Creme Brûlée Fudge

A few weeks ago Olive Garden, my place of work, came out with a new Caramel Brulee Martini.  It is delicious!  Ever since trying it (Being a Mormon, I tried the non-alcoholic version my manager told the bartender to wing) I have been craving creme brûlée.  So, when my sister told me she found a creme brûlée fudge recipe on Pinterest, I just had to try it!  I went to the page and found 3 recipes all with a review alongside them.  The third recipe was the best according to the blogger, but the measurements she used were milliliters and grams... yikes!!!  So, I converted all the measurements as accurately as I could.  It called for 200g of marshmallows, which I didn't have.  I did, however, have a jar of marshmallow cream which said 198g on it, so I just used that.  Here is the recipe with the Americanized measurements.

1 can (5 oz) evaporated milk
1/4 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1 small jar (198 grams) marshmallow cream
Most of a bag of white chocolate chips (the entire bag, minus 1/4 cup)

1. Grease a pan, I used an 8x8 cake pan and the fudge was a little thick to my liking, so a 9x13 would probably be perfect.
2. In a large, heavy based pot dissolve sugar in the butter and evaporated milk.  Increase heat to medium and, using a thermometer, heat to 238*F, stirring constantly.  It will take quite a while, so you might want to pull up a stool.
3. Remove from heat and immediately stir in white chocolate chips and marshmallow cream with a wooden spoon.  Once it is all mixed together and creamy, pour into your prepared pan.
4.  Let it set for 20 minutes or so, then sprinkle some white sugar on top and torch it.  ( I used a lighter... which took forever!  If you have a small propane torch I would recommend using that.)

It took probably an hour for my fudge to completely set up, the original recipe said it set up pretty quickly so it might be because I used marshmallow cream instead of marshmallows, but it is tasty nonetheless!  My husband hates fudge and he is insisting on me making another batch of this because it will be all gone by the time his family comes to visit.

Tips and Tricks for Cloth Diapering: Week 1

Cloth Diapering Week 1

This is a lot easier than I was expecting.  I washed all diapers on Monday, and didn't have to wash them again until Friday...  That is 5 diaper covers (2 lined with fleece so you can't really reuse them and 3 that aren't so you can wipe them down and reuse them), 13 tri-fold organic inserts, and 7 microfiber "stay-dry" inserts, and 12 wipes.  There were inserts and wipes left over, but the covers really needed a washing.

I figured there are probably a lot of you out there who kinda want to try cloth diapering, but have no clue how to go about it, what you need, and what to do with the poop.  That is why it took me so long to get started, so I thought I'd blog about it.  Give advice from things I've learned along the way.

First things first:  There are 2 types of closures I've found so far: snaps and velcro (also called hook and loop?).  I only have 1 snap diaper right now.  The problem I have found with velcro is that if there is any gunk left on a dirty diaper when you throw it in the wash it is bound to get stuck in the velcro.  Velcro, as you know, sticks together.  As the diaper is rolling around in the washer, the velcro finds other velcro and sticks, trapping any gunk inside.  For that reason any additional diapers I buy will be snaps.... (I ordered 3 off of zulily.com and I'm super excited to get them).  Has anybody else come across this problem and/or have a solution?  Right now I'm thinking I'll just have to get a diaper sprayer.

So, here are my supplies so you can get a glimpse of what they look like.  

From left to right you've got the tri-folds, the microfiber inserts, the velcro diapers, and the organic re-usable wipes (which I LOVE).

Second things now: How to choose a type of insert.  I prefer the organic tri-folds personally.  There are a couple reasons for this: 1, I don't like the way the microfiber feels on my hands.  It seems to catch on every little piece of loose skin.  2, the microfiber doesn't seem to be as absorbent.  You have to use 2 or 3 microfiber inserts in one diaper for it to last more than an hour or 2, let alone overnight.  You can get the gist of what they are above.  Here is a picture of an unfolded tri-fold: It's essentially 3 inserts in one so you don't have to dirty 3 at a time.

If anybody has any questions or advice on cloth diapering, please feel free to share!!!

We are Converting to Cloth

The other day on CNN I saw a segment about a woman who started a business during the Recession and how well it's doing.  It's doing well because it's a niche market that also helps people save money: She makes cloth diapers.  She stated in her interview that using cloth diapers instead of disposables will save a family an average of $900 just on the first child.

I had considered switching to cloth before, bought a couple diapers and used them even.  But I found that if you are going to switch you really need to switch all out to make sure you have everything you need for a successful cloth diapering experience.  So I quit. But after hearing it can save $900 I decided to add up how much we spend on diapers.  Averaging 4 diapers a day, we probably go through one economy pack of Huggies a month (The bigger the size of diaper, the less in the box so that probably accounts for the newborns going through 10+ a day well enough).  That is $35 per month.  My daughter is 19 months old, which puts us at $665 we have spent on diapers so far.  You could probably add more, seeing as the size 1 diapers only hold 70 more diapers; and boy do those newborns go through them!

