This was actually posted on anther blog site of mine but its just too funny not to share!

 The trouble with cat poo!

It was the week before Memorial weekend, a Tuesday or Wednesday I think. It was beautiful weather wise, so hubby and the kids were both outside doing their thing. I take times like that to relax and be "alone" its my zen time. So as per my usual alone time I was playing Pogo on the computer and kind of half watching what ever was on TV when I see my rather large fluffy white cat walk by. I put down my hand so he could rub on me and I could scratch behind his ear, again like usual. He began to walk away after his moment of lovin when I noticed a dark spot hanging from his behind. I thought it was just a little "hanger on" , Ya know a "Klingon", he is a long haired cat after all its not uncommon to have to pull a lil dingle berry from his backside. So dutifully I went to the kitchen and got a few paper towels to grab the offending dangler. After half scratching, half grabbing the back of his neck to control the front I went in for the kill on the other end with a hand full of paper towels. Of coarse he did the exact move that every living thing with a butt seems to do automatically when accosted unexpectedly, knees buckle and hind quarters pull in as far as it will go, at the same time head spins around and gives dirty look. It was at this exact moment (I can almost pin point the second) that 2 things happened almost simultaneously, I realized that what was now smeared on my only paper covered hand was not in fact a stiff ball of poo but a very smeary mess of crap which is also now all over the cats ass, the second thing was my hubby yelling for me to come and talk to the neighbor about something kind of important. I was literally at a loss, I couldnt let the cat go, lord knows what he could rub his butt on! I couldnt just ignore hubby yelling and deal with the cat, not to mention the crap filled paper towel in my hand. I did the only thing I could, dragged my now pissed cat by the scruff the foot or so to the trash and got rid of one of my problems. I then grabbed him by the mid section carefully holding the rear end way out and to the side and picked him up. Opened the door pissed shitty cat in hand and yelled "Cant talk now the cat had an accident" slammed the door with my foot, somehow managed to get one of my plastic cleaning gloves on and headed straight to the bathtub. By this time the kids are in the house and laughing like hyenas at the poor poopy feline.

  Now a little back story here, I have given the cat a bath before, he dosent like it at all but he does not go all frenzied Freddy on me luckily. So when I shut the door and got him into the tub my hand moved straight to scruff again, I knew that was pretty much all I needed in order to control him. He knew what was coming too as soon as I turned on the water he started to bounce so I knew I had to be fast. I pumped soap from the sink into my hand then sudsed up his butt (with the gloved hand). Now I am scrubbing cat ass, and the kids keep opening the bathroom door to laugh at the wet cat. All I can picture at this point is the cat leaping from my grasp and out the door with his now soapy, shitty rear, even worse is that he goes down into the basement and hides in the dirt floored corner area. So this image in mind I am yelling at the kids to shut the door, dealing with a wiggly cat and trying to finish washing the crap out of his butt fur. All the noise causes my hubby to come in and find out what happened apparently because just about the time I start rinsing the cat his head pokes in the bathroom. I tried to briefly explain the situation as he chased the kids off but didnt get too far when I noticed him TRYING not to laugh. I wasnt in to much of a haha mood at this point (its fucking hilarious now but not at that moment) so that did nothing for my situation.

  After my part was done and the cat clean I let him out of the bathroom, we were both happy it was over I am sure. Weird thing is he runs only 4 feet or so from the bathroom to the middle of the kitchen floor and began to lick himself, no lie he did this for almost 45min straight only stopping long enough to shoot me an evil look. At this point you might think the story is over and nope, no such luck, buahhahahaha. Later in the evening hubby was cutting somthing and it gave me the bright idea to clip most of the hair from the cats butt so we could avoid having this problem again in the near future. He held the front I worked gingerly in the back to remove the hair from around his butt with scissors. It was quite a sight just ask my mother in law who came in right in the middle of that scene. And my husband wonders why we have a poped water tube with the funniest little slit in it that has pretty much messed up our bed. We now have to get a foam insert for our bed.....and oh ya the poped tube was on MY side of the bed.

Its not even Halloween yet!!!

As we all know Christmas comes earlier every year, and normally I am one of the many people who complain about the Christmas trees showing up in stores before trick or treating even starts. However that being said I do start my Christmas crafting very early especially since most of my crafts are ornaments for my tree. I usually like to use things I already have or recycle things into my ornaments. In years past I have made great use of old Christmas cards when making ornaments mainly because I just couldn't stand having such beautiful images end up in the trash or simply hung from a holder. I will be making a few more closer to the holidays and putting up a tutorial for the two methods I have used in the past. I am also currently working on a garland made from some pesky vines growing along my fence line. I will most defiantly be posting that tutorial soon! Today however I will be discussing how to make use of rubber stamps for simple Christmas ornaments.

My mother in law used to work for a national thrift store chain that also dabbled in charity work, (I am not mentioning the name because I am not sure of the legal ramifications, also they did my mother in law wrong so I simply don't like the company). She would always bring me craft supplies that would come in and so I ended up with some beautiful Christmas themed rubber stamps. I decided to make some ornaments to utilize the gorgeous designs on them, and so here is my method to make ornaments.

