Friday, October 26, 2012

Santa Fe Chicken recipe

This is what I made for dinner tonight. It's one of our favorite meals! Last year when Joe started dieting I stopped making a lot of the recipes I used to cook so I searched online for some healthier recipes. I came across Skinnytaste.com. It's a wonderful place to find healthier recipes of things you might already make. I have made a few other recipes but this has been our favorite so far! We like it over brown rice but a friend recently said she likes it in a tortilla almost like chicken tacos I guess. http://www.skinnytaste.com/2009/02/crock-pot-santa-fe-chicken-425-pts.html# If you haven't tried this yet you should!! Have a great weekend!!

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Halloween Banner and Mantle

I quickly made a banner tonight. I saw this idea on Pinterest. While at Home Depot last week I remembered that I wanted some orange paint chips for a project. I thought it was made with paint chips but once I checked it tonight I realized it was wooden. Oh well I still made it work and they aren't exactly the color of candy corns but close enough. I have been making seasonal cut outs to clip on some twine on our dining room mirror and it still had summer on it.
My supplies
And after
Now my mantle is complete!
That's all for tonight! Good night! Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Friday, October 12, 2012

A scrapbook page!

I am sad to say this is the first page that I have created for Lauren! :( I made this page the night before her party for our guests to sign. I got this idea from my friend Michelle. I had done it a few times for Daniel as well. When I was making this page I realized how much I have and that I really need to find the time to scrapbook again!!
That's all for now!

Thursday, October 04, 2012

Organized Pantry

So I said I would do this organization challenge but I slacked off a bit. Last Wednesday I had the day to myself so I did work on organizing our paperwork and shredded a bag full of old bills! Paperwork always seems to pull up quick around here. I organized the pantry today and it felt great to clean it out!! I found things I forgot I had and threw away many out dated items. Here is my before of the top half of the pantry area
I took everything out, one shelf at a time and wiped it clean before putting things back. I also tried to get rid of as many boxes as I could to save space and I think I did pretty good! Here is an after picture of this half.
This next picture is not the pantry but it is above the stove and I didn't organize it. It had some of Joe's Keurig coffees and other instant coffees in it. So while cleaning the pantry I found more teas and coffees so I moved them here so that they are all together now. Makes sense. I used a black basket I had to put some of them in.
And the after picture
Back to the Pantry. The bottom half was pretty bad. And I found lots here that I forgot I had or that I had many of the same thing.
Again I took out everything one shelf at a time. Cleaned the shelf and sorted through everything. It looks much better and is organized better. You can't see but I added one new basket next to that black wire basket.
Speaking of the black wire basket... I love it, found only 2 at Home Goods about two weeks ago. I put all of the fruit snacks in it.
I put the second one on top of the fridge for now with misc. snacks. Love it!
That's all for now! Guess I should start organizing another area!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

How to clean with Shaklee products

I love all my Shaklee products, I love how well they all work. Really with all our products, a little goes a long way. Today my sister in law sent me this picture and comment on Facebook. I didn't tell her to write this, she did it on her own after trying her Scour off. Which is the same excitement I had 2 years ago when I first tried Scour off and sent Rachel a message telling her how much I loved it and what I needed to do to sign up! Anyway here is the picture :)
Patty's message: Ok so I just cleaned my bathroom with scour off from Shaklee and my faucet was dirty with hard water stains and everyday gunk and it not only cleaned amazing but polished it like new! The best part was that I didn't have to wait for Hanna to be out of the house cause I usually have to use a harsh cleaner and no strong scent and my asthma did not act up! I love this stuff it was super easy to use, I did not have to wait for it to set in like other cleaners and I just polished my whole bathroom. Thanks, my bathroom looks like a five star hotel bathroom.

It does look like new, doesn't it? Great job Patty and thanks for sharing!!

Seeing this picture reminded me that I cleaned my shower head and never shared pictures. Now the before pictures are pretty gross. I usually get so into cleaning the tile that I forget about the shower head. I saw this on pinterst and tried it. Now I am sure that the Scour off would also do an amazing job on cleaning this but I wanted to try it with the Basic H.
I put some hot water in a ziploc and added a few drops of Basic H. Next, I dipped my toothbrush in it to gently scrub off any gunk that might come off.
Next I tied the ziploc bag onto the shower head and left it on for a couple of hours.
I was anxious to take it off but just checked on it. Check out the bottom of the bag! GROSS!
And finally here it is all cleaned up.
So much better!!! Here is a link to Scour Off And the link to Basic H