That is $700 that could have been spent on food, insurance, clothes, or even put in savings!  $700 that could have been put toward our food storage or a new windshield for my car!

After figuring this out I decided, enough is enough!  We are switching to cloth.  My husband is not too excited about it, but he has agreed to it.  I went to Cotton Babies and stocked up on the Flip diaper system (that is what I decided I liked best when I half-heartedly tried it before) with the organic tri-fold inserts.  While I wait for them I only have enough diapers for one day... once what I've ordered comes I'll probably have enough for 5 days or so.  I figure 2 days of the week she goes to daycare so she can stick with disposables those days.  So far she doesn't like them much.  It takes her a minute to break them in so they move with her, so she waddles around for an hour until they soften up.  It's funny... Hopefully she'll get used to them!

Women in the Mormon Church

Another problem people seem to have with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that women are treated "unequal."  Women within the church have said this, including a very public blogger and author, Joanna Brooks.  Most of these women believe in most of the doctrine of the Church, but not all of it, and are not completely active members.  From what I have noticed the people who claim this have not been to the Temple either.  I think for most of them a trip to the temple will help to ease their minds on this subject.

The reason people don't think women are equal in the Church is because they cannot hold the Priesthood (Same reason people think Blacks were discriminated against).  In my last post about Blacks and the Church I stated I believe the reason it took so long to give them the Priesthood was because white men weren't ready for it.  I am going to give a very similar explanation for the Woman problem, except slightly different.  This is something I remember being told when I was a teenager by my Seminary teacher.  This is not doctrine, but an explanation a single person came up with that I happen to think might be accurate.  Men NEED the priesthood more than women do.

Ask anybody in any religion; I think most of them will agree that women are more spiritual beings than men.  They are just more in tune to the spiritual side of things; whether that is because they can show emotion more easily or the fact that they create and care for life somehow brings them closer to their own Creator, that just seems to be how it is.  Because of that women are constantly connected to their spirituality.  Men function differently, they are very physical beings, in tune to the physical world of sports and work and providing for their families.  Women provide spiritual/emotional nurturing, men provide food and shelter (traditionally.  I know there are plenty of exceptions to this rule, especially today, but traditionally this is how it works).

Because of the different way men and women function, men need a little something extra to connect them to the spiritual side of things.  That is what the Priesthood is for.  It helps them to stay on the right path and stay connected to their spirituality.

Except there is a secret.  All those people who say women don't hold the priesthood are wrong.  Watching Rock Center: Mormon in America interview the Hunstman daughter who left the Church (Did you know the Huntsmans are Mormon Royalty?  I had no idea.... In fact the only Huntsman I really care for is Jon Huntsman Sr.... hmmmm.... weird.) she said she hoped one day women would hold the priesthood.  If she had visited the temple she would know THEY ALREADY DO!!!!

What happens inside the temple is a sacred thing, not secret.  We don't talk about it for that reason, but there really is nothing that extravagant that goes on in there that we need to tell the world about.  There are ceremonies and learning that happen.  Women actually use the Priesthood in the Temple during these ceremonies.  The women and men do their own separate things for most things, therefore it is the women performing the ordinances for the women.  The women doing the blessings and everything.  The women DO actively use the Priesthood inside the Temple.

In fact, outside the Temple women can use it too.  Sure they may not be ordained to the office of a Priest, but in the absence of a Priesthood holder women can call upon the name of Christ in their need and effectively use the Priesthood.

Women are in the clergy of the Church too.  The Relief Society and Primary Presidencies are both made up of women.  There are Branch, Ward, Stake, and General Relief Society and Primary Presidencies all over the world.

You may think, "well then what's the point in giving the Priesthood to the men if everyone can really use it anyway?"

It's kind of like the Holy Ghost.  We  believe that when we are confirmed members of the Church we are given the Gift of the Holy Ghost.  This means he will always be there to lead us and help us make decisions.  Everybody has the Holy Ghost already; most people call it your conscience.  The difference between having the Holy Ghost with you and the Gift of the Holy Ghost is the sensitivity and responsibility that comes with it.  Having the Gift of the Holy Ghost just means that he will be an active presence in everything you do if you want him to, but you have to be responsible to keep him there.  If you fall away you won't be able to hear what he is saying as well.

The same goes for the Priesthood.  When a man is given the Priesthood he is ordained into certain "offices" in the church and given certain responsibilities. In order to exercise his Priesthood he has to live worthily and fulfill the duties he has in his office of the church, otherwise the full extent of his Priesthood is inaccessible to him.

Long story short: Men and Women are equal in the eyes of God.  They are equal in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  We are all children of God and He loves us all.

The End.

So, No Spend Month is finally over!!!!  Wooo hoo!  Overall it was a success, although the last week we did spend some money because school was started and we needed a few supplies.  We spent about $300 less than we usually do.  We lived off of sandwiches and pasta for the last week or two of the month, but we did it!
There is one thing I feel I should warn anyone who wants to embark on this adventure about, however. Make sure you are completely stocked up on your food/emergency preparedness storage before you start.  We had decent food storage, but we were pretty low on toiletries by the time the month was over.  We ended up going out and spending $100 just to replenish our toiletries the first day of the month.

