids are doing well. Ashley is excited about going to Tennis camp and the twins made the high school cheerleading squad.

So... I guess that is all for now. Going to sign off. kids are starting to wake up and want me to cook something for breakfast.

Lazy Summer

So far this summer has been filled with sleeping in, 4-H and cheerleading practice. Coming soon the twins will be heading to work in the corn fields. Ashley has tennis camp next week. She is very excited about that. My pretty garden is growing well. I can't wait till we can see some veggies grow.

Been a rough few weeks with David's checks being short. Internet has been out for a week. Have to do everything from my phone. I applied to another job last night... we shall see. Well, thats the start of summer here...

New Job, and more happenings...

Well, I started my new job this past weekend. It was so much fun! I loved the fast pace of it and the people are so nice! I work every weekend and it happens that David is off so he can take care of the homefront! :)
Kids are almost out of school, awards going on all week this week. Courtney already got her award for academic superbowl. She loves History, go figure. lol Ashley is enrolling in Tennis camp again this summer. Twins made the high school cheerleading squad.

Twins start work in July detasseling corn and I start at the same time as a corn inspector. Going to be hot, dirty and icky, but such a good experience for us all. I have training in June in Indy, can't wait!

Well, that's all the scoop for now! Laters!

The scoop...

So, I again haven't blogged like I planned on. Here's the scoop. Spring break is almost over. Twins spent most of it with mom and dad. Ashley had Doctors apt. She is allergic to many many out door things as well as cats and DOGS!!! Doctor says with meds, my cleaning as I do and keeping them out of her room, we should be fine. We don't have long hair dogs and we brush them often when it is decent outside. So, my OCD/ADD is finally getting put to good use! HA HA! David has been working good and steady lately. thank god!


Been rocking my ACE business lately. Enrolling people like crazy! It is so awesome to make a lil extra money and help people feel better and get healthy! Been spending a lot of time on the computer to grow, and slow and steady wins the race. With any business, you don't make millions over night!

Well, that's all that is going on right now! Happy Saturday!

My changing life... for the better

While no one really reads my blogs, I still like blogging from time to time...

The fall of last year I was looking for someone to sell me my ACE. My lady stopped selling because she was moving. I had no one around here to sell to me. So I went to Facebook. Found my old high school friend who sells ACE. And I thought... and thought... IF no one out here sells, why not sell it? From the options given to me by my old friend if it didn't work out, I would still be able to get my product for cheaper. So I jumped in. Now, if ya know me I have done a few of these type things in the past before and I'm sure who ever reads this will be rolling their eyes at me. So, I jumped in with both feet, thinking about all my friends and family who would love the added energy that I was getting.

Fast forward to recently...

Things have started to pick up and I am finally making money! MAKING not spending money! This business works! It REALLY works! I am now to the point where I can place larger orders and keep my regular customers happier! I am exploring other products that SABA has and am enjoying it!

I enjoy this company, the friends I have made, the training is amazing, and my team leaders are there 24/7 to answer my questions! My upline sets us gals/guys to be successful! I recently have moved up to Senior Associate,  and plan on moving up to Director soon!

I love the added energy that ACE gives me. I love waking up having my quite time before the kids get up, and then after everyone leaves I can get so much more done during the day. I used to lay like a bump on a log watching Law & Order all day. For Real. Now the T.V. is off (After Live with Kelly and Michael) and the music is on and I'm cleaning, doing laundry, washing walls, just something to make the place better. It always doesn't look that way with 3 kids, 3 dogs and a hubby, but I KNOW it was done, so it makes me feel better. So if ya are interested in learning more leave a comment.

Chicken, Chicken, Chicken

I'm going to take a page from my friend Sarah's Blog and post about my Chicken from last night. I found a recipe for a whole chicken in the crock pot then using the leftover's made chicken broth. I found the recipe here.

So I seasoned the entire chicken with Garlic, Salt and Pepper. I put some butter under the skin and put it into the crock pot. No broth or anything in the crock pot with it. To me it seemed so wrong but I did it anyways. I put it on low and left it for 5 hours. My chicken was 3.5 pounds. 5 hours later, I go to take it out of the crock pot and... lol it totally fall apart. As in it came out in chunks. The kids thought I ruined it. It WAS funny getting it out of the pot! I really wish I would have taken a picture but I didn't. It was so tender I had to scoop it out onto a cookie sheet. After dinner, I separated the meat from the bones and tonight's dinner is going to be BBQ chicken in the crock pot!

To do the broth... I left all the juice in the crock pot and put all the bones, and skin back in there. Then I filled it up with plain tap water.

Then I put the crock pot on low all night while we slept. In the morning I shut it off and let it sit for a few hours to cool off. I have a mesh strainer I used to scoop out what I could and toss it. Here's my set up:

See the metal strainer? It is perfect to get all the tiny bits out of the broth. I found out that the regular muffin cups are exactly 1/3 Cup, and the mini cups are 2 Tablespoons. So that is how I am going to measurement them. Now, I used the 1 Cup as a scoop and poured it into the strainer, works perfect so my hands don't get all messy. Then I used a ladle to pour into the muffin tins. 

I'm now letting them cool on the counter for a while because they STILL are super hot! Then I'll freeze them. When they are frozen, I'll use my Food Saver to seal them up. They will keep with this method for months! If you don't have a food saver you really need one! This seals food so much better than zip lock and food keeps so much better. Not to mention things are flatter making it easier to put more stuff in the freezer! This is the one we got and you can get baggies for it at Menards!

I never actually used chicken broth as a seasoning to cook with because I would only need a small amount then the whole can would be wasted, so I am very excited to use these small cubes to cook with! The website says there is going to be a layer of fat on the top and to scrape it off, but mine is still cooling so I'll let you know later, that is IF I can edit this posting.

Let me know what you think. Have you made broth before? How did it turn out?

Edited: 

 This is what my cups looked like once they had time to cool. 3 I left the grease on and 3 I took the grease out so you can see the difference.

Then they go to the freezer. Here's what the finished product looks like:

 

So, let's see how much I have saved... I ended up with a total of 9 cups of broth.  Total of 72 Ounces. I looked on line and 32 ounces of Swanson Chicken Broth costs $2.38. SO..... Looks like I got a round about savings of 5-6 bucks! Not too shabby!

Wool Dryer Balls....

My next project is making Wool Dryer Balls.  I subscribe to DIY natural, and they recently sent me a email about these dryer balls. They are supposed to beat the close to get rid of wrinkles and dry the clothes faster using less gas, and shortening the dry time.

Here's the link to the page I viewed: Click Here

They seem very easy to make, I just need to get the right type of wool, and knowing where I live this is harder than you think. I'm even thinking that this would be a fun thing to get the kids to help me make or even make them for gifts.

I have used this DIY site to get ideas to make a bunch of different products. I highly suggest everyone check out the site and maybe save some money or learn something new! I could browse this site all day!