 First you need to ink up the stamps and press them down on a sturdy piece of card board, (wood could also work well). I used the back of a paper pad but you could also use the cardboard from a case of soda or beer, anything sturdy will work so be creative and use something that might otherwise be thrown away. Once the ink is dry use crayons, colored pencils, paint, or markers to color in the designs.

With the color in place you may want to embellish your design further or leave it as is. Add glitter as I did here or you can add 3 dimensional features like beads or ribbon. Once you have your design exactly to your taste its time to back it with something. I simply used scrapbook paper but scraps of wrapping paper would be wonderful to use as a backing, I just didn't have any at the time. Again use what you have and be creative.

Now it is time to finish your ornament. I like to frame my design, but you could simply leave the design as is and add a hanger. I have used a couple different methods for my ornaments but almost all of them have a mat. I simply made the mats as I would for a picture in a scrap book. I actually made my mats but you can find pre made ones in most craft stores. Its best to add the hanger in this step as to hide the ends in the mat, or you can use a whole punch to create a place to add your hanger. The possibilities are endless really and I used a few different methods.

The pics may be fuzzy but I will be posting more when I actually put up my tree closer to the holidays so you can see the ornaments in action. So there you have it from rubber stamp to pretty tree adornment. So go and try it your self and just remember......be creative, and use things you already have!

I like em cheap!

After reading my post yesterday I decided to share one of my families favorite dinner recipes, and its one I came up with all by myself! Oh did I mention its also cheap to make too? I was inspired by Pizza Huts "Tuscani Creamy Chicken Alfredo".  My mom would order the Tuscani pastas for dinner a lot since she retired from cooking (no kidding, she actually told my dad she wasn't cooking anymore about 6 years beck), when ever I was around she would let me pick one of  the pastas and the Chicken Alfredo one was always my choice. One day I decided to make my own version of this Pizza Hut favorite. Which works well up here in BFE Massachusetts since there is not a Pizza Hut withing 50 miles of me, I checked. So here it is my cheap version of "Tuscani Creamy Chicken Alfredo", I call it Chicken bacon mac and cheese bake (not that original I know).

Ingredients

2 boxes 7.25 to 8oz boxes mac and cheese
1 box pre cooked bacon (you might not use the whole box) or cook up 6 to 7 pieces of bacon
1 large or 2 small boneless chicken breasts (you could also use the boneless thighs, 3 will usually do it)
1to 1 and1/2cups Shredded mozzarella cheese
(you will also need milk and butter for the mac and cheese)

-Cut the chicken into small cubes and saute in olive oil, you can also add some chopped garlic and Italian seasoning but its not necessary. Put the chicken off to the side and pre heat the oven to 400 degrees. Cook mac and cheese according to package directions. While cooking mac and cheese cut the bacon into small pieces. Once mac and cheese is done add most of your mozzarella cheese, bacon, and the chicken into the pan and stir. Lightly grease a casserole pan or even a cake pan will work. Pour mixture into pan and even out, top with remaining mozzarella. I also like to add some packaged bread crumbs to the top as well. Bake about 17min, then switch it to broil for a min or two in order to brown the top.

I hope you enjoy this meal as much as my family does!

Lets talk shop......or shopping anyway!

So today I am going to talk about grocery shopping, and reveal a few tips and tricks to help those on a tight budget (trust me our family lives paycheck to paycheck). I live in New England, Massachusetts to be exact and being a transplant from Texas I was shocked to see the difference in grocery prices up here. To give you an example, up here I can not find a can of peas for less than a dollar unless its on sale in Texas most can goods are regularly priced under a dollar unless your buying the high end stuff. My husband gets paid bi-weekly so we as a family figured that we could afford a grocery budget of $150 to $170 each paycheck. To some this might seem adequate but as I mentioned above for my area of the world this is tight! I know a lot of news stories and media attention has been on coupons and they are helpful but for people like me who live in a small area that does not have a full fledged newspaper to clip the Sunday coupons from or a printer to get some deals from the net coupons are a moot point. Not to mention most coupons are for national name brands that only bring their price down enough to be comparable with the generic stuff. Now I am not discounting coupons (get it discount....coupons I made a funny) but I am not going to bother with mentioning them in my post because frankly I don't use them but if you feel they can be an asset go for it hun.