I hope we continue doing this every year.  August was hard because it included our anniversary and the beginning of school, so it will probably be September next year.  September we will have our garden producing in full force and we shouldn't have to spend money for textbooks and the like since that will be taken care of in August.  We'll see if we remember to do it, but I think it was really good for us and taught us a lot about what we can do with what we have.

Mormonism Unravelled: Blacks and the Priesthood

So last night I watched Brian Williams Rock Center: Mormon in America on NBC.  After watching that I decided I need to take it upon myself to clarify the many misunderstandings about my religion.  While I definitely don't have all of the answers, I can at least find answers to most questions I believe.  Right now I want to talk about a problem a lot of people have: that Blacks were denied the priesthood until 1978.

Many people say the Church is racist because of this, which I think is ridiculous.  No on really knows where the Priesthood Ban started, oddly enough.  This tells me one thing: It was not necessarily a commandment from God.

Let's go back in history for a minute to the time of Joseph Smith.  He was a very caring man who believed all men were created equal and that slaves should be free.  He actually ran for President on an Anti-Slavery agenda and told the Abolitionists that their extremist ways of getting things done were not helping the slaves at all.  He said everyone was to be allowed in the Kirtland Temple regardless of gender or race and many blacks were expected to work inside the Nauvoo Temple.  In 1836 Joseph Smith, himself, ordained a black man to be an Elder, meaning he received the Priesthood.

Later this black man, Elijah Abel, was to receive his washings and anointings (a temple ceremony) in the Kirtland temple and he did Baptisms for the Dead as well.  He was also ordained a Seventy, which is a General Authority of the Church.  However, when he made the request to receive his Endowment in the Temple, Brigham Young denied him.  He was later denied a second time by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Abel is not the only black man to have been baptized and receive the Priesthood in the early church, but he seems to have had the most 'authority.'

Many people speculated for the reasons blacks could not receive the Priesthood (although a few actually did through out the 1900's).  One reason that was perpetuated, but never accepted as doctrine, was that they were decedents of Cain, so they were denied the Priesthood as punishment.

In 1900 President Lorenzo Snow stated that he wasn't sure if the explanations for the Ban were revelation or just personal opinion.

Keep in mind, while all of this is going on African Americans are unable to get fair treatment ANYWHERE in the country, it is not just the LDS Church.  Remember in Arkansas the National Guard was sent to prevent black students from entering the high school.  Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus.  And who can forget Dr. Martin Luther King Jr leading the march on Washington and giving up his life for civil rights?  This all happened a short time before the revelation came in 1978 to allow blacks to have the priesthood.

I do believe the Priesthood Ban had a reason, but I do not believe it was because Blacks needed to be punished for who their millionth great grandfather was.  I do not believe it was because Blacks are unequal to whites.  (Joseph Smith also said that the only reason Blacks were inferior was because the racist environment made them that way.  He said that if they had been allowed a level playing field, they would be on exactly the same plain as whites.)

Are you ready for my explanation?

 ****DISCLAIMER*****  

This is completely my opinion and could be completely wrong.

I believe the Priesthood Ban came into play because certain white men had personal opinions that blacks were inferior.  The Gospel is perfect, the Church is perfect, but the people who are running the church are only human.  They make mistakes just like the rest of us.  Okay, so why did it take so long for this to be undone?  One reason, I think, was that it was a test of faith.  Another reason was that the people in the Church were not ready to allow blacks the Priesthood.  We are taught that we receive revelation 'line upon line, precept upon precept.'  This means that we only receive additional revelation, or information about certain things when we are ready to hear it.  The people in the Church were not ready for it, and those black members who stayed faithful even though their white peers were imperfect were obviously much stronger in their faith than all of those who weren't ready for equality.

Moral of the Story:  The Gospel is Perfect; the people in the Gospel are not.


(The facts in this blog were taken from this website, or they are stuck in my head from past studies)

9 days left...

Not spending money is getting harder and harder... but with just over a week left it makes me want to finish it more than ever.  The best thing about this month so far has definitely been the lack of food waste.  I just read an article that said Americans waste 40% of their food on average, including leftovers that never get eaten and veggies that sit in the fridge and rot before they are used.  I know my husband and I are guilty of a lot of food waste and I hope this month helps us to be more careful in the future. Because we haven't bought any food (besides milk) we have been much more careful about using our veggies before they go bad and eating leftovers the next day.  Our chickens get whatever veggies we don't eat, so it does get to us eventually too.