Friday, September 07, 2012

Organizing my kitchen

So I mentioned I enrolled in a home organization event. The first week is the kitchen. I have started but I am not complete with the kitchen yet. I have done good so far. I didn't realize how bad it looked till I started taking my before pictures and looking at them on my camera! lol I even have a bag of stuff to get rid of! I started under the sink. I don't have much under there anymore since I switched to Shaklee cleaning products but it needed to be straightened up. I took everything out and wiped the bottom and put things back. I even found one hidden bottle of JetDry that went in the trash :) Before and After
So much better! Next was the dishwasher. I am constantly putting the magnets back on here. I wiped it off with my Shaklee degreaser. Some magnets had stickers on the back and left marks on the dishwasher. I cleaned it and put them back on but Lauren threw them off in 2 seconds. I quickly decided to take the letter ones off and put them in the garage on the freezer. So now there are three magnets left!(I guess I didn't take a picture)
Next up was the Fridge and freezer.
In the freezer I threw away stuff that was expired and even have one empty shelf! We also have a big freezer outside. I keep things that we use more often inside like vegetables and ice packs for lunch, etc.
Onto Day 2: I started with the bowls we use everyday. I had also been putting the containers I used for making Lauren her baby food. I haven't used these in a few months so I took them out and found a new home for them. I also got rid of some of the ziploc containers because it's crazy how many I have in here and I don't use that many.
To the left of that cupboard I have larger bowls, one of my crockpots and other misc things including medicine. I put some medicine back in the bathroom where it belongs. :)
Next up was cups! I have too many cups! There are so many cups in this house it's crazy! I got rid of some! You'll see that the next few cupboards all have cups!
Next more cups and our everyday China, which I would like to replace and just get new plates and salad bowls since that's all we use. But it's also still blue and I have gotten rid of all the rest of the blue in my kitchen! Changing these out would give me more space!
Now in the after you will see more cups, haha but they are from another cupboard that I cleaned out.
Ok this next one is almost too embarrassing the show! lol It's above my oven. The cupcake holder and disposable trays look like they are on top of the bags and cling wrap but they are farther back.
Now much better.
This is another pretty embarrassing one! lol And this is where those cups came from.
I wanted to somehow fit a basket of art supplies that I have been moving around trying to find a home for so that's why I decided to move the cups. So in this yellow basket are paints, stickers, markers, crayons and foam stickers that I don't want the kids to be able to easily get too.
The last cupboard is above the fridge so it is not easy to get to. I quickly saw that it had room for some more things so I put my baby food maker there and the containers. I also put my breast pump items here, that's what is inside the bag.
I am pretty happy with how much I have done so far. I hope to finish the rest by tomorrow!! abfolbutton

Saturday, September 01, 2012

Trying to get organized!

abfolbutton I started working on my kitchen today and took some before and afters, I will post once I finish!!

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Study: D deficiency common in critically ill children

Two studies published online in Pediatrics found that vitamin D deficiency is associated with more severe, longer lasting illness in children admitted to the hospital. Dr Dayre McNally, MD, PhD, of the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa, and colleagues used data from 2005 to 2008 from 6 different pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) in Canada. The researchers analyzed data from 326 critically ill children up to the age of 17. They found that 69% of patients were vitamin D deficient. Deficiency was associated with increased length of stay in the PICU (P=.03) and increased severity of illness (P=.005). The second study conducted by Dr Kate Madden, MD, of Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School, and colleagues examined 511 critically ill patients (median age 5.3 years) admitted to the PICU from November 2009 to November 2010. The researchers found that 40.1% of patients were vitamin D deficient (<20 ng/mL). After adjusting for confounding variables, deficiency was associated with increased illness severity on the day of admission (P < .0001). Both studies support similar findings in research with critically ill adults. McNally calls for further research to determine whether supplementation will improve critically ill children’s outcome, while Madden concludes, “Given the roles of vitamin D in bone development and immunity, we recommend screening of those critically ill children with risk factors for vitamin D deficiency and implementation of effective repletion strategies.” Prevention is the best key. The most comprehensive children's chewable vitamin on the market is called Shaklee INCREDIVITES. Packed with 600 IU of vitamin D3 and 23 essential nutrients for healthy development, they truly are incredible! To date, they are the only supplement to contain lactoferrin which is found in breast milk and has been shown to support healthy immune systems in kids. They are available at: http://www.healthysteps.myshaklee.com To find out if you are deficient in Vitamin D take the Vitamin D Quiz below: http://www.lifequesthealth.thevitamindstory.com/ Sources: Madden K, et al. Vitamin D deficiency in critically ill children. Pediatrics. Aug 6, 2012. McNally JD, et al. The association of vitamin D status with pediatric critical illness. Pediatrics. Aug 6, 2012.

Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Another Shaklee before and after

With budget cuts we are lucky to get the trash picked up and the room vacummed. So our poor sink was looking pretty nasty. I took my Scour off to work and during recess cleaned it! The kids came in and noticed! lol One even asked me how it got so shiny! I could have scrubbed longer but this is what I got in just a few minutes of working on it. Before After Love that Scour off is safe enough to use in my classroom with kids around! This product will last you a long time and can be used on so many different things! Click here to read more about Scour off

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Shaklee before and afters

So I use Basic H for many things, everything honestly!!! I love Basic h! I have been meaning to clean a few things that Daniel drew on but never got around to. So I finally got out my Basic H and tried it!
I was able to get crayon off the door, sharpie and other marker off a table, and much more! The best part is that Daniel was able to help me and I wasn't worried about him touching any harmful cleaning products. So here is a picture of his bedroom door. He scribbled pink crayon on it.
All I used was a few drops of the Basic H concentrate on a microfiber cloth, wet it just a little bit and went at it...
And in no time at all it was GONE!
Next up was his little table that he loves to eat at and draw on. This first picture was a black sharpie I think, it's been on it for a long time.
Again ,I used the same microfiber cloth that I used on the door, added a few more drops of the concentrate and scrubbed. GONE.
There was more marker on the other side too...
And again it's gone!
And my cute little helper cleaning his table!!
His table is all clean and new again!
And last I had this spot on the bricks in front of our fireplace. I think we had a box on it shortly after we painted and so it left a mark, it was ugly!
Again using the same rag....
All gone!! So much better!
That's enough pictures for tonight! If there is something you would like to test it on let me know and I would be happy to let you try some Basic H! Shaklee has extended their FREE lifetime membership with ANY purchase until May 31st! Take advantage of this great deal and contact me! I would love to help you get rid of your harmful cleaning products for a much safer and non toxic cleaning product!!