Planning is key

Prep for my bi weekly shopping trip actually starts up to two days ahead of time. If you make a through plan of attack it not only gets you threw your trip faster but it can save you money. My first order of business is to make a menu for the up coming two weeks. I only worry about dinners myself since breakfasts and lunches are pretty much unchanging in my house. If you are the type who cooks full gourmet breakfasts and tries to pack something new in everyone's lunch kit everyday then adjust your menus accordingly. After you have planned your meals start writing out the ingredients you need for each. Take this list into your kitchen and mark off things you already have and won't need to buy. You now have the beginnings of your grocery list. Now while still in your kitchen take note of any staples your running low on and jot them down. Anything you use on a regular basis that your out of  write it down. Don't forget to check items in your spice rack or your sugar and coffee supplies. This might be a good time to organize, or re organize your cabinets, pantries, fridge, and freezer. I would also suggest keeping a running tab of your items posted on the insides of doors or on the fridge door (I still need to implement this one myself). I also include incidentals in my grocery budget such as toilet paper, paper towels, shampoo, soap, ect. So don't forget to check your  bathroom while making your list. Now that you have your full shopping list together your ready........hahaha just playing your not done yet! Now its time to check out all the sales at your local markets. Either threw circulars or online look closely at everything on sale that is also on your shopping list, then jot them down on a separate list by store. This will not only help you know which stores to go to but will also help when looking threw the isles of discount stores in order to figure out where an item is truly cheaper. Don't forget when writing your sales lists to include quantity of the items or price per lb, oz, or what have you if listed. Now that you have two lists you can take it even further if you want. I always re write my shopping list and group all like items together, such as all can goods with one another, produce together, bread, dairy ect. This helps you get threw the store quicker but dosent do a lot on the money saving end. At this point I would also think about which stores to hit, obviously the ones that you have written down sales for but don't forget stores that don't advertise sales such as dollar stores, Super Wal-Marts, and even bulk stores like Sams club (although they do require a membership you have to pay for, but sometimes its worth the year price). We even have a chain of discount stores here called "Ocean State Job Lot" which is something like a "Big Lots" but with a larger food section. Store hopping may require a bit of gas but what you pay in fuel you more than make up for in savings on your grocery bill.

Time for action

Now that you have your lists and a planned which stores to hit its time to shop! To make it easier on your gas tank pick the stores furthest out and work your way closer to home. Its also prudent to bring a cooler or two with a little ice to keep perishable items fresh till you get home, especially since this could most likely be close to an all day ordeal. As I mentioned before don't pass by the dollar store these places are the best for things like hand soap, laundry detergent, sandwich bags and other non food items. They can also save you money on things like spices, and condiments. Even if you don't spring for the bulk food stores membership don't forget that most regular stores do carry things in bulk and it will save money to buy things this way. However be sure these things are non perishable items or items you KNOW you will go threw before they spoil (in my family we buy shredded cheese in bulk and it never goes bad) It may seem like a lot of money right up front but with things like toilet paper and olive oil it will save you from spending money on these items again on your next shopping trip. It also works out to be cheaper when you break down the price and compare it to the price of the single or smaller package items. Bulk is better! Produce is another tricky section of your list if you have access to farmers markets and its the right time of year its well worth it to skip the grocery store for you fresh fruits and veggies. Not only is it usually cheaper, and healthier but your also helping out local farmers and their families. If  its off season or your too far away from the countryside then just be a smart shopper and again remember bulk is king. Its cheaper to buy a 5lb bag of potatoes than it is to buy them per lb. Again just be sure you will use them before they go bad otherwise it is a waste. In other words if your just using a veggie for a single recipe don't buy it in bulk. Also while fresh is nice frozen and or canned can be cheaper so don't pass up those isles when shopping for produce. Meat can be another place to save some pennies. Pre-packaged flash frozen is cheaper than fresh trust me, example a 3lb bag of frozen chicken breasts costs me just under $7, while a fresh package of chicken breasts costs almost $3 a lb (for the math challenged that would be almost $9 for $3lbs). If you buy boneless chicken thighs instead of breasts you can save even more. To save on hamburger you can buy ground turkey instead and its healthier for you. Though if your like my hubby who cant stand ground turkey then buying the ground beef packed in tubes with the metal rings on the end will cost less. Also if your going to freeze the beef don't hesitate to buy the packages that are discounted because they are close to the expiration date. As long as you freeze it than it will not go bad. Again this is another place where bulk is king, as long as you don't mind breaking it down into smaller portions and freezing then buy in bulk. Has anyone noticed a theme yet? Don't forget to refer to your sales lit to compare prices while shopping and break the price down so you can make sure you truly are saving money. Also buy one get one free sales can give you permission to spring for the pricier items, "Big Y" a chain of stores here in New England even have buy 1 get 2 free specials from time to time. When you get double the amount for a bit more than the generic than it is well worth it. Cereal, a tricky one for sure. One good thing is the sugar filled bad stuff usually costs more so you actually have a good excuse for telling the kids they can't have sugar candy Os with high fructose filled sugar coated marshmallows. The generic form of honey nut Os is usually cheap and comes in a pretty big box as well as the cereals that are just flakes of some kind. The kids might not be happy but they will be healthier. I have the added advantage of  finding cheap cereals ($1.50-$2.00 a box for name brand) at my local "Ocean State Job Lot". The deli counter can save a lot on cheese and luchmeat. When you compare price per lb with the packaged stuff the deli counter usually wins, and again its a lot fresher and you can pick the amount you need and want. Don't forget your calculator when your shopping not only will it help you know exactly what your total will be at checkout but it can also help you break down prices. Good thing is most cell phones today have a calculator built in. Its a good idea to set a budget for each store to total you final budget. Don't worry however if you go a bit over at one store because if your doing it right you will make up the difference by coming under budget at another store.

I have shared my shopping knowledge and hopefully helped a few people save some cash, because lets face it in today's economy we could all afford to spend less! (I made another funny)