We ran out of bread toward the beginning of the month, so I decided to try my hand at baking some.  In the past I have tried to use the bread machine that my mom got rid of and it just doesn't want to work for me.  I can't figure out why... maybe it's the flour I use?  Anyway, I took this opportunity to really bake break.  I made this recipe last week and it was delicious, but not good for toast or grilled sandwiches.  Because of the way you roll it into a log it tends to fall apart in swirls when crispy.  I do think it will make an amazing cinnamon swirl bread, though.  Can't wait to try that!  Yesterday I tried a new bread recipe.  Today I used this bread to make me a grilled cheese sandwich using provolone cheese and a fresh roma tomato from my garden.  It was delicious!  The crust seemed a tiny bit thick, but it tasted oh so good!  I think next time I will just slice the bread a little thinner and that problem will be fixed.

Does anybody out there have a bread recipe that they just love???

Zucchini Lasagna

As you know, our family is doing a No Spend Month right now (we are over half way done, wahooo!).  We also are overloaded with zucchini from our garden, so I have been spending a lot of time on Pinterest finding recipes to use our zucchini in.  A few weeks ago I came across this pin for Zucchini Lasagna and had to try it.  We didn't have any ravioli on hand, but I did have a few bags of tortellini in our freezer so just used those.  After I had it all ready to go in the oven I realized that we were actually supposed to be at a dinner party in 10 minutes, so I tossed it in the fridge (my brain seems to have disappeared this week...).  After realized that we wouldn't be able to eat it for a few more days because of other commitments I left in in the freezer for a few days.

Finally, Wednesday came and we were able to eat our lasagna!  Because it was frozen I ended up cooking it for about 80 minutes instead of 20 (I just checked the internal temperature about every 20 minutes).  It was delicious though!  The zucchini added something slightly sweet to the pasta.  Everybody loved it, even my daughter!  Nothing ended up on the floor that night, although she did take a bite of zucchini and spat it right back out.  That piece must have been too soggy for her).  I did find that reheating it a few days later did not do the zucchini well.  It did get mushy after a while, but that first night was delish!

Tonight's dinner: Turkey Parmegiana!  Turkey steaks are about the only meat we have left so I'll be finding creative ways to use that the rest of the month.  As a side we'll have zucchini fries and perhaps some nice bruschetta with the simple homemade bread I made today!

Boiled Peanuts!

As you may know, my DH is from the South.  Georgia to be specific.  I don't know how many of you have ever visited the South, but it is like an entirely different world down there (much like Utah is entirely different from any where else in the US).  From their etiquette to their hospitality to their accents you find warm acceptance (however, they do expect you to show the same etiquette and hospitality... which can be scary!) that you would be hard pressed to find other places.  And then, you can't forget, their cuisine.  From Fried Chicken to Grits to Fried... anything.  You wonder how people come up with these things!  One thing in particular that got me saying, "What the....?!" was Boiled Peanuts.

I read somewhere that Boiled Peanuts were 'invented' during the Civil War.  The war was rough on the Confederates.  They didn't have near the supplies that the North was able to gather, and they ran out of food frequently.  One thing that there always seemed to be an abundance of was peanuts (which are grown down there if you didn't know...) so the starving soldiers decided to boil some up.  Low and behold there were delicious and are now a Southern specialty!

It wasn't until my third or fourth visit to Georgia that the hubby introduced me to them, and I admit I was hesitant to try them.  We pulled up to a roadside stand on our way to his grandmother's house and he came back with a styrofoam cup full of steaming Boiled Peanuts.  I watched DH eat one before I tried.  He sucked on the shell then slurped the nuts out, so I attempted to do the same.  It took a while to get used to the process but boy were they good!  It's like a potato chip.  Once you start eating them, you can't eat just one.

I got to thinking, "Hmmmmm, peanuts that are boiled.  That can't be too hard to make!  I'm gonna try!" I googled it and found a variety of different recipes.  I found a Paula Deen recipe and decided to try it. It didn't quite work.... It said the peanuts should only take 2 hours to cook.... They weren't ready 6 hours later.... so we let them cook overnight.  By morning they were done, but waaaay too salty (I added one cup of salt... for one pound of peanuts).

For my second attempt I started them much earlier so I could keep an eye on them.  They started around noon, and I only added 1/4 cup of salt this time.  At 5 we had to leave for a few hours and they weren't done, so we lowered the heat and left them.  We got back at midnight and they were perfect (although I think they could have used a tad more salt... maybe 1/2 cup?)!  Unfortunately by then we couldn't just sit and snack on them, so we strained them and put them in the fridge until morning.  When we got them out we boiled them for 10 more minutes to heat them up and have been snacking on them ever since!  Delicous!

Proving Pinterest: Magic Eraser for the Toilet

Today's Proving Pinterest is a bummer... The advice I tried was that if you put a piece of Magic Eraser in the toilet and leave it over night it will get rid of the ring.  I only had a small, faded ring, but I have been scrubbing for a year and that thing won't go away!  Unfortunately, this did nothing for it either.  It may work for rings that are less stained, but not for mine.  I did find another toilet cleaning remedy that requires a bit more elbow grease that I will try soon and get back to you on...

On a happier note!  I woke up today and it was a gorgeous day!  This summer has been hot and miserable so far, which has made it hard to get motivated to get anything done.  Today was cloudy, with a little bit of rain and a nice breeze.  It was perfect!  I got up and had breakfast, then my daughter was wonderful and entertained her self while I cleaned the dining room, kitchen, and bathroom.  Then I made some zucchini bread and muffins and began my second attempt at Boiled Peanuts (have you tried them.... yum!) while she ate lunch.  All of this was before nap time!  I was astonished at what I could get done if I just did it instead of sitting there telling myself to be productive.  There is a lot more I want to get done, but It is all organizational stuff that I am still trying to figure out.  Some of this will probably have to wait until No Spend Month is over.

I have all sorts of ideas for what I want to do with my yard and house, and all sorts of things I need to buy in order to make those things happen.  So I am taking this opportunity of not spending money to shop anyway!  I am pricing all the things I would like to buy for the yard or the house so I can know if I see a good sale price and so I can budget appropriately for my projects.  This No Spend Month has been hard... and we are only 10 days in.... but It is already so worth it.

We just refinanced our house.  We thought we were going to have to bring about $800 to closing... well because of all sorts of reasons we ended up having to bring $1350.  That completely cleaned out our bank accounts and cash on hand (I think we have about $40 left), so the fact that we hadn't spent any money this month really saved us.  Next week we'll have money again, thank goodness, and we'll have a refund from our Escrow account coming soon so we'll be okay, but right now I am so thankful we decided to not spend any money this month!

Yesterday, as a throw together meal I made a stir-fry like my mom used to, and it was surprisingly good!  I just threw some vegetables that were left over from dinner the other night, and some hamburger, into some cooked beef flavored Top Ramen, then added the flavoring to all of it and it was delicious!

No Spend Month: Week 1

So far so good!  It has been hard, but we have not spent a penny this month (besides bills at least)!  Meals have been difficult to come up with, but we have managed.  I have a feeling the end of the month will be even harder.  I'm going to be looking up recipes for things we have in our garden.  This week my mom invited us over for pizza once, and we eat at her house every Sunday, so we had 2 meals taken care of for us.  Other than that we have had some frozen soup we had on hand, tuna sandwiches, grilled cheese and tomato soup, turkey sandwiches, and our most creative meal: zucchini pizza.  I found the recipe on Pinterest and figured we'd try it since we had everything for it.

Boy was it delicious!  And my daughter, who for some reason refuses to eat zucchini in whatever form we give it to her besides bread, loved it!  This recipe is definitely a keeper!  The best part?  I think in a mini-version these would make the cutest hors d'Oeuvres for a get-together!  The recipe is right here so enjoy!!!

Proving Pinterest: Keeping Brown Sugar Soft

Growing up my mom always stuck a piece of bread in with our brown sugar to keep it soft, so that's what I did too when I moved out.  It really works, but the downside is you have to change the bread often.  It dries out really fast and then pieces of the bread tend to crumble off and get mixed up with your sugar.

Recently my mom has bought a little clay.... thing.... that she just soaks in water for a while and then it will keep her bread soft for so long before she does it again.   She said she has to do that really often as well, though.  I was thinking about buying one of those when I came across a tip on Pinterest.  It suggested putting a marshmallow in with your brown sugar to keep it soft.

A month or so ago I had one marshmallow left in a bag I wanted to get rid of so I just threw it in with my brown sugar.  I was amazed at how well it works!  I have had to refill my container of brown sugar, but I am still using the same marshmallow.  It has gotten slightly more firm, but the marshmallow is still soft as can be and doing wonders for my sugar!

Do you guys have any other tips for keeping things fresh in your kitchen?

No Spend Month

So I just read a blog about a couple who decided to make July no spend month for their family.  Money has been extremely tight around our house lately but we still find ourselves spending loads of money, so this really tickled my fancy. I read the blog and found that it really wasn't a no spend month, they just limited their excess spending to about $200 including gas and groceries.

My  husband and I decided this would be a really good thing four our house.  We just replenished our food storage so we are going to try a no spend month for August.  We are going to go a little more extreme, though.  Instead of limiting our money for the month of August, we are only going to purchase specific items.  Aside from our mortgage and other bills that we have to pay, the only things we are going to buy this month are gas and milk.  We are not going to eat out or buy ourselves anything.  Instead, we are going to figure out things to eat that we already have around the house.

August is a good month for us to do this because we do have a garden that will be providing us with potatoes, carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, squash, zucchini, and corn to help out.  We also have chickens that will give us some eggs.  Everything else we'll just have to live off of what we have in storage.
I'll blog about it over the next month as well, let you know about tricks we figure out or tasty food storage meals we come across.
Wish us luck!!!

Proving Pinterest: Corn Meal Killing Ants

So a little while back.... okay a long while back... I remember seeing a pin on Pinterest that claimed corn meal was a simple way to get rid of ants without worrying about your kids or pets getting into the poison.  The theory is that the ants pick up the corn meal and take it back home, but they can't digest it so it kills them and all their little friends.  Lucky for me, it hast taken me 2 months into the summer before I had a reason to try this out (I thank my chickens for this.  I did see an ant pile once this summer.... then I watched my chickens sit there and eat and eat and eat till most of the ants were gone.  It was awesome).  Alas, last week I spilled some dog food on the steps and didn't bother to pick it up.  An hour later I walked outside and there were ants covering my steps.  An excellent opportunity to try out the corn meal!

I proceeded inside, trying to remember where I put that stuff that I hardly ever use.  I found it and sprinkled it lightly over my steps.  Obviously, it didn't kill them on the spot but I am pretty sure it did it's job.  Within an hour there were a lot less ants there, but not less dog food.  By the end of the day there were only 5 ants working on one piece of dog food.

The best part?  When I decided I should write this blog about how well this works I thought there should be pictures.  I proceeded to reenact everything so I could take pictures.... but that didn't work so well.  No ants came!

Verdict?  Awesome solution to get rid of these pests.  No worrying about poisoning your little ones and no cleaning up piles of dead ants.

Why I support Gay Marriage

Today President Obama came out in support of Gay Marriage.


All my life I have been taught that homosexuality is wrong.  I am a Christian, I am a Mormon; this is a fundamental moral teaching of the Church.  I believe homosexuality is wrong.  I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman and that children need the influence of BOTH a man an woman in their home.  I'm not one of those people, however, who believes homosexuality is a choice.  The Church does teach that it is not always a choice, but a temptation and a real struggle that people have to deal with.  It is how you handle the temptation that allows you salvation or not.  For some people it might be a choice; a way of anti-conformity or a way to get attention.  For the majority of people I don't think this is so, however.  Most people do not have a choice when it comes to sexuality.


Beside all of my beliefs about sexuality that come from my religion are my beliefs that come from the Constitution and philosophies of those that created our government.


Government is here to serve the people; not vice versa.


Government is here to protect our rights, not give them to us.


If government can give you rights, then it can take them away any time it feels like it.  Their job is to protect our rights, so far as our rights don't infringe on others rights.  For example:  You can't kill someone legally because that is taking away their legal right to LIFE.  I also believe abortion should not be legal because it is taking away a child's right to LIFE. (If you don't want the consequences don't do the act... rape/incest are different stories but I believe other options should be considered long before abortion ever is)  Stealing is illegal because it takes away someone's right to the bread of their own earnings.


So if Gay Marriage should be illegal..... wait... who is that hurting?  Is it taking away religious people's right to marry?  Guess not.... wait, will it force religions to marry gay people when they believe homosexuality is wrong?  No, you can't do that either.  Religions can still do pretty much whatever they want as a private institution.  Heck, they could refuse membership to anybody who isn't white and get away with it.  That is obviously not an excuse.  What about the children?  The children need to be raised by both a mother AND a father.  It's taking away the children's right to both parents.  Unfortunately most children today are born out of wedlock and are raised by SINGLE parents.  In these situations they are far more likely to end up in poverty or not graduate high school.  Aren't two of anything better than one?  If one more parent could help this child achieve their dreams then does it matter what sex that parent is?


If gays are not AT LEAST allowed the same rights as married couples such as hospital visits, then married couples should not get these rights either.  The word marriage is clouded by religion and brings up strong feelings of morality in religious people, however if that's the way they see it then marriage should ONLY be a religious institution and the government should not pass any laws pertaining to it at all.  No tax breaks or special privileges for married couples should exist if it is a purely religious institution.


"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion"  If it is homosexuality is simply a moral/religious issue then isn't congress (or even the people voting on the laws) effectively establishing a religion by saying homosexuals cannot get married?


Have people forgotten what the Founding Fathers believed when they declared their independence from Britain?  Can we really deny anyone their happiness when it isn't hurting anybody else's?


"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Easy way to clean a stove top

I don't know about you, but I don't like buying different cleaners for every different thing.... and beyond that I don't like having to fun out to the store to buy cleaner at the last minute.  I prefer finding ways to use things I already have around the house to clean.  Two of my favorite things are vinegar and baking soda.  They are the best products and it frustrates me that they sell baking soda in a little tiny box.... so I was super excited when I was looking in the food storage section at Wal Mart and they had a huge can of it :D

This is my stove after I've used just normal cleaner to wipe it down:

Anyways, I have found that these miracle workers do wonders on cleaning my stove (and my greasy oven window!)  I just sprinkle baking soda over the crusty areas, take some vinegar in a spray bottle and spray it on the baking soda, and watch the fuzziness clean my stove for me for a few minutes.  Then I take a Brillo pad, or similar scrubby thing, and scrub away.  The black comes off like magic!  And for those few hard to get marks a razor blade usually does the trick.


This is my stove after scrubbing with vinegar and baking soda!

Easy Taco Soup

A few weeks ago someone asked me what I make for dinner when I realize that dinner was supposed to be an hour ago.  I thought on that and realized our Go-To meal seems to be taco soup.  It is delicious and satisfying, we almost always have the ingredients for it, and it is easy to double or triple if you're extra hungry.  This is the recipe we use for it:

First, brown 1 lb of ground beef

Then add 2 cans diced tomatoes, 1 can corn (drained), and 1 can kidney beans
Mix in 1 packet of taco seasoning (sometimes I substitute chili seasoning and it's just as yummy)

And you are left with a delicious and easy meal (and if you're careful not too much of a mess to clean up! Unlike me....)

Getting Blood Stains OUT!

Is there anything worse than when you are going about your business and you realize that you are bleeding and it is all over your clothes?  Luckily there is a solution!  (For white clothes at least)  Some people have told me they use hydrogen peroxide or just bleach to get it out, but I have found that doesn't always work.  Often it makes it lighter, but just turns my clothes brown.  While I'm still working on a solution to get it out of colored clothes (maybe that color-safe bleach?) I do have a solution that works 99% of the time on my whites.

Supplies: 

A bowl for soaking,

White Distilled Vinegar

Bleach

Clean Water

Instructions:

Soak your soiled clothing in vinegar for at least 10 minutes, longer will only help not hurt. The vinegar releases the stain from the fibers. (This time I forgot what I was doing when DH turned on a movie so it soaked for 2 hours... whoops!)

Discard the dirty vinegar and rinse the clothing thoroughly (DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP.  If any vinegar is left on the clothing it will be turned a weird tan color.)

Rinse out the bowl as well so you can re-use it.

Soak the clothing in diluted bleach (about 1/4 c per cup of water) for between 5 and 10 minutes.

At this point there may be a little stain left on the clothing, but not to worry!

I just dump the bowl (bleach and all) into the washer and do a quick wash in cold water and VOILA!  

WHITE!

Before                                                                                                            After

(For the purposes of this blog I used a white fabric scrap to clean up a bloody nose)

Are there any other tips you guys have for getting stains out?

How do you get everything done?

So you wake up in the morning to the sounds of toddler jabber or screaming and immediately your work begins. You give them their breakfast and try to sneak in a quick shower while they are distracted with their food. By the time you get dressed they are already begging for your attention again. You wander around the house trying to clean up a little while entertaining them as well, which is very difficult to do when one or both legs are incapacitated with little hands latching on.

A few hours later... it's nap time! Finally I can get some brunch without the baby yelling that she wants my food instead of hers... even though it's the same thing... It's beautiful outside so I hurry and get some yard work done before coming back inside to work on dishes and think about how I'm ever going to organize the spare bedroom/office/storage space.

Nap time is over! Time for a snack and a snuggle while the baby wakes up... otherwise the screaming and leg tugging ensues. Just in time for me to start dinner, daddy gets home! After dinner it's time for me to go to work while daddy plays with baby and attempts to get homework done.

Now here is the question for you ladies: How do you keep a sane and clean household while children screaming for your attention when you are at work half the day already?

Pull-ups Before Potty Training?

I don't know about you, but when I saw the ad for Huggies Little Movers Slip-on diapers I got excited. For some reason it has been difficult for me to put normal diapers on squiggly squirmy babies. I asked around to see if anybody had tried them before I bought them so I didn't waste money on diapers that didn't do their job... nobody seemed to have tried them. So I thought I'd post a little review on here so other moms out there can let someone else try it before they buy it.

Immediate Pro: SO much easier to put on a squirmy baby

Immediate Con: you have to take ALL of baby's pants and shoes etc off before you change her... then put ALL of them back on.

The number one thing I was concerned about with these diapers is obviously A) how well do they hold the poop and pee and B) how do you take them off of a poopy bum with out getting poopy hands... and poopy everything else?

Concern B was an easy fix. There are actually little tabs on the side that allow you to take off these diapers just like any other diaper... and if they come detached while trying to pull them up on your squiggly sweetheart they are easily reattached (that has only happened twice in the month we've been using them).

Now, for Concern A... When first using them they seemed to work just as well as anything else! I was excited.... then one day I guess we didn't change her diaper as often as we should have. We were sitting on the couch as a family while my daughter drank her milk before bed. All of a sudden I felt a warm trickle down my arm.... I have since noticed that the Slip-ons don't hug around the thighs quite as much as regular diapers do.

The back of the diaper is not quite as high as regular diapers. You'll see in this first picture the back of a Slip On:

And in this picture it is the back of a regular Little Movers diaper (jean edition):

There is about 2 inches extra on the regular diapers. Because of this... if your child has extra-full bowels that she needs to relieve there is no protection from your fingers if you accidentally touch her lower back. The poop tends to poke out just a little bit as the diaper ends right above that cute little bum.

Both of these problems (the low back and not-so-snug legs) led to a nasty event yesterday. My daughter's first blow-out in at least 6 months. When changing poopy diapers with Slip-ons be careful NOT to grab the diaper when pulling of your baby's pants (luckily I had already learned this one). I stood my daughter up to change her this time and saw that her pants had completely filled with yumminess... even though her diaper was not quite full. Needless to say it was all over her legs and changing table... then she had to grab it to see what it was.... Ohhhhh dear......

I'd give Slip-ons 3 stars out of 5. They are convenient and easy to use.... they just don't WORK quite as well as I'd like...

Do Stay at Home Moms Share Working Mothers Worries?

As many of you are aware, this week Hilary Rosen attacked Ann Romney for having "never worked a day in her life." She has since apologized for her wrong choice of words, but that does not change the point she was trying to get across. Rosen was trying to push that the Romneys are out of touch with normal Americans. Ann Romney had the luxury of being able to CHOOSE to stay at home with her children, and many moms today don't seem to have that choice (including myself).

Does that mean Ann doesn't know where we are coming from, struggling to survive as a family? Obviously She has had struggles herself: Cancer, Multiple Sclerosis, not to mention her husband being gone on business trips a lot of the time. However, does she understand what mothers struggling to provide for their family are going through?

First I want to talk about the fact that this was Ann Romney's CHOICE, when many women do not have this choice. They say about 70% of mothers are in the workforce... the media tends to make it sound like none of those mothers have a choice. There are plenty of women out there who CHOOSE to work. Their husband makes plenty of money to support the family, but they choose to have a career. Then there are those who CHOOSE to work because they want to maintain a certain lifestyle. Then there are those who CHOOSE to work because that is the only way they can pay the bills and put food on the table. All three types of mothers work HARD to support their family. My point in this article is that there are women out there who have no choice in the matter, they have to work to provide for their families. However, a large number of women in the workforce truly CHOOSE to be there.

My mother is an example of a woman who chose to stay at home with her children, against my father's wishes. She felt that it was important for us to have someone at home for us. To support us in all of our extracurriculars and be there to help with homework and just talk whenever we need it. When she wasn't helping her children she was helping others in the community; bringing meals, visiting widows, etc. Because of this choice she is still living in the small starter home my parents bought more than 30 years ago. We never had the expensive cable plans or fancy playlets and toys, but we had our mother home and that is what means the most to my sisters and I now that we are grown. She could have worked so we could have all of those things, but she CHOSE not to.

Ann Romney also CHOSE not to, although it was probably a much easier choice. However, just because she stayed at home does not mean she doesn't know what women are going though (and it does not mean her husband is out of touch either).

When they were young, newly married and newly inducted into parenthood the Romneys lived in a cheap basement apartment while going to school. Mitt graduated first and then the couple moved to Boston so he could attend Harvard Law and Business... where Ann finally gained her Bachelors by taking night classes.

Later she was diagnosed with both MS and breast cancer while raising 5 boys. She would begin her days as a mother teaching her kids out of the scriptures and while they were at school she did charitable work as well as took care of the affairs of the household. That sounds like she knows what it's like to struggle to me.

The Romneys are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The organization of the church is similar to the government, there is a President and his cabinet (or the Quorum of the 12 Apostles), followed by state governments (or Quorums of the 70 assigned to areas around the world), then there are the county governments (or stakes, over a certain number of wards or branches), finally there is the ward or branch which is one congregation. Within each ward there are several home teachers (men) and visiting teachers (women) all assigned to a few families to visit each week. Every adult member has this assignment unless they specifically ask not to be included. Both Ann and Mitt Romney had people to visit and ensure were taken care of. These people were their friends, and not necessarily wealthy like themselves.

The kinds of problems they would have to deal with while serving in the church range from providing meals to those who need them to anonymously dropping food at homes that needed it. They would know about people who have lost their jobs and even their homes and offer help in any way they can. That is the job of a home teacher and visiting teacher. Mitt Romney also served as Bishop (the leader over one congregation) and as Stake President (leading over multiple congregations) where he would view the struggles of his friends on an even larger scale.

Ann Romney knows where working moms are coming from.

Not only does she, but I think all mothers are on the same page. All mothers have to run their household and make hard decisions. Pay-cuts may mean groceries are tight for a while. Mothers watch their neighbors struggling, seeing men losing jobs and women having to wait tables to support their families (a profession which people do not respect, might I add. Do you realize that the ONLY money most waitresses in the country get are the tips you give them? That is a story for another day). These women worry that their family could be next. When Wall-Street and the Auto Industry were in trouble do you think the wives of those men working were worried that next month they might not be able to make their house payment? Do you think these women don't worry that something terrible will happen to their husbands while they are away and it will fall upon their shoulders completely to provide for their children?

I think the Romneys understand more than a lot of people how women and families struggle and they want to help. Their plans may seem to favor the rich, but they favor those who CREATE JOBS. If companies can't afford to pay employees then they are not going to hire employees. The rich might pay less of a percentage in taxes, but they pay a MUCH higher dollar amount. Giving them a higher rate like The Buffet Rule wants to would actually only account for a small portion of the deficit. Cutting Spending will do much more than raising taxes.

If you want a look into what the REAL Romney is like from the view of a Democrat who knew him check out this article.